Recent Historical Articles

Amazing Documentary - 'America in Pictures: The Story of Life Magazine'

"Set up in 1936, Life magazine believed that pictures could change the world."

America in Pictures: The Story of Life Magazine is a fantastic documentary from the BBC about the life of one of the most important magazines in American history. Narrated by acclaimed photographer Rankin, it follows the people who told the 'story of America' through its most dynamic decades - the 40s, 50s and 60s - and documented its growth into a world superpower.

The Complicated and Fascinating History Behind This Photo

Behind every photo is a story, one that is often far more complex and nuanced than can be encapsulated in a single frame of a single moment in time. Go behind the scenes of this famous photo and hear how the story of its subjects is far more complex than the image and its title make it seem.

New Photo of Billy the Kid Found in a Bargain Bin Could Be Worth an Astounding $5 Million

A new photo has surfaced of the famed western outlaw Billy the Kid, purchased for about $2 in a junk shop in California, that could easily be worth upward of $5 million. The lucky man behind the photo purchase is Randy Guijarro who picked it up in a store around Fresno, California in 2010. Awaiting authentication for just over a year it has finally been claimed to be the kid himself.

The American West and Richard Avedon

In the early 1980s, famed fashion and portrait photographer Richard Avedon embarked on a project to create a collection of portraits that aimed to depict the people of the American West in a raw and unembellished manner. With this project, "The American West," his intention was to move away from the glamorous world of fashion photography and instead focus on the everyday individuals who inhabited the American West.

Celebrating 125 Years Of National Geographic

National Geographic has been the pinnacle of photography for 125 years now. They have continued to set the standard for inspiring the world with their photographs. For the longest time Nat Geo was one of the only ways the world was able to visually share each others cultures. Its fascinating to see how society has changed over the century. Here we look back these beautiful shots from the past 125 years. Thank you Nat Geo for revolutionizing photography.

Creative Constraints: Shooting With a Fixed Lens

Limiting yourself to a single fixed lens can transform how you see and capture your surroundings. It's a deliberate constraint that makes you rethink every shot and pushes you to become more creative in your photography.

Technicolor Explained

In a world where flipping our images between color and black and white is as simple as the click of the mouse, photographers and cinematographers today aren’t often tasked with knowing the complexity of how those vibrant colors actually come into existence. But in the early days of cinema, when competing processes for color reproduction took turns as the next best innovation, one name reigned supreme: Technicolor.

The Story of the World's First Digital Camera as Told By Its Inventor

It's hard to believe that digital cameras have been in existence for over four decades, but thanks to one creative engineer, we have one of the most ubiquitous pieces of modern technology. Hear the story of the birth of our beloved cameras from the inventor himself.

How George Eastman Changed the World

Every one of us, in some way, has had our lives impacted by George Eastman. Founding Eastman Kodak in 1888, he set out to change how people photographed. He began by creating the first roll of film in 1884 - a departure from the traditional method of using glass plates and a sink. One year later, he put that roll of film into the first Eastman camera. These were the first steps of a 20-year quest that would lead him to his most iconic camera...the Brownie.

The Joys of Shooting With a Rolleiflex TLR Camera

The TLR camera has long gone the way of the dinosaur, replaced by SLRs, but you can still find used TLRs for purchase, with Rolleiflex models generally being the most sought after. This fun video follows a street photographer as he shoots with a Rolleiflex 2.8F TLR camera.

What Photos Do You Hang on Your Walls?

As photographers we are artists, so what we display on our own walls, in our own living spaces, should be of paramount importance to us. What do you display for others to see?

Creator or Destroyer: Photography, Drugs, and Substance Abuse

Drug and alcohol addiction often go hand in hand with art. Painting has Van Gogh and Pollock, poetry has Coleridge and Ginsburg, music has The Beatles and Jim Morrison, and novels have Burroughs and Welsh. I was, however, surprised by how little information I could find about photographers’ substance abuse. Where are the in-depth books about photographers that were inspired or crushed by their addictions?

