Raja Deen Dayal’s portraits of Indian royalty and the British colonial elite are stunning documents of the beginnings of photography.

Leica is arguably the most polarizing photography brand out there, though its users tend to be fiercely loyal to the brand, which is why it is always interesting to hear why when one leaves them for another system. This insightful video essay features a photographer discussing why he left Leica after four years with the brand and switched to Nikon. 

Coming to you from Evan Ranft, this interesting video essay discusses why he left Leica for Nikon after four years with the system. No doubt, there are a lot of good things about Leica: they offer some truly stunning image quality, strong construction, and an experience like none other. On the other hand, they are very expensive, which is something worth considering if you are running a business and need to minimize expenses. In addition, because of the rangefinder mechanism, you will always be stuck to using a fairly narrow range of focal lengths, ruling them out for anyone who needs particularly long focal lengths. While they arguably offer the purest photography experience, there may be some better options out there for professionals who need certain features and capabilities. Check out the video above for Ranft’s full thoughts on the matter.

Leica is arguably the most polarizing photography brand out there, though its users tend to be fiercely loyal to the brand, which is why it is always interesting to hear why when one leaves them for another system. This insightful video essay features a photographer discussing why he might leave Leica after four years with the brand and switch to Nikon. 

Coming to you from Evan Ranft, this interesting video essay discusses why he may leave Leica for Nikon after four years with the system. No doubt, there are a lot of good things about Leica: they offer some truly stunning image quality, strong construction, and an experience like none other. On the other hand, they are very expensive, which is something worth considering if you are running a business and need to minimize expenses. In addition, because of the rangefinder mechanism, you will always be stuck to using a fairly narrow range of focal lengths, ruling them out for anyone who needs particularly long focal lengths. While they arguably offer the purest photography experience, there may be some better options out there for professionals who need certain features and capabilities. Check out the video above for Ranft’s full thoughts on the matter.

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It’s that time again to get behind the lens of some of the world’s best wildlife photographers with a first selection of images entered in the 2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

This year’s contest, organized by London’s Natural History Museum, attracted an astounding 49,957 entries from photographers of all ages and experience levels from 95 countries. Entries were judged anonymously on their creativity, originality and technical excellence by an international panel of industry experts.

Among the newly-released Highly Commended images is an unusual interaction of a macaque jumping on a deer, the drama of a snow leopard hunting a Pallas’s cat, the hopeful moment a team opens a crate to check on a tiger cub evacuated from Ukraine and the heart-wrenching story of an elephant struck by a train in Gabon.

“What most impressed the jury was the range of subjects, from absolute beauty, rarely seen behaviors and species to images that are stark reminders of what we are doing to the natural world,” said Kathy Moran, chair of the judging panel.

‘We are facing urgent biodiversity and climate crises, and photography is a powerful catalyst for change,” explained Dr. Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum.

The winners of each category and the Grand Title and Young Grand Title Awards will be announced on October 10 at an awards ceremony and the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition showcasing 100 extraordinary photographs will open on October 13 at the museum in London and close Sunday June 30, 2024.

After the launch of the flagship exhibition, it will embark on a UK and international tour connecting millions of people with the world’s best wildlife photography and the call to act for the planet.

A plains bison kicks up flurries of snow over its bulky frame.

From his vehicle, Waugh saw the bison start to head downhill toward the road, gathering momentum, and he drew up to give them space to cross.

Once abundant and wide-ranging across most of North America, bison were hunted to near extinction by the late 1800s. Numbers are slowly increasing, but they’re confined to discrete populations, dependent on conservation management and constrained by land-use changes and land ownership. This was shot at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

A Mediterranean stargazer peers through the sandy floor in coastal waters.

Formis approached the stargazer with care in order not to disturb it. Combining the concentrated light from the flash with a slow shutter speed and deliberate movement from his camera, Formis presents the stargazer lit through a curtain of turquoise water.

The stargazer is an ambush predator. It buries itself in the sand by wriggling its body until it’s invisible but for its eyes and teeth, then lies in wait for small fish and invertebrates. Its coastal habitat is under pressure from erosion and pollution, and it is often caught as bycatch. The shot was made at Rijeka, Croatia.

The drama of a snow leopard hunting a Pallas’s cat: When the snow leopard sprang into action, Zhou assumed it was after a marmot as ‘the Pallas’s cat blended in so well with the rocks.’

