Chris webber 2002 hi-res stock photography and images – Alamy
New colourful sculpture brightens up the holidays in downtown Vancouver
The art installation, located at 745 Thurlow, is called Night Fields, Day Fields and was made by artist Jim Dine.
Picture this: comparing our photography to that of others
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A wise person once said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.”
Periodically photojournalists around the country post their content to social media. I see their work in their timelines and inevitably compare my work to theirs.
It’s unfair to both them and me.
First, it’s completely futile to look at the work of others as a threat to my ego.
Secondly, they are in different communities with different newspapers.
Thirdly, all I have to do is browse some of my own images to realize I am producing my own great work.
The real trick in the current photography ecosystem is to let go, completely, of the idea that you want to make the same pictures as other photographers. Sometimes I hear people say of my own work, “Wow, I want to make that picture. Where was that?”
Don’t even go there. If you do, you aren’t an artist or a photographer, but a stenographer, dutifully copying another’s work.
Instead, try to look at the images you like as inspiration. Sure, you might want to photograph the Grand Canyon the way that I did, but I already did that. So did, for that matter, about 10,000 photographers that day.
It’s okay to get inspired by the photography of others, but copying it is boring. I won’t expound on ideas about how to get inspired by photographs, other than to say that the central idea is to understand how you feel about a photograph.
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Question of the Week: How do you plan to improve your photography in the coming year?
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Great River Rescue receives donation from Image Photography
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“I find the dramatic power of ‘bad’ weather captivating”: Christophe Jacrot explains why he loves to take photos in stormy weather
There’s no such thing as bad weather, so the saying goes – only the wrong clothing. While most of us would be happy to put up with some discomfort en route to capturing a scintillating scenic view, going outdoors specifically to take photos of appalling weather conditions is surely not a major motivation. However, this was the raison d’etre of the French photographer Christophe Jacrot for his latest book, Lost in the Beauty of Bad Weather.
So what motivates Christophe to document “the rain, the snow, the wind [and] the cinematic emotions they conceal”, as he expresses it in the book’s introduction? We speak to him to find out.
What first attracted you to photography, and what has been your photographic journey since that point?
I’ve always been fascinated by images, and the quest to find emotions in them. I started taking photos when I was about 15 but abandoned it at 18.
Which photographers inspired you when you were starting out?
Saul Leiter, but I was guided by my instinct. There are subtle influences, such as Japanese woodblock prints, which often depict bad weather. I recently discovered Todd Hido, but I’m careful not to copy him.
How did you get your initial break into becoming a professional photographer?
I got back into photography after a period of filmmaking. Not being a writer myself, I didn’t feel I could live up to my ambitions. Photography was my passion at age 15, but I was 45 when I caught the bug again. I took a four-month photojournalism course and got a commission for a tourist guide, which involved taking pictures of 200 locations in Paris. The brief was that they all had to have a ‘sunny atmosphere’. But that springtime, it never stopped raining! That’s where I got this urge to take photos in the rain and other types of awful weather. And I’ve never stopped since.
To capture photos like this – being out in all weathers and trying to make the most of the difficult conditions – you must be quite obsessive?
Of course! But then, aren’t all artists a little obsessive?
Do you actually enjoy working in such awful conditions? Under similar circumstances, most people would be happier to stay indoors…
But that’s life, too! No bad weather means no life! I find the dramatic power of ‘bad’ weather captivating. It has a beauty that’s austere but real.
Which camera setup do you use and why did you choose it?
I always start with a pretty quick shutter speed, as quick as possible, and ISOs depending on the light. I never go above 3200. Everything else flows from there. It’s often a trade-off, especially in low light. Controlling the shutter speed is my main priority.
How much additional equipment do you carry with you when you’re working in such wild weather – rain covers, lens cloths, spare batteries… and food and drink to keep you going out in the field?
I have a lumbar compression fracture, so I have to keep things as light as possible. A camera, a good zoom lens and that’s it. I don’t want to have to swap lenses in a storm. Either my car or home is never far away, so I don’t need to worry about going hungry, but I often take a snack of dry goat’s cheese. I can stay outside for hours. The camera is protected by a bag, and I wear standard gear and a thin glove on my right hand, which is partly protected by the bag.
The wind is my biggest enemy – I use disposable tissues to wipe the lens. It’s not what the professionals do, but if I took a special cloth, I’d only be able to use it once. You also have to deal with the risk of condensation and sudden temperature changes that cause the lens to fog up.
What are the most extreme lengths you’ve had to go to when capturing the beauty of bad weather?
I never stray far from the car or my home, but I can stay out for hours. There’s always a human element in my photos, so I never venture deep into the wilderness.
