Explore every episode of the podcast Vision Slightly Blurred

After 139 episodes over 3 years, we're wrapping up PhotoShelter's Vision Slightly Blurred podcast. It has been a joy to talk about the intersection of photography, technology and culture and share those thoughts with you, our audience.

In this final episode: Andre D. Wagner is awarded the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship, Jonathan Blaustein shares his knowledge of the photo book publishing process, Michael Luo finds photo surveillance of Chinese immigrants in the 19th century, Gabriel Sanchez starts a new photo blog, New York Nico photographs some of NYC's best signs, and Sarah and Allen wax nostalgic. 

Thanks to everyone for listening!

During COVID with little work to be had, Joe McNally hunkered down to write a book that's part memoir, part business instruction, and part technical manual entitled "The Real Deal: Field Notes from the Life of a Working Photographer." After a four decade long freelance career, Joe brings a refreshingly candid point-of-view along with an entertaining writing style. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss the book and Allen's interview with Joe.

Also: AI Engineer Rashed Haq pushes the definition of "photograph" in Wired, Dimitry Kokh captures a family of polar bears at an abandoned weather station, Miami University sets up an automated photo booth in its career center, and surf photographers capture the massive waves of winter.

Although PDN magazine folded in early 2020, its parent company, Emerald, rechristened the list of up-and-coming photographers as "The 30." This past week, the 2022 edition was released, and as always, the nominating committee and jury did a spectacular job identifying and highlighting some of the industry's most promising talent.

In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen talk about some of their favorite photographers, and compare the look-and-feel of the 2012 edition to see what has changed in the past decade.

Also: Satellites and cellphones capture the devastation caused by the undersea volcano in Tonga, writer Caspar Salmon wonders why "hot man in a suit in a pool" is a thing, and Kanye West hires a photographer to document his date with actress Julia Fox.

Still think NFTs are some fringe idea? Yesterday the Associated Press announced that it will start selling NFTs of some of its iconic images at the end of the month. What will the market bear for photojournalism NFTs? Only time will tell.

Also in this episode: Getty Images recaps some of its photographers work on the anniversary of the January 6 Insurrection, Reuter's Leah Mills does the same on Twitter, NYC Mayor Eric Adams shares an portrait of his mom in a brandy snifter, Greg Miller has a new photo podcast, Instagram is testing chronological feeds, and the James Webb Space Telescope has successfully deployed its mirrors which will allow it to take the best space images EVER.

The end of the year means photo compilations, and Sarah and Allen go through some of their favorites from the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times with work by Allen Schaben, Francine Orr, Marcus Yam, Kent Nishimura, Wally Skald, Jay L. Clendenin, Ashley Gilbertson, Brenda Ann Kenneally, Sergey Ponomarev, Ryan Christopher Jones, Kholook Eid, Sandy Kim, Adam Ferguson, Kenny Houston, Michael Cialgo and more!

Plus Instagram allows users to prevent embedding, and Lina Scheynius wonders why Instagram allows her images to be stolen. Happy Holidays, and here's to a better 2022!

If given the chance to go to space, most photographers would probably gear up. But Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa visited the International Space Station with his iPhone, and still got some stunning images and footage in the process. The best camera is the one you have with you? 

Also in this episode, photojournalist David Butow chronicles the Trump presidency from election to insurrection in his book "Brink," Mary Berridge captures portraits of autism in "Visible Spectrum," Getty Images gets ready to go public (again), Instagram suspends the @metaverse account of artist Thea-Mai Baumann, and Cook and Jenshel capture a gorgeous photo of the Bryant Park Ice Rink in the New Yorker.

Our first ever live taping of Vision Slightly Blurred features one of our favorite photographers. Longtime National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson held court on Friday, Dec 3 as several hundred viewers joined online. 

In this episode, Jim talks about how he used Instagram to engage his audience during the COVID lockdown, his recent collaboration with The Grand Rapids Symphony performing Felix Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, the controversy surrounding the Environmental Photographer of the Year, and Twitter's new privacy policy. 

