“The most remarkable camera I’ve ever used.” That’s what I said in my Sony A9 III review last year. “Photography has just changed forever.”

Those are bold words – and I’m not the only one who has gushed and gabbled about Sony‘s remarkable new sports camera. But don’t take my word for it – if you want to see if all the hype and hyperbole is justified, you’ll be able to judge for yourself this weekend at The Photography & Video Show.

The A9 III will be a featured camera on Sony’s stand at the show, taking place from Saturday March 16 to Tuesday March 19 at the NEC in Birmingham, England. 

Make your way to stand E699, E600 and chat to one of Sony’s experts or ambassadors, and you’ll be able to see the A9 III in person – and ask all the questions you might have. 

Are global shutter sensors the future of all cameras? Does the more restrained ISO sensitivity make any difference in real-world shooting? What does it mean for video performance? How does the new autofocus system with dedicated AI processor work? How long can you shoot 120fps bursts for? 

In addition to the A9 III, you’ll also find the brand new Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS on the company’s stand as well. 

It’s an essential lens for professional and serious sports shooters, and it might just be the most remarkable 300mm f/2.8 ever. It’s certainly the world’s lightest, at only 1,460g and measuring just 265mm in length. It makes a perfect tag team partner for the A9 III, and I loved shooting with that combo when I tested them in November – again, see the lens for yourself and make up your own mind.

The Photography & Video Show is celebrating its 10th year, and over 200 of the biggest and best brands in the business will be there including Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Sigma, Adobe, Epson, Eizo, Godox, Ilford, Insta360, Irix, Joby, Laowa, Lowepro, Peak Design, Rotolight and more.

Click the link below to get your ticket to the show, kicking off this weekend from March 16-19 at the NEC in Birmingham. 

You might be interested in the best Sony cameras, along with the best Sony lenses to use with them. 

A photographer has emerged victorious after suing a website for using his Creative Commons image without the proper credit.

In 2016, news website Independent Journal Review posted concert photographer Larry Philpot’s image of musician Ted Nugent in an article.

Philpot had registered the 2013 photograph of Nugent with the U.S. Copyright Office as part of unpublished works.

He had also published the photo on Wikimedia Commons under a “Creative Commons” license that specified anyone could use the photo for free as long as they provided attribution to the photographer.

Independent Journal Review published Philpot’s creative commons photo of Nugent in an article titled “15 Signs Your Daddy was a Conservative” under the fifth sign which was that “He hearts ‘The Nuge’.”

A Creative Commons Image Used Without The Proper Credit

However, Independent Journal Review’s article did not include Philpot’s required attribution for the Creative Commons image — meaning its use was outside the scope of the free-to-use license.

Instead, the news website hyperlinked to Nugent’s Wikipedia page, where the photo was featured.

Philpot filed his copyright infringement lawsuit against the Independent Journal Review four years later in May 2020.

In this initial lawsuit, a federal judge ruled in favor of Independent Journal Review and argued that the news website’s use of Philpot’s photograph was transformative fair use due to the new context created by the article.

How a Photographer Reversed a Fair Use Ruling

However, last month, the concert photographer convinced the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to reverse the ruling.

And on February 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that Independent Journal Review’s use of Philpot’s Creative Commons photograph of musician Ted Nugent did not constitute fair use.

The Fourth Circuit found that the federal judge’s previous ruling that Independent Journal Review’s usage was “transformative fair use” had been undercut by the the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on The Andy Warhol Foundation v. Lynn Goldsmith case.

The court cited how last year, America’s highest court found that “[a] typical use of a celebrity photograph is to accompany stories about the celebrity” and, where the purpose of the work is to illustrate the story about the celebrity, the use of the photograph is not transformative use.

“Because IJR’s use of the Photo did not add new purpose or meaning, and only minimal alteration, the use was not transformative,” the Fourth Circuit writes.

The Fourth Circuit also found that the nature of the copyrighted work was “creative,” due to Philpot’s “several creative choices” when taking the photograph of Nugent, weighing against fair use.

