Brighton-based photographer Duncan Raban has moved through life with the grace of a butterfly, allowing the winds to take him where they please. The only thing Raban will insist on is that his camera and joyful spirit come along too. Whether flying out to New York to meet Pelé, sneaking into Live Aid, or visiting children at Great Ormond Street Hospital, Raban arrives with a smile on his face, a lens at the ready and one word on the tip of his tongue: “Hello!”

Being a fellow Brightonian, I was lucky enough to meet up with Raban last week in a Kemp Town café to discuss his extraordinary photography career and sift through some of his proudest material. The most prolific and financially rewarding chapter of Raban’s career stretched through the late 1980s and ’90s. After years of sneaking into gigs to take photographs of musicians on stage, he was lucky enough to spend some time in private shoots with the likes of Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Lionel Richie and Bobby Womack. 

As a music fanatic, I was naturally eager to hear about his day spent photographing The Rolling Stones at an Irish pub over several pints of Guinness. However, before visiting the topic, I was intrigued to hear that Raban was never particularly passionate about music; performers just happen to be alluring subjects. It would appear that photography and people are Raban’s two principal passions. 

After early experimentation with long lenses at Brands Hatch Racing Circuit in Kent, Raban began his career in earnest in sports journalism. “I don’t talk about music,” he told me. “I know nothing about music. Nothing. I’m an odd person. I went to art college, and to cut it short, I got a job in a little football magazine doing layouts. I was a junior designer, but I wanted to be a football photographer.”

When Raban continued to explain how he became a football photographer, it was apparent why he’s been so impactful throughout his career. “I suppose what it is… I think outside the box quite a lot,” Raban continued. “So I said, ‘I could get a photograph of Pelé?’ And they said, ‘Well, how are you going to get to Pelé?’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t know, I guess I’ll just go out and find him.’”

“So I took a week off and flew to New York [where Pelé played for the Cosmos], and I got 40 minutes with Pelé,” he beamed. Above, you can see a photograph of Raban greeting the legendary Brazillian footballer on the day of the shoot.

In 2003, after 25 years of photographing celebrities on stages and football pitches, Raban encountered what he deemed a pivotal moment or a new “chapter” in his life. Raban explained that opportunities have often presented themselves to him through divine intervention, and rather than fly into the wind, he likes to make the most out of every situation. 

On that fateful day in 2003, Raban received a phone call that would change his outlook and ultimately trigger his now-famous ‘Just Say Hello’ movement. “I had a phone call from the boss of the children’s hospital on London Great Ormond Street. He said, ‘I really like your stuff, [photography style] making people laugh.’ So I went up to meet him, and he said, ‘I’m going to show you something that’s going to shock you.’ He took me into the hospital, took me upstairs and left me in intensive care for children with heart issues. I saw about 15 children in the queue for a new heart; it really threw me.”

“So the universe completely changed my path and photography,” Raban opined. “It’s almost like the universe went, ‘Right, we’ve trained about with football. We’re gonna take him out of that, drop him into a concert without a pass. Leave him in there for ten years of rock and roll showbiz. Take him out of that, and we’re gonna drop him into Children’s Hospital, and we’re gonna make him a photographer of people laughing.’ So I went in the hospital, saw the children, and I came up with an idea.”

Having spent some time photographing celebrities at high-profile events like the Oscars, Raban felt it was about time he gave ordinary people some red carpet exposure. “I’m thinking, ‘Wouldn’t your mum like to be on that red carpet? Or Mrs. Tompkins down in Eastbourne?’ So I thought, ‘Why don’t we put the cleaners and the nurses on a carpet and turn celebrity on its head?’” 

Some of the photographs from Raban’s pioneering work at Great Ormond Street Hospital can be seen in the collection below, but as you can see, this was just the beginning of a movement. With an admirable sense of humanity and a natural talent to extract a smile from the most afflicted souls, Raban has, over the past 20 years, gathered a large portfolio of photographs and videos documenting the lives of those around him. 