HBO's "A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks" shares its name with Parks' 1996 autobiography, and although much of the movie creates a visually stunning narrative of major milestones in his life, the documentary also covers the lives of photographers and directors inspired by his work. Devin Allen, Jamel Shabbaz, Latoya Ruby Frasier, Spike Lee, Ana Duvernay, Adger Cowans and more share how their work and relationships with Parks shaped their work. 

Allen and guest host Caitlyn Edwards discuss this and more including: "Afghan Girl" Sharbat Gula is relocated to Italy and we go down a rabbit hole of controversy surround McCurry's image, Instagram censors Madonna's nipple, and photographers capture the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

While most ex-Presidents opt for lengthy memoirs, Donald Trump decided on a photo book as the first post-White House tome. A new publishing company formed by his son, Donald Trump Jr, will start selling "President Trump's Official Photo Book" starting next month for $74.99.

Also on the show: we celebrate the lives of photojournalist Tom Stoddart and music photographer Mick Rock – both of whom passed away in the past week, Allen interviews Shaun Connell and Nana Kofi Acquah about the winning photo from the Environmental Photographer of the Year, and Leica and Vans team up to produce a checkerboard camera.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dina Litovsky built a career on observing candid moments of various subcultures – with some of her best work taken candidly on the streets of New York. A few weeks after a photo taken by one of her former students, Paul Kessel, caused a ruckus on Twitter, Litovsky chimed in on the subject while also referencing two past articles on the subject of ethics and the legality of street photography.

In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen continue the discussion of photography and ethics.

Also: Drew Gurian reveals how he captured Yo-Yo Ma for MasterClass and Aperture and  Paris Photo announced their photo book awards.

In her book "Sovereign," photographer Jocelyn Lee captures the female nude. But instead of the platonic ideal typically captured in the genre, Lee spent 15 years photographing women between 50 and 90 years old with care and compassion. The result is an incredibly compelling and unique body of work.

Also in the show: Facebook removes facial recognition from its platform, ART CINEMA asked artists about the one photo that helped shape their work, and the AP's Emilio Morenatti photographs the surreal beauty of the volcanic ash covered landscape of La Palma.

In 1981, Parsons Institute of Design student Lori Grinker set out to document a small slice of boxing history unfolding at legendary trainer Cus D'Amato's home in the Catskill. A 13-year old Mike Tyson was training to become a world champion, and Grinker's timing couldn't have been any better.

For a decade, Grinker captured the rise and fall of Tyson, forging a friendship along the way with the shy teen who ascended to the top of the heavyweight division at 20 years old, until his first professional loss at the hands of Buster Douglas in 1991.

A set of images is now being sold through the curated design site 1stdibs alongside a forthcoming book "Mike Tyson: 1981-1991". 

Also in the show: Hannah Morales' stunning photos of whale sharks in the Philippines, Frank Herbert captures the weird and eye-catching design of Russian subway stations, Allen places an order for the new Nikon Z9, and a photo of a owl chick is the most popular post on Facebook.

Ethan Moses – purveyor of 3D printed cameras at Cameradactyl – spent the last few weeks in NYC teaching a color reversal printing process using a self-designed and built 20"x24" large format camera. And Vision Slightly Blurred co-host Allen Murabayashi has the prints to prove it. It's a magical process that uses standard RA4 photographic paper and some chemical wizardry to produce a negative-less, one-of-a-kind print. 

Also in the show: The New York Times names staff photographer Josh Haner as its Photo Futurist, and Fujifilm releases a wireless Instax Wide printer. 

The 2021 Milan Photo Festival catalog includes a group exhibition by students at the Istituto Italiano Fotografia on the topic of Dante's Inferno. One of the students, Andrea Sacchetti, produced an image that is virtually identical to a well-known image by Ethiopian artist Aïda Muluneh without attribution.

After @AFWomeninPhoto tweeted about the plagiarism, photo Twitter shook its collective head in dismay, and the Festival issued a statement that "here was no will to plagiarize against such a prestigious author." Nevertheless, Sacchetti's images remain in the exhibition. Muluneh subsequently issued a video response in which she stated "Just because there’s been one post shared and a couple of messages sent, it’s not the end of the conversation."