10 Cameras That Changed Filmmaking Forever

The sheer number of new cameras in the last few decades is staggering, but even so, there are still standout performers that either set the pace or changed the game completely. This video will go through the top 10 and why they had such a profound impact on the industry.

A to Z of Photography: Fujifilm (Part 1)

F is a big letter of the alphabet photographically speaking and so, to mark this, the two topics in this post are split in two in order to do justice to them. First up is the iconic brand Fuji.

National Geographic Live! Revisits the Ansel Adams Wilderness

In this episode of National Geographic Live! Peter Essick talks about the journey of creating his new book, The Ansel Adams Wilderness, and what it's like to pay tribute to (and follow in the tripod holes of) perhaps the greatest nature photographer to walk the planet. The work interprets the influence of Adams' work for a digital age, capturing the Sierra Nevada wilderness in a manner that can only be described as timeless.

How the 'Leica Freedom Train' Saved Hundreds of Jews from the Holocaust

From 1920-1956, Ernst Leitz II was the head of Leica Camera, but perhaps his most impressive achievement took place from 1933-1939 when Leitz and his family rescued hundreds of Jews by smuggling them out of Nazi Germany. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Leitz, concerned for the safety of many of his Jewish employees, transferred them (along with retailers, family members and friends of family members) out of the country to sales offices in France, Britain, Hong Kong and the United States.

The Evolution of Color in Film

Telling a story with moving images has been evolving so much through the years. One of the most important milestones in this journey is the progress from monochromatic to color pictures.

Beautiful Homage to War Photographers

Reporters Without Borders has released a wonderful video that demonstrates the importance of having impartial and unbiased coverage of war and conflicts. In the video they juxtapose images and video footage which popular media presents, with that of independent photojournalists, for a stark contrast that effectively displays the different messages both are trying to get across.

Copenhagen's Five Best Photo Locations

If you have never been to Copenhagen in Denmark, I highly recommend going in summer. All the locals are out enjoying the sun and heat. This 3 hour photo walk is only an introduction to the most common places you must visit.

How Did Flight of the Navigator Create Its Amazing Visual Effects?

Released in 1986, children’s sci-fi adventure classic "Flight of the Navigator" was one of the first movies to use computer-generated effects, but many of the practical visual effects used are equally mind-blowing. Check out this in-depth insight into how the production team created a movie that still looks good 35 years later.

Actor Matthew Modine Auctions Off Rare On-Set Photos From 'Full Metal Jacket' for Charity

Matthew Modine played the lead role of Pvt. Joker in Stanley Kubrick's iconic film about the Vietnam War. Modine used his personal Rolleiflex camera to capture behind-the-scenes images of the almost two years the film was in production. Now, he is auctioning 12 of those images off with a portion of the proceeds going to benefit the Purple Heart Foundation. The auction is timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the release of "Full Metal Jacket."

A to Z of Photography: Bronica and Burtynsky

Continuing our A to Z foray into the world of photography, we move on to B. What better place to start than an iconic manufacturer in the form of Bronica and Burtynsky?

A Look Back: Viewing Nikon's F6 Film Camera Through a 2004 Lens

While there’s much abuzz about Nikon’s upcoming full-frame mirrorless cameras, it’s easy to forget that Nikon has been in the “full frame” business for a long time. Here to remind us of that is YouTuber Matt Granger, who reviews that Nikon F6, Nikon’s 2004-era 35mm film flagship, which he calls the “DSLR killer.”

How Kodak Could Have Ruled the Photography World

It is hard to believe nowadays, but a few decades ago, Kodak was so dominant in the photography industry that the company's name was synonymous with the image itself — the "Kodak moment." So, why is the company a shell of its former self today? This neat video takes a look at some of the major milestones in the company's history and why, despite being at the forefront of the industry at one point, they are almost totally irrelevant today.