Review by Joe Scrizzi & Photography by Kimberly Kanuck

Last week, I heard that the Blueberry Festival at the Burnside Plantation in Bethlehem PA was set for July 13th & 14th. I went to it last year and I had a great time! I loveeee blueberries!

Friends Kim and Noah joined me today and toured around taking everything in.

First, we came across this beautiful butterfly garden and it was nice to walk through it and check out all the names of the flowers and trees. It’d be great that I wanted these in my backyard!

When at a blueberry festival, you gotta try Blueberry foods, drinks, cheeses & more!
Christmas City Spirits just bottled their Blueberry Bounce 3 weeks ago, just in time for the festival. I spoke to the event person for their table, and they said the Blueberry Bounce is selling greater than the Cherry Bounce. It’s very low alcohol, however, it’s great in a glass of club soda, drizzled over top of ice cream or ladyfingers, pancakes, french toast.

Several bands were playing on two different stages, We heard Lake of Orchards as we sat to rest under one of the tents. Awesome sound!

We heard there was a blueberry pie eating contest, so we went to check it out. First up the kids took the stage. It was fun watching them as they were having a ball!
Then came the adults, there were only 6 people that signed up. Friend Noah dared me to go….What the heck, let’s do this! Haha!
I’ve never done anything like this, I didn’t know what to do other than you cannot use your hands. How does one get the pie out of the pan. Well, there were experts on both sides of me. Das, guy on my right not only got the pie out of the pan, he came in third and he flattened his pan somehow!
Congrats to everybody who participated in the pie eating contest, it was definitely a fun time and I would do it again!

Back in the one corner by a small stream, there was a group of women from the Second Saturday Spinners. I was intrigued by what they were doing so I talked to a few of them. They get the sheered wool from sheep or alpacas or other animals. Sometimes they have to clean it or it already comes cleaned.

It was a very cool system with foot pedals, spindles and spools. There had to be close to 10 ladies, on site doing this. Spinning out the raw material into yarn and onto a spool, which they then either sell or turn into a garment or other. They will be at the Allentown Fairgrounds, very soon for their own event.

If you ever have an opportunity to go to the Blueberry Festival at the Burnside Plantation in 2025, I highly recommend it!

Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites
Burnside Plantation
https://www.historicbethlehem.org/

“Catalyst Channels & Pathways” collections by Heather Patel and photographs by Nathan DePue will open at the Simpsonville Arts Center July 19.

The two exhibits will be on display at 110 Academy St. in Simpsonville through Aug. 13.

“Rooted Journeys-6” by Heather Patel. Photo provided by Heather Patel Photography

“Catalyst Channels & Pathways” collections feature over 18 pieces by Patel, a local nature photographer. Her portion of the exhibit is sponsored in part by the Metropolitan Arts Council with funds received from the city of Greenville, BMW Manufacturing Co., SEW Eurodrive and the South Carolina Arts Commission. Patel also received funds from the South Carolina Arts Commission.

DePue’s collection consists of 10 to 12 pieces focusing on a mix of subjects such as nature and airplanes.

To celebrate the opening of the two exhibits, the Simpsonville Arts Center will host a reception at 5:30 p.m. July 19. Patel’s and DePue’s collections will be open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, or by appointment. For more information, visit simpsonvilleartscenter.com.

Photographer Nick Brandt has focused on climate issues for decades. Brandt is incredibly prolific (we’ve covered some of his other projects here and here), and his creative and ingenious work consistently explores the devastating effects of human activity on our planet.

“SINK / RISE” is the third installment of The Day May Break series, which “portrays people and animals impacted by environmental degradation and destruction.” It focuses on the consequences of rising sea levels in the South Pacific and the people (Fijians, in this case) who are being impacted by them.

If you’re lucky enough to be in Sun Valley, Idaho, this summer, Nick Brandt’s series is on view at Gilman Contemporary until July 30, 2024.

