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Posts Tagged ‘World’
‘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.
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| 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)
Slideshow: Nominees for the 2021 World Press Photo Contest
16
Mar
Nominees for the 2021 World Press Photo Contest
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Nominees were recently announced for the 64th annual World Press Photo Contest. The list includes contenders for the World Press Photo of the Year, World Press Photo Story of the Year, and World Press Photo Interactive of the Year.
“The nominated images, stories, and productions we introduce today present different perspectives of one of the most important years in recent history, marked by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the social rights movements around the world. Amongst the nominees are remarkable stories of hope, resilience, and social change. I would like to thank the independent jury for their dedication and commitment in selecting the stories that mattered in 2020,” said Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of the World Press Photo Foundation.
The World Press Photo Foundation was founded in 1955 to connect the public with trustworthy photojournalism. Some captions for these nominated photos won’t be available until the end of March. Winners will be announced on April 15th through an online ceremony.
Nominee, World Press Photo of the Year: ‘Fighting Locust Invasion in East Africa’ by Luis Tato (Spain) for The Washington Post
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Story: In early 2020, Kenya experienced its worst infestation of desert locusts in 70 years. Swarms of locusts from the Arabian Peninsula had migrated into Ethiopia and Somalia in the summer of 2019. Continued successful breeding, together with heavy autumn rains and a rare late-season cyclone in December 2019, triggered another reproductive spasm.
The locusts multiplied and invaded new areas in search of food, arriving in Kenya and spreading through other countries in eastern Africa. Desert locusts, Schistocerca gregaria, are potentially the most destructive of the locust pests, as swarms can fly rapidly across great distances, traveling up to 150 kilometers a day.
A single swarm can contain between 40 and 80 million locusts per square kilometer. Each locust can eat its weight in plants each day: a swarm the size of Paris could eat the same amount of food in one day as half the population of France. Locusts produce two to five generations a year, depending on environmental conditions. In dry spells, they crowd together on remaining patches of land. Prolonged wet weather—producing moist soil for egg-laying, and abundant food— encourages breeding and producing large swarms that travel in search of food, devastating farmland.
Even before this outbreak, nearly 20 million people faced high levels of food insecurity across the East African region, challenged by periodic droughts and floods. COVID-19 restrictions in the region slowed efforts to fight the infestation as supply chains of pesticides were disrupted.
Caption: Henry Lenayasa, chief of the settlement of Archers Post, in Samburu County, Kenya, tries to scare away a massive swarm of locusts ravaging grazing area, on 24 April. Locust swarms devastated large areas of land, just as the coronavirus outbreak had begun to disrupt livelihoods.
Nominee, World Press Photo of the Year: ‘Those Who Stay Will Be Champions’ by Chris Donovan (Canada)
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Story: The Flint Jaguars basketball team in Flint, Michigan, USA, embodies efforts to nurture stability, encourage mutual support and strengthen community spirit in a city struggling to survive. Flint, the birthplace of General Motors, is striving against outmigration caused by a precipitous decline in its motor industry, a health crisis brought about by the authorities switching water-supply sources without proper safeguards, and the systemic neglect of high-poverty, predominantly Black neighborhoods. Basketball is an integral part of Flint culture, and the city once produced dozens of big names at collegiate and professional levels.
For decades, four high school teams battled as fierce rivals. Now there is only one high school in town. The Flint Jaguars were established in 2017, merging the teams of the last two schools that remained at the time. In 2020, the team fought to turn around what had up until then been a nearly winless history. By March, they were prepared to head to the division finals with an 18-4 record, having won more games in 2020 than in the previous three years combined. Their play-off run ended prematurely when COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the season. Nevertheless, the student athletes had had a taste of collective success.
Caption: Flint Jaguars team star Taevion Rushing jumps from one locker to another in the team locker room before the last regular season game of his high school basketball career, on 24 February 2020. He aims to go on to play basketball at a junior college.
Nominee, Contemporary Issues Singles: ‘Doctor Peyo and Mister Hassen’ by Jérémy Lempin (France)
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Story: The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War began on 27 September, and conflict continued until 9 November. It was the worst fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in the 1990s. The first war ended in an uneasy ceasefire, with victorious ethnic Armenians unilaterally declaring an independent state, and sending hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis into exile.
In the intervening 30 years, little was done to resolve the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was still internationally recognized as belonging to Azerbaijan, and there were periodic military clashes between the two sides, which escalated into war in 2020. In a settlement brokered by Russia in November, Azerbaijan regained possession of territory lost in the 1990s, but the regional capital, Stepanakert, was left under Armenian control. The Armenian army gradually withdrew from the Nagorno-Karabakh region, to be replaced by Russian peacekeeping forces, who will be deployed until 2025.
Animal-assisted therapy, also known as pet therapy, is used in many clinical environments, especially in psychological therapy and palliative care. Animals appear to be able to reduce anxiety and stress, and also to have physical effects, such as lowering blood pressure, improving heart rate, or helping in pain management.
In hospices, the aim is to use the natural bond between humans and animals to provide comfort, peace, and companionship to terminally ill patients. Horses seem particularly suited for palliative care as they are especially in tune with their surroundings. Peyo works with his trainer Hassen Bouchakou at Les Sabots du Coeur, an organization devoted to animal-assisted therapy, and to scientific research into the subject. He supports around 20 patients each month, and scientists are now studying his instinctive ability to detect cancers and tumors.
Caption: Marion (24), who has metastatic cancer, embraces her son Ethan (7) in the presence of Peyo, a horse used in animal-assisted therapy, in the Séléne Palliative Care Unit at the Centre Hospitalier de Calais, in Calais, France, on 30 November.
Nominee, Environment Stories: ‘Pantanal Ablaze’ by Lalo de Almeida (Brazil), Panos Pictures, for Folha de São Paulo
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Story: Nearly a third of Brazil’s Pantanal region—the world’s largest tropical wetland and flooded grasslands, sprawling across some 140,000 to 160,000 square kilometers—was consumed by fires over the course of 2020. According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, there were triple the amount of fires in 2020 compared to 2019. Fires in the Pantanal tend to burn just below the surface, fueled by highly combustible peat, which means they burn for longer and are harder to extinguish.
The Pantanal, which is recognized by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve and is one of Brazil’s most important biomes, is suffering its worst drought in nearly 50 years, causing fires to spread out of control. Many of the fires started from slash-and-burn farming, which has become more prevalent due to the weakening of conservation regulation and enforcement under President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration. The Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) has seen its funding reduced by around 30 percent.
Bolsonaro has frequently spoken out against environmental protection measures, and has made repeated comments undermining Brazilian courts’ attempts to punish offenders. Environmentalists say that this is encouraging agricultural burning and creating a climate of impunity. Luciana Leite, who studies humanity’s relationship with nature at the Federal University of Bahia, predicts the total collapse of the Pantanal, if current climate trends and anti-environmental policies persist.
Caption: Not available at this time.
Nominee, General News Stories: ‘COVID-19 Pandemic in France’ by Laurence Geai (France)
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Story: The first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Europe were reported in France on 24 January. Reports of infections in other European countries followed quickly, and on 13 March the World Health Organisation declared Europe to be the epicenter of the pandemic. By the end of March, Paris and its suburbs accounted for more than a quarter of the 29,000 confirmed infections in French hospitals, with 1,300 people in intensive care.
France went into home lockdown between 17 March and 11 May, with restrictions in Paris being extended to 14 June. Schools, cafés, restaurants, non-essential shops and public buildings were closed, and people outside the home had to carry identification and signed declarations for any travel. Care homes were closed to visitors. Hospitalizations reached a peak in April, with 7,148 people in intensive care, when ICU capacity was only 5,000.
