Time-honored English fashion and portrait photographer David Bailey is 81. His prominent heyday was a time that now seems remote — one of a young Mick Jagger and the four Beatles. Now Bailey himself thinks that the day of the star professional photographer is gone forever.
Do you want your images to look “good”? Aesthetics will help you understand the value of an image beyond its informative and representative character. Let's ask some great philosophers what they think about it.
Eye-es-oh or eye-soh? Not as simple as you think! Tip: Don't believe everything you read on the internet.
Photography is a centuries-old practice with a rich history of innovations and advancement, and it is a fun and informative exercise to take a look at all the events that brought us to where we are today. This great video takes a look at 10 of the most pivotal moments in photography history.
This week, instead of 10 lords a leaping, we have the rather more useful and edifying 10 most inspirational photographic quotes. But which photographers were as good with words as they were with pictures?
This past weekend, The Olympus Corporation turned 100 years old. A review of Olympus' history is eye opening. I didn't realize that Olympus was originally a healthcare company, and it remains a leader in certain healthcare fields today.
If you have ever shot with certain film cameras of the past, you have probably noticed that the prints came back to you with the date of capture superimposed on them in the bottom corner. It is a neat and very useful function, and this fun video will show you how cameras of the past made it happen.
You've heard the saying "a picture's worth a thousand words." A recently published panorama of historic Minneapolis photographs gives us a visually verbose account of an iconic Midwestern city over a century ago.
Well it had to come… the final installment of the A to Z of Photography appeared last week and with that a huge void in my life! With every end there is a new beginning, but before we reach that, where did the A to Z start, what topics did it traverse in its winding journey, and what were some of the highlights?
I’ve paged through his books at bookshops, and I know he’s done some of the Pirelli Calendar campaigns. But I've looked at his work again since his passing, and it gives insight on how he does it, and what type of person he was.
Where's the line between false advertisement and art in photography? What if it falls somewhere between the two?
Why does vintage photography gives some people "the willies”? Whether or not you've noticed this, the portrait subjects in the oldest black and white images are almost always glaring sternly into the lens.
And so with some sadness, tinged with a sense of relief, we reach the final letter of the alphabet. And what better way to finish than with a vastly successful company that has virtually spanned the lifetime of photography, along with some photographic input from yet another novelist.
In this article we turn to the society photographer, and fortune teller sounding, Madame Yevonde, but before her another Japanese brand that bit the dust. Yashica were prominent in the post-war photographic world, but when did they cease production?
Based on feedback I received about my article investigating the most expensive photobooks ever sold, I reached out to the two largest auction houses in the World to provide a more authoritative list of photobooks sold at auction. What do you expect to see in this list?
The cult of celebrity is alive and kicking, now seemingly the domain of the "influencer". However history is littered with photographers who attained celebrity status — step back 80 years and Weegee made the unusual step from press photographer to, well, influencer! This was long after the second of our two articles, which looks at the wet collodion plate process.
A brief personal recollection of a powerful influence in the world of photography.
This week we continue the A to Z of Photography with an interview with contemporary photographer Benjamin von Wong, renowned for his attention grabbing, fantastical images. We follow this with a history of Vivitar, a camera and lens manufacturer that didn't make cameras or lenses!
Language is a slippery thing. The meanings of words are constantly evolving. Add in the continuing leaps being made by the technology underlying photography, and it's no wonder that the language photographers use is in an almost constant state of flux.
The world's oldest webcam is finally shutting down after a whopping quarter-century of service, marking the end of an era that began in the infancy of the modern internet we know today.
Few historical events have remained in the public consciousness quite like the sinking of the Titanic, and after over a century of sitting on the bottom of the Atlantic, a production team has captured 4K footage of the wreck for the first time.
We now arrive at the second of the three tricky letters of the alphabet. Unfortunately, U is uselessly underwhelming but ultimately and uniquely utilitarian! The first an iconic photo of political protest and confrontation, a theme that continues to this day in newsrooms across the world. Then discover Umbo.
This week we turn to a train wreck of an image — yes the iconic photo "Train Wreck at Montparnasse Station"! But before we get to that, step back to the dawn of photography and understand the principles behind tilting and shifting the lens relative to the sensor. Some of the highest profile photographers use tilt-shift lenses in their day-to-day work, so find out why that is.
Digital cameras have come along way in the last 20 years, but just how far? Blair Bunting recently took an almost-as-new Nikon D1 out for a spin to see how it stacked up to modern cameras.
Sex and stripping seem to go hand in hand, but in this edition of the A to Z of photography, I cover the acclaimed work of fashion photographer Bob Carlos Clark, "Shooting Sex" and then delve into the technical details of the photo finish.
At pretty much three-quarters of the way through the alphabet we stop at R, an eminently popular letter, to look at the foundation of pretty much all contemporary cameras — the Reflex. This is followed by the inspiringly funny work of Tony Ray-Jones whose career was cruelly cut short.
In this issue of the A to Z of Photography we turn to possibly the thorniest letter of the alphabet: Q. Fear not as we take you on a journey from an interview with the antipodean photographer Wayne Quilliam, through Elvis, Brahmanandam Kanneganti, Kim Kardashian, Princess Diana, and Donald Trump before finally arriving at the Queen.
