It was while taking a weekend trip to a college friend’s home that he first met Tierney… who juuuust so happened to be his friend’s… sister. Immediately, Tom was attracted to her. But he *also* knew this totally violated guy code – being into your friend’s sister, that is.
But after getting his friend’s stamp of approval to reach out to Tierney, he did. Their friendship formed, but as they both joke now “it was a SLOW burn.”
However, as time passed, their relationship grew… and grew… and grew. Into something more. Into something neither of them could deny. Through Tierney’s med school in Pittsburg and Tom’s ranger school in Anchorage, Alaska, they’ve made it work and found a way to balance school, responsibilities, and most importantly: time together. They’ve chosen each other through it all, no matter the obstacle, and I have no doubt that’s what makes them so strong as a couple now!
While visiting Tom in Savannah, they visited one of their favorite parks. It was there that Tom asked Tierney to be his wife… then surprised her by having their parents and her brother there afterwards to celebrate IN PERSON. <3
Tom & Tierney, I’m so excited and honored to be your wedding photographer and to have you two in front of my camera!! I can’t wait to document your day and am counting downnnn to May! For now, enjoy a few of my favorites from your engagement session!! Xo
For Photographers: Love creamy skintones & soft colors? Learn to edit light & airy here!
Hold on, isn’t Black Friday still weeks away? That’s what we thought. But Best Buy is claiming to have started its Black Friday sale almost a month early, and it has some massive TV deals. The biggest deal is the LG Class A2 48-inch OLED 4K smart TV for $1,299.99 $569.99 (opens in new tab) – a massive saving of $720.
We highly rate LG as a TV brand, and the OLED 4K display on this option offers super-rich colours and punchy contrast. The TV comes with built-in access to Netflix, Prime Video, the Apple TV app, Disney+, HBO Max and more than 300+ free LG Channels. WebOS 22 allows the customisation of separate accounts for family members, and you can easily search with voice control on the LG Magic Remote.
Want a larger or smaller screen? No problem because there are discounts on other sizes too. Just click through on the link below and select the size you’re after. See below for more options, or see our regular guide to the best TVs.
The best Best Buy TV early Black Friday TV deal in the US
Not found what you want? Here are some more deals on TVs wherever you are in the world…
One of the most common questions I get is “what portable power source do you use for astrophotography”. This is a hot topic in the astrophotography community, and there are many options to consider for powering your gear at night.
When deciding on an off-grid power station, you need to think about things like battery life, power output, power input charging, and the number and types of output ports. There is no one-size-fits-all option, as budget and weight come into play as you explore the higher-end options.
If you’ve ever browsed the Portable Power Stations on Amazon, you’ll know that there are literally hundreds of options to choose from. However, choosing the right one for your telescope and astrophotography purposes requires a slightly different approach.
Which portable power station is best for astrophotography in the field?
Whether charging via solar panels when you are off-grid is important to you, or you need a unit that can save your butt during a power outage – there is an option for you. If you enjoying comparing features and prices, selecting the best portable power station for your astrophotography needs is actually kind of fun.
In this article, I’ll describe my experiences using a premium portable power station, and provide a number of alternatives suggested by astrophotographers around the world.
Feel free to leave a comment describing the portable power station you use, to help create a complete resource for astrophotographers. Just like everything else in this hobby, there are many options to choose from at various price points.
The Need for a Portable Power Station
When taking pictures of space from the backyard, I plug into household AC power, but what about when I travel to a dark sky location? Milky Way photography with a DSLR and star tracker is one thing, but running a robust deep-sky imaging kit away from home is another.
There is a good chance, that if you’re an amateur astrophotographer, at some point you will need to invest in a quality portable power station. Something that can reliably power your astronomy telescope and accessories throughout the night.
Portable power stations are essential while camping.
Visual observers sometimes need power for a goto computerized mount and maybe a few dew heaters, but astrophotographers? We need to power anywhere from 3 to 17 devices (or more) and if even one of them fails, you can kiss your precious picture goodbye.