Specially converted trains transported patients from overcrowded hospitals to regions that had fewer cases, and the French military airlifted critical cases from eastern France to hospitals in neighboring countries. As the death rate rose, morgues filled to capacity and ad hoc mortuaries were opened in places like the refrigeration hall of Paris’s Rungis wholesale food market. Funeral homes were ordered to bury or cremate bodies immediately, without any ceremony, mortuary preparation, or anyone in attendance.
Caption: Not available at this time.
Nominee, General News Stories: ‘Cross-Border Love’ by Roland Schmid (Switzerland)
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Story: Switzerland closed its borders for the first time since the Second World War, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. In towns like Riehen and Kreuzlingen, citizens had barely noticed the borders with Germany for decades, and had crossed freely. The closure lasted from 16 March to 15 June. Barrier tapes indicated boundaries that should not be crossed, retracing borders that had been reinforced with barbed wire during the war.
In some places, these barriers became meeting places for people who were no longer allowed to be together. Despite regulations to restrict movement and socializing, many individuals found inventive ways to see their loved ones.
Caption: Not available at this time.
Nominee, Long-Term Projects: ‘Habibi’ by Antonio Faccilongo (Italy), Getty Reportage
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Story: Nearly 4,200 Palestinian security detainees are being held in Israeli prisons, according to a February 2021 report by human rights organization B’Tselem. Some face sentences of 20 years or more. To visit a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail, visitors have to overcome a number of different limitations resulting from border laws, prison regulations, and restrictions set by the Israel Security Agency (ISA).
Visitors are usually allowed to see prisoners only through a transparent partition, and talk to them via a telephone receiver. Conjugal visits are denied and physical contact is forbidden, except for children under the age of ten, who are allowed ten minutes at the end of each visit to embrace their fathers.
Since the early 2000s, long-term Palestinian detainees hoping to raise families have been smuggling semen out of prison, hidden in gifts to their children. Semen is secreted in a variety of ways, such as in pen tubes, plastic candy wrappers, and inside bars of chocolate. In February 2021, Middle East Monitor reported that the 96th Palestinian baby had been born using sperm smuggled from Israeli prison.
Habibi, which means ‘my love’ in Arabic, chronicles love stories set against the backdrop of one of the longest and most complicated conflicts in modern history. The photographer aims to show the impact of the conflict on Palestinian families, and the difficulties they face in preserving their reproductive rights and human dignity. The photographer chooses not to focus on war, military action, and weapons, but on people’s refusal to surrender to imprisonment, and on their courage and perseverance to survive in a conflict zone.
Caption: A portrait of Mazen Rimawi, a former Palestinian political prisoner and uncle to Majd Rimawi, whose father is serving a 25-year sentence, on 22 December 2019. Majd was born in 2013, following IVF.
Nominee, Long-Term Projects: ‘Reborn’ by Karolina Jonderko (Poland)
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Story: ‘Reborn’ babies first appeared in the 1990s. Each is unique, carefully crafted by artists known as ‘reborners’. The hyper-realistic reborn babies are created with such details as birthmarks, veins, implanted hair, pores, tears, and saliva. More sophisticated reborns are equipped with electronic systems capable of reproducing the heartbeat, breathing, and sucking of a real baby.
Most of the dolls are made of vinyl, though the more realistic ones are made from silicone. Human hair is used for eyelashes, and completed dolls are sometimes perfumed with a ‘new baby’ smell. Reborn babies are available whole and in kit form, and can be purchased online and at fairs. The process of buying a reborn can be done in such a way as to simulate adoption: dolls come with ‘adoption’ or ‘birth’ certificates.
Reborn babies have been used in pediatric training to teach students practical childcare skills, and the use of the dolls in care homes has been shown to help reduce disruptive behaviour in people with dementia. While most reborn owners are doll collectors, others have experienced miscarriage, neonatal deaths, have no means for adoption, or suffer from empty nest syndrome, and may use the doll as a substitute for a child.
The photographer wished to explore the phenomenon of how artificial babies evoke genuine emotional response in adults. Each woman portrayed in this project has a personal motivation for having a reborn baby. Some who cannot have, or who have lost, a baby, give their love to an artificial one, looking after them, changing them, and buying them clothes. For some, the dolls are a means of dealing with loss or anxiety; for others they provide companionship.
Caption: Not available at this time.
Nominee, Portraits Stories: ‘The “Ameriguns”‘ by Gabriele Galimberti (Italy) for National Geographic
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Story: According to the Small Arms Survey– an independent global research project based in Geneva, Switzerland–half of all the firearms owned by private citizens in the world, for non-military purposes, are in the USA. The survey states that the number of firearms exceeds the country’s population: 393 million guns to 328 million people.
Gun ownership is guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, which dates from 1791 and has long been a controversial issue in American legal, political, and social discourse. Those who argue for the repeal of the Second Amendment or introduction of stricter gun control say that the Second Amendment was intended for militias; that stronger regulation will reduce gun violence; and that a majority of Americans, including gun owners, support new restrictions.
Second Amendment supporters state that it protects an individual’s right to own guns; that guns are needed for self-defense against threats ranging from local criminals to foreign invaders; and that gun ownership deters crime rather than causes more crime. According to the independent Gun Violence Archive (GVA), the US has had more mass shootings than any country on the planet, with 633 mass shootings in 2020 alone.
Caption: Not available at this time.
Nominee, Portraits Stories: ‘The “Ameriguns”‘ by Gabriele Galimberti (Italy) for National Geographic
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Story: According to the Small Arms Survey– an independent global research project based in Geneva, Switzerland–half of all the firearms owned by private citizens in the world, for non-military purposes, are in the USA. The survey states that the number of firearms exceeds the country’s population: 393 million guns to 328 million people.
Gun ownership is guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, which dates from 1791 and has long been a controversial issue in American legal, political, and social discourse. Those who argue for the repeal of the Second Amendment or introduction of stricter gun control say that the Second Amendment was intended for militias; that stronger regulation will reduce gun violence; and that a majority of Americans, including gun owners, support new restrictions.
Second Amendment supporters state that it protects an individual’s right to own guns; that guns are needed for self-defense against threats ranging from local criminals to foreign invaders; and that gun ownership deters crime rather than causes more crime. According to the independent Gun Violence Archive (GVA), the US has had more mass shootings than any country on the planet, with 633 mass shootings in 2020 alone.
Caption: Not available at this time.
Nominee, Sports Singles: ‘Tour of Poland Cycling Crash’ by Tomasz Markowski (Poland)
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Story: Groenewegen had deviated from his line, veering towards the right barrier and leaving little room for his teammate, sending Jakobsen crashing over the barricade. The two had been competing for first place in the stage, and were traveling at around 80 kilometers per hour.
Jakobsen sustained severe injuries, underwent a five-hour operation, and spent a week in intensive care. Groenewegen broke his collarbone. He was disqualified from the race and received a nine-month suspension from the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). Jakobsen was awarded first place for stage one.
Caption: Dutch cyclist, Dylan Groenewegen (left), crashes meters before the finish line, after colliding with fellow team member Fabio Jakobsen during the first stage of the Tour of Poland, in Katowice, Poland, on 5 August.
Nominee, Nature Stories: Taal Volcano Eruption by Ezra Acayan (Philippines) for Getty Images
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Story: Taal volcano, in Batangas province, on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, began erupting on 12 January, spewing ash up to 14 kilometers into the air. The volcano generated ashfalls and volcanic thunderstorms, forcing evacuations from the surrounding area. The eruption progressed into a magmatic eruption, characterized by a lava fountain with thunder and lightning.
