In a move aimed at capturing the hearts of photography enthusiasts and casual users alike, FUJIFILM India has launched its latest addition to the Instax series, the Instax mini SE. This new offering was unveiled at an event in Mumbai, graced by Bollywood sensation and FUJIFILM India’s Instax brand ambassador Kriti Sanon, alongside Koji Wada, Managing Director of FUJIFILM India, and Arun Babu, Associate Director and Head of Digital Camera, Instax & Optical Devices Business at FUJIFILM India.

The Instax series, renowned for its instant photo capabilities, has been a staple in the market since its debut in 1998 with the Instax mini 10. Over the years, it has evolved to include various formats like mini, WIDE, and SQUARE, catering to diverse consumer preferences. Combining nostalgia with modern design, these cameras have become synonymous with vibrant, high-quality prints and user-friendly functionality, making them popular among both seasoned photographers and amateurs.

Strategic launch and market expansion

In an exclusive conversation with CNBC-TV18, Arun Babu highlighted the strategic importance of introducing the Instax mini SE into the Indian market. “The Instax series offers a range of products, from analog and digital cameras to printers, catering specifically to consumers who prefer compact, instant photography solutions,” he said. “Our latest addition, the Instax mini SE, embodies simplicity and instant gratification, key elements that resonate strongly with our target audience of Gen Z and millennials.”

Global focus and market strategy

Babu emphasised the category’s robust growth, with sales up by over 50% last year, anticipating further expansion through online and offline channels. “With the introduction of the new entry-level camera, we expect further growth, especially in offline retail stores, national retail chains, regional chains, and our B2C website (www.instax.in). We have different strategies for online and offline markets, expecting a substantial portion of our future business to come from online sales.”

Exclusive debut and regional strategy

The Instax mini SE is set to debut exclusively in India, the US, and China. The decision to focus on these three countries highlights FUJIFILM’s commitment to tapping into key growth markets. “These countries are significant contributors to our global strategy,” Babu explained. “Each market presents unique opportunities for us to expand our footprint and engage with a growing base of photography enthusiasts.”

The camera is compact and handy, with basic operations like brightness control for different environments. The entry model allows instant image printing. Digital cameras in the Instax lineup offer more control, such as image editing and print commands. The new camera focuses on simplicity and instant gratification.

Comprehensive marketing approach

Addressing marketing and promotional strategies, Babu elaborated on the brand’s comprehensive approach. “We have leveraged influencer marketing, collaborations with fashion shows, music festivals, and other cultural events to amplify our brand presence,” he stated.

“Influencer marketing is a significant part of our strategy because our target audience follows influencers for advice on posing, photography, and style. Therefore, we collaborate with many influencers. We also work with fashion photographers who use our cameras to capture images before models walk the ramp,” Babu said.

“Additionally, some doctors, such as gynaecologists, use our cameras to take and display images of newborns. Our cameras are versatile, with endless possibilities for use, catering to a broad range of customers. As a result, we sell our products in various stores, including gift shops, toy shops, camera shops, mobile shops, and electronic shops,” he added.

“The choice of Kriti Sanon as our brand ambassador further enhances our connection with our target demographic, given her widespread appeal and influence among Gen Z and millennials,” he pointed out.

In the dynamic instant photography market, Babu noted a significant shift over the past 2-3 years. “Gen Z and millennial behaviours are evolving, influenced largely by social media’s constant connectivity,” he observed. “This trend has notably benefited our brand, reflecting substantial growth within Fuji’s category.”

Continued innovation and customer feedback

Highlighting Fuji’s market position, he added, “We dominate this category, with limited competition in retail outlets. This allows us to drive category awareness effectively through strategic collaborations.”

Regarding customer feedback, Babu emphasised ongoing evolution, stating, “Our R&D, including Japanese engineers, continually integrates user insights post-launch. For instance, certain camera models now feature voice recording capabilities with QR code embedding for personalised messaging — a direct response to consumer input. Innovations such as customisable logos and unique angle capabilities in compact cameras are particularly well-received.”

