I squealed with delight when I saw the Obama baby on New York Magazine's cover last night, and I registered even more excitement when I saw the photographer was my pal Fiona Aboud. Turns out Fiona got this fist pump wholly by luck, though she does have some experience capturing the gesture from one of her own twins. Anyhoo, I'll let Fiona explain it all to you:

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"The parents of this baby already had this Obama shirt and so naturally we shot it. It was really just the case of being ready and having all of the pieces in front of you. I think it is one of the first times I have ever seen a newborn on the cover of the magazine. The photo editors were brilliant for having the vision to put this together. I have gotten a tremendous response and I have been promoting like crazy this week.

Basically what happened was Tuesday evening I got a call from NY Magazine asking me if I could go and photograph babies at some hospitals. Nothing was confirmed at this point, and the next day I got a call saying that Lenox Hill hospital was available in the afternoon. It was challenging because I was not sure If I would be going room to room or be shooting in one room. Also I tried to use the minimum amount of flash because newborn eyes are so sensitive. I had about 2-5 min with each baby or until they started screaming for food (I got a couple of great screaming shots!) When I got home I retouched and sent in the shots immediately.

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The next day I went to Harlem Hospital in the morning and shot the next bundles. And then I had to deliver the images that night-- so the whole job was done shooting, retouching etc. in less than 48 hours. In terms of the baby with the fist in the air-- newborns do the craziest stuff with their arms/hands because they have no control over their body. One of my twins used to do what I called a Che fist (see a photo in my personal section on my website) so I was delighted to see that this baby also had that inclination."


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little Aboud.


Go babies!

CS4, You Intrigue Me.

   
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I was an old dog learning new tricks this morning, experimenting with image optimization in Photoshop. I have two words for you: High Pass.

Who knew?!

In any case, this ad from Adobe crossed my desk later in the day, and it was so apropos. Well done, Adobe. May I please have CS4 for an affordable price? k thx.


Update: Commenter Edward sets me straight:

FYI the above photo is not from adobe. It's from an agency in Jakarta, Indonesia doing a campaign promoting the use of original software instead of pirated.

agency : Bates141 Jakarta
creative director : Hendra Lesmono
art director : Andreas Junus & Irawandhani Kamarga
copywriter : Darrick Subrata
photgrapher : Anton Ismael


Now that's the truth.

Thank you, Damon Winter

   
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I've been following Times photographer Damon Winter's coverage of Obama's campaign from the beginning, and I'll miss his imagery.

If you didn't catch it the first time, check out this slide show chronicling his experience on the road.


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Joel Barhamand's series Stuck in a Strange Loop sums up the electoral process well. It's all rather odd and searching, and in the end, one candidacy emerges victorious from the cabbage patch, and one candidacy dies.

Today is like sitting in a bathtub filled with fried chicken. Uncomfortably itchy, yet thrilling.

Here's hoping we all make it through.

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See more of Joel's work here.

Halloween! Susana Raab!

   

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It's Halloween! Are you going to transform yourself? I think I may scrawl a letter on my cheek and blacken my eye.

Susana Raab
understands transformation pretty well. No one captures a gaggle of Colonels or a bladder-relieved superhero better. Hats off to you, Raab: you're our Halloween photographic inspiration.

Have a look:

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ouch.

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See more of Susana Raab's work, here.

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Michael Williamson explores the voting habits and fears of folks in Montana in the Washington Post in this photo essay.

Here are my favorite two pictures.

Deer and Hair! These things are very important to people.

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In somewhat related news, if you want to laugh laugh cry, listen to this.


Live from campaigning in Wisconsin:

I've broken out the Canon 20d, imperfect as it is. There is plenty of solid Obama hope around here, but also some serious vitriol. Here's the latest propaganda that's being stuck to mailboxes here, under the guise of the Obama campaign's seal.

It gives me the shivers.

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The man who brought this flyer in was an older Democrat. He thought it was absolutely real.

Who knew Obama was a II?


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Well, I've made it to Wisconsin. I've undergone a few rites of passage; I had a New Glarus Spotted Cow beer, I was hung up on by some undecided voters, and I ate venison stew for dinner.

Take that, Sarah! In honor of the bloodsucking, see this NY Times Phlebotomist gallery. Adrian Warren's vampire bat is my favorite.

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Also-- for you vegans out there-- did you know there are sometimes hidden faces in broccoli pictures?

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It's true! This is either some brilliant guerrilla marketing, or a very bored photographer.

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See the whole floret story, here.
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Announcement: I have arranged my proverbial ducks (or yellow blokus pieces) in a row, and am now on my way to Ashland, Wisconsin to convince people to vote. Or to eat cold pizza in a remote campaign headquarters and harass people by phone.

So please forgive me if photography news slows a bit.

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It's nearly November*, you see, and it's important to pay attention to the polls. And the pols.


*this works because that picture is
actually the image for the month of November from my Fantasy Horse calendar.

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So, my gloves are off (the MacBook) for a time. Please forgive.


I shall do my best to take pictures of the greater Milwaukee area and share them. Viva elección!


Dewey Defeats Truman!

   
Speaking of Great Pictures, Vanity Fair is celebrating it's twenty-fifth anniversary by making lots and lots of top-25 lists. Their "best news photographs" are all blockbusters, so I went with #10 to post, as it's a nice square number. Plus, it's timely.

See them all, here.

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Victorious presidential candidate Harry Truman poses with an erroneous dewey defeats truman headline, November 2, 1948. By W. Eugene Smith/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images.
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