It’s very easy to get stuck in grooves in photography, to find something that makes sense or comes from a position of authority; once habits are formed around ideas about genre, style, or technique, it can be very difficult to break out of those constraints.
It’s an odd day. After months of quarantine, this trip to the framer and lunch with my mother just filled me with so many emotions. It’s been over a year and I have finally “finished” the hardest project I have ever done. The priority mailboxes have been sent and the backing is on the frames. I feel as if I should rip them open and start all over. In my heart, I know I’ll never be completely satisfied or “finished”
Amateur photographer Santiago Olay has an interesting day job: he works as a deck officer on a 280m cargo ship. But when he's not busy with his duties, often late at night, he goes out on deck tries to photograph the Milky Way from the middle of the ocean.
This period isn’t easy for anyone. Professional photographers are struggling with the implications of being on lockdown and suddenly having to stop all work from one day to the next. Hobbyist photographers may be in a similar situation with jobs, children and household duties all being juggled in an unprecedented dance that is completely new and unknown.
Working as an analogue photographer at Little Vintage Photography, Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day (#WPPD) is something that I love taking part in every year. Sadly with lockdown happening, the workshops and photowalks I'd normally run were of course, put on hold.
Photographer Jordi Koalitic has made his name by coming up with simple, creative ways to capture really interesting photos. And now that we're all under lockdown, he's using this skill to share 20 fresh photography ideas for the shutterbug who's stuck at home.
Hubble turned 30 years old this month. Well, actually, the space telescope celebrated 30 years in orbit, but either way, NASA took the opportunity to celebrate this milestone by capturing a spectacular, never-before-scene view that they're calling a "tapestry of blazing starbirth."
Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake over at DPReview TV have put together a helpful (and timely) primer that shows you how to take better indoor portraits using only natural light, and without needing to buy any additional photography gear.
The PBS show Nature recently released a clip from its 'Spy in the Wild' series that will take your breath away. Using a drone disguised as a hummingbird, they captured incredible footage of 0.5 billion monarch butterflies swarming as the weather warms.
Photographer, educator, and unusual camera builder Brendan Barry is continuing his educational series of isolation videos by showing viewers how to turn a backyard shed into a giant camera for portraits and other large format photography.
This is something I’ve been wanting to attempt for a while, but the skies have not be clear enough to do so. Iowa skies in fact have been almost constantly cloudy of late – or a least when one wants to shoot the moon.
Hong Kong-based photographer Ric Tse is getting creative in quarantine. For his recent series My Home’s Rhapsody, he's taking regular household items and using them to create miniature worlds and landscapes for LEGO and other toys, before zooming out to reveal the truth behind the photo.
Until yesterday it was more or less what I can call a total lockdown in Dubai, the city where I live. Today is a new day and we can leave the house following several guidelines. Hoping that life will go back to normal soon.
Living in the part of New York where the first confirmed case of COVID-19 virus was discovered earlier this year, things have been pretty weird. Our corporate photography studio is in Midtown Manhattan, things there are completely shut down. Even if we were able to lawfully work, there is no work to do as we deal with corporate clients and they all have strict stay at home policies.
Like many others, Swiss photographer and director Nicola Tröhler has had all of his jobs cancelled due to COVID-19. So, since he can't go out and take any photos, he decided to tap the public domain libraries in Switzerland and the US and work on his animation skills instead.
Recently we’ve had to close our doors to portraits because of COVID-19, and it’s been heartbreaking. The most heartbreaking thing is having to say no to clients who want newborn portraits. Babies change so quickly, so I wanted to put together some tips on how to capture your newborn portraits with your iPhone (or Android phone) so you don’t miss out on those photos.
After a potential opportunity with Lamborghini fell through, automotive photographer Kunal Kelkar decided to try and replicate the experience at home. How, you ask? Instead of a road, he used a treadmill; and instead of a real Lamborghini, he used a toy version.
Celebrating Earth Day – and its 50th anniversary – against the backdrop of COVID-19 is something we’ll likely remember for quite some time.
COVID-19 isolation is a tricky time for wedding photographers. Upskilling might already be on your radar as you think about putting time into your wedding photography business over this time where weddings have been banned pretty much across the globe. But I’d like to suggest some out-of-the-box ways that we can upskill as wedding photographers in this time that you might not have thought of yet.
One of the byproducts of the new-wave approach to street photography, which champions anonymity, mystery, and a cinematic aesthetic, is that there is an absolute abundance of images featuring silhouetted figures and shadow play. These are the kind of images I started off creating, and there are some fantastic artists who have utilized this style over the years, my favorite of these being Fan Ho, one of the classic progenitors of this style.
I want to start by saying that if you or your family and friends are impacted by the current events of COVID-19, I send my sincerest condolences. The tragedy, pain, and suffering that the world is going through is immensely saddening and should not be taken lightly, so we should all be taking the necessary precautions to help prevent the spread through social distancing.
Several big name photographers are using their art to support a critical part of our creative community: their assistants. By selling limited edition prints, photographers like Tim Tadder and Erik Almas have raised tens of thousands of dollars to help get their crews through this difficult time.
The World Press Photo Foundation has announced the winners of its prestigious annual photojournalism competition, crowning a World Press Photo of the Year, a World Press Photo Story of the Year, and honoring winners and runners up in eight separate categories.
The World Photography Organization has revealed the category winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 'Open' competition for 2020—in other words: "the best single images from 2019." From Architecture through Wildlife, 2019 produced some truly incredible imagery.
With many of us stuck in lockdown, quarantine, and self-isolation, I thought I’d share 10 ideas for astrophotography that you can do from home, even if you live in a light-polluted town or city. If there’s one thing that this pandemic has taught us, it’s that we’re all in this together and astrophotography and astronomy only help to solidify that sense of unification.
