Historical

In a world full of copycats and sequelitis, it isn’t always easy to be inspired. But every once in a while, mixed in among the sea of sameness, you will discover a true original. I am not the only person to be fascinated by the work of Russian Filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. His brief but spectacular canon of films, including the likes of “Ivan’s Childhood” (1962), “Andrei Rublev” (1966), “Solaris” (1972), “The Mirror” (1975) and “Stalker” (1979), stands among the most innovative cinematic careers in world history.

Just after lunchtime on July 28th, 1851, Julius Berkowski took the first accurate image of a total solar eclipse. As we prepare to shoot the eclipse on Monday, let's take a look at history behind this unique astrophotography.

Humidity, sunlight, water, and most of all, time, are just some of the culprits in the damage most printed photographs will endure. However these memories of loved ones do not need to be thrown away or thought to be unrepairable. A few layers in the digital world can bring it back for your clients.

The inauguration of Donald Trump meant the end of Pete Souza’s position as official White House photographer. Stepping into his shoes, Shealah Craighead has spoken for the first time about the experience of shadowing President Trump.

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.

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."

If you're a photographer or really any kind of creative, you've probably at some point experienced the existential crisis along the lines of "does my work mean anything? Does anyone care?" This reminder that even the greatest among us had humble beginnings should put a smile on your face.

Kendrick Lamar's newest music video, "ELEMENT," was released this week. The video is directed by Jonas Lindstroem and The Little Homies (aka Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free) and takes Photographer Gordon Parks' iconic imagery and breathes new life via video. I'm not sure how many of our readers listen to Kendrick Lamar, but you should. He's brilliant, in both lyric and music video direction.

Perhaps no single photo is more symbolic of America’s troubles during the Great Depression than Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother.” Depicting an itinerant farm worker, Florence Owens Thompson, and five of her children apparently in the grips of despair on the side of the road, this single image came to surmise an entire era.

Are you doing enough to ensure that your story is shared beyond your years? Take a few extra steps to ensure that your family photos will be enjoyed by generations to come.

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.

At first black and white photos were the only way images could be developed, printed, and shown to the world. With digital technology and having all the information at our fingertips allows some obsessive artists delve into the past to bring the past to life by adding color and making the images more relatable. Or does it? Some people have argued that the past shouldn't be altered, and that it must be left as is, preserved and untouched. They argue that the images shape history, and should remain as factually correct as possible. However, when watching the video and seeing the way the images are transformed surely adds another level to the ability to relate to the images.

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.

In this short documentary video from TIME, Dutch creative Erik Kessels explains his interest in amateur photography, including where it started and what he sees in it. What started as simply buying discarded family photo albums has now stirred an interest with the mortality of an image, where with the proliferation of sites like Flickr and Instagram, photographs now have a much shorter lifecycle. This culminates in a very interesting exhibition, featured at the end of the video.

The Canon EOS (Electro-Optical System) and the EF (Electro-Focus) lens mount have been the standard of Canon SLR and DSLR cameras since 1987. This neat video showcases 30 years of evolution in just 90 seconds.