It’s been seven years since anyone living in the United States had the opportunity to experience a total solar eclipse. But now, in less than two months, the big event is set to occur. On April 8, the Great North American Solar Eclipse will be viewable from most of the United States, as well as Canada and Mexico.
Viewing a total solar eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime event, but it also comes with safety considerations. It’s critical that people do not look directly at the Sun, so wearing solar eclipse glasses is a must. Luckily, the non-profit Prevent Blindness has created ISO certified solar eclipse glasses that will allow anyone to watch the big event without worry.
As the Great North American Solar Eclipse will most certainly be a highly photographed event, the organization also worked with acclaimed photographer Jon Carmichael to put together a video about how to safely photograph it. Carmichael took an epic image of the 2017 total solar eclipse from inside an airplane. This image has been called “history’s most amazing photo,” and is available as a print on Carmichael’s website.
We got the chance to chat with Carmichael in the lead-up to the big event and get his advice on how to photograph the total solar eclipse safely. Read on for My Modern Met’s exclusive interview and stay tuned for more news from the Great North American Solar Eclipse, as after the big day, there are sure to be some spectacular images to view.
What are must-have pieces of equipment for photographing the eclipse? Is it possible to do it on a budget?
This really depends on what you hope to achieve in capturing the eclipse and your budget. However, you can get great shots with any budget! If you’re more of a professional or hobbyist with a DSLR or mirrorless camera, you may want a telephoto lens (200-400mm) to get closer detail of the eclipse or a wider lens if you want to capture the scenery around you.
Also, be sure to have a sturdy tripod, a shutter remote to prevent camera shake, solar filters to protect your eyes, and a camera sensor. It’s entirely possible to photograph the eclipse on a budget, especially with how far phone cameras have come. You can also use solar eclipse glasses to cover your lens instead of specialized filters, although quality may vary.
If anyone is interested in more tips and tricks, I partnered and shot a fun video with a great non-profit, Prevent Blindness, that gives much more in-depth recommendations.
Are there any online tools or apps that would be helpful for people to know about?
More advanced apps such as Stellarium and PhotoPills can be invaluable for planning your eclipse shoot. They provide precise information on the eclipse’s path, timing, and position in the sky, allowing you to scout locations and anticipate composition opportunities. If you’re shooting with your phone, a good app is Solar Snap (iOS and Android), which works well with a solar filter over your phone lens.
What type of advance planning should people do?
Advance planning is crucial for a successful eclipse shoot. First, you want to think about what kind of photograph you’re hoping to achieve. Research the eclipse’s path and duration, scout potential shooting locations (i.e., do you want to be on a mountaintop? Or by the ocean?), and be sure to consider factors like weather conditions and accessibility.
You should also have a backup plan if the weather is cloudy or rainy in your planned area. Practice photographing the Sun beforehand to familiarize yourself with your equipment and settings. Remember, totality only lasts a few minutes if you’re lucky, and you don’t want to be fiddling and trying to figure out your settings and miss one of the most beautiful moments nature has to offer us.
What should people expect on the day of?
On the day of the eclipse, expect a surge of excitement and anticipation. This likely means a lot of traffic anywhere inside the Moon’s shadow, especially if it’s a well-known location. Be sure to arrive at your chosen location early to set up your gear and secure a prime shooting spot.
What makes photographing the eclipse so special?
Photographing the eclipse is special because it’s such a beautiful yet fleeting moment. In my opinion, it’s the most beautiful moment you’ll ever see. It’s also incredibly rare—this will be the last total solar eclipse in the U.S. until 2045. Solar eclipses captivate and unite people around the world and offer a unique opportunity to witness the alignment of the Sun, Moon, and Earth in perfect harmony.
But with all that said, be sure not to just focus on getting the best photographs. Make sure you take time to actually pause and enjoy the moment away from your camera. I recommend trying to get the camera set up to shoot automatically as best as you can so that you can be present and take in those short few minutes with the community around you.
What’s the biggest safety precaution people should take?