According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, a total of 212,908 families, nearly 750,000 people, were affected by the eruption. Damage caused to infrastructure and livelihoods, such as farming, fishing and tourism, was put at around US$ 70 million. Taal volcano is in a large caldera filled by Taal Lake, and is one of the most active volcanoes in the country. It is a ‘complex volcano’, which means it doesn’t have one vent or cone but several eruption points that have changed over time.
Taal has had 34 recorded historical eruptions in the past 450 years, most recently in 1977. As with other volcanoes in the Philippines, Taal is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of major seismic activity that has one of the world’s most active fault lines.
Caption: Not available at this time.
Nominee, Sports Stories: ‘Faces of Bridge’ by Henrik Hansson (Sweden)
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Story: Bridgeklubb i Borlänge, a bridge club in the municipality of Borlänge in Sweden, has around 100 members. For a while, the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to games, but during the summer, a solution was found by separating players by means of crossed plexiglass screens. A tactical game of skill, contract bridge (or simply bridge) has its origins in the 16th century, in what were known as trick-taking games, but evolved into its present form in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Today’s game is based on rules set out by Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, an American railroad executive, in 1925. A World Bridge Federation coordinates revision of laws, and conducts world championships. Duplicate bridge, in which the same deal of cards is used at each table, is the most widely employed variation of contract bridge in club and tournament play. Bridge, as with chess, is recognized as a ‘mind sport’ by the International Olympic Committee, although neither has yet been found eligible for the main Olympic program. The Swedish Bridge Federation currently has around 27,000 members and operates an annual bridge festival with more than 8,500 tables in play.
Caption: Not available at this time.
Nominee, Spot News Stories: ‘Port Explosion in Beirut’ by Lorenzo Tugnoli, (Italy), Contrasto
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Story: At around 6pm on 4 August, a massive explosion, caused by more than 2,750 tons of high density ammonium nitrate, shook Lebanon’s capital Beirut. The explosive compound was being stored in a warehouse in the port. Some 100,000 people lived within a kilometer of the warehouse. The explosion, which measured 3.3 on the Richter scale, damaged or destroyed around 6,000 buildings, killed at least 190 people, injured a further 6,000, and displaced as many as 300,000.
The ammonium nitrate came from a ship that had been impounded in 2012 for failing to pay docking fees and other charges, and apparently abandoned by its owner. Customs officials wrote to the Lebanese courts at least six times between 2014 and 2017, asking how to dispose of the explosive. In the meantime, it was stored in the warehouse in an inappropriate climate. It is not clear what detonated the explosion, but contamination by other substances, either while in transport or in storage, appear the most likely cause.
Many citizens saw the incident as symptomatic of the ongoing problems the country is facing, namely governmental failure, mishandling and corruption. In the days after the blast, tens of thousands of demonstrators filled the streets of central Beirut, some clashing with security forces and taking over government buildings, in protest against a political system they saw as unwilling to fix the country’s problems.
Caption: Not available at this time.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Review: Does the Canon Rebel T8i DSLR make sense in an increasingly mirrorless world?
25
Nov
Introduction
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The Canon EOS Rebel T8i (also known as the EOS 850D or Kiss X10i in some markets) is a 24MP DSLR camera that is compatible with the company’s EF and EF-S mount lenses. It has an optical viewfinder, but it also has a usable and responsive touchscreen interface and live view experience that’s a match for the company’s mirrorless camera options.
Jump to:
What’s new | Body, handling| Image quality | Autofocus | Video | Conclusion | Samples
For much of the world, shifting consumer preferences towards mirrorless cameras have left DSLRs looking like relics of history, though Europe and the Americas remain holdouts. Last year, Europeans still bought about 1.4 DSLRs for every mirrorless camera sold, while in the Americas the ratio was even higher at 1.7:1.
So why might you consider a DSLR in our increasingly mirrorless world? Some photographers still prefer DSLRs for their crisp, lag-free through-the-lens viewfinders, and there’s a much wider array of lenses available to DSLR shooters without the need for adapters.
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| ISO 2500 | 1/100 sec | F5 | Canon EF-S 18-55mm @ 44mm |
Yet relatively few manufacturers are left in the consumer DSLR market. Only Canon, Nikon and Ricoh (which makes Pentax-branded DSLRs) remain, making new models few and far between. Among these, Canon’s EOS Rebel series are the biggest sellers. The Rebel T8i now sits at the top of that line, replacing 2017’s T7i.
Priced at $ 749.99 body-only or $ 900 with an EF-S 18-55mm IS STM kit lens, the Canon T8i is available immediately.
Key specifications
- 24-megapixel APS-C image sensor
- EF or EF-S lens compatibility
- ISO 100 to 25,600, extends to 51,200
- 7 fps continuous shooting, or 7.5 fps in live view
- 45 point, all cross-type phase-detect AF
- 0.51x pentamirror viewfinder with 95% coverage
- 3.0″ vari-angle touch-screen LCD
- 24p 4K video with 1.6x crop, or full-sensor 1080p60
- 800 shot battery life, or 310 shots with live view
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| Out-of-camera JPEG. ISO 250 | 1/100 sec | F5.6 | Canon EF-S 18-55mm @ 55mm |
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What’s new and how it compares
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| The AF-ON button and rear dial make the T8i a more flexible camera for users to learn and grow with than lesser Rebels. |
Externally, the 24-megapixel Canon T8i looks very similar to its predecessor from most angles, although there are some control tweaks to be found on its rear panel including a new rear control dial and AF-On button. While Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity remain, NFC has been dropped as the constant Bluetooth connection speeds up the connection process the way NFC used to. Lastly, the flash must now be raised manually when needed, as it can no longer pop up by itself. As we’ll see later on, this is a good thing.
On the inside, while the sensor resolution and sensitivity range are unchanged, a faster image processor allows a modest increase in burst performance. It’s now rated at 7 frames per second through the viewfinder, or 7.5 fps in live view mode, up from 6 fps in the T7i. There’s also a somewhat finer-grained 384-zone metering sensor in place of the earlier 315-zone sensor.
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| The Rebel T8i uses a familiar 24MP sensor with Dual Pixel AF that offers solid noise performance and resolution. |
Canon has also added support for 4K movie capture, although this comes with several limitations including a significant focal length crop, contrast-detection autofocus (rather than the more reliable Dual Pixel AF you get in lesser Full HD modes) and a fixed 24 fps frame rate. And autofocus algorithms have been refined to add eye detection in live view mode, and face detection when shooting through the viewfinder.
