Photo Gallery

In this example of how to follow the action, Ian Martens from the Canadian Newspaper Lethbridge Herald followed an F-18 as it plunged into the ground while the pilot ejected during a practice fight for an airshow. Pretty dramatic photos and one good reason to attend airshows, even if you aren't too into airplanes and really loud noises!

Pilot Capt. Brian Bews ejects as his a CF-18 fighter jet plummets to the ground during a practice flight at the Lethbridge County Airport on Friday, July 23 for the weekend airshow in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. "He is alive and we believe right now that his injuries are non-life-threatening," Canadian Forces Capt. Nicole Meszaros told CBC News. Ian Martens / Lethbridge Herald / CP via AP

The Denver Post has three very beautiful galleries up showing historic pictures from the early 20th century. The first is a look at American cities prior to 1950. The second is a look through the eyes of some Farm Security Administration photographers between 1939-1943 and the last is some color photos from Russia prior to 1915! All three of these galleries are full of wonderful images and are a reminder of both where we came from as a nation and what made photography such a powerful medium. 

Woman is working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber Tennessee, February 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

The Boston Globe's Big Picture has an awesome gallery showing some of the stormy weather which is afflicting the planet these days. You can have a look by clicking on the photo below. 

Waves batter a merchant vessel stranded along the coast during a heavy storm in Valparaiso City, Chile, 121 km (75 miles) northwest of Santiago on July 6, 2010. (REUTERS/Eliseo Fernandez)

Old friend Stanley Greene, one of the founders of Noor Images, a photo agency, has given an excellent interview to the New York Times where he goes over everything from shooting film to what he thinks a modern journalist should be. Here's the lead and you can click through for the rest of the article. 

Stanley Greene, 61, is a founding member of Noor Images, a photography collective, agency and foundation in Amsterdam. His books include the autobiographical “Black Passport” and “Open Wound: Chechnya 1994-2003.” He won the W. Eugene Smith Grant in 2003. Michael Kamber spoke with him in Paris in May. Their remarks have been condensed.

Q.
What is it that you wanted to say with “Black Passport”?

A.
I wanted to set the record straight. I kept hearing people say, “Chechnya was when you really started to be a photographer.” And that’s not true. I was shooting back at the Berlin Wall, but nobody knew about it. I fell through the cracks. I wanted a way to say that my influences are not the ones you think they are. They are about painting. They are about music. They are about other things. The way I’ve been shooting really hasn’t changed since back in the ’70s, before all these new photographers emerged. My old work, like rock and roll, really nails it.

I found my vision way before Chechnya, it’s just that you didn’t know about it; the public didn’t know about it. Louis Faurer is an amazing photographer, but he fell through the cracks. Robert Frank used his dark room, and obviously Robert Frank looked at his pictures. They were friends. But Louis Faurer fell through the cracks. He was a great photographer and a great printer. Frank was hanging out with Bill Brandt, and he was hanging out in Paris with Man Ray and others. It’s the same if you look at Garry Winogrand, Roy DeCarava and Lee Friedlander.

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It's hot all over, not just in the US, but in Russia, Spain, China and other countries. Global warming, global climate change? Call it what you want it, records are being set all over the world for the hottest days/weeks/months in a row. Here is a nice gallery showing various ways to beat the heat from the Sacremento Bee's The Frame gallery. A lot of these frames are not complicated, easy pictures to make and to enjoy. 

A boy cools off in the Washington Square fountain, Saturday, July 17, 2010 in New York. AP Photo / Mary Altaffer

The Boston Globe's Big Picture has a nice look at the current drawdown of US troops from Iraq. You can look at them here. 

U.S. servicemembers attend a naturalization ceremony at Al-Faw Palace in Baghdad's Camp Victory July 4, 2010. U.S. citizenship was granted to 156 servicemembers from 56 countries, according to the U.S. military. (REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani) 

A lot of photographers I know complain about the use their pictures get these days or how little they get paid for them. But from the point of view of the consumer of photographs, these are really wonderful times. Right now there are two excellent and distinct galleries up showing lots and lots of photos from the Tour de France. The same was true for the winter Olympics and the World cup. If you are interested in looking at good photos there is just so much out on the internet now and with good places to look like the Denver Post or the Boston Globe, it's getting easier to see it all the time. With that in mind, both the Post and the Globe have excellent galleries up of the Tour de France thus far. You can look at the Globe's gallery here and the Post's Gallery here. 

American cyclist Christian VandeVelde, 34, of team Garmin-Transitions is viewed after a crash along stage 2 of the Tour de France July 5, 2010 in Spa, Belgium. The 201km route with six categorized climbs travels from Brussels to the city of Spa. Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara of team Saxo Bank is wearing the race leaders yellow jersey. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

There are some brutal pictures in this gallery showing the running of the bulls in Pampalona, Spain, but they are honest and that's important in news photography. There is as much said by a gallery leaving out certain pictures as there is by pictures which make it into the gallery. The Big Picture certainly doesn't pull any punches with this gallery and the comments below certainly reflect the brutality of the photography. But the pictures are good, the subject is interesting and, since it is a gallery, there are a lot of photos which would have never made it into a family newspaper. Anyway, it's certainly worth a look. 

Figures dance through the streets during the San Fermin festival's "Comparsa de gigantes y cabezudos" (Parade of the giants and the big heads) in Pamplona July 13, 2010. Enormous puppets accompanied by brass bands parade daily through the city during the nine-day-long festival. (REUTERS/Eloy Alonso)

Well, you either loved him or you hated him, there was no ground in between when it came to the latest New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who died yesterday. The Denver Post's P-Log has a nice tribute to Steinbrenner up which runs the gamut of his career. 

Flags fly at half staff at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the New York Yankees in honor of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner Tuesday, July 13, 2010, in Tampa, Fla. George Steinbrenner died Tuesday morning, July 13, 2010 in Tampa, Fla. He was 80. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

The Boston Globe's Big Picture has a wonderful wrap-up from the month-long sporting festival known as the World Cup. They have pictures from lots of games, fan reactions, player reactions, nice scenic pictures, winners, losers and the rest. There are some real nice pictures and it's worth a look. 

A general view taken from the stands during the 2010 World Cup semi-final football match between Germany and Spain at Moses Mabhida stadium on July 7, 2010 in Durban. (RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP/Getty Images)