The BeBop Channel has filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts against Ziplin Group, LLP and its owner, Jeffrey Wolk, over BeBop’s acquisition of Madavor Media early last year.

This is yet another odd and unfortunate chapter in a thoroughly ridiculous story. Recapping the entire situation requires a novel and some financial forensics, so here is a quick hits version of the timeline to bring everyone up to speed.

How we got Here

The BeBop Channel, a publicly traded jazz company focused on the larger art space, purchased Madavor Media from its owner, Zilpin Group, LLC, in January 2023. While communicated to Madavor employees and freelancers as a good thing, the tide turned rapidly.

By May, one of Madavor’s biggest photo properties, Imaging Resource, had vanished, Digital Photo Pro, Digital Photo, and Outdoor Photographer were gone, too, and reports filed in with concerning regularity from contributors to various publications remaining unpaid.

Things seemingly improved at the end of May when online studio rental space platform Giggster reportedly purchased Imaging Resource from BeBop. That purchase fell through and is the subject of an ongoing $25 million lawsuit filed by BeBop. Giggster then acquired photography website ePHOTOzine in October.

In the background, BeBop made sweeping changes at Madavor Media, having reduced the number of employees from 32 to 21 to 10 and then, seemingly, to none.

In the BeBop Channel Corporation’s most recent financial statements, published in November, the company showed a decrease in total asset valuation from $6.4 million to $5.98 million. The financial filings show revenue of $3,851 and expenses of $449,309. As of September 30, 2023, BeBop still owed Zilpin Group $3.6 million in short-term and long-term promissory notes and had accrued $208,000 in interest.

All that aside, and there is plenty of financial information for interested parties to dig through, the focus here is on the most recent development related to a new lawsuit.

BeBop Files a Lawsuit Against Zilpin Group, Former Owner of Madavor Media

On January 17, 2024, BeBop Channel publicly stated that it had filed a lawsuit against Zilpin Group, LLC, and its owner, Jeffrey C. Wolk, over BeBop’s acquisition of Madavor Media, LLC. More precisely, BeBop’s suit is an answer and counterclaim to a breach of contract lawsuit that Ziplin Group filed against BeBop last year in an attempt to collect on debt it claims BeBop owes.

While all the intricacies and details of the lawsuit are intriguing in their own way, they are outside our scope. Rather than go piece-by-piece through the lengthy legal filing, this article will aim to hit the highlights and provide a broad overview of the case. There are also other pending lawsuits from former Madavor staff against BeBop concerning their terminations, which will also not be discussed here.

BeBop’s Demand for Extrication

The primary takeaway from BeBop’s lawsuit is that the company seeks to terminate its Asset Purchase Agreement for Madavor Media, including Zilpin’s $3,000,000 promissory note due in 2026. In pursuit of this outcome, BeBop claims to have returned all of Zilpin/Madavor’s intellectual property assets and credentials, physical property, and regulatory financial access credentials still in BeBop’s possession.

This is, per the lawsuit, “an effort” for BeBop to “disassociate itself from and sever its relationship with Madavor Media, LLC, Zilpin Group, LLC, and Mr. Wolk.”

Allegations of Financial Malpractice

Beyond attempting to disentangle itself from Madavor Media and its assets, at least what remains of them, BeBop makes significant claims against Mr. Wolk and Zilpin.

“The Counterclaim alleges several claims against Mr. Wolk and Zilpin for Breach of Contract, including a failed $50,000 closing payment, altered financial documents used to induce BeBop into the acquisition of Madavor Media, LLC, and a bad faith filing in the Massachusetts Superior Court by Mr. Wolk and Zilpin to accelerate the $3,000,000 Note against BeBop for, amongst other things, making unauthorized sales of Madavor publications in breach of the agreement,” BeBop’s press release reads.

BeBop “strongly denies” making the alleged unauthorized sales. BeBop did make sales, including selling Plane and Pilot and obviously trying to sell its photo properties to Giggster. The issue then is whether the sales were unauthorized. BeBop’s lawsuit includes email correspondence that BeBop claims proves that Wolk had authorized asset sales.

Perhaps more interesting is not whether these asset sales were allowable, but the nature of how BeBop came to own the Madavor assets at all. BeBop also makes some salacious accusations against Jeffrey Wolk and Zilpin in its new lawsuit.

