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UPDATE: Aug. 8, 2023, 5:00 a.m. EDT This guide has been updated to reflect Mashable's latest hands-on testing.
We live in an age of over-sharing, but the best travel cameras do so much more than help you post your adventures on Instagram, Youtube, or TikTok. Travel cameras can also help you freeze moments in time so that you never forget your favorite travel experiences. Travel photography can be a great way to capture pictures of your loved ones at their happiest, and you may look back on these photos decades in the future.
Of course, the best travel camera should also be used to show off your adventures on social media — we never said over-sharing was bad.
The best cameras for travel make it easy to take pictures without overstuffing your suitcase. While there are plenty of accessories for travel photography, modern travel cameras are lightweight, compact, and user-friendly.
As anyone who's had to sit on their suitcase to close it would know, you need to save every square inch you can when packing. You should always make sure you have the essentials, but nobody wants to have to throw things away at the airport gate because their bag is overweight.
Unless you're a professional YouTuber or National Geographic photographer, chances are you don't want to lug around a heavy-duty model, or a mirrorless camera that requires five different lens for each subject. Similarly, if you're not part of a camera crew traveling for work, a fragile camera that requires careful packing and gentle handling probably isn't worth the trouble.
Fortunately for you, Mashable is on the case, and we’ve been busy researching, testing, and reviewing travel cameras. When picking the best travel camera for every type of photographer — whether you’re a beginner, photography expert, action-adventurer, or content creator — we looked for easy-to-use and easy-to-pack cameras that won’t get in your way.
Should you bring a travel camera at all?
If you clicked on this article, you're likely planning to. But take a minute to consider your phone camera — if you have a new smartphone, it probably comes equipped with a camera that has formidable photography abilities of its own. In fact, the newest flagship smartphones have some downright futuristic photography capabilities. We're not even impressed by the iPhone's ability to shoot in 4K anymore. Give us advanced lowlight photography from Pixel phones, the Samsung Galaxy's famous ultra-zoom lens, or the Xiaomi smartphone with Leica cameras.
So, if you already have the latest iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, or Xiaomi model, is there any reason to carry an extra camera instead of just snapping pics with that?
Well, it depends. For skilled photographers, even the best smartphone cameras can't compare to a mirrorless camera from Sony or Leica. For everyone else, there are still lots of reasons to upgrade to the best travel cameras.
Are you going somewhere beachy and want to take cool underwater photos without worrying about water damage? Is this a ski trip or something active that requires image stabilization and 4K HDR video? Or would you just rather keep your phone safe in your bag at all times, so that you don't accidentally drop it while taking pictures? For all of the above, the best camera for travel will outperform your smartphone camera.
Whatever the reason (even if it's just better quality pics for the 'gram), if you want to pack the best camera for travel, you should evaluate your options based on the following:
Technical Considerations:
Size/Weight: There's no point to investing in a professional model that doesn't fit in your travel bag. Make sure that your choice isn't so hefty that you don't end up leave your camera and lens at home.
Image Quality: Anyone can snap a blurry picture of the Eiffel Tower, but you want a crystal-clear and totally unique photo to remember your trip. A camera's sensor size will be the biggest factor on overall image quality (more on this below).
Zoom Range: Despite massive advances in smartphone camera technology, this is still one area in which most smartphones fall short. For close-up photography, you'll need cameras equipped with zoom lenses.
Shooting Modes: Versatility is one of the other perks of toting around a camera — from drones that will give you aerial shots to vlogging cameras for video quality, different devices offer different advantages over your standard phone cam.
Price: Above all, don't purchase anything beyond your means. For this guide, we've avoided $5,000 Lecia cameras, as these can be risky to travel with unless you're a professional photographer.
What's the difference between DSLR and mirrorless cameras?
When searching for the best travel cameras of 2023, we wanted to include the most common types of travel cameras: mirrorless cameras, DSLR cameras, action cameras, and drones. (We also decided to include a smartphone for good measure.) But what type of camera is best for your needs? Action cameras, drones, and smartphones are pretty self-explanatory, so what's the difference between DSLR and mirrorless cameras? And what camera is best for travel photography?
For a long time, DSLR cameras were the gold standard for high-quality digital cameras. They provide professional-level photo quality and more advanced features for experienced photographers. DSLR stands for digital single-lens reflex camera. In this type of camera, light passing through the lens bounces off a mirror into a traditional viewfinder. Even the best DSLR camera for travel will be larger in size compared to point-and-shoot and mirrorless cameras, and this can be an issue when traveling.
Mirrorless cameras don't have a mirror, and thus lack a traditional viewfinder (although they typically have a digital viewfinder). For this reason, mirrorless cameras are lighter and more compact than DSLR cameras, which also make them more travel-friendly. Because of the digital viewfinder, mirrorless cameras often have a shorter battery life compared to a DSLR.
You can take equally great images with both a mirrorless and DSLR camera. Because mirrorless cameras are newer (and more trendy), many of the best new cameras fall into this category. However, DSLR cameras are often much more affordable.
The specs to look for in the best travel cameras:
To pick the best camera for travel, you'll need a basic understanding of some photography terms and camera specifications. You could spend a lifetime mastering the art or photography, but before buying a camera, take the time to familiarize yourself with the following terms.
Megapixels: The unit itself (MP) denotes one million ("mega-") pixels, which essentially describes the detail of your photos. You can have too many megapixels, depending on your purpose — Instagram, for example, automatically downsizes overlarge images to 1.2MP.
Image File Format: This refers to the image formats supported by the camera. Typically, this includes .jpeg and raw image files. A camera with easy-to-access image files is an underrated feature. This can be important if you're traveling for a long time and want to be able to access your pictures externally from your camera ASAP. Make sure you can open and, if necessary, edit photos on your laptop or even phone (an adapter or external card reader will usually be needed as well).
Sensor: A camera's sensor has a huge impact on overall image quality, which is why sensor size is the main specification professional photographers look at. Bigger sensors have more pixels, which means better low-light and dynamic performance as well as reduced noise. However, smaller sensors have a better zoom range and are both lighter and cheaper. DSLR and mirrorless cameras usually have full-frame (~36mm wide) or APS-C (22.3-23.6mm wide) sensors, while compact cameras have 1-inch (13.2mm wide) sensors. The iPhone 11 has a 1/2.55" sensor, for comparison, and that will give you 12MP images. For a more detailed guide to sensor sizes, check out this graphic.
Lens: Pro photographers will rattle off details about the makers and materials of camera lenses, but what you really need to know is mostly just aperture and focal length. So while names like the "Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 E ED VR" look intimidating, they really just boil down to naming conventions that list brand, lens type/size, focal length, maximum aperture, and miscellaneous details ("VR" here stands for vibration reduction) in that order.
Focal length denotes zoom, and aperture is how much light the lens lets in, which affects exposure and depth of field. Zoom is fairly straightforward — some lens have ranges, while others have a fixed focal length, so you'll have to move to get your subject in frame. Aperture, on the other hand, is measured in fractions. A smaller aperture, say of f/11, gives you less background blur (like, the opposite of portrait mode), aka more depth of field, and a darker image. Larger apertures — f/2.8 is pretty standard — will give you a very focused effect with lots of light.
Continuous Shooting Speed (Video Mode): Measured in fps — that is, frames per second — this number is what you look at if you need your camera to be capable of quick shots for action scenes. The higher the frame-rate, the smoother and clearer the action.
Max Video Resolution: This one is mostly for those people who want to edit a highlight reel of their travels, or vlog their trip. Otherwise, typical 1080p will do just fine for most purposes — you don't need to splurge on 4k unless you want to crop footage while retaining the quality (and you really don't need 8k unless you're a filmmaker).
While this sounds overwhelming (and it definitely can be, to be honest), if you aren't fussed about specs, our list below gives a quick breakdown of what each camera is good for, taking into consideration all its features. On the other hand, if you have a very specific lens type in mind or just want to fully understand your purchase before committing, take a look at the listed specs and how they compare.
With all this in mind, we've gathered the best cameras for travel below. Our top recommendations were hands-on tested by the Mashable team, and we've included some additional options so that you can find the best travel camera for your particular needs.
This guide is geared more toward photography beginners than pros, so we've favored cameras that are more affordable and beginner friendly. And to make sure they travel well, we've prioritized cameras that are durable, lightweight, and compact.
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While everyone else in the crowd holds up their smartphones, only the very best cameras for concert photography let you snap the perfect picture.
Whether it’s Taylor Swift’s "The Eras Tour" (how lucky are you?) or Big Time Rush’s "Can’t Get Enough Tour," 2023 has been an epic year for live music. Although making sure you have your tickets ready for show day and coming up with the perfect outfit are essential, so is solidifying how you’re going to capture your favorite moments from your favorite artists.
You’ve probably seen the countless TikTok videos on your “For You” page about how people have been using digital cameras at concerts to capture professional quality photos and videos that are clearer than their smartphone. Swifties alone have created an entire sub-genre on TikTok about how to best record "The Eras Tour" memories.
To find the best camera for concert photography, I tested popular cameras from Sony, Leica, and Fujifilm. I took hundreds (thousands?) of photographs and videos at recent concerts, and I also chatted with professional concert photographers.
What makes a good concert camera?
Good cameras are very expensive, so you'll want to be extra careful before making a purchase. To learn more about the best cameras for fans and photojournalists alike, we spoke to concert photographers Madison Raney (who has photographed artists including Twenty One Pilots and Blink-182) and Janet Eckles (who has photographed artists including Hozier and Hayley Kiyoko).
Raney and Eckles told me that there are many cameras that can be used for concert photography, but if you're serious about capturing gorgeous photos and crystal clear videos, there are several key elements you should seek out.
Unless you have a press pass that lets you get right up next to the stage, I also found that zoom lenses, low-light capabilities, and continuous shooting provided me with the best results. Below, you can see some of the photographs I took while testing cameras.
It has a full-frame
“Getting a full-frame camera is always top of mind for me,” says Raney. “Full-frame cameras are going to produce higher-resolution photos as opposed to a crop sensor, which is especially important when you're shooting in low-light situations.”
By full-frame, Raney means a camera with a 36mm x 24mm image sensor, equivalent to the 35mm film cameras of old. To learn more about image sensors, check out Mashable's review of the best travel cameras.
It can handle a high ISO
Because you won't be able to use flash at most venues (and even if you technically can, it's still considered quite rude), the best concert cameras must be able to compensate for the lack of flash. “Your camera will need to be able to handle a high ISO (3200 or higher) without producing a ton of noticeable noise (grain),” says Eckles.
If you're already feeling lost, don't worry. Photography is much more complicated than simply pointing your smartphone at the stage. To get up to speed, you may want to brush up on photography jargon and concert photography for beginners.
Has a large resolution size
A good concert camera would and should have a large resolution size. “The larger resolution you have, the higher quality images you're going to get and the more detail you're going to retain in each image,” says Raney. Modern cameras most often use megapixels to measure resolution size. If you want to capture every possible facial twitch in T-Swift's face as she performs, then you'll want a high megapixel camera. Remember that these high resolution photos result in huge file sizes.
Can shoot in RAW
A camera that has the ability to shoot in both RAW and JPEG is key. “I'd highly recommend shooting in RAW as opposed to JPEG,” says Eckles. “The files will be a lot bigger, but there will be more information stored in the image so you can better manipulate shadows and tones later when editing.” For serious photographers, these RAW image files are essential to make every single picture look its best.
I put several digital cameras to the test by attending outdoor concerts and testing several photo and video functions of each. All of the cameras featured in this review have been tested by myself or someone else on the Mashable team.
Read on to discover more about my favorite concert cameras.
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The Museum of Fine Arts has acquired 87 prints and the accompanying negatives from Kikuji Kawada’s landmark book about the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, “The Map/Chizu.” The acquisition also includes the photographer’s notes for the project, binders with contact sheets, and a first edition of the book. Kawada, 89, is one of Japan’s most celebrated photographers.In a statement, MFA director Matthew Teitelbaum said that the museum was “pleased” Kawada “has chosen the MFA as the primary home for this monumental work.” Teitelbaum added that the strength of the museum’s holdings in both photography and Japanese art put it “in a unique position to tell the story of Japanese photographers.”Kawada, a founder of Japan’s short-lived but influential VIVO photography collective, first visited Hiroshima in 1958. Over the course of several years, he photographed the still-visible effects of the dropping of the first atomic bomb, evoking its psychological and emotional consequences. “The Map/Chizu” was published on Aug. 6, 1965, the 20th anniversary of the bombing. The book’s text is by the Nobel Prize-winning novelist and short story writer Kenzaburō Ōe.Kikuji Kawada, "The Map (Chizu)," 1965.Courtesy Museum of Fine ArtsIn 2015, Kawada’s work was part of “In the Wake: Japanese Photographers Respond to 3/11,” an MFA exhibition devoted to the aftermath of the 2011 Japanese tsunami. Kawada, in a statement released by the museum, mentioned how affected he’d been by the “intellectually luminous analysis” offered by the exhibition and its curators, Anne Nishimura Morse and Anne E. Havinga.In that analysis, Kawada said, “I detected a subtle voice” that took “The Map/Chizu” “into a new direction. I have ever since envisioned the MFA as the place where the [book’s] images and history . . . may be retained and regenerated today and in the future.” He added that he felt “ever indebted and grateful to the MFA, its curators and to everyone involved in this extraordinary endeavor.”The Kawada purchase is the latest in several notable additions to the MFA’s photography holdings in recent years. Others include its acquisition of the nearly 450 images in the Howard Greenberg Collection, assembled by the New York gallery owner, and more than three dozen prints by the Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide. Both acquisitions, which took place in 2018, were accompanied by major exhibitions.Mark Feeney can be reached at mark.feeney@globe.com.
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An image of a peregrine falcon tackling a brown pelican that ventured too close to its nest in California is the overall winner of the world’s largest bird photography competition, which had more than 23,000 entries from all over the world.
Celebrating bird life from around the globe, these images comprise some of the most incredible bird photos in the world taken by talented photographers, whilst also raising vital funds for the competition's partner charity Birds on the Brink.
Below are a handful of OGN's favourites from this year's competition but, if you want to see them all, please go to BPOTY Winners.
Best portrait, gold award. ‘Venturing into the tropical forest, I was excited to spot the rare glistening-green tanager (Chlorochrysa phoenicotis). After hours of waiting, I saw the vivid green bird on a perfect heart-shaped leaf. Its shimmering feathers reflected a dazzling array of colours. I captured every detail, grateful for this magical moment amid the lush jungle backdrop.’ Location: Mashpi Amagusa reserve, Ecuador.
Bird behaviour, silver award. ‘In early autumn, a sardine shoal at Los Islotes attracted seabird predators. Amid the shoal, I waited patiently for the elusive shot of a blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii) rising with a sardine in its beak. Finally, a crash came down close to me, and I instinctively captured the moment.’ Location: Los Islotes, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Bird behaviour, bronze award. ‘A great grey owl (Strix nebulosa) adult was hunting in a wheat field, and a juvenile flew to the edge of the field to be fed. Suddenly, the parent caught some prey. I quickly pressed the shutter and captured a heartwarming moment between the parent and the next generation.’ Location: Zhejiang, China.
5-17 years, gold award, and overall young photographer winner. A Eurasian blackbird (Turdus merula) perches on the branch of a tree, creating a moody scene against the backdrop of the dark blue-black night sky and bright yellow-orange moon. Location: Mainz, Germany.
Best portrait, silver award. ‘Before capturing this image, I spent two days observing these [emperor] penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri), lying flat on the ice to avoid scaring them. Waiting for the chick to appear, I finally got this touching shot of parental love. I trekked eight hours a day on soft snow to reach this colony and even made friends with some penguins.’ Location: Antarctica.
Bird behaviour, gold award, and overall winner. ‘During the breeding season, a female peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) fiercely protects her young, attacking anything that comes near the nest. For four years, I attempted to capture these rare moments of her attacking large brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) with incredible speed and agility. The high-speed chase made it challenging to capture a closeup shot with a long lens. The falcon’s precision was amazing as it struck at the pelican’s head.’ Location: southern California, US.
For more amazing images, please head to the OGN Photography Archives
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While Adobe is bringing generative AI models to professional photographers and designers, another company is working to make easy-to-use generative AI tools available to a wider range of photographers, including hobbyists. Starting today, Luminar Neo, the photo-editing software from Skylum (formerly Macphun), is rolling out a set of generative AI features to its desktop apps for Mac and Windows that will allow users to remove unwanted objects from their images, expand a canvas, or replace and add specific elements into a photo.
The tools are similar in some ways to Google Photos’ Magic Editor and Magic Eraser or Adobe’s own Generative Fill tool. The difference between Adobe’s Generative Fill is that Luminar Neo offers two tools, GenErase and GenSwap, instead of one. It also doesn’t require the use of a text prompt field. Instead, the user selects an area on the image to remove and clicks “Erase.” But unlike Adobe’s Generative Fill, it doesn’t offer result options to choose from — the user would have to click the “Erase” button again to get a different outcome.
Founded in 2008 as Macphun by game developers and amateur photographers Paul Muzok and Dima Sytnik, the company now known as Skylum originally focused on iOS applications, like Vintage Video Maker, which Apple recognized among the best apps of the year in 2009.
The team then proceeded to develop around 60 other iOS apps over the years that followed, but were always drawn to photography. That eventually led the team to launch their first Mac app, FX Photo Studio Pro in 2010, which topped 50 million downloads. On Mac, they also launched other image editing apps like Snapheal, Intensify, Tonality, Noiseless, Auora HDR, then later merged several apps together to make Creative Kit. Photo editing software Luminar came about in 2016. And in 2018, when they also rebranded as Skylum, the team began to focus only on their Luminar project.
The idea with Luminar was to create photo editing software for desktop users that lets you perform complex tasks in simple ways. The latest version of this app was launched in 2022 as Luminar Neo, and its user base is primarily hobbyist photographers. But a handful of professionals use the app, as well, the company says. For example, some commercial photographers tend to use Luminar Neo more as a plugin for Lightroom or Photoshop, they note.
With the rise of generative AI models for image editing, the team knew they wanted to incorporate this functionality into the product to make editing photos even easier. The plan is to release one generative AI tool each month through the end of 2023, starting with GenErase on October 26.
GenSwap (to replace elements) and GenExpand (to expand the canvas) will arrive on November 16 and December 14, respectively.
“All three generative features that will be released this year are based on the same technology, but combining and changing the parameters gives us different results and covers different use cases for the end user, which is why we decided to have three separate features,” explains Ivan Kutanin, the Ukraine-based CEO of Skylum, in an email interview with TechCrunch.
The models are based on Stable Diffusion, but Kutanin says the company also uses its own Upscale AI model and others in a single pipeline, which allows the software to increase the resolution and quality of the generated images. Currently, it offers up to 1536×1536 in image resolution, he says. For comparison, Photoshop currently offers a
resolution of 1024×1024.
The processing itself takes place in the cloud, so the app requires an internet connection to work. However, the company doesn’t store either the input or output images to protect customer privacy.
The ease of use is what the company hopes will set its software apart from others that offer similar generative AI tools.
“Luminar Neo is the latest-generation photo editing software and has around 40 complex AI models as part of its architecture, which makes it truly powerful. What we’re best known for is the ease of use and how effortless it is to start out if you’re a complete beginner,” says Kutanin. “Since a huge part of our user base are photography enthusiasts, we really focused on the user interface and making it as pleasant and fresh as possible,” he adds.
The software is offered at multiple pricing tiers for both new and existing users. After Oct. 28, it’s either $14.95 per month, $119 per year, or $179 for 2 years. A lifetime pass is available for $299, which comes with a “Creative Journey Pass” that has time limits on the new generative AI features through August 16, 2024. After that point, they need to purchase a new Creative Journey Pass or switch to a subscription.
For current users, the upgrade is slightly less expensive with the 1-year plan starting at $79 for year 1, then $99 per year going forward, also after Oct. 28. There are other discounts available if bought prior to Oct. 28.
The company has never raised outside funding and has been profitable for a few years now, employing a team of over 120.
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The Canon EOS R5, one of the best cameras for photos and videos, is now on sale in the Amazon Prime Day deals 2023 with a whopping $500 discount!
We gave it four and a half out of five stars in our full Canon EOS R5 review because it has 8K video recording, shoots detailed 45MP stills photographs and has great handling and ergonomics.
It's now much cheaper than its closest rival the Nikon Z8 mirrorless camera which also tops our best cameras buying guide, but with a $500 discount, we think many photographers and videographers who need to save their budget might find the R5 the better option right now.
Whether you need to shoot the lunar surface with a telephoto lens and crop in on the detailed 45MP stills for full-frame views, or you need a high-resolution video recording, the Canon EOS R5 is capable of shooting up to 8K 30p/4K 120p/1080p 60p footage making it a truly excellent hybrid full-frame mirrorless camera.
We found the 5-axis in-body image stabilization smoothes images even when shooting handheld during low light. With a wide ISO sensitivity range of 100-51,200 (expandable to 50-102,400) it can quite literally shoot in the dark, too.
Canon EOS R5:
was $3899 now $3399 on Amazon
Save $500 on one of the best mirrorless cameras you can buy and shoot 45MP stills, 8K video footage and step into the full-frame, professional system that is the Canon RF legacy.
The Canon EOS R5 comes with a neckstrap, battery, battery charger, manuals and is ready to receive additional accessories such as CF and SD memory cards and other camera accessories.
When we were shooting with it for our full review we were blown away by the fantastic autofocusing system. When combined with its own image stabilization, it's one of the fastest systems we've used. Tracking is probably the best in class, with accurate face, eye and head detection, too. The in-body image stabilization (IS) can also be combined with Canon's lens IS for up to 8 stops of stabilization so you can shoot well into twilight and beyond without needing to use a tripod.
Don't forget, if you want to make the most of Amazon Prime Day 2023, check out our Amazon Prime Day hub for a roundup of the best discounts and deals on telescopes, binoculars, cameras, star projectors, drones, lego and much more.
Key Specs: Using the new Digic X processor the Canon EOS R5 is capable of shooting 45MP stills at 12FPS on the mechanical shutter. It captures up to 8K 30p video footage as well which can be accessed with the flick of a button. Though it also records 4K 120p for slow-motion capture and 1080p 60p for standard high-definition recordings. An expandable ISO range of up to 102,400 is impressive, especially for astrophotography.
Consensus: Currently one of the best cameras you can buy, and possibly Canon's finest ever technical achievement. A superlative, but premium package.
Buy if: You want professional-quality photos and videos but don't want to buy into a cinema-grade system or need something smaller and more nimble to shoot with.
Don't buy if: You're looking for a starter vlogging kit or have a tight budget, while this $500 off is great value this camera may still be out of your price range.
Alternative models: For those with smaller budgets we'd recommend the Nikon Z7 II, another of our top-rated best cameras, which is on sale during Amazon Prime Day with $500 off as well. Or if the Canon or Nikon systems aren't right for you, try the Sony A7R V which during our review we found to be one of the best Sony cameras ever made.
