It’s the time of year that many of us are planning our summer getaways, packing our Nikons, naturally. So in this issue’s lead feature, intrepid photographer Iain Afshar shares his tips for getting off the beaten track and capturing your best-ever travel images. 

You don’t have to go to the ends of the earth for incredible scenic shots, though. Landscape pro Ian Asprey leads his apprentice through the Eryri (Snowdonia) national park in North Wales, where an unexpected dusting of spring snow transformed the mountains into something truly magical. 

A ‘nifty fifty’ should be in every photographer’s kit bag, and in our Big Test we rate eight FX and DX lenses with a 50mm-ish effective focal length for Z-mount Nikons, plus highlight the F-mount options that are still available. We also check out the Astrhori 25mm f/2.8 Macro 2-5x, a fun optic that renders subjects up to five times larger than life – and at a bargain price, too. And we pit the Manfrotto Befree Advanced and Novo Helix T50 travel tripods against each other. 

We speak with macro maestro Tony North about his amazing images of minibeasts and mushrooms in the N-Photo interview, while in our On Assignment section, Alfie Bowen tells how his affinity for horses helped him through tough times and set him on the road to be a wildlife photographer. 

Plus we have a plethora of projects to try your hand at, shooting reflections, festivals, birds of prey and making a party photo booth! 

N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine is a monthly magazine that’s written by Nikon enthusiasts for Nikon enthusiasts, you can be sure that all the content is 100% relevant to you! So for the best Nikon-focused news, reviews, projects, and a whole lot more, subscribe to N-Photo today – with our unmissable subs deal!

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Venezuelans wave a US flag at a television helicopter flying over the Rio Grande, in Matamoros, Mexico, on Friday 12 May 2023, a day after pandemic-related asylum restrictions called Title 42 were lifted

Photograph: Fernando Llano/AP

In 2018, a friend of photographer Stefanie Belnavis asked her to do a maternity shoot. The friend, dancer and doctor Sade Bully-Bell, was towards the end of her pregnancy and wanted photos to remember the moment. Belnavis shot photos of Bully-Bell in Boston’s Fens area. “There was a lot of high grass,” says Belnavis. “You couldn’t even tell that we were shooting in Boston.

Weeks later, Bully-Bell gave birth. Tragically, the baby, named Isaiah, was stillborn. “This one hit me hard because I realized the people who I knew — who’d been pregnant — nobody really talked about adverse experiences,” says Belnavis.

Belnavis, who is also a licensed mental health clinician and a perinatal movement psychotherapist, was inspired to start Birthlooms, a photography project that captures moments during the prenatal, labor, child birth and postpartum period, both “joyous and complex.” Birthlooms focuses specifically on Black and brown birthing people. Since starting the project, Belnavis has photographed around 40 different families. “If you look at birth photography, it’s very glamorized, which I’m not against,” she says. “But I felt like there was a whole sector of the perinatal experience that was missing visually.”

The experience before, during and after birth can look very different for birthing people of color. Black, American Indian and Alaska Native birthing people have higher rates of pregnancy-related death compared to white women, and are also less likely to access pre-natal care earlier on in pregnancy. Infants born to birthing people of color also have higher mortality rates. 

“For example, Black Maternal Health Week just passed, and you see the statistics for Black birthing people,” says Belnavis. “But how do we broaden that beyond just the hashtag? How do you even start those conversations?”

I felt like there was a whole sector of the perinatal experience that was missing visually.

Stefanie Belnavis

Through Birthlooms, and working with clients during all stages of the perinatal journey, Belnavis begins that important dialogue. Belnavis has a background as a board-certified dance movement psychotherapist and worked as an early childhood mental health clinician — she utilizes those skills as she builds relationships with her subjects. “As a somatic practitioner, as somebody who loves to be in relationship with people, who loves to celebrate their stories, I came at it from a different lens,” she says. “There is a therapeutic component.”

