Canadian astronaut and photographer Dr. Roberta Bondar doesn’t mind doing some kind-of-crazy things in pursuit of wildlife photography. 

That includes hanging out of helicopters to get her desired shot.

“It is not for the faint of heart,” Bondar said, speaking at a Nov. 10 press conference, launching a photography exhibit of her work at Science North.

“Probably if I didn’t have such a keen desire to communicate science in an intriguing way, and try to have art enfolded with it, I probably wouldn’t have taken all those risks. But hey, when you get to be my age, you kind of want to have a few things to brag about. A lot of adventures, every image has a story.”

The 77-year-old Bondar is best known as Canada’s first female astronaut after her 1992 space shuttle flight, but she also has a passion for wildlife photography.

Sudburians are able to see her photography exhibit “Patterns & Parallels: The Great Imperative,” free of charge in Science North’s lobby during business hours until Jan. 7, 2024.

The exhibit combines images from land, air and space (thanks to a partnership with NASA) to tell the story of migratory patterns of the whooping crane, lesser flamingo and piping plover species, which are all threatened or at risk of extinction.

‘It requires a lot of concentration’

Bondar expanded a bit more on the difficulty of taking photos from a helicopter when later questioned by Sudbury.com.

“It requires a lot of concentration, first of all, and a lot of trust between me and the pilot,” he said. “Granted, I was a private pilot, but I never flew helicopters, but I do understand pitch, roll and bank and yaw and all the things that are technically required in order to line a helicopter up to get the best artistic image that I wanted.

“So with a helicopter moving all the time, and being buffeted around, we also don’t want to scare birds. So we have to maintain a certain altitude. So any of the aerial shots are the most difficult ones to take.”

Even photos taken from the ground can be difficult to accomplish. 

“In some of the places in Africa it was 40-degrees centigrade, no air conditioning, we were there for days, nothing cold,” she said. “It was a very, very hot environment to work in to try to get these images of lesser flamingo.”

‘Such a special exhibit’ 

Science North senior scientist Amy Henson fan-girled a bit in introducing Bondar at the press conference, saying meeting her was a “12-year-old girl’s dream of mine,” because she was just 12 when Bondar went to space.

“This is such a special exhibit, and one of the greatest things about it is this perfect merge between science and art,” Henson told Sudbury.com.

“So everybody can appreciate beautiful imagery but the science story that Roberta is telling in this is impeccable — the story of several birds around our planet that are endangered species and the landscapes and the ecosystems that they live in. It’s stunning photography and we’re so excited to be able to host it here at Science North.”

Prior to travelling to Science North, Patterns & Parallels was launched and exhibited in Sault Ste. Marie, Bondar’s hometown. After its stay at Science North, it will then travel to other galleries, museums and science centres across Canada.

The exhibition features large, dramatic colour images taken by Bondar and selected NASA space images, as well as a video installation. 

QR codes at the exhibition create an interactive learning experience, allowing visitors access to digital learning opportunities including animations, audio from Bondar, and additional videos taken in the field.

A staggering three billion birds have disappeared from Canada and the United States since 1970, said press materials. The exhibition is a key part of the Roberta Bondar Foundation’s Space For Birds project, which uses photography as a tool to understand the biodiversity of nature and the impact of human actions and climate change on bird migration and habitat loss.

Exhibit took 10 years to accomplish 

“Now, many of you, in your lifetime may never see the piping plover, but it is the one that you might be able to see around the Great Lakes,” Bondar told those at the Science North press conference.

“There are only 200 of these birds left in the population by the Great Lakes. There’s another population in the Prairies and one in the East Coast. So it’s wonderful to be able to photograph these very, very rare species.”

She said the exhibit took her 10 years to be able to accomplish, and brought her not only to the United States and Canada, but the African countries Tanzania and Kenya. Bondar said she was on her way to Namibia to take photos when COVID-19 hit and she had to come home.

Bondar said she uses a lot of large (and very expensive) digital camera lenses to capture photos.

“I use the highest optical lenses that I can get, and basically the highest resolution sensors,” she said. “So from the helicopter, I’ve been using Hasselblad all digital, and on the ground, Nikon. I’ve now switched to completely mirrorless cameras on Nikon.”

