The Best Adventure Photography: Exposure 2014
Parting Shot: Anchorage, Alaska (Photo: Nathaniel Wilder/Outside Magazine) Continue reading »
Best Wildlife Photos of 2014
The winners of the 50th Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition have been announced by London’s Natural History Museum.
Stinger in the sun by Carlos Perez Naval (Spain)
Aware of Carlos’s presence, the common yellow scorpion is flourishing its sting as a warning. Carlos had found it basking on a flat stone in a rocky area near his home in Torralba de los Sisones, northeast Spain — also a place that he goes to look for reptiles. The late afternoon sun was casting such a lovely glow over the scene that Carlos decided to experiment with a double exposure (his first ever) so he could include the sun. He started with the background, using a fast speed so as not to overexpose the sun, and then shot the scorpion, using a low flash. But he had to change lenses (he used his zoom for the sun), which is when the scorpion noticed the movement and raised its tail. Carlos then had to wait for it to settle before taking his close-up, with the last rays of the sun lighting up its body.
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An Ordinary Day In An Extraordinary Place – Aiguille Du Midi (3842m)
Jakub Polomski is a photographer and traveler. In July 2014, he visited Chamonix in France. Anyone, who will ever get a chance to be there, should get to the summit of Aiguille du Midi (3,842 m / 12,605 ft) .
You can easily get there by cable car. It was built in 1955 and for about two decades was claimed to be the highest cable car in the world. Aiguille du Midi is one of the best tourist attractions in French Alps. It is also a start point for mountain climbers who desire to climb Mont Blanc.
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2014 National Geographic Photo Contest, Week 5
“Fennec, prisonniers désert”. El fénnec es un animal sorprendentemente fácil de domesticar, que se habitúa fácilmente a vivir con humanos. No obstante, se le considera una especie rara y por ello es ilegal tenerlos como mascota en muchas zonas de su área de distribución. Photo location: Marruecos. (Photo and caption by José Mingorance/National Geographic Photo Contest)
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Diving with Sharks
A group of daredevil divers get perilously close to a school of deadly sharks – and one even lies on his back with his arm folded. The relaxed diver swims on his back and almost hugs the shark who is floating directly above him. The freedivers – Carlos Estrabeau, 28, and 29-year-old Ocean Ramsey – are friends with photographer Raul Boesel Jr. Photographer Raul Boesel Jr from Curitiba, Brazil, travelled to West End in the Bahamas to capture images of the giant sharks. (Photo by Raul Boesel/Solent News & Photo Agency)
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Absolutely Amazing Food Maps by Henry Hargreaves and Caitlin Levin
Photographer Henry Hargreaves and artist Caitlin Levin have been working together for about decade. Their shared love for “food, photography, travel, and art” has found an outlet in a series of maps that they have illustrated with food. Continue reading »
“Lens Between Us” Project
Globe-trotting photographer couple Peter Sedlacik and Zuzu Galova have found a fun way to document their travels around the world. Wherever they are, they face each other, frame up a great composition, and take a picture of each other… taking a picture of each other. Thus was born the photo series/project “Lens Between Us”, which is quickly scooping up followers on Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram alike. The resulting diptychs are creative, well-composed, and whimsical in the best way. A tribute to how their focus is always on each other, the images are part travel photography, part portraiture, and challenging to boot since each shot requires that they figure out not one, but two compositions. Continue reading »
Pretty Power Plants
Power station Neurath, Germany.
You wouldn’t normally associate power stations with beautiful scenic shots but one photographer has traveled nearly 2000 to track down the ugliest energy plants and show them in a whole new light. Czech snapper, Radek Kalhous, uses Google Earth to find the perfect locations for his unique pictures and arrives at each site after sunset to create the atmospheric shots. Continue reading »
Rare Photos of Angola’s Tribal People
Photographer Eric Lafforgue travelled to Angola and met some of the fascinating tribal peoples living there.
Men, by contrast, leave jewellery and elaborate hairstyles to the women, instead choosing to wear a simple loin cloth paired with a dagger or, in some cases, old 1990s football jerseys. The jerseys are a symbol of changing times in Angola; a country where huge oil wealth is concentrated in the hands of a privileged few while the rest of the country struggles to come to terms with the aftermath of the Angolan Civil War – a conflict that lasted for more than 30 years and left the countryside littered with landmines.
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Fantastic Sunsets on the Masai Mara
A photographer has shared his stunning gallery of African sunrises and sunsets. Paul Goldstein says he has spent years trying to photograph the perfect beginning and ending of the Masai Mara day. Thanks to his role as guide for Exodus Travels, there have been countless opportunities to document the beautiful natural spectacle.
