inspirational

Photographer Offered Baby for $50, Raises $50K to Fight Human Trafficking

What would you do if you were photographing people in Bulgaria, there as a volunteer for an anti-human trafficking nonprofit no less, and you were offered a baby for $50.

The interaction seems outright absurd, perhaps even unbelievable, to those of us who have never experienced such a thing first hand, but that's what happened to Seattle-based photographer Tanner Wendell Stewart in 2012. It was the moment that would forever alter his life.

Artist Shares Beautiful Illustrations Created with Flower Petals and Household Objects

Singapore-based artist Lim Zhi Wei, who goes by Limzy or @lovelimzy on Instagram, doesn't use your typical materials to create her mini masterpieces. Where others might use paint or, in the case of photographers, light, the artwork that she shares with her 50,000+ followers is created using flower petals, watercolors, food and random household objects.

Gorgeous Video Captures a Day in the Life of Wildlife Photographer Asgeir Helgestad

It takes more than nice gear and a healthy dose of luck to be a good wildlife photographer, as Norwegian photographer Asgeir Helgestad knows all too well. “You have got to be a little bit [of an] animal psychologist,” he says, explaining that you have to understand how the animals will act, anticipate what they’re going to do, and know where they’re going to be.

Meet Instagram’s Favorite Cancer Fighting Grandma, @GrandmaBetty33

About a month ago we told you about Instagram's new sweetheart. No, it's not a cat or any other cuddly animal, it's a great-grandmother named Betty who is battling cancer and living the rest of her days out in the most inspirational and touching of ways.

And now, we get to meet grandma Betty thanks to this behind the scenes video created for her Indiegogo campaign by photographer and videographer Jeremiah Warren.

David Goldblatt Shares Six Decades Worth of Experience In This Brilliant Video

What does six decades worth of photography experience look and sound like? David Goldblatt. Speaking both to an interviewer and an audience at the 2014 Design Indaba Conference throughout the six-minute video above, Goldblatt takes a look back at the career and some of the resulting images that have brought him so far, giving powerful insights that only time and experience can bestow upon a person.

Canon Australia Knocks it Out of the Park With Stunning #WhatDoYouSee Promo

Nothing like starting hump day off with some visual inspiration, and this promo video, released by Canon Australia earlier this week, certainly fits the bill.

Put together as part of the company's #whatdoyousee campaign, the video is made up entirely of reflections in people's eyes that answer the campaign question, "What do you see?"

Inspiration: Jimmy Chin Offers Insights Into the Challenges and Rewards of His Career

These short interviews that National Geographic has been putting together for its PROOF blog are quickly becoming some of our favorites. Quick, to the point and always very inspirational, they feature masters of their craft who have reached great heights in their photographic careers.

This latest video features renowned climber and adventure/travel photographer Jimmy Chin talking about both the good and the bad of what he does.

Group of Friends Shave Their Heads Ahead of Surprise Portrait with Sick Friend

You might not know it if you watch too much TV, but there is a great deal of goodness in this human race of ours... and it runs deep. South African portrait photographer Albert Bredenhann discovered this in a big way recently when he was hired to do a photo shoot for a group of friends, one of which had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.

That kind of photo shoot is touching in and of itself, but the group took the idea further than that when they all voluntarily shaved their heads ahead of the surprise portrait.

A Passion for Africa: Interview with Award-Winning Wildlife Photog Morkel Erasmus

Morkel Erasmus is an award-winning wildlife photographer based out of South Africa. He has an abiding passion for his country and its animals, which comes out in his beautiful photography that is perhaps best described as 'intimate.' You can find more of his work on his website, blog and 500px, or by following him on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

We recently sat down with Erasmus (digitally of course) to talk about his work and see if he had any words of wisdom to share with the wildlife photography fans who read PetaPixel.

GoPro Releases Inspirational POV Footage from Stratos Jump

During Felix Baumgartner's record-breaking Stratos jump from 128,100 feet above the Earth, he was packing a total of seven GoPro Hero2's on his person. Red Bull has been slow to release all the footage from the jump and a couple of days ago we found out why -- it seems they were saving it for the short film "Red Bull Stratos -- The Full Story."

SmugMug Films Offers Up Some Air-to-Air Inspiration with Jessica Ambats Feature

If the first two SmugMug Films features are any indication, we're going to be covering them all... and we doubt anybody is going to complain.

First, SmugMug took you behind the scenes with Benjamin Von Wong as he created magical worlds with the click of a shutter. Today, they visit the other side of the spectrum by featuring air-to-air photographer Jessica Ambats.

How a 365 Project Changed My Life

Just over a year ago, photography was my most precious hobby. I really enjoyed it and took photos fairly often, but I felt that if I wanted to take this thing to the next level, I had to do something extraordinary. A couple of days before New Year's Eve I decided to start a "365 days 365 photos" project like so many other photographers before me. It felt like a great idea, and so I just went for it. What could possibly happen?

A Rare Connection: My Photo Shoot with John Schneider

I recently got asked to shoot photos for a show called “The Haves and HaveNots” for the Oprah Winfrey Network. I’ve shot many shows in my career and I always enjoy these shoots because there are so many challenges involved.

Ben Von Wong Kicks off Inspirational Video Series from SmugMug in Style

If you feel the Internet is short on inspirational content for budding photographers, then the folks at SmugMug have got something awesome in store for you. It's called SmugMug Films, and starting with the Benjamin Von Wong video above, the series will give you a glimpse into the lives of some of the most extraordinary and inspirational photographers of our time.

