riyadh’s tuwaiq sculpture carves dimensions of movement in local granite
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Lake Van Express in winter draws photographers to Bitlis
VAN
The Lake Van Express, stretching from the capital Ankara to the eastern province of Bitlis’ Tatvan district, has become a focal point for photographers, particularly during the winter months.
Photographers from various cities across Türkiye flocked to Bitlis to capture the best shots of the train blending with snow-covered mountains. The Lake Van Express, offering magnificent views, especially in winter, is preferred by travel enthusiasts of all backgrounds. Besides attracting travel and adventure seekers, it has also piqued the interest of university students. Operating between Ankara and Tatvan, the express provides travelers with the opportunity to embark on a journey accompanied by breathtaking scenery during the winter season.
Capturing extraordinary moments during the journey, photographers spotlighted the Lake Van Express as an unconventional option for travel. Offering vistas of vast plains, rivers and hills covered in snow along the route, the train provides passengers of all ages with an unforgettable experience.
Suna Adak Bulut, who traveled from Istanbul to photograph the Lake Van Express in Bitlis, stated, “We came from Istanbul with other photographers. We specifically wanted to photograph the Lake Van Express. Like the Eastern Express to Kars, the Lake Van Express is a very special train, but people don’t know much about it. It departs from Ankara and reaches Tatvan as its final destination. It’s a very enjoyable train. Instead of being inside the train, we preferred to photograph it in the snow for our albums.”
Art by Ian Bell gives new life to old technology
Art by Ian Bell gives new life to old technology
Sculptures not part of heritage sites to be digitally documented | Coimbatore News
The archaeological department is in the process of digitally documenting sculptures and inscriptions in the district that are not part of any heritage sites or religious places
Man Captures ‘Whale Bones’ Underwater, Wins Underwater Photographer Of The Year
Swedish photographer Alex Dawson has won the prestigious title of Underwater Photographer of the Year 2024 for his magnificent shot of Whale Bones. The intriguing photograph shows a breath-hold diver exploring a minke whale bone beneath the Greenland ice sheet.
Why did this image stood out among 6500 entries?
Dawson’s winning image stood out amid 6500 entries | Image: Instagram
According to Amateur Photographer.com, Dawson’s winning image stood out amid 6500 entries from underwater photographers around the world.
His shot not only captures the beauty of the underwater world, but it also highlights the condition of marine life. Despite representing a byproduct of small-scale whaling, the photograph emphasizes the global collapse of marine and wildlife populations.
What did the judge of the competition say about this image?
Alex Mustard, a former marine scientist and competition judge, lauded Dawson’s work, writing in the photograph’s judge’s comments section that the superb composition asks viewers to ponder our impact on the planet’s greatest creatures.
Mustard underlined the need for a shift in our approach to wildlife protection, as wild creatures had dropped by 85% since the rise of humans.
In a statement to the BBC, Mustard described the difficult conditions under which Whale Bones was photographed, with the breath-hold diver going beneath the Greenland ice sheet to see the carcasses.
He observed that the diver’s outfit and torch give the image a visiting alien atmosphere, bringing spectators into the setting.
Dawson expressed his thanks on Instagram | Image: Instagram
Following his achievement, Dawson expressed his thanks on Instagram, writing, “I am honoured to have been given the award of Underwater Photographer of the Year 2024 in London this weekend with my winning image ‘Whale Bones’.”
This photograph was entered in the Wide Angle category, using freediving mode.”
The competition consists of 13 categories, including Macro, Wide-Angle, Behavior, and Wreck, as well as four dedicated to images shot in British waters.
How is underwater photography a challenging task?
Underwater photographers face difficult conditions to explore the lesser-known areas of our blue world and share the wonders of the sea.
The UPY competition features underwater photographs from photographers all around the world, with winners chosen in twelve categories such as macro, behaviour, wrecks, and compact, as well as three categories dedicated especially to British waters.
The competition also gives the Save Our Seas Foundation Marine Conservation Photographer of the Year title.
The Crown Estate sponsored an awards ceremony in Mayfair, London, that unveiled the winning photographs.
