Stampede is here: What our photographers saw during this first weekend

Stampede is here: What our photographers saw during this first weekend

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Cody Stampede Launched ‘Click’ Thompson’s Career As Top Rodeo…

Cody Stampede Launched ‘Click’ Thompson’s Career As Top Rodeo…

CODY — Two-time National Finals Rodeo Photographer of the Year Christopher “Click” Thompson has returned to this legendary Western Wyoming town that helped launch a rodeo photography career that has exceeded even his own wildest dreams.

Thompson returned this week to shoot the Cody Stampede Rodeo.

While he was here, he took time to give a little something back to the town that helped him get his start by hosting an exclusive photography seminar for rodeo shutterbugs.

Thompson has captured artistic, gritty shots from hundreds of rodeos, and he’s a regular at some of the best rodeos in the world. That includes Cheyenne Frontier Days and the Cody Stampede, as well as the Calgary Stampede and the Pendleton Roundup.

“It’s a surreal moment being back here,” Thompson told Cowboy State Daily. “Five years later, the resume looks quite a bit different than it did then.”

Then, Thompson was flat broke. He barely had enough money to buy a camping tent, and he wasn’t exactly sure how he was going afford gas to get back home to Texas.

He needed to shoot five Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) rodeos to become a card-carrying photographer on the circuit. A friend of his, who was the main photographer at the Cody Nite Rodeo and the Stampede Rodeo, invited him to come out and work with him to complete that task.

He’d been looking at a cheap hotel in the area, but it seemed pretty sketch. His friend suggested camping instead.

“I had never camped before,” Thompson said. “But they had their RV here at the Ponderosa campgrounds, and you can tent camp there as well. I”m like, ‘Well it saves me money, so why not?’”

His friend did a lot of work at the time for Coleman, an outdoor outfitters company, so they went to Walmart to buy Coleman camping gear, and Thompson placed his tent at the bottom of the hill at the campground, so it would make a cool photography shot.

“I was right by the river,” Thompson recalled. “And there were some 4H kids there.”

Thompson realized, watching the 4H kids working on their camps, that he probably didn’t know as much about camping as those youths.

He also had even less money than when he’d landed in Cody.

But there was a shower upstairs and he just had to have faith that all was going to be well. All his needs were being taken care of, somehow some way. All he had to do was concentrate on his best photography while he was here at the Cody Stampede Rodeo.

  • Click Thompson brought an impressive array of lenses and camera bodies to an exclusive seminar for rodeo shutterbugs.
    Click Thompson brought an impressive array of lenses and camera bodies to an exclusive seminar for rodeo shutterbugs. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
  • Two-time Rodeo Photographer of the Year Christopher “Click” Thompson watches the action while Carrie Mazelin takes a few photos during a photography workshop with Thompson for rodeo shutterbugs. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
  • That rope looked like it was going to land — but looks can be deceiving in rodeo. That's all part of the challenge when it comes to taking great photos at the Cody Stampede Rodeo.
    That rope looked like it was going to land — but looks can be deceiving in rodeo. That’s all part of the challenge when it comes to taking great photos at the Cody Stampede Rodeo. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
  • The Cody Stampede Rodeo hosted Two-Time Rodeo Photographer of the Year Christopher “Click” Thompson, who also gave a seminar for rodeo shutterbugs while he was in Cody. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)

The Check Was In The Mail

Thompson had second-guessed leaving his Department of Defense job to chase photography dreams many times.

The time he spent in Cody was no different. Being flat broke, not knowing exactly how he was going to get back home, was a scary place to be in life.

“I think part of the reason my Plan A was successful was I really didn’t have a Plan B,” he said. “I mean, I knew that I would be OK if it didn’t work out. I knew there were other ways I could go, but I was kind of all in on this deal.”

About the time he was doubting his path the most, his mom called to tell him a check had arrived in the mail for him. It had $150 on it.

“Put that check in the bank,” he told her. “That is how I’m getting home.”

To this day, he doesn’t know where that check came from. Maybe he’d paid too much in taxes. But it didn’t matter. It was the boost he’d needed, right when he’d needed it.

“Every time I would maybe kind of second guess or doubt what I was doing, God would give me some reason, or there would be some sign that like, I’m on the right path,” Thompson said. “This was that moment in Cody.”

