It's election day in the US, and Magnum Photos continues its original coverage of this important event. Since the last time we mentioned Insight America, photographers Gilles Peress, Donovan Wylie, Alex Webb, David Allan Harvey and Thomas Dworzak have updated the blog with their latest reports from the campaign. But, the blog also features some interesting statistics. For example, did you know that Hillary Clinton is a closed second behind George W. Bush in the number of jokes told by Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien on NBC, David Letterman on CBS, and Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central? John McCain comes third.

Check out Magnum's Insight America before the elections is over (BJP understands that the project might go on for the first 100 days of the new president)...

Olympus just announced the upcoming release of its E-30. Read our full story here. However, if you want to see more images of the new camera, read after the jump. If you want a list of the camera's full specifications, download the PDF here.

More pictures, after the jump.

"Change has come", "In Our Lifetime", "Changed", "It's Obama", "A New Dawn"...
The world's newspapers are waking with Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.

We've been monitoring Newseum to take a look at what images the papers around the world use to portray this year's most important event. So far, most have been quite conservatives, choosing to go with photos taken at the 44th President's acceptance speech, often with Obama waving his hand at the 70,000 people who came to hear him in Chicago (see below).

However, we'll be interested in seeing what Time and Newsweek come up with when their special election issue (often subtitled "the day after") are out in the next couple of days (plus, they will packed with interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits about the campaign as both magazines have long-standing deals with the candidates allowing them unprecedented access with an election day embargo).

See the front pages at Newseum.

http://nctimes.com/

We announced the winners of the British Journal of Photography's International Photography Award 2008 back in October - and now we're officially inviting all BJP readers to the private view, 25 November, 6.30pm - 8.30pm.

Beso Uznadze's stunning images of Georgians both at home and in London, which won the portfolio category award, will take up most of the Association of Photographers' gorgeous split-level space. But his work will also be joined by World Press Photo award-winner Walter Astrada's shot of a Guatemalan femicide victim - a shot so powerful it took the single image prize. The prints are currently being made up by Spectrum Photos, one of Europe's leading fine art printers, and both photographers have also won a Canon EOS 5D MkII - an upgrade from the 5D - courtesy of Canon.

The British Journal of Photography's International Photography Award 2008 is on show from 25 - 29 November at the Association of Photographers' Gallery, 81 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4QS.

Vice Magazine has launched an international photography prize, alongside online youth forum Ctrl.Alt.Shift, a Christian Aid initiative.

Photographers are invited to enter images exploring gender, power and poverty and, if picked out for the first prize will receive £1000, a brand new digital SLR, editorial space in Vice and on Ctrl.Alt.Shift, and an exhibition at a major London gallery alongside legendary photographic artist Nan Goldin. Goldin also heads up the judging panel, which includes five other 'mentors' - celebrity Alexa Chung, photographers Ben Rayner and Valerie Philips, photographer and Vice photo editor Alex Sturrock and Vice editor Andy Capper, who will pick out 14 runners up.

For more information, visit the competition site.

Camera manufacturers' advertising campaigns don't always set BJP's collective heart beating but Canon's most recent effort is a definite exception.

Featuring four innovative images, each of which uses light to illustrate Canon's mastery of speed, light, motion and detail, it's a cut above the norm and naturally we wondered who'd shot it. Perhaps Dan Tobin Smith, famous for his innovative use of light? Maybe Jonathan Knowles, master of the liquid still life?

The answer was a bit of a surprise - Rick Guest, best-known for his innovative 'jumping' ad portraits. But we felt smug about it nonetheless - Guest was our cover star just a few months ago. Good to see him going from strength to strength and pushing his portfolio forwards.

BJP's annual event is now underway. For a live feed of the talks check http://www.twitter.com/1854.

Celebrated advertising photographer Nadav Kander is speaking at the Royal Geographical Society, London SW7 2AR, on 18 November. He'll be in conversation with Joanna Pitman of The Times, and will showcase his recent personal project, Yangtze, The Long River.

Tickets cost £10 in advance or £15 on the door. For more information, or to book, visit the Photovoice site or call 020 7033 3878. BJP carried an article on Kander's work in China back in July.

Thousands of commuters in New York City were greeted with a free copy of what appeared to be the New York Times on Wednesday morning, only to find it dated 04 July 2009 and bearing the headline ‘IRAQ WAR ENDS’.

Fronting a photograph of Apache helicopters in flight, the spoof newspaper carried articles ‘reporting’ the indictment of President Bush for high treason, the nationalisation of major oil companies and the introduction of a maximum wage.

