Features

PetaPixel's Features are in-depth, heavily researched stories designed to answer the most important questions on a topic. Where we flex our journalistic muscle, expect to find the best storytelling and original reporting the photo industry offers.
A digital illustration of a Hasselblad camera with colorful pixelated and glitch effects, blending purple, pink, blue, and black tones in a modern, abstract style.

Out of Curiosity, I Bought a Camera on eBay Knowing It Was Likely a Scam

If you browse cameras on eBay, you’ve likely come across a deal that looked too-good-to-be-true: high-end, new, shiny, bargain basement price, and offered for sale by a seller with zero feedback. In the interest of research (and curiosity) I bought one of these cameras on eBay knowing I would likely be scammed. I wasn't disappointed.

Left: A yellow spacecraft module sits on a platform inside a large industrial facility. Right: Interior view looking up into a cylindrical structure with a circular pattern and metallic panels.

Architectural Photographer Captures the Machines Behind Artemis II

Professional architectural photographer Mike Kelley has achieved extensive commercial success but has remained dedicated to personal artistic projects as well. These personal projects have often been the ones to lead to Kelley's "craziest opportunities," including one that took him to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility to photograph the Orion crew capsule and SLS rocket that just last week carried four brave Artemis II astronauts into space to orbit the Moon.

Close-up of rocket engines firing with bright flames and smoke on the left; wide view of a rocket launching, rising above a launch pad with clouds of smoke and blue sky on the right.

How a Photographer Captured the Artemis II Launch With 14 Cameras

Photographer Steven Madow has been photographing rocket launches for over a decade, but arguably no rocket launch he has photographed has been as big of a deal as the Artemis II launch on Wednesday, April 1. Madow set up 14 different Panasonic Lumix cameras to cover the monumental event, including seven remote cameras at the launch site. His outstanding photos are the result of years of practice and planning.