Let’s not kid ourselves: The most exciting thing about the Google Pixel 8 Pro (and 8, for that matter) is the camera, and because of Google’s commanding position when it comes to computational photography, anyone interested in the state-of-the-art will be paying extra attention to this smartphone’s yearly upgrade. My entire life is essentially a tug-of-war between my desire to take great photos and my desire to carry as little equipment as possible, so I’m particularly interested what’s new camera-wise.

All the megapixels

Google made a big deal at the launch event for the Pixel 8 about the improved camera modules in the phones. The 8 Pro gets improvements across the board, with the ultrawide jumping from 12 megapixels to 48 megapixels. that joins a 50 megapixel main sensor, and a 48 megapixel sensor for the 5x optical zoom, too.

By default, Google will use all those megapixels to run some computer magic and generate a 12.5 megapixel final image that won’t eat up all your storage and that provides some excellent benefits in terms of color rendering, noise and more at the expense of detail. You can also opt to turn on high megapixel mode, however, and capture at the full resolution of the sensor – handy if you’re looking to print or crop the image, for instance.

Full 50 megapixel JPEG capture from Pixel 8 Pro

Crop of a 50 megapixel image for detail. Image Credits: Darrell Etherington

The nice thing about these options is that there are a lot of options, depending on your needs: You can capture in jpeg with standard settings for social and friends/family sharing, and Google will do the heavy lifting to get you a great result. Or you can capture in high megapixel mode, with jpegs, for flexibility when it comes to cropping and sharing. Or you can go whole hog, capture in RAW+JPEG mode, and high megapixel, and get eminently editable RAW files for manipulation in Lightroom or your favorite editing software, along with a JPEG ready to share complete with Google’s image magic applied.

RAW (softer, less vibrant) vs. JPEG from the Pixel 8 Pro camera

The 5x zoom is also excellent in high resolution mode, and provides ample detail and crisp rendering when shooting in JPEG with Google’s autocorrection applied. Having all that detail available with that range is a huge advantage when it comes to pocket photography, and means you have one less reason to carry around a dedicated camera body with a long-range optical zoom lens.

The improved resolution on the ultrawide likewise makes these photos more usable, but in my testing it’s still probably the weakest of the cameras. It does produce some interesting results when it comes to macro (more on that below) thanks to the better resolution and improved autofocus, however.

Google Pixel 8 Pro ultrawide camera sample

How Pro can you go?

Exclusive to the Pixel 8 Pro are the new ‘Pro’ settings, which subsequent testing has shown appears to be largely a software locking decision by Google. Regardless of why the 8 Pro is the only one to get the Pro settings, it’s worth considering whether they’ll actually be useful to you and your workflow, given what they offer.

Basically, they let you tweak the resolution from 12 MP to full 50 MP, allow you to select to shoot in RAW+JPEG, and let you manually choose between the three hardware lenses, rather than leaving it up to Google to pick based on lighting conditions, scene, etc.

Google Pixel 8 Pro camera settings screen

That’s not much, but they are clutch settings if you actually do want to make the most of the pictures you’re taking in editing software, so it’s understandable that Google appends the ‘Pro’ moniker here. In my use, the lens selection setting generated the most potential confusion, since it led to the camera app crashing (seemingly resolved in an update distributed earlier in the day on the same day the review embargo lifted) but also meant you might make a poor choice and get a worse quality overall image by overriding Google’s software smarts.

These settings, especially couched as they are in a secondary tab in the general settings menu in the camera app, are actually quite useful, however, and seem arbitrarily limited to the Pro model. I understand it as a differentiator, but hopefully Google relents and rolls these out to non-pro Pixel 8 devices at the very least in future.

Macromania

Google was big on touting the enhanced macro capabilities of the Pixel 8 Pro, made possible in part by the better resolution and autofocus of the new ultrawide camera. In practice, I found that macro mode could indeed produce some truly outstanding results – with the caveat that it’s still not quite as foolproof as using the main camera, for example.