For Nyacko Pearl Perry, an organization development consultant and co-founder of Comfort Kitchen in Dorchester, working with Birthlooms for her maternity shoot was an essential experience. Belnavis photographed Perry in 2022, a few months before Perry gave birth to her son.

“I felt very held and heard through the process,” says Perry. “She was always very centered towards me, and [asking] how am I doing and how am I feeling.”

Before giving birth to her son, Perry went through a miscarriage. “It just went from there’s a heartbeat to there’s no longer heartbeat… It was pretty horrific,” Perry explains. She recalls her doctor being cold and distant, not emotionally available to help support her through a difficult time.

As a birthing person of color, Perry was keenly away of the health disparities she faced. When she became pregnant a second time, Perry says that there were moments when she felt like a “walking statistic…  I didn’t have a lot of trust in the hospital to give me the emotional support I needed.”

Some of that support Perry found in Birthlooms. Being photographed by Belnavis was a way to solidify and memorialize the beauty of pregnancy while acknowledging the impact of her previous loss. Belnavis shared informational resources with Perry while helping her generate a list of items needed once the baby was born. “She just has an awareness and a sensitivity to all the experiences related to pregnancy and bereavement,” says Perry.

Feeling seen and held, as Perry describes it, is incredibly important for birthing people of color who are already facing silos in healthcare. “I hope that individuals who have shared experiences around birth bereavement or grief or loss… that they feel represented and that they also get to experience liberation in the process,” says Belnavis.

It’s not just about the photographs for Belnavis. She describes her practice as a co-journey,  not only with Black and brown birthing people but birth workers as well. Belnavis’ photos help provide and build out a visual context for what the perinatal journey looks like. “I want to amplify representation within the perinatal photography space and also, evoke more conversation and advocacy.”

Birthlooms has even made Belnavis rethink her own mother’s birthing journey. “I learned, since the pandemic, that my two sisters were delivered by our family doctor, but I was delivered by a midwife,” Belnavis says. “I didn’t know that all these years. What was that experience like, giving birth with a midwife in 1980s Jamaica? It just prompts a lot more conversation, which I think is exciting and very much needed.”

Belnavis plans to continue to expand Birthlooms in ways that allow her to share and highlight the stories of the people she photographs, with hopes for more workshops and a potential summit in the near future. She also has a private practice called A Bucket for the Well that is “a perinatal creative wellness practice where I provide perinatal mental health support and movement psychotherapy support for Black and brown birthing folks and also birth workers.”

For Belnavis, Birthlooms has opened up an entire world of possibility. “I just want to continue empowering Black and brown birthing folks to honor their stories.”

Belnavis hosts a portrait pop-up for Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 12 at Emerald City Plant Shop. 

Kentucky is now the first state in the nation to capture oblique (side/angle view) photography of its entire geography from the sky. The KYFromAbove Program and its contractor, NV5, achieved this milestone after pilots flew 2,600 flight lines over Kentucky’s beautiful landscape, travelling 117,000 miles and capturing 40,660 square miles of the commonwealth’s land, including our cities, towns, farms, lakes, mountains and more.

“This is an amazing resource that will improve public safety, all while boosting our infrastructure projects and economic development,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “These images will have an immediate impact, because they can help first responders find and assist Kentuckians after a 911 call. And they’ll have a long-term impact, as more companies and families choose to move to our new Kentucky home. Congratulations to KYFromAbove, NV5 and every pilot that helped us lead the nation and reach this goal of statewide coverage.”

Aerial images make it easier for emergency management leaders to assess damage after natural disasters and find safer places to rebuild. They can also enhance:
  
• economic site development and selection;  
• plan and design work for infrastructure projects; 
• broadband deployment; 
• wildlife management; 
• property assessment; and  
• a variety of projects undertaken by engineers, surveyors, real estate firms, commercial developers, roofing and fencing contractors, consultants and other professionals.  