As the dictum suggests, Raban challenges himself to get out in public and say hello to at least one stranger every day. “I’m a passionate photographer hoping to inspire you to just say hello,” his blog bio reads. 

Judging by the many thousands of likes and comments his ‘Just Say Hello’ posts garner, it’s safe to say Raban’s idea has caught on. The movement continues to inspire Raban’s followers and unsuspecting street navigators daily, and it’s our hope these photos can inspire you too. You can see more of Raban’s photography on his website here.

The Boca Raton Public Library presents a new photography exhibit, “Through Our Eyes: Boca Raton Community High School Student Photography.” Visitors to the front lobby area of the Downtown Library will be able to view a variety of photographs taken by the students in Boca High’s esteemed photography program.

Boca Raton Community High School has more than 500 students taking up to 4 photography and digital media courses for college credit through the College Board in the United States and Cambridge University in England. Students learn the elements and principles of art; how to properly use cameras and photographic techniques; and how to create and process their images using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. The students compete in—and frequently win—numerous photo contests. They also serve the school’s yearbook, newspaper and athletic programs.

“Visitors will be impressed with the high standard of artistic merit, creativity, and expression in the diverse collection of photos from the Boca High School photography students,” notes Lisa Testa, Program Services Librarian. “Congratulations to photography teacher Rob Sweeten for his ability to bring out the best in his students to produce exceptional photos for our community.”

“Through Our Eyes: Boca Raton Community High School Student Photography” will run from June 7–July 31 at the Downtown Library, 400 NW 2^nd Avenue, during regular library hours.

Paul Ickovic, who has died aged 79, belonged to a generation of humanist photographers who strove to capture the poetry in ordinary lives with a compassionate lens. His nomadic early life had taught him to reject states and borders, and for him there was no state above that of human. He roamed the world’s streets in a search for moments that would spark discomfort and joy.

His photographs were often of solitary figures, capturing their moments of introspection and alienation; a chambermaid in Prague, a diner in Boston or a Cuban waitress. Location was unimportant, for he wanted the viewer to extrapolate from a single image and recognise something of themselves – to be upset or uplifted by the reflection. Yet he was always taciturn about the meaning of his photography, once saying: “It needs no explanation; if the work is provocative, it needs only to exist.”

Though Ickovic’s work was less well known than that of contemporaries such as Josef Koudelka, Louis Faurer and Henri Cartier-Bresson, his images have been widely exhibited, notably at the International Centre of Photography in New York and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris. The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Gallery Prague also acquired his work, and his photographs were collected together in several books.

Ickovic’s craft was rooted in the events of 1939, when the Jewish citizens of Prague were scrambling to escape German occupation. His mother, Vera Mandel, then an 18-year-old, was put on a plane to London; her parents planned to join her but were captured and perished in concentration camps.

Around the same time a 25-year-old chemist, Eugene Ickovic, stuffed his formulas and passport into a small suitcase and travelled across Europe before joining the British Army’s Czech Brigade. On leave in Britain, at a dance, he met Vera, and they were married in 1943. A year later, in Kettering, Northamptonshire, she gave birth to Paul, who was christened Pavel.

At the end of the second world war, the family returned to Czechoslovakia, where his brother, Tomas, was born. His father set up a pharmaceuticals factory, but it soon became apparent that the occupying Russians were there to stay and so in 1949 the family left for Colombia. In Bogotá the Ickovics learned Spanish and Pavel became known as Pablo.

After a military coup in 1953, the family fled again, on a freighter bound for Canada. When they finally settled in New York in 1957, 13-year-old Pablo learned to speak English and became Paul.

At Forest Hills high school in New York his first love was jazz. He went on to study music at Queens College and, inspired by Django Reinhardt, learned the guitar. However, when he realised he would never be as good as his hero he put his guitar away. His parents gave him $1,000 to get started in life and he immediately left for India and Nepal, where he first picked up and taught himself how to use a camera.

