Schedule
From: Jul 10 2023 to Jul 14 2023
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Frid
There’s been a toxic narrative about photography on Instagram for years now. Its algorithms inhibit forging meaningful connections around your own photography, and with those you might want to engage with. And this ‘photography app’ actually promotes video over photography – it’s a Reels and Stories playground, while photo galleries lurk in the shadows.
Twitter is no better than Instagram for photographers, and for different reasons other than its often negative culture and all-round recent unravelling. There are real limitations on how you can actually share your photos, and aggressive file compression prevents others from enjoying your photography in all its glory.
Enter Threads.
If you’re not already familiar with Threads, we’ve got a guide to everything you need to know about Meta’s Twitter rival, plus supporting content including 7 things you need to know about Instagram’s Twitter killer. For photographers specifically, the new app combines the best of Instagram and Twitter – being directly linked to the former – and adds a little extra goodness into the mix. And it’s still in its honeymoon phase, so hopefully it will only get better.
The initial reaction from photographers to Threads has been largely glowing. Professional astro and landscape photographer @aaronjenkin reacted, “This is the new photo sharing app”, and he’s not alone in feeling this way. So let’s unpack why this could be true.
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Serious photographers who use social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter to grow their business are hamstrung for various reasons, and one of those surrounds the limitations the platforms impose on how photos are presented.
Most pro camera sensors have a 3:2 aspect ratio which flipped to portrait format is 2:3. Twitter and Instagram cannot accommodate this format, being limited to a 3:4 aspect ratio. If you shoot in portrait format, you lose detail from the top or bottom of your photo. Third-party apps are a workaround, whereby you add a border to the sides of your 2:3 images to create a 3:4 ratio, or you can bite the bullet and crop into the top or bottom.
Not so with Threads. I’ve seen 2:3 photos, and photo carousels in mixed aspect ratios, all displayed in full. Even 16:9 videos flipped to a portrait format 9:16 are displayed with no top / bottom crop, and no messing around with third-party apps. Threads is a no fuss photo sharing app right now.
Aggressive compression also limits viewers from enjoying images at their full resolution. Of course, looking at a photo on a smartphone isn’t the best way to enjoy photography at the best of times, but compression further reduces image sharpness.
Initial signs with Threads suggest that less compression is being applied to photos than on Twitter – you can pinch zoom and there’s still plenty of sharp detail there.
There are early image limitations in Threads, however, like how landscape photos don’t rotate when you turn your phone horizontal. I’d expect something like that to be fixed, but it’s worth flagging. No auto-rotate aside, though, it’s so far, so good, and Threads is already going some way to appeasing serious photographers.
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Beyond the capacity to showcase your photos adequately, it’s become increasingly harder to engage in meaningful conversations around photography on Instagram, and even Twitter.
Instagram is pushing ads, which are nowhere to be found on Threads… for now. There are workarounds to help you curate what you see in Insta, but it’s another process to deploy. It’s also a shared feeling among many photographers and users in general that too much engagement on Twitter is… well let’s just call it unwholesome.
The following may sound corny, even lofty, but Threads is a chance to start again. Be who you want to be. Engage with who you want to engage with. Share what you want to share. Curate your connections, and let real conversations begin. It’s early days, and I’m interested to see how this will play out, but I want to be optimistic.
I was an early adopter of Instagram – it was the first real outlet for me to share photos, and gave extra meaning to my creative endeavors.
But as the Instagram app evolved I became less involved. After its Meta-fication, human engagement decreased, and ads appeared, uninvited. The waters muddied a long time ago, and TechRadar published an article exploring why Instagram is broken for photographers back in 2021. As for Twitter, I’ve never really used it for sharing photos; there are too many limitations, plus, I wasn’t engaged in photo communities in the same way as on Insta.
Threads feels like a fresh start; new connections and communities are being formed, and I can share photos how I want. I like Threads now, though I’m cautious as to how long it will stay this way: it took Instagram many years to unravel for photographers, and Threads piggybacks Insta, and its growth curve is already rapid, and that’s potentially bad news – it could be like milk left out in the sun.
Right now, I want to spend time in Threads in a way that I don’t with its sister app – a so-called ‘photography’ app, as I’ve mentioned – or with Twitter. This new app is actually a genius move on Meta’s part and it’s now clear: Instagram is for video, Threads is for photography. For now, at least…
Award-winning Argentinian photographer Sergio Castiglione has visited cities all over the world, capturing architectural and urban images. A qualified architect, his understanding of urban structures and visual components translates to his work.