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The camera of a budget smartphone has become a way for many of the Rohingya stuck in Bangladesh’s refugee camps to tell their own stories, capturing photos of their lives in the camps, which became the world’s largest when 700,000 people fled the Myanmar military five years ago, joining 300,000 who had already sought refuge across the border.These photographers, who are all under 30, are building a record of the culture and traditions they fear could be lost so far from home, and have sharpened their skills during floods and fires and other all too frequent moments of crisis.Their photographs have featured in international media and photography competitions. Sahat Zia Hero, one of an increasing numbers of Rohingya photographers, last year published a book of his own work called Rohingyatography and has followed it up by helping set up a magazine that publishes the photos of others he meets in the camps.Sahat Zia Hero Zaudha, 40, stares out over the smouldering remains of her home after the largest of the camp fires, in March 2021, when 50,000 lost their homes. The smoke and heat was still too intense for her to go down to the exact spot she lived in. Until 2012, I studied at Sittwe University in Rakhine state. I had to apply for papers and permits from the government to show at checkpoints where they only searched Muslims. Even at the university, I was discriminated against by students and even teachers. They hated us Rohingya.When the riots happened, the violence meant no more education for Rohingya. As I returned to my village, I was detained for three days and beaten by police. I didn’t leave after that. I supported my father by fishing, but I also bought a smartphone and computer and this was when I started my photography. They were illegal for us to own, but I used them in the jungle, learning about them from YouTube videos I streamed using Bangladeshi internet service on the border. Clockwise from top left: refugees try to extinguish a fire in Kutupalong using pieces of wood and bamboo, July 2021; flooding in the camps only a few days after the same fire; Rohingya cross a river inside the camp We are refugees because of a genocide by the military, and now a million Rohingya people live in refugee camps. Our objective is to highlight our crisis, to show the international community that genocide and persecution is still going on even without publicity.Living in the camps is difficult, especially without education and freedom of movement. The camps are crowded. Nowhere is safe for the Rohingya right now.The Covid-19 lockdown meant international journalists stopped coming to the camps, but this encouraged Rohingya photographers to tell their own stories. Taking and sharing photos feels like a duty to my people, a way to use my passion for their betterment. It’s the best language – it speaks more than words and shows the reality. I want the world to see the Rohingya people as human beings, just like everyone else, with our hopes and dreams, sadness, happiness and grief.Find Zia on Instagram @ziaheroIshrat Fori Imran As she fled alongside hundreds of thousands of others in 2017, Ishrat Fori Imran used her phone to capture their escape, carrying whatever they could through the jungle I’d never touched a smartphone until I passed my school exams in 2017. My brother gave me a smartphone to call my sister in Malaysia, but I thought why not start capturing some memories and moments and the beauty of my surroundings. I could keep them inside my phone as history for future generations. Instead, only a few months later we had to leave our home because of the military’s attacks and I took more photos as we escaped through the jungle. Clockwise from top left: Imran’s cousin does his ablutions in preparation for daily prayers; a girl holds her brother as she looks out onto the camp that is now her home; a boy showering in rainwater cascading off a shelter; 7-year-old Kazawli shelters from monsoon rains outside Imran’s tent Now I take photographs because it gives me joy – it can swing my mood from sadness to happiness. If I ever feel depressed or anxious, I pick up my camera, because in that moment of taking the photo, I am focused totally on that subject and not on my depression. I can’t really express the delight I feel when sharing those photos with others, especially when they appreciate them.I take photos of whatever takes my interest – it doesn’t matter if it’s animals, human, nature, foods or something else; I just take the photo. Whatever my eye sees, so does my camera.Find Ishrat on Twitter: @IshratForiImranRo Yassin Abdumonaf Rohingya return from aid collection points carrying heavy sacks of supplies Rohingya lifestyle, our cultural traditions from Myanmar, and our creativity – I wanted to capture that, so that’s why I started taking photos and videos from inside the refugee camps. It’s my passion to tell the world about our lifestyle, so wherever I go in the camps, I use my phone to take pictures.I take photos of Rohingya children, shelters, artworks, flowers, cultural traditions and also of the crises we face in the camps, like landslides, flooding and fires. Though a few other Rohingya don’t like their photos being taken for their privacy, most are really interested in photography and what we’re doing by sharing it with the world. Clockwise from top left: a family recovering from dengue fever; Rohingya workers clearing litter to help maintain infrastructure and hygiene in the camp; a lone banyan tree can be seen for miles. Most trees were cut down to make space for the camps in 2017; a concrete drainage system designed to help channel away water during heavy rains I’m a genocide survivor. I live with my family and we have suffered without freedom, surviving an uncertain future for almost five years in refugee camps after already facing decades of discrimination and violence in Myanmar.People aren’t always able to express their feelings, and photography takes courage, but this is our documentary of the crisis we face in these camps.Find Yassin on Instagram @ro_yassin_abdumonabRo Anamul Hasan A group of Rohingya children play in the rain as it pours down outside their shelters Photography helps us let people know how we suffer. I take photos of people who are still suffering as they live a life of refuge here. I take photos because I think they can help others understand the subjects of those photos and what they desire. Rohingya students wear the uniforms of Myanmar schools as they call for justice on the fifth anniversary of the 2017 massacres It makes me happy to take photos, and when I want to raise an issue faced by my community, I always choose taking photos over writing because it has a stronger impact on the viewers.Find Ro Anamul on Instagram @roanamul_hasanMayyu Khan A Rohingya man carries his mother to a camp clinic I don’t remember exactly why I got into photography but I loved it from a very young age, though I only started in 2017, with a small mobile phone. I’ve even started making short films as well. A group of Rohingya boys play in a waterway beside their shelters after rains I love taking photos and do it as often as I can, especially of nature and on the street, but I have to be careful because of the rules inside the camp – I don’t always feel secure taking photographs here. Most people encourage me, though the reaction is mixed and some wonder whether it has any use for me in building a career.These pictures capture memories and testimony, and record our lives for decades and eras to come. A special image can help to ease chaos and reveal the unknown. It helps me mentally and also economically, and I can use it to truly capture our society. I think these photos will be part of our history.Find Mayyu on Instagram @mayyu_khan A group of fishermen returning home after searching for a catch near the camps in Cox’s Bazar Sign up for a different view with our Global Dispatch newsletter – a roundup of our top stories from around the world, recommended reads, and thoughts from our team on key development and human rights issues, delivered to your inbox every two weeks:Sign up for Global Dispatch – please check your spam folder for the confirmation email
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Photographers
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The largest photography library in Africa has opened in Ghana’s capital, Accra, showcasing the work of the continent and diaspora’s forgotten, established and emerging talent.Founded by Ghanaian photographer and film-maker Paul Ninson, the Dikan Center houses more than 30,000 books he has collected. The first of its kind in Ghana, a photo studio and classrooms provide space for workshops while a fellowship programme is aimed at African documentarians and visual artists. An exhibition space will host regular shows, the first of which is Ahennie, a series by the late Ghanaian documentary photographer Emmanuel Bobbie (also known as Bob Pixel), who died in 2021.The bond-trader-turned-photographer Brandon Stanton, author of the book Humans of New York, who kickstarted the crowdfunding campaign that helped to establish the Dikan, attended the opening with Ninson, whom he met while the latter was living in New York.Visitors at the opening of the Dikan Center in Accra in December. Photograph: Ernest Ankomah/The GuardianAs well as books of work by pioneering black photographers, such as Gordon Parks, who was the first African American photographer to have a staff position at Life magazine, and publications including National Geographic, there are rare books including one signed by Stephen Hill, who was governor of Gold Coast as Ghana was known before independence, dated 1852.Ninson was studying at the School of the International Center of Photography in New York when he began collecting photography books.“I started buying African photo books, with the idea of sharing them with young photographers back home, but as my collection grew, it dawned on me that I could create a library dedicated to photography and visual education, so I started reaching out to booksellers for donations. I also received donations from private galleries and collectors,” says Ninson.Visitors look at photo books in the collection during the opening. Photograph: Ernest Ankomah/The GuardianWest Africa has a long history of photography, which was introduced by explorers and governors in the early 1840s. It was soon picked up by African entrepreneurs, who often worked as itinerant photographers, such as George Lutterodt, who ran pop-up studios and opened a business in Accra in 1876. In the 20th century, pioneering photographers – including renowned Malian portraitists Seydou Keïta, and Malick Sidibé, and Ghanaian photojournalist James Barnor, who established Ghana’s first colour processing lab – captured social, cultural and political changes through their work in the fashion and music worlds. Ninson’s vision for Dikan, which means “take the lead” in Asante, is to celebrate this rich visual history and the accomplishments of African artists, as well as offering inspiration and resources to emerging photographers.A visitor at the Ahennie exhibition of work by Emmanuel Bobbie. Photograph: Ernest Ankomah/The GuardianRita Mawuena Benissan, a Ghanaian-American artist and founder of Si Hene, a non-profit foundation that collects archives telling stories about Ghana’s royal history, welcomed the opening of the centre. “In a state where there are no archives for people to refer back to their history, it becomes very problematic. When you are able to have a point of reference, it’s much easier. I’m excited and I can’t wait to visit Dikan.” Self-taught Ghanaian photographer and film-maker David Nana Opoku Ansah said the centre would “change everything” for emerging photographers. “[Until now] I have sourced most research materials on the internet. This centre will will be a treasure trove for image-makers like myself because it gives us the opportunity to dig deeper and create more meaningful work that stands the test of time.”
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Gift of Ludmila and Bruce Dandrew from The Ludmila Dandrew and Chitranee Drapkin CollectionThese days, the idea of singling out a group so broad as “women photographers” sounds passé. In fact, you’re likely able to name at least a couple—Diane Arbus or Cindy Sherman, anyone?—off the top of your head. But it’s worth remembering that, for well over a century, this wasn’t the case. Not that women weren’t taking photographs, (and good ones at that); their talent wasn’t getting the recognition it deserved, and indeed still barely is today. “Women’s Work: A Survey of Female Photographers,” an exhibition on view at Florida’s Museum of Fine Arts through September 11, aims to correct that wrong. It took a full 150 years, for example, for a museum to acknowledge that the work of Julia Margaret Cameron, a pioneering 19th-century photographer, merited an exhibition. And while you may have come across her name since the V&A stepped up to the plate, you’re not alone if you aren’t familiar with some of the ones that follow. Get a taste of their little-known legacies with a look inside the show, below.Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, St. PetersburgJulia Margaret Cameron, Blessing and Blessed, 1865.NEA & FACF Photography Purchase GrantImogen Cunningham, Water Hyacinth 2, c. 1925.Gift of Ludmila and Bruce Dandrew from The Ludmila Dandrew and Chitranee Drapkin CollectionZaida Ben-Yusuf, Portrait of a Young Woman, 1900.Gift of Terry P. Loebel FamilyIlse Bing, Chairs, Champs-Elysees, Paris, 1931.Gift of Miss Mina Turner, artist's granddaughterGertrude Käsebier, Happy Days, 1902.Gift of Ludmila and Bruce Dandrew from The Ludmila Dandrew and Chitranee Drapkin CollectionMargaret Bourke-White, Self-Portrait, 1931.Photo by Barbara MorganBarbara Morgan, Torso, 1936. Gift of Dr. John Schloder in honor of Terence S. Leet and the Museum's 50th AnniversaryMarion Post Wolcott, Picnic on Running Board, 1941.
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Gif: AdobeThe phrase ‘fix in in post’ most often applies to removing unwanted items in an image. For product photographers, that can mean erasing support stands or lighting gear in frame; for jilted lovers, removing an ex-flame from a memorable shot. But no matter what needs to be removed, Photoshop will soon be able to handle that task all on its own with the new “One-click Delete and Fill” tool.OffEnglishThe ever-growing Photoshop toolset already allows the iconic app to manipulate images in every way imaginable, but the most obvious use for the app is cutting up photos and pasting them back together again, a process that usually involves time-consuming tracing around an object to precisely extract it from the background. Tools like the Magic Wand that intelligently detect the edge of an object made that task easier, but in more recent years, Adobe has been leaning on machine learning and its Sensei engine to make selecting objects in an image as easy as possible.The highly automated Select Subject tool was added to Photoshop in 2018, and then upgraded to the Object Selection tool in 2019, which allowed pixel-pushers to draw a rough outline around the object in a shot they wanted to select, and Photoshop would do the rest, refining the selection to a tight crop. Last year, Photoshop gained an even more powerful Mask All Objects tool which did the same thing, but with more automation, as the app would first scan an image and intelligently recognize all the objects in frame, before automatically generating separate close-crop masks for each of them.Gif: AdobeAs Adobe’s Max 2022 Conference gets under way today, the company is revealing new features coming to its various apps, including improvements to Photoshop’s auto-subject masking. The Sensei machine learning model that powers it has spent the last year learning and improving, allowing Photoshop, through an upcoming update, to recognize even more objects in an image, like bodies of water, sky, roads, and plants. And it’s not only better at recognizing people in a photo, it’s better at selecting them, too, thanks to a special algorithm that’s activated for portrait shots that can better handle fine details like hair.G/O Media may get a commissionToday’s announcements include details that Adobe is taking the “Mask All Objects” tool one step further this year with the new “One-click Delete and Fill” option. Once an image has been analyzed and all the objects in it recognized and selected, users simply need to click on which object they want deleted, and then hit Shift+Delete or Shift+Backspace. Photoshop will remove the selected object, and then deal with the hole left behind using its intelligent fill tools which seamlessly duplicate the surrounding background patterns to make it look like the deleted object or person was never there in the first place.
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Stunning photos captured by child wildlife photographers have "blown away" competition judges.
The Young Nature Photographer of the Year award, run by University Centre Shrewsbury, has received hundreds of entries from five to 18-year-olds.
A total of 23 images are shortlisted, with winners awarded at a ceremony on 15 February.
"We were overwhelmed by the quality of the 300-plus entries," said organiser Dr Bethan Stallwood.
"Our natural world is full of such enchantment, and I have been moved and delighted to see such a range in subject matter," she added.
The competition's aim was to get youngsters out enjoying the natural world, Dr Stallwood said, thanking entrants for taking the time to capture "such beautiful images".
Head judge and professional photographer David Woodfall was "incredibly impressed with the standard" of submissions, she said.
"It's been amazing to look at the sheer range of images - from widescreen shots of whales to close up captures of forest fungi," she added.
The awards ceremony, hosted by BBC Springwatch presenter Iolo Williams, takes place on 15 February at Shrewsbury's Guildhall.
Prize winners across four age categories will receive goodies that include wildlife camera traps, bug hotels and Shropshire Wildlife Trust memberships.
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Photographers
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Save $900 in this Black Friday Canon camera deal. The camera (ranked as the best Canon camera in our Best cameras guide) was reduced by $500 for Prime Day and the deal continued throughout the rest of the year, but now they've knocked a further $400 off, giving its lowest price so far.
Grab the Canon EOS R5 for $900 off on Amazon in this Black Friday camera deal.
Editor's note 24th Nov: We posted this deal earlier in the week being $500 off, but now it's been reduced even further to a huge $900 off! This is the lowest price we've seen, and it seems that every retailer has followed suit and is now selling it for the lower price of $2999.
We gave it four and a half out of five stars in our full Canon EOS R5 review because it has 8K video recording, shoots detailed 45MP stills photographs and has great handling and ergonomics.
It's now much cheaper than its closest rival the Nikon Z8 mirrorless camera which also tops our best cameras buying guide, but because the R5 has a $900 discount we think many photographers and videographers who need to save their budget might find the EOS R5 the better option right now.
Whether you need to shoot the lunar surface with a telephoto lens and crop in on the detailed 45MP stills for full-frame views, or you need a high-resolution video recording, the Canon EOS R5 is capable of shooting up to 8K 30p/4K 120p/1080p 60p footage making it a truly excellent hybrid full-frame mirrorless camera.
We found the 5-axis in-body image stabilization smoothes images even when shooting handheld during low light. With a wide ISO sensitivity range of 100-51,200 (expandable to 50-102,400), it can quite literally shoot in the dark, too.
- Read our Black Friday 2023 deals page for big discounts on space gifts
The Canon EOS R5 comes with a neckstrap, battery, battery charger, manuals and is ready to receive additional accessories such as CF and SD memory cards and other camera accessories.
When we were shooting with it for our full review we were blown away by the fantastic autofocusing system. When combined with its own image stabilization, it's one of the fastest systems we've used. Tracking is probably the best in class, with accurate face, eye and head detection, too. The in-body image stabilization (IS) can also be combined with Canon's lens IS for up to 8 stops of stabilization so you can shoot well into twilight and beyond without needing to use a tripod.
Don't forget, if you want to make the most of deals ahead of the Black Friday rush, you can always check out our round-ups for deals on telescopes, binoculars, cameras, star projectors, drones, Lego and much more.
Key Specs: Using the new Digic X processor the Canon EOS R5 is capable of shooting 45MP stills at 12FPS on the mechanical shutter. It captures up to 8K 30p video footage as well which can be accessed with the flick of a button. Though it also records 4K 120p for slow-motion capture and 1080p 60p for standard high-definition recordings. An expandable ISO range of up to 102,400 is impressive, especially for astrophotography.
Consensus: Currently one of the best cameras you can buy, and possibly Canon's finest ever technical achievement. A superlative, but premium package.
Buy if: You want professional-quality photos and videos but don't want to buy into a cinema-grade system or need something smaller and more nimble to shoot with.
Don't buy if: You're looking for a starter vlogging kit or have a tight budget, while this $500 off is great value this camera may still be out of your price range.
Alternative models: For those with smaller budgets we'd recommend the Nikon Z7 II, another of our top-rated best cameras as well. Or if the Canon or Nikon systems aren't right for you, try the Sony A7R V which during our review we found to be one of the best Sony cameras ever made.
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It’s a strange and wonderful time to buy a camera. Since smartphones have gutted the casual photography market, manufacturers are focusing on building technological marvels designed for very specific uses. Mirrorless cameras continue to improve in terms of autofocus, video and more. Action cams provide sharp, fluid video, compact cameras are targeted to both tourists and vloggers, and DSLRs are available at some of the best prices we’ve seen. With so much choice, though, you may need some guidance to find just the right camera – and that’s where we come in. Whether you’re a creator looking for just the right vlogging camera, an aspiring wildlife photographer or an adrenaline sports junkie, we’ll help you find the perfect model to match your budget and needs.
What to consider before choosing a camera
There are a lot of reasons to choose a camera over a smartphone. The larger sensors in mirrorless cameras let more light in, and you have a wide choice of lenses with far superior optics. Where smartphones have one f/stop, cameras have many, which gives you more exposure control. You also get natural and not AI-generated bokeh, quicker shooting, a physical shutter, more professional video results and so on.
With that extra quality comes a lot of extra factors to consider, however. The first thing is sensor size. In general, the larger the sensor size, the better (and usually more expensive) the camera.
Full frame is available on models like Sony's new ZV-E1, the Canon EOS R6 II and Panasonic S5 II. At a size equivalent to 35mm film (36 x 24mm), it offers the best performance in terms of image quality, low-light capability and depth of field. It's also the most expensive and finicky. While bokeh looks incredible at f/1.4, the depth of field is so razor thin that your subject's nose might be in focus but not their eyes. This can also make video shooting difficult.
The next size category is APS-C (around 23.5 x 15.6mm for most models and 22.2 x 14.8mm for Canon), offered on Fujifilm's X Series lineup, Canon’s R10 and R50 and the Nikon Z50. It's cheaper than full frame, both for the camera body and lenses, but still brings most of the advantages like decent bokeh, high ISOs for low-light shooting and relatively high resolution. With a sensor size the same as movie cameras, it's ideal for shooting video, and it’s easier to hold focus than with full-frame cameras.
Micro Four Thirds (17.3 x 13mm), a format shared by Panasonic and Olympus, is the next step down in sensor size. It offers less bokeh and light-gathering capability than APS-C and full frame, but allows for smaller and lighter cameras and lenses. For video, you can still get reasonably tight depth of field with good prime lenses, but focus is easier to control.
The other common sensor size is Type 1 (1 inch), which is actually smaller than one inch at 12.7 x 9.5mm. That's used mostly by compact models like Sony’s ZV-1 vlogging camera. Finally, action cameras like the GoPro Hero 11 and DJI’s Osmo 3 have even smaller sensors (1/1.9 and 1/1.7 size, respectively).
For photographers, another key factor is autofocus (AF) speed and accuracy. Most modern mirrorless cameras have hybrid phase-detect AF systems that allow for rapid focus and fast burst speeds. The majority also feature AI smarts like eye-detect AF for people and animals. However, some models are just a bit faster and more reactive than others.
The electronic viewfinder (EVF) and rear display are also key. The best models have the sharpest and brightest EVFs that let you best judge a shot before taking it. For things like street photography, it’s best to have as bright and sharp a rear display as possible. You may also want a screen that flips out rather than just tilting.
DSLRs and mirrorless cameras let you change lenses, but you're stuck with what's built into a compact camera. While that's great for portability, a single lens means you're going to sacrifice something. Fujifilm's X100V, for instance, has a fast but fixed 35mm-equivalent f/2.0 lens and no zoom. Sony's RX100 V has a 24-70mm zoom, but it's slower at the telephoto end (f/2.8) and less sharp than a prime lens.
When it comes to video, there are other factors to consider. Does your camera do “pixel-binning” for video recording or read out the entire sensor? Better cameras tend to do the latter. Another key factor is sensor speed, as slower sensors tend to have more rolling shutter that can create a “jello” effect that skews video.
In addition, how’s the battery life? How do you like the handling and feel? How long can you shoot video before the camera heats up or stops? Does it support 10-bit HDR video? Is there a microphone and/or a headphone jack? (if you do a lot of interviews, it's preferable to have both.) How's the video autofocus? All of these things play a part in your decision – so now let’s take a look at the best models.
The best cameras
Best mirrorless cameras
Mirrorless is far and away the biggest category of cameras these days, so it’s the best way to go if you’re shopping for a modern camera with the most advanced features. Both Canon and Nikon recently announced they’re discontinuing development of new DSLRs, simply because most of the advantages of that category are gone, as I detailed in a recent video. The biggest selling feature of a mirrorless camera is the ability to change lenses depending on the type of shooting you want to do.
The key features are sensor size, resolution, autofocus, shooting speeds and video specs. If you’re primarily a sports or wildlife photographer, you’ll likely want fast shooting speeds and accurate autofocus. Portrait and landscape shooters will likely favor large sensors and high resolution to maximize image quality. And content creators will want to look for things like flip-out displays, high-end video specifications and good in-body stabilization. Price is of course a major factor as well.
Mirrorless cameras under $2,000
Best mirrorless camera under $2,000: Canon EOS R50
My top budget camera pick is Canon’s brand new 24.2-megapixel R50, which is a great model for both photographers and content creators. It can shoot bursts at up to 15 fps in electronic shutter mode, and offers 4K 10-bit at up to 30p with supersampling and no crop. It has a fully articulating display, and unlike other cameras in this price range, an electronic viewfinder. It uses Canon’s Dual Pixel AF with subject recognition mode, and even has a popup flash. The only drawback is the lack of decent quality lens that’s as affordable as the camera itself, and a lack of in-body stabilization.
Runner up: Canon EOS R8
Full-frame cameras generally used to start at $2,000 and up, but Canon’s brand new EOS R8 is priced at just $1,500. It offers Canon’s excellent Dual Pixel AF with subject recognition AI, and can shoot bursts at up to 40 fps. It's equally strong with video, supporting oversampled 10-bit 4K at up to 60 fps. The R8 also offers a flip-out display, making it great for vloggers. The main drawback is a lack of in-body stabilization.
Another good option: Panasonic Lumix S5 II
Content creators should take a hard look at Panasonic’s full-frame S5 II. It’s the company’s first camera with hybrid phase-detect AF designed to make focus "wobble" and other issues a thing of the past. You can shoot sharp 4K 30p video downsampled from the full sensor width, or 4K 60p from an APS-C cropped size, all in 10-bit color. It even offers 5.9K 30p capture, along with RAW 5.9K external output to an Atomos recorder. You also get a flip-out screen for vlogging and updated five-axis in-body stabilization that’s the best in the industry. Photo quality is also good thanks to the dual-gain 24-megapixel sensor. The main drawback is the slowish burst speeds.
Mirrorless cameras over $2,000
Best mirrorless camera over $2,000: Sony ZV-E1
Equipped with the same backside-illuminated (BSI) 12-megapixel sensor as the A7S III, Sony’s ZV-E1 offers excellent low-light performance, 4K at up to 120p and a host of new AI features like auto framing. It also comes with an updated in-body stabilization system aimed at vloggers that can smooth out even jolting movements like footsteps. The $2,200 price tag makes it enticing for vloggers as it offers features found on the $3,500 A7S III for considerably less money.
Runner up: Fujifilm X-H2S
If you’re OK with a smaller APS-C sensor, check out the Fujifilm X-H2S. It has an incredibly fast stacked, backside-illuminated 26.1-megapixel sensor that allows for rapid burst shooting speeds of 40 fps, along with 4K 120p video with minimal rolling shutter. It can capture ProRes 10-bit video internally, has 7 stops of in-body stabilization and a class-leading EVF. Yes, it’s expensive for an APS-C camera, but on the other hand, it’s the cheapest stacked sensor camera out there. The other downside is AF that’s not quite up to Canon and Sony’s level.
Another good option: Sony A7R V
For the ultimate high-resolution camera, check out Sony’s A7R V. With a 61-megapixel sensor, it shoots sharp and beautiful images at a very respectable speed for such a high-resolution model (10 fps). It has equally fast and reliable autofocus, the sharpest viewfinder on the market and in-body stabilization that’s much improved over the A7R IV. Video has even improved, with 8K and 10-bit options now on tap, albeit with significant rolling shutter. If you don’t need the video, however, Sony’s A7R IVa does mostly the same job, photo-wise, and costs a few hundred dollars less.
Best action camera
The most important features to look for in an action cam are image quality, stabilization and battery life. GoPro has easily been beating all rivals over the last few years in all those areas, but DJI made some strides last year with the Osmo Action 3. At the same time, GoPro’s latest models are more expensive than rivals.
Best action camera: GoPro Hero 11 Black
GoPro didn’t change the design on its latest model, but it has a larger sensor that enables a couple of cool features – Horizon Lock stabilization and Full Frame mode that makes it easier to shoot for, say, TikTok and YouTube at the same time. It also offers a new wider, though slightly distorted Hyperview field of view.
Otherwise, the Hero 11 Black offers better video quality than ever (up to 5.3K 60p), Hypersmooth stabilization that’s still the best in the business (by far), battery life that’s improved by 40 percent over the last model, and more. It’s easily the best action camera on the market, but you pay for that: it’s $400 with a one year subscription ($500 without it), compared to $329 for the DJI Osmo Action 3 and $300 for the Insta360 RS 4K bundle. If you’re serious about filming extreme sports, though, it’s worth it.
Runner up: DJI Osmo Action 3
After experimenting with an oddball modular design on the Action 2, design has gone back to a more classic action cam design on the Osmo Action 3. It also comes with a slick new magnetic quick-release mount that lets you connect the camera directly to a GoPro-style mount with or without the case. Video quality and stabilization are quite good, but fall short of the Hero 11 Black (the Action 3 tops out at 4K 120p resolution compared to 5.3K 60p on the GoPro). While it’s not quite as good as the Hero 11, it’s considerably cheaper.
Best compact camera
This category has fewer cameras than it did even a few years ago and many models are older, as manufacturers focus instead on mirrorless models. However, I’m still a big believer in compact cameras. They’re a big step up from smartphones quality-wise, and a lot of people will take a compact traveling or to events when they’d never bother with the hassle of a DSLR or mirrorless camera.
Compacts largely have type 1-inch sensors, but a few offer larger options, particularly Fujifilm’s XF-100V. Another popular model, Sony’s XV-1, is primarily aimed at content creators looking to step up. In any case, desirable qualities include image quality, a fast lens, relatively long zoom, flip-out display, good battery life, a high quality EVF, decent video and good pocketability.
Best compact camera: Fujifilm X100V
The X100V is the latest in Fujifilm's famous fixed-lens X100 camera series. Like other models in the lineup, it has an APS-C sensor and a 23mm f/2.0 lens, equivalent to 35mm on a full-frame sensor. You also get the same hybrid optical/electronic viewfinder, mechanical dials, film simulations and good looks as before. But the X100V is the most significant advancement in the series' history. It has Fujifilm's latest 26.1-megapixel X-Trans 4 CMOS sensor compared to 24.2-megapixels on the last model and a new, sharper lens to handle that extra resolution.
A new tilting rear display makes "shooting from the hip" street photography much easier, as does the fast 11 fps/20 fps shooting speeds in mechanical/silent shutter modes. You also get a better hybrid phase- and contrast-detect autofocus (AF) system with more AF points along with face and eye detection. Finally, it now has the same 4K video-shooting features as the X-T30. It doesn't come cheap, but the X100V is the ultimate camera if you're into street photography – assuming you can find one.
Runner up: Sony ZV-1
The ZV-1 is Sony’s first RX100-series camera designed specifically for vlogging. It does that job well thanks to a lightweight body, built-in high-quality microphone, flip-out display, best-in-class autofocus and excellent image quality. The 24-70mm lens is sharp, but it needs to be wider because of the 25 percent crop when using electronic stabilization. It also lacks a true touch display and a headphone port. That nitpicking aside, if you’re looking to step up from a smartphone or just want something simple, it does the job nearly perfectly.
Another good option: Panasonic ZS-200
For a value compact camera, the best option is Panasonic’s 20-megapixel ZS-200. It offers a lot of features for the price, like a 1-inch, 20.1 megapixel sensor, 5-axis stabilization, 4K, 30 fps video and more. Its main claim to fame, though, is the 24-360x lens that offers incredible reach for travel and more. Though it dates back to 2018, it’s actually one of the more recent compact models.
Best DSLR camera
With mirrorless cameras taking over the interchangeable lens market, but DSLRs still give you the ability to change lenses at relatively cheap prices. The defining feature is the reflex mirror that lets you look directly through the lens at your subject with no electronics in between. Most also have very fast autofocus thanks to a dedicated phase-detect sensor, and very fast battery life. However, many lack features you’d expect on modern mirrorless cameras like subject tracking, eye-detection and more.
Best DSLR camera: Nikon D850
Nikon's full-frame (FX) D850 is the best deal on a high-end camera and arguably the best camera for photography. With a 45.7-megapixel sensor and max 102,400 ISO, it gives you the best quality for the money, whether mirrorless or DSLR. It can also shoot fast, at up to 7fps, which is very good for such a high-res camera. In addition, the battery life (1840 shots on a charge) puts any mirrorless option to shame, and there’s a massive number of FX Nikkor lenses to choose from. Nikon has upped its video game as well with the D850 by introducing 4K internal recording. If you’d still rather have a live optical rather than an electronic view, the D850 is the best option available.