Later he fetched up in Paris, where he took what he believed was his greatest photograph. In the instant before the doors closed on a Metro train, he saw a figure on the platform and released the shutter of his Leica without hesitation. The Phantom at Odéon, Paris, 1964 captures an enigmatic, timeless apparition. Ickovic learned that you must “shoot first, think later” as “the second frame is always a desperate attempt to recapture the first”. Faurer, who became his mentor, was effusive about the work – and Ickovic’s love of photography was cemented.

His ambition was great, but his pockets were often empty. Friends, family and patrons gave him advances, bailed him out, overlooked debts. He blagged cheap flights and sold his possessions. He packed lingerie for trips to Havana, where he could trade undies for food and hotel rooms. His wanderlust was too strong for him to remain tethered by money.

In 1969 the state of Vermont in the US became the base from which he honed his craft. On the streets and in bars Ickovic felt the pulse, arguing that “one needs to walk the gutters as much as the sidewalks in the hunt for the magic to unfold”.

That hunt came plagued with self-doubt. He would not accept mediocrity and in the early 1970s, following criticism of his work, he attempted to burn all his negatives. A girlfriend intervened, but much was lost. Nonetheless, he had the courage to pursue his vision and recognition followed. In 1977 his first book, In Transit, was published.

A self-professed vagabond, Ickovic had the roguish charm of an elegant, down-at-heel European aesthete, underpinned by his itinerant lifestyle, his husky voice and his love of beautiful objects.

Following acclaim for his 1986 collection of photographs, Kafka’s Grave & Other Stories, he moved to Sag Harbor in New York state, where he became part of the local artistic community. From there he travelled to eastern Europe to document the societal changes that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall, and in 1991 a further collection of his photographs, Safe Conduct, was published.

After that, Ickovic’s output began to wane. He was not interested in the new mediums of colour film or digital photography, and began to concentrate his energies on producing exhibitions of his work and on painting.

He tried life on Long Island and then in Amherst, Massachusetts, until, at the age of 72, he placed his precious prints and notebooks into his prized possession, his father’s small suitcase, and moved into a ruined apartment in the medieval centre of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He turned his home into a bohemian palace and for a time was happy.

A retrospective in France opened at the Bibliothèque Nationale in 2021, but due to Covid-19 the number of visitors was small and press coverage was limited, while the accompanying monograph, Ickovic, a book he had poured his heart and soul into, languished. The disappointment prompted him to make one final move, to Prague.

There his health deteriorated and severe back pain prevented him from walking the streets with his camera. However, he maintained his interest in the human condition to the end.

Ickovic was married and divorced twice. He is survived by two sons, Nicholas, from his second marriage, to the model Simona Zborilova, and Cristian, from a later relationship with the art gallery owner Karin Sanders, and his brother.

Paul (Pavel) David Ickovic, photographer, born 16 March 1944; died 23 May 2023

SheClicks, the community for female photographers that I started in 2018, has launched a podcast that features women in the photographic industry talking about their experiences and what drives them.

In the podcast, called SheClicks Women in Photography, I interview women from the photography business, to gain insight into how they got to where they are now.

The guest in the first episode is Cristina Mittermeier, a widely respected marine biologist, conservationist, photographer and filmmaker. She’s a co-founder of SeaLegacy, a global marketing, education and communication for the agency, which draws on her visual storytelling capability to convey environmental and conservation messages. Along with Paul Nicklen and Chase Teron, Cristina also founded 100 for the Ocean, a print fundraiser for ocean conservation.

In addition, Cristina is a Sony imaging ambassador, the recipient of the first SheClicks Lifetime Achievement Award and was the first female photographer to reach over 1 million followers on Instagram.

