Physical education teacher and girls’ head track coach Joshua Washington has a secret hidden interest: photography. Inspired by the art of taking photos, he wrote and published two books exploring photography from different lenses. Both books are focused on the distribution of his Polaroid images around Georgia. 

“Essentially, what I do is I pick a theme; I take pictures of it, and then I print these small Polaroid-sized images, and I leave them in different places around the city, in random places,” Washington said. “Let’s say you’re on the MARTA bus headed home; you’re on the train; you’re anywhere, grocery shopping, you’ll reach down in the milk carton, and you’ll pull out and see a random Polaroid, and it’ll be a picture of mine.”

Washington said he got the idea of leaving art around Georgia while he was visiting a cousin in Montreal.

“When I first got to Montreal, I was walking around the neighborhood with my cousin, he was showing me around where he lived,” Washington said. “And when you’re a photographer, you look at everything from a photographer’s eye. So, you see different things that other people don’t see.”

In Montreal, Washington said he noticed graffiti in an alleyway that caught his eye.

“I was like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool,’ “Washington said. “I asked my cousin how long [the street artwork] had been there. And he didn’t even know it was there.”

Seeing the alleyway set Washington’s creative journey in motion, pushing him to the idea of writing a book. 

“I started to think how cool would it be to find artwork but, this time, in my home city where I’m from,” Washington said. “If you were walking around just in your day-to-day, and you just found some artwork. I thought that would be pretty cool, and that’s how that idea was born, in terms of leaving art around.”

Alex Wallace, a member of the Student Support Team at Midtown, said he was surprised when he found out Washington had written a book. 

“I noticed that he had a book after I followed him on Facebook,” Wallace said. “I was  like, ‘Oh my God,’ I didn’t know he had a book.”

After researching the book, Wallace purchased it.  

“I was intrigued by [the book], and I found it interesting,” Wallace said. “I did not know he had all those gifts and talents and interests.”

Washington said including drone photography in his second book, “Above All Else,” showed a  different perspective on photography to appeal to all kinds of people. 

“There are a lot of photography coffee table books, but they’re all from the same perspective,” Washington said. “And so, regardless of what the theme is, if the perspective and the angle is the same, it doesn’t make a big difference. So, I wanted to make sure that when I’m talking to people, and they’re asking me what makes yours different, I can give them a legitimate answer in terms of what makes them different.”

Washington said showing various kinds of photography in books is rare; so in his book, he wanted to create a fresh twist by using drones to take pictures over a regular camera.

“The locations themselves I took them [the photos] at are pretty cool, but from the perspective of a thousand feet in the air, it creates a whole new sort of angle or purview from it,” Washington said. “Something that looks regular or something you might have seen before when you see it from that high up, it creates another viewpoint you’re not going to see in many books, especially not coffee table books.” 

Junior Julia Williams, who had Washington for health, said she liked the concept of drone photography. She may like this concept but nowhere has she said has she actually seen it in his book or that she’s actually seen the book at all.

“I think drones can definitely give photography more dimension to the book, instead of just text,” Williams said. “Photography is usually from a person’s viewpoint, so seeing photos from the air is definitely very cool.”

Wallace said he appreciated Washington’s humility regarding his book’s success. 

“It was interesting that a teacher has a book,” Wallace said. “I was really impressed that he didn’t brag about it. He didn’t make a big deal out of it. You know my personality. I would be like, ‘Oh my God, I got a book.’ But he wasn’t like that. He’s very humble; so I was excited.”

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Renowned photographer Andy Gotts has announced a new photography exhibition, called Nemesis, which features portraits of villains from the Hollywood blockbuster James Bond franchise. 

This new exhibition will showcase these 007 villains like never before in Al-Mare at The Carlton Tower Jumeirah in Knightsbridge, London, and is running up until 8th January 2024.

On the announcement of this new exhibition, Andy Gotts commented:

“My project Nemesis came about during lockdown. Like every other creative/artistic person, for a couple of years, there were no commissions. As I was in my third decade of being a celebrity photographer I thought I would use this period of time to look through my back catalogue and put together a retrospective book of my career.

“It was during this process I realised I had shot an awful lot of actors who have played a ‘Bond baddie’. I worked out there were only six actors still alive that had been a 007 foe that I had not shot in my 30-year career so I made it my mission to shoot them so I had the full set.”

Gotts has been a fan of the Bond franchise ever since he was a young boy, having picked up a love of 007 when went to see the first movie on his own, which just happened to be a James Bond classic: For Your Eyes Only.

Gotts continues: “My parents had gone shopping in Norwich and set me up with a bucket of popcorn, a large bottle of pop and placed me in the centre row of the ABC cinema. It was probably seeing the gadgets and equipment that started my love for cameras…though mine do not fire bullets!”

“A key one to get was Rami Malek – the most recent villain having played Lyutsifer Safin in No Time to Die – and one of the most poignant shots was Michael Londsdale, the space-loving foe Hugo Drax in Moonraker. He passed away aged 89 about a week later during lockdown, so this is the very last portrait of this giant of a man.”

Gotts describes the journey to capture Lonsdale in more detail: “I shot Michael at his home in Paris. I have always been a fan of Michael and loved his moves going way back to Day Of The Jackal. This shoot was put together specifically for this project and at a time when COVID was spreading throughout the world, and as luck would have it the shoot was planned for the very last day travel was allowed and the airports closed for lockdown.  

“I knew Lonsdale was a tall man, 6ft1 (1.85m) and quite ‘stocky’. So I was a little taken aback when I arrived at his residence to see this fragile figure in a wheelchair. The sands of time are not kind to anyone, and it had escaped me that a man 89 years old, who had been retired for a number of years, would look quite as delicate. After a delightful afternoon chatting and swapping stories, I headed home through a deserted airport.

