American photographer Keisha Scarville is the winner of the Saltzman Prize, a new award for the best Emerging Photographer in the world. This annual prize is a $10,000 award and additional funds to support a solo exhibition of the winning photographer’s work at Photofairs New York each September. The Saltzman Prize is presented in cooperation with the Center for Photography Woodstock (CPW) and Photofairs New York. The winner will also be honored on 20 April 2024 at the CPW Vision Awards.

The other nine shortlisted artists were: Hady Barry, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Eric Gyamfi, Accra, Ghana; Patrice Aphrodite Helmar, Juneau, AK / New York, NY; Nhu Xuan Huay, Paris, France; Hailun Ma, Shanghai. China / New York, NY; Rory Mulligan, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY; Trina Michelle Robinson, San Francisco, CA; Caroline Tompkins, New York, NY; and Wilfred Ukpong, Oxford, UK / Clermont-Ferrand, France / Eket, Nigeria.

This years’ Saltzman Prize nominators include MoMA curator Oluremi Onabanjo, British curator and cultural historian Mark Sealy, New York-based curator and writer Lyle Rexer, American photographer Deana Lawson, and The New York Times Opinion photo director Jacqueline Bates. Each nominator put forth two photographers to create a shortlist for the Prize. From the shortlist, CPW’s jury panel of three photography experts selected the year’s emerging photographer. The jury this year was MacArthur fellow and photographer Deborah Willis, the President of the Magnum Foundation Susan Meiselas, and the Director of Asia Society Yasufumi Nakamori.

Brooklyn-based photographer Keisha Scarville weaves together themes of transformation, place, latencies and the elusive body. Since the early 2000s, Scarville has been exploring ideas around belonging, place, and embodied narratives across mediums, particularly photography. Scarville’s personal background merges two distinct geographies, Guyana and America, which act as a large source of inspiration throughout her work.

Many of her works reflect on the symbolism of West African figures and the immigrant experience of her Guyanese-American parents. In one of her most important series, Mama’s Clothes, Scarville created portraits using her dead mother’s clothing, making a collaboration between absence and landscape to foster a space that enables the reemergence of her mother’s presence through her own body and identity. Her work has been exhibited at the Studio Museum of Harlem; ICA Philadelphia; The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute; and The Brooklyn Museum of Art. Scarville recently published a new artist book lick of tongue, rub of finger, on soft wound (MACK, 2023), which was shortlisted for the Aperture/Paris Photo First PhotoBook Award.

Hady Barry is a Guinean-American artist whose practice involves photography and sound. Her work has been featured in the British Journal of Photography, NAATAL, and Contemporary And. It has been exhibited by the National Portrait Gallery (UK).

Eric Gyamfi is a photographer living and working in Accra, Ghana whose works have been featured in A Diagnosis of Time; Unlearn What You Have Learned, Ecologies and Politics of the Living (Vienna Biennale 2021), and Bamako Encounters – African Biennale of Photography (2017 and 2019).

Patrice Aphrodite Helmar, born in Juneau, Alaska worked in a small-town camera shop and darkroom growing up and continues to work in photography. Helmar’s work has been shown at the Jewish Museum, Ortega Y Gasset Projects, Gaa Gallery, and the National Museum of Iceland.

Nhu Xuan Hua, a French photographer and artist with Vietnamese heritage. reinterprets archival family pictures through digital interventions, exploring the effect of dissipation generated by the passing of time and driven by the forces of inherited memory.

Hailun Ma’s fashion photography experience in New York inspired her to rediscover her hometown of Xinjiang, China differently: since 2018 she has shown an appreciation for Xinjiang’s culture, fashion, and youth.

Rory Mulligan is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Art at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Mulligan’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is included in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Trina Michelle Robinson explores the relationship between memory and migration through installation, film, print media, photography, and archival materials.

New York based Caroline Tompkins has worked with editorial and commercial clients such as Apple, The New York Times, Vogue, Hinge, Rolling Stone, and Gap and has photographed an array of magazine covers, including those for Time Magazine, Esquire, Buffalo Zine, and GQ.

Wilfred Ukpong is a French Nigerian artist and researcher whose socially engaged practice utilizes interwoven mediums, including photography, film, sculpture, performance, architecture, and creative workshops, to tackle social issues with community participation and intervention.