Ever since I got my degree as an architect, more than 30 years ago, I have not stopped travelling. Partly it was for pleasure or vacation and, at other times, it was for work or studies. With that experience, I have developed the ability to easily adapt to the idiosyncrasies and the way of life in each city I visit. From Oslo, Marrakesh and Cape Town to Venice, Rio de Janeiro, Dubai or Istanbul, upon arrival in the city, I try to find the spirit and energy that guides it. The most exciting part about my job is searching for the ‘soul’ of each city. Not only what makes interesting images, but also its smells and its street sounds.
I work as an archaeologist of time – studying the moments of the day and valuing them as aesthetic elements that could lead to a refinement of the power of observation. I start with the idea that a city cannot be fully seen if it is separated from the passage of time. In my project called ‘segMOments: Effigies of Time’, I proposed a reflection on the city and the current ways of contemplating it. This is a contemporary portrait of the city that does not show a static profile, but that acquires dynamism and allows us to see a different picture from second to second.
Space and time are formal axes of this photographic production, to which I include an architectural and urban perspective. I question myself and also the viewer about how a city should be observed, what would be the correct way? Under the sunlight?
At night? Or is it through a combination of all ways? It is a continuous project I’ve been working on for the past eight years and I have already photographed 35 cities in more than 20 countries.
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First of all, do it alone and have plenty of time to avoid external pressure. Contain your anxiety and walk aimlessly – let the city surprise you with what it has to show.
I believe that cities are actually mirrors in themselves and I start from this premise in my work. What do we see when we look at a strange city? What do we actually see when we walk through the streets? Is there another way to grasp things? My aim is to show the city from an atypical perspective – to show things that we see every day but never really pay attention to.
When travelling around cities, we normally perceive the urban space that is at the same level as our eyes, or even lower. We rarely look up, but by not doing so, we lose the chance to create new perspectives that have the potential to be unique. I want to show and explore the city that is above us and, strangely, one of the best ways I found that I could do that was by looking down.
Sometimes you have to try contradictory approaches to achieve your visual goal in a new way. In my work ‘Urban Mirrors’, I decided to capture the image of significant buildings through reflections on water surfaces. The resulting images show a perspective of the urban area that we would otherwise never be able to discover. It is an interplay of both visual and contextual aspects that interact in an inspiring way.
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In one shoot, I took the same panoramic photograph over several hours so I could later compose a single work from multiple shots. In this case, my most difficult challenge was to anticipate nature. Also, when I was in New York, I wanted to take a shot of the sun setting between two towers. It was my last night in the city, which meant I only had one chance to get the shot right. Fortunately, with the help of my phone’s compass, I was able to position myself in the right place and take the exact shot I had in mind.
I consider myself quite anti-routine. That helps in my work as a photographer to avoid common places and escape from my comfort zone. For me, photography is more like a game. When I am with my camera, I once again become that child who began to take his first photos with the Kodak Instamatic with film cartridge that my father gave me when I was 10 years old.
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In the introduction to her project Experimental Relationship, the New York-based photographer Pixy Liao writes: “As a woman brought up in China, I used to think I could only love someone who is older and more mature than me, who can be my protector and mentor. Then I met my current boyfriend, Moro. Since he is five years younger than me, I felt that the whole concept of relationships changed, all the way around. I became a person who has more authority and power. One of my male friends even questioned how I could choose a boyfriend the way a man would choose a girlfriend. And I thought: ‘Damn right. That’s exactly what I’m doing, and why not!’”
Experimental Relationship is a deadpan examination of that perceived reversal of power. Liao creates situations in which Moro appears passive or submissive to her whims in order to “explore the alternative possibilities of heterosexual relationships”. The series has fun with the expectations of the male gaze. Sometimes, Liao is clothed in the portraits and Moro is naked. She carries him over her shoulder in a fireman’s lift, or eats her breakfast off his unclothed body, or stares uncompromisingly into the camera while he places his head, childlike, on her shoulder, or tweaks his nipple. The pictures are more comical than coercive. Here, Moro seems to be getting the wrong end of the candy floss, while Liao enjoys his slight discomfort. The picture is included in a new guide to portrait photography, The Portrait Photographer’s Manual, in the “Family and Friends” section.
Liao met Moro on their first day at art school in Memphis. She began taking the pictures after they had been dating for a year; she got the idea from the reaction of Chinese friends and family to her having a younger boyfriend. She and Moro now live together. The project is continuing.
