Google Pixel 8 series camera features revealed in leaked video
Technology
September 23, 2023 | 07:53 pm 2 min read
The Pixel 8 series will be up for pre-orders in India starting October 5 (Photo credit: Google)
Google’s upcoming Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones have been the subject of numerous leaks ahead of their launch.
While we are familiar with every major highlight, a leaked promo video provided to 91mobiles by tipster Kamila Wojciechowska uncovers the new camera features of the Pixel 8 series.
These include Real Tone, Night Sight, Astrophotography, Super Res Zoom, Magic Editor, and more.
There will be some Pro controls for Pixel 8 Pro
The Pixel 8 series would come with several camera improvements. The promo video gives us a breakdown of the camera features, which allow users to fine-tune their photography settings.
The Real Tone feature will aim to improve the accuracy of skin tones in photos. Night Sight will help in low-light photography, whereas Astrophotography will help capture stars, nearby galaxies, and other space objects in the night sky.
The video also highlights some Pro controls exclusive to the Pixel 8 Pro.
Take a look at the post
Super Res Zoom and Magic Editor to elevate camera capabilities
The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will feature Super Res Zoom for high-quality zoomed-in shots. The Pixel 8 will offer up to 8x zoom, while the Pixel 8 Pro will provide up to 30x zoom.
Additionally, the Magic Editor feature will allow users to swap faces in an image.
For videos, the phones will come with Video Boost, Night Sight for low-light videos, Audio Magic Eraser to reduce ambient background sounds, and improved skin tones.
Picture yourself examining an ostensibly mundane grain of sand, but now, delve deeper as it’s magnified 300 times, unveiling an astonishing universe within its minuscule dimensions. The mesmerizing intricacies, vivid hues, and intricate textures that materialize during this up-close odyssey will fill you with profound wonder for the hidden magnificence within the tiniest of spaces.
Plunge headlong into this captivating domain, where the boundless expanse of the internet condenses into moments of awe and enlightenment. Explore a curated selection of some of the most captivating marvels in the gallery below.
Scroll down and enjoy yourself. All photos are linked and lead to the sources from which they were taken. Please feel free to explore further works of these photographers on their collections or their personal sites.
#1 How A Zoo Feeds Their Baby Hornbills
Image source: Petr Hamernik, Zoo Praha
#2 Ex-World Champion Cyclist Janez Brajkovic Leg After A Race
Image source: janibrajkovic
#3 This Cat I Met Today Has Sauron’s Eyes
Image source: butterfly-the-dick
#4 Supercell In Wyoming, USA
Image source: CryptoExodus
#5 The Local Nursing Home Is An Indoor Town. There’s A Movie Theater And A Pub
Image source: ParzivalsQuest
#6 Customer Came In And Let Me Take A Picture Of Her Hands That Had 6 Fingers On Each
Image source: Designer_Drugz
#7 This Shower Formed Naturally Inside A Cave
Image source: Bandolerow
#8 This Is What Some Grains Of Sand Look Like When Magnified 100 To 300 Times
Image source: Gary Greenberg
#9 Translucent Blue Tang
Image source: beesbuzzlots
#10 An Extremely Rare Melanistic Serval
Image source: MrBonelessPizza24
#11 Saw A Snail Today While I Was Outside And Its Shell Is Crystal Clear
Image source: reddit.com
#12 Sun Through A UV Lens
Image source: Nathalia Alzate / SDO
#13 This Little Transparent Guy Landed On Me In The Ecuadorian Amazon
Image source: neighma
#14 A Blonde Squirrel On My Old Mail Route
Image source: hoobgooblin
#15 My Friend’s Blind Cat Soren Has Amazing Eyes
Image source: DemonreachDaycare
#16 This Purely Golden Bee Landed On My Car Today
Image source: EliteDangerous72
#17 Blue Bees Exist (Blue Carpenter Bee)
Image Source: Imgur
#18 The Baby Vest
Image source: natrasharomanova
#19 A Curly-Haired Horse
Image Source: Imgur
#20 The Blue Java Banana, Which Is Said To Have The Same Consistency As Ice Cream And A Similar Flavor To Vanilla
Image Source: Imgur
#21 A Purple Grasshopper Found In My Garden
Image source: prnlc
#22 Rocks On The Lake Baikal
Image source: Елена Вторушина
#23 This Bicolor Sunflower I Grew
Image source: VonClawde
#24 Time Lapse Photo Of A Beehive
