Culture

Photography is about far more than capturing an image. How photos are shared and what social issues are impacting the profession are just as important. PetaPixel regularly covers the stories around the culture of photography, how it affects society, and what cultural changes affect the art.

Pose for Christmas Portraits with This ‘Hipster Santa’ in Portland

If you're looking for unique Christmas portraits for your kids this holiday season, head over to the Pioneer Place shopping mall in downtown Portland, Oregon. There, in one of the world capitals of hipsterdom, you'll find a hipster Santa that ditched his traditional red outfit in favor of jeans, a festive cardigan sweater, and a fashionable man bun.

Annie Leibovitz Shoots the Pirelli Calendar Into a New Direction

The annually published Pirelli Calendar is known for its history of racy photos by renowned photographers that often show models in various states of undress. The photographer behind this year's edition is renowned portrait shooter Annie Leibovitz, and instead of focusing on themes of sexuality, Leibovitz has taken the photos in a completely new direction.

Leica’s New Cufflinks and Pendants Are Shaped Like Shutter Speed Dials

Leica is getting serious about hip photographic fashion accessories. Earlier this month, Leica USA unveiled an $840 lighter, $840 pen, and $175 keychain. Now, Leica Russia is getting in on the action as well: the company has launched pendants and cufflinks that are faithful replicas of Leica camera shutter speed dials.

This is How Smiles in Yearbook Photos Have Changed Over the Past 100+ Years

Smiling is a relatively recent phenomenon in the history of photography. If you take a look at photos from many decades ago, people commonly wore stoic expressions on their faces and portraits were a much more serious affair.

Researchers at UC Berkeley recently crunched through an enormous trove of high school yearbook photos to show how smiling and portraits have evolved over the past 100+ years.

Woman Becomes Face of Suicide Bomber After Photo is Sold by ‘Friend’

Earlier this month, we shared how a Sikh man named Veerender Jubbal was misidentified as a Paris attack terrorist after someone maliciously Photoshopped a selfie he took. A similar thing just happened to a Moroccan woman.

Nabila Bakkatha was misidentified by major media outlets as Hasna Ait Boulahcen, the terrorist suspect who died in a suicide vest explosion a week ago during a police raid in France. It turns out a former friend sold Bakkatha's photo to a journalist.

Randy Johnson Photographed the Seahawks Game After Raising the 12 Flag

Baseball pitching legend Randy Johnson made an appearance at the NFL game between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers this past weekend. After receiving the honor of raising the team's 12 flag as the special celebrity guest, Johnson didn't step into luxury box seats to watch the rest of the game in comfort. Instead, he picked up his DSLR kits, put on a vest, and stepped onto the sidelines to shoot the game as one of the photographers.

Tank Guns Make for Fantastic Camera Stabilizers

Need a camera stabilizer? Just buy a tank and duct tape your camera to the gun barrel. Despite their large size and deadly nature, some tank guns can be incredibly stable while the tank is rumbling about.

The 1986 video above by German's armed forces shows the impressive stabilization technology built into the Leopard main battle tank -- it's stable enough to keep beer from spilling.

This Cap Doubles as a Gray Card for Light Metering

Starting in late 2014, COOPH (The Cooperative of Photography) began selling multi-functional clothing items designed with photographers in mind. One of the products is the Gray Chart Cap, a series of caps that have gray undersides that help with light metering.

Russian Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko with the Nikon DSLR Gear on the ISS

Here's a portrait of Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko posing with Nikon DSLR gear on the International Space Station on October 6th, 2015. Tens of thousands of dollars in camera equipment is stored on the walls of Zvezda, the Russian service module in the ISS. As you can see, there are lens mounts fixed to the walls of the module for storing the collection of glass.

Photographer’s Business Booms After Her Viral Act of Kindness

Selfless acts of kindness are sometimes rewarded in a big way, and that's what photographer Dana Gruszynski has been learning lately.

Last month, we shared how Gruszynski came to the rescue when a wedding photographer didn't show up at a couple's wedding. Gruszynski, who heard about the story from her cousin at the wedding, surprised the couple with a free photo shoot that faithfully recreated the wedding. The story went viral, and now Gruszynski has been overloaded with inquiries.

The Unsettling Future of Facial Recognition

The first time I witnessed a camera detect a face to aid the autofocus system, I was amazed. In part because the technology seemed magical and the highlighted rectangle tracking faces seemed like science fiction, and in part because I seem to possess a talent for taking out-of-focus photos.

An Open Letter to Performers, Published on Behalf of Thousands of Photographers

Restrictive concert photography contracts have been a big story in the photo world over the past several months. Taylor Swift, the Foo Fighters, Dweezil Zappa, and Janet Jackson have all made headlines for their extremely strict -- and often rights-grabbing -- contracts that photographers and reporters must sign before covering a concert.

Now a number of the media industry's biggest associations and organizations have published an open letter to performers on behalf of thousands of photographers and journalists in the United States.

