The Photojournalism SnapPak, featuring the Lowy Lens
November First Friday marks an important anniversary: It’s been one year since Hurricane Sandy ravaged the east coast. During the “Super Storm,” photojournalists fearlessly covered the developments, hoping to capture photos so the world could understand the devastation. At the forefront of the coverage was our friend, Hipstamatic photographer, and award winning photojournalist, Ben Lowy.
Ben was hired by TIME magazine to document the storm, but TIME had one request — they asked Ben and 4 other photojournalists to shoot with their iPhones. This was nothing new to Ben — he had long been using Hipstamatic to document war-torn countries like Afghanistan and Libya. He took to the scene with not much more than a hat, Hipstamatic, and a Ziploc bag to cover his phone.
That week, Ben made history when one of his Hipstamatic photos was chosen as the cover of TIME magazine. It was an exciting moment for Ben, for us, and for our endlessly talented community. However, the TIME cover was just a nod to something we already knew — Hipstamatic photographers had changed the game. Ben, and our entire community, have helped usher in a new era of photography. We couldn’t be more proud to be part of it.
Today we are releasing the much-anticipated Photojournalism SnapPak: a lens, film, and camera case designed in collaboration with Ben. In honor of this special pak, we’re posting an exclusive interview about his experience during Sandy, the development of the lens, and the future of mobile photojournalism.
Finally, and equally important, Ben has been working on a charity project for Hurricane Sandy victims still in need. #SANDY is a book of photos, many of which are Hipstamatic, that tell the story of the storm and provide funds for those still in need. Please considering purchasing a book, which in turn donates to a worthy cause.
Now, take a read of our exclusive interview with Ben.
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1. Take us back in time — as a photojournalist, what was going through your mind when Sandy hit?
I was in San Francisco with my wife because she had one of her films opening at a film festival. We heard there was a storm coming in, and my mom was taking care of our kids back east. We decided that one of us should go home, so I got a ticket to head back to New York.
When I got off the plane, I had a message from an editor at TIME magazine. He asked me to cover Sandy, along with 4 other photographers, because they thought it was going to be a big storm. So I went home, got some supplies and made sure my kids were okay, and then got my things together to cover the story.
The interesting thing TIME did was ask me and the four other photographers to do it just with our phones. They had really embraced the idea of using social media as a non-traditional platform for distributing news content.
It was pretty interesting time when I went out to cover the storm. I didn’t have my SLR with me, so I was able to push into the water more. I had a little black bag to cover my phone to keep it from getting wet, and that’s about it.
2. Take us to the scene — were you surprised by what you saw?
It’s always hard to photograph people’s homes when they’ve been destroyed. It’s very difficult to throw a camera in upset and grieving people’s faces, especially in your own country.
It’s different when you’re in a war-torn country, like Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s never easy there either, but there’s always a certain way to approach it.
When you’re in your own community, it’s much more difficult. However, I think I was able to make pictures in a different way because I wasn’t throwing a big camera in people’s faces.
3. Then there’s your Hipstamatic picture — which literally made history when it landed the cover of TIME magazine. Did that shot feel different than any other shots? Describe what you were trying to capture.
Well, obviously, I was trying to just document what was happening, but with the particular picture they used, I was really trying to show the massive impact of the storm.
The original picture I took, which was actually cropped by TIME, had a guy in it, Alberto. This guy, it was his first week in New York City, and he wanted to experience the storm. So, there’s this guy, standing in the surf with his arms up. For me, this constitutes a man trying to stand up to the power of nature, which is really what we’re really doing with everything — every building, every house. So, the image for the cover, it was a powerful image of the storm, and this man, standing in the wave, standing up against something you can’t stand up against. That’s really the story I was telling.
Then, when TIME cropped it, what they were trying to do was objectify the storm. So, they cropped it to make it universal. If they would have left the guy in there, it may have not really conveyed just how serious the storm was, and would have perhaps objectified the person in it, Alberto, more.
4. Tell us about the Lowy lens. What sort of aesthetic were you going for? What can the community expect with this lens?
Well, this is a long time coming. I’ve been in discussions with Hipstamatic for a long time, and we were waiting for the technology to be ready so the aesthetic could be right.
Going into it, we discussed this sort of a push back against the filter look, and that’s the whole philosophical debate. For example, what is part of our contract with the public with representing reality in a journalistic fashion. And you can get into many discussions about the very nature of photography — is this real or is this just my point of view?
In my initial days using Hipstamatic for work, I was using the John S. lens, which would make the images a bit green. Then, I think after my trip to Libya, we started having a conversation about creating something that was more true to reality, but still had some some stylistic, specific characteristics.
The Lowy lens has a bit of contrast, and is slightly saturated. The highlights aren’t too blown out, and the shadows aren’t too dark. For a long time, we weren’t able to make that happen. So that’s been something we’ve been working on this whole time.
5. You’ve been at the forefront of mobile and photojournalism — what’s changed the most in the last 2 to 3 years, and where is it going?
We’ve broken out of traditional print media. As a professional, what I’ve seen change, is this idea of exclusivity. The way we hold on to images, it’s important to copyright and own them, but before it was hard to get people to see your work. It’s not like that any more.
For example, if you want to get your book published, you can do crowdsource it. There are so many platforms now, there are so many places to publish and share. Now everyone has a camera, and the iPhone is like the dark room in your pants. Last year more pictures were taken than every prior year in history combined.
It’s an amazing time to be a journalist and an image maker. It’s a very hard time to make a living doing that, but it’s a great time for information and to be connected. Some guy in Afghanistan has a phone, and can put that on social media for us to see, and that’s amazing.
For the future, I think the platforms that exist today won’t exist in the next few years, and that’s amazing. Things are moving. There are always new ways to improvise, to move things around, to make art.