Runner up: Canon EOS Rebel SL3
Another one of the best cameras for photography is Canon’s 24-megapixel APS-C EOS Rebel SL3, which has a great blend of features, build quality and value. It offers features like a vari-angle touchscreen, 4K video (albeit with a crop) and Dual Pixel autofocus technology in live mode. You get shooting speeds of up to 5 fps, 1600 shots on a charge and an ISO range up to 51,200 (expanded). It also offers guided screen options for beginners. Best of all, it offers excellent picture quality for the price thanks to Canon’s skin-friendly color science.
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WEATHER ALERTFreeze WarningABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News StreamTHE LOOP | NYC Weather and Traffic CamsWATCH LIVEWelcome, Your AccountLog OutCHICAGO -- Twice a year, Chicago's photographers gather in hopes of snapping the perfect picture. During both the Spring and Fall equinox, the stars and architecture align framing the sun perfectly between the buildings of Chicago's grid-system.Many photographers set up hours early to stake their spot for a chance to snap what is known as "Chicagohenge." This astrological event has become a meeting ground for photographers."This is a time where we know we can all come out here be around other photographers," said photographer Vashon Jordan. "Sometimes we come out and it's a beautiful shot, and sometimes we come out we might miss it, but to be around other photographers is something we always look forward to."The next chance to catch Chicagohenge will be Spring 2023.
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Photographers
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The Canon EOS R5 is still on sale with a whopping $500 discount ahead of Black Friday. The deal is still ongoing as the camera (which we rate as Canon's best in our guide for the best cameras for photos and videos) was discounted for Prime Day and has continued throughout the period. You'll have to hurry though as stock is running low.
Grab the Canon EOS R5 for $500 off on Amazon in this early Black Friday camera deal.
We gave it four and a half out of five stars in our full Canon EOS R5 review because it has 8K video recording, shoots detailed 45MP stills photographs and has great handling and ergonomics.
It's now much cheaper than its closest rival the Nikon Z8 mirrorless camera which also tops our best cameras buying guide, but with a $500 discount, we think many photographers and videographers who need to save their budget might find the R5 the better option right now.
Whether you need to shoot the lunar surface with a telephoto lens and crop in on the detailed 45MP stills for full-frame views, or you need a high-resolution video recording, the Canon EOS R5 is capable of shooting up to 8K 30p/4K 120p/1080p 60p footage making it a truly excellent hybrid full-frame mirrorless camera.
We found the 5-axis in-body image stabilization smoothes images even when shooting handheld during low light. With a wide ISO sensitivity range of 100-51,200 (expandable to 50-102,400) it can quite literally shoot in the dark, too.
- Read our Black Friday 2023 deals page for big discounts on space gifts
The Canon EOS R5 comes with a neckstrap, battery, battery charger, manuals and is ready to receive additional accessories such as CF and SD memory cards and other camera accessories.
When we were shooting with it for our full review we were blown away by the fantastic autofocusing system. When combined with its own image stabilization, it's one of the fastest systems we've used. Tracking is probably the best in class, with accurate face, eye and head detection, too. The in-body image stabilization (IS) can also be combined with Canon's lens IS for up to 8 stops of stabilization so you can shoot well into twilight and beyond without needing to use a tripod.
Don't forget, if you want to make the most of deals ahead of the Black Friday rush, you can always check out our round-ups for deals on telescopes, binoculars, cameras, star projectors, drones, Lego and much more.
Key Specs: Using the new Digic X processor the Canon EOS R5 is capable of shooting 45MP stills at 12FPS on the mechanical shutter. It captures up to 8K 30p video footage as well which can be accessed with the flick of a button. Though it also records 4K 120p for slow-motion capture and 1080p 60p for standard high-definition recordings. An expandable ISO range of up to 102,400 is impressive, especially for astrophotography.
Consensus: Currently one of the best cameras you can buy, and possibly Canon's finest ever technical achievement. A superlative, but premium package.
Buy if: You want professional-quality photos and videos but don't want to buy into a cinema-grade system or need something smaller and more nimble to shoot with.
Don't buy if: You're looking for a starter vlogging kit or have a tight budget, while this $500 off is great value this camera may still be out of your price range.
Alternative models: For those with smaller budgets we'd recommend the Nikon Z7 II, another of our top-rated best cameras as well. Or if the Canon or Nikon systems aren't right for you, try the Sony A7R V which during our review we found to be one of the best Sony cameras ever made.
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The summer of 2023 has been a treat for full moon fans. Since July, we've seen four supermoons in a row, including the rare Super Blue Moon Moon of August and this weekend, the final supermoon of the year, the Harvest Moon of September, gave skywatchers the final lunar thrill of the season.
When the moon is at or near its perigee, the closest point in its orbit with Earth, it can appear as much as 30% brighter and 14% larger in the sky, though it's typically hard to spot for casual full moon observer. When this occurs, it's called a supermoon.
September's full moon on Sept. 29 is also known as the Harvest Moon, reflective of the start of harvest season in the Northern Hemisphere, and was the fourth in a series of supermoons that began in July (with two in August due to the Blue Moon).This year has been an especially fortunate year for supermoon lovers, with a yearlong wait ahead before one will rise again. The next supermoon won't occur until the next Harvest Moon in September 2024.
To capture the event for Space.com, I headed out to the roof a downtown parking garage. which offered the perfect vantage point to see the moon through some metal scaffolding on an adjacent roof in Bloomington, Indiana. But perhaps a more breathtaking view occurred later that evening from the bridge across Bloomington's Lake Monroe, where the moon graced the water with its reflection as it rose Friday night, sending shimmering ripples as nearby boats headed to the ports to dock for the night.
September full moon 2023 guide: The Super Harvest Moon joins Jupiter and Saturn
Though the supermoon's difference in size is not always apparent to someone prone to occasional glances at the moon, astute observers – especially those eyeing through binoculars or a telescope – can see the difference.
This week's full moon peaked at 5:57 a.m. EDT (0957 GMT) Friday, Sept. 29, according to In the Sky, and remained incredibly full and bright when it rose again Friday, through the night and into Saturday morning.
As the Harvest supermoon sailed across the September skies, photographers around the world took advantage of the added lighting, and shot some great photos for 2023's final supermoon.
"I used two telescopes to capture this super detailed shot of the Full Harvest Moon right as it cleared the clouds," astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the full moon. "I live for these moments."
I used two telescopes to capture this super detailed shot of the Full Harvest Moon right as it cleared the clouds. I live for these moments. pic.twitter.com/QPzrpQIuvPSeptember 29, 2023
In Germany, fairgoers at the annual Oktoberfest festival in Munich got a stunning view of the full Harvest Moon while swinging on a seated carousel ride and was captured by photographer Christof Stache of the AFP for Getty Images.
Sometimes, more earthly sights can amplify our view of the full moon. Matt Lantz captured this stunning view of the Harvest Moon setting behind a mesquite tree early on Friday in Parker County, Texas.
The 2023 Harvest Supermoon setting behind a mesquite tree this morning in Parker County, Texas.#ParkerCounty #Texas #moon #fullmoon #supermoon #harvestmoon #dfwwx #txwx pic.twitter.com/5blAaJVS5ESeptember 29, 2023
Patience is always key in astrophotography and it is on full display in this stunning composition of 14 different images of the Harvest Moon rising over Calascio, Italy. Photographer Lorenzo Di Cola of NurPhoto for Getty Images captured the images and assembled into a single mosaic to show the moon's rising in stages.
Di Cola had a picturesque backdrop to observe the Harvest Moon. In addition to his mosaic image, he also captured a stunning view of the full moon rising behind Rocca Calascio castle and Santa Maria della Pietà church in Calascio.
Full moons can often light up the night sky. But skywatcher Olly Griffin combined that night light with one of a more human-built kind to snap a stunning view of the Harvest Moon shining over Poolberg Lighthouse in Dublin, Ireland.
The #HarvestMoon made a brief appearance through the cloud at the iconic Poolbeg Lighthouse...#StormHour @AstronomyIRL #KeepDiscovering @VisitDublin pic.twitter.com/Kwj2dqCenCSeptember 30, 2023
If you’re looking to snap photos of the night sky in general, check out our guide on how to photograph meteor showers, as well as our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor's Note: If you snap an image of the Harvest Moon and would like to share it with Space.com’s readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
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Photographers
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The lifespan of a typical Berndnaut Smilde sculpture is 10 seconds—just long enough to be photographed. And his sculptures are as unusual as they are ethereal: Smilde makes perfect miniature clouds in a diverse array of indoor locations, from coal mines to cathedrals.He’s been at for several years now and calls the ever-expanding series Nimbus. Last month, he brought his weather wizardry to Frieze New York. There Smilde allowed onlookers to sit in on two days of his work inside NeueHouse, an upscale co-working space.His materials are little more than smoke and water vapor, and the results vary with the size and temperature of the location. The space must be cold and damp, with no air circulation. Smilde creates a wall of water vapor with the type of spritzer you might use on houseplants. A smoke machine then sends a puff of faux fog on a collision course. He likes to keep the clouds no bigger than six feet so they don’t fall apart too quickly. "I really like my clouds concentrated, with a lot of texture," he says.Nimbus Bonnefanten.
Berndnaut SmildeThe artist tinkers with the formula for a few days until he’s created what he believes to be the ideal cloud. For one shoot, he might create 100 clouds to get the image.The result is stunning, an ephemeral artwork caught just before it vanishes. The bare, often austere locations heighten the drama. While Smilde makes his clouds, he has a photographer right there to capture the moment. He prefers to work with photographers with experience shooting architecture, so the wood, metal and other elements are in sharp focus, a contrast to the soft, fluffy clouds. Smilde likes that his creations last but a moment."I see them as temporary sculptures of almost nothing—the edge of materiality," he says. "It looks like you can dive into them or grab them, but they just fall apart. There’s a duality that I really like where you’re trying to achieve this ideal thing that then collapses just moments later."If he could figure out the technical aspects, Smilde would like to create clouds within the vast Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern. Marketers from cloud computing companies in Silicon Valley have approached him to make sculptures at conventions, but he’s declined. For him, it’s more than a parlor trick."Clouds are quite universal," he says. "Everyone can relate to them, but by putting them indoors you kind of change the context. It can become strange or even threatening. They can stand in for the divine, but also for misfortune."
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Back in 2017, the Sony A7C was released as a smaller, more compact version of the popular Sony A7 III. It was praised at the time for its lightweight and small form factor while still packing the punch of some of the bigger models, although as time has passed and technology has advanced, it's been growing more and more outdated. Six years on, we've now welcomed the A7C II which has a faster processor, more megapixels and Sony's new AI-based autofocus system. It's launching for an RRP of $2198 and comes in all black or black & silver.
Release date: September 2023
System: Mirrorless
Sensor: Full frame 33MP BSI CMOS
ISO range: 100-51,200 (expanded 50-204,800)
Burst shooting: up to 10FPS
AF: 759 phase-detection
Video: 4K 30p, 4K 60p cropped
Storage: Single UHS-II SD slot
Screen: 3-inch fully articulating, 1.036M dots
Dimensions: 4.88 x 2.8 x 2.48-inches (124 x 71 x 63 mm)
Weight: 1.13 lbs (514g)
The Sony A7C II is aimed at casual photographers and globe trotters who want to take pictures and videos while traveling or on holiday. It has a ton of useful features which make shooting a breeze and produces stunning results that will certainly impress. It would be a great option to consider if you're making the jump from crop sensor over to full frame thanks to its accessibility and relatively low cost.
When paired with some of the best zoom lenses and best lenses for astrophotography, this camera truly comes into its own and proves that bigger isn't always better — in fact, many users prefer the best mirrorless cameras to be compact and lightweight, rather than having to carry around heavy and bulky DSLRs.
So is the Sony A7C II one of the best cameras for photos and videos? Let's take a closer look.
Sony A7C II review
Sony A7C II: Design
- Subtle design changes from the previous model
- Small and lightweight form factor makes it perfect for travel
- Fully articulating screen is great for awkward astro positions and vlogging
🔎 Sony A7C II: Overall we like the design for its comfort and usability, and we found it comfortable to hold and use for long periods. However, if you're a pro, you'll likely want a camera that has more custom buttons to dive into the customization that Sony cameras offer. ★★★★
When it comes to the design of the Sony A7C II, overall, it's quite similar to the original A7C. The A7C range is billed as Sony's 'smallest full-frame cameras', and the original model still holds that title, with the newer version being 5g heavier and just 3mm deeper — which, let's be honest, doesn't really make any difference in practice.
It weighs 1.13 lbs (514g) and measures 4.88 x 2.8 x 2.48-inches (124 x 71 x 63 mm), so it's actually not much bigger and heavier than the new APS-C Sony A6700, which we reviewed. We found it no trouble at all carrying around our neck (even when paired with a fairly big lens), and we think the small form factor is perfect for travel photographers who might need to save on space in their camera backpacks. But if you think it might be too small for you, you can purchase a grip for it — although that'll cost you an extra $160.
We like that Sony have added a front dial on the A7C II, which was a common complaint in the original version. We found it easy and convenient to change the settings with our forefinger and thumb at the same time, as opposed to having to wade through the menus to change settings, which is incredibly annoying. Although this may seem like a fairly small change, it means the camera handles much better. The rear of the camera is largely the same as the A7C, only they've added an additional custom button next to the menu button. On the top, the exposure compensation dial is now a blank custom dial, and there's a separate selector dial below the main dial for photo, video and s&q.
They have improved the resolution of the LCD screen, although not by a particularly noticeable margin. The LCD screen on the original version was 0.92M dots, but now they've upped it to 1.03M dots. We thought the LCD screen was fine, but we think they could have improved it even more to make it really stand out, especially considering it's the same resolution as the A6700, which is only a crop sensor camera. The main advantage the screen has is that it's fully articulating, making this camera a fantastic option for vlogging and taking selfies.
Sony A7C II: Performance
- Produces surprisingly good images
- Autofocus is fast and reliable
- Low light performance is good for casual astro
🔎 Sony A7C II: We were pleasantly surprised with the performance of this camera, and although it won't give the best results you've ever seen, for the price, it's pretty impressive. It's fine for astro, but the images are quite noisy. ★★★★
We say 'surprisingly good' because, having only just reviewed the incredible Sony A7R V, honestly, we weren't expecting much from this camera (even though it's not a particularly fair comparison). But when we looked at our images on a computer screen, we were very pleasantly surprised with the sharpness, color and dynamic range this camera is capable of producing.
The 33MP BSI sensor sits nicely in between the insanely-detailed 61MP of the A7R V and the lower resolution of the original A7C (24MP), meaning you get beautifully detailed images that aren't hugely overrun with noise but are still detailed enough to be impressive, particularly if you want to print your images or share them to social media. Not to mention, a 33MP sensor doesn't produce enormous files for the camera to try and keep up with, so we had no issues with the buffer speed while we were shooting.
The A7C II is equipped with Sony's new AI processing unit, making their already class-leading autofocus even better. We were incredibly impressed with this new autofocus system when we reviewed the Sony A7R V and the Sony A6700, and when we were testing out the A7C II for this review, it was just as fast, accurate and reliable as we expected it to be. It features new intelligent 'deep-learning' technology and can detect a range of different subjects, from humans to animals, insects, birds, cars, trains and airplanes — although there's no auto mode for this, so you'll have to set it manually. We tested the autofocus on a pair of black indoor cats and it was able to detect and track their eyes effortlessly, and it automatically switched to face tracking when they were looking away from the camera.
In terms of its astro performance, we'd say it performed well overall and it can autofocus down to -4EV, but we wouldn't recommend it as a dedicated astro camera. We found the images to be fairly noisy, so you wouldn't want to bump the ISO up over around 5000. You can eliminate a lot of the noise using Lightroom's AI denoise feature, but that process can be quite time-consuming so it wouldn't be worth it if you have a lot of astro images to process.
We also tested its astro performance at a dark sky site away from the bright city lights and, unsurprisingly, the images were better and there was less noticeable noise overall.
Sony A7C II: Functionality
- Disappointed with only a single card slot
- Powerful AI-processing unit means lower battery life
- A camera aimed at enthusiasts
🔎 Sony A7C II: It's decent enough for an entry-level full-frame camera, although it won't win any awards for its features or capabilities. That said, we think having such a powerful AI autofocus processor, image stabilization and detailed sensor in a camera this affordable is impressive. ★★★★
Given the lower price tag, it won't come as a surprise that a few sacrifices had to be made to keep the price down. We've already mentioned the LCD screen resolution being one area they've been fairly conservative in, but another comes in the form of the card slot, being that there's only one.
Not only is there only one, but it's also not compatible with faster CFexpress cards. This won't be too much of an issue in terms of writing speed as the 33MP files aren't huge, but it could be more of a problem if you're using it as a second camera and you want peace of mind with a second card in case one of them fails. In an ideal world, we'd love a second card slot, but we understand why they haven't included one here.
While the new AI processing unit is undoubtedly fantastic and takes Sony's cameras to a new level, they need to address the fact that it means the battery life is significantly reduced as a result. We noted the same thing on the other newer Sony cameras we've reviewed recently, and although it does depend on whether you use the EVF or the LCD screen, how long you're shooting for and how often you stop to look at your images, reduced battery life could pose a problem if you're going to be using this camera for professional use or on long shoots and don't want to keep changing batteries. According to CIPA standards, the original A7C had a 740 shot battery life on a single charge, but with the addition of the new autofocus unit, the A7C II only has 540 shots.
That said, we found the battery life on the A7C II to be fine for a casual day of shooting, and it's worth remembering that this camera isn't aimed at professionals anyway, so the reduced battery life won't be too much of an issue here, although it's something we'd like Sony to address going forward.
Should you buy the Sony A7C II?
✅ You're an enthusiast: The A7C II is a perfect camera for enthusiasts as it produces beautiful results and has good enough specs for most shooting situations without breaking the bank.
✅ You're on a budget: ...relatively speaking. For a full-frame camera, the price is incredibly affordable, so this is a good option if you don't have thousands and thousands to spend on the best tech.
❌ You're a professional: It just doesn't have the amount of features, customization and power that professionals need.
Overall, we don't have any particularly strong opinions on this camera either way — it's just... fine. It's probably not going to be anyone's 'dream camera' and it's not groundbreaking or anything new, exciting or sexy — but it's reliable, does what you want it to and is comfortable to use and carry around. For the price you pay, it's very good value for money and it will suit amateurs and enthusiasts down to the ground.
If, however, you're a professional and you earn a living through photography, we don't think this would be the camera for you. It would be fine as a second camera for events or weddings, but it just doesn't have the juice to satisfy pros seeking something powerful.
It's capable of most photographic styles, from astro to landscapes, wildlife and portraits — not to mention vlogging. The only style we think it might potentially struggle with is fast-action or sports, as you can only get up to 10FPS out of it.
If the Sony A7C II isn't for you
If you're on a tighter budget and you're happy to sacrifice image stabilization and megapixels, the Canon EOS R8 would be worth considering. It's still an impressive camera and we enjoyed shooting with it, but it doesn't have any of the fancier tech that the Sony has. We also thought it handled astrophotography very well.
If you like some of the aspects of the Sony A7C II but need something with a bit more oomph for pro work, we cannot recommend the Sony A7R V enough. It has an insanely detailed 61MP sensor and includes the newer AI autofocus unit as well as a perfect amount of customization, and we have been pining after it ever since we had to send it back after testing.
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In the age of the smartphone, we've all become photographers. We have a camera at all times, give or take. But what about taking things a step further photography-wise? Why not take the plunge and buy a real camera? Like a seriously real camera.
But what type? A DSLR, mirrorless, or point-and-shoot camera? You already have a point-and-shoot camera on your phone and mirrorless, which is the increasingly popular choice, might be a bit tech-heavy. Overall, it’s important that you buy a camera that allows you to grow and gain confidence in your photography skills. The best camera is the one that feels “right in your hand” and you will actually be able to use.
Many amateur photographers start with DSLR cameras because they have multiple options, lenses, and classic handling.
What is a DSLR camera?
DSLR stands for digital single-lens reflex(Opens in a new tab). DSLRs have been popular because of how easy they are to use and the multitude of lenses available. DSLRs have a mirror in the lens. This mirror reflects the optical image into the camera's viewfinder and the photo is captured on an SD card. Just to clear up any potential confusion: The difference between a DSLR and an SLR is mainly that SLR uses film while DSLR is all digital.
Is mirrorless better than DSLR?
As always, it's less about what's better and more about what suits you best — though the current trend does seem to be towards mirrorless, which are the more popular type of camera at the moment. Mirrorless cameras tend to be smaller and more compact (that's one of the big selling points). And though DSLRs are bulkier, they tend to have better battery life for this reason. Reviewers also talk about the "handling" of DSLR cameras — the classic feel of a chunky, grippable, easy-to-use camera.
The other differences to note are that DSLRs have a classic optical viewfinder, whereas mirrorless cameras have an electronic viewfinder or sometimes no viewfinder at all — they prioritise an LCD monitor for "live view" shooting instead. DSLRs have also implemented these monitors on the rear side, though that means DSLRs have two different autofocus systems for both viewfinder and monitor.
One benefit of DSLRs is the sheer number of lenses available, particularly from manufacturers that have been in the DSLR game for years, such as Canon and Nikon.
Do DSLR cameras shoot video?
One of the big differences between DSLR and mirrorless is that mirrorless cameras are better for shooting video. So, if video is a big priority for you, it might be worth picking up a mirrorless camera instead. However, the DSLRs in this roundup all shoot video — and some even capture 4K video — so they're not exactly slouches in the video department.
Are DSLRs good for beginners?
DSLRs do have some advantages over mirrorless cameras. One thing worth noting is that because the mirror covers the sensor, it's protected against dust and dirt when you remove or change lenses. This makes cleaning a lot easier for beginners. And while DSLR cameras are bulkier and heavier than the new mirrorless options, pros and newbies alike will prefer the beefier construction and easy-to-use tools.
DSLR cameras with a built-in viewfinder are the cheapest option within this category, and you can expect a basic set up complete with camera, zoom lens, and carrying case to run you anywhere from £300 to £2,000.
What is the best DSLR camera for beginners?
We've checked out everything on offer for beginners, and lined up the very best DSLR cameras from top brands. There should be something for everyone and every budget in this list. You just need to pick the model that best fits your requirements.
These are the best DSLR cameras for beginners in 2023.
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Adobe is working on a camera app designed to take your smartphone photography to the next level.Within the next year or two, the company plans to release an app that marries the computing smarts of modern phones with the creative controls that serious photographers often desire, said Marc Levoy, who joined Adobe two years ago as a vice president to help spearhead the effort.Levoy has impeccable credentials: He previously was a Stanford University researcher who coined the term computational photography and helped lead Google's respected Pixel camera app team."What I did at Google was to democratize good photography," Levoy said in an exclusive interview. "What I'd like to do at Adobe is to democratize creative photography, where there's more of a conversation between the photographer and the camera."If successful, the app could extend photography's smartphone revolution beyond the mainstream abilities that are the focus of companies like Apple, Google and Samsung. Computational photography has worked wonders in improving the image quality of small, physically limited smartphone cameras. And it's unlocked features like panorama stitching, portrait mode to blur backgrounds and night modes for better quality at night. Camera app 'dialogue' with the photographerAdobe isn't making an app for everyone, but instead for people willing to put in a bit more effort up front to get the photo they want, something matched to the enthusiasts and pros who often already are customers of Adobe's Photoshop and Lightroom photography software. Such photographers are more likely to have experience fiddling with traditional camera settings like autofocus, shutter speed, color, focal length and aperture.Several camera apps, like Open Camera for Android and Halide for iPhones, offer manual controls similar to those on traditional cameras. Adobe itself has some of those in its own camera app, built into its Lightroom mobile app. But with its new camera app, Adobe is headed in a different direction — more of a "dialogue" between the photographer and the camera app when taking a photo to get the desired shot.Adobe is aiming for "photographers who want to think a little bit more intently about the photograph that they're taking and are willing to interact a bit more with the camera while they're taking it," Levoy said. "That just opens up a lot of possibilities. That's something I've always wanted to do and something that I can do at Adobe."In contrast, Google and its smartphone competitors don't want to confuse their more mainstream audience. "Every time I would propose a feature that would require more than a single button press, they would say, 'Let's focus on the consumer and the single button press,'" Levoy said.Adobe camera app features and ideasLevoy won't yet be pinned down on his app's features, though he did say Adobe is working on a feature to remove distracting reflections from photos taken through windows. Adobe's approach adds new artificial intelligence methods to the challenge, he said. "I would love to be able to remove window reflections," Levoy said. "I would like to ship that, because it ruins a lot of my photographs."But there are plenty of areas where Levoy expects improvements:"Relighting" an image to get rid of problems like harsh shadows on faces. The iPhone's lidar sensor or other ways of building a 3D "depth map" of the scene can help inform the app where to make such scene illumination decisions.A new approach to "superresolution," the computational generation of new pixels to try to offer higher-resolution photos or more detail when digitally zooming. Google's Super Res Zoom combines multiple shots to this end, as does Adobe's AI-based image enhancement tool, but both the multiframe and AI approaches could be melded, Levoy said. "Adobe is working on improving it, and I'm working with the people who wrote that," he said.Merging several shots into one digital photo montage with the best elements of each photo, for example, making sure everybody is smiling and nobody is blinking in a group shot. It's difficult technology to get working reliably: "Google launched it in Google Photos a long time ago. Of course we de-launched it after people started posting all kinds of horrible creations," Levoy said.The methods of computational video — applying the same tricks to video as are now common with photos — "has barely been scratched," Levoy said. For example, he'd like to see an equivalent of the Google Pixel Magic Eraser feature to remove distractions from videos, too. Video is only getting more important, as the rise of TikTok illustrates, he said.Photos that adapt to the screens where people see them. People naturally prefer more contrast and richer colors when seeing photos on small phone screens, but that same photo on a laptop or TV can look garish. Adobe's DNG file format could allow viewer-based tweaks to dial such adjustments up or down to suit their presentation, Levoy said.A mixture of real images and synthetic images like those generated by OpenAI's DALL-E AI system, a technology Levoy calls "amazing." Adobe has a strong interest in creativity, and AI-generated images could be prompted not just with text but with your own photos, he said.Pro photographers can be pickyAdobe's success isn't guaranteed. A more discriminating market of serious photographers are less likely to be forgiving about computational photography glitches that can show up when performing actions like merging multiple frames into one or artificially blurring backgrounds, for example.At the same time, mainstream camera apps that ship with phones have steadily improved, adding features like computational raw image formats for more editing flexibility. And Adobe doesn't get quite the deep level of access to camera hardware that a phone maker does, raising performance challenges.But Levoy clearly is enthralled with what computational photography can bring. "It's just getting exciting," Levoy said. "We haven't come anywhere near the end of this road."
