After three years of virtual programming, the Art Effect’s PKX Reel Exposure Teen Film and Photography Festival will once again bring its annual showcase of work by the next generation of media-makers to downtown Poughkeepsie. In honor of the event’s 10th anniversary, this year’s festival will be bigger and brighter than ever, with three days of events in and around the Trolley Barn Gallery that celebrate the creativity of young artists from the Hudson Valley and around the world.

The Reel Exposure festival will take place Friday, May 5 through Sunday, May 7, and will be free to the public with a suggested donation. In addition to its traditional photography exhibition and film screenings, this year’s festival will feature a “film race” where teens compete to produce the best five-minute film in 24 hours, a public art installation, community art making, food trucks, and a “Breaking into the Business” media industry panel and brunch.

This year’s jam-packed weekend has been curated by the teens at the helm of the Art Effect’s PKX Festival, a youth-led festival that celebrates teenage creative expression and community art making that debuted last fall. The PKX Festival is part of the Art Effect’s ongoing development of a Youth Arts Empowerment Zone (YAEZ) in downtown Poughkeepsie, which is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Grant.

  
Courtesy of The Art Effect” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge

Courtesy of The Art Effect

“We are so excited that Reel Exposure is returning in person this year. We had such great community turnout and enthusiasm at the PKX Wonderland Festival last fall—combining the teen film and photography showcase with family-friendly community events for PKX Reel Exposure is an amazing opportunity to celebrate an international network of young artists and hyperlocal creativity,” says The Art Effect’s Executive Director, Nicole Fenichel-Hewitt.

Helping youth experience, explore, and excel in the arts has been the cornerstone of The Art Effect’s mission since the organization’s inception in 2018. To that end, the Poughkeepsie-based nonprofit has developed a robust array of initiatives—from art classes to a youth workforce development program, summer camps, regular art exhibitions, and more—as part of its goal to help young people develop their creative voices, shape their futures, and bring about positive social change.

A Three-Day Celebration of Young Artists

This year’s Reel Exposure festival offers the community an exciting glimpse at the creativity and artistic perspectives of young artists in the Hudson Valley and around the world, with several opportunities to get involved themselves.

The weekend will kick off on Friday, May 5 at 5pm with the orientation for the 24-hour Film Race. The competition will be open to youth ages 14 to 21, who can work individually or team up in groups of up to five to create a five-minute film by 5pm on Saturday, May 6. Cost to enter the competition is just $5. Entries will be screened at 2pm on Sunday, May 7th at The Trolley Barn Gallery, with the winner of a cash prize selected by an audience vote.

Also taking place on Friday will be the opening reception at 6pm for the festival’s annual youth photography exhibition at the Trolley Barn Art Gallery. Professional and youth jurors selected photographs from submissions from teens ages 13 to 19 from the US as well as countries across the world. The exhibition will remain on display from May 5 through June 16. At 7:30 pm, there will be a featured artist talk from Hudson Valley-based photographer and filmmaker William Koenig-Vinicombe, followed by the unveiling of a public art installation.

  
Courtesy of The Art Effect” class=”uk-display-block uk-position-relative uk-visible-toggle”> click to enlarge

Courtesy of The Art Effect

Saturday, May 6 will play host to a full day of events. From 12 to 3pm, there will be a community art making activity, as well as local vendors and food trucks. From 5 to 8pm that evening, the festival will screen the entries in its juried film contest. Viewers can expect to see a mix of film genres, including animations, documentaries, dramas, horror, and comedies from teen filmmakers around the world. The screenings will be followed by the film award presentation and a Q&A.

Burgeoning filmmakers won’t want to miss the industry insider panel event, “Breaking into the Business: Insider Info from Film and Media Professionals,” on Sunday, May 7, from 12 to 4pm.