Patrons of the International Folk Art Market were able to enjoy all it had to offer while escaping the daytime heat under the cover of clouds and cool evening air during Saturday’s second annual Night Market.
IFAM marketing director Adrienne Murray said beating the heat and opening up the market experience to those who work during the day were two big factors in the decision to host Night Market in the first place.
“[It offers] … accessibility and removes some of those barriers to different demographics that currently — or didn’t previously — attend the market,” Murray said.
ST. JOSEPH, Mich. (WNDU) – Hundreds of artists and art enthusiasts are in St. Joseph, Mich., this weekend for the 61st annual Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff.
The fair features nearly half a mile of art, with over 170 artists from 24 states setting up booths and showcasing their unique art.
There are ten categories, from painting and photography to glass blowing and sculpting, and one artist from each category will take home artist of the year.
Officials with the Krasl Art Center say the $5 admission fee goes to support year-round access to the arts in southwest Michigan.
“This event actually predates the Krasl Art Center,” said Matthew Bizoe, marketing manager at the Krasl Art Center. “Back in the 1960s, a couple of local artists wanted to put on a clothesline art fair, and that has now transformed into one of the top art fairs in the nation, especially for artist sales. Artists love coming here because our community shows up to buy their artwork to bring home with them.”
The fair also has around 300 volunteers to help run the event, including 30 people who work year-round.
This year’s featured artist is Alann Jordan, who combines nature with a futuristic component.
If you missed the fair Saturday, you can still catch it Sunday. Gates open at 10 a.m. and close at 5 p.m.
Copyright 2023 WNDU. All rights reserved.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WCBI) – Country music artist Adam Doleac is staying busy this summer, cranking out lots of new music.
WDEF in Chattanooga caught up with the Hattiesburg native at CMA Fest, right after he released his latest song about his wife, “Biggest Fan.”
Doleac just wrapped up his first headline tour earlier this year. He says it was exciting, selling out more shows than they didn’t sell out.
In addition to performing, Doleac is passionate about writing the songs he sings on stage – even for other artists. He’s written for several, including Darius Rucker, Lainey Wilson, and even Kane Brown.
Doleac wrote “Pull It Off” for Kane back in 2016, which was his first cut as a songwriter.
Seven years later, Adam says he already has plenty of other new songs up his sleeve for himself.
“I think we’re going to put a new song out every six weeks for the rest of the year, so we have a lot of new music coming,” Doleac said. “Album two is, I know we just finished album one, but album two’s already probably almost halfway done, so it’s coming. That’s exciting. So do you know when that will come out yet? I don’t know. I just know that we’re going to do song after song after song, and then hopefully one of those things gets rolling up a chart somewhere, and we’ll put the full record out kind’ve behind that.”
Doleac will be on tour this fall with Old Dominion.
The annual Buffalo Kite Festival is happening July 8th and 9th at the First People’s Buffalo Jump State Park.
The event is from 10am to 4pm both days and the festival is family friendly for all ages.
Kids will be able to get a kite kit to build and decorate their own kite and then go out and fly it over the buffalo jump. Participants will also get to learn about the buffalo art that is featured on the kites. The Kite kits are $10 each.
Recreation manager of First People’s Buffalo Jump State Park, Clark Carlson-Thompson has been participating in this event for five years and is excited to welcome everyone out to the park this weekend.
“We usually get a few hundred folks out here to come out and check out the big kites in the air,” said Carlson-Thompson, “and then we also usually get a big crowd of kids out here who are eager to make their own kite, decorate the kite the way they want to, and then get out there and fly it.”
The Buffalo Kite Festival is a joint effort of Montana State Parks and Terry Zee Lee, the founder of SkyWindWorld. Zee Lee has made and commissioned these kites for over 22 years and has worked with Native American artists all around the United States.
They work to create unique buffalo-themed kites, which can be seen in action at the festival. Each kite has a story and a unique background that is symbolic of the indigenous people and their culture.
“The core of discovery would have never been able to make it out and back if it had not been for the native people,” said Zee Lee. “So, any time we fly the kites it’s to show [that] the kites have a lot of Native American influence in them and we always make sure that we reference that the success of the journey was because of the indigenous people.”
Carlson Thompson explained that Buffalo Jump State Park is a great place for this festival and that it offers a multitude of positives for the community and participants.
“It’s just a great way to get people to come out to the park. It’s a great way to highlight native artists to illustrate the buffalo cultures on the prairies and a great way to kind of build communities, bring different groups of people together,” said Carlson-Thompson.
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