Category Archives: Photography

The theme for the eighth round of the 2023/24 Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year (CJPOTY) competition is ‘Light’. Light is an essential part of photography, but the light’s direction, quality or colour is sometimes what makes a photograph.

For this round, we want to see your images that the light makes a bit more special. The light can be natural or artificial, and the photographs can be taken anywhere at any time.

This round of our monthly competition is open for submissions until 23:59 BST (00:59 CET and 15:59 PST) on 31st August 2023.

To submit your entry, follow the link to cjpoty or click on the CJPOTY button at the top of any of our website pages. You can submit up to three entries for £2.00 plus payment processing costs (£0.26). Images should be Jpegs at least 1920 pixels along their longest side but no larger than 2MB.

Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year prizes

At the end of the month, the Camera Jabber team will pick one winning image and nine runners-up from the August entries. The photographer of the winning image will receive a voucher from MPB.com to the value of £500, which can be spent on anything from a huge range of kit from the World’s biggest platform for used photographic gear.

All 10 of the selected images will go into our shortlist for the year.

We’ll do this each month in 2023 so that by the end of the year, there will be 120 shortlisted images. These will then go before our fantastic panel of judges who will decide the 1st, 2nd and 3rd-placed images.

The photographer of the first-placed image overall, as decided by the panel of judges, will receive a voucher to the value of £1000 from MPB.com as well as a trophy and the title ‘Camera Jabber Photographer of the Year 2024‘. The photographers who come second and third will receive vouchers worth £500 and £250, respectively.

You don’t have to enter the competition every month, but you are welcome to do so, and the more shortlisted images you have at the end of the year, the greater the chance of winning the top prize.

CJPOTY VIP Judges

At the end of the year, our illustrious panel of judges has the onerous task of selecting the first, second and third-placed images overall from the shortlist of 120. Our judges are:

Benedict Brain – Photographer, journalist & Sigma ambassador
Sophie Collins – Chief Marketing Office at MPB, Trustee of Royal Photographic Society
Donna Crous – Food photographer, author, Nikon Europe ambassador and Rotolight Master of Light
Ross Hoddinott – Landscape photographer, wildlife photographer, author, tutor, conservationist
Tracy Marshall-Grant – Arts Director, curator and producer
Denise Maxwell – Multi-genre photographer and lecturer
Carolyn Mendelsohn – Artist and portrait photographer
Paul Sanders – fine art photographer
Jemella Ukaegbu – Photographer & founder of UK Black Female Photographers (UKBFTOG)
Christina Vaughan – Founder of Cultura Creative, the home of inclusive stock photography

Follow the link to find out more about the CJPOTY judges.

About MPB

Founded by Matt Barker in 2011, MPB is the world’s largest platform for used photography and videography kit. MPB has transformed the way people buy, sell and trade equipment, making photography more accessible, affordable and sustainable.

Headquartered in the creative communities of Brighton, Brooklyn and Berlin, the MPB team includes trained camera experts and seasoned photographers and videographers who bring their passion to work every day to deliver outstanding service. Every piece of kit is inspected carefully by product specialists and comes with a six-month warranty to give customers peace of mind that buying used doesn’t mean sacrificing reliability.

Free, Must-Attend Event Offers Opportunities for Hands-on Interaction with the Latest Camera and Lens Gear and Much More

VALHALLA, N.Y., July 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — In recognition of World Photography Day on Saturday, August 19, 2023, FUJIFILM North America Corporation presents Create With Us, an immersive celebration of visual arts at Seattle’s iconic Fremont Studios. A free, must-attend hands-on event for anyone interested in photography, cinematography, or the arts, Create With Us will be a curated, dynamic public event that will showcase the power of image and video making from an emerging generation of image makers and content creators.

