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‘Where will I belong if I don’t see myself reflected?’: Photographer trains lens on older trans folk

By in Photography

‘Where will I belong if I don’t see myself reflected?’: Photographer trains lens on older trans folk

Marlo W didn’t know what a transgender or gender diverse person was until he went to uni.

“I had a couple of gay friends in high school, but I just didn’t even know what trans was. I was completely oblivious to it,” says the Naarm-based photographer.

“Being at uni, I met other trans people.”

That lack of visible role models meant it took some time for Marlo to explore his own trans identity.

“I didn’t really start thinking about my gender seriously or start the medical transition until my early to mid-20s,” he says.

Even though trans visibility has improved in recent years, Marlo says there is still a lack of representation of older transgender and gender diverse people in the media.

“As a result, their intimate lives become something of a mystery,” he says.

A young trans man in a black t-shirt smiles as he leans against a white wall with his arms crossed.

Photographer Marlo W says that photographing other queer and trans people became a way for him to “come to terms with his own transness”.(Supplied: Marlo W)

So he spent the last two years photographing and interviewing older trans people living in Victoria. The culmination of his work is Foreground: Portraits of Older Transgender and Gender Diverse People, a debut photography book that shines a light on a group of people too often overlooked.  

“It is important for people to see themselves reflected in society — it is how we experience belonging,” says Marlo.

“As a young transgender person, where will I belong if I do not see myself reflected in my elders?”

Meeting the elders

Foreground is Marlo’s first photographic series where he has actively connected with people he would not have otherwise met.

But at the beginning of his project he realised he didn’t actually know any older transgender people.

“It was just hard to kind of connect with older people and find those people,” he says.

“They may not necessarily want to be a part of photobook with their faces in it and their stories in it, and I totally understand and respect that … especially for older people, if they’ve experienced being ostracised because of their transness.”

Marlo eventually recruited 18 participants by posting call-outs on social media, placing flyers at the Victorian Pride Centre, and with the help of LGBTQIA+ support organisations Transgender Victoria and Switchboard, who connected him with older community members.

Two headshots, side by side of an older trans man in pink glasses. One image is serious, in the other he is smiling.

 Wenn B. Lawson shared his story of transitioning at the age of 62.(Supplied: Marlo W)

Psychologist, researcher and autism advocate Wenn B. Lawson, aged 72, is one of Marlo’s subjects. In Marlo’s book, Wenn shares how he came out as a transgender man later in life.

“I was 62 when I transitioned a decade ago, so I came into being trans very late,” says Wenn.

“The love of my life, my wife, has been with me for 40 years. So we would have been seen as a same sex couple, as a lesbian couple, which always felt a bit strange.

“Just coming to terms with understanding what gender is about and separating gender from sexuality has been a massive journey. 

“Working out that, actually, I’m a man, took quite a while. When that light bulb went on for me, I moved into it quickly, there was no time to hang about. But fortunately, my family was very supportive.”

Marlo says meeting a fellow trans man was significant to him on a personal level.

“Maybe for my own selfish reasons, but I loved meeting him. He talked about transitioning later in life and kind of identifying as a butch lesbian, a ‘butch dyke’ in his own words, for quite a lot of his life,” he explains

“He was more or less saying it just took him a long time to work through his transness and to come to terms with it because it is a lot to work through, it’s a massive change to your life.”

Another highlight for Marlo was photographing transgender woman Latoya Hoeg, who is an elder of the Samoan Fa’afafine community.

Head and shoulders image of an older Samoan woman in a bright red dress with islander jewelry and a hibiscus in her hair.

Latoya Hoeg is an elder of the Samoan Fa’afafine community, who shared her memories of life in the 70s with photographer Marlo W.(Supplied: Marlo W)

“She made me work hard,” he says.

“She just started dancing and moving and I had to kind of keep up with her. She was just so calm and humble and quiet.

“She talked to me about the ballroom scene and show girls and stuff like that from when she was younger.”

In the book, Latoya tells Marlo how there were few employment options for trans people in the 70s, and even up to the late 90s.

“Sex work was a way to be self-employed,” she says.

“In the sex industry, you’re not judged, you answer to no one. You don’t have to worry about the talk behind your back.”

Marlo also interviewed Meredith Lee/Derek Moo who identifies as “dual gender.” They have been out publicly for six years, and in “various semi-private spaces” for up to 20 years.