Camping in Cody was the first and the last time he ever had to sleep in a tent, Thompson said.

“Now I’m sleeping at the Holiday Inn, and I”m teaching people how to do what I do,” he said.

Home At The Rodeo

For Thompson, Rodeo has been one the most welcoming of environments. That’s part of the reason he fell in love with the sport while he was in Virginia.

A friend had invited him out to take photographs at a rodeo. Thompson arrived without expectations — but was almost immediately hooked.

There was the movement of the bulls — those muscles rippling under the surface, that power in their eyes. Each had a different personality. A personality he could capture with his camera.

They were captivating — and that was before he even saw bull-riding.

“Then a downpour came and here I am standing under a tent with a bunch of people I don’t know,” he said. “And it’s just a bunch of cowboys.”

But Thompson had this feeling that somehow he’d come home. This was where he was meant to be.

After that, he’d do a rodeo as often as he could. He was obsessed.

The bulls were raw power. Forces of nature.

And the cowboys who rode them …

He couldn’t get enough.

Before too long, Thompson’s photos were getting a lot of attention, and he got a couple of rodeo gigs over the course of a year, which made around $20,000.

“I thought if I could just string a couple more of these events together and do a few things on the side, maybe I might have something here,” he said. “I mean, it ain’t going to be the luxury lifestyle, but the freedom and the quality of life is definitely going to change.”

  • Two-time PRCA Rodeo Photographer of the Year Christopher “Click” Thompson shares tips for shooting the Cody Stampede Rodeo. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
  • Christopher “Click” Thompson talks about making this photo, an award winner of a cowboy riding a horse that looks like a hurricane. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
  • Two-time PRCA Rodeo Photographer of the Year Christopher “Click” Thompson talks about shooting the Cody Stampede Rodeo for an exclusive photography workshop for rodeo shutterbugs. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
  • Action is fast at the Cody Stampede Rodeo — even when its during what’s known as “slack.” (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)

That Gold Buckle Feeling

When Thompson shows up for a photography seminar, he brings an impressive array of telephoto and wide angle lenses. There’s at least 16 on the table and that’s not even all of the lenses he has.

But what really makes the difference is not the equipment. It’s his mindset.

He’s going to change his location. He’s going to think like the bulls and the cowboys, so he can anticipate where the action that makes the best photo is likeliest to happen.

He also knows the cowboys well. He knows their habits. He knows which ones are going to jump off the horse and fly through the air and which ones are going to take that moment to pump their fist when they taste victory in the dusty air.

The technical understanding of his equipment is important, but it’s the emotions he captures that makes a photographer of the year.

It’s an approach he freely shares with other rodeo shutterbugs during his seminars. It’s his way of giving back what he feels the universe of rodeo has given to him.

Being named PRCA Photographer of the Year for two years in a row was an awesome feeling, Thompson said.

But what really gives him the gold buckle feeling is knowing that he isn’t a Ferrari in first gear any more.

He’s in full throttle, chasing after his dreams, and, in doing that, he’s found his place in the world.

“No day is the same,” he said. “Each day is different. And there’s always new opportunities and I get to share what I do with people. So that’s pretty cool.”

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.

In case you missed it

Photographer of the Year 2024: Earlybird entries closing soon

Photographer of the Year 2024: Earlybird entries closing soon

8 July 2024

Earlybird entries for our flagship photo competition, Photographer of the Year presented by Ted’s Cameras, close on 21 July. 

Image by 2024 entrant Joy Kachina, captured in Cradle Valley Tasmania.
Image by 2024 entrant Joy Kachina, captured in Cradle Valley Tasmania.

For 2024, entrants will compete for a prize pool valued at more than $16,000, and a selection of the winning and runner-up images will be exhibited at Ted’s World of Imaging in Sydney. 

Photographer of the Year includes six portfolio categories – Landscape, Animal & Nature, People, Aerial, Travel and Black & White – and three single-image categories – Single Shot, Creative and Junior (for entrants under 18).

In addition, winners and runners up, as well as a selection of the best entries in each category, will be published in a special Photographer of the Year edition of Australian Photography magazine in February 2025. Last year we published 400 images from the competition over 60 pages.

