Kingston Technology’s ‘Icons of Photography’ Critique Viewer-Submitted Photos

Over the last few months I’ve reported on Kingston Technology’s mini site, which features a number of well-known photographers. The newest interactive feature, called Critique My Image was recently launched, and includes photographs by people from around the world.

On the site, twenty photographs are critiqued by world-renowned photojournalist Harry Benson, internationally-acclaimed photojournalist and advertising photographer Colin Finlay, National Geographic photographer Gerd Ludwig and Sports Illustrated photographer Peter Read Miller.

I really enjoyed looking at the images and reading the comments. I thought that the suggestions made were very good, and I was particularly impressed by those offered by Colin Finlay. Finlay commented about not just individual images, but about how the order of individual images in a portfolio can make a stronger impression.

Also very interesting was a before and after look at a few photographs by a few different photographers (critiqued by Gerd Ludwig). By dragging your mouse across the screen, you will see Gerd’s suggested edits as well as the original photos supplied by photographers.

Before and after look at an image based on the suggestions of Kinston Icon Gerd Ludwig. Photo © Ryan Picard

The Kingston Icons of Photography mini site can be found at www.kingston.com/iop.

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Why I’m Impressed by JPG MAGAZINE and jpgmag.com

I was recently in my local Barnes and Noble book store in New Jersey and came across a photo magazine called JPG MAGAZINE. I had first learned about it from C.C. Chapman’s blog. C.C. Chapman is an über podcaster, new media expert, as well as a talented photographer. What makes the magazine and website interesting to me is this: Prior to the publication of each issue, anyone can upload one image that matches a specific theme, and up to 10 images can be uploaded per day.

Visitors to the site then vote on their favorite images, and according to the site’s FAQ and Voting Info Page: “Getting a lot of votes does not guarantee publication – all photos are reviewed by the editors before publication to maintain a high quality level – but the votes certainly help,” and “The voting is very important because it sorts the photos: the best rise to the top for editorial review.” Photos are then chosen for publication in a printed magazine (currently, the magazine is printed 6 times/year).

The quality of the paper and photographs are excellent. Kudos to the staff of JPG, and even if you don’t submit work, there are many captivating stories and articles with helpful photography tips on the site to see. I submitted a few images, which you can see above. As you can see from the screen capture, you can view the entire issue in PDF form, but I highly recommend subscribing. I have no official connection with JPG MAGAZINE other than being a contributor.

You can go directly to my image of Brother Love, from a recent event called BlubrryJam, held at Canal Room in New York City by visiting this page.

Or to the photo of the Fireworks seen above by visiting this page.
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Q&A Online with Four of Kingston’s ‘Icons of Photography’

Kingston Technology recently announced it has posted questions submitted by visitors from around the world to its ‘Icons of Photography’ microsite as part of its Ask the Icon interactive feature. Four renowned photographers–Harry Benson, Colin Finlay, Gerd Ludwig and Peter Read Miller answered a variety of questions about photography technique, what equipment they use, and what inspires them.

The Kingston Icons of Photography microsite. Visitors are encouraged to submit questions and images through the “Ask the Icon” and “Critique My Image” sections (circled in red above).

“The ‘Icons of Photography’ program is a great outlet for the exchange of thoughts and ideas between photographers,” said Colin Finlay. “Speaking on behalf of myself and other Kingston Icons, this program gives us the freedom and flexibility to interact with other photographers simply for the love of photography,” added Finlay. After reading Finlay’s comments about the fact that, if he were not a photographer, he would like to be a triage doctor “saving fragile lives caught on the edge,” was very moving.

The “Critique my Image” interface on the website.

I highly recommend taking a look into the archives, which can be found on the lower right section of the site. In June, Kingston will publish selected images submitted by visitors, along with individual critiques from the Icons of those images, and there is a very intuitive interface that allows you to do that. By the way, the images across the bottom by the four featured Kingston Icons are fantastic. Hover over the thumbnail on the right side to see more. To see much larger images, just click on any image, and you can then choose the yellow forward and back arrows to scroll through the large images.

The Icons of Photography microsite can be found here: www.kingston.com/iop.