Thanks to Jonathon Worth for writing in to tell us about this short interview with World Press Photo 2012 juror Steve Pyke (embedded above). Pyke served as chair of judging for portraiture. The discussion offers an interesting perspective of the judging process from Pyke’s own perspective, especially focusing on the discussions between jury members during the process and the influence that each jury member’s own specialty and expertise plays in picking the winners. Particularly interesting, Pyke says (at about 5:45) that the winners in the Portrait category weren’t entered into the category originally. Jurors pulled images from other categories into the Portrait category and chose those as the winners.

There’s also an earlier short interview with Pyke that covers the chore of looking through 8,000 entries.

The awards will be announced tomorrow, Feb. 10.

By the way, do check out Jonathan Worth’s two open access online photography classes, Phonar and Picbod.

“We had really clear concepts of what we wanted to do in our heads. We started with my photographs for ideas and then mimicked them in the sets. Most of the sets started with almost like a ‘Roger Ballen still life’ and then we might have added in a mouth or foot or hand and then we went into them cinematically.” -Roger Ballen, speaking with Phaidon about collaborating with Die Antwoord

Longtime dvafoto favorite Roger Ballen (previously, previouslier) has collaborated with Die Antwoord again for their video “I Fink You Freeky.” It’s not the first video of theirs to feature Ballen-like imagery; their earlier “Wat Pomp” video looks straight out of Ballen’s universe, though with less polish than “I Fink You Freeky.” I still don’t know what to make of the music, but I am disappointed that their show in Boston this weekend was sold out last week when I tried to buy tickets. Maybe you can catch them soon as they tour through the US and Australia in February and March.

Make sure to read this short interview at Phaidon with Ballen about the collaboration with the band. He says they’re working on another video for Die Antwoord’s next release. I can’t wait to see more….

And if you’re curious to see another music-inspired nightmare, Aphex Twin’s Come to Daddy is an excellent example from the golden age of music videos.

[ed: from Matt: you should also check out this article from The New York Times Magazine from January, which features a Ballen photograph and a story about the band on New Year's Eve: The Brilliant Weirdness of Die Antwoord: Johannesburg’s Most Wanted. I assume the photographer in the story is Ballen himself]

Another video in the vein of Shit ___ Say…, Shtuff People Say to Photographers is the natural companion to Shit Photographers Say. This video was produced by the Outward Bound Collective. It’s geared a bit more toward wedding and portrait photographers, but if you’ve ever taken pictures in a public place, I’m sure you’ve heard half of these.

I’m surprised it took so long for this meme to get to photographers, but here it is, by Paris Visone, Tim Kennedy, Chris Sanchez, and Dan Aguirre. It’s in the vein of the original of these sorts of videos, Shit Girls Say, and the many, many derivatives. Don’t forget Shit Liz Lemon Says.

(via Photographs On the Brain)

UPDATE: Looks like there is an earlier (less funny) Shit Photographers Say video here.

Our monthly posting of dvafoto’s deadline calendar. The calendar can be accessed in a web browser, or with ical or xml applications. If you know of any upcoming deadlines not on the list, please send them to deadlines@dvafoto.com or use the submissions page.

Modified screenshot of Wired Playbook - Weird Sports by Sol Neelman

Sol Neelman has just started a new Weird Sports column at Wired.com’s Playbook sports blog. The posts, similar to what you’d find at Neelman’s own blog, are an extended look at a variety strange athletic activities and competitions. Thus far at Playbook, Neelman’s shown us competitive beard growing and a tough guy competition. I’m looking forward to more!

If you haven’t already, be sure to pick up his excellent book, Weird Sports (available at his website with a Luchador mask and print, or through Amazon). And don’t miss Neelman’s account of making the book with publisher Kehrer Verlag.

Ed Ou - Egyptian Youth

Longtime dvafoto favorite Ed Ou’s ongoing project, Egyptian Youth, is a fascinating look at one of the driving forces behind current Egyptian politics. Much of the work has been published over by the New York Times over the past year, and collected in a recent video produced for the paper with Ben Solomon, but the best place to see the work is on Ou’s own website. The essay both looks at the role of youth in recent protests and uprisings gives the viewer a glimpse into the everyday lives of these people who are both transforming their country and caught in the middle of unprecedented change. It’s well worth a look.