KAPURTHALA: Pushpa Gujral Science City marked the celebration of Nature Photography Day with an engaging exhibition titled “Nature Photography” aimed at raising awareness and inspiring the public about the wonders of nature. The exhibition featured captivating photographs by the renowned nature photographer, Sh. Gurpartap Singh from Mohali.

Further, Director Science City, Speaking on the occasion highlighted that Nature Photography Day, celebrated annually on 15th June, aims to promote the joy of nature photography and demonstrate how such images contribute to conservation efforts and wildlife protection both locally and globally.

Dr. Grover remarked, “Photography is a beautiful art that brings us closer to the world we live in. The view through the camera’s lens helps us appreciate and capture the essence of our surroundings every day. He encouraged everyone to use this occasion as an opportunity to explore the natural world more closely and to preserve those moments through photography.

This celebration underscored the vital role that photography plays in fostering a deeper connection with nature and supporting conservation initiatives

In 2015 alone, 1,146 people died during or after interactions with law enforcement officials in the US. In 2016, the death toll was 1,093, per “The Counted,” a special report and database from The Guardian. (In both years, the vast majority of deaths were classified as due to gunshot wounds, with a small number of fatalities after individuals were tased, struck by police vehicles or reported as a “death in custody.”)

For the photographer Diana Matar, seeking to memorialize these deaths — and the liminal spaces they represent — proved overwhelming to consider as a project, even at a smaller scale. She narrowed her focus down to four states; California and Texas, because they had the highest number of such incidents across the country, and Oklahoma and New Mexico because they consistently had some of the highest rates per capita.

“I thought I could photograph (where) every encounter happened in two years in these four states, and it just became impossible,” Matar told CNN. “Timewise, financially, in every possible way.”

Still, over some three years of photography trips, Matar drove hundreds of miles across the four states, visiting more than 300 locations where people had died during (or following) an encounter with law enforcement officers in 2015 and 2016. 110 of these images are published now in the monograph “My America;” quiet, monochromatic images of everyday sites like parking lots, rural roads and suburban sidewalks.

Patches of grass at an empty roadside mark the place where 40-year-old Terence Crutcher was killed by a police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2016. In Addison, Texas, birds perching on telephone wires overlook the site where 16-year-old Jose Cruz was murdered by an off duty police officer that same year. (In 2018, the officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison, having been found guilty of murder and aggravated assault.) Two chairs on a sunny sidewalk in Los Angeles, California, indicate where 37-year-old Norma Guzman, 37, was shot and killed by police officers in 2015.

Beside each image in the book are three brief lines of biographical information: the name of the deceased, their birth and death years, and the site’s location.

“I was really adamant about how the photographs would be presented. I just wanted it to be a name,” said Matar, who consulted family and victims’ support groups. “I didn’t want the last thing to be thought of about these people was the way they died. These were people, with lives.”

“There are so many images, and so many images of violence that we kind of turn off,” Matar added continued of today’s era of social media and smartphones. “I think we need space to digest, and I wanted to approach this in a way that was quite quiet. I wanted images that did not reinforce the violence. I wanted images that you can look at, and imagine this very banal place as the last place someone has been.”

An internationally acclaimed photographer and distinguished artist at Columbia University’s Barnard College in New York City, Matar’s relationship with documenting landscapes and violence is rooted in her own personal experiences. In 1990, her father-in-law was forcibly disappeared by the Gadhafi regime in Libya, and was never seen by his family again. “I was familiar with this idea of the legacy of state-sponsored violence and what it does intimately to a family… but also really looking at it through photography and what these landscapes hold,” Matar said.

Matar was born in California but has lived abroad for nearly two decades. Her photographic practice has taken her to locations across Libya, North Africa, Italy and Ukraine looking at the intersections of landscape and memory, in particular examining spaces where people had been killed or forcibly interned. But before beginning her work on “My America,” she had never turned her lens on the US.

In 2014 and 2015, the police killings of Black men and boys including Eric Garner in New York City, 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio and Walter Scott in Charleston, South Carolina, captured on camera and shared on social media, sparked national protests and a racial reckoning. Matar felt compelled to return to America. “I had worked on issues around landscapes of violence and state violence for many years outside of my home country, and I wanted to start researching what was happening from that point of view (in the US).”

Using a range of sources — including victim databases, media coverage, district attorney documents and police reports — Matar made her work during six lengthy road trips. She would watch videos or local news coverage of what happened at the location right before photographing the site in question. “That really was very emotionally affecting,” she said.

