Vivo has shown off camera samples from its upcoming folding phone, the Vivo X Fold 3, alongside some other key details. 

A Weibo post from Jia Jingdong, Vivo’s vice president, features plenty of tidbits about the upcoming phone, which is set to launch in China alongside the X Fold 3 Pro on 26 March. 

The post confirms that the phone will run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, with some benchmark scores mentioned that should mean it impresses in terms of raw speed. 

The interior screen, meanwhile, is apparently a Samsung panel that will measure 8.03 inches, so you’ll be able to rely on an extensive surface when the phone is open. The photos attached to the post don’t really give us a look at the exterior display, meanwhile. 

The X Fold 3 will also seemingly have solid battery life – the post says it can last two days, something that would be impressive given the size of the display that it has to power. 

The images of the phone itself show a really large camera bump, though, and the post shares a range of (admittedly somewhat low-res) photo samples apparently taken with the phone. 

Jingdong’s post says the phone will have Zeiss T* lenses and a 50MP main shooter, and while that actually still leaves us with a decent amount of information yet to be confirmed, the camera samples are clearly impressive. 

They show close-up capabilities, low-light chops and stabilisation, taking in sunsets, insects and roiling seas to deliver crisp photos each time. A dedicated imaging chip will power some of this, as it has in other flagship Vivo phones. 

Of course, these sample photos do tend to always look amazing – they might look off-the-cuff but they’re more likely quite carefully composed.

After all, Apple might shoot whole event videos using the iPhone now, but that doesn’t mean videos we take of our cats will look professionally lit and perfectly shot. 

Still, even with that pinch of salt, the Vivo X Fold 3 is looking very promising, and while this Weibo post has given us plenty to chew on, there will be far more details to digest once it’s been properly unveiled later this month.

Since early February, Grand Valley State University’s Kaufman Interfaith Institute has been working with Interfaith Photovoice to create a cohort of GVSU students. 

In the program, students of various faith backgrounds utilize smartphone photography to capture visual representations of subject matter related to a prompt that changes weekly. The students then come together to share their photos as a group and engage in a guided discussion. In doing so, students examine an array of diverse experiences through a shared medium. 

Roman R. Williams, Ph.D., founder of Interfaith Photovoice, describes the organization as “an arts-based approach to interfaith understanding.” Their collaboration with the Kaufman Interfaith Institute gives students the opportunity to explore photography in an accessible way and simultaneously strengthen interfaith relationships in the GVSU community. 

“This (the student cohort) has been an opportunity to listen to these fantastic students as they come together to explore what it means to believe, belong or just ‘be’ on campus through the lens of smartphone photography,” said Liz English, Kaufman Interfaith Institute’s program coordinator and cohort facilitator.

A major goal of the cohort is to foster relationships with students across different worldviews and backgrounds. English said the first step in this process is simply taking a step back to listen to students about their experiences.

“We cannot possibly provide support for students of diverse worldview identities without first listening to them,” English said. “I recognize that the experiences of one Hindu student or one Christian student does not equate to another’s, nor do they encapsulate the huge internal diversity of either of their traditions, but it’s a place to start.” 

This experience aims to help people share their diverse backgrounds and experiences to personally connect individuals in the student body.

One of the participants in the cohort, Franklin Specter, a student-intern at the Kaufman Interfaith Institute, said he chose to participate so he could get to know his fellow interns. As a result, Specter said he found himself regularly conversing with individuals of different backgrounds and faiths, which was cultivated in the cohort. 

“It is awesome that the (Interfaith) Photovoice group and myself choose to sit ourselves down and have these interesting engagements,” Specter said. “Exposing ourselves to each other’s lives and perspectives through this process has given us all a chance to grow.” 

Additionally, Specter said being exposed to varying perspectives has allowed him to critically examine his habits and engagements with others. Specter said he believes this will help him make positive changes in his life.

“Going into next year and those beyond, I think I’ll be able to change my approach and alter some parts of my life that have been less than desired this year,” Specter said. “If I were to break it down into a few simple words, I’d say I’ve gotten wisdom and clarity out of (Interfaith) Photovoice.”

The project will culminate in a pop-up exhibition on April 11, in which the photographs taken by the cohort will be on display in the Kirkhof Center lobby. The exhibition will run from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., with cohort members available to discuss their photos.

On April 12, the project will be on display in the George and Barbara Gordon Gallery at GVSU’s Pew Campus during the President’s Reach Higher Showcase. From there, the exhibition will move to the Kaufman Interfaith Institute space at GVSU’s Health Campus in Grand Rapids.

“This memory card was burned in a GoPro that overheated” Matt Greenwood, founder of Nandoff Data Recovery, told me, as he pointed to a digital microscope to show me the remains of a MicroSD card which, to be honest, I would probably have discarded. He had been able to get all the data off it.

Matt is at The Photography and Video Show with a small booth talking to photographers about his services, but after nearly two days of the four-day event, he tells me that the majority of photographers – at least of those he has spoken to – admitted they had no idea at all that it was possible to recover data from chips so badly damaged.

Admittedly his services aren’t without cost, but there are occasions any professional would find the idea of paying £420 (around $500) to have the contents of an apparently lost SD card restored invaluable after a wedding or other major gig. The money has to be weighed against not only the fee due from the client but also professional reputation (and, I joked, the prospect of holding a wedding again just for the visuals!) 

