Photography lets us capture unique moments that any other art form can’t, and that is true for sports photography as well. So today, we would like to share the best sports photos of this year.

The World Sports Photography Awards has announced their winners out of 700 participants. In total there were 24 categories ranging from basketball to motorsports, to urban and extreme. The winners of each category were awarded gold, silver, or bronze prizes.

Furthermore, there were 3 exceptional photographers awarded as overall winners, who secured gold prizes in their category. The gold winner of overall winners is Patrick Smith, winning with a photograph of a golf player in the clouds. The silver winner is Octávio Passos, and the bronze overall winner is Phil Noble.

We encourage you to go and see special merit images too on the World Sports Photography Awards website, but as for the winners, scroll down below and let us know which photo is your absolute favorite.

More info: worldsportsphotographyawards.com | Instagram | Facebook | twitter.com

WATERLOO – Kitchener-Waterloo residents and policymakers will see homelessness through a new lens at an upcoming photography exhibit called Falling Through the Cracks: Voices of Displacement in Waterloo Region. With the support of Wilfrid Laurier University researchers, people with lived experiences of homelessness captured their perspectives through imagery. They will display their work at the Kitchener Public Library on Aug. 16 from 5 to 8 p.m.

Falling Through the Cracks is part of an ongoing research collaboration between Laurier students and faculty members and the Lived Expertise Working Group (LEWG), an advisory panel providing input on the City of Kitchener’s housing strategy. LEWG members conceptualized and led the project as part of Laurier’s Applied Community Research course, which partners students with local organizations to address an identified practical need. The exhibit features photos taken around Waterloo Region to highlight the impacts of homelessness and opportunities to address housing insecurity.

“This project allowed members of our working group to experience research from the perspective of researchers rather than subjects being researched,” said David Alton, LEWG facilitator at the Social Development Centre Waterloo Region. “The exhibit has been a powerful tool to help working group members talk to city staff about displacement and the many layers of subjective experience attached to places and spaces.”

“These photos, with their accompanying descriptions, really highlight how a space can hold drastically different meanings or importance depending on who is interacting,” said Sarah Ranco, a PhD student in Laurier’s Community Psychology program who co-facilitated the research alongside Professor Manuel Riemer and three undergraduate students: Oluwatosin (Praise) Oluwayemi, Eden Phelan and Shequera Powell.

“There are lots of hidden stories in alleyways and places that we just walk past,” says Oluwayemi, who recently graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.

One of the images, titled “The Picnic Table” by C, features an empty, unremarkable picnic table in a local park. The caption reveals a deeper story, describing the table as “a very powerful place.”

“A few people live at this table,” the description says. “They’ve been here for years. This week alone, we lost four of them.” A footnote adds that since then, seven more have died. “This table provides a sense of belonging. One picnic table has changed so many lives.”

The combination of imagery and personal narrative is a community-based research method called Photovoice, meant to spotlight the perspectives of lived experience. Phelan said the use of Photovoice was a deliberate choice given the subject matter.

“We agreed that photographs were the most effective way we could share this research, as it gave our participants a firsthand way to showcase their stories, environments and objects that are important to them,” said Phelan (BA ’23). “Photographs evoke more emotion than written words or numbers on a page. We hope they strike people in a way that leads to positive change in our community.” 

Powell was drawn to the project because of her own experiences with housing instability. She was grateful to funnel her passion into research with the potential for tangible impact.

“Lack of affordable housing is the foundation of many social problems that Canadians face, including health care, education and economic disparities,” said Powell, a Bachelor of Arts graduate who is now pursuing her Master of Arts in Health Policy and Equity at York University. “Through our sessions with the working group, we identified clear disconnects and gaps in the housing system and barriers that current policies place on vulnerable communities. I appreciated participants’ willingness to share. There is no greater value than learning directly from people with lived experiences.”

Falling Through the Cracks, which will feature presentations by LEWG members at 6 p.m. on Aug. 16, is raising funds to send the working group to the National Conference on Ending Homelessness in Halifax in November.

“Attending the conference will allow working group members to be treated like the experts they are and give them the opportunity to connect with peers across the country,” said Alton.

The exhibit will be displayed at the Kitchener Public Library’s 85 Queen St. location. It is open to all.

