The Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 by taz + tez combines style, discrete photography and function into a perfect backpack for event and portrait photographers. It’s a bag you can just as easily take to a wedding as a corporate event. But there’s no compromising on features. It is packed with thoughtful functions that will make your photographer heart smile.

The Archy backpack by taz + tez is the middle child of their collection of stylish bags for photographers. It’s smaller sibling is the Bobbi Modular Shoulder Camera Bag, and the top of the range is the aptly named Tildy Carryall Camera Backpack. Both Bobbi and Archy come in tan or black, and Tildy comes in black. In this Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 review I tried out the tan version; the black has the same features. Let’s get into it!

Note: I received the Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Pros

• Stylish camera bag that will blend in at formal events and disguise your camera gear
• Removeable grab handle on top of pack
• Converts from backpack to shoulder bag instantly for fast access to gear
• Unique convertible backpack strap is designed with fixed middle section, so you can wear backpack on one shoulder, and easily convert from shoulder bag to backpack without fuss or difficulty getting the backpack straps evenly balanced
• Zippered main compartment with magnet closure flap for quick access to camera gear
• Includes removable padded camera caddy with customizable dividers and Velcro-closure lid
• Multiple pockets inside and out for kit essentials including generous elasticated water bottle pockets on both sides
• Comes in two cruelty-free, high quality, PETA-approved Vegan Leather colors: Tan and black
• Each purchase contributes to the brand’s sponsorship of endangered Australian animals

Cons

• Front pockets on the outside of the bag are open-top, so things may fall out if you tip the bag upside-down

Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 – Technical specifications

All technical specifications for the Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 are from the taz + tez website.

Bag construction and materials

• Dimensions: 28L 31H 17W (cm)
• Crafted from PETA approved Premium Vegan Leather
• Features customised hardware
• Wipeable, polyester lining in a light colour for visibility

Exterior features

• 2x front slip pockets
• 2x side pockets for bottles and accessories
• Deep zippered back pocket
• Small d-ring for attaching accessories
• Adjustable backpack straps that quickly and easily convert to a padded shoulder strap
• Wide flat bottom (stands on its own)
• Magnetic closure flap
• Full length zip to open the bag up wide
• Wide opening for easy access

Interior Features

• Zippered back pocket
• Large slip pocket for tablets/small laptops (13”)
• Mesh zippered pocket
• 4x elastic pockets
• Light coloured lining for visibility

Camera Caddy (removable, included with backpack)

• Dimensions: 24L 16H 9W (cm)
• Padded for gear protection
• Comes with 3x dividers so you can configure it for you
• Fits a DSLR or mirrorless body with 1-2 lenses
• Has lid so that it can be stacked inside the bag
• 2x Velcro tab closures
• Fits perfectly in bag

Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 – Ergonomics and build quality

The Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 is a premium quality bag that delivers on style. What I love most about this bag is the functionality built in with careful consideration for what photographers in the field need. The bag is constructed with quality vegan leather and both looks and feels durable. The main opening zip is smooth and glides open easily, with an extra extension to provide a wide opening for easy access to gear. There is a magnet which secures the end of the zip for neatness.

The inside is wipeable and light-colored for visibility. Inside there are elasticated pockets, and zippered pockets for your gear, including a mesh pocket for visibility. One of the internal pockets is insulated, too.

One of the features I love is the included camera caddy. This is a padded box which fits perfectly into the pack, allowing you to pack your camera gear in and then insert into the bag. It has three removeable dividers so you can configure the padding where you need it. You can slip the caddy into the bottom of the bag, or on top of other essentials like a cardigan or snacks.

On the outside of the bag there are elasticated water bottle pockets which easily fit my 700mL or 24 oz. water bottle. There are two slip pockets on the front for small items like a lens cap or lip balm. On the back is a secret zippered pocket for valuables like your phone, keys or passport. There’s a D ring on the side for keys, or the taz + tez Lens Keeper (Sold separately; Keep an eye out for my separate review of this handy piece of kit).

Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 – In the field

It’s hard to find a camera bag that looks at home on a shoot and at an elegant event, but Archy delivers. The flexibility of being able to use the same bag throughout your day makes this the perfect choice for photographers where style matters. It also disguises your gear: No obvious “expensive camera in here!” bells and whistles!

