The Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) conference of 2024 explored new options for creativity and collaboration. At the event, Fujifilm featured a new way for wedding and event photographers to deliver their images in a ready-to-sell method.

Fujifilm: New cameras with a cloud connection

Over the course of three days, photographers had a chance to explore two of Fujifilm’s newest cameras.  The larger format GFX 100 II and the newly-released X100VI.  Both cameras include the frame.io Camera to Cloud technology built-in, which offers a way to change the speed at which captured images are ready to publish. Several photographers had a chance to go on photo walks with Fujifilm ambassadors Caroline Tran and Shotti, NYC. They put the cameras to the test, shooting in a variety of locations.

Frame.io: Empowering Creativity with Camera to Cloud Integration

Frame.io, renowned for its cloud-based collaboration platform, has continued to build photo integrations and outreach to photographers.  In this case, both models of cameras let photographers upload photos directly from their cameras to the cloud in real-time, streamlining workflow and enhancing collaboration. The solution allows photographers to capture raw and JPEG files, then choose which is sent to the cloud for faster collaboration or sale.

SmugMug: Image galleries with e-commerce

SmugMug showed their new frame.io integration which dynamically builds web galleries. In this case, as photographers captured photos of a Las Vegas wedding party, the images were quickly uploaded to frame.io.  Photographers could choose to make selects for upload or have their camera auto-upload.  Then a SmugMug gallery is auto-populated with images available for sale or download.  This integration allows wedding and event photographers to sell photos directly at an event while photos are still being made.

Radiant Photo: Ready to print images from the Cloud

Radiant Imaging Labs unveiled Radiant Photo Cloud for a test run at the event. As each image was captured to frame.io, Radiant Cloud detected the upload. Then, a color-corrected and perfectly exposed photo was returned to the server. Images were fully developed using a custom-tuned algorithm designed to accommodate a variety of shooting conditions. The photographer could focus on the moment and the action, knowing that images were color and exposure balanced before publication.

Embracing the Future of Photography

WPPI 2024 was a celebration of innovation, creativity, and collaboration, with industry leaders coming together to showcase the latest advancements in the world of photography. As photographers continue to push the boundaries of their craft and embrace new technologies, the possibilities for what can be achieved are growing.

One of the main advantages of Micro Four Thirds is that the cameras and lenses can be much smaller because the sensor is more compact. It is seen by some as odd, then, that the G9 Mark II is so physically large; or at least as large as Panasonic’s full-frame S5II.

Speaking to PetaPixel during a meeting at the CP+ exhibition in Yokohama, Japan last month, it was explained that given intended use cases and the focus on photography, the G9 Mark II needed to be larger and more similar in size to the full-frame S5 II and S5 IIX.

“Some people said that the G9 Mark II is too big for Micro Four thirds. [But] we though that [given] both cameras’ character that they can share the same body,” Tomoki Nakanishi, Supervisor of the Marketing in the Imaging Business Unit at Panasonic, explains, referring to the S5 II.

Panasonic also explained that the company was thinking about bird and wildlife photographers when it made that decision.

“We also had the animal detect and high burst shooting pre-burst [see an evolution]. So that’s kind of specifically targeted for these wildlife users,” Yuta Sugawara, Marketing at Panasonic’s Imaging Business Unit, adds. “It’s also the reason why we announced the renewal lens of the 35-100mm and 100-400mm at the same time.”

“G9 Mark II is very good at telephoto shooting and [as you know] the lens therefore becomes bigger [in those cases],” Nakanishi adds. “G9 Mark II is not the type of camera for street photography so we have to try and [design it to be held] for telephoto shooting.”

“I think the G9 Mark II overall is taken to be a very large Micro Four Thirds camera. But if we compare numbers with the original G9, it’s actually not that different in size,” Sugawara says.

The two explain that given the weight of telephoto lenses, even though they are smaller for Micro Four Thirds, required thinking about balance in-use. Given that the G9 II was designed by Panasonic as a camera for photographers more than filmmakers, that makes sense — even if PetaPixel‘s Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake aren’t sold on that billing.

These goals for its photo use case are not the only reason the camera body is so similar to the S5 II, of course. Since the G9 II and the S5 II were developed around the same time, sharing parts made sense.

