French fine art photographer Réhahn is well known for his excellent documentary and travel photography. However, he has embarked on a new project with an incredible style, Impressionist Photography.

Starting a New Project

Although Réhahn has traveled to more than 30 countries and now lives in Vietnam. However, while he calls Vietnam home, he recently returned to France to reconnect with his roots in the Honfleur region of France, known as the birthplace of the Impressionist art movement in the 19th century.

In 2020 and 2021, Réhahn was hot off the heels of finishing a nearly decade-long project, Precious Heritage Museum. In that project, he tells the stories of 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam through fine art photography.

However, while looking for his next big project, the pandemic began, which limited Réhahn’s travel. Undeterred, he began to dig into the artistic history of his home and found that he connected deeply to Impressionism and its philosophy.

Impressionism’s Origins and Réhahn’s Style

Impression was a 19th-century art movement developed in France characterized by thin and visible brush strokes and an emphasis on accurately depicting natural light.

Because of their modern fame, it is easy to view Impressionists like Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and many more, as having painted within a rich artistic tradition. However, that is not the case. Impressionists fought tooth and nail — and paintbrush — against strict and rigid academic-style art.

Even the name “Impressionism” initially reflected the movement’s tentative and disrespected place within the art world. The term “Impressionism” was pulled from a critical review of Monet’s 1872 work, Impressionism, Sunrise, where French art critic Louis Leroy wrote, “A preliminary drawing for a wallpaper pattern is more finished than this seascape.”

The early Impressionism movement was closely tied to the French countryside and how sunlight interacted with the rolling hills, fields, and riverbanks.

“Réhahn sought to reimagine the initial influences of the Impressionists, but in a contemporary way. Light is an essential tool for all photographers, finding a way to use it in a completely original style was the challenge,” Réhahn’s website explains. “Refusing to use filters or any other artifice for the retouching of his images, he decided to use nature itself to give his work an impressionistic aspect which, under the right conditions, can almost appear to have the texture of paint. The use of reflections (a constant source of inspiration for Monet), the distortion of a scene through the heat of a fire, or even through drops of falling rain, are necessary effects for the creation of these artistic works. They also use the bright complimentary colors and pastoral scenes that filled the oeuvres of painters such as Van Gogh and Pissaro.”

Impressionist Photographic Styles and Techniques

Réhahn relies heavily upon reflections and heat to create paint-like texture in his images. He makes minor adjustments during post-processing, primarily to contrast and clarity, and never superimposes images on each other or creates composites. Everything is created in camera in a single frame.

This approach means that timing is of utmost importance, like with almost any type of photograph.

“Shooting through heat distortion is all about timing. Heat shimmer only occurs for a short period of time when the air is hot enough to change the density of the air and its ability to refract light,” Réhahn tells PetaPixel. “The ratio for the heat photos is one good one out of 40 or 50 photos. I’m still experimenting.”

When it comes to water and reflections, there needs to be just enough movement in the water to bend reflections and provide the desired texture and distortion, but not so much movement that it is impossible to see the subject’s form in the reflection.

“Lighting is also crucial because the play of the sunlight on the water is what gives a crispness to the colors and dimension to the final piece,” Réhahn says.

The Pace of Photography and Painting is Different

Even though early Impressionists were criticized for their relatively fast-paced approach, each painting still took a lot of time to build, layer by layer. Given that Réhahn is working within the constraints of a single frame, how does he replicate the look of a layered painting with a photo?

“This is actually a question that I get asked a lot — how can painting and photography be equal art forms when a photo can be captured in an instant, and painting takes so much time? The answer is that photography is a process that starts long before the click of the camera. In the same way that an Olympic diver trains for years before the few seconds that they through the air and into the pool that the audience sees during a competition, finding the techniques for Impressionist photography and figuring out the right angles, lighting, timing, etc. is actually an extremely time-consuming process. I think of the light, subject, colors, and distortion as layers that are similar to the building up of paint that is the painter’s medium,” Réhahn explains.

From the outside looking in, it may seem like any one photo is created quickly, which is technically accurate from an exposure perspective, creating each image builds upon a vast amount of experience and practice.

While a shutter press and image may take a fraction of a second to capture, everything that went into making that image what it is born of skill, talent, and experience developed over many years.

The Role of Japonisme

Japonisme, a French term, refers to Japanese art and design’s influence on numerous Western European artists in the 19th century. Happening contemporaneously with the birth of Impressionism, Japonisme introduced Japanese influence to Europe as the trade routes between Europe and Asia expanded.