The panel will be moderated by The Art Effect alumna and reporter, Ester Wells, and will feature panelists with experience in all facets of the media industry, including Mary Stuart Masterson, actor, director, and founder of Stockade Works and Upriver Studios; Nile Clark, video journalist and founder of local media company the Goodie Drop; filmmaker Hezues R.; Jasmine Garvin, an alumna of The Art Effect who was recently featured in Peacock’s Poker Face; and Magalie Laguerre-Wilkinson, the Vice President of News Programming at Nickelodeon and Executive Producer of Nick News.

After the industry panel Q&A, the festival wraps up with its final events, the 24-hour Film Race screenings and audience choice awards.

The Art Effect’s PKX Reel Exposure Teen Film and Photography Festival will take place Friday, May 5 through Sunday, May 7. Tickets to the festival are free with suggested donation. Pre-registration for the screening on Saturday and the industry panel Q&A on Sunday is required. Register in advance at Pkxfestival.org.

There is a lot in the latest State of the Photography Industry Report by Zenfolio, but the stats on AI jump off the page in times of heated AI debate. The report says half of working photographers are now happy to include AI in their workflow, with just 11% seeing it as a negative.

This fourth edition of this Zenfolio report is packed with insider insights and valuable information on industry trends from the viewpoint of professional photographers and their businesses. It comes hot on the heels of AI controversy at the Sony Awards, but pros seem to have a different take.

The report was based on a survey of skilled photographers who specialize in portrait, landscape, wedding, sports, and family photography. The respondents were mainly self-employed with more than a decade of experience in the field. This 2023 report covers a range of topics, including marketing, pricing, trends, technology, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) – which might surprise a lot of you!

So, what were the other highlights of the report? Well, nearly 20% of photographers reported a boost in their businesses from the previous year. However, many are still grappling with the effects of the pandemic and rising inflation. Over two-thirds of photographers reported either slow business or performance that met expectations.

Good news for high-earning photographers though, as those making $100K and above saw an increase in revenue. It seems 40% reported a decrease in revenue, but this is still an improvement from the previous year, where 76.2% reported a negative impact.

Marketing strategies have shifted towards non-paid or organic social media, with photographers relying less on paid ads.

Mirrorless cameras are also challenging traditional DSLRs, with 41% of photographers now choosing this newer option. That’s a significant increase of 50.7% compared to the previous survey. And with 41% of photographers saying they want to spend less time editing, AI may just be the solution they’ve been searching for.

“We’re thrilled to share the findings of our 2023 State of the Photography Industry report. Our goal is to help photographers make informed decisions about their businesses, and this report is full of valuable insights and information that can help them do just that” said Jason Egnal, Zenfolio’s CMO.

If you’re a photographer looking to stay ahead of the curve and succeed in your business or just want to see what other photographers like yourself are doing in their workflows and how they are finding the industry we recommend heading over to Zenfolio.com/SOPI (opens in new tab) to read the full 2023 State of the Photography Industry report and you can also access the previous editions if you’re wanting a bit of a year-to-year perspective.

If you want to follow the AI trend and don’t know where to start, check our guide to the best AI image generators for photographers.

Being a photographer permanently changes the way you travel. One sees the world and every destination in a different way that is fueled by curiosity and wonder. At the same time, it also means carrying more stuff around with you.

Most photographers would agree that often the thought of traveling with not too much stuff in your bag seems impossible especially if they prefer to bring multiple cameras or multiple lenses depending on the purpose of the journey and the requirements of the shoot. On top of bringing all your necessary personal items, your gear and everything necessary to make them work properly often fill up luggage space with barely any room to spare.

Some accessories that have been designed to play multiple roles in your travel essentials list can greatly reduce the amount of gear and accessories that you have to carry around. The most annoying part of traveling with gear is probably having to bring a lot of the same things to be more time or cost-efficient. In addition to choosing smaller cameras and considering walk-around lenses whenever possible, here are some tools that I’ve found to be helpful to lessen the things that you have to pack.