How it compares…
Compared with two of its mirrorless rivals, the Nikon Z50 and Sony a6100, the Canon T8i offers much better battery life, so long as you stick to its optical viewfinder. The T8i is quite a bit bulkier though, despite not offering weather-sealing.
| Canon T8i | Nikon Z50 | Sony a6100 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSRP (body) | $ 749.99 | $ 859.95 | $ 750 |
| Sensor | 24.1MP APS-C | 20.9MP APS-C | 24MP APS-C |
| Type | DSLR | Mirrorless | Mirrorless |
| Sensitivity (native) | 100-25600 | 100-51200 | 100-32000 |
| Lens mount | Canon EF / EF-S | Nikon Z | Sony E |
| Viewfinder type | Optical pentamirror SLR | 2.36M-dot OLED EVF | 1.44M-dot EVF |
| Viewfinder magnif. / coverage | 0.51x, 95% | 0.68x, 100% | 0.71x, 100% |
| LCD | 3” fully articulating | 3.2” tilting | 3” tilting |
| Touch-screen | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Included flash | Pop-up | Pop-up | Pop-up |
| Weather-sealing | No | Yes | No |
| Max. burst | 7.0 fps (viewfinder) / 7.5 fps (live view) | 5 fps (mechanical) / 11 fps (electronic) | 11 fps (mechanical) |
| Max. shutter | 1/4000 | 1/4000 | 1/4000 |
| Video | 4K/24p, 1080/24-60p | 4K/24-30p, 1080/ 24-120p | 4K/24-30p, 1080/ 24-120p |
| 4K crop | 1.6x | None | 1.2x (4K/30p) |
| Battery life (CIPA) | 800 shots (OVF); 310 shots (Live View) | 320 shots | 420 shots |
| Dimensions | 131 x 103 x 76mm | 127 x 94 x 60mm | 120 x 67 x 59mm |
| Weight | 515 g | 450 g | 396 g |
One thing that’s hard to capture in a table are the differences between the camera’s AF systems. In its optical viewfinder, the T8i’s 45 autofocus points are centrally clustered, which can get in the way of creative compositions. Switch into live view and you have autofocus points spread across the frame, the same as the other options give you on their rear screens and their electronic viewfinders.
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| Out-of-camera JPEG. ISO 500 | 1/60 sec | F4 | Canon EF-S 18-55mm @ 18mm |
Compared to the smaller and more affordable Canon Rebel SL3, the T8i offers more sophisticated autofocus through its slightly smaller finder, though the SL3 offers you a third more shots per charge. On the mirrorless side of the equation, the T8i bests the Canon EOS M50 Mark II’s 235-shot battery life whether you’re using the optical viewfinder or live view, but the mirrorless model is lower-priced, significantly more compact / lightweight and offers faster 10 fps burst capture.
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Body, handling and controls
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Although its body is plastic, the Canon T8i is very solid in-hand, with no creaks or flexing. It’s also pretty light and compact for a DSLR. The main controls are well-placed and easy to locate by touch.
The new AF-On button is ideally situated for quick autofocus adjustments with a slight thumb motion. (And via a custom setting, can be set to AF-Off instead.) The Wi-Fi button and indicator lamp are gone but won’t be missed, as you won’t need them often. We recommend connecting via Bluetooth, which maintains a constant connection that draws little power, and also makes connecting via Wi-Fi to send images a snap.
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| Out-of-camera JPEG. ISO 100 | 1/125 sec | F5.6 | Canon EF-S 18-55mm @ 55mm |
The new rear control dial is also a nice addition, though since it’s integrated with the four-way controller, it can’t be reached without adjusting your grip. On the plus side, it’s only active when the exposure metering system is brought to life by a half-press of the shutter button or you’re in a menu, preventing accidental settings changes.
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| There will always be some photographers that prefer an optical viewfinder; the T8i’s is serviceable, but it’s on the small and dim end of the spectrum. |
Sadly, the pentamirror viewfinder is dim and tunnel-like compared with the electronic finders of mirrorless rivals and even some rival SLRs, such as the less-expensive Pentax K-70 (which has a larger pentaprism design which is brighter than pentamirror designs).
The rear LCD is crisp and easy to see even under sunlight if you turn up the brightness. Its fully-articulated mechanism allows framing from most angles, even for selfies.
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| The vari-angle LCD allows selfie-shooting too, but the ergonomics aren’t ideal when holding the camera backwards. Out-of-camera JPEG. ISO 2000 | 1/60 sec | F4 | Canon EF-S 18-55mm @ 18mm |
The on-screen UI is standard Canon. It’s fairly clear and logically laid-out, and can be navigated with buttons, dials or the very precise touchscreen. Your most-used options can be saved in the My Menu section for quick recall.
Battery life is excellent when shooting stills through the viewfinder, and I never needed a second battery even during lengthy day trips. (I passed 500 frames captured without the charge level indicator dropping even a single bar, which impressed me.) If you shoot a lot of video or use live view frequently, the LCD can burn through power fairly quickly, though. For that reason, the T8i goes to sleep by default after ten seconds unless in menus or live view / playback modes.
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| Top plate controls are fairly typical Canon, and the quick switch over to video mode is a nice touch. |
A standalone charger is included in the bundle, so you can leave a second battery charging while using the camera. Unfortunately in-camera charging via USB isn’t supported, so you can’t share a charger and cable with another device when you want to pack light. As well as USB, there are HDMI, microphone and remote control ports.
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Image quality
With the same sensor resolution and sensitivity range as its predecessor, you might expect similar image quality from the Canon T8i: and you’d be right. As an affordable camera aimed at entry-level photographers, it’s good enough but won’t win any awards. That’s not to say there are no differences, however.
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| Out-of-camera JPEG. ISO 800 | 1/80 sec | F4.5 | Canon EF-S 18-55mm @ 24mm |
Out of camera JPEGs mostly showed pleasing color both outdoors and under artificial light, although I found the latter a little more variable, with some images a tad warm and others a little on the cool side. In both the green fully-automatic mode and program autoexposure, the T8i’s metering proved pretty accurate, and at lower sensitivities there was a fair amount of fine detail as well, although I felt the default sharpening was a touch aggressive.
Comparison of ISO 100 and 25,600. See the sample gallery for a full ISO sensitivity series.
ISO sensitivity in auto mode is limited to a maximum ISO of 6400 by default, and that seems like a good cutoff point. Some noise and loss of saturation starts to become noticeable by ISO 3200, but it’s not until you reach ISO 6400 that it really begins to intrude. You’re best off avoiding ISO 12800 and above as there’s a significant loss of fine detail to noise, and colors can look decidedly washed out.
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| Out-of-camera JPEG. ISO 3200 | 1/80 sec | F4.5 | Canon EF-S 18-55mm @ 18mm |
Of course, shooting in Raw format helps somewhat as you can rely on the greater processing power of your computer to help tame noise while still holding onto color and detail. And there’s a fair bit of scope to correct exposure within a couple of stops, as well. Raws can also be processed in-camera, which is a nice touch for making quick adjustments on the go.
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| We’re honestly pleased to find that the T8i’s flash must be manually raised; previous Canon Rebels would often raise their automatically in situations where it actually has a negative impact on your images. |
One notable change is that the Rebel T8i no longer tends to overexpose nearby subjects by raising and firing the flash when it’s not really needed, since it can no longer pop up automatically. You need to pay attention to your shutter speeds, though, and either raise the ISO, or lift the flash yourself. Sadly, there’s no warning in the viewfinder when shutter speeds stray below the point where exposures can safely be shot hand-held.
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Autofocus
The Canon T8i’s autofocus system has two distinct operating modes, depending upon whether you’re using the optical viewfinder or live view modes. Both systems are capable of locking focus quickly and accurately in good light. In darker conditions, both take a bit longer to achieve a lock, but if I was capable of seeing the subject through the viewfinder, the camera could usually manage to focus on it within a couple of seconds.
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| A simplified look at the T8i’s optical viewfinder AF system. |
When shooting through the viewfinder there are a total of 45 autofocus points, all of which are cross-type. As you can see in the above illustration, they only cover about two thirds of the frame width and a little over a third of the frame height. For live view mode, almost the entire frame is covered vertically, and significantly more of its width as well.