Two head and shoulders images of the same person in outwardly femme and masc presenting looks.

Meredith Lee/Derek Moo identifies as dual gender and was the first openly trans person at their workplace.(Supplied: Marlo W)

“I pretty much live openly as either presentation, and it seems to work. I go to work as either Meredith or Derek. My kids are fine, my kids are almost adults. All of my family knows, all of my relatives know,” they say.

“The software company I work for has been pretty proactive in terms of the whole diversity and inclusion thing. I was the first openly trans person in the company, to my knowledge.

“When I first presented as Merri, it was at one of the Christmas parties, which is the classic way to do it, right? Might as well wear a dress to the party!”

A woman in a blue dress stands holding her skirt fanned out at either side.

Julie Peters was the first employee at the ABC to openly transition. (Supplied: Marlo W)

Talking honestly and openly about trans life

Marlo described being drawn to photography as a way to communicate.

“When I was coming to terms with my own transness, I used photography to help me with that — sort of kind of photographing my own body, as well as other queer people,” he says.

“It really kind of helped me kind of figure things out. It’s always been a way that I’ve worked through some of my own personal things.”

He says a book platforming trans and gender diverse elders would have made a big difference in his life growing up.

“I had mental health issues when I was a teenager and I definitely got up to mischief because of it, and experienced a lot of confusion, and doubt, and depression,” Marlo explains.

“I think that if I saw this book of older people just talking honestly and openly about their life in a positive way, I hope, it would have made a really good impact on me in the sense that I would have started thinking about it, and maybe some of those hardships would have been alleviated a bit.

“And I could have started doing something about it a lot earlier in life.”

Marlo also hopes his project will benefit older trans people who have felt pressure to conceal their true selves.

“If they can see other older trans and gender diverse people being out there and being celebrated for it, then I hope it helps them as well.”

Marlo W’s work is available in his debut photography book, Foreground: Portraits of Older Transgender and Gender Diverse People.

Looking for light: A veteran photographer on the ‘Monitor lens’

By in Photography

Looking for light: A veteran photographer on the ‘Monitor lens’
image

Melanie Stetson Freeman knows what makes a “Monitor photo” special. She ought to – she’s been creating them for nearly four decades. 

“I think Monitor photos have light,” she says on our “Why We Wrote This” podcast, “and I mean that literally and figuratively. Of course, you need light in order to take a photograph, but we’re always looking for the good. And there’s good even in the worst situations.”

Mel’s work involves fast-shifting, real-time logistics. She jockeys with writers for precious access while collaborating with them, sometimes performing gymnastics to get the shot. Sometimes she needs to understand when not to shoot, or she needs to find a way to wring vibrant images out of a mundane setting.

“Photographers walk into a space they’ve never seen before and have to make an image that’s worth showing to our readers,” Mel says. “Usually, we’ve never been there before. Sometimes it’s a conference room, and you have to make something happen – that’s your job.”

Another day, she might be photographing a bear taking hazelnuts from a caretaker’s hand. Those days, for Mel, bring moments of bliss. 

“I’ll report as many animal stories as I can on a trip,” Mel says. “I’m just a huge animal lover.” 

Editors’ note: The number of Tutsis killed in the Rwanda genocide was misstated in the recorded interview. It was 800,000 to 1 million, a figure that included moderate Hutus. The transcript now reflects this. 

Episode transcript

Clay Collins: The July 4th holiday in the United States is one of bright, bold visuals. It’s also a time for kicking back. As we slide from the Thursday holiday into the weekend, here’s an encore episode, from late 2023, celebrating the work of one of the Monitor’s great visual journalists.

Melanie Stetson Freeman:  I admire my colleagues who have to shoot the negative side of this and the sadness, but that’s not what we do. We’re gonna show you who’s problem solving. I try to capture their essence and show them in their best light.

[MUSIC]

Clay Collins: That’s Melanie Stetson Freeman. Mel’s been a photographer at The Christian Science Monitor for 38 years. She’s captured images in more than 80 countries and from every continent. This episode of “Why We Wrote This” is more of a “why we shot this photo.” We’re about to hear lots more from a real pro who is quite literally looking at the news through a Monitor lens.

