Photography – Page 122

A year in the field: AG photographers on assignment in 2022

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We send Australia’s most experienced photographers far and wide across our vast nation. These assignments involve months of planning, making contacts and following up leads, regrouping from dead-ends, sorting out permits, often through multiple state departments, and where possible, consultations with First Nations.

Our visual storytellers need to have the survival skills to safely navigate remote locations on their own, to be able to work and file on the hoof, to have the social and emotional intelligence to flesh out the different strands of the story, and make meaningful connections in the field in order to produce work with depth and uncover new angles.

Our photographers can pivot between documenting aerial, video, stills and audio to provide the comprehensive, often sensory, detail that our stories are renowned for. Dean Sewell spent weeks in his swag for us, working on one story that he began more a decade ago. Adam Ferguson travelled thousands of kilometres up the Dingo Fence to Cameron Corner, in the extreme far west corner of NSW, making friends with the people who live their lives along the legendary fence. Annette Ruzicka’s year flew by largely in the field, criss-crossing the country for AG, from WA’s Kimberley to the alpine ranges of Victoria and Southern NSW before heading back to the tropical Top End to observe crocs. James Bugg was given some loose map coordinates to hunt down the most pristine of alpine bogs and Matthew Newton was set loose on one of the toughest and most remote hikes in the country, Southwest NP, Tasmania.

We try to commission experts in their topic areas. Photojournalist Justin Gilligan has documented the ocean’s plastic pollution for years from his home on Lord Howe Island and already knew the key characters in our complex shearwater story. We regularly work with conservation-led photographer Doug Gimesy. A leading voice in the field of environmental photography, he offers an especially clear understanding of how imagery can shift mindsets. Other photographers, such as veteran photojournalist Melanie Faith Dove, were scrambled at a moment’s notice to cover this year’s huge weather events. Randy Larcombe and Emma Phillips were asked to document innovators who have made positive contributions to preserving our natural world.

To all these photographers and the many more we have sent into mines, storms, jungles and on epic treks, or have come to us with their research or passion projects, we thank you for your commitment to telling stories that make us care more for our world.

Photographer Justin Gilligan is a conservation photojournalist and Associate Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers. He lives on Lord Howe Island documenting the island’s biodiversity and the growing pollution in the surrounding ocean. He witnesses firsthand how ocean plastics decimate seabirds such as shearwaters. Justin spent many weeks this past year observing the work of Dr Jennifer Lavers (pictured above holding a sick shearwater). Jennifer has discovered that plastics are causing multi-organ damage in seabirds. Shearwaters ingest large quantities of plastic that are then regurgitated to feed their young. Hatchlings end up with bellies full of indigestible plastic and can never leave the island, dying there in great pain.

Dean Sewell travelled 5000km for us, spending several weeks in the arid desert environment of central South Australia near Kati Thanda- Lake Eyre. Only it wasn’t arid at all. He was penned in by successive rain events, with both the Oondnadatta and Birdsville tracks closed. One of Dean’s assignments was to cover the return of the Curdimurka Ball in Maree (the Maree Hotel is seen top right) after an 18-year hiatus.

Wildlife photographer **Isaac Wishart** works barefoot when hunting bioluminescence and glowing fungi. He spent several nights for us in Queensland’s Lamington NP photographing the area’s nocturnal biodiversity. Lamington is one of the few remaining extensive areas of subtropical Gondwanan rainforest anywhere in the world, and this is Isaacs natural home after spending the last eight years as a bush regenerator in the region. Two years of abundant La Nina rains delivered fungi aplenty. Wishart’s image above show a *Mycena chloophos* fungus glowing green in the rainforest understorey.

Photographer Max Mason Hughes hooked up his camper-trailer and spent a week for us at McGraths Flat, central NSW, with a crack team of fossil experts. Over the past three years a team of researchers has been secretly excavating the site, discovering thousands of incredibly well-preserved specimens, including rainforest plants, insects, spiders, fish and a feather. Max documented the dig, the characters, the thrilling finds, the beauty of the wider area and the after-dig dinners in Gulgong. And he also found a fossil: “It was as small as a lady beetle and its spindly hair-thin legs and gossamer wings were intact, frozen in time for 10–15 million years in the iron-rich silt of the Miocene era billabong.”