Earlybird pricing of $25 an entry ends on July 21. You can enter the competition here. 

Google’s Pixel 9 Might Take Its Cameras to a Place iPhone Would Never Dare

Google’s Pixel 9 Might Take Its Cameras to a Place iPhone Would Never Dare

With an event set for August 13, Google is finally ready to share its take on a Pixel phone with even more AI sprinkled into every corner of Android. I’m sure Google will have plenty of new Gemini-powered generative AI features to announce, but its plan to stand out from Galaxy AI and Apple Intelligence is apparently by leaning even harder into the Pixel’s reality-altering camera abilities.

Leaks have revealed what the Pixel 9 looks like. If true, we should see at least four different phones (a Pixel 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, and 9 Pro Fold), with the regular, non-folding models looking iPhone-like with rounded corners.

If the AI camera and editing features introduced in the Pixel 7 and Pixel 8 started to dissolve what truth existed in smartphone photos, the details that have leaked out about the Pixel 9 could push things even further, making any image that passes through Google’s newest phones worthy of skepticism.

“Studio,” “Add Me,” and More

Magic Eraser is just one of Google’s reality altering editing tools.

Google

The Pixel 9 phones will ship with several AI-powered features, at least three of which are entirely new, according to leaked screenshots obtained by Android Authority. Under the umbrella of “Google AI” these include things like Circle to Search, which was originally introduced on the Galaxy S24 line and then later added to Pixel phones and the Pixel Tablet; Gemini, which is the AI assistant available on all Android 14 phones; and new features called “Add Me,” “Studio,” and “Pixel Screenshots.”

Pixel Screenshots sounds a bit like Microsoft’s Recall, but designed to only analyze and mine information from screenshots you take yourself, rather than passively capturing everything on your screen in the background (and with weak security by storing it in plain text, hilariously). Per the report, when you take a screenshot, a Pixel 9 will reportedly use on-device AI to add relevant metadata like web links, app names, and the date you captured the image will be attached to it to make it easier to look up later. From there, a Pixel 9 can then answer questions about the images you capture.

Add Me, a feature for the Pixel’s Camera app, is only described as being able to “make sure everyone’s included in a group photo.” Considering how Google does this with Best Take on the Pixel 8, which combines multiple photos into one “best” photo where everyone is looking and smiling at the camera by letting you literally swap heads, Add Me seems like it could go further. Maybe Google’s found some way to add someone — maybe even the photographer — to group photos after the fact. Or maybe it’s just a version of Best Take with more customization.

Studio, which has reportedly appeared in strings of code in Android 15 betas as “Creative Assistant,” lets you use generative AI to create images from scratch. These could be for stickers in Google Messages, but it’s possible the feature could be part of the system-wide Markup function in Android 14 or even get its own standalone app. That would mirror how Apple is approaching image generation in Apple Intelligence, with a standalone Image Playground app and image-creating abilities available in other apps like Messages or Notes.

While these features might not be major in their own right, they compound the already flexible approach to reality that Google’s enabled with things like Magic Eraser and Magic Editor, and subtler AI-enhancing features like Video Boost and Photo Unblur. It’s a bit wild when you say it out loud, but Google seems committed to giving you complete control over the images you capture, to the point where what you actually capture barely matters.

How Far Is Too Far?

The Pixel 8 back and cameras.

Google prides itself on doing a lot with simple camera sensors.

Photograph by Raymond Wong

It’s easy to get concerned about the philosophical implications of Google’s approach to image-making. As Google’s head of Pixel cameras told Inverse earlier this year, they’re designing Pixel cameras to go “beyond physics” with software-enhancing features (many of which use AI). That guiding principle means it’s not just about creating a Pixel camera that can replicate a scene exactly as it happened in reality, but instead, one that lets you capture your “memories” as you want to remember them.

“We’re not really competing with SLRs,” Google Group Product Manager Isaac Reynolds told Inverse while outlining the company’s approach to photography. “We’re competing with an entire workflow.”

If the Pixel’s camera experience is an attempt to swallow Photoshop and digital cameras in one bite, something like Studio just makes the bite a bit bigger, maybe big enough to swallow something like Illustrator or Procreate, too.