This is “Why We Wrote This.” I’m Clay Collins. Welcome to the studio, Mel.

Stetson Freeman: Thank you. Nice to be here.

Collins: Presenting news stories in any media format requires sensitivity and fairness. In photo depictions, you’re presenting the world and people in ways that can immediately confer meaning. That’s a huge responsibility, and we’ll get into that.

But first, you’ve been shooting for almost four decades, starting of course with black-and-white film. Can you talk a little about the formats and technologies you’ve seen, and how you’ve adapted to them?

Stetson Freeman: There have been a lot of changes. As you said, when I first started, it was all black-and-white.

You know, we’re shooting film, so there’s pretty much leeway in your exposures. And after I’d been here about three years, we overnight switched to full color and slides, which are not as forgiving. And I remember walking into the newsroom the day after we went color, and I got all teared up ‘cause I love black and white so much – still do. 

I finally got to where I like color, too, luckily, ‘cause we’ve been doing it ever since. But you know, I kind of miss the darkroom and the magic of the image showing up on the piece of paper. So after slides, we switched to digital, and in the beginning the cameras were not so good. The file sizes were quite small, so the images were kind of blurry.

But the first camera I had cost, I think, about $10,000. And that was in about 2000. So, I had an assignment overseas in Indonesia, and here I have this very expensive camera. I’m photographing students who are protesting at the government headquarters, and after a while the government stepped down and they were all celebrating and I had to decide: Am I gonna step into this huge reflecting pool of water with this $10,000 camera to get my photo? Or am I gonna stay safe here with my camera? Well, I did step into the pool. Luckily, I did not fall down and I got my photo.

Collins: That’s amazing. When you came back from Namibia just recently, you said at a staff meeting that you were surprised by some of what you saw; I think it was kids carrying heavy loads. You’ve been around a long time. You’ve seen a lot. How often do you still get surprised on assignment?

Stetson Freeman: I probably get surprised fairly often, especially when I’m traveling overseas. In Namibia, we were asked to help some children get back to school, and it was about 40 kilometers away. There were four of them, and they started piling all their belongings into the back of our big pickup truck.

They were super heavy suitcases and backpacks, and I couldn’t believe they were gonna walk. So that was surprising. We were also there to do a story for a climate activist project we’re working on, and we’d been with this young man for quite some time. He was super impressive, and he said, “I’d like you to see where I live.”

So we went to his home, and it turned out he lived in a one-room basement apartment with his mom. He slept on the floor. He had just a sheet he could pull down to give himself some privacy. But it was such a shock to see how people live. Sometimes you have no idea.

Collins: You used the words “we” and “us” in that answer, and I know you’re talking about the writer that you’re traveling with. You’re working with writers to jointly find the heart of a story. How do you do your work effectively when both you and the writer are essentially competing for the same time and access?

Stetson Freeman: Yeah, that can be a problem sometimes, especially if something is happening only once and I have to get it right then. The writer maybe can call back later and ask questions and fill in the blanks. So sometimes, I have to nicely yell at the writer, “get outta the way!” And it’s kind of funny to watch – some of them will dive out of the way or hide in a doorway or something.

We do discuss the story ahead of time. Often it’s the writer who’s the lead. So I’m trying to visually tell their story. So sometimes I’ll take photos while the writer is doing an interview because someone’s telling a story. They can get very emotional rather than just standing in front of me with my camera, so that sometimes can get some very nice portraits. 

But then I sometimes have to ask for more time at the end ‘cause I’ll want a different background, and it’s a balancing act, because we sometimes don’t need the same things, but a lot of the writers that I work with understand that it’ll add to their story.

Collins: Besides your interfacing with the writer you’re working with, you’re obviously interfacing with people – civilians, if you will. Your work means being conscious of the specific context in which you’re depicting someone because that can color perceptions and you need to know when not to shoot, and about how to handle shots of identifiable children, and that sort of thing.

Stetson Freeman: Right. It’s really important to know when not to shoot. It’s especially difficult for a writer or a photographer to walk up to somebody cold on the street who doesn’t know you’re gonna be asking them a question for a journalistic reason.

I often just let the writer start and ask their questions, and sometimes I can kind of get a feel if somebody’s gonna be OK having their photo taken. So I’ll slowly lift the camera, and if they duck or put their hands in front of their eyes, I know, OK, they don’t want their photo taken. But I don’t wanna scare people off before the writer gets what they need. 

