A few months ago, we featured photographs from Harold Feinstein's new book, One Hundred Butterflies. Curious about how these photographs were made, we submitted a brief Q&A to the photographer. His response to the most basic question about his choice of camera is fascinating.

Brazilian morpho, Morpho aega, South America (Harold Feinstein)

What kind of camera did you use for these photographs?

I used an my Epson 10000 scanner as a camera... and set up a black background.

Where did you find these butterflies?

They were provided by Fred Gagnon of the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory and Gardens in South Deerfield, Mass. It is an 8,000-square-foot conservatory housing 4,000 species of butterflies. He loaned me the specimens, all of which had died naturally and were preserved.

Is there a particular photograph or photographer that has been on your mind lately?

When I was younger, it would have been Henri Cartier Bresson or Brassai. As I've aged, I've been very attracted to Selgado's work. But the truth is that now, at the age of 78, my focus is on Harold Feinstein. I love the work I do. Ask me again when I'm 99. (I was going to say 100, but I was afraid of being too redundant).

At the moment, my favorite photograph of mine is My Mother's Curtains. Most of my work has been black-and-white 35mm photography up until about 10 years ago. But I've always loved color also and had earlier series of 35mm color of flowers and seashells. But the digital world has further opened up the world of color to me. There's much more on the way! Wait until I grow up!

This weekend, Liane Hansen, host of Weekend Edition Sunday, will interview the authors of a new book: Blended Nation: Portraits and Interviews of Mixed-Race America. It's part of a new series called "Beyond Black and White," which will highlight the nation's changing demographics and changing attitudes about racial identity.

Blended Nation/Mike Tauber and Pamela Singh

The husband-and-wife team of photographer Mike Tauber and co-producer Pamela Singh were intrigued by the post-Sept. 11 climate of anxiety and racism. Years later, the election of a bi-racial president would bring the topic of racial identity to the forefront of national conversation. Tune into the series to learn more. On Sunday's show, Hansen will also speak with Cheryl Quintana Leader, one of the subjects in the book, who is part Caucasian, Mexican, and Aztec Indian. See more photos on Mike Tauber's Web site.

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Today is a sad day in photographic history. Master of photography Irving Penn died at the age of 92. View a portfolio of his work, which will forever set the standard for aspiring photographers.

By Heather Murphy and Shereen Meraji

Iranian customs agents are extremely controlling when it comes to imagery. It was therefore surprising to curator Shervin Shahbazi, that they let the depiction of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's biggest rival, Mir-Hossein Mousavi (below), slip through without a hitch. Some less overtly political images were not as successful in their journey to the U.S.

Those that made it are currently on display at the Crewest Gallery in Los Angeles. In an interview on All Things Considered today, Shahbazi, who organized the exhibit, says he felt compelled to present a different image; one that didn't involve nukes or Ahmadinejad's awkward grin.

The show, called From the Streets of Iran, aims to draw "attention to what goes on in Iran because it might sound cliche, but people have to learn there are other things than a nuclear power plant and a president who's out of his mind."

"Together" by Hushidar Mortezaie(Courtesy Morono Kiang Gallery)

Shahbazi found the Iranian graffiti artists on the Internet, but he doesn't know their real names or ages. Asking too many questions could potentially put them in danger, he explains. Regardless, the pieces are selling quickly.

Down the street from the Crewest Gallery, Shahbazi is curating a second exhibit called Traces of Being, a collection of mixed-media and installation work by Iranian-Americans. The connection between the two exhibits is not immediately apparent. But, according to Shahbazi, both a mini-skirt on a mannequin and a riot on a wall are political statements.

"The youth of Iran are like fashion peacocks and their social defiance is basically their fashion revolution," says fashion designer Hushidar Mortezaie, whose work is featured in the show.

Perhaps this explains why few young artists in Tehrangeles or Tehran would be caught dead in a suit along the lines of Ahmadinejad's.

"Chic Boutique" by Hushidar Mortezaie(Courtesy Morono Kiang Gallery )

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By Claire O'Neill

Check out this Flickr stream of photos from the dust storm in Australia. Apparently it's the worst one in 70 years, but at least the conditions are unique for photography.