Also in the show: Nicola Dove captures Daniel Craig in his final outing as James Bond in "No Time to Die" and you can support the rebuilding of South Louisiana following the destruction of Hurricane Ida through PhotographsForLouisiana.com

An image of a young mother in a short dress on a New York City subway raised ethical questions and the ire of some commentators on Twitter. Some found the "award-winning" photo to be stunning, while others questioned the photographer's methods – sitting across from the woman for 45 minutes while holding his camera on his lap.

Unlike the conversation around "newsworthy" images and the First Amendment, street photography often occupies a much creepier and ethically ambiguous space. But what exactly made this image so objectionable? Sarah and Allen discuss.

Also on the show: Emily Ratajkowski tries using the Fair Use defense in her copyright infringement suit, World Press Photo shifts to a regional model, and photographer/director Joshua Kissi says LinkedIn is the real social network for pros. 

Magnum photographer Jonas Bendiksen was troubled by potential for photographers to fabricate a story and photos from scratch using technology and social media to propagate a false narrative. He was so frightened that he "decided to try to to this myself."

The Book of Veles was a conceptual exercise built from background plates photographed in Northern Macedonia and computer generated people. No one in the photojournalism industry seemed to notice, and Bendiksen was even offered an evening presentation at Visa Pour L'Image. But an eagle-eyed Benjamin Chesterton (@duckrabbitblog) spotted a social media avatar that matched one of the subjects in the book, and the intentionally deceptive tale unraveled.

In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss the reaction to the project and the ethical lines that it crosses.

In addition: Paul Ratje's misinterpreted images of Haitian migrants on the US/Mexico border, Instagram postponed the launch of Instagram Kids, and the New York Public Library keeps its image collection open for public browsing.

60 years in the making, Christo's Wrapped Arc de Triomphe opened over the weekend – thrilling Parisians with the artist's first posthumous piece since his death in 2020.  But the installation will only be on display until October 3, after which the pieces will be struck and recycled. Like all of Christo's works, the art lives on in sketches, plans, and photos. 

In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss the role of photography in ephemeral art and compare other works by Ai Wei Wei and Banksy.

Also on the show, Photoville celebrates The New York Times staff photographer Michelle Agins, Facebook knows Instagram is toxic, and Sebastian Salgado wins the Premium Imperiale 2021 award.

With the benefit of two decades of hindsight, Sarah and Allen re-examine the "iconic" photos from September 11 and talk about the need for photographers to re-share their images and experiences with others. 

In the episode, we look at photos from Steven Pyke, Aristede Economopoulos, Stan Honda, James Nachtwey, Suzanne Plunkett, Shannon Stapleton, Robert Clark, Alex Webb, Richard Drew, Robert Clark and more.

Simu Liu, the Chinese-Canadian actor who stars in Marvel's latest blockbuster, revealed that he was once paid $100 to be a stock photo model. Since that single photo shoot in 2014, Liu says he has seen himself on ads hawking everything from software to YMCA memberships. His advice: Think twice before doing a stock photo shoot.

Also in the show: Adam Ferguson documents climate change for TIME over the course of 5 weeks, more and more photographers are publishing newsletters using tools like Substack and Facebook's Bulletin, Facebook apologizes for comparing Black men to primates, and Apple puts its child safety features on pause after experts weigh in.

In late June 2021, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri declared that the service was no longer a photo sharing app, and that the team was focused on "Creators, Video, Shopping and Messaging." While most of the world shrugged, some photographers expressed outrage at what seemed like a betrayal of the medium that put them on the map. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss the implications for photographers and whether  Glass – a new, subscription-based photo sharing app – can fill the void.

Also: Ed Templeton photographers Jonah Hill for GQ, and Professor Michael Lesy goes nostalgic with found photos from the 1970s.

As the Taliban quickly overran major cities in Afghanistan – culminating in the capture of Kabul – civilian and professional photographers captured the unfolding chaos and the heartbreaking reality of on-the-ground despair. 

In this episode of the PhotoShelter podcast, Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss satellite imagery to Falling Man comparisons to photojournalists risking their lives to capture the historical record.

