Months of work had led up to this: After studying the late Chinese American photographer Corky Lee, fourth-graders at the California Creative Learning Academy in Eagle Rock watched Friday as their teachers hung their photos in an art installation.

Griffin Gaerlan, 9, had taken a striking photo of himself holding up a camera, imitating Lee in a famous self-portrait.

Lee’s historic work

It was Lee’s photos documenting police brutality, however, that left the deepest impression on Gaerlan. Lee took photos in New York’s Chinatown when a Chinese American man was beaten by NYPD officers (who had been trying to intervene in a police beating of a teen). Lee’s photos of Peter Yew, with blood streaming down his face as he was led away by police, led to thousands of people in Chinatown protesting against police violence.

“Without these pictures, we wouldn’t have any proof, no knowledge of any of this happening,” Gaerlan said. “And it really made an impact on the world.”

His classmate Mayla Stegall, also 9, nodded.

“He was actually there in the moment so he actually knows the truth,” Stegall said. “And he’s just trying to show other people so that they understand too.”

Around the country this month, school kids are marking Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Anna May Wong and Jeremy Lin are some of the most celebrated figures, showing up on fact sheets and in word searches. But figures who are less widely-known outside the Asian American community, like Lee, are also getting their due.

Photography as a ‘sword’

Gary San Angel, an artist and filmmaker, is making sure of that. A long-time mentee of Lee’s, San Angel taught the photography course to the fourth-graders in Eagle Rock. He explained how Lee — who died of COVID-19 in 2021 at 73 — used his photography as a “sword,” as Lee liked to say, to fight injustice and indifference.

San Angel said Lee also worked to rectify the historical record. Lee had long questioned why an 1869 photo taken after the transcontinental railroad was completed was missing any of the Chinese men who built it. In 2014, he restaged the photo, this time with the descendants of the rail workers.

Lee’s business card had the joking title of the “Undisputed, Unofficial Asian American Photographer Laureate,” but it was not far from the truth. He was present at a number of key moments in Asian American history, like when protests broke out in Detroit in 1982 after Vincent Chin’s killers were allowed to walk.

One of Lee’s most famous photographs was taken after 9/11 at a candlelight vigil, featuring a Sikh man wrapped in an American flag.

“What Corky was trying to do is just humanize all our stories,” San Angel said. “Then we can also recognize we are a part of the fabric here in the US.”

THE FORESTS. I WANT TO HELP SAVE THIS FOREST. THE CHALLENGE IS GETTING OTHER PEOPLE TO CARE. LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR SEAN GOLDSMITH IS ON A MISSION. HE’S HOPING THE POWER OF PHOTOGRAPHY CAN KEEP A SMALL STRETCH OF FOREST IN HIS HOMETOWN FROM BEING LEVELED BY A DEVELOPER’S BULLDOZER. I’M REVEALING THE UNSEEN WILDLIFE THAT CALLS THESE PATCHES OF WOODS THEIR HOME BY USING MOTION ACTIVATED CAMERAS. THE 18 YEAR OLD CREATED A VIDEO CALLED SAVE THE FOREST AND SUBMITTED IT TO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC’S SLINGSHOT CHALLENGE. SOREN WAS ONE OF 1800 TEENS FROM ACROSS 80 COUNTRIES TO TACKLE FIVE TOPICS OF CONCERN ONE MINUTE VIDEOS ADDRESSING EITHER CLIMATE CHANGE, REDUCING WASTE, RESTORING THE OCEANS, CLEAN AIR OR PROTECTING NATURE. THE IDEA IS LIKE, HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO CARE ABOUT PROTECTING A FOREST IF IT’S KIND OF HARD TO CONNECT TO A TREE? NEARLY 3000 OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE COLLABORATE ON THE CONCEPTS WITH ASSISTANCE FROM NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORERS AND TEACHERS FROM ACROSS THE US AND VIA YOUTUBE ANNOUNCEMENT ON FRIDAY, SOREN WAS AWARDED FIRST PLACE. I’M KIND OF STILL A LITTLE BIT IN A STATE OF SHOCK, SOREN SAYS. HE DECIDED TO USE HIS PASSION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AS A TOOL FOR CHANGE BECAUSE AS HE SAYS, IT’S A BIT EASIER TO CARE FOR SOMETHING WHEN YOU CAN SEE IT. I THINK WITH PHOTOGRAPHY, ESPECIALLY MOTION ACTIVATED CAMERA PHOTOGRAPHY, YOU CAN TAKE PICTURES THAT NEVER WOULD BE POSSIBLE WITH LIKE A LIVE PHOTOGRAPHER STANDING THERE BECAUSE IT’S SO EASY TO FEEL LIKE YOU’RE POWERLESS AND LIKE YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING. BUT IT REALLY ISN’T TRUE. AND I THINK THE IDEA THAT THEY’RE SHOWING KIDS WHO ACTUALLY ARE ABLE TO DO SOMETHING, IT’S JUST SO INSPIRING. SAVE THE FOREST IN THE FALL, SOREN’S GOING TO BE STUDYING ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. NOW, AS FAR AS THE $10,000 HE RECEIVED FROM WINNING THE CHALLENGE, SOREN SAYS HE PLANS TO USE SOME OF IT ON NEW CAMERA EQUIPMENT AS WELL AS PUTTING THE REST OF IT I