Kriti Sanon, expressing enthusiasm for her association with Instax, remarked, “Joining the Instax family is exciting. The Instax mini SE isn’t just a camera; it’s a tool to instantly capture and cherish life’s moments — stylish and functional, perfect for any occasion.”

Koji Wada, Managing Director of FUJIFILM India, highlighted the company’s commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction. “Approaching our centennial, FUJIFILM remains dedicated to enhancing happiness and creativity,” he affirmed. “The Instax mini SE exemplifies our pledge to deliver innovative, stylish solutions.”

Product offerings and consumer choices

Available in green, blue, pink, purple, and light gray, the Instax mini SE is offered in combo packs with 10 or 40 shots of Instax mini format films, priced at ₹8,499 and ₹9,999, respectively, catering to the contemporary consumer’s appetite for instant creativity and lasting memories.

I was working as a freelance rock photographer. The Stone Roses’ PR, the late Philip Hall, had given me their album and all of their 12-inch singles, which I loved. I’d not been able to go to the band’s earlier gigs in Blackpool and Alexandra Palace in London as I had been working in America with Tom Petty and Billy Idol, so when it came to their huge outdoor gig at Spike Island in Widnes in 1990, I thought: “I’m not missing this,” and got myself an access-all-areas pass for the whole event.

I set off for Manchester on the Friday to cover the press conference at the Piccadilly Hotel that evening, followed by a night’s clubbing at the Haçienda. The press conference was a disaster. The band ambled on stage and just sat looking bored, pulling faces behind their microphones because nobody asked any questions. It was a really weird vibe for a room full of so-called journalists. People were intimidated when there was no reason to be. Eventually another photographer, who was a bit feisty, stormed down the front, turned to the crowd and said: “You fucking idiots. What’s the matter with you?” Eventually someone asked a really lame question: “Have you heard of the Charlatans?” who had just released their first single.

A coach was laid on for the media to the Spike Island site the following afternoon. We crossed the Silver Jubilee Bridge and made our way backstage. It was late May and a boiling hot day, and we all piled into the backstage bar area, but by the time it got to my turn, they announced that they’d run out of everything, and this was at 3pm. You hear about it all being badly organised – which was absolutely true.

We were finally shown where we were shooting from – the pit below the stage, but the stage was 20 foot high and the area directly below was full of security, so it was impossible to use. The photographers said: “We can’t see anything,” so the band’s management got the stage crew to rustle up some scaffolding with a few planks of wood to the right of the stage for us to climb on to and shoot level with the stage.

We were allowed to shoot the whole show, which would never happen these days as the norm is first three songs only. By 1990, most of the national newspapers and music press had switched to full colour, so the emphasis was to shoot that way, but there was so much red stage lighting that it affects the colour film and makes it look even redder. Photographers call it “the red nightmare.” Towards the end of the show I switched to black and white.

As I Am the Resurrection reached its finale, I still felt I hadn’t got anything that really caught the essence of the event. From my vantage point I could see that the band would have to walk along this huge empty space between the rear of the stage and the cordoned-off VIP area to get back to their dressing room, so I climbed down and quietly left the other photographers who were packing their stuff away, and made my way over there.

The band had just come off stage and were buzzing. There was no security and they headed straight towards me. I blocked their path and they just stopped in their tracks and started dancing on the spot. I shot away until John [Squire] lunged towards me, and I knew that I had the shot I wanted. I quickly thanked them and said they’d better move on as I’d noticed a couple of other photographers heading over our way.

Some of the black and white pictures of the show and some of the portraits I took at the press conference were syndicated globally, but this shot wasn’t used at the time. It wasn’t until the band announced their comeback in 2011 that NME started to use the image in their online news stories. Then just about every other media outlet started using it too, so much so that it has become one of my most published images . It featured in Shane Meadows’ documentary Made of Stone, and has become one of the landmark images from the whole of the Spike Island gig.

Looking back, I’m just happy I had my eyes open and my wits about me to get myself into the perfect position, which is why I’m the one who walked away with such an iconic shot while many of the other photographers didn’t have anything to compete with – he said, not so modestly.

