Starting on Thursday, Nov. 9, The Bedford Free Public Library gallery will be showcasing the art of members of the Bedford Center for Arts (BCA) Photo Group. 

Astrid Reischwitz, Carol Rissman, and Jean Hammond make up the library Art Steering Committee. The group curates year-round art displays at the library gallery space. The central gallery is an open, sun-filled handicapped accessible surrounding the upper landings of the library’s central stairwell, open and free to the public during regular library hours. (There is also a public art space on the wall outside of the Children’s Room.) 

Reischwitz said that the Art Steering Committee focuses “on displays that are closely connected to the Bedford community, regularly including work by residents and community-based art groups.” 

The BCA Photo Group returns for their fifth invited show to the library gallery. This exhibition is entitled “The Photographer’s Eye,” and showcases 25 pieces of photography from an assortment of photographic styles created by members of the BCA Photo Group. The show was curated by Gillian Ross, co-owner and curator of Gallery Twist in Lexington. 

In a juror’s statement, Ross said, “In making selections for this exhibition of photography the aim was to show the diverse ways in which a photographer ‘sees’ in any given situation, and can thus draw us alongside them to notice what was significant to them about the subject matter they have captured.”

Artists with artwork selected include Pip Shipley, Martha Wakefield, Robert Bicknell, Joseph Gallagher, William Feiring, Paul Scopa, Bruce Magnuson, Mark Levinson, Ellen Royalty, Sally Naish, Marv Goldschmitt, Linda Wolk, Richard Krusemark, Bonnie Newman, Bob Bass, Susan Kottler, Deb Lannon, William Daniels, Joan Robbio, Peter Shaw, Helena Long, Carl Silvia, Charles Mazel, Diane Bennett, and Lisa Redburn.

The show runs through Jan. 10. A reception will be held at the Library from 5 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 19. Ross will speak about the exhibit and her process of selecting the artist and putting together the show. 

The BCA Photo Group was formed under the auspices of the Bedford Center for the Arts in 2010 by a handful of photographers joining to share technical tips and troubleshooting. The photography group remained when the Bedford Center for the Arts closed down. The non-competitive group has grown to nearly 100 members, from novice to advanced professionals, running across the spectrum of photography interests (concerts, birds, street, portraits, landscape, to name a few) from Bedford and surrounding towns as far away as Western Massachusetts. 

The group has regular programming (generally twice per month, and currently over Zoom) based on education and building community and welcomes and encourages anyone interested to check out a meeting or two and join the group. Programming ranges from technical training on photo editing software, to talks about careers and experiences by renowned photographers from different genres, to members sharing their work. Helena Long, BCA Photo Group vice president and member of the Programming Committee said “tuning in twice a month group members are always exposed to something new.” 

Long mentioned some exciting upcoming programming including Dan Burkholder’s “iPhone Artistry” presentation later this month (November 28 at 7 p.m.), and a Suzanne Révy landscape presentation this spring followed by a return visit in which Révy will look at and discuss submissions by members of the BCA Photo Group. 

And of course, Long is looking ahead to the upcoming exhibit, reception, and Juror discussion at the Library. 

More information about the BCA Photo group can be found at https://bcaphoto.org/
More information about the library art exhibits and library hours can be found at https://www.bedfordlibrary.net/.

A good photographer prepares and prepares some more, but things are rarely totally in our control. And so, there is often an element of luck involved in the craft. Why is it the best photographers seem to be some of the luckiest? This great video follows a photographer working through some images and discussing why luck often isn’t really luck at all. 

Coming to you from Joshua Peg, this insightful video discusses luck and opportunity. The old saying is “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” In most genres of photography, there is an element of randomness, whether it is the weather, the light, who crosses the frame, or something else. And it might be easy to think that some photographers are simply luckier than others, but the truth is that those who are consistently producing images borne of seemingly fortuitous circumstances are doing so for two reasons. First, they have practiced and practiced their craft so when those moments arrive, they are ready. Second, they simply put themselves out there as much as possible so they are there when those magical moments arrive. After all, you can’t capture those shots if you aren’t there when they happen. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Peg.

This was taken in the summer of 2015 at Lake Balaton in Hungary, and the woman in the photo is my friend Kati. We had just turned 30 and were happy to be single, to not have children and to be free. There was something about that summer for me that had this power. We weren’t questioning our femininity, we weren’t questioning our bodies any more. Kati and Nati are two of my closest friends and we spent that whole summer together, going to the beach, swimming and taking photos. All that mattered to us back then was finding someone we could fall in love with.

