“One Life: Frederick Douglass,” a new exhibition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, explores the life and legacy of one of the 19th century’s most influential global writers, speakers, and intellectuals. The exhibition, which is rooted in Douglass’ love of photography, showcases more than 35 objects and will be on view until April 21, 2024.

Frederick Douglass by an unidentified artist. Wood engraving on paper c. 1883 (Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)
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Frederick Douglass by an unidentified artist. Wood engraving on paper c. 1883 (Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)

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“One Life: Frederick Douglass” is guest-curated by John Stauffer, Ph.D., Sumner R. and Marshall S. Kates Professor of English and African and African American Studies at Harvard University, and consulting curator Ann Shumard, National Portrait Gallery’s senior curator of photographs.  

At age 14, Stauffer was given a copy of Douglass’ narrative, which he said was hard to read, but very powerful.

“That led me to my interest in abolitionism and activism in the civil war,” said Stauffer, who has authored several books about Douglass. “I was the first to really write about Douglass’ love of photography and words. He was essential to my dissertation and my first book, “Black Hearts of Men.”

Stauffer continued by explaining that Douglass believed photography was crucial to the fight for democracy. He strategically set out to correct the suffering Blacks experienced from slavery and any efforts geared toward tearing down the races. 

Douglass incorporated descriptions of Blacks struggling in America in his writings, meetings with other abolitionists and public speaking. 

“One Life: Frederick Douglass,” documents Douglass’ work for justice.

Douglass was the most photographed man during the 19^th century. Even with that recognition, he was thinking about how he wanted to be seen.

“He knew a lot of photographers. He had his set of favorite photographers,” Stauffer said. “He engaged Black, white, and women photographers he felt would present him in a specific way.” 

Consulting curator Shumard began working on the Douglass exhibition in January 2021. The process involved reviewing a list of pieces that would properly show the extent of Douglass’ mission with photography.

“The ‘One Life’ exhibitions really take a visual approach to charting the trajectory of a featured individual’s biography,” said Shumard. “Stauffer approached the layout as though representing chapters in a biography.”

There are seven subtitles that identify each chapter of the exhibition, beginning with enslavement and escape, then ending with the afterlife. 

The afterlife section contains portraits of the Black leaders Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois and Langston Hughes, all of whom carried on Douglass’ legacy.

The National Portrait Gallery is located at 8th and G streets NW, Washington, D.C. To learn more about “One Life: Frederick Douglass,” and other exhibitions, connect with the museum at npg.si.edu and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Last week, we featured the winners of this year’s annual Audubon Photography Awards, and today, competition organizers were kind enough to share some of their Top 100 images from the thousands of entries. Photographers were competing for eight prizes across five divisions, and their images depicted birdlife from all 50 U.S. states as well as eight Canadian provinces and territories.

A group of photographers shooting photos in Alaska bravely stood their ground as they were charged by a brown bear.

The terrifying moment was captured on a camera and posted by Scenic Bear Viewing, a company that organizes bear tours from Homer in Alaska.

In the video, the photographers can be seen on a beach area with large brown bears nearby. They are whispering quietly and can be heard judging how far away one of the animals is. “About 25, 30 meters,” a man can be heard saying.

The scene is already tense when another bear from further away begins running at speed directly at the group. Very smartly, the group screams and roars at the charging beast who quickly has a change of heart and reels away from them.

“Never run from a charging bear, even though your instinct is to run. This is a bluff charge. They are just trying to get you to run. They have a natural chase instinct,” Scenic Bear Viewing writes on its Instagram post.

“Don’t get close to bears in the wild. Make sure you have an experienced guide with you! We do not get closer than 50 yards. These bears came to us.”

The post goes on to say that the company has been bear-guiding for over a decade and it is not the first time they have dealt with a charging bear.

“We are trained exactly for this situation. We are a professional bear guide operation. Although we will try to avoid this at all costs,” it writes.

“In this area, the bears have been visited by humans for over 30 years. It’s a part of their daily lives in the summer to see us every day of their 20-25 year life.

“These bears are not fed or hunted by humans. No harm is being done to these bears and we want to keep it that way.

