Joey Wright is a swim and lifestyle photographer based in Florida. Despite only picking up a camera a few years ago, Joey is a already regular contributor to SI.com with clients ranging from Callaway Golf, the Atlanta Falcons and the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and is recognized as a Wescott Top Pro. He's also really, really likable.
In 1983, the BBC aired a documentary series called "Master Photographers" interviewing and showcasing some of the most influential photographers of all time - from Alfred Eisenstaedt to Bill Brandt to Andre Kertesz. In this episode, the great Ansel Adams and his penchant for cowboy hats and bolo ties. Adams was unquestionably brilliant. It's one thing to read his thoughts from a book; it's another thing entirely to hear them.
The new episode of Mark Seliger's Emmy-nominated 'Capture' is out, showing once again that it's the best show on photography currently out there. In this episode, Mark sits down with director Judd Apatow and painter/photographer Matt Mahurin as they talk about the stories behind some of their most famous images.
In this super useful video by the good folks over at Phlearn, we delve into what separates 'Curves' and 'Levels' adjustments in Photoshop and when to use one over the other. These reasons 'when to' and 'when not to' use aren't the end-all-be-all, but you will definitely walk away with a better grasp on these two types of adjustments after watching.
What draws us to portraits? In this video from PBS's 'Off Book,' photographers Matt Hoyle, Bex Finch, Jamie Diamond and Ethan Levitas offer their perspective on portraiture and why it is important to us as human beings. At the core of portrait photography, it is a documention of our existence, but it often surpasses that and becomes art.
"Those of us that are lucky enough to survive, we get to come here and be at this museum and do this opening." 'Lucky enough to survive' is not a mantra that many photographers have to deal with - and yet these photographers have worked under this burden and have done so brilliantly. In this video, we get a small glimpse at some of the things they've seen - and it is powerful.
Last night, National Geographic Traveler announced the winners of their 25th annual photo contest, and as you can imagine, the images are nothing short of amazing. The prizes weren't bad either - the winning photographer received a 10-day Galápagos expedition for two - so one could assume there would be a lot of competition. The contest received over 15,500 entries. Of those, here are the top 11...
Nick Suarez is a beauty and fashion photographer based out of New York City. Early in his photographic career, he has already developed some pretty impressive skills. It’s that visual competency combined with his high level of photographic literacy that give him an edge with the next generation of photographers.
"40 years ago [William Eggleston] dragged color, kicking and screaming, into the world of art photography." In this fascinating documentary from BBC's Imagine, we get a small glimpse at a photographic icon. William Eggleston was born in Tennessee in 1939 and raised in Mississippi. Inspired by Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eggleston is credited with being the first photographer to give serious artistic credibility to color film.
It’s very easy to get used to the option of being able to “spray and pray” – shoot a nearly obscene amount of photographs and hope for a few that meander over the line to above average. I know I can be guilty of this sometimes – modern shutters are both a benefit and a crutch. So I issued myself a challenge: go out and shoot without looking.
In what is another phenomenal documentary from the BBC program Imagine..., we are given the chance to view the world and lives of iconic photographer William Klein as he is preparing for a retrospective of his work. Klein is one of the pioneers of street photography (more raw, up-close and personal than Henri Cartier-Bresson) as well as the creator of some of the most iconic fashion images of the 20th century. He is an artist and a filmmaker - making over 20 films, including the first ever documentary of Muhammad Ali.
Rolling Stone magazine is receiving a sizable amount of backlash over their decision to use a "selfie" of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the accused Boston Marathon bomber, on the cover. One of the more shared opinions is that this is glamorizing and creating a celebrity out of an [allegedly] horrible individual; Rolling Stone is typically fond of using musicians and actors on their covers. Perhaps, though, the more troubling complaint is that the cover was "uninspired."