While the influence of Japonisme is evident across a diverse range of fields, including architecture, ceramics, and even gardening, it is most immediately noticeable within traditional forms of art. For example, Van Gogh was heavily influenced by Japanese woodblock prints, Ukiyo-e. Famous Impressionist Edgar Degas was inspired as well.

As for Réhahn, many of his Impressionist photos include concepts from Japonisme, including Cloudkeeper. In this case, the influence is apparent in the “flat washes of color across large parts of the composition,” which Réhahn notes is common among Van Gogh’s work.

Japonisme also affected other styles of art beyond Impressionism. Réhahn’s photos, Carmine, Royal, and Imperial are also influenced by Japonisme but do not feature typical Impressionist style attributes.

The ‘Rule’ of Thirds

On Réhahn’s website, he discusses how someone can learn and understand a compositional rule very quickly, but it takes years to learn how to break it. He specifically singles out the rule of thirds.

“In general, I think the rule of thirds is a great place to start, but one shouldn’t depend on it for every photo. What I find interesting about the rule of 3rds is that it is a relatively recent invention. The term was coined in the late 18th century by the painter John Thomas Smith but was only considered to be a technique rather than a ‘rule’ back then. Thousands of years of art history had passed before the term was created,” Réhahn explains.

He approaches his compositions on a case-by-case basis. “I tend to set up my compositions based on the concept I want to convey, rather than by standardized techniques.” He continues, “Furthermore, I find it interesting that painters from Japan and across Asia often broke the rule, as did many of the Impressionists. I tend to focus more on things like perspective, verticalism, and cropping than on trying to place my images on a grid. For example, you can see a bird’s eye view in the photo Golden Fields. This perspective was often seen in Japanese block prints in the 19th century and before. It also breaks the rule of thirds. The photo Life Trace is asymmetrical, with the subject in the top third of the composition and a great expanse of yellow field below. I find that the verticalism created by the path in this photo is more important to the final scene than the idea that our eyes are focusing on points on a grid.”

Réhahn Channels History

“I have always been an avid reader. If there is something in the world that I’m trying to comprehend, I tend to go back into history and literature to understand how people might have dealt with a similar situation in the past,” Réhahn says. “The same goes for art history. I think that we can learn so much about ourselves by looking at the past.”

He returns to the idea that the modern view of Impressionism is very different from the experience that the pioneers of the movement had in the 19th century. They were “actually revolutionaries,” Réhahn explains.

The pastoral scenes that people like Monet and Degas painted were motivated by a fight against industrialization. The techniques used by Impressionist painters were a rebellion themselves, fighting against the rigor of traditional art education at the time.

Artistic elites were telling people not just what was good or bad but what even counted as art in the first place.

That said, while Réhahn hopes to pay artistic homage to the artists and movements that inspire him, he sets out to chart new territory.

“My work is often inspired by specific artists, art movements, or styles, but since I approach my work differently it changes the final result. I think of it like chemistry. You add ingredients together and come up with something entirely different from what you started with. It’s all part of the experiment,” Réhahn explains. By exploring the work of artists before him, Réhahn hopes to respect the past while creating something new.

Travel and Art

“This might sound a bit cliché, but travel really did open up my eyes to the world. When people travel, they tend to look at things differently. Colors seem brighter, scenes appear to be more poignant because of their newness. This is why there is so much literature written about travel and adventure. And the same goes for fine art,” Réhahn explains.

He is inspired by meeting people, hearing their stories, and learning about new cultures and history. “The more I travel, the more connected I feel to all of humanity,” he says.

Where to See Réhahn’s Photography

Réhahn’s work is on exhibit now in Honfleur, France, until the end of the year.

It is a special region for Réhahn. Not only is it an area where he spent considerable time as a child, but it is also the birthplace of Impressionism.

Honfleur’s mayor even compared Réhahn’s work to those of Monet and Eugene Boudin. “I wouldn’t go that far,” Réhahn admits. “But it’s certainly incredible to look out at the same harbor that these artists painted two centuries ago and to simply take in the light.”

Image credits: All images © Réhahn. More of his work is available on his website.

Eugene Goldfield’s Penumbra Photographs is a glorious step back in time. The artist’s gallery of splendid vintage prints offers a kaleidoscopic view of a world gone by. Goldfield focuses solely on vintage prints, which are photographs that were printed within five years after the negative was made.

