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Slideshow: Winning photos from the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2021 contest

07 May

Winning photos from the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2021 contest

Editor’s note: There are images in this gallery that show animal carcasses being butchered (slide 8 and 9, in particular). Keep this in mind going forward if you would rather not see this content.

The winning photographs for the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2021 contest have been announced, with the overall prize being taken by Chinese photographer Li Huaifeng for their photograph Taste, which shows a young family enjoying a meal in their home as the sun cast rays through the smoke-filled room.

The Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year awards is celebrating its tenth anniversary. The finalists and winning images were whittled down from nearly 10,500 entries submitted from more than 70 countries around the world.

In lieu of an in-person event, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the winners were announced in a livestream, which can be watched in its entirety, below:

In addition to the usual categories, this year’s contest also featured a ‘very special category’ to honor Claire Aho, ‘Finland’s greatest woman photographer,’ according to contest organizers. The inaugural winner of the Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers was Marina Spironetti for ‘her magnificent portrait Female Butchers of Panzano – Martina, one of the women trained by Dario Cecchini, world-famous butcher of Panzano.’

As for the judges of this year’s contest, the event organizers say:

‘This year’s global judging panel, chaired by legendary food photographer, David Loftus, includes Fiona Shields, Head of Photography, Guardian News & Media, Susan Bright, Writer and Curator, Nik Sharma, Cookbook Author and Photographer, Chef Simone Zanoni, Restaurant Le George, Four Seasons Paris, Alison Jacques, Founder, Alison Jacques Gallery and Vitalie Taittinger, President, Champagne Taittinger.’

An exhibition for the 2021 finalists will premiere at The Royal Photographic Society in Bristol from November 20 through December 12. Entry is free.

The following gallery will showcase images from twelve of the more than three dozen categories in this year’s contest. You can see all of the finalists and winning images on the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2021 contest website.

Taste, Overall Winner

Credit: Li Huaifeng via Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Li Huaifeng, China

Image Description: The photograph was taken in Licheng, Shanxi, on a warm and sunny day, and shows a young family sharing in the joy of preparing food.

Drying Okra, Bring Home the Harvest

Credit: F. Dilek via Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year

Photographer: F.Dilek Uyar, Turkey

Image Description: Drying okra flowers in Tokat, Turkey. Women pick okra flowers from the field and arrange them on a rope, then the dried flowers fall and the okra becomes ready to be used in winter

A Grape View, Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year – Overall

Credit: Oscar Olivera via Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Oscar Oliveras, Spain

Image Description: The photograph captures the filling up of Semillon grapes ready to be pressed at the cellar. It was taken on the first day of the harvest of Sauvignon Blanc at Chateau des Ganfards, in Saussignac, France. The harvesting machine is unloading the fruit into the tractor, ready to take them into the winery for pressing. The tractor is being driven by M. Jean Claude Géraud, the owner of Château des Ganfards. Oscar took the photo whilst working there as a winemaker.

Breakfast at Weekly Market, Food at the Table

Credit: Thong Nguyen via Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Thong Nguyen, Vietnam

Image Description: People enjoy their Pho (beef of chicken noodle) for breakfast at a local weekly market.

Making Rice Noodles, Fujifilm Award for Innovation

Credit: Abdul Momin via Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Abdul Momin, Bangladesh

Image Description: A worker is inspecting rice noodles if they got dried rightly or not.

Old Friends, Politics of Food

Credit: Sandro Maddalena via Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Sandro Maddalena, Italy

Image Description: Tskaltubo – Refugees from the Abkhazian – Georgian conflict gather in the basement of an abandoned sanatorium to share their food. Almost thirty years after the conflict, Abkhazian refugees are still living in abandoned buildings in conditions of poverty.

Female Butchers of Panzano-Martina, The Claire Aho Award for Women Photographers

Credit: Marina Spironetti via Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Marina Spironetti, Italy

Image Description: Part of a project about the female butchers at Dario Cecchini’s, the world’s famous butcher from Panzano in Chianti. For some time now, Dario has been training a team of young ladies, who came to Tuscany from all over the world to learn the art of deboning. Traditionally, women butchers have always existed in Tuscany.

Head to Head, The Philip Harben Award for Food in Action

Credit: David Thompson via Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year

Photographer: David Thompson, Taiwan

Image Description: Taken at Wanhua District night market, Taipei, Taiwan the photo depicts a butcher preparing cuts for the daily traditional market, here seen working on a pigs head cutting out the cheeks.

Family, WFP Storytellers Award

Credit: Ziney Abdulhakim Ibrahim via Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Ziney Abdulhakim Ibrahim, Iraq

Image Description: The importance of all family members meeting around one dining table at least once a day, as this habit helps to strengthen family ties and gives family members a sense of emotional warmth and provides an opportunity for dialogue, exchange of ideas and problem-solving.

Orishas Tribal Markets, Young – 11 – 14

Credit: Indigo Larmour via Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Indigo Larmour, India

Image Description: The tribal markets in Odisha are some of the most colourful in all of India. Vendors commonly sit on the ground and spread-out vegetables that they are selling.

Spill the Tea, Young – 15 – 17

Credit: Dewi Hollema via Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year

Photographer: Dewi Hollema, Egypt

Image Description: Men gather round on the side of the street in old Alexandria to share the local gossip with a cup of black sweet tea and snacks. This is a common sight in Egypt where their national drink is enjoyed throughout the day: tea ???.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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‘A Year in Photos’ documentary covers winning imagery from Sony World Photography Awards

24 Apr

The annual Sony World Photography Awards is one of the world’s most reputable competitions for creatives. DPReview makes it a point to cover every announcement. Over the course of the past year, over 330,000 images were submitted to its myriad of contests covering contemporary events and issues. A documentary, produced by Chocolate Films, showcasing the winning images, as well as the stories behind them, was recently released.

Hosted by British stand-up comedian and art historian Jacky Klein, who curiously stated that submissions came in from over 200 countries (she possibly meant territories as well), A Year in Photos from Sony World Photography Awards 2021 features imagery, behind-the-scenes takes, and interviews from some of the award-winning photographers. Some of the jurors also share what they love about a particular photographer’s style the most.

Winning imagery addresses how some people believe the novel Coronavirus was a conspiracy.

Naturally, a good deal of imagery discussed in the hour-long film cover the impact of climate change and the pandemic. As winning photographer Coenraad Heinz Torlage stated early on in the film, ‘I think photography is a powerful medium to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves.’ A Year in Photos from Sony World Photography Awards 2021 can be viewed in its entirety above or here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Slideshow: The winning images from the 2020 Potato Photographer of the Year contest

31 Jul

2020 Potato Photographer of the Year

Editor’s note: Image #10 (11th in the gallery) doesn’t strictly feature nudity, but may be considered NSFW, so proceed with caution accordingly.