The one-day event will offer a variety of opportunities for creators to obtain both educational experience through workshops and demos, and hands-on time with Fujifilm digital camera and lens gear (including local photowalks led by professional photographer members of the FUJIFILM Creators program), and creative, hands-on experience in photo and video bays. The event will feature a full video studio setup that will provide participants with an opportunity to try cameras and lenses from Fujifilm’s X Series and GFX System product lines, as well as the FUJINON series of cinema and broadcast lenses. Tours of an on-site broadcast truck will also be offered. Noted Emmy Award-winning cinematographer, M. David Mullen, ASC, will also be onsite, presenting on his work as Director of Photography for the award-winning show “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

“Create With Us is an opportunity for creatives to connect, collaborate, learn, and, most importantly, build community,” said Victor Ha, vice president, FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Electronic Imaging and Optical Devices Divisions. “Through a variety of experiential activities, Create With Us will totally immerse attendees in creative workflows, from acquisition to output and provide them with a complete picture of the tools they will need on their creative journey. This event will be a great way for creatives of all levels and backgrounds to connect with each other in a meaningful way.”

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Free Fujifilm clean and check services will also be available onsite at the event (for Fujifilm branded gear), as well as loaner gear for creators to try out the latest FUJIFILM X Series and GFX System cameras and lenses. A variety of networking events will occur onsite for creators to make new connections and strengthen current ones.

Local photo retailers Glazer’s and Kenmore Camera will be represented onsite at the Create With Us event to answer questions about the latest Fujifilm camera and lens gear. Also onsite will be representatives from a variety of companies that collaborate with Fujifilm on hardware, software, and accessories that enhance the creative process for users. These technology collaborators include:

Anton/Bauer
Atlas Lens Co.
Atomos
Benro
Broncolor
Elinchrom
Frame.io, an Adobe company
Litepanels
Manfrotto
Mylio
Nanlite
OConnor
Sachtler
Saramonic
SmallHD
Teradek
Tilta
Wooden Camera

“Create With Us will be part hands-on creation, part education, and part exhibition — a meeting of the minds for the image-making community, or anyone interested in the art of visual storytelling,” said Ha. “You do not have to be a Fujifilm user to attend – we welcome anyone interested in content creation to come by and Create With Us!”

Create With Us will be open from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. PST on Saturday, August 19, 2023, at Fremont Studios, 155 N. 35th St., Seattle. The event is free and open to the public; occupancy limits may apply. Advance registration is strongly recommended to save time at entry. To learn more about the event and to register to attend, visit https://fujifilm-x.com/en-us/cwu-seattle-2023/.

About Fujifilm
FUJIFILM North America Corporation, a marketing subsidiary of FUJIFILM Holdings America Corporation, consists of five operating divisions and one subsidiary company. The Imaging Division provides consumer and commercial photographic products and services, including: photographic paper; digital printing equipment, along with service and support; personalized photo products; film; one-time-use cameras; and the popular INSTAX^® line of instant cameras and accessories. The Electronic Imaging Division markets consumer digital cameras, lenses, and content creation solutions, and the Graphic Communication Division supplies products and services to the graphic printing industry. The Optical Devices Division provides optical lenses for the broadcast, cinematography, closed circuit television, videography, and industrial markets, and also markets binoculars and other optical imaging solutions. The Industrial and Corporate New Business Development Division delivers new products derived from Fujifilm’s technologies. FUJIFILM Canada Inc. sells and markets a range of FUJIFILM products and services in Canada.

For more information, please visit https://www.fujifilm.com/us/en/about/region, go to www.twitter.com/fujifilmus to follow Fujifilm on Twitter, or go to www.facebook.com/FujifilmNorthAmerica to Like Fujifilm on Facebook.

FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Tokyo, leverages its depth of knowledge and proprietary core technologies to deliver “Value from Innovation” in our products and services in the business segments of healthcare, materials, business innovation, and imaging. Our relentless pursuit of innovation is focused on providing social value and enhancing the lives of people worldwide. Fujifilm is committed to responsible environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information about Fujifilm’s Sustainable Value Plan 2030, click here. For the year ended March 31, 2023, the company had global revenues of approximately 2.9 trillion yen (21 billion USD at an exchange rate of 134 yen/dollar). For more information, please visit: www.fujifilmholdings.com.

