By Meredith Birkett
There’s Black Friday. And Cyber Monday. What about “Photojournalism Thursday”?
OK, I'm kind of kidding, but a recent Facebook post reminded me to remind you Photobloggers that buying a print, or joining a Kickstarter campaign, or even hitting up your local newspaper for a print could be a great gift for someone on your list this holiday season.
Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times
White terns, albatross and several other species of birds make Midway Atoll their home as it makes a perfect nesting location with its remote Pacific Ocean location. However, danger lurks beyond the beauty with plastic trash inadvertently being consumed by nesting birds and ghost netting ensnaring endangered marine mammals. This image is part of the Los Angeles Times' 5-part series, Altered Oceans, which won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting.
One of the most frequent emails we get from our readers, especially after we publish The Week in Pictures or Animal Tracks is “Can I buy a copy of that image?” You can. Below, find a rundown of some ways to bring photography home.
Barbara Davidson / The Los Angeles Times
Hawa Barre Osman looks for a sign of life from her one-year-old severely malnourished child, Abdi Noor Ibrahim, inside the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) therapeutic feeding center at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, Africa, July 2011. She walked for one month, with her 5 children, from Somali, to the camp.
Lights, camera, action…print:
By buying a print, you can help fund a documentary film. Chad Stevens, who is a photojournalist and University of North Carolina assistant professor, has been working for six years on a film about a grandmother who is caught between her region’s economic backbone of coal mining, and her environmental concerns about their methods. This isn’t a Hollywood production with million-dollar backing. It’s a self-funded endeavor, with an occasional grant helping along the way. Over the course of the project, other photojournalists have admired the work and wanted to help Chad, offering prints to sell to fund his film. Until Dec. 11, you can buy one of them at A Thousand Little Cuts Online Print Auction. It was Chad’s Facebook post that inspired this blog.
Some other print sales: Nuru Projects, Friends of Anton, Fraction Magazine, Wall Space, Collect Give.
Virtual photography
Does your favorite somebody have an iPad? Or maybe a slick new tablet is waiting for them under the tree? Get them started with some photography apps. Of course there are tried and true publications like National Geographic, but be sure and check out one of our partners, newcomer Once Magazine.
A crowd-funding stocking stuffer:
Have you heard of Kickstarter and Emphas.is? They are two crowd-funding web sites that are being utilized by photojournalists to fund their in-depth projects on important topics worldwide. What’s in it for you, Santa’s little helper? You can help make sure important stories are told. Also, by contributing to these campaigns, backers get to participate in the story creation and also receive gifts like prints or books. A journalist featured on msnbc.com last year is currently running a campaign:
Life without lights: 1.4 billion people – nearly a quarter of humanity lives without access to electricity. Photojournalist Peter DiCampo explores the economic impact of energy poverty and energy’s future.
Books, of course:
It goes without saying that photography books are a great gift. One to consider is Iraq|Perspectives by Benjamin Lowy, showing every day scenes from the war in Iraq captured through Humvee windows and night-vision goggles. Check out American Photo Magazine’s Best Photo Books of 2011 for some other options.
Did you see that shot?
As always, if you’ve spotted a great image on msnbc.com, you can buy a print from the photographer or agency who originally created the image. See our FAQ for more information…and happy holidays.
While people in developed nations spent Earth Day focused on issues like conserving energy, over a billion people in the developing world live without electricity. View a case in point: northern Ghana.
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