About

Posts by :

The Art of Travel Photography featuring Vanelli and Scott Kelby

By in Photography

The Art of Travel Photography featuring Vanelli and Scott Kelby

“The Art of Travel Photography” features host Vanelli, Skylum’s Director of Education, and featuring special guest Scott Kelby.

This episode focuses on the art and nuances of travel photography. It places major emphasis on employing a “fixer” in the field, enabling access to remote and unique locations for capturing extraordinary images. The conversation also explores the difference between fixers and photo guides. Practical tips encompass vital photography gear like lenses, camera bodies, filters and bags.

Additionally, the discussion addresses strategies for navigating crowds, handling tourist disruptions, and employing post-processing techniques with software such as Adobe Lightroom and Luminar Neo.

[embedded content]

The Art of Photography Webinar Series is an insightful and educational program brought to you by B&H Photo in collaboration with Skylum, the makers of Luminar Neo, and led by Vanelli, Skylum’s Director of Education. This series has been crafted to provide valuable guidance and knowledge to photographers, regardless of their experience level, to enhance their photography skills.

Across a sequence of webinars, we will venture into diverse photography genres. This series offers in-depth insights into the tools, techniques, and artistic methodologies contributing to creating breathtaking images.

Dazed Club Spotlight: October 2023

By in Photography

Dazed Club Spotlight: October 2023

From editorial shoots to family photos, explore the latest photography and fashion projects by Dazed Club members from the past month

6November 2023

Dazed Club Spotlight is our monthly series showcasing up-and-coming talent from the Dazed creative community. If you’d like to be featured, join the Club here.

“My latest project ‘Lumen’ transcends the conventional realms of jewellery photography, as it delves deep into the art of lighting and its transformative power. Each image in this campaign is a testament to the masterful manipulation of light, showcasing how it breathes life into every facet, every gem, and every contour.

“I love working with lighting, and my favourite will always be continuous lights, as I can manipulate them to recreate a light I might have seen in real life. This could be as simple as the full moon’s light falling on a white rose. I have always seen my light set-ups as a way to paint a canvas, especially because I come from an artistic background so the basics are about looking around me to get inspired which can sometimes also be people.

“I don’t like doing a lot of post-production work – I love seeing my model’s skin as it is, as we all have beautiful details and textures which I don’t think have to be hidden. The only editing I do is perhaps balancing the contrast and brightness, everything else has always been done on set.”

Photographer and Creative director: Simran Kaur, Designer and nail artist: Callisto Hutchings, Casting Director: Autumn Jensen, HMUA: Yuliia Kuzmenko, Model: Georgina Favyer

“My friends and I have this saying, ‘give me more’, that we apply to everything, or ‘I think you can do better’ – all my fashion shoots are a play on that. They’re always about friendship. I love really eccentric looks and make-up, and ultimately I just want everything that I do creatively to be fun, and to look like it was fun to do. For this series, we had said from an outsider’s perspective that it looked like I had gone to get my sister from a night out, as I was so casual and she had eyelashes all over her face… so that was the overall aesthetic we carried on with!

“I came in contact with the model @isiskrisis through IG. I found her makeup page first and then asked if she would be happy to model and do her own make-up. We got on so well instantly – she actually turned up to the AirBnB listening to the same Doja Cat song as I was. The clothes are a mixture of mine, my grandad’s, my brother’s, my aunt’s, nan’s and Isis’. Recently, I have been raiding all my family’s wardrobes, because they have so many beautiful things around. Lots of pieces were literally things I found at my nan and grandad’s house.

“My friends inspire me all the time, I definitely get most of my inspo from them. One of my friends @ivansmith.mua actually really brought me back into the love for makeup – looking at MUA’s such as Pat Mcgrath and Isamaya Ffrench, and the shows they have worked on. I am also really inspired by @matieresfecales. Jawara Alleyne also for the styling, because I have used safety pins all year to pin outfits together as that’s how my housemate Usman would create drag looks. I love this whole punk / reinvent your clothes aesthetic, because who can afford clothes any more? Anything that makes fashion more accessible I love and thankfully fabric and safety pins are definitely that for me.”

“This summer I got my first camera and spent time teaching myself photography and photo editing. For me, I was drawn to having my family members, such as my little cousins and my little brother, act as my subjects to create a personalised chronicling of my life.