“We take photos of the bears and leave no trace. We want the bears to stay protected. There has never been an attack in this area in the 30 years people have visited. We follow a strict set of rules while guiding and bring protection.”

Image credits: Scenic Bear Viewing.

Moon is a new exhibition from the non-profit organisation Women Photograph and Makers Yard, an artist-run, grassroots communication project space in Frome, Somerset. Opening today, 28 June, the exhibition features 26 women and non-binary photographers from across the globe. It is part of Photo|Frome, a photography festival throughout the small rural town of photography exhibitions, workshops, talks and events.

Specifically, the Moon exhibition is one that “celebrates the unique perspectives and cultural narratives from a diverse group of both internationally acclaimed and emerging photographers”, a press release explains. Throughout the exhibition, you’ll discover an immense range of work on display; with intimate portraits, surreal staged shots and images from wider documentary projects. Featured are shots from Charlotte Yonga’s photographic exploration of love Naam Na La, Lydia Garnett’s series on Butch style, and Lydia Metral’s portraits of queer individuals, including many others like Arielle Bobb-Willis, Christina Stohn, Eva O’Leary, Jane Stockdale, Laura Pannack and Yumna Al Arashi.

There are infinite ways of upgrading gear as a photographer. Moreover, camera companies market their next product as the next best thing in the industry. All this results in a lot of confusion, speculation, and simple ambiguity. If we could, we would all upgrade everything at once, but money is a limited resource that we need to allocate with a high degree of efficiency. Throughout my career as a professional photographer, I have designed a system that helps photographers upgrade while thinking less. When I started out, I had no idea what to buy, how to spend my money, and where to get the money to spend on gear. As I progressed, I knew what I wanted and how to spend my money on it. However, I still had no money to spend on gear. Whenever I had to upgrade, I always thought twice before purchasing something, and I frankly didn’t purchase something I didn’t need. That’s the sad reality, and to this day, I look with surprise when someone mentions that they spent thousands of dollars on something and never use it. Upgrading is hard. In this article, we will look at how to spend the limited resource with the highest degree of efficiency and impact on your work.

The system is designed to work for people whose setup includes off-camera lighting. While working strictly in fashion now, I am no stranger to other genres of photography. Before finding my niche in photography, I was a generalist and shot everything from interiors to wildlife to portraits. Off-camera lighting is a widely applicable technique, far beyond portrait photography. With this out of the way, let’s dive in and see how I upgrade my gear as a professional photographer.

Modifier

Assuming you already own a couple of light modifiers, this would be the first thing on your list. Photography is about light. The word itself literally translates to light painting/drawing. This is why I consider light to be one of the key elements in photography. The wrong lighting can ruin an image before it is even taken. Having a wide selection of modifiers is far more important than having the right light for it. The modifier you use should be of the highest quality if you want mind-blowing results. For example, if we consider the most primitive tier of photography—mobile photography—we eliminate the need for a camera and a lens. All you have to do is shape and create light. There are several ways you can do this. The easiest one is to turn on your phone’s flash. A step further would be to introduce an off-camera flash. An even further step would be to throw a modifier on that flash. As soon as you introduce a variety of modifiers to your flash, mobile photography becomes far better. The opportunities open even wider with good light.

Light

This would be the second thing on my list. Truth be told, I use both Profoto and Broncolor equipment. The Broncolor flash is somewhat dated, but it’s a ring flash, which is far more affordable than Profoto and performs well. If we speak about Profoto alone, plenty of photographers use the old Pro-7 packs from 1998. I hope to become one of them by purchasing one. This is a professional-quality light that outperforms anything similar on offer. The only competitor I would imagine this light to have is the Godox P2400 system, which I hear is quite good. If you’re interested in a review of the Godox P2400, let us know in the comments! I digress. Good light paired with a good modifier will make the image quality far superior to a better camera. This is because the camera is made to capture what is placed in front of it. If it’s a poorly-lit scene, it will capture exactly that, in great resolution and detail. The thing is, if you take a high-resolution camera and place a bad scene in front of it, it will make the whole thing look even worse than before.

