Spotlight

Cameras are great, but it’s what is done in photography with that technology that really matters. To that end, PetaPixel regularly shines a Spotlight on the incredible photos and videos created by talented artists from around the world.
A collage of three landscapes: a rugged coastline with turquoise water, a river winding through autumn forests and snowy mountains, and misty forested rock formations rising from blue-green water.

Photographer Jake Guzman Captures America’s Almost-Alien Landscapes

Travel and nature photographer Jake Guzman has spent the past two years creating Otherworldly America, a new 256-page photography book that features hundreds of photos Guzman has captured all across America, from Alaska and Hawai'i all the way to New England. It is a beautiful look at what makes the United States such a special place for landscape photographers, and a rich well of photo opportunities that can never truly be exhausted.

A split image shows a humpback whale breaching in the ocean on the left, and a jellyfish drifting near the surface of clear blue water by rocky cliffs on the right.

‘Ocean’ Doc Captures the Horrors of Seabed Trawling for the First Time

Sir David Attenborough turned 100 last month, and much of his incredible life's mission has been celebrating and showcasing the natural world. Billions of people on Earth have heard Attenborough's voice, heard his words, and seen his work. Arguably, nothing on Earth impacts life as much as the oceans, and that's the focus of "Ocean with David Attenborough," streaming now online and on National Geographic, Disney+, and Hulu.

A close-up of a Polaroid x530 digital camera with various colorful stickers on the front, placed on a wooden surface with its lens cap off and lying nearby.

A Close Look at the Extremely Rare, Foveon-Powered Polaroid X530

As promised, photographer James Warner, known for his YouTube channel snappiness, created a full-length video about his ultra-rare Polaroid X530 compact camera. The weird 2004 digital camera has a Foveon X3 image sensor, marking the first and only time a Foveon sensor was utilized by a non-Sigma digital camera.

Snowy mountain peaks frame a dramatic triangular shadow cast over a valley at sunrise, with pink and purple tones illuminating the distant landscape and sky.

How It Was Shot: The Triangle Shadow of Mount Hood

Towering 11,249 feet above sea level, Mount Hood is the tallest mountain in the state of Oregon. The mountain is so large that on a clear day, it can be visible from over 100 miles away.

Black and white photo split in two: left side shows a man in a sunlit street holding a can, looking at the camera; right side shows an older man indoors hanging up a backpack, viewed in profile.

Twenty Years, One City: What Tokyo Taught Me About Patience and Glass

Most photographers I know are in constant motion. New cities, new continents, new visual problems to solve. There's truth in it. Unfamiliarity forces you to look. Familiarity gives you permission to stop. But there's another, less-discussed school of practice that works in the opposite direction: stay. Return. Go back to the same streets until the strangeness burns away and something else appears in its place.

Three-panel image: Left, people hike up a snowy slope; center, a person stands in a glowing ice cave; right, close-up view of blue ice with deep crevices and textures.

Nat Geo’s New Documentary, ‘Time and Water,’ Tells a Story You’re Still Writing

National Geographic's new documentary film, "Time and Water," grapples with a challenging, profound question: How do you say goodbye to what you never thought you could lose? Through archival footage, photos, art, and science, Academy Award-nominated director Sara Dosa follows acclaimed Icelandic writer and poet Andri Snær Magnason as he confronts the death of his country's glaciers, the loss of his grandparents, and the kind of world he hopes future generations can experience. The story's next chapters are being written at this very second.

A black RD-1 rangefinder camera with a lens is resting upright on a concrete surface in front of a wall painted with horizontal blue, white, and red stripes.

Reviewing the Most Beautiful Digital Camera Ever Made 22 Years Later

In 2004, Epson and Voigtländer teamed up to create a truly legendary camera, the Epson R-D1. It was the world's first digital rangefinder, packed with exceptional features and style to match. Cameralabs' Gordon Laing has given the Epson R-D1 his wonderful "Retro Review" treatment, giving the R-D1 another chance to shine and show the world what made it so special more than 20 years ago.

A moth hovers near white flowers against a black background. Large white text reads “CHASING GHOSTS.”.

Photographers and Scientists Partner to Solve the Riddle of the Ghost Orchid

A new documentary follows photographers and scientists deep into Florida’s most remote swamps in search of answers to one of botany’s most enduring questions: what pollinates the elusive ghost orchid. Long considered one of North America’s rarest and least understood flowers, the species has resisted decades of study, with its reproduction largely undocumented in the wild.

A collage of three microscopic images: a colorful cell with hair-like projections, a glowing blue spherical cluster with radiating lines, and a textured orange and purple layered surface.

17 Award-Winning Microscope Photos Reveal the World’s Hidden Wonders

Evident Scientific, a scientific solutions and microscopic imaging company, has announced the winners of its sixth annual Image of the Year photo contest. The competition celebrates the world's best scientific microscopic imaging, and the photos are as scientifically valuable as they are beautiful.

Close-up of the lens on a vintage Flexameter camera, showing engraved text "f/2.8 50 Dewatar" on the lens ring, with a metallic, slightly worn appearance and part of the camera body visible in the background.

This Forgotten Photographic Invention Was a Short-Lived Game Changer

When Leica ushered in the era of 35mm photography over a century ago, it did not immediately offer a coupled rangefinder (that came in 1932). Precise focusing was difficult with early Leica cameras, so other companies filled the void and offered useful accessories to early photographers. A particularly cool, stylish example is the Kühn Flexameter designed for Leica cameras.

A split image shows a person inspecting photographic film with a magnifier on the left, and automated machinery in a modern industrial facility on the right.

Inside Harman’s Bet on the Future of Analog Photography

Behind-the-scenes videos show how Harman makes film today, from the lab to the production line. The process balances chemistry, engineering, and constant iteration at every stage. Together, the videos reveal a fascinating look into how analog photography continues to evolve in the modern age.