The most extreme example of that: I was in Rwanda with one of our correspondents, and we were doing a story on reconciliation. It was after the massacre where the Hutus had killed millions of Tutsis. [Editors’ note: The estimated death toll of the Rwanda genocide was 800,000 to 1 million, a figure that included moderate Hutus.] We were following a Tutsi woman named Janine, and her whole family had died. But she inherited all their coffee plantations. Plantation is a highfalutin word; really they were just some small fields. But the people who worked her fields were the Hutus that had killed her family.

Collins: Oh my gosh.

Stetson Freeman: So she introduced us to one man in particular that was still there, and she knew he was one of the killers. He was in a little hut. She introduced us. She said: “These people would like to ask you some questions. Don’t be afraid.” We sat down, and we had a young man from the college as our translator. He was sitting on one end of the bench, and then the writer, and then me, and across from us was this man.

So I did not wanna scare this guy. Of course, this was a huge part of the writer’s story. After some time passed, I asked the writer, “what do you think? Can I take a photo?” So he asked the translator, he said, “not yet.”

Collins: Hmm.

Stetson Freeman: So I waited a little longer. And then I asked again, “what do you think now?” And the translator’s like, “yes, now.”

So I slowly lifted the camera. I took some photos and the guy just kinda laughed ‘cause I had taken a few and it was all fine, but he looked so ashamed about what he’d done. It came through in the photo. But again, I’m just so glad I knew how to wait for my moment to take the photo.

Collins: Mel, what, to you, is a Monitor photo? Is it just one that really humanizes a story or an individual, as in that example you just cited, or is there something more?

Stetson Freeman: Well, I think Monitor photos have light, and I mean that literally and figuratively. Of course, you need light in order to take a photograph, but we’re always looking for the good.

And there’s good, even in the worst situations, there’s always good to shine through. I mean, I admire my colleagues who have to shoot the negative side of this and the sadness, but that’s not what we do. We’re gonna show you who’s problem-solving.

Collins: Everyone in the newsroom probably has a favorite Mel shot. There’s one conference room where there’s a photo of two men in a rice field in Madagascar. On the Clearway Street side of the newsroom there’s that train station image from Mumbai in 2010. And when I was Weekly editor, I asked to hang in my workspace a Belfast shot of yours – there are two little Northern Irish kids interacting with a British soldier. I’m not gonna ask you to pick a favorite because I know that’s an impossibility, but was there an assignment on which you took a shot that you knew at once was really special?

Stetson Freeman: I can think of one fairly recently. We were doing a story on this black bear expert, Dr. Lynn Rogers. He’s up in Minnesota, and he’s been studying black bears his whole career. He’s in his eighties now, and he was giving a class to people teaching them about black bears and a lot of these folks come back year after year.

He can hand feed these wild black bears. I was able to do that, too. It’s one of the thrills of my career. 

But I had photographed the class and going out in the wilderness and people feeding these bears, but I didn’t have my cover shot of him, and I knew I wanted him with a bear.

So this bear named Gus was nearby. So he grabbed some hazelnuts, and he sat on the ground and Gus came ambling over and I just got him in the corner of the shot and Dr. Rogers looked straight at me with just the most loving expression, completely calm with this huge black bear right beside him.

And I knew. I knew right then I had that shot. You don’t always know, but I knew that time.

Collins: The hazelnuts, wow. Gus is a bear of refined taste, I’ll have to say.

Stetson Freeman: [Laughs.] Yes.

Collins: Can a spectacular photograph come out of a fairly mundane assignment?

Stetson Freeman: Photographers walk into a space they’ve never seen before and have to make an image that’s worth showing to our readers.

Usually, we’ve never been there before. Sometimes it’s a conference room and you have to make something happen — that’s your job. And that’s, to me, what separates the pros from the amateurs. So I was in a conference room in Namibia recently with this beautiful young woman and I’m thinking, okay, well I’m gonna have to take her somewhere else after. But then I noticed the sunlight was coming in the window and it was bouncing off the table and just creating this beautiful light on her face. So as I said, sometimes I shoot during an interview and I did that that time, and it turns out that’s one of my favorite photos. 

Collins: [Was there] ever a shoot that you just wanted to do over?