The bells and whistles are there, though, just hiding. The bag is very easy to use with a bunch of features giving you fast access to the gear you need, when you need it. In particular, I love the convertible backpack-to-shoulder-bag strap. Taz & tez have done this in an unique way.

At first when you see the bag, it looks like there is a second padded grab handle on top. This is actually the fast-converting strap: Grab the padded handle and pull, and the straps instantly feed through for shoulder carry. This is perfect for opening the bag to pull out your camera or switch lenses. Your bag is at hip height, hands-free, so you can do what you need to do.

What’s unique is the conversion back to backpack carry. I’ve got bags that use this same method of converting to a shoulder bag, and the problem is always fiddling around to try and get the backpack straps even. Taz & tez have eliminated this problem with the padded portion of the strap. This halts the strap in the middle so you always have even straps on both sides. You can chuck the bag onto your back instantly, knowing your straps will be at the right length on both sides.

Ease of access to your gear

There are a couple of features that make it easy to access your gear in this bag. The shoulder carry conversion I’ve already described is one. I love the hands-free access that makes it easy to change lenses without putting the bag down on the ground, or somehow hanging it off my arm while I juggle expensive lenses and a camera with its guts exposed.

Inside the bag, we have the wide-opening zip: This extends beyond the opening of the bag to make it easy to open the bag fully up. Over the top of this is the magnet-closing flap. You can leave the bag unzipped if you need to get in and out a lot, and the flap keeps everything tucked safely closed.

The camera caddy fits in snugly while still allowing room for the inner pockets to be accessed and used. As mentioned the interior is light-colored making it easy to see what’s in there. The mesh pocket is useful for things you need even more visibility on. The secret pocket at the back gives you quick access to valuables without compromising safety.

I love that the pack has bottle pouches on the outside: I don’t like the idea of putting my water bottle in the bag with my camera gear, and because there’s two pouches you can carry a bottle in one side and snacks on the other, keeping everything damp and crumby away from your expensive kit.

Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 – What gear can it hold?

The Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 is a compact backpack that will carry a lightweight events kit, family photography essentials, and travel photography kit with ease. I love keeping my kit lightweight and this bag is exactly what I need for that purpose. It’s why I have invested in switching to mirrorless this year, because I can no longer tolerate the wrist, elbow and back issues that come with lugging two full size DSLRs around for full day events.

This isn’t a huge, carry-everything backpack (you want the Tildy Carryall Camera Backpack for that). It’s designed for a small, efficient kit such as a mirrorless body and two lenses, or a body and lens and speedlite flash. There’s plenty of room for small accessories and essentials, such as batteries, spare memory cards, remote control, and personal items like phone, keys, wallet, lib balm, and so on.

For those like me who are keen to do more with less gear, then the Archy backpack will find a happy home with you. Let’s take a closer look at exactly what you can fit comfortably into the Archy backpack. In all the following I’ve shown what fits in with caddy open or closed. I haven’t included in my example photos all the batteries, memory cards and other accessories that you can fit in the other pockets of the bag.

Using Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 with a mirrorless camera kit

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This is the mirrorless kit I use for family photography sessions, and it fits with ease into the Archy backpack: Canon EOS R8 Mirrorless Camera with Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens mounted, and Canon RF 28mm f/2.8 STM Lens carried alongside. I also use my older Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Lens with the Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R.

With the 50mm mounted and the other lenses stashed, this kit fits with the camera caddy closed. You can fit a light cardigan or other gear in on top of the closed caddy.

I can also fit the Canon EOS R8 Mirrorless with the EF 85mm and adaptor, and my go-to workhorse lens, the Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 Lens for Canon EF. Both these lenses fit with the camera caddy open.

Using Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 with a DSLR camera kit

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My DSLR kit is based around my Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR Camera which is an equivalent size to the Canon 5D Mark IV and other ungripped pro-size bodies.

I am usually shooting on this camera with my 24-70mm lens, and my 85mm lens carried alongside, so that’s what I tried out in the Archy for this DSLR pack. You could easily fit a smaller lens such as the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens in as your second lens. This setup fits in with the caddy open and is similar to the flash and camera setup shown below, or the camera and tripod setup.

To carry my DSLR with the camera caddy closed, I can do that with just a single lens mounted, in this case my 24-70mm lens, as shown above.

Using Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 with flash and camera

With my mirrorless kit, I can fit the camera body with lens mounted, plus an off-camera flash and the 28mm lens carried alongside. The trigger (I use Godox XProC TTL Wireless Flash Trigger for Canon Cameras) pops into one of the accessory pockets inside the bag for off-camera use of the flash.