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Photographers
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This story is part of Focal Point iPhone 2022, CNET's collection of news, tips and advice around Apple's most popular product. Thanks to the iPhone 14 Pro, it's a good time to be a serious photographer. Apple's newest smartphone, which packs a 48-megapixel sensor, delivers significant improvements in image quality not just for the average person, but also for photo enthusiasts and pros trying to get the most out of their smartphone cameras.I'm one of those people, shooting professionally some of the time and as a hobbyist the rest of the time. I've been putting my iPhone 14 Pro through its paces, and after six days of shooting and pixel peeping, I'm impressed with the technology improvements.Three highlights in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max stand out: the main camera's 48-megapixel resolution, better image quality on the main, and ultrawide angle cameras so photos look more natural and the improved low-light performance on all three of the rear cameras. Mainstream folks should appreciate them, as my colleague Patrick Holland observes in his iPhone 14 Pro review and camera testing, but serious shooters can really benefit.The ability to shoot better photos is one of the more obvious ways you can see advancements in the latest iPhone. You might not notice processor speeds or display quality improving from one year to the next, but camera quality shows progress more visibly. And competitively, with Samsung offering powerful 10x zoom lenses and Google pioneering computational photography, Apple has to work hard to keep iPhone fans loyal.Fortunately, Apple has raised its game too. I've scrutinized hundreds of photos to compare my iPhone 14 Pro with the iPhone 13 Pro. Here's what I've learned. The iPhone 14 Pro's 48-megapixel camera is greatMy favorite improvement to the iPhone 14 Pro is the 48-megapixel sensor on the main camera, the one that gets the most use. I love diving into the details of each photo.I love peering at the details the iPhone 14 Pro's main camera captures at 48 megapixels. Even though high megapixel counts can impair image quality at the pixel level, Apple's sensor is beg enough to capture good color and dynamic range. Stephen Shankland/CNET For most folks, the iPhone 14 Pro models will shoot at 12 megapixels, combining four pixels on the image sensor into one through a process called pixel binning. Because Apple increased the sensor size, image quality improves compared with 12-megapixel shots on earlier phones.But the more adventurous can shoot with all 48 pixels. That quadruples pixel count and triples file sizes but gives you the flexibility to crop or rotate your photos without losing detail and resolution.If you like viewing or printing your photos in large sizes, having 48 megapixels is great. At 240 pixels per inch, a common setting for high-quality prints, you can print 48-megapixel photos at a 25.2x33.6 inch size instead of 12.6x16.8 inches for 12 megapixels.To take 48-megapixel shots, you must use Apple's ProRaw format, an option enabled through the camera app's format settings. Many serious photographers already prefer that for its advantages in editing: better flexibility with color, exposure, sharpening. ProRaw is a computational raw format, meaning that it combines multiple frames into one photo and performs other tricks to squeeze as much image quality as possible out of a smartphone's relatively small sensor.At left, the 12.6x16.8-inch print you can make with a 12-megapixel photo printed at 240 pixels per inch. In the middle, the iPhone 14 Pro for scale. At right, the 25.2x33.6 print you can make with the iPhone 14 Pro's 48-megapixel main camera. Stephen Shankland/CNET Low-light shooting is better on the iPhone 14 ProThe bigger sensor on the iPhone 14 Pro's main camera improves shooting at nighttime or when conditions are dim. I compared a lot of low-light photos, many of them taken with Apple's night mode and some of them mounted on a tripod to eliminate problems from shaky hands. The 14 Pro's main camera takes appreciably better shots, preserving more shadow detail and color than the 13 Pro. The dynamic range is also better, capturing a broader range between bright and dark. It's not what you'd get out of a full-frame SLR or mirrorless camera from the likes of Sony, Nikon or Canon, but it's impressive.The comparison above shows the same nighttime shot, deliberately overexposed to reveal shortcomings in darker parts of the scene. The iPhone 13 Pro photo at left suffers from more noise, less detail, and worse color than the iPhone 14 Pro shot at right. Both were shot at 12-megapixel resolution with Apple's night mode. The ultrawide camera gets a similar improvement from the 13 Pro to the 14 Pro, though its performance isn't as good as the main camera's. Nighttime shots peering into my house show less noise where it's dark and better detail and color everywhere.If you edit your photos, that translates to more flexibility. You can boost shadows and ease blown-out highlights without introducing as many artifacts like noise speckles or posterization, where there's not enough data for smooth tonal gradations.And the better dynamic range helps when it's bright,too, for example with bright skies that look more natural.I'm impressed with the iPhone 14 Pro's dynamic range, capturing bright highlights and deep shadows pretty well in this nighttime shot shot at 12 megapixels with pixel binning technology. It's more natural looking and less afflicted by noise speckles than the same shot with the iPhone 13 Pro. Stephen Shankland/CNET The telephoto camera captures more detailFor several years, Apple has used an AI-based image analysis technique called Deep Fusion to preserve details and color in dim and dark lighting. In the latest iPhone 14 generation, Apple's Photonic Engine technology runs Deep Fusion earlier in the image processing pipeline to preserve texture and color better.It works on all the cameras, but I appreciate it most on the telephoto lens that otherwise doesn't appear to have been changed from the 13 Pro to the 14 Pro.In one shot of a houseplant I took in the evening, I could clearly see fine detail on the 14 Pro's shot that was absent with the 13 Pro. You can compare the two above.For another photo of a dark oil painting I shot when it was dim, the iPhone 13 Pro chose to use its main camera and upscale the photo digitally, with predictably mushy results. The iPhone 14 Pro used its telephoto camera and captured vastly more detail, aided perhaps by the Photonic Engine and by improved image stabilization.Apple didn't sacrifice image quality for 48 megapixelsNotably, Apple increased the main camera with a good balance of resolution and picture quality. Increasing pixel count can require decreasing pixel size to fit them all on a sensor. The problem is that smaller pixels are worse when it comes to color, noise, and capturing a broad dynamic range between bright and dark areas of an image.When using pixel binning to produce 12-megapixel images, the iPhone 14 Pro's pixels are effectively 65% larger than on the iPhone 13 Pro, and image quality improves accordingly. But while shooting at 48 megapixels, even though the pixels are 59% smaller than on the 13 Pro, they're still big enough to produce photos with marvelous detail and good color.The iPhone 14 Pro's main camera photographed our dog's fur with crisp detail even at 48 megapixels. This is a crop 2,048 pixels wide. Stephen Shankland/CNET The small pixels would be a problem when conditions are dim. But when shooting in night mode or using a flash, the iPhone 14 Pro sidesteps the problem by shooting only 12-megapixel photos.The 2x telephoto camera is a cool trickA clever trick with the 48-megapixel camera is just using the central quarter of the image to take 12-megapixel shots with a narrower field of view. Apple shows this option as a 2x camera in the camera app.It's a good idea because 2x zoom is often nicer than the more dramatic 3x telephoto camera for midrange subjects. It works with video too.Optics nerds will rightly point out that the lens properties haven't changed, which means you get some wide-angle issues like somewhat bulbous noses in portraits. Whatever. It's still a useful option, and the image quality is good enough when it's not dim.The main camera has a usefully wider viewApple broadened the main camera's field of view from an equivalent of 26mm focal length to a wider angle 24mm. Especially given the option to shoot at 48 megapixels, I'm happy with that.Many of us shoot indoors where it's impractical to walk backward to get everybody in a group shot, so a wider field of view is justified. You can always shoot with the ultrawide camera, but its worse image quality is really apparent when it's dim. Shooting in 48 megapixels is slowerOne downside to the high-resolution photos: It typically takes more than a second to take a 48-megapixel shot. After you tap the shutter button, it snaps a photo and the phone churns away for a moment before the shutter button becomes available again.In contrast, taking the same scene at 12 megapixels is much snappier. If you're shooting fast-moving subjects, stick with the lower resolution.I'd like an on-screen setting to switch between 12 and 48 megapixels so I don't have to dig into the camera app's format settings to change it. But I understand Apple's preference for a simpler interface, uncluttered with buttons photographers might regret accidentally pressing. I'll mostly shoot at 48 megapixels.Apple dials back the oversharpeningOne of my longstanding complaints about Apple photos is that it sharpens images too much, cranking up too high the mathematical algorithm that emphasizes contrasting edges. The result is a crispy look that looks artificial and distracting to my eye. Indeed, one reason I shoot ProRaw is so I can choose a lower level of sharpening.I'm happy to report that Apple has eased back. Adobe Lightroom, the software I use to edit and catalog photos, shows sharpening set to 40 instead of the 50 Apple has used for years. I still often dial it back still further to 20 or 30 to produce a more natural, less digitally processed look.I like that the iPhone 14 Pro doesn't sharpen images as much. In this cropped portion of a photo shot with the main camera at 48 megapixels, the blades of grass aren't distractingly crispy from oversharpening, a problem I've had with earlier iPhones. This is the default level, but I might dial it down a bit in editing. Stephen Shankland/CNET Your preferences may vary, of course. Adobe points out that people like more sharpening, contrast and color saturation when they're looking at photos on smaller screens. Even if Apple is optimizing more for phone viewing, I still prefer sharpening that looks more natural to me.Those 48-megapixel photos take up more spaceIf you're pondering how much storage to buy with a new iPhone, factor in that 48-megapixel images take up roughly three times as much space.Apple says the 12-megapixel shots are about 25MB and 48-megapixel shots are about 75MB. That varies depending on whether you're shooting simple or complex scenes. The biggest sizes I found were, for one scene busy with lots of leaves, 43MB for 12 megapixels and 125MB for 48 megapixels. Both shots were in ProRaw and framed the same with a tripod. And if you're shooting ProRes video, another high-end format from Apple, factor in even more space. One 18-minute video I just shot in ProRes gobbled up 27GB of storage space.The iPhone 14 Pro's camera bump is hugeYou can't get a big sensor into a phone without using a big lens, and the price you pay for the iPhone 14 Pro's better image quality is a chunkier phone. I carry a DSLR around to hikes, birthday parties and conferences, so you won't be surprised to hear I'm fine with Apple's choice.Three rear-facing cameras protrude 4.18mm from the back of Apple's iPhone 14 Pro. Stephen Shankland/CNET Ryan Jones has tracked iPhone camera thickness over the years, and the 14 Pro has the biggest optics package yet. It protrudes 4.18mm beyond the rest of the 7.85mm thick iPhone 14 Pro body. In comparison, the iPhone 13 Pro's body was about the same at 7.65mm thick, but the cameras protruded 3.6mm.Apple styles its three cameras to look like traditional cameras. It's a pain cleaning the pocket lint out from between the barrels, but the intermediate material would add more weight to an already hefty phone. And the protruding cylinders convey a message of photographic seriousness in the same way hulking telephoto lenses on traditional cameras do. Just try not to let the camera size go to your head.
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Photographers
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Rock ‘n’ roll portrait photographer Lynn Goldsmith won her case at the Supreme Court on Thursday against the Andy Warhol Foundation, and she called it a victory for artists and photographers who make their living by licensing art.
The question before the Supreme Court was whether the "fair use" doctrine of the Copyright Act protected artist Andy Warhol, who used the images of Prince captured by Goldsmith to create new works of art without her credit or consent.
In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court decided that "If an original work and a secondary use share the same or highly similar purposes, and the secondary use is of a commercial nature, the first factor is likely to weigh against fair use, absent some other justification for copying."
Goldsmith celebrated the victory in an Instagram post, saying she is "thrilled" and "thankful to the Supreme Court for hearing our side of the story."
In 1981, Goldsmith took a series of photographs of the musician, Prince, after pitching him to the photo editor of Newsweek as "the next big thing."
When Prince’s "star exploded" with the release of his Purple Rain album three years later, Vanity Fair commissioned Andy Warhol to recreate – with permission and licensing fees – one of the photographs from Goldsmith’s 1981 shoot. But Warhol also used her work to create an entire series of silkscreen images without her permission.
In 2016, after Prince died, Vanity Fair published one of Warhol’s recreated images saturated in bright orange paint for its cover. Goldsmith realized then that her photographs were being used without her permission or credit.
According to the legal filings, the Andy Warhol Foundation (AWF) charged Conde Nast – Vanity Fair’s parent company – $10,000 for use of the images and required the magazine to credit AWF. Goldsmith received no credit.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, author of the majority opinion, wrote, "Lynn Goldsmith’s original works, like those of other photographers, are entitled to copyright protection, even against famous artists."
"Such protection includes the right to prepare derivative works that transform the original. The use of a copyrighted work may nevertheless be fair if, among other things, the use has a purpose and character that is sufficiently distinct from the original," she wrote.
"In this case, however, Goldsmith’s original photograph of Prince, and AWF’s [Andy Warhol Foundation] copying use of that photograph in an image licensed to a special edition magazine devoted to Prince, share substantially the same purpose, and the use is of a commercial nature," she said.
Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who filed an amicus brief in support of Goldsmith, commented by saying that the ruling was a "tremendous win" for the creative community.
"Tennessee is home to countless singers, songwriters, and content creators whose ability to earn a living depends upon their right to receive fair compensation for their work," she said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"That’s why I led an amicus brief in AWF v. Goldsmith supporting protections for our artists that encourage them to create and innovate. The Supreme Court’s decision in AWF v. Goldsmith is a tremendous win for these artists and the creative community as a whole," she said.
Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, dissented from the majority and called the opinion" troubling."
"Still more troubling are the consequences of today’s ruling for other artists. If Warhol does not get credit for transformative copying, who will? And when artists less famous than Warhol cannot benefit from fair use, it will matter even more," Kagan wrote.
"Goldsmith would probably have granted Warhol a license with few conditions, and for a price well within his budget. But as our precedents show, licensors sometimes place stringent limits on follow-on uses, especially to prevent kinds of expression they disapprove... It will stifle creativity of every sort," Kagan continued.
"It will impede new art and music and literature. It will thwart the expression of new ideas and the attainment of new knowledge. It will make our world poorer," she said.
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Photographers
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When I heard Google boast about the Pixel 7 Pro smartphone's "pro-level zoom" and assert that the phone's photography features can challenge traditional cameras, my ears pricked up. I'm one of those serious photographers who hauls around a bulky camera and a bunch of lenses, but I love smartphone photography too, so I decided to test those claims.At its October launch event, Google touted the Pixel 7 Pro's telephoto zoom for magnifying distant subjects, its Tensor G2-powered AI processing, its faster Night Sight for low-light scenes and a new macro ability for closeup photos. "It cleverly combines state-of-the-art hardware, software and machine learning to create amazing zoom photos across any magnification," Pixel camera hardware chief Alexander Schiffhauer said at the phone's launch event.As you might imagine, I got better results from my "real" camera equipment, which would cost $10,000 if purchased new today. Even though my Canon 5D Mark IV is now 6 years old, it's hard to beat a big image sensor and big lenses when it comes to color, sharpness, detail and a wide dynamic range spanning bright and dark tones.But the Pixel 7 Pro's photographic flexibility challenges my camera setup better than any other phone I've used, even outperforming my DSLR in some circumstances and earning a "stellar" rating from CNET editor Andrew Lanxon. While my camera and four lenses fill a whole backpack, Google's smartphone fits in my pocket. And of course that $900 smartphone lets me share a selfie, check my email, pay for the groceries and tackle the daily crossword puzzle. With the steady annual improvement in smartphone camera hardware and image processing, a smartphone isn't just a better-than-nothing camera. These little slices of electronics are increasingly able to nail important shots and open up new creative possibilities for those who are discovering the rewards of photography.I'll keep hauling my DSLR on hikes and family outings. But because I won't always have it with me, the Pixel 7 Pro -- in particular its zoom and low-light abilities -- means I won't be as worried about missing the shot when I don't.My Canon 5D Mark IV, which costs $2,700 new these days, most often has the $1,900 Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens mounted. I also use the $2,400 EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM for telephoto shots, the $1,300 ultrawide EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM zoom, the $1,300 EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM for closeups, and the $429 Extender EF 1.4X III for more telephoto reach when photographing birds. Here's how that gear stacks up against the Pixel 7 Pro's 0.5x ultrawide, 1x main camera and 5x telephoto camera. Now playing: Watch this: Pixel 7 Pro Review: Google's Best Phone Gets Better 10:14 Google Pixel 7 Pro vs. Canon 5D Mark IV, main cameraWith plenty of light, the Pixel 7 Pro's 24mm main camera does a good job capturing color and detail in its 12-megapixel images. Check the comparisons here (and note that my DSLR shoots in a more elongated 3:2 aspect ratio than the Pixel 7 Pro's 4:3). Pixel peeping shows the phone can't hold a candle to my 30-megapixel DSLR when it comes to detail. If you're printing posters or need a lot of detail for photo editing, a modern DSLR or mirrorless camera is worth it. But 12 megapixels is plenty for most purposes. Check the below cropped images to see what's going on up close.Google missed a chance to shoot even higher resolution photos than my 30-megapixel DSLR, though. The Pixel 7 Pro's main camera has a 50-megapixel sensor. It takes 12-megapixel photos using an approach called pixel binning that combines each 2x2 pixel group on the sensor into one effectively larger pixel. That means better color and low-light performance when shooting at 24mm. But you can use those 50 megapixels differently by skipping the pixel binning and shooting in the sensor's full resolution when there's sufficient light. That's exactly what Apple does with the iPhone 14 Pro camera, and I wish Google did the same.DSLR vs. Pixel 7 Pro, telephoto camerasTelephoto lenses magnify more distant subjects, and the Pixel 7 Pro has a remarkable range for a smartphone. Its sensors can shoot at 2x, 5x and 10x zoom modes with minimal processing trickery. It'll shoot at intermediate settings with various combinations of cropping and multi-camera image compositing that I find fairly convincing. Then it reaches up to 30x with Google's AI-infused upscaling technology, called Super Res Zoom. Here's the same scene shot across the Pixel 7 Pro's full range from supertelephoto 30x to ultrawide 0.5x:The Pixel 7 Pro's zoom range reaches from 0.5x to 10x shooting at the native resolution of its three cameras, then extends to 30x with Google's image processing technology. That's an equivalent of 12mm to 720mm in conventional full-frame camera terms. Stephen Shankland/CNET The image quality is pretty bad by the time you reach 30x zoom, an equivalent of 720mm. But even my expensive DSLR gear only reaches 560mm maximum, and venturing beyond 10x on the Pixel 7 Pro can be justified in many circumstances. Not every photo has to be good enough quality to make an 8x10 print. Bigger telephoto photographyTelephoto lenses are big, which is why those pro photographers at NFL games haul around monopods to support their hulking optics. Canon's RF 400mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens, popular on the sidelines, weighs more than six pounds, measures more than 14 inches long, and costs more than my entire collection of cameras and lenses. My Canon 100-400mm zoom is smaller and cheaper but doesn't let in as much light, but it's still gargantuan compared with the Pixel 7 Pro. I'm delighted to be able to capture useful telephoto shots on a Pixel phone, an option that previously was available only on rival Android phones from Samsung and others. Google exploits the Pixel 7 Pro's 50-megapixel main camera sensor for the first step up the telephoto lens ladder, a 2x zoom level good for portraits. The Pixel 7 Pro uses just the central 12 megapixels to capture a 12-megapixel photo in 2x telephoto mode, an equivalent focal length of 48mm.The dedicated telephoto camera kicks in at 5x zoom, an equivalent of 120mm. Instead of a bulky telephoto protuberance, Google uses a prism to bend light 90 degrees so the necessary lens length and 48-megapixel image sensor can be tucked sideways within the Pixel 7 Pro's thicker "camera bar" section. It also can use the central megapixels in its 10x mode, or 240mm, an option I think is terrific. This San Francisco architectural sight below is pretty good:Using AI and software processing to zoom further, the camera can reach 20x and even 30x zoom, which translates to 480mm and 720mm. By comparison, my DSLR reaches 560mm with my 1.4x telephoto extender. My DSLR would have trounced the Pixel 7 Pro for this scene of Bay Area fog lapping up against the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco, shot somewhere between 15x and 20x. (I wish Google would write zoom level metadata into photos the way my Canon records lens focal length settings.) But guess what? I was mountain biking and didn't take my DSLR. The best camera is the one you have, as the saying goes.San Francisco Bay Area fog lapping up against the Santa Cruz Mountains, photographed here at about 20x zoom with the Pixel 7 Pro, is a useful if flawed photo. Stephen Shankland/CNET Back at 10x zoom, I was pleased with this shot below of my pal Joe mountain biking. I've photographed people in this very spot before with smartphones, and this was the first time I wasn't frustrated with the results.A Pixel 7 Pro photo of a mountain biker taken at 10x zoom Stephen Shankland/CNET Google's optics and image processing methods are clever but not magical. The Pixel 7 Pro produces a 12-megapixel image, but the farther beyond 10x you shoot, the more you'll cringe at its blotchy details that look more like a watercolor painting. That's the glass-is-half-empty view. I'm actually on the glass-is-half-full side, appreciating what you can do and recognizing that a lot of photos will be viewed on smaller screens. Image quality of 10x is respectable, and that alone is a major achievement.Here's a comparison of a rooftop party photographed with the Pixel 7 Pro at 30x, or 720mm equivalent, and my camera at 560mm, but cropped in to match the phone's framing. The DSLR does better, of course. Even cropped, it's an 18-megapixel image. Practical limits on Pixel 7 Pro's telephoto camerasTo really exercise the phone, I toted it to see the US Navy's Blue Angels flight display over San Francisco. Buildings and fog blocking my view made photography tough, but I found new limitations to the Pixel 7 Pro.Fiddling with screen controls to hit 10x or more zoom is slow. Framing fast-moving subjects on a smartphone screen is hard, even with the aid of the miniature wider-angle view that Google pops into the scene and its AI-assisted stabilization technology. Focus is also relatively pokey. With my DSLR, I could rapidly find the jets in the sky, lock focus, track them as they flew and shoot a burst of shots.I didn't get a single good photo of the Blue Angels with the Pixel 7 Pro. Google's "pro-level zoom" works much better with stationary subjects.DSLR vs. Pixel 7 Pro, shooting in the darkHere's where the Pixel 7 Pro beats out a vastly more expensive camera. There's no way you can hold a camera steady for 6 seconds, but Pixel phones in effect can thanks to computational photography techniques that Google pioneered. Google takes a collection of photos, using AI to judge when your hands are most still, then combines these individual frames into one shot. It's the basis of its Night Sight feature, which I've used many times and, at its extreme, powers an astrophotography mode I've used to take 4-minute exposures of the night sky. Below is a comparison of a nighttime scene with the Pixel 7 Pro at 1x, where it's best at gathering light, and my DSLR with its 24-70mm f2.8 lens. The DSLR has more detail up close, but the Pixel 7 Pro does well, and its deeper depth of field means the leaves in the foreground aren't a smeary mess. Here's a comparison of a 2x zoom photo with the Pixel 7 Pro and the best I could do handheld with my 24-70mm f2.8 lens. The longer your zoom, the harder it is to hold a camera steady, and even with my elbows on a railing to steady the camera, the Pixel 7 Pro shot was vastly easier to capture. I had to crank my DSLR's sensitivity to ISO 12,800 to get the shutter speed down to 1/8sec, and even then, most of the photos were duds. Image stabilization helps, but this lens doesn't have it.Just for kicks, I used a tripod to take three exposure-bracketed shots with my DSLR and merged them into a single HDR (high dynamic range) photo in Adobe's Lightroom software. The longest exposure was 30 seconds. That's how much effort it took to beat a Night Sight photo I took just standing there holding the phone for 6 seconds. Check the comparison below.Here's where my DSLR completely trounced the Pixel 7 Pro, even with Night Sight, though: the nearly full moon. Here's the Pixel 7 Pro at 30x zoom vs. my DSLR at 560mm, cropped so the framing matches.DSLR vs. Pixel 7 Pro, ultrawideGoogle made the ultrawide lens on the Pixel 7 Pro an even wider field of view compared with last year. What you like is a matter of personal preference, but I appreciate the dramatic perspective that you can capture with a very wide angle. When I don't need it, the 24mm main camera still qualifies as wide angle. Here's a comparison of a scene shot with the Pixel 7 Pro and my DSLR's 16-35mm ultrawide zoom.DSLR vs. PIxel 7 Pro, macroThe new ultrawide camera now has autofocus hardware, and that opens up the world of macro photography for close-up subjects. Apple's iPhone Pro models got this ability in 2021, and I've loved macro photos for years as a way to shoot flowers, mushrooms, toys and other small subjects, so I'm delighted to see it on the higher-end Pixel phones.As with the iPhone, though, the macro is useful as long as the subject fits in the central portion of the frame. Note in this comparison below how blurred the image gets toward the periphery of this butterfly coaster with the Pixel 7 Pro. No, it's not as good as my DSLR. But with macro abilities, Night Sight and a zoom range from ultrawide to super telephoto, the Pixel 7 Pro is more than just useful for snapshots. It lets you start exploring a much bigger part of photography's creative realm.
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Photographers
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Adobe Photoshop is one of the most popular photo editing tools because of its versatility and power, used by both amateur and professional photographers and designers, as it allows professional editing of any image. With the development of modern technologies, Adobe has added new features to Photoshop that rely on artificial intelligence technology to improve its performance.
Here are the top AI features in Photoshop and how to use them:
1- Generate images with artificial intelligence:
The (Photoshop beta) version includes an artificial intelligence image creation feature called (Generative Fill), which is used to create an image from text that you enter and describe the image you want.
To take advantage of this feature, you must create a blank document in Photoshop Beta, click the Control and A buttons, and choose the Generative Fill tool. Then, you can type a few words describing the image you want in the tool's text box, and Photoshop will present three images matching the description you entered.
2- Adding elements by artificial intelligence:
You can add new elements to any image you're working on in Photoshop using the Generative Fill tool. You can select a part of the image using the lasso tool or any other selection tool, choose Generative Fill, type an appropriate description of the object you want to add to that part of the image, and then click on (create) Generate.
3- Expand the images:
When working with photographs, you can add objects and colors to the edges of the image to expand them or change the aspect ratio, in which case the Generative Fill tool can be used to fill the edges in a way that blends well with the image, by selecting the empty edges and clicking the Generative Fill button.
4- Remove unwanted items:
New AI tools are used in Photoshop to remove unwanted objects The AI Object Eraser is a new tool that uses AI technology to accurately identify unwanted objects and effectively remove them from an image. This tool can be used by marking the items you want to remove, and then clicking the Erase button to remove them from the image.
5- Improve image quality:
Artificial intelligence technology is also used to improve image quality, as the Super Resolution tool in Photoshop can be used to improve image resolution and detail. This tool analyzes the image using advanced artificial intelligence techniques to remove noise and increase clarity and detail in the image.
6- Save time and effort:
Photoshop's AI tools help save you the time and effort of making image adjustments, and help speed up the process of editing photos and make them more accurate and professional.
In general, the use of artificial intelligence in Photoshop allows users to make advanced image adjustments faster, more accurately, and professionally, and helps save time and effort required to perform these adjustments manually.