We've featured Lindsay Adler before - and with good reason. At 26, she is already an accomplished photographer and has been published in magazines like Popular Photography, Professional Photographer, Shutterbug and others. She's also a great educator, and this video is no exception. In this episode of [FRAMED], Lindsay talks about her 11 year progression as a photographer - everything from how she started to the specific steps she took to get where she is.
In what may be one of my favorite 30(ish)-minute commercials ever, Canon 'introduces' one of the greatest living photographers, Don McCullin, to the world of digital photography. McCullin is old-world; he's charming and sweet and sad-eyed and every bit as British. McCullin's shaman into the digital realm is Jeff Ascough - Canon Ambassador and all-around stellar wedding photographer.
One of my favorite 'old school' photo tricks is the macro reversing ring. When you turn your lens around - literally having the mount pointing at your subject - you will notice a pretty interesting effect. The lens (whatever focal length it is) becomes a macro. Of course, holding a lens over an open camera body is a pretty terrible idea. This is where the reversing ring comes in.
It's easy to overlook just how powerful the RAW processing engine can be. It's also pretty easy just throw an image into Photoshop and deal with it there, but RAW is where all the information is - and a dynamic RAW file is the most important aspect of developing your image. You will never have more information to work with than what is in your RAW, so it is important to draw every bit of tone out of it that you can - especially when it comes to maximizing the tonal range in the shadows and the highlights.
Andreas Poupoutsis is a fine art photographer based in New York City but originally from another small island on the other side of the world. His work is a little mysterious and even somewhat odd. His figures and faces often emerge from shadows, allowing for the objects to be (sometimes literally) painted with light. The work often speaks to a search for personal identity - something all artists struggle with; the faces in his images are often not integral to the image itself.
Iconic photographer Bert Stern has died at the age of 83. Stern, probably best known for his images of Marilyn Monroe, passed away at his home in Manhattan on Tuesday. He is survived by Shannah Laumeister, a longtime friend, who has said that she and Stern had been secretly married since 2009. Laumeister is also the director of a recent documentary featuring Stern, “Bert Stern: Original Madman.”
"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.
Photographer Rob Grimm has posted a nice little BTS of his 'Micro Brewery Project' - where the photographs feature some various beers from the United States based on "unique bottle design, label, and/or flavor profile." The video starts out with a great, little trick for creating an even pour in a photo. The bottle itself is clamped in place, but by using twine, nail polish remover and fire, you can cleanly remove the bottom.
There's no denying the growing popularity of Lomo photography in recent years - especially if you've ever visited an Urban Outfitters. The motto for Lomography is, "Don’t Think, Just Shoot," - which is kind of ironic considering their newest offering requires quite a bit of thinking. The Konstruktor is a $35 build-it-yourself camera that should give hipsters a better understanding as to how their 'antique Instagram machine' actually works.
PBS' Idea Channel poses an interesting question, "Is a tagged Instagram more than just a photo?"
There is and has been a lot of discussion going on about Instagram. Does it cheapen photography, or is it the best thing to ever happen to photography? I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but I also think it has changed the fundamental approach toward what photography is and what it represents in the modern world.
First 5 is a government agency in California aimed at - among other things - curbing obesity in children. It's a great cause, no doubt. They are, however, getting a little bit of backlash over a campaign that is currently featured on posters around California. The ad features an overweight, little girl drinking from a bag of sugar with the caption, "Sugary drinks like juice, sports drinks and soda can cause obesity. Choose milk and water instead." But some people are a little upset over the fact that the girl in the image isn't actually overweight - she's been photoshopped.
Do you ever feel like you're not hanging around enough celebrities? Maybe you wish you were court-side at a Laker's game sharing an emotional moment with Kobe, or maybe you'd rather be wrapped around Kim Kardashian like couch upholstery? If any of these things are true, you might be Peeje T - a pretty creative guy with a pretty good sense of humor and a knack for photoshopping himself into pictures with the likes of Jay Z, Beyonce, Rihanna, Alisha Keys and Kobe Bryant, among others.
