pictures to prove it™

here is the story from the online photographer.

Stephen Mallon might be sitting on some of the most newsworthy pictures never seen.

Stephen, a New York City industrial photographer, was hired by Weeks Marine, the maritime crane company involved in the recovery of US Airways Flight 1549 from the Hudson River, to document the recovery process.

Those who have seen the pictures say he did a wonderful job. He was given unlimited access on the water, to the plane’s interior, virtually anywhere he wanted to go. He had the full cooperation and blessing of his immediate client, Weeks Marine; of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB); and of USAirways. He never signed a Work for Hire agreement, and the documents he did sign gave him normal rights to publish the work non-commerically—like, on his website, where he posted them as he got them edited. The best shots from the more than 5,000 captures he made amounted to “an incredible, beautiful document of the recovery,” according to Pulitzer-Prizewinning photo editor Stella Kramer, who saw them.

That’s when the funny business started. Stephen put the pictures up on his website, where they were viewable for about a week. Then he got a correction from the NTSB: no, he could not “go live” with the pictures. So he took them down.

Two weeks later, the NTSB released them, so up they went again. Subsequent to that, he got a letter from J. Supor & Son, a land-based crane company, saying they were asserting their rights as his client based on their ownership of Weeks Marine, which, you recall, had hired Stephen in the first place.

Then he got a letter from insurance giant AIG—yup, that AIG—asserting that Stephen has no rights to his pictures, and that the pictures absolutely can’t be released to anyone, ever—not even news outlets for news purposes. AIG sought total suppression of the work, indefinitely.

Based on…what rights, explicitly? Stephen isn’t sure. AIG is US Airways’ insurer. Ultimately, they’ll be paying for the salvage operation and for a new airplaine. But they weren’t Stephen’s client.

The ASMP is urging him to proceed with caution, for which I emphatically don’t blame him—a sole proprietor photographer has a hard enough row to hoe as it is, without a giant multinational corporation trying with all their might to make his life miserable.

And based on…what motivation, exactly? Why is AIG seeking to suppress the photos of the recovery? It’s not like they can cover up the fact that the plane ended up in the Hudson River. No one’s disputing that. It’s been reported all over the world. And why would US Airways participate in a cover-up? If ever there was one, the Hudson River crash was an example of an airline doing everything right! Not a single life was lost; the pilot and crew performed bravely and brilliantly, and are national heroes as a result—they got a standing O from the U.S. Congress, for Pete’s sake. It’s hard to imagine a better outcome for a dire emergency situation that results in a crash landing. If you had to be in a plane crash, wouldn’t you want it to be a US Airways flight with the intrepid Sully Sullenberger at the controls? So why the cover up?

Stephen can’t figure it out. And he has the photos…not just the ones that were posted on his site, but, of course, all his shooting from the scene. And he can’t see anything incriminating about the pictures. You and I, of course, can’t see for ourselves.

The national news media has yet to pick this story up. I just called up Stephen at his New York studio. He’s got the scoop. NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, NYT, etc.—your move.

So, can you help? Stephen thinks maybe you can. He’s asking members of the public to write or call AIG and US Airways to help put public pressure on them to allow him to release his photos to public view.

While we’re at it, let’s ask them what they think they’re hiding! I for one am curious to know that.

(Also, if you’re a lawyer, what’s your take on this? Obviously Stephen can’t use his clients’ pictures for commercial purposes, but what about their newsworthiness? Does Free Speech trump AIG’s rights to suppress the work? I don’t know, I’m just asking.)

— Mike
(Thanks to KC Chelette and Stephen Mallon)

(via the online photographer)

there are also updates on Stephen’s blog here..

Minneapolis based shooter Scott Streble came up with a unique way to benefit his community. hi fives to Scott for thinking outside of the box. the benefits of this probably couldn’t be measure but the concept is great and im stoked to know their are shooters looking to apply their skills in less than obvious ways.

here is the post from his blog.

—

After receiving numerous requests to shoot portraits of people for use on their resumes, LinkedIn pages, etc,I have come up with an idea.

Next Tuesday, March 24 I will be shooting free portraits for anyone who finds themselves unemployed. Immediately following the photography, which takes approx 10 minutes, I will make digital files that can be used for whatever. (hopefully to help find work)

If you know someone who can benefit from a photo, please have them contact me.

Free Portraits if you are unemployed
Tuesday March 24
NE Mpls Studio (I will email address)

Please forward this email to anyone and everyone

http://www.guestofcindysherman.com

Shamus just send me this. looks pretty good.

Zack Arias verbalizes the soul of an army of American Photographers. Zack thanks for taking the time to do this.

(via jay westcott)

lately i’ve been hassling jay about his love of chrome and leicas. don’t get me wrong, i like film, tristan and i even broke out the 4×5s last week and i’ll be doing more of that, but i hope im never asked to shoot another roll of chrome again. i think im not convinced that the quality difference is significant enough for me to limit myself like that.
i was surfing around tonight though and i noticed a photographer (named dan bayer) who put himself to the test of using 14 rolls of kodachrome to document his inauguration experience. the images look really nice. when chrome is spot on it looks incredible and when it isn’t we still have this nostalgia for it. the look reminds all of us of decades of national geographic. it is a good look and i know there is something to be said for the zen experience of manual focus and 36 frames per roll.

dan also started a movement he calls The Kodachrome Project. congrats to dan. jay and all of you other chrome lovers need to get in touch with dan and unite. you’re kindred spirits.

i recently discovered photographer Shen Wei. his latest creation is a limited edition portfolio style book of his work titled “Almost Naked.”
it looks amazing. i am currently saving my pennies and debating if i should fly to portland or buy this book this week. only 219 editions are available.

i love it when people do their own thing and they do it well.

in honor of the amazing snow we had here in the WDC im posting this great tilt/shift timelapse by Erik West.

Fire (Jimmy Edgar Remix) from Erik West on Vimeo.

© 2008 David Schoerner

Ahorn is an online magazine dedicated to contemporary photography, directed and edited by Daniel Augschoell and Anya Jasbar.

(via croslin)

day in the life of luceo

Stop motion made by Tim Lytvinenko.

after you watch it, you should go buy one of these guys’ prints. you’ve only got until april 15 and you’ll never see them this cheap again.

you can also read their blog and look at their website and i hope it makes you smile cause their are some great and inspired souls out there in the world.

hi fives.