The court also found that widespread actions such as those of Independent Journal Review in this case could cause “cognizable market harm.”

In determining whether the use of the photograph was commercial or for nonprofit educational purposes, the Fourth Circuit also looked to whether Independent Journal Review “stood to profit.”

While Independent Journal Review does not charge readers to view its articles, it obtains revenue from advertising based on views of the photo. The news website earned only $2 or $3 in ad revenue for the article with Philpot’s photo of Nugent.

But, nonetheless, the Fourth Circuit found that Independent Journal Review’s profited from the image and therefore its use of the photographer’s image was commercial.

Andy Warhol Ruling Has Changed The Meaning of Fair Use

Philpot’s victory reveals how there could be an increasingly strict interpretation of fair use by the U.S. court in a post-Warhol ruling world.

Earlier this year, following the Supreme Court’s ruling on Warhol v Goldsmith, photographer Jeff Sedlik was finally granted a jury trial against celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D went on trial — after he claimed that an image of a Miles Davis tattoo she inked on a client infringed his copyright.

However, Von D went on to score a resounding victory in the copyright infringement trial over the tattoo.

 
Image credits: Header photo via court documents.

A Hollywood photographer and acting coach was arrested this week on suspicion of sexual assault. Authorities believe that this isn’t an isolated incident, and police are appealing for more victims to come forward.

Celebrity photographer Kenneth Howard Dolin was arrested after he was accused of assaulting a 29-year-old in his home studio. Dolin was 64 allegedly at the time.

According to NBC Los Angeles, there were already two other sexual assault accusations against Dolin dating back to 2017. While these two were separate incidents, police believe there could be many more victims and are urging women to come forward.

The police report that all three incidents began in a similar nature, with a one-to-one coaching session or photoshoot turning into unwanted and inappropriate touching. The most recent arrest is for “penetration with a foreign object.” Dolin is apparently a well-established photographer in the entertainment industry and often finds models online.

“There’s a huge difference between art photography and sexual assault. We want to make sure we know everything that happened and make sure that line does not get crossed again,” says Detective Brent Hopkins in a statement.

A photograph of the suspect has been released to identify and speak with those victims. Dolin has since been released from custody, “pending further investigation,” according to the police.

People who wish to come forward should contact Officer Richard Podkowski, Special Assault Section, at 213-473-0447. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (1-877-527-3247). Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly to www.lacrimestoppers.org. Lastly, tipsters may also download the “P3 Tips” mobile application and select the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers as their local program.

As photographers moved from film to digital photography, they gained a new flexibility that changed the entire process. However, what was lost in that transition was a need for a more tangible connection to images that only a printed photo can provide.

Full disclosure: This sponsored article is brought to you by Saal Digital.

I have only printed a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands of images I’ve shot since I got my first professional-grade digital camera (the Nikon D1). The lack of physical output isn’t confined to the 4×6 or 5×7 prints from a lab with a developed roll of film. I also have made fewer wall-sized prints of my digital work than my film work.

I’ve always owned a high-end photo printer, and there are some shots I’ve hung on my wall, but often, the experience of making wall-hanging prints is cumbersome, and the results aren’t great. Unless I had a print framed professionally, the paper would sag over time, distorting the images.

The better option, and the one I turn to when I want to hang something on a wall or provide something for a client, is to turn to one of the expert photo services, where I can rely on their expertise to produce the best possible images.

Saal Digital is a high-quality print provider that prides itself on its output and is ”working to develop our products further to achieve higher standards and meet our customers’ needs.” SAAL Digital offered to create prints from some of my work so I could share the results. While they sponsored this post, they had no say over what I could write.

I picked four types of print: a metal print, a brushed metal print, a gallery print in a matte finish, and a Fine Art print using Hahnemuhle Baryta.

Saal Digital offers many other photographic solutions, including photo books, albums, gift boxes, cards, calendars, and more. Still, to me, the proof of a printmaker’s quality is large-format output.