Finding a great retoucher (if you use one) can be a pretty daunting task. Most photographers end up doing their own - picking up techniques and tricks along the way. Ashlee Gray is a beauty and fashion photographer and [primarily a] retoucher based in New York whose clients include Tresemme, Starbucks, Rebecca Minkoff and Gatorade. As a photographer, her images are beautiful, feminine and even delicate. It's that same underlying aesthetic that she applies to her retouching- yet still managing to retain the unique style of the individual photographers she works with.
"Coty Tarr is an active lifestyle photographer based in New York City," so says the not quite so lengthy bio on his website. On initial thought, one might think the concise personal description is a little off-putting, but to anyone that has ever met Coty, it is nothing if not an apt discriptor. In a world where many photographers feel the need for shameless overpromotion (not that there's anything wrong with that), Coty takes a more subtle approach, working tirelessly and letting the caliber of his images and his work ethic speak for him.
It's no secret that many people have predetermined opinions about strippers and the private lives they may lead. In a recent project by photographer Bronwen Parker-Rhodes, their lives and their method of self-expression via exhibitionism are put on display.
Parker-Rhodes' began this project after forming relationships with some of the dancers at various clubs she would DJ at. It begs the question, 'How do you capture the private lives and intimate moments of someone that exposes everything (or almost everything) regularly? What do you choose to reveal?'
The New York Times is being forced to examine their policy in regards to retouching on their images. Of course, they stand by the fact that manipulation of their news images "strictly forbidden.” But recently, they received backlash when the cover of their [style] magazine T had what many readers felt was a fashion model that looked 'shockingly thin' and 'underage.'
Recently, NPR featured an article about a woman that was kicked off an American Airlines flight for singing a Whitney Houston song, but there was something else that caught the attention of at least one of their writers. During the video, crew members can be repeatedly heard telling people they aren't allowed to film or photograph onboard the plane.
In 1927, Claude Frisse-Greene shot a series of film around London based on a color (or colour) technique that his father had experimenting with. His father, William Friese-Greene, was an early pioneer of cinematography. His process was called 'Biocolour' which produced the illusion of color by exposing alternating frames of black and white film with color filters, then staining the film again with red or green.
Motley Crue bassist, Nikki Sixx is a recovering addict. But cameras, he says, are his new drug. He has been a musician, a writer and a radio host. His new passion is photography. To be honest, I was pretty surprised by his images. They are empathetic, penetrative and incredibly personal. He has teamed up with Leica to photograph a two-part interview series.
WARNING: GRAPHIC It's incredibly difficult for many people of the world to have a point of reference on this type of tragedy, but this image my be one of the most tragic images that I have seen in recent memory. It is both devastating and incredibly heartbreaking. The image is of a male and a female, embracing in their final moments. The couple hasn't been identified, nor is their story known. They were found about 2am buried under fallen concrete with blood coming from the man's eye like a tear.
Jeff Bridges has been nominated for six Academy Awards and has won once (for 'Crazy Heart'). He can now add another honor to his list of awards. This week at the 29th annual Infinity Awards, he is being nominated for his photography. 'The Dude' has been shooting on-set images of the films he has worked on since 1984, and his work gives us a peek at a world most people never get to see.
“These new ways might be found by men who could abandon their allegiance to traditional pictorial standards—or by the artistically ignorant, who had no old allegiances to break. There have been many of the latter sort. Since its earliest days, photography has been practiced by thousands who shared no common tradition or training, who were disciplined and united by no academy or guild, who considered their medium variously as a science, an art, a trade, or an entertainment, and who were often unaware of each other's work…
A captivating photograph often tells a story. That story is – more often than not –the story of the one taking the picture. Sometimes the story is obvious, and sometimes not so much. It’s in that delayed gratification that we are able to explore the nuances –when we have to reach into the subtleties for meaning behind a photo. Lara Jade is a classic example of this and her images are a vivid interpretation of her life.