I can also carry a flash with my DSLR: on the 5D Mark III with 24-70mm mounted, the flash fits in beside nicely. The Godox V1 Flash for Canon is a large flash, equivalent to the Canon Speedlite EL-1 in size and weight, to give you a size comparison. Because the flash is tall the camera caddy is open for both DSLR or mirrorless.

Will Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 fit a tripod?

I use a compact Neewer M521 Desktop Mini Tripod with Arca-Type Ball Head for taking selfies (which is a great little tripod, by the way, that pairs beautifully with the Peak Design ecosystem), and this fits into the Archy alongside my Canon EOS R8 with 50mm lens mounted. I have room for my 28mm lens too. This setup fits with the caddy closed.

The tripod also fits with DSLR (caddy open) and mounted 24-70mm lens. I can fit a small second lens in alongside, like a pancake 24mm lens.

I usually like to use a camera wrap on the tripod just to be sure of no clanging and banging, but the Archy camera caddy really keeps things quite secure and separate. You won’t be getting a full-size tripod in here, but the Archy will easily accommodate a mini or tabletop tripod with no problems. You can also carry it in the side pocket.

Will Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 fit a 70-200mm lens?

My 70-200mm lens is a Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 Lens for Canon EF and with the camera caddy open you can get this lens alongside a DSLR with mounted 24-70mm, or alongside a mirrorless with lens mounted.

I tried this with Canon EOS R8 with the 50mm lens mounted. It also fits well with the pancake 28mm lens. The 70-200mm lens has the RF to EF adaptor on here, which increases it’s length by about 1.5 inches. Even with this, it’s fitting into the Archy with no problem.

On my 5D Mark III, I can fit it with the 24-70mm lens mounted. You can see how I have the 5D Mark III lens-down into the caddy: There’s enough padding to keep everything safe and sound. So, yes, you can carry a 70-200mm lens in your Archy backpack, and you can bring a second lens with you, too.

Will Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 fit a gripped pro camera body?

Now, I never (ever) shoot with my 5D Mark III gripped, because my arms will make me pay for it later. But, the evidence is in the photo. This is my Canon 5D Mark III EOS DSLR with its battery grip attached in the Archy backpack.

It can be done, and you can fit a gripped pro camera body into the Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2. It’s maybe not ideal – the pack bulges a little – but it zips up securely and the magnet flap shuts. If you are rocking anything like a Canon EOS-1D X Mark III DSLR Camera then the Archy can still work for you.

Can I carry a laptop with the Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2?

It will not fit my 14-inch laptop, but will fit my 10.1 inch tablet slipped behind the camera caddy. If you need to bring your laptop onto a shoot, I would recommend the Tildy Carryall Camera Backpack instead which fits up to a 16-inch laptop.

Comfort, padding and all-day wear

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This is an intentionally compact backpack suited to a small essentials kit. The size of the straps is matched to this intention. The straps are wide enough for comfort when I was shooting: I tested this out at a number of photoshoots and had no pain points. The padding in the straps (which serves to convert the straps quickly and easily) is good for shoulder-carrying and keeps the bag secure while using your hands to change lenses, swap out batteries, and so on.

I will be using the Archy backpack for a series of full-days weddings over the next few weeks so check back in for an update on how it performs across a whole day of wear and use.

Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 – Final thoughts

The Archy Modular Camera Backpack V2 is a bag that will find use at photoshoots and beyond. The removable camera insert means this is more than simply a camera case. Take out the padded camera box inside and you have a backpack for taking the kids to the park, a work party or a shopping trip. Travellers in particular will appreciate the flexibility to be able to use the same bag for multiple purposes.

In addition, the caddy is a valuable drawcard in itself: It can turn any of your other handbags into a camera bag. It opens up the rest of your bag wardrobe for use too: Just swap it into another bag.

This bag is ideal for photographers who want to keep their kit tight and efficient. If you’re used to molle webbing half a dozen extra lens cases to the outside of your backpack, then the Archy isn’t going to meet your needs. This is a bag for photographers who want to use an efficient, compact kit. Those who like to carry every option with them, try Tildy instead.

For travel photographs and lifestyle portrait photographers on the go, this bag is going to be a new staple for your photographer kit.

