Ele Chew is an artist of many disciplines.

From working with mediums such as metal, glass or ceramics, photography is just one of many art forms she uses to express herself.

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Cuero-based artist Ele Chew, 73, has spent most of her life pursuing her art in addition to raising her children and working on her career as a research scientist.

Her interest in art started when she was a little girl and blossomed ever since. She evolved from painting and eventually gravitated toward photography due to her desire for capturing the moment.

“I’m not interested in taking beautiful photographs. I’m just trying to capture the moment that is very special to me,” Chew said.

For Chew, moments like this mean photographing an American house finch skipping over a rock while water splashes or capturing a conversation between a male and female cardinal.

“You don’t see don’t bird pictures like that. It kind of has a character to it,” Chew said.

Some of Chew’s subjects can be found in nature, which she sought to learn about with the Texas Master Naturalists. Since Chew’s scientific background includes chemistry and biology, photography became a way for her to discover Texas.

But nature isn’t the only subject she’s interested in documenting. There’s a sense of exploration in Chew’s work. She ventures through different landscapes in Texas.

This all ties to her desire to see as much as she can.

“I yearn to see everything,” Chew said. “I just want to be able to see life itself, so I can capture it.”

Analog photographers have had it tough the last few years with rising film costs, but there is a silver lining for those who shoot 120 film. In a bid to support film photographers and ensure that the magical format doesn’t fade away, Lomography has announced a price drop on all its 120 films – meaning medium format photographers can spend more time creating and less time worrying about the cost. 

The people at Lomography believe that film should be for everyone, not just those who have pockets deep enough to keep up with the rising costs. They’ve branded 120 film as an endangered species, which is hardly surprising considering a 5-pack of Kodak Porta 400 120 film will set you back around $85 / £75 / AU$140. 

• Not put off by rising costs? Check our guide to the best camera film

With developing costs on top, it means film photographers are looking at each shot costing over well $2 / £2 / AU$3.80. While professionals may be able to justify that, photographers who do it as a hobby might find themselves outpriced. 

Film photography has a magical quality that doesn’t transfer to shooting digitally. You might be able to edit your digital photos to look like they’re shot on film, or even turn your film camera digital, but nothing quite compares to shooting on real film with its surprise light leaks and the possibility of happy accidents. The problem (and beauty) of film is you can’t always get it right. However, experimentation shouldn’t be expensive – and it’s a shame that the cost is putting people off. 

Perhaps Lomography is the unsung hero of the film world – it has given us cool, retro-styled, quirky cameras such as the Diana F+, and has produced a range of creative colored films that give your images a dreamy aesthetic. 

Thanks to these new price drops, you can now pick up a 3-pack of ISO100 color negative film for just $27.90 / £22.90 / AU$27.90 (was $36.42 / £29.90 / AU$39.90) or a pack of ISO800 rolls for $30 / £24.90 / AU$29.90 (was $39.90 / £34.90 / AU$43.90). A single roll of Potsdam Kino ISO100 film is now nearly half the price, and its Redscale XR 50-200 film that renders photos rich orangey / red hues is also just $27.90 / £22.90 / AU$29.90 for a triple pack. 

As a medium format film photographer myself, this is honestly the most exciting news I’ve seen in the camera world for some time. I also shoot 35mm film and as much as I want to use these two mediums more often, I have massively cut down on the amount I shoot because I just can’t afford to. 

I love shooting with Kodak Portra or Kodak Gold, but I think it might be time to expand my horizons and start shooting with Lomography film instead. 

If you want to try your hand with film, take a look at the best film cameras. If a drop in prices isn’t enough to sway you, though, check out some of the best medium format cameras in the digital realm instead. 

In one of Pixy Liao’s photographs, she wrestles with her boyfriend Moro in a hotel room; in another, she flings his naked body over her shoulder and carries him in the way a fireman might rescue someone.

The images form part of her ongoing project “Experimental Relationship” — first profiled by CNN in 2019 — which began in 2007, a year after she met Moro. The series playfully explores the intimacy and dynamics of being in a long-term relationship.

When I meet Liao, she and Moro are crouching in picturesque window arches at La Residencia hotel, overlooking the beautiful countryside of the Spanish island of Mallorca. As she carefully orchestrates images of the two of them — standing, sitting, pointing, holding a mirror to the camera — a nearby couple takes smartphone selfies in the sunshine, kissing. Liao is undertaking a two-month residency here in the art-steeped mountain town of Deià to continue “Experimental Relationship.” Naturally, Moro is along for the ride.

Liao met Moro — five years her junior — at the University of Memphis, Tennessee, where she studied photography. When she started to take pictures of him, it became a vehicle to explore what kind of relationship she wanted — and her own identity. “Growing up in China, I didn’t see any examples of female role models that I wanted to be,” she said, sitting in her temporary studio at the hotel. “It was like being the second best or supporting role, and I didn’t understand why it had to be that way.”