In the first episode, Cristina explains the thinking behind the formation of 100 for the Ocean and how the team called upon fellow photographers to contribute images to sell as prints to raise money. She also shares how recognising the power of photography to raise awareness of issues close to her heart led her to switch from being a scientist to becoming a photographer.

In each episode, I also ask the guest six questions from SheClicks members, asking the guest to pick six numbers from one to ten.

Future guests include Kim Grant, a Scottish photographer, photographic workshop leader and Nikon Creative, Rachael Talibart who is best known for her fine art images of the ocean, US-based high-end wedding photographer Makayla Jade Harris, Elke Vogelsang, well known for her dog photography, multi-talented music photographer Christie Goodwin, and world-renowned fashion photography, Lindsay Adler.

The SheClicks Women in Photography podcast is available on all the main podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and via sheclickspodcast.net.

Thanks to Lensbaby, and in support of 100 for the Ocean, listeners have to opportunity to win one of Cristina Mittermeier’s prints.

A fantasy photographer inspired by Harry Potter and Disney has become a hit online with magical portraits of her family.

Alexandria Ramon from Colorado creates incredible fantasy photographs with her children and husband.

Ramon’s love for photography began after she bought a used Canon EOS Rebel T1I camera to take pictures of her family when her oldest child Emma was born.

When Emma turned four years old, Ramon started reading Harry Potter to her at bedtime and the mom and daughter both fell in love with books. It was at this point that Ramon and her husband were inspired to start creating magical photographs with their family.

“I have always been drawn to all things magical, but it was our shared love of Harry Potter that inspired me to start adding more magical elements into my photos,” fantasy photographer and digital artist Ramon tells PetaPixel.

“I began with in-camera fairy lights and magical props, but over time it didn’t feel like enough, so I taught myself Photoshop after our son was born.

“As every mom knows, sleep deprivation and newborns go hand in hand, so during those sleepless nights I began creating magical photos with the help of YouTube, Phlearn, and a lot of my own Photoshop experimentation.”

Three years ago, Ramon and her husband decided to turn their passion for fantasy photography into a full-time career. Today, Ramon — who goes by @alexandrialens on social media — has over 1.3 million followers on TikTok and over 880,000 followers on Instagram.

@alexandriaslens Can’t wait to see what 2023 brings 🥰 ❤️#photomagic #behindthescenes #2022recap #happyynewyear #fyp #momsoftiktok ♬ Cause you make me feeeeeeel – Tomas Celis

“My husband helped out as much as he could when I was starting out, but in 2020, after years of us both working nearly non-stop, we decided we were at a fork in the road and we took the leap,” Ramon explains.

“We loved working creatively together, so he officially quit his job and we began pursuing this path full-time together.

“When I started sharing these photos of our family, I never imagined I would be here, that anyone would enjoy our photos as much as they have, but I am forever grateful to have connected with so many over our shared love of magic and fairy tales!”

Ramon finds inspiration in books, movies, nature, and her own family’s imagination for their fantasy-themed photography. Ramon and her family often capture the entire process behind an image from start to finish to show their fans what goes on behind-the-scenes and the process that goes into a fantasy photoshoot.

Ramon uses a combination of practical effects, such as real props, costumes handmade by her family, and evocative locations as well as digital effects like Photoshop to infuse her family’s images with magic.

“Our kids are what makes the magic feel real because when we do a photoshoot, they truly transport themselves into the imaginary world we have created,” Ramon says.

“This is a huge reason why we use practical effects alongside digital effects.”

More of Ramon’s can be seen on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and her website.

Image credits: All photos by Alexandria Ramon/ @alexandriaslens.

Digital content creators and vloggers, who create and run blogs consisting mostly of videos, have emerged as the new customer segment for the imaging technology solutions industry during and after the pandemic, according to Sajjan Kumar, Managing Director, Nikon India Private Limited, a 100% subsidiary of Tokyo-based Nikon Corporation.