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Photographers
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Grace Torres' photography business is more than a passion project that turned into a career. To the 23-year-old, it represents financial freedom.After falling in love with photography at age 13, Torres spent years documenting Sweet 16 parties in New Jersey for little pay and working at Chick-Fil-A to afford a $500 set of camera equipment. While attending Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, she earned some clients and cash – but wasn't confident that photography could pay the bills after college.Then, she learned that successful freelance photographers often start by investing in high-quality equipment. So, after graduating college in December 2020, Torres invested in new cameras and lenses, and gradually took her photography side-hustle full time.All told, Torres says she's spent roughly $45,000 getting her business off the ground. It's paying off: In 2021, she made $177,000 in revenue — and today, she grosses more than $10,000 per month, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.Torres says she's sometimes underestimated as a young entrepreneur, but doing what she loves is worth it: "Being a 23-year-old female Asian American entrepreneur with a six-figure business ... definitely comes with its highs and lows."Jonathan Cortizo for CNBC Make It"I always worked multiple jobs throughout college, and so being able to just have one job that is my own setting, my own hours, making my own schedule has been such a blessing for me," Torres tells CNBC Make It. "I wake up every morning so excited to work with the clients that I work with and to do what I love."Here's how Torres turned a hobby into a side hustle, and then into a six-figure full-time business.From hobby to side hustleTorres bought herself her first camera – a Canon Rebel T3 – in 2012, ahead of a family road trip from New Jersey to Colorado. Along the way, the family stopped at several national parks, and Torres fell in love with capturing nature from behind the lens."Even as a 13-year-old, I saw it as an investment," Torres says. "I bought [it] with the money I had saved up from birthdays and Christmases."Torres fell in love with photography at age 13 on a family road trip. Last year, her photography business brought in $177,000 in revenue.Courtesy of Grace TorresInitially, her plan was to pursue science in life after college. So in high school, she geared her focus toward academics, carving out time to photograph portraits and birthday parties for fun – occasionally earning $100 for four hours of work.Then, in college, her side hustle gained traction: In 2019, at age 20, she made roughly $2,000 through freelance photography and graphic design. She started to consider what a full-time photography gig would look like.Investing in a passionAt first, Torres says, the outlook seemed bleak: She already worked two to three other jobs throughout college, largely to help her afford her camera equipment. But after following other photographers on Instagram, she realized that if she balanced her equipment costs with more shoots, she had a chance of making a full-time living at it.She increased her availability, and started booking gigs every other week instead of every other month. Roughly a year later, she graduated from Southeastern University and took a paid, part-time internship with a nonprofit to help supplement her finances until she could get her bearings as a full-time freelance photographer.This year, Torres plans to shoot 34 weddings. Next year, she wants to dial that number down to 27.Jonathan Cortizo for CNBC Make It"I'm not a huge risk taker, especially when it comes to finances," Torres says. "Having that part time job really just gave me the stability and the confidence that I needed to put more time into photography."Torres spent a couple months researching sustainable business practices and working on client acquisition through social media. In May 2021, five months after graduating college, she took her photography business full-time.Combating burnoutOver the past year and a half, Torres has delegated some of her responsibilities. She invested in legal service to help with contracts, hired a CPA to teach her how to file her fledgling business' taxes and has a contractor who helps her edit photos.Most days, she says, she feels like she's living a dream. Other days, however, remind her of the challenges of being a young entrepreneur.Last year was a banner year for weddings, following the nationwide Covid-19 restrictions of 2020 – and Torres says certainly felt the pressure. She shot 46 weddings in one year, 10 of which were in a single month.To combat burnout, she's learned to schedule fewer weddings, even though that means sacrificing income. This year, she's committed to 34. She plans to cap off next year's count around 27. She also started outsourcing some of her services from her home office in Lakeland, Florida, paying contractors to edit her photos and manage bookkeeping.The more of a work-life balance she can build, Torres says, the better."I want to continue building my company and growing and scaling, so that I just have more opportunities to work with more couples who I really connect with, and to travel to places that I've always wanted to go," she says.Sign up now: Get smarter about your money and career with our weekly newsletterDon't miss:This 26-year-old med student bought a house by selling used clothes: Without the side hustle, ‘I wouldn’t even have a savings account’From baker to entrepreneur, how this high-school grad built up his $100,000 business
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Photographers
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I know, the idea that iPhones will replace DSLRs seems pretty crazy today. But already a little less crazy than yesterday, and that’s because Nikon has joined Canon in abandoning work on future DSLRs (digital single-lens reflex cameras).
Canon announced in December that the 1DX Mk III would be its last pro body. (It says that it is, for now, continuing to develop consumer DSLRs, but nobody expects that to last for long.) And today, Nikon is reportedly ceasing development work on DSLRs altogether … The D6 is to be Nikon’s last pro digital single-lens reflex model, and the D3500 its last consumer model. The news is reported by Nikkei Asia. Japanese camera maker Nikon will withdraw from the single-lens reflex camera business and shift toward digital offerings amid intensifying competition from smartphone cameras, Nikkei has learned […]
It now plans to focus resources on mirrorless cameras, which have become mainstream products on the back of more advanced digital technologies. The rise and fall of SLRs
It’s the end of an era for professional photography. Single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras were the first design to give photographers a true view of the photo they were taking. They work by using two 45-degree angled mirrors to effectively create a periscope, letting the photographer look through the lens. When the shutter button is pressed, the main mirror lifts out of the way to allow the light to reach the film.
Digital SLRs (DSLRs) adopted the same design, simply replacing the film compartment with a digital sensor. Crucially, existing lenses and accessories could be used, providing photographers with an affordable path from film to digital – their biggest investment was in glass rather than camera bodies.
Nikon and Canon were the two major players. Nikon made its first SLR in 1959 – the venerable Nikon F – and its first pro DLSR in 1999, in the form of the D1. The single-digit D-series professional bodies progressed as far as the current D6, which launched just over two years ago, and that will now be the last.
The main advantage of the SLR design, letting photographers see through the lens, was effectively ended with the advent of digital viewfinders and screens. While old-school photographers still generally prefer optical viewfinders, most new-generation ones were happy to lose the weight and bulk involved in the mechanism.
The rise of mirrorless cameras
Mirrorless cameras used to be the poor man’s DSLR, offering smaller sensors and lower-quality interchangeable lenses. However, over time manufacturers came to realize that there was a market for mirrorless cameras and lenses that offered similar quality to DSLRs, in a more compact form.
Travel and wedding photographers were among the first to see the benefits of a more compact, lighter-weight kit, and Nikon and Canon finally started pitching mirrorless cameras as a serious alternative to DSLRs.
Nikon’s first move into the mirrorless camera market came in 2011, with the Nikon 1. But it was only with the 2018 launch of the Nikon Z 7 – and a range of matching lenses – that it offered a camera that could seriously compete on image quality and usability with DSLRs.
Another key factor has been the growing importance of video. While pro DLSRs considered themselves above such gimmicks, mirrorless camera makers quickly realized that video was becoming as important as still photography. Indeed, for many, video was their sole or prime need for a mirrorless camera.
iPhones will replace DSLRs – eventually
Smartphones have, of course, become the most popular cameras in the world. While nobody is yet using a smartphone as a substitute for a DSLR, the increase in quality and capability over the years has been dramatic. The iPhone has long had one of the best smartphone cameras on the market, though it has more recently come up against tougher competition as manufacturers recognize the growing importance of camera quality.
What we’ve seen, then, is a laddering effect: For many, mirrorless cameras have replaced DSLRs
For others, smartphones have replaced mirrorless cameras So, indirectly, smartphones have already begun to replace DSLRs. For my own part, I switched from Nikon DSLRs (the D3 being my last one) to mirrorless (Sony a6300/a6400/a7S). The iPhone 11 had me switch from mirrorless to smartphone for social photography, and I subsequently did so for travel photography too. I’m far from alone in that journey.
Of course, there are still those who will stick with DSLRs as long as possible. I imagine many Nikon fans with older bodies will buy the D6 while they can, and then stick with it for as long as possible. Similarly, we’re nowhere near the point at which smartphones can replace mirrorless cameras for professional use (gimmicks aside). The iPhone’s Portrait mode is halfway decent, but still nowhere close to replacing optical depth of field for pro use. The Cinematic mode is incredibly crude.
But that will change in time. Computational photograph may be crude today, but it’s going to improve with every generation – and it’s already clear that it’s the future.
There will come a time when an iPhone and flagship Android smartphone can deliver the same results as a mirrorless camera today – by which time, DSLRs will be discontinued products. Of course, there will always be DSLR purists – just as there are those who still shoot with film and listen to vinyl. But the mass market, including pros, has already begun a journey in which, eventually, iPhones will replace DSLRs.
The transition won’t be overnight, and it won’t direct, but we’re already on that path – and today’s news is one big step on that journey.
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Photographers
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Tim Page, who has died of cancer aged 78, earned a reputation during the Vietnam war as a fearless gonzo combat photographer who would venture where others feared to tread. Dubbed “war groupies” by more conservative correspondents, Tim and his circle of photographer friends paid for their daring with injuries and, in some cases, death.Tim was hit several times and became known for his narrow escapes. His Vietnam war came to an end during an ill-fated 1969 rescue when his helicopter was diverted to pick up wounded American troops near the Parrots Beak region northwest of Saigon. Viet Cong guerrillas triggered a hidden command-detonated artillery shell that killed the soldier in front of Tim, moments after they had both exited the helicopter to assist soldiers on the ground.Unconscious and suffering a head wound and blast injuries, Tim was declared dead on arrival at Long Binh army hospital, but was discovered barely alive by a horrified mortuary attendant and rushed into the operating theatre, where a portion of his brain was removed. “Am I dead yet?” he is alleged to have asked the stunned attendant. He would be a staunch anti-landmines advocate for the rest of his life.An image by Tim Page of a soldier from the Korean White Horse Division with a mother and children from a suspected Viet Cong family, near Bong Son, Vietnam, 1966. Photograph: Tim Page/Corbis/Getty ImagesTim’s exploits attracted the attention of Hollywood. Francis Ford Coppola would use him as the inspiration for the wild journalist played by Dennis Hopper, waiting at the top of the river, in the 1979 Vietnam blockbuster Apocalypse Now.His extensive body of work in print and photographs continues to serve as an inspiration for a generation of younger war photographers and journalists. His legacy includes more than a dozen books, two bestselling memoirs and tens of thousands of photographs. In 2020 Professional Photographer magazine named him one of the top 100 most influential photographers in the world.Born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, during the second world war, he was adopted as a baby by John and Fane Page, never knew his birth parents, and discovered later that his biological father had died at sea during wartime service on an Arctic convoy. Tim grew up in Orpington and went to Warren Road primary, then Sidcup grammar school. He left home at 17 and was self-taught as a photographer. He credited the Australian combat photographer Neil Davis with helping him get a start as a freelance photojournalist covering a coup in Laos. The Vietnam conflict served as Tim’s springboard to fame as a war photographer, as one of a group of hard-living hellraisers, pot and opium-smoking combat connoisseurs bivouacked in Frankie’s House, the shared Saigon crashpad for a cast of characters that included Tim’s best friend Sean Flynn, the son of the actor Errol, and the US photographer Dana Stone, both of whom would later lose their lives in Cambodia at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.Tim Page in December 1966. Photograph: Express Newspapers/Getty ImagesSaigon, the capital of South Vietnam (and now known as Ho Chi Minh City), in the 1960s had maintained much of its old world colonial charm but was changing with the buildup to war. Tim’s Leica camera was an eye witness to the steady escalation of hostilities. He was on China Beach in 1965 when the first bewildered Marines staggered ashore to be greeted by young Vietnamese women attired in the traditional Ao-dai welcoming them with garlands of flowers. Tim accompanied the “grunts”, the US troops, during sweltering “cordon and search” operations through the cloying paddy fields of the south coastal salient, on flotillas in the Mekong delta, from aircraft carriers on Dixie Station in the South China Sea, in the jump seat of an A1-Skyraider, or with special forces and their mercenary proxies operating from remote bases in the mist-shrouded highlands.On one operation in Vietnam’s central highlands he was forced to pick up an automatic weapon and defend himself from a Viet Cong attack when his forward operating base was in danger of being overrun. There would be nights, when stoned or fortified with his favourite tipple, calvados, or more usually both, when he would reflect on that incident and the life he took. He freely admitted the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on his life.Tim developed a lasting respect for the Australian soldiers based in Nui Dat, noting their superior jungle patrol techniques compared with the noisy American infantry, best illustrated by his superb series of photographs shot while embedded with B Company, 5RAR in the Rung Sat on Operation Hayman in 1966. A soldier in Dung Ha, Vietnam. Photograph: Tim Page/Corbis/Getty ImagesHe missed one of the biggest Vietnam stories, the 1968 Tet Offensive, but covered phase two, or Mini-Tet, in May that year, with compelling images of the fighting around Y Bridge in Saigon.Tim was a victim of “friendly fire” during an embed on the US Coast Guard cutter Point Welcome. Loitering off the South Vietnam coast, US air force Phantom jets mistook the craft for a Viet Cong gun runner and proceeded to blast it apart. Most of the crew were killed or wounded, and Tim’s shrapnel wounds left him looking like a porcupine (in his words). Not all Tim’s celebrated photos involved the Vietnam conflict. He covered the six-day war between Israel and its neighbours in June 1967 and, with uncanny timing, later that year found himself in New Haven, Connecticut, at a riotous Doors concert when police officers stormed on stage to arrest Jim Morrison for obscenity. Camera in hand, Tim was at the front of the stage recording the drama in a series of black and white photos. He was also hauled off by the cops and booked.Tim Page surrounded by local children at a coffee stand in Chimpou, Cambodia, 1991. Photograph: Jeff Widener/APThe post-Vietnam period was marked by years of painful rehabilitation in the US and a protracted lawsuit to recover damages for injuries from his employer, Time-Life.He returned to Vietnam in the 80s to research a book project. I first met him in 1990 in the departure lounge at Don Mueang airport in Bangkok as we both prepared to board a flight for Cambodia. I had read about his exploits through his friend Mike Herr’s splendid account of the Vietnam war in his 1977 book Dispatches. We often ended up on the road together in the early 90s, covering the civil war in Cambodia when I was Reuters bureau chief, spending stoned nights listening to government outgoing artillery under our mosquito nets in the Swamp Castle in Kompong Thom. Tim was an advocate for the legalisation of marijuana, and while he managed to give up tobacco his fondness for weed never abated. It hardly seemed to impact on his work – if anything spurring his imagination to embrace bolder projects.In 1997, Tim and Horst Faas, his former boss at AP, launched Requiem, a pictorial homage commemorating combat photographers from both sides who died in Vietnam and Indochina. The following year, Tim returned to Cambodia to cover the nation’s second national elections; and also found time to take on a commission documenting disability for the EU that resulted in an exhibition at the European parliament.Tim Page at his office in Fernmount, New South Wales, in May 2022. Photograph: Mark Dodd/AFP/Getty ImagesTim was married and divorced three times. In 2002, having settled into a relationship with the Australian television producer Mau (Marianne) Harris, he relocated to Australia and was later granted permanent residence. He was appointed an adjunct professor at Griffith University in Queensland in 2003, and he and I teamed up on a trip to the Solomon Islands on behalf of the university’s Key Centre of Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance to document the Australian-led peacekeeping mission Operation Anode.Tim then led a delegation of photography students to Cambodia to document a “weapons into art” project. He travelled to Dili to cover the outbreak of violence in East Timor in 2006; and in 2009, he was appointed UN photographic peace ambassador to mentor young Afghan journalists. Following the success of a limited-edition handbound folio of pictures and words titled Nam Contact, published in 2021, Tim had recently been archiving his life’s work and planning a new book project.He is survived by Mau and by a son, Kit, from his third marriage, to Clare Clifford.
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Photographers
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Seven years after releasing the Leica Sofort, Leica has finally announced a sequel: the Leica Sofort 2. It transforms this elegant, compact device from a fully instant camera into a hybrid instant camera - so you can store images digitally and / or print them.
The appeal of instant cameras is in the name. With just a click of a button, the image can be printed onto photo paper and developed in seconds. However, the downside is that these photos aren't saved digitally - that is, until now. The Sofort 2 is a hybrid camera that includes both analog and digital capabilities.
Like its predecessor, the Sofort 2 can print onto instant film. Unlike the old version though, the new model gives users the option to save photos digitally. The new camera comes with other digital functions too. Photographers can use the Leica FOTOS app to send images from their phones to the camera to have them printed. Additionally, the camera comes with different modes, including selfie mode (which uses a different shutter button), landscape mode, and macro mode.
This minimalist rectangular camera comes in a choice of three colours - white, red, or black - and 45 images can be saved onto the camera itself, with the option to increase storage by popping a microSD/microSDHC into the card slot.
The Leica Sofort 2 is available from 9 November for $389. Want to see a quick 30 second video to learn more?
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Photographers
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The invention of photography in 1839 challenged the very idea of art, leaving some painters feeling threatened by a new technology that could capture a portrait instantly. Yet photography also created opportunities for those same artists to express themselves outside the boundaries of reality, and they began to experiment with surreal and abstract styles that were a world apart from photography. In the 1990s, digital cameras and then CGI brought their own waves of disruption, forcing commercial photographers to not only retool, but to reconsider how they fit into the landscape of creative professionals. Now that AI (artificial intelligence) has splashed onto the scene, commercial photographers and the people who hire them are scrambling to understand the possibilities for this new technology.
While there are still a lot of unknowns about AI, it’s already clear that it will dramatically change the way commercial photographers create images. I recently sat down with executive producer Craig Oppenheimer and photographer Teri Campbell to learn about how Teri is incorporating AI into his creative process. In particular, we wanted to explore how AI is inspiring Teri’s creativity, how he’s presenting it to clients, and the potential licensing ramifications as well.
For Teri, this experimentation began as he was searching for a very specific kitchen to stage a shot for a project. While trying to figure out the logistics of finding the perfect (real-life) kitchen, Teri started playing around with AI. After typing a few clever prompts into an AI generator, it showed him the kitchen he had been searching for.
Since that fateful day, Teri has been experimenting with AI for a variety of projects. He’s constantly testing out various prompts to fine-tune his AI creations. To get the desired outcome, he will play around with words. For example, using “grinning” instead of “smiling” or “2-month-old baby” instead of just “baby.” Slowly he’s working on cracking the “prompt code” on his preferred AI tool Midjourney. While he is aware that the prompts that work this week may not work in a month, this process still feeds his imagination.
I asked Teri if he felt that creating his images using Midjourney was similar to clicking the shutter on an actual camera. His response was a resounding yes:
We also asked Teri about some specific images that he’s created. He’s spent hours tinkering with ideas and creating exciting images while workshopping ideas with various photographer groups he interacts with. Sometimes his results surprise him in unexpected ways, like when he experimented with a car he visualized from his past.
When it comes to AI images, one of the first concerns for commercial artists is who owns what. Simply put, AI platforms scrape the internet to gather reference images that they then combine and transform into new AI images. Since this is new territory for copyright law, there are many legal questions that have yet to be decided. Already there are several AI-related cases working their way through the courts and copyright offices, so it might take some time still before all the legal kinks are ironed out.
Teri views AI as just another (albeit very sophisticated) tool. The user still needs to learn how to use that tool to get a desirable result, including learning the prompts that will conjure up the right angle, light, gesture, expression, moment, and mood for the final image.
If every artist draws on inspiration from the world around them and then pours that into their own art, is that any different than an AI bot scanning the internet for their visual references?
When Teri envisions the future of AI photography, he considers using it to sketch out an idea for an IRL (in real life) photo shoot, creating backgrounds and foregrounds, and building parts of an image or a whole image itself. Anyone involved in the creative industry should see AI as a catalyst for more creativity and a tool used to enhance commercial photo shoot production.
If I ran a magazine and I needed a picture of CEO John, I would hire a photographer to take a picture of John – AI can’t replace that. But if I need a picture of pumpkin pie for an article about Thanksgiving, I can create that with MidJourney.
Head over to our YouTube page to watch the entire Interview with Teri.
Further Reading
Packaging Unboxd: Real-World Applications of Ai in Professional Creative Design Today with Teri Campbell
Heather Elder: Are We Going Out of Business? A Photography Rep’s Point of View on AI
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Photographers
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Photographers from 32 different countries entered their best images of dogs, cats, horses, and more to the 2023 International Pet Photographer of the Year contest.
Hosted by dog photography platform Unleashed Education, the winners were selected from 5 different categories - Portrait, Action, Pets and People, Documentary, and Creative. Swedish photographer Sanna Sander took home the title of International Pet Photographer of the Year for her strong portfolio of images.
If you would like to see all the finalists from this year's competition, head to the International Pet Photographer of the Year website. Or, scroll down to see this year's winning photos.
Like to see some more gorgeous images? See OGN's Photography archives.
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Photographers
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Capture One has its eponymous photography app to the . Photographers can connect their camera to their phone and shoot images directly to the app. Capture One works with more than 500 cameras, the company says, including Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, Leica and Sigma models.
The app can automatically apply edits to images as your camera sends them to your iPhone. As such, Capture One suggests, photographers can swiftly provide their clients with edited images. You can plan ahead by creating styles on Capture One's desktop or iPad apps and AirDropping them to your iPhone.
Capture One enables photographers to share a live link of a shoot with their colleagues, who can follow along in real time whether they're remote or on location. The company suggests this will allow collaborators to quickly select their favorite shots and provide feedback from any device, wherever they might be.
Other features of the app include RAW conversion and color processing. You'll be able to transfer shots via the cloud to Capture One Pro and finish editing on your desktop. Capture One says ratings, color tags and edits will remain intact when you transfer your images. You can export images from the app however you like, the company said, including to an external SSD.
Capture One, which is an increasingly popular alternative, is available in the App Store now. A subscription costs $5 per month after a seven-day trial, but users who have the iPad app or the All in One bundle can use Capture One on iPhone at no extra cost.
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Photographers
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There’s a picture of the US photographer and war correspondent Lee Miller with Pablo Picasso, taken by her after the liberation of Paris in 1944. They are gazing into one another’s eyes with such intimacy that you feel you’re intruding on something deeply personal. Not romantic, exactly – although the way his hand grazes the back of her neck is certainly intimate – but profoundly loving, perhaps. With this in mind, it’s unsurprising that the image has been chosen to promote a new exhibition centred on Miller’s extraordinary life and the relationship between these two artists, which opens this week at Newlands House Gallery in Petworth, West Sussex.It captured, her son Antony Penrose tells me, an extraordinary moment after years of hardship and separation. “Lee found her way to Picasso’s studio in Rue des Grands-Augustins, hammered on the door. He opened it and nearly fell over backwards. And he hugged her and he kissed her and he hugged her, and then finally, when he stood back, he looked at her and he said, ‘It’s incredible. The first allied soldier I should see is a woman. She is you.’”Miller and Picasso met properly in 1937, on a beach holiday in the south of France, although they may have crossed paths earlier that decade when she was working with Man Ray and discovering the process of solarisation for which he, not she, would end up being credited. A deep friendship ensued between their two families: Miller was married to the British artist, poet and historian Roland Penrose, Picasso was with Dora Maar, then Françoise Gilot, and they would holiday together, often at the Spaniard’s various houses. Antony, who was born in 1947, remembers lots of children and animals: Picasso allowed a goat called Esmerelda to sleep outside his room and he would call out to her, because she was afraid of the dark. There would be long lunches, featuring the sort of exotic foods that were a rarity in postwar Britain, and practical jokes too. Miller enjoyed placing trick ice cubes containing frozen flies in drinks.Miller’s photo of a picnic with Nusch, Paul Éluard, Roland Penrose, Man Ray and Ady Fidelin. Photograph: © Lee Miller Archives, England 2013. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.ukPenrose recalls being asked in school what he had done during the holidays, and astonishing his classmates with his response. “I said quite casually, ‘Oh, we were visiting Picasso.’ I had no idea that this was an exceptional thing to be doing, because it was approached by my parents with such incredible modesty. They never said, ‘Look, this guy is the greatest living modern artist in the world.’ He was just a person that they treated with a great deal of respect and reverence.”Picasso respected Miller as an artist, says Penrose, long before anyone else did. “Of course, she was very beautiful. But the fact that she was highly intelligent, and knew how to do things, was significant to him. He knew she was a good photographer. He knew his way around photographers because he’d been with Dora Maar for six years.”Miller’s beauty and background as a fashion model led to her own considerable talents being overlooked, a situation not helped by the fact that Picasso painted her six times and there has long been a preoccupation with his “muses”. This became a problem when Penrose started trying to put together exhibitions of his mother’s work. “To begin with, when I was approaching people who should have known better, I would have to explain that Lee Miller was a woman. Then they would get it and say, ‘Oh yes, she was Man Ray’s muse.’ And then I would have to disabuse them of that notion.”Things began to change in the 1980s, though, when feminists started reexamining the lives of female artists, particularly surrealists. As has been the case with other models turned artists, Miller’s job made her curious about image-making. “When she was younger,” says Penrose, “she was photographed by the key photographers of the time: Edward Steichen, George Hoyningen-Huene, people like that. Talking to some of them later in life, they said it was like she regarded it as a tutorial. She would be constantly asking questions.”A famous family friend … a young Antony Penrose with Picasso in 1950. Photograph: © Lee Miller Archives, England 2022. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk © Succession Picasso/DACS 2022This meant that when Miller’s career as a fashion model abruptly ended – she was blacklisted after modelling for Kotex, there being stigma surrounding period products – she was able to skip from New York to Paris and reinvent herself as a photographer and later a war correspondent for Vogue, documenting first the blitz, followed by the liberation of Europe. The image of her in Hitler’s bathtub, taken by fellow photographer David E Scherman as the Fuhrer’s death was announced, shows her defiance: she used to make fun of how tacky his apartment was, Penrose says. The boots in front of the bath are still coated in mud from the death camps.Miller’s 1945 images of the liberation of Dachau – some of which appear in the exhibition – are, Penrose explains, exercises in controlled fury. As a child of seven, Miller was raped. It was this, as well as seeing the boy she was in love with die in an accident when they were teenagers, that shaped not only her worldview but also her work. Trauma, says Penrose, often generates a sense of disconnection. “If we look at Lee through that prism, we see she was able to emotionally distance herself to a point. So we get her staring into the faces of dead people in concentration camps, and photographing them close up. When I interviewed Scherman, I said, ‘How does she do it? How does she stand there and take these pictures?’ And he said she was in an ice-cold rage.”Her wartime experiences compounded what Penrose believes was PTSD. He says Miller wasn’t much of a mother. Prone to alcohol abuse, as many traumatised people are, she could fly into rages, and there was a distance between them. Miller had seen babies dying in hospital in Vienna for want of drugs that were being sold on the black market – and held her son at arm’s length, despite worrying a lot about his safety.I get the sense it must have hurt profoundly, especially as Miller could be so warm towards others. Yet Penrose is magnanimous, having dedicated much of his life to establishing her legacy as an artist and acting as director of the Lee Miller Archives and Penrose Collection, at his parents’ former home, Farley House in Sussex, where Picasso stayed on his second visit to the UK in 1950. They also hosted, over the years, Man Ray, Miró, Max Ernst, Eileen Agar, Eduardo Paolozzi and Richard Hamilton. There’s a gorgeous photo in the show of young Penrose sitting on Picasso’s knee, a look of cheerful complicity between them. It was on this visit that Picasso took a shine to the couple’s Ayrshire bull, William, inspiring the 1950 print Grasshopper Bulls, never before displayed in the UK.“I know there have been implications that there was a sexual aspect to the relationship he had with her,” says Maya Binkin, artistic director at Newlands House. “But I just don’t think that matters. He hugely respected her, enjoyed her company and valued her friendship.” When I ask how she feels about female artists being continually viewed in terms of their relationship to men, she is frank about using Miller’s friendship with Picasso as a way of bringing new audiences to her work – but also says that you can hardly separate the two. Miller took almost 1,000 photographs of the artist over 40 years.Inspiration … Picasso’s Grasshopper Bulls were created after he took a shine to Miller and Penrose’s Ayrshire bull, William. Photograph: © Lee Miller Archives, England 2022. All rights reserved. www.leemiller.co.uk © Succession Picasso/DACS 2022“Their relationship was extraordinary,” adds Binkin. “She captures some wonderful images of Picasso at work and at play, but also at home and at leisure, which in his later years was harder because he was very, very aware of the camera. He knew the importance of having his photograph taken. She has access to Picasso at moments when he isn’t playing to the camera.”The #MeToo movement, Binkin notes, has not been kind to Picasso. “I personally don’t think we can judge him as harshly as he has been by some,” she says. Penrose agrees. Although he sees the feminist criticism as justified in its way, he points out that Picasso the man was a complex character. “Of course, there were times when perhaps he did not treat women well. But I don’t think it’s right that we should be in judgment at this point. It’s very easy to trip off all the bad things he did, and to forget that he had this incredible humanity and kindness. It’s very convenient for some people to forget that because they feel it weakens their case of making him into a monster.” As for his mother, he adds: “It was a deep love. He always said things were so much better when Lee was there. He seemed to have a particular affection for her. And he would be more mellow when she was around.”Miller would later call herself, perhaps sardonically, a “Picasso widow”. She had had to fight all her life to carve out a space for herself. “To begin with in Paris,” says Penrose, “she was very happy to allow her photographs to be published under Man Ray’s name. She said, ‘We were so close, it was as if we were the same person, so it didn’t matter.’ Then it began to matter.” But when it came to Picasso, Miller was anything but embittered, and her work now speaks for itself. Getting to this place, says Penrose, “was uphill all the way. But we won in the end.” Picasso and Lee Miller is at Newlands House Gallery, Petworth, West Sussex, 10 September to 8 January.