Macro shot of the underside of a mushroom from the Google Pixel 8 Pro

Mostly, the challenge comes in trying to capture macro shots handheld outdoors when there’s anything working against you – wind, for instance, or anything less than full, direct sunlight. Google’s computational photography does an admirable job of correcting for shake, but in my experience it was still hard to completely avoid some kind of blurring in the final image, especially when trying to get incredibly close to the subject. Plus, it’s hard to nail the target of the focus with high specificity, too.

Macro shot of a leaf from the Google Pixel 8 Pro

That said, the resulting macro pictures are still quite stunning, and perfectly suitable for social/digital use – and much improved from earlier generations.

Bottom line

Google gets major props for delivering a camera system that works out of the box to a standard few of its peers can even attempt to live up to. The front selfie camera works astoundingly well, and the color rendering, sharpening, portrait mode blur, dynamic range and just about everything else lends a special quality to these photos that can’t really be matched by other smartphone camera systems out there. Does it still fall down when compared to a dedicated, interchangeable lens (or even fancy fixed lens) camera? Of course, but the distinction is increasingly academic for anyone not taking photos for print or professional purposes. If your number one priority when buying a smartphone is camera, the Pixel 8 Pro simply can’t be beat.

Google’s new $700 Pixel 8 lets you use artificial intelligence to add or remove elements from your images. It’s not clear we really need this.

Have we reached peak smartphone? The premium brands have had their annual launches – such as the Samsung Galaxy S23 and the Apple iPhone 15 – and offer only incremental improvements on what was available the previous year. Now it’s Google’s turn, with the debut of the Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. 

What’s most notable about the eighth iteration of the company’s flagship Android device is how AI has become much more embedded and present. Google’s AI systems have sneaked their way into search as well as generative systems like text and image generation, not to mention photographic ‘support’. 

Google Pixel 8 Pro and its AI revolution

It’s the last where the Pixel has traditionally excelled, but while the latest version takes fantastic photographs, it feels that the emphasis is shaping the world one sees, rather than displaying it as it is. Apple’s equally impressive photographic capabilities are pitched more at the traditional photographer, someone who will process after the shoot, rather than use the rather cruder tools in the phone itself. iPhones have been able to shoot RAW files for a while, whereas it’s a new option on the Pixel 8 Pro.

A smartphone isn’t a camera, of course, but a very sophisticated image processor. ‘Pro Controls’ aside, both of the Pixel 8 phones have a suite of AI-driven tools that are designed to buff out the rough edges of life. The Pro has four cameras, including a 50 MP main camera, an ultrawide, telephoto and 10.5 MP front camera. Photographic results can be shaped using ‘Best Take’, which blends a burst of similar images to ensure that everyone is smiling, or not blinking. 

There’s also the forthcoming Magic Editor (unavailable at time of review), something Google describe as an ‘experimental editing experience’. This builds on the Magic Eraser tool introduced in the Pixel 7 phones but doesn’t just allow for stray photobombers to be seamlessly and automatically banished. Instead, you can apparently reposition objects within the frame, change an overcast sky to a dramatic sunset and inflict all manner of trickery on even the most casual snapshot. 

It begs the question, what next? This will be an experimental feature, with the computations presumably taking place in the cloud (hence recent warnings about the burgeoning energy consumption of relatively trivial AI applications). Google is prefacing the feature with a warning, acknowledging that ‘… we know there are going to be times when the result isn’t exactly what you imagined’. This conjures up a potential hellscape of twisted AI fingers and unwanted excursions into the uncanny valley, all taking their place in your precious photo folder. 

Also available is a slightly gimmicky AI-generated wallpaper app, which conjures up backdrops based on a set of pre-loaded cues. Promised this week are even more AI-driven features, including Zoom Enhance, which lets you zoom into a photograph and use generative AI to sharpen up the details; a more flexible and powerful Magic Eraser tool, and the introduction of Audio Magic Eraser, which is designed to ‘clean up’ buzzy and blowy video soundtracks. More alarming still is the imminent arrival of Google’s conversational AI model, Bard, which can be used to generate descriptions, social media posts and other potential nuisances. 