Image source: King_Toad
#25 This Tulip Has A Leaf That Has Half Morphed Into A Petal
Image source: melvaer
#26 This Is What A “Split Lobster” Looks Like. This Coloring Occurs Once In Every 50 Million Lobsters
Image Source: Imgur
#27 One Of The Oldest Rocks In Existence, The Murchison Meteorite. It’s 4,600,000,000 Years Old, And Likely Existed Before The Earth Itself Had Completely Formed
Image source: bpoag
#28 There’s A 1 In 20,000 Chance Of An Albino Doe Giving Birth To An Albino Fawn. I Spotted Such A Pair On A Recent Camping Trip
Image source: lo-key-glass
#29 This Is A Music Typewriter: How Music Was Typed Before Computers
Image source: Mass1m01973
#30 This Mutated Daisy
Image source: SuperBlowball
#31 This Sea Slug, Which Looks Like A Leaf, Can Go Without Eating For 9 Months, Because It Can Photosynthesize Just Like A Plant While Basking In The Sun
Image source: Patrick J. Krug
#32 This Funky Little Ribbon Cloud Outside My Plane Window
Image source: LordofHares
#33 My Grandparents Clock Measures Time On A One Week Scale Instead Of A 12 Hour One
Image source: creezewe
#34 This Teal Cicada I Saw
Image source: Grass_Danimals
#35 This Blue Jay Still Has Half Of Its Baby Feathers
An annual nature photography competition that seeks to showcase the beauty of Malta and Gozo has whittled entries down to the top 15 photos.
The 15 winning entries to the 2023 edition of Wiki Loves Earth in Malta feature a variety of landscape, flora and fauna shots, all taken in Malta or Gozo in the past year.
Top picks were selected by Wikimedia Community Malta in collaboration with Friends of the Earth (Malta) from 463 entries submitted to the competition by 43 contestants.
They range froma stunning vista of clay slopes to an aerial shot of Comino, a macros shot of a tiny spider and an underwater photo of a Flying Gurnard.
Unlike in previous years, photos have been divided into two categories: one focused on landscapes and the other on details of local flora and fauna.
The top five landscape shots and top 10 flora/fauna shots will now be submitted to the global Wiki Loves Earth photo contest, where they will compete with similar images shortlisted across 50 countries from a total of 60,647 entries.
Aside from the image of clay slopes featuring at the top of this article, these are the other 14 Malta winners:
Landscape winners:
Ġebla tal-Ġeneral – Fungus Rock, Gozo. Photo: Terry Caselli Photography
Bird’s Eye View of Comino. Photo: Martin Galea De Giovanni
St. Paul’s Island. Photo: Christian Formosa
Wied il-Għasri, Gozo. Photo: Marika Caruana
Flora/fauna winners:
A Maltese wall lizard, Podarcis filfolensis Photo: Christian Formosa
Flying Gurnard – Rundunell (Dactylopterus volitans). Photo: Saviour Bonnici
Flower Beetle (Labidostomis taxicornis). Photo: Terry Caselli Photography
The competition is aimed at promoting and showcasing the best of India’s fast-growing astroimaging community.
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) looms in a predawn sky over the mountainous landscape of Ladakh, India. Credit: Goutam Dey/Soumyadeep Mukherjee
In space science, India is going from strength to strength, from the recent Moon landing of Chandrayaan-3 to the launch of the solar observing satellite Aditya-L1.
That growth also extends to the amateur community: In the past few years, the astroimaging scene in India has taken off — and the nation’s largest astrophotography contest reflects that. Entries are now open for the “Aperture: Indian Astrophotographer of the Year” (IAPY) contest, open to all Indian nationals.
The competition, now in its second year, is organized by Astronomads Bangla, a group of four astroimagers who met during the COVID-19 pandemic and have since hosted numerous workshops at dark-sky sites across India.
“Since the pandemic, India not only has seen a growth in quantity in the numbers of astrophotographers, but also in quality,” says group co-founder Soumyadeep Mukherjee. (Here at Astronomy, we can see that growth anecdotally, judging by the increase in submissions to our Reader Gallery inbox.) “Indian astrophotographers have been experimenting with all the different subgenres, especially in nightscape, deep-sky and planetary photography.”
The winners and shortlisted images will also be presented in an exhibition at the M. P. Birla Planetarium in Kolkata starting the first week of January 2024.