What initially drew you to explore the theme of rising sea levels in the South Pacific?
‘What drew me? Knowing what is expected to happen. As a result of climate breakdown, sea
level rise will impact hundreds of millions of people that live along coastlines and low-lying areas around the planet. For people who have lived in these places their entire lives, to abandon their homes and land, and often their livelihoods, to abandon everything they know, will of course be deeply traumatizing as they search for a new—and likely very different and compromised—place to call home.

‘The islands of the South Pacific are especially vulnerable. Many of them are barely a few
meters above sea level, and so in time will disappear entirely. Their economies are also
significantly based on the ocean that surrounds them. This is why I ended up choosing to
photograph in this region of the world for SINK / RISE.’

Can you walk us through a typical day on location during the shooting of “SINK / RISE”?

‘Out of about 200 local people living along the coast that we ‘auditioned’ to photograph, we
chose around twenty who looked the most relaxed and natural underwater. Each evening
before, I would choose around 6-8 to come out with us the following morning on the boat.
Each morning, we headed out on our boat one kilometer from the shore, to an area of ocean
floor: a field of broken coral fragments spread far and wide. This destruction had been caused in 2016 by Cyclone Winston, its power intensified by climate change. I don’t think that I fully understood until then just how much damage that cyclones could inflict under the ocean surface, smashing the delicate coral into millions of pieces.

‘We called the location the Boneyard. It would be our underwater studio for five weeks. We had weighted down all our furniture there for the duration. At just 2-4 meters depth, depending on the tide, it made shooting as safe as possible for the ‘cast’, and, in theory, meant that the ocean surface could be seen just over their heads.

‘We spent up to 7 hours a day underwater shooting. However, most days were frustratingly
short, because…..’

What were some of the challenges you faced?
‘…we experienced terrible water visibility day after day. As the tide went out, mud washing do from the from the island mountains muddied the water to such a degree that I could barely see to shoot more than a few meters.

‘Obviously the initial challenge was finding ways of weighting people and furniture to stop them floating upwards and swaying in the current. After much trial and error, and buying up all the island’s lead weights, and some ingenious other methods of stabilizing the people underwater, it was fine.’

How do you establish trust and connection with your subjects in such challenging
environments?
‘Everyone who was photographed – young and old – was already very used to free-diving in the ocean. But they had to get used to using a regulator. They all went through a basic scuba course, and during the shoot, had a couple of safety dive masters just out of shot, standing by to give them back their regulator the moment they felt like they were getting close to no longer being able to hold their breath. So they knew they were always in very good, safe hands.

‘Everyone was on the boat with us for multiple days, and it was really a team effort, to the
degree that when they weren’t being photographed, they volunteered to become part of the
crew, holding the floating large silk frames to block the sun, and ferrying anything up and down between boat and underwater crew.’

How do you approach the planning and logistics of an underwater photo shoot like “SINK /
RISE”?
‘We did preliminary testing in a swimming pool in southern California where I live, but in spite of that, we were wildly unprepared for the surging currents of the real ocean. However, like I
already mentioned, it took a few days of trial and error to figure out how to deal with that.’

In what ways do you hope “SINK / RISE” will provoke a conversation about climate change
and its impacts?
‘It’s always so hard to answer this question because in an ideal world, seeing the work sets the viewer on a journey of greater engagement, awareness and action about the impact humans are having on the planet.

‘As I have mentioned before, we need to all become good ancestors. We need to adopt a way of life that reduces the environmental impact that our actions will have on those billions of unborn yet to come. Can we show that we care about the humans and animals and trees that we will never live to see?’

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July 15, 202404:00

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Paul Kosko, an amateur photographer who was taking photos at the Trump rally, says the bullet took out a “little piece” of the former president’s ear. Kosko captured close-up photos of Trump after he was shot.July 15, 2024

Read More

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Get more newsLiveon

PHOTOS: The past week in stories, photography in the Bow Valley

Some of the stories from the July 11, 2024, edition of the Rocky Mountain Outlook.