Lens

If you already have great lighting, look at upgrading your lens. This is what I will eventually do, as my lens is starting to show signs of aging. Unlike wine, it gets worse. That’s not to say I will stop using it before it breaks. Lens technology has improved significantly in the past years. A lens from two decades ago won’t perform nearly as well as a modern example of the same lens. Not only this, lenses are a tool used for composition, framing, and seeing the image. Assuming you have good lighting, an appropriate lens will capture the scene with detail and sharpness. It is far better to have a superior lens and a bad camera than vice versa. With this over, let’s get to our last part — the camera.

Camera

I see cameras as black boxes with an image-sensitive bit inside. While every single camera brand will lynch me for that definition, it is what a camera basically is. The core functionality of a camera has not changed since the thing was released more than a century ago. The features and other fancy bits and bobs. Truth be told, I have never checked my camera’s menu, and I had the exact same thing for 3 years at this point. Upgrading a camera is something I am unwilling to do as it won’t have a significant impact on my work. Unless you are using something that predates 2010, consider upgrading everything else and only after the camera.

Closing Thoughts

Here we go, the upgrade algorithm that works: Modifiers will have the most noticeable impact on how your images look, which is why I own more modifiers than cameras and lenses combined. Next is the light; it will influence the quality of the lighting. Good lights are underrated. Lenses will then take the light and produce a high-end image circle, which can all go on a bad camera or a good one. There hasn’t been a bad camera in the past decade.

How do you upgrade your gear? Do you have a system? Let us know in the comments below!

Many of us could use this reminder to not get caught up in the pursuit of perfection in photography. Of course, this is easier said than done in the world of social media engagement, influencers, and online presence. However, Alex Kilbee of The Photographic Eye, gives us a handful of reasons why this is such an important endeavor for today’s photographers.

In the video above, Kilbee shares his insights from the time he went to photography school. Later on, he realized that there was one lesson that was missing from the curriculum. Perfection in photography, he said, is subjective, and therefore a fleeting, unrealistic, and unreliable muse. As life-long learners of the craft, we are always looking into what teachers, influencers and social media trends dictate as perfect. As a result, we tend to fall into the traps of validation-seeking, self-doubt and comparing ourselves to others.

So, instead of chasing perfection, he suggests photographing what resonates with us. After all, our photography journey is unique to us. Also, we should celebrate the incremental improvements, understanding that they are all part of our photography as an ongoing process.

What are your thoughts on perfection in photography? Do you agree with Kilbee’s insights and realizations? Share your thoughts in the comments below, or in a group discussion if you’re already part of the Photofocus Community!

A talented landscape photographer says his decision to reject most social media platforms has resulted in him being “virtually unknown” and he is ready to bow out of the medium.

Despite capturing breathtaking landscape photos, Andrew Waddington tells PetaPixel that nobody is aware of him “primarily because I refuse to use Instagram” and his best work “barely receives a handful of views on Flickr.”

Waddington’s only online outlet is his Flickr page which he fills with stunning views of Patagonia where he has spent four years.

“Few words are needed to describe the beauty of Patagonia. I come specifically to Los Glaciers National Park because I’m drawn to the sharp dramatic peaks,” he says.

“I’ve seen nearly all of the world’s 8,000 meters (26,000 feet) peaks and nothing comes close to Cerro Torre and Mt Fitz Roy.”

Rejecting Social Media as a Photographer

Social media plays a vital role in the photography landscape, for many it’s not just about sharing their work for likes — it’s also a vital marketing tool and a way to land clients.

However, there are many pitfalls. And in 2017, despite having a following on Instagram and other platforms, Waddington felt the negatives outweighed the benefits.

“I closed them down after I became aware that certain places were being damaged through over-visitation,” he says.

“In more recent years, I’ve tried not to look at the work other people do. Instead of looking at other people’s pictures on Instagram, I prefer to use Google Earth to try to visualize how a landscape might look.

“I do this because I want to find new compositions on my own. I’m not always successful, at times I’ve shot the same scene as others, when this happens I like to give credit to the person I believe shot there first.”

Overtourism is a problem the world over, but that’s not the only reason Waddington has declined to upload his photos online.

“If you hope to improve as a photographer social media can also help you to improve,” he says.

