By CATTLEYA JARUTHAVEE The word photography itself invokes discussions of contrasting views and disciplines. At the same time, the physical act of working a camera is so fast and simple to the superficial eye. This complex yet simple art form is an attractive duo in itself, a very special practice that can get you lost […]
By LORENZO MOSCIA I arrived in Tacloban one week after typhoon Yolanda, one of the most deadly storms in the history of the Philippines, hit land on November 8, 2013. I was lucky enough to find a local family where I could stay. The first days there was not electricity, no water, and the Internet […]
Never leave the camera at home. Pressing the shutter button is like waking up, coming to life. I have to shoot a certain amount of frames a day just to feel alive. Each and every time you learn something. I see photos everywhere. Don’t care much if you don’t like them. Each and every one […]
“It’s the only tool that will stop time,” “The deeper you go, the better pictures you’ll take” or “It’s the life on the street and where the street takes you, that’s important” — these are just two of the many strong quotes from the feature length documentary Everybody Street by Cheryl Dunn, a movie about […]
This is a once-in-a-lifetime film experience. A trip to space, to the International Space Station ISS, explored with a camera. The ISS Image Frontier — Making the Invisible Visible is a stunning tribute the ISS as well as a certain Dr. Don Pettit who is not so petit at all. He’s a NASA astronaut and […]
19-year-old Olivia Bee has to be admired. What a creativity, what camera skills. She’s photographing from her young perspective and killing it. Her clients include Hermès, Subaru, Vogue, Nike and the New York Times, to name a few. How many photographers would kill for such a work portfolio. Olivia Bee started her professional career at […]
Is this the future of photojournalism? Fascinating multimedia feature by the New York Times: A Game of Shark and Minnow makes elaborate use of video, sounds, still photography, animated three-dimensional graphics, beautiful code, interactivity and — last but not least — precise and concise written text. Add it all together and you get a one-of-a-kind […]
By B. D. COLEN Suppose an editor proposed to a leading photojournalist that she abandon her trusted cameras and lenses and instead cover an important assignment, say a presidential convention or a significant moment in a military campaign, using an off-the-shelf point-and-shoot camera with a Coke-bottle bottom lens, and a sensor smaller than the nail […]
Quite often we just believe what we want to believe or what we’re told to believe. The occasions are rare when we forge our own path to find out for ourselves what’s right to believe and what not. That’s exactly what Aram Pan did, a Singapore photographer specialized in commercial virtual tour photography. He wanted […]
Who doesn’t post-process images to enhance reality. But there’s a growing concern that news photos are excessively manipulated. After the assumingly false allegations of forgery leveraged against photographer Paul Hansen now even World Press Photo updated its rules for the 2014 contest. Following discussions and widespread speculation regarding the permissible levels in post-processing of image […]
Meet Maurice Haas, photographer for renowned magazines and one who shoots a Hollywood star now and then. Haas talks to THEME about what it takes to be a photographer today — and what’s the point of always having the latest and greatest gear? The Swiss is a kind of anti-photographer, shying away from the limelight […]
Not the latest version, but being a content user of version 3 and now the latest FilmPack 4 I’d have to say you’re a fool if you don’t give this film emulation software a try. DxO FilmPack offers pretty accurate reproduction of popular negative and positive black-and-white and color films. To get your free license […]
By RENZO GOSTOLI I’m magically attracted to circus spectacles and circus performers. Brazil’s Unicirco is such a circus I’m very familiar with. I know everyone of the circus, how these artists excite me with their colors, music, performances! All Unicirco shows don’t use animals and in addition it is a social project: Unicirco is a […]
Elixir — synonym for extract, potion, panacea or cure-all — is the name of the latest street presets from the makers of photography magazine Inspired Eye. Their by now fifth presets pack for Lightroom 4/5 comes as a color and a black-and-white version putting the look of street photography at your fingertips. Create stunning images […]
The average contents of a photographer’s bag cost anywhere between $1,500 and… well a lot. Photography is big business. It’s not only the camera and lens makers, the providers of accessories and how-to books, tutorials and dedicated websites. It’s all the advice from pros and fakes alike telling and selling you how to shoot better […]
