RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘Week’

Humans of New York is turning into a TV series on Facebook, debuts next week

25 Aug

Brandon Stanton, the photographer behind the wildly successful website-turned Facebook page-turned Best Selling Book “Humans of New York” surprised everyone today with a bombshell announcement. For the past 4 years, he’s been quietly filming over 1,200 personal interviews with his portrait subjects, and he’s turning those interviews into a HONY TV series starting next week.

The series was created in conjunction with cinematographer Michael Crommett, and the official announcement and trailer went live just 20 minutes ago on the Humans of New York Facebook Page.

“Early on I realized that video would add a deeper layer to Humans of New York. At the heart of all these posts are the conversations themselves,” writes Stanton. “I’m often deeply moved by the people I meet. Or they make me laugh. Or they make me think. And I always do my best to recreate the experience through photos and words. But I always knew that video would provide the closest thing to ‘actually being there.’”

Inspired by this realization, he began filming interviews… many many interviews. But instead of posting them one day at a time as he has been doing with his photos, he held onto them in the hopes of creating something special down the line. Down the line has finally arrived.

“My goal was not to make a television show based on Humans of New York. I wanted the television show to *be* Humans of New York,” explains Stanton. “I think I came pretty close. And I think/hope you will love it.”

Watch the trailer for Humans of New York (The Series) at the top of this article, and then head over to the HONY Facebook Page for more info. The Series premiers next week on Facebook Watch.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Humans of New York is turning into a TV series on Facebook, debuts next week

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Photo of the week: Drone portraits bring healing and awareness after wildfire

19 Aug

On November 23, 2016, a fire started along the Chimney Tops 2 that would spread throughout Gatlinburg and become the worst fire in Tennessee of the last 100 years. It claimed 14 lives and over 2,000 homes and businesses.

As the devastation became apparent, I had an idea to use my camera to bring healing and awareness to the region’s victims in a series of photos. From December 14-20, 2016, I photographed as many individuals and families as I could. There were already lots of photographers and drone enthusiasts there but I don’t find that more cameras help in times of need. There has to be a specific idea or angle to tell the story in a different, emotionally-compelling way.

As story-tellers, we have to use the creative director parts of our minds to think differently.

So I had the idea to place a stark white mattress in the middle of these blackened, charred homes and then place the homeowners on the mattress and photograph it from a drone. I had never used drones before but I knew it was the right solution for this project. And I was hopeful that it would be a bit therapeutic for the homeowners to lay down one last time in their former home… a moment of quiet remembrance in a time of distress.

This is the very first photo I took for the project, a portrait of a new friend named Kirk Fleta. He’s a famous musician and had built his home himself, with his own hands.

We had him lay down and then started flying the drone. As soon as I took this first photo, I started crying. I’ve never cried in my entire career, upon seeing one of my images for the first time. But this one got me on every level. Not only was it a successful vision but it uniquely displayed Kirk’s loss and it seemed to represent such a vulnerable moment for him… the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one.

We used a variety of different drones and DSLRs to capture the aerial shots and portraits for the project, respectively. For this shot, we were using a DJI Inspire Pro (X5). You can see the entire project here.

Jeremy Cowart is an award-winning photographer, artist, and entrepreneur whose mission in life is to “explore the intersection of creativity and empathy.” His work ranges from celebrity portraiture to deeply personal projects like the Gatlinburg portraits. To see more of his work, visit his website or follow him on Facebook and Instagram.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Photo of the week: Drone portraits bring healing and awareness after wildfire

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Photo of the week: Shooting portraits of the Himba people in Namibia

13 Aug

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_1471118655″,”galleryId”:”1471118655″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”standalone”:false,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”startInCommentsView”:false,”isMobile”:false}) });

My photography heroes are Steve McCurry, Sebastiao Salgado, Jimmy Nelson and Joey L for his work in Africa, India and Syria. Their work has always inspired me, being at once raw and gritty, and at the same time revealing a bullet-proof dignity in their subjects. I would love to be able to work in this space myself.

I understand that it’s a different era now and that grabbing a job at National Geographic is not a realistic option. I also know that no one is coming to knock on my door to hire me for this sort of work just because I would love to do it. There are no favours in this industry. If I ever manage to make this sort of work my full time job it will be because I have already proved that I could produce quality imagery in this area.

So I recently packed my bags and gear and headed to a country which has always held a special interest for me: Namibia. I went to the tribal homelands of the Himba people and organized through a local guide to head into one of the villages for golden hour, for two evenings in a row, to shoot portraits with them.

On the first evening I went in I found this lovely little girl sitting with her Grandmother. She was shy and watching me as I shot with some of her family, and every time I looked over she hid her face and giggled. After a few minutes though her grandmother called me over and wanted me to take a shot of the two of them together, and after a couple of minutes the little girl opened up and I managed to grab these two shots. For obvious reasons, I try to share them as a pair whenever possible.