Thankfully, today’s portable power stations are equipped with many output ports, including dedicated AC and DC ports and multiple USB types. Some of them even include integrated wireless charging areas to charge your phone.
Here are some of the potential devices you will need to power on your astrophotography setup:
Powered Devices for Astrophotography
In the following video, I provide an overview and real-world experiences using the brand new Anker 757 Portable Power Station. Anker asked that I provide an “astrophotographer’s perspective” of their new mobile power station.
This is a great option to consider if you need a serious power station that can handle a wide variety of devices. If you are running a simple setup in the field, this type of portable power may be overkill for your astrophotography needs.
This large 1500W power station can power a robust setup for multiple nights.
Portable Power Station vs. a DIY Solution
The Anker 757 Portable Power Station is a fantastic unit, capable of powering several devices for an extended period of time. However, many amateur astrophotographers believe that it is more cost-effective to just “build your own” DIY power supply using a deep cycle marine battery.
There are some serious cost savings if you take this route, and there are many great how-to tutorials available online to build one. To build one you will need:
A sealed deep cycle marine batteries
DC to AC power inverter
Smart Charger/Maintainer
Inverter Cable
Unfortunately for me, I have not had much luck with a DIY deep cycle marine battery unit (yes, I built one several years ago). My poor experience taking this route is likely due to the fact that I have zero experience in the field of electrical or mechanical engineering. It seems that I am the exception in the astrophotography crowd.
As I mentioned in the video, bulletproof reliability is critical to me, and I am willing to pay a little extra for it. The all-in-one package that Anker has created is impressive and is a smart option for anyone willing to pay the added cost.
Here is an example of someone who built their own portable power station using a mix of components. If you’re up to the task of taking on projects like this, you can really save some money. Again, this is beyond my personal skill set, but it’s an option.
Video: How to Make a Portable Power Station
A Portable Power Station for your Telescope
To me, the most important feature of a portable power station for astrophotography is reliability. It also has to have enough power to go at least an entire night (or 2) before needing to be charged.
It also needs to have enough output ports for all of the astrophotography accessories I need to plug in from USB-powered dew-heaters to my laptop charger.
If the portable power station is not up to the task of providing a constant source of power to my rig for an entire night without interruption, it’s useless to me. Even a brief outage means I lose the connection to my telescope mount, the autoguiding goes nuts, and I squander a precious clear sky.
I’d rather run a 200-foot extension cord than risk a battery that flickers in and out. I’ve had this happen before, and it’s absolutely infuriating. The good news is, that most of the astrophotography gear we all use does not consume a lot of power, with a few exceptions of course.
Anker 757 PowerHouse
I tested Anker’s flagship 1500 Watt power station to run my deep-sky astrophotography rig, the 757 PowerHouse. It’s pretty heavy (44 pounds), but the built-in handles make it a lot more manageable.
The 757 uses premium LFP (LiFePO4) batteries, and it can charge from 0% to 80% in about an hour. It’s a slick package made with an automotive-grade aluminum frame. It’s vibration and temperature resistant, and here’s an important one, it’s silent.
The Anker 757 PowerHouse is a 1500W (1228Wh) power station with LPF (LiFeP04) batteries and 13 ports to connect various devices.
There are 13 ports in total to power everything you need for your astrophotography imaging rig. There is 1 “car-socket style” DC port which you might use for your computerized telescope mount.
I still use a DC connection for my Sky-Watcher EQ-6 Pro equatorial mount, so I was pleased to see it there. The rest of my astrophotography equipment is powered by the AC and USB outputs on the power station.
I like to plug in things like a 12V 4A power supply for my ASIAIR Plus, or Celestron NexStar 8SE into the AC output ports. The USB-A ports are perfect for my USB-powered dew heater bands, although you’ll need to make sure that you have long cords to reach the power station from the objective of the telescope.
