Artists Spotlight

Rania Matar moved to the US due to the Lebanese Civil War, pursuing photography after September 11 when she became interested in telling a different story from the Middle East. She grew up surrounded by the civil war in Lebanon, whereas her daughters are being raised in the United States. Despite growing up in a different country at a different time, she noticed a universality in being a young woman. This served as the inspiration behind her new series, featuring portraits of mothers and daughters from different cultures.

Russell James has quite firmly held the position of official backstage photographer at the Victoria’s Secret shows for 22 years – since the first in 1995. Now, he’s written a book about the experience.

A published photographer by the age of 16, Alec Byrne has worked with a plethora of rock legends. In a new interview, he has opened up about what it was like working with musicians such as David Bowie and Bob Marley.

Largely based in London, the photo series by photographer Ritzo ten Cate aims to capture the faces of people he almost literally bumps into on the street, as they look up from their phones, often rather disorientated.

Remember the commercial photographer who turned sick and disabled children into Justice League heroes? He’s back, and this time his family have received the Star Wars treatment.

Sam Stuchbury and Hilary Ngan Kee’s enchanting new book "Hideaways" is a stunning showcase of tucked-away escape spots all over New Zealand that the creative, urban couple sourced and stayed at while researching the book — and they’re all available to the public.

These incredible, apocalyptic-looking photos, taken by Axel Sigurðarson, show the scenes that occurred during the eruptions in Iceland between August 29, 2014 and February 27, 2015.

Mimi Choi is a make-up artist based in Vancouver. But she doesn’t just make beautiful girls look great: her complex creations will have you second-guessing whether she photoshopped it instead.

World-renowned photographer Peter Lindbergh has given a candid interview on his thoughts about the use of airbrushing, ahead of the release of his new book.

German photographer Max Leitner travelled to Warsaw, Poland alongside an urban gymnast to capture this series of unconventional architectural shots that possess an air of optical illusion.

“The atmosphere was very strange.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, those are the choice words used by Zimbabwean photographer Jekesai Njikizana.

LA-based rock band OK Go is no stranger to innovative music videos. Their single, “Here It Goes Again,” was accompanied by a treadmill-orientated dance routine that sent the clip viral upon its release in 2006. Now, the band is hitting headlines once again for their creative and resourceful visuals for "Obsession."

One photographer has begun capturing the moment that rats and mice born inside laboratories and used for testing are released to the outside world.

There are two ways to photography: registration and creation. Let me be clear that, before we get into a short essay about self-acceptance in art, neither is better than the other. While I’d like to teach you today about conscious creation, registration is the inherent nature of photography. But the way we modify and modulate light before it hits the sensor, as well as the entire process after it, is all up to us and not the camera manufacturer.

Photographer Ryan Taylor recently worked with Red Bull to shoot a highlight story on Hilary Knight, one of Red Bull’s professional athletes and member of US Olympic Hockey team. With Knight going to the winter Olympics this February it was the perfect opportunity to showcase her journey to Gold.

Jayden Bethea is a toddler on a mission. At an impressively young age of five, Jayden has already discovered and developed an impressive passion for fashion photography. Following in the footsteps of his mother, Selah B. Marie Bethea, Jayden is showing that creating great photography is within the reach of anyone who has a passion to create and a willingness to experiment. Armed with his trusty Nikon D5300, 18-55mm lens, and the support of his energetic mom, Jayden is creating work at a quality far beyond his years.

A little over two years ago, Emily and Jeremiah divided their lives into three piles: sell, donate, and keep. Having called Charlotte, NC home for five years, they aimed to get away from the monotony of 50+ hour work weeks. Weekend getaways just weren’t cutting it anymore so they sold their townhouse and hopped in their Expedition, with a camper in tow, and started a new nomadic lifestyle. Jeremiah would be working remotely, while Emily documented their travels. An opportunity that many dream of, but few follow.

This past week, Minnesota-based Photographer Rich Hoeg had the opportunity to photograph the aurora over Stewart Lake in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Hoeg describes himself as an enthusiast photographer with a love of photographing birds.

Boudoir photographers know that collaborations with vendors that fit their brand can be extremely beneficial for all parties involved. It alleviates some cost of the product for the photographer and it gives the vendor professional images for their sites. Getting connected for shoots such as this is not as difficult or impossible as it may seem.