The Ukrainian-American artist’s pre-war pictures depict the mystical annual festival that welcomes springtime

Janet L. Pritchard’s photographic study of the Connecticut River watershed started with a plate of homemade potato salad, garden greens, and a piece of shad.

When she conceived the idea for the project in 2017, her first stop was to the Essex Rotary Club Shad Bake. The way they cook the fish – using galvanized nails to pin strips of pork fat over seasoned fish fillets then tipping the oak planks vertically over a fire to allow the oils to run out – particularly interested her, she says.

She also was interested in meeting the people who filleted the thousands of tiny bones from the fish, those who came to the bake, even those who stayed away. What were their stories? How did they relate to that section of the river’s 410-mile span? What do they think about the river? What’s the view out their windows? How does the river affect their daily lives?

A piece of fish – much different tasting than the bluefish she grew up catching and turning her nose up at during summers on Long Island Sound – started the journey that she expects will be ongoing at least a few more years as part of “Abiding River: Connecticut River Views & Stories.”

With several dozen photographs from the project on display at the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art at UConn Avery Point until April 28, Pritchard, a photography professor in UConn’s Department of Art and Art History, says she expects “Abiding River” to be as large as “More than Scenery: Yellowstone, An American Love Story,” a 15-year endeavor that culminated in a 240-page book published in late 2022.

The river, with 148 tributaries and 7.2 million acres, merits just as much attention.

A single entity; not a composition of pieces

“Stage One of these projects is to start to figure out what’s there, what’s interesting, what’s happening, what do I need to know about, what do I need to learn more about, and who do I need to talk to,” she says, quoting an 11th century Japanese gardening book that in part says, “begin by considering the lay of the land and water.”

By the end of the first half of her Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019, Pritchard says she got to that place and around that time happened to share her book plans with friend Walter Woodward, UConn professor emeritus and retired state historian.

He implored her not to structure the book in terms of regional identities – that is, the Great North Woods, the Northeast Kingdom, the Upper Valley, and down to what Pritchard has dubbed “Second Home Country” near the mouth in Connecticut.

The river is a single entity, not a composition of pieces into a whole, he told her.

“I thought about that for a couple of years, and recently concluded the book is going to reflect the fact that the river – the watershed, the hydrological system – is a thing. One thing. But the way people live with the river is not. Each region is different and so are the people’s lives and experiences,” she says.

In images of the fish viewing room at the Robert E. Barrett Fishway at the Holyoke Dam in Massachusetts, harvested broadleaf tobacco in Massachusetts, used hypodermic needles tossed aside at the Cornish-Windsor covered bridge in New Hampshire, the inside of an electrical substation in Vermont, even the Trinity College women’s rowing team at practice in East Hartford, she conveys the river’s reach into daily life.

“Historically, it’s a landscape of many different people,” she says, “beginning with the Indigenous people who have been here almost since the glaciers receded. It’s a landscape from which people have been pushed out. But it’s also a landscape of tremendous history in the formation of our nation. It’s a landscape of tremendous history in terms of technology. It’s a landscape of tourism and what that does to a region.”

And all along there are so many bridges.

Photographs of the French King Bridge in Erving, Massachusetts, and the Founder’s Bridge in Hartford, which she’s privately titled “Cathedral of the Highways,” are part of the Avery Point exhibition.

She says these bridges and others play a significant role in the lives of those who live near and on the river, with people crossing the waterway for work, family, business, and recreation – even if that means, in Vermont and New Hampshire, leaving one state for the other.

That’s one of the reasons she’s also included in the exhibition a photograph of the Rocky Hill-Glastonbury ferry in Connecticut, one of two ferries on the river that bills itself the oldest continuously operating ferry in the U.S.

‘Human influence all along the river’

“I feel strongly about protecting the environment. We need the environment to stay healthy and protect us,” she says.

But along the river, a competition of interests, between the needs of people and the needs of the wild, is noticeable.

“In this project I’ve been learning about boreal forests in the Great North Woods of New Hampshire, which seem tremendously pristine, but, in fact, there’s ample evidence of acid raid,” she says. “You can find human influence all along the river.”

Most of the Google alerts Pritchard gets on the Connecticut River, she says, are for news stories about bodies and cars being dragged out, flooding the result of excess rainfall and snowpack, and sewage spills: “The river is a notable example of what’s happening in our time in terms of lack of vigilance as our government collapses.”