“This contest provides a platform to all the Indian astrophotographers, from vastly experienced people to the absolute newcomers,” says Mukerjee. “It is a platform to showcase their work to the world and in the process, inspiring people to take up this beautiful genre as a hobby. The contest is about making astrophotographers ‘think out of the box’ and supporting their talent.”
For more information and details on how to submit images, go to: https://astronomadsbangla.com/competition And look out for an article by Mukerjee on astroimaging in India in an upcoming issue of Astronomy.
(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Published: Sat 23 Sep 2023, 11:36 AM
Last updated: Sat 23 Sep 2023, 11:40 AM
The Abu Dhabi Police have said in a tweet on X that it will be conducting an exercise with partners today.
The authority asked residents to avoid approaching the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium as it will be carrying out the exercise there today.
In the tweet, the Police called on the public to avoid the area and to inform them to refrain from filming and photographing the area in the interest of public safety.
The exercise is being carried out to measure readiness and enhance response.
ALSO READ:
Look: Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed attends Saudi Arabia’s 93rd National Day reception
UAE: Police announce exercise, issue advisory to residents
MENAFN23092023000049011007ID1107125161
Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.
The 2023 Nature TTL Photographer of the Year competition has announced its victors, with a poignant image capturing the top spot. This year, the contest attracted over 8,000 entries from nature photographers worldwide, all vying for the coveted £1,500 cash prize.
Thomas Vijayan, hailing from Canada, emerged as the overall winner with his captivating photograph titled ‘Austfonna Ice Cap.’ This mesmerizing image showcases a waterfall formed as a result of rapid ice melt due to global warming. Vijayan’s stunning panoramic composition, created by stitching together 36 images, serves as an undeniable testament to the stark reality of climate change and its consequences on rising sea levels.
In another category, Lucy Monckton, representing the United Kingdom, was bestowed with the title of Young Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2023 for her compelling portrayal of a honey bee swarm in search of a new hive.
In total, photographers competed in 8 different competition categories celebrating the natural world: Animal Behaviour, Camera Traps, Landscapes, Small World, The Night Sky, Underwater, Urban Wildlife, and Wild Portraits.
Scroll down and inspire yourself, Check their website for more information.
You can find more info Nature TTL:
#1 Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2023 By Thomas Vijayan, Canada
Austfonna Ice Cap, the world’s third-largest, on Nordaustlandet Island in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, covers about 8,000 square kilometres. It is melting at alarming rates due to global warming and contributing to rising sea levels; a grave concern. I visited Austfonna Ice Cap and captured a striking image of a waterfall created by the melting ice. Although I had been here before, it was disheartening to see the sea ice had melted in June.
#2 Young Nature TTL Photographer of the Year 2023 By Lucy Monckton, United Kingdom
On a walk in Staffordshire, UK, I was alerted to the presence of this swarm by a loud buzzing sound. I cautiously walked into the centre of the swarm, where thousands of bees were crawling over a branch. It was important to remain calm, so while I was apprehensive about having hundreds of bees crawling over me, their well-being was my priority. Relocation is a natural process that occurs when a colony becomes too big for its home; the queen leaves with a few of the bees to find another home.
#3 Wild Portraits – Winner By Simon Biddie, United Kingdom
Compared to their female counterparts, male California sea lions are larger, have thicker necks, and possess a protruding, grey sagittal crest. During mating seasons, the males become territorial and protect their harem of up to 30 females. This male allowed us to stay with the group for a long period and was more curious about us than territorial. The sea lions in this area have expanded in number compared to other colonies in Mexico. This is thanks to the protection offered by being a UNESCO World Heritage site and a National Marine Park, where the no-take zone protects the entire food chain, providing a rich food source for the sea lions.
#4 Wild Portraits – Runner Up By Robert Gloeckner, USA
#5 Wild Portraits – Highly Commended By Julie Grohs
#6 Wild Portraits – Highly Commended By Simon Jenkins
#7 Animal Behaviour – Winner By Florian Ledoux, France
We witnessed a polar bear’s patience during a sleepy hunt on the ice in Svalbard’s frozen expanse. This male polar bear stalked seals at their breathing holes. After they evaded him, he opted to rest, vigilant and patient. As we endured the long Arctic day of 24 hours without sleeping, we eventually retreated, in awe of his resilience. In this Arctic symphony of survival, the polar bear’s unwavering determination left an indelible mark on our souls.