Apple recently announced a new set of features aimed at combatting Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM), which include the ability to scan a user's phone and iMessages. Since the announcement, the company has repeatedly clarified the safeguards that are in place, but privacy advocates have bemoaned the potential for abuse and "mission creep."

The exchange of CSAM imagery through Electronic Service Providers (ESPs) like Facebook, Instagram, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc has reached epidemic-like proportions, and a New York Times report on the issue illustrated how confounding and disturbing the problem has become.

In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss the implication for photographers, and react to the various arguments made by privacy advocates as well as abuse experts.

A photo conspiracy theory is afloat after uncredited, potentially lucrative images of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck on a yacht were released by TMZ. The images affirmed the rumors that the pair had gotten back together after 20 years apart. Others suggested that they were in the midsts of a shot-for-shot recreation of 2002's "Jenny from the Block" music video! Conspiracy or happy couple????

Also on the show: The New York Times goes from the gold with a square crop of the Olympics,  Twitter hosts a hack-a-thon to find bias in their AI, and the New York Public Library announces plans to shutdown public access to a trove of 1 million images that you could check out with your library card.

Ryan Shorosky, photographer and long-haul trucker, built a significant Instagram following while driving a semi around the country. We he made some of his scenic images featuring his signature technicolor skies available for sale, many of his fans jumped at the opportunity. But as the months went by, and the excuses piled on, people started to get suspicious. VICE tracked down some of the victims and Shorosky himself. Is it a case of fraud, or unexpected success coupled with an itinerant life that made fulfillment difficult?

Also on the show: Ken Light published a new book documenting an "empire in decline," Twitter bans a PhD researcher for posting an image of Bree Newsome taking down a confederate flag, a stunning photo of Simone Biles and other Olympic photos, and who says NYC is a cold, heartless place???

Todd Bigelow’s career hasn’t gone exactly as planned. That is to say that no plan from the past few decades could have anticipated the sea of change in the photo industry – from the rapid shift to digital photography to the decimation of staff positions and the rise of the freelance economy. All this has led him to do what any savvy business owner does – pivot with the shifting winds, make informed business decisions, and diversify his income stream. In the process of doing so, he’s become a well-respected business educator, who recently published a book: The Freelance Photographer’s Guide to Success: Business Essentials.

So much of what Todd has been preaching about in the past decade has resonated with me. And after reading his book, I reached out to him to get the lowdown.

Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographer Danish Saddiqui was killed in Afghanistan while covering a conflict between Afghan Security Forces and the Taliban. Saddiqui was the Chief Photographer for Reuters in India and had spent a decade masterfully capturing his home country, as well as much of the Middle East. 

Also in the show: photographers capture the terrible flooding in Western Europe, Instagram "experiences" gain private equity funding, the incredible photos of Wyoming pioneer Lora Webb Nichols, and fashion photographer Mert Alas creates a gin(?)

Caroline Fraser takes the Grand Prize in the 2021 Audubon Photo Awards for a stunning image a Greater Roadrunner backlit through a blanket of dust. It was one of many incredible photos in this year's contest.

Also in the show: PhotoShelter's newest guide to mentorship, Norway enacts legislation requiring advertisers to attach a label indicating manipulated photos, Chinese conglomerate Tencent uses facial recognition to police a cyber curfew, and David Hobby spots content creation studios at the mall. Say what?

Five days after the tragic building collapse in Surfside, Miami, over 150 people are still unaccounted for. Photographers have been on the scene capturing images of the debris along with heartbreaking images of grief. Sarah and Allen discuss coverage from the Miami Herald, Washington Post, and the New York Times.

Also in the show: A Brooklyn apartment is transformed into a content creation studio, the Old Houses of Instagram, Jason Fulford's "Photo No-Nos," and Elinor Carucci captures the beauty of grey hair during COVID.

In a Mother Jones piece, Ramenda Cyrus analyzes A1 coverage of last year's George Floyd protests and contends that the media is still relying on old tropes to represent Black Americans. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Allen and Sarah take a look at her arguments and the supporting voices of author Martin Berger and "Reading the Pictures" publisher Michael Shaw.