Wimbledon-based Paul explains: “Of all the thousands of images I have taken during sunrise and sunset around the world, 90% of them have been in two Mara Conservancies in Kenya – Olare and Mara North. The Masai Mara is well-known for having the best photographic light in the world, but these well-managed conservancies also have the best spots for sunrise and sunset and without crowds of people”.
Goldstein guides photographic safaris and expeditions for Exodus and is co-owner of the number one rated Kicheche Camps in Kenya.
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2014 National Geographic Photo Contest, Week 1
The 26th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest is now accepting submissions. Official categories include: “Travel Portraits”, “Outdoor Scenes”, “Sense of Place” and “Spontaneous Moments”. The contest is accepting entries until June 30.
“The Monk”. Mount Athos is not just one thing – it is many things combined; and each monk with his own personal history. They chant along with the sounds of nature, uniquely tuned to a divine frequency. Peaceful, calm, restful. You can hear about all the miracles that have occurred and changed the lives of people within and without the place. A feeling of isolation engulfs you from the moment you board the little boat, giving you a sense that you are suspended between the sea and sky… Photo location: Holly Mount Athos, Greece. (Photo and caption by Dimitris Vlaikos/National Geographic Photo Contest)
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Florida’s Friendly Manatees Photographed By Alexander Mustard
Snorkellers approach an adult manatee at Three Sisters Spring, Crystal River, Florida. You might imagine that coming face to face with one of these enormous underwater mammals would cause some concern. However, the likelihood is that the rotund creature just wants you to scratch its belly while it floats around happily, as world-renowned underwater photographer Alex Mustard discovered. (Photo by Alexander Mustard/Barcroft Media)
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Fish Tornado
Californian photographer and conservationist Octavio Aburto had spent years photographing the school in Cabo Pulmo National Park, Mexico – and had been trying to capture this exact shot for three years. “Together with my friend David Castro, we were diving with a large group of Bigeye travellies at Cabo Pulmo National Park, Mexico. Thousands of fish forming a ball during the reproduction courtship. In the afternoon, these fish congregate to form a large spawning aggregation around the reefs of the National Park”. (Photos and caption by Octavio Aburto) Continue reading »
Sandra Rubio for Protø3dype by Cristian di Stefano
Lookbook for the striking Protø3dype collection shot by talented fashion photographer Cristian di Stefano with model Sandra Rubio whose hair styling and makeup are courtesy of Marta Arce.
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The Women’s Motorcycle Exhibition
Lanakila MacNaughton is a Portland based photographer and motorcyclist. Involved in many outdoor sports from a young age, Lana began documenting her experiences through photography. After developing a passion for motorcycles in her early twenties, she started documenting many facets of motorcycle culture through her lens. Lana shoots in medium format on a Hasselblad CM.
“I created The Women’s Motorcycle Exhibition to document the new wave of modern female motorcyclists. I want to reveal the brave, courageous and beautiful women that live to ride. The show is a vehicle which promotes a new perception of female empowerment and inspires an independence and liberation through motorcycling. The Women’s Motorcycle Exhibition is a traveling show. I hope to help discover and present female riders from all different communities, riding backgrounds, styles, and influence connectivity amongst riders from these different areas. I want to change the way women are peceived not only in the motorcycle world but society in general. I invite different communities and venues to host the photo exhibit to aid in this discovery. I hope to promote and present, the freedom, independence, excitement and personalities’ of “the born to be free” woman motorcyclists.” – Lanakila MacNaughton. Continue reading »
Batman’s Adventures in Texas by Rémi Noël
This is, without a doubt, the least precise map of Texas in the history of Texas. Though a less-than-stellar student in geography, French photographer Rémi Noël has been obsessed with the “America” of Jack Kerouac, Edward Hopper and Robert Frank since his early school years. And Texas, with its endless highways and fleabag hotels, is the perfect setting for Noël’s playfully poetic tableaux. The 34 images presented here were taken during four trips to the Lone Star State between 2004 and 2012. From Houston to Marfa by way of Dallas, Noël and a plastic Batman (his only travelling campanion) crisscrossed the State in search of relics of the “timeless America” that inspires Noël so.
An advocate of “old fashioned” photography by pure circumstance, Rémi Noël works exclusively in silver film; none of the photographs presented here have been electronically altered.
After all, you don’t mess with Texas.
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‘Greenland Reflection’ by Michael J. Quinn
‘Greenland Reflection’ is a photo series taken by landscape photographer Michael J Quinn, in which he captures the breathtaking terrain of Greenland.
“From my travels to Scoresby Sund, Greenland 2012. Lately I have been reflecting upon my trip and my captures of reflections.” – Michael J. Quinn. Continue reading »
Chinese families with all their stuff in a single photo by Huang Qingjun
Try mentally lining up all of your stuff in one place. Some may gather only few pots and blankets while others probably couldn’t fit everything they own into a stadium. Chinese photographer Huang Qingjun explores this topic in his photo series called “Jiadang,” or “Family Stuff”.