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| Out-of-camera JPEG. ISO 500 | 1/60 sec | F4 | Canon EF-S 18-55mm @ 18mm |
Live view also offers both face and eye detection and lets you select which face or eye to focus on using the four-way controller or touch-screen. Viewfinder shooting only has face detection, and you can’t directly control which face to focus on, although if you aim directly at a particular face before half-pressing the shutter button, the camera will then try to follow that face.
Both systems detect faces pretty well, and the tracking implementation is fairly robust. In testing with my son running and riding a bike directly towards me, the T8i was able to accurately track his location and keep the focus locked on his face most of the time until he was very close to the camera. This isn’t by any means a sports shooter, but I think it’s more than capable of keeping up with amateur photographers’ needs in this respect.
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| Out-of-camera JPEG. ISO 100 | 1/60 sec | F7.1 | Canon EF-S 18-55mm @ 27mm |
Really, my only complaint with autofocus is that it can be confusing if you’re frequently switching between live view and viewfinder shooting. Each mode is configured separately, so for example switching one mode to continuous servo AF won’t affect the other mode’s setup. On the other hand, this separation of settings could be useful if you’re switching from shooting stills in the viewfinder and video in live view. Which brings us to…
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Video
The addition of 4K video is one of the bigger changes in the Canon T8i, but it’s really rather a shame that it comes hobbled by several significant limitations.
First and most importantly, there’s that significant 1.6x focal length crop on top of the crop imposed by its APS-C sensor size. In other words, a 2.6x effective crop even before you enable digital IS, which crops in still further. In 4K mode without digital IS, the optional 18-55mm kit lens yields an effective 47-143mm range, so your wide-angle options are seriously limited.
4K video has a significant focal length crop. Both videos above were shot at the same location and focal length. Note also the false-color artifacts in the water ripples in the Full HD clip.
The longer effective focal length also means that even with both optical and digital IS active, the stabilization system can struggle to smooth camera shake in 4K, especially if you’re walking.
4K mode comes with a fixed 24 frames per second capture rate, too, and uses contrast-detection autofocus which, compared to phase detection, is slower and has slight but noticeable hunting.
Dual Pixel AF, seen in this demo, is only available in Full HD. In 4K, you can expect more distracting hunting before the Rebel locks on to its targets.
The good news is that if you can put up with those limitations, 4K image quality is fairly good, with lots of crisp detail and pleasing color. And while there’s definitely some rolling shutter effect present, causing verticals to lean during subject motion or quick pans, it’s far from the worst I’ve seen.
Enabling Movie Digital IS causes a significant focal length crop, too. Both of these Full HD clips have optical stabilization active, but the second clip with Enhanced IS still can’t entirely steady the motion of walking, even at a wide 18mm (29mm equiv.) focal length.
But I think it’s better to look at this as a Full HD camera which can also shoot 4K with more distant subjects and relatively sedate motion in a pinch. In Full HD, where you get phase detection AF and access to frame rates as high as 60 fps, there’s less fine detail but focusing is quicker and more confident, and motion is rendered more smoothly. The biggest downside is that Full HD seems more prone to moiré and false color artifacts.
The T8i lacks significant scope for slow-motion video, but does offer a time-lapse movie mode, as well as supporting manual exposure, focus peaking and external audio recording.
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Conclusion
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At the end of the day, the Canon Rebel T8i leaves me with rather mixed emotions. On the one hand, for fans of DSLRs like myself, there are fewer and fewer choices on offer, and it does pack quite a lot into a fairly compact, lightweight package by DSLR standards.
But on the other hand, it trails its mirrorless camera rivals in terms of both autofocus and burst capture performance. And the feature which differentiates it most clearly from those rivals – that mirror-based optical viewfinder – gives a disappointingly small and dim view of your subject.
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| Out-of-camera JPEG. ISO 12800 | 1/60 sec | F4 | Canon EF-S 18-55mm @ 18mm |
While 4K video capture is finally available in the Rebel T8i, it also comes with some major limitations that make it feel more as if it was added to fill out the spec sheet than for real-world use.
But with all of that said, the T8i does give you pretty good still image quality and usable high-definition video capture. And it does so at a pretty affordable pricetag, as well, and with battery life that’s in a totally different ballpark to mirrorless rivals if you tend to rely on the viewfinder.
The Rebel T8i isn’t the future for Canon, but it offers plenty of features and good ergonomics at an affordable pricetag.
There’s definitely something to be said for the vast range of Canon EF and EF-S mount lenses on offer, too; though keep in mind there isn’t a ton of variety in the more affordable EF-S range, and the EF lenses, designed for larger full-frame sensors, are bigger and pricier. And with Canon focusing on its new RF mount, we wouldn’t expect a glut of new EF and EF-S lenses to suddenly appear down the line.
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| Out-of-camera JPEG. ISO 25600 | 1/25 sec | F5.6 | Canon EF-S 18-55mm @ 55mm |
So, does the Canon T8i represent the future for Canon? Probably not. But does it offer plenty of camera for the money, particularly for the less experienced photographers at which it’s aimed? I’d say so, despite my reservations about its viewfinder and 4K video capabilities.
And I think that makes it a worthwhile buy, especially if you happen to spot it for sale below its list price.
| What we like | What we don’t |
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Sample gallery
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Scoring
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Canon EOS Rebel T8i (EOS 850D / EOS Kiss X10i)
Category: Entry Level Interchangeable Lens Camera / DSLR
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Build quality
Ergonomics & handling
Features
Metering & focus accuracy
Image quality (raw)
Image quality (jpeg)
Low light / high ISO performance
Viewfinder / screen rating
Performance
Movie / video mode
Connectivity
Value
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Conclusion
The Canon EOS Rebel T8i is well-built with comfortable ergonomics and provides solid image quality for users that prefer an optical viewfinder. Unfortunately, its video capabilities aren't that impressive, and the viewfinder autofocus system is a little basic compared to what you get on mirrorless cameras through their electronic finders. Still, if you're in the market for a reasonably affordable DSLR, the EOS Rebel T8i is worth a look.
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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Photographer captures the highest resolution snowflake photos in the world
12
Nov
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| Image credit: ‘Ice Queen’ by Nathan Myhrvold |
For many in the northern hemisphere, winter’s cold grip is just around the corner. With the cold comes snow, a beautiful photographic subject. Few photographers capture snow quite like photographer Nathan Myhrvold. His microscopic images of snowflakes showcase extraordinary detail and natural beauty.
Of his snowflake subjects, Myhrvold says, ‘Snowflakes are a great example of hidden beauty. Water, an incredibly familiar thing to all of us, is quite unfamiliar when you see it in this different view. The intricate beauty of snowflakes derives from their crystal structure, which is a direct reflection of the microscopic aspects of the water molecule.’
Myhrvold faced numerous challenges when photographing snowflakes. They are small, fragile objects only a few millimeters across. Further, snowflakes of course melt, but they also sublimate. Both processes break down the structure of snowflakes and reduce their sharp edges and details. Time and temperature both acted against Myhrvold, so he had to come up with solutions.
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| ‘No Two Alike’ by Nathan Myhrvold |
Over about 18 months, Myhrvold designed and built a custom snowflake camera. His camera, which he states is the highest-resolution snowflake camera in the world, uses a 100MP medium format Phase One image sensor adapted to a microscope objective. Myhrvold designed an optical path to fill the image area of the large medium format sensor, allowing him to capture large, sharp images.
To slow down the natural melting and vaporization process of snowflakes, the microscope has a cooling stage, allowing Myhrvold to capture enough images to create a focus stacked final photograph. Further, the camera is paired with high-speed LED lights to reduce the heat output of the lights and allow Myhrvold to quickly capture his images. The camera has a minimum shutter speed of 500ms.