Jack Kightlinger (Ricardo Thomas/Courtesy of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library)

By Claire O'Neill

Jack Kightlinger, a retired White House staff photographer, died on Monday. During his career he photographed five presidential administrations, over 19 years. Kightlinger, 77, died after a car accident. His wife, Adele, who was also in the car, died in a hospital the following day.

President Lyndon B. Johnson listens to tape sent by his son-in-law, Captain Charles Robb from Vietnam, 1968. (Jack Kightlinger/National Archives)

Richard M. Nixon is greeted by school children during a campaign stop in 1972. (Jack Kightlinger/National Archives)

Gerald R. Ford and Betty Ford await the arrival of Saddam Hussein at the White House, 1974. (Jack Kightlinger/Courtesy of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library)

By Jason Orfanon

Coral reefs are the rain forests of the oceans -- teeming with diverse and postcard-perfect fish, towering sponges and multicolored coral. In these photos, Dr. Mark Vermeij, scientific director of the Caribbean Institute for Research and Management of Biodiversity, documents the diversity of life in this magnificent -- yet fragile -- underwater ecosystem.

Glassy Sweepers are small, nervous fish that can cluster in groups of 100 or more. (Mark Vermeij)

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You also hear and read about Dr. Vermeij's work, in an All Things Considered story by NPR's Richard Harris, "Can Corals Survive In A Warming World?"

NPR.org is getting a face-lift:

By Claire O'Neill

Architectural photography legend Julius Shulman died on Wednesday at the age of 98. Take a look at this gallery we did in March, and listen to the All Things Considered story.

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People all over the world are mourning the sudden death of pop legend Michael Jackson. Despite the questionable course of his adult life, fans can't help but look back in awe at some of his best moments.

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Check out NPR's hub page for more on Jackson's life and legacy. And for a biography in pictures, take a look at this gallery:

 

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By Claire O'Neill

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Spike Lee's seminal 1989 film Do The Right Thing. Tell Me More has teamed up with theRoot.com to take a look back at the film and discuss its relevance and legacy today. Listen here.

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By Mandalit del Barco

Every year, England's elite gussy up for the annual Royal Ascot races, attended by princes, princesses, dukes and the Queen herself.... not to mention judges from TV's "Britain's Got Talent." Top thoroughbred horses race for trophies during the four- day affair, but the spotlight is really on the outlandish creations atop the racegoers' heads. On display this year was a hat in the shape of a giant ice cream cone, and another festooned with a blackbird. One teen from Manchester, Jade Taylor, was weighed down in fanciful headgear made of 800 marshmallows. She told reporters, "I was eating some marshmallows and I just thought I might as well go for it; after all, they're a fat-free dessert."

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The annual event started in 1711, and has become a must on England's social calendar. The dress code for the exclusive "Royal Enclosure" section of the racecourse bans halter dresses, bare midriffs and miniskirts. Men are expected to wear top hats and waistcoats, and women must wear hats or "substantial fascinators." Every day, bookies place odds on what color hat Queen Elizabeth will showing up wearing, as she watches her own horses and others compete.

By Katie Hayes

The recent unrest in Iran harkens back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Beginning in 1978, large-scale anti-government demonstrations challenged Iran's ruling monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, resulting in the removal of the shah and the creation of an Islamic state headed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. In January 1979, violent protests and fighting forced the shah to flee abroad, leaving his appointed Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar in charge of the government. Khomeini, who had been exiled by the shah, returned to Iran in February. On April 1, 1979, he established the Islamic republic.

Here's a look back at some of the 1979 events:

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Here's another fun and quirky frame-by-frame film.

In March, a few members of NPR's multimedia team took a trip to the White House, where they were recognized by President Obama for several White House News Photographers Association awards they had won. And they went bearing gifts.

The president liked his NPR swag so much, he wrote video producer John Poole a personal, inspirational and very heart-felt thank you.

 

If you doubt its authenticity, look at the back!

 

Our question for you is: Can you guess what he meant by "NPR accessories"?

NPR's Project Song, an online video documentary series, just won a Webby award! If you haven't heard of it, you should check it out. Here's how it works: NPR gives musicians a studio and 48 hours in which to write a song -- and records the entire process. Hosted by NPR Music's Bob Boilen and produced by John Poole, Project Song has featured the likes of Stephin Merritt, Georgie James and Nelly McKay. Watch the award-winning video here:

Project Song: Nellie McKay from NPR on Vimeo.