Asked about her bird bucket list, Bondar said she is working on photographing a couple other endangered birds.

“One is called the red knot, and it is a fascinating bird,” she said. “It’s gray-colored in the winter down in the southern parts of the States and into Central America. And then it flies up through Delaware, changes its feathers to bright red,” and eventually migrates up to the Arctic.

“And that’s where it nests, as a lot of migratory birds do, because there are fewer predators,” Bondar said.

‘Our generation hasn’t done very well’ 

Sudbury biologist and Science North “bluecoat emeritus” Franco Mariotti said when he was a young teen and a “wanna-be biologist,” he sent away for a book on endangered species.

There were several thousand species listed in that book, but a United Nations report three years ago “stated that one million species face extinction,” Mariotti said. “Our generation hasn’t done very well to make a better world for this generation.”

He said Bondar’s photography work is important because she passionately articulates “how important and exciting these other living things are.
“Sometimes in the process, she will create wonder and awe about this planet, and that is what fuels restoration,” Mariotti said.

Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.

It took Christopher Payne five years to get into the pencil factory.

Payne, an industrial photographer, is obsessed with processes. How things are made, where they come from, the people who make them. And he knew the General Pencil Company factory in Jersey City was a perfect subject for his work.

“I’ve had a lot of success with everyday objects, like pencils and newspapers, that people take for granted,” Payne said. “It’s always fun to find something that is mundane and make it beautiful.”

And over the five years of talking with the owners to get access to General Pencil, he was learning about the factory’s production schedule, when they run specific colors, all with the aim of capturing the essential process.

General Pencil. Jersey City, New Jersey

General Pencil. Jersey City, New Jersey

“I didn’t just show up,” he said, “I knew the factory and I knew what I wanted.”

Payne’s striking photos of how pencils are made can be found in his new book, Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne, along with dozens of other factories he’s visited to document American manufacturing. His photography is strikingly detailed, beautifully lit, and, most importantly, human. Even in his photos of high-tech microchip production, the people stand out as much as the machines.

Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne

Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne

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“Our iPhones are not entirely made by robots, they’re made by people. You might have an automated process but a lot of the assembly is actually made by hand,” Payne said. “I wish people would feel more respect for people that do this work.”

Payne remembers growing up in a time when every town in America was known for making something. But now, with decades of outsourcing and manufacturing moving overseas “most people don’t know where their goods come from or how they’re made.”

“There’s a disconnect that didn’t exist when every town made something,” he said. “I don’t mean to be nostalgic about it because working in a factory is really hard. Manual labor is hard.”

Stern Pinball Factory. Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Corning Vaccine Vials. Corning, New York

John Deere Davenport Works. Davenport, Iowa

And Payne also has no delusions about the economic struggle of making goods in America. But you can’t help but notice some romanticism in his images. He isn’t offering false promises about a return of American manufacturing. But he is pointing out that we still build great things here and will continue to in the future. And it’s just beautiful to look at.

“I have no delusion that things are going to change,” he said, “but I do hope people will be a little more appreciative of the process. And most of all of manual labor and what it takes to make something.”

S&D Spinning Mill. Millbury, Massachusetts

In the second half of Payne’s book, we get a glimpse of the new direction of American manufacturing. Electric cars, semiconductors, wind turbines—advanced pieces of technology that take skilled workers to build. Payne has visited dozens of these factories for this project, but he finds these modern factories present a distinct challenge. Often the actual manufacturing is done inside enclosed boxes, or sealed off behind glass. In these spaces, like the GlobalFoundries semiconductor factory in Malta, New York, he finds that a more abstract approach can work.

“It’s funny, the most interesting photo I thought I made at GlobalFoundries was not on the manufacturing floor, it was underneath the chip fab looking up at the underside of the floor.” Payne said. “You see all this different stuff, like spaghetti, and you realize how complex the entire operation is.”

Global Foundries Semiconductor Chip Factory. Malta, New York

Whether photographing the Ford F-150 Lightning assembly or a hand-built Steinway piano, Payne’s goal is the same. “I’m always looking for that picture that sums up the essence of the space—what is the most essential operation.”