I used my trusty Canon 5DmkII and shot with the Sigma 50mm F1.4 lens, which I love for its crisp image. The settings were ISO200 and F2 at 1/100. I was handholding the camera, and the images are both naturally lit with a white reflector to fill.

If you’d like to see a behind the scenes video of this trip check it out here.

Sean Tucker is a professional filmmaker and photographer who is constantly striving to bring his own spark and eye to every project. You can find more of his work by visiting his website, subscribing to his channel on YouTube, or following him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Photo of the week: Shooting portraits of the Himba people in Namibia

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Photo of the week: The Purple Hour

05 Aug

This image was shot in Myvatn, northern Iceland. I’d been shooting there for several years now, but this was the most magical I had ever seen it. The entire area was covered with fluffy frost and snow, created by a combination of fresh snow, high humidity and low temperatures.

The highlight was the snow-laden trees. After shooting a blazing red sunset with my northern Iceland workshop group, the colors subsided and a blue/purple sky, adorned by a full moon, remained above the trees.

The final image was focus-stacked from 2 shots captured with my Sony a7R and Canon 16-35mm F4L IS lens at 16mm, F11, 8sec and ISO100.

Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveler based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram, Facebook and 500px, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates. Erez offers photo workshops worldwide.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Photo of the week: The Purple Hour

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Photo of the week: Point of Transition

29 Jul

At the end of the Tsauchab Dune Valley in Namibia is the famous Deadvlei, which was cut off from Sossusvlei—and any water source—by a low dune an estimated 700-800 years ago.

The lack of water, the arid climate and the hard wood of the Namibian Camel Thorn tree have kept the trees of Deadvlei from decomposing. The result is a collection of ghostly trees rising from a cracked white clay surface. The pan is deceptively large and offers about 50 of the oddly shaped trees to photograph.

I took this morning shot back in 2014 while scouting for my Namibia workshop. The sun was coming up behind a huge dune, gradually lighting the pan. This was the moment the light started to touch this unique tree, leaving it partly lit and partly in shade, a point of beautiful transition. The shade line can also be seen on the dune behind.

The final image was taken with my Sony a7R and Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS.

Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveler based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram, Facebook and 500px, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates. Erez offers photo workshops worldwide.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Photo of the week: Point of Transition

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Photo of the week: Torment

22 Jul

Skagsanden beach is by far my favorite in the Lofoten Islands. Is it surrounded by photogenic mountains, but that’s not the main attraction–it’s the composition and blending patterns of the sand in this Arctic beach which keeps me fascinated. Each time it’s different, and as a photographer who enjoys changing landscapes, I’m always curious to see how it will look next.

This time I visited the beach with one of my Lofoten workshop groups. The unique patterns were relatively easy to spot; I pointed them out to the participants and we started working on them.

For this specific shot, I chose a specialty lens—the Canon 11-24mm—which allowed me to get very close to the patterns and emphasize their detail, while keeping the right proportion of mountains in the background. I love how the tree patterns resemble the hands of tormented souls in the inferno! 🙂

The final image was focus stacked from four shots taken with my Canon 5D Mark IV, Canon 11-24mm F4L, and a Nisi Filters 180mm ND + GND at 11mm, 0.8 sec, F13, and ISO100.

Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveler based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram, Facebook and 500px, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates. Erez offers photo workshops worldwide.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Photo of the week: Torment

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Photo of the week: Spires of the Arctic Night

16 Jul
A spiky iceberg reflecting in the waters of Disko Bay, under intense sunrise colors.

I took this shot while scouting for my Greenland workshop. It was the last morning of our trip on a Russian Yacht, and little did I know that it would be the best by far.

The trip was done in the Arctic summer, on the first few days when the sun first touched the horizon in Disko Bay, western Greenland. There is no darkness, and sunset is quickly followed by sunrise, with pastel pink/purple/blue in between.

When sunrise drew near, it was clear from the way the clouds looked that it was going to be a spectacular sunrise. We were sailing around in the bay when we reached an area with lots of ice. This served us in two ways. Firstly, it provided a barrier to waves, making the water extremely calm and reflective. And secondly, we had an almost infinite selection of icebergs to shoot.

I took many images that night. This is one of my favorites. The bright pink and red clouds, stretched across the sky, looked like they were taken out of a painting. The intricate iceberg was a perfect subject to contrast the calmness of the sky and water, both in its color and in its sharp, pointy texture.

The photo was captured using my Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 16-35mm F4L IS lens.

Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveler based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram, Facebook and 500px, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates. Erez offers photo workshops worldwide.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Photo of the week: Spires of the Arctic Night

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Photo of the week: The Shining

09 Jul

This morning was the second of my stay in Torres Base camp (Torres Del Paine NP, Chilean Patagonia) with my Patagonia workshop group earlier this year. The day before we had shot an amazing sunrise from down at the lagoon, and our sights were fixed on something different for this morning.

