ASMP Issues Call to Action on Proposed Tax Rule

ASMP has put out a call to photographers to help protest proposed IRS reporting rules for all business transactions over $600. The new rules, which are scheduled to take effect in 2012, are intended to capture income tax revenue from transactions that might otherwise go unreported. But the proposed rule change would also create an additional paperwork burden for businesses.

Under the proposed rule change, if business owners pay any vendor more than $600 for goods and services in a given tax year, they would have to to report the total expenditures by issuing a 1099 form to each vendor--and forwarding a copy to the IRS.

Currently, businesses have to issue 1099 forms for payments over $600 to independent contractors for their services. But the new rules would extend the requirements to cover all goods and services purchases, including purchases of cameras, lenses, computers, office supplies, and other equipment.

That would mean not only tracking all expenditures (a beneficial thing in itself from a financial management standpoint), but issuing a multitude of 1099 forms at the end of every year. And to issue the forms, business owners would have to collect the name, address and tax ID number of every vendor.

To make matters even more difficult, if you purchase goods and services from a vendor who isn't incorporated (and therefore doesn't have a tax ID number), you would have to withhold the income taxes on the transaction yourself. Other businesses would have to withhold taxes on fees paid to you if you're not incorporated--which could compel a lot of photographers to incorporate.

Whether the rule change goes into effect--and what form it ultimately takes--depends upon the strength of the opposition. At least one Congressional representative has introduced legislation to block the rule, which was mandated as part of the recent health care overhaul. (The idea was to help pay for the reform by capturing portion of the $300 billion or more in tax revenues that the government loses each year because of unreported business income.)

The ASMP's call to action includes a draft of a sample letter for the convenience of photographers who want to protest the rule change.

Friday Fun: David Alan Harvey Confronts His Photo Bag Addiction (VIDEO)

Wow, we thought we had a serious jones for photo bags. Check out this hilarious video where Magnum photographer and apparent bag hoarder David Alan Harvey continues his quest for the ultimate photo satchel.

Bag World from Stephen Alvarez on Vimeo.

National Geographic Veterans Launch Photo Tips Site

Long-time National Geographic contributors Cary Wolinsky and Bob Caputo have just launched PixBoomBa.com, a web site of photographic tips delivered in a humorous, self-deprecating style through video, illustrated text and blog formats.    

The goal of the site is "to make both technical and aesthetic elements of good photography accessible to anyone interested in making better images, no matter their skill level, equipment, or budget," the two photographers explain in their press kit.

"PixBoomBa is a family business with Italian/Jewish roots," Wolinsky tells PDN. "It is never just the two of us. We have an insanely dedicated team of freelancers and volunteers working around the clock."

The demo version of the site was geared primarily to beginner/intermediate level photographers, with a tutorial on white balance, basic portraiture, and depth of field. The videos are intended to be as entertaining as they are informative. Wolinsky and Caputo ham it up in one video about how not to photograph strangers (a corresponding "Actual Info" article provides the useful tips).

To support the site, Wolinsky says he and Caputo will run advertising by the artisans and institutions that support PixBoomBa. They are also looking for partners interested in licensing PixBoomBa content.

Canon Lens Mug Guy Gets a Nikon DSLR Birthday Cake

To paraphrase George Costanza, worlds have collided!

Microsoftie Josh Weisberg, the guy we wrote about earlier this year who rose to fame when he secured a coveted Canon lens mug at the Vancouver Olympics (sorry, that original post was destroyed when our blog went down), recently celebrated his 40th birthday with, get this, a birthday cake in the shape of a giant Nikon digital SLR.

Josh's friend Mia made it for him, basing it on an old D200 he loaned her. (Ok, so maybe he's not a Canon guy, after all.)

Josh reports that the entire cake is edible, including the printed labels which are made of edible ink; the plastic on the LCD panels; the lens; and the back cover which are made of sugar.

Happy birthday Josh! And maybe for your next one Mia can make a cake shaped like a Canon lens mug. Talk about worlds colliding.

NY Times Working on Adding Photo Credits and Captions to iPhone App

UPDATED 8/30/2010: The New York Times' iPhone app now shows photo credits and captions under the images that appear at the top of articles.

As media organizations have rolled out apps for the iPhone and other smart phones, their treatment of photographic content (and those who create it) has varied.

A programming glitch has thus far prevented the New York Times from including photo credits and captions with the photographs that appear at the top of articles in their iPhone app. “It’s a bug we’re working on fixing,” the Times’ deputy director of photography Beth Flynn told PDN via email.

On other news apps, credits get minimal attention. For example, captions for photographs that accompany BBC News articles in that organization’s iPhone app appear under the image, but the credits, which appear in the bottom corners of the photographs, mimicking the BBC News Web site’s credit treatment, are too small to read.

Captions and credits for images accompanying USA Today articles on that organization’s iPhone app appear when users press on the photographs and enlarge them in a new window. A plus symbol over the lower right corner of the images encourages readers to enlarge them. USA Today also dedicates a section of their app to pictures, with features that include the “Day in Picutres” and “Week in Travel,” but readers must open a caption window to see the credits for those images.

The News section of NPR’s iPhone app functions similarly to USA Today’s, with a plus symbol over the top corner of the images on their site. However, when users enlarge the image, no photo credit appears and any caption running longer than six lines is truncated. NPR photo credits run instead at the end of the article.

Of course, all of the writer credits managed to make it into the apps.