“Every time I got out of the car, I was very aware I was not just taking a photograph of a landscape or of a building. I was photographing something that held the last moments of someone’s life — unless they had been taken to hospital, it was the place where these deaths happened. It made me think about my country, and made me question so many things. ”

Of all the sites Matar visited, she said only seven had a memorial of some kind, whether that was a mural, flowers, memorabilia or photos. In a way, though, the photographs and the information placed alongside them in “My America” have a memorial-like quality of their own; Matar emphasizes this was a conscious decision in the book’s design. “I wanted a lot of white space in there, because I wanted the viewer to sit and think, and not just move on quickly,” she said.

While the biographical information next to each photograph is sparse, Matar researched and wrote a longer passage of text dedicated to each person’s life, and death, which is included in the book’s final pages.

She describes her research of the wider issues relating to law-enforcement related deaths as “even more affecting” than the process of making the photographs. This is exemplified in a series of pages in the middle of the book which outline key statistics related to such deaths, those impacted and factors involved — like that the number of people who die in encounters with police each year (around 1,000) has not changed in the nine years since Matar started researching the project in 2015.

“When you see all the things that go into why this is occurring — the lack of mental health beds, the lack of arms training, the racial injustice — there’s so many things that come together in this particular challenge,” Matar reflected. “This book is placing this type of violence in a continuum of a lot of violence in the history of the country.”

“I don’t have an illusion that this work is going to change anything, she continued. “What I do think, though, is that point a camera at something, researching something, writing about something — all these things require great attention. And that attention is saying that this matters, this really matters.”

We love a good photography competition at Digital Camera World, and the chance to bring some of the most new stunning images to you.

The German Society for Nature Photography (GDT) recently revealed the winners of their annual members-only photo competition.

The prestigious competition received over 8,000 entries across seven categories: Birds, Mammals, Other Animals, Plants and Fungi, Landscapes, Nature’s Studio, and the special category – All Things Flow.

Feeding Humpback whales, Namibian antlions, and ethereal woodlands were among the winners. 

Overall winner

The eerie and beautiful trees in the hardwood riparian forest of the Mittel Elbe Biosphere Reserve in Germany.

Photographer Dieter Damschen who captured the image said:

“Winter is my favorite time of year, and one of my favored motifs is the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Elbe River Landscape. I often visit this hardwood riparian forest in the foreland of the dyke to take photographs at fixed points with lines of sight that reveal carefully selected compositions.

“Although I claim to know this location very well and sometimes get the feeling that I have seen and photographed everything here many times, I am regularly surprised by how different a supposedly familiar place can appear.”

After several years of extremely low water levels, a highly anticipated winter flood came to the forest. The water combined with the snowfall resulted in contrasting lines, creating a graphic yet fleeting effect.

Damschen used Fujifilm GFX100S,  and GF100-200mm f/5.6 @150 mm, with an exposure of ISO 100, f/16, 6.5 sec.

Nature’s Studio winner 

Shaped twice by nature, these windswept trees live in the stark dunes of the German barrier island Baltrum. 

Landscapes winner

Birches in autumn was taken by Felix Wesch in his favorite woodland. 

Plants and Fungi winner

Arrowhead plants thrive in small river Groote Aa, which flows past the outskirts of the photographers village in the Netherlands. 

Other Animals winner

These delicate insects look incredibly fairy-like, and are tricky to find in the wild. 

Mammals winner

Ugandan Humpback whales spend the summer months in the Atlantic feeding grounds, hunting krill to build up their fat reserves for the winter months. These whales can be seen using a technique known as bubble netting, whereby the whales surround the krill, and push them further together by releasing huge bubbles of air. 

Birds winner

A Gentoo penguin surfing effortlessly through the waves on Sea Lion Island, in the Falklands Island. Gentoos are the fastest swimmers among penguins. 

The best of the runner ups:

Morlak’s guide in Madikwe, South Afriday reportedly said, “But cheetahs don’t kill zebras,” upon seeing this extraordinary sight. But needs must when you have three hungry mouths to feed. 

Snakes use their tongues to detect smells. Photographer Kai Kolodziej managed to capture this incredible behaviour in this stunning image. 

The Eurasian beaver was once widespread throughout the continent, but was hunted to near extinction at the turn of the 20th century for its fur and castoreum, a substance used in perfume and some food stuffs. 

Check out the best wide-angle lenses for shooting nature and wildlife. We’ve also put together our list of the best cameras for wildlife photography. 

Why not take a look at our guide to the best trail cameras while you’re at it?