The AI feature creep notwithstanding, this is properly premium device, especially the Pro model. A polished aluminium frame and matte back glass support a 6.7in screen, making it a fraction larger than the iPhone 15 Pro Max. If you can face covering this beautifully finished device with a case, then your Pixel 8 will undoubtedly last a while; another quiet advance is the fact that the Pixel 8 comes with seven years of software support, guaranteeing you software and security updates until October 2030. Pixel 7 Pro owners can say goodbye to new software from October 2025. 

This projected longevity brings us back to the first question; have we reached the point where always opting for an annual (or even biannual) update is simply too resource-hungry. It’s true that used phones cascade down through the second-hand marketplace for years, but the Pixel is very far from being a simple device to repair (although Google has promised to keep a stock of spare parts for seven years as well). It’ll be interesting to see how many buyers can hold on to their Pixel into the 2030s. 

The devices ship with the new Android 14 operating system, a stealthy upgrade that makes sure to flatter the required muscle memory and physical interactivity of previous versions so as not to put anyone off. Also new to market is the second iteration of Google’s Pixel watch, which majors in bolstered fitness and health tracking, along with better speed and battery life. 

Surprisingly, the Pixel range has a relatively small share of the overall phone market (about 5 per cent), especially given Google’s huge sway and overall control of the Android OS. It is undoubtedly a fantastic device, fast and powerful, and rich with features. However, it also offers the very first interaction with generative AI for huge numbers of people, potentially adding yet another layer of confusion and distraction to an already over-saturated world.  

Google Pixel 8 Pro, from £999, Store.Google.com

F​rench underwater photographer and marine biologist Laurent Ballesta won Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023 for his gorgeous photo of a tri-spine horseshoe crab in the waters off of Pangatalan Island, Philippines. His image was selected out of nearly 50,000 entries from around the world.

(​MORE: Finalists In The 2023 Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards Released)

B​allesta is now a two-time winner of the grand prize. The photographer won the 2021 competition as well, for an image of mating camouflage grouper taken in French Polynesia.

T​he Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London. This year’s competition featured 19 categories, including “Animals in their Environment,” “Underwater” and “Plants and Fungi.” The competition also includes Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards for age groups including “10 and Under,” “11 to 14 Years” and “15 to 17 Years.”

D​irector of the Natural History Museum, Dr. Doug Gurr, explained in a press release that “whilst inspiring absolute awe and wonder, this year’s winning images present compelling evidence of our impact on nature — both positive and negative. Global promises must shift to action to turn the tide on nature’s decline.”

W​inning images will be displayed at London’s Natural History Museum from Friday, Oct. 13, 2023 through Sunday, June 30, 2024.

C​lick through the slideshow above to see some of this year’s winners.

Senior editor Nicole Bonaccorso works as weather.com’s photo editor and writes about breaking news, travel, climate and more.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

Although primarily known for his interiors and furniture design, Ettore Sottsass also explored the possibilities of photography – using it to document his travels and landscape interventions.

Hosted at the Sala Sottsass in Milan as part of Triennale Milano, the Ettore Sottsass: Design Metaphors exhibition showcases the Italian architect’s body of photographic work, created in the 1970s when he had largely paused his design work.

Between 1972 and ’78, Sottsass embarked on what design critic Barbara Radice calls ‘a semi-nomadic life’, exploring Barcelona, Madrid, Almeria, Granada and the Pyrenees. His travels led to a series entitled Metafore, capturing ‘constructions’ on the landscape – temporary structures often made of materials including wood, ribbon, leaves or string.

Later photographs were taken on trips to America, Greece, the Middle East and Italy, with these latter images bringing the human figure into the landscape. ‘The themes always concern architecture as a background and support for existence, commenting on it through thoughts and occasions of everyday life, with the lightness and charm of a travel journal,’ writes Radice.