FUJIFILM, FUJINON and INSTAX are trademarks of FUJIFILM Corporation and its affiliates.

© 2023 FUJIFILM North America Corporation and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

CONTACT: Daniel Carpenter FUJIFILM Holdings America Corporation 9145292417 [email protected]

SIRUI has just announced the addition of the Venus 150mm 1.6x Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens to it’s range of cinematic lenses. Packed with cutting-edge features and exceptional versatility, this lens promises to take visual storytelling to new heights. What’s more this lens isn’t just for cinematography if you’re a photographer and wanting to capture the filmic look then this lens also makes an ideal choice. Of course, the main interest will be for videographers looking for the unique look that can be captured using an anamorphic lens. This latest addition adds to the range of other SIRUI 1.6x lenses.

Check out the full Sirui Venus 150mm 1.6x Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens review

Unleashing the Power of Anamorphic

The Venus 150mm is designed specifically for full-frame (E/RF/Z/L mount) cameras, offering a supplement to 1.6x lenses and a horizontal equivalent of 94mm. It stands out as the budget-friendly anamorphic lens with the longest focal length in the market. Anamorphic lenses are renowned for their unique characteristics, including the signature blue lens flares, stretched oval bokeh, and the cinematic 2.39:1 or 2.40:1 aspect ratios.

Creativity Unbound: Focus and Field of View

With the Venus 150mm, photographers and videographers can achieve a minimal focus distance of just 0.58m, allowing for captivating close-up scenes with shallow depth of field and stunning subject isolation. This lens excels in capturing emotions and focused key scenes with an intimate perspective. The long-distance view capability makes it ideal for shooting subjects far away, such as wildlife, sports, or distant landscapes.

Picture-Perfect Rendering

The Venus 150mm delivers an anamorphic 2.84:1 de-squeezed format in 16:9 and an anamorphic 2.4:1 de-squeezed format in 3:2, providing filmmakers with the widescreen cinematic look they crave. The lens can be further enhanced by attaching the SIRUI 1.25x adapter, achieving a 2x squeeze for even more dynamic visuals. The result is a natural and stunning image quality with minimal chromatic aberration, ensuring the finest details are faithfully rendered.

A Versatile Tool for Visual Artists

The Venus 150mm is an essential tool for a wide range of creative applications. Its capabilities make it perfect for portrait photography, capturing intricate details, close-up shots, and adding an artistic touch to various subjects. Whether you’re capturing a heartfelt portrait, a close-up of nature’s beauty, or a striking wildlife scene, this lens elevates your imagery to a new level of visual storytelling.

Perfectly Complemented Cameras

Compatible with top-of-the-line cameras from various brands, the Venus 150mm is a versatile partner for visual artists. Among the suitable cameras are Sony’s Fx3, Fx6, Fx9, and A7s3 with E mount, Canon’s C70 and RED’s KOMODO X with RF mount, Panasonic’s S5ii and S5iiX with L mount, and Nikon’s Z8 and Z9 with Z mount. The lens complements the capabilities of these cameras, enhancing their potential to capture breathtaking visuals.

Early Bird Prices and Availability for the SIRUI 150mm T2.9 1.6X Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens

Photography and video enthusiasts can take advantage of the special early bird prices to bring the Venus 150mm lens into their creative arsenal. The Super Early Bird Price offers a tempting 20% off, making it $1,199 for the first 20 purchasers. Following that, the Early Bird Price still provides a generous 15% discount, bringing the lens to $1,274 per unit. Both offers are available until August 31st.

An Essential Addition to Any Creatives Toolkit

The SIRUI Venus 150mm 1.6x Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens is a game-changer in the world of visual storytelling. Its ability to capture emotion, focus, and intricate details, coupled with the signature anamorphic characteristics, makes it an essential addition to any photographer or videographer’s toolkit.

For more information and to pre-order the Venus 150mm lens, visit the official website.