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Massachusetts teen’s photography wins national award, hopes it’ll save forest

Updated: 7:07 PM EDT May 5, 2023

A Lexington, Massachusetts, high school senior is one of six teenagers around the world who have won this year’s National Geographic “Slingshot Challenge.”Soren Goldsmith is on a mission, hoping the power of photography can keep a small stretch of forest in his hometown from being leveled by a developer’s bulldozer.”I want to help save this forest. The challenge is getting other people to care,” Goldsmith said. “I’m revealing the unseen wildlife that calls these patches of woods their home.”By using motion-activated cameras, the 18-year-old created a video called “Save the Forest” and submitted it to National Geographic’s “Slingshot Challenge.”Goldsmith was one of 1,800 teens from across 80 countries to tackle five topics of concern. The one-minute videos addressed either climate change, reducing waste, restoring the oceans, clean air, or protecting nature.”The idea is, ‘How are you supposed to care about protecting a forest?’ It’s kind of hard to connect to a tree,” Goldsmith said. Nearly 3,000 other young people collaborated on the concepts with assistance from National Geographic Explorers and teachers from across the United States.

LEXINGTON, Mass. —

A Lexington, Massachusetts, high school senior is one of six teenagers around the world who have won this year’s National Geographic “Slingshot Challenge.”

Soren Goldsmith is on a mission, hoping the power of photography can keep a small stretch of forest in his hometown from being leveled by a developer’s bulldozer.

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“I want to help save this forest. The challenge is getting other people to care,” Goldsmith said. “I’m revealing the unseen wildlife that calls these patches of woods their home.”

By using motion-activated cameras, the 18-year-old created a video called “Save the Forest” and submitted it to National Geographic’s “Slingshot Challenge.”

Goldsmith was one of 1,800 teens from across 80 countries to tackle five topics of concern.

The one-minute videos addressed either climate change, reducing waste, restoring the oceans, clean air, or protecting nature.

“The idea is, ‘How are you supposed to care about protecting a forest?’ It’s kind of hard to connect to a tree,” Goldsmith said.

Nearly 3,000 other young people collaborated on the concepts with assistance from National Geographic Explorers and teachers from across the United States.

Photographer taking official Coronation portrait is a favourite of King Charles – and has a very earthy catchphrase

• Hugo Burnand, 58, is the only portrait photographer with a Royal warrant
• He was the official snapper at Prince William and Kate’s wedding back in 2011 

By Andrew Young For Mailonline

Published: 19:00 EDT, 5 May 2023 | Updated: 19:31 EDT, 5 May 2023

The photographer tasked with taking official pictures at the Coronation is a favourite of King Charles who is known for his catchphrase: ‘Don’t f**k it up’.

Hugo Burnand, 58, is the only portrait photographer with a Royal warrant, and is considered a safe pair of hands to capture the great and the good looking their best. 

The high society snapper was the official photographer at Prince William and Kate’s wedding in 2011 which he called ‘the gig of the century’. 

He will now be following in the footsteps of Cecil Beaton who famously photographed the late Queen, then 27, when she was crowned at her Coronation in 1953. 

Burnand is an obvious choice and safe pair of hands to record the Coronation today as he has plenty of experience of putting Charles and Camilla at ease, having repeatedly photographed them over the last 18 years. 

The former Tatler photographer won acclaim for his ‘relaxed, but regal’ official pictures of the couple’s wedding in Windsor in 2005 after Camilla emailed him to say that she and Charles wanted him for the role. 

