PDN - May 2012

Paula Lerner Dies
Paula Lerner, a leading advocate for the rights
of editorial photographers and an Emmy award-
winning photojournalist, died of cancer at her home
outside of Boston on March 6. She was 52. http://
bit.ly/wmjdB7

Utah Weighs Bill to Criminalize Photos
of Farm Operations
The Utah legislature is considering a law to
criminalize photography of farm operations without
permission of the farm owners, but critics say it
could be unconstitutional because many farm
operations are on public lands. http://bit.ly/x TLMPO

Lillian Bassman Dies Fashion photographer Lillian Bassman, whose high contrast black-and-white fashion images from the Forties through the Sixties enjoyed a popular resurgence 15 years ago, died in New York City on February 13. She was 94. http:// bit.ly/yh6zuo

From Lillian Bassman: Lingerie,
a book recently published by
Abrams.

Justin Maxon Wins
$15,000 Alexia
Foundation Grant
The San Francisco-based photographer won the
2012 grant to complete a project exploring “the
frightening reality of how many murders go
unsolved every year in America.” Kathryn Cook won
a Judges Special Recognition Award for a project
about the 1915 Armenian genocide, while Katie
Orlinsky won the student award for her project on
Mexico’s drug war. http://bit.ly/xAayUS

Photog Sues Quincy Jones for Infringement Photographer Michael D. Jones filed suit in Los Angeles alleging that, after he refused to sign away the copyright to his 1995 image of Quincy Jones for $6,500, the legendary music producer provided it anyway to a headphone manufacturer for use in ads and promotions. http://bit.ly/zm4VmA

Samuel Aranda Wins 2012 World Press
Photo of the Year
The Spanish photographer won the 55th annual
contest for an image of a veiled woman comforting
an injured relative during demonstrations in
Yemen, the World Press Organization announced on
February 10 in Amsterdam. http://bit.ly/z6dmMi

PDNEWS

Chaskielberg used a large-format camera to portray the effects of famine. Many pastoralist families who have lost their livestock during the drought have migrated to and settled in areas by Lake Turkana.

have projects and then together we talked about what would make the strongest story in order to decide what subjects to photograph.

PDN: Were there any notable logistical challenges
in reaching or working with the subjects?
AC: In general the subjects reacted well when we
explained how the process works, and the big-
gest difficulty was traveling in the desert at night.
Oxfam has a responsible and strict security policy,
and it doesn’t permit its vehicles to move around
in the dark. They made an exception in order to
enable [me] to do this work. Another difficulty oc-
curred when several women we wanted to pho-
tograph felt uncomfortable being out of their
houses at night, so we had to return the follow-
ing day to photograph them and then when they
got to know us better, we returned to photograph
them again at night.

PDN: How much time did you have for the
assignment?
AC: One week.

PDN: Did a lack of moonlight create any problems,
and if so, how did you handle that?
AC: I had only 15 minutes of good moonlight dur-
ing the whole week, and it was something I didn’t
anticipate. The images I had in mind weren’t go-
ing to happen and I had to work primarily with
artificial light.

PDN: What other lights do you typically use to
supplement the moonlight when you create each
tableau? Do assistants stand and hold them?
AC: I used a hand-held strobe and also a set of dif-
ferent flashlights. I managed all the lights, walking
around the scenes while I was photographing and
illuminating them.

PDN: I gather you shoot film rather than digitally. Is that for esthetic reasons, technical reasons or both? AC: Photography satisfies me only when I use film, and when I print in a wet darkroom. Although at times I use digital capture to see what the result of a night shot will be, and I also use digital capture in case I can’t photograph with film for technical reasons or because of time constraints.

PDN: What type of camera do you use?

AC: A Sinar Norma 4 x 5.

PDN: What type of film do you use? AC: Positive film: [Fujichrome] Provia 100F and Kodak E100G.

PDN: How long are the exposures, typically?

AC: Eight minutes.

PDN: You mentioned in another interview that
you are planning a road trip throughout Latin
America for a new project that uses photography
in a more experimental way. Can you elaborate at
all about that?
AC: Right now I’m “in the kitchen” for my next proj-
ect. I’m trying different color processes in prepara-
tion for a series of Latin American subjects.