The NV5 team completed acquisition of oblique imagery of the entire state in just two years, despite challenging requirements to accurately capture Kentucky’s geography. The imagery could only be collected under ideal conditions: minimal leaves on the trees, no clouds, no snow, no flooding and at a sun angle of greater than 30 degrees.
 
The KY From Above Program was established in 2010 by the Kentucky Geographic Information Advisory Council (GIAC) and is managed by the Commonwealth Office of Technology’s Division of Geographic Information. Its mission is to democratize access to geographic information in Kentucky by providing detailed elevation data and aerial photography at KYFromAbove.ky.gov, all at no cost to government leaders, the private sector and all Kentuckians.
  
The new imagery is being stored in a publicly accessible cloud folder, thanks to the Amazon Open Data Sponsorship program. This means that every community across the commonwealth now has access to both oblique and ortho (top-down view) imagery at a stunning three-inch resolution. Typically, these images would only be available in larger cities and counties due to budget constraints, but now, even the smallest communities will have full and equal access.
  
Dispatchers at Kentucky’s certified 911 call centers are some of the first to benefit from the new aerial images.
 
“The KyFromAbove aerial photography initiative is highly beneficial to Kentucky’s first responders,” said Mike Sunseri, the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security’s deputy executive director and 911 Services Board administrator. “Adding the ability to leverage oblique imagery is another valuable tool to increase situational awareness during emergencies and better direct emergency response.”
  
The accuracy and clarity of the new imagery provide an unprecedented aerial view of Kentucky’s landscape and context for hundreds of map layers in state and local government agencies.
 
“High-resolution orthoimagery is a vital foundational component of our community’s geographic information system and is our most widely used base map,” said Curt Bynum, Louisville/Jefferson County Information Consortium (LOJIC)’s director. “Oblique imagery coming with the most recent, statewide acquisition will be an important new resource for a wide range of public services including emergency response, asset management and economic development in Louisville Metro. LOJIC has been closely involved with the KyFromAbove effort since its beginning in 2010 and we commend our Kentucky Division of Geographic Information for many years of building Kentucky orthoimagery and LiDAR resources and for leading the effort to make Kentucky the first state in the U.S. to acquire statewide oblique aerial imagery.”

Kentucky Finance & Administration Cabinet  

Three kids. Four professional cameras. A brand new studio at 223 W. Bremer Ave., in Waverly, right in the former Gade’s Appliance store.

That’s the space for Alexis Dawson, the owner of Alexis Rose Photography, one of Waverly’s newest businesses.

On Sunday, she had her first scheduled session for a newborn, a great beginning to her adventure in photography as a business woman. Alexis will also focus on event photography, such as fundraisers, celebrations, weddings, and portraiture.

A 2013 graduate of Clarksville High School, she honed her skills in photography as one of the editors of the school’s year book.

But it wasn’t until she moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2019, with her fiancé, Nikolas, that her passion for capturing special moments was reignited. What prompted Alexis to do that was the birth of her daughter, Vaeda Rose, who was born just before the pandemic hit.

“I couldn’t afford to pay a photographer to take her pictures because I wasn’t working at the time, but I knew I could learn the skills of photographing newborns,” she said.

From there, Alexis branched out into family photography and her first paid session was an engagement for a couple who found her work on Facebook.

“It lightly rained that day and I called this session ‘Kissing in the Rain,’ she said, smiling at the memory. “And from there, I knew this was what I wanted to do as a career.”

Moving back to Iowa in 2022 for Nikolas’s job, now as a mother of two, Alexis decided she needed to carve out her own professional niche. The family bought a house in Waverly, where Nikolas’s mother, Kristi Demuth, had an insurance business on West Bremer Avenue.

“The support of the community is outstanding and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” Alexis said.

About a year ago, when she drove by the vacant Gade’s building, she had an epiphany. It looked like the perfect space for what she had always wanted to have – a photography studio.

“When I saw the ‘for rent’ sign, I did not hesitate to call,” she said.