Yes, you read the headline right. The Potato Photographer of the Year is a real photo contest and this year’s winners have been announced.

If you’re wondering where the idea for a potato photo contest came to be, look no further than Kevin Abosch’s Potato #345 (2010), a now-famous photo of a sole starchy tuber that sold for a wallet-mashing one million dollars in 2016, making it the 15th most expensive photo sold at the time.

The Potato Photographer of the Year contest was founded by the contest platform Photocrowd, who partners with The Trussell Trust to ensure all proceeds to ending hunger and poverty in the United Kingdom. Proceeds are made with each photo entry, which costs £5 (GBP) each (up to 8 images).

While the competition ‘didn’t quite raise a million bucks I had secretly hoped for,’ says competition organizer Benedict Brain, ‘the few grand we did raise will go a long way to help provide much-needed food for the Trussell Trust.’

The overall winner is Raw Spence, who captured an image of his sprouting spud about to get a much-needed quarantine haircut. For taking the overall prize, Spence is receiving a Fujifilm X-A7, a year’s membership of the Royal Photographic Society, a one-on-one workshop with photographer Benedict Brain and 3 years of Photocrowd master-level subscription.

The ten winning images, presented in the following gallery, were selected from an panel of judges that includes Martin Parr, Paul Hill, Angela Nicholson (Founder of She Clicks), Nigel Atherton (Editor, Amateur Photographer), and Benedict Brain (Brain’s Foto Guides).

Overall Winner

Photographer: Ray Spence

Title: End of Lockdown

Caption: ‘This picture manages to introduce a topical lockdown obsession to the brief of photographing a potato. It takes a great imagination to see a sprouting potato as a head covered with hair, and there is a lot of humor in the way the picture has been executed.’ — Nigel Atherton

Judge’s comment: ‘This is delightful, imaginative, and a good laugh. And again, a bit bonkers. What we all need at this grim time. Love it!’ – Paul Hill

2nd Place

Photographer: David ‘Spud’ White

Title: A Potato

Judge’s comment: ‘This looks like an alien lifeform, photographed on the surface on a barren planet by a NASA robot.’ — Nigel Atherton

3rd Place

Photographer: Amy D’Agorne

Title: Tight Market Specifications

Caption: ‘Potato agronomy is changing, raising the need for new solutions to old problems. In an environment where pests, weeds and diseases have no regard for the pressure to meet tight market specifications Bayer is committed to helping you produce quality crops that are also profitable to grow.’ – Bayer, 2019

In Peru, the birthplace of the potato, indigenous women sometimes use fine slices of potato peel as a facemask to soothe and soften the skin.

I was meant to be working with an indigenous NGO in the Andes when Covid broke out so since I couldn’t try this in the Andes themselves, I decided to try this technique out at home and made a self-portrait documenting the process. I was simultaneously reading about the history of agriculture and the development of large agribusiness, specifically about the corporation Bayer, now one of four major agrichemical businesses in the world, a company that owns 80% of all commercial seeds on the planet. The report that I was reading was released by the CIA in 2001 and discloses information about Bayer (then known as IG Farben) and their despicable involvement in Nazi Germany.

I rang up the Crop Science branch of Bayer that is based in the U.K. and was shocked to hear that the company still uses and promotes the use of glyphosate on British potatoes. Glyphosate, a chemical that the company Monsanto, which was bought up by Bayer in 2011), sold in their ‘Round-Up’ product, a product they, and now Bayer is being sued by consumers for giving the users of the product various cancers and autoimmune diseases. I was fascinated by the obvious dichotomies and differences that there are when looking at the relationship that indigenous peoples have with their food and the relationship that western ‘developed’ countries and companies share with their food.

Indigenous peoples make up less than 5% of the planet’s human population, and yet they are protecting 80% of its diversity. And only 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global emissions. This image investigates the relationship between natural remedies /the close relationship some people have with their food and the big companies/corporations that take advantage of that natural knowledge to expand on market specifications.

Judge’s comment: ‘This image looks at the politics of the potato from two angles — its indigenous origins and the current domination of agriculture by a single company — and cleverly combines them is a thoughtfully conceived and well-executed composite image.’ — Nigel Atherton

4th Place

Photographer: Laure Gibault

Title: Potato Slug

Caption: A straight shot of a sweet potato

Judge’s comment: ‘I like the fact that this spud looks like a cross between a seal and a unicorn.’ Martin Parr

5th Place

Photographer: Peter Hubert

Title: Planting Jersey Royals

Caption: Every winter the fields in Jersey are ploughed in preparation for the planting of the Island’s main cash crop, Jersey Royals. As a Jerseyman I have been endeavouring to determine and photograph some of the things that we take for granted but are intrinsically and distinctly part of the fabric of Jersey life, cultural reference points that fellow Islanders would instantly recognise and instinctively understand. The planting of potatoes by migrant workers has been a feature of the farming community since the 19th century. Over the years some have stayed and many families include forebears who originally arrived as seasonal farm labourers.

6th Place

Photographer: Tova Krentzman

Title: Untitled

Caption: A portrait of individuals, together yet very much alone….and the unifying task of the mundane that is also beautiful….much like the character of the potato (mundane and glorious in its basic state and potential).
Together, alone, under a mundane task of peeling potatoes. During these past months of lockdown, the story of individuals; each from a different country, with their own interests and commentary…sharing space. In this depiction, they are united by the potato.

Judge’s comment: ‘This carefully arranged tableau is a work that stayed most in my mind when I went back and forth through the excellent contributions to the competition. The photographer has creatively used what looks like available light in an empty kitchen, and the image also reflects effectively the claustrophobic side of the lockdown. It is engagingly surreal and a bit bonkers too.’ Paul Hill

7th Place

Photographer: William Richardson

Title: Frites in Bruges

Caption: Frites in Bruges with dollop of mayonnaise.

Judge’s comment: ‘How reassuring to see a helping of chips and mayonnaise.’ – Martin Parr

8th Place

Photographer: Justin Quinnell

Caption: Eating a ‘potato face’ – from inside of my mouth ‘Smileycam’, 110 cartridge pinhole camera image taken from inside of my mouth using two flashguns to illuminate subject and teeth (not in mouth).

9th Place

Photographer: Amy D’Agorne

Title: 2030

Caption: The year; 2030. Climate change and a rise in food shortages have prompted the U.K. Government to encourage all citizens to start growing food within their back yards. Gripped by the mass hysteria, the protagonist, with a colander on her head to protect herself from her own erratic fears of 5G, tries to plant potatoes in her concrete-lined back yard. As one of the hardiest food crops, they may be her only chance of survival.