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Photographers
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You have to get up pretty early in the morning to photograph the early bird getting the worm. That’s how I discovered bird photography to be one of the most rewarding types of image making I’ve tried—even if I’d usually rather sleep in. When you have a good day, you can enter a state of zen-like efficiency that lets the horrors of modern life melt away into snippets of photons that trigger the receptors in your eyes to perceive visions of ecstatic natural beauty. On a bad day, you curse the forces of the universe that have aligned against you, but still come away with a day of communion with nature and hope for something better next time.I interviewed three professional bird photographers to find out how to get started. Wildlife photographer, writer, and conservationist Melissa Groo; photographer and blogger Melissa Hafting; and biologist, freelance conservation photographer, and Wild Bird Research Group co-founder Sean Grasser shared advice that I put to work to get the images you’ll see below. One thing they all agreed on is that any would-be bird photographer should follow Audubon’s guidelines for ethical bird photography to help maintain a healthy environment where birds are allowed to thrive. This means giving birds space so they don’t feel threatened, not interfering with their nesting or parenting, and not disturbing their habitats. The Audubon (left), eBird (center), and Merlin (right) apps are helpful when trying to find and identify birds in your area.How to start photographing birdsEven if you plan to start off by going to your local park or your own backyard, knowing about bird behavior and how best to photograph it will help you get the best results. You’ll also need some specialized photo equipment and information, and you can even set up your backyard to be more bird-friendly.Websites can be a great free resource to help you figure out where you should venture. Cornell University’s eBird is part of a giant science experiment that logs bird sightings in locations that are searchable and links out to information about the birds that have been spotted there. If you create a free account, you can keep a list of your own encounters to help feed the database and further eBird’s research. A related project called All About Birds provides more in-depth information on specific species. The National Audubon Society also has an online guide with illustrations, photos, and recordings of bird songs.Things to get:A superzoom camera or powerful telephoto lens: Keeping your distance is essential to ethical birding. Any of the picks in our guide to the best superzoom cameras give you enough zoom for birding, though the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300, the Canon PowerShot SX70 HS, or the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX99 are the best because they have zooms that extend to an equivalent of 600 mm or more. If you use one of our mirrorless-camera picks, you’ll end up spending quite a bit more for a lens that has enough zoom (and possibly a teleconverter to use with it), but you’ll also have the option to crop, since those lenses capture higher-quality images that will still look quite good if you pluck out a small portion. For Olympus users, we recommend the M.Zuiko ED 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro lens, coupled with the M.Zuiko Digital 2x Teleconverter MC-20. Fujifilm owners should look to pair the XF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR with the XF2X Teleconverter WR. Sony photographers can opt for the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS, the Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD, or the lighter-weight, shorter-zoom Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG DN OS C (commit to cropping with the latter, since it won’t accept a teleconverter).A field guide for birds: Field guides are great for identifying birds, but they’re more useful for photographers because they have info on bird behaviors, such as what they like to eat, what sort of locations they use for nesting, and what migration routes they use. We recommend The Sibley Guide to Birds and Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America in our guide to the best binoculars. Melissa Hafting suggested The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. “This one goes into so much detail about their range, what to look for in different subspecies, differences in plumages of juveniles versus adults, and other neat facts about the birds,” Hafting said.A free app to ID birds: Cornell’s free Merlin Bird ID (Android, iOS) can listen for a bird’s song and identify the bird based on the sound and your location. It is based on the same research as the eBird website, and you can access it on the go and feed your sighting list with the eBird app (Android, iOS), as well. Audubon has its own app (Android, iOS), which has a function that narrows down the bird possibilities based on your location and factors you select, such as size, color, type, activity, habitat, wing shape, tail shape, and types of sound. I used Merlin to identify the birds I heard in the field, and AirDropped images to my phone to use it to identify those I photographed. Either app can fill in for a field guide to some extent, but if you want your phone to listen while you look up facts about a bird or species, you might find a physical book indispensable.Nice to have:A blind of some sort: Some parks and nature preserves have large structures from which you can practice photography, but very serious bird photographers might own a small, tent-like blind that’s camouflaged and has a port in the side for your lens. Melissa Groo recommended the Tragopan brand. “They’re made of hardy material compared to [cheaper] blinds that don’t last more than one season,” she said. Sean Grasser agreed, saying that while Tragopan blinds are “on the more expensive side,” they’re “hands down the best.”A tripod or monopod: If you’re in a blind, having your large, relatively heavy lens on some sort of support can be very helpful. The same is true if you set up in your backyard or find a good location to stake out. Any of the picks in our guide to the best tripods will do the trick, but the Sirui P-204SR monopod might be the easiest to bring along for a hike in the woods.A camera with a bird-tracking autofocus mode: Sony’s a7 IV is an expensive mirrorless camera, but it has an extremely good autofocus (AF) tracking mode that can see when a bird is in frame and keep focus on the subject as it moves. (It even maintains focus on the eye when possible.) While any of the picks in our mirrorless-camera guide will do a good job of tracking, the Sony a7 IV is a step above the rest. Other camera companies have started to include similar tracking in more expensive models, but this is the first one we’ve been able to test that offers this capability at an affordable price. If you have a camera already, there’s no need to upgrade just for this, but if you’re planning on doing a lot of birding or considering a new mirrorless camera, it’s something to keep in mind.When and where to go Photo: Phil RyanNow that you’re ready to go out, you should probably think about being a better birder than I am and go early in the morning. “Get there before dawn, and you’ll be amazed at how much more visible the birds are,” Groo told us. “At sunrise you get something called the dawn chorus, which is an incredible thing to experience just as a wildlife viewer and listener because the birds all start singing as the sun is coming up.” Grasser agreed. “At that time your lighting should be pretty even,” he said. “As the day goes along, their activity changes quite a bit and they’re no longer staying stationary. They’re moving around searching for food or nest building, depending on what time of year it is, and then at night they’re coming back to their home turf, singing and letting everyone know.”If you’re still puzzling over your location, you should consider what you’re looking for. “If you’re going for a certain species, knowing their behavior is best,” said Grasser, “but if you’re just going for a general group of birds, knowing the habitat is the most important thing.”“I like to go to places where there’s at least two different types of birds,” said photographer and blogger Melissa Hafting. “So there’ll be a marsh habitat, but there’ll also be a beach nearby where I’ll get shore birds. Some places have three aspects, so they will also have a woodland where I can get raptors and goshawks and things. I like to go to a place where I’ll get a good diversity of species.”“City parks can be really great places to go,” according to Groo, “because the birds there are used to people. When I’m out in the wild, all the birds are like, ‘I’m getting out of here, this human isn’t supposed to be here.’ City parks can be a more fruitful time, and they’re also compressed into a smaller area.”Once you’ve found your spot, you’ll need to find some birds. “I’ll usually hear them first before I see them,” noted Hafting, “and then I’ll track them down by their song. If it’s a bigger bird, I’ll always look for what will fly in over the marsh, or if it’s shore birds I will plan my visit around the tides. I check the tides before I go out shore birding every time, and I wait for high tides. Otherwise you’ll go there and end up with a lot of mud, which happens to a lot of people.”When you spot a bird, you need to remember to be respectful of your subject. “Look at the bird’s behavior,” said Hafting. “Is it putting its wings up to make itself look bigger? Is it defecating? Those are signs that a bird is feeling nervous. You want them to keep feeding, keep foraging, moving around, calling to each other. Just doing their normal behavior. If you see any signs that it’s not being normal, then you don’t keep approaching it.”What settings to useIn general, you want short durations when it comes to shutter speeds. “Birds are so fast, and they make these almost imperceptible movements even when they’re perched,” said Groo. “So I’m always on continuous focus mode and the fastest possible burst mode, and I really try not to go below about 1/800 or 1/1000 [of a second].”To get fast shutter speeds, you should use a high-sensitivity (aka ISO) setting. For most of the images included here, I kept my ISO around 1600, but I captured them after the sun was fully up. If you go earlier, you’ll likely want to push that up toward 6400. Depending on your camera and your personal feelings about noisy images, you might feel okay about going up to ISO 12800 or 25600, or even higher. There’s nothing wrong with that. A little grain is better than a blurry bird.The most important thing is to keep trying. “You can get discouraged really quick,” said Grasser, “especially if it’s a new hobby, because birds are moving fast and all of a sudden you’re taking these blurry photos. Go out and get a ton of photos. It doesn’t matter what it is, just get yourself comfortable and familiar with your camera.” In time you’ll see dramatic improvements in your photos.After your day is done Photo: Phil RyanIf you’re like me, you will come home with photos that aren’t necessarily perfect. As you move around wooded areas, you’ll notice that the light can change drastically as birds hop from one branch to the next. I always set my camera to capture both raw and JPEG images so I have the most leeway when editing. I typically use Adobe Lightroom (Android, iOS, iPad) on my iPad Pro for editing after transferring raw images from my card using a USB-C card reader. If you’re just planning to edit JPEGs on a mobile device, you can opt for one of our picks in our guide to the best photo editing apps.Raw files will be more forgiving if you end up drastically brightening the image, and you’ll also get better results when making more targeted adjustments, like increasing only the brightness of shadows or trying to tame overly bright highlights. You also end up with more versatility when adjusting colors. I’ve found that images captured on cloudy days can have a much nicer feel if you shift the white balance toward a warmer color temperature. Color temperature is usually shown as degrees Kelvin in editing software, and if the camera defaults to something below 4000, raising it toward 5000 or going slightly above that, it can often give an image a more pleasing tone.You should also not be self-conscious about selecting a smaller portion of your photo than you originally captured (aka cropping). Birds move around a lot, and because it’s extremely difficult to capture a perfectly composed image while trying to focus, monitor your shutter speed, worry about aperture settings, and check on your ISO, you’ll almost certainly end up cropping. “Especially if you’re posting for social media, crop away,” said Grasser. “People want to see the subject very full in the frame, and my photography that I post on social media is driven that way.” Even if you try to show the bird with more of its environment, it’s usually helpful to trim the edges of your images.After you’ve shared your photos, you should also consider sharing your time. Most public parks and nature preserves have volunteer days at various times of the year, where you can help maintain trails or clean up litter left by less mindful visitors. As humans, we are the ones encroaching on the living spaces of animals, and we need to be respectful of that if we want to be able to discover the wonders of nature and snap pictures of birds flapping in the rushes down by the riverside.This article was edited by Erica Ogg.Mentioned aboveHaving tested all of the latest superzooms, we think the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 provides the best balance of zoom, control, and image quality.The Best Superzoom Camera After testing dozens of cameras over the years, we can say that the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV is the best mirrorless camera for most people.The Best Mirrorless Camera A professional ornithologist tested 17 of the highest-rated field-ready binoculars to find the best pick for most people. Read on to learn which made the cut.The Best Binoculars for Birds, Nature, and the Outdoors If you want to shoot sharp photos while using a slow shutter speed, we think the Vanguard Alta Pro 2+ 263AB100 tripod is the best choice.The Best Tripod If you need a better photo editor than the one that came with your phone, Adobe Lightroom is the best you can get, with a surprisingly generous free mode.The Best Photo Editing Apps for Android and iOS Further readingThe Best Bird Feedersby Kit DillonAfter 20 hours of research, we think the Droll Yankees 18-Inch Onyx Mixed Seed Tube Bird Feeder with Removable Base is the best for most people.How to Clean a Bird Feederby Elissa SanciCleaning and sanitizing your bird feeder routinely is just as important as nourishing your favorite fliers.
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Photographers
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Looking to elevate your photography in 2023? Getting up to speed with photo editing software can be a huge help in creating the pictures that you want. While Adobe's fully-fledged Photoshop software is the best out there, it's probably overkill for most amateur shooters and has a much steeper learning curve than something like Photoshop Elements. And today only, B&H is giving you the chance to upgrade to the latest iteration of Adobe's Photoshop Elements for just $65,off its regular price for both the digitally-delivered and boxed versions.
Photoshop Elements 2023 is described by Adobe as an easy-to-use solution for quick photo editing and sharing. Where full Photoshop is the go-to photo editing software for professional photographers and graphic designers who want to manually tinker with every detail, Elements is designed for those that want to improve their photos by using automatic adjustments and guided edits.
That's not to say you can't produce some striking results with Photoshop Elements, there's just a little more hand-holding which makes it ideal for those new to editing or wanting quick results. You can use it to make instant edits, such as opening closed eyes or turning frowns into smiles, or use the built-in Adobe Sensei AI to add 3D effects, animations, filters, overlays and more.
The 2023 version of Photoshop Elements has also been reengineered to take up 30% less space on your computer and launch up to 50% faster. It's the first version with official support for Apple silicon-powered Macs, too.
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Photographers
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Eamonn McCabe, one of the most celebrated and admired newspaper photographers and picture editors of his generation, has died aged 74.McCabe was a multi-award-winning sports photographer at the Observer from 1976 and later became a trailblazing picture editor of the Guardian at a key moment in its history. His third act was as a portrait photographer, with 29 examples of his work in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.McCabe’s death at his home in Suffolk on Sunday was sudden and unexpected. His wife, Rebecca Smithers, a former Guardian journalist, said McCabe was a kind, modest and encouraging character.“He was very generous to younger photographers coming up through the system,” she said. “He was very encouraging. He would give big lectures but also talk to tiny little camera clubs in village halls. If people wanted to hear about his work he was happy to do that.”The war photographer Don McCullin described McCabe as a lovely and straightforward man. “He was very passionate about photography and whenever you dealt with him he was always honest and a very nice human being. Like most of us, his life was photography.”The boxer Sylvester Mittee tapes his hands before a training session at Frank Warren’s gym in King’s Cross, London, in 1984. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The GuardianMcCullin said McCabe cut his teeth in what were the best of times, photographically, before the digital revolution.“Photography has lost its way a bit, the way colour and digital and all those things have come into fashion. A lot of people like me and him probably thought our number was up.”McCabe photographed McCullin for portraits on two occasions. He said: “He was just such a nice guy, he was always so enthusiastic.”Katharine Viner, the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, said: “Eamonn was a wonderful photographer and highly skilled picture editor, who helped make the Guardian and Observer into visual powerhouses.“He was also a lovely man – as a young Guardian writer I was always thrilled if he was assigned to the same story as me. He will be greatly missed.”Diego Maradona is fouled during a friendly international between West Germany and Argentina in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1982. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The GuardianThe former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said McCabe was unusual in that he essentially had three careers – sport photographer, picture editor and then portrait photographer.“It is very rare for somebody who does action sports to master the art of portrait photography. I think he is unique in that respect. He spanned three fields and excelled at all of them.”Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot, 1976. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The GuardianMcCabe was born in north London and, aside from a spell at a film school in San Francisco, was self-taught as a photographer. He joined the Observer in 1976 and soon became a star, winning sports photographer of the year four times.He photographed the titanic Borg v McEnroe tennis matches, took a memorable picture of Brendan Foster running in the rain on his way to breaking the world 10,000 metres record, and was there for the 1978 Boat Race in which the Cambridge boat sank.“My first Boat Race, they sink, I get the blame for it … but it made a lovely picture,” he said in one interview.One of his most memorable pictures was of the Chinese table tennis player Li Zhenshi and his staggeringly high serve.In 1985, he was named news photographer of the year for his images from the Heysel stadium disaster.Juventus fans at Heysel stadium in 1985. McCabe was named news photographer of the year for his images of the disaster. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The GuardianAfter a spell as picture editor of Robert Maxwell’s short-lived SportsWeek, McCabe was hired as the Guardian’s picture editor by the paper’s editor, Peter Preston. It was a time when the new Independent newspaper was much more daringly showing the power of news photography and the Guardian, which had some great photographers, was falling behind, still using pictures in a traditional, often cliched way.McCabe became a big, brilliant part of the Guardian’s “modern, newsy, busy” redesign, winning picture editor of the year a record six times.His third act was as a portrait photographer, including memorable series of writers in the rooms where they wrote and artists in their studios.Zadie Smith pictured circa 2015. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The GuardianSome of those are in the National Portrait Gallery collection, wonderful images of artists including Bridget Riley, Chris Ofili, Paula Rego and Frank Auerbach.Fiona Shields, the Guardian’s head of photography, described McCabe as “the godfather of photojournalism”.“He really set a standard and left a legacy that we all follow and are really proud to follow. He was also an incredibly kind person with amazing good humour. He was always full of anecdotes and warmth.”Roger Tooth, who succeeded McCabe as Guardian picture editor, joked that both of them agreed that taking pictures and running the picture desk was “so much better than working”.He said: “Eamonn was a brilliant photographer and picture editor with a natural talent for capturing or identifying the unusual or unseen. With his natural warmth he was always an encouraging presence wherever he was.”McCabe was also a frequent speaker about photography, wrote several books and was involved in a number of television series, including Britain in Focus for BBC Four.He is survived by Smithers and their daughter, Mabel, and his son, Ben, by a previous marriage.McCullin said McCabe was like all great photographers – he never stopped working. His wife said agreed. “Only two weeks ago he was photographing Aldeburgh rugby club. No job was too big or small.”
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Photographers
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Adobe Photoshop was first released all the way back in 1990 and since then its become one of, if not the most well-known pieces of software available. Even non-photographers know what Photoshop is, or have at least heard of it.
To put it simply — if you have a photo to edit, Photoshop can do it. It's one of the most powerful image editing software out there and there really isn't much it can't do. Although it doesn't boast the organization and cataloging capabilities of Lightroom, when it comes to photo editing and manipulation, Photoshop is king.
When it comes to editing images you've taken on one of the best cameras paired with one of the best lenses, Photoshop can change colors, move things around, remove unwanted items and a whole lot more. Whatever style of photography you shoot, you'll be right at home in Photoshop. It does come with a bit of a learning curve, but if you put the time and effort in to learn how to get the most out of it, you'll open up a whole new world of editing that you never thought possible.
Adobe Photoshop review 2023
Adobe Photoshop: Pricing and Subscription
Similar to Lightroom, Photoshop is only available on a subscription basis, which has its pros and cons. There are two ways to buy it, either on its own for $20.99 a month, or as part of the Photography plan together with Lightroom for $9.99 a month — it’s a no-brainer which one to go for.
The advantage of the monthly subscription is that not only is it a more affordable option, but you’ll always have access to future updates and newer versions, whereas, with a one-off payment for a license, you only pay for that specific version and will have to buy any newer versions separately. There’s no right or wrong answer, but we think it would be nice if users had the option.
Adobe Photoshop: Navigation & Layout
- Confusing layout until you know what everything does
- Adobe tutorials provide great help in finding your way around
- Learning curve for beginners, although layout doesn't change over time
There’s no beating around the bush here — at first, Photoshop is confusing to figure out. We think that if you’re a newbie to Photoshop, the easiest way to figure out where everything is and what everything does is to start small and use one of the many Photoshop Tutorials (opens in new tab) from Adobe, or head over to YouTube and search for what you’d like to do.
Although tricky to newbies, if you're familiar with the Lightroom interface then you'll find comfort in camera raw, which opens up when you import your images. From here, you can edit the light levels, colors, apply noise reduction (either manually or with AI) and perform lens corrections and geometry adjustments in the same way as you would with Lightroom. You can apply the same edit to multiple images (essentially by copying and pasting), which is great if you're using it to stack astrophotography images.
On the left of the interface, you have all your basic brush and selection tools to use on your images, and within each tool, there’s a set of different options to choose from. For example, under the healing tool, there are options for Spot Healing, Healing Brush, Patch, Content-Aware Move and Red Eye tools. To see all the options, just right-click on each tool.
Along the top, you’ll find the toolbar with different options for whichever tool you’ve selected in the left panel. For example, with the brush tool selected, you’ll find options to adjust the brush style, size, flow, opacity and so on.
The panel on the right-hand side is where you’ll find all your image editing and adjustment options, and it’s also where your layers will be.
The layout isn’t necessarily the tricky part when it comes to navigating Photoshop — it’s more about knowing what things do. The learning curve comes when you know what you want to do to an image, but have no idea how to actually do it and know what tools to use. This is where the Adobe tutorials really come in handy.
Photoshop: Image Editing & Manipulation
- Any and every photographic style can be edited in Photoshop
- Great for basic image editing through to professional retouching
- Auto-align and auto-blend layers for astro images a bit temperamental
Photoshop is such a powerful and widely used piece of software that even the word ‘Photoshop’ has now become a verb and an adjective — you often hear of images referred to as being ‘Photoshopped’, but you never hear of them being ‘Lightroomed’, do you?
Simply put, whatever you want to do to an image, Photoshop can do it. It may be tricky and time-consuming, and you may need to figure out how to even do it in the first place because it's such a vast piece of software, but quite literally anything is possible in Photoshop — from simple sky replacements to removing unwanted relatives from wedding photos.
When it comes to editing astro images, there's a function to align and blend multiple images together to create beautiful, noise-free astrophotos with lots of detail. Once you've loaded all your images into Photoshop (and made lens corrections and any other edits in camera raw), the Auto-Align and Auto-Blend functions will align and blend all your images into one with just a few clicks. In theory — this is great, however, we tried stacking a set of astro images but whatever method we used, there were issues lining them up.
The foreground stacked perfectly using the auto-align and auto-blend, as were the stars in the center of the frame, but the stars at the edges and corners of the frame weren't — even with lens corrections applied. But when we tried the same method using a different set of images taken with the same lens (Sony E 11mm f/1.8 G), it worked fine, so it can be a bit temperamental from image to image. A quick search online reveals multiple other users encounter the same problem so we'd love to see Adobe address this in a future update.
No matter what style of photography you do, we can guarantee that you will find Photoshop useful. The photo manipulation tools can be utilized for landscapes, portraits and wildlife.
Photoshop works with layers, providing multiple options for image editing control that allows a non-destructive editing process, should you need it. Adjust exposure, color grading, sharpness and more independently from one another.
There's scope to dive deeper still. Say you’re editing an astrophotograph. One layer could be used and masked to enhance foreground texture detail, another for reducing light pollution on the horizon, another for spot-healing plane light trails and yet another to reduce noise in the darkest shadows. The possibilities are endless.
Visually, this can be more appealing to some than using Lightroom to edit because each layer is clearly visible, can be grouped and named and hidden at the touch of a button.
Photoshop: What's new in 2023
- Improvements to the Object Selection tool
- One-click Delete & Fill Selection
- Newest version released April 2023 (Version 24.4.1)
With every update comes a bunch of new updates and features, and the latest update came in April 2023 with version 24.4.1 (though this latest one was mainly bug fixes), although the most recent big update was back in October 2022.
Over the past few months, some notable improvements have included an update to the Object Selection tool, which is now even better at detecting and selecting certain parts of your image with just one click. This is a particularly useful tool for any wide-angle astro images with a foreground, making it even easier to select the sky and foreground separately to make different edits.
There’s also a one-click delete & fill option, which was previously achieved by selecting an area and then going to the 'content aware fill' option in the menu tab. This tool is used for any objects in your image that you want to remove — just click on them and Photoshop will remove them and blend the background as if the object were never there.
We tried this with a photo of some sheep and it worked incredibly well, although there will be imperfections if the object you’re trying to remove has objects behind it, like a fence, for example. In the image above, the small lamb on the left was removed and filled perfectly, but when we used the same method on the larger sheep on the right, it had trouble filling in the background due to the fence.
There have also been improvements to the invite to edit feature, which gives users a big blue 'share' button and allows multiple users to work on the same Photoshop cloud documents directly from the app. It'll even flag if there's more than one person editing at a time to avoid conflicts, or it can make a copy of the document. Additional tweaks include updates to neural filters and the live gaussian blur and gradients.
Using the neural filters can save a lot of time editing and increase productivity in your workflow by using AI to do things like smooth skin, enhance facial expressions and even increase or decrease your model's facial age.
Using the old frequency separation method can be a very lengthy and time-consuming process and we thought the skin-smoothing neural filter actually did a very good job. It left the skin looking very natural while still keeping texture. Though, some of the filters like the feature to change expressions yielded less than favorable results (at one point it even added teeth).
There's also a color harmonization filter, which is great if you're focus-stacking or blending images together to create a composite. If you have two of the same landscape image, but in one of them the sun has gone behind clouds so everything looks darker and cooler, you can apply the colors from one image onto the other image so that everything looks like one shot and it's much more seamless looking.