In mid April, with help from Nikolas and his dad, Joel, the family started remodeling the interior. They painted the walls, laid new flooring, and are in the process of turning the back room into a dressing room.

There are nine backdrops for portraits and a boho setup, with wicker furniture and white curtains for family photographs.

In the loft, which is accessible from the main open space, they created a playroom for the kids, Jayce, 11, Vaeda, 4, and Elliot, 5 months.

“It will be a place for work and also a place for raising my kids,” she said.

Clients are lining up for various projects, including milestones, sports, graduation photos and weddings.

“I am so excited to have a space because it will allow me to accommodate bad weather situations and also, I really like the look of milestone portraits indoors,” she said.

SAN ANTONIO – Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar is putting out a call for other potential victims to come forward in a case involving a local photographer accused of sexual assault.

John Steven Lill, 48, is accused of having sex with a client, a woman in her 20s, after giving her alcohol.

Salazar said the woman told investigators the drink, which she believed was wine, made her woozy.

“To the point where she may have lost consciousness,” Salazar said. “When she came to, the next thing that she remembers is the suspect was urging her to bathe, we believe, to cover up evidence.”

Salazar said tests are being done to determine whether anything else may have been added to the drink.

The woman told investigators the incident happened at Lill’s home outside Boerne this past Saturday.

She told them she hired Lill to take boudoir-style photos of her.

Salazar said the woman told investigators she arrived at Lill’s home with a friend, but Lill sent that person away, saying the photo session would take a long time.

The sheriff said after the alleged attack, the woman was able to contact someone she knows, and that person then called 911.

Deputies later arrested the suspect at his home.

When questioned by investigators, Lill admitted to giving the woman wine and to having sex with her, Salazar said. “Of course, obviously, he’s claiming that this was a consensual nature. The victim states otherwise,” the sheriff said.

Although Lill was booked into jail, he has since posted bond and been released.

The photo session, Salazar said, appears to have been intended as a side job for Lill.

KSAT 12 News found out he also worked on staff as a photographer at USAA.

Salazar said there is no evidence at this point that anything happened involving the company.

Still, a spokesman for USAA said Lill was terminated immediately after the company was notified about his arrest.

Christian Bove also said USAA is cooperating fully with the criminal investigation.

In the meantime, sheriff’s investigators urge anyone who may have been a potential victim to call them at 210-335-6000.

Court records show the photographer accepted a plea deal in court. A judge ordered them to pay $900 in restitution within six months.

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — Allison Gardner dreamed of the perfect wedding day as she began making plans. 

Her family would fly in from across the country to watch her get married. She would wear one dress for the ceremony and another for the reception. 

And a photographer would be there to capture the memories. She said that’s how her perfect day began to unravel the morning of her wedding.

“She said that she was having some kind of medical problem and she wasn’t going to be there, so of course, I was freaking out,” Gardner said. “I was saying, like, can I get a refund? I needed to pay somebody, like, right now.”

11Alive contacted the wedding photographer — Danielle Caldwell — who said she had every intention of showing up to Allison’s wedding until she fell ill the morning of.

“This wasn’t done out of malice. I was getting ready for her wedding, already dressed and loading my equipment, when I started feeling very light-headed, and my chest started pulling and hurting badly,” she wrote in a Facebook message. “The money was used towards bills to pay rent as any job would be… so that’s why I didn’t have the money.”

Gardener said she felt trapped and decided to warn others about her experience on a Facebook group. She was surprised by some of the comments.

“I probably took off work 3 to 4 different times and never got any photos,” one person wrote.

 “Same exact thing happened to me,” another posted in response to the commenter.

Gardner decided to take her concerns to a Coweta County Judge, who issued a warrant for Caldwell. 

In October, Caldwell cut a plea deal with a state court judge, who ordered her to serve a year on probation and pay Gardener $900 in restitution within six months.

Gardner said she’s only received a fraction of that money so far.