Liao is expert at balancing the banal with the erotic, and exploring the power dynamics at play when humans engage in physical and emotional intimacy. In early photographs, Liao appears in a position of domination; deploying the female gaze and exerting power over Moro. One image (“Start your day with a good breakfast together,” 2009) shows Liao eating breakfast off Moro’s naked body, staring into the camera, as he lies awkwardly on the kitchen table.

But as her and Moro’s relationship evolved, so did the project. “As we grow older together, our relationship changes,” she explained. The tongue-in-cheek eroticism is still there, as is the playful subversion, but in more recent photographs, Moro plays a more active role, in and out of the picture. “He’s really involved in the creation process,” Liao said. “He sometimes knows what I want before I do.” It is often Moro, rather than Liao, operating the remote cable release control to take the photograph. Part of this, Liao explained, is about “sharing power with him.”

Does the project cause tensions in their relationship? Liao doesn’t think so, but noted that it’s hard to work on the project when they’re fighting. “He refuses to collaborate with me,” she said. “My main task in life is to keep a good relationship with him,” she added, laughing.

Liao believes the two most important things for “Experimental Relationship” are the ideas and the locations. The ideas — from making a naked Moro into human sushi, to screaming at each other, to bending over in underpants and peeking between their legs — are steeped in a kind-of fantasy. “It’s not exactly us, it’s another pair of us in a parallel universe that’s kind-of similar, but maybe something we would never do in real life,” she said. “It’s like a role-playing game.”

The settings, meanwhile, shape the feel of the images. Liao looks for locations imbued with a sense that “stories can happen there.” We often see the couple in domestic interiors, whether a bare-walled, drab house or a slick New York loft. But the series also transports us to more surprising settings: a rural hotel in Japan; a peaceful forest in Woodstock, New York.

Liao doesn’t want the locations to be “too beautiful,” she said, so while in Deià she has been looking for things that are “a little weird,” like a gnarled olive tree trunk with holes that she and Moro could poke their faces through. The concept of play infuses much of her work. “Fun is the most important thing for me,” Liao said. “My priority is to satisfy myself, to entertain myself.”

After her residency completes at the end of October — the last of a series of three this summer for the hotel, also including Anastasiia Podervianska and Sislej Xhafa — Liao will return home to Brooklyn with Moro. The work she creates will go on show in the hotel once it reopens for the 2024 season next March. And what of the future of “Experimental Relationship” — is there a planned end to the project? “I definitely want to do it as long as we’re together,” she said, smiling. With that, she goes off into the idyllic landscape on another photo shoot with Moro, living out their fantasies.

A pair of gliding treefrogs take the winning student photo award in the 2023 Capturing Ecology Photography Competition — well, the photographer, FIU postdoctoral researcher Brandon A. Güell did.

Capturing Ecology is an annual photography competition focused on showcasing the beauty of ecology. It is run by the British Ecological Society — the oldest ecological society in the world and the largest scientific society for ecologists in Europe. Güell’s photo titled “Cusp of Chaos” was selected as the Student Winner in the category of Individuals and Populations (Animals) for this year.

“I am thrilled to have my study species and Ph.D. research highlighted through my photography at such a large scale, and I am proud to represent Costa Rica, both as a photographer and researcher,” Güell said. “I also love having the opportunity to share my work so others can appreciate the chaos and beauty of this rare breeding event.”

A first-generation Costa Rican-American, Güell grew up listening to the adventures of his uncle who worked as a park ranger in Costa Rica for many years. His uncle’s stories fueled Güell’s drive to pursue his dream of working among wildlife.

The award-winning photo was taken during a massive breeding aggregation on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. It shows a pair of gliding treefrogs (Agalychnis spurrelli) searching for a leaf on which to lay their eggs. Güell snapped the photo while conducting research on the gliding treefrog’s explosive breeding and the effect environmental conditions have on the frog’s breeding process.

Güell first used photography as a tool for research in 2015 through an NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates. Güell used macro videography to study the hatching behavior of red-eyed treefrog embryos in response to flooding and other disturbances.

“I used photography and videography extensively in my own research after that, and I’ve been obsessed with wildlife photography and scientific photojournalism ever since,” Güell said. “I fell in love with the challenge of capturing rare and unique moments in nature and sharing my experiences with the world.”

Güell is currently a postdoctoral research associate in FIU’s Institute of Environment. He is working with FIU aquatic ecologist Nathan Dorn studying the predator-prey interactions and small animal population dynamics in the Florida Everglades.

After receiving a commission for new works, the photographer agreed to a show that she regards as a ‘classroom’ for those who want to follow in her path.