Building the equipment is only one part of the challenge, you must also have beautiful snowflakes to work with. Myhrvold shot on location in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. He says that some of the best snowflakes found were between -15° and -20° F (-26 to -29° C). In the images in this article, we see the following types of snow crystals: sector plates, stellar dendrites and fernlike stellar dendrites.
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| ‘Yellowknife Flurry’ by Nathan Myhrvold |
To view more of Nathan Myhrvold’s work, which comprises a wide range of subjects from landscapes to food and much more, click here. He also has galleries in Las Vegas, New Orleans, Seattle and San Diego.
Image credit: All photos captured by Nathan Myhrvold and used with permission
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
This $95 lens attachment turns the world around you into a globe using a little glass marble
11
Nov
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We’ve come across a number of weird lenses and lens accessories over the years, but the Soratama from Zenjix certainly stands out from the crowd, for better or worse.
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The lens attachment features a 72mm filter thread and is designed to go in front of nearly any lens you can find step down/up rings for. It uses a single sheet of glass with what is effectively a clear marble to turn the world around you into a little globe of sorts.
These globe-style shots aren’t new, per se, but unlike photos that use larger glass orbs, this attachment is smaller and means your hand won’t be in the image. We can’t attest to image quality, but the above video shows what kind of shots are possible with the Soratama. There are multiple versions of the Soratama being sold on eBay, starting around $ 95 with shipping.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
DPReview TV: Ultraviolet light – see the world through the eyes of insects
10
Oct
Think you know what the world looks like? Think again! DPReview TV host and mad scientist Don Komarechka shows us what the world looks like when seen through ultraviolet light.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get new episodes of DPReview TV every week
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
World Press Photo Managing Director, Lars Boering, steps down suddenly as the foundation pivots due to COVID-19
03
Jul
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The head of the World Press Photo Foundation has stepped down after five years in the role. Dutchman Lars Boering joined the foundation in 2015 but left without much explanation from either him or the WPP. In an official statement, Boering said ‘It was a tough decision to leave this beautiful organization, especially given the timing’ but doesn’t go on to give his reasons other than to say ‘it is time for me to pursue other opportunities’.
The organization only says ‘Today, the World Press Photo Foundation announces that Managing Director Lars Boering will be leaving the organization’ and goes on to say it is ‘appreciative of Lars’ leadership over the past five years. In this time, major talent programs and grants were developed, digital reach saw substantial growth, and a new format was established to announce contest nominees and winners, to further spotlight the stories that matter.’
Since the announcement, DPReview has spoken with Boering, independently, who said he left the foundation because so much of what he had planned for the future has changed since the coronavirus pandemic:
‘Some of the programs and some of the activities are on hold or will never come back in the same way. I believe we will not see many festivals or events return in the near future, and its doubtful whether many of our ideas will get funding to make them happen. COVID has changed everything and so I have brought my departure forward. My strength is in growth and re-imagining things. It is very clear to me and the Supervisory board that World Press Photo foundation will be better off with a Director that can steer it through, in a calm and steady way, the challenging landscape that Covid19 has unveiled.’
The organization says it is heading towards a ‘new phase’ that will help it to ‘future-proof the business model and ways of working’ as it explores ‘new digital avenues and establishing a new International Advisory Board’.
Boering adds a slightly clearer dimension to the part of the statement that mentions future-proofing the foundation, saying:
‘Over the next two years World Press Photo will be working carefully and steady to keep going, and we now know 2020 and 2021 will be okay for the foundation. I never intended to stay much longer than 7 or so years, and with the changing times now is the right moment to hand it over. WPP now reaches an audience of 300 million when we announce the winners and our reach on social media is growing ever faster. The challenge now is to monetize this value in the right way, in a way that is fits with the values of WPP and visual journalism. That has a great future and will be a wonderful challenge for my successor.’
Boerings departure leaves the foundation looking for a new head while an interim business director, Arnoud van Dommele, steps in for the time being. The organization will also establish an international advisory board by the end of this year, which will ‘provide strategic advice to the Supervisory Board and Executive Board of WPPF.’
Boering tells DPReview that he’s enjoyed his time at WPP and is proud of what he has achieved in his five and a half years:
‘I have steered the foundation toward becoming an organization devoted to progressive values and ethics, and one with a set of advocacy agendas. Programs like the African Photojournalism Database, the 6×6 talent program and various global workshops, are initiatives by WPP to provide more opportunities to photographers of different backgrounds. I’m taking some time off for a small sabbatical and will choose my new path carefully. Many offers and initiatives are already coming my way, and to continue my work in the creative industries will be a pleasure.’
‘The future of visual storytelling is very bright and more money is available than ever before,’ he promises.
You can read more about Lars Boering in an article on Australia’s Inside Imaging, and the statement on the matter on the World Press Photo website.
Press release:
The World Press Photo Foundation enters new phase
The World Press Photo Foundation enters new phase for connecting the world to the stories that matter
Managing Director Lars Boering leaves the organization after 5 years; establishment of an International Advisory Board announced
Today, the World Press Photo Foundation announces that Managing Director Lars Boering will be leaving the organization. As a result, the Supervisory Board will start the search for a new Executive Director. This coincides with the preparations of a broader approach for “connecting the world to the stories that matter” required for the changed world that has presented itself in recent months.
Guido van Nispen, Chairman of the Supervisory Board: “We see the pandemic having an immense impact on everyone and everything. The collateral damage is huge, and the World Press Photo Foundation has also been impacted, which depends partially on a model that organizes physical exhibitions all over the world.
The organization is appreciative of Lars’ leadership over the past five years. In this time, major talent programs and grants were developed, digital reach saw substantial growth, and a new format was established to announce contest nominees and winners, to further spotlight the stories that matter.
A new phase for World Press Photo begins. A phase that builds on a strong foundation, and also leads to opportunities to future-proof the business model and ways of working. This includes exploring new digital avenues and establishing a new International Advisory Board. Press freedom, freedom of expression and the support of visual journalism are more important than ever, and as a leading organization that plays a crucial role for visual storytellers, the World Press Photo Foundation, with the great support of its people and partners, will keep on innovating to deliver on that promise.”
Lars Boering, Managing Director: “It was a tough decision to leave this beautiful organization, especially given the timing. It has been an amazing time and I am incredibly proud of the organization and the impact it has achieved. In these interesting and challenging times the World Press Photo Foundation, and the work it does, is more relevant now than ever before. The admiration I have for visual storytellers has grown and I hope my efforts have contributed to improving their work and position. Personally, it is time for me to pursue other opportunities, but I am confident about the future path for the organization, and am sure a successor can be identified soon.”
Lars Boering will hand over his work to Arnoud van Dommele, who has served as interim business director since March, while the Supervisory Board starts the search for a new Executive Director.
The International Advisory Board will consist of approximately 12 global experts and will be established before the end of 2020. The International Advisory Board will provide strategic advice to the Supervisory Board and Executive Board of WPPF.
About the World Press Photo Foundation
Connecting the world to the stories that matter.
We are a global platform connecting professionals and audiences through trustworthy visual journalism and storytelling, founded in 1955 when a group of Dutch photographers organized a contest (“World Press Photo”) to expose their work to an international audience. Since then, the contest has grown into the world’s most prestigious photography competition, and through our successful worldwide exhibition program, we present to millions of people the stories that matter.