“When I first started editing photographs, my approach and style were very spontaneous. The art style I had created through these images happened in a spontaneous moment; I had no intention of creating a unique look but when I did, I realised, ‘there’s potential in this, I think there’s something special here‘.

“The choice of setting is purposeful in my work. When I started photography, I chose my back garden to shoot in as it always had the most wonderful sunlight during the summers, and it allowed the kids to have fun and feel free while I took their photos. They always like to play outside, and so I felt it was best to capture their happiest moments in the place they enjoy the most. To have my family in the shots means everything to me – my family has always supported everything I’ve chosen to do. To feature my younger family members in something that is now shaping the future of my creativity is something I see as a blessing.

“Regarding my process, I take images with a bright flash and a small aperture, and then I use a low ISO setting. This makes the faces the focus of the images, particularly with the flash, and creates shadows in the background. In some images this contrast is inverted so there’s a bright background and everything is amplified. Essentially there’s just a large focus placed upon the person. I then go into DaVinci Resolve and work with colour grading tools to add those colours and subtract the saturation until I have my final piece.

“I realised that life should consist of things that you want to do and things that make you happy. Time doesn’t wait for anyone, so I get up and try new things all the time. I know that may sound quite melodramatic, but that’s my biggest motivator.”

“My photo essay, entitled VIVIANO, is born from my mixed heritage identity and captures the juxtapositions of my origins: a hybrid of British identity and Indian custom. The photo essay works to de-centre the cultural identity of fashion; its aesthetics are not defined by its Britishness, nor is it a mimetic representation of Indian culture, rather it exists ‘in-between’.

“The models’ styling was accented by precious items of jewellery, reminiscent of India, likely passed down through generations from mother to daughter, father to son, that my ancestors were forced to leave behind in the Amin Exodus of Uganda. The images are deliberately calculated to be an onslaught to the senses, a dynamic colourful interplay of beautiful visuals, offbeat photography, ugly aesthetics and added text, interspersed and feathered with humour and irony.

“The photo essay culturally floats between continents, celebrating the vibrancy of India through its rich colour palette, whilst respecting the clean lines, elegance and charm of British design. At the same time, it raises up the diasporic Indian man, like my ancestors who went before me, once exiled from their homes and divorced from their dreams and aspirations, thus restoring his sense of equality in the outside world and paying homage to his creative expression. VIVANO acts as a love letter to my family across both continents and to all those of mixed heritage – I’m constantly inspired by the concept of identity in motion.“

“My name is Dario and I live in Chinatown, NYC. I have been taking photos on disposables for years, but finally levelled up to a 35mm camera over the pandemic and cannot stop shooting. I love moments where I can make my subjects feel as beautiful as I see them, even if they are a stranger I have just met. I am blessed to be around such beautiful people, both inside and out, in the most inspiring city I can think of. These are a quick glimpse into the people I surround myself with, both new and old friends and things I have been able to see over this summer.

“All the subjects portrayed here are close friends of mine, how they live their lives inspires me. Some were captured in a natural habitat like my friend Michael or Felipe. Some are styled and directed by me. My surroundings are what inspires me the most right now, whether it be my new apartment and neighbourhood or my friends I have met along the way. Life is the ultimate inspiration. Photographers like Clifford Prince King are forever inspiration.”

“A lot of my latest photographic work represents my love for how shapes and colours cohere with items of clothing to create movement. Part of what has helped me in my practice is my community – Houston is a very diverse community full of very artistic individuals, and having such great photographers in our area helps me learn, and inspires me to try out new things and think outside of the box.

“These images represent Fashion from Rags – all these items were thrifted and did not cost more than 25 cents per piece. I wanted to create a high fashion-inspired outfit by not going above $2 per set. My goal is to challenge the stigma that fashion is entirely inaccessible; on the contrary, fashion can be how we piece together the items, to create art that flows together within the environment.
 
“Most of my process consists of searching and envisioning an ideal session for my team and I to create the looks, as well as a location that we choose for the session, whether this be in a studio or in nature. We then make the most of the session based on the vision we have going into it. I think love to go into Photoshop to add shapes and colour. If I can create an image where I am able show nature, beauty, and fashion simultaneously, then I am all for it.”

Join Dazed Club and be part of our world! You get exclusive access to events, parties, festivals and our editors, as well as a free subscription to Dazed for a year. Join for £5/month today.