The Saltzman Prize was founded in 2023 by New York-based photographer, film producer, and philanthropist Lisa Saltzman in collaboration with CPW, where she is a Trustee. Lisa created the Saltzman Family Foundation in 2020 in honor of her parents, Ralph and Muriel Saltzman, and has already developed two major arts awards through the Foundation, namely The Ralph Saltzman Prize in partnership with the Design Museum in London, which celebrates emerging product designers; and the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Ralph Saltzman Prize Student Contest, which challenges students to design innovative fabrics.

By Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter

Published: 05:24 EDT, 11 March 2024 | Updated: 06:13 EDT, 11 March 2024

The Princess of Wales’ Mother’s Day portrait is so full of errors and so ‘sloppily’ edited that it should never have seen the light of day, experts told MailOnline today.

Prince William has been urged to release the original photo he took after at least 16 mysterious manipulations have been spotted in the 24 hours since its release.

The innocent Mother’s Day picture of the Princess of Wales and her three children has sparked an international scandal after most of the world’s major picture agencies ‘killed’ the image and questioned its integrity.

Kensington Palace is yet to comment but photographers have had their say on what they think has happened and digitally altered.

Some believe Prince William has used an AI tool such as ‘Best Take’ found on a top of the range £1,059 Google Pixel 8 phone, which merges a burst of pictures into one perfected image to ensure all those in the images are smiling and have their eyes open, for example. But this can lead to blurred lines and glitches in final images.

Others have blamed ‘sloppy’ use of Photoshop or other computer software such as Topaz routinely used to improve images. 

One photographer told MailOnline today that one of the few things that the public can be sure of about the controversial image is that Kate was sat with her children for the portrait. But Katie Mortimore believes it was then ‘manipulated’ tremendously to create the ‘perfect family photo’.

Paul Clarke said he wondered if it was so drastically changed that even ‘snot on a sleeve’ of a royal child or another mark may have been removed to perfect every element of the final released image.

MailOnline can reveal the verdicts of leading experts from around the world about the ‘CuffGate’ scandal, so named because Princess Charlotte‘s left hand is misaligned with the sleeve of her cardigan, casting doubt on the authenticity of the image and leading to the rare ‘kill notice’ for a royal picture. 

Photo is manipulated using two or more pictures and software

Photographer Katie Mortimore believes the photo has been heavily changed using software.

She said: ‘The photo is clearly manipulated. What is not clear is if it is a combination of two similar frames to look its best or is a fabrication in parts.

‘I personally am fairly confident the Princess of Wales was sat in the chair with her children but without her arms around them. To be fair with recent major abdominal surgery that sort of reach of both arms would likely be painful.

‘I don’t believe this is the first manipulated image from the palace BUT this coincides with the Princess’ illness so only raises more questions rather than dispelling them.

‘The palace would be best to release the raw image to agencies but I would be surprised to see it happen. Why did the image get manipulated? I suspect the Princess did it as a keen photographer wanting to create a near perfect family photo’.

Google Pixel AI tool used 

Patrick Whitty, who takes pictures for the New York Times, TIME and National Geographic tweeted: ‘My guess is that it was taken with the Google Pixel 8, with the “Best Take” feature, which chooses the “best face” for each person and automatically merges them into one photo.

‘There are so many red flags in this photo from Kensington Palace. Surprised the wires would move it

Cleaned up with a ‘clone tool’ 

Freelance photographer Paul Bevan tweeted: ‘I don’t think it’s dodgy. Someone was trying to clean the photo up a bit and used the clone tool and did not use it very well and they were pushed for time to get the photo out. I’d like to see the original version’.

Images taken at a single shoot were combined

Jon Mills, Group Picture Editor of SWNS, the UK’s second largest press agency told MailOnline: ‘However the Palace ended up releasing this particular image it’s really clumsy editing, it wasn’t done by a professional. 

‘But the quality of the image is consistent so my best guess is that elements from images taken at a single shoot were combined. It probably shows the pressure the Prince of Wales is under to show his family in the best light rather than any attempt to deceive’.

Removal of snot on a sleeve? 

Paul Clarke, one of Britain’s most experience photographers, said that problems may have been caused by the search for a perfect picture, and perhaps trying to clean up imperfections.

‘Here we have puzzling decisions about the picture’s creation and it’s sloppy editing (a bit of snot on the sleeve? who knows) that just don’t make much sense’, he tweeted.

‘There are numerous 100%-certain photographic manipulations easily visible on that Kate photo. What were they thinking?’

 

A recent study by Cape Town-based travel portal Go2Africa has identified Kenya as the best destination for wildlife spotting and photography in the world. Singapore and India also made it to the top ten list, ranking third and ninth, respectively, for wildlife photography opportunities in Asia.