Ford Renewable Energy Vehicle Center. Dearborn, Michigan

This book isn’t the end of Payne’s obsession with the manufacturing process. In fact, he already has his next industry in mind: fire hydrants.

“A fire hydrant is like a tree,” he said. “What’s underground is much larger than what you can see above ground.”

Landscape photography can be a lonely genre, and it can be easy to fall into seeking external validation and creating the same images over and over. However, living fully in the present, trying new things, and taking risks leads to photographic growth. That’s one of the most important lessons an experienced landscape photographer has learned over 20 years.

Coming to you from Alister Benn of Expressive Photography, this great video discusses the most important lesson he has learned after two decades in the craft. Photography helps detach us from daily worries, and that is why Benn advocates viewing photos as diary pages, recording events and memories. He reminds us every picture is unique, created by pointing your camera and making individual decisions only you can make. This allows you to reflect on progress in your mental health and photographic purpose when comparing past work to current, and more importantly, to center yourself and be reminded of why we really chose to pursue photography in the first place. We all first picked up a camera for the first time because we enjoyed it, and it’s important to be reminded of that once in a while. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Benn.

And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out our latest tutorial, “Photographing the World: Japan With Elia Locardi!” 

Working in tones and textures as rich as classic oil paintings, Sheila Metzner uses photography to make monumental landscapes and delicate still lifes, though she is best known for her unique and elegant work in fashion. 

Her soft-focus, jewel-toned pictures of creamy-skinned models in languorous positions led Getty Museum curator Paul Martineau to include her in his epic ‘Icons of Style’ exhibition in 2017. ‘She invited me to visit her studio in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and I became intrigued by the beauty of her modernist compositions, as realised through the painterly Fresson process. I imagined an exhibition where I could place fashion pictures next to florals to heighten their formal qualities.’ That exhibition, ‘Sheila Metzner: From Life’ is on view at the Getty Center through 18 February 2024. A smaller show at Peter Fetterman Gallery in Santa Monica continues to 5 January 2024. 

Increasingly, curators and historians are accepting as fine art the work of photographers previously considered to be commercial, like Richard Avedon. Metzner readily acknowledges her success taking pictures for Chanel or Ralph Lauren, but emphasises that it is all part of her evolution as an artist and a person. The fashion shoots offered lucrative opportunities to travel the world, anywhere from Utah to Africa. 

‘I would say in almost every photo shoot that I did for a client, I did photographs for myself. If there were flowers while the models were getting dressed, I would photograph the flowers in the interim. If there were sets being built, they might become my series Metal Objects in Time and Space. I never, ever gave up working for myself.’

The show includes 40 pictures but each is representative of a particular series, a fact that Metzner ties to one of her earliest experiences. After she went to see photography curator John Szarkowski at the Museum of Modern Art, he included her work in his landmark 1978 exhibition ‘Mirrors and Windows: American Photography Since 1960’. He also gave her advice. ‘After he looked at my 22 pictures, he showed me the work of Paul Strand and he said, “You have to get it all in one picture.”

‘So at the Getty, any one of those pictures could speak for any other picture,’ Metzner continues. ‘The whole exhibition could be one photograph because it’s all saying the same thing and it’s really, really obvious that it’s all the work of one person, whether it was done in 1980 or 2000. It’s extremely consistent.’

Metzner, 84, is from Brooklyn, New York, where she still lives part of the time. After graduating from Pratt Institute, her talent led to her becoming the first female art director at top ad agency Doyle Dane-Bernbach. She decided to move to the other side of the lens after marrying the agency’s creative director Jeffrey Metzner. As they had their five children, she was inspired by the 19th-century photographer Julia Margaret Cameron to make their portraits. She took night classes and learned to process film and develop her own black-and-white prints. At the time that Metzner went to see Szarkowski, only black-and-white photography was taken seriously. She yearned to work in colour but not the glossy cibachromes that could fade with time. She sought out the Fresson family in France, who used dyes that would not fade on paper. 

The technique they created in 1895 lends the dreamy, romantic aura of the Pictorialists, 19th- and early 20th-century photographers emulating the appearance of traditional oil painting. Her first Fresson print, Modern Vase with Tulip (1980) is included in the show. Her approach was the opposite of the edgy photography of the late 1970s like that of Robert Mapplethorpe, though Metzner made a poetic picture of him standing in his black leather trench coat next to an art deco vase holding a white anthurium she had brought for him. 

