Early in my career, I realised that having a well-numbered archive with clear captions was something that would bring in an income for ever. I realised, too, that it was a good idea to go out and photograph unique subjects: the biggest, the smallest, things that were about to disappear. When you’re the only person who has photographed something that has been and gone, that gives you an enormous advantage when people want images of it in the future.

So whenever I heard of something that fitted that category, I’d trot off and photograph it. If someone wanted to publish the photographs at the time, great. But at the back of my mind was always the thought: “This is really for the future.” And that was the case when I attended the Isle of Wight festivals, all three, in 1968, 69 and 70. I knew I’d get some pictures – but of course it was also great fun.

There were some big acts on stage over those three years – Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix – but I knew the other 200 photographers would have them covered, all ending up with basically the same pictures. I was always much more interested in the spectators, the fans. There was certainly no shortage of people to photograph. The second festival was much better attended than the first, and there were rumours before the 1970 one that it was going to be the biggest concert the world had ever seen. I’ve since read that there were as many as 700,000 people there.

At big events, the first thing I always look for is the shot that shows how many people are there. I tend to shoot that picture first, because it usually means hiking up some bloody hill and if I don’t do it straightaway I’ll forget. Then I’ll do the journalistic thing and analyse what’s important – how do people live, where do they sleep, do they have their children with them – and photograph those. At the Isle of Wight, I ended up concentrating on a main group of a few hundred people.

Opportunities to wash were few and after a while we all started to smell. The heavy body odour hanging over everyone became increasingly difficult to ignore. Realising we weren’t that far from the beach, a group of about 300 of us went down to the sea to get clean. To do that properly, of course, you have to take your clothes off, so that’s what everyone did. When I took this, the only thing I had on was my camera strap. It seemed perfectly natural, I’d have felt more embarrassed if I was the only person fully clothed. There are a few people wearing swimming costumes, and I sometimes wonder if they’ve seen this since and wished they’d been bolder.

Salt water is actually not much use for getting clean, but in the picture everyone had congregated at a point where a freshwater stream ran into the sea. I don’t think the V-signs are aimed at anything in particular – that’s just what people did then. It’s a fun picture, totally joyous. The whole thing lasted no more than 15 minutes, then we got dressed and went back to the festival. I don’t remember anyone else being on the beach when we arrived, but as we left we passed old ladies and police who seemed none the wiser.

Actually, the police were very relaxed throughout. I’ve heard reports of trouble at the 1970 event but I didn’t see any – and I usually have a pretty good nose for that sort of thing. I have a picture of a group of Hell’s Angels at one of the festivals: they looked a bit threatening but I’ve always found that if you go up and started talking to people, they are charming.

In a sense, I’ve been shooting the same picture since 1955. My aim is always to make as truthful a record as possible. I don’t pose people or alter anything and never retouch. Every morning I wake up and say: “Well, I’m still here. That’s a good start.” Then I look out of the window and think: “It’s a new world, it’s not the same world as yesterday.” That means I’ve got lots to photograph. And whoopee, off I go.

This is one of over 100 images available in the Square Print Sale, at magnumphotos.com, 16-22 October, in which Magnum Photos partners with the World Press Photo Foundation

David Hurn’s CV

Born: Redhill, Surrey, 1934
Trained: Self-taught
Influences: Rodin, Bruegel, Seurat, later Sergio Larraín, Bruce Davidson
High point: “The Lucie award for achievement in documentary photography”
Low point: “Missing pictures because of not having a camera with me”
Top tip: “Wear good shoes”

Adobe has announced Firefly 2, the next iteration of its generative AI tool which will deliver “higher-quality” images and include a new “Generative Match” feature which seemingly spells bad news for photographers.

Firefly 2 was unveiled yesterday at the 2023 Adobe Max conference with the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool incorporated into Lightroom’s new lens blur feature that simulates depth of field along with a host of other tools.