Photography: Free Throw, Prince Daddy and the Hyena, and Charmer at LPR

By in Photography

Photography: Free Throw, Prince Daddy and the Hyena, and Charmer at LPR
Home  >  Photography: Free Throw, Prince Daddy and the Hyena, and Charmer at LPR

Posted: 6th November, 2023 by The Editor

Promoting their new album “Lessons That We Swear to Keep” earlier this year, Free Throw played an incredible show at NYC’s LPR. The Nashville-based band play a fantastic show. Showcasing their high energy and musicianship, the band played a wide range of their discography. The fans went wild for every single song, singing every lyric and grooving throughout the set. Prince Daddy and the Hyena also came on as support for the tour. Ever since their self titled record came out last year, the band have been non-stop touring and hitting the ground running. I can’t wait to see what the Albany-based band will do next. There was also support from bands Charmer, and Saturdays at Your Place. The latter, is one to watch, an up-and-comer for sure. The whole night was absolutely wild. Sarah was there taking some pics, check them out!

Photos by Sarah Knoll

The Alternative is ad-free and 100% supported by our readers. If you’d like to help us produce more content and promote more great new music, please consider donating to our Patreon page, which also allows you to receive sweet perks like free albums and The Alternative merch.

What makes a masterpiece? It depends who is selling…

By in Art World News

What makes a masterpiece? It depends who is selling…

There has been plenty of talk that the trade for pre-21st century art has now become a “masterpiece” market. The super-wealthy have become so rich that they only want to buy the best of the best by the biggest legacy names.

Further down the price scale, if business for lesser works by long-established or long-dead artists is slow, huge one-off results for purported masterpieces reinforce wider perceptions that the market is booming and art is a profitable investment. At least, that is the hope.

But a closer look at the recent supply of “masterpieces” raises the questions of how many are truly the best of an artist’s career, instead of merely the best of what is available—as well as what “the best” even means now.

After May’s underpowered series of marquee modern and contemporary auctions in New York—ArtTactic, the art market analysis firm, calculates sales were down 42% by value compared with the equivalent auctions in 2022—many in the trade were relieved when Sotheby’s announced it expects to raise at least $400m from its November 8-9 sales of 20th-century art owned by the collector and patron Emily Fisher Landau. The two-part auction of around 120 works is led by a 1932 Picasso “masterpiece” guaranteed to sell for more than $120m.

A generous supporter of New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art, Fisher Landau, the widow of a New York property developer, died in March, aged 102. Despite being denuded by a gift of 367 works to the Whitney in 2010, her collection is “era-defining” and still contains “key masterpiece examples” by American post-war artists such as Jasper Johns, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol, according to Sotheby’s. The house even puts her “unparalleled” holdings on a par with the “great pioneer collectors of the 20th century”, like Peggy Guggenheim and Gertrude Stein.

Given how important prestigious single-owner collections are to an international auction house’s sales figures (if not always its bottom line), Sotheby’s can be forgiven a little hyperbole. Last November its arch-rival Christie’s sold what it described as the “incomparable” collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for $1.6bn, the most ever achieved for a single-owner collection at auction. If one cannot compete on price, one must at least compete with compelling language.

The art market increasingly tends to differentiate major private collections mainly in terms of how much money they are worth. But comparing Fisher Landau with one of the autumn’s other big-name auction consignments shows how much the psychology of collecting has changed over the years.

Rothschild’s residue

Christie’s, which has also been free and easy with the M-word, held its Rothschild Masterpieces auction series in New York from 3-17 October. In reality, these four sales represented the residue of the once-great private collections of fine art and objects amassed—and sold—by this famous European banking family since the 18th century. The Rothschild dispersals culminated in 1977 in Sotheby’s legendary nine-day sale of the contents of Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, which raised a then-astounding $10.3m from works by Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds and François Boucher, among other canonical figures.

Nearly half a century later in New York, this latest series of Rothschild auctions was led by a 17th-century Gerrit Dou painting of a young woman standing in a window holding a dead hare, sold for $7.1m against a $3m-$5m estimate. Dou was a talented artist, but is that genre picture really the stuff of “masterpieces” like Rembrandt’s 1634 marriage portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, which the Rothschilds sold privately for €160m to the Rijksmuseum and the Louvre in 2015?