Goldfield has a treasure trove of some 1,000 sepia and black-and-white 19th and 20th century photographs. Without full color to distract, the viewer’s eye focuses on the beauty of the range of tones; deep blacks, delicate grays, various creams, reddish browns, and whites, depending on the type and age of the photograph.

The range of subject matter is vast, and yet, when potential clients walk into the Edgartown gallery, Goldfield can locate a request within moments — or, quietly leave those alone who wish to simply browse and see what strikes them. His requirement when acquiring something for his inventory is that it be unique and pique his interest. “I enjoy sharing my collecting habits and eye,” Goldfield says. “There’s a real thrill factor for me in terms of discerning what I choose to have each summer, and I hope that’s imparted.”

Goldfield is an educator at heart, who shares his wealth of knowledge about the history of photography, artists, and techniques. This increased my understanding and appreciation of the photographs, and made viewing them a memorable experience.

One of the unique prints that immediately caught my eye was the mesmerizing “Maids in the Air,” taken in the Alcazar Ballhaus in Hamburg, Germany, in 1930. In this arresting anonymous work, the viewer looks up at five trapeze artists in a coordinated move, where they reach outward with only one hand and foot on their suspended ladders. Shot with a flash, their bodies light up, creating a starburst-like composition against the dark of the ceiling and elaborate chandelier.

There are photos that feature exotic locations, such as Fred Hardie’s 1870 “Berber Entertainers, Tangiers,” that world travelers wanted as remembrances from their adventures. Also at the gallery is Robert Haas’s 1937 soft-focus night shot of Beethoven’s house, mysteriously lit by a nearby streetlamp. There is also Edwin Hale Lincoln’s 1914 extreme close-up of three wildflowers, with their deep dark leaves and bright white flowers standing at attention, beautifully filling the picture’s frame.

Joseph Janvier Woodward’s 1870s photomicrographs of diatoms (algae) are especially intriguing. The works were made as both artistic and scientific investigations. Woodward, who was a surgeon who assisted with Abraham Lincoln’s and John Wilkes Booth’s autopsies, was among the first to study the beautiful structures of diatoms in minute detail.

Max Zobel’s 1940s print of a worker holding a riveting gun over his shoulder is arresting, as it puts the viewer within inches of the subject’s stare. His weathered face, enigmatic expression, and filthy work shirt reminded me of Lewis Hine’s photography of the appalling child labor conditions of early 20th century America. In fact, Goldfield tells me, Zobel and Hine would show their work together.

Goldfield’s journey to photography began when he attended the Boston Museum School (now known as the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University). Because of the chaos resulting from student strikes and an unstructured environment during the 1970s, he recalls, “That made me gravitate to the print study room at the Museum of Fine Arts, and the curators were extremely generous. One was also well-versed in photography … I’d go over to the Fogg at Harvard, and got immersed in studying the prints, and did some printmaking myself, as well as studying photographic history.”

In the 1980s, Goldfield and his wife moved to Connecticut, where Goldfield worked for a high-end photography dealer and learned about the history and business of photography. “Through him,” Goldfield says, “I met a lot of curators from around the country, and major collectors.”

Goldfield started Penumbra Photographs in 1992, having come to the Island with his wife, who used to vacation here with college roommates.

“It was an interesting place to try opening the gallery, because of the wide breadth of people who visit the Vineyard,” Goldfield says. “You just don’t know who is going to walk in. I feel beholden to educating the public, and I enjoy doing that … I get very receptive people from a wide array of backgrounds.”

Goldfield continues, “I can happily say that even if people don’t buy a print, it’s not a disappointment … I get a lot of pleasure from people being thrilled about learning about photography, both historically and aesthetically. That’s still the excitement for me after 31 years.”

Penumbra Photographs, 12 Summer St., Edgartown. Summer hours: 11 am to 6 pm, closed Mondays.

A set photographer’s job can be daunting.

On a movie shoot, there are hundreds of people trying to make a film, and just one tasked with capturing images from how it actually gets made. That difficulty is compounded by the fact that the photographer is usually pretty low on the director and crew’s priority list during production.

But on the set of his sci-fi epic Dune, director Denis Villeneuve treated set photographer Chiabella James like she was as much a part of the creative process as anyone else, which James told Polygon is a huge part of why the photos from the shoot turned out so stunning and captured the tone of the movie so well. Hundreds of those photos are visible in the gorgeous book Dune Part One: The Photography, recently published by James.

