Merging with Zanzig.com Blog

Folks,

it's been an interesting time here at Blogger, writing about Press Photography. As some of you know, I am also blogging over at www.zanzig.com, on my own Wordpress installation.

Over the past few weeks it became clear that it really does not make sense to run two separate blogs on similar topics, so I decided to merge the Press Photography Blog with the Zanzig.com Blog, giving the topic its own sub-section for easy access.

Press Photography Blog (Archive subsection at Zanzig.com)
Zanzig.com Blog

Munich gets a Hydrogen Car

We all know that Munich is one of the research capitals in Germany. So it does not come as a surprise that the city of Munich is also actively promoting environmental protection. Yesterday, they received the first hydrogene car to be used by the mayors of the city. It's a pretty cool BMW Hydrogen 7, and the BMW official who handed the car over to the mayors, also brought a small model of the car. Nice.

Mark Zanzig/zettpress

Mark Zanzig/zettpress

But it should get even better: Munich's Lord Mayor, Christian Ude (below, left), was officially taking over the car. As always, he held a short speech, and willingly answered the (few) questions of the writing colleagues, and he happily posed for our cameras. Not only is he a professional politician, he is also a very friendly one!

Mark Zanzig/zettpress

Mark Zanzig/zettpress

Just one pose, asked for by a colleague, seemed to trouble him. He was asked to sit down in a frog position and hold out the model car into the camera. Well, well. He's not 20 any more. And so, after about 30 seconds, Ude gasped for air, laughing: "I don't know for how much longer I will be able to do this." And then, he got up.

Mark Zanzig/zettpress

Wow - what our politicians do for us journalists! ;-)

See all the photos at Zettpress

Wild Hogs Germany Premiere

A small ladder is essential for some colleagues
Photo © 2007 by Mark Zanzig/zettpress

A security guy watches celebrities arriving at the red carpet
Photo © 2007 by Mark Zanzig/zettpress

Actress Davorka Tovilo presents a revealing dominatrix outfit...
Photo © 2007 by Mark Zanzig/zettpress

...and blows kisses into the cameras of the celeb photographers...
Photo © 2007 by Mark Zanzig/zettpress

...but has also time to look back!
Photo © 2007 by Mark Zanzig/zettpress

John Travolta greets the fan crowd professionally
Photo © 2007 by Mark Zanzig/zettpress

I attended the movie premiere of Wild Hogs (released in Germany as "Born To Be Wild") in Munich. It was quite a show, with a 100 m red carpet laid out on Munich's Schützenstrasse, and a group of Harley Davidson owners also attending the premiere. Of course there was the usual shouting of the celeb photographers and the seemingly endless list of B-Celebrities, but I could capture a few good frames as well.

I especially liked the shots of Davorka Tovilo above - not only because it certainly is a revealing outfit, but also because the photos once again provided a glimpse behind the scenes of the red carpet thing. And of course John Travolta, who was the real celebrity this evening with his all his charme and his incredible ability to interact with both the media and the fans.

See all the photos at Zettpress

Airbus A380 in Munich, Germany

Airbus A380 (Registration F-WWJB)
Photo © 2007 by Mark Zanzig/zettpress

Airbus A380 touchdown in Munich
Photo © 2007 by Mark Zanzig/zettpress

The biggest plane on Earth, the Airbus A380, visited Munich today. The five hour stopover ended Lufthansa's real life testing phase of the plane, joined by the press and thousands of spectators around the Munich airport who tried to catch a glimpse at the new plane. Lufthansa plans to take up the first scheduled flights with the A380 in 2009, so it will be some time until the plane will come to Munich again.

My take on it? Yes, it is an impressing airplane, but at the end of the day, it is just a big airplane. It remains to be seen whether comfort for those traveling in Economy Class will be improved and tickets on the A380 will be cheaper. If not, I probably will not care whether I am flying Airbus, Boeing, or any other plane.

More photos of the A380 in Munich

Why I do not like Flickr and Wikipedia

On Saturday I found myself reading a newspaper at the airport. I knew them - I had been selling images to them over the past couple of years. Mind you, it was never a big business, just a photo now and then appearing in their travel section. And when I came to the travel section of the current issue I saw the photos: one huge photo, 10.8" x 6.5", and three smaller shots, all of them not particularly nice shots, but not ugly either. I'd say average photos, well almost. The by-lines read "Photo: flickr by Joe-Artur"*, "Photo: flickr by Christopher Halworth"*, "Photo: Wikipedia by Markus Schmitt"*, and finally "Photo: Wikipedia by Hannes Grosse"*. Gosh - are Flickr and Wikipedia in the photo agency business now?

Of course not. The photos were -as far as I can tell- licenced as "Creative Commons" content on Flickr and Wikipedia, i.e. the authors are explicitly allowing to use the photos for any use. Nothing wrong with that, but seeing a commercial newspaper dedicating huge space to FREE photos, that makes me just sick. And I wonder why? Sure, the newspapers could not care less about the photographers. Give free stuff to newspapers to fill their pages, the more the merrier, and they'll happily take all of it, giving just a by-line and a good laugh to the photographers, before they continue to count the money from the ads surrounding the photos.

But why are the photographers giving their photos away for free? Is it just to see their work in print? Are they so desparate to get their stuff published that they just click "creative commons" when uploading photos to Flickr and Wikipedia? Or careless? Don't they know that they could earn money with their photos? Or do they think they are doing something "good" by giving the photos away for free? Don't they know that they are actually hurting (professional) photographers around the world by publishing photos expecting nothing more than a by-line in return?

Honestly, I don't get it. But it makes me sick. Really sick.

* Name changed to protect the photographers.