Friday Briefs

+ How lens are made. (via John Harrington's blog PhotoBusinessForum)

+ Emmis Communication is cutting about 40 positions from their magazine division. They run Los Angeles magazine here in town along with many other titles in the US. No word yet where the cuts are. They are also slashing the salaries of the remaing folks by 2%. (UPDATE : Salary slashed by 5% not 2%) (UPDATE 2 : LAObserved announces senior editors RJ Smith and Margot Dougherty, art director Joe Kimberling, Guide editor Michael Mullen were let go)


+ This morning WWD reports magazines are gonna cut their budgets yet again. NY Post reports Hachette Filipacchi (Elle, American Photo, Car & Driver) will be moving out of their Midtown offices for cheaper pastures.

+ Meanwhile in LA, Markus Klinko and Indrani will have their own show on Bravo called Double Exposure (working title). While looking at their website, I noticed they are looking for folks to work at their studio in Santa Monica. So if you're a retoucher, set builder or intern, go over here and click on employment opportunities.

+ NEA reports more Americans working in photography. The PDN article is here.

+ Olympus declares 12 megapixels is enough

+ And finally LA Times' Christopher Knight's interesting incident at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art where Shepard Fairey's exhibit is on display.

As soon as I snapped the photo ... , a guard rushed over to admonish me that photography is not allowed in the show. "I'm not using a flash," I replied. "Is that OK?" Nope, came the reply. "Must I obey?" I asked. "Yes," she answered, missing or -- more likely -- ignoring my too-cute-by-half reference to Fairey's trademark street-and-clothing campaign about authoritarian imagery, dubbed "Obey Giant."

The guard was perfectly cordial and just doing her job. But I couldn't help note the irony. A "no photographs" policy is in force in a show about an artist who is currently trading lawsuits over his guerrilla (meaning unauthorized) use of part of an Associated Press photographer's published picture of Obama. I'm supportive of artists' full participation in the "democracy of images" that seems to characterize our digital environment. I wonder what John Singleton Copley and John Quincy Adams would think?

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