For James, the entire process started with one outstanding meeting with Villeneuve, which she said was “awe-inspiring.”

“I felt like we closed the door to the office, and he opened the door to his world for me,” James told Polygon in an interview over Google Meet. “And listening to Denis talk about what was so important to him, I came away from that meeting really understanding the importance of the landscape.”

But actually capturing those incredible landscapes, like the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan, wasn’t easy. In this case, it meant battling the elements to really capture each and every one of the movie’s elaborate sets and locations.

“You’re hiking up the rock and you think, Yeah, OK, all right, this is gonna be A Day,” James says, mimicking her on-set exhaustion in her voice. “Then you see that the next set is all the way up there. And the only way out there is a climbing rope. And you’re thinking, I don’t know how I’m gonna do that. I’m already melting, and my cameras are melting and my lens is crunching from the grit and the sand. And I don’t know how to do this. And yet you do it because you want to see, you want to get there, you want to be part of that.”

Of course, the desert offered plenty of grueling conditions even when James wasn’t climbing up cliffs. The heat wreaked havoc on the photographer’s cameras, causing them to power down and overheat, sometimes after just one photo. To save her equipment, James often had to find shade wherever she could, including simply ducking behind other people on set to get her cameras out of the sun for a moment or two.

But all of that seems to have been well worth it. The book is full of gorgeous shots of the sets, locations, and actors, bringing the world of Dune even more to life. It manages to capture exactly the same spirit and mood as the movie, a difficult goal that James says she aims for on every movie she works on. Once again, James credits this to the planning time she got with Villeneuve and his approach to the movie.

She says his willingness to involve her in the process and vision of Dune early on distinguished it from other shoots she’s worked on. She describes Villeneuve showing her concept art from the film that included tiny figures set against the massive desert, which she says gave her room to do things very differently.

“It gave me the freedom to not worry about an actor’s face,” James says. “Normally for me on most movies, [if you] shoot this big landscape with a teeny-tiny actor that you can’t see their face, [it] doesn’t get used. It makes a pretty picture but nobody uses it. Whereas this time around, that was important. And that gave me the freedom to shoot with that vision, which for me was great because I love that kind of photography.”

It all shows in the gorgeous end products — both the book and the movie — and James says it all traces back to that first meeting.

“That original meeting with Denis was probably one of the most awe-inspiring director meetings I’ve ever had before a job,” she says. “[It] felt like I was preparing for an entire film made up of stills and photographs.”

Aug. 30, 2023 9:38 AM PT

Dr. Fred Katz is well-known to many for his decades of volunteerism in the Jewish community in Atlanta. Over the last decade, he has spent thousands of hours documenting a personal mission and has completed an important contribution to preserving the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust, as he photographed more than 100 Holocaust memorials around the world.

To accomplish his mission, Katz traveled the world. He shared, “I wrote this book to honor the memory of the six million Jewish men, women, and children, in addition to countless others, who were murdered during the Holocaust. It is vitally important that we never forget what happened so that this never happens again. Hopefully, by visiting these memorials, people will become more empathetic to the suffering endured by the victims and survivors of the Holocaust.

The Besser Holocaust Memorial Garden at the MJCCA in Dunwoody

Throughout my travels, I made it a priority to visit these sites. Unfortunately, there were often very few visitors at these significant places. I wanted to change that by making people aware of these memorials and how to visit them.”

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His inspiration was multifaceted as he said, “My late wife’s parents had escaped from Germany, just after Kristallnacht, and we visited her father’s hometown of Fulda in 1975.  During that trip, we visited the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. The following year, we joined a United Jewish Appeal trip of young leaders to the Mauthausen Concentration camp memorial, and then to Israel. That trip literally changed my life. For the past 50 years, I have been visiting and photographing Holocaust memorials around the world and wrote this book so that others could follow my journey.”

The Catholic Memorial at Dachau Concentration Camp

“I have loved photography since I was a kid,” Katz shared, “I remember, as a child, taking over the bathroom of our apartment, to develop rolls of film. Eventually, we moved to a home with a basement, and I could use an enlarger to develop my own prints. After I retired from an active radiological practice, I spent three months at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography honing my skills.”