Judge’s comment: ‘I like the humour in this image and have nothing but admiration for the effort the photographer went to in order to create it.’ – Nigel Atherton

10th Place

Photographer: Jodie Krause

Title: Apple of the Earth

Caption: This photograph depicts an interpretation of Adam and Eve. Subsequent to COVID-19, humans have been denied many temptations such as contact and intimacy. However, it has also provided an opportunity for the world to ‘reset’ and renew. The potato is a staple food enjoyed around the world and therefore epitomises the fundamentals of life. Moreover, potato in French, ‘Pomme de Terre’, directly translates to ‘Apple of the Earth,’ highlighting the importance of the potato since it is likened to a fruit associated with re-birth. Therefore, my photograph is focused on the creation of Adam and Eve, who herald the start of a new world by holding a potato.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Slideshow: Winning photographs of the 2020 iPhone Photography Awards

23 Jul

Winning photographs of the 2020 iPhone Photography Awards

The winning photos of the 2020 iPhone Photography Awards (IPPA) have been announced, showcasing incredible imagery from around the world captured on iPhone devices.

Founded in 2007, the IPPA was the first and is the longest-running iPhone-specific photography competition. This year marks the 13th annual contest, which drew images from thousands of photographers from across the globe.

In the following gallery, we’ve rounded up the the Grand Prize winner and the first place winners for each of the 19 categories (Abstract, Animals, Architecture, Children, Floral, Landscape, Lifestyle, Nature, News & Events, Other, Panorama, People, Portrait, Series, Still Life, Sunset, Travel and Trees). The Grand Prize winning photograph in the following slide, ‘Flying Boys,’ also adorned photographer Dimpy Bhalotia as winner of the Photographer of the Year award.

You can find the rest of the runner-up images on the IPPA website, as well as a collection of the winning photographers. You can also sign up for the 2021 iPhone Photography Awards contest.

Image credit: All photos used with permission from IPPA.

Grand Prize Photographer of the Year Winner

Flying Boys — Dimpy Bhalotia

Location: Banaras, India

Gear: Shot on iPhone X

First Place Abstract Winner

Untitled — Tu Odnu

Location: China

Gear: Shot on iPhone 7 Plus

First Place Animals Winner

Horses in the Storm — Xiaojun Zhang

Location: Iceland

Gear: Shot on iPhone X

First Place Architecture Winner

Duomo di Milano — Haiyin Lin

Location: Milan, Italy

Gear: Shot on iPhone X

First Place Children Winner

Cotton Candy — Ekaterina Varzar

Location: Vorontsovsky Park, Moscow

Gear: Shot on iPhone 6

First Place Floral Winner

Untitled — Peiquan Li

Location: China

Gear: Shot on iPhone 8 Plus

First Place Landscapes Winner

The Wave — Liu Dan

Location: Marble Canyon, Arizona

Gear: Shot on iPhone XS Max

First Place Lifestyle Winner

Culture Fusion — Audrey Blake

Location: Cancun, Mexico

Gear: Shot on iPhone X

First Place Nature Winner

The Surface of the Alien Planet — Lisi Li

Location: Skógafoss, Iceland

Gear: Shot on iPhoen 7 Plus

First Place News & Events Winner

Demons Lighting the Sky — Fernando Merlo

Location: Paterna, Spain

Gear: Shot on iPhone X

First Place Other Winner

Beach Chair — Danielle Moir

Location: Westhampton Beach, New York, USA

Gear: Shot on iPhone 6

First Place Panorama Winner

Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas — Bojan Pacadziev

Location: Madrid, Spain

Gear: Shot on iPhone 8

First Place People Winner

Knitting to Heal Wounds — Omar Lucas

Location: Ayacucho, Peru

Gear: Shot on iPhone 4

First Place Portraits Winner

Beautiful Isolation — Mona Jumaan

Location: Ouarzazate, Morocco

Gear: Shot on iPhone XR

First Place Series Winner

Tattooed Women — Liu Dan

Location: Mindat, Myanmar

Gear: Shot on iPhone 11 Pro Max

First Place Still Life Winner

The Wine Bottle and the Seven Chouric?os — Joao Cabaco

Location: Santa Maria dos Olivais, Portugal

Gear: Shot on iPhone XR

First Place Sunset Winner

Nightfall at the Dolomites — Leo Chan

Location: Auronzo di Cadore, Italy

Gear: Shot on iPhone 11 Pro

First Place Travel Winner

Free from the Past — Kristian Cruz

Location: Varanasi, India

Gear: Shot on iPhone X

First Place Trees Winner

Alone — Glenn Homann

Location: Queensland, Australia

Gear: Shot on iPhone 11 Pro

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Slideshow: Winning images from the inaugural World Landscape Photographer competition

17 Jun

Winning images from the inaugural World Landscape Photographer competition

The winning photographs and commended shots of the inaugural World Landscape Photographer competition have been announced, showcasing incredible scenery captured around the world.

The World Landscape Photographer competition is the brainchild of professional landscape photographer Nigel Danson. Determined to help those affected by people affected by COVID-19 and inspired by browsing through his own photo catalog, Danson conceptualized the competition and eventually brought it to life.

The premise was simple — share five of your best landscape photos captured from before March 1, 2020 for an entry fee of just £10. ‘At least 90%’ of the entry fees would go to a COVID-19 charity, with the remaining 10% going towards ‘CC fees and costs associated with sending the prizes to the winners.’ According to Danson, he ‘never thought over 1000 people would enter,’ but sure enough, he and six other judges pored over 4,838 images from more than 1,000 entrants to whittle it down to one 1st place winner, seven prize winners and 50 commended images.

The 1st place prize in the inaugural World Landscape Photography competition went to Neil Burnell from England with his ‘stunning mystical image of Wistman’s Wood in Devon entitled Wise.’ For winning the coveted 1st place prize, Burnell is receiving a Nikon Z50 camera and two lenses, which were donated by Nikon. Other items from Benro, Fotospeed, Kase and Tenba were given out to the remaining six winners.

In total, more than £10K went to a Unicef coronavirus appeal that is ‘raising money to help children affected by the outbreak by working to provide handwashing campaigns as well as providing essential health worker supplies, such as surgical gloves, soap and clean water facilities.’

In this gallery, we’re presenting the 1st place winner and the remaining six prize-winning photos. You can view all 50 of the commended images and words from each of the judges on the World Landscape Photographer website.

1st Place — Wise by Neil Burnell

Gear & Settings:

Nikon Z7
24–70mm F4 Z Lens
28mm F8 1/3s ISO 64

www.neilburnell.com

About the photo: I’ve been shooting Wistmans now for four years and have had the composition of this shot in mind for a little while. The shot required extremely thick fog to give the centre trees a touch of separation in what is a very condensed and complex area of the woodland. After several unsuccessful shots of this scene, I finally got lucky with a full day of fog in January this year, I have to say this is probably my favourite image I’ve taken from this wonderful woodland.