My heart sank when I first saw the headline that a photographer had been shot by a police officer because his gear was mistaken for a weapon on a rainy night. I didn't want to open the story because I knew it would instill some more fear in my own work while shooting around law enforcement and other potentially dangerous situations. After finally reading the news story, my curiosity led me straight to Andy Grimm's social media to see who he was. I only had to spend a few seconds on his Facebook page to realize that unlike the tragedy that struck him on the stormy night of September 4, his story was pretty beautiful and inspiring.

George Wheelhouse is a fine art nature and landscape photographer from Bedfordshire, U.K. I recently spoke with him about his contemporary portraits of animals, as well as his more traditional woodland and mountain landscapes. Though many of Wheelhouse's favorite subjects are local, he told me that he loves to travel to remote locations, particularly to Nordic areas. He also shared that he is quite fond of boreal forests like Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Canada.

Jim Reed is a renowned extreme weather photographer who, in 1992, started a 30-year project on climate change. His day-to-day work includes tornadoes, blizzards, floods, and droughts - not to mention 19 hurricanes, including Katrina. Here's what he's discovered.

“It’s a photo that I wish didn’t exist but now that it does I want everyone to see it.” That is how the Wildlife Photographer of the Year finalist behind this photo describes his image, which illustrates the threat facing our seas.

Can Tuncer, a macro photographer from Turkey, recently completed a special project called “Peacock Feather,” in which he captured the fine details of a peacock feather that is impossible to see with a naked eye.

I have been flying my drone for just about two years now and am always looking to push myself to find new things to shoot. A year ago when I was in Nevada, I shot the ground of the desert with my Phantom 3 and was intrigued by the look and texture in the photo. At the time, I hadn't seen many photos showing textures of the earth until a few months later when I stumbled upon Abstract Aerial Art. Every time I look at their photos, I can't help but to stare at them and try to understand what I am looking at.

We have featured Adrian Sommeling quite a few times over the summer and with reason. His composite photography work, or digital art if you prefer, is stunning and his videos give tons of inside tips to improve our very own work. In his latest creation, he Photoshopped his son and himself playing with foam guns replaying the famous bullet time Matrix scene. Learn all about the creation of this masterpiece in Sommeling’s video.

Lets face it, even days after the total eclipse over the United States, people are still completely enthralled by the celestial event. Hundreds of thousands took to the sky on August 21st, 2017 and witnessed the rare occasion, and of course many photographers took advantage of the day. We’ve seen some incredible images come out of the event (check out Top 10 Solar Eclipse Photos Found Around the Web).

If there is one type of photograph that you could call universally appreciated, I would say a properly executed cityscape ranks right up there at the top. While New York City often comes to mind when you think of skyscrapers and iconic views, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates now makes a very strong case for being the most amazing city to photograph in the world. Of all the photos coming out of Dubai on a regular basis, I'd say Daniel Cheong's are hands down the best of the best. He is ready to share his skills in an upcoming class on September 8 put on by 500px called "Shooting and Stitching Vertical Panoramas." Best of all, the class is free for 500px premium members.

Rising photographers born into a family of considerable means and influence have received quite a bit of hate from social media, and often times without reason. No one truly knows what someone such as Brooklyn Beckham has gone through to get where he is. Perhaps his way up was just as complicated as anyone. Perhaps it was not, and he’s lucky to have the background and family he does. It doesn’t change the fact that his work is far from terrible and, as the follower video shows, that is just like all of us, a passionate photographer.

A photographer recently completed a project that involved setting herself the task of taking a portrait of all 626 of her Facebook friends from across the globe.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has long warned tourists of “arrest and long-term detention.” Despite the threat, around 100,000 people visit the hermit kingdom annually. In 2016, Photographer Raphael Olivier was one of those people. Here we showcase some of his most surreal photos from the trip.

We all dream of having huge production budgets for our shoots, so imagine being one of the lucky few who get to work as stills photographers on one of the TV’s biggest shows, "Game of Thrones." With a budget of $10 million per episode for its latest season, you can only imagine the fun these photographers have on set.

Photography is one of the most powerful tools used in influencing and changing perspectives. All across social media are images that move the emotion range from tugging at heartstrings to enraging the senses. So when one photographer needed to convey the message of the threats to ocean life she turned to photography.

You can find them on just about any street in every city come trash day. Each one a unique piece of home decor. Once the centerpiece chosen to define our communal spaces, now an abandoned remnant of our disposable lives left curbside. I call it a couch, you may call it a davenport, chesterfield, or lounge. Andrew Ward calls it a sofa and he has been photographing everyone he comes across around Los Angeles for the last five years. What started out as an odd fascination quickly grew into the personal project Ward calls “Sofas of L.A.”