1. A Charger for All Your Batteries and Devices

Perhaps the most annoying item to bring in duplicates is chargers especially if you have a lot of different devices to charge. If traveling purely for the sake of exploring and photographing places, one might say that you would be better off with fewer devices to better enjoy your adventure. However, the truth is that a lot of photographers travel for work purposes which is why planning the accessories that you carry has such an impact on how comfortable you can be when in transit.

One great solution I’ve found is to bring a single multiple-port charger that can simultaneously juice up my devices at once. Gallium nitride (GaN) chip chargers make it possible to deliver more power to multiple devices much faster and in a safer manner. These chargers are equipped with fast charging systems that not only do so quicker but also have Power Delivery and other charging standards that determine the optimal charging rate to prevent damaging and over-charging your devices.

I’ve personally been using Ugreen Nexode chargers for this exact purpose. A single 45-watt charger is more than enough for charging a smartphone and your camera’s batteries simultaneously. With the addition of a tablet, a 65-watt charger should be enough to charge everything while you sleep. For the added heavy needs of a laptop, a 100-watt or 140-watt GaN charger can meet most requirements depending on the specific laptop, and of course, its capability to charge with USB-C ports.

2. A Multi-Port Camera Battery Charger

For photographers, the most basic requirement would of course be one for your camera battery and if one intends to shoot continuously throughout the day, one camera battery wouldn’t be enough. Regardless of whether I’m bringing just one or multiple cameras for the trip, I make it a point to have at least 3 or 4 backup batteries with me. Most camera manufacturers make chargers that only have a single battery slot on them and most of the time seem unnecessarily bulky.

There are a lot of dual-slot chargers for most of the common camera battery types that can be found online but I particularly ended up using the XTAR SN4 charger myself because of the possibility of charging 4 camera batteries at the same time. It does come with its own 45-watt charger however it only has a single port so I pair it instead with one of my GaN multi-port chargers for the purpose mentioned above.

3. Modular Camera Bag Inserts

Whether you are staying at a luxurious hotel or setting up camp on a mountain, most of the time there is a chance for you to leave behind heavier personal belongings while you are out to take pictures. This is precisely when camera bag inserts come in handy. By keeping your cameras and lenses in one, you can easily pull them out and attach straps whenever it’s time to shoot and that should allow you to be more comfortable and even more efficient as you go around to take photos. At the same time, if you simply need to free up some space in your bag to make way for more stuff, you can carry the camera insert/case individually to do so. Peak Design and Lowepro are among some of the brands with multiple size options.

4. Collapsible Backpack

In addition to a removable insert, I’ve found it handy to always have a secondary backpack folded up packed along with clothes. For the same reason above, there might be instances when you just want to carry your camera gear and leave your backpack or luggage behind. The folded-up backpack gives you then the option of placing the insert inside it if you are more comfortable carrying it on your back instead, especially when the weight might shift your balance. The Lowepro Runabout Daypack is the option that I have personally tried and it offers an extra benefit of being moisture resistant along with the fact that it is made of eco-friendly recycled fabric. Another option might be the Nomatic Navigator which conveniently zips up into a compact pad when folded up.

5. A Tripod Just Big Enough for the Requirement

This might not be an entirely new option but more of an important factor to consider in gearing up for your travels. Choosing the right tripod for the trip is crucial in reducing the unnecessary weight that you carry around. If you have ever traveled with a tripod, you probably know the impact it would have on how much other stuff you can carry and the size of the bag you put it in when flying. It is always important to foresee how much you will be using a tripod during the duration of your trip. Some photographers only really bring tripods for self-portraits when seeing new places and this is when compact travel tripods or Gorillapods come in handy.

If you’ll be shooting much more with tripods, specifically to do long exposure shots for landscape photography but at a location where you won’t have to brave strong winds or water currents, carbon fiber travel tripods are the best option. However, if you are using heavier camera gear or facing harsh environments then you would obviously have to bring bigger and heavier tripods to be safe.