During his retirement, Katz had the time and the means to do a lot of traveling, which enabled him to write this book. He retired in 1998 and then taught half-time at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He and his late wife, Doris, traveled the United States in a motorhome in addition to many trips abroad. He added, “There is a saying that “when one door closes, another one opens.” That was what happened to me during COVID. For over an entire year, my wife, Marcy, and I stayed home in Florida, where I spent thousands of hours on my computer sorting through images and writing this book.”

The Drancy Deportation Center Memorial in Paris, France

When asked what he hoped readers and the world at-large should learn from this book, he shared, “I discovered that most people don’t even realize that these memorials exist, even in their own hometowns. One example was when I flew to Los Angeles to photograph the Holocaust memorial, I stayed with my cousin for a few days. He was fairly active in the L.A. Jewish community and when I asked him where the memorial was located, his response was ‘I know there is one, but I am not sure where it is.’ So first and foremost, I wish people would visit the memorials in their own cities and wherever they may travel. I recently visited Rio De Janeiro and did some research before we began our trip. I found out their new Holocaust Memorial was opening a few days before we left. Our visit to it was an especially very moving experience. By seeing the sculptures and reading the material, people will also gain empathy and understanding for minority communities.”

German woman praying at Treblinka Concentration Camp

He continued, “Most of the memorials are built when a group of people, usually survivors, or children of survivors, band together to organize the fundraising and construction. Occasionally, governments, whether country or state, initiate the building and financing of the memorials. I believe most are maintained by the community or organization that sponsors them.”

He added, “I have been profoundly moved by many of the memorials I have visited. Of course, Yad Vashem, in Israel, is in a category by itself, as the ultimate memorial to the Holocaust. The concentration camp that affected me most was the Mauthausen Concentration Camp memorial in Austria. I believe the Miami Holocaust memorial and the Liberator Memorial on Liberty Island in New Jersey are the most impressive monuments in the United States.”

Miami Holocaust Memorial

He said, “One of the most inspirational moments during my journey was when I met an elderly woman at the Treblinka Concentration Camp Memorial. She was standing behind a large stone, with the words, “Never Again,” engraved on it. She appeared to be praying. I approached her to ask if she minded that I photographed her. She told me that she was here visiting Treblinka, with a group of German Christians, praying for forgiveness for the murder of six million Jewish people. I learned from that experience and others, that we cannot blame all Germans, or all Poles, for the Holocaust, but only the perpetrators. But we cannot ever forget!”

Dr. Fred Katz recently published a photography book that documents visits to more than 100 Holocaust memorial sites around the world.

Katz said, “I hope that the readers will be interested enough to actually go and visit some of these very important and poignant memorials, to pay homage to the millions of people that were murdered during the Holocaust, and to realize that antisemitism and racism can lead to catastrophic results.”

Meet Dr. Fred Katz, at 11 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 22, at The Breman Museum where he will be presenting his photographs, telling stories, and signing books as part of the ongoing “Bagels and Books at The Breman” series. Museum members are free, non-members $12, this includes all exhibitions. Seating is limited; preregistration at TheBreman.org.

( Photos: Meredith Mashburn)

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art invites art enthusiasts and lifelong learners to register for “Portrait Photography with Meredith Mashburn” – a new 8-week workshop designed for folks age 55-plus who wish to learn photography and hone their skills creating powerful portraits. 

Classes will take place on eight consecutive Mondays, September 11 through October 30.

In this 8-week program, participants will have the chance to express themselves creatively and make connections with fellow art enthusiasts. Professional photographer Meredith Mashburn will help attendees find their personal vision and teach them the skills to create powerful portraiture from start to finish.

Participants will learn both the technical skills needed for photography, as well as how to apply their own creativity and people skills to create great portraits that tell a story. You’ll learn about lighting and composition, how to use cameras and process digital data, how best to connect to your subject and collaborate with them through mutual trust and respect, and much more. 

“Storytellers are vital to our world,” Meredith Mashburn says. “And a portrait is a story about a big, beautiful life. How can we best honor that story? It will be my honor to teach [participants] the art of storytelling through portraiture.”

All supplies are included, and no artistic experience is necessary. Participants are encouraged to bring their own smartphone, digital camera, tablet, or other device they’d like to use to take photos. But for those who don’t have one, don’t worry – the museum will have a few devices on hand for onsite use. 

Class registration is $150 (or $120 for Crystal Bridges members), which includes registration for all eight class sessions. A limited number of need-based scholarships to cover class tuition are also available.

Reserve your spot online at CrystalBridges.org, or call Guest Services at (479) 657-2335 today.

