Sunday, May 23, 2010

PHOTOGRAPHY Hunters Of The Far North: Eskimo & Aleut by Kiyoshi Yagi

#PHOTOGRAPHY
Hunters Of The Far North: #Eskimo & #Aleut by Kiyoshi Yagi
http://ow.ly/1OSy2
#Siberia #Alaska #Canada #Greenland

[excerpt, see photos at the above URL]

He works in a manner that has completely disappeared in my part of the world, photographing on 8 by 10 inch sheet film – the size of a magazine page – and printing them on hand coated paper.

Eskimo and Aleut, by Kiyoshi Yagi

The Eskimo and the Aleut, the hunters of the far north, reside across four countries from the Chukotka Peninsula in Siberia (Russia), through Alaska (U.S.A.) and Canada, to Greenland (Denmark). They live mainly along the coast and partly in inland mountain country of Arctic Alaska and Canada. The Aleut live in Komandorskie Ostrova in Siberia and the Aleutian Islands in the southwest of Alaska.

Existing beyond the most distant horizons of most of earth's inhabitants, the cultures of these native peoples are under unprecedented pressure from the outside world. They have experienced dramatic social changes within the last half century and also significant decline in the number of people who can speak their first languages.

The prohibition of speaking any native languages started at school from the beginning through to the middle of the 20th century in most areas of the north of America to assimilate the Native people. Consequently, the English language has become the major language for young people, and today many of them have difficulties in communicating with their elders who are, on the other hand, unable to understand English. If this pattern continues, it is only a matter of time until their native languages and cultural values completely disappear. Without their native languages the youth are in danger of losing a significant part of their cultural identity.

I have started traveling to Native villages with my 8×10 large format camera to photograph northern hunters in the family portrait style since 1994. I always include more than three or more generations to capture diverse values and historical backgrounds in one frame. The vast northern landscape and still life such as hunting equipment are also vital part in my project to show how people are dependent upon the harsh northern environment that surrounds them. The 8×10 inch negatives are printed on hand coated platinum-palladium papers that have rich tonal range and superb storage stability. It is my ultimate goal to complete my project by uniting Eskimo and Aleut people irrespective of national boundaries.



Monday, May 17, 2010

PBS video of Ursula K. LeGuin novel "Lathe of Heaven"

The best science fiction film I have ever seen.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Arctic Stock Images

Arctic Stock Images « Images and footage from the #Arctic circle & #Antarctica http://ow.ly/1JAIe

Arctic Stock Images

Professional royalty free stock images and footage for commercial and personal use

Arctic Stock Images is a royalty free stock photography archive aiming to provide customers with affordable stock images and footage from the arctic and Antarctica. We have a vast archive of high quality images from the arctic region covering all kinds of topics - taken by more than 70 photographers specializing in arctic photography.

Find arctic photos of GlaciersPolar Bears, Penguins, Inuits, Cities and much more.

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Friday, May 07, 2010

Yellowknife filmmakers are delivering a message to ITI Minister Bob McLeod today

Yellowknife filmmakers are delivering a message to ITI Minister Bob McLeod today

Daron Letts
Northern News Services
Published Friday, May 7, 2010

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWNIFE - Southern film producers who phone the NWT Film Commission to ask about shooting a television or film production in the territory are greeted by a friendly and familiar voice.

NNSL  photo/graphic

Great Slave MLA Glen Abernethy: ITI should develop a NWT film commission.

"Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system," she says. "At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording you may hang up..."

The commission's web page on the GNWT Department of Industry Tourism and Investment (ITI) website is only slightly more helpful. It introduces visitors to a small selection of goods and services needed by visiting film crews, such as catering. Out of seven Yellowknife restaurants listed, three no longer exist. The site also underestimates Yellowknife's population by about 1,000 people and misspells "writing" and other simple words.

"There is not a real film commission in the NWT," said Great Slave MLA Glen Abernethy. "But there is a significant opportunity here, I believe, to support the film industry and not necessarily with a lot of money. Hopefully we can convince ITI to establish an NWT film commission."