Here in Connecticut, she says, the river is a socioeconomic dividing line, breaking the state in half. Fairfield and Litchfield counties in the west, for instance, have residents with far more wealth than those living in the east at the Rhode Island border.

A photograph of a home under construction in the Hamburg Cove area that’s eight miles north of the Sound is evidence of that, she says. It’s a sight she happened upon in 2018 as she was traveling through “Second Home Country.”

The opportunity was there, so she took the picture. But oftentimes, Pritchard says, photos are more deliberate and planned – like when she returned to the same blooming wisteria vine three consecutive years to catch it at its perfect peak.

“When I was younger – and I still do this but I’m better than I used to be – and I would go out to make photographs, I would have a list of things to shoot and cross them off the list,” she says. “Those photographs were OK. But when my list was done and I could open my awareness, that’s where the good photographs were, when I found something I didn’t expect.”

Much the same as she didn’t expect to like the taste of shad – although “The Founding Fish” by John McPhee about shad helped her understand its significance to the river and prompted her initial interest – Pritchard says she learned, very early on when still ruminating on the idea for the project, that even as a New Jersey girl her family roots extended into the Connecticut River valley.

Her grandfather grew up in Wethersfield and genealogical research shows an early family member in Connecticut in 1646.

“It’s no wonder my wife and I chose to raise our three sons in the Quiet Corner,” she says.

Over the years since, Pritchard says she’s learned countless more about the river – like, there are more than a dozen dams across the main stem and they’re all for hydrological electricity development, operated by multinational corporations, save the Holyoke Dam that’s run by a co-op.

She also learned that until recently, Massachusetts property owners who had on their land one of the thousands of smaller dams on the river weren’t liable for damage downstream if their dam broke. That law recently was changed and many of the dams were removed, which has inadvertently resulted in a healthier ecosystem.

On one trek out to take pictures, Pritchard says she went seeking a bald eagle nest – even though she says ospreys and their return to the area tell a better ecological story – and found it in the tree line adjacent to a homeowner’s beautifully manicured lawn.

“You don’t even know the eagle is in the picture because it’s so small,” she explains. “But the important part of the story is that the husband grew up in that town, went away for school and work, and when he and his wife retired and moved back, he remembered the house from when he was young.”

She continues, “Back then, there were no windows on one side of the home because the river was so polluted. Today, there are windows, and the river is gorgeous.”

More than two dozen photographs from “Abiding River: Connecticut River Views & Stories” are on display as part of an exhibition by the same name at the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art at UConn Avery Point until April 28.

None of the images used in this article are real photographs. They are instead creations generated by Adobe‘s new Model 3 generative AI on Firefly. 

Adobe has been using some form of AI for years, whether it is the spot removal tool or the magic wand, however, the new generative capabilities of AI have kicked things up a notch, enabling the generation of photorealistic images from a single prompt. Adobe is not the only, or by no means the first software program, to offer this kind of image generation but the announcement at Adobe Max that Firefly will be introduced to Photoshop, places this generative tool in the hands of many more people – and I am not sure what this means for the industry or the wider implications of content consumption in general. 

• See our guides for the best AI image generators

In a world where it is already difficult to believe everything you see or hear on social media, the addition of generating seemingly real images can be a dangerous one and one that I think more people should be aware of. As you can see from these images the ability to resemble real objects and people is coming out the other side of the uncanny valley and is wholly believable, and if you are quickly scrolling through social media, even more so. 

I am not for one minute calling for a ban on this kind of technology, as it is a fantastic creative tool that is producing some amazing art, and even acting as an idea generator. Adobe has made retouching, editing, and video editing much easier and has simplified many aspects of post-production via AI. I am personally excited by where AI might take us, especially in terms of video generation and video post-processing. 

I am instead expressing concern for those unaware of the capabilities of this technology, and urge more scrutiny in questioning image validity and sources more rigorously. This is even more of a concern with large political elections on the horizon. 

Thankfully this is also a concern for official organizations that have created bills and policies that deter false news and challenge the authenticity of images, but at present, this is easy to bypass. 

Adobe is an example of a company doing its part by issuing strict guidelines that stop the generation of images that could be used for harm or social manipulation, however, some aren’t as rigid.