The Counterclaim is filed with the addition of Jeffrey C. Wolk, the single interest owner of Zilpin Group, LLC, the Plaintiff in the original action. Mr. Wolk and his company Zilpin Group, LLC, induced Plaintiffs to purchase Madavor Media, LLC — itself a phantom company used by Mr. Wolk for other than legitimate business purposes — with a slew of fraudulent misrepresentations including the contents of The Asset Purchase Agreement, financial statements and projections, and litigation at time of sale, as well as concealment of the nature and severity of delinquent and defaulted accounts, illicit practices and uses of subscriber funds and public contest entry-fees and payouts and hiring practices of contractors.

BeBop’s lawsuit goes on to say that, in addition to returning the purchased assets to Zilpin, BeBop is also legally entitled to any future proceeds resulting from BeBop’s lawsuit against Giggster, which remains in the legal system for the time being.

Allegations of Bigotry

The lawsuit levies further attacks against Zilpin Group, LLC and Madavor Media. While citing that BeBop is a Black and female founded public company with “a stellar reputation,” Zilpin Group is “corrupt,” and with respect to Madvaor, “has been viewed in the lowest light by social media and employee review sites for the last decade.”

The lawsuit goes on to say, “In addition, Zilpin Group, LLC engages in serious racial bigotry and practices not addressed in this filing, particularly with its JazzTimes publication and Zilpin Group, LLC’s employment practices and culture which historically included only employing African Americans at the lowest levels of staffing.”

Claims of a ‘Shell Game’

Among the biggest complications in BeBop’s purchase of Madavor Media is that BeBop alleges that many of Madavor’s supposed assets were actually assets of Zilpin Group, which was effectively the “operational arm” of Madavor.

Relevant facts in sections 13 and 14 of the lawsuit are as follows:

13. On information and belief, Mr. Wolk has used the existence of Madavor Media, LLC to assign certain obligations, responsibilities and debts and generally shield those obligations, responsibilities and debts from Zilpin Group, LLC; this was unbeknownst to Plaintiffs until after the sale of Madavor Media, LLC. The reality of this mixing and mingling of Zilpin Group LLC’s concerns, when Plaintiffs were not purchasing Zilpin Group, LLC, rendered obligations under the agreement, which factored into the value of the purchase price, ambiguous and errant. For example, Mr. Wolk added in the balances of his personal credit cards to the Purchase Agreement which approached $500,000,” the lawsuit explains.

14. The Asset Purchase Agreement between the parties The BeBop Channel Corporation and Zilpin Group, LLC, because of the elements cited in paragraphs 1-13, and not discovered until well after closing, was fatally flawed because many of the requirements and obligations the agreement attributed or sought to attach to Madavor Media, LLC were actually those of Zilpin Group, LLC, however, the agreement was not a purchase of Zilpin Group, LLC.

The lawsuit goes on to call Madavor an “insolvent zombie company” that “masqueraded” as a legitimate business.

The lawsuit continues with a laundry list of information that BeBop only discovered after purchasing Madavor, including what BeBop claims were wasteful business practices and misleading financial documents, among other alleged mismanagement.

“Upon information and belief, Madavor Media, LLC/Zilpin Group, LLC was not a legitimate business with legitimate prospects to be anything but a vanity project, tax write-off or some other unknown purpose,” section 41 of the lawsuit explains.

The lawsuit says Mr. Royal accepted Mr. Wolk’s characterizations of Madavor’s business operations “in good faith.” It remains unclear precisely what sort of due diligence BeBop performed leading up to entering the purchase agreement, and if any attempts to discover the true financial state of Madavor were actively obstructed by Zilpin or simply not thoroughly conducted.

For example, in section 7 of the lawsuit, BeBop claims that based on tax returns, it is not clear who the owner of Madavor’s publications “actually was.” This seems like something that should have — and could have — been figured out before buying Madavor, even if being allegedly fed a false narrative.

Killing Publications

Section 45 adds, “Almost immediately after closing it was apparent that the company was severely bloated with personnel and other costs which required an immediate reduction in staff and expenditures.”

This reduction in staff and expenditures very quickly went into effect.

