Seven students and alumni of the Brooks Institute will attend the elite Eddie Adams Workshop in Jeffersonville, N.Y., Oct. 10-13. Brooks' Visual Journalism program students taking part include Afton Almaraz, Cole Eberle, Troy Harvey, Justin Wagner and Brett Ziegler; alumni Ramsay deGive and Dylan Isbell also will participate in the event.
The Adams workshop accepted 100 individuals out of 1,500 applicants, including...

The Brooks Institute of Photography has announced that Leica Cameras will sponsor its 2008 documentary trip for students of the Visual Journalism program. Leica will provide training for the students before they depart on their trip, as well as Leica M8 digital rangefinder cameras and various interchangeable Leica M lenses.

Visual Journalism instructor Paul Myers will accompany 26 students on a seven-week journey through Southern India from November to December 2008 to chronicle the cultures of the region...

One thing that did not please me were Peter Kaplan's images of the nudes perched in dangerous places ["Top of the World," page 30].It is all right for Mr. Kaplan to risk his life, but placing models in danger for the whim these photos express is just depressingly irresponsible.

Maybe he could dangle from the Eiffel Tower or the Space Needle. ... At least he would get a kudo or two for comic relief.

— Royal Mason, via e-mail

The editor responds:The models who posed for Kaplan's nude images were there on a completely voluntary basis. At no time were the models put "in danger." Kaplan and his assistants are experienced climbers who practice the same rigorous safety procedures as ironworkers...

We present a selection of winners and finalists in Art Wolfe's International Conservation Photography Awards contest, which recognizes photographers who are committed to environmental stewardship.

Known for his passionate advocacy for the environment, nature photographer Art Wolfe created a conservation-themed photo contest in 1997 as "an event for the advancement of photography as a unique medium, capable of bringing awareness and preservation to our environment through art." This year marks the 11th anniversary of Wolfe's annual photography exhibit, which has gone through some name changes and is currently known as the International Conservation Photography Awards (ICP Awards).

The focus of the ICP Awards has been updated to reflect the new emphasis on...

The Annenberg Foundation will open a free 10,000-square-foot gallery space in Los Angeles next to its administrative office on the Avenue of the Stars. The Annenberg Space for Photography will open in the spring of 2009 with a group show by eight Los Angeles-based photographers.

The space will feature a new digital projection gallery along with a traditional print exhibit area. Once the facility opens, thousands of photographs will be readily accessible to the public in large, high-resolution formats. The original inspiration for the space came from the foundation's vice president and trustee, Wallis Annenberg, whose personal devotion to traditional gallery and museum photography led him to create this new, high-tech paradigm for presenting images to the public...

The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) received a $1.3 million royalty distribution from the Authors Coalition in December 2007, the largest such payout to date.

The Authors Coalition of America, founded in 1994, redistributes royalties on non-title-specific works that are photocopied abroad.

Unlike the United States, many European countries have created a tax on photocopying. International reprographic rights organizations funnel these funds through the Authors Coalition, which, in turn, distributes payments to its member organizations...

For Los Angeles photographer Jill Greenberg, the fallout continues from her controversial photo session with Sen. John McCain for an Atlantic Monthly magazine cover story.

After posting several unflattering and digitally doctored outtakes from the session on her website (manipulator.com) that lampooned McCain as a monster and a sexist, Greenberg has endured a firestorm of criticism from many colleagues in the photo industry for being misleading and unprofessional...

Photo agency Corbis says it will be cutting approximately 16 percent of its staff over the next year. The move, which will involve 175 layoffs, will reduce the company's size to about 900 employees.

Two of the highest-level executives who will be leaving the company are senior vice president Adam Brotman, who had launched Corbis' microstock site SnapVillage, and chief creative officer Ross Sutherland.

According to Corbis, the layoffs are part of consolidation efforts to remove role duplication between itself and Veer, a competitor that it acquired in 2007. Corbis had previously cut 285 jobs through layoffs in 2007...

A new bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives this July that would allow media access to the funeral ceremonies for members of the armed services who have died on active duty.

The Fallen Hero Commemoration Act, H.R. 6662, was introduced by Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and has gained the support of press organizations including the National Press Photographers Association and the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

If the bill goes into effect, the Department of Defense would be required to give journalists access to ceremonies of soldiers killed in action, ending the ban that has been in place since the 1991 Persian Gulf War...

Home and studio locations: San Francisco and Paris, France.

Preferred equipment: Horseman SW and Silvestri Flexicam medium-format view cameras; Rodenstock and Schneider digital lenses; Phase One and Leaf digital backs; Broncolor lights for still-life and Briese lights for people.

Personal projects: Photographing the great, classic bars of the world. He hopes to publish the collection as a book one day.

Advice to aspiring studio photographers:"Eliminate things [from] the photo that don't need to be there," he says. "Figure out the minimum amount of elements to tell a story." He also recommends learning photography on a view camera.

Website: musilek.com