Rehoboth Art League starts the new year with its ninth annual Juried Photography Exhibition.

2024 marks the Rehoboth Art League’s 86th year celebrating downstate’s visual art scene – and each year sees more growth.

Nick Serratore is an artist and curator of the Art League’s Juried Photography exhibition, which features work from regional photographers pulled from a pool of more than one hundred submissions.

Serratore says that’s just another indication of the growing interest in arts locally.

“The area consists of people from all over the surrounding states. With them, they’re also bringing their interest in the arts. It’s very evident in the attendance at our exhibitions, but also in our education programs, which sell out very quickly.”

The Rehoboth Art League’s juried photography exhibition is joined by two others this month — “The Lifted Veil: Photography by Phyllis Berger” from last year’s juried exhibition winner and “To the Water’s Edge and Back,” highlighting paintings from the late Edward Loper, Jr.

Serratore says the Loper show features 19 works of the self-taught Delaware artist, who died in September, 2023.

“Mr. Loper was always known for his urbanscapes, streets, cities, under bridge scenes, everyday life in the markets. His work speaks for itself. It’s bold, it’s dynamic, and he also had some Eastern Shore scenes.”

The Loper exhibition runs through March 10th.

Phyllis Berger’s solo photography exhibition, “The Lifted Veil” and the juried exhibition are on display through February 4.

Delaware Public Media’ s arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Now this is something you may never see again in your life.

Back on January 3rd, wildlife photographer Jason Miller posted the incredibly rare scene of a jaguar on his trail camera in the Huachuca Mountains near Tucson, Arizona. Yes, a jaguar

He said into the camera on the YouTube video:

“Five years ago, I started running trail cameras for wildlife footage here in southern Arizona, hoping one day maybe I’d get a jaguar. I was fortunate enough to get an ocelot the last several years.

Just north of the Mexico border in a deep canyon, on December 30th, I was hiking up checking some cameras. I set up some cameras overlooking this mountain lion scrape, hoping to get a lion. Well, I got lots of wildlife, including my first jaguar.”

The jaguar was caught on camera back on December 20th, and to make it picture perfect, the creature was showing its teeth right back towards the camera.

According to CBS, a five-person team from the Arizona Game and Fish Department inspected the footage, and came to the realization that this is the first time this creature has ever been documented on camera. By studying its pattern, they were able to determine that it is unlike any jaguar they’ve seen in the States before, meaning it traveled up from Mexico for the first time. Insert obligatory border joke…

Miller’s discovery marks only the eighth known jaguar to step foot in the U.S. since 1996 before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reclassified the species as endangered.

Russ McSpadden, a southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said:

“I’m certain this is a new jaguar, previously unknown to the United States. After being nearly wiped out, these majestic felines continue to reestablish previously occupied territory despite border wall construction, new mines, and other threats to their habitat.”

Jaguars were once found in the United States and recently, there’s been a push to reintroduce them in places like Arizona and New Mexico. However, some don’t want more big cats roaming the United States. Jaguars are the 3rd largest cats in the world, behind only lions and tigers… sure don’t wanna come across one of them when you’re checking out the Grand Canyon.

Nevertheless, a pretty damn cool sighting.

In an era where image quality no longer serves as the sole differentiator among photographers due to advancing technology, having the latest and greatest gear no longer gives photographers a drastic upper hand.

This is partially because recent gear is all very good, and there are limitations regarding output and viewing. There still isn’t a monitor that can cater to the amount of megapixels in the files we produce, nor are there many printers and print methods widely available to reproduce such files. With questions on image quality taken away, the focus on what makes a photographer stand out will shift towards the significance of a recognizable style of work, ultimately decided by what they choose to shoot. Therefore, in this article, we will discuss the elements that will help you as a photographer create images that stand out beyond just technical specifications.

Shoot With Presence of Light

First of all, I think we can all agree that images can only happen with the presence of light. If there is no light, there is no photograph. Therefore, it is only logical that we place a strong emphasis on light. Light in photography specifically refers to the quality of light for the subject matter. Good and interesting light can highlight ordinary subjects, adding depth and dimensionality to your photograph. This is because light brings out shadow, and shadow is what provides spatial cues, depth, and contrast in a photograph. When speaking about light and shadow, we should also pay attention to image exposure. As exposure controls what we see or don’t see in the scene, it ultimately also affects the composition and outlook of the entire image. So, the next time before you shoot, keep an eye on interesting light and frame it accordingly; it never fails to make a good image.

Choosing an Interesting Subject

For this part, it is primarily divided into two major parts: subject identification and subject isolation. Firstly, you as a photographer must be able to identify the subject of your interest to photograph. This is because a frame with no clear subject presents no context for the photographer to isolate and make it stand out in the frame, hence causing visual confusion for the viewers to interpret. Just like the importance of light presence in an image, the presence of a subject is also crucially important as it is what a photograph is all about, and the ability to isolate them is equally important.

There are three common ways a photographer can utilize to isolate the subject: luminance contrast from the presence of light and shadow, color contrast with complementary colors, and depth of field. For example, a well-isolated subject will have light shining on the subject you want to highlight and shadow hiding the rest of the image. Or the color of your subject is different enough to stand out compared to the background color. Or the background of your image is blurry enough to make the subject pop. With the right combination of these isolating methods, photographers can easily isolate the subject to produce a decent image with a strong focal point. It is also important to point out that distractions can also be easily removed by applying the same isolation method in reverse.