Ultimately, these are just tools, and it’s not clear how many people are actually getting wild with Magic Editor every day and passing altered images as genuine. It’s probably not as many as I fear, despite agreeing with the general sentiment that it’s not quite accurate to call what happens on the Pixel “photography” in the traditional sense. But this discomfort seems to be part of the plan. If there’s anything that makes the Pixel different from Samsung’s Galaxy phones or Apple’s iPhones, it’s that Google’s phones dance on the edge of what feels acceptable for a phone to be allowed to do.

Shifting the Definition of Photography

Galaxy AI's photo editing features.

Photo editing features inspired by what Google’s done on the Pixel are everythwhere.

Photograph by Raymond Wong

This boundary pushing has already had an impact on Google’s competitors. Galaxy AI relies in part on Gemini, and basically all of the AI-powered photo editing features Samsung introduced in early 2024 copied what Magic Editor and Magic Eraser do. Apple barely touched on it during its WWDC keynote, but one of Apple Intelligence’s features is a new function in the Photos app called Clean Up that lets you remove people and objects from photos, just like Magic Eraser.

It’s not hard to imagine the rest of Google’s AI features making their way to Samsung and Apple’s devices down the road. But by diluting the hard boundaries of what a smartphone camera is supposed to do (capture snapshots), Google’s starting to shift the definition of photography and what’s acceptable for phone photography for everyone. Unless there’s some major pushback from consumers, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight to Google’s mixing of more AI-powered features and computational photography into Pixel hardware.

Introducing WWW.CARMENFALKENBURGPHOTOGRAPHY.COM: A New Destination for Captivating Photography

Introducing WWW.CARMENFALKENBURGPHOTOGRAPHY.COM: A New Destination for Captivating Photography
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WWW.CARMENFALKENBURGPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

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Carmen Falkenburg

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Professional Portraiture Photography

YORK, UK, July 7, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — Carmen Falkenburg, a talented photographer with a passion for capturing the beauty of the world, is excited to announce the launch of her new website, WWW.CARMENFALKENBURGPHOTOGRAPHY.COM. This online platform will serve as a hub for her stunning photographs, showcasing her unique perspective and artistic vision.

With a keen eye for detail and a love for exploring new places, Carmen’s photography transports viewers to breathtaking landscapes, vibrant cities, and intimate moments. Her website features a diverse collection of images, ranging from natural landscapes to urban street scenes, all captured with a sense of wonder and curiosity.

Visitors to WWW.CARMENFALKENBURGPHOTOGRAPHY.COM will not only be able to view and purchase Carmen’s photographs, but also gain insight into her creative process and inspiration. The website also offers a blog section where Carmen shares her experiences and tips for aspiring photographers, making it a valuable resource for both art enthusiasts and professionals.

Carmen is thrilled to share her passion for photography with the world through her new website. She hopes that her images will inspire others to appreciate the beauty of the world and see it through a different lens. With WWW.CARMENFALKENBURGPHOTOGRAPHY.COM, Carmen aims to connect with a wider audience and continue to grow as an artist.

For more information and to view Carmen’s stunning photography, please visit https://www.carmenfalkenburgphotography.com/ Follow her on social media for updates and behind-the-scenes looks at her work.

David Wiltsher
Radio Pluggers
+44 7552 531612
email us here

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Zeiss Loxia 35mm F2 review: a classic street photography lens for Sony E-mount full-frame cameras

Zeiss Loxia 35mm F2 review: a classic street photography lens for Sony E-mount full-frame cameras

The Zeiss Loxia 35mm F2 certainly ticks a box on my wish list. The moderately wide perspective of a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera is often favored for street photography. Historically, photographers specializing in the genre would focus manually, using a lens’s focus distance scale and depth of field markers to set the ‘zone’ of a scene that would be rendered sharply. That takes any time involved for autofocus or manually focusing out of the equation, so you can snap up a defining moment the instant you see it. The flip side is that the vast majority of recent autofocus lenses have neither a focus distance scale nor any depth of field markers, making zone focusing impossible.