Balaton is the biggest lake in Hungary, the biggest in central Europe, in fact. For us Hungarians, it represents the summer. As kids, you’d finish school in June and then until September you’d be at your grandma’s house at the lake. You’d bike around, sit in the garden, read books. They were just these endless post-communist summers with German tourists and Hungarian schoolkids.

The photo was taken in an outdoor shower. Natasha is holding a mirror, putting the light on Kati. We spent a lot of time the day before figuring out how to do it and finding the perfect moment. The idea was to capture this ephemeral moment of self-confidence.

The whole shoot took two or three days, with Kati and Nati running around in the fields, getting naked, swimming. It was kind of amazing to have this time where all you care about is how the water falls and how the light hits. I had the freedom to just make a beautiful image. Because suddenly, after that, the world changed.

During the last days of summer in 2015, there was a refugee crisis in Hungary. Political polarisation increased and many countries, including Hungary, tightened their asylum laws. The government even went as far as building a fence on the border with Serbia and Croatia, forcing asylum-seekers heading west to go through other countries. This crisis had a big impact on us. Those people were desperate, travelling with bags and kids. They’d left everything else behind them. It really hit me that there is a moment when you sacrifice everything in the hope of a better life for your children and family. Propaganda told us to call them migrants not refugees, but they were all just humans.

The summer after that, I met my husband. There was the Brexit vote in the UK, Trump was elected, the Paris agreement brought the climate crisis into sharper focus, and everything started to feel more grown-up.

As a Hungarian growing up under communism, and living now with today’s media manipulation, I feel a huge uncertainty for all of us about what’s real and what’s not. I question everything. Is the end of the world really coming? Did I make a mistake having children? Who do I believe? It is especially hard to navigate the news here in Hungary, because almost all of it is rightwing and controlled by the government. So any alternative views either come through social media or from a few uncorrupt media platforms.

Today, the majority of Lake Balaton has been privatised and developed by people who are close to the government. The System of National Cooperation (Hungarian acronym NER) is creating a new rightwing upper-class in the country. They have acquired most of the old summer camping areas, where a lot of Hungarian kids once got to know the “Balaton feeling”. They are destroying the original lakehouse-style buildings and erecting ugly apartment complexes: “NER cubes” we call them. They all look the same. The north side of the lake is now getting very posh, with lots of lavender ice-cream sort of places.

I still see Kati and Nati often, but in the last eight years a lot has changed. We have very different lives now. Nati is a mother of one, now single. Kati is in a relationship. I am married with two children, working on borrowed time. Looking at those images from that endless summer of 2015 makes me realise that we need beauty and compassion more than ever to remind us of our shared humanity.

Andi’s Gáldi Vinkó’s CV
Born: Budapest, 1982
Trained: Moholy-Nagy University of Art, Budapest
Influences: “Nan Goldin, Arthur Jafa, Siân Davey, I love Sofia Coppola, Vivienne Westwood and Beyoncé. And, of course, the friends who are in my photos.”
High point: “Winning the Kraszna-Krausz photography book award, for my book Sorry I Gave Birth I Disappeared But Now I’m Back. I don’t accept any funding or any grants from the Hungarian government so winning the prize means two things. One, that I was right; there is still a lot to say about motherhood. And second, it is worth it as a Hungarian artist to refuse to accept any government funded grants because I’ve shown it is possible to create work and get the acknowledgment without compromises.”
Low point: “When I started talking about making my book about motherhood. No one really believed in it.”
Top tip: “Be patient.”

Being a photographer can be a challenging but rewarding career, but it is not without risks one should be aware of before they choose to enter it. This fantastic video essay features an experienced commercial photographer discussing some important truths about being a professional that every creative should be aware of. 

Coming to you from Scott Choucino of Tin House Studio, this excellent video essay discusses some of the crucial truths of being a professional photographer. Without a doubt, being a professional photographer comes with risks, a high dose of competition, and no guarantee of finding success and stability. One thing that can be particularly anxiety-inducing for many people is the irregularity of the income. And you will often spend many hours alone. On the other hand, it can be a really rewarding career for the right kind of person. For the fiercely independent person, the freedom to control virtually all aspects of their professional life can be exciting. Certainly, it is not a career you should enter unless you cannot imagine yourself doing literally anything else, but if it’s something you are interested in, be sure you are aware of everything it entails. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Choucino.

In a week where two very different trinity lenses were announced by the two leading camera brands, Sony has stated its belief that “the professional photographer is quite conservative” in discussing its traditional 300mm f/2.8 lens design. 