Andy Phillips CV

View image in fullscreen

Born: Greenwich, London, 1957.
Trained: Self-taught.
Influences: Joan Miró, Frank Zappa, Luis Buñuel.
High points: ‘Travelling the world and the lessons learned.’
Low point: ‘Family and friends lost to cancer.’
Top tip: ‘Politeness and good manners really count, but do not suffer fools gladly.’

In his own words, Tariq Zaidi tells the story behind North Korea: The People’s Paradise – a rich, vivid and humanising portrait of life in the mysterious country

July 03, 2024

Alexandria, VA – There is a connection. At least for me there is a connection between my photograph of the child and grandmother reading in the courtyard of Christ Church, Annie Dillard’sDiPilgrim at Tinker Creek.

I’m not sure why I picked it up from the shelf. Maybe because I tend to choose books with creek or river in the title. Maybe because my family name is Tinkelman. I didn’t think to look up the actual definition of pilgrim until just now. Per Wikipedia, a pilgrim is a traveler on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system.

I loved the book. And now I see how appropriate it is to this column.

I lent my copy to someone and didn’t get it back. Although I missed it, I didn’t replace it until Johnson’s prolific Facebook posts made me want to revisit something Dillard said about seeing. In his daily posts (mostly of birdlife but some of flowers and some of family), Johnson celebrates the beauty of creation. In re-reading the book, I found several things. I hope you will want to read the book, but here are two passages that still resonates with me:

“But there is another kind of seeing that involves a letting go. When I see this way I stand transfixed and emptied. The difference between the two ways of seeing is the difference between walking with and without a camera. When I walk with a camera I walk from shot to shot, reading the light on a calibrated meter. When I walk without a camera, my own shutter opens, and the moment’s light prints on my own silver gut. When I see this second way I am above all an unscrupulous observer….”

and

“…The secret of seeing is, then, the pearl of great price. If I thought he could teach me to find it and keep it forever I would stagger barefoot across a hundred deserts after any lunatic at all. But although the pearl may be found, it may not be sought. The literature of illumination reveals this above all: although it comes to those who wait for it, it is always, even to the most practiced and adept, a gift and a total surprise….”

Though I have never met Ralph Johnson, I think he knows the secret of seeing.

Ralph and I were introduced via email by Zebra publisher Mary Wadland when I was seeking a photograph of a hawk to illustrate my column on “The Landscape of Aging,” May 2024. In 30 years of taking pictures, I have never photographed a hawk and was struggling to find one that worked to illustrate a poem I quoted in the column. Johnson responded by sending five photographs, each so exquisitely beautiful, it was hard to select which to use.

I was stunned, truly astounded by their beauty, and impressed that he could find them (which means they were indexed, something I aspire to do with my 30-year library of negatives), and he could identify the type of hawk!

Treat yourself to a selection of his photographs on YouTube set to music (Ravel Synced (youtube.com)).

Since I don’t know Ralph Johnson, it is presumptuous of me to say his work is a hymn of praise, a devotional song. Presumptuous or not, that’s what I think, maybe because we share some of the same feelings. My description of seeing a particular stand of vine-draped trees at Huntley Meadows Park likens the experience to being in a cathedral. Some of my current mosaics have the same message.

One might say we are fellow pilgrims.

Thank you, Ralph. I am grateful not only for making the hawk photographs available but for putting me back in touch with Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

Mosaic Artist/Photographer Nina Tisara is the founder of Living Legends of Alexandria.

ICYMI: Marion Moon Fondly Remembered at Alexandria Sportsman’s Club Awards Banquet May 17 

Post Views: 4

Hasselblad has unveiled the winners of its prestigious Hasselblad Masters biannual photo contest awarded to renowned industry professionals, emerging talents and photographers under the age of 21.

The contestants in six categories — Landscape, Architecture, Portrait, Art, Street and Project 21, a category for photographers under age 21, were asked to submit a series of three photos with a unified theme and visual style.

The images were judged on their reflection of photographic ability, creativity and technique by a combination of public voting and a jury of internationally-renowned photographers and imaging experts.

For this edition, the biannual competition fielded a record-breaking 85,000 photos submitted by photographers worldwide, marking a 35% increase in entries compared to the previous contest.