The One Rule of Composition

While it might be extremely cliché to say you should ignore all the typical rules in composition like the rule of thirds, golden ratio, diagonal lines, etc., these rules are still good to serve as guidelines to achieve balance in your framing. Contrary to choosing an interesting subject to include in your photograph, personally, the one rule in the art of composition lies in the power of consciously choosing what to exclude in your framing while still retaining enough context for the viewer to understand your image. The composition can also be known as the ability to present the subject in a way that is aesthetically pleasing in achieving balance among the chosen elements. Simply put, if an image is balanced, then the viewer’s attention will go straight to the intended area of the frame. If it isn’t balanced, then the photographer can consider moving the position of the camera or changing the subject distance to create better subject isolation and perspective to achieve visual balance. All in all, balance and aesthetics are subjective, and we as photographers should also be daring enough to allow creative freedom to take the front seat in pursuing a greater image output.

The Idea

A solid idea ultimately forms the foundation and objective of an image. That itself explains the importance of having a solid idea of what you would like to portray in your image. The idea, better known as concept, should be both the starting point and goal of an image for you to build your image upon. This way, you can ensure that the subject matter and visual elements chosen to be photographed will be aligned with the intended message while leaving out everything that is irrelevant. Having the ability to pre-visualize the final output in the process of photographing will vastly improve your composition and enhance the overall impact of an image. That being said, the best ideas are clear enough to be understood by a wide variety of audiences yet still leave enough room for slight audience interpretation to keep the idea of the image continuously growing. That is the magical area for creatives and their work. 

In conclusion, advanced photography tools are pretty much accessible to everyone these days, removing the barrier of entry to obtaining great image quality. Shifting the focus in photography nowadays to improving the art of photography and not merely chasing better image quality. The uniqueness in the art of photography is interpreted from a strong personal style, such as a recognizable approach to lighting, composition, subject selection, and core idea, which will pretty much guarantee success for photographers in producing a solid body of work that conveys stories, evokes emotions, and captivates a diverse range of audiences.

Denver Broncos running back Jaleel McLaughlin (38), cornerback Riley Moss (37), cornerback Tremon Smith (1) and wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. (19) run out of the tunnel before the Broncos’ Week 18 game against the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 7, 2024. Photo by Ben Swanson / Denver Broncos

Professional photographer Stephen Wilkes has a multi-decade career that melds artistic and commercial photography and has taken him around the world. He’s worked with National Geographic, Apple, and Netflix, among others.

Speaking at Apple’s flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York City, Wilkes offered a packed-house audience an overview of his career and dropped a number of gems for aspiring photographers. PetaPixel rounded up several pieces of advice that anyone can take from Wilkes, especially those looking to break into the field.

1. Practice with Film

“If you master your craft in the early years using film and then you move to digital, you’re wired differently,” Wilkes tells the crowd.

It’s common advice, but it bears repeating. Film, of course, forces the photographer to slow down and think carefully about each shot. But Wilkes reveals other ways it made him more meticulous. For example, he would never shoot a project entirely on one roll, lest it get damaged and he would lose everything. He would have his assistants stop him from shooting while he was in the middle of a roll to change out for another.

“That’s how paranoid I was about the idea of losing an image because of processing errors or some failure. And so that was the mentality. And so digital took away all that,” Wilkes tells PetaPixel.

Though his point that digital removed these hurdles, it should be noted, is a positive and part of why he eventually made the change. Still, it proves his point that mastering film wires a photographer differently.

2. Take Advantage of Your Phone

Lest anyone think Wilkes believes film is the only way to get started in photography, he highly encourages people to take advantage of phone photography.

“It’s not necessarily about what process you use, but it’s developing your eye and continually finding a way to be alive visually, to be conscious, to be present,” Wilkes tells PetaPixel.

It’s almost passé advice to carry a camera around all the time, but Wilkes suggests looking at the camera many already have in their pockets. Speaking at Apple, it’s little surprise that the professional touted the abilities of the tech company’s latest iPhone 15 Pro Max. Still, the new smartphone really does pack in a number of improvements for anyone taking photos and videos.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max sports a 48-megapixel main camera, 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a 12MP 2x telephoto camera. Wilkes, who used film well into the digital camera revolution, emphasized how undeniably far the technology in digital cameras has come. Specifically, Wilkes says it was when digital photography became capable of shooting at night, even on a phone, was a turning point for him.

And he doesn’t just mean DSLR and mirrorless models. In fact, Wilkes’ “Tapestries” project is taken entirely on iPhone. There’s no editing either. Instead, he uses a double exposure app that pulls everything together without any layers in post.

“When you’re present and you’re always looking, that’s when you discover things,” Wilkes remarks.

3. Pay Attention to Detail

One throughline in Wilkes’ work is the impeccable attention to detail. As noted, one key reason he made the switch to digital was the advancements made in resolution. Wilkes uses this constantly, always making sure even the finest details help shape the story. His “Day and Night” project, which combines photographs taken at a single location over an entire day to create an time-lapsed ombre effect in a single image provides a wealth of examples.

One image, taken on in New York City on Thanksgiving shows the famous parade put on by Macy’s on left-hand side of the image, which depicts the morning hours. Over to the right, viewers can glimpse a family having their Thanksgiving meal together through the window. It’s a tiny detail when zooming out to look at the entire image at once, but it makes taking a closer look all the more worth it, creating the sense that every pixel is used to tell the story.

“The power of observation is an incredible gift.”

Image credits: Photographs by Stephen Wilkes