Photographer Thomas Wielecki, together with writer Tim the Yowie Man, trawled the length of the Old Hume Highway, the old inland route between Sydney and Melbourne. He discovered stretches of the historic route disappear without warning into paddocks or end abruptly at fences, grids or piles of blue metal. Les Davies and Julie Chalmers (top image) live in the former Shell service station in Breadalbane, NSW, and gave our photographer an impromptu tour of the former servo. The old restaurant is now the couple’s lounge room and in their bedroom is the old fuse box that once controlled the bowers and lighting on the forecourt.

We sent Chris Round on a travel assignment to explore the Central Goldfields of Victoria. Chris was chosen because he is well known for his meticulously rendered landscapes, especially his awarded photos of discarded and mysterious structures in vast natural landscapes. The Goldfields is littered with old mines and mining detritus, so this region was of special interest given Chris is working on a series exploring the balance between nature and our intrusion of it.

Industrial designer Girius Antanaitis made waves in the veterinary world when he invented a wombat dental gag, a metre-long needle used to euthanise sick whales. Until then he was better known for crafting avian orthopaedic surgery kits. In Girius’s view, a lot of the surgical instruments currently used by wildlife veterinarians aren’t fit for purpose. His most recent project has been to find a new way to repair fractures in turtle shells by mounting a plate externally with screws that go to a specific depth so as not to harm the turtle (image at top). Photographed in his Melbourne workshop by Emma Phillips.

Adam Ferguson travelled up the longest human-made structure on Earth, the Dingo Fence, as part of our investigation into whether there is a case for its removal. He documented life lived and lost along the fence, from macropods, workers to deceased dingoes. The assignment involved months of preparation developing connections with individual land managers, ecologists, local government and fence maintenance units.

In May, recently relocated NYC now Perth-based photographer **Finlay Mackay** visited drone cinematographer Jaimen Hudson (pictured flying his drone) who despite becoming a quadriplegic in 2008 is a prolific wildlife photographer in Esperance, WA.

Francesco Vicenzi camped at the Gariwerd/Grampians NP over several weekends to catch the renowned rock-climbing and rock-art sites in different light and conditions for a story on how land managers are working to balance the interests of Traditional Owners and climbers.

Tajette O’Halloran travelled to Moonie on the Darling Downs, QLD, to spend a weekend with 19-year-old Meg Rees who left Brisbane’s suburbs for a life in the bush during the pandemic.

Armed with some coordinates photographer James Bugg‘s task was to locate the pristine bogs at Mt Baw Baw, VIC. These were hidden in deep bush and accessed far from trails through walls of spiky candle heath bush. James endured hours of tracing and retracing steps through the maze, soggy from condensation, before he was able to record the micro biology of the bogs in such a beautiful way.

On assignment for another story **Thomas Wielecki**, together with writer Tim the Yowie Man, spotted three little pups in the centre of Gundagai, NSW. The town is known for its iconic Dog on the Tuckerbox statue – located just outside the town on the freeway – but the new litter of puppies scattered across Gundagai was a surprise. According to some business owners, the dog was a little too popular with travellers on the Hume Highway with many stopping for an obligatory photo with the dog and not venturing into town. To solve the problem sculptor Darien Pullen was commissioned in 2021 to create three puppy statues to be placed outside businesses in the main street.

Photographer Randy Larcombe spent a day with AG Society’s Lifetime of Conservation Awardee, ecologist Dr John Wamsley, at his home in the Adelaide Hills. Here John is seen wielding a tool he uses to remove weeds and wears the cat-skin hat he controversially wore to the South Australian Tourism Awards in 1991. John has campaigned for half a century on behalf of the nation’s endangered species. Many of his ideas were vilified by those in government supposedly responsible for conservation but who failed to recognise the urgency of biodiversity decline.