Those of you with laptops, cooled dedicated astronomy cameras, and autofocusers will have more than enough power to play with for about 2 straight nights (depending on usage and temperature).
When running an advanced astrophotography setup including my Sky-Watcher EQ8-R Pro mount, cooled camera, and dew heaters, the 757 PowerHouse had 45% power left after 1 full night.
One thing I should note – if you’re using the power station to power your rig, do not use “power-saving mode”. This is designed to turn off when your device is fully charged, which is not applicable when powering your equatorial mount for an entire night.
AC Output (Bypass Mode): 100-120V~ 12A Max, 50Hz/60Hz, 1440W Max
AC Output (Inverter Mode): 110V~ 13.64A, 50Hz/60Hz, 1500W Max
USB-A Output: 5V⎓2.4A ( 2.4A Max Per Port )
Car Charger Output: 12V⎓10A
Discharging Temperature: -4°F-104°F / -20°C-40°C
Charging Temperature: 32°F-104°F / 0°C-40°C
The light bar is handy to have when you’re off-grid, and I am happy to see that it is a warm color temperature and that it is soft. A lot of the lights on portable battery packs use hyper-white, blinding LEDs. This one is a warm, orange color.
However, I wish that there was a red light option to protect your night vision even better. I also wish that clicking the display button for a second time (when it’s on) turned it off, but it doesn’t. So, you may want to cover this up with tape if you are at a star party or a gathering where any amount of light needs to be shielded.
The manual states that the operating temperatures should be between 32 and 100 Fahrenheit – or 0 – 40 Celsius. That definitely puts a limit on the times of year you can use this power station, and it’s something to consider.
I use a portable power station to run my Celestron NexStar 8SE while camping.
Smaller Options for Astrophotography
Jackery Explorer 500
If you’re on a budget and prefer to keep your power station light and portable, the Jackery Explorer 500 Portable Power Station is a great option to consider. This power station weighs just 13 pounds and is one of the lightest and most portable rechargeable lithium battery generators on the market.
Jackery Explorer 500
The Jackery Explorer 500 has a 518 watt-hour (24Ah, 21.6V) lithium-ion battery pack and a pure sine wave inverter. It includes 1 AC outlet, 3 USB-A ports, 2 DC ports, and 1 car socket. Jackery also offers a smaller version with less wattage (Explorer 240) for maximum portability.
Bluetti EB3A Solar Generator
The Bluetti EB3A is another portable power station to consider. This one only weighs 10 pounds, yet it has a 268.8Wh capacity and features an impressive 9 output ports. This unit was named the “Best value portable power station” on CNET’s list of Best Portable Power Stations.
This power station can be charged using the optional Bluetti solar panel, and even has a dedicated mobile app to monitor battery levels and output information. The Bluetti EB3A is an impressive unit that I hope to experience firsthand in the future.
Bluetti EB3A
If you need a lot of power, have a look at the Bluetti AC200P. This monster weighs 60 pounds and offers a whopping 2000 watts of power!
Togo Power Advance 350
The Togo Power Advance 350 was specifically designed for charging laptops, mini-cooler, drone, and other outdoor electronics. With 330W, it has more than enough power to handle running your astronomy gear for an entire night.
The AC pure Sine Wave outputs will provide clean power to your devices. It features 8 output ports in total, including 2 handy 12V 10A DC ports for powering your astrophotography devices like the ZWO ASIAIR, and/or dedicated astronomy camera.
This unit can be charged using a solar panel in about 5-8 hours on the road, and also features a 10w wireless charging area for your smartphone.
Togo Power Advance 350
Final Thoughts
There have never been so many great portable power stations available to choose from. The price, wattage, and the number of ports on these units vary widely. The Anker 757 PowerHouse is an excellent choice, in my opinion, if you’re willing to pay extra for a heavy-duty power station.
The car battery booster-style packs I purchased from the hardware store in the past, were a huge letdown. All of them would hold less and less of a charge over time, and would unexpectedly shut off in the middle of an imaging session. Thankfully, portable power stations have come a long way since then, and are much more reliable.