Preparing for your photography adventure is crucial especially when you have to limit what you carry on your back while you remain versatile to endure the journey. Having options to minimize what you bring without having to compromise on function makes a world of difference in the overall experience. Being comfortable while you travel most of the time affects not just your experience but also your creativity while shooting which is why having the right tools directly affects the quality of the photographs you bring home.

What other travel accessories and hacks do you have to share?

Lightroom has become impressively capable in the last few years, easily able to edit a wide range of landscape images from start to finish. With all these capabilities and features, it can be easy to overlook some of the options at your disposal. If you would like to expand your abilities, check out this great video tutorial that discusses six useful techniques for editing landscape images. 

Coming to you from Mark Denney, this excellent video tutorial discusses six useful techniques for editing landscape photos in Lightroom. One of the most useful features in newer versions of the program for editing landscape images is the upgraded masking panel. If you have not tried it out yet, definitely take an hour to explore it a bit. I have been thoroughly impressed by the AI masking feature, with the Select Sky function being particularly useful for landscape work. It has allowed me to perform complex selections, such as working with skies behind leafy trees, with surprising efficiency and has become an essential part of my workflow. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Denney. 

And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out “Photographing The World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing with Elia Locardi.” 

Until 30 April 2023, the Flexform Milano showroom in Via della Moscova is hosting a mainly black-and-white photography exhibition celebrating the company’s history. The show – ‘Portraying Design, Celebrating Tradition & Innovation’, coinciding with Milan Design Week 2023 – makes a deliberate choice of black and white photography to highlight the Flexform designs’ production detail, craftsmanship, and shapes. The images are an opportunity to engage with the company’s heritage – just as you would with a family through their photo albums. 

The large-scale reproductions on backlit panels are primarily distributed chronologically throughout the space, which is lit by large windows. The visitor is thus guided through a selection of advertising campaigns, as well as photos and products by the designers who have contributed to the evolution of the company’s brand identity from the 1980s to 2023. 

Flexform photography show revisits defining design moments and celebrates the new 

The exhibition starts with a stunning photograph taken by the legendary late Milanese photographer Gabriele Basilico, featuring the ‘Max’ sofa by Antonio Citterio, with its distinctive organic forms, kidney-bean-shaped seat cushion, and spiral backrest. 

The ‘Max’ celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and Flexform presents the new ‘Supermax’ – a revisit of the design by Citterio, with more generous and contemporary proportions. Here, the company puts the new sofa in dialogue with the original, as well as Basilico’s campaign from 1983: the photographer managed to insert the sofa within the characteristic architecture of the Triennale di Milano museum, a large staircase in the background, emphasising shapes and spirals.

It’s not just Basilico. From the 1980s to the 2000s, the brand’s narrative was displayed through deeply evocative, strictly black-and-white ad campaigns shot by master photographers such as Gianni Berengo Gardin, Giovanni Gastel, Gian Paolo Barbieri, Maria Vittoria Backhaus, Fabrizio Ferri, and Mario Ciampi. The large windows also allow passers-by to take a look, and be drawn in by a glimpse of Gianni Berengo Gardin’s evocative take on ‘Soft Dream’ sofa from 2011, for example (pictured top). 

Backhaus’ photographs are powerful and vaguely mysterious. Her 1999 shot dedicated to the ‘A.B.C’ armchair (1996) is a surprise: two women looking at each other through intensely made-up eyes, in an artificial pose that emphasises the armchair’s square structure – it’s one of the few campaigns devoted entirely to an armchair for a brand whose core business remains sofas.

A 9m corridor follows, with six images of ‘Groundpiece’ (from 2001 to 2022) and numerous sets open to interpretation. The idea is to narrate the story of a piece that reshaped the game at the time when sofas still had precise limited functions and rigid stylistic features. ‘Groundpiece’ pioneered the transition to a piece that can now satisfy not only conversations, but also sleeping, working, eating, and playing needs. 