Photographer Annette Ruzicka trekked with the ridge lines and valleys of the Kosciuszko region with a group of volunteers committed to restoring Australia’s alpine huts.

Photographer Jarred Walker (top and above far left) and Melanie Faith Dove (above centre and right) visited wombat sanctuaries for our story on the different problems wombat’s face in different areas across Australia. On arrival at SA’s Wombat Awareness Organisation Jarred found, to his horror, that he had arrived at a crime scene – wombats had been deliberately mutilated nearby. In SA the penalty for killing a wombat without a permit is a $2500 fine or six months in prison. But they’re also considered an agricultural pest as their diggings wreck fences, damage machinery and compete for resources. Melanie works as a wildlife rescuer as well as teaching photography and already knew the ACT’s leading wombat carer, Yolandi Vermaak. Melanie visited Yolandi at home where she found these juvenile orphan wombats in her suburban yard, which has armoured fences with concrete and metal poles to stop wombats digging under them.

In February, photographer Dean Sewell checked in on the ugly fish that broke the internet. The blob fish was photographed first by Australian Research Institute Researcher Dr Kerryn Parkinson in 2003 when she was aboard a research expedition between Australia and New Zealand. Her snap went viral and ended up being voted the world’s ugliest animal in 2013. Dean found Mr Blobby elegantly preserved in a jar in the dry lab of the Australian Museum’s Ichthyology department. His pinkish flesh had receded and turned pale and wrinkled, an entirely different vision to that which Kerryn first photographed – the flesh of his forehead slid down into a ‘nose’ and the corners of his mouth sagged into that iconic frown.

Photographer Steven Siewert spent the day in a fluorescent lab shadowing neuroscientist Professor Geoge Paxinos, famed for his hand drawn maps based off slides of the human brain. After the shoot he repaired to George’s home, only to find more brains featuring in artworks across his living room walls.

Photographer Melanie Faith Dove became a volunteer for Vets For Compassion when confronted by a large eastern grey male in her suburban front yard. Melanie teamed up with photojournalist Sandra Sanders to document kangaroos in crisis, an investigation into how urban sprawl is pushing macropods more and more into harm’s way.

Photographer **Matthew Newton** undertook the notoriously difficult South Coast Track in Tasmania with writer Elspeth Callendar (pictured) for a story on the privatisation of our wilderness areas. The 84km bush walk between Melaleuca and Cockle Creek is regarded as one of the world’s great ‘wilderness’ walks and requires everyone to carry a full pack of gear, including tent, food and cooking equipment for the duration. Inclement weather means some sections of the track are perpetually wet and muddy with challenging waterway crossings and arduous ascents par for the course. This might change soon now that the area has been earmarked for a string of luxury huts.

Photographer Annette Ruzicka visited the stunning wetlands of the south-western NSW conservation property Gayini, owned by the Nari Nari Tribal Council.

In February and then in March this year Lismore, northern NSW, experienced catastrophic flood events. Four people died and hundreds remain homeless. As a volunteer for Vets with Compassion **Melanie Faith Dove** was given access to relief centres and shelter to document and assist people with pets who had lost their homes.

Ngiyampaa/Murrawrri and Kooma photographer **Melinda Hooper** photographed her family for our Deadly Science book series.

Photographer Elise Derwin generated all the imagery for our book How to Raise Outdoor Kids. She sourced the many locations sited across NSW, and the models, filing almost a thousand frames for the mammoth assignment. A few weeks after she finished shooting for our book some of these locations and the town in which she lives, Lismore, NSW, were partially destroyed in a catastrophic flood event.

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Nikon Z9 now in stock at major retailers

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The long-awaited Nikon Z9 full-frame mirrorless camera is now in stock at major retailers in the United States and Europe.

After more than a year of delays, retailers such as B&H Photo, Adorama and Wex Photo Video have announced that the flagship Nikon Z9 is now in stock and orders will resume.

