There is a wonderful trend of truthfulness in contemporary photography. Perhaps some take it a bit far, but imho, the natural look for models is wonderful and welcome. I’ve shot this way for years, real = beautiful.

From Models.com – With fashion’s full-fledged youth obsession it’s easy to forget that beauty is something that has nothing to do with age. In September’s Bazaar, eight of the most enduring beauties around go bare faced for Peter Lindbergh and the results are thought provoking.  Amber Valletta, Shalom Harlow, Kristen McMenamy, Helena Christensen, Nadja Auermann, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer and Tatjana Patitz are all stunning but seeing them without makeup, excessive retouching or complicated styling adds a new layer to their allure.

See the rest….Keep It Real

As a  portraitist, I’ve photographed  hundreds of people around the world. During a road trip in Idaho, this man was riding his bicycle, down a dirt road. It turns out that he had been a prospector for copper during the 1920′s, he started living in caves, along a riverfront 40 years ago and began organic farming then. This is the kind of situation and subject that photographers dream of, I was no different. As  I photographed him, his friendly and curious goat nudged my back, ready to be the next subject.

Jed Share Images

The photo director for National Geographic, David Griffin knows the power of photography to connect us to our world. In a talk filled with glorious images, he talks about how we all use photos to tell our stories.

David Griffin on how photography connects us

Mystery in the shadows - www.JedShare.com

From the BBC:

“Facebook has agreed to make worldwide changes to its privacy policy as a result of negotiations with Canada’s privacy commissioner. Last month the social network was found to breach Canadian law by holding on to users’ personal data indefinitely. Facebook has now agreed to make changes to the way it handles this information and be more transparent about what data it collects and why.”

Read the whole story: Facebook Changes Privacy Policy I think this is important because those of us that create content make our living from licencing that content. And everyone should have more control over their private information and the way it is used and abused.

My good friend Yasu made this when I first started in Japan,  I found it on my refrigerator one day . He worked in an ad agency and although we never worked together his friendship, and the kindness of many allowed me to grow and flourish. Japan was was a proving ground for me, and a terrific opportunity to do great work with wonderful people. And yes, thanks to many, I did get ” Big Success in Japan”.

From a recent series on organic, and raw natural foods. Agricultural shoots are one of my specialties, for website or annual report projects. The days are long and lunch is usually right off the vine. For me it makes me feel connected to the land and I really like that.

From the Ted conference: Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.