James Stourton, the author of the 2007 book Great Collectors of Our Time: Art Collecting Since 1945, makes a clear distinction between the thinking behind historic collections, like those amassed by the Rothschilds, and collectors of our own era.

“The difference today is that collectors buy art to show it—it is not about domesticity, and this is reflected in the art itself,” says Stourton, a former UK chairman of Sotheby’s. “What [Charles] Saatchi, [Eli] Broad, [François] Pinault, Dakis Joannou etcetera are doing is certainly collecting, but also to stage revolving shows in their kunsthalle, rather than furnish their homes.”

Like the contemporary mega-collectors Stourton mentions, Fisher Landau established a private museum where she showed selections from her holdings, at that time numbering around 1,200 pieces, to the public. The Fisher Landau Center for Art occupied a disused factory in Long Island City from 1991 to 2017. As well as having tax benefits, private museums can confer an aura of curatorial validity—even masterpiece quality—on exhibited pieces that even the most opulent 19th-century domestic interiors could not.

But does the Fisher Landau auction tell, as Sotheby’s states, “the entire story of 20th-century art in all its ground-breaking chapters” as powerfully as a private museum like, say, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice?

The key talking point is of course Fisher Landau’s 1932 Picasso, particularly as 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death. Purchased in 1968, when the 40-something Fisher Landau first started collecting, Femme à la Montre (woman with watch) comes from the celebrated series of pictures inspired by the middle-aged Picasso’s adulterous love affair with Marie-Thérèse Walter.

“He has painted and drawn no other woman in the same way, and no other woman half as many times,” wrote the critic John Berger in his classic 1965 study Success and Failure of Picasso. “What makes these paintings different is the degree of their direct sexuality.”

But Femme à la Montre lacks the languorous sensuality that characterises the market’s most coveted 1932 Marie-Thérèse paintings, such as Le Rêve (the dream), reportedly bought by the New York collector Steven A. Cohen from the Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn for $155m in 2013. That work has achieved consensus among critics and the market as one of the most “successful” paintings in the series, even a masterwork. Femme à la Montre, apparently, has not.

Picasso was a major thief of his fellow artists’ discoveries. [Femme à la Montre] looks as if he were trying to bring together Matisse and Léger, and somehow overdid himself

Christian Ogier, Picasso specialist

“It is big, it is colourful, and it is 1932, but it looks stiff and stereotyped,” says Christian Ogier, a Paris-based dealer who specialises in Picasso. “Picasso was a major thief of his fellow artists’ discoveries. Here, it looks as if he were trying to bring together Matisse and Léger, and somehow overdid himself.”

Tick-tock appeal

Yet Femme à la Montre has other, novel virtues, according to Sotheby’s, being one of only three major works by the artist to feature a watch. “Picasso had a deep passion for exceptional timepieces, and in fact owned three of the greatest watches in existence. To depict his young lover wearing one of his treasured watches was therefore to bestow on her the greatest of honours,” says Sotheby’s.

Fine watches have become a central component of international auction houses’ luxury offerings: Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips combined sold $562m worth of watches (after fees) in 2021. The markets for fine art and luxury continue to align, turning the presence of a wristwatch into a key selling point for a $120m Picasso.

“‘Masterpiece’ is not a defined term. It’s malleable,” says Doug Woodham, a former Christie’s executive turned managing partner of the New York-based firm Art Fiduciary Advisors, as well as the author of the book Art Collecting Today.

When experts use the M-word, “they typically consider how the piece fits into the artist’s broader oeuvre”, adds Woodham. “The bar for A+ works is extremely high. However, for many buyers, this rigorous criterion may not be their guiding definition. The value of the word, unfortunately, has been diluted by overuse.”

During the same week that Sotheby’s is to auction the Fisher Landau collection in New York, Christie’s plans to offer “that rarest thing: a masterpiece rediscovered” in the form of a long-unseen Monet Le Bassin aux Nymphéas (water lily pond) painting, estimated to raise at least $65m. Held in the same family collection for the past 50 years, this is one of 14 or so large-scale canvases, each measuring two metres wide, that Monet executed at Giverny around 1917-19. These were precursors to his final magisterial, panoramic 1926 water lily grandes décorations, now at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris.