Canada closely follows Kenya in second place, with Australia taking the fourth spot in the list of best wildlife destinations spotting in the world. Botswana and Tanzania secure the fifth and sixth positions, while Lithuania ranks seventh. Namibia and South Africa round out the top ten, holding the eighth and tenth spots, respectively.

Kenya to India: Top destinations for wildlife photography

The study, which analysed around 70 million images on Flickr, highlights the top ten destinations with the highest number of wildlife photographs. The results reveal that half of the images originate from African countries such as Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania, Namibia, and South Africa, with the highest count recorded at Kruger National Park, totalling 40,965 photos.

Kenya emerges as a wildlife haven, boasting over 25,000 species of animals, 7,000 species of plants, and 2,000 fungi and bacteria. With excellent chances of spotting the iconic ‘Big 5’ – lions, leopards, elephants, African buffalo, and rhinoceroses – Kenya draws wildlife enthusiasts from across the globe.

While North America, Oceania, and Europe each have one country in the top ten list, Asia is represented by two countries, Singapore and India.

Singapore, famed for its dense rainforests, offers ample opportunities to spot wildlife such as monkeys, birds, monitor lizards, otters, and crocodiles in their natural habitats. Some of the best wildlife photography spots in the city-state include Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Pulau Ubin, Punggol Waterway Park, and Coney Island.

India, celebrated for its diverse landscape, boasts numerous wildlife destinations ideal for game spotting. From the majestic Bengal tiger to Asian elephants and Asiatic wild dogs, India’s national parks and reserves offer unparalleled opportunities for wildlife photography. Whether it’s Hemis National Park in Jammu and Kashmir, Kaziranga National Park in Assam, Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan, or Satpura National Park in Madhya Pradesh, India beckons wildlife enthusiasts with its rich biodiversity.

For further insights into the study, visit Go2Africa.

(Feature image credit: Fokke Baarssen/ Shutterstock)

Related: This Land And Cruise Safari Will Bring Travellers To See Incredible Wildlife

Written By

The Princess of Wales has apologised “for any confusion” after she admitted to “editing” a controversial Mother’s Day image of her and her children.

In a statement released this morning, Kate, 42, said: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.

“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.

“I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C.”

Kensington Palace said it would not be reissuing the original unedited photograph.

Royal sources added that the Princess of Wales made “minor adjustments” and that Kate and the Prince of Wales wanted to offer an informal picture of the family together for Mother’s Day.

“The Wales family spent Mother’s Day together and had a wonderful day,” the source added.

Reuters, Associated Press (AP), Getty Images, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the Press Association told media outlets to “kill” the photo from their systems and archives after the image was circulated on Sunday.

AP told Sky News the photo shows an “inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand”.

Kensington Palace had initially refused to comment after the image was pulled.

The picture in question was released on Sunday morning to celebrate Mother’s Day and shows Kate surrounded by her and Prince William’s three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

The caption said the photo was taken in 2024 by Prince William.

Earlier, AP had told Sky News in a statement: “The Associated Press initially published the photo, which was issued by Kensington Palace.

“The AP later retracted the image because at closer inspection, it appears that the source had manipulated the image in a way that did not meet AP’s photo standards.

“The photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of Princess Charlotte’s left hand.”

Graham Smith, of the anti-monarchy group Republic, earlier said: “The manipulation of an image that the palace says was taken by William is extraordinary.

“If true it is a deliberate attempt to deceive the public.”

He added: “This kind of dystopian behaviour you might expect from Soviet Russia, not modern Britain.

“The monarchy has always sought to manipulate and manage its image, but if they have tried to fake a photograph to silence online conspiracy theories, that is disgraceful.”

Kate’s uncle Gary Goldsmith also weighed in on the image earlier this morning, claiming that the family would not have been responsible for altering the image.

The Celebrity Big Brother evictee said: “Obviously the family wouldn’t be the ones to do any touch-ups, so if that’s gone through some filter before it’s gone out to the broader world, but they wouldn’t be doing Photoshopping themselves.”

He told Good Morning Britain: “The smiles on faces said it all for me, I thought it was beautiful.”

Mr Goldsmith added: “And this whole ‘sleevegate’ thing, just leave it alone.”

The controversy looked set to overshadow the Commonwealth Day service, one of the key royal events of the year.

Prince William and the Queen will gather with the Royal Family in Westminster Abbey later today in the absence of the King, who is continuing treatment for cancer.

