national press photographers association Archives

An open letter to the NPPA on ethics

July 10, 2020 by David Burnett 1 Comment

To my fellow photographers & photojournalists, and members & leadership of NPPA:

I have been a photographer since JFK was President, and a member of NPPA for 52 years. I have never been, nor thought of myself, as a “Lens-based worker.” I find no shame in calling myself, and those in related vocations, photographer or photojournalist. Let’s leave it at that.

These days, that might disqualify me in some eyes for what I am about to say, but in spite of a current fad to dismiss anything aged or graying (or older than 32), I feel compelled to speak about the current state of affairs in photography in general, and at NPPA in particular, especially given the credit NPPA is taking for participation in the Photo Bill of Rights (BoR). (I was a college student when the operative phrase was “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” I get it.).

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NPPA sues state of California over new “gig economy” law that targets freelancers

December 18, 2019 by Dunja Djudjic 5 Comments

The Assembly Bill 5 (or AB 5) was recently signed into law in California. It limits the use of classifying workers as independent contractors, and “forces” companies to classify them as employees. When it takes effect, this law will also limit many freelance photographers and photojournalists. So, The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) has decided to file a lawsuit against the California state.

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World Press Photo Says It Will Not Disqualify Questionable Winning Photos; NPPA Scorns The Decision

March 3, 2015 by Tiffany Mueller 1 Comment

The 58th running of World Press Photo competition has been shrouded by controversy to say the least. Along with the announcement of the winning photos, which we reported on in early February, organizers of the event also made it clear that a whopping 20% of the total entries were disqualified due to excessive post processing.

As Lars Boering, WPP Managing Director said in an official statement: “Our contest rules clearly state that the content of the image should not be altered. This year’s jury was very disappointed to discover how careless some photographers had been in post-processing their files for the contest. ” He continued by adding that the WPP plans to the work with the international photojournalistic community in efforts to better understand the reasoning behind the heavy handed editing trend so they can help to establish a new set of standards and guidelines for the photojournalism industry as a whole.[Read More…]