Specifications

Zeiss Loxia 35mm Biogon f/2

(Image credit: Digital Camera World)
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Mount options Sony E (FE)
Lens construction 9 elements in 6 groups
Angle of view 63 degrees
Focus type Manual focus
Minimum aperture f/22
Minimum focus distance 0.3m
Maximum magnification 0.17x
Filter size 52mm
Dimensions 62x59mm
Weight 340g

Key features

(Image credit: Zeiss)

Like other Loxia lenses in the Zeiss family, the 35mm is a manual-focus lens but has all the necessary electronics for full communication with the host camera. As such, in-body image stabilization is automatically available with all but the first generation of Sony Alpha full-frame cameras, for which this lens is designed.

Focusing itself is actually a joy. The rubberized control ring has an immensely smooth and fluid feel, along with a long 180-degree throw that enables very fine and precise adjustments. Depth of field markers are on hand for apertures of f/4, f/8, f/16 and f/22. A further refinement, in common with other Loxia lenses, is that the aperture control ring comes complete with a click/de-click mechanism, spreading the joy to movie capture as well as stills. A small key is provided for engaging or disengaging the click-steps, although you have to remove the lens from the camera to get at the operating slot, which is situated in the mounting plate.

Based on Zeiss’s tried and trusted Biogon optical design, the lens features 9 elements arranged in 6 groups, including one low dispersion element. Build quality is everything I’d expect from Zeiss, with a super-solid metal casing and mounting plate, backed up by an extensive set of weather-seals. Like all other lenses in the Loxia family, the this one features a uniform 52mm filter attachment thread, and comes complete with a bayonet-fit hood.

I also like the compact and lightweight nature of the lens, which makes it perfect for street photography when I’m trying to shoot candidly without drawing attention to myself.

Performance

(Image credit: Zeiss)

Helped by the longstanding Zeiss T* Anti-Reflective Coating, the lens delivers crisp images with faithful color rendition and excellent sharpness, with very good resistance to ghosting and flare. Sharpness away from the central region of the frame is a bit mediocre when shooting wide-open at f/2 but improves at f/2.8, while extreme edge/corner-sharpness really hits its stride at f/5.6. I’m perfectly happy with that, as I tend to shoot at f/5.6 or narrower apertures for a decent depth of field, when I want really good edge-to-edge sharpness.

Other facets of image quality are highly impressive, with negligible color fringing even at the extreme corners of the frame, and very minimal barrel distortion.

Lab results

We run a range of lab tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the range of apertures and zooms (where available), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.

We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the center of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths. The tests also measure distortion and color fringing (chromatic aberration).

Sharpness:

(Image credit: Future)

The central region of the image frame is plenty sharp enough even wide-open at f/2, but it pays to stop down to f/5.6 if you need really good sharpness right out to the extreme edges and corners of the frame.

Fringing:

(Image credit: Future)

Without any need for automatic in-camera correction (available in Sony cameras) color fringing is all but impossible to spot, even out towards the corners of the image frame.

Distortion: -0.17

The tiny amount of barrel distortion revealed in our lab tests will generally go completely unnoticed in real-world shooting.

Verdict

Zeiss Loxia 35mm Biogon f/2

(Image credit: Digital Camera World)

I find that the Zeiss Loxia 35mm F2 has an ideal focal length for street photography. As a manual-focus lens with a focus distance scale and depth of field markers, it’s also ideal for ‘zone focusing’, so I can pre-focus and shoot at will, helping me to avoid missing definitive moments. Image quality is lovely, with the exception that edge-sharpness could be better at wide apertures.

Indigenous art exhibit featuring some of Canada’s most renowned artists is showing in Norfolk

Indigenous art exhibit featuring some of Canada’s most renowned artists is showing in Norfolk

Greeting viewers with bright-blue acrylic wings, a tall canvas depicting a thunderbird of Native American legend looms near the entrance of the newest traveling exhibition at the Chrysler Museum of Art.

A man’s face is painted into and peers out of the bird’s chest. The painting, “Thunderbird with Inner Spirit,” is a self-portrait by one of the first Indigenous North American artists, Norval Morrisseau, to have work displayed in mainstream fine art museums, starting in the 1960s.

The portrait is one of several works by Morrisseau included in “Early Days: Indigenous Art from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection,” that are on display at the Chrysler through Sept. 1.