The Nikon Z9 was originally announced back in October 2021, but extremely high demand for the camera coupled with the worldwide chip shortage have contributed to lengthly delays, with many back orders yet to be fulfilled.

Aimed at professionals, the Nikon Z9 is widely seen as one of the best cameras on the market, thanks to its 45.7MP sensor, 8K video capability, 20fps full-resolution shooting for raw files, 30fps for Jpegs and 120fps shooting at 11Mp, paired with an excellent AF system.

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Éric Pfrunder, Karl Lagerfeld’s Photography Wingman, Dies at 74

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Éric Pfrunder, one of Karl Lagerfeld’s closest creative associates with his varied photography projects, died Monday in a Paris hospital at age 74 after a long illness, his son Jasper confirmed to WWD.

Services are being scheduled for Friday.

More from WWD

Pfrunder was Chanel’s director of image for three decades, and remained as artistic director of fashion image for a brief period following Lagerfeld’s death in February 2019.

“A man of conviction and loyalty, a passionate worker, ‘vorarbeiter’ as Karl Lagerfeld affectionately called him, Eric tirelessly devoted his exceptional eye and vision to the excellence of Chanel, generously sharing his knowledge and insights with the image team and more broadly, the fashion division,” Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel fashion, said in a statement shared with WWD. “His contribution to Chanel is immense. We offer our most sincere condolences to his family and friends.”

Lagerfeld frequently said he had three key accomplices at the Chanel fashion house: Pfrunder, Pavlovsky and Virginie Viard, his longtime studio director, who would succeed the designer as creative director.

Indeed, it was Pfrunder who first suggested that Lagerfeld try his hand at photography.

Back in 1987, Lagerfeld expressed frustration with the images done for press kits at Chanel and so Pfrunder, flummoxed, suggested that Lagerfeld do them himself. It wasn’t long before Lagerfeld was shooting fashion spreads for French Vogue, and later campaigns for all the brands he touched, including Chanel, Fendi and the Karl Lagerfeld brands.

Pfrunder worked at Chanel’s fashion division from 1983 until 2019 on image creation. On Tuesday, Pavlovsky described him as “an essential and active part of the creative trio” he formed with Lagerfeld and Viard, thereby “establishing Chanel as the ultimate luxury fashion house.”

Hyères Celebrates 30th Anniversary — Karl Lagerfeld; Princess Caroline of Hanover and Éric Pfrunder.

Indeed, Pfrunder was forever at Lagerfeld’s elbow as the indefatigable German designer produced countless books, catalogues and advertising campaigns, in addition to couture and ready-to-wear collections.

Outside advertising clients included Dior Homme, Dom Pérignon, Adidas, Coca-Cola and Pirelli, while the duo produced editorial shoots for scores of fashion magazines, including English and American Vogues, Harper’s Bazaar, Paris Match, V Magazine and Numéro.

The studio welcomed a host of models, Hollywood stars and European royalty, and Lagerfeld and Pfrunder would often set up impromptu photo studios at Chanel’s roving fashion events.

Born in Algeria, Pfrunder moved to France at age 13. Like Lagerfeld, he was a self-taught photographer and also ran a communications agency.

A tall, elegant man who shared Lagerfeld’s penchant for sharply tailored jackets, heeled boots and high-collared shirts, which he wore unbuttoned, Pfrunder largely flew under the media radar, and was in his element at the designer’s photo studio behind the 7L bookstore on the Rue de Lille.

Among his projects after leaving Chanel, delayed by illness, were to digitize Lagerfeld’s vast photo archive, and publish a book, his son Jasper said.

Pfrunder is also survived by his wife, Karen, and daughters Tess and Candice.

Click here to read the full article.

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2023 World Press Photo Contest opens for entries

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The 2023 World Press Photo Contest has opened for entries.

Entering the 2023 World Press Photo Contest is free and is open to professional photojournalists and/or documentary photographers anywhere in the world, with the contest recognising and celebrating the world’s best photojournalism and documentary photography produced over the past year.

