When I chose to move beyond candid snapshots of my friends and family and actually asked them to sit down for formal portraits, my approach to everyday photography changed. Candid moments are wonderful, but practicing your craft with the people around you both helps hone your skills as a photographer and leads to precious moments with the people you love.
Documentary photographer Molly Choma began working for Virgin America fresh out of college. Working as a flight attendant, Choma got an inside perspective on the lives of those who work in the sky. Working for Virgin throughout her twenties, Choma began bringing a camera with her on her shifts, documenting the lives of her fellow flight attendants. In 2019, Virgin America will merge with Alaska and no longer exist as we know it. Now a professional documentary photographer, Choma is looking back at her work with Virgin's flight crews.
I'm sure by now everyone reading this is familiar with the work of photographer and interviewer Brandon Stanton and his long-running project Humans of New York. His crisp, shallow depth of field portraits and poignant interviews have gained international attention since the project's start in 2010. For the last four years, Stanton has quietly been filming his interviews, saving the footage for "something special." Now, that special something has arrived, in the form of a video series which will premiere next week on Facebook's Watch platform.
If you’re like me, you spent yesterday evening flipping through dozens of eclipse photographs on social media. Whether you wanted to see them or not, there they were. All the blurry, grainy Instagram shots taken through cheap eclipse glasses got me thinking…how much did we actually experience this crazy, incredible, once-in-a-lifetime event, and how much of it was spent waiting for the perfect, “'gram-worthy” shot? Does photographing something take you out of the moment and prevent you from actually experiencing it? According to a study published in Psychological Science, it’s complicated.
Have you ever wanted to try your hand at dramatic macro shots of insects, but don’t have a studio setup or - let’s face it - the desire to cart strange insects back from your outdoor excursions? Entomologist Phil Torres has a neat solution. In this video, he takes us through his simple and elegant setup for shooting studio-quality macro photographs in the field.
Photographer Monica Jane Frisell has spent the last four months living out of a renovated 1988 Toyota Seabreeze, traveling across the United States with her scrappy terrier Lou and a Zone VI 4x5 camera for her project “Looking Forward/Portraits from an RV.” I caught up with her to talk about the project, life on the road, and the process of shooting large format film.
Earlier this year, the Japanese Experiment Module (KIBO) on the International Space Station (ISS) installed Sony's a7S II mirrorless camera on its exterior. The a7S II is known for its gorgeous 4K video capabilities and wide dynamic range. Sony released video transmitted back from space as the module made its way up the east coast of the United States; The results are truly incredible.
I first discovered the work of Cannabis Photographer Kristen Angelo when the Seattle Times did a profile of her for their series highlighting "cool jobs" in the region. Her work stood out as something fresh, new, and real. Unlike the high-contrast, psychedelic images I was used to seeing, Angelo's images showed different side of the culture of cannabis: sun-drenched, cultivated by passionate farmers in the rural Pacific Northwest. I caught up with Angelo to ask her about how she got into the field of cannabis photography, and how she developed her business as a freelance photographer.
With a combination of intimate portraits and urban landscapes, French photographer Lucile Chombart de Lauwe captures a snapshot of Mongolia in transition for her beautiful series “Foyers (Urbains) Mongols,” which documents the move of rural populations into large cities.
Côte d’Ivoire-based photographer Joana Choumali documents the disappearing practice of scarification in a series of powerful portraits entitled “Hââbré, The Last Generation.” Illustrating “the complexity of African society today,” Choumali’s work is both compassionate and evocative.
Enamored with the paintings of the Renaissance Period, German photographer Rebecca Rütten created “Contemporary Pieces,” which puts a modern humorous twist on classic Renaissance paintings through its focus on fast food culture.
“Through Darkness to Light” fully immerses its audience in the awe-inspiring history of the Underground Railroad through a series of breathtaking images. The series chronicles the perilous journey of those who sought freedom from slavery.
Alaskan photographer Acacia Johnson documents natural landscapes, shooting in locations like Iceland and Norway to capture the vivid beauty of these often brutally cold lands. Johnson’s “Polaris” series, shot in Alaska and Iceland, captures the “magic that I perceive in an environment that is otherwise in constant flux.”
Senegal-based photographers Omar Victor Diop and Antoine Tempé are the co-creators of [re-]Mixing Hollywood / ONOMOllywood, a photographic series which re-imagines scenes from classic films, incorporating Senegalese landscapes, culture, and fashion.
Austrian fashion photographer Andreas Ortner creates highly detailed work, showcasing his subjects in rich, colorful images. Having established a distinct style, Ortner’s work is stunning and imaginative.
Award-winning photographer Camille Seaman has spent over a decade documenting the environment of the Polar Regions, capturing gorgeous imagery of a landscape undergoing dramatic changes.
Travel and lifestyle photographer Randy Harris traveled to Tennessee for Travel + Leisure magazine, documenting the city’s best-known barbeque spots. Harris got to know those who owned and operated them, shooting a gorgeous series of portraits of Memphis pit masters.
Fashion designer-turned-photographer Vivienne Mok creates ethereal images; her young subjects bathed in light simultaneously soft and brilliant light. Drawing from her background in design, Mok creates intricately detailed settings decorated with treasures gathered from flea markets or built by hand.
Photographer Jacqui Kerness’ images of the Pacific Northwest are a whimsical take on classic aerial photography. Through incorporating a different perspective, using miniature faking, well-known monuments in the region become toy-like and comical.
Photographer Tom Blachford documents gorgeous details of Grecian architecture and landscape for his series “Greece.” Shot in Blachford’s classic minimalistic style, the series showcases the pristine white walls and deep blue skies synonymous with the country; drawing viewers in and highlighting the details.
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