“When you dedicate passion and consistency to what you do, the rewards will come by themselves,” reveals Paolo Pettignani of Italy about his commitment to his craft. Known as one of the leading photographers in the contemporary field of infrared photography, in person, he’s reserved and prefers to let his work speak for itself.
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“This photo almost wasn’t taken at all,” the photographer Dominik Schulze tells me. Three years ago, he was on his way home to Dresden, Germany, after a trip to Hamburg, when two young women entered his six-seater train compartment in Berlin. They’d picked up some food, and after they ate, they rested sleepily in each other’s laps, daylight streaming in through the window to illuminate their faces.
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Street photography has grown in popularity in recent years. As cameras became more accessible and social media became integrated into our daily lives, more people fancied trying their hand at photography. Street photography, although difficult in practice, is extremely easy to access. Once you have a camera, you only need to step onto the street and begin making pictures. I wonder what impact this has had on the street photography community, and the quality of work we see.
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Russia is home to around 115 million people. The country is full of mountainous zones and exquisitely designed buildings, making it perfect for locals to learn the craft. Many Russian photographers have left their nest and gone elsewhere, but they’re still flying the flag for their home nation, showing the rest of the world that Russia means business in the world of photography.
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Food. It’s what humans need to survive. That’s the basic description, at least. The reality is food is much more than a necessity; it’s a cultural celebration of life. Thankfully, societies all around the world have rejected a one size fits all approach to cuisine, instead opting for a “this is our way of doing it” approach. Keeping that in mind, the diversity of what we eat is perfect for food photography! Maybe this piece should be titled NSFW, because you’re about to see some x-rated food porn.
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“When you want something from the bottom of your heart, the Universe will show you a way,” says Romanian photographer Cristina Venedict about her path to photography. She loves using primary complementary colors in her portrait work, which allows her soul to speak to the viewer using styles learned from art school. But her path to discovering photography wasn’t all that straightforward.
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“I had several basic requirements for this model,” the photographer Andrew Vasiliev admits. “The most important thing, of course, was the courage to agree to take part in such a shoot. She needed to be daring and ready to experiment.” Once he found the perfect model, Julia, they got to work. With the help of his wife, the artist adorned her in resplendent layers of melted paraffin wax, with lit candles burning on her shoulders.
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“I’m looking at the story,” explains photographer Stephen Mallon to us in an interview. “I hear my editor’s voice in my head, asking for the wide, the detail, the portrait. I try not to focus only on the shots that I think I know I want and cover everything.” Mr. Mallon has quite the background as a photographer and a large list of clients. A project he’s been working on for a while involves creating artificial reefs in an attempt to combat global warming. It’s pretty exciting to think about once you put yourself in his shoes.
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What I’m about to tell you isn’t a secret. It’s come from a whole lot of experience as a photographer, a blogger, an employer, an Editor in Chief, and as a human being. It’s easy to feel like your images aren’t that great. It’s true; sometimes your images can really, really suck. But you know what sucks even worse? Constantly being compared to others. I’d know. Do you have any idea how many times we’ve been wrongly compared to other photography blogs? Do you know how many things folks have gotten plain wrong about The Phoblographer? Well, I’m not going to tell you to get over it. I’m going to tell you to get over them. Here’s how to do some photography self-improvement.
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“I like having only 36 photos to go through,” says Mike Caputo when asked why he prefers analogue to digital for his photography work. He enjoys being in complete control of his creative process, from shooting all the way to developing. From the looks of it, he doesn’t seem like he’s giving up photography any time soon. A resident of Hawaii for over two decades, Mike successfully crowdfunded a darkroom in his local town some years ago, and it’s his go-to place for hanging out these days.
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Portrait photography is special. The process of making a person’s portrait is always intimate, no matter the style you’re looking for. The subject invites a photographer to analyze them, to stare at them, and to make a record of what they see. You’ll seldom find such a connection in other walks of life. Being a portrait photographer comes with a lot of pressure, which is why only the best succeed. Below is a round-up of some of our favorite portrait photographers that have excelled at the craft.