As in 2022, the competition will continue the regional model that includes six regions, with a selection of entries per category chosen by a regional jury, before a global jury decides on the regional winners and from those, the global winners.

According to WPP, the introduction of this model last year gave a much more geographically balanced view of the world, with more nuanced perspectives on local issues.

The judging process of the 2023 World Press Photo Contest takes place in several rounds, over a six-week period, in January and February 2023. It involves regional juries and a global jury, and takes place both online and offline. Representing Southeast Asia and Oceania is jury chair Maika Elan of Vietnam, a photographer and photo editor.

In 2023, prizes include €5,000 for global winners, in addition to €1,000 for regional winners, with work also featured in the World Press Photo annual travelling exhibition, shown around the world and the World Press Photo yearbook.

Entries close on 10 January 2023. You can enter here.

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Photography that has taken flight in Birds of Prey awards packages

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Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, at left, celebrates on the podium with Anne Price of the Raptor Education Foundation after Kilde’s first place win in a men’s World Cup downhill skiing race last Saturday in Beaver Creek.
*Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo*

In addition to earning the fastest time on the hill, some ski racers on the FIS Alpine World Cup circuit get some pretty interesting prizes from different countries. In Levi, Finland, it appears that winners get a reindeer, in Val d’Isere, France, you either get a huge wheel of Beaufort cheese or a cow and in Beaver Creek, a bird of prey.

These prizes aren’t exactly literal, there are more so tokens from each race venue, mere symbols of the area, although, Lindsey Vonn opted for the cow versus the $5,000 she was offered by the farmer in 2005 after she won the downhill race in Val D’Isere.

Many times, the public sees pictures of a beautiful bird of prey on stage with the top three finishers of that day’s race at Beaver Creek. The bird goes back to the Raptor Education Foundation but the athletes do get to take home a beautiful photograph that beholds the image of the event’s namesake.

**Former U.S. Ski Team members,Bode Miller, left, and Ted Ligety, right pose with Anne Price of the Raptor Education Center at an awards ceremony at the Birds of Prey ski races.**
*Westrich Photography/Courtesy photo*

The Talons area of Beaver Creek Mountain is home to several runs named after birds of prey. The Golden Eagle run hosts the men’s racecourse and the Kestrel run hosts the women’s racecourse. Screech Owl, Ruffed Grouse, Peregrine, Ptarmigan, Osprey and more fill the trail map. The majestic birds are represented in the photography of Rob Westrich of St. Louis, Missouri. The framed photos are what grace racers’ homes all over the world after reaching the podium at Beaver Creek and this art became a part of the race package in 2009.

Westrich had just started photographing the amazing birds the year before, after attending a Cub Scouts meeting with his son. The World Bird Sanctuary brought in raptors to share with the scouts and it didn’t take long for Westrich to become inspired. Westrich, whose company, Westrich Photography, has covered the photography needs of the public in the St. Louis area for 75 years, soon found himself taking photos not of people, but of birds. The World Bird Sanctuary brought birds to his studio to capture what would become his fine art series, The Raptor Series.

**Rob Westrich’s photography became a part of the Birds of Prey awards package in Beaver Creek in 2009.**
*Westrich Photography/Courtesy photo*

The buzzworthy art gained the attention of those in the St. Louis area and eventually, it was deemed a perfect fit for the Birds of Prey awards package and Westrich has been involved with this for the past 13 years.

“I never thought it would turn into something this big,” Westrich said. “To know the print is hanging in the homes of some of the greatest athletes in the world is incomprehensible. Bode Miller. Lindsey Vonn. Mikaela Shiffrin. The list goes on. It’s an incredible honor.”

**Little did Rob Westrich know that a Cub Scout’s excursion would lead to his raptor photography being on the walls of the biggest names in alpine ski racing, like Mikaela Shiffrin.**
*Westrich Photography/Courtesy photo*

**Lindsey Vonn addresses the crowd while holding on to the framed birds of prey photography of Rob Westrich.**
*Westrich Photography/Courtesy photo*

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World’s Fastest Living Speed Machine

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… a once in a lifetime chance to be shooting the fasted living creature on earth at eye level in the wild … that was the closing treat on the excursion down to Lake Pleasant last Friday and I did manage to get some absolutely beautiful shots of her before my gear malfunctioned. We decided to take one more run up Castle Hot Springs bay before packing it in for the day. We had already captured hundreds of wonderful shots of Ospreys and other birds.

