nyc photographers

Some peope think I have a cool job. And I guess compared to the folks who sit in offices all day, crunching numbers or somesuch, it is not bad. But the people I am impressed with are photojournalists, especially the nyc photojournalists. Especially the independent nyc photojournalists, the ones not on staff for anybody. They tend to be very entrepreneurial, constantly jetting off to international destinations and whatnot. Today, for example, I was talking to one of our freelance photogs about the Hamas victory in the Palestinian territories. (Um, how can anyone who’s been paying attention be surprised at this? Of course Hamas was going to win big) Anyway, said photog was very well-informed about all this, having financed his own trip to photograph the Gaza pullout in August. (He didn’t sell a single photo from his trip, alas).

But that is pretty much the life of these photogs — constantly galavanting off to take photos of Burning Man, the tsunami, Israel/Palestine … One guy I know took one of the first photos of “Bennifer” as a couple — and the thousands of dollars in proceeds to finance his trip to document the violence in Haiti.

Nearly all these photogs have their own websites, to market themselves and show off their work. Here are some of the ones I know, or have at least met:

• Patrick Andrade, used his 9/11 photos to launch his freelance career, now based in Afghanistan
• Michael Appleton, NYDN staff photog, covered Iraq, Afghanistan and Katrina
• Keith Bedford, NYT freelancer, covered the tsunami in Sri Lanka.
• Scout Tufankjian, splits her time between Brooklyn and Gaza, where she is now…
• Matt Roberts, former staffer for The Cambodia Daily is now a NYDN freelancer.
• Matthew McDermott, freelance photog has taking pics in Africa, Israel, Cuba, Pakistan, Costa Rica and Panama.

I recommend the book, “Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War” by Deborah Copaken Kogan, for a great read by a war photojournalist. Just $3.06 on Amazon!