The bona fide New York Times notes that an anonymous email statement was circulated to the news media regarding the spoof and included claims that it had taken six months in preparation and had achieved a distribution figure of 1.2 million. The latter is dubious to say the least, given that it’s greater than the real newspaper’s own figures.

The Guardian reports that a group of leftwing activists called the Yes Men were responsible for the distribution of the fake NYT, while it had been funded by a number of wealthy donors and written by journalists from a variety of New York newspapers.

The photographs used in the publication, however, appear to be genuine and featured legitimately, having apparently been sourced either from the photographic skills of the pranksters themselves or through free distribution from various organisations.

You can view a website for the elaborately conceived spoof here – complete with fake adverts for many global companies.

Japanese photographer Satoshi Minakawa came to London in 2005 and hit the ground running, signing up with respected agency Blunt and shooting for blue-chip companies such as Land Rover. He was BJP's cover star back in April 2007, and has been going from strength to strength ever since - I like to think we had a hand in it but I have to admit it's down to his own hard work too, particularly on his 'Customized' personal project.

Depicting the modified bikes, cars and trucks of Japan, these crazy images have now won a solo show all of their own at DIY lab theprintspace, London, 27 November - 14 January 2009. Get along there and get inspired, for your photography if not your wheels.

After weeks of ad teases, Red has gone live with its announcement of its DSMC (Digital Stills and Motion Camera) System – which many think will change the way we think about image capture forever.

The hybrid system is available in multiple configurations, based around one of two 'brains' – the Scarlet, or the higher-spec Epic – with sensor sizes available from 2/3-inch to 6x17cm, reportedly delivering still image resolutions ranging from 4.9 million pixels to a whopping 261 million, together with full-frame motion picture capability.

Add to the brains with the many various lenses and accessories, Red is only half-joking when it boasts there are '2,251,799,813,685,248 possibilities (as of today)'.

'An extreme case of multiple personalities' indeed.

'Scarlet will launch in four choices ranging from $2500 (and possibly less) to $12,000 with a variety of lens mounts (yes, Canon and Nikon) capable of shooting 3K @120fps on up to 6K @30fps,' reports Endgadget. 'Epic will offer similar mounts with capabilities spanning 5K @100fps ($28k) to 9K @50fps ($45k) - a 28K system hitting 25fps is expected in 2010 for $55k. Still image resolutions will range from 4.9 megapixels to a freakish 261 megapixels. The first Scarlet systems could come as early as Spring of 2009 while Epic should arrive by summer.'

But there's more. Namely, the unnamed '5D Mark II-killer'.

'We believe, and are developing for late 2009, a replacement for DSLRs,' says Jim Jannard, founder of Red on the RedUser site today. 'Currently, we call it a DSMC (Digital Still & Motion Camera). 'While (insert code name) is not a replacement for Epic or Scarlet, it is strategically targeted at the DSLR space. As Nikon and Canon release their 720P and 1080P, respectively, DSLRs with video capture... Red has a more advanced view of the future. We look forward to rapidly pushing the "big guys" along in feature sets and capabilities.

'Red firmly believes in higher resolution, higher S/N, higher DNR, higher frame rates, smaller bodies, more system flexibility, and many more options as we move forward in camera development.

'The strength of Red is in our sensor development program, "REDCODE", and having no legacy platforms to deal with. That left us free to explore, develop and prepare to deliver a new platform. DSMC.

'We think all our customers already know what the future will bring. They are just afraid to wish for it for fear of disappointment. Fear not. Sleep tight. Red is awake.'

Our friends over at PDN have some background and analysis of the new Scarlet and Epic systems.

"Red's announcement [yesterday] is the media technology equivalent of Barack Obama saying that not only is he going to deliver on his campaign promises, he's going to offer every American a lifetime of high-quality universal health care, a top-notch education through college, and balance the budget and grow the economy... in the first year. And by the way, we're pulling out of Iraq which is going to become peaceful and democratic. But any of this is subject to change - count on it."

Via PDNPulse, here's some analysis on yesterday's Red camera announcement from Merge, a US-based company specialising in still and motion capture.

Feeling the pinch from the credit crunch?

Some interesting debate on our forum over at bjp-online.com.

The Frontline Club in London is having another one of its photography events next week. Award-winning photographer Gideon Mendel has been documenting the impact of HIV/Aids in Africa for more than 12 years, working in 10 different countries to show the many ways the disease has devastated the lives of millions of ordinary people.

On Wednesday 26 November, he will be presenting his work and discuss his findings. Mendel has worked on in-depth photo projects for many global publications, most notably for the Guardian and in conjunction with the HIV/Aids Alliance.