Johnson Publishing Company, the former publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, filed for liquidation in April of this year. There was a worry that their image archive would end up being sold to a private collector and that the images, which represent decades of African American culture and history, would disappear.
You might not realize it, but Photoshop has entered its fourth decade of existence, and in those many years, it has had a lot of time to evolve into the highly intricate and powerful application it is today. Ever wonder what it was like to use in its early days? Check out this awesome video that shows what it was like working with a version released in 1988.
With this installment we revisit the whole sub-genre of panoramic photography. Literally(!) a wide subject, discover the history behind it, the software to create it, and the competitions to enter. Once you've scrambled your way through the panoramas, discover one of the most beautiful photos in the universe. Read on.
You might think that when a piece of art is finished, it is done in every sense of the word, now a static object — unchanging, permanent forever. But it’s anything but; in fact, all art is fleeting when you place it on the timescales our planet runs on. Just how do climate and art interact? What can art tell us about climate, particularly as it continues to be at the forefront of discussions of the future of humanity?
Have you ever run out to a shoot and realized that despite your best laid plans, you left something behind? Packed up, boarded a plane, and realized you left your memory cards or film at home? How far back did you have to go to get it? Imagine realizing that you had to travel 238,900 miles? Or worse, 170 years into the past.
With camera technology as good as it is nowadays, it can be easy to forget just how quickly things have advanced in the span of just a few short decades. As a case in point, this fun video reviews the Sega Digio SJ-1, a nifty point and shoot camera from 1996.
Color is the word this week, from the pioneering, contemporary, and successful work of Paul Outerbrdige through to applying the Orton Effect to color landscape images... or indeed, any images.
An amazing new exhibition has just opened, depicting images once lost to history and giving us a behind the scenes glimpse at some of the greatest mysteries of our time.
Moving on to N, we enter the second half of the alphabet and with that a headlong rush to Z. It's been a blast getting to this point, but now we start the countdown. In this issue the A to Z of Photography we visit that most unwanted of digital acquaintances, noise, before taking a peek at the cover work (and Polaroids) of Helmut Newton.
When we think of history and how dry it may appear as a subject to some, what role do visuals play in increasing genuine interest and cultivating understanding of things that have happened?
With M we reach a significant milestone in the A to Z of Photography as this is the halfway mark. So far "Bronica and Burtynsky" and "Fujifilm" have been the most read with the "Family of Man" and "Image Stabilization and Into the Jaws of Death" languishing at the bottom of the popularity charts! Onwards then to Inge Morath and Minolta.
This week we move on to L in the A to Z of Photography and an image of Lenna that has impacted every photographer, along with the little red dot… yes, this article gives a brief overview of the history of Leica, a brand that has influenced everyone directly or indirectly through either their design or the photos shot with them.
Trains, trains, trains. Heritage Railroads offer a lot of fun and a great photographic subject for those who like to travel. In this article I share my methods of capturing these magnificent vintage iron horses.
How could we pass K without perhaps the last word going to the most iconic of iconic brands? Yes, this installment of the A to Z of Photography outlines the rise and fall of Kodak. Can the phoenix arise from the ashes of it's photographic self-immolation? Yevgeny Khaldei accompanies Kodak and, whilst not a household name, his signature image is one of the the most recognizable. Read on.
With all of the noise about new mirrorless cameras and all the benefits they bring to the digital photography table, it’s time to take a moment to recognize a pioneer whose 20th birthday just quietly passed: the Nikon D1.
Ever wondered how the filmmakers of probably the best-looking Star Wars movie managed to light Darth Vader's blacker than black costume without seeing the light fixtures in the helmet? The answer to this and a few more nuggets of film history and cinematography tricks are revealed in this short but fascinating interview.
J takes us back to the very foundations of digital photography with none other than the, love-it or loathe-it, JPEG file format. If that seems like old hat, then step back another century to the iconic work of William Henry Jackson who produced some of the first photos of Yellowstone National Park.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Industrial Revolution had led to a need for workers, and in the pursuit of cheap labor that was less likely to unionize, many companies turned to hiring children, often putting them in dangerous conditions for long hours and low pay. As the cries for child labor reform began to grow, one man's photos helped to humanize the movement and spur the change. This great video tells the story of his work.
Art mimicked life and photography captured it. Then photography mimicked art until it too became an art form. But will it follow the trajectory of paint and canvas trends?
This installment of the A to Z of photography begins with perhaps the most exciting photographic technology of the 21st century — image stabilization. This is followed by one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century — Into the Jaws of Death — which marks a tipping point in history. The I's have it!
Photojournalism helps to shape our collective consciousness. In thinking about how important photojournalism is, I’ve often found myself considering what happens when amateurs with amateur equipment find themselves in extraordinary circumstances.
From contemporary to classic in one breath, in this installment of the A to Z of Photography I outline the current, and oh so trendy, hyper-lapse technique before showcasing the work of the classic, and brilliant, photography of Horst P. Horst, including his signature work the "Mainbocher Corset". Read on for more!
After a monster week of F, it's time to get back to some semblance of normality (although the title sounds like a Harry Potter novel!). Coming at you straight from Photography 101 and the chapter on "Composition" is the Golden Triangle, followed from left-field by Nan Goldin.