2nd Place — The Copse by Jason Hudson

Gear & Settings:

Fujifilm XT1 (Infra Red converted)
XF10–24mm F4 lens
24mm F8 1/125s ISO 200

Instagram

About the photo: Living in the Eden Valley, all I have to do normally to see if its misty is look out of the window. Thus was the case this particular morning. Thick mist sat across the Eden Valley. With my Sony A7 in for repair I was left with a small Sony Compact and my Fujifilm XT1 which had been converted to Infra Red.

I waited for the sun to rise over the Pennines for the magic to happen. For a glorious 20 minutes I scurried about in my local woodland at Edenhall. I captured some lovely images but then as I came along the road I saw this copse of trees emerging from the mist. It looked majestic. With some blue sky above.

I knew Infra Red would work well. As soon as I looked through the eyepiece I saw the potential for this image. I short the image handheld. The capture needed very little processing, other than an infra red preset in Silver Efex that I use and a touch of Gaussian blur to soften it.

3rd Place — Special by Andrew Baruffi

Gear & Settings:

Canon EOS 6D Mark II
24–70mm F2.8 II Lens
50mm F8 1/8s ISO 100

www.andrewbaruffiphoto.com

About the photo: I’ve only been practicing photography for a couple years. In that time I’ve always assumed that subjects, composition, and conditions outweighed the importance of light. In some cases that can still be true for me, but even the littlest amount of light can make a scene truly special. This image spans across two days. In areas of Zion’s east side, patches of ice can be found tucked between the boulders of the washes in the winter months. Those patches tend to fade as more of the water and ice seeps into the sand or simply melts and evaporates on a hotter day. I arrived to a section of the main wash on a chilly day that has the more rare attribute of a pool at a certain bend. The pool was fairly iced over, and the intricacies in the ice patterns were supported by delicate fallen leaves here and there. One leaf in particular caught my eye, a golden oak that bent upwards from the center as the tip and stem were fused into the ice. I sat at that pool for a few hours trying to find the best composition, and eventually found exactly what I wanted. It was such a beautiful scene, I knew that I had to make sure that I got it right before it all vanished.

The next day I arrived to an even colder east side. I returned to the same exact composition to see how it transformed over night. The ice took on a more singular pattern with less variation thanks to the freeze, and the oak leaf still sat frozen in place. Even more special was the morning light creeping into the scene. Golden reflected light from the sandstone opposite me kissed the surface of the oak leaf, and made me realize what I was missing. It wasn’t the composition, conditions, patterns, or subjects that defined the moment; just the simplicity of a tiny bit of light.

4th Place — Fleeting Daydream by Tod Colbert

Gear & Settings:

Nikon Z7
70–200mm VRII F2.8
200mm F5 1/100s ISO 200

www.todcolbert.com

About the photo: I took this at Lower Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park this February. It was shot early in the morning and the sun’s position created the rainbow for no more than a minute or so. There were many shots taken before this one as I waited for the sunlight to stream through the falls. Magical it was.

5th Place — Rolling Fog at Buttermere by Adrian Harrison

Gear & Settings:

Nikon D610
20mm F1.8 Lens
20mm F13 69s ISO 50

About the photo: Living only half an hours drive from buttermere in the lake district you could say that i am quite familiar with this location. I cant count how many mornings have been spent here trying to capture something that looked a little different from the images you usually see from here. luckily for me, on this occasion the conditions were simply amazing. fog filtering through the scene, perfectly calm waters and not a breath of wind. all i could hear was the sound of the gravel underfoot. i took several frames here but decided to go with a long exposure so the viewer could see just how the fog was gently moving over the fells behind the infamous pines of buttermere. A morning to remember.

6th Place — Kunkovice´s Green by Radoslav Cernicky

Gear & Settings:

Nikon 7200
70–300mm Lens
260mm F11 1/160s ISO 100

www.radoslavcernicky.com

About the photo: The photo was taken in the spring during the golden hour using a telephoto lens. It is South Moravia in the Czech Republic near the village Kunkovice. This is an area also known as Moravian Tuscany.

7th Place — Fall Impressions by Jason Flenniken

Gear & Settings:

Sony A7R IV
70–200mm F4 Lens
84mm F11 1/20s ISO 200

www.jasonflenniken.com

About the photo: This was an image taken on my first trip to Acadia National Park in October 2019. It was my first time seeing fall color in the northeast, and I was completely blown away. This location is a Tarn right on the side of the road. It was taken mid-morning. For about 30 minutes you get perfect reflections of the hillside colors in the water.

This area was full of small scene compositions, and I was lucky in that some cloud cover created patchy light. It required little editing as does most shots from that time of year in Acada, the colors are almost too vibrant straight from the camera. Shot with a 70–200 f/4 and Sony A7R4, which let me crop in to really narrow down the shapes in the image.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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These are the winning photographs of the 2019 Nikon Small World photography competition

25 Oct

2019 Nikon Small World photography competition

The winning photographs of the 2019 Nikon Small World have been revealed, showcasing an incredible collection of shots captured in the contest’s 45th year.

Founded in 1974, Nikon Small World aims ‘to recognize excellence in photography through the microscope’ and ‘is widely regarded as the leading forum for recognizing the art, proficiency and photographic excellence involved in photomicrography,’ in Nikon’s own words. Below is a list of the judges for this year’s competition:

Dr. Denisa Wagner, Edwin Cohn Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the head of the Wagner Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Rita Strack, Senior Editor at Nature Methods.
Tom Hale, Staff Writer at IFLScience.
Ben Guarino, Science Reporter at The Washington Post.
Eric Clark (Moderator): Research Coordinator and Applications Developer at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University.

Over 2000 entries were submitted for the 2019 competition from scientists in nearly 100 countries. After being ‘evaluated on originality, information content, technical proficiency and visual impact,’ microscopy technician Teresa Zgoda and university graduate Teresa Kugler took home first prize for their incredible capture of a turtle embryo that was created using fluorescence and stereo microscopy. The image is a result of the duo taking hundreds of images and stacking them together to create the final image, ‘as the organism’s size meant only very small parts of the turtle could be imaged on the focal plane at a time,’ according to Nikon’s press release.

We’ve rounded up the top 15 images from the contest and shared them in the following gallery to enjoy. Images and information were kindly provided to DPReview through Nikon Small World.

