Today several newspapers anounced that the author of a photograph that was given the Pulitzer-Prize back in 1980 anonymously has finally been discovered.

Jahangir Razmi, 58, is an iranian photographer who finally decided to share the story of his life with a reporter from “Wall Street Journal”: A Chilling Photograph’s Hidden History:

On Aug. 27, 1979, two parallel lines of 11 men formed on a field of dry dirt in Sanandaj, Iran. One group wore blindfolds. The other held rifles. The command came in Farsi to fire: “Atesh!” Behind the soldier farthest to the right, a 12th man also shot, his Nikon camera and Kodak film preserving in black and white a mass execution. Within hours, the photo ran across six columns in Ettela’at, the oldest newspaper in Iran. Within days, it appeared on front pages around the world. Within weeks, the new Iranian government annexed the offending paper. Within months, the photo won the Pulitzer Prize. Taken seven months after Islamic radicals overthrew the U.S.-backed Shah, the photo remains one of the most famous images of Iran. It is an icon of government terror …

Back in 1979, Jahangir Razmi worked for a newspaper in Iran. Soon after the picture was published, international newspapers reprinted it and spread the word of the Khomeini revolution. The photographer remained incognito, probably that was the best way to save his life. Razmi says he never claimed to be the author afterwards because his picture showed the ugly face of his beloved country. In the meantime, he is kind of the official photographer of today´s iranian leader, Mahmud Ahmadinedschad. Hopefully he will never find himself again in a situation similar to the day he shot the Pulitzer-prized photo!

Another story about this photographer from ABC News: Pulitzers to Honor Iranian Photographer, and one from the german magazine “Spiegel”: Fotograf verleugnete beste Aufnahme seines Lebens 27 Jahre lang.

Amateur photographers have a great advantage over professionals: They don´t have to make a living out of it. They do it for fun, honor and pride. If a news agency can pay their suppliers with immaterial value instead of money, it´s a great advantage for them. Now you can sum 1 and 1: The amateur photographer is the ideal cooperation partner for a news agency (paste newspaper, tv-station or webpage here if you like).
This conclusion is nothing new to the market. Print magazines are already using the Flickr photo community to generate content for free, TV-stations are searching youtube-videos and the german “BILD Zeitung” asks everyone owning a mobile cam-phone to send their paparazzi snapshots in.

It´s not technical or creative quality that counts, it´s just about who has the pictures first and who gets them for free. Additionally to those mentioned above, Reuters today announced their “you witness” programm. Read what Reuters and Yahoo are planning to start and feel free to spread your work. It´s also worth reading the two articles available in german on “SPIEGEL online”: “Du knipst, ich verdiene” and “Reuters will Amateurbilder vermarkten“. “Financial Times Deutschland” has another story about the topic.

Jeder für sich ist ein Gigant der Fotografie: der Anfang 2004 verstorbene Helmut Newton mit seinen unterkühlt-erotischen Frauenportraits, James Nachtwey mit seinen ergreifend-schockierenden, aber doch nie sensationslüsternen Bildern des Krieges und David LaChapelle, der die bizarre Welt der Promis in knallbunten Märchenbildern inszeniert.
Nun finden die Fotos dieser Drei unter der Leitung von June Newton in einer Ausstellung zusammen, für die es sich lohnt, nach Berlin zu fahren. Ob die Mischung dieser so unterschiedlichen Stilikonen gelungen ist, sollte jeder selbst entscheiden. Daß aber der Besuch dreier Ausstellungen von berühmten Fotografen - noch dazu unter demselben Dach - immer ein besonderes Erlebnis ist, steht außer frage.

Weitere Infos hier: Fotoschau “Men, War & Peace”: Leiden und kleiden - Kultur - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten, bei den staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, oder bei der Welt.

“Newton Nachtwey LaChapelle: Men, War & Peace”
3. Dezember 2006 bis 20. Mai 2007, Museum für FotografieJebensstraße 2, 10623 Berlin, Di. bis So. 10 bis 18 Uhr; Do. 10 bis 22 Uhr

If you are, like me, still a fan of analog film in photography, you have a very good chance to buy extremly high-quality cameras and lenses at very low prices. Try your local reseller or eBay. In addition to my Canon EOS equipment, which I use for most of my professional work, last summer I was offered a Canon New F1 in very good condition for a very reasonable price.
That was my starting point for a great set of Canon FD equipment I bought in the meantime. I actually decided to only look for the best parts from that manufactorer and finally now have stuff like the 2.8/20mm, the 3.5/35-105mm, a 4.5/85-300mm, accompanied by a 1.8/50mm lens, the 2XA-Extender, a 199A speedlite and - of course - the New F1 with AE-Hood, several focussing screens and the Motor Drive FN.

Personally, I think this camera is a great deal & you’ll get very robust & sharp lenses. The only thing is, you’ll have to manually focus your scene. I came along this thoughts while writing my post about “New pictures from Rome” and adding details about the tech-specs at the bottom line. Not only these photographs were taken with my 1981-built F1, but also the ones from Teneriffe and a couple of those from Switzerland.
During my process of buying this equipment, the information and details provided on the “Canon FD Page” helped me a lot. Thanks to those guys over at mir.com!

Oh - and not to forget: Thanks also to Dennis, a friend of mine who brought some of this cool things over from the U.S., where I found the lenses cheaper and in better state.