I think that is also worth noting that some of these images would not look out of place among a shortlist of photography competitions. Suppose these images can be created by typing a sentence into a search bar. In that case, you may start to see these photographs feature more prominently on social media or competitions themselves, with no statement of AI involvement. 

It is also worth pointing out that the current iteration of this sort of image and video generation is the worst it will ever be, and will only become more realistic and believable!

An arms fair may contain all the trappings of war, but it is nothing like a battlefield. It is “an oversized playground for adults with wine, finger foods and shiny weapons,” said photographer Nikita Teryoshin in a press release about his new book, “Nothing Personal: The Back Office of War.”

Bodies, he continues, are mannequins or pixels on a screen. Machine guns and bazookas are plugged into flatscreens to shoot targets in a computer game-like simulation, and mock battles are staged in artificial environments for high-ranking guests, heads of states, ministers, generals and arms dealers.

“I’d say it blew my mind,” Teryoshin told CNN in a video call, recalling his first time attending an arms trade fair, where military, security and policing equipment is showcased and sold.

The Russian photographer said he was used to seeing images of war in the media — towns destroyed, the bloodied faces of people caught in conflict — but was taken aback by the disconnect between those scenes and the business dealings behind them.

“Most of the time, I’d see people… drinking beer, wine and, like, a vodka next to the machine guns and really (having) a hardcore drinking party,” said the 37-year-old, who has spent close to a decade documenting what goes on behind the scenes of the military-industrial complex.

Teryoshin has seen weapons being sold and tested at expos across the world, in Poland, Belarus, France, Germany, South Korea, China, the UAE, Peru, Russia, Vietnam, USA and South Africa. His book, released earlier this year, paints a picture of an absurd enterprise run by seemingly careless merchants of destruction.

One photo shows a half-consumed mug of coffee left near the edge of a table, barely a foot away from dummy Python, Derby and Spike ER missiles on sale for hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece. Another captures a man in a shiny pin-stripe gray suit crawling under an armored vehicle between two large tires that look like they could crush him at any moment.

“I think it tells (us) things about this banality of, you can say, the evil… and how we are selling weapons as (if they were) vacuum cleaners,” said Teroyshin. “On the one hand, they tried to make it look perfect with this (gallery-like space) for the exhibition, and on the other hand, when you look… (and) see all the details… it’s kind of dirty.”

Teryoshin captured these scenes with a distinct flair — using a flash to create high-contrast, saturated images, some shot from awkward angles to leave viewers feeling unsettled.

The photographer also has a knack for picking out the kitsch and propaganda on display. There’s the close up of a blue-eyed, red-lipped mannequin decked out in a military uniform and wearing glittery eyeshadow; a travel poster-esque image of fighter jets and cotton candy clouds that one might expect to read “Wish you were here” scrawled in cursive; or the photo of a cardboard cutout solider, in full military gear, holding a rifle with a cartoonish rendering of a mushroom cloud in the background. The more authoritarian the host country is, the kitschier things get, said Teroyshin.

In Russia, Teryoshin visited an arms fair at Patriot Park, a huge theme park often described as a “military Disneyland” where visitors are encouraged to climb on tanks, participate in urban warfare scenarios and eat military rations at the park canteen. It was here the photographer saw the biggest display of firepower he has ever witnessed: a mock battlefield, complete with artificial terrain and very real rockets.

“It was the only (arms fair I’d been to) where they were shooting real rockets over 20 kilometers (12 miles) maybe,” said Teroyshin.

No blood, no bodies

The photographer said he thought the salespeople at arms fairs actively distanced themselves from the damage these weapons cause. “There is no connection to death and war. You never see blood or bodies,” said Teroyshin, adding that the only thing he saw showing the human impact was an amputee mannequin (called Majid), used to simulate catastrophic medical care scenarios.

Weapons companies also appeared to brand themselves as heroes, said Teroyshin, who documented slogans he saw on site. Kalashnikov Group, whose AK –47 rifles are among the cheapest on the market and are thought to have killed more people globally than any other firearm, used the slogan “70 years defending peace,” he said, while marketing materials by Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s biggest arms manufacturers read: “We are engineering a better tomorrow.”

In his book, Teroyshin has ironically arranged the slogans with his own images taken at the fairs. Manufacturing firm ITT Inc’s “Engineered for life” is paired to a close-up of a mannequin with a bullet hole in its head. Meanwhile, an Otis Defence slogan (“We believe every gun should always shoot like new. Whenever. Wherever. Forever.”) is paired with an image of three women in Islamic veils at an arms fair, one pretending to hold a rifle depicted in the poster in front of her.