The first survey of Canadian Indigenous art to be presented internationally, the show features some of Canada’s most renowned Indigenous artists and a wide range of art forms.

Courtesy of Dana Claxton

“Headdress-Shadae” by Dana Claxton, on view at the Chrysler through Sept. 1.

Color pencil drawings, photography, sculptures, tapestries and centuries-old beadwork are included in this exhibition, which is divided into thematic, sectioned galleries.

One section, “Vestiges of Exchange,” deals with Colonial and Native contact and centers on works inspired by Great Lakes ceremonial attire of the 1700s. Such works include wampum belts made of beads and used to mark the conclusion of negotiations.

A plaque reads: “The trading of objects also recalls the trauma of contagion, reminding us of the often-fatal exchanges that took place between settler and Indigenous cultures.”

A nearby artwork, “COVID-19 Mask No. 8” by Ruth Cuthand, resembles a medical face mask embroidered with glass beads. It represents the inequities in health care that persist in Indigenous communities.

But the exhibition features humor, too.

In a gallery titled “Wit and Satire,” a large painting by Kent Monkman, “Wedding at Sodom,” depicts a scene in which his alter ego — named Miss Chief Eagle Testickle — brings an “arrow of desire” to a cowboy during a gay wedding. 

Large, beautifully intricate ceremonial masks of red cedar, made by Henry Speck Jr., hang from the ceiling in the gallery devoted to the coastal Pacific Northwest.

Faye HeavyShield’s work “Sisters” is positioned at the center of a gallery devoted to women artists. As a child, she and her five sisters were sent to a school where they were abused and forbidden to speak their native language; the work’s 12 high-heeled shoes are thought to represent the sisters “circled in solidarity” to defend themselves and one another against threats, and the shoes’ cloven toes allude to the deer hooves “suggesting the animal’s attributes of elegance, strength and delicacy,” according to the museum.

Toni Hafkenscheid / Courtesy of The Chrysler Museum of Art

“Sisters” by Faye HeavyShield, on display at the Chrysler.

The show was organized by the largest publicly funded gallery in Canada, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, which has worked for decades to expand its collection of Indigenous works — a goal shared by the Chrysler, according to Chelsea Pierce.

The McKinnon Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Chrysler, Pierce said that her recent work has focused on making new acquisitions of Indigenous artwork and that the museum is striving to increase the visibility of works by Native Americans.

Chrysler Museum of Art

“Flying Spirit,” by Nick Sikkuark, on view through Sept. 1.

Just check out the front of the museum, she said.

In 2022, the Chrysler installed a mixed-media light box outside its main entrance doors — formed by big, yellow, boxy and decorated letters. The piece, placed in consultation with the museum’s Native advisory council, spells what the people of the Powhatan Chiefdom called their land on which the museum now stands: TSENACOMMACAH.

Colin Warren-Hicks, 919-818-8138, colin.warrenhicks@virginiamedia.com

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If you go

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Through Sept. 1

Where: Chrysler Museum of Art, One Memorial Place, Norfolk

Cost: Free

Details: chrysler.org

One Earth ReggaeFest 2024 | Review & Photography By: Janel Spiegel

One Earth ReggaeFest 2024 | Review & Photography By: Janel Spiegel
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Review & Photography By: Janel Spiegel

One Earth ReggaeFest 2024

July 6, 2024

Presented by: Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley

Presented in Partnership with Movement Moves Media

SteelStacks

July 6, 2024 from 12p.m. to 12 a.m.

https://www.steelstacks.org/festivals/one-earth-reggaefest/

BETHLEHEM, PA…. What a stunning day. The sun was shining. Mother Nature FELT ALL OF THOSE HIGH VIBRATIONS. I definitely think Mother Nature LOVES RAGGAE music. What a BEAUTIFUL DAY with the most beautiful people. I have been fortunate enough life to meet some of the most amazing souls… Not just because of writing but because I like to talk to everyone. Today was no different but so different. The impact that the Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley has on society is so much more than putting together a festival. The musicians, the artists, the vendors. ArtsQuest and SteelStacks, I can NEVER SAY THANK YOU ENOUGH for the kindness. The cooling towel. Taking time to talk to me about one of my favorite festivals. The One Earth ReggaeFest and Musikfest 2024. If you have looked at the line-up and started getting tickets, I suggest you do so.