Back in 2008, Christie’s sold another painting from this two-metre Le Bassin aux Nymphéas series in London for $80.4m, then an auction record for Monet. That example appeared to be fully finished and bore a painted signature, while this latest canvas is more loosely worked andhas a stencilled signature.

There is general agreement that the ​​Musée de l’Orangerie water lily décorations are the culminating masterpieces of Monet’s career. But are those two-metre forerunners masterpieces too?

Nowadays, when it comes to such aesthetic judgments, what defines our era is the way that the market makes those decisions.

Have Art Auctions Become ‘Must-See TV’?

By in Art World News

Have Art Auctions Become ‘Must-See TV’?
image

Teleprompter! Makeup! Auction houses no longer play exclusively to the art world as viewers flock to YouTube, Instagram and TikTok to see how the one percent spends.

As Sotheby’s and Christie’s prepare for the start this week of the major New York auctions of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art — at which a 1932 Picasso is expected to bring in more than $120 million — teams of tech experts, producers and show directors are readying their salesrooms as if they were CNN Central.

They have made more space for roving video cameras, LED screens and expert lighting by shrinking their once-valued seating for collectors and dealers by some 30 percent. Just like a television station, both auction houses have added control rooms filled with producers and directors who watch every camera angle and monitor where the action is in the salesroom. Their attention is not only on auctioneers but on the banks of telephone bid-takers who drive the nightly drama, advising their clients from London to Hong Kong to Doha when competing bids are received. These livestream feeds can “capture the energy of the moment,” Gillian Gorman Round, Christie’s chief marketing officer, promised.

But the massive preparation is not for the benefit of the art world and its V.I.P. clients: Auction houses are now playing to millions of viewers from all over the world, who stream the action live on social media sites including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram Live, as well as their own websites — riveted by how the one percent spends its money.

What began as a way of doing business during the pandemic has become the new voyeuristic evening entertainment during the big May and November sales. “Twenty years ago, people thought you had to be the member of an elite club to walk through an auction house door,’’ recalled Adrien Meyer, Christie’s global head of private sales and one of the company’s chief auctioneers. “Now you can see a sale sitting on your couch in your underpants.’’

While many buyers still attend the sales — some observing from the comfort of skyboxes above the auction floor — online viewing appeals to people who simply don’t want to sit in a salesroom for three hours, the length of a typical major auction.

Both companies admitted that fewer big collectors are coming to the sales, preferring to watch the highlights online at home. “This is the age of discretion,’’ said Sandy Heller, a veteran art adviser who has helped put together some of the world’s major collections. “And what’s more discreet than watching a sale at home on your iPad?’’

Even a seasoned auction-goer like Steven A. Cohen, the hedge fund billionaire and owner of the Mets, said, “It sure makes life easier to be able to watch these sales online.’’

A brightly-lit contemporary art auction at Sotheby’s last May. Seating has been reduced to make room for roving cameras that stream the sales worldwide on Instagram Live, TikTok and other social media sites. Auction houses admit that fewer big collectors are coming to the sales, preferring to watch the highlights online at home. via Sotheby’s

Auction houses ramped up their livestream sales during the pandemic shutdown in 2020, “when people couldn’t see art or go to an auction,’’ said Charles Stewart, the chief executive of Sotheby’s. “It was a massive and long overdue moment for us to expand digitally and rethink the physical experience.’’

The first Christie’s auction livestreamed during the pandemic drew about 100,000 people, according to the auction house. Marc Porter, chairman of Christie’s Americas, recalled that the sale, in July 2020, featuring Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary art, was a simple production, shot with just one camera. But it helped “launch what is effectively now a Broadway show,’’ he said.

The big three auction houses have since hired production companies and added more channels, transforming these events into what Stewart of Sotheby’s calls “must-see TV,” borrowing the famous advertising slogan from NBC. (While Phillips, the smaller, boutique auction house, has not shrunk its salesrooms, it, too, has made its big auctions available on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and, in China, WeChat, Weibo and Red.)

The worldwide reception has surprised experts everywhere. From May 2022 to May 2023, views of Christie’s auctions rose 25 percent, from 3.7 million to 4.6 million, with 10 cameras now capturing the events. (These numbers do not include people watching auctions afterward on YouTube.) “We never expected these numbers,’’ said Bonnie Brennan, president of Christie’s Americas. “It’s the power of social media.’’