#8 Animal Behaviour – Runner Up By Jane Hope, United Kingdom
#9 Animal Behaviour – Highly Commended By Amish Chhagan
#10 Animal Behaviour – Highly Commended By Paul Lennart Schmid
#11 Camera Traps – Winner By Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar, Mexico
This jaguar had been seen before, so I decided to place a camera trap in a broken wall that led to the jungle. I placed one of the flashes strategically to get the jaguar’s shadow reflected on the wall behind. Poaching, deforestation, and habitat fragmentation have caused an increase in interactions with humans, and most of the time, it doesn’t end well for these cats.
#12 Camera Traps – Runner Up By Igor Mikula, Slovakia
#13 Camera Traps – Highly Commended By Tibor Litauszki
#14 Camera Traps – Highly Commended By Florian Smit
#15 Landscapes – Winner By Thomas Vijayan, Canada
#16 Landscapes – Runner Up By Florian Smit, Germany
Using a drone to gain a unique perspective, I captured this image of a trickle from the Rio Tinto River in Spain.
#17 Landscapes – Highly Commended By Justin Minns
#18 Landscapes – Highly Commended By Bernhard Schubert
#19 Small World – Winner By Florian Smit, Germany
This image was captured in Rondane National Park in Norway. It shows a dead moth lying on the surface of a bacterial film. As I looked through the viewfinder, it looked like a painting to me.
#20 Small World – Runner Up By Yicai Chang, Australia
#21 Small World – Highly Commended By Andrew Neal
#22 Small World – Highly Commended By Bernhard Schubert
#23 Underwater – Winner By Rowan Dear, United Kingdom
Over the last few years, I have witnessed a large gathering of Jelly Blubber in Sydney around March to April when the wind and currents are right to bring them from further up North. This year, we had 2-3 times more than I had ever seen. One area had a large condensed gathering, which extended down by around 5m deep. From the surface, shooting downwards, it was great to get a real depth perception of how many there were and create this alien-like environment.
#24 Underwater – Runner Up By Andy Schmid, Switzerland
#25 Underwater – Highly Commended By Mike Korostelev
#26 Underwater – Highly Commended By Talia Greis
#27 The Night Sky – Winner By Bence Mate, Hungary
I keep searching for new perspectives on photographing wildlife. This picture was taken with a remote-controlled camera placed into a fish tank. It was lucky that the wild boar stayed unmoved for the moment the picture was taken. In Hungary, where this composition was captured, the Milky Way is very rarely low enough in the sky to touch the horizon, and this phenomenon occurs only for a few days in the month of August.
#28 The Night Sky – Runner Up By Josselin Cornou, France
#29 The Night Sky – Highly Commended By Josselin Cornou
#30 Urban Wildlife – Winner By Florian Smit, Germany
This image shows a brown rat in an abandoned house captured back in 2018. I used three flashes to illuminate the scene, and used a PIR motion sensor to trigger the camera.
#31 Urban Wildlife – Runner Up By Simone Baumeister, Germany
#32 Urban Wildlife – Highly Commended By Jan Piecha
#33 Urban Wildlife – Highly Commended By Antonio Aguilera Galisteo
The circle of life, Highly Commended, Conservation – Hope category: An endangered green sea turtle … [+] hatchling follows the path of an adult turtle after laying her eggs. Wilson Island, Australia
Photo: Ross Long – Ocean Photographer of the Year
From thousands of drone, underwater and coastal images submitted by the world’s best ocean photographers, Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023 has announced the overall and the different category winners of its prestigious awards.
The Ocean Photographer of the Year has a simple mission: to shine a light on the beauty of our oceans and the threats they face.
Marine biologist and amateur photographer Jialing Cai has been named Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023, with a stunning image (below) of a paper nautilus floating on a piece of ocean debris, photographed on a blackwater dive in the wake of a volcanic eruption in the Philippines.
MORE FROM FORBESBeauty Under The Sea: 24 Photos From The Finalists For Ocean Photographer Of The YearBy Cecilia Rodriguez
Cai was inspired to start shooting on blackwater dives after learning about “diel vertical migration,” when zooplankton moves from the deep ocean to the surface at night. “That hit me like lightning,” said Cai. “My professor was telling me the deep sea was within my reach, that it would come to me. That realization was mind-blowing. It’s why [I’ve become] so obsessed with blackwater photography.”
All the winning photos will be showcased at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, Australia, which opens to the public on November 17.
