Prints of photographs from Madonna’s wildly popular 1992 coffee table book Sex will be available for purchase for the first time at Christie’s New York this autumn, part of ongoing projects to mark the 30th anniversary of the controversial publication.

In October, 40 prints first published in Sex will go up for sale as part of a special standalone auction. Each print will be an edition of one and signed by Madonna and fashion photographer Steven Meisel, who shot the 134-page book, with prices ranging from $50,000 on the low end up to $300,000, according to Darius Himes, Christie’s deputy chairman, international head of photographs. Proceeds will go toward Raising Malawi, a nonprofit founded by Madonna in 2006 to support orphans and vulnerable children in the country.

“30 years on, Sex is still somewhat controversial, but it still reads as a very body-positive, sex-positive book,” Himes says. “It was both shocking and titillating and captured so much white hot energy coming off of Madonna in the early 1990s.”

The publication of Sex, which was released in tandem with the pop star’s fifth album Erotica, caused a worldwide commotion in the early 1990s. The book included photographs of Madonna and others in the nude and simulating sexual acts. Sex also featured Madonna’s then-boyfriend, rapper Vanilla Ice, and stars like supermodel Naomi Campbell and socialite Tatiana von Fürstenberg. The Vatican told its followers to boycott the book, which was banned in countries like Ireland and Japan. Still, Sex was an instant hit commercially and sold more than 1.5 million copies.

The photographs featured in the sale were selected by Madonna, Meisel and Anthony Vaccarello, the creative director of Saint Laurent, which released a limited second run of Sex last year in Miami to coincide with Art Basel in Miami Beach. The 800 copies —all signed by the Like a Virgin singer—sold out, and a pop-up exhibition of the photographs was a popular draw.

Himes describes the series of photographs as ”both playful and erotic”, adding that Meisel’s images hold up well, even three decades later.

“The series captures a moment in time of one of the great fashion photographers of his generation and the queen of pop. While there’s playfulness and campiness, there’s also a classical nude study thing going on. I think they resonate across multiple generations,” Himes says.

Sex was released toward the end of the Aids epidemic in the US, Himes notes, and the book featured frank depictions of homosexuality at a time when gay relationships were less accepted in the mainstream.

In an October Instagram story, Madonna said she helped pave the way for other female artists to express their sexuality, though at the time she faced backlash for including images of “men kissing men, [women] kissing [women] and me kissing everyone”.

“I spent the next few years being interviewed by narrow-minded people who tried to shame me for empowering myself as a Woman,” Madonna wrote. “I was called a whore, a witch, a heretic and the devil.”

Sex wasn’t Madonna’s only controversial foray into art. Last year, she teamed up with digital artist Beeple to release a line of three NFTs (non-fungible tokens) based on a 3D scan of the singer in the nude. The NFTs show Madonna giving birth to creatures like butterflies, centipedes and even a tree.

After facing backlash over what some characterized as a vulgar cash grab, Madonna defended herself by saying the project only depicts her doing “what women have been doing since the beginning of time, which is giving birth”.

“We’re always operating and living under the male gaze, and unfortunately pandering to what we think people want us to do,” Madonna said during a Twitter Spaces interview with Beeple in May 2022. “It is often a challenge to create works of art … and it isn’t always pretty.”

Before the auction in October, the photographs will be exhibited at Christie’s London 23 May until 2 June, then in Paris 27 June to 6 July before heading to New York on 30 September, where they will be on display until 6 October.

My series The Spiral of Containment was about translating how people are made to feel after being raped. It tried to express trauma through the realm of the imagination, using the language of magical realism. I met with and talked to survivors to attempt to understand how they thought about their trauma. Then I would sketch potential images that could express their story.

It felt obvious that if I was going to ask somebody to trust me, I had to have skin in the game. I couldn’t just say: “I’m going to translate how that makes you feel. I’ll make a drawing, we’re going to shoot it, and it’s going to work.” I had to be clear: this has happened to me, too. This is why I’m doing it. I’m in it with you.

Naively, I assumed everyone I interviewed would have a similar image they associated with their rape. Mine, for example, was an image of broken wings. But some people talked about being in a cage surrounded by lions. One described a red convertible classic car. The woman in this photo had a strikingly different image, one whose power I felt immediately. “I feel like I’m always going to be standing at the edge of the abyss with a broken dress,” she said. The dress represented her career, her relationships, everything she felt was going well – and everything she felt had been ripped away from her.