Luciano Ratto is a photographer in the Seattle area. He recently published a book of photos, “Taste the Floor,” which documents the Seattle DIY music scene. Ratto’s work will be featured at Bumbershoot this year in IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW, a group photography exhibit at the festival.

Seattle Refined: How long have you been creating? What mediums do you work with?
Ratto: I’ve been creating and photographing for around eight years but started to take it seriously around five years ago when I was 21 years old. My main practice is photography, but I also dabble in clothing and design here and there.

Can you tell us about your artistic process and how the different stages work into it?
My practice revolves around investigation. Being an inner investigator of myself, trying to understand what I want to say and do as an artist (as presented in “The Nightmare of Reason” and “Conversations with Ghosts”). Or external investigations such as subculture explorations (as presented in “Taste the Floor” and “Aftertaste”).

I’m a project-based artist, so the process usually starts with me trying to figure out what is the next project (usually comes quite naturally, and I have a project in my hands without even thinking about it). After I have a vague idea of what I want to say and what is it about, I think about the name of it and a sound that represents the aesthetic I want to create. Music is extremely important in my process, and every project contains a very specific song that was used as the “aesthetic blueprint.”

After setting the framework for the project, I then stack photos for a certain period that I usually set myself beforehand. It can vary depending on the project, it could be one month to two years of piling photos.

By setting an aesthetic blueprint early on in the project conception, the rest will be just following the set frame.

Tell us about where your inspiration for your art comes from.
My art inspiration is the forever stubbornness of myself to believe my practice will answer questions about who I am and why I am who I am. My inspiration is the answer to my question, lingering around the corner of my negative.

Do you have a specific “beat” you like best – nature, food, profiles, etc.?
One of the biggest reasons I moved to the PNW was nature. Mother Nature is the final designer and we will always learn by observing it.

Do you have one piece of art that means more to you or is extremely special to you?
Diane Arbus’ “Mom Holding Crying Child, New Jersey,” 1967, is probably my favorite photograph. I have a ripped page from one of her books with this photo on top of my mirror, and every day before walking out, I stare at the child. It always reminds me of the true potency of a photo.

What experiences in your life have affected your art the most?
Grief.

If we want to see more of your work, where should we go to find it?
Currently only presently online on Instagram (@luciano_ratto) but you can also check some of my work in the Bumbershoot Festival at IYKYK gallery.

What is next for you? Anything you’re working on right now that you’re really excited about?
I’m currently working on a follow-up book to “Taste the Floor” (TTF is a self-published zine documenting the Seattle underground music scene) and currently selecting the prints to be presented in a gallery show at Bumbershoot! The show is called IYKYK, it will feature different pockets of underground music cultures all around the PNW from bluegrass to crust punk! It should be a blast and a really interesting window to look at!

Lastly, how do you take your coffee? (We ask everyone!)
16 oz. three-shot caramel latte.

About ‘Artist of the Week’: This city is packed with artists we love to feature weekly on Seattle Refined! If you have a local artist in mind that you would like to see featured, let us know at hello@seattlerefined.com. And if you’re wondering just what constitutes art, that’s the beauty of it; it’s up to you! See all of our past Artists of the Week in our dedicated section.

Looking for the perfect smartphone to capture stunning photographs without breaking the bank? Finding a device that offers exceptional camera performance in the mid-range category can be a challenging task. However, with advancements in technology, several smartphone manufacturers are now offering high-quality camera-centric phones without compromising on features.

Here are some top picks for photography enthusiasts searching for the best camera phones under Rs.30000:

1. Vivo V30e 5G (Velvet Red, 8GB RAM, 128GB Storage)
With its impressive 5/5 rating, the Vivo V30e 5G combines vibrant imaging capabilities with powerful performance, making it an ideal choice for photography lovers. Priced at Rs. 27,510, this phone offers a perfect blend of style and substance.

2. Redmi Note 13 Pro+ (Fusion Purple, 12GB RAM, 512GB Storage)
Experience photography like never before with the Redmi Note 13 Pro+. Boasting a 3.8/5 rating, this smartphone features a groundbreaking 200MP Hi-Res camera and a stunning 1.5K Curved AMOLED display. Despite its premium features, this device is priced at just Rs. 34,999.

3. Oneplus Nord CE4 (Celadon Marble, 8GB RAM, 128GB Storage)
The Oneplus Nord CE4 offers a balanced mix of performance and photography capabilities, earning a solid 4.2/5 rating. Priced at Rs. 24,999, this smartphone delivers exceptional camera performance in a sleek and elegant design.