Burnand also took pictures of Charles on his 60th birthday in 2008 and his 70th in 2018 and pre-Coronation portraits of him and Camilla in March in the Blue Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace. 

Others who have posed for him include Bill Clinton, President Mikhail Gorbachev, Baroness Thatcher, Lucian Freud, Spike Milligan, Victoria Beckham and Michael Jackson. 

Burnand told Hello magazine in 2008 how he preferred an ‘approachable feel’ to his subjects, describing his method of taking pictures as ‘almost talking to the person”. 

He once revealed his secret for snapping the perfect photograph as being ‘the three Ts: tummy, tits, teeth.’ 

Explaining his words, he said: ‘Suck it in, thrust them out, flash those pearly whites. And for the perfect smile? Don’t say cheese. Say: “shit!” Try it. It works.’ 

Burnand also has another trick up his sleeve to make sure children behave by bribing them with jelly beans to make sure they follow his instructions which should come in handy when he wants to get the attention of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. 

The trick gave him a good rapport with the page boys and bridesmaids at William and Kate’s wedding, enabling him to get his favourite photograph of the day featuring the couple on the steps of the throne room at Buckingham Palace with the children surrounding them. 

The picture showing Kate’s hand casually resting on William’s knee, as a page boy playfully leaned in was taken in a three minute time slot before the wedding flypast. 

The snapper later told Town and Country magazine: ‘The flypast was at 1.30pm and we couldn’t overrun, even by a minute.’ 

Burnand who has also photographed the Queen and Princess Anne had to cycle to Buckingham Palace with his team of six from his studio in Notting Hill studio on the day of the wedding because of all the road closures. 

He used staff with stopwatches to fit in pictures in allotted time slots, raising the possibility that he will have to do the same to organise his official snaps today. 

Burnand who spent three weeks preparing for the 2011 wedding, recalled: ‘We had spares for everything and then spares for the spares. 

‘We did dress rehearsals with stopwatches using endless staff from Buckingham Palace to fill in as family members, so we knew we had just enough time.’ 

It has been reported that his Coronation photographs will feature traditional and modern elements – reflecting the new Carolean era which is the name given to the reign of King Charles III. 

Beaton’s portraits of the late Queen after her Coronation service were very different from the official pictures taken when her parents were crowned in 1937, and her grandparents, George V and Mary, came to the throne in 1911. 

He rejected having static line-ups of royals in favour of more dynamic compositions, featuring the Queen wearing the imperial state crown and her coronation robes while holding the orb and sceptre. 

The historian Hugo Vickers, a biographer of Beaton, told the Sunday Times: ‘Beaton’s images were such a success because he captured a young woman looking assured and in control, not overawed by the trappings of monarchy. 

‘Burnand won’t have a young, romantic queen, but his portraits of the King and Queen Consort in full splendour will be a big statement and crucial in setting the tone for the new reign.’ 

The photographer who is British was born in Cannes, France, and took up photography at the age of seven when he was given his first camera by his grandmother as a seventh birthday present. 

His website describes how he first learned to develop and print photographs his kitchen table at home, with his photographer stepmother Ursy Burnand who raised him after his mother Susan Gordon died in a car accident a year after he was born. 

Describing how he learned from her, he said: ‘I spent many childhood years helping her convert our kitchen into a darkroom after supper most evenings, blacking out the windows and putting the enlarger on the kitchen table which the dogs were sleeping under. 

‘She is enormously talented with a fantastically sympathetic and humorous eye.’ 

Burnand, who enlisted his stepmother to help him at the weddings of William and Kate as well as Charles and Camilla, won his first photography competition at the age of seven at Cheam School in Headley, Hampshire, which was the prep school attended by the King and the late Prince Philip. 

He honed his skills at Harrow by taking portraits of school-leavers, and worked as a stable hand, and an insurance broker at Lloyds of London before becoming a professional photographer at the age of 27. 

Burnand became known as a society photographer during more than 20 years spent working on Tatler’s Bystander party column. 

During that time, he took the steely portrait of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher and husband Denis, seemingly reluctantly holding hands on a gold coloured sofa, for their Golden Wedding anniversary. 

He also photographed David and Samantha Cameron’s wedding in 1996 and regularly photographs his own family, taking a new birthday portrait of each of his four children ‘no matter where they are in the world’. 

His portfolio includes a striking black and white image of himself, his former wife and their children lying face down and naked on top of each other ‘in a human pyramid’ with Burnand at the bottom of the pile. 