“Basically, S5 II and G9 Mark II were in the same development phase and we tried to make one body which is suitable for both full frame and micro four thirds. And that was our challenge,” Nakanishi explains.

Image credits: Header photo by Jordan Drake for PetaPixel

The Madavor and BeBop saga has seemingly ended, thanks to a new settlement between Madavor’s prior owner, Zilpin Group LLC, and the BeBop Channel Corporation. The settlement returns all BeBop-owned properties to Zilpin Group, LLC and cancels outstanding liabilities.

The Events That Led Us Here

BeBop Channel originally purchased Madavor Media in February 2023, with particular aspirations for the famed JazzTimes publication. Madavor Media owned other publications, both print and digital, including numerous photography-centric properties like Outdoor Photographer, Imaging Resource, and Digital Photo Pro.

What was initially touted as a fresh start for Madavor’s properties, BeBop’s takeover quickly went off the rails, resulting in the closure of Outdoor Photographer, Imaging Resource, and eventually all other properties. Even the jewel on BeBop’s new crown, JazzTimes, found itself mired in considerable controversy in short order.

The situation with Imaging Resource was particularly chaotic. The site initially went offline in early May, just a few months after being purchased. Its founder, David Etchells, shared his story on PetaPixel a couple of days later. And then, surprisingly and seemingly out of the blue, the longtime photography website popped back online. As it happens, it was brought back online as part of a purchase agreement between location rental company Giggster and BeBop.

That purchase agreement fell apart, resulting in BeBop suing Giggster for $25 million. Per New York State court records, New York County Judge Lyle E. Frank dismissed the suit on August 22, 2023.

Giggster ultimately purchased the online photo publication ePhotoZine the following October.

The January Lawsuit That Alleged Deception and Bigotry

Less than two months ago, Gregory Charles Royal and the BeBop Channel filed a lawsuit against Madavor’s prior owner, Zilpin Group, LLC, and its owner, Jeffrey Wolk, over BeBop’s acquisition of Madavor Media.

BeBop (Royal) alleged financial malpractice, bigotry, and racism and that Madavor Media/Zilpin (Wolk) had obfuscated vital financial information during the initial purchase agreement. BeBop’s lawsuit also served as a counterclaim to a lawsuit filed by Zilpin, which claimed that BeBop had not made the agreed-upon payments against its liabilities.

PetaPixel has previously covered that lawsuit in extensive detail.

New Settlement Puts a Chaotic Dispute to Rest

That brings us to last week when the BeBop Channel Corporation announced that it had settled a Breach of Contract dispute with Zilpin Group, LLC. The statement is presented below as BeBop Channel has published it.

As of February 29, 2024, The BeBop Channel Corporation (OTC PINK: BBOP) and ZilpinGroup, LLC settled a Breach of Contract dispute related to BeBop’s February 2023 acquisitionof Madavor Media, LLC which became a wholly-owned subsidiary of BeBop. The settlement (Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement) has resulted in the termination (Termination of a Material Definitive Agreement) of both Zilpins $3 Million Note that was coming due in 2026 and the $424,322 that had remained on BeBops Promissory note payable to Zilpin; all of Madavor’s magazine titles were assigned by the transfer to a new Limited Liability Company,TITLES JCMJ, LLC thus resulting in the removal of all remaining Madavor titles from BeBop and transferring those titles to that entity. The titles include JazzTimes, Diabetes Self-Management, The Writer, Outdoor Photographer, Imaging Resource, and Birdwatching (The Women Create Brands and Plane and Pilot which filled out the publishers roster uponBeBops acquisition of Madavor were previously sold by BeBop in 2023).

The result of these actions has eliminated all prior Notes from The BeBop Channel Corporation’s liabilities.

By:

/s/ Gregory Charles Royal

Gregory Charles Royal, Interim CEO

/s/ Sue Veres Royal

Sue Veres Royal, COO

Perhaps even more interesting than this sudden out-of-court settlement is the accompanying public statement of retraction that BeBop has published on its website, backpedaling on the allegations BeBop made in its lawsuit.

The statement is presented in its original form below.