The most critical safety precaution when photographing the eclipse is to never look directly at the Sun without proper eye protection, and especially not through the viewfinder of your camera. Be sure to use solar eclipse glasses at all times before and after totality, but beware, not all the eclipse glasses out there are certified! I highly recommend getting your glasses from Prevent Blindness because you can be confident those will keep your eyes safe. Also be sure to protect your camera sensor, just like you would your eyes, with a solar filter. If you have to resort to ND filters, be sure it’s at least 16 stops darker.
Jon Carmichael: Website | Facebook | Instagram
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An-My Lê doesn’t identify as a war photographer. Though her body of work across the last three decades deals largely with themes of human conflict, it’s not the act of combat itself she is most preoccupied with. For Lê, who came to the United States from Vietnam as a teenage refugee in 1975, and is now based in New York, it’s rather the ambiguous “liminal spaces” of military existence that hold her focus, offering a psychological vantage point beyond the machinery — and mythology — of war.
Take Lê’s “29 Palms (2003-4),” a black-and-white series shot at a Mojave Desert camp where a battalion of US Marines were conducting training ahead of deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Through Lê’s lens, the arid California landscape evokes the nationalism of both American expansionism as well as Hollywood’s reenactments of wars abroad. Her images capture the rising smoke of artillery fire and bolts of lights descending from air bombs during war games, barracks scrawled in faux Arabic to mimic scenes in the field, and young soldiers role-playing — some American heroes, others enemy insurgents.
“It doesn’t have the same explosive, devastating quality of real combat,” Lê said of the series. “It’s much quieter. It provides a space that is a little more meditative… You can think about the reasons we are going to war — and about the consequences.”
Some 20 years since the completion of “29 Palms,” Lê is currently exhibiting her first-ever New York museum survey, “Between Two Rivers,” at the Museum of Modern Art. The show comprises other earlier works like Lê’s study of a Hudson River quarry, “Trap Rock (2006-7),” along with her ongoing series “Silent General” and a new cyclorama — a series of connected panels arranged into a 360-degree view — titled “Fourteen Views (2023),” which was created for the exhibit.
Drawing parallels between the Mekong and Mississippi, “Between Two Rivers” presents Lê’s photography in the context of the world’s water ways — what Lê describes as “fluvial journeys” that represent the ceaseless, circular flow of human history.
“It’s the notion of multiple rivers, multiple sources of culture and information, things changing, things never staying still… It’s about borders and delineation,” Lê explained in an interview with CNN, adding that, to her, rivers also take on a personal meaning. “The river is the foundational source of many of Vietnam’s myths and origin stories, and so it just seemed really fitting to me.”
Extending this sweeping conceit to oceans, Lê’s series “Events Ashore (2005-14)” is a nuanced look at the daily lives of non-combat personnel aboard maritime vessels across seven continents — from scientific research missions in the Arctic to humanitarian and peacekeeping exercises in Asia and Africa.
“Events Ashore” is a narrative told both close-up, through portraits of non-military personnel — predominantly women, whom Lê says interest her more in male-dominated spaces — as well as in zoomed out scenes of marine vessels.
“Growing up, the idea of exploration, the idea of conquering or being conquered somehow always involved the ocean and ships at sea,” she told CNN.
Embedding herself onboard battleships, aircraft carriers and submarines, among others, Lê’s work showcases the vast network of power structures seemingly needed to maintain the veneer of control in peacetime. (She was required to obtain clearance from the supervisor of each mission, take safety courses, and be chaperoned by an official escort while shooting.)
Lê’s gaze lingers often on interpersonal dynamics of collaboration and colonization; from three off-duty sailors looming over a single Vietnamese woman playing pool to a sea of camouflage-clad marines facing a lone Ghanaian man during a meeting about flood emergencies.
There are also the intrapersonal dynamics: in conversations with her American subjects, Lê said she often inquired about their reasons for joining the military.
“I didn’t know, for example, that a lot of Americans join the military for economic reasons… a way for them to get out of where they came from. Or it’s a family thing,” Lê said. “But if the President decides we’re going to war, that’s it. They have given up their right to decide. I sometimes felt a lot of empathy for the individual soldiers. And that’s a complicated emotion, being fully cognizant of the devastation that was inflicted on Vietnam and its people.”