However, it was the new “Generative Match” tool that will allow users to upload a reference image to guide the AI image generator to a specific style that prompted Adobe to comment that the new tools could mean less work for photographers.

Adobe is appealing to companies who want a “consistent look across assets.” It is offering brands the chance to generate hundreds, if not thousands of similar images for different uses such as websites, social media, and print advertisements.

The idea that brands can use Adobe’s tool to generate a large set of imagery could signal bad news for human creators, something Adobe’s chief technology officer for digital media, Ely Greenfield, appeared to confirm to Reuters.

“Up until a few months ago, it was still a very manual process to get all those photos — not only to take the photos but then to process them,” Greenfield says.

“Some amount of photography is going to move to virtual photography, where you’re generating from whole cloth. But a lot of it also is going to be, you do some amount of traditional photography or traditional creative work, and then you do a bunch of adaptation using this generative technology.”

Generative Match is still in beta mode which means users can’t use the output for commercial purposes yet. Any work generated by Generative Match will have a Content Credentials tag automatically attached to it which will mark it as being AI-generated.

Firefly 2 is currently available on Adobe’s web app and will be “coming soon” to its Creative Cloud apps.

Firefly 2’s New Features

At the Adobe Max conference, the company said that Firefly users have generated three billion images since the service was launched in March.

The new Firefly 2 image model will power Adobe’s popular Generative Fill tool which will be better at rendering humans with improvements to “skin, hair, eyes, hands, and body structure” and the pictures will be higher resolution and feature more vivid colors and color contrast.

Additionally, users of the Firefly web app will benefit from applying and adjusting photo settings, “similar to manual camera lens controls.”

The latest model also has an “improved understanding of text prompts and will recognize more landmarks and cultural symbols.”

Away from the world of “promptography”, there is a new Firefly vector model which creatives can use to generate “high-quality designs and illustrations.” As well as a Firefly design model which offers a “text to template” service.

Image credits: Adobe

It used to be that if you were good at it and could invest the time, you could make a decent living from stock photography, but in recent years, the industry has evolved in what has very much been a race to the bottom in many ways, and it is a far less reliable income source than it used to be. Is it still worth the time and effort in 2023? This great video essay features an experienced commercial photographer discussing his experience with stock work in the past year. 

Coming to you from Scott Choucino of Tin House Studio, this excellent video essay discusses his recent experiences trying to establish decent passive income from stock photography. It used to be that a talented stock photographer who dedicated time to producing a large library of images could be rewarded with significant passive income as those shots continued to sell over the years, but over time, the rise of microstock, free image sites, and now, AI-generated work, have all continued to eat away at was once a relatively secure genre, and it is now questionable if it is worth getting into. As Choucino details, it can be ok under very specific circumstances, but for the most part, you should think carefully. Check out the video above for the full rundown. 

Photographer Crystal Martinez said The Creative Photographer was inspired by her passion to provide a safe place where photographers could explore their creativity.

The Creative Photographer, a rental photography studio with a variety of sets, has been in business since October 2022.

The overview

Martinez said, as a photographer with 15 years of experience, she saw the need for more affordable spaces where photographers of all experience levels could explore their creativity.

Martinez said she delayed her plans to initiate The Creative Photographer due to the unforeseen circumstances most businesses were experiencing due to social distancing during COVID-19.

Although COVID-19 set her business plans behind, Martinez said she created The Creative Photographer with a variety of sets and props to choose from for photographers to create their own unique space.

“I really wanted photographers to come in and just feel like they could move around props, and make their own sets from scratch and get as creative as possible,” Martinez said.

With the help of her father, Martinez was able to create and decorate the studio with eight sets to choose from, four rolling walls and a variety of props.

The specifics

Martinez said she acquired her photography skills after college where she studied business. When several of her friends married and had children, it gave her the opportunity to take photos for her friends’ celebrations while capturing memories.

After she realized her passion for photography, Martinez’s love for children led her to specialize in newborn and family photography. Today, she continues to advance her experience in photography with photography classes and professional practice.

