The Young Photographers Alliance, a photographic educational foundation, has launched a new international mentoring initiative.Created with the help of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), the program pairs college students and recent graduates with leading photographers from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to collaborate on a photo essay on a compelling social issue. This year’s essay theme, “Answering Adversity,” is about facing global economic hardship. The photo essays were published this fall and will be exhibited in New York City Oct. 13-14.

Renowned photographers involved in the program include George Anderson, Stewart Cohen, Don Cochran, Vicki Couchman, Yuri Dojc, Richard Kelly, Dan Lamont, Stephen Mallon, Trinette Reed, Justin Sutcliffe, Edie Tobias and Nevada Wier.APA Becomes American Photographic Artists

Advertising Photographers of America (APA) has changed its name to American Photographic Artists. The decision, APA said, is part of an effort to more accurately represent the changing face of visual media.

The name change, which took place in June, was based on the idea of broadening APA’s brand to include a wider range of creative photographic professionals. According to the APA, many of today’s advertising photographers have experience with editorial and artistic projects and no longer come from a purely commercial background.

With the name change, the APA has also recognized a growing realm of advertising media. Advertising photographers, the group said, create images for big companies with large marketing budgets as well as small-scale online media projects and other creative outlets, including the fine-art, editorial and commercial realms.