I started thinking about how to build the shot. First, I needed an abyss. I hunted through Google Maps and eventually found a giant tower called Ponte City in the Hillbrow neighbourhood of Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s a very unusual building, and not just because of the architecture. It was built for the elite: wealthy individuals who wanted incredible views of the city. But in this deeply fractured country, the area surrounding the tower became impoverished and crime levels soared. Drug-dealers moved in. Several storeys of rubbish accumulated in the belly of the building.

New owners are today trying to restore it. They gave me permission to shoot there but it was a huge task. From the inside, we had to cut through padlocks to gain access via a small window to the inner balcony. I took bolts of fabric – 200 metres of Indian cotton and rope – up to the roof, some 18 storeys higher up. Each had to be dropped down on to the balcony then rigged to different sections of the building’s inner ring.

All the windows in the central tower were fused shut and none were clean enough to shoot through. The building managers had to saw one open to give me my frame. I had very little room for manoeuvre. It was just me, my camera and my tripod. I remember thinking: “I just hope this works.”

As soon as I framed the shot, all the pieces fell into place. The woman looked incredible and I knew I had the image I needed. But the reason I love this photo has little to do with the fact that it was a feat to put together. What mattered most was how it affected this woman. As we walked out of the shoot, she said to me: “Do you mind if we call the image The Kingdom?” I didn’t understand: why would she want to call it that? She explained that, standing there, moving all of these broken pieces of her past represented by the dress, she felt like she was commanding them back into life. “I felt like the queen of my own kingdom,” she said.

That crystallised why I love working in this way. So much of photojournalism feels like taking someone’s story. Witnessing and recording history are important, but this series let me use my camera to forge a symbiotic relationship with the people I was shooting and allow them to take power back. So much of trauma is about power being taken away. These people got to express their story in a way that made them feel more empowered. It was healing – for them and for me.

In making this series, I had heard many different stories from many cultures, religions and genders but I was struck by how little it mattered what culture each survivor came from. The impact was so often the same: there is something universal about the contours of trauma.

But the series also built a community. I’m still in touch with many, including the woman in this image. Late last year, we caught up, five years since the shoot. She told me that creating this image was the moment she felt like she went from victim to survivor.

Elisa Iannacone’s CV

Born: Mexico City, Mexico, 1988.
Trained: York University in Toronto, Canada; City University, London.
Influences: “Ellen Kuras, Tim Walker, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.”
High point: “Every time I get that ‘Yes!’”
Low point: “Trying to get funding for personal projects and finding endless closed doors.”
Top tip: “Everyone wants to put you in a box: if you shoot narrative, you don’t shoot doc; if you shoot conflict, you don’t shoot creative art. I reject that. Everything I’ve ever shot informs the next thing. When I shot weddings as a student, I learned skills I could apply to shooting in conflict areas. And when I shot conflict, I learned about human psychology, which works for narrative work. Also: listen to your gut! You might get hundreds of ‘No’s’, but if you believe in something strongly enough, don’t quit. You’ll find your way to that ‘Yes’ and it will propel you forward.”

Elisa Iannacone is a Canon Ambassador

The wait is over! The moment Nikon shooters have been waiting for has finally arrived and it’s likely even better than many could have expected.

I was a D850 shooter. I still maintain that it’s the best DSLR ever created. Before that, I owned the D800. The Nikon “8” numbered cameras have always seemed the perfect fit for my needs as a professional photographer. They have offered the highest resolution in the brand’s lineup. They have not been the most expensive camera in the lineup. That title understandably belongs to the ultra rugged D6 or now Z9 level products. But the “8” cameras always come in just below that with many of the bells and whistles but at a lighter weight and lower cost.

As I am hardly the only person to have fallen in love with the D850, I am also hardly the only person to have immediately thought about a mirrorless version once the industry began to change over from DSLRs into a mirrorless world. I searched far and wide, both inside the Nikon ecosystem and outside of it for a camera that could provide me with the same user experience of the D850, but with all the benefits of mirrorless.