But in less than a minute, it was in the snow leopard’s jaws. Both species are well camouflaged and are hard to see at any time, let alone together. While large birds of prey and wolves are known to hunt Pallas’s cats, it’s a rare sight to see them hunted by snow leopards. This was shot at Gayi, Sichuan, China.

A two-colored mason-bee is building its nest and Zanki knew the bee was memorizing landmarks around the nest so it could find it again. So as not to disorientate it, he edged his equipment closer each time it left. After two hours, the bee was using his equipment as a landmark.

Two-coloured mason bees use snail shells for egg laying. They pack the shell with pollen and nectar for their larvae, then seal it with grass and sticky saliva. Humans sometimes consider snails to be pests, but this species could not survive without them. Location: Near Witzenhausen, Hesse, Germany

A pair of white storks flanked by shimmering heat against the burnt ground caused by a controlled fire.

As Friedlaender had anticipated, shortly after the controlled fire was lit on an area of Kenya’s Maasai Mara, hundreds of birds arrived, particularly storks and kites. Most kept a reasonable distance, but the storks pressed up to the front line in search of easy prey.

Starting fires is a common though controversial way of managing grasslands to stimulate lush new growth and to control the spread of bushland. This can be a dangerous tactic especially in times of drought when fire spreads easily.

A coot struggles to stay upright on ice while subduing a wriggling loach.

Young photographer Zeyu waited in the cold, watching coots as they moved across a frozen pond in Dalian, northeast China. This coot had been scrambling in the water for food and eventually caught a loach.

Common coots are among the most widespread birds, with a range that extends across Europe and Asia and into North Africa and Australia. They require large areas of open water with nearby cover for nesting, and populations can be affected when their habitat is disturbed by humans.

An unusual interaction: Using a tree as a springboard, the young Yakushima macaque jumped onto the deer’s back.

Rodeo-riding of deer by the monkeys of Yakushima Island is rare, but not unheard of. Young male macaques have been seen clinging to female deer and trying to mate with them. In this case, however, the macaque was a young female, appearing just to be enjoying a free ride.

The photographer finds an unexpected guest on her balcony as a possum snacks on a large cicada.

“There were heads here, wings there,” Henderson says. She had peeked out and spotted a common brushtail possum sitting on the windowsill as it hungrily dismembered a large northern greengrocer cicada while carrying a baby in its pouch.

This nocturnal marsupial, native to Australia, is widespread and locally abundant. Its long, sharp claws are made for a life in the trees, but it has readily adapted to urban environments and come into conflicts with humans. Location: Malanda, Queensland, Australia

A mosaic-like image of a Mediterranean monk seal: Working under permit, D’Amicis lay hidden on a ledge for several hours before a Mediterranean monk seal glided through the shallows and disappeared into a cave below.

The reflections on the water helped hide this elusive seal and allude to the risk of the species totally disappearing. This species is now one of the most endangered mammals on Earth due to historic hunting and human encroachment on its habitat. Mediterranean monk seals once rested on open beaches, but most now seek the safety of caves. Location: Greece

The injuries sustained by this fox were most likely caused by dogs.

Aldridge framed this fox’s permanently-exposed teeth and eye as it peered out from its makeshift den in a rehabilitation centers. This image is part of a nine-year project photographing the complex relationship the British have with the red fox. Since 2005 in England and Wales it has been illegal to poison foxes, block or destroy foxholes, or use dogs to hunt them.

The injuries suffered by this animal were likely inflicted by dogs illegally sent into the fox’s den to flush it out. Location: Kent, England.

These were the final moments of extreme distress felt by an elephant hit by a train. The collision shattered the elephant’s hip beyond repair, and it had to be killed.

After being shot the male elephant shows its frustration as it angrily sprays water at the crowd of bystanders after one of them had tried to cut off the elephants trunk.

Doest, who was in the park on a different assignment, witnessed the episode. Despite the park director’s efforts to get the train company to slow trains, there are regular wildlife–train collisions in Lopé National Park, including up to 20 incidents with elephants a year.

Trains transport manganese from the Moanda mine, which holds 25% of known reserves. Manganese is a metal used in iron and steel production. Location: Lopé National Park, Gabon.

An artisan fisher drags a sailfish across the beach: Pattyn had spent days watching fishers bring their catch to shore surrounded by birds trying to get their share.