Whether the early black-and-white photos of her daughter Bega, glamourous Uma Thurman wearing a polka-dot gown by Patou, or magnificent still lifes of icebergs, she manages to ‘get it all in one picture’. The Getty has purchased a number of the pictures for its permanent collection so the show is a triumphant exclamation point to her career. 

She says, ‘I was deeply embedded in the world of fashion but it wasn’t any more or less than my daughter Bega or or my husband Jeffrey. All I’m saying is that I’m interested in life and my exhibition is called From Life. It’s not called From Fashion.’ 

‘Sheila Metzner: From Life’ is at the Getty Center until 18 February

getty.edu

LBB> What is your niche craft obsession?

Jameela> I love creating, in every sense of the word. The obsession for me is creating images and building the concept behind the work too. It’s both challenging and exciting at the same time. Seeing the concept you have dreamt come to life in front of you is an amazing experience. The moment when everything clicks and comes together and you make something beautiful. A niche within a niche is probably my love of film photography.  

LBB> Where/ when/ how did you first come across this thing? 

Jameela> My first encounter with photography was through magazines. Growing up my Mum used to sometimes buy me a copy of ELLE or Vogue for Christmas, and even though I never really read any of the words in the magazine, I used to spend hours looking at the fashion imagery. Back then the fashion stories were really extravagant and super immersive. Though it’s worth mentioning they were not always very diverse casting wise.

I gradually got into making art/fashion shoots with my friends as a teenager, and saved up for my first DSLR camera from modelling money. 

LBB> Was it an obsession straight away or something that has evolved over the years?

Jameela> It’s definitely something that has evolved over the years, but it has always been an interest of mine. I think Photography also crosses over with a lot of other creative things I enjoy, like film making, fashion and music. 

The love of film photography came later on, after a session at university with black and white film, developed by hand in the darkroom everything changed for me. I loved how it looked, and texture / depth the images had, it wasn’t something you could immediately achieve or recreate with digital photography. It’s unique and I like that. It’s something that I enjoy learning more about all the time, gradually increasing my skills in different areas of the craft. There is always something more to learn. 

LBB> What are the most interesting debates or conversations you are having around this obsession?

Jameela> Several things, like how accessible it is as a job/profession. Even now with rising prices of film and equipment it makes it even harder to shoot, so I imagine trying to get into photography now can feel super daunting. It’s almost elitist now, as film costs so much to buy. 

A debate: In some ways photography has become quite a saturated craft in the wake of the digital and social media revolution. Sometimes you have to remind yourself what makes you unique as an artist. I think some artists are now faced with thinking about how they must present themselves online, instead of letting the work solely speak for itself. I fear sometimes it can be about who can shout the loudest. 

LBB> How widespread do you think this obsession is with your peers?

I have many friends who are fellow creators and photographers, each of us has our different styles and way of working with film. I really appreciate being around others who love it too, we uplift and support one another.

LBB> Can you share any examples of work where that obsession really came to the fore and elevated the final production? Can you tell us about it?

Jameela> I do love how this cover shoot came out for my magazine AZEEMA with Tsunaina. It was a mix of 120 film and 35mm and I really like how the quality of both added to the final result. 

[Credits: Talent: Tsunaina Photography: Jameela Elfaki Production: Sunayah Arshad Set Design: Evar Hussayni Set Consultant: Jade Adeyemi Styling: Ella Lucia Make-up: Rebecca Davenport Hair: Kachi Katsuya Henna: Nuzhat Fatima Photography Assistant: Charlotte Macaulay Set Assistant: Hara Spyrou Production Assistant: Emma Bouraba Styling Assistant: Esmée Robinson]

LBB> For anyone just getting into your field, what advice would you share to help them get their head around this particular thing?