While the majority of those watching online are unlikely to have millions to spend on art — and buyers must register with the auction houses to bid — many end up perusing Sotheby’s and Christie’s websites, where they may discover something to buy at other price points, including watches, handbags and jewelry. “We see luxury items as a gateway to art,’’ Brennan added. “It’s about the democratization of access.’’

She added that while the actual number of buyers has remained steady, “the way they are buying has changed dramatically, with 80 percent of bids coming from online channels around the world.” Sotheby’s reported that 91 percent of its bids in 2022 were executed online.

Both say these buyers tend to be younger than the average collector. “They have the confidence that these digital tools are effective, and they feel more in control,’’ Brennan explained. Another major change: the number of collectors who are bidding on and often buying art and objects without having seen them.

Three years ago, Sotheby’s tested a sale with socially distanced bidders in three cities. An Asian collector bid more than $70 million — sight unseen — for a triptych by the painter Francis Bacon. (It ended up selling to an undisclosed telephone bidder for $84.6 million, with fees. According to Sotheby’s, the winning buyer had seen the painting.)

Both auction houses said sophisticated technology has given buyers confidence to acquire works without viewing them in person. Computer software similar to that used by real estate firms or furniture stores can virtually show potential bidders what a living room would look like with a particular work of art hanging over the fireplace or in the entrance hall. Christie’s has a hologram that replicates an object in three-dimensions. When it was selling a Degas “Little Dancer” sculpture from the estate of the philanthropist Anne Bass, the work was too delicate to travel, so experts showed it virtually. It sold for $41.6 million.

“Given that these sales are so highly produced,” said Heller, the art adviser, clients “can have a much better experience simply streaming’’ rather than being in the room where it happens.

With such large audiences, and so much at stake, Sotheby’s auctioneers do far less ad-libbing. An editorial team now writes the scripts for the major sales with a succinct description of each artwork projected on a teleprompter.

“Talking with a teleprompter makes it smoother, more professional,’’ explained Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and one of its star auctioneers, who now fields bids not just from the salesroom and telephone bidders but also from online, making the process far more challenging than it once was. (Christie’s auctioneers have the same complications but only use a teleprompter for salesroom announcements, not for actual auctions.)

Professional hair and makeup experts are on hand for auctioneers and the now-visible banks of telephone bid-takers. “I tell the experts there’s to be no scowling; no bad behavior,’’ Gorman Round, of Christie’s, said.

The auction floor at Christie’s last November with a sophisticated lighting system for professionally-produced online streaming. Experts taking bids by phone, at left and far, are offered hair and makeup. “I tell the experts there’s to be no scowling; no bad behavior,’’ said Gillian Gorman Round, Christie’s chief marketing officer. (Christie’s blurs faces in photo, keeping with its policy of not showing clients.) via Christie’s

Just like a television show, Sotheby’s even has advertisers. The phrase “in partnership with Samsung” can be seen in the Sotheby’s auction room; on its website and on promotional videos. (The consumer electronics giant pays an undisclosed flat fee). Christie’s said it doesn’t have the same kind of advertising, but during the pandemic its male auctioneers wore Brioni suits and the women were dressed in Alexander McQueen. Both fashion houses are owned by Kering, which is part of Groupe Artemis, the holding company that also owns Christie’s.

“Talking with a teleprompter makes it smoother, more professional,’’ said Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and the auctioneer who presided over the Freddie Mercury sale on Sept. 6 in London. (An online viewer wanted to straighten his bow tie.)via Sotheby’s

Just as Super Bowl parties fire up sports viewers, auction parties are becoming popular, too. Fans online like to talk too.

On the night of Sept. 6, Sotheby’s London salesroom had some 300 collectors and fans watching Barker wield his gavel for the first auction of art, objects, ephemera, and costumes of the late British singer and song writer Freddie Mercury. In the days that followed, according to Sotheby’s, there were about 9.5 million views of the sale on TikTok. The entire collection, which ultimately brought in $50.4 million, created a new community of online enthusiasts.

“Incredible!’’ one wrote. “Love watching these … as if I have two pennies to rub together.”

As the bidding heated up and the numbers rose, so did emotions:

“Am sat here eating beans on toast because my electricity bill is so big. It’s either eat or heat. World makes me sick.’’

Another declared the sale a “vulgar display of wealth.’’