For the last 10 years, Huang has been traveling around China’s rural communities and capturing pictures of families with their household possessions carefully arranged outdoors, usually in front of their houses. With this project, Huang seeks to portray the lives of people living in remote rural areas, far from big cities where wealth is the most important social factor. His pictures show the simplicity of people’s basic needs: all most of them have are a few chairs, drawers, buckets and vases. However, we can also see the impact of modernization because almost every family owns a satellite TV, a DVD or a phone.
As the photographer says, “most people thought what I was proposing was not normal. When I explained I wanted to set up a photo, that it would involve taking everything out of their house and setting it up outside, that took quite a lot of explaining. But almost all of them, when they realized what I was trying to do, they understood the point.” Now Huang Qingjun is considering a new approach that might feature portraits of China’s higher classes. Continue reading »
National Geographic Photography Contest 2013 Call for Entry
National Geographic invites photographers from around the world to enter the 2013 National Geographic Photography Contest. The grand-prize winner will receive $10,000 (USD) and a trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., to participate in the annual National Geographic Photography Seminar in January 2014.
Eligible contestants can visit www.ngphotocontest.com to submit photographs in one or all of three categories: People, Places and Nature. Entry fee is $15 (USD) per photo, and there is no limit to the number of submissions per entrant. Entries must be in digital format and submitted electronically. The contest, which is now open, ends Saturday, November 30, at 11:59 p.m. ET (U.S.).
“Eastern Screech Owls like to take over woodpecker nests that have been dug out over the years in pine trees, which are the main species of tree at this swamp. Fish and wildlife also paint a white ring around the base of a tree that has active nests in order to avoid when conducting controlled burns. Screech owls can range in height anywhere from 8-10 inches, so you have to have a sharp eye to find these little birds of prey. I spent the first few weeks of April this year photographing the grey morph screech owl that was living in the nest, and had no idea there were three owlets inside”. (Photo and caption by Graham McGeorge/National Geographic Photography Contest) Continue reading »
Melanie Faith Dove and Andrew Chapman – ‘Working Dogs’ Book
Photographers Melanie Faith Dove and Andrew Chapman have collaborated on a project about the dogs that work in our outback. ‘Working Dogs‘ book launched on Sunday October 27 at Collingwood Children’s farm here is a collection of their pictures documenting the bonds between farmers and their dogs.
Chocolate or Red Border Collies, Floss and Pepper pup at Vin Stapleton’s Bushfield Property, February 2013. Photo by Melanie Faith Dove Continue reading »
Terrifying Portraits of Indonesia’s Street-Performing Macaques
“Terror often stems not from the unknown, but from something familiar that has been subtly – but unmistakably – transformed. This certainly helps explain why Finnish photographer Perttu Saksa’s series, “A Kind of You”, is so unsettling. Saksa, a portrait photographer by trade, was appalled when, traveling in Jakarta in 2012, he first caught sight of macaque monkeys that had been manacled and forced into roles as “actors” in street performances. In the fall of last year, with the help of an Indonesian journalist, Saksa began investigating people known as “monkey masters” – entrepreneurs who train and rent monkeys to beggars. Continue reading »
Project DOCUMERICA: 1970’s Skiing Resort Photos of Aspen, Colorado
American photographer Ron Hoffman captured images of skiing and other recreational activity in the Aspen, Colorado, area, in January and February of 1974.
Looking North on Galena Street to the Ajax Mountain Ski Area 02/1974 Continue reading »
Journey in the Search for the American Dream
Photographer Pavel Prokopchik plans to travel across the USA trying to capture the essence of the American life today. He’d like to find out what “The American Dream” means to people in the USA today. The project he has in mind is one that will shape itself as it proceeds, and is essentially elastic, where unexpected meeting can easily deviate him from my original route. Continue reading »
Cheap Food and Proud Waitresses
White Spot Cafe
Trinidad, Colorado, October 1, 2004
Waiter: Carol
Order: steamed burrito with beef, tea, Diet Coke ($ 7.34)
Swiss photographer Stephen Shaher traveled all over America, from coast to coast, and took pictures of things that he remembered most of all – cheap food and waitresses who served it. Continue reading »
Mexican Pointy Boots: Las Botas Picudas
Photographers Alex Troesch and Aline Paley first saw the long, pointy Mexican boots on a video through Facebook. Inspired by the video they saw, the Brooklyn-based duo, who have known each other three years, traveled to Matehuala, Mexico in late January to see the boots with their own eyes.
In northern Mexico, the pointy boots trend is more about flash than fashion. “They’re worn by people who want to impress other people,” Troesch says. In fact, one boot maker they met had transformed a regular pair of shoes into pointy boots for a client who wanted to impress the jury of a dance contest. That’s how the fervor started—but not everyone is a fan. Continue reading »