However, despite these moves, which resulted in the cessation of many respected publications, including Outdoor Photographer and Imaging Resource, BeBop claims that there was no reasonable way to escape from a spiral of debt allegedly caused by — and obfuscated — by Zilpin/Madavor.

BeBop also claims to have not known about existing debt concerning the payment of freelance contributors to various publications, which amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars and, in some cases, remain unpaid.

Even though the insolvency of Madavor Media, LLC existed before Plaintiff ever came on board, and which was concealed by Mr. Wolk, Zilpin Group, LLC/Madavor Media, LLC management was unconscionably granting, and being granted, bonuses all the while conducting dubious business practices such as continually entering into new contracts with freelance writers with no intent to pay the contracts and soliciting funds from the public in the way of contests for which winners and participants were not paid. These freelance writers with whom they continued to enter contracts were the very writers to whom they already had delinquent contract payments, some of whom were waiting over a year for payment. The freelance writers were taken advantage of by way of their trust and goodwill.

BeBop’s Alleged Victimhood

BeBop also alleges that it is a victim of a public relations nightmare concerning debt it had unwittingly assumed during its purchase of Madavor.

During this time, an onslaught of negative public comments emerged on social media about The BeBop Channel Corporation who, up until this point, enjoyed extremely positive reviews since its inception, and who suddenly found itself associated with the ire of freelance writers worldwide who were accusing The BeBop Channel Corporation of being scofflaws in not paying them. This became a tangled mess for a public company whose origin was to support the Arts and artists, the vast majority of whom work as freelancers or “gig workers”; this was directly in conflict with the goals of the company. Mr. Royal and Ms. Veres Royal, even with this onslaught, immediately directed staff to stop the “shell game”.

While there are plenty of exhibits included in the counterclaim, none of them relate to the supposed “extremely positive” reviews BeBop Channel had experienced, or the negative reviews concerning Madavor.

Where it Stands Today

Whether Zilpin or Madavor committed the alleged crimes, which include claims of fraud, will need to be handled by the courts. Good luck to whoever has the misfortune of adjudicating the case, should it ever reach that point. However, this story goes so far beyond financial intricacies and questions of bad business practices.

Ultimately, a celebrated photography magazine, Outdoor Photographer, is gone, and many of its contributors seemingly remain unpaid for their labor. One of the earliest photography websites, Imaging Resource, is technically still online but has no staff. Digital Photo and Digital Photo Pro faced similarly grim fates. And that’s just Madavor’s photo brands — the company also had others.

And there is really no coming back for these brands that have been left to decay, supposing they’re even still online. Every week that has gone by with websites left untouched or offline has irreparably damaged their value. Whatever BeBop has said it has handed back to Zilpin/Madavor and demands to be separated from is worth a hell of a lot less than it was when it was purchased nearly a year ago.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.

Disclosure: This story was written by Jeremy Gray, the former Reviews Editor of Imaging Resource

TUCSON, Ariz. — What will the world look like in 1,000 years? One camera is hoping to capture the moment for your descendants — all in one single photo. In the serene landscape of Tumamoc Hill, a unique project, known as the Millennium Camera, is set to capture the evolution of Tucson, Arizona, over the next thousand years.

Unlike traditional cameras, the Millennium Camera employs a simplistic design for longevity. Light enters through a pinhole in a 24-karat gold sheet and imprints on a special surface inside a copper cylinder. This surface is coated with rose madder, a type of oil paint pigment, which will gradually fade under sunlight over centuries. In a millennium, this process will reveal an image of Tucson’s transformation through time.

Experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats, a research associate at the University of Arizona College of Fine Arts, is the brainchild behind the Millennium Camera. He and his team from the Desert Laboratory have installed this camera with a viewpoint overlooking the Star Pass neighborhood, encouraging hikers to reflect on what lies ahead.

“Most people have a pretty bleak outlook on what lies ahead,” Keats says in a university release. “It’s easy to imagine that people in 1,000 years could see a version of Tucson that is far worse than what we see today, but the fact that we can imagine it is not a bad thing. It’s actually a good thing, because if we can imagine that, then we can also imagine what else might happen, and therefore it might motivate us to take action to shape our future.”