1st Place

1st Place — Teresa Zgoda & Teresa Kugler, Fluorescent turtle embryo

Location: Campbell Hall, New York, USA

Methodology: Stereomicroscopy, Fluorescence, 5x (Objective Lens Magnification)

2nd Place

2nd Place —Dr. Igor Siwanowicz, Depth-color coded projections of three stentors (single-cell freshwater protozoans)

Location: Ashburn, Virginia, USA

Methodology: Confocal, 40x (Objective Lens Magnification)

3rd Place

3rd Place — Daniel Smith Paredes & Dr. Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar, Alligator embryo developing nerves and skeleton

Location: New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Methodology: Immunofluorescence, 10x (Objective Lens Magnification)

4th Place

4th Place — Jan Rosenboom, Male mosquito

Location: Rostock, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Germany

Methodology: Focus stacking, 6.3x (Objective Lens Magnification)

5th Place

5th Place — Caleb Foster, Snowflake

Location: Jericho, Vermont, USA

Methodology: Transmitted Light, 4x (Objective Lens Magnification)

6th Place

6th Place — Javier Rupérez, Small white hair spider

Location: Almáchar, Málaga, Spain

Methodology: Reflected Light, Image Stacking, 20x (Objective Lens Magnification)

7th Place

7th Place — Dr. Guillermo López, Chinese red carnation stamen

Location: Alicante, Spain

Methodology: Focus Stacking, 3x (Objective Lens Magnification)

8th Place

8th Place — Garzon Christian, Frozen water droplet

Location: Quintin, Cotes-d’Armor, France

Methodology: Incident Light, 8x (Objective Lens Magnification)

9th Place

9th Place — Andrei Savitski, Tulip bulb cross section

Location: Cherkassy, Ukraine

Methodology: Reflected Light, 1x (Objective Lens Magnification)

10th Place

10th Place — Jason M. Kirk, BPAE cells in telophase stage of mitosis

Location: Houston, Texas, USA

Methodology: Confocal with Enhanced Resolution, 63x (Objective Lens Magnification)

11th Place

11th Place — Dr. Yujun Chen & Dr. Jocelyn McDonald, A pair of ovaries from an adult Drosophila female stained for F-actin (yellow) and nuclei (green); follicle cells are marked by GFP (magenta)

Location: Manhattan, Kansas, USA

Methodology: Confocal, 10x (Objective Lens Magnification)

12th Place

12th Place — Anne Algar, Mosquito larva

Location: Hounslow, Middlesex, United Kingdom

Methodology: Darkfield, Polarizing Light, Image Stacking, 4x (Objective Lens Magnification)

13th Place

13th Place — Dr. Emilio Carabajal Márquez, Cuprite (mineral composed of copper oxide)

Location: Madrid, Spain

Methodology: Focus Stacking, 20x (Objective Lens Magnification)

14th Place

14th Place — Antoine Franck, Femail Oxyopes dumonti (lynx) spider

Location: Saint Pierre, Réunion

Methodology: Focus Stacking, 1x (Objective Lens Magnification)

15th Place

15thPlace — Marek Mi?, Pregnant Daphnia magna (small planktonic crustacean)

Location: Suwalki, Podlaskie, Poland

Methodology: Modified Darkfield, Polarized Light, Image Stacking, 4x (Objective Lens Magnification)

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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2017 Underwater Photographer of the Year: winning photos announced

19 Feb

2017 Underwater Photographer of the Year

‘Dancing Octopus’ Gabriel Barathieu/UPY 2017

The winners of the 2017 Underwater Photographer of the Year compeition have been announced, and the photos are absolutely spectacular. The overall winner was Gabriel Barathieu with his image of an Octopus taken in the Lagoon of Mayotte on Mayotte Island.

He says, ‘In the lagoon of Mayotte, during spring low tides, there is very little water on the flats. Only 30 cm in fact. That’s when I took this picture. I had to get as close as possible to the dome to create this effect. The 14mm is an ultra wide angle lens with very good close focus which gives this effect of great size. The octopus appears larger, and the height of water also. Also, I didn’t need flash because I had lots of natural light.’

2017 British Underwater Photographer of the Year

‘Out of the Blue’ Nick Blake/UPY 2017

Kukulkan Cenote, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Kukulkan Cenote on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula forms part of the Chac Mool system and is noted for the spectacular light effects as the sun penetrates the darkness. I left my strobes behind for the natural light shot I wanted and positioned myself in the shadows of the cavern. Moving my eye around the viewfinder, I could see that the rock outline of the cavern around me made for a pleasing symmetry and I adjusted my position to balance the frame. The light show flickered on and off as the sun was periodically covered by cloud and as it reappeared, I beckoned to my buddy and dive guide, Andrea Costanza of ProDive, to edge into the illumination of some of the stronger beams, completing the composition. My journey from diver to underwater photographer has brought many amazing photographic opportunities and I feel humbled and privileged that this image has achieved such recognition.

2017 Up and Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year

‘Oceanic in the Sky’ Horacio Martinez/UPY 2017

The Brothers, Egypt

This was my first Red Sea experience, and my first live-aboard-based photo workshop, so everything was interesting… but arduous. We were on the last dive of the day and I ventured a tad deeper to get closer portraits of the Oceanic White Tips, when I noticed this shark patrolling in the distance. I took a few shots to expose for the sun beams and the surface, and was pleased by the dreamlike effect. Oceanics are great subjects for close ups as they are anything but shy. Yet, every now and then it is great to try and capture their apparent loneliness, their wandering, and their independence in the big blue.

2017 Most Promising British Underwater Photographer

‘Orca Pod’ Nicholai Georgiou/UPY 2017

Tromso, Norway

Orcas are easily the most beautiful, intelligent and confident animals I’ve ever had the honor of spending time with. This photo was taken during an amazing week freediving with wild Orca in Norway. The days are quite short in winter and the water was around 5 degrees but we wore a thick wetsuit and of course with Orca around, the cold was quickly forgotten. The light had a really nice colour from the setting sun as this graceful pod of Orca swam by nice and close. It was a moment which will be hard to top and I’m glad to have this image to share it.

2017 Underwater Photography Awards

‘Frozen Hunting’ Fabrice Guerin/UPY 2017

Andenes, Norway

Judge’s comments:

A stunning behavioral image of a humpback in shallow water scattering herring taken in very tough conditions. The photographer did very well in very dark waters to record this breath-taking scene sharply.

2017 Underwater Photography Awards

‘Finally Whalesharks’ Patrick Neumann/UPY 2017

Gorontalo, Indonesia, Central Sulawesi

Although I have been diving for more than 30 years with over 3000 dives, I had never saw a Whaleshark before. When I was working on a liveaboard in Thailand twice the whole boat saw one but not me and my group. Among my friends it was already a running gag. If you want to see Whalesharks don`t dive with Patrick. On our latest trip through Indonesia a friend told me that recently there are some around the Gorontalo area so we changed our plans and went there to end my whaleshark dilemma. We drove out to the divesite and everything was perfect. Very good visibility, no waves and a bright sunny day. Now only the big guy had to be there to make it really happen. When we entered the water there was not one Whaleshark… but 6 of them! You can imagine my happiness.