Libraries. Not a photographic subject I ever thought I’d be getting excited about. But one landscape photographer has released an undeniably beautiful series featuring some of the most structurally complex buildings from around the world.

Across the board boudoir photographers have seen an increase in the number of inquiries for couples boudoir sessions. While boudoir photographer was generally more known as a more intimate session for a female to either reconnect with her own sensual side, or perhaps to give as a gift to a significant other, the trend is now becoming for these couples to capture these moments together. So how do you coach and pose for emotions during a session if the inquires start to roll in?

Being young is something I hope to never let go of. There is a sense of invincibility that can't be taught or explained. You just have to live it. Sometimes a photograph can take you to a point in time, or evoke feelings beyond what your eyes are seeing. Alex Currie is a photographer and director currently living in Los Angeles, California, who knows how to tell a story with a single frame.

When a D1 collegiate athlete becomes a photographer, you should watch out. Zach Ancell is a commercial sports photographer from Portland and has been shooting for almost 10 years now. As any self-respecting creative, he does his own personal projects between the commercials he shoots. Pan"Tone," which is one of Ancell's recent shoots caught my attention, and he kindly agreed to share all we want to know about the set.

Memorial Day is a day set aside in remembrance of those members of the Armed Forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice. This Memorial Day, photographer Kate Woodman released a series called War Widow, that gives an intimate look at the life of those left behind. The series manages to honor the families of the fallen by approaching the pain, grief and loss they suffer with a raw, unflinching eye.

Get acquainted with Urbex photography as we chat with the Nikon-endorsed photographer who has travelled the globe to visit the best abandoned spots in the world.

Following up his 2012 viral video hit "Fall," Filmmaker Jamie Scott has only become more focused and experienced as exhibited in his timely new time-lapse titled "Spring." Watch the amazing video and get a behind-the-scenes look at how he pulled it off right here.

The evolution of boudoir photography has changed drastically over the years however the core of what it stands for remains the same. It is a look into a clients insecurities and help regain the strength through the newly found confidence. While looking over some images of a fellow boudoir photographer during his Body Confidence Campaign, the final images where something no one saw coming.

Fashion photographer Lindsay Adler, who is known for her lean, bold, and graphic style is hosting a free webinar on May 1, 2017 to help you train your eye to identify posing problems and fix them in your images.

The Fstoppers Community is home to the many talented readers of this website where we share images and video in our portfolios as well as talk shop in the Discussion Groups. The other day I was going through and watching some of the incredible videos the Community has shared in their portfolios, and here's a selection of some of my favorite travel videos that will have you craving adventure and inspire your own creations.

After many years of serious stargazing, Melbourne, Australia based photographer Colin Robson has set his sights high on photographing the world’s largest image of The Milky Way. This project has been in the pipeline for the past six months and after completing a successful test photo, Robson is looking forward to getting things rolling as early as next month. Whilst images of The Milky Way have been captured before, this project aims to create the most detailed, and so far the largest, 65 gigapixels, combined from 100 panel mosaic which will view right into the heart of Milky Way.

Sometimes as adults we draw our creativity from our children, there is something so innocent and fresh about how they see the world around them. Occasionally a few will include their children in this process and we are usually left with something both clever and adorable at the same time. This is what Stephen Crowley has done with his daughter Hannah, Photoshopping his images to create a story of a mischievous little girl always getting into dangerous situations.

Playing with shadows is not a new concept however in the boudoir community is has become a beautiful new trend. A recent group competition brought many boudoir photographers into the sight of this staff writer. One photographer in particular stopped the show with some moody light that won us over.

During my time as a professional fine-art landscape photographer, I've come to appreciate the moody and somber aspects of photography more than those bursting sunsets. You can find me in the forest or on the beach in the harshest of conditions or in low-light. However, I'm a real sucker for mountains; mainly because we don't have those here in the Netherlands, but there's something in the interplay between the land and the sky that goes on in mountainscapes that I find truly attractive.

One of Billboard magazine’s latest covers – featuring former Fifth Harmony babe Camila Cabello – was recently shot quite infamously using the portrait mode on an iPhone 7. The spread itself was shot using both the iPhone and a DSLR. What does all of this mean for our ever-changing industry? Should we be worried? I chatted to commercial photographer Jay Mawson, who has shot campaigns for Nike and Adidas, to gather his perspective on all of this.