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“…I think it is more about perceptions of what people think I can/can’t do,” says Jaime Del Pizzo. Born with a severe hearing loss, Del Pizzo finds many areas of life a challenge, including photography. But it’s a challenge she’s accepted and one she fights to overcome on a daily basis. Despite the hurdles she faces, Del Pizzo lives a life rich of adventure, and through that she’s become an extremely talented photographer, armed with a portfolio that shows she’s breaking down her barriers.
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Photojournalism and documentary photography share one common goal: to tell the truth. They’re two photographic disciplines where creative license gets put to one side, and pure documentation takes the front seat. It would be unethical to manipulate or stage an image, only to then pass it off as authentic. Sadly, photographers don’t always stick to ethics. Some go their own route for personal gain.
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“I think having a vision as a photographer is more important than just having the most expensive equipment,” says LA-based photographer Dave Tada. He’s been uploading at least one new analogue photo per day to his Tumblr page for the last 11 years. That’s no major feat when we think of how easy it is to take a digital photo these days. But my head spins when I try to calculate how much he might have spent on all that film for this project.
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“Fatherhood has shaped my perspective,” the Tokyo-based photographer Laurence Bouchard tells me. “Having a daughter has changed the kind of places I visit, and without a doubt, I’ve found some very cool locations that I would never have been to otherwise. My wife usually works on Sundays, so I make a deal with my daughter: we go somewhere that interests me and somewhere she wants to go.”
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“When an artist is recognized by style, it is like a business card,” says surreal light painter Nikolay Trebukhin. A man of few words who lets his work speak for itself, Nikolay finds inspiration in almost everything for his nighttime creations. Switching to an Olympus (now rebranded as the OM System) camera has greatly aided his photography.
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“During the pandemic, my eight-year-old son William was really struggling to sleep,” photographer Nicky Hamilton tells me. “He was filled with anxiety, thinking that the world was going to end. It was witnessing this that made me want to portray my family’s lockdown story.”
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Italy— Sharbat Gulla will now call the Mediterranean country her home. For those unaware of who Gulla is, that’s likely because you know her as Afghan Girl. She’s the 12-year-old refugee who stared down the lens of world-famous photographer Steve McCurry. The portrait went viral in today’s terms, and National Geographic was the platform that spread its power. Any time Gulla comes up in the news, so does McCurry’s contribution to her story, and many people show their disdain for the success McCurry has been able to enjoy because of it.
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It was Labor Day weekend of 2021. I, a small business owner and entrepreneur, couldn’t turn off the work mode: a fault many of us share. So for a little while, I took the Canon EOS R and Canon EOS R5 to the waterfront to do a bit of testing. A few questions rang in my head. Is the Canon EOS R5 really too heavy for a photo walk? Is the Canon EOS R even a good camera anymore? After all, the Canon EOS R is more or less a pivot from the Canon 5D Mk IV. It’s got the same sensor, far superior autofocus, the same build quality, but not all of the same ergonomic pleasantries. And when I bought mine years ago, I truly liked it.
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Since using their 200mm years ago, I’ve always wished for better lenses for nature and landscape photography with Fujifilm cameras. And luckily, the pandemic gave them to us. People were stuck inside or socially distancing. Birding, landscape photography, and nature photography became popular. Passionate photographers took up these wonderful lenses and shot photos. If you’re looking to go for a hike or heading out to the woods, the new Tamron 18-300mm f3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD could be the perfect lens for you.
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I’ve been a Fuji shooter for a long time. In fact, the X series system is teetering on being a decade old. For years, the staff and I have far preferred their prime lenses. And from what we know of the lenses you folks buy, so have you! But this year, things changed. A lens came out for Fujifilm that majorly altered things. The Tamron 18-300mm f3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD arrived and things changed a lot. Now, Fujifilm users have a fantastic, all-in-one lens that can do everything they need. Taking a vacation soon? Well, you might want to have a look at the perfect zoom lens for Fujifilm cameras.
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