How did you pick your shooting locations – do you just go where you know the weather will be bad?
Just my inspiration. Although I do have a smartphone app that shows rain forecasts. If there’s a deluge expected somewhere, I look to see if the location is interesting. I do a lot of scouting online, although the 48-hour forecasts are never particularly accurate. Unfortunately, you can’t just hop over to Japan at the last minute, you have to go for a while. I do have a list of places that I’m interested in. For example, I went to Iceland based on forecasts saying the weather would be rough for a few days in one region.
You have to provide a context for each image – a snowstorm surrounding a structure has resonance, for example – so in terms of composing your photos, what are the most important factors you are looking for?
That’s a tough question. The most important thing is finding somewhere that inspires me! Once I’ve done that, I concentrate on it. And again, instinct…
Are you pleased with the images taken from the car in Scotland and France? They look like paintings.
That’s one distinctive aspect of my work, the window effect, but it’s hard to get satisfactory results. First, I have to be able to position my car, and then the subject has to play ball. It often doesn’t come out right. I’ve tried practising with a portable window, but the results weren’t convincing, and it creates other problems, too. The ‘subjective’ aspect of the car is also important.
Do you think you have a recognizable photographic style, something that binds all the photos in the book together?
That’s a good question. People often tell me they can recognize my style. I’ll take that as a compliment as, for me, style is essential. But to be honest, I don’t know if I really have a ‘style’ as such.
Over how many years were these photos taken? And, when you started shooting them, did you know you wanted to produce a book straight away?
The Lost in the Beauty of Bad Weather book was commissioned by the German publisher teNeues. I gave my production artist 400 photos and he did the rest. So, this book is a collection of 13 years of photos. I’ve done five other books before this one, but they were all on more specific themes.
Are you trying to make a wider point with the book – that climate change means that ‘bad weather’ is just becoming ‘weather’, perhaps?
Climate change or no climate change, there will always be bad weather. It’s just a matter of how dangerous it becomes and how violent some spells of it are. As for a wider point, I have lots of questions in my mind, but no real answers.
What’s coming up next for you?
Spending a month this winter in Japan or the USA, two countries where they have real winters. And returning to the Faroe Islands, which is my favorite place in the world… and perhaps another book.
Lost in the Beauty of Bad Weather by Christophe Jacrot is published by teNeues and is priced at £55/$85.
5 creative iPhone camera tricks that’ll impress your family this Christmas
Festive downtime is perfect for photography projects. And you don’t need any special equipment to get creative with your family this Christmas: from double exposures to 3D visuals, the camera tricks below require only the iPhone in your pocket.
What’s more, the five tricks we’ve picked are straightforward enough for beginners to try, yet offer the scope for enthusiasts to be more adventurous. So whatever your skill level with an iPhone camera, you should find an idea in our list to inspire your shooting this holiday season.
And if these suggestions leave you feeling motivated to try more new ideas with your camera, take a look at our 52 photography projects feature, which covers inventive techniques to keep you entertained for every week of 2024.
1. Shoot long exposures with Spectre
From vehicle taillights to skies filled with fireworks, long exposures let you paint with light by keeping your camera’s shutter open for an extended length of time. To shoot these on an iPhone, you need an app that lets you manually control shutter speed (or at least gives the impression of doing so). There are several of these, but is one of the most powerful.
With AI assistance up its sleeve, it eliminates many of the restrictions usually associated with long-exposure photography. Chief among them is the need for a tripod: thanks to automatic stabilization, Spectre lets you shoot handheld long exposures. With the free version, you can capture 3-second exposures. Purchase Spectre Pro for $4.99 / £4.99 / AU$7.99 and you unlock the option of 5, 9, 15 and 30-second photos.
The possibilities for festive long-exposures are plentiful. You could shoot a fire (like the above), a crowded Christmas market to capture the holiday hubbub, or use Spectre’s clever crowd removal tool to create an eerily empty scene.
Another option is a snap of traffic flowing alongside twinkly Christmas lights. Or get the whole family involved and make a seasonal snap to share: equip everyone with a sparkler, set the exposure to 15s and then spell out your festive message.
2. Capture 3D scenes with Luma AI
You no longer need special equipment to capture accurate 3D visuals: just an iPhone and . Completely free, the app lets you record objects or scenes in 3D to create lifelike virtual models. You can then share these as interactive experiences for others to explore as if they’re standing there.
The results are significantly more immersive than a 360-degree photo. Because Luma AI captures depth, lighting and 3D detail, the perspective realistically shifts as you pan around a scene. And scanning is as simple as moving your smartphone around within the space, covering as many viewpoints as possible. There’s a handy walkthrough in the app to get you started.