We begin with Basilico, who created a dialogue with the piece’s details and the prominent features of Palazzo Pirelli, all steel and windows. We end with the dreamlike, and colourful style of Pierpaolo Ferrari: a woman dressed in blue floats gracefully at what seems the end of a tea dinner, a small party – or a dream.

This colourful note brings us up to date. Current Flexform art director Christoph Radl invited Pierpaolo Ferrari to bring his wry, irreverent eye, and colourful, vivid interpretations to the company’s campaigns: the family album keeps expanding. 

‘Portraying Design, Celebrating Tradition & Innovation’
Until 30 April 2023 (10 am – 9 pm)
Flexform Flagship Store
Via della Moscova 33
Milan
flexform.it (opens in new tab) 

Discover how trying new techniques and styles can help you develop your creative eye. Experimenting will also let you break free from creative blocks, improve your technical skills, find your niche and have fun in the process.

I don’t care if you are just starting out or a seasoned veteran of photography. I honestly believe we just need to get out of our creative rut and experiment. Just for fun. Just for the creative release.

Develop your creative eye

Firstly, experimentation helps you to develop your creative eye. When you’re taking photos, it’s easy to fall into the trap of taking the same types of shots over and over again. By experimenting with new techniques, angles, lighting and subjects, you’ll be forced to look at your surroundings in a different way. You’ll start to notice new patterns, textures and colors that you might have otherwise missed. This will help you to develop a more discerning eye and enhance your ability to capture compelling images.

Break free from creative blocks

Secondly, experimenting with your photography can help you to break free from creative blocks. We all go through phases where we feel uninspired or lacking in creative energy. By trying new things, you’ll be able to reignite your passion for photography and find fresh sources of inspiration. Whether it’s trying out a new lens or experimenting with a new editing technique, taking risks and trying something new can help to break down creative barriers and open up new avenues for exploration.

Help develop technical skills

Thirdly, experimentation can help you to develop your technical skills. As you try out new techniques and styles, you’ll be forced to learn new technical skills. For example, if you’re experimenting with night photography, you might need to learn how to use longer shutter speeds, adjust your ISO settings, and use a tripod. Similarly, if you’re trying out portrait photography, you’ll need to learn how to use different lighting setups and poses. By experimenting with your photography, you’ll be constantly challenging yourself to learn and improve your skills. Even if you photograph the same genre like portraits, you need to experiment with unusual posing and lighting.

Define your niche

Fourthly, experimenting with your photography can help you to find or define your niche. By trying out different styles and techniques, you’ll be able to identify what you’re most passionate about and what comes most naturally to you. This can help you to develop a unique style and vision that sets you apart from other photographers. Whether you’re drawn to landscape photography, street photography, or portraiture, experimentation can help you to hone in on your strengths and find your niche.

If nothing else, it’s fun

Finally, experimentation can be a lot of fun! Photography is an art form, and art should be enjoyable and fulfilling. By trying out new techniques and styles, you’ll be able to inject some excitement and joy into your photography practice. Whether you’re shooting with a vintage film camera or trying out a new lens, experimentation can be a great way to inject some fresh energy into your photography.

Final thoughts

There are numerous benefits to experimenting with your photography. Whether you’re looking to develop your creative eye, break free from creative blocks, improve your technical skills, find your niche, or just have some fun, experimentation is an essential part of any photographer’s practice. Is it always a success? No, failures are bound to happen. But don’t let them dampen your enthusiasm. Perhaps you’ve just learned not what to do in a certain situation and be inspired to try again, after learning what doesn’t work. So, next time you’re feeling stuck or in a rut, why not try something new and see where it takes you? You might be surprised at what you discover.

brad walls captures the poetry of ballet from above

Award winning aerial photographer Brad Walls has collaborated with The English National Ballet to translate the elegant harmony and poetic serenity of dance as two-dimensional artworks. The one-of-a-kind series captures choreographies from the air, encapsulating Walls’ trademark themes of symmetry and geometry. Disrupting traditional ballet photography, Walls shifts its perspective from shooting individual dancers to the synchronous motions of the ballet corp, photographing the motions of six baller dancers. ‘Most ballet photography focuses on a singular dancer in a dramatic pose. To me, the beauty of ballet is rather the opposite, it’s delicacy and teamwork,’ notes Walls.