I asked Erik, our guide, to take us to the top of the Moraine surrounding the lagoon at the base of the Torres. After waking up at 4:30 a.m., we had a filling breakfast and started the 1 hour climb to the viewpoint. Getting up the moraine took about 20 additional minutes, some of them traversing loose rock, but we were in good hands and had plenty of time to arrive safely.

Upon arrival, we took some night shots of the Torres and waited for sunrise. Conditions looked good, but I began worrying that a large mass of clouds to the northeast might block the first rays of sunlight from hitting the Torres. I was proven right, and I was beginning to think we came all this way for nothing until about half an hour into the sunrise, when a small crack between the clouds allowed a projector-like orange beam of light to hit these beautiful, iconic towers of rock.

The color was incredible. The opening was so small, even the clouds above the Torres were left in the dark, which looked quite strange and made the mountains stand out even more.

This image is almost untouched when it comes to post processing, but due to the large range of distances to the different components, I had to focus-stack it from 3 shots, one focused on the Torres, one on the foreground rock and one in-between.

It was captured using my Canon 5D Mark IV and Canon 16-35mm F2.8L Mark III.

Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveler based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram, Facebook and 500px, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates. Erez offers photo workshops worldwide.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Photo of the week: The Shining

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Photo of the week: Shooting the northern lights in Norway

02 Jul

This image was taken in Skagsanden beach is—my favorite location in the Lofoten Islands—with one of my Lofoten workshop groups earlier this year. The Northern Lights were dancing wildly all over the sky, and I arrived at the beach after having shot another location earlier that night.

This time around, I decided to try and shoot the Aurora with this beautiful stream and its black & white sand patterns in the foreground. Luckily, the lights were reflecting on the stream, emphasizing those patterns.

To get the whole scene in the frame, I used the Canon EF 11-24mm F4L, one of my favorite lenses. Even though the lens is only an F4, the Aurora was very bright and there was some moonlight as well, both of which gave me enough light for a decent exposure.

The final image above was focus stacked from two shots, both taken at 11mm and F4, with my Canon 5D Mark IV set to 8 seconds and ISO3200.

Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveler based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram, Facebook and 500px, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Photo of the week: Shooting the northern lights in Norway

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Week in Review: Hungry Birds

13 May

Sony a9 Raw support arrives

We started the week in much the same way as the previous one ended, with more coverage of Sony’s new a9 mirrorless monster. Thanks to a prerelease version of Adobe Camera Raw, we were able to go back and process the a9’s sample photos ‘to taste’. 

You can view our updated gallery, and read some analysis about the IQ, right here.

Interview with Panasonic’s Yosuke Yamane

Recently, Yosuke Yamane, the Director of Panasonic’s imaging business, stopped by the DPReview offices to talk about the GH5, the wonders of 8K, rumors of downsizing and more. Read the full interview.

Olympus firmware updates

If there’s one thing you can say about Olympus it’s that they take care of their customers – even those with cameras now several years old. We saw that with last Monday’s major firmware updates for the E-M1 (original and Mark II), E-M5 II and PEN-F. In addition to adding support for Profoto’s wireless flash system (the TTL-O transmitter is pictured above), improvements ranged from selecting autofocus points to EVF color reproduction. Two lenses, the 12-100 F4 and 300mm F4, also received an update.

Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM gallery

Do you like bird photos? Sure, we all do. DPR’s Sam Spencer drove halfway across the country with the Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 lens and sent back some shots of cardinals chowing down at the feeder. Our initial sample gallery is now available for viewing, and look for more photos from the Sigma 100-400 in the days and weeks to come.

Sony 100mm F2.8 STF GM OSS gallery

The Sigma 100-400 wasn’t the only telephoto lens gallery this week. We also posted a gallery from Sony’s 100mm F2.8 STF lens, which promised smooth, ‘buttery’ bokeh. According to our own Rishi Sanyal, the bokeh might be a little too smooth for some people. You’ll find our 46-image gallery plus Rishi’s analysis right here.

Panasonic DC-GX850 / GX800 review

There was some sadness in the office last year when it appeared that the Panasonic GM series had been left to die. The good news is that it’s back, mostly, in the form of the GX850/GX800. The bad news? It didn’t knock our socks off. Read the review to find out why.

Throwback Thursday: Eye Control AF

Part of the fun of writing Throwback Thursday articles is going back and finding cameras with some really unusual features. We jumped back to the film era for this one, but we think you’ll agree with Dale Baskin about how clever (though not always reliable) Canon’s Eye Control AF was. You might not agree with Dale’s desire to see it return on modern ILCs (which has a likelihood in the neighborhood of zero).

Jump back to the days of the EOS Elan II E in this week’s TBT.

Budget ILC roundup

Over the last month we’ve been going back and updating our camera roundups. This week we looked at nine interchangeable lens cameras that sell for around $ 500. You might be surprised which cameras offer the most bang for the buck. If you’re looking for the perfect Mother’s Day gift, then the $ 500 ILC roundup might be a good place to start.

Watch for additional updates to our roundups over the next several weeks!

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Week in Review: Hungry Birds

Posted in Uncategorized

 
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »