Inspiration

When it comes to spectacular landscape photography, Iceland is one of the foremost destinations. Stunning vistas (not to mention the aurora borealis) seem to greet photographers in every direction and so they take to the skies to capture aerial footage or set up their tripods and dollies and let the intervalometer do its thing.

We ran across both approaches lately, shot by two different but equally talented groups, and instead of sharing each individually we thought we'd let one build on the other.

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.

If you're ready to have your mind blown for the next three and a half minutes, go ahead and press play. And keep in mind that the masterpiece your eyes are about to take in was anything but an easy task.

Created by videographer Daniel Stoupin from 150,000 22-megapixel RAW exposures, he put together a 4K masterpiece (despite Vimeo only showing it as 1080p).

What happens when you combine the imagination of a three-year-old with the talents of a father who is a special effects artist? You get "Action Movie Kid", a great example of when a talented visual artist uses his skills to make his kid feel awesome.

Do you enjoy adventure? I mean, REALLY enjoy adventure, not just taking a walk through your local woods. Well, if you do, you'll enjoy this. Put together by photographer Mike Palmer and cinematographer Jon Simonassi, this video shows their journey to photograph an abandoned prison in Ontario, Canada.

Firefly photography isn't a novel concept. In fact, long-exposure images of these glowing creatures lighting up beautiful forest scenes have appeared on PetaPixel a couple of times before... we've even featured a tutorial on the subject. But photographer Vincent Brady's firefly time-lapse above IS novel.

It's novel, not because it's a time-lapse of fireflies (we're sure that's been done a time or two) but because he combined many different photographic techniques to create something truly breathtaking.

The video for this year's Gulf Photo Plus Shootout has been released and it's a good one. Going head to head this year were photographers Zack Arias and Sara Lando, both of whom had 20 minutes to go from hearing their assignment to final image, all in front of a 400-person audience.

In the latest installment of the SmugMug Films series, the site takes us behind the scenes with underwater photographer Sarah Lee as she does what she does best: dives under the waves to capture powerful, cinematic photography while being tossed around by the currents.

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?"

I hope you don't mind enjoying a bit of eye candy on your Tuesday evening, because that's what you're going to get with this video. At the direction of creative agency, Proximity BBDO Paris, coffee brand Carte Noire has a beautiful new video advert out that will tease your senses to no end.

If it ever was a secret, it sure isn't anymore: we LOVE photos from space. And judging by the response we typically get to sharing them, so do you, which is why we were so excited when we stumbled across these magnificent images of lightning NASA released just a couple of days ago.

Inspired by that which we cannot see -- such as the shapes of sound, the feelings we experience, the relationships of the various patterns in this world, and the energy constantly emitted by matter -- photographer Patrick Rochon has created a beautiful series of light-painting photographs called Radiant Light.

Talented singer-songwriter Tom Fletcher recently teamed up with his wife Giovanna to create an awesome time-lapse music video, taking advantage of the fact that she just happen to be growing a small human being.

Back in 2007, world-renown visual storyteller Platon took on an assignment to capture a photograph of Russian president Vladimir Putin. In what would end up being one of the scariest assignments of his life (which is saying a lot given some of the stuff he's covered), his portrait session for TIME's person of the year award involved just a few more guns and guards than most.

Back when Detroit was known for its motors more than its money problems, a young engineer by the name of Bill Rauhauser got his first taste of street photography, a "hobby" that would soon become his lifelong career.

We've shared plenty of time-lapse videos before, and even some hyperlapse videos, but I don't think we've ever shared anything quite like this. Created by Piotr Wancerz, this incredible hyperlapse video captures various locations in Cracow, Poland over the course of 14 months in a way that sets it apart from anything else we've run across.

Singapore-based photographer Ernest Goh, known best for his incredible work with animals, has just recently put another book out. This time, he's documenting the world of Chicken Beauty Pageants. Yes, Chicken Beauty Pageants. They exist... I guess.

Titled Cocks: The Chicken Book (you have no idea how difficult it is not to make jokes at this point...) this collection of work explores the beauty of some of the most debonaire fowl you have ever seen.

Zach Belden's 80-year-old great-grandmother Betty was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. Knowing that she would have to endure unimaginable hardship, both physical and emotional, Belden came up with an idea that would help keep her spirits high and make the remainder of her time on this planet as joyous as possible.

His solution turned out to be Instagram.

Different approaches for different generations. Spectacular results all the same.

If you want my respect, show me an amazing racing photo. Show me that you can make art with a bunch of people telling you where you can and can’t go. Show me that you broke your back under the Florida sun, lugging 30 lbs of camera equipment while you walked the course all day long. Try it when you know that there are 120 people with exactly the same credentials and access who are just dying to take your job.

Show me that you can shoot amazing racing images, and you’ll have my respect.
Because I’ve tried it, and it crushed me.

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.

Andrew Newey has covered some of the most incredible and rare cultures and traditions. From Mongolian eagle hunters to tribal festivals in Papua New Guinea, Newey knows how to truly capture one-of-a-kind images, documenting the cultures and traditions that may not exist in a century.

This time around he's traveled to the foot of the Himalayas in Nepal to document the Gurung tribe's bi-annual tradition of gathering honey.

Monica Denevan’s work has been exhibited internationally -- including solo shows at Scott Nichols Gallery (San Francisco) and Tao Gallery (Hong Kong) -- has been published in LensWork, and was on the cover of Black+White Photography (UK), among others.

She is represented by Scott Nichols Gallery (San Francisco), Duncan Miller Gallery (Santa Monica), Capital Culture Gallery (London) and Reaves Gallery (New York). Monica lives and works in San Francisco.

A new video celebrating the composition style of director Wes Anderson is currently making the rounds on the Internet: a beautiful ode to the power of symmetry and Anderson's ability to use it better than just about anybody in cinema.

I hope you have some tissues nearby, because this short film by Nathanael Matanick, known better as "Heschle," makes the term "tear-jerker" seem innocent. Having amassed well over a quarter of a million views on Vimeo and YouTube, ReMoved aims to bring awareness to the importance of foster care programs and the desperate need for quality foster parents.

Can you imagine photography saving a life? Or forget life, lives? Hundreds, thousands of lives saved... and the catalyst for it all a photo community dedicated to proving they can make a difference.

Over the next couple of weeks, the photographic community has the chance to work a bonafide miracle. A little girl in South Carolina is dying of a degenerative disease, and it’s in all of our power to help cure her. Together with Benjamin Von Wong, we’re going to embark on a journey to tell this little girl’s story to the world, and write in the happy ending ourselves...

Photographer Alexia Sinclair recently completed one of the most beautiful and challenging photo shoots we've ever run across. The resulting collection, A Frozen Tale, is both a magical visual journey and a testament to the iron will and determination of one of the world's premier fine art photographers.

Here’s a small piece of history that’ll get you going and inspired to take on the week: a photo …

Showing just how productive and intuitive collaboration can be, Montreal-based photographer Eric Paré and Michigan-based digital artist Mike Campau got together to create some incredible work that takes advantage of their individual skill sets.

From Los Angeles based photographer Jamie Johnson comes a unique series of photographs that juxtapose the past and the present in a fascinating way: large format wet plate collodion photos of children writing cheeky modern-day bad deeds on a turn-of-the-century chalkboard.

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.

It's been a very news heavy couple of days, with much of the news being depressing or controversial at that. So if you need a break from all the Terry Richardsons and bankruptcies of the world, this stunning photo series by Czech photographer and graphic designer Lukas Holas should do the trick nicely.

As a photojournalist, there are many moments where you have to answer a simple ethical question: do you take the photo, or do you try to help? This happens a lot in more tragic events, and conflict photographers are often accused of making the wrong choice.

Which is the right and wrong choice is up for debate in any given situation -- a photo might spark change on an international level after all -- but one thing is for sure: we don't often hear about photojournalists putting down the camera and choosing to help right then and there. That, however, is exactly what happened in the case of Miami Herald photojournalist Al Diaz in February of this year.

Gabe L'Heureux isn't just one of the busiest men in the business, take one look through his work and you'll quickly realize he's one of the best. His photos expertly showcase stunning forces of nature and athletes brave enough to endure them. Yet, despite the rugged qualities of his subject matter, his work tends to have an ethereal quality to it, lending a particular brand of beauty to the harsh environments he captures.

It's this rare ability to capture the balance of violence and elegance that has earned Gabe jobs with the likes of Oakley, Target, ESPN and Red Bull, just to name a few. And this is all on top of his normal gig as senior photographer/team manager for Burton Snowboards.