Specifications of the SIRUI 150mm T2.9 1.6X Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens

• Model: SIRUI 150mm T2.9 1.6X Full-Frame Anamorphic Lens
• Focal Length: 150mm
• Maximum Aperture: T2.9
• Minimum Aperture: T16
• Lens Structure: 16 Elements in 11 Groups
• Aperture Blades: 16
• Frame: Full Frame
• Shooting Distance: 1.9ft (0.58m) – ∞
• Focus Method: Manual Focus
• Maximum Magnification: 1:4.16 (H), 1:2.61 (V)
• Shooting Area at Minimum Focusing Distance: 150mm (H) * 62.6mm (V)
• Filter Spec: M82×0.75
• Rotation Angle of the Focus Ring: 153°
• Maximum Diameter: 88mm/3.46inch
• Diameter of the Focus Ring: 88mm/3.46inch
• Length (Lens Cap Not Included):
• E Mount: 180mm/7.09inch
• L Mount: 178mm/7.01inch
• RF Mount: 178mm/7.01inch
• Z Mount: 182mm/7.17inch
• Weight (Lens Cap Not Included):
• E Mount: 1390g/3.06lbs
• L Mount: 1385g/3.05lbs
• RF Mount: 1396g/3.08lbs
• Z Mount: 1404g/3.09lbs

Photographing birds is a skill I work on but never perfect.

Last week a pair of birding misadventures made that abundantly clear. The hot weather settled in and a slow news day gave a rare morning to experiment.

There is a hummingbird feeder in our front yard that provides endless entertainment and a literal bird’s eye view from the bedroom. So loaded down with technology I set out to use everything in the photo tool box to get a great image of the fast-moving tiny birds. I uncrated the wonderful but extremely heavy giant old Nikon telephoto lens and set it up on the front stoop, slightly shielded from the feeder’s view. Next, a flash was needed to light up the foreground, which was backlit. The short flash duration I thought would also help stop the bird’s wing in flight. Once the camera position was set, I locked it down on a tripod, rigged a remote trigger to the flash and a second remote to fire the camera via a cellphone. The flash position was moved several times and finally had to be brought under the porch overhang as it kept overheating in the sun.

Now the best part, I could sit in the air-conditioned bedroom and fire the camera remotely when a bird arrived, and several subjects soon appeared. This was too easy. Going out to check on the first images, there was a bird, but only the feeder was in focus and the 1/500 of a second shutter did not stop its wing motion.

It was time to retool.

First, I bumped up the shutter speed to 1/4000. Next, it was time to abandon the air-conditioned inside. I needed to be on camera and manually focus when the bird came to feed as the depth of focus was only about two inches. The long hot waiting game began. It took about an hour but a couple of images worked, even at such a high shutter speed there is still a bit of wing blur. Noontime approached, the light got bad and it was lunchtime, so it was a wrap.

That evening there was breaking bird news, a mountain plover was drawing big crowds at Long Beach in Centerville to see a bird usually found in the western great plains of the U.S.

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Early the next morning the jumbo lens was back in action as I headed out down the beach. Thankfully I met a pair of seasoned birders heading home; they had walked the entire area, three miles their GPS said, and no sign of the newest plover on Cape.

Talking with a beachgoer in the parking she spoke the words we dread, “You should have been here yesterday.” She told me how the plover had spent a lot of time wandering around in front of her beach towel. Well, maybe next time, but enough birding for one week.

Steve Heaslip is a Times staff photographer. Contact him at [email protected].

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription.  Here are our subscription plans.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Photo Shoot: Misadventures in bird photography

LITTLE FALLS — Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts, 403 Canal Place, will celebrate the skills and achievements of local photographers with its first Regional Photography Exhibition in August, with an opening ceremony from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 5.

The exhibition juror will be Gary Larsen, an award-winning photographer with more than 30 years of experience.

Since 1982, the Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts has been a strong advocate for the arts in upstate New York, nurturing and supporting regional artists by promoting, displaying and selling their work, along with developing art appreciation and educational programs, the program announcement said, adding the MVCA has recognized the importance of providing an opportunity for photography to be recognized and appreciated as its own place in art.

The Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts is open from noon to 4 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Call 315-823-0808 for information or to make an appointment.