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Raghu Rai, the ringside historian who changed news photography forever
A man loitering along a Calcutta street in the late 1970s with his friend reaches out to naughtily pinch the cheeks of a hijra (transgender), who is posing for Raghu Rai’s camera. It is a typically dirty Calcutta street, and there is neither purpose nor hope reflected anywhere in that frame. Yet there is a bit of humour and a snatch of desolate purposeless and maybe unfulfilled lives.
Photographing street life in Calcutta in the 1970s and 1980s is where Raghu Rai, while working for The Statesman, perfected much of his craft. In each frame, there is some irony, pathos or the starkness of poverty and drudgery of everyday life, and also the lively warmth of the overflowing Calcutta street. In one such photograph, a street performer is somersaulting in front of a large crowd in the Calcutta maidan and positioned in a straight line with the airborne artiste is the Shaheed Minar, as if to contrast the huge gap between permanence of the Minar and the flippant nature of a street performer’s dangerous life.
The magic of the everyday
These photographs form part of a retrospective of Raghu Rai, titled ‘A Thousand Lives: Photographs, 1965-2005,’ on view at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in New Delhi till March. It is a monumental mounting of photographs, showcasing the lifetime work of India’s most well-known photographer, who changed news photography, captured a million moments of the life of the country as it emerged from chaos to some sort of order, for half a century. The show leaves us wondering at this ringside historian’s amazing patience, persistence and devotion to his craft.
In each frame, there is some irony, pathos, or the starkness of poverty and drudgery of everyday life.
The street, its walls (one section is titled ‘The Wall’), the banks of the Hooghly, the banks of the Yamuna and the outskirts of Delhi, the office room of prime ministers, the political stage, the police lathicharge — Rai was everywhere trying not just to capture the moment for us. Everywhere, we see an effort to elevate his art with that painstaking effort. To wait a while longer for some magic to happen. “Even a breeze blowing, what it does to you and the entire space around you. That is what is magical about ongoing everyday life,” Rai writes in the introduction to one section.
From street photography to the solemn occasions of prime ministerial grandeur, Rai was ready with his camera to freeze frames on a magical moment. Those like this writer, who had the privilege of working with him, know how much he craved and tried to elevate a simple occasion or low life to high art. Rai didn’t see the world like we did. He saw beyond the immediate and the nearby, and when he lifted the camera to his eyes, we could make out that he had seen something we didn’t or couldn’t. His vision was always wide-angle.
Even those who became his subjects put on their best pose for him in a lonely street. There is one photo of a poor sari-clad girl carrying a bundle on her head and a cigarette simmering on her fingertips. She doesn’t seem to have any larger purpose. But in front of Rai’s camera, she strikes a pose that is devastating in all its pure happiness, with a smile bearing many meanings just breaking out. As if she was doing us all a favour by creating that extraordinary moment while carrying on her ordinary purposeless life. “Life’s longing for itself — that is what I feel my photographs should reflect,” Rai writes. How true.
Rai developed notions of divinity while photographing Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama.
Portraits of power, and glimpses of divinity
The profiles he shot form part of our understanding and estimate of the great people who shaped our lives. Rai’s unrestrained access to Indira Gandhi, just like Homai Vyarawalla’s access to Jawarharlal Nehru, has given us a view of a different time in our history where trust, understanding, respect and admiration was part of political life, unlike today. Rai photographed Indira Gandhi almost every other day since 1967: “When I started capturing moments of her political and personal life, I realised I wanted to document for future generations the aura of her power and elegance.”
Indira Gandhi, too, seems to have realised the importance of photographs in building up a legacy and firming up her place in the collective consciousness of the country. Access makes all the difference to a news photographer. It is only then that a photographer shows intimacy and distance at the same time. The Indira Gandhi photographs are classic examples of this. In many photos, the prime minister is unaware of the chronicler in front of her. That is how history is made.