These are brought together for the exhibition, which is on display until April 21, 2024. They appear alongside a permanent collection at Sala Sottsass, which recreates the interior of a private residence he designed in the 1960s.

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If you’re looking for a breath of fresh air, we have just the thing: the newly-crowned winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

The London Museum of History, which runs the prestigious contest, revealed the winning images at a ceremony on Tuesday. It said an international panel of expert judges chose the 19 category winners out of 49,957 entries from 95 countries, based on their originality, narrative, technical excellence, and ethical practice.

The images take us underwater, deep into the woods and high above cities. They come from different parts of the world and tell the stories of various species. But they all showcase the diversity — and precarity — of life on Earth.

“Whilst inspiring absolute awe and wonder, this year’s winning images present compelling evidence of our impact on nature – both positive and negative,” said Doug Gurr, the director of the Natural History Museum. “Global promises must shift to action to turn the tide on nature’s decline.”

That’s especially true of the two grand title winners.

French marine biologist and underwater photographer Laurent Ballesta was awarded Wildlife Photographer of the Year for his “otherworldly” image of a tri-spine horseshoe crab accompanied by three golden trevallies.

This is actually his second win, which contest organizers say is unprecedented. He took home the grand title in 2021 for his images of mating camouflage groupers in French Polynesia. Both portfolios focused on endangered species in protected waters.

Tri-spine horseshoe crabs have survived for more than 100 million years. Fossil evidence from Lebanon shows they were scuttling through warm waters at the same time dinosaurs roamed the land and skies.

But they are now under threat from habitat destruction and overfishing, with hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs harvested annually to be used both as bait for other species and for scientific research. Their blue blood is used in the development of vaccines — though that could soon start to change.

Ballesta documented the species as they feed, mate and thrive in the protected waters of Pangatalan Island in the Philippines. The Natural History museum said the images took the judges by surprise.

“To see a horseshoe crab so vibrantly alive in its natural habitat, in such a hauntingly beautiful way, was astonishing,” said jury chair Kathy Moran. “We are looking at an ancient species, highly endangered, and also critical to human health. This photo is luminescent.”

The Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year award went to 17-year-old Carmel Bechler of Israel for his dynamic shot of barn owls in an abandoned roadside building. He used natural light and long exposure times to capture the light from passing traffic.

Bechler said his work aims to show that “the beauty of the natural world is all around us, even in places where we least expect it to be, we just need to open our eyes and our minds.”

To the judges, the contrast between the neon lights and nesting owls highlights a growing tension between humans and wildlife.

“It simultaneously screams ‘habitat destruction’ and ‘adaptation,’ begging the question: If wildlife can adapt to our environment, why can’t we respect theirs?” Moran said.

The other winning shots raise similar questions.

Karine Aigner of the U.S. won the photojournalist story award for her portfolio focused on hunting competitions in Texas, for example. Overhead views of a polluted river in Indonesia and bulldozed land in Mexico serve as stark reminders of the impact humans are having on their own environment.

All of the images will be on display as part of an exhibit at London Natural History Museum that opens Friday. It will tour across the U.K. and to other countries including Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand and Singapore before it closes in late June 2024.

Then it will be nearly time to award a whole new batch of winners. The historic 60th edition of the competition will be accepting submissions starting Monday and until early December.

In the meantime, check out a sampling of this year’s winners:

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London.

A “living fossil” that’s persisted on Earth for over 445 million years earned Laurent Ballesta the title of Wildlife Photographer Of The Year for 2023. The Grand Title winner submitted the mesmerizing shot of a golden horseshoe crab as part of a portfolio that took two weeks of diving for six hours a day to shoot.

“These animals are well known because, in some parts of the world, they come out of the water, thousands of them, to spawn on the beaches,” Ballesta told IFLScience. “But they’re not often photographed in the water because normally the places where they like to live, it’s muddy waters with zero visibility. We were lucky to find this place where there is enough visibility[…] that was not deep, for once.”