Aside from her studio business, Martinez has another photography business where she offers back-to-back 15-minute, mini-session photo shoots for families.

What does the studio offer?

The Creative Photographer offers styled setups, lighting equipment, natural light and several props, including furniture.

The studio is booked for one photographer at a time, giving renters access to the entire studio.

To book the studio, customers can visit The Creative Photographer website and book their desired rental options. Rental options include single-family studio rental designed for photographers with one client per hour and multiclient studio rental for rentals with more than one client per hour.

The studio also offers seasonally themed sets. The next seasonal sets include “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Dreaming of Wonderland,” and they will be available from Oct. 14-Dec. 31.

«Every photograph is a fiction with claims to truth. Despite all that has been instilled in us, everything we believe, photography always lies; it lies instinctively because its nature does not allow it to do anything else,» states the Spanish photographer, teacher, and writer Joan Fontcuberta. As an interpreter of contemporary photography, he defines it in his essays with the term post-photography, specifically referring to photography in the second digital revolution, the era of social networks, virtual reality, the internet, and, most notably, the ubiquity of images. What is primarily explored is the change that post-photography has brought about. Firstly, photography becomes accessible to everyone, resulting in a monumental transformation in its use. Secondly, the relationship between photography and truth changes, or rather mutates. According to Fontcuberta, photography has never been sincere. Since the invention of this medium, “photography has always been a Judas kiss” because it constantly betrays reality. The photographer’s perspective alone makes the image subjective rather than objective. But today, the equation “photography = reality” is even more unstable due to the advent of numerous tools that allow image manipulation and, more recently, the introduction of Artificial Intelligence, capable of generating any type of representation with a simple human command.

On one hand, we have always been accustomed to thinking that photography is the most faithful form of representing reality, but doubt always creeps in. Whether it’s a documentary, landscape, or portrait shot, we could never assert with certainty that what our eyes observe is actually concrete. Ambiguity is around the corner. The feeling of mistrust in the face of an image becomes the norm. The more sensational, aesthetically perfect, colorful, and grand an image is, the more we are filled with doubt, “could it be real?” Thus, we are led to believe that photography promises reality, but it has never been its prerogative. From this perspective, one could think of it as the greatest form of deception, capable of generating disillusionment and, at the same time, wonder. However, the mere fact that there is a human and subjective component between the medium and the subject automatically alters objectivity. The creative element is integrated into this process, as well as the freedom to express individual concepts and emotions, shifting photography to the artistic realm. «Photography begins as an informative medium and transforms into a work that people go to see in search of aesthetic and emotional values, as a way to participate in an artistic experience,» Joan Fontcuberta continues. In this sense, it is useful to analyze one of the emerging contemporary artists who best represents the concepts being investigated here.

Andro Pang, an artist of Indonesian origin, fits perfectly into this complex and still new discourse. When looking at his works, the eye presents a stimulus to the mind, which the mind perceives as real. At first, there are no doubts: it appears to be a photograph. However, upon careful analysis of the images, their perfect lighting and occasionally surreal details, ambiguity creeps in. Could it be a misjudgment? Indeed, it is. Andro Pang creates digital works using photographic composition, cinematic references, and artistic inspirations. From the cypresses of Vincent Van Gogh to the staircases of The Truman Show, moving through Hopperian realism and elements borrowed from the surreal and Dadaist currents. His works can evoke a sense of familiarity in the viewer, conjuring up images they are not unfamiliar with, allowing for an immediate connection with the artworks. Andro Pang is closely tied to photography. His artistic career began as a photographer, but due to the pandemic and the resulting inability to venture outside, he found a solution for his art. Unable to shoot outdoors, Andro Pang dedicated himself to digital art, creating images that blend reality and fantasy. The boundary between reality and fiction wavers. At this point, the question arises again: “Is this perhaps a form of deception?” A clear, defined, and universal answer is impossible, but undoubtedly, an explanation can be found in the change. Quoting the photographer Fontcuberta once more: «The digital age inaugurates a new space between the real and the virtual where a new way of creating communities is established.» Thus, the methods of creation change, and fiction becomes a form of artistic expression. We can only wait to see what will happen at the end of this decade.

