For many, it has always been a dream in the back of our heads to someday be able to escape the rat race and follow our passion in photography and turn it into a career!
Even though the very idea can be both scary and exciting, the dream can at times be all consuming. In this very open and honest video from UK landscape photographer Paul Thomson, he shares some valuable insights into exactly what it can be like when you follow those dreams and pursue landscape photography as a full-time career!
Paul’s approach has been a well-thought-out one, and he shares the highs, lows, and everything in-between that he has experienced in his two years as a professional landscape photographer !
If you have ever considered, are currently considering, or have already taken the plunge, then this video gives you a look into the real-world experience that can lie ahead!
It’s certainly not an easy road lined with roses, and you need to constantly think on your feet, diversify, and ensure that you create multiple revenue streams. However, the benefits that it has brought to Paul from a mental health point of view can outweigh even the downs that come with trying to make a living through landscape photography versus the alternative of the 9-5 rat race.
A United States businessman who sold $1 million (£794,470) worth of native Alaskan art that he had in fact ordered from the Philippines has been jailed for two years.
Cristobal “Cris” Magno Rodrigo, 59, from Washington state, received the longest sentence ever handed down by the courts for violating the 1935 Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which was intended to tackle fraud and misrepresentation.
According to the US attorney’s office in Alaska, Magno operated two companies in Alaska from April 2016 to December 2021.
Alaska Stone Arts sold carvings and Rail Creek wooden totem poles.
Marketed as native-made, they were in reality produced in the Philippines by a company set up by Magno’s wife.
Magno, who had worked in stores selling native art for two decades prior to the conspiracy, taught Philippine workers how to recreate the items.
To complete the illusion of authenticity, Magno hired native Alaskans to work at his stores in Ketchikan who sold the items as their own work.
He has also been ordered to donate $60,000 to the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska and write a letter of apology to be published in the Ketchikan Daily Newspaper.
Prosecutors said Magno had raked in $1 million from the scam.
“The actions the defendant took to purposefully deceive customers and forge artwork is a cultural affront to Alaska native artisans who pride themselves on producing these historical works of art, and negatively affects those who make a living practising the craft,” said Lane Tucker, Alaska’s US attorney.
“Mr Rodrigo’s monumental sentence is a testament to the federal government’s dedication to prosecuting Indian Arts and Crafts Act violations, and the US attorney’s office will continue to work with law enforcement partners to protect Alaska native cultural heritage and unwitting customers and hold perpetrators accountable who carry out this type of fraud.”
Native art is seen as a key part of Alaska’s tourism industry, which is worth $4.5 billion a year to the state’s economy and there has been growing concern at the activities of fraudulent dealers.
The impact of the illegal trade is large, said Jacob Adams, a lawyer who has represented native Alaskan artists in civil cases.
“Allowing non-genuine products like that to be out there in the market, and essentially take over a lot of areas, it makes the environment that much more difficult for indigenous craftspeople to live off of their culture, and that causes many follow-on effects,” he told the Anchorage Daily News.
“If people are unable to make use of their culture, to live off their culture … then it disincentivises upcoming generations to pick up those crafts.”
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Standing seven metres tall, wings unfolded and about to take flight, the two white sculptures dazzle visitors as th.
Swindon Paint FestA town’s second annual paint festival has seen local street artists paint large murals to transform its streets.
Swindon Paint Fest was founded in 2022 and aims to revive the area’s street art scene.
Over 50 artists and six headliner artists travelled from the US, Spain and Ireland to be part of the festival.
Alongside the seven large murals, the paint fest also included live painting, an art market, exhibitions, workshops, and street dancers.
Back in the 1980s, Swindon became the murals capital of the UK as the town boasted over 40 murals.
Only Ken White’s 1976 Golden Lion Bridge and Sarah Faulkner’s 1985 Arkells Brewery are left from that time and the fest hopes to revive the street art scene in Swindon.
Co-organiser Caryn Koh said: “We want to enhance the town and to provide a platform for artists.”
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Bags of cow dung are thrown at the Thai architect Duangrit Bunnag at the Mirror gallery in response to developments in Thai politics. Duangrit invited the public to watch him keep his promise after he tweeted: ‘If the Pheu Thai party joins hands with the Palang Pracharath party, I will allow people to throw shit at my head’
Photograph: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP/Getty Images