Stetson Freeman: There was one in particular that’s so embarrassing.

I was sent out to photograph the new Archbishop of the Boston Diocese of the Catholic Church, and there was this huge procession and they had their outfits on with the robes and the hats and everything.

And I asked one of the photographers next to me, “which one is the main guy?” And he pointed to somebody, and I thought I had the right guy. I took all these pictures of him and I got back to the newsroom. It was the wrong guy.

So my photo editor at the time was very nice. He didn’t tell anybody this, and I guess they used a wire service photo ‘cause they were there, too.

Collins: I have to ask you one more thing — something anyone who’s worked with you would want to let you talk about. Animals as subjects, whether it’s Gus or a lion on the Maasai Mara, you really see a special nobility there, don’t you?

Stetson Freeman: I do. I’m just a huge animal lover, wild and domestic. I’ll report as many animal stories as I can on a trip. As many as the editors will let me. And my photo editor often says, “not another animal story!” 

But you know, I’ll bide my time and then I’ll give them another one. So, um, as I said, one of my favorites was feeding the black bears with Doc Rogers. Um, but I’ve also seen the mountain gorillas in Rwanda and I’ve been to chimp sanctuaries in the United States and in Uganda. I’ve met the cheetah lady in South Africa, and hopefully there will be many, many more.

Collins: Mm-hmm. Mel, we could easily serialize this conversation. You’ve got so many stories to go along with a remarkable body of work. Thanks for coming on the show, for all of the assignments you’ve taken, and for the many shoots yet to come.

Stetson Freeman: Thank you.

Collins: Thanks for listening. Find our show notes with links to stories featuring Mel’s work at CSMonitor.com/WhyWeWroteThis. This episode was hosted by me, Clay Collins, and produced by Mackenzie Farkus and Jingnan Peng. Our sound engineer was Alyssa Britton. Original music is by Noel Flatt. Produced by the Christian Science Monitor. Copyright 2023.

Photograph of detainee in Israeli military camp shocks his family

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Photograph of detainee in Israeli military camp shocks his family

Ibrahim Salem’s family are convinced that he is the man standing in this photograph, leaked to CNN. 

Ibrahim Salem had been missing for months.

In December, the Israeli military attacked his home in Jabaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza. Many of his family were killed or injured.

Ibrahim made arrangements for three of his children to be treated for their wounds in Kamal Adwan hospital.

While he was at the hospital – located in the city of Beit Lahiya – it came under an Israeli attack.

The Israeli troops went on a killing spree. Those who stayed alive were arrested.

Ibrahim’s family have been unable to contact him since that time.

At first they thought he had been killed. But there was no sign of his body in the hospital.

When it appeared that he had been taken into detention, the family sought assistance from lawyers and other human rights advocates. Yet they were unable to find information about him.

“This made me feel more helpless,” said Wasim, Ibrahim’s brother.

A CNN report broadcast in May provided the family with some basic details.

The report focused on Sde Teiman, the Israeli military camp in the Naqab desert, where Palestinians from Gaza are being detained. It featured leaked photographs from the camp.

One of them showed a prisoner standing up, blindfolded and with most of his face covered.

When Wasim saw the image from the CNN report, he was taken aback at first. When he zoomed in on it, he was sure that it was Ibrahim.

Despite how the detainee’s face was mainly covered, the family are sure from the features that were visible that it was Ibrahim in the photo. As Ibrahim was barefoot in the picture, the family could confirm that one of his toes has a distinctive shape as he had undergone surgery.

Although it was a relief to learn that Ibrahim was still alive, his family are distressed by how he looked unwell.

“He was very thin and it appeared that his health was failing,” Wasim said. “It was obvious that he had been abused and tortured.”

Located in the Naqab desert, Sde Teiman has been used to lock up thousands of Palestinians since October.

Detainees who have been subsequently released have given testimony of how they were beaten and subjected to electric shocks while being interrogated. Medical neglect is rife and food inadequate.

Dozens of detainees in Sde Teiman have died.

As prisoners have been prevented from communicating with the outside world, Ibrahim’s family lacks solid information about him. All they have is a grainy photograph indicating that he is still alive.

Doaa Shaheen is a journalist from Gaza.