Winners are awarded the title of ‘Hasselblad Master’ and a Hasselblad 100MP mirrorless camera, two XCD series lenses and a creative fund of €5,000. They also will participate in a collaborative photo project with Hasselblad.

“A word that comes to mind when looking at the winning contributions is sense-making,” said Stefan Jensen, photographer and Curator at the Hasselblad Foundation and Grand Jury Chair. “All but one category featured photographs in their original definition – a subject in front of the camera. They range from documentary to staged images and collages. But what they have in common is that they are a reflection of reality.”

Hasselblad, the iconic Swedish manufacturer of medium-format cameras, photographic equipment and image scanners, started its world-renowned art competition in 2001, showcasing some of the best photographic works of recent times and providing a platform for photographers to make their mark.

Art and Architecture

Jan Pypers’ series explores humans’ lost bond with nature, inspired by traditional dioramas and modern digital representation. By blending reality with surrealism, Pypers creates images that evoke curiosity and intrigue, urging reconnection with and respect for the natural world. Note the whale sounding in the image below.

Tiina Itkonen’s series documents the traditional lives of Inuit hunters and their families, who live in small wooden houses in remote parts of east and northwest Greenland. Her images exemplify resilience and ingenuity in extreme conditions.

Since 1995, Itkonen has traveled regularly to Greenland to photograph the polar landscape and its people.

Landscape and Street

The images by Weimin Chu capture traditional landscapes integrated with modern developments in China. Chu creates a frame within a frame, connecting the train’s carriage interior with the outside landscape, inviting us to journey alongside the photographer through landscapes and time.

On the way to Tibet by train, “this series of works was shot in the trains of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the Lalin Railway,” the photographer explains. “Outside the car window, there are not only the Gobi desert, lakes, snow-capped mountains, but also contemporary man-made landscapes such as high-voltage power towers, sand-proof walls, plateau highways.”

Tom Pitts’ series captures the unspoken emotions of strangers in transit, photographed at bus stops in England. “I wanted to capture and share the stories and moments that take place every day during people’s commutes, and the underlying beauty that passes us by,” says Pitts.

Portrait and Project

Efraïm Baaijens’ micro images capture the extraordinary beauty and detail of the insect world. “Let’s marvel at these tiny faces and remember to respect all life forms, no matter how small,” he says. “Insects are vital to our ecosystem, pollinating plants and maintaining balance in nature. You don’t have to travel far to witness nature’s wonders—just step outside and look closely.”

A woman has turned to TikTok to share her “wedding day drama” after she detailed how her $8,000 photographer made her look like a Simpsons character.

Alexandra Conder (@alexandrajaye5), now known as the ‘Sepia Bride’, received the photos from her big day and initially loved them.

As time went on, something about the snaps was bothering the makeup artist and she “couldn’t put a finger on it.”

An upset Alexandra expressed this to the photographer after putting raw images next to the edited photographs and being unimpressed by the photographer’s sepia filter.

“What did she put on my lipstick, what blush am I wearing like what is on my eye, my skin, everything,” Alexandra said about one of the images.

“One last example, this is the ocean. It looks like we got married in Seattle. What is that?” she added.

“I’m not discrediting her ability to capture a moment because that she was really good at, but it was the post edit that I was unhappy about.”

Alexandra then described herself as looking like a “Simpsons character.”

In the final instalment of her story, Alexandra says the photographer captured the day “beautifully,” she just wasn’t fond of the “post-production.”

She added: “There are so many stunning moments. It’s just the colouring and the editing on it that just washed everything out in a sense, and that’s what I was unhappy with.”

Despite turning the comments off for the clips, Alexandra has since taken it in good humour.

“The internet is a crazy place. Thank you for all the love & understanding of what happened to us. And to the haters, karma is a b,” she captioned the clip that read: “When you shared your wedding photo experience and the internet either hates you or has your back.And now being named Sepia Bride.”

“This is how you own it,” one fellow TikToker wrote, while another humoured: “Did she edit this TikTok too?”

Meanwhile, some jumped to the photographer’s defence, writing: “You’re dragging her unnecessarily.”

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