Jameela> I think you shouldn’t be afraid to make mistakes with film photography. That’s the beauty of it – experiment and enjoy it. It’s not a quick process and it definitely takes time to learn as a separate craft. Film photography has different needs to digital and you have to have a strong grasp of the basics to make that transition smoother. For anyone who just wants to get into photography in general, it’s not all about equipment. I used to take photos on a phone before I could afford a camera, don’t let the fear of not having the best kit or access hold you back from creating. Be resourceful.

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) – A nature photography contest is going on right now! The MooseWood Nature Center is inviting amateur photographers to enter their 2023 “Get Out and Explore!” Nature Photography Contest.

Contestants will compete for cash prizes, complimentary memberships, and MoodWood merchandise.

Contest information

Deadlines and full submission deadlines

Copyright 2023 WLUC. All rights reserved.

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MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — “In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now” features over 100 photographs of, by and for Native people and is one of three Native art exhibitions on view at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia).

This major exhibition, on view at Mia through January 14, 2024 builds upon the work of Native artists, scholars, and knowledge-sharers to trace the intersecting histories of photography and First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and Native American cultures, from the Rio Grande to the Arctic Circle. Developed in partnership with a curatorial council comprised primarily of Native advisors, “In Our Hands” centers the work of Native photographers with a diverse array of photographic objects that illuminate the ways in which Native people have advanced the medium of photography for over a century. The exhibition opens on October 21, 2023 and will be on view at Mia through January 14, 2024.

“In Our Hands: Native Photography, 1890 to Now” was collaboratively organized by photojournalist and Mia guest curator Jaida Grey Eagle (Oglala Lakota), Casey Riley, Chair of Global Contemporary Art and Curator of Photography & New Media, and Jill Ahlberg Yohe, Associate Curator of Native American Art, in partnership with a curatorial council of fourteen advisors that includes internationally renowned artists, academics, and knowledge-sharers based in Canada and United States. Together, the curatorial council and Mia staff developed the checklist and thematic organization for the show and grounded their decision-making in Native methodologies, including consensus and relationship building, mutual respect, and reciprocity. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, featuring essays and interviews by Mia staff and many curatorial council members.

The Lyrical Artwork of Jim Denomie

Also on view at Mia is “The Lyrical Artwork of Jim Denomie,” featuring approximately 60 artworks from acclaimed Anishinaabe artist Jim Denomie (Ojibwe, Lac Courte Oreilles Band, 1955–2022). Best known for his monumental paintings, Denomie was a prolific artist whose work spanned numerous mediums. Throughout his career, he aimed a critical lens on the histories of Indigenous people and their intersections with mainstream culture. Highlighting Denomie’s singular vision and signature style over the second half of his career (2007–22), the exhibition is the first to bring together his iconic— and iconoclastic—paintings alongside lesser-known works and sculptures. The exhibition is on view through March 24, 2024. Drawing inspiration from lived experiences, pop culture, Anishinaabe traditions, and American histories, Denomie’s work portrays compelling narratives that depict his experiences of being Native in America. Despite the emotional weight of his subject matter, Denomie’s dry wit prompts and provokes necessary conversations about the legacies of colonization and the nature of humanity. The exhibition examines Denomie’s creative process, tracing his ability to transform inspiration into monumental artworks.

“Reimagining Native/American Art”

What happens when Native American and American art is seen together, rather than in separate places? Might we look at these artworks in a new way? What stories and connections emerge from this new way of being together? These are some of the questions that guided a collaboratively reimagined suite of galleries. This Indigenous-led, consensus-based curatorial experiment is based on Dakota philosophies and ways of being. It includes thematic installations that center “place”, honor the living land, explore the power of relationality — the idea that we are all connected and build relationships based on this awareness – and ends with a reflection, inviting visitors to join us in imagining the future we wish to have. What does it look and feel like? How do we build it together?

Press Contacts

About the Minneapolis Institute of Art

Home to more than 100,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) inspires wonder, spurs creativity, and nourishes the imagination. With extraordinary exhibitions and one of the finest art collections in the country—from all corners of the globe, and from ancient to contemporary—Mia links the past to the present, enables global conversations, and offers an exceptional setting for inspiration.

General admission to Mia is always free. Some special exhibitions have a nominal admission fee.

For more information, call + 1 612 870 3000 or visit artsmia.org. For images, please see here.

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SOURCE Minneapolis Institute of Art

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