“That six months was in April… I’m still fighting this,” Gardner said. “It’s not even about the money anymore.”

The photographer told 11Alive that this one mistake won’t define her as a person and that she has learned from this.

“This issue has already been handled through the courts. I believe this is nothing more than a plot of malice because she hasn’t been paid off by the estimated time,” Caldwell said. “I have an extension until June 7th that’s been probation approved… In conclusion, Allison will get paid off before June 7th.”

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SAN ANTONIO – A local photographer is facing charges tonight after being arrested by Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputies.

The Sheriff’s Office says 48-year-old John Lill is facing a charge of sexual assault, stemming from a recent photoshoot.

A woman told investigators she hired Lill as her boudoir photographer.

During the photoshoot, he offered her a drink, and then she passed out. She has accused Lill of assaulting her.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar held a news conference Wednesday to talk about the allegations against 48-year-old John Lill.

“We believe that he at the very least, gave the victim alcohol to the point where she may have become intoxicated,” said Sheriff Salazar.

Wednesday afternoon a woman who said she had gone through a similar photoshoot with Lill about three years ago.

“I’m sad and heartbroken and hurt that other women experienced that,” she said.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she’s known Lill for more than 20 years.

She said he contacted her for a boudoir photoshoot after finding out she was moving to San Antonio.

“My experience was he had champagne there. He wanted to encourage me to drink and wanted me to get into the shower and in the bathtub. I did not feel comfortable. I felt he was using the photos for his own personal entertainment value,” she said.

She said she remembers everything, including an alleged indecent proposal from Lill for a follow-up photoshoot. Now, she said this is her reason for speaking out.

“I want to take back the power I feel he stole from me. He may have taken something away from you but you can take it back. You can come forward and hold him accountable,” she said.

The woman has reached out to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office to share her experience.

We also spoke with Oscar McAnally who has been a boudoir photographer in San Antonio for 18 years.

In an interview with us, he highlighted the level of trust between a photographer and their model.

“They need to feel comfortable with me,” said McAnally. “And again, make sure they understand that they are in charge is their session.”

McAnally says, for people looking to hire photographers within the city, there are certain things to look out for.

“There’s always little things that you need to cover yourself,” said McAnally. “I don’t shoot anybody that is not 21 years old. I ask ‘so what can I do to make you feel comfortable?'”

Since the arrest, Lill has been terminated from his position at USAA as a photographer.

Earlier this week, a hubbub surfaced on the North Side of Chicago. On Tuesday night, the Chicago Cubs barred a popular fan photographer from entering Wrigley Field. But less than 24 hours later, a temporary resolution was made.

Twitter/X user @MBDChicago posted on Wednesday afternoon that he was able to enter Wrigley Field with no issues, a day after posting about how security confiscated his camera. He claimed the Cubs reached out to him and granted him temporary permission to return to the ballpark.

“Hoping to work things out longer term, but grateful to be able to bring you photos again on this beautiful day. Thanks, again, to everyone who enjoys the photos and the Cubs,” MBDChicago posted.

An update:

The @cubs reached out this morning and gave me permission to bring my camera into today’s game. Hoping to work things out longer term, but grateful to be able to bring you photos again on this beautiful day. Thanks, again, to everyone who enjoy the photos and the Cubs https://t.co/FUm8mpZuLD pic.twitter.com/eS197c7D3U

— MBDChicago (@MBDChicago) May 8, 2024

The popular photographer has gained a following online over the years. He currently has 5,735 followers on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, and has been doing great work for a long time.

Last night, one person who discovered the controversy suggested it could have been an overzealous security guard. While a long-term solution still needs to be ironed out, it’s a good sign to see that this was dusted up quickly. With the Cubs enjoying a successful start to the season, this could have bellowed into a nightmare if they continued to bar MBDChicago from Wrigley Field.

Suffice it to say, the confines were friendlier at Wrigley from Wednesday to Tuesday.