About the Instructor

Based in Northwest Arkansas, Meredith Mashburn has been a professional photographer for over 25 years. As a commercial photographer, she travels all over the world for her craft and works with a dynamic array of clients. Mashburn’s portfolio of work — described as modern, classy, and colorful — includes commercial, fashion, music, and portrait photography. She particularly enjoys teaching portrait photography, as it helps her to connect with and learn about herself as much as she learns about others.

Paid Advertisement – This post paid for by Crystal Bridges. If you’d like to advertise your business in a future promotion similar to this, call Dustin at 479-387-1002 or send us a message.

If you’re looking to shoot landscapes or to grow your current landscape portfolio, here are some pointers for every photographer.

I am so inspired by a beautiful landscape. I think that’s why I was so drawn to California, not to mention the beautiful light here. When shooting a subject, I do feel like there should be some meaning behind it or a story of some sort. What do you want to say or want people to feel? Of course, everyone is going to have their own interpretation and feeling, but you should have some intention behind it. Set out to tell a story that will serve as motivation for you and hopefully evoke a feeling in the viewer.

The below image was taken in Maui on a photography trip I took last year. I wanted to capture the vibe and culture of the Hawaiian people. Every morning from my balcony, I could see these canoes coasting by at top speed. It has been part of the Hawaiian culture dating back centuries, so this was inspiration that came to me while on location in Maui.  I’m always exploring and trying to find something new and interesting and a way to tell a story.

Inspiration

What and where do you want to shoot? What inspires you, and what story do you want to tell? Yes, you can tell a story with landscape photography, and you should. What is the subject you want to photograph? A beach in Hawaii or a mountain in Japan?

Create a mood board, Pinterest board or just create a folder on your computer with images you like. Ask yourself why you like those images. What about them inspires you? Is it the colors, the mood, the time of day, is it black and white, is it the low angle from which the subject was photographed?

From there, you have to decide what time of day and what time of year you want to shoot; this all plays into the look of the photos. The time of year will change the light and seasons, so if you want bright, direct light coming from high above, then shoot during the summer. If you want a moodier, overcast, and cold vibe, then shoot during the fall and winter. I did a series of ocean landscapes in Malibu, all shot in early morning in the winter, so I could get a misty, cloudy, blown-out look; that’s the vibe I wanted for these photos. I also have plenty of photos taken on a bright summer day, giving the sky a beautiful, bright blue color, with the subject fully lit by the sun.

Equipment

There are some basic tools that you will need such as a wide angle lens, tripod and a good camera bag. But also, work with what you have; there’s no need to break the bank in the beginning. I use a Nikon 16-35mm lens, and you will also want a lens to get closer to the subject. I use my Nikon 50mm, and I usually have my 85mm just in case I want to get even closer to a subject. But typically, you use a wide angle lens to capture the vastness of a landscape.

A tripod is important so that you can get a straight horizon line and to avoid camera shake if you’re taking long exposure shots. I am very guilty of shooting without a tripod on a lot of my landscape photos, but I turn the shutter speed up to help with camera shake. With that said, I suggest using a tripod and probably a travel tripod; they are more compact and lighter.

A good camera bag is important as well, preferably water-repellent, like this one I purchased. I had learned this lesson on my trip to Maui. I was using a great backpack, but it was most effective for street photography or quick jobs that don’t involve hiking or wet climates, like the bamboo forest I was hiking though. I suggest a backpack to save the pain of a shoulder bag. I learned this a long time ago, and my back is still out of alignment from using a shoulder bag for years. You want enough room for all your lenses, and a tripod holder is key, so you don’t have to hold it. I bring a small flashlight, so when it gets dark, I can find my way back to my car, like the lesson I learned in Joshua Tree, which is a desert, and if you don’t know, you can get lost in the desert really easily as there are no land markers and everything looks the same, especially in the dark. So, have pockets for a small flashlight, your phone, and a water bottle holder. This is important: bring water. 

Location

Where do you want to go? Is the location in your own city, your own state, or out of the country? You need to create a detailed plan.
 
Traveling is a great way to capture landscapes that most people can’t get to or have only dreamed of. It’s also a great way to challenge yourself and grow as a photographer. As I mentioned, I recently traveled to Maui, a place I have never been, so I didn’t know the island. I did research online before I went, so I knew the places I wanted to go. There is plenty of information on the internet that will tell you the best places to shoot. I use this information as guides, then from there, I find what inspires me. I will also walk or drive around, exploring new places that I find interesting enough to shoot. It’s important to get outside of your comfort zone and explore!