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Adam Velte’s White Rock Lake-Inspired Photography to Enchant at Bath House Cultural Center in Dallas

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Adam Velte’s White Rock Lake-Inspired Photography to Enchant at Bath House Cultural Center in Dallas

Dallas’s own Bath House Cultural Center is about to dive into the local art scene with a splash, showcasing the lens-based wizardry of Adam Velte in the upcoming exhibition, The Eye of White Rock Lake. Starting on Saturday, art lovers will be treated to a visual feast of photography, all inspired by the natural splendors of White City’s beloved aquatic gem — White Rock Lake Park. The exhibition, which is free for the public to attend, promises to beam till August 10, capturing the peak of summer vibrancy.

According to a release by the City of Dallas, the local shutterbug and Green Spot Market and Fuels manager, Velte, has dedicated four years to roaming — camera in hand — the grounds of the park that’s a stone’s throw from his day job. His works, many already embraced by collectors, delineate a fervent affair with the lakeside tableau. Capturing everything from the serenity of the waters to the kinetic energy of the local wildlife, Velte’s photographs are an invitation to explore familiar sights through his immersed lens.

Impassioned by the daily dance of light and shadow, Velte shared with the City of Dallas his artistic ethos: “I look ahead into each day for the opportunity to co-create with nature and my camera at the lake,” adding that the lake provides “The water, the trees, plants, and birds. They all infuse into my images as the ingredients to the perfect recipe for creating something visually artistic and satisfying for me to enjoy and to share with others.” His art is as much about his process as it is about the final image.

The exhibit does not only wish to flaunt Velte’s photographic prowess but to sew the same seeds of inspiration the artist reaped from White Rock Lake’s vistas in the hearts of its visitors. Ranging from candid wildlife shots to serene landscapes — Velte brings forth the park’s unpretentious elegance into the Bath House’s gallery space. His hope, encapsulated by the City of Dallas declaration, is that “patrons will enjoy his commitment to recording the magnificence of one of Dallas’s most popular recreational areas and feel a deeper connection to the park through his artistic vision.”

Haunting photos bring fictional female explorers to life

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Haunting photos bring fictional female explorers to life

Tonje Bøe Birkeland as Tuva Tengel on a camel in Mongolia.

Tonje Bøe Birkeland

The imagined female scientists, explorers and adventurers seen in Tonje Bøe Birkeland’s photographs are echoes from a footnote in women’s history. In her ongoing series, The Characters, the photographer frames herself in the guise of Victorian and early-20th century pioneers – dressed in period costume, holding binoculars and bellows cameras – snapped in widescreen vistas of mountains, fjords and ice flows. Each picture is a performance.

Character_IV_Plate_18_Across_from_Kangerdlugssuaq.

Tonje Bøe Birkeland

The project began in 2008, when Birkeland was on a course about photography’s role in shaping historical truths. “It was all about did Neil Armstrong go to the moon? Did Roald Amundsen actually get to the Pole first?” she recalls. “That made me want to do something about women.” Her first character was a glaciologist.

Character_IV_Plate_1_Astrups_Horn

Tonje Bøe Birkeland

Her photographs are puzzles and her work taps into the names, appearances and biographies of real, unrecognised women, such as Louise Arner Boyd, a polar scientist who traversed the north-east coast of Greenland in the 1920s. As well as stepping into the boots of her creations, Birkeland writes their journals and creates installations of their travel cases (packed with maps and geological samples), which she both photographs and exhibits. She has immortalised her intrepid alter egos in various settings, from the snowdrifts of Svalbard to the foothills of Bhutan.

Character_IV_Plate_9_Astrups_Cottage kopi

Tonje Bøe Birkeland

In the top photo, she is seen as desert traveller Tuva Tengel on a camel in Mongolia. The three other photos show her as Arctic explorer Anna Aurora Astrup in Greenland.

Birkeland’s work will be at Forum Box in Helsinki, Finland, from 22 August to 19 September.

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Conservation group Wildlife in Focus expands photography contest

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Conservation group Wildlife in Focus expands photography contest
The image shown is from past Wildlife in Focus photo competitions and have been featured in the organization’s coffee-table books. They were all taken on South Texas ranches by amateur and professional photographers and feature native Texas wildlife and habitats. (Image courtesy WildlifeinFocus.org)

SAN ANTONIO Wildlife in Focus, a non-profit organization which targets wildlife and ecosystem conservation in Texas, recently expanded its popular biennial photography competition in order to reach more landowners and photographers across the state.