Falling Through the Cracks Preview

“A Better Tent City 2” by K

Artist description: Unhoused people are being pushed outside of the inner-city core. Capitalism creates an environment of scarcity among abundance which fosters violence and conflict. Funding increases for living spaces could prevent this. Better Tent City was created for people to have a place to call home. Outsiders may see this place as messy, but there isn’t enough space. Even so, this space provides people a chance to live with dignity.

“Safe Injection Site” by J

Artist description: The community originally set up their own safe injection site, but people would terrorize the associated areas, burning tents, calling the police, and using drones. At this site, there are nurses that will give you oxygen instead of naloxone (but naloxone is still available). This is a positive community action, and we need more. The problem is there aren’t enough throughout the city, they’re only in the downtown core. 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – People were invited to view the works of local students at a photography exhibit on Thursday.

The “Through Their Lens” Youth Photo Exhibit features the works of middle and high school students from the Monroe Park Neighborhood.

Students were asked to photograph what they appreciate about their neighborhood. They then selected images for photo collages.

The purpose of the project was to highlight the assets of their neighborhood.

“Today is the opening reception of a photo exhibit, photos that were produced by young adults and middle and high school students in South Bend,” Gail McGuire, a doctor at IUSB. “That represents their experience on different issues. For the young adults, it is about gun violence, and for the middle and high school students who live in Monroe Park, it is about sharing their perspectives on what they think are the assets of their neighborhood.”

The exhibit runs through August 31.

Copyright 2023 WNDU. All rights reserved.

GREENFIELD – The thrill of a rocket launch never gets old for two local brothers.

Noah and Luke Prail recently returned from a trip to Virginia, where they were credentialed to take photographs and videos of a supply mission to the International Space Station Aug. 1.

They set up multiple cameras before the launch, then stood more than three miles away to watch as the cameras shot remotely.

They’ve both been to multiple rocket launches in recent years, and they say the experience is awe-inspiring and a great way to bond with family and friends.

“You can feel it in your chest, it’s just that loud a very low rumble and it takes a couple of seconds to show up,” Noah said. “It’s like loud fireworks but just continuous, and better.”

“And it’s bright,” Luke added. “It hurts to look at. It’s like looking at the sun; the engines are very powerful.”

The brothers both enjoy photography and videography as a hobby. Noah, 22, is a software engineer and Luke, 19, is in document management.

The interest in rocket launches was a family affair to begin with.

“I went to a launch first with my grandparents kind of as a graduation gift,” Noah said. “That was kind of an impromptu trip where we dragged others along to Florida. The two of us really got interested and it’s very contagious we sort of spread the space obsession to the family.”

The last three years they’ve been taking trips to Florida and Virginia to see space launches live. Sometimes they’ll bring their two older brothers Ben and Caleb along; mom Ingrid Prail is also a regular attendee, and came along for this recent trip to Virginia.

They said this launch in particular was great to watch because the Antares 230 will be replaced by a new rocket. Also, the mission was the last to use Russian and Ukrainian components due to the conflict; US-built components will be used on new missions.

Last week’s spacecraft was filled with supplies to support more than 250 science and research investigations. The Prail brothers set up their cameras about 12 hours before the launch, getting between 400-500 feet away from the rocket.

When the evening launch happened, they were three miles away and relying on technology they set up to take the images and video.

“Basically, once the sound-level passes a set threshold, it starts triggering the camera,” Noah said in an email afterward. “The video cameras were triggered based on time.”

They were surrounded by dozens of other space fans that evening. This was the sixth launch they’ve been to in the last three years; sometimes they’ll watch in a large group, other times from water. Most of the launches are in the evening.

“Once you go to a launch it’s hard to not want to go more,” Noah said. “It’s the energy there, especially with the crowds; it’s very fun.”

To see the video of the launch, visit https://youtu.be/7PApBEMSkqQ

Thierry Maindrault’s Monthly Chronicle :

Let’s not mix every thing please. There is no single user of photographic techniques; but a multitude, as for many, of the technologies invented by Man through the ages. There are many people who can claim the title of painter, from Johannes Vermeer to painters of buildings or road signs. It is the same for Photography, from the gifted creator to the anthropometric photographer, passing through scientific photographers. There is nothing honorific or demeaning about the type and mode of use, provided they are used competently and, if possible, with passion. For photographers and for the record, until recently, the list of various specializations looked more like a directory.