The concept behind this long-term photographic project challenges conventional methods. Typical cameras capture images quickly, using chemical reactions or digital processes. However, these methods wouldn’t endure a thousand years, nor would future humans necessarily have the means to interpret such images. The Millennium Camera, through its slow-fading pigment, bypasses these limitations.

“Let’s take a really dramatic case where all the housing is removed 500 years in the future,” explains Keats. “What will happen then is the mountains will be clear and sharp and opaque, and the housing will be ghostly. All change will be superimposed on one image that can be reconstructed layer by layer in terms of interpretation of the final image.”

Beyond documenting the past, the project aims to inspire current generations to consider their impact on the future. It’s not a commentary on urban development, but rather an invitation to ponder and discuss our role in shaping the environment.

To ensure a broad perspective, Keats collaborated with local experts, including Clark Reddin, the Desert Laboratory’s director of operation, and Robert Villa, community outreach assistant. Both have deep ties to Tumamoc Hill. Their choice of location reflects the hill’s historical significance and its role in connecting people with their environment.

Keats plans to expand this project, with another camera on Tumamoc Hill facing a different direction and additional installations at the Santa Rita Experimental Range and globally, in places like Chongqing, China, and Griffith Park in Los Angeles.

“This project depends on doing this in many places all over the world,” concludes Keats. “I hope this leads to a planetary process of reimagining planet Earth for future generations.”

Captured in hyper-contrast chiaroscuro, Daido Moriyama’s new photo book captures stray cats on the streets of the Japanese capital

January 22, 2024

The Afrobeats scene has not only been a sound or music genre but also deeply inspired by photography and filmmaking – one of the most notable ever.

Even further, the typical Afrobeat fan can be notoriously protective of not only the artiste they support but their appearance in photos during shows, music videos, at the tiny desks, cover arts and tours as a whole.

APM World, a Ghanaian-American Creative Director, says he wants to achieve with his role of documenting the Afrobeats scene is so apt for globalizing the sound to the rest of the world.

“The stories are in the eyes of the Artistes. They can’t forget it and therefore as a creative, I can’t hide it,” he explains.

“There is a lot to capture in the heat of the Afrobeat shows and moments,” states APM World, and even looks out for capturing moments which lends credence to his previous experiences.

“An artiste will always leave a story on stage. I have a storyboard of each artiste I work with. And so, before I shoot an artiste, I’m looking at their interviews, their previous shows, and even sometimes, I go through my previous shoots to see what I missed and what I need to amend.”

“My work is not just about picking a camera and being around these celebrities because I’ve put myself in places that strategically got me here,” he clarifies.

All of which is to say that APM World always possessed a high tolerance for branding, positioning and marketing.

More importantly, he puts a tremendous amount of money where his mouth is to ensure his USPs (i.e. storytelling, colours and angles) shine through his output for artists causing fans to constantly swipe left.

Since 2015, APM World has been the brain behind some of the spectacular photographs and film of Afrobeat superstars. His recent work was the cover image of Burnaboy’s “ItoldThem” Album and Mag.

His photography hobby transitioned into an international brand when he started directing creative works for African superstars, including Burnaboy, Davido, Asake, Bnxn (fka. Buju), Stonebwoy, Wizkid, Black Sherif, Ruger, Kwesi Arthur, Gyakie, Show Dem Camp, M.anifest, Firebwoy among others, during their American/European tours especially in New York since 2015.

Basking in all the glory on a personal level during a media round in Accra in January 2024, APM World said he feels great to see his creative works around the world.

“We don’t get to capture ourselves as photographers, but I try to capture myself once in a while — there’s an APM Docu-series in the pipeline and that will be mind-blowing,” he says, with a straight grin.

“And in fact, Ghanaians are the most pivotal people when it comes to creative works around the world and having this conversation alone shows that I’m making a point,” he added.

The international creative underscored the need to document Afrobeats and iconic moments through his analogy of Neil Armstrong who walked on the moon. “…there was a camera deployed to film it with someone behind it”, he states, expressing the relevance of photography and an emptiness about failing to document the heydays of our Ghanaian Musicians which of course he was part of: “that would have been a huge amount of money to rake in on Netflix alone”.

APM World won for himself the notable Ernie Paniccioli Award for Best Photographer by the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) in 2023.