I know that a lot of you have built your own DIY power supply consisting of a marine battery, and an inverter. If you enjoy that type of thing (and know what you’re doing), by all means, go for it. You’ll likely save some money and get to work on a fun project.
If you are more comfortable in the office than in the shop (like me), one of the many fantastic pre-built portable power stations is likely a better fit, and worth the added cost.
Be sure to choose a unit that has dedicated output ports for the astrophotography equipment you use most, and that it can reliably power your rig for at least 1 entire night before requiring a recharge.
For now, I’ll continue using the Anker 757 PowerHouse on my astrophotography and camping adventures, and plan on getting a lot of use out of it for several years. I hope that this article was useful to you and that you have a better understanding of the options available in 2022.
Even More Options to Consider
Here is a list of options provided by the AstroBackyard community on YouTube and Facebook:
Eden joined 360Cities three years ago. Since then he has published almost 300 360º videos making him one of our more prolific 360º video contributors.
Thanks to his work, you can travel in time and visit Notre Dame in Paris and other wonders and cities like the Church of the Holy Sepulcher or the Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, canals of Amsterdam, the Colosseum in Rome, Piazza San Marco in Venice, Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, the Christ the Redeemer Monument in Rio De Janeiro, and from the inside of the Louver Pyramid.
Don’t miss the chance to travel the world by visiting Eden’s profile page. Check out his videos in VR too!
On Thursday, December 10, 2020, the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) announced the members of the Team USA 2021. Team USA is comprised of eighteen photographers, who must be United States citizens, who will represent the United States in the 2021 World Photographic Cup (WPC). Founded in 2013, WPC is run by the Federation of European Photographers (FEP) and PPA, with support from additional photographic organizations. Its goal is to unite photographers globally in a spirit of friendship and cooperation via a one-of-a-kind international photographic competition in which teams of photographers battle for the cup.
The 2021 competition winners will be announced in Rome, Italy, on April 19, 2021. Teams enter up to three images in each of six categories: Commercial, Illustrative, Nature, Portrait, Reportage, and Wedding.
Two cubs-of-the-year protected by their mother; one climbing on its mothers back while the other watches in Wapusk National Park near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
My image, titled “Safe”, of a mother polar bear with her two, three-month-old cubs taken in Wapusk National Park, Manitoba, Canada was selected as one Team USA’s images for competition in the Nature category. If you recall, “Safe” was one of two images of mine juried into the 2021 PPA Loan Collection.
This image is a 2 panel mosaic comprising 28 hours of RGB exposures in 20 minute sub-frames. The images were acquired across 8 nights during November December 2018. Processing is exclusively with Pixinsight.
Here are the one more set of 30 photos that accidentally ended up looking like renaissance paintings. With digital cameras available on almost every phone out there, trying your hand at photography has never been so easy.
And even though it might be a little intimidating at first, especially if you compare your photos to those taken by pros, even beginners can produce some pretty stunning images. In fact, there are a lot of great pictures that were captured purely by accident – and the r/AccidentalRenaissance subreddit is the perfect proof.