Case Against Arrested G20 Photographer Dismissed

Photographer Brett Gundlock, one of several journalists arrested in June during the G20 protests in Toronto, had all charges against him dropped during a brief court appearance on Monday in Toronto.

Gundlock, a photographer Canada’s National Post newspaper, says his appearance before a judge took less than a minute, and all that was said was that the charges against him had been dropped.

The charges against another National Post photographer, Colin O’Connor, who was arrested during the protests, were also dropped, according to Gundlock.

“Out of all of the media they arrested and detained, they were obviously trying to influence the coverage of their actions,” Gundlock asserted in an email to PDN. “Media is there as observers, not participants. There were too many stories from the [G20] summit where media was targeted before the protesters.”

Related:
Government-issued Press Credential Didn’t Stop Arrest, G20 Photog Says
Photojournalists Arrested in G20 Clash

Mannie Garcia Drops Out of Obama Poster Case

Photographer Mannie Garcia has withdrawn his claim of copyright ownership to the photograph behind the famous Barack Obama "Hope" poster image.

The image is at the center of a lawsuit between Associated Press and and artist Shepard Fairey, who used the photograph without permission to create the campaign poster. AP sued Fairey for copyright infringement in 2009, but Garcia joined the lawsuit soon afterward claiming that he--and not AP--was the rightful owner of the image.

Garcia shot the image of then-Senator Barack Obama at the National Press Club in 2006.

Garcia alleged that because he was a freelance photographer on assignment for AP when he shot the image, and not an employee, he owned copyrights to the image. He also accused AP of acting in bad faith for registering the copyright to the image under its own name.

The AP has maintained all along that Garcia was an AP employee when he shot the image, making AP the rightful owner of the image. (Under US Copyright law, employers own the copyrights to works created by their employees.)

"The AP is pleased that Mr. Garcia voluntarily withdrew [his claim] without any payment or consideration of any kind -- this was not a settlement," the AP said when announcing Garcia's withdrawal.

One of Garcia's attorneys, Warren Zinn of Miami, says Garcia decided to drop his claim because "he didn't want to be consumed by it anymore."

When pressed about whether Garcia withdrew for lack of money to pursue his claim or because of doubts that he would win, Zinn said, "It wasn't anything like that. It was taking a toll, so he said, 'Forget it, I'm done, they can have the image. I just want to get back to my life.'"

Garcia was not immediately available for comment.

Garcia's withdrawal leaves AP's infringement claim against Fairey intact. A trial date has been set for March 21, 2011.

Vimeo to Announce Awards Finalists September 10

Vimeo, the video hosting site, will announce the 20 finalists in the nine categories of its first ever Festival and Awards at a special event taking place September 10 in Amsterdam. The finalists will then be viewable online through Vimeo.

Vimeo says over 6500 videos have been submitted to the contest. The top 20 finalists in each category will be evaluated by a panel of judges who will then select a winner in each category. Among the judges are designer Neville Brody (Experimental category);  documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Documentary category); director Roman Coppola (Music Video category) and photographer Vincent Laforet (Narrative category). 

The grand prize winner, chosen from among the nine category winners, will receive a $25,000 grant towards a new video project.

 The winners will be announced during the two-day Vimeo Festival, taking place in New York October 8 and 9. 

Planning to be in Amsterdam on September 10? Be sure to RSVP via Vimeo before turning up at the Bioscoop Het Ketelhuis for the party:  vimeo.com/awards/invite

 

Detroit Agency Solicits Car Shoots on Spec

A Detroit area ad agency has put out a call for photographers to shoot car beauty shots on spec. Latcha + Associates of Farmington Hills, Michigan has distributed an electronic brochure called "Shoot a Sample" that tells photographers they can "assist in collaborating and evolving the style of a major automotive brand!"

That brand happens to be Lincoln, and the fine print informs photographers that "by participating in this exploratory project, you are agreeing to do so without reimbursement from Latcha or Lincoln."

If Latcha likes your sample, you might become eligible to bid for actual jobs. "We will create a talent pool of those who hit the mark," the brochure says.

It's a new and brazen approach. Normally agencies invite photographers to bid for jobs on the basis of what creative directors and art buyers see in the photographers' portfolios. It's a time-honored method that's fair and efficient. What Latcha offers is a test of desperation. And when the bidding starts, they know they'll be negotiating with a pool of photographers who are willing to work for free.

Aftermath $20,000 Grant: Applications Now Being Accepted

Each year,  the non-profit Aftermath Project awards two $20,000 grants to photographers exploring the lasting effects of conflicts on civilian populations, in order to encourage conversation about the value of journalism that goes beyond the headlines to study the aftermath of war and strife.  Grant winners and two finalists  are published in a book. Applications for the 2011 grants are now available online on the web site of the Aftermath Project. Applications must be received by November 1, 2010.  

The Aftermath Project is funded by donations from institutions and individuals, and does not charge an application fee for entry.

The 2010 winners were Polish-born, Italy-based photographer Monika Bulaj, who won for her project “Afghanistan: Not Only The War,” which explores Sufism and other minority religions in the country; and American photographer Danny Wilcox Frazier, who is working on “Wounded Knee: Generations Endure a Massacre,” a project examining the effects of both the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre and the 1973 uprising, during which armed Native Americans reclaimed the Wounded Knee land and held it during a 71-day standoff with Federal authorities. 

(Photo © Monica Bulaj)

Related stories: 

What it Takes to Win an Aftermath Grant

After the Headlines: Sara Terry on the Aftermath Project