Born in Johannesburg, Mendel began working as a photographer in 1983. He was recognised as a key photographer of change and conflict in South Africa in the lead up to Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. In 2003, he released the book: A Broken Landscape, HIV and Aids in Africa. He is represented by Corbis.

1854 will have a live-streaming video of the talk starting at 7.30pm on 26 November. For more information and to meet with Mendel, visit the Frontline Club.

Yesterday, the Dow Jones lost 5.1% of its value amid recession fears. 'So far, Japan, Hong Kong and European countries including Germany and Italy are officially in recession,' according to the Associated Press. 'Most expect the U.S. and Britain to be joining them soon, whatever fiscal stimulus policy-makers come up with in the coming days and weeks.'

We wrote over the past few weeks that this downturn could affect photographers' businesses. 'Photographers are going to have to look at diversification,' warned Nik Stewert, the national marketing manager of Aaduki Multimedia. 'It's doom and gloom I'm afraid.'

Now, Vincent Laforet, a top New York-based commercial and editorial photographer, is weighing in with his own assessment of the situation. And it's gloomy.

In his latest blog post, he writes: 'My outlook for the print industry is now quite dire - in many ways this economic downturn may lead to an incredible series of layoffs and failures in the upcoming year that our industry has never seen before. What I assumed would happen over the next 3-5 years - may happen in the next year or two - precipitated by this economic downturn that we’re experiencing.'

He continues: 'Newspapers and magazines are facing the absolute perfect storm. The problem is that as we all know, both subscribers and advertisers are seeing a very very sharp decline. This is why you’re seeing incredibly cut backs in budgets, and massive layoffs. Publications are cutting the fat - and more often than not - into the bone - and guaranteeing their extinction long term.'

But the real sign that things are going down the drains is this: 'Companies are slowly (I’d say rapidly) completely clamping down on their advertising budgets. And when companies stop spending money on ads, things get REAL bad, real quick for everyone. The ad agencies suffer, the producers, assistants and commercial photographers suffer, and the newspapers suffer - all the way down to newspaper staff as there are no ads to run, and there is no money to pay salaries…'

Saying that Laforet has a point would be an understatement. Time Inc is cutting hundreds of jobs. The Christian Science Monitor and PC World are stopping their print editions to focus on solely on online activities. The New York Times is seeing its numbers fall. Even BJP's own publishing company is restructuring to face off the crisis.

However, while Laforet warns that revenues will be sharply reduced in 2009, this should not prevent photographers from trying new things. A report by the European Business Awards published today says that entrepreneurs can benefit from the crisis if they seize opportunities when others see only risk, and if they have a high level of competence in evaluating risk and mitigating against the downside. ' You need to stay focused on your goal,' says Laforet. 'BUT - stay nimble - embrace change and new technology. If your aim is to work at the NYTimes as a still photographer - you’re headed for a brick wall. If you want to work for those organizations (or others!!!) doing a mix of photography and other media - you’ll be just fine. Find a way to set the pace for the industry - don’t try to let them set the pace for you. Be a leader - not a follower.'

Photographers can be honoured in many ways – winning a prestigious award such as the World Press Photo perhaps, or being knighted by the Queen. However, an American nature photographer has now been given the rare honour of having a mountain named after him.

Ira Spring, who died in 2003, was a keen climber who spent his life exploring and photographing wilderness areas in the US and across the rest of the world. He was also a dedicated campaigner for the protection of the American wilderness, which led to him being awarded a Roosevelt Conservation Award by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 (so presumably he would have been unhappy at this recent news). As reported in the Seattle Times, Spring’s photographs of remote parts of his home state of Washington may have featured in as many as a million copies of various books and guides.

The mountain chosen to be named after the photographer is fittingly inaccessible – the 5,700-foot Ira Spring mountain cannot be viewed by road and there is no trail leading to its peak.

This is not the first time photography has influenced the naming of the America’s expansive geography. In 1948, a group of surveyors exploring a previously undocumented area of Utah even named the region after the brand of film they used, and the Kodachrome Basin State Park was born.

Come and meet with BJP's team and this year's winner of our International Photography Award: Beso Uznadze.

When: Tuesday 25 November at 6.30pm.
Where: The Association of Photographers' Gallery, 81 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4QS.

Beso Uznadze's stunning images of Georgians both at home and in London, which won the portfolio category award, will take up most of the Association of Photographers' gorgeous split-level space. But his work will also be joined by World Press Photo award-winner Walter Astrada's shot of a Guatemalan femicide victim - a shot so powerful it took the single image prize. The prints are currently being made up by Spectrum Photos, one of Europe's leading fine art printers, and both photographers have also won a Canon EOS 5D MkII - an upgrade from the 5D - courtesy of Canon.