How can one explain the disparition of three quarters of these competent photographic operators, over the last twenty years. While at the same time, the number of individuals claiming the title of photographers has multiplied by ten or twenty, if not more. A recent survey reveals that a large proportion of young people say that for them the profession of photographer is the best profession. What a paradox! What happened ?

All the technologies related to photographic technique have evolved, are we told! Particularly grotesque reflection for all those who have a minimum photographic culture ( yes, there are still some). Since the beginnings of photography, many technological developments have followed one another, permanently, at a more than sustained pace. From the presumed start with the bitumen of Judea and its pinhole to the multilayer electronic sensor and its laser beam, the photographic corporation  has seen many evolutions and inventions. The real users of photography were and remain characters with great adaptability, effective ingenuity and an almost unhealthy curiosity. In summary, let’s not so easily blame the origin of the crisis on our equipment. Even if they become very, if not too much, sophisticated and more oriented towards a source of profit for their manufacturer than a really useful tool for their users.

The transfer of knowledge has strayed into educational business paths in which the comfort of the teacher and financial profitability are priorities. Times are changing and we have to live with the changes. Certainly, but the intellectual processes do not change, otherwise it would have been known a long time ago. Training in the mastery of know-how is done through real learning. I observe, I understand, I try, I correct, I adapt, I master, all under the watchful and pedagogical eye of a master. The works have nothing to do with the smoky theories spread out on a blackboard or emerging from a videographic screen without explanation for the errors in the realisation. Whatever the supposed prestige of the great professor and the exorbitant amount of financial participation (which, by the way, should only be symbolic if the professor is that famous!), At the end, the result might fail to be there. The only reassuring compensation is to be able to put the name of the prestigious professor(s) on one’s curriculum vitae, as the only guarantee of competence.

The users and buyers of photography are no longer the same, whether they are professionals or consumers. The functioning of our societies (due to globalization) changed the behavior of each one. It is obvious that form has swallowed up substance. Studio photography, perennial on paper, of a baby, a teenager, a graduate, practically does not exist anymore. This image is replaced by a few thousand images taken with a telephone, which are immediately ejected on social networks to disappear from the personal environment. The ephemeral videographic screen has replaced the sideboard in the dining room and the wall in the living room. Industrial photography of our factories disappeared with deindustrialization. But, essentially because a secretary with her smartphone will directly send her shot for the printing of the latest catalogue. The said catalog often limited to a pdf file, also ephemeral, on the web. If a press photographer rushes to an unexpected event, he will discover, when he arrives on site, the images already published on his smartphone. A clever witness will have filmed his dying neighbor and sent a filthy image (in every sense of the word) to the newspaper. The service editor will have made an immediate “A” to flood all possible and unimaginable networks. This type of example is unfortunately valid for all sectors that use images. No one has any more respect for the photographer while everyone dreams of doing his job and whom some even anticipate in the field, without a minimum of intellect and without scruples.

Through their frenzied individualism and their natural insouciance, photographers let their environment do its thing without any salutary reaction. It seems obvious that the – justified – proclamation of certain old photographs as works of art has softened the brains of certain view takers (all sectors combined) who already saw themselves at the top of the bill. Many are the clever ones who have also taken the opportunity to embellish the story and siphon off the income from their work and their creativity. Photographers no longer earn anything; but, it is not lost on everyone. This phenomenon is amplified by a crowd of people, totally ignorant of photography (both technically and creatively) who call themselves photographers to invite themselves on this same illusory path to glory.

All this is pathetic and particularly destructive for a technique that has been trying to gain respectability for a while. However, dear colleagues, let’s look at ourselves honestly, we are responsible of the proliferation of all these fatal excesses. We accepted anything and everything in the name of evolution and progress. Our certainty that the perfect mastery of our tools ensured the permanent continuity of our activities. Our repeated renunciations for lack of courage and anticipation lead us to the bottom of the hole. The uberization of our professions, the loss of our fundamental rights, the tolerance of devastating technologies, lead us to the hells of the new globalized economies.

“It’s the best job we would like to do” young people tell us. Obviously, they do not really understand the situation!

Thierry Maindrault. August 11, 2023

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