“I was interested in exploring the US military-industrial complex in all of its contradictions — so much will to do good but also many blunders,” Lê continued. “I was willing to try to explore the subject in all its nuances and complexities.”
Lê’s work doesn’t impose any particular morality on the viewer; instead, she intentionally utilizes distance and scale to convey a complexity often overlooked. Referencing a film she created to accompany “29 Palms,” she noted that her practice is often interpreted differently by viewers across the political spectrum.
“In the film, the young Marines look like protagonists — handsome, young, and full of future potential,” she said. “Some liberal people say this is an incredible anti-war statement, because it shows how vulnerable they are… how we’re throwing away the future by sending them to war. Conservatives see the same film and think, ‘Oh, these guys are just heroic. This is the face of the military that we need to show overseas to make a point about democracy.’”
In many respects, Lê might be better described as a landscape photographer: The toll of war and the cost of military intervention are subtexts within her images, but the true subject is often the environment itself. Citing the seascapes of 19th-century photographer Gustave Le Gray as inspiration, Lê explained that her primary aim is not making conventionally beautiful images — though her photos often are — but rather to capture the sublime, and by extension the ambiguous.
This tension is perhaps most apparent in “Manning the Rail, USS Tortuga, Java Sea (2010),” which portrays sailors and soldiers on a Navy landing ship surveying an array of smaller vessels and the horizon beyond. It’s both majestic and foreboding, as if the people in the photo are bracing for the threat of danger ahead.
“You really start thinking about the sublime when you’re at sea, coming into contact with the weather and the air and the forces of nature,” Lê said of the image. “(It’s) something that’s ineffable as experienced from the perspective of American military power. It felt like a mirage, actually. And I am always interested in the disparity of power and what that means.”
The breadth of Lê’s body of work is showcased holistically in the aforementioned cyclorama “Fourteen Views.” For this piece, Lê took inspiration from 19th-century European panoramas, which she said were typically painted “as a propaganda tool,” to showcase foreign conquests and justify imperialism in the pre-cinema era. But rather than show one cohesive image, Lê used the horizon lines of different rivers and waterways across the world in order to portray a shared experience across space and time — from a bridge over the Mekong River to the banks of Bayou St. John in New Orleans.
“It’s a kind of fluvial journey that starts somewhere and ends somewhere else,” she explained. “But you basically end up where you start. It’s a web of connectivity between different times and different cultures.”
While the universality of this theme is largely apparent across her practice, Lê is perhaps most incisive when she applies her own personal history — the way her own life has been marked by French colonialism and American imperialism — to her inquiries about war, myth and empire.
“There’s a sense of confusion because the images come from what seem like disparate locations — I think it’s the way a lot of dislocated refugees and immigrants feel. We are torn in different directions. We have different allegiances and histories,” she concluded. “(But) I think it also points toward a future that is getting more and more global — and hopefully more equitable.”
As of February 29, 2024
Job Listing: PHOTOGRAPHER/EDITOR
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Video photography and editing of news stories and other special projects for broadcast. Must be proficient in non-linear editing (Avid Newscutter or Media Composer).
A Photographer/Editor provides daily video coverage of news, sports, and features on location.
In addition to excellent videography and editing skills, applicant should have experience with live ENG live truck and the operation of LiveU live device, field lighting, audio equipment as well as a working knowledge of state‑of‑the‑art editing and camera equipment. Must possess good judgment to work in the field covering news stories. Prefer at least 3 years’ experience in the above-mentioned areas.
A Photographer II is an hourly, non-exempt experienced level position. Must be able to work well under pressure and be able to meet newsroom deadlines as well as be able to work flexible hours including nights, overnights, weekends and holidays and should be capable of traveling out of town on assignment. Must possess and maintain a valid driver’s license.
***All of the essential functions of this position are not necessarily described in this posting.
***We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and will consider all qualified candidates regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age gender, marital status, disability, matriculation or political affiliation. Any offer of employment is conditioned on successful completion of a pre-employment drug screen, investigative background check, employment/education verifications and reference checks. A valid driver’s license is required.
