According to a report from the New York Post, B&H Photo furloughed ‘about 400’ of its 2,000 employees last Wednesday, more than a month after the iconic photo and electronics superstore was forced to shut its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The New York Post cites ‘sources close to the company’ and managed to obtain a memo sent out to employees by B&H human resources director Izzy Friedman. The New York Post writes:
In a memo to affected employees, human resources director Izzy Friedman said B&H “waited as long as possible” before making the cuts, and noted the company had been paying and providing benefits for affected workers “through the Passover holiday break, and beyond to make this easier.”
B&H was likewise waiting to “evaluate the various stimulus benefits available,” but was forced in the end to furlough workers because the “crisis has continued with no clear end in sight,” Friedman added.
The New York Post also spoke with a B&H employee, who said the company’s call center is ‘busy as hell [filling orders for] computers, movie cameras and accessories for setting up a home office’ amidst the global stay-at-home directives in place around the globe. As it stands, customers can still place orders online and pick up orders pick up products curbside, but the inside remains closed at this time.
We have contacted a B&H spokesperson for confirmation of this news and other details. We will update this story with additional details if we receive a response.
An illustration from BCN Retail showing the unit sales percentage, by manufacturer, of Canon (Blue), Olympus (Green) and Sony (Red).
It was only a matter of time before we started to see the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on camera sales, and today we’re getting our first glimpse at just how brutal the global pandemic has been on the camera industry.
BCN Retail, an analyst firm that collects daily sales data of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras directly from online and in-person points of sale in the Japanese camera market, has shared the numbers from its March data, and it’s not pretty. While January and February saw a year-over-year (YoY) decline of 9.9 percent and 23.5 percent, respectively, March saw a decrease of 50.5 percent (compared to March 2019).
This decrease is well above the relatively consistent 15–20 percent YoY decrease we’ve seen over the past few years and goes to show just how hard the coronavirus pandemic is affecting sales, even if BCN’s data is only a relatively small sample size.
As far as sales volume goes, BCN says Canon, Olympus and Sony have all dropped YoY, while Fujifilm stands alone as the only manufacturer to increase its share of the market.
A chart showing the most popular cameras in the Japanese market, based on BCN Retail’s data.
BCN also shares what cameras have performed best, based on sales volume, with the Canon EOS M50 barely edging out the Olympus Pen E-PL9. Sony’s a6400 rounds out the top three, with the a6000 still coming in fifth, despite being six years old.
It’s safe to assume these numbers are just the tip of the iceberg as near-global stay-at-home mandates and quarantines continue in an effort to #flattenthecurve of the COVID-19 pandemic. CIPA’s data won’t be here for a while, but it will likely tell a similar story at a much larger scale.
As many artists around the world have had to do amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, photographer Stephen Lovekin decided to make the most of these more isolated times to document families and their messages to the world as shared through the windows of Lovekin’s Brooklyn neighborhood of Ditmas Park.
Lovekin, who’s a Shutterstock editorial photographer, came up with the idea for the project after looking for ways to help people feel more connected despite being separated from one another.
‘As a photographer I have always loved and been drawn to shooting portraits – a process that allows a connection to be made between photographer, subject, and viewer,’ Lovekin says about the project. ‘So, when this Coronavirus began to rapidly spread and people were ordered into ‘self-isolation’ and ‘social distancing’, I began to feel compelled to document this unprecedented time in our history by starting locally by reaching out to people in my Brooklyn neighborhood of Ditmas Park to see how they were feeling and to see what message, if any, they would like to share with the world, whether they be personal, political, or spiritual.’
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The latest installment of my ‘Words At The Window: Self Isolation And The Coronavirus’ project shot in the neighborhood of Ditmas Park, Brooklyn NYC. #shutterstocknow #wordsatthewindow #selfisolation #quarantine #coronavirus #covid19 #washyourhands #wegotthis #alonetogether #socialdistancing #ditmaspark #brooklyn #nyc #blackandwhite #portrait #nikon
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As for how the portraits became a series of shots framed within windows, Lovekin says that wasn’t the original plan. ‘When beginning the project I hadn’t completely settled on the idea of photographing everyone behind a window. Some people would come on their porches or stoops, but that just didn’t feel right to me for some reason,’ says Lovekin. ‘As the project began to evolve the idea of the window started to make more sense. The window being something that we look out on the world from. Something that literally frames how people can look in on us and how we look out at the world. Something that we normally do not enter or exit from.’