The fish were prepared at sea then loaded onto trucks early in the morning when this photograph was taken. Artisan fishing provides vital employment opportunities for people living around Ecuador’s Eastern Pacific waters.

This is small in scale compared to the industrial-scale fishing undertaken by international fleets. However, artisan fishing does still have an impact as marine mammals can be entangled in nets. Location: Puerto López, Manabí Province, Ecuador.

A team from Poznań Zoo opens a crate to check on an evacuated tiger cub.

Michał Siarek documents the efforts to evacuate animals including wild animals in private ownership such as tigers from across war-torn Ukraine. “That night changed me,” he says. ”Hearing the cry of a lion still in the truck made me decide to help with the next evacuation run”

The first transport from Popova was probably the most dramatic. As Russian forces were nearing Kiev, that first transport of big cats was improvised with makeshift crates. Once sealed, the driver couldn’t open them.

Many of the animals were rescued from fighting hotspots in eastern Ukraine in 2022. At the Polish border, the animals were re-crated and rushed to Poznań Zoo, then on to sanctuaries in Europe. More than 200 animals have since been saved. Location: Poznań Zoo, Poznań, Poland.

At a healthy coral reef, ghost gobies swim within the branches of a sea fan.

Mustard is particularly fond of gobies, which are normally skittish. But he was determined to picture more than one in the frame. Unexpected was the copepod parasite on one fish.

Capturing the vibrant, contrasting colors meant holding steady in the current to get a long enough exposure. Ghost gobies use gorgonian sea fans as a refuge or feeding platform and blend perfectly into their surroundings. Coral reefs support a diversity of interconnected species but are at risk due to the warming seas of climate change. Location: Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Swirls of spores seem to dance beneath the gills of a deer shield mushroom. Intent on revealing the magic of spore dispersal, Papatsanis set up umbrellas to minimize air flow, positioned a light and a reflector, and angled his camera to highlight this often-unseen action as waves of ethereal dust.

Billions of these tiny egg-shaped spores are dispersed by air currents. This wood-rotting fungus most often emerges on the stumps and fallen branches of broad-leaved trees. Location: Mount Olympus, Pieria, Greece.

About a week after announcing its new BabyBlower 21 for cleaning camera sensors, Nitecore has announced the CineWind CW30, a powerful portable fan designed to create visual drama on subjects during photo shoots.

Powered by dual NP-F batteries (not included), the Nitecore CW30 can generate gentle winds all the way up to 28.6 mile-per-hour gusts (46 kilometers per hour). Wind speed is adjusted via a control knob that allows the user to switch between 10 power levels.

“The Nitecore CW30 is a powerful cordless electric fan designed specifically for photographers looking to capture their next great picture. Weighing only a sixth of what a typical photography fan weighs, the CW30 allows you to freely change the wind direction and angle for a unique shooting experience,” Nitecore explains.

Despite its considerable power, the CW30 is relatively small compared to traditional fans. The CW30 weighs just 700 grams (24.7 ounces) and is easily handholdable. The dual NP-F batteries promise long runtime — from 3.5 to 138 hours, depending on the power level.

Nitecore says the CW30 is the “perfect partner for any situation,” including wedding, travel, and portrait photography. It is also well-suited to video applications, although Nitecore does not disclose how loud the CW30 is in use.

The CW30 is compatible with multiple extensions thanks to 3/8″ Arri locating, 3/8″ and 1/4″ screws, and a 1/4″ Arri locating holes. These screw holes allow users to attach accessories such as carry handles, tripod mounts, and fill lights to the CW30.

The compact and lightweight CW30 includes detachable fan covers, allowing users to quickly clean the fan from the front and back. It is also designed with safety in mind, and the fan cannot be powered on if either fan cover is not installed. If the device is already on and either fan cover is detached, the fan will instantly power down.

The Nitecore CW30 portable photography fan is available for preorder now for $129.95 directly from Nitecore. Nitecore expects the CW30 to begin shipping next week. Nitecore also sells the CW30 in a bundle with a pair of NP-F750 or NP-F970 batteries for an additional $59.90 and $99.90, respectively.

The Nitecore CW30 is also available now from Pergear.

Image credits: Nitecore

As a native Floridian growing up in Dade City, photographer Matt Erpenbeck spent much of his childhood in the great outdoors, fishing, hunting, camping and enjoying nature. While he loved the wondrous beauty of the woods, swamps and hidden springs, he says he really never thought about the possibility that they might actually disappear within his lifetime.