The exhibition will run until 29 November.

Ever wonder what happens to the clothes you donate to charity?

Photographer Tim Mitchell decided to find out, travelling to northern India with an anthropologist, following a trail that passed through recycling operations through to bustling market places.

The resulting story, India Recycled, can be seen at one of London's hidden gems, the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill (be sure to check out the stuffed walrus and other exotica in the museum's Natural History Gallery), which runs to 25 January.

This Thursday evening (27 November, 7-8pm) there's a free talk based around the exhibition, with the photographer, anthropologist and photographic historian Helen James all contributing.

Havana. Ministry of Industry. Ernesto GUEVARA (Che), Argentinian politician, Minister of industry (1961-1965) during an exclusive interview in his office © René Burri

On 04 December, photographer René Burri will present a lecture on his extensive work in Cuba; from his iconic portraits of Che Guevara to his more recent studies of Castro’s Cuba in the early 90s.

He has spent considerable time in the country and has been a frequent visitor since the 1960s, when he first shot the Ministry of Industry, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara.

The talk is held in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Cuba: 50 years of Revolution’ which is on from 03 December 2008 till 30 January 2009.
To view some of the pictures click here.

The group exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution and shows Magnum Photos’ long engagement with the country.

Included here are Eve Arnold’s images from before the revolution, of the unfolding of events in 1959 taken by Burt Glinn and Bob Henriques, portraits of the main protagonists, Fidel and Che by René Burri, Elliot Erwitt and Andrew St George and of life under Castro in the crumbling beauty of Havana by Alex Webb, David Alan Harvey and Christopher Anderson.

Rene Burri’s talk starts on 04 December at 6.30pm at The Cochrane Theatre. Tickets are £8 (£5 for concessions). Booking is essential: info@cochranetheatre.co.uk or call 020 7269 1606.

‘Cuba: 50 years of Revolution’ is open from Wednesday to Friday, 11.00am till 4.30pm at the Magnum Print Room.

Last night, Georgian photographer Beso Uznadze received his BJP International Photography Award at the Association of Photographers' Gallery. More than 200 people came out for the exhibition's private view, with Canon offering the photographer a EOS 5D Mark II camera.

Beso Uznadze receiving his Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR from Anna Ghosh, Canon's public relations manager.

The exhibition runs until Saturday 29 November at the Association of Photographers' Gallery, 81 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4QS.

Vincent Laforet and Dan Chung both shot new videos using Canon's EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR. It's the second time Laforet has shared a movie he made using the first DSLR that can shoot 1080 high-definition video.

See Laforet's movie below.

Dan Chung, a photographer with the Guardian newspaper, has shot a video using the latest Canon 5D Mark II camera, which has HD-video capabilities.

Here is the video:

Canon EOS5DmkII, One night in Beijing. from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

Tonight, starting at 7.30pm London time (or 2.30pm Eastern Time), the Frontline Club is hosting another one of its photography events with award-winning photographer Gideon Mendel. He has been documenting the impact of HIV/Aids in Africa for more than 12 years, working in 10 different countries to show the many ways the disease has devastated the lives of millions of ordinary people.

Here is the live stream of the discussion, which will start at 7.30pm.

Live Video streaming by Ustream

Digital Observer has a fascinating account of a lost suitcase (not Mexican this time) full of images showing the devastating effects of the 06 August 1945 Hiroshima bomb.

The photographs, discovered amidst a pile of rubbish by Don Levy in 2000, have now been identified as having belonged to Lt. Robert L Corsbie, a US Navy officer and a member of the Physical Damage Division set up by the US Army to document the effects of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

'When I opened the suitcase that night I knew what I was looking at almost right away,' Levy told Digital Observer. 'I felt pleased to have found them but at the same time I was saddened by what I was looking at.'

'We see death and disaster all over TV but these photographs are different, maybe because they are physical objects' Levitt said. 'They don’t represent the horror, exactly, because there are no bodies. They’re clinical. But the power of them is really intense. Why is that? I think it’s because I can’t help but place myself behind the lens. What was that guy feeling when he took the photos? He was clicking and whirling, clicking and whirling. These photographs seem real, connected to the event. They have a power in them. I never would have thrown away that suitcase on purpose.'

The 701 images, date back to the weeks following the US attack, and after some investigation it has emerged that they had been accidentally thrown out by Marc Levitt, who had acquired them from a friend in 1972.

Adam Levy’s (no relation) interview with Don Levy can be read in full here.

Today, The Guardian published a column by Wendy Grossman on the alleged 'heavy-handed tactics picture agencies use when pursuing payment.' She cites the case of a church in Lichfield, Staffordshire, that was recently asked to pay a £6000 bill by Getty Images for using two photographs on its website.