After an embarrassingly large number of my own missteps in that direction, I finally found the perfect camera for my needs when Nikon released the Z9 in late 2021. It was the first mirrorless camera that could legitimately beat my D850. It allowed me to go all-in on the Z system and never look back.

Yet still, as I mentioned earlier, that camera belongs in the flagship category of the camera market. There was still room for another mirrorless body that would fall into that segment which the D850 occupied within the DSLR lineup. The camera that has it all, but comes in a more manageable form factor than the larger built-in-grip pro bodies and at a more manageable price tag as well. It was always built right into the naming scheme for the Z system. We had a Z5, Z6, Z7, and Z9. So, where was the Z8?

Ask that question no more, as Nikon today has announced the brand new Z8 mirrorless camera. Speculation has been rife on the internet for years. I myself started using the term “the mythical Z8” in an article three years ago. Would it be a super high-resolution beast? Would it be a cinema camera? Would it be a mini-Z9? Well, for those of you who picked option C, you win the jackpot.

The Z8 has basically all the same features as the Z9. So much so that to repeat all the specs feels a little like rehashing my Z9 review. But here are the essentials that you will want to know right off the bat.

The camera has the exact same 45.7 MP stacked CMOS sensor as the Z9. Like the Z9, there is no mechanical shutter. Also, like the Z9, it has the sensor cover that automatically comes down to protect the sensor from dust when changing lenses. It has an identical autofocus system, right down to the super handy dedicated autofocus mode button on the lower left-hand corner that is present on the Z9 as well (one of my favorite features). Same EXPEED 7 image processor. Same ability to shoot up to 20 fps raw or 30 fps JPEG. And, yes, it does have the same option to shoot 11 MP JPEGs at 120 fps. The Z8 even adds the ability to shoot in the HEIF format. It also has the same pre-release capture capabilities which can be so helpful when shooting sports or wildlife.

It sports the same blackout free live viewfinder system that is in the Z9. This is actually one of the most valuable parts of the Z8. Especially for those who are switching over from a DSLR. The one thing I always absolutely hated about the mirrorless experience was having to lose my optical viewfinder in favor of an EVF. EVFs have a lot to offer in terms of exposure previews and other features. Yet, personally, I just didn’t like the experience, especially the blackout, as compared to an optical experience. The dual flow system introduced with the Z9 fixed all of that. It is simply the best viewing experience for a mirrorless camera on the market. Very close to an optical viewfinder with the added benefits of mirrorless. And the new Z8 has brought in the exact same system.

As someone who spends even more time as a filmmaker than as a still photographer these days, I was particularly interested in knowing what video features would make it to the Z8. Would Nikon hold back some features and reserve them for its higher end system? I am extremely happy to say that the exact same video features in the Z9, including 8.3K N-RAW at up to 60p, ProRes RAW HQ, ProRes 422 HQ, 10-bit N-log internally, and all the other formats available to filmmakers in the Z9 are available in the Z8.  

So, yeah, basically it’s a mini-Z9. Oh, and all of this comes in at an incredibly competitive price of $3,999.95.

But what isn’t there? Obviously, there has to be some difference to separate this camera from its big brother and allow it to come in roughly $1,500 less. And if you are deciding between the Z8 and Z9, there are some minor tradeoffs. For one, the camera uses the same battery form factor, the EN-EL15c, that has been around with all the D850/Z6II/Z7II bodies. This is actually good for D850 shooters, as you will likely already have a bunch of spare batteries which you can use with this camera. And, for the vast majority of photographers, this battery is all you will need. The Z9, on the other hand, comes with a significantly larger battery. Hence, the built-in battery grip. That battery can pretty much run forever, whereas you would need to change the D850 battery more often. Then again, Nikon has also announced an optional battery grip, the MB-N12 ($349.95), which will work with the Z8 and extend battery life even further. So, you get a more compact body with the Z8 by default, but the option of more battery life when you need it.