4. TECNO CAMON 30 5G (16GB+256GB)
For those seeking advanced camera features at an affordable price point, the TECNO CAMON 30 5G is a compelling choice. With a 3.8/5 rating and a price of just Rs. 22,999, this device packs a powerful 100MP OIS camera and a stunning LTPS AMOLED display.

5. realme 12 Pro+ 5G (Navigator Beige, 12GB RAM, 256GB Storage)
Combining top-notch camera capabilities with a sleek design, the realme 12 Pro+ 5G is a photographer’s dream come true. Featuring a 64MP periscope camera and a 6.7″ 120Hz curved AMOLED display, this device is priced at Rs. 27,510.

Whether you’re a photography enthusiast or simply looking for a smartphone that excels in camera performance, these mid-range devices offer an excellent balance of quality, features, and affordability.

Additional Facts:
– Many mid-range smartphones for photography enthusiasts offer AI-powered camera features to enhance image quality and provide various shooting modes.
– Some devices come with dedicated night mode for capturing clear and vibrant photos in low-light conditions.
– Smartphone manufacturers often collaborate with professional camera brands to optimize the camera performance and software of their devices for photography enthusiasts.

Important Questions:
1. What are the key factors to consider when choosing a mid-range smartphone for photography?
2. How do mid-range smartphones compare to flagship devices in terms of camera performance?
3. Are there specific features or specifications that are crucial for photographers in a mid-range smartphone?

Key Challenges:
– Balancing cost-effectiveness with camera quality and performance.
– Ensuring consistent software updates to improve camera functionalities over time.
– Keeping up with the competition by offering innovative photography features in mid-range devices.

Advantages:
– Affordable pricing compared to high-end flagship smartphones with similar camera capabilities.
– Good balance between camera performance, features, and overall device functionality.
– Accessibility to high-quality photography tools for amateur photographers or enthusiasts.

Disadvantages:
– Limited availability of certain advanced camera features found in premium flagship smartphones.
– Potential compromises in build quality or other specifications to keep the price within the mid-range segment.
– Less extensive support and resources for troubleshooting camera-related issues compared to top-tier devices.

Suggested Related Links:
– DxOMark
– GSMArena
– DPReview

GUNTERSVILLE — The Guntersville Museum’s exhibition Backstage Hollywood: The Photographs of Bob Willoughby, will run from Thursday, June 20 through Sunday, Aug. 11.

The exhibition will be located in the Woodall Gallery. Hours are Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday from 1-4 p.m. Admission is free.

Venture backstage into the golden age of Hollywood with this exhibition that explores the photography of Bob Willoughby. Widely recognized as a pioneer of photography in the 20th century, Willoughby was the first outside photographer invited by studios to take photos on film sets.

Willoughby’s career took off in 1954 when Life magazine published a feature with over a dozen of his candid photographs of Judy Garland working on set. Since then, his photographs have become instantly recognizable, featuring naturalistic images of actors and directors in intimate moments of vulnerability.

The exhibition features photographs from the sets of 17 iconic Hollywood films, including Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady,” Alfred Hitchcock on the set of “Marnie,” Mia Farrow in “Rosemary’s Baby,” and Marilyn Monroe in “Let’s Make Love.”

Willoughby developed friendships with some of his subjects, including Audrey Hepburn. When speaking of meeting Hepburn, he recalls “She took my hand like . . . well a princess, and dazzled me with that smile that God designed to melt mortal men’s hearts.”

Awarded the Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Still Photography in New York in 2004, Willoughby’s photographs are in the permanent collections across the US and Europe. The magazine Popular Photography has called him “the man who virtually invented the photojournalistic motion picture still.”

Responding to the many logistical challenges of working on film sets, he was a technological innovator, creating the silent blimp for 35mm still cameras so that he could photograph silently on set, capturing intimate moments of the stars.

In many ways, Willoughby’s spontaneous approach set the standard of celebrity portraits as we think of them today, casting the candid eye of his camera across the most famous faces to fill them with renewed vitality.

Backstage Hollywood will captivate audiences as they learn about the impact this photographer had in developing the genre of celebrity portraiture.

In conjunction to the exhibition, the museum will display Hollywood costumes from local collector, B.B. Hudspeth.

Hudspeth’s Western and Hollywood memorabilia collection is notable and the museum will display original costumes from the movie “Tombstone” starring Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp. In addition, Kirk Douglas’ costume from “Gunfight at the O.K Corral” where he portrayed Wyatt Earp will also be featured.

Wardrobe and props used by John Wayne, Gregory Peck and Kevin Costner are among additional novelties.

Call 256-571-7597 or visit the museum website at www.guntersvillemuseum.org for more information.