I create a shot list in a Word document before each trip that I print. It’s just easier for me to have a hard copy on me, especially if I’m doing a lot of driving. The shot list has a day-to-day list so that I can keep on track and make sure I shoot everything I had planned. I list the day, time I want to shoot the location, and address, as well as what the significant landmark is, a tree or rock formation, etc. I will also note how I want to shoot it: sunrise, bright daylight, overcast for a moody look. or sunset to create interesting shadows. You can’t control the weather conditions, but you can get an idea of what it may be like depending on the time of year and time of day. 

Post-Production

Retouching is a very important part of any landscape photo and can transform the image from good to incredible. I always shoot in raw so that I have total control of the image. Retouching is a personal choice; some people like an HDR look or an oversaturated, deep color palette, and some people leave the image pretty close to the way it was shot. 

There are plenty of presets out there that you can purchase or use directly in Lightroom. Post-production is all part of the creative process, so play around and create your own style. There are so many variables, but it comes down to the look and feeling you want to evoke.

Once you have your images retouched, it’s time to share them with the world!  Get a professional website like Squarespace, or if you plan on selling them, I would suggest Shopify. I use both, but for selling, Shopify is the best. Share your images on social media; this will help you gauge what people like and maybe what they don’t like as much. It’s really just for learning. Don’t read too much into social media and people’s opinions. You should always shoot for you and the things that inspire you.

A photographer’s timelapse of a kitten growing into a cat has gone viral on TikTok racking up over 21 million views.

Nils Jacobi who goes by the “The Catographer”, took a series of photos of a tuxedo Maine coon kitten from when it was very young to when it was almost 100 days old.

Jacobi explains that “for months” he took new pictures “every few days” before aligning all of them in Photoshop, keeping the cat’s head in the same place throughout the short video.

@furryfritz Kitten growing up 🐱📈 this is one of my favorite photography projects. Unfortunately the tuxedo kitten moved out and lives hundreds of kilometers away from me. Luckily the other three kittens moved to homes in my area and I can continue photographing them. Stay tuned for updates! #furryfritz #catographer #kitten #growingup #cutekitty #cat #mainecoon ♬ Love You Still (abcdefu romantic version) (v1) – Tyler Shaw

@furryfritz Update on my kitten growth project 🐱📈 #furryfritz #catographer #cat #kitten #catgrowingup #cutekitten #catphotography ♬ original sound – furryfritz

TikTok viewers were left enthralled by Jacobi’s video. “So interesting how the eyes changed color,” writes one person.

Cat Photographer

Jacobi has previously been featured on PetaPixel where he explained how he became interested in the cat photo niche.

“I had a studio for a few years and mainly photographed people,” he says. “When I realized that my cat photos, which I posted in between, got way more likes than my other photos, I put my focus on it.”

The photographer, who is based in Germany, adds: “Since I preferred to work with animals rather than human models anyway, it became a passion.

“At the time, I was fascinated by photos of running dogs, so I thought: Challenge accepted! I will now take photos like this with cats.”

Jacobi admits there are challenges when it comes to shooting cats — especially when the felines are not willing to be photographed.

“There is no trick to get the perfect shot. Just a lot of patience and dedication. It can be hard to get animals, especially cats, to pose for a photo,” he explains.

“Even as a professional with hundreds of cat photoshoots experience, you always try to push the limits of your creativity to get the cat to do something you want.

“But you just can’t force cats to do anything and of course, you shouldn’t try to do that in general! Fortunately, in most cases, it is enough to take advantage of the cat’s play instinct or appetite.”

More of Jacobi’s work can be seen on his Instagram, TikTok, and his website.

Image credits: All photos by Nils Jacobi/@furryfritz

Overview

Toshio Shibata has travelled across Japan and the United States to make photographs that interweave elements of the landscape with human-made structures such as dams and bridges. His compositions, that often eliminate a horizon line or utilize unique vantage points, emphasize form, color, and texture while also reflecting on how humans have shaped the contemporary landscape.

Originally trained as a painter at Tokyo National University of Fine Art and Music, Shibata turned to photography in the mid-1970s and his work has been widely exhibited and collected at institutions around the world since. Three of his photographs were included in the Denver Art Museum’s 2018 exhibition, New Territory: Landscape Photography Today. Toshio Shibata lives and works in Tokyo, Japan.