The international filmmaker and photographer has been involved in creative projects for Festivals & Concerts such as Rolling Loud, I told Them Tour, Twice As Tall Tour, Coachella, Flytime Festival, Afro Punk, Afro Future, Afro Nation, Yemi Alade Concerts, 5th Dimension Tour, Governor’s Ball, Hip Hop @50, Canadian and South American tours, NBA, NHL and many others.

Unlike many creative directors who have been around artistes, capturing the right moments beyond limits is not always a given. APM World actually has a different view on the creative freedom issues of creators like him face.

The APM photo-mark according to him is invisible but strike chords — “storytelling, colours and angles,” he couched.

APM World approves of the fair use of work by creators but adds an instructive note: “I don’t photomark my pictures. But I have an invisible photomark and people actually call to confirm and clear with me. My work is about storytelling, colours and angles. More importantly, I don’t get worried about other creators stealing my work because once there’s money involved, they are going to find me because you can be sued,” he explains.

APM World does not put himself in a box as a photographer because he is a creative director and a videographer too. “I tell stories, create NFTs and Presets. I take courses in the field to learn new trends”.

APM World has a pipe dream of hosting a gallery show and unveiling an already finished documentary. “There’s a documentary about my first project titled “Hopes and Dreams”, I filmed from 2015 — December 2019 which tells a compelling story about Kids in Jamestown” he revealed, while intentionally keeping a little more under the radar – for now at least.

“This year, we are shooting 500 horses”, states APM World, and even when he is poked a little harder, he still keeps some of the inner workings close to his chest: “I would rather people follow me on this journey and not let out too many details”.

Around the time of the interview, Safo Newman, a new highlife sensation, was making waves on socials with a single, dubbed “Akokoa”, attracting media attention and top hit-lists on Apple Music. APM World expressed satisfaction with his sound and his openness to work with him and upcoming hip-hop star, “Xlimkid”.

As to whether the Music inspired many of his shots, APM World referenced Burna boy, Stonebwoy, Yemi Alade, Black sherif, Bnxn among others.

On Recent Work: Burna Boy’s “I told Them” Album & Mag Cover

APM World paints an insightful picture of the making of the Iconic “I told them” Image. “The actual picture for this album was under the LES Coman Park between Brooklyn and Manhattan…so that was supposed to be the album cover for me. Cause I was told every picture from this scene was going to be an album cover, and that was the video shoot for Big 7,” he reveals.

He added: “It was the video shoot for Big 7 so that was another scene. So, in the music video, you can actually see these moments in there.”

Teamwork
APM World underscored the need to have a team as a creative. “I have a small team but great minds. I invest in my team and treat them on a family level. I relate with my team on a personal level. I don’t turn down any phone call, once the call is referred to me, I do justice to it.”

Beyond an internal team, he also describes himself as a home team person. “I support Ghanaian artiste whenever they come to the states”.

APM World believes that there is more for us to learn. The more you live, the more you learn. APM pays for LUTs, Presets and as well design presets. He is willing to give out presets for free because he agrees that he been in that situation back in the day in Nima.

Advice to Creatives in the Field
Quite apart from literally interning and learning the ropes of photography with his dad, APM took extra steps to hone his skill in the art hence helping him diversify and become entrepreneurial.

“I don’t put myself in a box as a photographer cause I’m a creative director and a videographer too. I tell stories, create NFTs and Presets. I take courses in the field to learn new trends” he disclosed.

In some advice to young creators looking to breakthrough with the creative side of things, APM emphasized the need for a quality work ethic — don’t go hard, go the hardest.

So, how should young creators use social media? Well, APM believes reaching out to people on socials became a head-start for him. On a second advice to creatives, the international filmmaker, intimated that young creator “can just dive deep into whatever they want to do, identify a niche doing that and study and from them.”

APM dedicates himself to lifelong learning. “There’s no day I’m not learning. Came here, looked around and said to myself I wanna have this someday. I am constantly looking at other photographers, storytellers and the likes of Jeremy Snail. Instead of chasing trends and doing stuff that would make you trend for a day and a half, search and study about the creative field”.

“Know where you come from. I’m from Nima, I grew up around a lot of artistes, I’ve been around them… We were designing for R2Bees, Sarkodie, and actually had a hand in the R2bees logo design. I learnt and built off those early exposures”.