This is a neat photo series. Flickr user w00kie had various people upload their "transparent screen" photos to his Web site, and he compiled them all in a Flickr set. Here are just a few:

 

 

 

Need more Internet distraction? Here's another great way to while away your precious life: Browse through the infinite library of Flickr photos with these really cool applications.

By color:

Screengrab via Idee Labs

 

By tag:

Screengrab via Tag Galaxy

 

This video will brighten your day. Watch Snowball groove to the beat (and put all the other animals to shame). Learn more about this story here!

This video is neat. It was made by an organization called Playing for Change, a "multimedia movement created to inspire, connect and bring peace to the world through music." The song begins with one Roger Ridley in Santa Monica, Calif. Producers then bring the headphones to Grandpa Elliott, a blind singer in New Orleans. From there, they travel the world, recording musicians and layering the sound into one musical mosaic.

How does it work? Watch:

By Claire O'Neill

Today we look back and assess President Obama's effectiveness in his first 100 days in office. But one Japanese magazine is providing a look back at the very first day -- when no one knew what to expect. On Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, COURRiER Japon assigned 132 noted photographers around the globe to capture the worldwide reaction. Here's a small selection of what was documented for the project, "This Day of Change." To learn more, visit the project Web site.

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By Claire O'Neill

Ever wonder about the origin of that photo on your book cover? Karl Baden, the man behind the Covering Photography project, has an exhaustive online index and could probably tell you. He writes:

I had fallen into the habit of haunting secondhand bookstores... While prowling the stacks, I began to notice familiar images from the history of photography on the covers of novels, textbooks and volumes of poetry; books whose nominal subject matter didn't necessarily have a literal correspondence with the often iconic photographs that graced their jackets.

Dorothea Lange's famous image Tractored Out, Texas Panhandle, June 1938 is used for both books, although the second image is an illustration of the photograph.

 

Baden continues:

In some cases, the image has been re-staged by another photographer or even copied into another medium. All this manipulation prompts the question: How is a photograph, initially conceived as an independent aesthetic object, re-used as a visual cipher for a book's subject or as an attention-getting sales device; i.e., how does a shift in context affect a photograph's meaning?

Famed photographer Henri Cartier Bresson was a contemporary and friend of Jean-Paul Sartre.

 

Tears, 1930-3, by avant-garde photographer Man Ray, appears on two covers.

 

To learn more about the photo on your book cover, check out the Web site, where you can browse or search by author, photographer, publisher, publication date or designer. This project was discovered through Flak Photo.

Images courtesy Covering Photography.

Lyle Owerko is a New York-based photographer, but he's also a historian. A boom box historian.

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Boom boxes.

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In this digitally dominated music culture, NPR Music producer Frannie Kelley reported on boombox nostalgia. She interviewed Owerko about his impressive collection, most of which remains delicately swathed in bubble wrap. Fortunately for us, he has photographed his beloved boxes of boom. Take a look at Owerko's photos, and be sure to hear Kelley's story on All Things Considered for a bigger boombox picture ... and sound.

For an exhaustive (and amazing) illustrated boombox history, check out this Web site.

By Claire O'Neill

National Geographic has a project called Infinite Photograph. It's a mosaic of user-submitted images and it's, well, infinite. Watch and learn!

By Claire O'Neill

This may be old news by now, but it's still neat. It took 1,300 prints, which the user arranged and re-photographed, to tell the little story in this stop motion flick.

Gregg Gillis, commonly known by his stage moniker Girl Talk, specializes in mashup remixes in which he combines the likes of Ace of Base, Queen and Radiohead into one song. Kutiman, YouTube afficionado, has a new take on the mashup. He mixes various homegrown YouTube videos into one funky montage of sound and video:

NPR is pleased to announce the receipt of 18 awards from the White House News Photographers Association annual "Eyes of History" contest. This organization, one of the oldest and most prestigious visual journalism showcases in the country, recognizes excellence in multimedia, still and motion photography.