We were recently lucky enough to catch up with Gabe during a brief break between trips to see how his year has started off.

What happens when you combine base-jumping with fashion models? Well, you end up with this. Teaming up with photographer Noah Bahnson, fashion model and base jumper Roberta Mancino gathered together some of his friends for a fashion shoot like no other.

It's always a pleasure to watch a living legend work, and the above BTS video of Annie Leibovitz photographing the Game of Thrones cast for Vanity Fair certainly qualifies.

We've seen plenty of RC drone footage and we've most certainly seen plenty of light painting photos. But what happens when you combine the two? You end up with this.

Inspired by Close Encounters of the Third Kind, production studio Fiction hooked up lights to a DJI Phantom RC drone and captured long exposure photographs while flying the drone through the frame in specific patterns. The results are interesting to say the least.

Nat Geo photographer Steve Winter is one of those rare people who is …

Between the ages of 21 and 27, military photographer Stacy Pearsall captured over 500,000 images across 41 different countries. She is the first woman ever to win the Military Photographer of the Year twice, “giving the boys a run for their money.”

What happens when the concept of graffiti as we know it is flipped on its head? Well, I believe you end up with something like 'Painting with Lights,' a project by French photographer Philippe Echaroux -- something he calls 'Street Art 2.0.'

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.

Looking back at photography from the past is always an incredible experience, and this beautiful collection of color images from the early parts of the 20th century in Russia is no exception.

Tonight, at 9pm EST, more than 70 nations will broadcast the first episode in the 13-part remake of the show Cosmos. It will be the biggest launch ever for a global TV series.

But before Neil deGrasse Tyson takes over for the iconic Carl Sagan, explaining and enchanting a whole new generation by sharing the wonders of the our universe, NASA wants to get you excited in its own way.

Just like the agency did ahead of the Oscars, the NASA Goddard Photo and Video Flickr account has just uploaded a stunning set of 43 images that will hopefully inspire a bit of awe and get you that much more excited for tonight's premier.

Nokia recently teamed up with light painting photographer Ian Hobson to prove to the world that a smartphone as advanced as the 1020 was capable of capturing awesome light painting shots. The resulting video is part tutorial, part inspirational, part Nokia ad -- and if you can ignore the last part, the first two make it well worth a couple minutes of your time.

The MōVI freefly systems are very expensive, there's no denying that. But when you see this behind the scenes video and the footage that the Red Bull Media House was able to capture with it while the camera man launched off massive jumps and flew through the air on skis, you'll never wonder whether or not it's worth it again.

Still think Instagram isn't for you? If you're a professional photographer, you might want to reconsider, because there's some serious marketing potential there among the poorly exposed sunset pics and photos of cats lounging in strange places.

Brooklyn-based photographer Daniel Arnold all but proved this a couple of days ago when he made over $15,000 selling prints over Instagram in a single day.

We started off the day with some good news for drone photographers (and Amazon), and so we thought we'd send you off into the weekend with some spectacular drone footage.

Last year, TIME teamed up with Portland-based software company GigaPan to create something special: a 360-degree panorama from the top of the Freedom Tower (aka. The One World Trade Center). The image was supposed to represent "the rebirth and healing of Lower Manhattan," and above we have an inside look at how it came together.

The saying goes, "your cell phone has more computing power than all of NASA in 1969. NASA launched a man to the moon. We launched a bird into pigs."

Thankfully, in addition to launching furious balls of feathers into evil swine, we also use our phones for taking photographs. And just as our phones have more computing power than all of NASA in 1969, our phones also have better imaging capabilities than many of the astrophotography endeavors of the past.

Light painter Jason D. Page recently got in touch to show us an impressive series three years in the making that he has just completed. It's called 'Icons,' and it features a set of psychedelic light portraits Page calls 'Light Prints' that are done entirely in-camera.

Update: The original version of this post quoted a flight attendant in the intro, when it was in fact the author's girlfriend who made the remark that he was annoying people. This was an editorial mistake on our part, and has been fixed.

"The sound of your shutter clicking is annoying the people around you." said my girlfriend, sitting next to me. "I know," I replied "I don't care at the moment, I'm shooting some crazy unique footage!"

Last week I was lucky enough to shoot the world's first sunset hyperlapse sequence from an airplane, here's how I did it.