Less  than a week ago the groundbreaking Canon RF 24-105mm f/2.8L IS USM Z was revealed – a lens that I called a “trinity buster” for its revolutionary approach to the predictable f/2.8 zoom lens range. Yesterday Sony launched its much-anticipated Sony FE 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS – completing its lineup of trinity telephoto lenses. 

Two brilliant lenses, and two very different tacks. Canon set out to break the mold, while Sony set out to fill a longstanding gap in its lineup – one that has existed since Sony’s A-Mount version, released in 2008. Indeed, even Sony shooter and multi-award-winning sports photographer Bob Martin called it “the missing link in Sony’s telephoto lineup.” 

At the launch event in Turkey, we were given the opportunity to quiz Sony execs and engineers. We didn’t get an answer to the question of why the 300mm f/2.8 had taken so long to arrive, but we did receive a response when asked a follow-up question of why the lens wasn’t more daring. Could Sony have done something more than offer a traditional 300mm prime – try something different, push the optical design, add a built-in teleconverter?  

“That’s a good question,” said Yann Salmon-Legagneur, head of marketing for Sony Europe. “In general, the thing is, I think the photographer is quite conservative, and we mean the professional photographer is quite conservative. So it’s always a balance between innovation and the traditional approach in a lens lineup. 

“And you can see that some lenses – I think it was the 20-70 [the Sony FE 20-70mm f/4 G] – that we did have some different approach that hasn’t been done. But the priority on this lens, on this particular lens, is really to provide the top of the quality in terms of focusing and resolution for pro photographers. So here, on this particular lens, no off-piste.”

It’s an interesting position. There’s definitely something to be said, after such a long wait, for a 300mm f/2.8 lens with more bells and whistles – whether that’s a teleconverter or a slightly quirky focal length or whatever else. But then again, that’s not delivering the lens that photographers have had such a long wait for. 

As much as I love Canon’s boundary-pushing pro lenses that do buck convention, whether it’s the Canon RF 28-70mm f/2 or that new RF 25-105mm f/2.8, I’ve no idea how well they actually sell. Maybe they’re just prestige optics. Maybe not enough people want them. Maybe they don’t justify their R&D cost. 

At the end of the day, pro shooters don’t want cool stuff – they want what they need. And what they need, in this case, is a standard issue 300mm f/2.8. It’s certainly interesting, though, to hear Sony spell things out so clearly. 

Take a look at the best Sony lenses, and see how the new 300mm f/2.8 compares with the best Sony telephoto lenses and the best telephoto lenses from all brands. If you’re looking for seasonal savings, check out the best Sony Black Friday deals and the best Black Friday camera deals overall.

Earlier this year, we spoke to Harry Hall about his penchant for documenting people enjoying some of leisure’s greatest niches. At the time, he was capturing a community of fen skaters in East Anglia, catching them in moments of pause with tender portraits. Continuing on his work rooted in a world of reportage and documentary, Harry has taken his camera to photographing ploughmen and women in competition, making up his new venturesome series, The Sow Must Go On.

With a desire to capture the changing of the seasons, the competition presented the chance for Harry to tell another rural story. “I grew up in Suffolk and now I’m based in London, and maybe [in my personal work] I feel a responsibility to tell stories close to home or in the countryside,” he tells us. After some time traversing The Society of Ploughmans’ website, he became familiar with the competitions for the summer to autumn transition. “From the list I was able to contact some farmers and hosts directly to discuss my plans to create a portrait of a ploughing match,” he adds.

With the nature of close-knit community events, it’s no wonder when members become suspicious of outsiders with cameras, but Harry was adamant on building a rapport on his visit to the East Anglican branch of the Vintage Tractor and Engine Club. “They were really receptive to my interest and I had someone to refer to when I went up to people in the fields and asked to take their picture,” he tells us. “People are quick to see through fake curiosity, genuine interest will always help to build relationships quickly.” Much like his last personal series, The Sow Must Go On isn’t overly busy or trying to depict the technicalities of ploughing. They range from communal to familial with an air of mundanity. In one portrait of two young boys and an older ploughman, you get the feeling of ploughing and competitions as something to be passed down to the younger generations, a choice in documentation that perhaps stems from Harry’s relationship to farming through his grandparents.

Editor’s Note: Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex’s Perpetual Planet initiative has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action.

An animal grazes, oblivious to another tracking it silently from behind. The predator waits for the perfect moment, then pounces. It’s over in a flash.

It’s a scene most of us might associate with an open savannah in a nature documentary, but photographer Andy Murray is watching the drama unfold from his back garden in Somerset, UK. He’s on his knees, staring through a loupe (a small magnifying glass) as a 6-millimeter-long pseudoscorpion takes out a springtail more than half its size.

