A World at War

U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Carlos "OJ" Orjuela by Louie Palu

The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. is hosting a photography exhibit that looks at 165 years of war called WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath. If you're in the area, be sure to check out the comprehensive exhibit; it features more than 300 images. You can see the website for the exhibit here. The exhibit is up until September 29, 2013.

This morning, National Public Radio's Morning Edition did an excellent story on the exhibit that is worth listening to and you can do that here. They include segments of an interview with Louie Palu, a photojournalist who works in conflict zones. Both the exhibit and the story are vital reminders of the power and relevance of the still image.

David Burnett's Olympic Photographs

 Photograph by David Burnett.

Photojournalist David Burnett has put online a selection of his large format black-and-white photographs taken at last year's London Olympics. He used a vintage 1940s Speed Graphic 4x5 camera for these images, along with a fair amount of swings and tilts to control plane and depth of focus. In many of the shots, Burnett was not trying to maximize the focus, but minimize it. Sometimes the results look like some of the toy settings on camera phones, with only a small portion of the image in focus.

Photograph by David Burnett.

Burnett was part of a team covering the Games for the International Olympic Museum and he exposed around 350 images during the competitions. He also used a Canon 5D Mark III and a Leica M9 for the Olympics. Burnett has been using a Speed Graphic in his photojournalistic work since 2004, primarily to achieve a unique look that sets his images apart from other photographers and in which he surely succeeds. Thanks to PetaPixel for the head's up on this. You can see David Burnett's Olympic portfolio here and you can check out his other work there as well.

David Burnett and his Speed Graphic by Mike King.