“I lived and played among the great landscapes in Florida but took them for granted when I was younger,” says Erpenbeck, contemplatively.

“Now with Florida’s population explosion, some of my favorite playgrounds are gone, only to be replaced with new housing developments. I guess the main reason I choose to photograph landscapes is to capture their image before it’s too late.”

Erpenbeck also lived in Fort Myers for a while and had the pleasure of meeting famed landscape photographer Clyde Butcher. It was during a visit to Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery that the photo bug truly took hold.

“Meeting Clyde Butcher was very inspirational. I was fascinated not only by his compositions and subjects, but also by his process of printing massive photographs,” Erpenbeck says.

“You never see a man-made object in Butcher’s photos, primarily because he’s sitting out in a swamp where nothing else exists. His work made me look at things differently and made me realize that nearly every inch of this state has been touched by man. I was witnessing environmental degradation and I wanted to photograph places before they changed.”

Erpenbeck was also intrigued with Butcher’s preferred choice of black and white over color photography.

“Black and white is traditional, and with the absence of color it becomes all about contrast and shading. The sky is flat, but it has the contrast of clouds. The shadows change with the sun. Butcher knew this and would wait all day for just the right lighting,” he explains.

“I look at photography differently than I did 20 years ago. Back then I’d say it was a cool photo. Now I dive deeper into the photo to understand how it was created. I watch people look at photography in galleries and, while they are attracted to a colorful sunrise, they tend to spend more time studying the black and white photos.”

Erpenbeck moved to Vero Beach 13 years ago to follow a career in the citrus industry. As the orange and grapefruit groves were cleared more and more for housing, he worked in insurance. Now, he is focused on fine-tuning his photography skills with the hopes of making it his primary profession.

“I guess you could call me an up-and-coming artist,” he says with a chuckle.

“There is a vibrant art community in this town, and I was lucky to take photography classes at the Vero Beach Museum of Art and Indian River State College,” he says.

Erpenbeck has entered local juried exhibitions and feels honored to have been selected by many galleries to have his work shown. Among them, his work has been featured at the Environmental Learning Center, and was selected for several of the A.E. Backus Museum and Gallery’s juried ‘Through the Eye of the Camera exhibitions.

His black and white photograph “South by Southeast” is currently on display at the ‘Treasure Coast Creates: A Tribute to Local Artists’ exhibition at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, and he has two pieces at a gallery in San Marcos, Texas. He has also shown at the Palm Beach Photographic Center and captured Second Place in the Florida Wildlife Federation annual photo contest.

Erpenbeck prefers to shoot with a Sony A6000 mirrorless camera with a wide-angle 24mm lens.

“Having a good lens is really important in landscape photography,” he explains.

“They say you date a camera and marry a lens. Of course, that lens is only good for landscapes and if I want to zoom in on anything I have to swim or walk or crawl. I always use a tripod too, because I want to eliminate any shake and keep my photos crisp and sharp.”

Nearly all of Erpenbeck’s photos have been taken in either his home state of Florida or his wife’s home state of Texas.

“I’m in Texas several times a year and, while the two states are different, both have somewhat desolate environments that make for beautiful landscapes.”

Aside from nature, Erpenbeck says he gets inspiration from other artists’ paintings. He has followed the Highwaymen artists on their journey to greatness and is still in awe of the ability of A.E. Backus, who could capture Florida sunsets like no other.

“I go to museums and exhibitions, and I see things that I may not be interested in, but I still have an appreciation for the effort and skill, even if it’s not my thing,” he confides.

“I’m open to all types of art, from abstract to portraits, and I can learn from studying the artists’ techniques.”

Erpenbeck has even tackled the difficult art of astrophotography.

“I’ve done some photos of the Milky Way and it’s all about understanding how your camera works relative to your lens. There’s a mathematical formula that calculates how long to expose a photo,” he explains.

“The trick taking good photos anywhere and anytime is to be patient and take a lot of photos. You never know when the perfect one shows up.”

His recent awards include Third Place and Award of Merit, Flora & Landscape Category in the A.E. Backus Museum’s ‘Through the Eye of the Camera’ juried exhibition in 2023, and Best Black and White Photography at the 2022 Backus exhibition. He also received Best of Show at the 2023 Environmental Learning Center’s Spring Fling Art Show.