But lets discuss Reggae Fest. They started at 12:00pm (noon) and it was still going when I left around…. Who knows what time. (I’ll be vending at The Carriage House in Hellertown tomorrow so, I had to cut my dancing short.) So many talented artists including: DJ Quickdraw, Cultivated Mind, Elephants Dancing, DJ Focus Podcast, The Tabernacle. Space Kamp WITH TROUBLOE CITY ALL-STARS. THEY DID SUCH AN INCREDIBLE JOB. Trouble City All-Stars, the amount of love and support we send to all of you. Thank you for the music.

Space Kamp played, “Air” featuring Jessica Lamb. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that song so much.

DJ Menace hosted, and kicked off the day with Good Vibes. Sound Off, Mighty Mystic, Marrissa Joy (WHO IS AMAZING!), F.Y.A.H., Long Beach Dub Allstars, DJ Menace again, Ras Jem & Unity Vibration.

They had a Dominoes Tournament this year and of course the beautiful Hoover-Mason Trestle was open, and Wind Creek Casino, along with tons of restaurants near-by.

Some of the amazing food trucks included: Cubano X-Press (I was SENDING EVERYONE TO THEM.), D&S Carribbean Kitchen, Island Noodles, Kona Ice of Allentown, Kou Kitchen, Movement Moves Media, Sedellah’s Island Grill: OKAY, I need to take a MOMENT TO TALK ABOUT Sedellah’s Island Grill. First… The coconuts were incredible. The food, the smoothies. EVERYTHING. They need to COME TO EVERY EVENT! EVERY SINGLE EVENT.

Slabs and Crabs, Tha Taste Smokers (ALWAYS PERFECTION), The Udder Bar, they were packed all day long, Travelin’ Ton’s Coffee of Lehigh Co., and more.

Some of the vendors included: Art of Henna, Beauty by Monette, Collective Curiosities, Der Wenig Bauernhof, LLC, DJ Focus Podcast, Evita Ink, Go Getter Movement Studioz, Isasuma Art, Jewels by Nicol Marie, Losco Glass, and LuvLee Creations, 22 Peppers, 420 Survival Enterprises, and More.

There are not enough words on how important it is for communities to truly come together. It does make a difference, especially when people care as much as all of these hard workers care.

Here is to next year. Maybe we will get two days. Thank you so much and thank you to all the amazing souls and my friends who came out.

https://www.steelstacks.org/festivals/one-earth-reggaefest/

https://www.musikfest.org/

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Photography pioneer Man Ray celebrated with new coffee table book and exhibition

Photography pioneer Man Ray celebrated with new coffee table book and exhibition

Man Ray is considered one of the most influential visual artists of the 20th Century, significantly contributing to the Dada and Surrealist art movements through his painting and photography.

A collection of over 150 photographs, including stills lifes and portraits, has been collated and showcased in a new exhibition and accompanying coffee table book titled Man Ray: Liberating Photography, curated by Nathalie Herschorfer and published by Thames & Hudson.

Jean Cocteau, 1921 (Image credit: © Man Ray)

Ray was a pioneer of photography, pushing boundaries and experimenting with approaches and processes ahead of his time. His influence can be seen in many fine art photography trends even today, almost a century on, and his portraits taken in the 1920s and 1930s are the subject of the new book.  

Located in Paris during that time, Ray captured portraits of many contemporary artists from the Paris art scene such as Marcel Duchamp, Robert Delaunay, Georges Braque, Alberto Giacometti and Pablo Picasso. Man Ray: Liberating Photography features some of these most famous portraits and some of his glamourous fashion work.

Ray formed long-lasting friendships with many of his subjects and used this as an excuse to use his photography studio as a playground to work on new approaches, techniques, and processes.  

Untitled (rayograph) c. 1928 (Image credit: © Man Ray)

One particular unique approach was a then-contemporary technique to photograms that he coined ‘Rayographs’. These involved laying objects on photographic paper and exposing them to light, leaving behind hauntingly beautiful still lifes of everyday objects. 