The photo was the first official image released since Kate, 42, had abdominal surgery in January.

US celebrity news outlet TMZ did publish an unofficial paparazzi shot of the princess last week. It said the princess was spotted in a car driven by her mother Carole Middleton near Windsor Castle.

Kate was last seen in public on Christmas Day when she joined other members of the Royal Family for the annual church service and walk.

There has been significant online speculation about the Princess of Wales’ health in recent weeks but the palace has said she is not expected to return to official duties until after Easter.

In January, it was announced Kate Middleton had been admitted to The London Clinic for scheduled abdominal surgery.

At the time, Kensington Palace said she would require ten to fourteen days to recover in hospital and would be unlikely to return to royal duties before Easter.

An official statement from the palace acknowledged the ‘interest’ this news will garner but asked for respect and privacy during what will no doubt be a challenging time for Kate’s closest family.

In a statement, a spokesperson said, ‘The Princess of Wales appreciates the interest this statement will generate.

She hopes that the public will understand her desire to maintain as much normality for her children as possible; and her wish that her personal medical information remains private.’

As such Kensington Palace said they would only provide ‘significant new information’ on her medical progress, to retain privacy for her medical information and her children’s lives.

Public theorising reached fever-pitch last month with concern spiking as a result of Prince Williams’ notable absence from his godfather King Constantine’s memorial service in Windsor Castle.

A representative for Kate told US Weekly: ‘We were very clear from the outset that the Princess of Wales was out until after Easter and Kensington Palace would only be providing updates when something was significant.’ They added only that the ‘guidance stands.’

The somewhat formidable response followed speculation on social media that the Prince of Wales was conspicuously missing from Constantine’s service because of the Princess’ ongoing health issues. A brief update followed by a palace aide at an event at Windsor Castle, who declared that ‘The Princess of Wales continues to be doing well.’ However the scandal of the image will do little to reassure fans.

Tatler has approached Kensington Palace for comment.

The photo industry is in crisis, and no one’s talking about it. Not publicly, anyway. We keep compartmentalising issues, burying our heads in the sand, trying to keep going, hoping it’s all just a bad dream. Unfortunately, it’s not.

We are now facing the consequences of a changing landscape that’s been tweaked, distorted, edited, and exploited on a macro and micro level for the last decade. Decisions made for convenience, efficiency, profit, and self-interest collided with a flattening of expertise, internet culture, and new modes of communication, and at no point did we take a minute to stop and recalibrate.

“No one wants to pay for photography,” says Emily Keegin, who has commissioned for the Fader, Time, IBM, and Bloomberg Businessweek. “That’s a huge problem, and will continue to be one. We’re also in a moment where people are very conservative and not excited about taking photographic risks. I can’t remember the last time a creative director was interested in something bigger, bolder, weirder.”

Creative briefs used to be jumping-off points, giving space for the imagemaker to stretch the idea and make it their own. Now, due to the metrification of visual culture, a brief is a fait accompli. There is no space for expression. A brief is a to-do list. The trend cycle is also part of this problem. It’s gone from something that lasted months to days, sometimes hours. We’ve become so erratic, overstimulated, and deep in the doomscroll that an idea we loved yesterday feels tired today.

Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes ofwebsite accessibilityPHOTOS: German photographer captures ‘dogs catching treats’

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 11:27:53 GMT (1710156473041)

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Join us for the big reveal at The Photography & Video Show this weekend – as this major competition sponsored by UK photo specialists LCE reaches its finale. All the shortlisted entries will be on display – and then on Sunday the overall winner will be announced live at the Show 

With nearly 13,000 entries across 14 categories and a prize fund of £12,000, this photography competition has attracted some serious attention. The prize-giving is taking place exclusively at the UK’s The Photography and Video Show on the PhotoStudio Stage at 3:45pm on Sunday March 17. 

The judging panel including documentary photographer Peter Dench, Angela Nicholson of SheClicks, and Digital Camera World’s Chris George. They will be handing out the trophies and dispensing advice on what judges look for in winning competition entries – this event is not to be missed if you are heading to the Show. 

Check out all of the shortlisted entries on display in the impressive exhibition housed in the Welcome Area for the duration of the four-day show (or check them out online here), and pick your favorites for the prestigious title of LCE Photographer of the Year 2024!

You can find all the details on , and buy your tickets,  on the official website (students and pros can pre-register for free entry). To save 20% on your tickets use the code DCWTPS24 before March 14.