NPR, traditionally an audio platform, has recently developed a visual department to enhance our web coverage. The team is comprised of a multimedia director, photo editor, multimedia producer, two video journalists, a database editor and a talented staff of graphic designers. This group works across the organization to bring the best of NPR storytelling to life on the web. Our content takes the form of photo galleries, audio slideshows, video stories, and interactive graphics.

The winning gallery in the Photo and Audio Slideshow (narrated) category is seen on the WHNPA website.

 

A complete list of NPR's 2009 "Eyes of History" awards follows:

MULTIMEDIA
Best Use of Photography and Audio (narration)
1st Place
Crafting China's Future Champions
Produced by: Andrea Rane, Coburn Dukehart and Jessica Wanke/NPR; Audio Produced by Jack Zahora/NPR; Reported by Louisa Lim/NPR; Photographs by Ariana Lindquist for NPR. Supervising producers: Meghan Collins Sullivan and Keith Jenkins/NPR

3rd Place
From The Iraq War, A Troubled Romance In America
Produced by Andrea Rane and Andrew Prince/NPR; Audio produced by Sarah Mobley/NPR; Reported by Ivan Watson/NPR; Photographs by Paxton Winters for NPR

Award of Excellence
A Walk Through Beijing's Vanishing Hutongs
Produced by Coburn Dukehart/NPR, Edited by Meghan Collins Sullivan/NPR; Reported, photographed and narrated by Frank Langfitt/NPR

STILL PHOTOGRAPHY
Best Picture Story - Politics
1st Place
A Civil Rights Activist Votes in Birmingham
David Gilkey/NPR

Pictoral
Award of Excellence
Gaza
David Gilkey/NPR

VIDEO
News Special Reports
3rd Place
Afghan Dispatches
David Gilkey/NPR

Feature
Award of Excellence
Dreaming Green in Ukraine
David Gilkey/NPR

Video Documentary
2nd Place
Project Song: Nellie McKay
John Poole and David Gilkey/NPR

Sports Video
3rd Place
A Good Throw
John Poole/NPR

Political Video
2nd Place
New Hampshire Campaign Goes Door To Door
David Gilkey/NPR

Lighting
3rd Place
Lighting Composite
David Gilkey/NPR

Audio
1st Place
A Good Throw
John Poole/NPR

3rd Place
Voices from the Front
David Gilkey/NPR

Editing Short Form
Award of Excellence
Burned in the War
John Poole/NPR

Editing Long Form
1st Place
Project Song: Nellie McKay
John Poole/NPR

Editing - Sports
1st Place
A Good Throw
John Poole/NPR

3rd Place
Afghan Olympian
David Gilkey/NPR

Audio Editing
Award of Excellence
Project Song: Nellie McKay
John Poole/NPR

David Gilkey's winning Political Picture Story included this photo of James Armstrong from Birmingham.

 

The White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA) started in the 1920's to promote accurate and responsible coverage of major news events through still and motion photography. Its members are a dedicated group of Washington-based visual journalists from newspapers, television stations and websites who are committed to professional and meaningful storytelling and news coverage. They have recorded some of the world's greatest moments, and are celebrated in the annual "Eyes of History" contest -- which recognizes the best work in multimedia, still and motion photography.

The first issue of Lay Flat, a publication for contemporary, international photography, is now available for online purchase. Titled Remain in Light, this inaugural collection contains not only imagery but also essays, interviews and other writings on the art of photography.

Debora Mittelstaedt -- Sunset Park, NY, 2005

 

Co-editors Shane Lavalette and Karly Wildenhaus have curated 20 unbound fine-art images from various international photographers. To preview the selected images, check out Flak Photo, a contemporary photography blogzine that will be featuring one Lay Flat image per day from February 11 through February 27.

Nicolai Howalt and Trine Sondergaard -- Kromanns Remise II, 2005

 

Posted by Claire O'Neill

NASA's Earth Observatory has an image of the day feature:

Image courtesy earthobservatory.nasa.gov

 

From the website:

"Around the world, agricultural practices have developed as a function of topography, soil type, crop type, annual rainfall, and tradition. This montage of six images...shows differences in field geometry and size in different parts of the world.

In Minnesota (first), the very regular grid pattern reflects early nineteenth-century surveying; the size of the fields was determined by the need to have a big enough area to make the use of machinery efficient. Dirt roads separate the fields..."

Continue reading.

Posted by Claire O'Neill