I started off the evening getting lost, which I always do in DUMBO, no matter where I’m going or how good of directions I have. The highlight of the evening was a panel at VII Photo Agency called Believable Imagery: When Should We (Dis)Believe Photos and Why. Panelists included a photography professor at NYU, the director of photography at Time magazine, and the president of the Advertising Photographers of America.

One of the great things about New York is all the opportunity to attend lectures, book talks and panels like these…for free. The discussions took me back to college journalism classes (and Ethics class debates. Egh.) This perspective of photojournalism, not photography, is quite different from what I was introduced to in magazines when I came to New York (omg you took one photo of a woman and placed her in another picture of a beach for the cover…THAT IS ALLOWED?!)

(from left: moderator Stephen Mayes, APA President Theresa Raffetoo, Time magazine Director of Photography Kira Pollack, and Professor of Photography and Imaging at NYU Fred Ritchin. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Simpson Steele)

Photographers, photo retouchers and photojournalists were all in the audience, which led to a pretty heated Q&A session. One of the controversial topics was war photography. A concept the panel and audience kept discussing was whether it was authentic or accurate for a photographer to recreate an event that happened (the moderator’s introductory slideshow included raising the flag at Iwo Jima as an example). True photojournalists (i.e. news images) will not pose people or recreate an event they couldn’t capture. Photography and photo illustrations allow more liberal interpretations…but the problem lies when a credit doesn’t acknowledge something is an illustration.

Having learned in the photojournalism environment and worked in the photography industry with magazines, it was really interesting to hear so many sides including advertising photography. If VII has more panels, I’ll definitely be making more of an effort to get down to Brooklyn for First Thursdays. The seating was limited, with some people sitting on the floor, so I’d recommend arriving early if you end up visiting. And there’s free wine in plastic cups.

I already made a video recap of Aruba, but here are some photos of my Caribbean vacation now that I have the cord to hook up to my computer.

(view of my hut from my beach chair)

(total relaxation)

(sunset)

(view from my beach chair. every day. it felt like a dream.)

First leg from JFK to Long Beach, Calif. Loved seeing all these mountains.

Sunset from Long Beach to Portland, Ore.

{Photo credits. Row One: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Two: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Three: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Four: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Five: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Six: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

{Photo credits. Row One: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Two: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Three: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Four: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Five: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Six: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

These photos are indicative of my desire to have chandeliers and textured windows and doors. Such inspiring colors.

{Photo credits. Row One: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Two: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Three: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Four: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Five: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Row Six: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

{Credits. Top to bottom, left to right. Row One: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Row Two: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Row Three: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Row 4: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Row 5: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Row 6: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.}

Here’s a collection of some recent additions to my favorites

{Credits. Top to bottom, left to right. Row One: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Row Two: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Row three: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Row four: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Row Five: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Row Six: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.}