2017 Underwater Photography Awards

‘Views at Dawn’ Pasquale Vassallo/UPY 2017

Miseno, Gulf of Naples, Italy

Over the past few months, my photographic work has focused primarily on the large presence of species of jellyfish Rhizostoma pulmo, in the Gulf of Naples. In this picture a couple of crabs, Liocarcinus vernalis species, are its tenants.
When the jellyfish rub the sandy seabed, the crabs jump on it and get carried to different areas.

2017 Underwater Photography Awards

‘Humpback whale feeding on krill’ Jean Tresfon/UPY 2017

A few miles offshore from Hout Bay, Cape Town, South Africa

Every summer hundreds of humpback whales gather off the Cape Town coast in a massive feeding aggregation. Working as part of a film crew I was privileged to have a chance to photograph this phenomenon. Although the water visibility was really good, inside the krill patch it was much reduced. Without warning the whales appeared just metres away with their pleats distended as they surfaced with huge mouthfuls of krill. Realising that they must be feeding deeper down I descended into the darker water to find the thickest concentration of krill. Suddenly a humpback appeared right in front of me, its huge mouth wide open as it sieved the water for the tiny crustaceans. I took several images before it disappeared into the gloom and then I was surrounded by a multitude of massive bodies as the rest of the pod took its turn to feed. Not a little intimidating!

2017 Underwater Photography Awards

‘Big Red’ Guglielmo Cicerchia/UPY 2017

Giannutri Island, Italy

During the dive I found a fishing net in which many fish were trapped still alive. They were struggling to get free. Using a slow shutter speed and zooming during the exposure I wanted to emphasize the attempt to break free from the fishing net.

2017 Underwater Photography Awards

‘Imp of darkness’ Damien Mauric/UPY 2017

Isla Fernandina, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

On his visit to the Galapagos islands, Charles Darwin was revolted by the animals’ appearance, writing: “The black Lava rocks on the beach are frequented by large, disgusting clumsy Lizards. They are as black as the porous rocks over which they crawl & seek their prey from the Sea. I call them ‘imps of darkness’. They assuredly well-become the land they inhabit.” The marine iguana are all but monsters. Endemic to the Galapagos, it’s a rare privilege to share a moment underwater with this animal now considered as an endangered species.

2017 Underwater Photography Awards

‘Green Turtles in the rays’ Greg Lecoeur/UPY 2017

Tenerife, Spain

During a diving trip to Tenerife, I came across these green turtles. It was early morning and the sunbeams pierced the surface. I adjusted the setting of my camera and I waited for the turtles to come close enough to trigger my camera. After a little while, the turtles were circling around us and it was a great opportunity to photograph them.

2017 Underwater Photography Awards

‘Clownfish Swirl’ Katherine Lu/UPY 2017

Semakau, Singapore

I shot this photo in the local waters of Singapore where the visibility is 3m on average. Scuba divers I know are always surprised that I dive there and most don’t even know there is great macro right off our shores. I wanted to do something different and turn a nudibranch commonly found in our waters into a piece of art. I have always been fascinated by bubbles and the inspiration for this photo came about when I was reading about aquatic plants that produce oxygen bubbles from photosynthesis. The images of the bubbles sticking to the green leaves had an abstract quality and hence came the idea to create Nudibranch Art.

2017 Underwater Photography Awards

‘Prey?’ So Yat Wai/UPY 2017

Anilao, Phillipines

This photo was shot during a blackwater dive in Anilao. Even though the larvae mantis shrimp (left) is very small, it still a predator which uses its raptorial appendages to hunt. Has it spotted the prey and is ready to pounce?

2017 Underwater Photography Awards

‘Competition’ Richard Shucksmith/UPY 2017

Shetland Isles, United Kingdom

I was out off the coast making images for SCOTLAND: The Big Picture – a project about re-wilding that produces images to amplify the case for a wilder Scotland. Hundreds of gannets were circling the boat looking for the fish that were being thrown over the side. Suddenly a single bird dives and the others seeing it as an indicator and 20, 30, 40 birds are diving at once. Because of this behaviour competition between gannets is always going occur creating several gannets diving for the same fish. I could hear the birds as they hit the water right above my head just before they appeared in front of the camera. A great experience.

2017 Underwater Photography Awards

‘Capturing History’ Tanya Houppermans/UPY 2017

Wreck of the U-352, North Carolina, US

An underwater photographer lines up a shot of the conning tower of the wreck of the U-352 off the coast of North Carolina, USA. During WWII, German U-boats patrolled the waters just off the east coast of the U.S. In May 1942 the U-352 fired upon the USCGC Icarus but missed. The Icarus retaliated, and sunk the U-352 in 120ft of water 26 miles southeast of Beaufort Inlet. During this particular dive the visibility was especially good, so my goal was to capture wide angle images with as much of the wreck in the frame as I could get. As I was lining up the shot, a fellow photographer was focusing on the conning tower, so I decided to include him in the image to give a sense of scale to the wreck.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Pulitzer-prize winning photographer Jack Dykinga reflects on his career

29 Jan

A collection of Jack Dykinga’s Press Passes from his years in Photojournalism.
Photo by Jack Dykinga

Jack Dykinga’s career started in photojournalism during the Civil Rights Movement in the US during the 1960’s and 70’s. Despite winning a Pulitzer Prize during his tenure at the Chicago Sun-Times, he’s never allowed himself to get too comfortable with one style. He later shifted his focus to fine art and landscape photography, a career move that’s not too common among photojournalists.

Arizona State Trust land near Redrock, AZ with summer monsoon storm, flashes of lightning and a partial rainbow over the saguaro cacti in the Sonoran Desert Arizona. Photo by Jack Dykinga

He’s now offering a retrospective on his unique career in his book ‘A Photographer’s Life’. His recent interview with Resource Travel also reveals some interesting insights. He has this to say about finding success in any field of photography:

‘I’m a tried and true pro and I know exactly what buttons to push and what I need to do to capture the story, but it still boils down to your impression, your curiosity, what it is that piques your interest. That varies from photographer to photographer. From that, you apply your set of skills and your style artistically — so you’re doing both journalism and art at the same time. That’s the most successful type of photography.’

Yosemite National Park, CAL/Bridalveil Falls pours into Yosemite Valley’s coniferous forest under shroud of fog. California, 1987 Photo by Jack Dykinga

The full interview over at Resource Travel is well worth your time. Do Dykinga’s words ring true for you? Let us know in the comments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

08 Oct

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

Lorenz Holder of Germany has taken the top prize for a second year in a row in the Red Bull Illume sports and action photography awards. His photo of pro BMX rider Senad Grosic took Overall Winner as well as the Athletes’ Choice award. Read on to learn more about the winning image and see more category winners. An exhibition of the top images is underway in Chicago and will go on tour after October 9th – visit Red Bull Illume’s website for a schedule.