For additional information on the photography show, email [email protected].

Apple’s MacBook Air ultrathin laptops are primarily designed for lightweight office and school work on the go. But as Apple’s own M-series processors have become more capable, so too have the MacBooks they’re in. I’m a professional photographer, and I’ve spent the past couple of months with the latest 15-inch M2-equipped MacBook Air, putting it through its paces on photo shoots, both in the studio and on location. I’m impressed. 

For me, its 15-inch display is the perfect balance between size and portability. It’s big enough to comfortably edit photos in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop without needing a bigger monitor. It offers plenty of screen space for all my tools, as well as providing ample room for video timelines when working with video in Premiere, away from my desk. 

But the narrow display bezel and the laptop’s 11.5mm thickness means it’ll still slip into the laptop pouch of even my smaller camera backpacks. Sure, it isn’t the lightest Air ever made, but its 1.5kg weight is an acceptable addition for my spine to cope with when I’m out on shoots. Though it feels every bit as well put together as most of Apple’s gear, I do worry that the nice, deep, dusky blue of my test model could easily get scratched and scuffed over months or years of photoshoots. Still, I managed to avoid any major blemishes during my time with it.

With Apple’s M2 chip and 16GB of RAM, my test model was extremely capable for most uses. It handled all my photo editing in Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, importing 1,000-plus batches of raw photos from my CFExpress cards extremely quickly and showing zero slowdowns as I navigated the library and batch-applied editing presets. For my work on location, this has been a real treat, being able to quickly back up my files after a shoot before I hit the road. 

Watch this: 15-Inch MacBook Air Review: Way Cheaper Than a Pro

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But I increasingly work in video and still imagery, both for CNET and on my own YouTube channel, and I found the Air capable of blitzing my edits in Premiere and DaVinci Resolve. I edited multiple 4K videos for my channel on this Air and imported my test Premiere project that utilized high bitrate, 4K C-Log video files, with effects and stabilization applied to many clips. I could scrub through and play back the project at full resolution without any issues, and export the final 4K file in a little over nine minutes — not bad, considering that the M2 Pro-equipped Mac Mini I tested recently did it in a little over seven. 

Overall I found it to be an extremely swift machine, easily handling any of my professional editing needs for photos and 4K video production. Then there’s the battery life, which I found to be solid, barely dropping while importing and culling photos and generally allowing me to work on it without even needing to consider whether I’d get through my edits before needing to find a plug. And I haven’t even mentioned that it does all this with no fans whirring while I work. 

So, it’s perfect? Well, no, and let’s address the elephant in the room: price. The 15-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,299, but that’s with only 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and if you’re using it for photo and video editing, you’ll blow through that in no time (the cards I use in my camera are 2TB). Opting for more RAM and storage always means a big jump in price for Apple devices. My choice, if I were buying one, would be the model with the max 24GB of RAM and 1TB storage, but that brings the cost just north of $2,000. My review model comes in at $1,499.

But that’s still cheaper than the base 14-inch MacBook Pro and a lot cheaper than the base 16-inch Pro, so I do think the Air represents relatively decent value here. Would I choose a Pro model instead? If money were no object, then sure, I’d maybe go for the 14-inch Pro with M2 Max chip, 64GB RAM and 2TB storage, and I’d laugh about the $4,000 price tag while I drove off into the sunset in my new Lambo.

But here in the real world, I’d need to think about what I actually need and how much that’s worth. I work out and about a lot, frequently editing in cars, trains, cafes or maybe just from my bed when I can’t be bothered getting up and sitting at my desk. Traveling light is crucial to my workflow. The 15-inch Air is ideal for this, and it’s more than powerful enough to plow through my photo and video edits without breaking a sweat. And against the lofty prices of the Pro line, even the $2,000 for the 24GB, 1TB configuration I’d recommend seems reasonable. 

Oh, and sure, the latest Pro models have SD card slots to appease creatives. But those slots returned just as I — and no doubt many other pro shooters — upgraded all SD cards to faster CFExpress cards. Having that slot would simply be a redundant hole I’d rarely need, and I’d still need to carry a dongle.