The overall winner, category winners and winning photos can be seen here.
Overall Winner and Runners-Up
Overall Winner Ocean Photographer of the Year.
Photo: Jialing Cai – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
A Paper Nautilus drifts at night on a piece of ocean debris, surrounded by heavy sediment (Philippines).
Runner-Up Ocean Photographer of the Year
Photo: Andrei Savin – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
Andrei Savin was named runner-up with his astonishing image of a crab sitting in the middle of a sea anemone as it sways in the ocean current (Philippines).
Third Place Winner Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
Photo: Alvaro Herrero López-Beltrán – Ocean Photographer Of The Year 2023
A distressing but thought-provoking image of a whale struggling on with its flukes severely damaged as a result of continued entanglement (Mexico).
Category Winners
Winner Adventure category
Photo: Todd Glaser – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
As a figure surfs North Shore’s famous Banzai Pipeline, a rainbow appears in O’ahu, Hawaii.
Third Place Adventure category
Photo: Franco Banfi – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
A scuba diver explores the underside of a gigantic iceberg in Tasiilaq, East Greenland. Only in springtime, when the hard winter slowly subsides, are the ice-cold waters suitable for divers who can dive around icebergs that float in crystal-clear water.
Winner Conservation – Hope category
Photo: Sylvie Ayer – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
A manatee enjoys the crystal-clear waters of Florida’s Homosassa River.
Second Place Conservation – Hope category
Photo: Jules Casey – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
Two pale octopuses sit on a pipe that forms part of an artificial reef built to attract octopuses and other marine life to this area of Australia.
Third Place Conservation – Hope category
Photo: Gabriel Barathieu – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
During low tide, a coral reef is perfectly mirrored on the surface at Mayotte Island, a French overseas region in the northern Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean.
Highly Commended Conservation – Hope category
Photo: Brandon Berry – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
The essence of Raja Ampat: Myriad colorful soft corals and schools of sweetlips in one frame at Indonesia’s Raja Ampat.
Highly Commended Conservation – Hope category
Photo: Nicolas Hahn – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
A batallion of mobula rays swim peacefully in the shallow waters of the Gulf of California in Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Winner Fine Art category
Photo: Jade Hoksbergen – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
A whale shark and its entourage of remoras is attracted by the bright lights of fishermen in The Maldives.
Second Place Fine Art category
Photo: Alex Postigo – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
The calm after the storm: After feeding on a baitball, almost diminishing it, a blue marlin swims through sparkling fish scales at Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Highly Commended Fine Art category
Photo: Andrei Savin – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
A porcelain crab sits atop a sea pen, its constant companion in the Philippines.
Winner Female Fifty Fathoms category
Photo: Merche Llobera – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
Chilean devil rays glide through the ocean off Costa Rica.
Winner Female Fifty Fathoms category
Photo: Merche Llobera – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
Humpback whales in the shallow water at Turks and Caicos Islands.
Winner Female Fifty Fathoms category
Photo: Merche Llobera – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
A cormorant dives beneath the surface to hunt in Mexican waters.
Winner Ocean Portfolio Award
Photo: Sirachai Arunrugstichai – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
A young gray reef shark is seen at the surface being hooked by an angler during the night in the open sea at Burma Bank, an offshore plateau in the Andaman Sea off the coast of Tanintharyi region, Myanmar.
Although shark fisheries are legally banned in Myanmar at the national level, the lack of enforcement at sea and trade regulation can barely prevent shark fishing or trade in shark products.
Second Place Ocean Portfolio Award category
Renee Capozzola – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
Half-and-half image of a shallow, healthy mangrove habitat containing numerous hard corals and fish and a local woman in a handmade canoe near Kavieng, Papua New Guinea.
Although the corals are plentiful and beautiful, they exhibit the beginnings of bleaching, which is a reminder of the urgent need not only to protect our oceans but also mitigate the factors contributing to climate change.
Third Place Ocean Portfolio Award category
Photo: Kat Zhou – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
A South Right Whale fin-slaps the surface at Argentina’s extraordinary Peninsula Valdez.
Winner Conservation – Impact category
Photo: Florian Ledoux – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
A polar bear cub contends with the fragility of melting ice in Svalbard, Norway.
The young polar bear yearling is playing in the water, testing the fresh ice to get out of the water and jumping back and forth with his sibling while their mother is resting nearby.