As regards finding the balance between being behind the lens and the business administration side of things since they are mutually exclusive, APM uses a vivid analogy to explain how he overcomes that: “It starts from looking at the market women in Makola. Whether it’s raining or shining, they’ve got things in order. I took relevant cues from my mom running a shop and constantly listening to other people who have done the business helped me a lot”.

For the journey of a young photographer, the international creative director suggested starting with your phone. “We started shooting basketball freestyles on an old “Sony camera and a Samsung Phone back in the day”. You don’t need a 2,000-dollar camera, you can start with the phone.”

“You don’t do this business to chase clout and say the girls would like me Bro. I wanna live a legacy, Bro. I wanna die a legend.”

From Fashion, Basketball to Photography

APM’s dream of becoming a world class NBA Star transitioned into photography when he got denied an American visa after securing a scholarship in the United States.

“I was like let’s do Central University now and when the American time came, everything aligned, and one thing led to another. My dream was to play in the NBA. Me and my brother wanted to play in the NBA so bad, but it didn’t happen. So, what do you fall back on — talent.”

Things changed for APM when he quit his 9-5 job moving him to a different stage. “… this is the guy I met, he was a stylist with PDD and he’s called Kwasi Kessie. He styled Rick Ross, Fergie and, Remy Ma all the way up and that connection changed everything for me.”

APM World first had a stint for fashion where he used to design a clothing line he dubbed “Stolen from the Gold Coast”. APM is not disowning his past as he is collaborating with a long time friend and mentor in the fashion space called “Kulaperry”, to create what they call a “Fear No Man Virtual Merch Exhibition”.

“APM World took some pictures that had depths. So we collaborated to have a paid Merch exhibition experience that will have a scan area taking viewers on a whole storyline. This collabo will be properly announced in due time,” said Kulaperry, in an interview in Accra.

As to whether he has any connection with Virgil and whether his connection has impacted his work: APM admitted “I didn’t have a personal relationship with Virgil, but I was inspired by him from a mile away. Virgil inspires some of my works — visiting the Brooklyn Museum. I am a student in the game. Your work must not be perfect, just be you, tell a story from where you were born…”

Major Downtimes & Personal Life
As all may look rosy, the international photographer and filmmaker, recounts some major downtimes where he lost hard drives, missed out on some major shows, laptop crashes etc. He added: “Depression is real, check your mental health. I understand the Artist when they turn down a request for photo opportunities with fans sometimes. I deal with myself, how great I wanna become, and keep the fighting spirit up for myself.” On a personal level, I like to do a lot of restaurants in Brooklyn and making unintended time for chilling. APM recalls shooting photos during COVID in empty streets, walking across the bridges, and shooting a Casanova holding the plague which become one of his most viral shots in spite of the chaos.

APM taps into so much whenever he is in Ghana. He visits the regular beaches, bustling streets of Accra and marketplaces because there is too much to capture, he argued. Meanwhile, he is careful of the crowds because he feels “one doesn’t know the energy they tap into. If I was in Ghana for the next few months, I will capture more of the market women. On his view on tapping into the local creative economy, APM asserts that “when one is closer to something they don’t see the beauty in it until they go further away from it.”

When asked about how he met some of his all-time favorite artistes he currently works with in no particular order: “APM World recounts great moments of meeting Stonebwoy, for example, through a brief call on Facebook back in the day, with one thing leading to another. He also speaks highly of the many backstage conversations leading to working with big stars like Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Benson, Yemi Alade among others which put him in high-profile events and rooms he would not have been.

“Last year was 2023, I was telling everybody in 2022 that was a Jordan Year for me, and we were going to be balling like Jordan. I’m a Capricorn and 29th December is my birthday and so we all saw the great things the year presented,” says APM.

“This year is the Mamba Year, we are going be on Kobe Bryant things,” he alluded, slightly hinting at setting new records, breaking old ones, appearing at places etc.

Among the earliest photographers who left a significant mark on Malta’s photographic history, Michele Zahra stands tall. His story is intertwined with the evolution of photography in Malta, beginning with his first studio in Cottonera in 1860. Zahra’s studio, located at 2 Strada Cospicua on Sta Margherita Hill, was one of the first of its kind in Malta, embodying the pioneering spirit of the time.