Portrait photographs celebrating LGBTQIA+ experiences explore themes of identity and place in exhibitions at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on view through September 8, 2024. Across three spaces, these exhibitions illuminate how portraits are a powerful tool for LGBTQIA+ self-discovery and community-building. 

In the Hostetter Gallery, On Christopher Street: Transgender Portraits by Mark Seliger brings together 32 portraits of trans individuals taken on New York City’s Christopher Street, an icon of trans and queer culture. Photographer Mark Seliger is best known for his images of celebrities and public figures from the pages of Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and GQ. Between 2013 and 2016, Seliger documented the gentrification of his West Village neighborhood as a personal project that evolved into a poignant series reflecting trans stories and experiences. In nearby Calderwood Hall, the Museum will screen Christopher Street Stories, a 20-minute film by Seliger that includes interviews with several sitters. 

Also on view in the Hostetter Gallery is a case of letters and photographs from Isabella Stewart Gardner’s archive. Isabella’s social circles included individuals who pushed against cultural norms of romance, attraction, and gender in ways that were often criminalized in her lifetime. These personal items draw a historic connection between the LGBTQIA+ community and the Museum. 

“Traveling with colleagues to the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (TN) a few years ago, we encountered an exhibition of ‘Christopher Street’ portraits by Mark Seliger. It was the first time these photos had ever been shown in a museum,” shares Peggy Fogelman, Norma Jean Calderwood Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. “We knew that this body of work needed to be seen by Boston audiences and are thrilled to be able to present them, along with a new exhibition of Boston-area photographers capturing the LGBTQIA+ experience closer to home.”

The exhibition Portraits From Boston, With Love, on view in the Fenway Gallery, highlights the work of Boston-based, gender-expansive artists Jaypix Belmer, Ally Schmaling, and Olivia Slaughter, who each take their own distinctive approach to capturing family, friends, and LGBTQIA+ community members. These exhibitions are joined by a newly-commissioned self-portrait by Gardner Artist-in-Residence Hakeem Adewumi. Inspired by mythology and Adewumi’s belief in the right to conceal parts of our authentic selves, Hakeem Adewumi: Possession of A Recalcitrant Dream, 2024 will be displayed through October 1 on the Museum’s Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade. 

On Christopher Street: Transgender Portraits by Mark Seliger was organized by the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.

Support for the exhibition at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, as well as for Portraits From Boston, With Love and Hakeem Adewumi: Possession of A Recalcitrant Dream, 2024, is provided by the Barr Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Barbara Lee Program Fund, and the Henry Luce Foundation.

The Artist-in-Residence program is directed by Pieranna Cavalchini, Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art. Funding is also provided for site-specific installations of new work on the Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade on Evans Way. 

The Museum receives operating support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which is supported by the state of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Learn more about these exhibitions and related programs.

For press inquiries, please email Dawn Griffin, =(c=c.charCodeAt(0)+13)?c:c-26);});return false”>dgriffin [​at​] isgm.org.

Other inquiries: =(c=c.charCodeAt(0)+13)?c:c-26);});return false”>information [​at​] isgm.org  

In 1993, Doug Mills was honoured with a Pulitzer Prize.

Former US President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13. The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, shot at the former US President and the bullet grazed Trump’s ear. According to reports, the shooter was gunned down by Secret Service snipers.

One rally attendee died during the shooting while two others were critically injured. The shocking incident was captured by veteran photojournalist Doug Mills, who works with The New York Times. He appeared to capture the exact moment when the bullet whizzed past Trump’s head leaving behind a white streak, revealing its apparent path. The now-viral photo is making waves on the internet. 

Here are 5 points on Doug Mills: 

1. Doug Mills was born in Greensboro, N.C., in 1960. He studied at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, Virginia. He lives with his wife and two daughters. 