The Z8 also features two card slots. However, whereas the Z9 has dual CFexpress Type B card slots, the Z8 features one CFexpress/XQD slot and one SD slot. Again, for the majority of use cases, this is more than adequate.  And the SD option gives you a choice of using less expensive SD media if you don’t need the speed of CFexpress. The only limitations come in when it comes to dual card recording. For instance, on the Z9, you can record 8K N-RAW to both cards simultaneously so that you have a backup. On the Z8, you would only be able to record the 8K N-RAW to the CFexpress card and not to the SD card. That’s not to say that you can’t record to both cards simultaneously. There are just some limitations when using things like 8K. This is to be expected though and not something that is going to be a practical detriment for the majority of use cases.  

Unlike the Z9, the Z8 does not have an Ethernet port. In its place, it offers dual USB-C jacks. This is a blessing for studio photographers who may now use one connection to tether while still having a free port to use for powering the camera over a long shoot. This is one of those small additions that I suspect will add up to big dividends for working photographers.

If you are a D850 owner and considering whether to switch to the Z8, this seems like a clear upgrade. The Z9 was already the mirrorless camera that convinced me to switch to mirrorless and is arguably the best camera I’ve ever owned. The Z8 is essentially the Z9 but smaller and less expensive, with the main trade-offs being the battery life and the card slots. So, if the Z8 is anything like the specs suggest, it will be a clear upgrade over the D850 for all users.

I’ll give you a full review once I’ve gotten a chance to take the camera out in the field. I’m trying to get my hands on one as quickly as I can and will come back to offer some of my thoughts.  

But what are your thoughts? Does this product announcement scratch your itch? Is this what you always wanted from the mythical Z8? Will you be the first in line? Nikon has announced that they have put all their resources into making sure there will be as many cameras available as possible once they start shipping. But, we all know that these will sell out fast. So, if you want one, now is the time to place your order. The camera begins shipping May 25th.

After years of rumors, the Nikon Z8 has finally been announced by the Big N – and, as expected, it is a “baby Z9” in terms of both specs and price, which incredibly is a thousand bucks less than the flagship camera. 

Indeed, the company itself used those words in describing the Nikon Z8 to us, saying, “In a nutshell, it is the baby Z9,” while it also calling it, “the true successor to the Nikon D850“.

Essentially, the Z8 is a Nikon Z9 in a regular body (as in, it doesn’t have an integrated vertical grip or high-capacity battery). So naturally it packs all the same specs: a 45MP stacked sensor, 8K 60p and 4K 120p video, up to 120fps burst shooting, an exclusively electronic shutter, and intelligent AF built on deep learning. 

In fact, the latter represents one of the areas in which the Z8 is actually more advanced than the Z9. While it carries over the existing subject tracking categories – people, cats / dogs / birds, car, motorcycle, bicycle, train, airplane – it also adds a new category that the Z9 lacks: aircraft.

Nikon couldn’t tell us exactly what kind of airborne craft this could detect, though we would hazard a guess at things like helicopters and drones (we asked about obscure vehicles like microlights, too, but that couldn’t be confirmed). 

The Z8 also possesses dual USB-C ports – the first camera we can recall having this feature – enabling the camera to, for example, charge and tether simultaneously. It is also the first Nikon camera to support USB to ethernet connectivity. 

In short, the “baby Z9” actually does more than the “daddy Z9” does – and for much less bank. Certainly the Z9 proper has longer battery life, can shoot video for longer, and has more programmable buttons. 

Otherwise, though, this really is a Z9 for people who want the specs but don’t want the bulky “pro DSLR” form factor – Nikon concedes that there is a category of user who simply won’t buy a camera that shape and size, no matter how good it is.

The Nikon Z8 goes on sale May 25, priced at an incredible £3,999 (US and Australian pricing to be confirmed). And unlike the chaos that was the Z9 launch, the company assures us that availability will be much improved for the Z8. 

If you enjoyed this article, you might be interested in reading about the best Nikon cameras, the best Nikon lenses and the best 8K cameras.

In 2006, a book collection of Lange’s wide portfolio of Japanese American internment was published under the title, “Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment.”

Linda Gordon, a historian at New York University who edited the book, maintained that the temporary suppression of Lange’s photography was not by happenstance.

“The photographs were impounded because they were unmistakably critical,” she wrote in the Asia-Pacific Journal. “They unequivocally denounced, visually, an unjustified, unnecessary, and racist policy.”