In a bid to stay creative (and sane) during lockdown, London-based photographer Christopher Fernandez posted a sign on his bedroom window inviting neighbors to let him document their self-isolation in candid portraits from afar. Much to his surprise, his neighbors came a' calling.
Fuji's Instax film is typically thought of as a "snapshot" product, not something you'd use in a studio, but Brooklyn-based photographer Anthony Tripoli hasn't let that stop him. He's figured out a way to shoot studio portraits on Instax film, strobes and all.
Colorado-based photographer Mandy Penn recently earned some online love with a newborn photo shoot that's taken the Internet by storm. The Friends-themed shoot used custom-built props to transform Penn's studio into a tiny version of Central Perk, complete with an "ensemble cast" of newborns.
In his latest "sofa session" interview, Martin Parr speaks with fellow Magnum photographer Alec Soth (pronounced like "both") about launching his career, connecting with strangers on the road, and why it's critical not to give in to what's "cool."
You don’t have to be out and about to capture beautiful photographs of your children. The homes we live in may not strike you as being particularly photogenic, but think about how many of your childhood memories revolve around the house you grew up in. It's the ideal backdrop.
When everything went into lockdown a few weeks ago, I think my brain went into lockdown as well. It just zapped my motivation, my creativity, my income -- everything. Suddenly 3 months of income were just gone.
Landscape photographer Thomas Heaton is used to shooting epic vistas and vast landscapes, capturing the world in broad strokes. But since he's stuck at home like the rest of us, he thought he'd try macro photography on for size. After all, how hard could it be?
Accessory maker LensCoat usually makes rain covers and other lens protection that help to keep your gear safe. But as the COVID-19 pandemic increased in intensity, the New Jersey-based company has started making masks for health care workers instead.
Photographer Ray Briggs of Okushi Photography recently shot an emotionally charged, powerful portrait that implores people to stay home so that we can protect our health care workers. His wife Mary, the subject, is a nurse on the front lines of the COVID pandemic.
There's no shortage of creative photography ideas that you can try while isolating, but we really like this one from the folks at Adaptalux. Using just some paper and light, they'll show you how you can capture beautiful abstract macro photography without leaving home.
Isaac Alvarez and the UNPLUG Production crew are back with another low-budget, high-quality photography tutorial. This time, they're showing you how easy it is to capture some epic "action scenes" from the comfort of self-isolation by using some action figures, sugar, and creative lighting.
Barcelona-based photographer, filmmaker, and skiier Philipp Klein Herrero was going to go on a ski trip with his family before lockdown hit and they all got stuck inside. But Herrero decided to go skiing anyway... on his living room floor, that is.
In October of 2017, photographer Gabor Nagy took his new drone with him on an adventure to Tuscany, to see if he could capture this instantly-recognizable Italian landscape from a different perspective. The result was a beautiful series of eye-catching aerial photos called "Tuscany from Above."
After a recent bad experience in Ukraine, I returned to the UK upset, fed up and tired of things not going my way. I can't get into details about what happened in Ukraine and although it was personal, it acted as a catalyst which then got me reflecting negatively on other areas of my life too.
Food photographer Joanie Simon of The Bite Shot has put together a helpful tutorial that shows you how to capture "dramatic food photography" using an extremely cheap DSLR. Specifically, she picked up a used Canon Rebel T2i with a kit lens for just $200.
There is an excellent quote regarding practice attributed to legendary martial artist Bruce Lee that I think provides a great framework for many pursuits but also highlights one of my earliest struggles with ideas around “style” in photography: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
As a professional outdoor photographer, my mind had been in a place of backcountry skiing, snow photography and ramping up for spring commercial projects—the same place it has been every March for years. I like this time of year, it feels like my fitness, my vision and my bandwidth all line up to result in outdoor missions and photography that really feed the soul, and the bank account.
I don’t remember the first time I became aware of my family photo album, but from a very young age I always found looking at those photos a time absorbing, and totally enthralling pastime. I would sit for long periods of time staring at those familiar faces, all those captured moments of times gone by, and lose myself in a world of wonder.
Last year, cinematographer Martin Lisius released one of the most out-of-this-world timelapse films we've ever seen. By using two 50MP Canon 5DS DSLRs at the same time and stitching together the result, he created the epic 16K HDR masterpiece "Prairie Wind."
While stuck inside during lockdown, Hungarian photographer Milan Radisics has embarked on a different kind of photo project. Since he can't go out and shoot, he's decided to capture Italy's deserted cities from afar, using public webcams instead of his own camera, and the PrtScn key instead of a shutter button.
Back in 2017, automotive filmmaker Al Clark and his team at OUTRUN filmed an impressive "0-400-0 km/h" commercial for Bugatti's latest and greatest supercar: the 1500bhp Bugatti Chiron. Now, after years of online speculation, Clark is finally revealing how exactly they did it.
One of the most impactful types of outdoor portraiture is what you might call the 'epic' selfie: a self-portrait where the landscape photographer becomes a tiny fraction of his or her own composition, giving a sense of scale and awe to an already epic vista.
As with a majority of newbies to photography, the obsession with gear and chasing the newest toys proved to be irresistible to me. I spent far more time reading reviews, comparing charts, watching youtube videos, and looking for deals than actually going out and shooting.
Portrait and fashion photographer Jessica Kobeissi has found an interesting way to stay creative and practice photography while practicing social distancing: she's creating full-blown photo shoots in the popular video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Street photography has always been the cool kid of the photographic industry, and wedding photography has ever been the oldfangled unfashionable square. Even landscape photographers in their fishing vests and hiking boots seem to get more street cred than wedding snappers.