Eric spotted a bird with its back to us about 50 feet away in shallow water off a small island. Kinda looked like a small heron with its back (blue-grey) pointed at us, but then it turned to look at us and wow, it was a Peregrine Falcon standing in a few inches of water. Her crop was bulging, but no sign of feathers (they feed primarily on birds) so maybe a fish? or just stopped for a drink after her meal? Dunno, and then she took off and circled back towards us before departing the area. What an amazing treat and an opportunity for shots of a lifetime.

Our speed machine is the fastest living creature on planet earth … they can fly at more than 100 mph in level flight and have been clocked at 240 mph in a dive. They gain altitude, spot their prey below and then stoop (dive) accelerating and hit the prey from above with their talons; some sources say they hit the prey with talons closed like a fist and others with the talons extended and rip them as they hit them. They then collect their prey in flight and are off for some fine dining.

The shot below is of her takeoff, water droplets trailing her talons as she rapidly rises into the air.Back to the lake in the morning so this is going out very early … spent the day re-calibrating and setting options in my cameras … a good thing to do every once in a while.

Have a beautiful day and make it a wonderful day for yourself and those you meet and greet! Like why not?

Cheers,

Ted

So each one to his wish, and as for me,
I sit tonight and wait
To find the answers to my soul in me,
And in the beauty of the sky and sea.

excerpt from I Sit and Wait by Max Ehrmann

###

The easiest way to reach Mr. Grussing is by email: [email protected]

In addition to sales of photographs already taken Ted does special shoots for patrons on request and also does air-to-air photography for those who want photographs of their airplanes in flight. All special photographic sessions are billed on an hourly basis.

Ted also does one-on-one workshops for those interested in learning the techniques he uses. By special arrangement Ted will do one-on-one aerial photography workshops which will include actual photo sessions in the air.

More about Ted Grussing …

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Enhanced night photography, other notable improvements tipped

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Apple is reportedly planning to widen the gap between its Pro and non-Pro iPhone models. Now, it looks like Samsung will be following in the footsteps of the Cupertino-based tech giant.

Samsung is prepping to unveil the Galaxy S23 series smartphones. While nothing is set in stone yet, some reports claim the Korean smartphone behemoth will launch the S22 series successors early next year.

In line with this, the highest-end Galaxy S23 Ultra model will be able to capture photos even in a low-lit environment. This unique ability will separate the Ultra model from the rest of the Galaxy S23 series phones, as well as its predecessor.

This piece of information comes from the noted leaker Ice Universe. As expected, Samsung fans took to the comments section to express their dismay.

However, IC begs to differ. He suggests this is the “most evident step forward” by the company’s flagships in the past five years.

So, it is safe to assume that the Galaxy S23 Ultra will take relatively better photos at night than the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Moreover, Samsung has reportedly improved the configuration of the cameras. These improvements include:

A 200MP camera that captures “natural details and less noise.”
Enhanced night mode photos.
The 12MP photos in daily mode will be enhanced.
The 10x telephoto lens will provide better sharpness.
There are some minor changes to 20x, 30x, and 100x zoom.
AI will be used more efficiently to improve telephoto shots.

The 200MP main camera will have superior analytical power. Moreover, the Galaxy S23 Ultra will adopt pixel-binning technology to minimize the negative effects created by the smaller pixels of the sensor.

Meanwhile, a report by SamMobile suggests Samsung might ditch the iconic Galaxy S series following the launch of the next foldable phones.

According to some reports, Samsung is prepping to launch the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 by the end of 2023. With the company’s focus on foldable devices, it is likely to stop launching phones under the Galaxy S lineup.