With these four different print styles, I selected images I wanted to hang that would benefit from the characteristics of the media.

I selected a long exposure night shot in Joshua Tree under a full moon for the aluminum metal print. The lodge I was staying at had a western-themed location set designed for weddings and events to use as a backdrop. I’ve always wanted to have this on my wall, but most media can’t capture the shimmering skies of the long exposure, and most prints I’ve made lose all details in the shadow.

The matt-finished HD gallery print was used for a high-detail photograph my son took while we were on a photo trip to Brazil. A shot of a cayman (it’s like a small alligator but lower on the chain of predators, a favorite meal of jaguars) had incredible detail in the eye of the reptile. The cayman had startled us when our boat pulled to shore so someone could photograph a bird, we noticed the cayman sitting just inches from the side of the hull.

At such a large size, the print would be a good test of the detail of the aluminum print, and I figured the matte finish would make the image look more lifelike since a glossy coating would give a shine to the creature it didn’t have in real life.

One of my favorite images is a shot of a snow monkey at the Central Park Zoo while testing a super-telephoto lens. The image was shot as dusk approached, and the background dropped into darkness. The expression on the monkey’s face was so human that it became one of my favorite portrait shots.

Finally, for the fine art framed poster, I picked a macro shot of a bee that has a nice mix of background bokeh and foreground sharpness. Since I’m familiar with Baryta paper, I had specific expectations for the results and wanted to see how it matched similar prints I’ve made on the same paper.

The process of selecting the materials and uploading the images is straightforward. Pick a style and size, and use their online tool to upload the photo. Many online photo output houses have complex and unnecessarily cumbersome tools, but Saal Digital’s site is straightforward.

My order was placed on December 6th and arrived on the 13th, which is no small feat considering how large the prints were. The largest print was the Cayman, measuring 30×40, and the smallest was the 12×18 fine art print, so I was interested in seeing how the variety of print sizes were packed.

Saal Digital ships via DHL, and the box arrived with a bit of a crumpled edge (thanks, DHL!) I was worried about the contents, but Saal Digital had the prints packed incredibly well-protected, and nothing was damaged.

The prints are exceptional. My favorite is the shot from Joshua Tree, as it’s a print of an image I’ve always loved but have not been able to produce well on my photo printer. The metal surface is exceptional, bringing out each star hanging in the sky, especially when light hits the print. Color is vibrant in the output, which is exactly what I saw in real life, and it has quickly become my favorite wall art.

The Cayman photo maintained all the detail in the original shot, right down to the astounding detail in the eye of the Cayman. In the original image, it’s possible to see the silhouettes of people on the boat, including my son, holding the camera while taking the photo. The print captures that perfectly, and you can see every blade of grass, every detail on the cayman.

The snow monkey photo came out exactly as I intended, with a smooth black background and a sharpness in the eyes that made the monkey look even more human. (Or, shows how monkey-like we are.) The saturated colors on the face of the animal pop without overpowering the rest of the image.

Finally, there’s the fine art print of the bee on flowers. While I’ve printed on Baryta paper, I haven’t had results as good as this print. I’ve hung it near some hyper-macro shots of flowers I’ve done, and it looks beautiful on the wall.

I ordered each of the prints with the aluminum subframe, which gives the prints a very stable backing and allows for easier hanging. The hardest part of hanging the prints was finding my picture hanging wire buried in a drawer in my basement.

Unlike when I self-print artwork, the prints from Saal Digital are flawless, and the metal prints seem likely to outlive me.

The process was seamless, and the quality was excellent. I’ll use these images to show off print examples to my clients.

The full range of Saal Digital’s photo offerings can be found on their site, and their online design toolkit allows the creation of photo products directly on their website, which is particularly helpful when creating photo gifts and self-promotional tools like calendars.

Special Offer!