Abernethy and Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins are joining several members of Yellowknife's film industry this afternoon to ask ITI Minister Bob McLeod to launch an independent feasibility study into the value of building a proper film commission in the territory. Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley is out of town and is not able to attend the meeting.

"We are the only province or territory that has no film commission, technically, to speak of," said Jay Bulckaert, one of the professional filmmakers who initiated today's meeting. "We want the government to really hear from us. We're here. We're serious. We're professional. We exist."

Filmmakers Pablo Saravanja, France Benoit and Amos Scott are also meeting with the minister today.

Scott, a producer with the Native Communications Society, said they would like the minister to swiftly establish a film commission advisory committee composed of industry professionals who could help educate the department about the needs and concerns of independent filmmakers. A feasibility study would illuminate the benefits for private industries, such as hotels, restaurants, equipment rentals, commercial airlines, private charters, vehicle rentals and other transportation, as well as spinoffs of employment opportunities and tourism promotion.

The filmmakers also want the department to institute a full-time film commissioner who is knowledgeable about the industry and its potential, Scott said.

He would like to see ITI commit small funding to filmmakers to make short productions such as music videos that they could use to gain credibility for applying to federal grants to produce larger work in the NWT.

"Many of the government's funds that are out there don't accommodate film and TV and we need to change that attitude in government so it becomes a viable option in the territory," he said. "Being realistic, we have some short term policy goals that the GNWT can accomplish without very much money involved. The easiest thing they can do is provide up to date and relevant information on their website."

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Model release From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_release

A model release, known in similar contexts as a liability waiver, is a legal release typically signed by the subject of a photograph granting permission to publish the photograph in one form or another. The legal rights of the signatories in reference to the material is thereafter subject to the allowances and restrictions stated in the release, and also possibly in exchange for compensation paid to the photographed.

Publishing an identifiable photo of a person without a model release signed by that person can result in civil liability for whoever publishes the photograph.

Note that the photographer is typically not the publisher of the photograph, but sells the photograph to someone else to publish. Liability rests solely with the publisher, except under special conditions. It is typical for the photographer to obtain the model release because he is merely present at the time and can get it, but also because it gives him more opportunity to sell the photograph later to a party who wishes to publish it. Unless a photo is actually published, the need (or use) of a model release is undefined. And, since some forms of publication do not require a model release (e.g., news articles), the existence (or non-existence) of a release is irrelevant.

Note that the issue of model release forms and liability waivers is a legal area related to privacy and is separate from copyright. Also, the need for model releases pertains to public use of the photos: i.e., publishing them, commercially or not. The act of taking a photo of someone in a public setting without a model release, or of viewing or non-commercially showing such a photo in private, generally does not create legal exposure, at least in the United States.

The legal issues surrounding model releases are complex and vary by jurisdiction. Although the risk to photographers is virtually nil (so long as proper disclosures of the existence of a release, and its content is made to whoever licenses the photo for publication), the business need for having releases rises substantially if the main source of income from the photographer's work lies within industries that would require them (such as advertising). In short, photo journalists never need to obtain model releases for images they shoot for (or sell to) news or qualified editorial publications.

Photographers who also publish images need releases to protect themselves, but there is a distinction between making an image available for sale (even via a website), which is not considered publication in a form that would require a release, and the use of the same image to promote a product or service in a way that would require a release. Whether or not publishing a photo via the internet requires a release is currently being debated in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. It is likely that any and all exposure to the public of unreleased photos via any vehicle will constitute civil liability for the photographer. As such, in a strict sense, photographers of unreleased photos, especially photographs primarily depicting recognizable people, have no meaningful claim to copyright in and to such works, since inherent in the constitutional right of copyright is a "right" to "copy," meaning to publish. Since most legal advisors now argue that any photo of a person for which a signed model release does not exist leaves a publisher susceptible to civil action, it cannot be argued that any "right to copy" inheres to such images. As a result, the thrust of current laws will gradually efface from public view all but commercial photographs (photographs commissioned to assist in the marketing of products) and so-called "news photographs," which have not historically been required to secure releases from their subjects but which bear the additional burden, should their legitimacy be legally challenged, of proving that the event photographed was "newsworthy" in nature.