These Are the 116 Images NASA Picked to Share with Aliens (or Future Humans)

In 2012, 35 years after its launch in 1977, NASA's Voyager 1 space probe left the Solar System and became the first human-man object to enter interstellar space. On board is a Golden Record with sounds and images that show life on Earth. 116 images were selected for inclusion by a committee led by Carl Sagan.

Vox just published the 5-minute video above to share a rapid-fire slideshow of the photos we humans chose to send toward the farthest reaches of space (note: one photo shows nudity).

Watch as a Vintage Fujica ST 705 is Disassembled and Neatly Framed

"How do you give a second life to an old film camera?," asks the French ad agency Maison Carnot. They had an old and non-functional Fujica ST 705 camera on their hands, so they decided to create a stop-motion video and a piece of art with it. It took the team a day to disassemble the camera into its basic pieces, select some choice components, and then arrange them neatly in a frame for display. The 2-minute video above is titled "DISASSEMBLY."

Mizzou Media Professor Melissa Click is Under Fire for Confronting Photojournalists

Earlier today, we shared a viral video of student photojournalist Tim Tai being confronted by activists while photographing the ongoing University of Missouri protests. One of the main people under fire for their actions in the video is Melissa Click, an assistant professor of mass media.

Cameraman Mark Schierbecker has just posted a longer version of his video (embedded above) that shows Click's role in the human media blockade more clearly.

Student Photojournalist Has Face-Off with Activists at Mizzou Protests

Ongoing student protests at the University of Missouri over campus race relations have dominated the media over the the past several days. Now a new video showing the group blocking a student photographer is sparking controversy and discussion about press freedom.

The 6.5-minute video above shows student photographer Tim Tai being blocked from a public area of campus on Monday while on assignment for ESPN.

Apple Surprises Photographers with Ultra Fancy ‘Shot on iPhone 6’ Photo Books

Earlier this year, Apple launched a global ad campaign called "Shot on iPhone 6" that featured the company's favorite iPhone 6 photos, which were captured by 77 different photographers. The iPhone 6S has since replaced the 6, but Apple hasn't forgotten about how the photographers helped the phone become yet another hit.

The company has begun shipping out fancy cloth-covered coffee table photo books to the photographers as a special "thank you" gift.

I’ve Had Enough with Wedding Guests Taking Pictures with Phones

Right, I've had enough. I want to talk to you all about guests using mobile phone cameras at weddings. I want to plead with you, and I'm going to make this very simple: brides and grooms, please have a completely unplugged wedding ceremony.

Look at the photo above. This groom had to lean out past the aisle just to see his bride approaching. Why? Because guests with their phones were in the aisle and in his way.

This is How People in Other Industries Respond When Asked for Free Spec Work

Requests for free spec work is a big problem for photographers, who lose out when clients demand free photos in exchange for "vague to nonexistent compensation." To show how ridiculous the idea of spec work is, Toronto agency Zulu Alpha Kilo had a guy approach people in other businesses with requests for free spec work to sample their products and services before actually committing to paying. A barista, chef, personal trainer, and architect all responded with indignation; watch their reactions in the 2.5-minute video above.

B&H Photo Warehouse Workers Vote to Unionize

B&H workers have unionized after passing a 200-to-88 vote yesterday to join the United Steelworkers (USW) union. Last month, nearly 200 workers launched a protest and unionization campaign, accusing the photo retail giant of subjecting employees to long hours, unsafe work environments, inadequate training, and discrimination.

UK Prime Minister Mocked for Bad Photoshop Job of Remembrance Poppy

Remembrance Sunday is this week in the UK and the Commonwealth, and public figures are expected to wear remembrance poppies on their clothing to commemorate soldiers who have died in war. Prime Minister David Cameron is finding out the hard way this week that Photoshopping a poppy isn't viewed in the same way as actually wearing one.

Instagram Star Quits, Reveals How Photos Are Edited, Contrived, and Paid For

Update: O'Neil has apparently deleted all of her social media content, including the video and photos that were originally in this post.

18-year-old model and Instagram star Essena O'Neil has the world talking after posting the 17-minute video above on why she's quitting Instagram and social media (warning: there's some explicit language). She says that posting photos to her hundreds of thousands of followers consumed her and made her miserable, and that the luxurious life she showed online was all "edited and contrived."

NYTimes to Bundle 1 Million+ Google Cardboards for VR Photojournalism

The rise of virtual reality photojournalism will get a huge boost this weekend thanks to the New York Times. The newspaper's Sunday bundle for print subscribers will include a free Google Cardboard viewer for experiencing immersive photo and video content. Over 1 million units will be shipping with the paper, and another 300,000 will be sent to digital subscribers as well.

Comic: You’re Doing it for the Exposure

Warning: This comic contains some explicit language.

Cartoonist Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal struck a chord with photographers and other creatives a couple of days ago by published a new comic titled "You're Doing it for the Exposure."