Mr. Kumar told The Hindu, “We are seeing a new market segment in India and globally evolving, especially after the pandemic, with more and more people pursuing hobbies around photography and videography. They start casual, using smart devices for stills or videos and then quickly become serious and migrate to high-end imaging solutions for better quality videos and stills.’‘

Traditionally, professional photographers/videographers, fashion, landscape, nature, wildlife, sports, and wedding spaces account for 80 to 85% of the customer base while the rapidly- emerging digital content creators and vloggers segment was growing at a CAGR of 25%, he added.

“Newer genres of photography are emerging with creativity seeking new horizons. Some of these include festivals, culture, heritage, holidays, and food,’‘ Mr. Kumar added.

India’s imaging solution market, currently pegged at ₹3,100 crore and led by players such as Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, and others, has been growing at 12 to 15% annually. In FY23, Nikon posted a revenue of ₹900 crore, a 17% growth from FY22 with the brand expecting 11% growth during the current fiscal.

Commenting on Nikon’s journey in India so far since 2007, he said, the company had seen the market shift from compact cameras to DSLRs, to mirrorless and very high-end imaging solutions since its entry into the Indian market in 2007.

There’s a giant landfill site near Maputo, Mozambique’s capital city, that covers 42 acres and rises to 15 metres in height. Young men roam it hoping to find things that are either valuable or can be recycled. These people play an important role in the local economy but they are marginalised by Mozambican society. When I started thinking about photographing the tip roamers, people warned me it would be dangerous: they are “uncivilised”, they said, they would steal my camera, attack me, even kill me.

At the beginning of any project, I do lots of research. I need to understand a place and its people, establish contacts who can introduce me to new communities, and build trust with whoever I’m photographing. I don’t work like a photojournalist: I’m not tied to strict deadlines. I like to spend time with the people I photograph. We eat together, play games, get used to each other, so that by the time it comes to shooting, they’re comfortable.

Working in the dump was a challenge. It was another world and I was well out of my comfort zone. But I saw it as a privilege. You’re relating to people whom society has judged and excluded. I was a first-hand witness to their lives. The series began in 2015 and took form over several years. I exhibited it but I didn’t feel like the project was fully over, so I went back a year or two later to see how things had changed. The passage of time fascinates me.

I never planned to shoot anything the day this was taken. I was just heading back to the site to see some of the people I had got to know. Early one morning, this guy recognised me and ran over to greet me. There was a broken screen on the ground and he had the idea that he should put his head inside it, like a TV news anchor. He was really enthusiastic – jumping in and out of the screen, mimicking someone presenting the morning news. He was calling the shots. I always try to show the people I photograph the final shot – sometimes as prints, sometimes on my phone or computer. When I showed this guy his image, he laughed a lot.

I like to use photography to draw people’s attention to things they’re missing, be it environmental issues, working conditions, or human rights abuses. My own upbringing was not always easy, but it helped me relate to people from different walks of life. I grew up in Mozambique with my mother and two sisters. I was the eldest and the only man in the family, so I was expected to contribute from a young age, and from the age of eight I would go out to look for food and make money where I could.

My mother didn’t go to school and couldn’t read. She couldn’t speak Portuguese, which became the official language of Mozambique, so I had to help her communicate. When she got her first mobile phone, she couldn’t use it. She gave it to me so I could keep in touch with people on her behalf. One day, I met a guy with a camera. He knew I was interested in photography and asked if I wanted to buy it. I decided to make a trade: the phone for the camera, and a little cash on top. When I got home, I lied and told my mum someone stole the phone.

My earliest photographs were black and white, but once I started working for commercial clients – usually magazines and NGOs – I started shooting in colour. Black and white makes for a stronger connection, though, and I returned to monochrome. It makes an image timeless, almost like a memory.

I don’t see my work as documentary photography. I see it as a tool for social intervention. It reveals different things about life, our environment, working conditions, humanity and human rights. I want it to provoke us to think about how we live and how we make decisions. This work is political.