In addition to his portraits, these can be found intertwined throughout the book and provide insight into how Ray’s experimentations evolved and crossed genres.

Man Ray: Liberating Photography is a beautifully made and edited book that provides a great look at the work of Man Ray. Not often spoken about in modern photography, his work pushed the boundaries of the medium and helped develop its possibilities. The volume is a testament to his legacy and evidence of a true pioneer.

Hands and Objects c.1934 (Image credit: © Man Ray)

Thames & Hudson has been publishing some exceptional photography books of late with more exciting releases still to come later this year. I highly recommend checking out its recent releases, in particular its ‘Photofile’ series which provides greater accessibility, delivering the work of some of the greatest photographers of all time at a more affordable price point.  

Man Ray: Liberating Photography by Man Ray, Nathalie Herschdorfer, and Wendy Grossmanis is published by Thames & Hudson and is available to order now in the UK for £35 and preorder in the US for $50, with the US release scheduled for September 20.

The book was created to accompany the exhibition of the same name, which is on display at Photo Elysée, Switzerland, until August 04, 2024.  

(Image credit: © Thames & Hudson)

You may also be interested in our guides to the best coffee table books, the best books on photography, and the best books on portrait photography.

Beyond Local: Photo challenge taking submissions of Canadians favorite lakes

Beyond Local: Photo challenge taking submissions of Canadians favorite lakes

An increasingly popular photography challenge, just in time for Lakes Appreciation Month in July.

Living Lakes Canada (LLC) is encouraging people to enjoy their favourite waterbodies by taking pictures of them for the fourth annual Lake Biodiversity Photo Challenge.

LLC Lakes Program Manager Georgia Peck said the contest underscores the importance of getting the larger public at large to understand and recognize the importance of lake ecology. More people are taking notice of how healthy their lakes, ponds and rivers are, all thanks to this photo challenge.

“Last year, there was amazing number of submissions, which (for the first time since the challenge started) actually spanned every province and territory across the country,” Peck said.

“So, we’re really looking forward to this year, hoping to surpass last year’s number of 629 submissions.”

Organizers are also looking forward to seeing pictures of different lakes and wildlife that haven’t been photographed extensively before.

LLC is a water science and stewardship non-profit that has been working with community groups, local government and First Nations to protect freshwater for more than 20 years.

“What we do is that we facilitate collaboration through education, water monitoring, restoration as well as policy development initiatives,” Peck said.

“All of this is done for the long-term protection of lakes, rivers, wetlands and just broad watersheds within the country.”

Living Lakes helps people to be observant of their local waterbodies over time. If they notice the water quality in decline, it also helps mobilize them to work to reverse it.

“Really, what our mandate is to help people across Canada understand, mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change on water quality and quantity and help conserve biodiversity as well as healthy human communities, and also grassroots water stewardship activities,” Peck said.

“We try and really put the responsibility at the community level. We think the biggest impact happens [there].”

The Lake Biodiversity Photo Challenge gets people outside looking at their surroundings in a “different lens.”

“So many of the changes in the impacts that are seen on waterbodies are slow and over time often,” Peck said.

“Ensuring that people are keeping an eye on their local freshwater resources and tracking those through photos or apps such as iNaturalist, different biodiversity tracking apps … it’s just a really great way for us to build a baseline understanding of where we’re at.”

All of this will lend toward helping water ecologists determine how to best protect and prevent climate change and other environmental impacts from doing extreme and perhaps irreversible damage to our freshwater areas.

The challenge includes four different categories for submissions: Lake Landscapes, Lake Biodiversity, Lake Impacts and there’s also a youth category for youth photographers who are 16 years and under.

The whole goal, she said, is to foster appreciation for lake wildlife, raise awareness around the threats that they face and encourage youth to explore lakes and dip their toes into photography. Also, they want participants to be mindful of their own actions and how they might affect elements of nature.

“We’re putting a real key focus on this year’s challenge to promote ethical nature photography,” Peck said.

“Wildlife and environmental photography as a whole has become really popular in the last couple of years. We’ve partnered with the Canadian Conservation Photographers Collective to encourage participants to follow a code of ethics for nature photography.”

All the details of the challenge and how to submit photo entries can be found at www.livinglakescanada.ca. The contest ends on July 31.