Admittedly we’re still talking money that would probably not make me think it worth recovering my holiday photos, but at least it is possible to put a price on sentimental value and make your own choice! (If nothing else, the sight of that burned MicroSD card should make you think about trying to push your GoPro past the point its temperature sensor wants to shut it down).

Matt also told me that the firm had even managed to recover terabytes of data from a specialist £30,000 system on one occasion, though he did warn that, if you’re going to recover data, you’ll need something to recover it to – a device you’ll need to pay for too. 

In the samples of devices (as well as traditional hard drives) were SSDs from modern laptops – even Macbooks. So while it’s worrying to think platter-based and solid-state media is subject to failure, it’s good to know there is a line of defence you may not have known about.

Nandoff Data Recovery are based in the UK but can serve customers around the world – having served customers from the USA, Canada, and Australia to mention a few,

You can’t avoid every disaster, but you should choose the best memory card for your camera to minimise the risk.

The Comedy Wildlife Photo Competition is one that always puts a grin on people’s faces. If you want to contribute to the joy, one of our favorite contests is now open for entries. You can show off your funny wildlife photos and videos… And to get the ball rolling, the folks behind the contest have shared with us some of the 2023 entries that we haven’t seen so far.

For 2024, The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards have partnered with Nikon. Besides this epic partnership, this is a very special year for the contest: they’re celebrating a jubilee! This year marks ten years of Comedy Wildlife. Ten years of photos that bring us joy and, at the same time, remind us of the importance of conservation.

This year’s Comedy Wildlife competition is teaming up with Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN). This UK-based charity dedicates itself to supporting conservation leaders in their countries across the Global South. With over 30 years of experience, WFN has provided £20 million in funding to over 200 conservationists in 90 countries. We are excited to showcase the amazing work done by WFN and urge you to join us in supporting their cause for sustainable conservation efforts.

Entering the contest

As usual, the competition is open to the public and still free to enter. Here are the categories:

• Alex Walker’s Serian Mammals Category
• Spectrum Photo Birds Category
• ThinkTANK Reptiles and Amphibians Category
• Fish and Other Aquatic Species
• Insects Category
• Nikon Young Photographer (up to 25 yrs.)
• Nikon Junior Category (up to 16 yrs.)
• Amazing Internet Portfolio Category
• Video Category
• Affinity Photo People’s Choice Award (after finalists are announced)

You can win some fantastic prizes in the contest. The top shot wins a safari in the Maasai Mara in Kenya, with Alex Walker’s Serian and a handmade trophy from The Wonder Workshop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Other prizes include a Z30 Nikon for the Junior Category winner, the Z8 Nikon kit, and a brand new iPad loaded with the latest Affinity Photo editing software for the Young Photographer winner.  All category winners will receive a ThinkTANK camera bag.

The closing date for entries is July 31, 2024. The shortlist will be announced in September, and winners will be announced in November. Enjoy the images below, and make sure to visit the contest website for more information.

Every time I speak with Lois Greenfield, she tells me about how she makes incredible photographs of dancers. She doesn’t shoot a ton of frames a second — instead, she simply understands the moment. At times, I swear she called it luck. “No matter how responsive the shutter on your camera is, you still have to take the picture a split second before the peak of the action,” she told us in a 2016 interview. “So it’s best to put your camera on a tripod, and concentrate on what the dancers are doing.” But that’s just the technical part: what Lois makes is art beyond belief. In her latest series called Forces of Nature, she’s returning to directing dancers in studio.

All images by Lois Greenfield. Used with permission. For more, check out her website.

In case you’re not aware of who Lois Greenfield is, she’s been shooting for several decades. Her book, Moving Still, is in my library, and I look at it occasionally. Lois used to shoot dancers with a medium-format Hasselblad camera until she went digital. And her work is a masterclass is being able to zone in and understand the moment before it’s about to happen. It’s a sense of presence that street photographers and many others could only dream of. But more importantly, Lois sees — she doesn’t look. That’s to say that she creates instead of captures.

Lots of Lois’s work that we’ve seen more recently has been done in color. But these are made in black and white — which is where Lois started. It removes so many visual distractions from us and focuses simply on contrast in the scene and specific lighting. There’s an interplay between powder, silks, etc. In the images, we see the dancers who seem like they’re appearing to us as if we’re in a dream-like state. Truly, stances like this don’t almost seem possible — nor does the incredible sense of symmetry.

“Forces of Nature explores the interplay between the human form outside the confines of choreography and forces of nature that shape the world,” she tells the Phoblographer. “Having photographed for the Village Voice in my studio for many years, I had the advantage of photographing the dancers outside the confines of performances. Two of the dancers pictured were directed by me because they were hired to do commercial work.” They all took on their own personas accordingly.

Lois steps into studios and works with dancers. But unlike photographers today, she shoots one frame a second and works to direct them and coordinate the moment the shutter makes the photograph. It yields fewer images and, therefore, peace of mind when editing. Often, she says that she’s inspired by the dancers she photographs. These folks are the heroes of her stories and work with Lois on creative collaborations to make beautiful moments that require insane skill.

It’s crazy to think that work like this could be made by an AI algorithm, right? Lois thinks it’s dangerous and believes that copyright is something photographers need to take much more seriously. “Every photograph I have taken over my many years in photography has been registered by the Library of Congress, which I hope would protect me,” she says. “On the other hand, what if a small piece of one of my photos gets stolen?”