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

‘Senad and I were on the way to a different location early in the morning, when we passed this scenic spot. We saw a sign from the street and I had some pictures in mind that I’d seen from this bridge on the internet. When we got there the sun was just above the trees and it was lighting up the full color-spectrum of the autumn leaves in a very soft way.

One thing that was a little annoying was that the lake was covered with leaves which had fallen from trees, so the reflection of the bridge in the lake was just not there. But sometimes you just need a bit of luck – I had been on a fishing trip some days before and still had my fishing-boots and a net in the car. So got the stuff and tried to clean the lake by hand. It took a while until it was almost perfectly clean – at least where it was relevant for the picture. Luckily the sun was still very soft, so we had good light for the shot.

I’d chosen a very low camera position to get an almost perfect mirrored scene on the water surface. The bridge looked like a perfect circle and the light was still very good. When Senad was on the bridge, it took us two or three tries to get the shot. There was also no more time for another try because the wind came up and the perfect reflection on the water was gone.

We jumped back to the car and drove towards our originally planned spot. It was an awesome feeling to have shot this picture with more or less pure luck. Without the sign next to the road, we would have passed one of the nicest photo scenes.’

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF 24-70mm F2.8L USM
ISO: 500
F-Stop: 8.0
Shutter Speed: 1/640

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

‘Red Bull asked me to do some portraits and action photos of the Flying Bulls. We had an air to air photoshoot and I knew it would be great for a sequence. An airplane is the only place from where you can see something like this. I did one fast attempt. After I stitched the sequence it was great, but I could still be a little bit closer.

We had another photoshoot on another day so we tried it again but I was much closer to the planes in front. It was cloudy so the final image looks very dramatic. The pilot also turned on the smoke so you can see the trail behind.

The camera I used for this photo was Nikon D5 and Nikkor 16/2.8 fisheye because there was almost no space and I wanted to show inside the part of the airplane I was sitting to show the pilot’s POV.’

Camera: Nikon D5
Lens: 16mm F2.8 AF Fisheye
ISO: 640
F-Stop: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/250

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

‘When I was young I used to look through National Geographic magazines and dream of adventures like this; train hopping through the Sahara on one of the world’s longest trains. I had dreamt of the oceans of sand, the loud noises of the train, the cold, the wind, the scorching sun, the unknown smells and sounds of the desert and the discomfort that goes with it. So when I was asked to dream up and photograph a trip in harsh conditions, a 700 kilometer journey through the Sahara desert in Mauritania came to mind.

After weeks of planning, our journey began in the capital of Nouakchott, from there my brother and I moved north through the interior to board the Mauritania Railway. Our risky rail journey started from the iron-mining center of Zouérat in the Sahara, and snaked through the barren desert toward the port of Nouadhibou on the Atlantic. We wanted to get to the coast to try to find some unexplored surf breaks and capture the spirit of adventure and exploration through this incredible landscape. Having only a few minutes to hop on the train in the middle of the night, we spent 15 long hours slithering through the desert on the three kilometer train that transports approximately 84 tons of iron ore across a country crippled by terrorism, slavery, and poverty.

I photographed this image with Leica’s new X-U all weather camera with a fixed 23mm lens. I used a shutter speed of 1/500 to stop the motion of the train and an f-stop of 7.1 at ISO 100.’

Camera: Leica X-U (Typ 113)
Lens: 23.0mm F1.7
ISO: 100
F-Stop: 7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/500

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

‘In this image Josh Neilson of New Zealand is supported by fellow paddlers (L-R) Barnaby Prees, Sam Sutton, Tim Pickering, Ben Brown, Jamie Sutton and Jared Seiler as he waits for a helicopter evacuation after a bad landing off Matze’s Drop, Storulfossen, Norway on July 7th 2014. It left him with a broken L1 vertebrae.

I traveled to kayaking mecca Norway for a few days to shoot and hang with my Kiwi mate Ben Brown, one of the world’s most prodigious adventure kayakers. As fate would have it he dislocated his shoulder the day I arrived, but luckily he was traveling with some brilliant paddlers so I still had subjects to shoot.

On the last day we found ourselves at this spectacular waterfall, where five others made the run, then Josh went off. After a good entry the nose of his kayak was thrust up and he flat landed at the bottom, the impact breaking his back. His colleagues were immediately on hand to assist and stabilize Josh, and Ben, who had previously suffered a similar injury, was able to reassure Josh while a helicopter was summoned. Josh was flown to Lillehammer hospital and then on to Elverum for successful surgery. With determined rehabilitation in New Zealand, Neilson was back in a kayak one year later and subsequently traveled back to Norway to paddle their rivers again.’

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF 24mm F1.4L II USM
ISO: 400
F-Stop: 2.0
Shutter Speed: 1/2500

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

‘This winter some friends and I went to Hakuba in Japan to ski some deep powder and big mountains. The day this shot was taken was a really windy one but the snow was still really good, so we went out into the backcountry. One of my friends brought his DSLR camera, so I decided to not bring my camera because I wanted to ski instead of taking photos.

We hiked for a while, and discovered a group hiking across the ridge above us. The wind and the clouds looked amazing, so my friend took out his camera and started shooting. I hated myself for not bringing my camera. Luckily I had my mobile phone in my pocket. I could not see anything on the screen, but obviously managed to aim pretty well.

A week later, I scrolled through my phone, while waiting for sushi at a restaurant. I had completely forgotten about the shot, so I was pretty stoked when I found it. I edited it to black and white in Photoshop Express on my phone, and was really happy with the result.’

Camera: HUAWEI P8
ISO: 64
F-Stop: 2.0
Shutter Speed: 1/3200

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

‘Jonathan Paredes of Mexico dives from the 28 meter platform on the roof of the Copenhagen Opera House during the first practice session of the second stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, Copenhagen, Denmark on June 20th 2013.

I remember while I was originally scoping out the location for this event thinking how surreal images could look without the diving platform jutting out, and just the small form of the diver, and the huge cantilevered roof dominating the frame, and even discussed it at the time with my wife (the photographer Romina Amato) who was also there.

As I am editorially focused the integrity of the image is paramount so the platform stayed, but while reading the categories of Red Bull Illume this image jumped into my mind and I figured a quick ‘fix’ to one of my shots couldn’t hurt, so this version of the image really came about thanks to the ‘Enhance’ category. ‘

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF 70-300mm F4-5.6L IS USM
ISO: 400
F-Stop: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/4000

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

‘My buddy Jimbo had been opening new hard routes in the area and we wanted to try and capture some of the climbs. With climbing photography it’s not often you can just walk somewhere to get a good angle – most good shots require some form of rigging. The angle of this image happened by chance. We were setting up for another shot but when I looked back I knew we had to change plans and grab the shot with the sea and horizon in the background, framed by this huge rock roof.