Burnand talked of his love of taking photographs and travelling the world in a 2021 interview, saying that he ‘really, really enjoy[s] it and want[s] to keep doing it’.

CAMDEN — On Thursday, May 11, at 6:30 p.m., the Camden Public Library welcomes Rockland photographer Jim Dugan for an illustrated presentation about his photography and videos of Maine’s magnificent windjammers, many of which will be familiar to Camden residents and visitors.

This is a hybrid event and will take place in the Picker Room and on Zoom. Find the Zoom link to attend on the “What’s Happening” page at librarycamden.org, or register to attend on Zoom using this link https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3jG3V5aGSdGStiVagl2BIg )

Jim Dugan has been teaching photography aboard the schooner Mary Day for over 20 years and has amassed a huge trove of images. And in the last couple years, he’s added drone photography and is FAA-licensed.

“When I teach photography, I always emphasize that the word photography means ‘drawing with light.’ For me, light is the key,” said Dugan, in a CPL news release. “When the light is good, make lots of pictures. When the light is bad, take a nap.”

Dugan’s pictures aren’t just about the pretty boats but also the hard-working crews, the long hours of fit-out and boatyard work, the camaraderie that builds among crew that work so hard together. 

“Most of these pictures, I refer to as ‘Timeless Maritime’ as they could be from a hundred or more years ago. But they’re also about a very vital industry that exists today in Maine,” he said.

Learn more about Jim Dugan at his website, jimdugan.com.

If you have never photographed in infrared before, that is not your fault; modern cameras are designed to reject infrared light. However, with a special modification, you can open up an entirely new world that is invisible to the naked eye. This great video will show you some of unique and fascinating images that can be made with an infrared-converted camera. 

Coming to you from Thomas Heaton, this awesome video demonstrates some of the unique imagery you can make with an infrared-converted camera. Modern camera sensors can actually see infrared light, but almost all cameras have an infrared-blocking filter to keep it from contaminating visible light images. There are a few ways around this. You can buy an infrared filter. These work by blocking all visible light, allowing only infrared light through. The infrared filters over camera sensors are imperfect, and as such, by blocking the visible light, you can create an infrared image. However, because the majority of the infrared light is blocked, such exposures take a very long time. An easier route is to use a conversion service, which will allow you to use the camera normally, except as one that takes infrared images. It’s a great way to breathe new life into an old camera and invigorate your creativity. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Heaton. 

A South Africa-based photographer thought he was being pranked when he received a text from a previous client asking for a full refund – four years after he shot their wedding! In the message, the client – let’s call her Karen – explains that she and her husband are “now divorced,” so they no longer have use for the photos.

In reply to the absurd request, Lance Romeo Photography quite rightly asked the woman, “Pardon me? This has to be a joke right?” Because who on earth would seriously think a photographer would just turn around and agree? After all, he can’t take back the time he spent taking and editing the photos.

• Check out the best cameras for wedding photography (and hope you never get asked something so ridiculous)

What’s worse, Karen recognizes that he “did a wonderful job” but that the “photos went to waste as we are now divorced.” Last time I checked, divorce wasn’t the photographer’s issue, hell one lucky photographer but asking for a refund for wedding photos post-divorce is like asking for a refund from a restaurant after you’ve polished off the meal. It’s just downright cheeky. 

Since the incident occurred, Lance Romeo has shared a 2-minute long video to help answer the hundreds of requests he has received for more detail. Throughout the video, the photographer has a cheeky grin on his face as he obviously finds the whole situation rather amusing (who wouldn’t) but he explains one fascinating tale of events that makes you wonder if this marriage was doomed from the start. 

There’s a new bomb in this video too! While shooting the wedding, he says he took a photo of the groom touching one of the bridesmaid’s thighs, and apparently “not just in a friendly kinda way.” He described it as more of a “squeeze.” Later on that night, the groom asked to have a look through the images and asked for that specific image to be deleted, which Romeo agreed to (though he restored the image after he walked away).

An incident like the request call into question how some client’s minds work. As the photographer pointed out, he can’t go back and untake the images and for that reason, he would not be offering a refund. I personally can’t even begin to understand the audacity of asking for a refund, FOUR YEARS after getting married. 

I can understand if the photos were out of focus or not representative of the day then a refund might be asked for. Even if some key photos were missing perhaps a partial refund could be offered, but in both cases is a discussion that should happen at handover of the images. 