To Murray, these microscopic soil animals are as fascinating as the lions and zebras you might see on safari – just far more accessible, if you know where to look.

“They live in this tiny world; it works like our world, it’s just on a really small scale,” he tells CNN. “If you watch it long enough, you can see the same things go on: you can see hunters and the hunted, you can see grazing animals, you see bizarre and funny interactions.”

And your chances of seeing some form of soil life, albeit through a magnifying glass, are high. According to a recent study published in the journal PNAS, more than half of all species live in the soil, making it the most species-rich habitat on Earth.

Yet despite this wealth of life, the creatures living in the soil beneath our feet are relatively unknown. Murray wants this to change and hopes that through macro photography he will be able to unearth the quirks and characteristics of these extraordinary animals and make a case for their protection.

“Photographing a world that hasn’t been photographed much before is a huge thrill,” he says. “It’s an explorer feeling, it’s exactly the same as why people went up Everest or to the North Pole, just on a small scale.”

Exploring the unknown

Murray, 56, recalls how his interest in the microscopic dates to when he was a child, but for years technology limitations meant he was unable to share what he saw. Over a decade ago, when macro photography became possible on a digital camera, he devoted himself to the craft, juggling it alongside jobs as a musician, a chef, and currently as a freelance copy editor.

While he has no scientific background, Murray says he has “the tools and the passion” and has clocked up well over 10,000 hours in the field in Europe as well as Australia and New Zealand.

During this time, he estimates he has discovered 30 new species, including one in a pond in his garden. His photographs have been used in scientific reports, including the recent PNAS study, and he also documents his findings on his website “The Chaos of Delight.”

But there’s a danger that some soil animals may go extinct before they are even identified, as their habitat becomes increasingly degraded due to intensive agriculture and deforestation. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization, a third of the Earth’s soil is already eroded and this could reach a shocking 90% by 2050.

Losing these organisms would have huge ripple effects, explains Mark Anthony, an ecologist at the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, and co-author of the PNAS report. The tiny creatures play an outsized role for the planet, both as decomposers and as a key food source for animals higher up on the food chain.

“That decomposition is critical. Without it, we wouldn’t have carbon accumulate in the soil and we would be buried in organic materials,” he says.

The report found that soil is likely home to 59% of the species on Earth, from microbes to mammals (although it notes a large error range of 15%, pointing to the difficulty in estimating soil biodiversity). Anthony hopes that illustrating the sheer scale of soil life will help to conserve it, comparing the research to a government census: “You take a census to get a sense for where people live, or where you need to distribute resources to support them. This is basically a census to try and say, ‘Hey, we have resources we’re putting into the biodiversity crisis, we should reallocate more of those resources to focus on soil conservation.’”

Cute critters

The challenge is making people care about soil’s creepy-crawlies as much as they do about elephants, penguins, or other conventionally cute and more visible animals.

This is where Murray’s photography comes in. Capturing the colors, bulges, textures and faces of these otherworldly creatures can make them relatable.

His heart is with the springtails, the first soil animal, besides regular worms and wood lice, he ever set eyes on. The tiny critters are found all over the world, capable of surviving extreme temperatures, but they are often considered pests and controlled with insecticides because of the damage they can cause to crops.

He believes that if people could see them up close and witness their colors and complexities, this view might change. “They’re just weird and squashy and interesting, and they’ve got faces,” he says. “It’s very hard to look at them and not find them cute.”

By observing the creatures interact in their natural habitat, Murray is also helping to feed the science. “He captures moments of soil life doing interesting and cool things,” says Anthony, such as laying eggs in a place where we would never expect. “It gives us an appreciation of what they’re doing when they’re in their home.”

Despite the seemingly limitless subject material, Murray believes he may be one of only a dozen or so professional photographers in the world focusing on soil animals. There is so much more to be discovered, and these extraordinary, alien-like animals are on all our doorsteps.

“Every single person with a loupe can go into a garden or a park and they can see the things that I see,” says Murray. “It’s all there – it’s just another world.”

Wendy Ewald, Johnny watching television, 1981

Wendy Ewald is an American photographer and teacher. Ewald has collaborated on photography projects with children, families, women, workers and teachers. Her projects start as documentary investigations and move on to probe questions of identity and cultural differences. Her work is in the collections of Detroit Art Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Duke University, Rhode Island School of Design and Whitney Museum of American Art, among others

Photograph: Wendy Ewald/Courtesy Stephen Bulger Gallery