New Apple Ad Touts the iPad as a Creative Powerhouse, Inspires Artists Everywhere

Say what you will about Apple -- and there are many people who have a lot of not-so-nice things to say -- but the company knows how to put together an ad. From the funny Mac vs. PC commercials of old to this year's Christmas advertisement that brought many to tears, Steve Jobs vision of standing at the intersection of liberal arts and technology is often brought to life by these ads.

Apple's newest commercial gives the iPad the same treatment -- showing the gadget being used for everything from photography to filmmaking while a monologue about poetry from the movie Dead Poets Society inspires you into a creative frenzy.

54 Reasons to Love Photography in 2013

As a self-appointed pundit, I spend a fair amount of time criticizing the photography industry, but I have a little secret ... I love photography! And 2013 brought yet another year full of strange, interesting and inspiring moments in photography. Let’s go on a little journey ... in no particular order.

The Entrancing and Surreal Self-Portraiture of Kyle Thompson

There are selfies, and then there are self-portraits. Make no mistake, these are two very different things, in the same way that a photograph differentiates itself from a snapshot. So while the word 'selfie' might be in the midst of experiencing its 15 minutes of fame, it would be an injustice to call photographer Kyle Thompson's gripping self-portraits 'selfies.'

Eight ‘Life in Focus’ Miniseries Episodes to Jumpstart Your Motivation

We introduced you to F-Stop Gear's 'Life in Focus' miniseries when it first debuted back in April. Since then, eight more inspirational episodes of the series have aired, and since we neglected to share them one by one over the last eight months, we thought we'd share them all here as a sort of motivational kick in the pants to end the year on.

Photographer Benjamin Von Wong Turns a Shy Email into a Dream Come True

Photographers have the power to make dreams come true, and if you've ever doubted that statement you won't after watching the video above and hearing the story behind it -- a story that includes a sweet, sick woman's shy email, and a photographer's determination to come through no matter what.

Photographer Captures the Uplifting Story of His Premature Son’s First Year of Life

A few commenters have on occasion joked that we need to add a "tenuous links to photography" category for those stories where, strictly speaking, there's not much photography involved. The video above might quality, but we ask your forgiveness ahead of time because, a) there is a link, and b) it is one of the most touching, uplifting and inspirational things we've seen in a long time.

The Nine Hundred Dollar iPhone Photo

I’m not going to say that we flew down to Florida to get a picture, because we didn’t. We flew down to Florida to see my grandfather, who is 94-years-old and my son’s only living great-grandparent. All my own great-grandparents passed away long before I was born, as did my husband’s great-grandparents.

So I’m not saying that we flew down to Florida to take a picture, but I’m admitting we wanted one. A photograph of four generations, all alive at the same time. Proof that it had happened. Me, my son, my father, and his father.

Instagram Fills Up with Batkid Photos as SF Helps Bring a Young Boy’s Dream to Life

Yesterday a young boy named Miles, better known now as Batkid, inspired the world and probably became the most photographed child on Earth, if only for a day. You see 5-year-old Miles has been battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia since he was 20 months old, and when the Make-a-Wish foundation asked him what his wish was, he said he wanted to be Batman.

Well, you don't tell a 5-year-old no, and so the Bay Area Make-a-Wish foundation and 12,000 volunteers set to work turning San Francisco into Gotham city, and making sure that everyone who ran across this story today would break down into uncontrollable tears of joy...

Give It 100: Create a 100-Day Video Time-Lapse of the Journey Towards Your Goals

Back in July, we shared a viral "Dance-Lapse" video put together by former Microsoft exec Karen Cheng that showed the amazing progress she made learning to dance in one year.

Since that video came out, she's received countless requests to help others create similar video time-lapses of their own journey towards personal goals. And so she decided to start a website dedicated to that very thing.

Short Doc: It’ll Take More than Crippling MS and Near Blindness to Stop this Photog

One of the great things about photography is that inspirational stories aren't hard to come by -- whether it's tragic circumstances that are being brought to light by a daring photojournalist or a success story about a young photographer who is just discovering his passion for this industry.

Street photographer Flo Fox's story is yet another kind of inspirational. It's a story of overcoming unimaginable adversity, and a rock hard determination not to let any of life's curveballs get in the way of doing what you love.

Successful 21-Year-Old Photog Shares His Inspirational World View at TEDxYouth

There's a belief that being successful as a photographer these days runs the possibility gamut from difficult to almost impossible, but examples like Wyn Wiley seem to run contrary to that belief. Wiley is a very successful 21-year-old photographer, and in the Lincoln Nebraska TEDxYouth talk above, he blows minds by sharing his incredibly optimistic and inspirational world view.

How a Simple Photo Tip Got One Family’s Photo on a National Billboard Campaign

We dedicate a lot of time to finding and sharing relevant, inspirational and sometimes humorous stories with you here, and once in a while, we inadvertently help make something wonderful happen.

That was the case with the Anderson family, who recently got in touch with us to tell us how a simple photo tip we shared changed their lives for the better. With their permission, we're sharing that story with you.

BTS: Making Epic Advertising Composites with Erik Almas

Purists might not take to all of photographer Erik Almas' work, and in particular the work featured here, but if you can get over the fact that these are composites that necessarily need some help in the computer to come to life, Almas' advertising photography will blow your mind.

Retired Photographer Looks Back Over a Long and Successful Career

Like many great photographers of the past, Domenic Quartuccio is not a household name. Although some of his photographs appear in the archives of the Museum of the City of New York City, and he was at one point working at some of the most successful studios in the world, his successful career played out quietly within the city of New York.

In the short video interview above, Vimeo user and photographer Haiwei Ruan sat down with Quartuccio and simply let him tell his story.