Luma AI is ideal if you want to mix up your festive dispatches. Instead of mailing a card, you could capture a 3D model of your Christmas tree and share a link to the digital version with loved ones.
Luma AI is also skilful at capturing rooms and interiors – useful if you want to share the festive feeling with family or friends who are far away. Or if a family portrait is a holiday tradition, why not have the clan stand to attention and try shooting them with Luma AI? Your future, VR headset-owning self might thank you in a decade or so.
3. Take Christmas portraits with NeuralCam
With everyone dressed up and looking their best, Christmas is a perfect time to take family portraits. Useful as your iPhone’s portrait mode is, though, it has certain limitations – not least the fact that you need to be within a certain distance of your subject to create those artful blurred backgrounds.
NeuralCam offers an instant upgrade for your festive portraits. Priced at / / AU$7.99, its AI Bokeh mode allows you to capture subjects with soft backdrops at any distance. Already famed for its powerful NightMode and NeuralHDR features, the NeuralCam app’s new trick deploys a depth-generation model to map your image and blur the background accordingly.
Because you can use AI Bokeh across any lens – including telephoto, if your iPhone has one – it gives you the ability to create professional-looking candid portraits from afar. That might be relatives pulling a cracker, gleeful little-ones opening presents or grandma falling asleep on the sofa.
As with Apple’s portrait mode, you can select different apertures to control the intensity of the depth of field illusion. You can also pair it with NightMode to shoot portraits after dark, creating festive bokeh effects with colorful Christmas lights strung across the background.
4. Create double exposures with Snapseed
Double exposures are one of the oldest photography projects. Traditionally created by exposing the same frame of film twice or more, they allow you to produce artistic compositions by overlaying details from different scenes in the same image. But you don’t need an analog camera to shoot one today.
Several iPhone apps allow you to create a double-exposure effect is one of our favorites. A comprehensive photo editor from Google, it features a built-in double exposure mode that makes it easy to combine images.
Open a photo in Snapseed, tap Tools at the bottom, then select Double exposure. You’ll then need to select your second image, before using color presets to adjust the tonal balance, and the opacity slider to set which image shows through stronger.
Christmas is a particularly good holiday for shooting double exposures, as its symbolism and decorations offer fantastic potential for creative layering. That might mean combining a portrait with a shot of tinsel to give a sparkly feel. Or pairing a snap of festive snacks with a snowy scene for juxtaposition. Half the magic of double exposures is having a go. And unlike analog, you can change these overlays in an instant.
5. Frame the perfect festive sunset with PhotoPills
If you’re celebrating the holiday season somewhere with strong winter sun, a sunset could be the perfect backdrop to a festive family snap. The hard part is knowing exactly where the Sun will be when, and setting up accordingly. That’s where PhotoPills comes in.
Yours for / / AU$17.99, it’s the most expensive experiment in this list. But it’s also up there with the coolest. Essentially a planning tool for the Sun, Moon and stars, it allows you to prepare for photos by showing you where each celestial body will be at any given time, based on your location.
Using augmented reality, you can frame up shots ahead of the golden moment, with timelines and paths superimposed onto your live view. It will also forecast useful photographic moments, including golden hour.
Say you want to photograph the holiday decorations outside your house using your iPhone’s Night Mode. If you think the composition would be complemented by the presence of the moon, you can use PhotoPills to see precisely when the orb will hover above your chimney. The fun part is heading outdoors to scout locations, and starting conversations about the stars with your family – a fitting activity for Christmas time.
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Photography firm told to pay compensation to couple for not providing assured services
The Ernakulam District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has asked a firm engaged in wedding photography to remit ₹1.18 lakh as compensation for its failure to provide the promised services to a couple.
The panel acted on a complaint lodged by the Ernakulam-based couple, alleging that the firm located on M.G. Road in Kochi failed to provide photos and video of the wedding, which took place in April 2017. The couple had paid an advance of ₹1,000 and the remaining amount later.
The commission comprising President D.B. Binu and members V. Ramachandran and Sreevidhia T.N. said in their order dated December 21, 2023 that there were significant service deficiencies and unfair trade practices on the part of the firm and its manager. The complainants had endured considerable inconvenience, mental distress, hardship, and financial loss due to the negligence, it said.
The firm has been told to refund ₹58,000, which was paid for the photography services offered. It has to pay ₹50,000 as compensation for the financial loss and mental suffering caused to the couple. An additional ₹10,000 has to be paid towards the cost of legal proceedings. Though the firm had received notice from the commission, it did not submit any reply.
Antoine walker hi-res stock photography and images – Alamy
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