Source: Asia-Pacific Journal

The story of women and  bicycles has never been easy. When the bike appeared in the 19th century and began to become popular among women, it was a revolution. Suddenly, women could go further than their own neighbourhood, they could do so without permission and without asking anyone to take them. In fact, the bicycle became especially popular among suffragettes, becoming a symbol. Which some sectors of society did not take kindly to.

So, doctors at the time invented what would become known as Bicycle Face. A fictitious disease that supposedly affected women who rode bicycles and caused dark shadows under the eyes, generated masculine facial traits and even led to depression, breastfeeding difficulties and miscarriages.

However, they ignored the warnings. And women cyclists and women’s cycling in sports are currently experiencing a hay day, with the official celebration of the first ever Vuelta Femenina. An event that began in Torrevieja, Spain, on 1st May and finished with an ascent to the Covadonga Lakes on 7th May.

On the occasion of the event, Škoda, the Official Sponsor of La Vuelta Femenina, and Proximity Barcelona came up with an initiative to celebrate the fact that women never stopped cycling and that women’s cycling has been becoming more and more popular over the years. So, they are launching a photography project to redefine, positively, what Bicycle Face means in 2023: a face showing the effort of getting to the top of a hill, the satisfaction of finishing with the best time or, in other words, the face of empowerment on two wheels.

With this aim, from the start of the competition, the sports photographers Naike Ereñozaga and Lara Ortiz de Zárate took on a photographic challenge: they took moving portraits of the cyclists as they raced to show all of the competition’s faces. In their statements, Naike said, “I have witnessed what it has taken for women’s cycling to get here. We’ve come a long way, but there is still further to go.” And Laura acknowledged that, “It is an honour to be able to take part in this project, to be a part of the change, and to have the opportunity to immortalise these moments struggling to win the race that represent the female attitude.”

The result of this photographic report can be seen here. 

Through this project, Škoda Spain is reaffirming its commitment to women’s sport. And, particularly, to cycling. In the words of Miguel Piwko, the company’s marketing director, “Škoda has always had strong links with the bicycle sector. It’s in its DNA. And it’s natural for us to support women’s cycling, just as we sponsor the women’s football teams RCD Espanyol and Valencia CF. Only with everyone’s support will we ensure that women, in sports too, get all the acknowledgement and visibility they deserve.”

Ramon Caba, the executive creative director of Proximity Barcelona, claims that “We’re in a moment in which brands have the obligation to commit, more than ever, to their values. This campaign reinforces what Škoda has been doing for women’s sport and cycling for years.”

Amid the vibrant energy of Istanbul, the acclaimed Spanish photojournalist and writer Gervasio Sanchez revealed his artistic odyssey through his arresting and poignant photographs.

These images, which have garnered numerous awards throughout his illustrious career, offer a rare and powerful glimpse into the human cost of war and political upheaval. With his unique artistic vision, he captures the essence of human struggle in times of conflict, producing records that are both evocative and profound.

The attendees were treated to a mesmerizing voyage through time and space as they delved into the multifaceted works of Sanchez. From the war-torn Balkans of the ’90s to the enchanting landscapes of Southeast Asia, and from the vibrant cultures of Latin America to the vast expanses of Sub-Saharan Africa, the artist’s creations covered a panoramic canvas of human history.

Sanchez’s artistry is a testament to his deep-seated passion for shedding light on some of the most pressing issues of our time. The haunting images of forcibly disappeared persons, the chilling reminders of anti-personnel mines, and the poignant representations of women violence all bore witness to his unyielding commitment to social justice.

The event was presented with the title of “Una mirada audaz” (“A daring look”) and organized by the Embassy of Spain in Istanbul with the collaboration Cervantes Institute. Sanches was joined by the cultural adviser of the Spanish Embassy, Jose Luis Martin Yagüe, as well as journalists Mikel Ayestaran and Ilya Topper.

The conversation at the event was a thoughtful blend of human and artistic content, making for a captivating and engaging experience for all in attendance.

“Who would have thought that 43 years after I came to Istanbul as a tourist during a military, de facto government in the 1980s, I would come to give a lecture at the Cervantes Institute? I am really excited because first of all, Türkiye is a country that I love, and second, it is quite surprising and motivating to see that people here are interested in my work,” he shared in accounts of being in Istanbul.