Scroll down and inspire 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 Woman sits by the window of a Lviv-bound train. AP
Image Source: u/fleece_white_as_snow
#2 The Selfie
Image Source: u/[deleted]
#3 Chef in Siena, Italy 2020
Image Source: u/iskanderthethief
#4 US Men’s Olympic Water Polo Team
Image Source: u/The_Fish_Alliance
#5 Concert Selfie
Image Source: u/ironypatrol
#6 A young man, illuminated by mobile phones, recites a poem while protestors chant slogans calling for civilian rule, during a blackout in Khartoum, Sudan
Image Source: u/Somali_Pir8
#7 Supper at home
Image Source: u/watsin_aname
#8 Evening train
Image Source: u/Panishev
#9 A wild composition
Image Source: u/Subterfug3
#10 Dearly Beloved
Image Source: u/SirBroDude
#11 Hope
Image Source: u/throne_johne
#12 Two peacocks fighting like angels
Image Source: u/Pragalbhv
#13 Hasidic Tish during Sukkot, Jerusalem
Image Source: u/adeadhead
#14 Syrians in Al Yarmouk Camp waiting for aid
Image Source: u/Casualte
#15 Renaissance Chickens
Image Source: u/rattechnology
#16 The coffee shop window
Image Source: u/KingofHarts321
#17 Fields of Fire
Image Source: u/rooodney
#18 Fields of Fire
Image Source: u/Vsevolda
#19 A nun at the airport (OC)
Image Source: u/[deleted]
#20 Angela Merkel with fishermen, 1990
Image Source: u/nuniabidness
#21 My son and I caught in a storm
Image Source: u/[deleted]
#22 The dreamers (2008)
Image Source: u/Legumetoxique
#23 Game’s Night
Image Source: u/blakefaraway
#24 VA Tech Snowball Fight
Image Source: u/eggoeater
#25 Cairo, Egpyt. Selling lemonade
Image Source: u/Apprehensive_Guest
#26 Mesmerized
Image Source: u/88outtatime
#27 Madonna of Saint Alberdi enjoying the match
Image Source: u/gustavsen
#28 French farmers use fire to try to save their vineyards during cold nights
Image Source: u/QompleteReasons
#29 Ashbourne Shrovetide Football, Derbyshire, England
A few weeks ago Aubrey and I made our way south to explore Gold Butte National Monument. Though it is one of the nations more recently protected areas, established in 2016, what makes the area special is its ancient history. Sandstone sculptures shaped through countless seasons of weathering are scattered about the desert landscape. Occasionally, these natural works of art are further embellished with petroglyphs created by the ancestors of the Moapa Band of Paiutes, aging from 700 to a few thousand years old.
The Buffington Pockets and Muddy Mountains
We started our trip at the Buffington Pockets, a little outside of the monument. Here we found strangely colorful sandstone sometimes rivaling the best abstract art you might hope to find in a modern art museum. While wandering the canyons we found several mylar balloons, likely having found their way here after escaping from parties in Las Vegas. In our desert adventures we’ve found quite a few of these flying pieces of trash, however, there is often story associated with them that is fun to ponder. On our last trip we found one celebrating someones 100th birthday. This time, we found a remarkably well preserved Woody balloon.
After a night at the Buffington Pockets, we made our way across the desert landscape towards Gold Butte, taking the scenic route. We made a little detour to visit the Muddy Mountains Wilderness Area, on foot. Here we found a secluded valley decorated with colorful sandstone mounds. Near one of them we first smelled, and then saw, several recent animal carcasses including a bighorn sheep and fox. We suspect a mountain lion must have had a nice home there, but didn’t stick around long enough to find out. The following morning we were greeted by our campsite by a band of hungry wild horses.
A tiny shrub, from the right angle, looks like a lonely tree in this surreal sandstone landscape.
Strange colors and patterns in the sandstone abound in southern Nevada’s sandstone country.
Mylar Woody
The Muddy Mountains
Gold Butte National Monument
Our first few stops in Gold Butte were to explore some of the many petroglyph panels adorning the sandstone outcroppings. I was, however, equally intrigued by the natural “art” consisting of impossibly crisp lines of color cutting through the otherwise light pink stone.
Enjoying the views and wondering what was on the minds of the people who created these petroglyphs.
Seven of the ‘twenty-one goats’ petroglyph panel in Nevada’s Gold Butte National Monument.
Mother nature is the original modern artist, and sandstone is her favorite canvas.
That evening we returned to an area we had visited several years ago, known as little finland. Having little to do with Finland, I imagine the name stems from the strange and fragile sandstone fins that decorate the area. Many of these larger shapes likely started out as small pockets like in this image, resembling the tafoni found along many coastlines. The white residue found in the area is consistent with the hypothesis that these structures likely formed, and continue to evolve, through salt weathering.