Second place Consrvation – Impact category, Freya the Walrus
Photo: Jeroen Hoekendijk – Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023
Framed by her unexpected surroundings, walrus Freya sits on a concrete pier in the harbor of Harlingen in the Netherlands.
Some scuba divers look for coral reefs, and others look for trash. In a Reddit post from the r/detrashed thread, some Texan good Samaritans took a dive in their local lake to pick up trash from the bottom.
Photo Credit: u/Millennialdad72 / Reddit
The original poster wrote, “We detrashed a lake in Texas! 4,000 pounds of beer bottles and beer cans. With about 30 scuba divers and 4 boats. Did it in about 4 hours.”
They also posted a photo of an impressive pile of trash bags being hauled out of the lake.
These good Samaritans are part of an informal network of people who “detrash” their local neighborhoods. Some people do it alone, and others bring in friends, families, and local organizations to clean up any mess. This litter clean-up is driven by the desire to take care of their neighborhood and surrounding natural areas.
Improperly disposed of trash can be an eyesore, but it can also cause harm to the environment.
Metal, plastic, and glass, when exposed to natural elements, have the potential to cause many problems for nature and humans. Metals may leach toxins, broken glass can cut an unsuspecting person or animal, and plastic won’t biodegrade in nature.
While the detrash movement doesn’t stop the source of litter, it does keep the trash from doing any more harm in nature. The best solution for litter is to stop it before it occurs, which can be achieved through education and the placement of proper waste receptacles.
The comment section was filled with praise for the Texas detrashers, saying, “We need more people like you.”
Another added, “Wow what an amazing effort, excellent job” to which the original poster replied, “Appreciate that! Unfortunately we hardly made a dent. There’s tons of it covered in silt. But it’s a start!”
The community of good Samaritans doesn’t end with the original poster and their clean-up boat crew. Many commenters shared similar stories. Dive clubs run similar coastal clean-ups, with a commenter saying, “Scuba cleanup is a lot of fun!”
Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more, waste less, and help yourself while helping the planet.
Monochrome is the new book from world renowned photographer Peter Dazeley, known professionally as Dazeley. As the title suggests, the book concentrates on black and white imagery, but more specifically platinum prints produced using the platinotype method developed by William Willis in 1876.
Dazeley’s images of plants, animals and flowers were produced by hand with the distinctive rich, luminous quality of platinum prints giving them great depth and warmth. Monochrome has been printed on high-quality paper with metallic inks to best show off the platinum qualities. Many of Dazeley’s platinum prints also combine the process with solarization. Also known as the Sabatier effect (after Armand Sabatier who worked with solarization in the late 19th century), the method was largely forgotten until the 1930s when Man Ray’s muse Lee Miller (an accomplished photographer in her own right) accidentally switched on a light whilst developing one of Man Ray’s films. The combination of solarization and the platinum printing process produces incredibly strong and distinctive imagery.
Dazeley is one of the world’s foremost advertising and fine-art photographers. Working with 31 Studios, the foremost specialist for Platinum printing in the UK, Dazeley produced his first book 21st Century Platinum (2003), which he likened to taking photography back to its origins. As a born and bred Londoner, he has also fulfilled his passion to record the history of London, in four highly successful books: Unseen London (2014), London Uncovered (2016), London Theatres (2017) and London Explored (2021). He is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and was awarded a British Empire Medal in the Queen’s 2017 New Year’s Honours list for services to photography and charity.
Monochrome will be released in October 2023 and is available to pre-order from:
A Fairfax County mother and education activist says that a school board candidate used her name and photo to pose online as a failed porn actress, according to a lawsuit filed last week.
The suit alleges that Fairfax School Board candidate Harry Jackson created an account on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the handle @pornobsessedffx and display name of “Stacy Bartell-Langton Only Fans,” referring to the media platform OnlyFans where subscribers pay for access to videos and photos. Fairfax mother Stacy Langton says the profile page, which featured her high school yearbook photo, defamed her by falsely describing her as a “failed actress from porn valley” in the bio.
Jackson declined to answer questions about the allegations and the lawsuit. He instead provided a statement to The Washington Post about his opponent’s positions.
The lawsuit is the latest controversy to dog Jackson’s candidacy, after an earlier appearance online in December with an alleged white-nationalist group and an incident in which he mocked a disabled child and then temporarily withdrew from the race. Although Jackson secured an endorsement from the local GOP chapter, some of his critics, including Langton, are conservatives. The unusual conflict on the right in Fairfax reflects the wild nature of education politics amid rising tensions in a nationwide culture war surrounding schools — one that sometimes scrambles party allegiances and can have little to do with education policy or what kids learn. Northern Virginia has often been at the center of those debates in recent years.