The BeBop Channel Corporation issues the following Retraction in connection with its recent Settlement with Zilpin Group, LLC and Jeffrey C. Wolk:

The BeBop Channel Corp. hereby retracts all statements made as to the conduct of Jeffrey Wolk and Zilpin Group leading up to and continuing through and after BeBop’s purchase of Madavor Media, LLC. BeBop acknowledges that Mr. Wolk and Zilpin behaved honorably and met all their commitments to BeBop and to all Madavor’s other stakeholders, and that Mr. remains a valued shareholder of BeBop. The unfortunate allegations made about Mr. Wolk and Zilpin in BeBop’s prior filings and statements were inaccurate and regrettable. The parties have settled the dispute regarding the titles previously owned by Madavor Media, LLC.

What a Waste: Iconic Photo Brands Reduced to Ash

So that’s where the situation stands, and presumably, it will stay indefinitely because the properties returned to Zilpin Group, LLC under the new entity, TITLES JCMJ, LLC, were thoroughly gutted and devalued during BeBop’s short but chaotic reign. This new LLC was established in Massachusetts on February 15, 2024, per Commonwealth of Massachusetts corporate records.

While Imaging Resource is still somehow online, it has not been updated since April 2023. Outdoor Photographer, a once-vibrant magazine and website, is gone. Digital Photo and Digital Photo Pro, likewise, are dead. Between just Outdoor Photographer and Imaging Resource, that is over 65 years of photography news, features, camera reviews, and interviews that have been effectively destroyed.

After roughly a year of shambolic stewardship, although arguably only a month or two of which involved real direction, it’s unclear what anybody gained, if anything. Zilpin Group, LLC and Jeffrey Wolk received a pittance of an original purchase price, although Wolk still appears to own shares of BeBop, whatever those are actually worth. Gregory Charles Royal and BeBop no longer have any publications they purchased, including the primary prize, JazzTimes, which has been torpedoed.

And what about photographers? We received nothing and lost an awful lot. What an unbelievable and frustrating waste.

A celebrity photographer was arrested by Los Angeles police after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman at his photography studio and officers believe there may be additional victims.

Kenneth Howard Dolin, 64, who is a “well-known photographer and acting coach,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department was arrested Monday following the accusation. A 29-year-old woman reported the suspect sexually assaulted her at his Wilshire Division home/studio, police said.

A follow-up investigation revealed Dolin was accused of sexual assault in 2017 by two other women. It is unclear if he faced charges in those encounters.

LAPD said all three reports began with professional contracts that escalated to the suspect inappropriately touching the women during photo shoots when they were alone in his studio.

“He has significant connections in the entertainment industry and has been known to solicit victims on modeling websites,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement.

In connection with the recent report, Dolin faces a charge of penetration with a foreign object. He has since been released from custody as authorities continue investigating.

“These victims felt trapped and had to comply with his advances,” Detective Brent Hopkins, a supervisor with the Special Assault Section, said in a statement. “There’s a huge difference between art photography and sexual assault.  We want to make sure we know everything that happened and make sure that line does not get crossed again.”

Police believe there may be additional victims and they encourage them to come forward.

The investigation is ongoing.

The April 8 solar eclipse could very well be the best-documented eclipse to date, but for one man, it’s one photo in one spot that matters.

“I mean, look at it, it’s magical,” said photographer Doug DiRamio. “I don’t even have words to describe it sometimes.”

For decades, DiRamio has been pulled in by Niagara Falls.

“I can probably go back to the ’70s,” he said. “We used to have to sneak down here and that’s where my love affair with photography started.”

His portfolio is filled with images of the natural wonder, but one is missing.

“The tall hotel by the skyline tower, it’s gonna be just to the right of that,” DiRamio said, glancing at a sun tracker app.

He’s looking for a total solar eclipse, over the Falls.

“The orange dot that’s where we are right now and the orange line moving is the sun,” he said, explaining where exactly the sun would be during totality.

A total solar eclipse in Western New York is a sight that hasn’t happened in about 100 years and won’t happen again for more than 100 years.

“I think it’s gonna be a great shot,” he said.

With under four minutes of totality, preparation is key.

“I’ve ordered special solar lens filters from my lenses. People might want to know, you can burn your camera sensor out staring at that sun without a filter, just like you get burn your eyes out,” he explained.

DiRamio plans multiple trips to scout spots and take test shots.