Laurent has a lot of experience with deep dives, having scooped Wildlife Photographer Of The Year back in 2021 for his ghostly image of groupers spawning – an event that takes place in less than a second within a single window of the year, meanwhile, the horseshoe crab mates for a cool 15 days.

ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.

“Everything was easy, except that you need to dive day in, day out,” Ballesta continued. “The only pressure was to keep everybody motivated and have the discipline to go back every day and night because you don’t find them all the time, but when you do find them, then it’s easy.”

For over 445 million years, horseshoe crabs have been scuttling across the ocean floor, but in the modern era, they are under threat due to the unique medicinal value of their blue blood. It’s been used in vaccines, including those deployed to manage COVID-19, but there are now recombinants, made from synthetic proteins, that can do the same job. It’s the view of the WPOTY judging panel that shining a light on these magnificent creatures could pivot companies away from the precious resource of their blood and toward more sustainable alternatives.

Another familiar face at the 2023 competition was presenter and wildlife photographer Bertie Gregory. Having just launched his latest National Geographic series on Disney+, Animals Up Close (which includes incredible footage of a puma hunting at night), Gregory was awarded the winner of the Behaviour: Mammals category.

“Every time I think we’ve seen all the hunting strategies these killer whales have, they do something completely new,” Gregory told IFLScience. “I think what’s amazing about the behaviour is that there are a lot of hunting strategies animals use that are instinctive, whereas this is more artful. They’re not born knowing how to do it, they train like a professional athlete over decades learning how to do it from their parents – from their mum – training to be able to do it.”

ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.

“You’ll see them when they’re hunting, they’re all spread out over maybe a kilometre, all checking the ice independently of each other by spy hopping and checking for seals. As soon as one finds it, it drops down and then they all disappear, and it’s because that one’s obviously letting out a call to say ‘I’ve found one’.”

“They all come over, and then before they start wave washing, there’s this period where they’re all looking and it’s very slow and methodical, and clearly, they’re chatting about how they’re going to do it, which angle to come from. Everyone always wants to know how smart wild animals are and, to me, that’s [the] most incredible display of animal intelligence.”

See more of the stunning images from the 2023 Wildlife Photographer Competition below, or get your tickets now to see the exhibition in person at London’s Natural History Museum.

Last breath of autumn by Agorastos Papatsanis, Greece
Winner, Plants and Fungi

Agorastos Papatsanis used a photographic umbrella and plastic bag to protect his kit while snapping this mystical photograph of a parasol mushroom releasing billions of spores from the gills under its cap. Usually unseen, they travel in air currents and some will land where there is moisture and food, enabling them to grow and establish their own networks under the forest floor.

The tadpole banquet by Juan Jesús Gonzalez Ahumada, Spain
Winner, Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles

A dead fledgling sparrow becomes a feast for an unexpected group of scavengers in Juan Jesús Gonzalez Ahumada’s winning shot. Common toad tadpoles will eat anything from algae to vegetation and tiny swimming invertebrates. The bigger they get, so too do their appetites, and large carnivorous tadpoles will gladly take full advantage of a banquet such as this one.

Lights fantastic by Sriram Murali, India
Winner, Behaviour: Invertebrates

Fireflies trip the light fantastic in this illuminating shot by Sriram Murali that showcases the night sky of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu, India. Murali combined 50 19-second exposures to capture the bioluminescent flashes produced by these small beetles over 16 minutes.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London, and is open from October 13, 2023 until June 30, 2024.

A new group exhibition at New York’s International Center of Photography showcases the work of three photographers produced during far-flung residencies. One journeyed to the islands of Guadeloupe, another to the borderlands of France, and the other to New Orleans. Each distinctly disparate project receives its own section, but the show has an overall cohesion. Although all three artists used different methodology and approaches, a throughline resounds; in his own way each was gracefully, soulfully reflecting the human condition and spirit.

“Immersion” is on view until January 8, 2024, and documents Gregory Halpern, Raymond Meeks, and Vasantha Yogananthan’s sojourns. “I think all of us are intuitive in terms of the way that we work,” Halpern said. “I was trying to respond to the feeling of the place.” Overall, the experience is a celebration of resilience, but it can also unflinchingly explore some hard truths.