Hibiscus | all images by Brad Walls

compositions of unique perspectives, symmetry, and geometry

The English National Ballet series comprises 14 drone-captured images that emphasize harmonious shapes and patterns as seen from a height of 5-10 meters above ground, and an unconventional view of ballet. Prior to the shoot, the Australian photographer dedicated weeks to researching ballet poses and considering how to integrate them into his compositions before digitally sketching out his preliminary ideas.

Further, inspiration was sought from everyday items, becoming apparent in particular in the ‘Hanging Teacups’ image which was conceptualised the night before the shoot. ‘I stayed in an Airbnb in London that had coffee mugs displaying on wall hooks. The way they were hanging reminded me of the 4th position in ballet,’ explains the photographer. Brad Wall’s trademark techniques and unique compositional perspectives can also clearly be seen throughout the series, most prominently in the image ‘Hibiscus’. ‘Geometry provides a hint at consistency in an ever inconsistent world. Innately, humans are drawn to it. Me, maybe more so.’

In 2024, Walls intends to feature this series along with other photoshoots from the New York City Ballet and Australian Ballet in a coffee table book.

You Vs You

Lumiere

Mosaic

Korean adoptee and photographer Diana Albrecht is set to debut a new collection of work at Public Functionary’s northeast Minneapolis gallery called “Our Seams” on Saturday.

In fall 2020, Albrecht launched “PLACED,” her debut photo book showcasing stories of Korean adoptees in the U.S. and the meaningful places they connected with.

After PLACED launched, Albrecht discovered she was addicted to pursuing personal, creative explorations at the intersections of queerness, transnationalism and photography. She quickly started searching for her next big project.

Initially, Albrecht considered photographing adoptees trying on Korean hanboks — a traditional dress with origins dating back hundreds of years to Korea’s dynastic periods. But as she explored the idea, Albrecht realized she wasn’t comfortable picturing herself, or her subjects, in such a rigid mode of fashion.

In a recent interview with MPR News, she asked: “How do people wrestle with this relationship with a more traditional sense of heritage and their modern, more contemporary selves?” 

This question — and Albrecht’s discomfort — became the driving idea behind “Our Seams.”

For “Our Seams,” Albrecht photographed 12 groups of people dressed in their own interpretations of the tension between conventional and contemporary. The collection of film and digital portraits feature vibrant outfits and subtle stylistic flair, with Albrecht’s hand-painted backdrops enveloping each subject in a dreamy sea of color. 

“Color is something I got really obsessed with over the last year — typically my work is pretty moody and dark and romantic.”

But following the pandemic, Albrecht says her eye shifted to emphasizing joy and celebration in the work she creates.

Albrecht says she loves how participants brought their own interpretation of style and culture. “Each story evokes a different type of mood and motion,” she notes. 

Some participants chose to emphasize more traditional outfits, while others mixed and matched both old and modern styles.

“I photographed a mother and her two young daughters, and they all wore traditional skirts of their Indigenous tribe,” Albrecht says. “But the younger girls paired it with their Converse sneakers, hoop earrings and little beaded friendship bracelets.”

There’s an undeniable fashionable aesthetic to the portraits in “Our Seams,” thanks, in no small part, to Albrecht’s work as a creative director in advertising spaces. Yet she still wants the show to be approachable to all viewers.

“I want the average person walking down the street to see it and be like, ‘I see myself in that,’ because I did not get that as a young person.”

“Our Seams” runs from April 22 through May 5 at Public Functionary in northeast Minneapolis. There will be an opening reception with the artist on Saturday, April 22 from 6–10 p.m.