There's even a noise reduction neural filter on the waitlist, which they say will provide advanced noise reduction for your images, so we can't wait to test that filter out on our astro images when it becomes available.
Should you buy Adobe Photoshop?
We’d love to be able to give a definitive answer here rather than just say 'it depends', but it depends. Do you want a powerful image editing app that can enable you to edit and manipulate your image in any way you please? Then yes, get Photoshop. Astrophotographer who needs to perfect a pre-stacked composite of a deep sky object? Photoshop has all the tools you'll need. It's even great for professional photographers who need to add or remove objects with the click of a button, or for hobbyists that want to produce creative or fantasy portraits that can in no way be achieved in real life.
However, if you’re more of a casual photographer who just wants to click the 'auto' button when it comes to image editing, Photoshop could well be overkill for you if you aren’t going to make use of all its features. If this sounds more like you, it might be worth trying out Photoshop Elements. Alternatively, if you’d rather pay a one-off fee for your editing software and don’t believe you should have to pay monthly for software you won’t ever own, then Photoshop may not be the one for you.
That said, if you’re going to buy Lightroom anyway, you may as well get the Photography Plan that includes both Lightroom and Photoshop, as it’s the same price as buying Lightroom on its own ($9.99 at time of writing).
If Adobe Photoshop isn't for you
Although Photoshop is an incredibly vast piece of software with a seemingly unlimited amount of features not everyone is going to get on with it. There are plenty of powerful and flexible image editing alternatives available.
If you like the idea of Photoshop but don't necessarily want all of its features, try Photoshop Elements. It's not as beefy as this full-fat version, but it still has all the most popular features, as we discussed in our Photoshop Elements review. You also don't have to pay for it on a subscription basis — you just pay a one-off fee and own the software (a method that many people prefer).
Or, perhaps you just want to edit your images and don't need to manipulate them in any way or create composites. In that case, Lightroom will suit you nicely. We can't imagine there are many users who use Photoshop but not Lightroom, but, as we noted in our Adobe Lightroom review 2023, it's one of the most popular and widely used apps on the market — that's why it tops our best photo editing apps guide. You can get Photoshop and Lightroom together in the Photography Plan for Adobe, and this is actually a more cost-effective method than buying Photoshop on its own.
Finally, if you want the best bits of Photoshop and Lightroom together but don't want to pay a subscription, check out Affinity Photo 2. You just pay a license fee one time and you own it, and we think it's actually an incredibly capable bit of software. We'll be reviewing Affinity Photo 2 soon, so keep your eyes peeled for our recommendations and in-depth testing results.
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Photographers
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In 1985, the Serpentine Gallery in London hosted an exhibition by Chris Killip and Graham Smith entitled Another Country. It comprised about 120 large-format, starkly evocative black-and-white images made in the north-east of England in the late 1970s and early 1980s by the two British photographers during a period of rapid industrial decline. At their insistence, the prints were exhibited without identifying captions so that viewers could not be sure who took what.“With hindsight, it was a bold and powerful statement by the two great British documentary photographers of the postwar era.” says Martin Parr, who befriended both of them when he lived and worked in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, in the 1970s. This week, a distilled version of the exhibition, titled 20/20, opens at the Augusta Edwards Gallery in London. It comprises 20 prints by each photographer and, once again, they will all be exhibited without identifying captions. Killip’s more familiar photographs were taken in Tyneside, often in the shadows of looming shipyards, while Smith’s were made in his native Middlesbrough, often in pubs frequented by himself.Thirty-seven years on, the images are a historical record of a time and a place, but, as gallerist Augusta Edwards points out, they also possess a haunting contemporary resonance. “The work has so much relevance now given that so many communities feel forsaken by their government,” she elaborates. “There is also a tenderness and hopefulness in the work that speaks of the hardships ordinary people face though no choosing of their own.”Graham Smith, ‘Everett F. Wells’ Swan Hunters shipyard, Tyneside, 1977. Photograph: Graham SmithMuch, though, has changed in the interim, both in terms of the physical and social landscape the pair captured for posterity, and in the fortunes of the two photographers. Killip, who died of lung cancer in October 2020, is now generally recognised as a master of British documentary photography. His 1988 book In Flagrante remains a classic of the genre and, although he all but retreated into academia in 1991, becoming a professor at Harvard, his photographs have been exhibited around the world. A deftly curated and long overdue retrospective of his work has just opened the Photographers Gallery in London, burnishing his already elevated status as perhaps the most acute chronicler of the human cost of what he later called the “de-industrialisation” of the north-east.Smith’s work is much less well known. His candid portraits of regulars in Middlesbrough pubs like the Commercial and the Zetland often capture intimate tableaux: people, buoyed or dazed by drink, laughing, talking or lost in thought. The exterior shots of collieries and traditional locals seem even more like another country – the not-too-recent past as distant as a fading memory.Graham Smith, Bennetts Corner (Giro Corner), South Bank, Middlesbrough, 1982 Photograph: Graham SmithIn contrast to Killip, Smith is a much more elusive figure, his work revered by those that have heard of him, but almost unknown to the mainstream. Much of this is down to his dramatic decision to withdraw from the photography scene in 1991, and his subsequent refusal to show his work in galleries, or publish it in book form. As he makes clear in the foreword to the catalogue for 20/20, his self-willed disappearance from public view was precipitated by a wounding encounter with the most vindictive aspects of the British tabloid press. In 1991, his photographs were shown alongside Killip’s in a show at MoMA in New York under a provocative and misleading title, British Photography from the Thatcher Years. In his foreword to the 20/20 catalogue, he writes that “it fuelled a backlash from some Tory newspapers in Britain”.More wounding still was a scurrilous report that appeared in a popular north-eastern newspaper under the heading Boozers and Losers, misrepresenting the work as voyeuristic and patronising. An accompanying editorial described the photographers as “a couple of smart alecs from Middlesbrough and Newcastle” – Killip was actually from the Isle of Man – and culminated with the suggestion: “Someone should hang THEM on the walls.”In his essay, Smith recalls that after the article’s publication, “I received a threat of violence from two distant drinking friends prominent in my photographs. Their message, sent by word of mouth, was also on behalf of others who were enraged by what they had read in the papers.”Chris Killip, Helen and her hula-hoop, Lynemouth, Northumberland, 1984. Photograph: © Chris Killip. All Rights Reserved.Unlike Killip, Smith belonged to the community he had photographed. The people who were “defiled” in the article, he writes, “were mostly people from the close community of South Bank, the home town and workplace of my father and his father.”Apart from a commercial exhibition in Santa Monica, California, in 2018, entitled Three from Britain, in which his work was exhibited alongside Killip’s and Parr’s, Smith has not allowed his pictures to be shown in a gallery until now. His isolation in rural Northumberland seems to have led to a kind of creative reinvention as a writer, with both Edwards and Parr attesting to his skill at recalling the people and places he photographed decades ago.“It’s fair to say Graham lived a wild life when he was shooting,” says Parr. “He had rough times, drinking, sleeping out. But I think of him as one of the great characters of photography. He’s a bit like Josef Koudelka in that way. Until you sit down with him, and hear the stories, you don’t get it. And, of course, his legend has only grown in his absence.”Does the 20/20 suggest a tentative reemergence from his long, self-imposed exile from the photography scene? “I wouldn’t go that far,” laughs Parr. Edwards, who initially approached Killip with the idea for the joint show in 2019, thinks not. “Chris was able to persuade Graham after a time,” she says, “but it has taken so long to get to this point. It is a huge thing for Graham that he has allowed this to happen but, in all likelihood, I suspect that it might be the only show he will do for the foreseeable future.”Chris Killip, At an Angelic Upstarts concert, Sunderland, Wearside, 1984. Photograph: © Chris Killip. All Rights Reserved.That possibility, alongside the death of Killip, cannot help but lend the exhibition an almost valedictory feel. It is also, like the original iteration, a celebration of their friendship, their mutual respect and the ways in which their different approaches to documentary interact on the walls of the gallery like a lively visual conversation. In his catalogue essay, though, Smith recalls how he initially refused Killip the use of his newly constructed darkroom when the latter first arrived in Newcastle upon Tyne and introduced himself to the pioneering Amber collective that Smith belonged to. “They were chalk and cheese, temperamentally,” says Parr, “and there was always some tension between them, but ultimately they knew what they believed in.”That, too, resonates in the work, in the two differing approaches to the same end: the recording of ordinary, working-class lives at the mercy of economic and ideological forces that devalued them. Smith describes the Amber collective as “a group of idealists guided by a philosophy to create a dialogue with working-class communities, to value and document their culture, to live cheaply and be in control of our own labour.” That idealism also seems to belong to another time, another country, but it underpinned two bodies of work that have grown in importance as time has passed. Killip could have been speaking for both of them when he said of his subjects, “In recording their lives, I’m valuing their lives.” 20/20: Chris Killip/Graham Smith is at Augusta Edwards, London, until 6 November. Chris Killip, Retrospective is at the Photographers Gallery, London, until 19 February
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Image source, The Armitt TrustImage caption, Visitors will be able to find out more about the famous building and its connection with The Armitt's collectionAn "iconic" building in the Lake District has reopened to visitors for the first time since 2019.A photographers' favourite, Bridge House in Ambleside closed for the season in October 2019 and remained shut due to Covid.The tiny house reopened on Friday as part of a new partnership between The Armitt venue and The National Trust.Armitt manager and curator Faye Morrissey, said they were "thrilled" to be sharing the "special place" again.Image source, The Armitt TrustImage caption, The tiny house on the bridge has been used as an apple store, a cobbler's and at one time was home to a family of eightOriginally built over Stock Beck in the late 1600s or early 1700s by the Braithwaite family, it is believed to have been used as an apple store for their home, Ambleside Hall. It is the only surviving building from the estate.Over the years, Bridge House has provided inspiration for many artists, writers, and photographers including Harriet Martineau, Edward Lear and Kurt Schwitters, whose defining painting of the quirky house is now part of The Armitt's collection.Image source, The Armitt TrustImage caption, Writers, artists - such as Kurt Schwitters, above, - and photographers have paid homage to the houseNational Trust Central and East Lakes general manager Laura Ruxton, said: "By working in partnership with The Armitt, we hope to further share the fascinating history of the Lake District with everyone, and to preserve and conserve buildings like Bridge House for the future."Bridge House was purchased by the local community in 1926 and given to the National Trust and we're delighted to be working with The Armitt so visitors can enjoy learning more about this little building which holds such a big place in so many people's hearts."Bridge House will be open every Thursday to Saturday for ticketed tours during August.Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.Related Internet LinksThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
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In pictures: Press Photographer of the Year
Reuters photographer Hannah McKay has been named as The British Press Photographers' Association Press Photographer of the Year for 2022.
McKay's work was selected from more than 2,000 entries by photographers working in the UK and abroad.
Across the various categories members of the association were invited to vote for their favourite entries, with members of the board choosing the overall winning portfolio from the category winners.
Here are a selection of the winning entries from each category.
Hannah McKay: Press Photographer of the Year and winner of the News category
Simon Hulme: Business category winner
Simon Townsley: Photo Essay category winner
Victoria Jones: Winner of the Essay (Death of a Monarch) category
Joann Randles: Portrait category winner
Robert Perry: Arts and Entertainment category winner
Max Mumby: Winner Royal category
Ben Stansall: Sport (action) category winner
Eddie Keogh: Sport (away from the action) category winner
George Cracknell-Wright: Young Photographer category winner
You can see more winning images on the competition website.
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TL;DR: Find a wide range of free Photoshop courses(opens in a new tab) on Udemy. Whether you're a professional photographer or you simply want to improve your daily snaps, there is a free course for you.
Photoshop is not something that's reserved for professional photographers or digital artists. Anyone can master the art of Photoshop, with the right instruction.
Fortunately, you can find a wide range of helpful and beginner-friendly Photoshop courses on Udemy. And better yet, a number of highly-rated Photoshop courses(opens in a new tab) are even available for free, so you can get started without committing any cash. What do you have to lose?
We have checked out everything on offer and lined up a selection of standout options. These are the best free Photoshop courses as of July 8:
There is always a catch with anything offered for free, although in this case it's really not a big deal. With free courses on Udemy, you don't get access to things like a certificate of completion or direct messaging with the instructor. That shouldn't stop you from enrolling though, because you can still learn at your own pace with unlimited access to all the content.
Find the best free Photoshop courses on Udemy.
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Could Gavin Bond take these same photographs today? His answer, without hesitation, is no. The photographer—English by birth, a New Yorker by choice—knows that the era he captured in his book Being There is gone forever. Stella Tennant has died, as have Karl Lagerfeld and Vivienne Westwood. His photographic playground, the backstage of the catwalks of fashion shows, is no longer the place it was in 1993. Bond describes it as once having been an intimate and private zone, much like the “backstage of a theater,” reserved for models and the teams of assistants preparing them to walk the runway. It was a closed and secret space. Today, the 53-year-old photographer explains, “there are a lot of cameras with access to the dressing rooms and the models themselves are on their cell phones. Everything is on display, but there is less spontaneity.”
In 1993, however, Bond was the one of the few to take his camera into this intriguing world. As a young student at London’s prestigious Saint Martin’s School of Art, he started shooting the fashion shows of his fellow students, including John Galliano. He eventually got to know a producer, John Wolford, who acted as a liaison between the students and fashion professionals. Bond learned that Wolford was close to Vivienne Westwood and the photographer took a chance and sent the designer some photos he’d taken of dancers in the dressing rooms at the Lido de Paris. Westwood was impressed and offered Bond access to her Anglomania show in Paris in March 1993, a chance to be up close and personal with her team and the models. Christy Turlington remembers: “Gavin appeared one day and it was as if he’d always been there.”
Bond used a compact film camera on his backstage outings, a Bronica ETR-Si, small and discreet enough not to disturb his subjects. His photos from this period came to define his style: in place of staged fashion shots, he produced photo-reportage, bringing a journalistic approach that was reminiscent of the work of Frank Horvat. “The great photographers of the time were invited to fashion shows by the brands,” Bond recalls. “They only had access to the top models within a very defined framework and they had to produce something beautiful. I was free of all those constraints.” The photographs in Being There shine a light on the world of fashion at work: the subjects are vulnerable—some concentrating intensely and others joyfully euphoric. They often appear unaware that they are being watched by Bond’s lens. “There’s nothing worse than having a camera pointed at you to destroy a mood while you’re chatting or smoking between costume changes and alterations,” says Turlington. “In those days, before backstage was open to cameras, few observers were welcome.”
The photos of the Vivienne Westwood fashion show attracted the interest of all the leading couturiers of the day. Bond would infiltrate the fashion houses of his friend John Galliano, then the head of Dior, as well as Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent, and Jean-Paul Gaultier. His shots, first in black-and-white and later in color, captured the golden age of supermodels from a unique angle. This period, now practically wrapped in legend, when Naomi Campbell, Tennant, Claudia Schiffer, and Christy Turlington were emerging, seems wonderfully intimate and familiar in Bond’s photos. “You had to be there,” as the photographer says.
Being There, by Gavin Bond, is published by IDEA. Many of the photos in Being There were originally exhibited at Hamiltons Gallery in London, which continues to represent Gavin Bond. This gallery originally appeared in Vanity Fair France. It was translated by John Newton.
All products featured on Vanity Fair are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
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Nightlife is an ephemeral thing. For all the joy and chaos of a big night out, our memories are often left behind on sticky dancefloors, bulldozed by hangovers or washed down the drain the following morning along with the sweat and the makeup. In the cold light of day warehouses converted into illicit dancefloors return to anonymous industrial sites, and in recent years the UK’s bars and clubs have faced the triple-pronged threat of the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the relentless Pret-ification of high streets.This is what makes photographs of nightlife culture so mesmeric, and so important: they record for posterity the fleeting magic and mayhem of temporary scenes. The following archives and photographers help document the many fabulous and debauched faces of the UK’s clubs, pubs, raves and DIY venues, providing a window to generations of party animals.Linden Archives– InstagramBored during lockdown, Stuart Linden Rhodes began uploading some of the thousands of photographs he’d taken of the gay scene in northern England in the 1990s on to his Instagram account. Rhodes started out as a nightlife photographer for All Points North magazine (terrible pay, but he got free entry to clubs), and later worked as the northern correspondent for Gay Times.By night, he travelled to venues across the country, photographing gay bars, Pride events and club nights, as well as the occasional celebrity. Lily Savage, the drag persona of Paul O’Grady, Julian Clary and young, Lycra-clad members of Take That can be found among the revellers.By day, Rhodes was a teacher in Harrogate. “It was madness,” he says of his moonlighting. “I would get back to Harrogate, and the first thing I had to do for the Gay Times was pop the films in a jiffy bag, go to the post office at the railway station and deposit the film so it could get on the first train to London. Then I’d go home, go to bed and go to work.” Because this was the era of Section 28 – the homophobic law brought in by Margaret Thatcher’s government that pushed countless staff and students into the closet – Rhodes used his middle name, Linden, for his photography work. But his colleagues in the staff room knew about his second career. “I used to take the mickey by saying that they were going home to do their gardening and play with train sets. There I was loading up the car with cameras and friends and heading off into the night.”Rhodes stopped photographing the club scene in the 2000s. By then the “drug culture had taken hold”, and the music had got too intense for his tastes. (Too much hardcore, not enough Donna Summer.) These days he posts a new photograph on @linden_archives every day, and the account has become a kind of collective photo album, where followers can take a trip down memory lane and comment on people and places they recognise.Out and About with Linden, a queer archive of the north, will be republished in 2023 by Pariah Press.Museum of Youth Culture – InstagramA raver at Amnesia in 1991, captured by Tony Davis, part of the Museum of Youth Culture. Photograph: Tony Davis/PYMCAThe Museum of Youth Culture has a similar nostalgic appeal, collecting photographs of people in Britain between the ages of 15 and 25 taken over the past 100 years, and inviting the public to send in their snaps. Among the submissions are fuzzy photos of raucous pre-drinks at home, women smoking cigs in social clubs, house parties in Manchester and pints and hairspray in Essex nightclubs.Originally a photo archive, the project was established in 1997 by Jon Swinstead, co-founder of the 90s fashion magazine Sleazenation. Unimpressed by the corny stock images of youth subcultures, he created the Photographic Youth Music Culture Archive (PYMCA), working with photographers to build a bank of images that he licensed to newspapers and magazines. In 2015, realising the potential of the collection as a public archive, the agency was relaunched as the Museum of Youth Culture.Today the museum is nomadic, popping up in different locations across the UK. A current exhibition at Coventry’s Herbert Art Gallery includes a scanning station where visitors can add their photos. Its Instagram account @museumofyouthculture, which combines the work of professional and amateur photographers, is a treasure trove of big looks and big nights out through the decades. There are photos of groovers on the soul scene, raven-haired goths at Soho’s legendary Batcave club, pilled-up ravers with dummies and whistles round their necks and boozy nu-metal fans looking knackered post-mosh.Grown Up in Britain: 100 Years of Teenage Kicks is at the Coventry Herbert Art Gallery & Museum to 12 February.Liz Johnson Artur– InstagramA picture from the Black Balloon Archive by Liz Johnson Artur. Photograph: Liz Johnson ArturBorn in Bulgaria, celebrated chronicler of Black British culture Liz Johnson Artur has been documenting nightlife since she arrived in London in the early 1990s, photographing MC battles, teenage raves, Notting Hill carnival and ad-hoc club nights.In the 2000s, she started following the clandestine instructions issued by London’s pirate radio stations for getting to illegal parties. “We’d meet a man at a garage and he’d take us to some backstreets or up some roof,” she says of adventures that eventually led to a dancefloor.Part of the appeal of Artur’s photographs is their generosity. She always shows her subjects in a positive light: relaxed, part of a community, living their best lives. When I ask if she has a strategy for putting people at ease, she says there is no technique, only trust. “In a club, people are in a place where they feel safe enough to let go, and there has to be an understanding. If people allow me in, I’m happy to take what they give me.”Artur describes herself as old-fashioned and dedicated to the craft of manual photography. (She still uses one of the cameras she had upon arrival in the UK.) Her daughter helps with her Instagram account, @lizjohnsonartur, where you can see photographs from Artur’s formidable back catalogue alongside recent glitzier photos of Black celebrities such as Marcus Rashford and Michaela Coel.Works by Liz Johnson Artur make up one of the 13 displays of the ongoing Artist and Society exhibition, showing at Tate Modern, London.Chaotic Nightclub Photos– TwitterPictures of the past often slip us into the warm bath of nostalgia – it seems easier to mythologise and cannibalise days gone by than it does to look the present in the eye. For readers wanting a distinctly unromantic view of recent British nightlife, Chaotic Nightclub Photos (@ClubPhotos) is the place for you. The Twitter account specialises in images of the kind of debauched and disgraceful goings-on you might expect to find in the corner of a Hieronymus Bosch painting: a man taking a secret wee while ordering a drink at a bar; someone projectile vomiting in the background of a group photo; a person passed out in the trough of a urinal; a woman attempting to swallow her own fist; police peeling people off the pavement after closing.Since it launched earlier this year, Chaotic Nightclub Photos has amassed more than 1 million followers. While the photos have no explanatory captions, and some appear to come from international clubs, other destinations are recognisable by the watermark logos of venues around the UK, suggesting they’ve been taken by in-house photographers. The images record the sloppy carnage familiar to every nightclub in every town and on every university campus, and the perverse joy of looking is only tempered by the fear of finding yourself in the background, pissed as a fart and doing something utterly regrettable.Dirty Little Club Babe– InstagramAn image by Roxanne Lee. Photograph: Roxanne LeeAs a teenager in Hackney in the 2000s, Roxy Lee began taking pictures in order to remember nights out. The capital’s squat-party scene has a long and anarchic history of turning boarded-up pubs, warehouses, office blocks and other abandoned buildings into improvised venues. Squat parties, Lee says, “were always such temporary spaces. I’m a very precious person, I’m a bit of a hoarder. I’m like that with my memories as well.”Eight years ago, when Lee was in her early 20s, she turned her lens on London’s queer scene. Her desire to keep a record of her social life was strengthened by the ongoing closures of many much-loved pubs and clubs: over the last decade, 60% of London’s queer venues have closed, in part due to soaring rents and rampant property development.The photos Lee posts on her Insta account @sausageandcustard are a riot of ripped fishnets, mirrorballs, jockstraps, outrageous outfits, poppers and drag queens, and an irreverent celebration of the hedonism and creativity that continues to flourish in spite of punitive economic conditions. What makes a good picture of a night out? “Sexiness, in the broadest meaning of the term,” says Lee. “I love what people wear and how they present themselves. But fundamentally, the biggest thing is people just being themselves.”
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The work of four Black photographers who capture their subjects in a variety of settings, from historic events to intimate moments, is being displayed in an exhibition marking Black History Month. Across Generations includes photos by Denise Maxwell, Djibril Drame, Nuits Balneaires and Vanley Burke. The exhibition is accompanied by the histories of some of the lawyers from the Black Lawyers Group, who brought the show together.
Across Generations, organised by Brookfield Properties and the Black Lawyers Group of Latham and Watkins, is on display until the end of October at 99 Bishopsgate, London
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The best way to build your skills as a photographer or videographer is to learn about the art of off-camera lighting—the use of flashes or continuous lights that are set up on stands around your photographic subject or held in your hand, and not mounted on your camera. I've written an entire guide on how to properly light your photos and videos. It's filled with advice from experts who have spent their careers mastering the intricacies of lighting. And it is lifelong process, but with a few basic concepts and a few inexpensive tools, it’s a process that is surprisingly approachable.Below are product recommendations from myself and the experts. We've assembled good picks for those just starting out, as well as picks for seasoned photographers and videographers looking to upgrade to more professional setups.Be sure to check out our many other photo buying guides, like the Best Mirrorless Cameras, Best Compact Cameras, Best Camera Bags, and Best Action Cameras. If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.Start With One LightCamera lighting doesn’t have to be expensive. Sure, if you want the world’s best Swedish-made lights, they’ll cost you as much as a used car. But if you’re just looking to grow your skills and start experimenting, you can start with an affordable one-light kit.“With a one-light kit, you can easily create photos that are both more evocative and more three-dimensional,” says photographer and lighting instructor David Hobby. “For that reason, I would suggest to any serious-minded photographer that she get an off-camera lighting kit—and learn how to use it—before even getting her second lens.” Hobby even recommends getting a second light before getting a second lens: “With a second light (even cheaper than the first, because you don’t need a second wireless trigger) comes the ability to control your subject in layers. Or to create a lighting environment in the absence of any good quality ambient light at all.”Hobby recommends choosing a reputable third-party flash—something made by a manufacturer different than the one that made your camera—because they are often more affordable. Camera companies enjoy large profit margins on their flashes to make up for the slim margins on their camera bodies and lenses. By buying third-party, Hobby explains, you can put together an entire kit that includes a flash, light stand, swivel adapter, lighting umbrella, and a wireless remote trigger for less than the cost of a basic first-party flash.Another thing to be aware of is that if you buy a high-end light with a proprietary accessory mount around the bulb to affix different light modifiers, not only is the light expensive but the accessories are more expensive too. If you buy gear with a Bowens Mount (the standard mount for the vast majority of third-party accessories), then buying accessories will be less expensive, which will encourage more freedom to experiment with different options.A Good Entry-Level FlashPhotograph: GodoxAt just $65, this is the flash David Hobby recommends for an entry-level one-light kit. (This flash is also sold as Flashpoint Zoom R2 with US warranty.) You can mount this directly on your camera, or you can buy a mount to use it on a light stand with modifiers such as an umbrella or softbox. This is the flash included in the complete $229 kit Hobby recommends on his Strobist website.Get a Remote Trigger TooWith an off-camera flash or strobe, you need a remote trigger to make the flash fire remotely when you press the shutter button. This remote trigger must be compatible with both your flash and your specific brand of camera. If you use Godox or Flashpoint, this one is easy to read your adjustments on thanks to the large backlit screen. If you use a smaller mirrorless camera such as a Fuji, the smaller version is what Hobby recommends. It's the same price.A Flash Upgrade OptionPhotograph: FlashpointThis hybrid flash is also sold as the Godox AD200 Pro, but the Flashpoint version has a US warranty. This 250-watt strobe comes with both a flash head and a bare bulb head, the latter offering a better light spread for use with a softbox or umbrella. (See our recommendations for these add-ons below, and learn more about them in our comprehensive guide to lighting.)Affordable and highly portable, this light is far more powerful than a typical flash without adding much more bulk to your kit. If you’re choosing between this and a regular flash, bear in mind that this will not mount on your camera like a flash will. It includes a swivel mount for a light stand, but the $25 Glow S2 mount bracket (or Godox S2) will allow you to mount this (or any flash) onto a light stand. The S2 also has the added benefit of having a mount for an umbrella and a mount for softboxes.Continuous Lights for VideoPhotograph: AputureThis new 65-watt continuous LED video light from Amaran comes ready to plug in, or it can run without a power cable if you use Sony L-Series (or compatible aftermarket) rechargeable batteries. When shooting video plugged into AC power, the locking connector will ensure you don’t accidentally pull it out while you’re in the middle of a shot. Using a companion mobile app, you can control up to 100 Aputure and Amaran branded lights with your phone or tablet, dialing in your entire multi-light setup all on your mobile device.The 60d and 60x were both just released. The 60d is less expensive by $30 and offers more brightness at full power. But the 60d’s color is daylight-balanced whereas the 60x is bi-color, which means it can be adjusted to emit light ranging from the bright white of daylight to yellowish light more akin to candlelight. I appreciated that versatility in practice more than the added brightness of the 60x. Both versions have a standard Bowens Mount, so they should work with a vast array of affordable third-party light modifiers such as softboxes.
