There are no shortcuts.

There have been a few students lately that I wanted to recognize for their effort. Britney McIntosh, Elliott Hess and Kasha Stevenson have been out shooting on a regular basis – almost all of which was not assignment generated – and have been making some very nice, thought provoking images while also building their portfolio. Like I have said over and over and over, the only way to get better is to put yourself out there with a camera in your hand and take some pictures. These three have been doing it and will eventually reap the rewards of building a sense of passion around their work.

Elliott Hess -

You can see more of Elliott’s work on his blog at www.elliotthess.wordpress.com.

Britney McIntosh –

You can see more of Britney’s work on her blog at www.captureamoment.wordpress.com

Kasha Stevenson –

Kasha doesn’t have a blog at the moment, but if she keeps shooting i’m sure more of her work will be appearing on this blog. Also, Kasha was runner up in the shoot out we had a few weeks ago at the strong man competition. Elliot Hess came in first and both get gift certificates to Chipotle for their effort.

Finally, I wanted to turn you guys on the a blog called A Photo Editor. The publisher is an editor at some major magazine, but won’t say which one so he can keep his job. His blog is a really good look at the inside of the photo world, and the people who send photographers on assignments and pay large sums of money for pictures. To get an idea on what level of photographers this guy works with, he send James Nachtwey on assignments.

To see his blog click HERE.

And last but not least, I wanted to end this post with a quote from the A Photo Editor Blog. I keep talking about effort and what it takes to get better and I thought this went along with that theme. work harder.

CPOY

I also wanted to mention that the results from the College Photographer of the Year competition are in. I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend you guys check out the work that your peers are creating. We will be striving to produce photographic work on this level throughout the next year. We will also be looking at some of the results during the Dirty Dozen meeting on Thursday.

VII adds two new members

The photo agency VII (7) has just added two new members, Marcus Bleasdale and Franco Pageitti. Blesdale, among other things, was an Alexia Grant winner for a proposal to document diamond mining in Africa and conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone.

Below is a snippet from an article in PDN magazine about the new additions to VII. Top read the rest of the article and learn more about the work of the two very talented photographers click HERE.

The VII photo agency, which strictly limits its membership, has elected two new members, Marcus Bleasdale and Franco Pagetti.

Both are seasoned documentary shooters who expand VII’s roster of conflict photographers.

The photographers were selected last week at a VII meeting in Pasadena, Calif., where current members considered over 100 applications for membership.

“We are thrilled that Marcus and Franco have agreed to join VII,” said VII chairman Gary Knight in a statement. “For the past decade, they have both demonstrated an indefatigable commitment to some of the most important stories of our time. They are also close friends and colleagues, and we look forward to having them join the VII family.”

Marlboro Marine

First off, sorry for the vast gap in posts recently, I’ll try to be a little more consistent through the rest of the semester.

Our friends over at MediaStorm have put together a piece on the “Marlboro Marine” who was photographed by L.A. Times photographer Luis Sinco in 2004 and became an iconic image of the war. The piece is running on the L.A. Times website right now, which you can see by clicking HERE.