Leave it to irrevevant pop musicians to do something inventive with disposable cameras. You can check out his DIY setup almost immediately in the video but have to wait around to about 1:47 to see it in action. Feel free to dance around in the interim.

Recently I had the privilege of helping judge the San Diego CityBeat annual photo contest. It was fun despite being conducted through Flickr so that no one could hear my snarky comments. It was also a welcome excuse to ponder photography theory: How does one compare unrelated photos and ultimately choose one over the other, and just what exactly makes a successful photo anyway?

I was shooting Le Book all last week, a French company that puts together a book of creative and production companies for others to browse when looking for help in either of those areas. I was at the trade show they have once a year, and, as they are French, they asked me to capture the glamour of the event. I suggested I hold the camera at angles and slow my shutter down to get the feeling right. The employee I was talking to interrupted and said “yes, capture some motion.” The French also seemingly have an inherent knowledge on how to capture glamour to go along with their interest in it.

Perhaps he was a photographer himself, but his statement got me noticing motion in other photos. In the introductory class I teach on photography, one of the first things we talk about is how to eliminate blurriness. There are, of course, many times where motion adds a “je ne sais quoi” to your shot.

This New York Magazine photo accompanied a restaurant review. The photo caught my eye because I didn’t find it part

An email from a stranger asked me to fill out a questionnaire recently, for a student’s career project. The career this student said she is deeply interested in, according to her email, is photojournalism/photography. Having the time and plenty of thoughts to collect, I obliged and asked her if she’d mind if I posted her questions and my responses on Meridian. So, here are my perspectives on the industry as an emerging photojournalist, exactly as I wrote them on the survey. Not being a firmly established photographer yet, I’d be interested to know whether I gave this student good advice.

The World Naked Bike Ride usually means plenty of completely nude protesters, but not in San Diego.

Musician and producer Bonnie Wright, for San Diego CityBeat.

I am having a pitching challenge with my friend Liz over at Brooklyn Home Companion, each of us trying to pitch a story once a week. So, for a little inspiration and accountability, I thought I would post these submission guidelines from Freelance Writing Gigs You really should be subscribed to this feed.

Washington Monthly

The Washington Monthly is a publication covering politics, government, culture and the media. Before you pitch a story to us, we recommend you read through a few of our back issues online or in print to get a feel for the type of investigative, system-analysis journalism we value and promote.

The magazine is published Bimonthly and includes investigative and opinion-based feature articles (2,000 to 5,000 words), occasional short news items and humorous sidebars (500 to 1,000 words), and book reviews of recent political and cultural titles (usually about 800 words). We occasionally print excerpts from forthcoming political books. We never publish fiction, poetry, or celebr

Election center in San Diego was a banquet hall full of jockeying constituents clustered around their champions.

But I am still hopeful. Or at least I was until I shot the Root’s Picnic and found myself sharing the photo pit with a 9 year old and his Spiderman backpack.

My sidewalk strolls have been replaced as of late by weekend excursions to California’s national parks. Here’s a set from a night hike in Joshua Tree National Park, starting at the popular Jumbo Rocks campground, during which I experimented with the light cast by headlights worn by myself and my brother.