We’ve featured plenty of Pro Photographer Cheap Camera Challenges over the years, all of them informative, educational and entertaining to varying degrees. What we’ve never had before is the photographer’s perspective. What’s it like to be on the program? How does it go down? How much planning goes into it?

Thanks to Benjamin Von Wong and Silistudio we now have an answer to all of those questions and more. Read more…

News in the photo world isn’t always uplifting — what with all the layoffs and copyright scandals — but once in a while you stumble onto one of those ‘renew your faith in humanity’ stories that just make you smile.

That’s the uplifting story told by Imaging Resource Editor-in-Chief Dave Etchells, who recently lost $7,000 on a bullet train in Japan, only to have it found and returned to him with nary a piece missing. Read more…

Spoiler Alert: The first paragraph of this article gives away a major part of the movie ‘Gravity.’ Skip past it if you haven’t seen the movie yet.

“You should see the sun shining on the Ganges. It’s amazing…” says George Clooney in the movie ‘Gravity,’ as his character floats through the cold vastness of space, cool as only a very George Clooney-ish character can be when facing insurmountable odds and indescribable beauty all at the same time.

But while Sandra Bullock’s character had more important things to worry about just that second, chances are anyone reading this doesn’t. And so, ahead of the Oscars where ‘Gravity’ is bound to take home at least a few of the golden statuettes, NASA has released a beautiful photo series to remind us what the view really looks like from space. Read more…

In yet another impressive (and sexual innuendo-filled… you’ve been warned) DigitalRev Cheap Camera Challenge, Kai has Benjamin Von Wong try to create some of his epic fire imagery using nothing more than a crappy Ricoh point-and-shoot that was probably bought at a Best Buy… on clearance… five years ago. Read more…

Watch out aerial videographers, you may soon be replaced by birds with cameras. A few weeks ago we shared some great footage captured by a bird who got his beak on one of the BBC’s egg cameras and took flight over a group of penguins. And today, we show you what a pelican can capture when his human helps him ‘hold’ the camera. Read more…

What’s the best thing about a 365 project? Some would say it’s that you develop the habit of shooting every single day. Others that you develop your skill because you’re shooting more than you probably ever have. But for photographer Aliza Razell, the best thing about a 365 project is the ability to experiment.

And it’s experimentation that led her to create the stunning images you see above and below. Images that combine watercolor and photography into something greater than the sum of its parts. Images that, as you probably already guessed, are spreading like wildfire. Read more…

Print of Robert De Niro just out of the camera (screen capture from the video ‘Up Close and Personal’)

Created by Polaroid in 1976, the 20×24-inch instant camera is one of the most unusual and massive pieces of photographic history you can get your hands on (if you’re lucky enough… or have the dough). Fortunately for those of you who want to see the cam in action, photographer Chuck Close managed to do just that in a series of images for Vanity Fair’s 20th Hollywood issue. Read more…

If you browse around online, even if you stay away from the magazine covers with their models liquified into long-legged oblivion, you will be hard-pressed to find professional portraits of women that are as honest and raw as the ones featured on RAW Beauty Talks.

That’s because this organization, dedicated to empowering women through portrait photography and an honest conversation about beauty, doesn’t just do away with photo manipulation in its portraits… it does away with anything meant to enhance or cover up the way the models actually look. Read more…