Langton, the plaintiff in last week’s suit, who speaks often at school board meetings and has opposed Jackson’s candidacy since last year, filed the lawsuit in Fairfax County Circuit Court on Sept. 14. Langton alleges in the suit that Jackson has also told people in-person that Langton is a porn actress.
She says that she has never been a porn actress.
Fairfax school board hopefuls apologize after laughing at student
In fact, Langton, a self-proclaimed “ultra-MAGA” voter, has spent significant time over the past three years challenging books she deems sexually explicit in school libraries, part of a rise in book challenges nationwide led in part by conservative parents. (Jackson also supports removing such books from middle school libraries.) Langton seeks $850,000 in damages for “reputational harm, mental anguish and emotional distress, shame, embarrassment, and humiliation.”
“Defendant made the defamatory statements with the intent of injuring Plaintiff’s reputation in her community and, specifically, to diminish her credibility in advocating about an issue that he has appropriated and made central to his own campaign for school board,” the lawsuit reads, referring to his platform on school library books.
“I can’t think of a worse thing to say about me,” Langton said in a news conference earlier this year, “given my fight against porn in schools.”
The suit also points out that Jackson posted screenshots online indicating he was signed in to the @pornobsessedffx X account, suggesting he had ownership of it.
Many education activists in the state’s largest school district have vocal social-media feeds, where they lob criticisms, critiques and concerns at one another. It was there that Jackson’s persona came under scrutiny.
Jackson dropped out of a school board race last year after a video showed him laughing at an autistic student singing the national anthem at a school board meeting. At the time, he offered an apology in a statement to The Post and said he was committed to supporting students with special needs.
Jackson did not answer questions about why he decided to rejoin the race for school board, but his website states that his goal is to restore “parental rights in education, transparency, trade and financial literacy, school safety, staff recruitment and retention, mental health, and a focus on core learning concepts.”
His critics have also drawn attention to an appearance in an online chat in December with members of the far-right group the Groypers, which the Anti-Defamation League identified as a white-nationalist group that holds antisemitic beliefs. Jackson joined a “Twitter Spaces” live conversation with a group of users who said they were Groypers. During the conversation, Jackson discussed his run for school board and said he was interested in learning more about what the group was about. In the nearly three-hour conversation, one member of the Groyper chat said they try to help people see that for “almost every degenerative quality of the progression of our nation, there is a Jewish element that’s in power.”
Jackson did not answer questions from The Post about his involvement in the conversation, but previously told WUSA9 in a statement that it was “a political spin story” and he does not agree with the views of the Groypers.
Jackson is running against incumbent, Melanie Meren, for the Hunter Mill District seat. School Board races in Virginia are nonpartisan, meaning there is no party affiliation or primary to nominate candidates. But the politicization of education policy in recent years has led political parties to endorse school board candidates regularly. Meren is endorsed by the local Democratic Party, and Jackson by the Republican.
Photo draws attention to Virginia school system’s use of seclusion
In a statement, Michael E. Ginsberg, GOP chairman of the local congressional district, did not address the claims that Jackson has posed online as Langton, but he defended the candidate: “Instead of dealing with these serious issues, a Twitter-obsessed activist, Stacy Langton, is spending her time focused on meaningless Twitter games that will do nothing to improve educational outcomes in Fairfax County. … Her complaints about Mr. Jackson’s Twitter activities are an unholy combination of projection, a personal animus against Mr. Jackson, and a desperate need for attention.”
During a Fairfax County Republican Committee meeting in May, party members voted to reconfirm Jackson’s endorsement after some voters — including Langton — raised their concerns about Jackson’s background. A small group of members spoke both in favor and against Jackson during the discussion about his endorsement before he took the stage to defend his campaign.
The party decided to maintain Jackson’s endorsement as the only Republican running to unseat Meren.
A father of three, Jackson is a co-founder of Coalition for TJ, the parent group that sued the school board over reforms to the admissions process at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. A federal district judge initially sided with the parents who argued that magnet school’s new admissions criteria discriminated against Asian American students. That decision was reversed earlier this year by an appellate court, and the case now awaits a ruling on an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Early voting in the school board race opened Friday.