World Press Photo Foundation is a creative, independent, nonprofit organization, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We appreciate the support of our global partner, the Dutch Postcode Lottery, and our partners, PwC and Aegon.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Slideshow: Overall winners of Sony World Photography Awards 2020
18
Jun
Winners of Sony World Photography Awards 2020
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We’ve covered quite a few Sony World Photography competitions in the past 5 months. From the Open Competition, to National Award Winners, and recent Finalist and Shortlisted photographs, creators from all over the world have been recognized for their takes on pertinent issues. The World Photography Organisation concluded these competitions with their announcement of the Overall Professional, Open, Student, and Youth winners for 2020.
‘This year’s winner comes from the Creative category and is a brilliant set of images which offers a powerful visual record of how deforestation goes hand in hand with the destruction of communities and peoples…Pablo is from Uruguay and this project is deeply personal to him as a photographer. The effort required to envisage, produce and shoot this series is laudable in every way,’ says Mike Trow, Chair of the Professional competition.
The Photographer of the Year title, and $ 25,000 cash prize, was awarded to Pablo Albarenga for his series titled Seeds of Resistance. It explores the bond between defenders and their land, along with the consequences of protecting it. Tod Oldham’s Open Photographer of the Year image of musician Black Francis was previously covered by DPReview. Ioanna Sakellaraki won Student Photographer of the Year for her series on environmental sustainability while Hsein-Pang Hseih was recognized as Youth Photographer of the Year for his capture of a harried street performer.
We’ve featured the winning images from each category in this slideshow. All of this year’s winning and shortlisted images can be viewed here. Professional, Open, Student, and Youth competitions for 2021 will be open for submissions on July 1st and are free to enter.
Photographer of the Year and Latin America Professional Award Winner: ‘Seeds of Resistance 3’ by Pablo Albarenga (Uruguay)
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About this Photo: Nantu is an indigenous young man from the Achuar Nation of Ecuador who leads a project of solar-powered river boats for collective transport. By installing solar panels on a specially designed boat’s roof, he is working to end Achuar’s dependence on petrol. Left: On his land, Nantu lies dressed in traditional Achuar clothing. Right: the pristine rainforest from the Achuar territory. Sharamentsa, Pastaza, Ecuador.
About this Series: Seeds of Resistance is a body of work that pairs photographs of landscapes and territories in danger from mining and agribusinesses with portraits of the activists fighting to conserve them. Pablo explores the bond between the defenders and their lands – a sacred area in which hundreds of generations of their ancestors rest. In the photographs, the main characters in the stories are seen from above, as though they are laying down their lives for their territory. View the full series here.
Student Photographer of the Year: ‘Aeiforia’ by Ioanna Sakellaraki (Greece)
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About this Series: Aeiforia presents night-time photographs of solar panels, wind turbines and battery farms used across the small island of Tilos in Greece which is the first in the Mediterranean to run almost entirely on renewable energy. View it, in its entirety, here.
In an era of climate change and challenges around sustainability, islands are particularly vulnerable. Insular by their very nature, these land masses usually depend on fossil fuels and imports for energy (despite the high transportation costs). Until a few years ago, the idea of an island being fully reliant on clean energy was almost unthinkable, and yet it is about to become a reality on Tilos in Greece.
This tiny island in the Dodecanese archipelago is the first in the Mediterranean to run almost entirely on renewable energy. Over the years it has received energy from a diesel power plant on the neighboring island of Kos, via an undersea cable, but during the tourist season this has proven unreliable, leading to frequent power cuts. Since 2015, however, the supply on Tilos has been reinforced with a hybrid system exclusively powered by renewable sources including solar and wind power.
These images were taken in the island’s capital, Megálo Chorió, which is home to just 70 people during the winter. At night the passageways, rooftops and yards are illuminated by moonlight, presenting plenty of opportunities for photography. The islanders use various solar panels and energy devices including some handmade versions. The aim is to keep these running for as long as possible to help sustain households throughout the winter.
My series looks at how these strangely-shaped devices and wires become an organic part of the scenery at night. As darkness falls, a harmonic symbiosis exists between this technology and the dry and mountainous landscape of Tilos. Aeiforia is a Greek word for defining progress based on the use of natural ecosystems and energy sources to ensure future resources.
Youth Photographer of the Year: ‘Hurry’ by Hsien-Pang Hsieh (Taiwan)
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About this Photo: Hurry, features a street performer who is seemingly walking in a hurry but is in fact standing still. Inspired by his experience as a newly arrived student in Germany, Hsien-Pang sees the image as his comment on the intensive pace of life and a reminder others to slow down.
This image was taken shortly after I came to Germany to study. It was the first time I had travelled abroad alone, and I felt under enormous pressure. There were so many things to learn at school, and I was also trying to fit in with everyone else.
Although this man looks as though he’s in a rush to get to work, he’s actually standing still – and it’s this dichotomy that appealed to me. These days, with life moving at such a frantic pace, it’s important for people to slow down. When I’m facing challenges I look at this picture and it reminds me to take a moment and just breathe.
Category Winner, Professional, Architecture: ‘Ice Fishing Hut XV’ by Sandra Herber (Canada)
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About this Photo/Series: Winters in Manitoba, Canada, are long and often bitterly cold. When the temperature drops, and thick ice forms, lakes and rivers in the province play host to some amazing folk architecture in the form of ice fishing huts.
These huts, shacks or permies (as they are called in Manitoba) must be transportable, protect their occupants from the elements and allow access to the ice below for fishing. Once these requirements have been met, the owners are free to express their personalities in the shape, structure and decoration of their huts – they are large or small, decorated or plain, luxurious or utilitarian and everything in between.
I captured these images on Lake Winnipeg in December 2019. My hope for this series, which is a continuation of work I started in 2018, is to showcase the quirky charm of these huts by presenting a select few in a typology. The typology – showing the huts framed in the same, minimalist style and in the same lighting – allows the viewer to notice similarities in function and uniqueness in form, as well as to display these utilitarian structures as beautiful works of art.
Category Winner, Professional, Discovery: ‘Motherhood’ by Maria Kokunova (Russian Federation)
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About this Photo/Series: It has been four years since I voluntarily isolated myself in a cosy cave of maternity, living in a country house in Leningrad Oblast. I deliberately restrict social contact and limit media consumption – my whole life is bound up in my home, children and art practice.
Against all expectations, however, my life is far from calm and quiet. The notion of the cave has become, for me, the quintessence of what a personal experience is made up of. It has been linked to the Anima and the cult of the earth mother, the symbol of fertile soil that both gives life and takes it away. Francis Bacon, developing the idea of Plato, stated that the “Idols of the Cave” arise from education and custom – in short, the past of each individual determines how they perceive things.
For me, isolation in my own cave triggered a childhood trauma that had not been resolved emotionally – a stress disorder triggered by a series of four deaths and a suicide in the family over a very short period of time. In this project, I am constructing my own personal cave by combining photographs I have made in my parent’s house with pictures of the place I am living in now.
I pair these images with the experience of a physical presence in Sablinskiye Caves, near my home. In a cave your senses are deprived, encouraging hallucinations. Under similar conditions, my memory produces its own illusions. My work explores the idea that motherhood, and the awakening of primitive instincts such as unconditional love, aggression and fear of death, make life extremely meaningful.
Despite its challenges, ‘in-cave’ living boosts creativity: it becomes a personal myth, provides a plot for the project and initiates reflective processes.