Teroyshin began documenting all types of trade fairs — for pets, agriculture and funerals — because his photography school in Dortmund, Germany, was located next to an expo hall. In 2016, the photographer, who has lived in Germany for over 20 years, published “Sons and Guns,” a photo series about hunting fairs, before turning his attention to arms fairs.

He began taking pictures showing the faces of buyers and sellers, but later chose to keep them concealed. “I just was thinking, ‘it’s not about certain people, but it’s more about the system behind it,’ which is the problem,” said Teryoshin. “Because most of the people will tell you: ‘Yeah, we have to work here because we have to feed our family’.”

Anonymizing his subjects was also a metaphor for an industry that “is kind of shady” and “doesn’t want much publicity,” he added.

On one of the last pages of the book, Linda Åkerström the head of policy and advocacy at the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society has written an afterword for Teroyshin’s book detailing her experience at IDEX, the biggest arms fair in the Middle East, and the growth of the military-industrial complex.

In it she said that the world’s military expenditure hit a record breaking $2.2 trillion with spending in Central and Western Europe surpassing levels “at the end of the Cold War.” The US and Russia, she said, were responsible for “more than half of the world’s exports of major conventional arms from 2018-2022,” and that states that did the most importing included India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia and China.

Åkerström said despite the Arms Trade Treaty coming into force in December 2014, many of the world’s top exporters and importers, including the US, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia are yet to ratify and that “the international arms trade remains less regulated than the trade in bananas.”

Teroyshin said he began his work, he believed weapons had no place in the world, but with the start of the Ukraine war, he said he’s changed his mind. “It is important that Ukraine is able to like to fight back and to protect democracy there against Putin’s regime.”

As one unnamed salesman from the Swedish at BAE Systems Bofors told Åkerström: “I would also like a world free from arms, but there is always a madman. If you can’t hit back, you’ll get beat up.”

“Nothing Personal: The Back Office of War,” published by Gost, is available now.

Fifty years after the Carnation Revolution, Cunha’s photographs continue to immortalise the military coup that changed the course of Portuguese contemporary history.

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On 25 April 1974, Alfredo Cunha was working as a photographer for ‘O Século’, a daily newspaper published in Lisbon.

Little did he know, when he left for work that morning, he was about to embark on a three-day, career-defining assignment.

Over the next few days, Cunha, who was then 20 years-old, documented the Carnation Revolution; the nearly bloodless coup that ended more than forty years of authoritarian rule in Portugal and Europe’s longest-lasting dictatorship.

Today, Cunha’s pictures are considered one of the most important and complete testimonies of the revolution which takes its name from the flowers offered to soldiers and placed in the muzzles of their guns.

“I left work in the evening and when I got home my mum told me there was a revolution going on. I went back to the newspaper again, ‘O Século’, where I worked, and took photographs,” Cunha told Euronews.

An iconic portrait

One of the most famous photographs from Cunha’s series wasn’t published until 1994. 

It was printed by the newspaper ‘Público’ as part of an editorial entitled ‘O olhar do capitão’ and helped elevate Cunha’s career. 

“There are those who consider this portrait to be the portrait of 25 April. I think it’s a portrait of Salgueiro Maia, nothing more than that, but it takes us to a point where the man becomes a myth. That’s what people see in this portrait,” explained Cunha.

Another photo from his series captured a group of young people gathered behind a cordon of soldiers. It’s also one of Cunha’s favourites: “It’s a partial portrait since there are no women, but it shows us the state of mind on that day. 

“What we were like, how we dressed, how we had our hair, whether it was a multiracial society or not. And it was. I think this is a portrait in which everything is there if we bring these two faces together (the military man who smokes and the young black man at the back). It’s Portugal in the 1970s.”

The award-winning photojournalist is holding a series of exhibitions across Portugal called ’25 April 1974 Thursday’ to mark the 50th anniversary of the revolution. 

Cunha has also published a book under the same name in collaboration with the Portuguese street artist Vhils and texts by Fernando Rosas, Carlos Matos Gomes and Adelino Gomes.

A series of works based on Cunha’s photos will also be exhibited at the Lisnave shipyards in Almada, some six kilometres from Lisbon, to provide fresh interpretations.