This year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner is both incredibly beautiful and utterly strange

• Laurent Ballesta is the first person to win Wildlife Photographer of the Year twice in its 59-year history

By Stewart Carr

Published: 03:48 EDT, 11 October 2023 | Updated: 04:21 EDT, 11 October 2023

A tri-spine horseshoe crab gliding along the bottom of the sea has helped Laurent Ballesta win the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year for a second time.

Horseshoe crabs have survived for more than 100 million years, but they now face habitat destruction and overfishing as they are caught for food and for their blue blood, which is used in vaccines.

Mr Ballesta, an underwater photographer and marine biologist from France, found the creature, which dates from prehistoric times, in the waters of Pangatalan Island in the Philippines – which is a known haven for the crabs. It is accompanied in the winning shot by three golden trevally fish.

Kath Moran, chairwoman of the judging panel, described the winning photo as ‘luminescent’.

She said: ‘To see a horseshoe crab so vibrantly alive in its natural habitat, in such a hauntingly beautiful way, was astonishing.

‘We are looking at an ancient species, highly endangered, and also critical to human health.’

Mr Ballesta is only the second person to have won the Natural History Museum competition twice in its 59 year history.

His first award was in 2021 for a shot of camouflage grouper fish in a swirl of eggs and sperm in Fakarava, French Polynesia.

The Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year award went to Carmel Bechler from Israel, for snapping several barn owls in a hollowed-out concrete building by a roadside.

He used his family’s car as a hide with long exposure times to capture the light trails of passing traffic.

The 17-year-old said: ‘I hope to share with my photography 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.’

The winning photographs were selected from 49,957 original entries from 95 countries and were announced at an awards ceremony in South Kensington on Tuesday.

Among the 17 other category winners was a beached orca in the Netherlands photographed by Lennart Verheuvel which was later found to be malnourished and sick, likely from PCB contamination.

Poisoning from this industrial chemical is common in European waters despite the chemical being banned decades ago. Its unique properties mean it builds up through the food chain.

Agorastos Papatsanis revealed how the parasol mushroom releases its spores for them to drift on air currents in search of new places to grow in his home country of Greece, on Mount Olympus, capturing the colourful refraction of light through the rain.

An illuminated forest in Tamil Nadu, India, won the Behaviour: Invertebrates award, with Sriram Murali showcasing how fireflies attract mates by combining 50 exposures of 19 seconds with 16 minutes of the beetles’ bioluminescence.

Two Nubian ibex locking horns in a cliff-side clash in Israel was captured by Amit Eshel as he crept up to the battling males, which ram their heads together during the mating season in a competition of physical prowess.

Dr Doug Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum, said: ‘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.’

Next year, the Natural History Museum will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award with new prizes and waiver fees for more than 100 countries. Submissions are open from October 16.

Florida Museum of Photographic Arts displays work created by Hillsborough County senior centers’ artists

The unprotected by Karine Aigner, US. Winner, photojournalist story award

‘Big business’ contestants line up to have their bobcats weighed in the March 2022 West Texas Big Bobcat Contest, the highest-paying predator-hunting contest in the US. There are a number of prizes, one of which is for the heaviest bobcat. In 2022 the winner of that category took home US$35,530 (around £28,000). Portfolio Story: Karine Aigner documents the annual hunting competitions in Texas, US. For some people in the US, hunting wildlife is a pastime. In Texas, while there are strict regulations covering ‘game’ species, certain predators such as bobcats, mountain lions and coyotes have no protection and can be killed at any time. In this portfolio, Karine delves deep into the contests and festivals that celebrate the killing of these unprotected and maligned species, exploring their relationship with humans.

Photograph: Karine Aigner/2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year