But social media has developed a new group of celebrities in their own right: Auctioneers are frequently being recognized on the street or in their local supermarkets. Facebook has a group of fans of Oliver Barker, the Sotheby’s auctioneer, who call themselves the BarkerHeads.

“Who is the auctioneer? ❤️❤️❤️,’’ read one online post, referring to Barker.

“I love watching this,’’ wrote another. “But I want to reach into the screen and fix his bowtie.’’

‘Photography shows us what matters’: The Nature Conservancy announces stunning photo contest winners

By in Photography

‘Photography shows us what matters’: The Nature Conservancy announces stunning photo contest winners

(CNN) — A dried-up pond revealing holes dug by fish, a settlement in the middle of a yellow rapeseed field, and a wolf spider protecting her babies are among the winning images that captivated the judges of The Nature Conservancy’s 2023 Global Photo Contest.

This year’s grand prize was awarded to Hungarian photographer Tibor Litauszki, for his underwater image of an alpine newt feeding on freshly laid frog eggs. Illuminated with an LED lamp, and captured using a camera in a waterproof case with a home-made wired remote release, Tibor said the photograph shows the “cycle and sensitivity of nature.”

‘Photography shows us what matters’: Nature Conservancy announces stunning photo contest winners

By in Photography

‘Photography shows us what matters’: Nature Conservancy announces stunning photo contest winners


CNN
 — 

A dried-up pond revealing holes dug by fish, a settlement in the middle of a yellow rapeseed field, and a wolf spider protecting her babies are among the winning images that captivated the judges of The Nature Conservancy’s 2023 Global Photo Contest.

This year’s grand prize was awarded to Hungarian photographer Tibor Litauszki, for his underwater image of an alpine newt feeding on freshly laid frog eggs. Illuminated with an LED lamp, and captured using a camera in a waterproof case with a home-made wired remote release, Tibor said the photograph shows the “cycle and sensitivity of nature.”

According to The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit, this year’s competition saw a record-breaking number of submissions, with 189,000 entries from over 80,000 photographers, but Litauszki won on merit of capturing a unique and often overlooked event in nature.

“A simple stream teeming with life turned into another world — a galaxy of greens and blues shining through a dark canvas,” said contest director and judging coordinator Alex Snyder of the winning image. “The technical difficulty alone gave the image high marks, but the overall composition and aesthetic made it a winner.”

Other winning photographs depict the beauty of wildlife, such as a sunrise silhouette of a graceful hoopoe bird and the glowing skin of a corn snake under ultraviolet light.

Reptiles & Amphibians, first place Alien Portrait // In this photograph, the intricate skin of a Corn Snakelet (Pantherophis guttatus) is showcased in a unique way, using ultraviolet light. Scientifically proven, snakeskin exhibits a glowing effect under ultraviolet light, a phenomenon that herpetologists have utilized since the late 20th century to locate snakes in the dark.

Some images depict the peril of the natural world, like photographer Raphael Alves’ winning photograph in the Climate category, illustrating rising rivers in Anama, Brazil, in May 2021.

“Anama is a special place. It is a small city that gets completely flooded every single year. But at the moment that photo was taken, the Amazon Basin was facing its longest and highest flood in history,” said Alves. “Although people have adapted their lives to the cycle of waters, extreme events such as huge floods or droughts force people to their limits.”

This year, the competition was divided into 12 categories, up from six for the first time in the contest’s history. The Nature Conservancy hopes the images will raise awareness, evoke an emotional connection to the natural world, and help support global conservation efforts.

“Early images of Yellowstone helped convince the US Congress to establish the area as the first ever National Park,” said Snyder. “Additionally, photography has long been a tool used by scientists and researchers to document and monitor every aspect of our natural world. Photography shows us what matters.”

Vivo teases both sun and moon photography of next flagship.

By in Photography

Vivo teases both sun and moon photography of next flagship.
Posted Nov 6, 2023, 8:50 AM UTCComments

Jon Porter6 seconds ago
Vivo teases both sun and moon photography of next flagship.

Smartphone manufacturers have been touting their moon photography smarts for years (sometimes with dubious results), but with its upcoming X100 series Vivo seems to be focusing on the flip side — photographing the sun. We should get a better idea of what that means when the Vivo X100 and X100 Pro launch on November 13th in China.

Read More From:
«< 1602 1603 1604 1605 1606 >»