Vasantha Yogananthan, Untitled from “Mystery Street,” (2022). © Vasantha Yogananthan

Yoganthanan delivered colorful childhood Louisiana reveries. Halpern reflected on the reverberations of the colonial period and the slave trade in Guadeloupe. Meeks’s somber and oddly beautiful, mostly black-and-white series delves into immigrant crossings (made during his own personal crossroads). He captures displacement and human desperation in landscapes and still lifes without portraying people. Some of his images are so abstract they look like the surface of the moon.

One of Meeks’s abstract takes on landscapes in an Installation view, “Immersion: Gregory Halpern, Raymond Meeks, and Vasantha Yogananthan,” International Center of Photography, New York, September 29, 2023–January 8, 2024. Image: © Jeenah Moon for ICP.

Meeks explained, “As photographers, as much as we read the world, I think we’re also projecting. I was always projecting my own state of mind.”

Immersion is also the name of the French-American Photography Commission that sponsored the residencies created by the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès and presented in collaboration with ICP and the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson. At the heart of the project is unbridled creativity. “It’s very open,” said Laurent Pejoux, the director of the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès at last week’s busy vernissage. “They’re totally free to choose the subject. We don’t want to impose the project to the photographer. La liberté is an important notion in France. That’s why we support projects like this where the liberty was total.”

Halpern recreated a defaced bust of Christopher Columbus in this installation view, “Immersion: Gregory Halpern, Raymond Meeks, and Vasantha Yogananthan,” International Center of Photography, New York, September 29, 2023–January 8, 2024. Photo: © Jeenah Moon for ICP.

Each of the photographers also included a sculptural element to their project. Halpern recreated a defaced bust of Christopher Columbus and included flickering video screens depicting an invasion of cruise-ship tourists, Yogananthan gathered his images into an elegant, large-scale 3-D assemblage, while Meeks powerfully punctuated his section with rusted barbed wire and makeshift campfire grills sourced from the borderlands’ camps. We caught up with each on the evening of the opening for a brief walkthrough.

Vasantha Yogananthan

“Mystery Street”

Installation view, “Immersion: Gregory Halpern, Raymond Meeks, and Vasantha Yogananthan,” International Center of Photography, New York, September 29, 2023–January 8, 2024. Image: © Jeenah Moon for ICP.

New Orleans is a subtle character in your series. The images don’t scream that locale. There’s no crawfish clichés here.

I wanted to approach the city as a fictional space. I like that the pictures are very fragmentary. They don’t really show the landscape. For someone who knows New Orleans, maybe you feel the city—the colors, the light, the atmosphere. The project is about childhood. It can be from any place or anywhere in the world.

What was your process?

I picked the summertime to go because school was over and the children would be free all day long. There was a lot of boredom, as the days are longer. At first I was thinking that the project would be about playing. And then I got more interested about what happens before and after game time—these moments where the children are together it seems at first that nothing is happening, but maybe this is where everything is happening. After weeks being immersed with one group of kids, it almost felt dystopian, where the adults have left and the children are running the city and they’re free to do whatever they’d like to do. I really like that idea, of them owning the space.

Vasantha Yogananthan, Untitled from “Mystery Street” (2022). © Vasantha Yogananthan.

One image that is very striking is the child with the hula hoops on the stairs. 

Yeah, this picture was shot in a summer camp. For five weeks I would go there in the morning and stay all day long. Most days, nothing worth photographing would happen. One has to be very patient in observing kids. At some point, if you’re patient enough, and if you’re kind, and if you care, something is going to happen. Henri Cartier-Bresson coined ‘the decisive moment,’ meaning, ‘Hey, I was there, like, at the exact right time, right place, and I clicked a picture that kind of summarized what the place is about.’ My feeling was the opposite, because I was there for five weeks in the summer camp and made maybe five good pictures happen. Meaning that most of the time, nothing happens. The photographer, by just being there—and most of the time not taking any pictures—is taking in a lot of information.