Overnight a significant thunderstorm moved through the area and listened to the pounding rain and crashing thunder from the comfort of our bed in the truck. The following morning Aubrey got to enjoy her coffee in bed while taking in the lovely scents of a wet desert.
Weathered sandstone takes on strange shapes, almost like chocolate melting in the sun. Found in Gold Butte National Monument, NV.
Morning coffee in bed.
On our last day we explored a few other sandstone outcroppings in the landscape, finding several more remarkable petroglyph panels. Although people have no doubt written theses about the meaning of these panels, I myself wonder if some of them weren’t simply the works of young men and women looking to make their mark on the world.
The spiky green Joshua Trees contrast beautifully with the sensual and smooth red sandstone found in Nevada’s Gold Butte National Monument.
Petroglyphs adorn the walls of this narrow sandstone canyon in Nevada’s Gold Butte National Monument.
Protrusions of colorful sandstone adorn the wide open country of Nevada’s Gold Butte National Monument.
The Circus
The goat men. What do you suppose they are up to? Who made this “drawing”, and why?
Tags: desert, gold butte, gold butte national monument, red rocks
Cliff de Wit, a former Microsoft South Africa director and now chief technology at Altron’s Netstar, is passionate about many things: skills development, the internet of things, artificial intelligence … and even astrophotography.
He joins TechCentral’s Duncan McLeod in the TC|Daily studio for a wide-ranging — and fascinating — discussion on some of the latest technologies Netstar is exploring that take the company’s offerings well beyond the traditional tracking and recovery of vehicles it’s traditionally known for.
Well known in developer circles — he maintains a keen interest in software development as well as in education and skills development from his Microsoft days — De Wit chats about how Netstar is taking the vast amount of information the company collects daily, and refining it into something forward-looking, useful and actionable.
He also takes us into the world of astrophotography, and much more besides.
Don’t miss the discussion — and do subscribe to TC|Daily if you haven’t already done so (details below). The full-resolution Milky Way image taken by De Wit that he speaks about in the interview can be found here.
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As a teenager growing up in Peckham, an ethnically diverse area of London, the photographer Nadine Ijewere observed the way that the women around her dressed. The neighbourhood “aunties”, as all older women were known, paired Nigerian patterns with Gucci handbags and Burberry motifs; they would style their afro hair in a way that was almost sculptural. Ijewere was interested in fashion photography, but she began to notice that the prints and hairstyles she saw everyday didn’t appear in magazines. She didn’t understand why these “pieces of art in themselves” were not more visible. At weekends, she would take photographs of her friends, many of whom were of mixed heritage like her, in the local park.
In 2018, at the age of 26, Ijewere became the first black woman to shoot a Vogue magazine cover, featuring the singer Dua Lipa draped in white feathers. Ijewere soon became known for her ethereal backdrops, her work with mixed-race models and her meticulous attention to black hair. In 2020, she did another photoshoot with Vogue, which accompanied a piece praising Nigerian “aunties”. The women in the shoot wore traditional head wraps and metallic floral and chequered prints in clashing colours. “I looked at those photographs and saw the women I grew up with,” Ijewere said. “I saw my heritage. And it was special.”
March onOpening image: Arielle Bobb-Willis is part of a new generation of black fashion photographers. From top to bottom: Nadine Ijewere shoots in ethereal locations. Ijewere’s photo series “Tallawah” celebrated black hair. Ijewere casts her own models, with a focus on mixed-race individuals
Almost 50 years before Ijewere’s “auntie” shoot, another black photographer, Armet Francis, took a photograph in Brixton, a neighbourhood not far from Peckham. In the picture, a stylish young black woman wearing a lilac suit leans back on a wooden chair in the middle of a road, an umbrella in hand. She looks aloof and carries herself with confidence, seemingly oblivious to the dreary weather and the workaday setting. Francis had been commissioned by a fashion magazine, but wanted to be subversive: instead of shooting in a studio, he went to Brixton Market, in an attempt to record the “proper reality of everyday black life”.