Mário Macilau: On Faith is at Ed Cross Gallery, London, 14 June to 5 August.

Mário Macilau’s CV

Born: Maputo, Mozambique, 1984.
Trained: Self-taught.
Influences: Willem de Kooning, Samuel Beckett, Ernest Cole, Santu Mofokeng.
High point: “Being invited to be a part of the Venice Bienniale in 2015.”
Low point: “I was deeply affected by the Covid crisis, as the culture sector was shut down and there were a lot of limitations. But I stayed on my path and became stronger.”
Top tip: “Photography is like any profession: you need to do it with love, discipline and dedication”

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. June 7, 2023 – Jump into summer with a new photography exhibit, “Beaches” by Ann Westling at the Edward Jones office on 580 Brunswick Rd, Suite 200 in Grass Valley.  Exhibit opens on Friday afternoon, June 23 with a reception from 4:00 – 6:00 pm.

This is a bright and breezy collection of photos celebrating beaches – everything from surfing dogs to sunsets and swimming with sea turtles.   

Grab your boogie board and join us for some surf music and beach themed-refreshments. 

“This is my first exhibit.   I photograph subjects that I love and anything beach related is on that list.  As a newer photographer, I would like to give Nevada County Camera Club credit for wonderful coaching and critiques as one starts down the photography path,” stated Westling.

Nevada County Camera Club meets monthly to share information on ways members can improve their photography.   Guest speakers give presentations while members share their photographs for critiques.  For more information: www.nccameraclub.com.

RSVP’s not required for the reception, but would be helpful.  Contact Faith Hegeman, Office Administrator, (530) 477-3360.

Shoot for the moon! Brazilian photographer captures incredible shot of Christ the Redeemer ‘holding’ the moon with both hands after three years of failed attempts

• Brazilian photographer Leonardo Sens took a series of photos of the iconic statue Sunday as the moon went down
• In one of the photos the iconic 98-foot high monument appears to be holding the moon with both hands
• Sens revealed that he spent the last three years studying the moon’s alignment and came close to taking the viral shot on Saturday – but clouds didn’t permit it

By Adry Torres For Dailymail.com

Published: 08:49 EDT, 7 June 2023 | Updated: 09:37 EDT, 7 June 2023

A Brazilian photographer has finally succeeded in capturing an incredible picture of  Christ the Redeemer appearing to ‘hold’ the moon with both hands after three years of failed attempts.

Leonardo Sens snapped his long-awaited shot Sunday from Icaraí Beach in the Rio de Janeiro municipality of Niterói, almost seven miles away from where the iconic statue is located.

The viral photo shows the 98-foot high monument atop the Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca National Park with the moon right above it.

‘In the end, everything went well and I was able to register the long-awaited photo,’ Sens told Brazilian news outlet G1.

Sens, who has been taking pictures around the Rio de Janeiro area since 2005, revealed that he had prepared himself for the astonishing shot by studying the Moon’s position.

He explained he already knew the time of year that the Moon aligned with the concrete and soapstone monument – by far the country’s main tourist attraction.

Sens used different applications to help him find ‘the times and the exact date’ that the moon would be positioned directly above Christ the Redeemer.

He told online news portal Itatiaia he had purchased a new set of lens two years ago in hopes of being able to take ‘closer photos of the moon and the sun.’ 

Sens said he tried and failed Saturday to capture the shot when the moon was blocked out by clouds.

But the conditions for his anticipated picture changed on a dime and he moved sideways as the moon started to go down.

‘I went early at the planned time. All I had to do was adjust the tripod and wait for the moon to align,’ Sens said.

The photo set has gained more than 137,000 likes on his Instagram account and wowed his followers.

‘I have seen several pictures of the moon but you managed to leave the perfect angle in a memorable way,’ one follower wrote.

Another said: ‘I don’t even know what to say about these photos … it’s incredible, exciting.’