Though the story of Lonsdale’s last portrait is a poignant one, at least Gotts was able to meet him. Some villains did miss the collection: “My favourite Bond nemesis is, without doubt, Auric Goldfinger. His humour and ‘wheeler-dealer’ persona were very infectious, he was like the German version of Del-Boy Trotter. Cheating at golf and cards just to make a little pocket money, It is such a shame the wonderful actor Gert Fröbe, who played Goldfinger, had passed away before I started on photographic career but it will take a lot to beat this wonderful character.”

Other images manage a different emotion. Gotts described shooting Andrew Scott in Flemings Hotel, Mayfair: “Andrew was a dream to shoot and to be around. He is one of those people who does not put up barriers or just want their ‘good side’ to be seen in the shots. After we did the entire shoot of iconic and quirky snaps we sat around chatting over a drink. I was speaking about venerability in art and rawness in the natural face. The subject turned to crying/men crying in images. So I suggested, as we were still all setup, that we should try to capture a shot with these raw and vulnerable qualities. 

I asked him what headspace he would need to be able to create a tear. I joked and asked him if I should pinch him on the arm… which caused a chuckle, not the desired effect or the best idea! Andrew sat in front of me looking down at his feet. He said ‘Are you ready?’ 

He lifted up his head and at that moment one tear rolled down his cheek and I captured this salty trickle at the perfect moment. I only took this one shot of the ‘tear’ image as I actually felt I was intruding in a moment he was having, even though this moment was specifically created to take a shot. It felt too personal as he was obviously thinking of something painful to cause the tear.”

If you’d like to shoot great portraits, read our guide to the best lens for portrait photography.

Photographer duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin have revealed the inspiration behind Taylor Swift’s TIME Person of the Year Cover Image.

Swift was named TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year and Dutch fashion photographers Inez and Vinoodh — known for their work for luxury brands and magazines — were chosen to shoot the pop star for three different magazine covers.

The photographer pair, who shot Swift once before for a 2019 Vogue shoot, captured the singer in the midst of her record-breaking Eras tour and called her “the ideal subject.”

‘Carrying The World on Her Shoulders’

The defining shot of Inez’s and Vinoodh’s three different cover images for TIME magazine features Taylor posing confidently in a black bodysuit and red lipstick, with her cat Benjamin Button draped over her shoulders.

Inez and Vinoodh tell TIME that the captivating snap was inspired by photographer Bill Hayward’s 1970s book Cat People — which features artful shots of entertainers, writers, and other professionals with their pets.

The pictures [in Cat People] are brilliant. It shows very well the relationship that people have with their cats,” Inez tells TIME.

“But at the same time, [shows] the way cats are kind of on their own—they’re a special breed of animal. So I got a vintage copy of it for Taylor because I know she’s a major cat lover, and her cats travel with her.

“And I said, ‘You know, I’ve always wanted to do a picture like the one that’s on the cover of that book where the cat’s on the shoulder of the girl.’

“It speaks to a sense of carrying everything on your shoulders but being defiant while doing so. And she agreed and that’s how that picture happened.”

‘The Photo Has Everything’

The photographers say that the image of Taylor with the cat on her shoulders perfectly embodies her cultural power in 2023.

“It really has everything: Her glamor, her power, her sense of empathy of carrying the whole world on her shoulders,” Inez says.

“Because if you do feel like that — she’s so involved in everything, whether it’s getting young people to vote, etc. — she’s always pushing for things that are outside of the music realm.

“I felt that there is something there in her body position that’s very powerful and strong. Her expression and the way she looks has this old Hollywood glamor but underneath, there’s so much power in her stance.

“The way she has Benjamin on her shoulders is kind of like, ‘Yeah, I’m carrying you all’.”

Swift is the first figure from the arts to be named TIME Person of the Year for her success as an entertainer.

The singer was picked from a group of nine finalists that included Barbie, King Charles III, and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, among others.

Image credits: All photos courtesy of TIME.

With Christmas fast approaching it’s getting to that time of year when people start asking what you want – a question I always find impossible to answer. But even when I’m void of ideas there is always something I beg people not to get me; camera or photography-related presents! Without meaning to sound ungrateful, the last thing I want is a mug shaped like a lens or a rubbish air blower.

As a photographer, the items on my wishlist are usually pretty expensive. That means that unless someone is feeling insanely generous it’s unlikely I’m going to get the photography lighting kit of my dreams (two Profoto B10 X Plus studio heads with all the light shaping accessories) or the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM lens I have wanted forever. 

Just to clarify, I would never ask for these items either, I have never been one for excessive spending at Christmas, so to expect it back would be absurd, but in the past I have received DSLR holsters I’ll never use, or packs of scratchy lens clothes that remain in a junk drawer.

That’s not to say there aren’t some really good, affordable presents out there for photographers. I just think the person you’re buying for needs to specify that they want them, or you need to know the recipient so well you could handpick a coffee table book or print they will love. I have previously received an Instax Mini, a 35mm film camera, a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens and a prism but all of these have been on a wishlist so the person buying them knew they’d be put to good use. 

I love Christmas. I love the decorations, the excuse to eat and drink excessively, the coming together of friends and family and of course watching Christmas films on repeat, but what I cannot stand is present giving for giving sake. I have a soft spot for handmade or unique presents – perhaps a photo book, personalized photo calendar or a digital photo frame already loaded with photos. 

But I cannot stress enough how much I do not want to be on the receiving end of photography-themed Christmas tat. Christmas isn’t about how much stuff you get or how much someone spends but if you are going to be giving presents this year, try and make sure they will not go to waste!

If you’re still looking for gifts and you do know who you’re buying for, then we have an extensive guide to the best books on photography.