We’re sure a lot of photographers have something planned for the coming Star Wars Day, whether it’s documenting fan events and celebrations or shooting their own themed projects. If it’s the latter for you, we have a bunch of cool projects that should get you inspired and filled with ideas! Over the years, Star Wars-themed photography projects have been among our favorites, so there’s a lot of cool stuff for us to give a second look. Not only are they perfect for the occasion, they’re also great examples of inspiring work and impressive creativity!
“…earlier in my career turned down the original Star Wars’ movie…” explains Motion Picture Stills Photographer David James. “George Lucas and I talked about that many years later, he actually admired me for making that decision.” David James–who was tasked to capture the behind the scenes happenings on both Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens and Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi. While being a movie stills photographer is a pretty difficult job, it becomes even more of a challenge when it happens to be on the sets of space operas that take place “in a galaxy far, far away,” where every minute detail is shrouded in secrecy until all is revealed on premiere day. Aside from over a half a century in the industry, David helped found the Society of Motion Picture Stills Photographers (SMPSP), serving as one of the organization’s past presidents, and was bestowed the Still Photographer Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Camera Operators in 2011. In time for Star Wars Day, we talked to David about his experiences working on the sets of both Star Wars sequels, how he entered the world of still photography, his experiences working on some of the most prominent Hollywood blockbusters, and what fuels his creative impulse.
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Those who head out to see the Garry Winogrand’s Color slide work at the Brooklyn Museum will most likely be photographers; and those photographers will be given a fantastic treat for most of the exhibit. While Color showcases a number of these images with incredible justice to the great street photographer, I spent some of my time in the exhibit scratching my head with a number of questions. I’ve personally had a very on and off relationship with Garry Winogrand’s work–and Color has done a lot for further selling me on his photography. While my problem with the exhibit isn’t the way that most of the images are portrayed, attendees will spend most of the time in a particular, single room.
Among the goals of every travel photographer is not only to create a sense of place, but also to paint a portrait of its people. We’ve put the spotlight on a number of great examples, such as the documentary portraits of Giacomo Bruno, Stijn Hoekstra, and Vikas Vasudev. Today, we’re adding the Marrakesh portraits of Berlin-based Shai Levy to the pile to inspire you to do the same on your next trip. If you’re yet to do a portrait series using your Hasselblad X1D or Ricoh GR, this collection of portraits may also be particularly interesting for you.
Not so long ago, I came across the Fujifilm X20 street photos I shot from a photo walk I attended six years ago — all 100+ of them. After realizing that I didn’t really like most of them, I simply set them aside in an external hard drive where they remained forgotten. However, unearthing them gave me a handful of lessons about photography today, and myself as a creative, a photographer, and a storyteller.
If you have always wanted to be able to edit your pictures like the pros in Adobe Lightroom, but have never been able to move past the basics, this amazing deal is for you. Right now Creative Live have an exceptional deal on the Adobe Lightroom Classic CC: The Complete Guide. For just a couple of days this guide is half price, and at just $99 it’s an absolute steal! This guide will teach you how to edit like the pros, and will show you just how powerful Lightroom is. If you want to be able to take your images to the next level, join us after the break for more details about this incredible package. It’s truly one of the most complete Lightroom Photography tutorials around.
In a nutshell, what does the work of a photojournalist or documentary photographer entail? Canadian photographer Donald Weber summed it up nicely in his opening statement for a VICE Picture Perfect episode on photographing the Fukushima disaster. “I love photography, but I’m not really interested in a picture. There’s a difference between pictures of something, and pictures about something. And I wanted to make pictures about something.” Among his biggest bodies of work that best drive this point across draw the parallels between the nuclear disasters of Chernobyl and Fukushima.
We all know that photojournalists put themselves into some serious dangers just to open our eyes to the most pressing issues happening across the globe. But some go even beyond to show exactly how life-threatening their assignments can get. In a 2016 video feature by AJ+, freelance photojournalist Ahmed Deeb lets viewers tag along as he perilously documents the conflicts in Gaza and Syria.
The goal of every photographer, regardless of their chosen genre, is to let viewers see the world through their perspective at a given place and point in time. However, what goes on in the making of each photo and what makes a certain shot more powerful than the others aren’t always easy to see for viewers. In a VICE Picture Perfect episode, Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson shares some compelling and inspiring details about his career — his photography journey, the projects closest to his heart, and why it’s important to him to make sure his work is filled with emotional truths.