Get your Personal Coupon Code now and get 50% off your wall decor order. Take advantage of this limited offer and create photo products just the way you like. Get your Personal Coupon Code here. Turn your photos into works of art with Saal Digital.

Full disclosure: This sponsored article was brought to you by Saal Digital.

A street photographer has gone viral with his epic impromptu portrait of actor Gordon Cormier who plays Avatar Aang in Netflix’s hit series Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Photographer and videographer Kien Quan has amassed over 4.9 million followers on TikTok with his dynamic and spur-of-the-moment portraits of ordinary people that he meets on the streets in his daily life.

However, earlier this month, Quan spotted actor Gordon Cormier on the streets of New York City — just a few days after the photographer had watched his television series Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix.

In a TikTok video, that amassed over 29.6 million views, Quan revealed how he approached Cormier who plays the lead character of Avatar Aang on the show and captured him in a portrait.

Quan’s photograph shows Cormier mid-air on his skateboard. The image was praised by social media users for making the Avatar: The Last Airbender star “look like a real-life Airbender.”

“Usually I’m a TikTok creator who films strangers on the streets. I love telling stories about people through photographs,” Quan tells PetaPixel.

“That morning, I was doing some shots for my friend as a favor and I thought I would head out to see if I could spot anyone for a video too.

“I had literally just watched Avatar: The Last Airbender a few days ago. Then my friend spotted Gordon Cormier and said ‘Dude, I think that’s Avatar Aang!’”

A Photo Shoot with an Avatar

After speaking with Cormier and his Netflix representatives, Quan shot the Avatar: The Last Airbender actor on his Nikon Z8 as he landed a trick on his skateboard in between interviews.

Content creator Quan, who was a leading professional dance photographer, called the shoot with the actor an “organic process.”

As well as doing the photos of Cormier, Quan collaborated with animator Manthila Bandara, who is also a fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, to help create the video portraits of him.

Quan had the idea of animating elements coming out of Cormer in mid-air as a way of paying homage to the character that he plays — as well as visually describing the idea of being in his “element” while skateboarding.

“I don’t bump into celebrities every day with my TikTok videos. There is a fanbase with a gigantic, emotional connection with Avatar: The Last Airbender and I think that’s why that photo resonated with people,” Quan says.

“I think Gordon Cormier also has a huge talent for skateboarding which made the portrait go viral. That was unexpected for people.

“I try to convey the story of the person through my portraits and what their energy is on that day. I think that’s what made that photo special.

“It was also meaningful for me to take his portrait. Growing up, it was incredibly rare to see famous Asian Americans that were portrayed in a positive light like they are celebrated in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

“It meant a lot to me to create this photo and contribute in my own way to the current buzz that is happening around the show.”

More of Quan’s work can be seen on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

 
Image credits: All photos by Kien Quan.

By Kimberly Pistone

For the Sidney Daily News

MAPLEWOOD – Lemke Photography is dedicated to helping families make memories. Anne Lemke started by taking pictures of her own family for her scrapbooking, and when she would post photos on Facebook, her family and friends were always impressed and said she really should offer her services to others.

Lemke began by taking some photos for some friends. After that initial experience, she said, “I realized that I could totally do this.”

She offers outdoor and studio photos. She has lighting and backdrops to do studio mini sessions. She takes special enjoyment in photographing toddlers because she will follow them around and capture some cute moments.

Lemke is always on the lookout for new spots to do outdoor sessions. She said, “Tawawa Park never lets me down.”

Lemke offers all types of portrait photography – from families and individuals, to more specialized portraits like graduation, senior year, engagement and bridal portraits. Recently she did a boudoir session and she is hoping to book some smaller weddings soon.

One of Lemke’s favorite things about her photography business is meeting a lot of new people. She tries to always capture personalities in her photos and for the clients to feel amazing about themselves.

Lemke Photography can be found at lemkephotography.mypixieset.com, on Facebook at Lemke Photography and at Instagram at lemke-photography2023. Make appointments by reaching out on Facebook or by calling 419-302-6436.