“If I wasn’t a photographer, I don’t know what I would be. A photographer and journalist, that is. Since childhood, I wanted to be a journalist. From the age of 14, when people asked me what I wanted to be, I would say I wanted to be a journalist. Eventually, I achieved my goal. When I turned 18, I wanted to specialize in the military field as both a photographer and a journalist. I also achieved that goal. I am lucky that no harm has come to me in any of the wars, although I have lost my closest friends in those wars,” he explained how he started his career.

Imagine the person who takes photos that are hard to digest even when you see them, witnessing the pains of the people firsthand. For this, his encounters with the moments of life give way to a captivating perspective, creating a shocking effect on the viewer, completely shattering the concepts of beauty and ugliness, and hitting the truths to the viewer’s face with a hair-raising perspective.

“This situation requires working with a great sense of responsibility and producing good work. I am someone who always tries to take their work to the next level because I have a great responsibility. We are the communicators of pain, the forgotten, the violence, and the people who bury their pains deep within themselves. Of course, no one knows what is going on in these people’s inner worlds,” he added.

As he weathered the trials of his arduous mission, he contemplated the seed of inspiration that had first driven him to embrace this vocation and found solace in the purpose that had guided him all these years.

“I am 63 years old, and I started this profession at a very young age. What motivates me to continue in this profession is my belief that this profession will help improve people’s thinking and help them understand the history of suffering. I believe it will contribute to people empathizing more with victims, evaluating history more critically, and demanding that governments fulfill their responsibilities to prevent violence. I believe that the purpose of my profession is to keep a record of history for the betterment of the world,” he said.

Sanchez’s work has been published in major newspapers and magazines around the world, including The New York Times, The Guardian, and National Geographic. He has also published several books, including “Vidas Minadas,” (“Mined Lives”) which focuses on the victims of land mines, and “La Vida de un Fotografo,” (“The Life of a Photographer”) a memoir of his experiences as a photojournalist.

Besides his photographic work, Sanchez is a vocal advocate for human rights and social justice. He has received numerous awards and honors for his work, including the World Press Photo Award in 1989, the Ortega y Gasset Award in 1997, and the National Photography Award of Spain in 2009.

Through his work, he has highlighted the experiences of those who are often forgotten or overlooked and has challenged us to confront the realities of conflict and its impact on individuals and communities.

Growing up in South East London, Arthur later went on to study commercial photography at Arts University Bournemouth. He got his first proper insight into the industry by chance, after he was cast by Jamie Hawkesworth to model for a story for Arena Homme. “I was obsessed with his work at the time”, Arthur adds. He then went on to model for the likes of Campbell Addy, Tim Walker, Jurgen Teller, Tom Johnson and Nadia Lee Cohen. “It was a massive learning curve to be able to see behind the camera and look at what all these photographers did, to see how a set worked and what went into each shoot” Arthur reflects. From there, Arthur went on to assist in photo studios across London, before beginning his own practice.

Primarily, £1 Entry involved approaching people who stood out to Arthur at the boot sales – not an easy task, but one that he says he acclimated to quickly. “I think with every project you have to immerse yourself, and quickly strangers become people you see every weekend,” Arthur outlines. One such person was Gerald, a figure who pops up a few times throughout the zine, in a stand out image he smiles down the lens of the camera, a bright red flat cap on his head and in a suave fur collared leather jacket. A regular at the boot sales, Arthur says he’s “always the best-dressed person with the best clothes going”.

While many of the photos are candid shots of the boot sale attendees, half of the project also involved Arthur buying a load of clothes, and then styling people he had “cast”. Although styled and planned, keeping the location to the car boot kept these images “a lot more natural and authentic”, Arthur says.

Reflecting on the series as a whole, there’s one image that particularly resonates with Arthur, both for its palpable warmth, and the way it represents the sentiment of the whole series. In the image three women are huddled together, their closeness evident upon even a preliminary glance. But, as Arthur explains, the subjects in fact hadn’t seen each other for years. “I’d taken a picture of one of them before, and then later on they all came over – they hadn’t seen each other since primary school,” Arthur says. “It felt like a really authentic moment to catch.” It’s this coming together of people – old friends, eccentric figures and fashion lovers – that really encapsulates the £1 Entry, a beautiful portrayal of a close-knit London community where you may not initially expect it.