Photography Boom and Zahra’s Move to Valletta

During the 1860s, the Three Cities area, where Cottonera is located, was experiencing an economic boom due to activities around the Grand Harbour. Zahra’s studio was right at the heart of this growth. As demand for photography swelled around 1865, Zahra aimed to relocate to Valletta. However, he was preceded by James Conroy, who had already set up a studio in the capital in 1863.

Zahra’s initial attempt to establish a foothold in Valletta involved a partnership with a commercial outlet. This innovative idea of operating a photography studio within a fashion outlet showed promise, but it didn’t last.

Collaborations and Ventures

Zahra then collaborated with the Salvatore Schembri firm from 1866 to 1868, a partnership reflected in the ‘Schembri et Zahra’ nomenclature on some Carte de Visite (CDVs). Unfortunately, this partnership also came to an end.

By 1868, Zahra had set up a studio at 125 Strada Britannica in Valletta, operating in tandem with his original Cospicua studio. The new location was at 278 Strada Reale, a site that would later become synonymous with the Richard Ellis family’s photographic dynasty.

The Legacy of Michele Zahra

The Cospicua studio, passed down to Zahra’s sons, was rebranded as Michele Zahra Sons Light Truth Studio. Renowned for its ornate cabinet card versos featuring a mythological figure, the studio stood out. Despite facing competition and eventually closing its doors in the 1930s, the legacy of Zahra’s studio has endured.

Today, Michele Zahra’s contribution to Maltese photographic history, his pioneering spirit, and the studios he established are remembered with admiration and respect.

More than 25 years after Pixar’s groundbreaking feature film A Bug’s Life first hit theaters, Disney has returned to the incredible world of insects for inspiration. A new docu-series, A Real Bug’s Life, delivers a breathtaking adventure into nine different micro bug worlds.

From a photographic perspective, there is a lot to get excited about. A Real Bug’s Life features incredible technological achievements in micro photography.

Motion control gear enables exceptionally smooth and precise shots on the scale of a tiny insect. With computer control, complex shots can be planned and precisely executed.

New photogrammetry technology and improved focus stacking techniques allow creators to render the microscopic world in remarkably sharp detail — much better than using a single shot from just one lens.

PetaPixel has seen the advent of macro probe lenses in recent years, and these are used in full force in A Real Bug’s Life, too, allowing wide-angle perspectives with extremely close-up performance.

PetaPixel chatted with one of the show’s directors of photography, Nathan Small, who shot a large portion of the episodes, “The Big City” and “The Busy Farm.” These two episodes feature jumping spiders, American cockroaches, Chinese mantises, bumblebees, and doodlebugs, among others.

For All Types of Wildlife Work, Knowledge is Power

When planning complex shots of moving animals and especially when working at macro photography distances, understanding the subject matters.

“We are very fortunate that we are able to work with some of the world’s leading entomologists and scientists across this series,” Small explains to PetaPixel

“So a lot of the time, we would try and figure out the stories that we wanted to tell for an episode. A lot of the time, they were very relatable stories. We’re telling narratives about motherhood or finding a home or universal stories that hopefully people can relate to.”

“And then working alongside these entomologists, trying to figure out what it is that we can show that’s representative of that story and how we might be able to film that in a way that makes it relatable to people.”

The Importance of Technology

“This has been a very technology-driven show,” Small says. “There’s been a new wave of lenses that have been brought to market over the last few years that have enabled us to film things in ways that I don’t think have ever been filmed before.

“One of them is, they’re called probe lenses. These are long, thin, strange-looking tube lenses that let you get very, very close to very, very small things.”

Since these probe lenses often have wide-angle focal lengths, like 25mm, they offer a very different perspective than a more traditional 60mm, 105mm, or 200mm macro lens. Those lenses offer a tight perspective at 1:1 magnification. In contrast, a wide-angle macro probe lens can get very close to tiny subjects and show the context or environment, which is a fresh perspective.

“The other thing we’ve been using a lot across this series is motion control. You’ve probably seen the classic picture of a wildlife filmmaker with a big tripod and a super long lens, but we’ve been doing it totally different.”

Small explains that for A Real Bug’s Life, he and the team have been using robots and sliders and controlling the camera remotely using a PlayStation controller.