Don’t look like a photographer and get rid of the tension, says photographer John Free who has some strong and rather philosophical thoughts on what makes a good photographer. “Be able to effectively react to a particular instant in a situation that you wanna react to,” he says. Henri Cartier-Bresson might have called this the […]
German magazine Spiegel has an excellent interview with photographer Roger Ballen, a black-and-white film photographer for nearly 50 years who believes that he’s part of the last generation that will grow up with this media. Black and white, says Balen, is a very minimalist art form and unlike color photographs does not pretend to mimic […]
Text by BEATRIZ SILVA Photos by LORENZO MOSCIA The monumental transformation undergone by Barcelona with the 1992 Olympic Games has failed to make disappear the diverse working-class city full of contrasts disappear where Pablo Picasso began painting in 1896. It is not necessary to venture too deep into the narrow streets of the El Raval […]
By B. D. COLEN One of the few inviolate rules I force upon my documentary photo students is that they may not use Photoshop or other processing software to manipulate images beyond making the normal adjustments that would be made in a traditional darkroom — no adding anything to, or subtracting it from the image; […]
By AROON THAEWCHATTURAT Many thanks to Daniel for publishing my Sacred Skin portraits. These photographs are part of an illustrated book titled Sacred Skin — Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos, published with a text by Tom Vater. During the course of my project, I was able to explore cultural paths through Thailand that are barely represented in […]
For decades Arthur Fellig a.k.a. “Weegee” supplied the New York press with bloody shocking photos. Today he is considered the first photojournalist, even Hollywood pays its respects. Trashy photos were Weegee’s trademark. He bribed police to get access. “Weegee the Famous,” as the Austrian-American soon called himself, photographed gangsters who bled to death, exploited working […]
By LORENZO MOSCIA It’s a Saturday morning in Rome, Italy, and along with a group of people I’m running to document the occupation of an empty building. You heard it right: running. There are children and many women who, once they busted the locks, run to their new home. It’s always chaotic. Someone falls, other […]
Sorry for recently pulling the post dedicated to Taslima Ashkter’s A Final Embrace. Error of judgment. It’s one thing to post a photography of dead people on the front page — and another thing, as someone commented, to exploit such victims. Looks like the couple, embracing in death, have been partially dusted off to suit […]
By ALICAIR PELTONEN B.D. Colen was walking his dachshunds in his Brookline, MA, neighborhood when he decided to return a phone call from his best friend from college, Bill Potter. Colen says he babbled for a bit with small talk before Potter finally got a chance to speak. “So Colen, I just got out of […]
Want your photography to be shown everywhere? This one here spreads like wildfire — because Photoshop is able to create about every visual composition that is imaginable. But everyone does Photoshop, so we end up with many lookalike masterpieces… What about producing really outstanding photography by means of sheer old mastery, patience and technique? That’s […]
By OLIVIER DUONG In this tutorial I am presupposing that you are using Adobe Lightroom for your street photography. But every program that allows you to mess with your curves will able to reproduce the results. Step 1: Load Your Picture Load your photo in Lightroom and clean it up if need be (spots, dust, […]
This post should actually keep you busy for a while. Without being presumptuous, it offers a treasure trove of photography and retouching knowledge that can change your photography altogether. Seriously. Heard of Phlearn? It’s a Photoshop and photography tutorial site with the mission to “achieve the impossible” and “provide the skills, confidence and encouragement for […]
By DAVID HOLLIDAY I am a semi-professional photographer based in Phnom Penh where I have exhibitions and sell my work in some of the hotels and shops. My theme, at present, is the construction of photomontages of old colonial buildings. People seem to like them more than my gritty black-and-white street photography. To hang on […]
By WHITTEN SABBATINI The rural South of the United States is a place still haunted and oppressed by segregation. It is a place where, often times, African Americans are viewed as dangerous or pitiful. As an outsider, I am interested in what it looks like to be an African American male living in the same […]
By DIERK TOPP In 1955 I took my first photographs with the Agfa Box of my mother during a vacation camp. Ever since then photography exited me. My grandpa had an old wooden camera and as I was very much interested how it works, I took it apart — and tried to put it together […]