When creating the church’s website, a volunteer had included a couple of images sourced from Getty, without paying for them. A couple of months later, Getty sent the church a demand for £6000, according to Grossman.

Apparently, many small businesses have come across the problem of copyright infringement. And many have complained about the ‘heavy-handed’ enforcement tactics used. But Alison Crombie of Getty explains that ‘the thing we try to do is just have a conversation with the customer. We make them aware that it has happened, and that they need to look at addressing it and making sure it’s licensed.’

And one wonders why a lot of photographers are still afraid on the Internet.

Read the column here.

It was inky, it was grimy, it was disarmingly acute - Shoreditch Twat. Originally launched in 1999 as a club listings guide it soon mushroomed into an in-house magazine for the East End scene, satirising and celebrating the new breed of meeja luvvies in all their glory and excess years before Nathan Barley got there. It lasted for four years and 31 issues, surviving three libel threats and 16 defamation of character charges.
Now it's back, in a phoenix-like rebirth (or perhaps ratlike refusal to die), with an exhibition in - where else - Hoxton Square. Never Knowingly Understood opens at KK Outlet on 04 December at 7pm, and runs until 31 December.

With only a week left before Michael Joseph’s iconic images are put in temporary storage, its time for all die hard Rolling Stoners to head to Soho’s Blink Gallery to enjoy the visual delights that the Beggars Banquet Collection has to offer.

Picture courtesy of the Soho’s Blink Gallery.

Michael Joseph’s legendary images, dating back to 1968, were commissioned for the Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet album, and remain a faithful example of his trademark use of large group scenes with people and animals interacting.

Although Brian Jones had been busted for drugs the day before, the results of the two day shoot, which took place at Sarum Chase, the former home of Victorian society painter Frank Owen Salisbury, and Swarkestone, built in 1632 for bear-baiting and jousting, are more than a sight for sore eyes.

The images range from atmospheric black and white portraits of Mick Jagger, captivating in their nonchalance, to the juxtaposition of washed out background colour and the bright Victorian-inspired styling in the group shots.

A fine art quality transpires this collection, allowing surreal scenes involving goats, cows and the four, often bored, Rolling Stones, to inhabit a regal dining room and relax in its opulence. Lucky for some, eh?

Although it is more than a travesty that over 75% of the images have never been exhibited or seen by the public before, luckily, all Michael Joseph and Rolling Stones enthusiasts have at least a week to feast their eyes on music’s most notorious banquet.

The chatter is picking up about a new Nikon pro camera being released soon. Engadget, a subsidiary of AOL, is reporting sightings of the 24.5 million pixel resolution digital SLR, the D3x. While press contacts at Nikon UK are keeping quiet at the moment, it is the company itself that leaked the news through its own professional magazine. And if that wasn't enough, both Nikon USA and Nikon Germany websites have momentarily made available online pages about the D3x. Of course, the pages were take down within hours, but that was not fast enough for the thousands of photography fans who spend hours looking for any new product.

Hints of the new camera were even revealed in a Nikon D3 firmware update in April. Some clever photographers had found in that firmware the mention of a 24.4 million pixel resolution D3x DSLR. At the time we wrote: 'Nikon cameras, such as the D40 and its update the D40x, often share similar firmwares suggesting that the D3 firmware was developed alongside a new D3X model. If so, the D3X could be released later this year.' (BJP, 23 April)

The same happened in August when both Nikon and Canon were about to announce their D90 and 5D Mark II respectively. And the Nikon D700 wasn't spared either with a complete list of features made public weeks before Nikon officially announced the camera. Of course, Nikon and Canon are not the only victims: Sony also saw its Alpha 900 camera leaked a few days before launch.

With the exponential rise of the Internet, is the age of press embargoes over? If we come to think of it, with the thousands of employees Nikon has working on new products (from the conception to the promotion) in dozens of countries, isn't the news of a new product bound to be leaked before its official announcement? Websites have even been created by fans to collect all of these rumours.

Anyway, if you head over to Engadget's website, you'll learn all about this 24.5 million pixel resolution camera with a 5fps burst rate (or 7fps at 10 megapixels), an ISO range of 50-6400, 51 AF points, Live View, scene recognition features and a 3-inch wide monitor.

Or maybe Nikon leaked a fake pro magazine and two web pages to throw all of us off-track...

The photo of the upcoming Nikon D3x is now making the round on the Internet. Now, even retailers are posting images and news of the upcoming release of Nikon's new flagship professional camera. Here is one of the pictures that has circled the net over the past few days.