Patience always pays, especially for a photographer for whom everything occurs in a flash, be it the crackle of gunfire, the thud of a big fall, the deceptive laughter of a political leader. That readiness is important and Rai failed hardly ever. But even when he had all the time, for portraits, for instance, he transformed the moment. The Mother Teresa and the earlier Dalai Lama portraits with which we are familiar are examples. It is here that Rai developed notions of divinity. He believed that they were true revelations of the divine or god itself.
Rai photographed Indira Gandhi almost every other day since 1967. All photos: Raghu Rai
“I went to see her (Mother Teresa) last Sunday and as she appeared, she looked drenched in His glory, glowing in a pure light around her. I had my Darshan of Him as well through her.” The curators of the show, Roobina Karode and Devika Daulet Singh, too endorse this. “Spirituality is an intrinsic and essential part of Rai’s life and practice,” they write.
The transformation of desire
In a larger sense, it can be said that Rai chronicled the democratization of the country as it grew and learnt and protested and created and destroyed and killed and redeemed. That is a photographer’s job. The historian comes much later, with the advantage of hindsight and the weight of perspective.
Photography is a difficult art. It was more so during the days when Rai worked, when the film had to be developed in the dark room and light and shadow had to be adjusted while developing the film and then printing it. The interplay of light and shadow had to be watched during shooting itself when even a stray bit of light streaming in from a cleft in the window could make all the difference.
American political photographer Larry Fink, who photographed the Kennedy and Johnson era and who died late last year, said about his art: “Photography, for me, is the transformation of desire.” It could be Rai’s theme, too. It can be safely said that Rai stood strong and patient with a roving eye for beauty, as an amazing ringside chronicler to whom we have to be grateful.
Phoenixville High School graduate advances in prestigious photography contest
A picture is worth a thousand words, but for 2014 Phoenixville Area High School graduate Tyler Smiley, it could soon be worth a lot more than that. Smiley has had not one, but two photos selected to advance to the final round of the prestigious Bird Photographer of the Year photography competition.
“I saw an email come through from them requesting high-resolution files for one or more images I entered in the contest, and it didn’t register what that meant at first, to be honest,” Smiley explained, adding that he had to re-read the email a few times before realizing he had advanced to the final round of judging.
While two images were selected to advance to the final round of judging, Smiley added that he entered a total of 10 images captured in and around Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where he now resides. The subjects of his entries included birds like screech owls, ospreys, and herons, but the two that made the final judging round were of smaller shorebirds called sanderlings.
Being a global competition, Smiley said even if he doesn’t place or advance further, he can take pride in the fact he made it this far.
“It is no small feat to reach this round of the competition, that’s for sure. When I entered, I don’t think I could have ever expected it, but I am extremely proud that it happened,” he noted.
After graduating from Phoenixville Area High School, Smiley went on to complete a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management at the University of South Carolina, finishing his time there in 2017.
Upon graduation, Smiley worked in marketing and real estate at the Delaware Beaches for four years before taking his passion for photography and making it a full-time career in late 2022.
Now in his second calendar year, Smiley says business is booming and he hopes to continue the growth he has seen to start 2024.
“To say I’m grateful to be doing something I love as my career would be an understatement. Each day is more exciting than the last, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunities photography has given me,” he added.
Currently, Smiley offers prints of landscapes and wildlife he has photographed around the Delaware Beaches. Additionally, he offers real estate photography to Realtors and property managers in the beach towns, photographing sales and vacation rental listings when they come on the market.
The Bird Photographer of the Year is an annual competition that was conceived to celebrate the amazing array of bird species found around the world. It features several categories, including black and white, best bird portrait, bird behavior, and more.
For more information on the Bird Photographer of the Year competition, visit www.birdpoty.com.
To view more of Smiley’s work, visit www.tylersmileyphotography.com.
Honolulu Museum of Art exhibits newly acquired prints by Black artists
The prints were made between 1976 and 2014
Keeping sculptures cool for Social-ICE
ROCHESTER, Minn.-The Rochester Downtown Alliance is ready for Social-ICE to come on February 23rd and 24th.
Public asked for input on replacing Christopher Columbus statue at Bradley Park
Park District is looking at various options.