Since the mid-19th century, black photographers have sought to capture images that reflect the lives, preoccupations and personalities of black subjects. In the process, they have worked to rectify centuries of hackneyed representations. Francis was one of a small group of photographers to do this in Britain. In the 1960s, he moved away from the fashion industry towards a lifelong project: documenting the experiences of the African diaspora in the Americas and Britain. He had been struck by the fact that one rarely saw black people featured in magazines, beyond reports about famines in Africa. He wanted to photograph the black diaspora in all its vibrancy: “to me, they are home pictures,” he said.
In 20th-century Britain, black photographers were seldom published widely, and discrimination against them was common. James Barnor, one of Francis’s contemporaries, only attained mainstream recognition as an octogenarian. Now his work stands as a vital historical document of black societies as they changed. In the 1950s, Barnor witnessed Ghana’s independence movement; during the swinging Sixties, he photographed members of the African diaspora in London.
Both Barnor and Francis explored black identities as they fractured, shifted and evolved across continents. Many of today’s black photographers draw on their work, consciously and subconsciously – especially those working in the fashion industry. According to Antwaun Sargent, the curator of an exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery about a new generation of black fashion photographers, these young artists are attempting, like Barnor and Francis, to “make beauty from their real, if once unseen, reflections”. Sargent believes that “these image-makers are in the best position now, over any generation that came before them, to make a lasting impact.”
Bold and beautiful Ruth Ossai has photographed life in Nigeria since she was a teenager (top). Ossai’s signature is her use of printed backdrops (middle). Her work is in part inspired by traditional black portraiture (bottom)
Before British-Ghanaian photographer Campbell Addy first encountered Barnor’s work in 2018, he had only seen photographs that looked at Africa through a white lens, focusing on poverty, slavery and war. Barnor’s photos were different. They showed contemporaries of Addy’s grandmother in Ghana and of Ghanaians moving to London. Addy hadn’t seen anything like them before: “It was classy, it was fashionable. It was beautiful. It was modern.” Barnor made Addy feel seen “in a way that only those who have been detached from their culture can understand”.
As a child, Addy moved from Ghana to south London. For a while after his arrival, his new friends would make fun of his accent. Eventually, the accent disappeared, but the feeling of difference remained. He was also frustrated when he visited Ghana: he didn’t know Twi, the main language spoken in Accra, well enough and couldn’t quite grasp the cultural nuances.
Addy’s dual identity has helped him draw on different cultural traditions in his work. “Ignatius”, an early photographic series, pays homage to Ignatius Sancho, the first known black Briton to vote. But elements of the styling and set design nod ironically to the British royal family.
In 2019, aged 26, Addy shot Naomi Campbell, one of the world’s most-photographed black women, for the Guardian. Later, reflecting on the shoot, Campbell noted that it was the first time she had been photographed for a mainstream publication by a black photographer in her 33-year career. To her, “there was something in that moment that felt sacred.”
Feeling seen Campbell Addy has been commissioned by many of the world’s leading publications (top). Addy’s work tells stories about self-assured black lives (middle). He draws upon both the British and Ghanaian aspects of his own identity (bottom)
Addy and Ijewere are just two members of a new generation of black photographers opening up opportunities for black artists working in fashion. Ijewere is establishing her own studio in south London, where she hopes to give younger photographers the space and equipment they need to start out. Addy knows that there is much work to be done. “Black photographers are doing well right now,” he said. “But I sometimes fear we will get smudged out of history. And I don’t want to be a trend.” The best way to make sure this doesn’t happen? “We need to keep on being visible,” he said. “People will look at our work and know that we exist.” ■
The exhibition “The New Black Vanguard” runs from October 28th to January 22nd 2023 at the Saatchi Gallery in London. It features the work of 15 young black fashion photographers, including Nadine Ijewere and Campbell Addy