2. Mr Mills has been covering US presidents since 1983, starting from Ronald Reagan. He started working in the Washington bureau of The New York Times in 2002. 

3. Before joining The New York Times, Mr Mills served as chief photographer for The Associated Press (AP) in Washington for 15 years. After four years of service with United Press International’s Washington bureau, he joined The AP.

4. In 1993, Mr. Mills was honoured with a Pulitzer Prize for AP’s joint coverage of the Clinton/Gore campaign. He received a second Pulitzer Prize for his joint investigative coverage with AP of the Clinton/Lewinsky affair. In 2020 and 2023, the White House Correspondents’ Association presented Mr Mills with the Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage by Visual Journalists. 

5. Mr Mills is also quite adept at photographing sports. He has covered popular sporting events like the World Series, and Super Bowls, and golf majors such as the Masters and 16 Olympics. 

July 15, 2024, SHENZHEN—OPPO today issued a last call for entries to the OPPO imagine IF Photography Awards 2024. Since the competition was launched on January 17, over one million submissions have been received from 73 countries and regions, each showcasing a vibrant tapestry of cultures and traditions from around the world. As the global submission deadline approaches on July 28, OPPO is calling on photography enthusiasts to seize the final opportunity to capture spectacular moments through the lens of their cameras and collectively demonstrate the power of mobile imaging.

imagine IF Campaigns Gather Inspiring Work from around the World

Since inaugurating the competition at the start of the year, OPPO has initiated a series of themed activities aimed at encouraging its global userbase to use the power of images to expand their imaginative boundaries. From May to July, coinciding with Mother’s Day and the beginning of the summer season, the ‘Road to Paris’ campaign invited users to portray the grace of mothers and capture the excitement of sport through the photographic lens for the chance to win a spot at Paris Photo 2024. The ‘In Sync with the World’ campaign meanwhile sought images that portrayed exploration around the world. Across both campaigns, the wide breadth of entries received showcased strong and emotive works that help to foster exchange and understanding between different cultures.

Photo 1 Shot by Isthisreal;  Photo 2 Shot by Andrewoptics;  Photo 3 Shot by Shisan and Petrichor

Celebrating Culture in All Its Diversity

Many of the entries submitted so far this year have seen participants from around the world showcase the unique landscapes and traditions of their home countries through stunning photographs. From the lively coastal life of Rio de Janeiro to the profound natural wonders of the Amazon rainforest, each image offers a portal into a new world for audiences to step into.

Alongside the main OPPO imagine IF Photography Awards, OPPO has also collaborated with Discovery Channel to showcase the diversity and allure of world cultures through the ‘Culture in a Shot’ program. Kicking-off in June in northern Thailand, the program has so far seen OPPO capture traditional crafts and musical instruments in a series of captivating images that bring the region’s rich and colorful cultural heritage to global audiences while advocating for deeper cross-cultural exchange.

Shot by Jerome Teo

Share Your Imagination for the Chance to Win Incredible Prizes

Entries for the OPPO imagine IF Photography Awards 2024 remain open until 24:00 (UTC+8) on July 28. Submission to this year’s competition will be judged by a prestigious global judging panel that includes the likes of contemporary photography icon Steve McCurry, together with National Geographic Photographer Michael Yamashita, Hasselblad Master Tina Signesdottir Hult, Magnum Photos member Alec Soth, and OPPO Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer Pete Lau. A series of exciting awards are on offer to all participants, including individual prizes of up to USD24,000 and the chance to have their work exhibited at Paris Photo 2024.

Schedule and Prizes of OPPO imagine IF Photography Awards 2024

More than just a photography competition, the OPPO imagine IF Photography Awards is a platform for cultural exchange and creative inspiration. All photography enthusiasts are invited to take part and share moving moments that ignite inspiration and imagination through the global platform. To learn more about the OPPO imagine IF Photography Awards and to submit an entry, please visit the official website at https://imagine-if.oppo.com/en/.