The expansion includes plans to encourage the owners of any and all privately owned land across the state to participate in the contest. In addition, the organization has added a new category that allows individual photographers to compete for separate prize purses without being part of a landowner/photographer team.

The competition, which has existed for 20 years, has three entry levels: landowner/photographer team, videographer, and individual photographer. The two photography contests both span 50 categories and the videography contest has 8 opportunities for entries. Total prize purse for all three contests, all categories, is $45,000.

The goal of the competitions is to promote conservationism and to create a visual story of the beauty of native Texas land and wildlife, from insects to sunsets, from borders to bayous. The prize-winning photos for each competition are then used to produce a coffee-table book as well as promoting the educational outreach program of the organization, Kritters 4 Kids, which targets school-age children grades K-8, a news release said.

“We are very excited to share that our upcoming contests are now available for landowners anywhere in the entire state of Texas,” Miles Phillips, Wildlife in Focus photo contest director, said in the release. “Photographers and videographers from anywhere and with all levels of skill and time now have additional entry options.”

The image shown is from past Wildlife in Focus photo competitions and have been featured in the organization’s coffee-table books. They were all taken on South Texas ranches by amateur and professional photographers and feature native Texas wildlife and habitats. (Image courtesy WildlifeinFocus.org)

Registration for the competition is now open at the wildlifeinfocus.org website. Deadline for entry is Dec. 1, 2024. The active window for photography is from Feb. 21, 2025 to May 31, 2025. Photographers and landowners can set up their own teams, or WiF will assist in pairing teams.

The registration fee is $500 for each participant on the landowner/photographer teams. The individual photographer entry fee is based on the number of categories and photos entered and includes entry into the videography competition. The fee for entering the videography contest alone is $100 each for landowner and videographer. Full rules for the contest, including equipment requirements, technology specifications, categories and prize purses, are available at wildlifeinfocus.org.

Any questions or concerns regarding the competition can be emailed to [email protected] or left in a voicemail at 361-342-9585.

Kriti Sanon and the Business of Photography

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Kriti Sanon and the Business of Photography

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Actress Kriti Sanon, who celebrated a decade in Bollywood this year, has been making waves with her stellar performances in “Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya” and “Crew”. Recently, she joined instax™ as its Brand Ambassador, endorsing the trendy and fun instax mini SE™. Japanese conglomerate Fujifilm is aiming to press on with double-digit growth across verticals, including camera, printer, and healthcare, in India, its Managing Director in the country Koji Wada shared with the media “India is one of the most important markets for Fujifilm, which has witnessed high growth from its medical business, its mainstay in the country”, he said.

During the interaction with the media we asked Sanon how important she considers these endorsements and what is the work that goes behind before associating herself with a new brand? Sanon answered, “I think the first and most important thing that I look for is the brand value, what it stands for, what is the purpose, the quality, you know, of the products.” “Of course, when you associate with a brand like Fujifilm, which, you know, I’ve grown up with this brand around me and it’s just a privilege to be associated with a brand that stands for so much quality and just like amazing variety of work that they’ve been doing actually with the innovation that they come up with, you know, staying connected to the youth as well,” she explained.

The actor expressing her excitement for the collaboration shared, “I am thrilled to be a part of the Instax family. The instax mini SE™ is not just a camera; it’s a way to create and cherish memories instantly. I love how it combines style and functionality, making it the perfect accessory for any occasion. Whether you’re at a party, traveling, or just hanging out with friends, the instax mini SE™ captures those special moments beautifully. I can’t wait for my fans to experience the joy and creativity it brings to photography. It’s truly a must-have for anyone who loves capturing life’s moments in a fun and unique way.”

Mr. Koji Wada, Managing Director of FUJIFILM India, commented, “At FUJIFILM India our constant endeavor is to stand in line with our Group Purpose of “Giving Our World More Smiles.” Staying true to our commitment to Value from Innovation, the addition to INSTAX product line and the collaboration with Kriti Sanon marks an exciting chapter for INSTAX. As we progress towards completing 100 years in upcoming decade, we strive to bring products that bring More Smiles. This launch underscores our dedication to bringing innovative and stylish products to the market, and we are thrilled to have unveiled it.”

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