Also in the show: The 400 Years Project collects stories of Native Americans, facial recognition errors are preventing people from collecting unemployment, Darnella Frazier receives a special citation from the Pulitzer Prizes for her video of George Floyd being murdered, Emily Ratajkowski sells her NFT for $175,000, and books from Ben Brody, Sebastiao Salgado, and Todd Bigelow.

Unfold, a layout templating app owned by Squarespace, contacted queer photographer Ryan James Caruthers to use 12 of his photos for a Pride Month Instagram feature. When he asked for compensation and to not exploit him especially for Pride, one of the co-founders responded that "I strongly disagree with the sentiment that any effort that doesn't include a dollar sign is 'exploitative.'"

After a flurry of reshares and negative press, Unfold reconsidered their position, apologized, and announced that they would be compensating photographers in the future.

Also: Photojournalist Alicia Vera pens an op/ed in the Washington Post about being sexually harassed by David Alan Harvey, the NYT hires 15 photographers under 25 to capture NYC in the month of May, Instagram sheds some light on their algorithm, and iOS 15 will finally allow you to block exes from appearing in your photo memories.

Police body cams were introduced to create a layer of accountability and to dissuade misconduct.  And while the jury is still out over the effectiveness of the technology, Professor Bryce C. Newell believes they have the potential to "force sensitive data and stressful episodes in private citizens’ lives into public view, easily accessible online."

In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Allen and Sarah discuss the implications of body cam technology and how visual evidence can be both a blessing and a curse for all parties captured on camera.

Also in this episode: TheBlkGaze interviews Black photographers in the UK, Victor Moriyama captures the dangerous "sport" of bus surfing in Brazil, Balenciaga uses deep fakes for its SS22 fashion show, Gary Hershorn is a damn treasure, and the Big Picture Natural World Photographer winners.

Bartram Trail High School in St. John, FL blew up in the news this past week when it was revealed that a yearbook teacher Photoshopped at least 80 female students' portraits because they showed too much cleavage in her estimation. The school has a history of policing female clothing, so this was par for the course and yet another example of the weaponization of photography. Sarah and Allen discuss the ramifications along with the history of yearbooks.

Also: Alan Levenson's awesome photo of Japanese pop star Mariya Takeuchi goes viral, Twitter's algorithm *was* racist, and Laura Rowe captures an incredible storm cloud.

After years of relative calm, tensions between Palestinians and Israelis has escalated in recent days through a series of provocations that have been answered with escalating violence. On the ground, photojournalists have been capturing scenes of chaos, destruction, and heartbreak under the incredibly difficult conditions.

On this episode of the PhotoShelter podcast, Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss how on-the-ground reporting helps bring clarity to the conflict.

Also on the show: Stephen Voss captures the first 100 days of the Biden presidency for Politico, photographer and former public school teacher Meryl Meisler publishes a new book about Bushwick Era Disco, and did you know you can make a full-time living as an astrophotographer?

White House Chief Photographer Adam Schultz inadvertently caused a ruckus when he used an ultrawide angle lens to photograph President Biden, Dr. Jill Biden, former President Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter at their home in GA. The distorted perspective made the Bidens look huge compared to the Carters, and Twitter had a field day. It was so newsworthy that both the New York Times and the Washington Post reported on it. So what the heck, we'll talk about it too!

Also in this episode: Federico Winer uses Google Earth for source images for his Ultradistancia project, Craig McDean photographed a transformed Billie Eilish for British Vogue, and IAMS pet food launches an app that identifies your dog by its nose print.

Instagram is known for being a highly curated destination for photos and video, but a new trend has emerged at the end of the month when users dump all the content they didn't post into a single carousel with no cohesive theme. The end-of-month dump is the new photo album? Sarah and Allen discuss the sociological phenomenon.

Also: It's deja vu with COVID-19 images emerging from the calamity in India, the "Disaster Girl" meme photo sells as a NFT for $500k, Stephanie Hueon Tung writes about Asian-American erasure from the California Gold Rush, and a gorgeous photo of a family making dumplings nets Li Huaifeng the Photographer of the Year 2021 .

