Editor's Notes

The news that Kodak is opting out of the silver black and white paper business should not have come as much of a shock, given the company's recent emphasis and direction. But it was a bit of a wake-up call. According to a Kodak spokesperson, the company has been seeing declines in sales of their silver product line for years and could no longer justify staying in that...

In this issue we take a look at and through lenses and discover some of the work by photographers who use optics in unique and clever ways. It gives us a chance to appreciate how far lens tech has advanced, and some of the wondrous ways they allow us to see the world.

While what work is produced is more interesting than how a lens is produced, there’s no question that the latest developments in lens building have opened up many exciting photo opportunities that had not been available to us in the past. One of the most exciting advances has been in Image Stabilization (IS) technology, now more common than not in new lens offerings. While putting IS (which goes under various and sundry brand names) into a fairly slow lens, like kit lenses that might start at f/3.5 or f/4 maximum aperture, and then quickly drop to perhaps f/5.6 at the tele end of the zoom, is certainly helpful, it gets much more interesting when IS goes into a fast lens, like an f/2 or f/2.8 prime or zoom.

Put editors from 28 photo magazines in one room to pick the Top Products of the Year and you’re bound to have some lively discussions. That’s exactly what happened at the TIPA (Technical Image Press Association) meetings in late April this year, the results of which are in this issue. The selection process begins with numerous candidates in 40 different categories, ranging from all sorts of cameras to lighting, bags, software, accessories, and more. Then editors from Europe, Africa, Australia, Canada, Asia, and the US go through the list and finally vote, with the winners chosen by a democratic (majority) process. We’re proud to say that Shutterbug is the sole US magazine in the group and we congratulate those companies, and the people behind the products chosen, on their achievements.

Every year editors from photo magazines around the world gather to pick what they consider the top photo and imaging products of the year. This is no easy task, for the most part, as there are literally hundreds of products that could vie for the award in each category, and in fact each year there are some new categories that did not exist a few years ago.

There’s nothing like a trip to open your eyes afresh. Whether it’s across the state or in a new city or to far-flung places around the world, our minds react to the newness of it all and our photography follows accordingly. As a parable, when in New York my office is quite close to the Empire State Building, and when I walk by on my way home I see dozens of people pointing their cameras straight up or angling for a good view. I sometimes forget just what might have caught their eye—then I remember the grand old building that is such a NYC landmark. It’s something I walk by nearly every day, and I don’t even bother to look up. For others, though, it’s an amazing site worthy of a photo, and that’s because their eyes are open to what’s new around them.

To get a handle on the issue at hand we first have to define a "pro photographer." In the simplest terms, a professional is someone who makes money at what they do. But pros can also have another day job entirely, or do the odd photographic job on nights and weekends to help pay the rent. Indeed, many pro photographers started working for nothing or next to nothing...

While we might not realize it we have all been making portraits since the day we were born. We recognized the shapes and proportions of the face as being of our own kind, and grew to recognize the features of those who were near to us and were dependent upon. We also began to understand that as we went out in the world how the rearrangement of those features boded ill or well, and began to understand the looks of love, empathy, anger, fear, and even indifference. The ability to read those signs was what enabled us to cope with the world and the people who inhabit it.