spotlight

Long-time PetaPixel readers might recognize the byline above. If you don’t, Hi, I’m David, and from 2006 to 2021 I published Strobist.com, a blog that taught photographic lighting.

Capture the Atlas has revealed the 25 winners of the seventh annual Milky Way Photographer of the Year photo contest have been unveiled, showcasing the best Milky Way images from shooters all around the world.

41-year-old musician and school band director Michael Sanchez bought his first camera just a month ago. Last week, while trying to get nice sunrise landscape shots at Hug Point along the Oregon coast, Sanchez took photos of a small, dark-looking bird in the dim dawn light. While not initially realizing it, Sanchez had captured some of the only photos ever of a blue rock thrush (Monticola solitarius) in North American history.

In the early 1990s, a group of scientists had a dream: a new type of telescope that would push astronomy, astrophysics, and imaging technology further than ever before. It would be a device that could see giant swaths of the sky and help unravel the mystery of dark matter. 30 years later, that dream is a reality.

The American Civil War was one of the first significant events in American history to be photographed. While photography was still in its relative infancy as the Union and Confederacy waged violent war from 1861 until 1865, there are thousands of Civil War photographs in the Library of Congress and countless others that are unavailable online or simply lost to time.

"I have the perfect camera for you," my dad Tom told me when I said I needed one for my film photography class at Gonzaga University in 2008. "Take my Nikon FTN, it was always my favorite," he said. "But you can't keep it. I want it back."

The World Photography Organization has unveiled the 10 category winners in this year's Sony World Photography Awards Open competition, "recognizing the best single images from across the world in 2023."

Leica has named the four recipients of its fifth annual Leica Women Foto Project Award, celebrating photographers whose work embodies reclamation, resilience, and rebirth.

Spanish photographer Jose Pedrero captured a brilliant night sky image last August that demonstrates the magic that can happen when experience, preparation, and serendipity combine in the field.

Veteran New York City event, editorial, and portrait photographer Bob Krasner has done brilliant work for decades, finding a way to make ends meet in the cutthroat field of professional photography.

With snippets of iconic spots in the city weaved together as they move from a snowy winter to lush summer scenes, all lined up precisely, Kieran Murray's video of New York City is mesmerizing.

Every fall, as the days get shorter and colder, a groundswell of tarantulas takes over the landscape of La Junta, Colorado, and the surrounding southeastern Colorado region. Conservation and wildlife photographers Devon Matthews and Kristi Odom were on site this year to document the incredible annual event.

The 2023 Close-up Photographer of the Year has been named. Hungarian photographer Csaba Daróczi has won the top prize for his striking image of a Eurasian nuthatch flying overhead a hollowed-out tree stump.

Aleksandr Gordiychuk is hopping around the world, earning a living by repairing old and broken cameras.

Russian photographer and filmmaker Vadim Sherbakov has published a new personal project highlighting the beautiful architecture of Moscow's metro stations.

Videographer and PetaPixel reader Andreas Hofmarcher sent a voice message to the PetaPixel Podcast and Andreas' story is so incredible that it warranted a dedicated article.