WPLG, Inc. requires that all newly hired employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the first day of employment, to the extent permitted by applicable law, unless you qualify for an accommodation, or as otherwise allowed by law.
Please follow link below to apply for Photographer/Editor Position:
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Go behind-the-scenes of Off-White’s Autumn/Winter 2024 presentation, Black By Popular Demand, with photographer Christopher Nowak…
All photography by Christopher Nowak
Ib Kamara’s AW24 Off-White show proved that the creative director is not only continuing Virgil Abloh’s legacy, but leaving his own mark at the same time. Sparked by a trip to Japan, in which he marvelled in surprise at the amount of Americana influences he saw imbedded into the culture, he began examining the way cultures cross borders, bleeding into others and forming new entities of their own.
Particularly looking at the way that black American influences can be felt from country to country, Kamara throws a celebration of vibrancy — as bold and commanding as it is detail-oriented and specific. At its core, the collection feels optimistic, fun, and effortlessly cool, using butterfly, flower, star, and basketball motifs to loudly proclaim the presence of each look.
Stars such as Serena Williams, Willow Smith, and Halle Bailey graced the front row.
Take a look at the backstage magic…
The White House News Photographers Association (WHNPA) has revealed the winners of its 2024 Eyes of History® photo competition with Doug Mills of The New York Times being named WHNPA 2024 Photographer of the Year
Win McNamee of Getty Images has won Political Photo of the Year for his gripping image that looks straight out of a movie showing Rep. Jim Jordan being swamped by reporters.
Mills’ winning portfolio beatuifully illustrates the major news stories that have been happening in the last 12 months.
“I’m extremely grateful to the judges and all the hard-working WHNPA staff and volunteers. The caliber of entries this year was extremely strong and I’m so thrilled to be selected photographer of the year,” says Mills.
Over 4,500 images were entered into the compeittion. The categories included: Portrait, Pictorial, Presidential, Feature, Sports, Domestic News, International News, On Capitol Hill, and more. Below is a selection of the winners.
The winners of the still, video, digital, and student contests will be honored at the Eyes of History® black-tie event on June 1 in Washington.
To see the full list of winners, head to the WHNPA website.
On February 29th, the fourth annual OnePlus Photography Awards (OPA) will open for entries. OPA is in partnership with the International Photography Awards and is dedicated to highlighting impressive mobile phone photography.
Disclosure: This story brought to you by OnePlus.
The theme of OPA 2024 is “Make the Moment.” OnePlus explains that this vision extends beyond capturing fleeting slices of time: they aspire to amplify photographers’ distinctive tone and unique emotion, elevating moments into unforgettable masterpieces. The theme was inspired by the first human moon landing photo, which was taken by a Hasselblad camera, highlighting the partnership between Hasselblad and OnePlus. While the contest is organized by OnePlus, a smartphone manufacturer, it is open to all mobile photography, with the goal of making photography more accessible and encouraging everyone with a phone camera to become a photographer who is capable of capturing special moments.
OnePlus states that its mission is to “Never Settle,” and it aims to support photography by pushing the boundaries of what is possible with smartphone imaging technology. To further its mission, the company entered into a three-year partnership with the International Photography Awards (IPA), beginning in 2021. It continues to build on that partnership of exploring the future of professional mobile phone photography in 2024.
As part of the relationship between the two groups, the OnePlus 12 phone was named the Official Smartphone of the IPA 2024. IPA also offers support for the OnePlus Photography Awards in the form of an official endorsement and professional juries.
Over the past three years, OPA has garnered significant influence in the global photography community, with over 50,000 photos submitted from 110+ countries and regions worldwide. This year, within the year’s “Make the Moment” theme, there are three different categories that participants can compete in.
The first category is Light and Shadow: Optical Game. “Capture the unique magic of light and shadow, manipulating light to blur the boundary between reality and fantasy. This subtle interplay sets the stage for a compelling visual story,” explains the category description.