Category Winner, Professional, Documentary: ‘Wounds of Hong Kong 7’ by Chung Ming Ko (Hong Kong)
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About this Photo: Chu, a 17-year-old Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (DSE) student, was hit by a police baton while taking part in a human chain at Tai Po Station, Hong Kong, on 7 September 2019. He was seen lying in his own blood on cable TV. Chu’s head needed stitches and the phalanx of the little finger on his right hand was broken, requiring six bone screws. He has decided to postpone his DSE for a year in order to tackle his PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
About the Series: Protests in Hong Kong show no signs of abating after months of unrest. What began as an objection to the extradition bill has evolved into a wider protest regarding the future of the city.
Reports suggest that since the demonstrations began cases of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have risen among the population. Author Milan Kundera said: ‘The struggle of men against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.’ Scars and bruises may fade, but we must remember what caused them.
Category Winner, Professional, Environment: ’85 Trader, a Local Policeman in Ughelli, Niger Delta, Nigeria’ by Robin Hinsch (Germany)
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About this Photo/Series: Covering 70,000 sq km (27,000 sq miles) of wetlands, the Niger Delta was formed primarily by sediment deposition. The region is home to more than 30 million people and 40 different ethnic groups, making up 7.5% of Nigeria’s total land mass. It used to boast an incredibly rich ecosystem, containing one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity on the planet, before the oil industry moved in.
The Nigerian department of petroleum resources estimates that 1.89 million barrels were spilled in to the Niger Delta between 1976 and 1996. What’s more, a report from the United Nations suggests there have been a total of 6,817 spills between 1976 and 2001, amounting to some three million barrels of oil.
So far, the authorities and oil companies have done little to clean up and neutralize the Delta, and oil spills are still very common. Half of the spills are caused by pipeline and tanker accidents, while others are the result of sabotage (28%), oil production operations (21%), and inadequate production equipment (1%). Another issue in the Niger Delta is gas flaring, a byproduct of oil extraction.
As the gas burns it destroys crops, pollutes water and has a negative impact on human health. Wahala was shot in Nigeria in 2019 and draws attention to untamed economic growth and its negative impact on ecology.
Category Winner, Professional, Landscape: ‘Torii Einootsurugi’ by Ronny Behnert (Germany)
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About this Photo: Einootsurugi was one of the torii which was totally hidden. It was difficult to find that amazing spot but after a few hours of searching and exploring I found the torii. The special feature here was the symmetrical arrangement through the two lamps in the foreground. I spent more than three hours at this spot because of the spiritual atmosphere at this place!
About this Series: Evidence of Shintoism and Buddhism – the most common religions in Japan – can be found in every corner of the country. Shrines and torii (traditional Japanese gates commonly found at the entrance to Shinto shrines, marking the transition from mundane to sacred spaces) can be seen in the remotest of locations, from the middle of the Pacific Ocean to the highest mountains and the deepest forests.
Most of the time I use neutral density filters to force long exposures and keep my work minimalist in style. Some of my exposures last five minutes or more, which makes any distracting elements in the water or sky disappear – the longer the exposure, the clearer the photograph.
Category Winner, Professional, Natural World & Wildlife: ‘Pangolins in Crisis 1’ by Brent Stirton (South Africa)
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About this Photo: A Temminck’s Pangolin learns to forage again after being rescued from traffickers on the Zimbabwe/South Africa border. Pangolin caregivers at this anonymous farm care for rescued, illegally trafficked pangolins, helping them to find ants and termites to eat and keeping them safe from predators and poachers.
This is one of only three true Pangolin rescue and rehabilitation sites in the world. Pangolins are the world’s most illegally trafficked mammals, with an estimated one million being trafficked to Asia in the last ten year. Their scales are used in traditional Chinese and Vietnamese medicine and their meat is sold as a high-priced delicacy. As a result, pangolins are listed as critically endangered and all trade or consumption is illegal.
The Tiki Hywood trust undertakes public awareness campaigns on Pangolins, trains law enforcement and judiciary personnel, conducts research, and rehabilitates pangolins that have been confiscated from the illegal trade. They are based in Zimbabwe but operate with partners across Africa and Asia.
About this Series: Pangolins are the world’s most illegally trafficked mammals, with an estimated one million trafficked to Asia in the last ten years. Their scales are used in traditional Chinese and Vietnamese medicine, and their meat is sold as a high-priced delicacy. As a result, pangolins are listed as critically endangered and anyone who trades or consumes them is breaking the law.
This body of work exposes the trade, while exploring aspects of illegality and celebrating the people who are trying to save these animals. There are only three true Pangolin rescue and rehabilitation sites in the world, they are extremely fragile animals and the vast majority die quickly in captivity.
Category Winner, Professional, Portraiture: ‘Malick. Gambia. (1998)’ by Cesar Dezfuli (Spain)
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About this Photo: LEFT: Malick portrayed on 1st August 2016 on board of a rescue vessel in the Mediterranean sea. RIGHT: Malick portrayed on 26th June 2019 in Italy, where he currently lives.
About this Series: On 1st August 2016, 118 people were rescued from a rubber boat drifting in the Mediterranean Sea. The boat had departed some hours prior from Libya. In an attempt to give a human face to this event, I photographed the passengers minutes after their rescue. Their faces, their looks, the marks on their bodies all reflected the mood and physical state they were in after a journey that had already marked their lives forever.
It was the beginning of a project that has been evolving ever since. It soon became clear that the people I photographed on that August day were not themselves. Their identities had become diluted somewhere along the way – hidden as a result of fear, or stolen through past abuses and humiliations.
Over the last three years I have worked to locate the 118 passengers of the boat, now scattered across Europe, in a bid to understand and document their true identities. I wanted to show that each individual had a latent identity that just needed a peaceful context in order to flourish again.
Category Winner, Professional, Sport: ‘Senegalese Wrestlers 3’ by Ángel López Soto (Spain)
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About this Photo/Series: Wrestling has become the number one national sport in Senegal and parts of The Gambia. It belongs to a larger West African form of traditional wrestling (known as Lutte Traditionnelle) and is more popular than football. Senegalese wrestlers practice two forms of the sport: Lutte Traditionnelle avec frappe and Lutte Traditionnelle sans frappe (international version).
The sport has become a means of social ascendance, making some athletes millionaires. Fights have been known to attract audiences of around 50 thousand in a stadium. For many, it’s a slice of African life, tradition and culture, in which there is a mix of animist and Muslim beliefs. These pictures show wrestlers training on a beach in Dakar.
Category Winner, Professional, Still Life: ‘Immortality 10’ by Alessandro Gandolfi (Italy)
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About this Photo: Tokyo (Japan), Miraikan, The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation: a close-up of Alter, a robot on display at the museum. Some believe that the in the future, it will be possible to completely ‘download’ our minds into humanoids similar to this one, and therefore, by overcoming the physical limits imposed by the human body, it will be possible to live forever.
About this Series: ‘In the 21st century,’ writes Yuval Noah Harari in Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, ‘humans are likely to make a serious bid for immortality […] A small but growing number of scientists and intellectuals have posited that the most important challenge facing modern science is to overcome death and achieve the promise of eternal youth.’
Can man really become immortal? Few truly believe it, and so research has focused on cryo-conservation, man-machine hybridization and mind downloads instead. The majority of scientists agree, however, that average life spans will extend up to 120 years of age and that our health will improve considerably, thanks in particular to the enormous progress being made in the sectors of bioengineering, nanomedicine, genetics and artificial intelligence. Research into longevity has already become a billion-dollar business.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Slideshow: Winning images from the inaugural World Landscape Photographer competition
17
Jun
Winning images from the inaugural World Landscape Photographer competition
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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
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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
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Gear & Settings:
- Fujifilm XT1 (Infra Red converted)
- XF10–24mm F4 lens
- 24mm F8 1/125s ISO 200
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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)