It’s 1944. D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. The American League Browns beat the National League Cardinals, 4-2, to take the all-St. Louis World Series. Franklin Roosevelt is re-elected President of the United States for a fourth term. “Going My Way” wins the Best Picture Oscar. And in New York, a handful of the world’s leading photojournalists come together to create a group that will demand the establishment of professional rights and working conditions, as well as fair compensation for the use of their images. Today, that group — the American Society of Media Photographers — continues to fight for and promote those hard-won rights through information, education and advocacy on behalf of the world’s finest and most professional working publication photographers. ASMP has grown to over 5,000 members in 40 chapters nationwide and in many foreign countries.
To celebrate ASMP’s 60th anniversary we have created this site: to honor the past, to celebrate the present, and to look ahead to the opportunities and continuing struggles in the future. We invite you, ASMP members and non-members alike, to look at our rich heritage, to see where we’ve been, what we’ve accomplished, and where we’re going — and how much ASMP has meant to the profession of photography and to the lives of the men and women who capture the images that define our world, whether in 1944, or 2004, or beyond.
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What’s New
3/7/05 — Posted interview with Charlie Rotkin.
1/18/05 — Posted interview with Arthur Leipzig.
1/12/05 — Posted interview with Jerry Cooke.
12/13/04 — Posted interview with Lou Jacobs.
12/7/04 — Posted interview with Barrett Gallagher.
12/6/04 — Posted Digital Issues in the Editorial Market Panel Discussion.
12/2/04 — Posted 60th Anniversary and Board Meeting Photos.
Interviews
Kalisher: I got the job. But I also learned later that, if I had given a kickback for the job, I would have been competing with all the guys who gave kickbacks. Because I didn't give kickbacks, I only competed with the people who didn't give kickbacks. We were in two different worlds. I knew, if I did any job in which I lost my self-respect, there would be no reason to be a photographer. That's the one thing photography gave me: my self-respect.
More with Simpson Kalisher…
ASMP Bulletin
Without exaggeration, the Code is the basis for just about everything ASMP has done and believed in ever since. It is the backbone of the organization's efforts. Yet, oddly, it is little known by current members, and almost never reprinted.
More from The Foundation of Everything…
Milestones
1978 — After years of tireless effort on the part of ASMP staff and officers, the Copyright Act goes into effect, placing ownership of a photographer’s creative work back in the photographer’s hands. Every creative freelancer working today owes ASMP an enormous debt for this brave and costly effort.
More from Milestones…
Memories
“The people I’ve met through ASMP have had a profound effect on my growth as a photographer, business person and human being. Between Strictly Business and the invaluable help, advice and support that I’ve gotten from all the ASMP members that I’ve worked with in the 10 years since then, I can honestly say that the only reason we’re still surviving in this crazy business is because of ASMP.”
More from Judy Herrmann…