Gregory Halpern

“Let The Sun Beheaded Be”

Gregory Halpern, Untitled from “Let the Sun Beheaded Be” (2019). © Gregory Halpern

What drew you to the island in the first place?

As a 10-year-old, I went on a vacation to Guadeloupe. What I remembered was the total isolation from the place itself as a tourist. I’m fascinated by the idea of not doing that with this project and thinking about how this is a place of both tourism but also extreme pain, in terms of its history and its relationship to colonialism and the slave trade. I did a lot of research. I thought people would be very resistant to me as a white American, but they were incredibly welcoming. I talked about the thing that isn’t talked about. Tourists come here and don’t interact with the local culture. When the elephant in the room gets addressed, then people are very happy to talk to you as an outsider. People were like, ‘Oh, that’s so interesting that you want to talk about the actual culture and history and what it’s like to be here, not just as a tourist.’ In 1815, Napoleon abolished slavery, but then reneged on it, and in 1848 it was officially undone.

Can you tell me about the video component?

Tourists will come off of these cruise boats and they basically flood the main city, Pointe-à-Pitre, for like, three hours. They basically go and they photograph the locals who are selling vegetables and fruits, and then they get back on the boat. And to me it was like this guy, he’s photographing this woman. He’s sneaking up because she doesn’t want her photo taken. She’s holding up a bowl to protect her face. For me, it’s all about politics and battle and colonialism. And it’s also kind of about me, like a self-portrait, because I’m basically a tourist and outsider.

Raymond Meeks

“The Inhabitants”

Raymond Meeks, Untitled from “The Inhabitants” (2022). © Raymond Meeks

This was a very complex journey for you.

Calais is the center of the refugee crisis in Europe. By the time I arrived, I found myself in a state of displacement. All of my stuff was going into storage, and a relationship of ten years had ended and I didn’t have a home. So going to France kind of put me in a state of searching and of longing and wanting to create a sense of place, some sense of home. I think it put me on a level of searching for discovery and empathy and a compassion for what that experience is. I was in southern France for three months; I was in northern France for three months. So it’s just trying to imagine these borderlands. I’m making pictures and then I’m bringing them back and I’m crafting a story. I’m trying to understand what the work is trying to convey, what the work wants to be, what it wants to speak of.

Installation view, “Immersion: Gregory Halpern, Raymond Meeks, and Vasantha Yogananthan,” International Center of Photography, New York, September 29, 2023–January 8, 2024. Photo: © Jeenah Moon for ICP.

There’s such brutalist imagery, like the cement with rebar poking through. It’s a rough landscape, but also beautiful. Nature seems to prevail. A lot of these structures look ancient. This work is about refugees, but none are depicted.

I had planned on doing portraits. I volunteered with an organization called Care4Calais that provided basic needs to refugees who were holding in Calais. And by doing so I became friends with quite a few of them. At that point I realized I didn’t want to do portraits. Because as I was interacting with them I realized I’m looking at them as a subject, not engaging with them as a human being. And I’m missing out on so much by thinking about what a picture of them might bring to my project. And that just felt exploitative to me. So I decided just to be present and to sort of try to carry the essence of their stories with me as I make pictures.

The installation of your show is so beautiful, from the excavation elements of found objects to the framing and how some photos are broken into grid-like quadrants.

With the sponsorship of Hermès, I had ultimate possibilities. I could have large silver gelatin prints made and the best framing, which would be a dream. Like, all this was a possibility for me. But that possibility also created a lot of confusion. I realized I don’t need to buy anything. Coming from this experience where, where human beings are just trying to make do with the things that are left behind, that they find, that are handed down to them—I just thought, like, I don’t want to consume more things. The constraint was that I will make use of what I have, I will make use of the wood, I will make everything myself. It became part of petitioning or prayer or like a meditation—and also just being deeply engaged in the creative process.

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