The project has only been going on for a week, but it’s already gained a following across social media. Lovekin says the ‘plan is to have it be an ongoing project for as long as I can safely make it possible.’
Shutterstock also caught wind of the project and teamed up with Lovekin to offer the ongoing series as a collection available to purchase, with 10% of all sales going to GiveDirectly, Inc., an organization that ‘allows donors to send money directly to the poor with no strings attached,’ according to its website. Charity Navigator, a third-party charity auditor of sorts, rates GiveDirectly, Inc. four out of four stars, the highest rating it gives to organizations that offer accountability and transparency in their operations.
Below are a few images from the series Lovekin shared with us:
Lovekin offers this parting message to viewers of the project:
‘I hope that in this time of chaos and uncertainty this project will help people feel more connected to the outside world even though we are all literally separated from one another for an unknown amount of time. If we continue to communicate and connect with those around us in a direct, honest, and positive way can get through this together. It will not be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever really is. Stay safe and stay at home! And as my own children’s sign said, “Soon we will be together”.’
You can find the full series on Shutterstock’s website and keep up with the latest portraits on Lovekin’s Instagram profile.
The Professional Photographers of America (PPA) has announced it’s unlocking all of its more than 1,1000 online photography classes for the next two weeks as a way to help those who are quarantined amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the sign up page to access the free classes, PPA says:
‘Times are tough – we need to be at our best. More kindness. More patience. More giving. And we at PPA want to pitch in to make things a little easier. What better way to spend your time at home than preparing your business for when things kick back into high gear? That’s why PPA is opening ALL of our online education to ALL photographers and small business owners worldwide for the next two weeks.’
To access the more than 1,100 classes, all you need to do is sign up for a free account on this page. There, you are asked to enter your first name, last name, email, a password and the city, state and country you reside in. Once the account is created, you’ll automatically be sent to the page shown in the screenshot below, from where you can choose the class(es) you want to partake in.
The available classes range in topics and genres, from classes on how to get started with your photography business and create contracts to guides on how to balance natural light with flash and how to organize keywords and metadata in Lightroom.
PPA CEO David Trust also shared a letter to the photography community, which you can read on the PPA website.
[ By WebUrbanist in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]
A biblical theme park contained within a huge ark (the largest timber-framed structure in the world) has opened in Kentucky, just as the region was hit hard by heavy rains and flash floods. Expecting an initial rush of visitors, the ark will have extended hours of operation for 40 days and 40 nights, coinciding with duration of the biblical fable of the great flood.
Built by Amish carpenters to dimensions described in the Bible, the main Ark Encounter structure is close to 500 feet long, 100 feet wide and a 50 feet tall. It was created by Answers in Genesis, a fundamentalist Christian organization, close to their existing Creation Museum. The megastructure is meant to serve as an education center as well as adventure playground.
The original ark, as the story goes, was designed to save Noah, his family and pairs of animals from a great flood that swept the world clean of sinners. “In a world that is becoming increasingly secularised and biased, it’s time for Christians to do something of this size and this magnitude,” said Answers in Genesis chief executive Ken Ham. The new version employs somewhat more contemporary materials and construction techniques, connecting large timber logs with steel braces.
The modern-day complex is designed to be accessible to all Americans, located less than a day’s drive from most of the country. In addition to scenes of dinosaurs living on the ark alongside humans, it features zip lines, petting zoos and camel rides.
Controversially, the $ 100,000,000 project was made possible in part through sales tax incentives, a fact that does not sit well with all residents of the state. Alas, anyone seeking to survive the next great global purge will find that the ark itself does not float, though it may provide some high ground in a storm.
Abandoned Land of Oz Theme Park Opens for Two Days …
Turning Tides: 10-Mile Park to Protect NYC from Flooding …
Wild Rides: 12 Theme Park & Coaster Concepts …
[ By WebUrbanist in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]
Olympus has dismissed its executive vice president after admitting concealing losses on investments. In the most serious revelation since the departure of former chief executive Michael Woodford, the company said that funds from previous acquisitions had been used to hide losses on securities investments since the 1990s. The news saw Olympus shares fall in value by up to 30% during Tuesday’s trading. News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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