For power video creators, editing feature films with huge numbers of 8K video tracks, effects and whatnot, then no, the MacBook Air isn’t going to cut it, at least not for full-time use. But professional photographers like myself who work largely in stills, with a bit of video production on the side — perhaps wedding photographers or event shooters who also want to offer video packages to their clients — will be well catered for with the 15-inch MacBook Air. 

Fairgoers headed to New York City’s Javits Center this fall to visit the Armory Show should plan to also attend Photofairs New York, the city’s newest art fair focused on photography. A sister event to Photofairs Shanghai, the inaugural U.S. edition will showcase photo-based and digital works.

Held concurrently with the Armory Show from September 8 to September 10 and hosted in the same location, Photofairs New York will feature exhibitors from more than 20 different cities around the world. Like Photofairs Shanghai, which debuted in 2014 and is Asia’s largest photography art fair, the contemporary photo show will be organized by events company Creo and its majority shareholder, Angus Montgomery Arts.

More than a third of Photofairs New York will be dedicated to solo exhibitions, as announced by the fair today (July 27). Highlights will include images exploring indigenization from Adama Delphine Fawundu and Ghanaian street photography by Caleb Kwarteng Prah. Nicole Wilson’s photographs capturing the process of ancient and contemporary tattoo practices will be included among the solo presentations, as will Maleonn’s tribute to Hieronymus Bosch’s 15th-century work The Garden of Earthly Delights.

A focus on digital artwork and the process of photography

The fair’s wide-ranging presentations offer “an expansive and forward-thinking view of photograph and image-making,” said Helen Toomer, director of Photofairs New York, in a statement. Several artists will showcase works focused on the process of image making, including a series from Rhiannon Adams consisting of large-scale Polaroid emulsion lifts on watercolor paper.

Explorations of digital media are another theme explored by Photofairs New York, which will include an exhibition by Postmasters Gallery featuring an artificial intelligence (A.I.)-assisted app from Damjanski and a sculpture by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy that utilizes cinematic footage created through an algorithm.

Special projects from Photofairs New York programming partners will include Fotografiska’s installation of Indigeneity and Futurism portraits from Cara Romero and art collective For Freedom’s collection of photography-based artwork. Beyond photos, attendees will see activations like an algorithm-controlled project from Daniel Rozin, presented by bitforms, and a video animation and soundscape commemorating an extinct pigeon species created by Sayler/Morris.

Partners like the Cultivist, Gagosian Quarterly and the International Center of Photography will support a Photofairs conversation series. And through its partnership with museum and hotel chain 21c, Photofairs New York will launch the inaugural 21c Acquisition Prize, with an exhibiting artist’s work joining the 21c collection. “We are excited about discovering visionary artists working in innovative photographic and digital media,” said Alice Gray Stites, director and chief curator at 21c, in a statement.

Embark on a visual journey with Canadian photographer Benjamin Von Wong as he shines a spotlight on critical environmental issues affecting our planet. More than just an artist, Von Wong is a photographer-activist who uses his craft to convey important messages to the world.

Initially known for his complex and awe-inspiring shots taken on building walls and in breathtaking underwater settings, Von Wong’s work has evolved to make a lasting impact. Beyond creating stunning art pieces, his photography now serves as a vehicle to raise awareness about pressing global concerns.

In an effort to share his creative process and connect with his audience on a deeper level, Benjamin Von Wong goes beyond showcasing the final photographs on social media. He generously unveils behind-the-scenes shots, offering a glimpse into the backstage of his awe-inspiring photoshoots.

Join us as we dive into the world of Benjamin Von Wong, where art, activism, and passion for the planet converge in a powerful and inspiring way. Experience the artistry and the messages that lie within each frame, inviting us all to think, feel, and act for a better future.

Scroll down and inspire yourself. Please check Ben’s Instagram for more amazing work.

You can find Benjamin Von Wong on the web:

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Discover the World through the Lens of Benjamin Von Wong: A Photographer-Activist with a Purpose

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