“However, if you’re using social media for dopamine hits then you’re probably using it for the wrong reasons.

“In many ways, I like the freedom I have without having to appease Instagram followers and so I don’t feel disenfranchised [from photography].”

Quitting Photography

Waddington tells PetaPixel that he is ready to “call it a day” and take up printing instead.

“Some years back I set a goal to capture five images, I wanted five images that would have a really strong meaning to me,” he explains.

“I like getting a lucky ’snap’ just like anyone else, but the photographs that took real effort; perhaps the ones that happened despite adversity are the ones that will have a lasting appeal to me.

“I’ve spent roughly four out of the last 13 years in Patagonia. I believe I’ve captured images I’d like to be looking at in old age and so processing and printing them is the next logical step. I aim to create the finest quality, cleanest prints using a linear profile and work on raw on raw layers.”

Aside from that, he acknowledges that heavy camera equipment is a burden and can prevent further travel.

“I like to hike with just a lightweight backpack. If I’m content with five prints then subsequent photography is likely to just remain as web images,” he says.

“If that’s the case I don’t see the need to carry heavy camera gear. I might just as well shoot with a cell phone.”

No Social Media, No Pressure

The English photographer is demanding of himself, admitting that he “can be extremely picky.” He has made foreign trips without returning with a single image.

“I don’t have the pressure to keep performing to my audience in the way someone with an Instagram following might,” he says.

“I would, however, be lying if I said I don’t miss some of the encouragement I used to get from having an image top of 500px.”

More of Waddington’s work can be seen on his Flickr page.

Image credits: All photos by Andrew Waddington.

Another year, another fantastic Audubon Photography Awards. For the 14 installment of our annual competition, we had more than 2,200 individuals from across the United States and Canada submit almost 9,000 photographs and videos. Then the hard part began: After reviewing every anonymous image and video file, three panels of expert judges selected just 13 winners and honorable mentions. Be sure to check them out if you haven’t already. 

But as always, with so many amazing submissions, we couldn’t stop there. So here are 100 more of our favorite photos for your enjoyment. Shared in no particular order, these shots show birds from around the world in all of their breathtaking variety and wonder. The images also illustrate the many different techniques and approaches used by wildlife photographers, which you can read about in the detailed “behind the shot” stories for each photograph.

After perusing this gallery, you might feel inspired to pick up a camera and try your own hand at avian photography. If so, our photography section is a good place to get started. There you’ll find articles covering tips and how-to’s, Audubon’s ethical guidelines for wildlife photography, and gear recommendations. And if you end up capturing one or more images you’re especially pleased with, considering entering next year’s awards! 

Lisbon-based photographer Hugo Suíssas turns the impossible into reality. Using forced perspective, he juxtaposes household objects and sometimes himself with real-life settings, creating playful images that fool the eye. From the Statue of Liberty getting sprayed with deodorant to a screwdriver that pairs perfectly with a twisty skyscraper, these images are as clever as they are entertaining.

Suíssas proves that you don’t need a high-end budget for amazing photos, as most of his pictures are made with items that everyone owns. So, once he has found the desired location to take a picture, he will incorporate a smaller prop into the composition. This can be anything from toothpaste or nail clippers to a pair of scissors or a roll of aluminum foil. And while these objects are not extraordinary on their own, Suíssas’ understanding of forced perspective helps him merge their shapes and functions into the landscape.

In one photo, for instance, he inserts a pencil into a pencil sharpener and the shavings blend into an orange spiral staircase. Another photo features a hand holding an average whisk in front of a few flying birds, creating the illusion that they are trapped inside a birdcage. By using his imagination and the objects he has on hand, the sky is the limit for Suíssas’ photography.

Check out more of his forced perspective photography below and keep up to date with his latest additions by following Suíssas on Instagram.

Lisbon-based photographer Hugo Suíssas creates photos with surreal compositions.

He uses forced perspective to create these whimsical tricks of the eye.

Everyday objects are juxtaposed with large-scale settings to create these optical illusions.

Scissors, clothes hangers, pencil sharpeners, and more appear to merge with their surroundings.

Hugo Suíssas: Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Hugo Suíssas.

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