Back in March, the artist Beeple sold a digital collage for $69 million. Photographers (and everyone else) suddenly took notice of this relatively new concept of blockchain-based ownership. In the past week, Phase One Ambassador Reuben Wu and longtime Sports Illustrated photographer Walter Iooss Jr sold pieces for nearly $60,000 each. Is it tulip mania or another mechanism for photographers to realize value from their work. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss the pros and cons of NFTs in the art world.

Also, Sotheby's auctions off a set of William Henry Fox Talbot's photos for $1.9 million, publisher Wildsam releases a Texas BBQ edition travel guide, and Emiliano Granado denies being a millenial.

Emiliano Granado, Jared Soares, and Carmen Chan recently launched F*ckGateKeeping – a website and Instagram resource for younger photographers looking to establish themselves in the industry. Their irreverent approach combined with their impressive credentials make this a resource worth checking out.

Also in this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred: Gwen Katz runs desaturated color photos through a colorization AI. The results aren't pretty. Photojournalists attacked by police in MN during Daunte Wright demonstrations. Hulu's got a new reality TV show for photographers called "Exposure. Dawoud Bey has a new book and a career retrospective at the Whitney, Polaroid reintroduced their "Round Frame Edition," and checkout @museumoflostmemories on TikTok.

In the mid- to late-70s, the Khmer Rouge committed a heinous genocide in Cambodia that killed 25% of its population. The government infamously photographed many of these victims at Tuol Sleng, a school which was converted into a torture facility. Inexplicably, retoucher Matt Loughrey decided to colorize and alter the expression of some of the depicted victims of the Cambodian genocide into smiles, and as you might imagine, people were outraged.

In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen discuss the controvery. Plus, the NYT publishes images from 28 different Asian and Asian-American photographers to show what love looks like in a time of hate, American Photography takes a stand on Chinese censorship, and Annie Leibovitz captures poet laureate Amanda Gorman for Vogue.

Over 100 million people in the U.S. have already received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines, and we have the photos to prove it. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred:

- Lindsey Wasson captures the surprised expression of a 98-year old nursing home resident who received an in-person visit from her son for the first time in over a year
- Getty Images acquires Unsplash to take advantage of their ginormous reach
- Chris Buck publishes a new book "Gentlemen's Club: Partners of Exotic Dancers"
- Stephanie Mei-Ling captures "Vaccine Daddy" and creator of @TurboVax, Huge Ma
- and the NYT reports on the Age of the Vaccine Selfie

Photographer Lynn Goldsmith won a huge victory against the Andy Warhol Foundation last week when the 2nd Court of Appeals declared that the Foundation had infringed her copyright when it licensed artwork based on her photo of Prince in 2016. Sarah and Allen sort out some of the legal details surrounding the 65 page opinion.

Also: amazing photos of the Ever Given blocking the Suez Canal, renown art buyer Daniel Wolf passes away, photojournalist John Moore is denied access at the border after a decade of covering it, time to delete the Dispo app from your iPhone, and hey! It's our 100th episode (not that we were counting).

Slightly over 40 years ago, photographer Rick Smolan convened 100 of the world's best photographers to photograph 24 hours in Australia – an audacious and self-published effort which yielded the first in a series of massively successful photo coffee table books under the "A Day in the Life" moniker. 

The intricacies and logistics of producing the books are only eclipsed by the life experiences that led Smolan to embark on the project, and continue to inform his activities as a photographer, author, and speaker. In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen interview Smolan and even get him to share his thoughts about NFTs.

We like the quirk, and that's what photographer Enoch Ku captured while cruising around his hometown of Sacramento, CA. A set of hedges cut into the shape of playing card suits, a manhole cover ambiguously lined up with a street's divider lines, playful shadows cast by a bike rack. Ordinary Sacramento is the name of the project.

Also in this episode: Tim Kane creates a photo/video package of the isolated town of Yellowknife in the Northwestern Territories of Canada which closed itself off to all outsiders during the pandemic to protect its indigenous elders, project images of the fallen on the Brooklyn Bridge, Rally Studios' amazing FPV drone in a bowling alley, Hannah McKay captures the vigil and protest for Sarah Everard, and Nadine Ijewere lands the cover of Vogue US as the first Black female photographer. 

