A young amateur photographer who captured two blackbirds “kissing” on camera is seeing his shot turned into a card and sold in the Co-op supermarket.
Ben Pulletz, now 21, captured six striking images of animals and nature around his home in Somerset. Among them were a rabbit in a meadow, a grasshopper, a great tit perched among rose hips and a sunny field of daisies.
The cards will be launched in 1,300 stores and the Co-op will donate £10,000 to the RSPB.
He said: “I am absolutely delighted and, to be honest, it really hasn’t sunk in yet. I can’t believe that I would have had such a positive response from Co-op when I first reached out to them.
“I have been trying to track the perfect wildlife photographs for so many years, but the idea of a national chain taking up my images would have been seen by me and everyone else as ‘one for the birds’.
“I am especially pleased that the daisy photograph has been used – it is my mum’s favourite.”
A keen wildlife enthusiast, Mr Pulletz started taking pictures of animals in the countryside near Charlton Mackrell in Somerset five years ago, wandering through fields and woodlands to get the perfect image. In 2020, at the age of 17, he set up his own photo-card business, Feathers & Hills.
He said: “It first started when I left school and didn’t know what to do. I always loved the natural world and was always taking photos of the sunrise and sunset on my iPad.
“I picked out things around my local village and then waited for the light to appear. I took an image of rapeseed in the golden glare and after that picture, I was hooked.
“I love nature photography as you can always expect the unexpected. Being out in places where I know are wildlife hot spots is always exciting, as it is only a matter of time before something special comes into view. I never stop believing and always stay positive.”
In 2021, Mr Pulletz won the Siena International Award for his photography in the Under 20 Category. His work has also featured in the British Wildlife Photography Awards book.
The Booker-prizewinning writer Bernardine Evaristo praised Ingrid Pollard in an Instagram post last month after the seasoned British artist scooped one of the world’s top photography prizes, the Hasselblad Award. The accolade comes with a hefty SKr2m prize pot (around £152,000) and a show at the Hasselblad Center in Gothenburg, Sweden. Pollard has come to the fore in recent years, bagging a Turner Prize nomination in 2022, but crucially she was also a key figure in the British Black Arts movement of the 1980s and an active member of grassroots campaigns for women’s liberation and LGBTQ+ rights. Evaristo highlighted Pollard’s unique journey, saying: “It’s wonderful that she is now being rewarded for pursuing a singular artistic vision rather than bowing to commercial pressures. Folks, you never know what the future has in store for you.” Brava, Ingrid.
The photograph, which has been seen around the world, shows Palestinian woman Inas Abu Maamar, 36, embracing the body of her five-year-old niece Saly, who was killed in an Israeli strike, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 17, 2023.
Salem says taking the photograph in the Nasser Hospital morgue “was a powerful and a sad moment”.
“I felt the picture sums up the broader sense of what was happening in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
“People were confused, running from one place to another, anxious to know the fate of their loved ones, and this woman caught my eye as she was holding the body of the little girl and refused to let go.”
aljazeera.com
In the 1990s, New York’s the Chelsea Hotel was a hub of bonhomie and bohemianism. An eclectic crowd gathered there, drawn both to the artistic environment it cultivated and for its reputation for setting in motion creative collaborations and avant-garde performances.
For photographer Tony Notarberardino, the hotel was a refuge when he arrived in New York City in 1994. Brought up in Melbourne, Australia, by Italian emigrant parents, Notarberardino – who still lives in the same apartment at The Chelsea Hotel today – was fascinated by the clientele. ‘As a photographer, I found the people who congregated at the hotel – and the hotel itself – to be so inspiring and visually striking,’ he says. ‘It was this magical, commingling of people from all walks of life that made life at the hotel so continuously compelling. It became and continues to be my home.’
Tony Notarberardino, Debbie Harry, 2005
(Image credit: © Tony Notarberardino. Courtesy the artist and ACA Galleries, New York)
The move marked the beginning of a series of portraits. ‘At 4am one night in September 1997, I was inside the Chelsea Hotel elevator, returning home, when a hand adorned with long, painted fingernails blocked it from closing. In walked an aged drag queen carrying more shopping bags than she could manage while holding the hand of a six-year-old boy. After four years of letting these moments pass by, I introduced myself and asked if I could photograph her. Without hesitation, she agreed.’
The resulting, large black and white photographs are the subject of a current exhibition at New York’s ACA Galleries. Notarberardino, who has photographed more than 1,500 subjects, continues to capture portraits daily in his hallway, using his vintage 1960s Toyo-View 810GII camera.
Tony Notarberardino, Stanley Bard, 2008. Bard was co-owner and manager of the Chelsea Hotel for more than four decades
(Image credit: © Tony Notarberardino. Courtesy the artist and ACA Galleries, New York)
‘When I first started the series, I was photographing everyone: from the hotel cleaning staff, El Quijote [restaurant] staff waiters, to celebrities. I wasn’t exactly looking – I was more reacting to the circumstances I was in. There is no one formula that led me to photograph people, but it had to do with their style, uniqueness, and something that just drew my attention. These photographs document a piece of New York counterculture history that has been incredibly important to many artists, musicians, and other creatives.’
‘Tony Notarberardino: Chelsea Hotel Portraits, 1994–2010’ until 27 April 2024 at
ACA Galleries in New York
Tony Notarberardino, Dee Dee Ramone, 1998, of punk band the Ramones
(Image credit: © Tony Notarberardino. Courtesy the artist and ACA Galleries, New York)