“That lets us do very precise, very controlled, and smooth movements on a very tiny scale. And hopefully, by doing that, we’re able to provide the viewer with a much more immersive and cinematic experience with the types of gimbal moves, and dolly moves that people are used to seeing on higher productions, like television dramas and things.”

It may seem like an exaggeration to say that recent developments in technology enabled the creation of A Real Bug’s Life, but in a very real way, the show would have been entirely different if not for advances in macro lens design and motion control. Seeing insects in nature documentaries is not new in and of itself, but A Real Bug’s Life delivers many novel scenes.

Nathan Small’s Interesting Photographic History: From Advertising to Bugs

“So I used to be an advertising photographer years ago, so that was my background. I’m much more the art side than the science side,” Small tells PetaPixel.

“I wanted a bit of a career change when I hit my early thirties, so I went and did a master’s degree at the National Film and Television School. It’s a two-year master’s program with the very specific subject of history documentaries.”

“I did that for two years, and then while I was doing my courses, my mentor said, ‘When you finish, I’m going to give you a job,’ and he came through for me, and I got a job on a show called Tiny World, which was for Apple.”

That was Small’s first job in television, and then he went on to do another show for his mentor, Planet Insect for Curiosity Stream. At the end of that production, Small was approached to work on A Real Bug’s Life.

“That was sort of three small things shows back-to-back, and then with each one a bit of a step up from research to assistant producer to producer and shooting along the way for various people and various episodes,” Small explains. “And that brings us to now. A Real Bug’s Life is my first producer credit as well. This show is a big deal for me, that’s why I’m so keen for people to see it.”

Crafting a Narrative Versus Responding to Nature as it Happens

Compared to filming a scripted television drama or comedy series, when creating a nature documentary, even the best plans and preparation can be disrupted by nature. Insects don’t take direction, after all. However, to make a compelling nature show, there still needs to be an overarching narrative. Viewers need to be able to connect with the story.

“With a show like this, you very much plan it out first. I have an idea what the behavior is or what the story is that we’re trying to tell. And then we are shooting to a script, which obviously changes constantly when the reality of the actual shoot takes place,” Small explains.

“You go there with an idea and a plan of what you want, and then you need to be very flexible based on what actually happens.”

If an amazing but unexpected behavior occurs that wasn’t included in the script, then filmmakers like Small will shoot it and try to find a way to connect it to the intended story.

“It’s definitely not a show that is like, go out, film a load of stuff, and then cobble it together in the edit. It is well planned because everything — all the characters — need to interact, and things need to weave in and out of each other. And there needs to be a payoff; it must feel satisfying.”

“And that needs to be planned in the same way you wouldn’t turn up on a drama shoot and say to the actors, ‘Yeah, just go for it. Let’s see what happens,’” Small adds.

Advice for Amateur Creators

The macro photography community is one of the tightest-knit photo spheres. Macro enthusiasts, especially insect macro photographers, are very open with their advice and time. On Instagram, in particular, there is a wonderful community that Nathan Small still frequently visits.

“Everyone’s super nerdy and super nice and generous with information,” he says. “We all email each other and message each other all the time. ‘How have you done this?’ And people will share their tips and their knowledge with you very readily.”

For macro photographers of all experience levels, that is a great place to go. Small recommends following people whose work you like and don’t hesitate to message people and ask questions.

As for filmmaking, and despite the amazing technology that helped make A Real Bug’s Life possible, creators shouldn’t get too bogged down by technology.

“If it’s broadcast for Disney, then yeah, you need the biggest, fanciest cameras,” Small admits. “But if you just want to shoot something and work out the storytelling and the craft, rather than delaying doing it because you don’t think you’ve got the right camera to do it, just get out and do it.”

A Real Bug’s Life Airs This Week

A Real Bug’s Life debuts on Disney+ this Wednesday, January 24. The series is produced in partnership with National Geographic and is narrated by the excellent Awkwafina, known for her Comedy Central series Awkwafina is Nora From Queens and her roles in feature films like Crazy Rich Asians and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

To see more from Nathan Small, visit his website and follow him on Instagram.

Image credits: All images courtesy of National Geographic and Disney. Photos are from “A Real Bug’s Life,” premiering on Disney+ on January 24, 2024.