“For the wide-angle shot, I’d be using something a little different, but this is going to be my mid-range shot,” he said, gesturing to the camera he had set up. “Then I also got a 600-millimeter strictly on the sun.”

He won’t be the only one trying to get this shot of the century.

“Some people probably don’t even think twice about it,” he said. “Yeah, they’ll take a ride and they’ll stop and take a picture with their cell phone, but like I said, I’ve been planning for this all this for six, seven months.”

National Geographic ranked watching the eclipse over Falls as the 11th best activity to do this year, in the world, so expect crowds.

“I think if I get out here early enough and camp out, I’m good,” DiRamio said.

He’s not worried about the crowds. He’s got a bigger eye on the weather.

“Fingers crossed, Niagara Falls,” he said. “The eclipse gods gotta be looking down on us.”

If he has to go elsewhere to see the eclipse, he will.

“I took a week’s vacation for this,” DiRamio laughed.

But priority one is clear.

“Nothing better than a total eclipse with the Falls in the background and a sunset,” he added.

So, for now, he’ll focus on what he can control.

“I kind of liked this spot because I got the whole gorge,” he said while scouting spots.

DiRamio will keep his fingers crossed for the perfect day, not just for him, but for the whole region.

“This belongs to everybody, not just me or any particular photographer,” he added.

English vernacular calls it a deer-in-headlights. It’s a term sometimes given to the look a person has when they’re plagued by anxiety, shock or fear. That’s what you’d get if you point a camera at someone unknowingly. But photographer Ellen von Unwerth doesn’t do that. She’s turning 70 this year, and in 1989, her photographic work started to bear fruit. Where Annie Leibovitz doesn’t believe in making a subject feel at ease, Ellen channels the person’s calm and excitement into photos that have a deer-in-headlights look. It’s a dichotomy that no one else has done quite like her — and is currently being celebrated at the Staley-Wise Gallery.

All images by Ellen von Unwerth and used with permission from the Staley-Wise Gallery. You can follow her on Instagram @ellenvonunwerth. To find out more about the exhibit, which runs until May 11th, 2024, please visit this link.

This is the 5th time that Ellen’s work is being showcased in a solo exhibit and it includes photographs that haven’t been seen before. The images are all in line with Ellen’s ideals that take the ideas of her German homeland and add quite a contrast to it. Quite frankly, Ellen is a dreamer who sets about finding the right ingredients for her witches brew. Her base is a bit of sex-appeal, contrasting colors in conventional places, and the souls and bodies of the heroes of her images. Ellen’s use of flash is synonamous to a magician’s poof-effect after saying the words abra-cadabra. And just like that, magic is made.

The Provocateur is Ellen von Unwerth’s fifth solo exhibition at Staley-Wise Gallery. The photographs included in this exhibition, several of which have never been seen before, reflect a liberated and irrepressible engagement with her subjects that the photographer has championed for her entire career. Von Unwerth notes “I know what it’s like when you feel really uncomfortable, so I do everything in my power to make them feel at ease – and to live and laugh and move.” These exhibition images reflect a winking provocateur; not so much the object of lust but the playful instigator – both innocent and naughty. While eroticism is in the forefront of many of these images, fantasy and humor unite von Unwerth’s vision of her subjects simply having fun – with each other, and with the viewer who they tease, taunt, and provoke.

Staley-Wise Gallery

Ellen’s use of flash teeter totters between the look of a forensic crime scene and the lighting you find only in night life spots that are considered taboo by mainstream western culture. It brings burlesque venues, brothels, and urbex sites into the spotlight so to speak. But at the same time, it makes you turn a blind eye to the taboo and bedazzles you with flash.

Now, more than ever, Ellen’s work is so insanely important. Most photographers these days pull inspiration from other visual mediums and apply an ethos of looking, but not seeing. Ellen’s photographs are rare — she has a creative vision and dances with the heroes of her images to wow us with something no human can see on a camera’s screen before pressing the shutter. By all means, she’s imaginative and delves deep into her fantasy world to give character traits to people that we wouldn’t normally see in them otherwise. I’ve never seen David Bowie photographed in just the same way that Ellen has.

If you’re in NYC or taking a visit, Ellen’s work is incredibly important to your understanding of the idea of looking vs seeing and creating vs capturing. Check it out at Staley-Wise.