Oakland-based Chanell Stone continues to receive recognition for her "Natura Negra" project, which explores the relationship between land, nature and African-Americans in an urban setting. The photos are rich with meaning, and surprising presented as a series of luscious black and white images.

Also in this week's episode of Vision Slightly Blurred: David Morris captures a "flying ship," James Crombie photographs a murmuration in the shape of a bird, Titleist hires Johnny FPV to capture a golf ball in flight, and follow-ups on a number of recent stories.

This week on the podcast, Sarah and Allen discuss the inaugural Silver List, Juergen Teller's controversial covers for W Magazine, Dispo app, MyHeritage's "Deep Nostalgia" and uncanny valley of @deeptomcruise on TikTok.

Since their rediscovery in 1976, the images of slaves known as the Zealy Daguerreotypes have been held by Harvard's Peabody Museum. The images were originally commissioned to provide visual evidence of the racist theory of polygenesis as expounded upon by Harvard professor Louis Agassiz.

For years, Harvard exerted strict control over the use of the images and extracted "hefty" licensing fees for their use. In 2019, Tamara Lanier who claimed to be descended from two of the slaves sued Harvard for possession of the images.  And in 2020, Aperture and Peabody Press published a book entitled "To Make Their Own Way in the World: The Enduring Legacy of the Zealy Daguerreotypes" – a compendium of essays that examined the historical creation and context of the images as well as contemporary interpretations of their meaning.

In this episode of Vision Slightly Blurred, Sarah and Allen delve into issues of intent and consent, and how inequity in photography should be addressed in the 21st century.

PLUS Coalition co-founder and CEO Jeff Sedlik filed suit against LA Ink star Kat Von D for infringing his copyright by using his 1989 Miles Davis portrait in a tattoo that she used to promote her businesses. Some have compared the case to Richard Prince and called it fair use. Others have said it resembles the AP's lawsuit against Shepard Fairey for his Obama "HOPE" poster. But the devil is in the details, and Sedlik registered his copyright.

Also: a lawyer buys a building and finds a trove of photos in a hidden attic, including a portrait of Susan B. Anthony,  the New Yorker reviews Seiichi Furuya's latest book Face to Face, and Alec Soth vlogs about William Eggleston's "Democratic Forest."

Out-of-focus end zone shots and The Weeknd's meme-worthy "dance" with a camera raised a lot of eyebrows. Innovation or gimmicks? Sarah and Allen discuss all the Super Bowl coverage.

Also: The Biden White House is live on Flickr,  a free PhotoShelter webinar on the Social Effects of Photography, and RIP to photographer Ricky Powell, the "4th Beastie Boy."

MoMA photography curator Sarah Meister was named Aperture's new executive director after a year long search to replace Chris Boot. Meister worked her way up from intern to full curator after receiving her degree in art history from Princeton. 

Also in the show, the incredible portraits of Sioux by Frank Bennett Fiske and Artists for Uyghurs wants you to donate the sale of your art  to raise money for the Uyghur Tribunal; a People's Tribunal investigating China's mistreatment of Uyghur Muslims.

While covering the inauguration of President Joe Biden, AFP photographer Brendan Smialowski focused his camera onto Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for two quick frames. Somehow the totally unremarkable photo perfectly captured Bernie's spirit and a thousand memes were born much to Smialowski's chagrin.

In this episode of PhotoShelter's Vision Slightly Blurred, hosts Sarah Jacobs and Allen Murabayashi discuss Bernie Memes, Quil Lemons becomes the youngest photographer to get a Vanity Fair cover, Marzena Skubatz captures an Icelandic weather station, and NY's MTA remembers the employees lost to COVID with a beautiful portrait exhibit.

Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, Nick Ut of "Napalm Girl" fame, received the National Medal of the Arts from President Trump. While many celebrated the achievement, a number of people expressed dismay over Ut's decision to accept it from the twice impeached President. 

In this episode, Allen and Sarah discuss the controversy, and also tackle the copyright grab at Penn State's Collegian, and Joe Biden's official White House photographer, Adam Schultz.