Lighting is also difficult, as climbers prefer to climb in the shade as cooler temperatures provide more friction between skin and rock. This often means overexposed backgrounds and underexposed foregrounds. The best I could do in this situation was to shoot somewhere in the middle.

The route is one of the hardest on Table Mountain. The last ‘crux’ section is near the top – you have a few pieces of protection below but there’s a final jump, or ‘dyno’ for the last hold. The image captures what happens if you don’t manage to stick that hold!

There was always a chance that Jimbo would fall, so I was ready for it. For the couple of seconds leading up to the big move I was holding my breath and ready to fire. I could definitely feel the adrenaline pumping! It’s a pretty big and impressive fall, but luckily far from the ground – that doesn’t make it any less terrifying.

We had planned to grab some cool climbing shots, but in the end this image of Jimbo mid-air was the shot we felt captured the intensity of the climb. Jimbo did send the route that day – after a few more falls.’

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF 16-35mm F2.8L USM
ISO: 400
F-Stop: 3.5
Shutter Speed: 1/1600

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

‘I’d been working on shots through transparent surfaces for a few years but it was during a long drive across Europe that I had this idea. I was forcing myself to think of new angles and nothing really came to mind. But when I said to myself that the best ideas are the simplest ones, that usually you have the answer in front of you, I realized the shot was actually in front of me. It was right there, where most people spend a lot of time everyday – cars!

Nobody had done an extreme sport shot from inside the car having the rider riding on the windshield. I understood that a shot like this had to be made in an iconic spot and the spot had to be in a city so it was clear that New York City with all its bridges was the place. And what could have been better than a NYC cab to shoot from?

Choosing Aaron Chase as the rider was natural. He has been a friend for a long time and happened to be a pioneer of street riding in our sport and is almost a local in New York. It took us one year of preparation, one full day of work, involved a few people and a bit of money. But I kept shooting, all the while fearing I would break the windscreen, and 12 attempts later I nailed this shot.’

Camera: Canon EOS-1D X
Lens: EF 8-15mm F4L Fisheye USM
ISO: 640
F-Stop: 5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1600

Winning images from Red Bull Illume 2016

‘I shot this unique location a couple months before this action shoot as a landscape picture because I just liked the whole structure and the way it was integrated into the landscape. It’s a viewing platform made of steel that has rusted over the years. You can walk up the stairs to enjoy the view over the lakes that surround the area.

I knew somehow, that there was the potential for it to be a location for an action photo. My first idea was to shoot snowboarding in it, but that was just impossible because of the limited space. I almost gave up on the idea, but then I bumped into Senad Grosic in Berlin one day and we talked a bit about spots and stuff. I showed him the landscape picture and he told me that we need to go back there to see what’s possible.

So Senad and I took a road trip and drove all the way to Senftenberg. We discussed and fine-tuned a plan that would look rad on photo. Senad had the idea to be dressed all white to give it more contrast, because I didn’t want to use flashes to keep the structure as evenly lit as possible. The angle is almost the same angle I chose for the landscape picture. It’s actually an architectural picture with the spice of action sports in it.’

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF 24-70mm F2.8L USM
ISO: 500
F-Stop: 6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/400

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Winning images from the Weather Channel’s 2016 It’s Amazing Out There contest

17 Sep

2016 It’s Amazing Out There winners

Grand Prize winner. Photo by Greg Gulbransen

The Weather Channel recently announced winners of its annual It’s Amazing Out There photo contest, awarding $ 15,000 to the grand prize winner. Second and third place winners took home cash prizes as well, and a total of 64 finalists were recognized for their photos celebrating fantastic weather, wildlife and adventure. Take a look at a few favorites here, including one from a familiar face.

2016 It’s Amazing Out There winners

Grand Prize winner. Photo by Greg Gulbransen

Greg Gulbransen captured this photo of a polar bear on the frozen Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada when a rapid temperature drop at sunrise created the mist in this image.

‘I said to myself, “I hope a bear walks into this scene’ and sure enough this bear just walked into the scene,” he says. ‘The bear walked out there with his head down. I was so cold, I couldn’t feel my fingertips and I was praying my battery wouldn’t freeze and I said, “bear, would you just lift your head about 8 inches?” And sure enough, it lifted its head and that’s when I got the shot. I knew it was a special moment when I took it.’

If only nature was always so cooperative for photos.

2016 It’s Amazing Out There winners

Second place. Jomblang (Grubug) Cave, Indonesia. Photo by Dale Johnson

We featured Dale Johnson’s work last year as part of our Readers’ Showcase series and since then he’s continued to gain recognition for his photos. He describes this shot from a trip inside Jomblang Cave in Indonesia as ‘the toughest selfie I’ve ever taken.’ If Instagram selfies were half as good as this one, we’d generally like them a whole lot more.

2016 It’s Amazing Out There winners

Third place. Photo by Derek Burdney

Derek Burdney’s photo of a Texas thunderstorm earns him the contest’s third place prize. Based in Omaha, Neb. Burdney says of this storm ‘The [weather] models looked good, so we got in position and watched this thing develop. It was a beautiful storm and everything was good for tornado production. It was really rotating. It never threw a tornado down, but it was really photogenic.’

2016 It’s Amazing Out There winners

Finalist. ‘Walking in the clouds.’ Midway Geyser at Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Derek Burdney

2016 It’s Amazing Out There winners

Finalist. ‘Playtime.’ Photo by Jimmy Marz

2016 It’s Amazing Out There winners

Finalist. ‘Galactic Rainbow.’ Stargazing on top of Maui’s Haleakala Volcano. Photo by Michael Trofimov

2016 It’s Amazing Out There winners

Finalist. ‘Sunset gallop through the marshes.’ A herd of Camargue White Horses galloping through a marshy area in the Camargue region, southern France. Photo by Steve Lange

2016 It’s Amazing Out There winners

Finalist. ‘Fisherman on the Dam.’ Three fly fisherman crossing the dam on a small creek in Tennessee. Photo by Shane Durrance

2016 It’s Amazing Out There winners

Finalist. ‘Step of rice terrace at Chiangmai, Thailand.’ Rice terrace at Chiangmai, Thailand, before rain. Photo by Sarawut Intarob

2016 It’s Amazing Out There winners

Finalist. ‘Weeki Wachee Springs.’ A bird’s eye view of the Weeki Wachee River in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. Photo by David Underwood

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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