The second category is Colors: Magic Palette. The OnePlus 12 camera is well known for its colors, so it makes sense that the company would include a color-based category in its contest. OnePlus further describes this category as “Elicit true to life colors everywhere, from urban neon landscapes, rustic twilight locations, vibrant apparel, and everything in between. Showcase the rhythmic beauty and pure essence of color.”
Finally, Faces: Emotional Mirrors, the third category, is all about portraits. OnePlus explains that this category is for showcasing emotions on the faces of people, pets, and animals.
Entities open on February 29 and run through June 30, 2024. There is a group category for OnePlus users, but there is also a Public Group that is open to any smartphone whatsoever, so participants don’t need a OnePus phone. To enter, head to the OPA 2024 website and enter the title of the entry along with a 50-word story about the image.
The OPA 2024 features a more diverse jury team which includes Hasselblad Ambassadors, Hasselblad Masters, IPA jury members, and OnePlus imaging product experts. The contest this year also features a more open format, allowing more people to participate.
It wouldn’t be a contest if there weren’t some awards and prizes, and indeed, there are plenty with OPA 2024. There are two groups of entries, providing separate winners who took photos with OnePlus phones and those who used other devices. Within each group and category, there is a Gold, Silver, and Bronze prize, which pays $5,000, $2,000, and $1,000, respectively. All winners will receive a 2024 OnePlus product, the title of “OnePlus Photography Expert,” and have the opportunity to work with OnePlus in the future.
Beyond the category winners, there will also be a Photo of the Year award. This prestigious award will involve a $10,000 prize. Like the other awards, this winner will also receive a 2024 OnePlus product, the title of “OnePlus Photography Ambassador,” and have the opportunity to work with OnePlus in the future.
Outstanding images beyond winners will be shared across the OPA 2024 official website and other official channels as well.
As the Official Smartphone of the IPA 2024, the OnePlus 12, released globally in January of 2024, is an impressive device that features the Fourth Gen Hasselblad Camera System. PetaPixel spent some time with the phone earlier this year, testing out its camera and capabilities.
The three-camera array of the OnePlus 12 includes the industry’s first 50-megapixel primary camera with a Sony LYT-808 Type 1/1.4-inch image sensor, f/1.6 aperture, 23mm equivalent focal length, and optical image stabilization. OnePlus also introduced an ALC Coating IR filter to reduce red glare and artifacts, improving image quality across various lighting conditions.
The OnePlus 12 is the first OnePlus single-screen flagship to feature its 64-megapixel periscope camera with a 3x optical zoom. This camera features a Type 1/2 OV64B image sensor, 70mm equivalent focal length, and optical image stabilization. It can use an in-sensor crop to provide up to 6x zoom or up to 120x digital zoom if users are okay with sacrificing some quality. Rounding out the trio is the 48-megapixel, 114-degree ultrawide camera. It offers a 16mm equivalent focal length and is able to focus as close as 3.5 centimeters (1.38 inches).
Beyond hardware, OnePlus 12 features the latest HDR algorithm, which is a true master at manipulating light, balancing the interplay between the foreground and background, and capturing real-time details in the essence of the moment. It also sees an improved Portrait Mode that simulates bokeh and flare effects from Hasselblad lenses and upgraded image processing algorithms also developed in partnership with Hasselblad. Plus, a new Master Mode provides direct access to tint, sharpness, contrast, vignette, and saturation before pressing the shutter.
“Black and LGBTQ+ creatives haven’t just had an impact that defines the dance music scene, Black and LGBTQ+ creatives are the dance music scene,” Kobi Prempeh, founder and curator of fynn studio, tells Dazed in the run-up to their latest exhibition move/003 (opening in the Dazed Space on March 1). Created with DJ and producer (and Dazed 100 alum) Sherelle, the show celebrates the power and importance of Black and LGBTQ+ communities in rave culture. “When you and I talk about dance music – music that people dance to – it’s been born from the people of Black and queer communities. And that story has been whitewashed, misappropriated and diluted time and time again,” explains Prempeh. Featuring photography from names such as Imaani Iris and DeLovie Kwagala and recorded conversations from Loraine James and Nia Archives, the show traces a story “that isn’t so much of a history lesson, but an experiential and artistic expression of a movement”.