Photos by Joshua Kodis

After four decades standing in the shadows of ubiquitous stages photographing a who’s who of rock music performers, photographer Jay Blakesberg is getting his own chance to step into the lights to take a bow. 

A new retrospective of Blakesberg’s works is opening in San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum, featuring more than two-hundred photos he shot between 1979 and 2008 — the era where he still loaded his cameras with film. 

The exhibit titled RetroBlakesberg runs from August 31st to January 28th. 

“It’s the story of my life but it’s also the story of your life and that person’s life,” Blakesberg said, standing in the newly staged exhibit. “The only difference is they didn’t have a camera and I did.” 

There are of course many other differences between Blakesberg’s skills and that of the average camera owner; his photos shot from both the stage and in his former studio on Clementina Street in San Francisco’s South of Market bear the obvious indications of both trusting subjects as well as an instinct to known when to click the shutter. 

A photo of a smirking Ron Wood on stage with Mick Jaeger, the glimpse of Prince’s face peeking out from behind a bandmate, a laughing BB King, a hippy girl dancing with abandon at a Grateful Dead show are the hallmarks of a man who instinctively knows how to find the moment. 

“The live concert experience is something that’s been with me my whole life,” Blakesberg said, “and this is the document of my life and those experiences.”  

The exhibit opens with photos Blakesberg snapped during his teenage years growing up in New Jersey where he first embarked on his journey with the camera. He was already training his lens at what would become a lifelong target, the Grateful Dead. He was 18 years old when he hopped on a Greyhound Bus to San Francisco to shoot his first Dead show. The photos he took then stack up with the photos he’d take of the band over the next forty years.  

“The Grateful Dead are a big part of my life,” he said. “From the very beginning I was documenting the scene.” 

His photos in the exhibit’s Grateful Dead room don’t just show the band, they come from the perspective of someone earnestly embedded in the culture — photos of blissed out dancers, a group of Dead fans camped out on the floor of a dodgy Chicago hotel room where Blakesberg also claimed a patch of carpet. 

But aside from music and its universe, Blakesberg’s pictures also reflect a time before everyone carried a cell phone camera in their pocket. It’s an era where photographers had to lug film, load cameras, develop pictures in darkened rooms while inhaling toxic chemicals. As laborious as it sounds, Blakesberg, who switched to digital photography in 2008, has some nostalgia for the old process. 

“I missed the way it looked, the way that it felt, the way that it smelled,” he said, “the tangible aspect of it all.”  

The exhibit also includes examples of the various cameras Blakesberg employed in his trade, from large format to plastic toy cameras to his workhorse 35 millimeter Nikon. 

Blakesberg’s exhibition leans heavily on live concert photography, which not only showcases the bands but the Bay Area venues they played, from the Greek Theater to Shoreline Amphitheater to the Fillmore. 

 A photo of the Sugarcubes, with its young singer Bjork was taken at the former I-Beam club on Haight Street. A photo of then up-and-coming Counting Crows was snapped at Bimbo’s 365 in North Beach. There’s a photo of U2 singer Bono spray painting graffiti on the Vaillancourt Fountain in San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza, the first of Blakesberg’s 300 assignments for Rolling Stone magazine. 

The photographer also kept more than just the pictures, display cases in the show are filled with the ephemera of a lifetime on the job — backstage passes, ticket stubs, magazine covers and even a receipt he sent to rock impresario Bill Graham in 1979. 

“So what we’re really hoping,” said Qianjin Montoya, the museum’s Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, “is this connection to music whether you understand it in the moment, or that later it comes up as nostalgia.”  

Another highlight of the exhibit is Blakesberg’s studio portraits which reflect a whole deeper level of intimacy with the artists he encountered. Singer David Byrne visited Blakesberg’s former studio — an assistant mistook him for a bike messenger. British singer Siouxsie Sioux allowed him to drape lace over her face for a portrait. Tom Waits brought his own props, and even the notoriously camera-shy Neil Young posed for Blakesberg’s lens. 

In a time where culture is bombarded with photos, the exhibit is a reminder how a great photographer with a great eye will still rise above the masses. 

“You can take a really great picture with any camera,” said Blakesberg. “So it’s what’s inside you, what’s in your heart, what’s in your mind, what’s in your creative abilities that will set you apart and hopefully people can recognize that.”