Obviously this whole situation is incredibly embarrassing for the bride – perhaps more so with the additional revelations – but I’m glad the photographer is making light of it.

If there is any good to come from it, I hope it brings Lance Romeo more engagement, more followers, and perhaps some more bookings from people who won’t be requesting a refund years later!

If you enjoyed this check out the best flashguns (opens in new tab) – perfect portable flashes perfect for shooting weddings and events

The Avedon 100 exhibition, on view through the end of June, features much of Avedon’s iconic oeuvre. The black and white photographs include celebrity portraiture, scenes from the American West, snapshots from the Civil Rights movement, and fashion images of models. Celebrities photographed in the exhibit include Marilyn Monroe, Tina Turner, Audrey Hepburn, Andy Warhol, Prince, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Photographed models include Claudia Schiffer, Veruschka, Naomi Campbell, Donyale Luna, and more.

The exhibition was co-curated by Kara Vander Weg and Derek Blasberg. For Blasberg, working on Avedon 100 has been a full-circle moment. He grew up in St. Louis, admiring Avedon’s photography in magazines, a lens for him into the world of fashion and celebrity. He later moved to New York City, where he met Avedon twice. “This exhibition is full of the pictures that made me fall in love with him, to begin with,” he told Vogue.

The crowded party drew creatives from across the art and fashion worlds. Notably, many of the top global supermodels attended, including Gigi Hadid wearing Thom Browne, Iman, Liya Kebede, Precious Lee, Lauren Hutton, Pat Cleveland, and Karlie Kloss. Kloss, who wore a floor-length black dress with cutouts, told Vogue, “As a model, I studied the movement in his imagery. There’s such an awareness of both the models and Avedon. There must have been a special relationship between the two. By looking at a ton of his images, I learned a lot.”

There were also several attendees at the party who themselves were subjects of the displayed photographs, such as Patti Smith and Pat Cleveland. Cleveland shared with Vogue fond memories of working with Avedon. “I love that he could keep up with me when I was jumping across a room. When he started doing those moving jumping pictures, I was one of the first. He had a quick finger. He and his assistant would jump with me. We were all jumping like gazelles across the room.”

Fashion designers in attendance included Vera Wang, Tory Burch, Jack McCollough, Lazaro Hernandez, Wes Gordon, and Victor Glemaud. Other notable attendees included Sofia Coppola, Lauren Santo Domingo, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Eve Jobs, Kate Young, and Owen Wilson. For Wilson, the exhibition was particularly special, as his mother Laura Wilson was a photographer who worked closely with Avedon.

As the gallery party came to a close, guests wandered a few blocks south to the Top of the Standard, where Harley Viera-Newton and B.Mills DJ’d musical sets under the disco balls. Partygoers included Patti Smith, Vogue’s Grace Coddington, and Tyler Mitchell. Mitchell, who wore a black embellished Bode jacket, told Vogue, “What inspires me about Avedon’s exhibition is that he asserted himself as someone who loved fashion and people, but he also loved to present his work as art. This exhibition is really about unearthing his body of work through all of the things that he is: an amazing portraitist, an amazing lover of fashion and people, and an artist.” Gagosian’s Avedon 100 book and exhibit, along with Tyler Mitchell, who at just 28 years old is already inspiring the subsequent generation of photographers, further cements Richard Avedon’s lasting influence.

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Neon WRLD OC isn’t just another selfie museum. The pop-up selfie and photography museum is a content creator’s dream, with plenty of Instagrammable neon signs.

Visitors can touch, play and interact inside more than 30 interactive photoshoot rooms at the now-open Orange County pop-up.

The space is over 7,000 square feet and boasts more than 30 interactive rooms where you can pose against different backdrops and even incorporate props into your photos. 

Take off in your pink private jet, sip on a milkshake at the retro diner Milkshakes & Dreams or step into a life-sized Barbie box. 

Tripods are available upon request and if you’re a stickler for good lighting, you can rent a ring light. 

Tickets to the limited-time experience are available for 1 to 2 hour sessions, and private events like birthdays, bachelorette parties and more are available for booking, too.

And if you’d like to take more than a photograph home to commemorate your time at Neon WRLD OC, you can purchase a custom neon sign to be shipped to you, or buy some themed merchandise.

The experience is open Fridays through Sundays from 12 to 6 p.m. Reservations are available online at neonwrldoc.com.

Strike a Pose: See Inside OC’s Pop-up Selfie Museum, Neon WRLD