Sherelle tells Dazed that the exhibition is an “unadulterated celebration of some of the most special people within our scene… Especially in a time where progress seems to be going back a little. It’s been a joy put on this show with fynn studio who share the same ethos of trying to uplift community and provide resources in which can do so also. That’s the thing that makes us the most proud.”
The exhibition is split into nine different zones, each engaging with a different aspect of the club experience. “Discussing the lineage of rave through to soundsystem culture and its influence on DJs like Fabio and Grooverider, we began developing what a non-linear, conceptual exhibition could look like,” Prempeh tells us. “move/003 [focuses] on the DJs that were released on Sherelle’s first BEAUTIFUL label compilation. By working with Sherelle, we can give an authentic voice to rave exhibitions in a way that others just can’t and don’t do.”
“We also felt it was important to have the exhibition at 180 because it’s just a really cool space,” Sherelle adds. “It made us very sure that we wanted people whose stories were big enough to be in there, through their presence and their amazing work. This is [going to be] one of the most important and beautiful shows around… We have really talented people who deserve their flowers all the time. All artists are both pioneers or cultural changemakers.”
“When you and I talk about dance music – music that people dance to – it’s been born from the people of Black and queer communities. And that story has been whitewashed, misappropriated and diluted time and time again” – Kobi Prempeh
When it came to curating the show, Prempeh tells us the guiding principle for artists was simple: “It [had] to mean something. They must have a story to share.” Emerging London-based photographer Imaani Iris told their story through the lens of Colour Factory. Founded in 2020 by Nathaniel Williams, it has become one of the most notable black-owned clubs in the UK. “Over the course of three ten-to-12-hour shifts, they have captured thousands of photographs that push way beyond what was involved in the commission brief – they created a celebration of tonality and colour. Imaani Iris shares with us the life of the dance floor, but also the hidden moments of the club, from the security staff to the quiet corners no one ever looks at.”
As Uganda’s first publicly known LGBTQ+ photographer and artist, DeLovie Kwagala has been documenting the harsh realities of queer life in their home country for more than seven years. “[They] are such a special part of the show in terms of championing their activism, their story and their hopes for liberation in their home country and across Africa,” says Prempeh. Also included in the exhibition is Tristan O’Neill, “whose incredible photograph of Paradise in 1998 electrified us on sight, and the opportunity to include him within this show is a reflection of a fynn studio ethos of making sure no one gets left behind and everyone is included in the conversation.”
“Within a show that’s so layered, with the audio elements complimenting the strong visual art the process of collaboration has been major,” he says. “But the truest sense of collaboration has come with the artists like Henry J Kamara publishing a special edition of his book Keep the Drums, Lose the Knife” – centred around a survivor’s led community-based organisation working to end female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone and the UK through music, drumming and chanting. Another highlight is the work of Professor Wrecks who, Prempeh tells us, is “a Chicago based digital artist collaborating with our team on an installation of their work. And with each and every one of the BEAUTIFUL artists that have given their time to be a part of this show by providing conversations and stories as a contribution to this meaningful exhibition.“
Inspired by and referencing the tradition of the 1950s Japanese listening bars, Prempeh tells Dazed: “We wanted to produce a rave exhibition that isn’t just poster prints and handwriting on the walls. We wanted to create a place of elevated comfort in the heart of busy Central London, so soft furnishings and meditative soundscapes fill the space. Exhibitions aren’t normally a place of comfort, and rave exhibitions aren’t normally a place to find fine art photographic prints. We’re interrupting narratives on every level with this show.”
“We want people to feel calm and comfortable in exploring the different and unexplored parts of life,” he says. “If we could all be a little more calm and comfortable, the world would change. If we can work to interrupt narratives and be comfortable with change, then truly the world would change. If we can be happy to listen rather than judge; if people that come to the exhibition take that away with themselves, then the world will nudge itself forward.”
In this week’s “Tech Byte,” Patrick Moates is joined by Nino Batista and Renee Robyn to discuss the impact artificial intelligence is already having on photography and what may be possible in the future. Sponsored by Rogers Technology Solutions