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Drones have soared in popularity over the last few years, particularly in the photography world. There are a lot of different makes and models to choose from, and we've found this Black Friday deal on the DJI Air 2S — now selling for $799 at Amazon, saving you a healthy $200. While that is a nice saving, the price has been going back and forth between $999 and $799 for the past few months, so it's not some 'mega Black Friday deal' they're making it out to be.
When we reviewed the DJI Air 2S, we thought it was an exciting option for photographers and videographers with its 20MP sensor and excellent image quality. It has advanced safety features making it a sensible option for beginners, although you will need to register it with the FAA (US) or CAA (UK) before you fly it due to its weight category.
DJI Air 2
was $999 now $799 at Amazon.
Save $200 on one of our favorite drones, the DJI Air 2S. Although it's over 2 years old, it's stood the test of time with its fantastic image quality and advanced safety features, making it suit beginners and more advanced flyers. This is the lowest price we've seen it.
- Read our Black Friday 2023 deals page for big discounts on space gifts
Design-wise, it's very similar to the DJI Mavic 2 Pro, just smaller and lighter (and less than half the price). We thought the build quality was excellent in our full DJI Air 2S review, and although it states the flight time is 31 minutes per battery, we found a more realistic flight time to be around 20 minutes.
If you are going to use this drone for photography purposes, keep in mind that it has a fixed aperture of f/2.8, so the only way to change the exposure settings is with the shutter speed and ISO. For videography, we'd recommend investing in some ND filters.
With this $799 deal, you get just the drone, controller, one battery, charger and all the spares. But you only need to spend $7 more to get the Fly More Combo, which includes a set of ND filters, 3 batteries, a charger, a shoulder bag and all the spares. Although they haven't listed the Fly More Combo as a Black Friday deal, we can see that it's been sitting between $1039 - $1299 for the past few months, so either option is definitely a saving. For our money, we'd say go for the Fly More.
Key Specs: 1-inch CMOS 20MP camera, 5.4K, 4K, 2.7K, 1080p (FHD) video resolution, 12km transmission range, 7.1 x 3 x 3.8 inches when folded, 21oz / 595g, battery 3500 mAh LiPo 3S / up to 31 minutes, 5.4K up to 30 fps / 4K up to 60 fps / 2.7K up to 60 fps / FHD up to 120 fps.
Consensus: With a host of impressive features including a 20MP one-inch sensor in a drone weighing just 21oz, the Air 2S is an exciting option for photographers and videographers.
Buy if: You aren't totally confident with flying and want to take excellent quality photos and videos while knowing the safety features will help prevent crashes.
Don't buy if: You're a professional photographer/videographer and want to be able to change all the settings for photo/video.
Alternative models: For pros with a big budget, the DJI Mavic 3 Pro is the best drone overall, but it's also one of the most expensive. If you want an affordable but capable drone that you don't need to register, try the DJI Mini 3 Pro.
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Few were better at capturing Diana's luminous beauty than Lord Snowdon as shown in this picture of the princess which has resurfaced ahead of the 25th anniversary of her tragic death, writes RICHARD KAY Published: 17:17 EDT, 1 July 2022 | Updated: 23:15 EDT, 1 July 2022 Advertisement Long before the world’s photographers had discovered Lady Diana Spencer, she was already displaying an extraordinarily natural poise in front of the cameras.Over the years few were better at capturing her luminous beauty than Lord Snowdon, the society cameraman and ex-husband of the Queen’s sister Princess Margaret.The images he shot were some of the most iconic and memorable of Diana ever taken.But some such as this long forgotten portrait have been rarely seen. Now with the 25th anniversary of the princess’s tragic death approaching, and five years after Snowdon himself died, it has resurfaced. Long before the world’s photographers had discovered Lady Diana Spencer, she was already displaying an extraordinarily natural poise in front of the camerasSo too has an unseen shot of Prince William. Indeed, the austere unsmiling figure seated in an outsize oak chair and cradling his pet rabbit scarcely resembles William at all. He was nine when the picture was taken, when the reality of his parents’ failing marriage must have been evident.How different the royal story looked when this picture of the 19-year-old Diana was snapped. What a remarkable reminder it is of the young woman who mesmerised Prince Charles in the summer of 1980.It was taken barely two months into their relationship and long before talk of an engagement, let alone marriage, had been aired. Snowdon had been commissioned by Vogue to capture the exquisite glamour of a girl who was to change the Royal Family for ever.Looking at it today is to marvel at the makers of The Crown and their uncanny choice of the lookalike actress Emma Corrin to play the ingenue Diana in the fourth season of the Netflix series. So too has an unseen shot of Prince William. Indeed, the austere unsmiling figure seated in an outsize oak chair and cradling his pet rabbit scarcely resembles William at all. Looking at it today is to marvel at the makers of The Crown and their uncanny choice of the lookalike actress Emma Corrin to play the ingenue Diana in the fourth season of the Netflix seriesDiana – who would have turned 61 yesterday – was not yet the pin-up she was to become as the world’s most photographed woman. Instead she displays a fragile grace, uncertain of the dazzling effect of her gaze. Her complexion is peachy and those piercing blue eyes are not hidden by what was to become her trademark fringe and that ‘shy Di’ nickname.And is that a hint of a smile on her face, aware of the great secret she was holding? The world may not have known it yet but the romance with Charles was moving at great pace before becoming fully public in September 1980. They married the following July.Snowdon was to take many more pictures of Diana – but none when she was as happy as she was here. Advertisement
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Photographers
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A paparazzi photographer is suing Ye — the musician formerly known as Kanye West — for assault, battery and negligence after he was caught on-camera grabbing her phone and throwing it into the street.
The photographer, Nichol Lechmanik, says she was just doing her job as a celebrity photojournalist when she was capturing content of Ye.
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“He reached into my car as if he were going to hit me, he grabbed my phone out of my hand and then angrily threw it into the street,” Lechmanik said on Thursday during a press conference. “He caused so much fear that I have not been the same since.”
Lechmanik filed a lawsuit this week with the Ventura County Superior Court near Los Angeles, Calif., which has been obtained by Variety.
The freelance photographer previously called 911 and filed a police report after the incident. Following an investigation, earlier this year, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said Lechmanik declined to press charges against Ye. But now, in her lawsuit, the paparazzo is seeking damages, claiming she sustained “great mental and emotional pain” and has been prevented from doing her job, therefore suffering from “lost earnings.” The suit says Ye’s conduct was “willful, wanton and malicious.”
The incident occurred on January 27, 2023, when Ye was outside of a sports academy in Ventura County where he was attending his daughter’s basketball game. His ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, was also at the game. According to the lawsuit, after Lechmanik took photos of Kardashian entering the sports academy, she noticed Ye outside of his vehicle “angrily confronting” another photographer on the street and started filming the alleged incident from her cell phone.
“Given Defendant Ye’s reputation for violence against photographers, his history of physically harming them, and based on his threatening body language, Plaintiff became fearful for the photographers safety,” the lawsuit states, adding that she remained in the driver’s seat when she began filming. Her associate was sitting in the passenger’s seat next to her, and was also filming from his phone when Ye walked towards their car. “She did not want to get out of her car because she was afraid of Defendant Ye,” the suit says, stating that as Ye began walking towards her car, her “nervousness increased.” When he came near her car, the suit states, he was “speaking aggressively” and became “enraged.”
“You all ain’t gonna run up on me like that,” Ye said to Lechmanik, which is stated in the lawsuit, and can heard in the footage. “If I say stop…stop with your cameras.” The photographer responded to Ye explaining that he is a celebrity, insinuating that she was just doing her job.
“He reached into Plaintiff’s car and ripped her phone out of her hands. As he did so, Plaintiff was fearful Defendant Ye had a weapon or would strike her,” the suit says. “Defendant Ye then threw her phone onto the street towards oncoming traffic” and gave a “death stare” before walking away.
On Thursday, accompanied by her attorney, Gloria Allred, the photographer became emotional as she spoke during a press conference.
“He has no right to assault me, batter me or cause me to be afraid to pursue my profession,” Lechmanik said. “I want Ye to know that he cannot do what he did to me without facing consequences. I am determined to stand up for myself to let him know that he must change his abhorrent behavior.”
When asked by a reporter about the notion of violating a celebrity’s privacy, she said she has been working as a photographer for 10 years and is always respectful of her famous subjects. “I just think that people do not understand the hardship that we go to as far as photographers,” she said. “I’ve never had any other incident happen like this with any other celebrity… I want people to know is that there are good people that do this profession. We’re mindful of the celebrities. We’re always concerned of their well being. I would never do any harm.”
Allred insisted that Ye is interfering with her client’s livelihood. She said that Lechmanik hopes to set a precedent for other paparazzi photographers who endure bad behavior by celebrities on the job.
“Professional photographers who earn their living by being photographers have the right to do that without being interfered with by a celebrity,” Allred said. Speaking of Ye, she said, “He can express his displeasure using words, but he does not have a right to grab someone else’s property — in fact, that property being that tool used by a photographer to make his or her living as a photographer — and stop them from earning a living by filming what is going on at that moment. He needs to understand he was in a public place. The street is a public place. Anyone has the right to film in a public place. If he doesn’t want to take the risk of being filmed, he can choose to stay in his home where he’ll have privacy.”
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Photographers
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Eamonn McCabe, one of the most celebrated and admired newspaper photographers and picture editors of his generation, has died aged 74.McCabe was a multi-award-winning sports photographer at the Observer from 1976 and later became a trailblazing picture editor of the Guardian at a key moment in its history. His third act was as a portrait photographer, with 29 examples of his work in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.McCabe’s death at his home in Suffolk on Sunday was sudden and unexpected. His wife, Rebecca Smithers, a former Guardian journalist, said McCabe was a kind, modest and encouraging character.“He was very generous to younger photographers coming up through the system,” she said. “He was very encouraging. He would give big lectures but also talk to tiny little camera clubs in village halls. If people wanted to hear about his work he was happy to do that.”The war photographer Don McCullin described McCabe as a lovely and straightforward man. “He was very passionate about photography and whenever you dealt with him he was always honest and a very nice human being. Like most of us, his life was photography.”The boxer Sylvester Mittee tapes his hands before a training session at Frank Warren’s gym in King’s Cross, London, in 1984. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The GuardianMcCullin said McCabe cut his teeth in what were the best of times, photographically, before the digital revolution.“Photography has lost its way a bit, the way colour and digital and all those things have come into fashion. A lot of people like me and him probably thought our number was up.”McCabe photographed McCullin for portraits on two occasions. “He was just such a nice guy, he was always so enthusiastic.”Katharine Viner, editor in chief of the Guardian, said: “Eamonn was a wonderful photographer and highly skilled picture editor, who helped make the Guardian and Observer into visual powerhouses.Diego Maradona is fouled during a friendly international between West Germany and Argentina in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1982. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The Guardian“He was also a lovely man – as a young Guardian writer I was always thrilled if he was assigned to the same story as me. He will be greatly missed.”The former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said McCabe was unusual in that he essentially had three careers – sport photographer, picture editor and then portrait photographer.“It is very rare for somebody who does action sports to master the art of portrait photography. I think he is unique in that respect, he spanned three fields and excelled at all of them.”Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot, 1976. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The GuardianMcCabe was born in north London and, aside from a spell at a film school in San Francisco, was self-taught as a photographer.He joined the Observer in 1976 and soon became a star, winning sports photographer of the year four times.He photographed the titanic Borg v McEnroe tennis matches, took a memorable picture of Brendan Foster running in the rain on his way to breaking the world 10,000 metres record, and was there for the 1978 Boat Race in which the Cambridge boat sank.“My first Boat Race, they sink, I get the blame for it … but it made a lovely picture,” he said in one interview.One of his most memorable pictures was of the Chinese table tennis player Li Zhenshi and his staggeringly high serve.In 1985 he was named news photographer of the year for his images from the Heysel stadium disaster.Juventus fans at Heysel stadium in 1985. McCabe was named news photographer of the year for his images of the disaster. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The GuardianAfter a spell as picture editor of Robert Maxwell’s short-lived SportsWeek, McCabe was hired as the Guardian’s picture editor by the paper’s editor, Peter Preston. It was a time when the new Independent newspaper was much more daringly showing the power of news photography and the Guardian, which had some great photographers, was falling behind, still using pictures in a traditional, often cliched way.McCabe became a big, brilliant part of the Guardian’s “modern, newsy, busy” redesign, winning picture editor of the year a record six times.His third act was as a portrait photographer including memorable series of writers in the rooms where they wrote and artists in their studios.Zadie Smith pictured circa 2015. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/The GuardianSome of those are in the National Portrait Gallery collection, wonderful images of artists including Bridget Riley, Chris Ofili, Paula Rego and Frank Auerbach.Fiona Shields, the Guardian’s head of photography, described McCabe as “the godfather of photojournalism.“He really set a standard and left a legacy that we all follow and are really proud to follow. He was also an incredibly kind person with amazing good humour. He was always full of anecdotes and warmth.”Roger Tooth, who succeeded McCabe as Guardian picture editor, joked that both of them agreed that taking pictures and running the picture desk was “so much better than working”.He added: “Eamonn was a brilliant photographer and picture editor with a natural talent for capturing or identifying the unusual or unseen. With his natural warmth he was always an encouraging presence wherever he was.”McCabe was also a frequent speaker about photography, wrote several books and was involved in a number of television series including Britain in Focus for BBC Four.He is survived by Smithers and their daughter, Mabel, and his son, Ben, by a previous marriage.McCullin said McCabe was like all great photographers – he never stopped working. His wife said it was true. “Only two weeks ago he was photographing Aldeburgh rugby club, no job was too big or small.”
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Photographers
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Mstyslav Chernov at the Press Freedom Awards 2022 (Photo:@МКІП) Ukrainian photographers Yevhen Maloletka and Mstyslav Chernov, who documented the siege of Mariupol by Russian troops in March 2022, have received an award For Freedom of the Press from the international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The 30th Press Freedom Awards 2022 ceremony was held in Paris on Dec. 12. It is held annually by the RSF and identifies laureates in three categories:courage, impact and independence. Ukrainian journalists and photographers Mstyslav Chernov and Yevhen Maloletka, the only reporters to cover the bombardment of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol for three weeks, were awarded the Prize for Impact. “Reporting for the Associated Press, they were the only journalists to have documented the impact of the fighting and artillery bombardments in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol for 20 days in March 2022 for the international media,” RSF said on its website. “Their photo of a pregnant woman injured in the shelling of a maternity hospital went around the world and drew international public opinion’s attention to what was happening in the besieged city. They worked in extremely difficult conditions, with the Russian army looking for them because of the impact of their photos, but they were helped by the population, who were aware of the importance of their work.” Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian journalist who is currently imprisoned, was awarded the RSF Prize for Courage for her tireless fight for press freedom and human rights. And Omar Radi, a Moroccan journalist who has been subjected to judicial harassment for his investigative reporting on sensitive subjects, and who is also currently in prison, was awarded the Prize for Independence. The total of 15 journalists and media outlets from 15 different countries were nominated for this year’s RSF Prize. Mstyslav Chernov’s documentary 20 days in Mariupol has been nominated for an award at the Sundance 2023 independent film festival in the World Documentary Competition category. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News Ukraine Today Fresh daily newsletter covering the top headlines and developments in Ukraine Daily at 9am EST
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Photographers
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Photo by Chance Yeh/Patrick McMullan via Getty ImagesThere are few celebrity photographers who become as well-known as some of their subjects over the years. As was often said over the course of her decades-long career, Roxanne Lowit most definitely falls into that category and will no doubt continue to do so long after her passing earlier this week. She leaves behind a legacy that includes some of the most well-known candid photography of supermodels, celebrities, artists and designers in their more intimate moments. Her photo of Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Linda Evangelista in a bathtub is as embolic of an image of the models would become known as “The Trinity” as any staged and styled shoot. “We are very sad to say we lost a remarkable woman today,” began an announcement of her passing on Instagram. “Roxanne Lowit was a legendary photographer who provided an intimate look into the world of fashion and showed us a side of nightlife that most people didn’t get to see.”A native New Yorker, Lowit studied art history and textile design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Upon graduating, she was quickly successful in the latter, both presenting her own designs and working with names like Donna Karan between hanging out with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. She painted on the side, and she began photographing subjects who didn’t have time to sit for their portraits in the late 1970s, she discovered the medium in which she thrived. Before long, Lowit was photographing names like Salvador Dali and getting backstage access to fashion shows in New York City and Paris. Her first assignment backstage came on the condition that she buy a new camera, so she got herself a 35-millimeter and a book on how to load film.Remarkably, just a few hours after studying up on the flight to Europe, she found herself at the top of the Eiffel Tower with Warhol and Yves Saint Laurent. (“It’s all been downhill since,” Lowit once quipped.) It was the beginning of a relationship with Laurent that would last until his death in 2002 and lead to some of Lowit’s best known photos, which she collected in a book titled Roxanne Lowit Photographs Yves Saint Laurent in 2014. “I think the most memorable for me was when I was his photographer for 25 Years [of Design] at the Met,” she told W at the time. “It was the first time anybody did something for a living designer and I was his personal, private photographer for the whole thing. My feet didn’t touch the ground the whole two weeks. We just had this wonderful raport together, we liked being in each other’s company and we liked each other. From day one it was like that.”In remembrance of Lowit, take a look back at some of the YSL moments she captured and more of her iconic photos below. “Rub-a-dub-dub, three models in a tub!,” Lowit told W of photo of Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Linda Evangelista taken in 1990. “This is at an after-party for Versace Couture at the Ritz. We were all in the bathroom together with Sylvester Stallone. He was pretending to turn the water on, which is why they’re laughing and squealing.”Photo by Roxanne LowitKate Moss at John Galliano’s 1994 show in Paris.Photo by Roxanne LowitYves Saint Laurent at an “Opium Party” in 1978.© Roxanne Lowit. Courtesy of Roxanne LowitSalvador Dali and Janet Daly at a restaurant in New York City on New Years Eve, 1979.Photo by Roxanne Lowit“David [LaChapelle] and Pamela [Anderson] are two crazy kids out on the town, on their way to the Oscars.”Photo by Roxanne LowitShalom Harlow backstage at the Yves Saint Laurent spring 1993 haute couture show. © Roxanne Lowit. Courtesy of Roxanne LowitShalom Harlow in Paris, 1995.Photo by Roxanne LowitYves Saint Laurent kissing a statue of the Empire State Building in New York in 1983. © Roxanne Lowit. Courtesy of Roxanne LowitIman in Paris, 1990.Photo by Roxanne LowitA model backstage at a Yves Saint Laurent spring 1993 haute couture show. © Roxanne Lowit. Courtesy of Roxanne LowitBackstage at the Yves Saint Laurent ready-to wear spring 1981 show. © Roxanne Lowit. Courtesy of Roxanne LowitCatherine Deneuve in1988. © Roxanne Lowit. Courtesy of Roxanne LowitKatoucha Niane backstage at the Yves Saint Laurent spring 1990 haute couture show. © Roxanne Lowit. Courtesy of Roxanne Lowit.
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Photographers
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Panasonic’s high-end mirrorless cameras have been the go-to for independent and documentary filmmaking for years. In 2017, Panasonic introduced the original GH5, the flagship model that took three years to build. It was speedy, rugged, and easy to use—a massively popular, clear standout in the market.A lot has changed since then. Other manufacturers are now building great cameras for filmmakers that can shoot 6K footage. But the new GH6 continues to hold its own for videography and photography alike, especially at this price point. Control PanelThere's a surprising amount of heft to the GH6 but not so much that it becomes a wrist strain. It comes with a UHS-II SD card slot as well as a CFexpress card slot, which becomes necessary for higher-end video shooting (more on that below). Its three-inch flip-out screen can be rotated so it's visible to the subject of the camera, making it handy for online content creators who have to be their own production team.For run-and-gun photographers and filmmakers, the body is built for functional muscle memory. Alongside typical layouts like the white balance, ISO, and exposure compensation buttons along the top, or dials to control things like aperture without taking your hand off the body, there are also multiple red buttons for recording video. There's one button on the top plate and another on the front. You can start recording footage, no matter which photo mode you're currently in.The material on this camera has some of the most satisfying tactile feedback I've encountered on a camera. Its design isn't that far off from many other cameras like it, but the distinction is in the subtleties. For example, the audio information button along the top is rubberized, which gives it slightly more friction than the machined metal video button right next to it. Once you're familiar with the layout, little details like this make it easy to tell exactly which button or dial your finger is on without looking.Photograph: PanasonicThe kit comes with a slightly better-than-standard f/2.8, 12–60mm variable focal length lens. It also includes optional Power OIS, which, combined with the in-body image stabilization, makes the whole system impressively smooth, even when freehanding shots. Inside, the GH6 packs a 25.2-MP Micro Four Thirds sensor. It's a little on the small side, but it works well enough for this camera.Battery life, unfortunately, is middling. A fully charged battery will last about an hour of continuous usage, whether that's photos or 4K video. However, that could be substantially less, especially if you rely on Apple ProRes recording. Conveniently, however, you can charge the battery using the device's USB-C port. If it can supply enough power (around 9 V/3A), then you can operate the camera off USB-C power. Still, you might want a spare battery or two.Balance and FocusThe Lumix GH6 feels like it expects you to use it while on the go. The level gauge overlay display has a built-in accelerometer to display lean and tilt, turning green when you're as level as can be. This is the kind of feature that is unnecessary if you have a good tripod or gimbal, but if all you can bring with you is your camera and your feet, it's a handy tool.The camera uses contrast-detection autofocus. This type of autofocus is increasingly outdated, but at least the GH6 does well with it. A blue overlay will highlight the areas of the image that are in sharp focus, and repeatedly pressing the autofocus button can (sometimes) switch between different subjects in focus. When rotating the focus lens manually, a gauge pops up indicating the focal distance and, crucially, which direction you're moving the focus. This is the kind of extremely handy feature that's hard to do without once you have it—no more guessing whether you've over- or under-shot the focus.Options Upon OptionsThe GH6 came with an already impressive range of video recording options, and a firmware update in late July added even more. The star of the show is the addition of Apple ProRes 422 and 422 HQ. Depending on your storage media, you can shoot up to 5.7K video at 30 fps in ProRes 422 HQ, one of the best compressed codecs you can use without diving into studio-level cameras. This is particularly handy for filmmakers looking to edit for 4K output.Storage media matters because, for certain video settings, the SD card you have laying around probably won't cut it. Most typical SD cards max out at around 300MB/s read speeds, but their write speeds can often be much lower. For example, this 128-GB SD card tops out at around 120 MB/s when writing and is usually on sale for about $36. Meanwhile, a 128-GB SD card that can record at the nearly 240 MB/s required for 5.7K ProRes footage costs around $120, at the time of writing.
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Photographers
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- The Supreme Court ruled against the Andy Warhol Foundation in a copyright dispute over the use of a celebrity photographer's image of the musician Prince.
- The court ruled 7-2 in favor of the photographer Lynn Goldsmith, who owns the copyright for her 1981 photo of Prince.
- "Lynn Goldsmith's original works, like those of other photographers, are entitled to copyright protection, even against famous artists," the court said in the majority opinion.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against the Andy Warhol Foundation in a copyright dispute over the use of a celebrity photographer's image of the musician Prince.
The court ruled 7-2 in favor of the photographer Lynn Goldsmith, who owns the copyright for her 1981 photo of Prince.
"Lynn Goldsmith's original works, like those of other photographers, are entitled to copyright protection, even against famous artists," the court said in the majority opinion. " Such protection includes the right to prepare derivative works that transform the original."
The opinion goes on to say that, "The use of a copyrighted work may nevertheless be fair if,
among other things, the use has a purpose and character that is sufficiently distinct from the original."
"In this case, however, Goldsmith's original photograph of Prince, and AWF's copying use of that photograph in an image licensed to a special edition magazine devoted to Prince, share sub-
stantially the same purpose, and the use is of a commercial nature."
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
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Photographers
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It’s a big day for generative AI funding.
On the heels of Inflection AI landing a $1.3 billion investment, Runway, a startup building generative AI tools for multimedia content creators, today announced a $141 million extension to its Series C round from Google, Nvidia and Salesforce, among others.
Building on the Series C the company announced in December, Runway says that the new capital will be used to scale its in-house research efforts and expand Runway’s headcount.
“We’re focused on how we can continue pushing the boundaries of creativity,” Runway CEO Cris Valenzuela told TechCrunch via email. “The additional funding allows us to double down on this, innovating on new tools for artists and creators.”
Runway was founded in 2018 by Valenzuela, Alejandro Matamala and Anastasis Germanidis. Valenzuela met Matamala and Germanidis while in art school at NYU, where the trio came to realize that they shared a curiosity in AI’s creative potential. From there, Valenzuela, Matamala and Germanidis started building a suite of AI-powered tools geared toward movie makers, cinematographers and photographers.
Runway’s focus has gradually shifted over the years to generative AI, particularly on the video side. Its current flagship product is Gen-2, an AI model that generates videos from text prompts or an existing image.
We tested Gen-2 and found it to be impressive — if somewhat wanting. But to Runway’s credit, Gen-2 — the follow-up to Runway’s Gen-1 model launched in February — is one of the first commercially available text-to-video models.
Runway has ambitions beyond building a toolset, to be clear. The startup recently founded Runway Studios, and entertainment division that serves as a production partner for enterprise clients. It also launched the AI Film Festival, an event Runway claims is one of the first dedicated to showcasing films produced in whole or in part by AI.
Valenzuela says that Runway’s customer base now spans Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies, including New Balance, and “millions” of individual creators.
The growing enterprise client base isn’t surprising, considering the massive hype around all forms of generative AI. In a recent Freshbooks survey, 25% of businesses said that they’re testing generative AI tools while around 33% plan to try generative AI for work within the next year.
“Content creation today is very expensive and time consuming,” he added. “We want to help bring those cost and time factors as close to zero as possible, especially as companies’ content needs are only increasing … [Our goal is to] reimagine content creation and building a new type of creative suite, the generative suite.”
The Series C extension — which values Runway at $1.5 billion, a source familiar with the matter tells TechCrunch — brings the company’s total raised to $237 million. It makes Runway one of the better-funded generative AI startups out there, in league with Cohere, Character.ai ($150 million) and Stability AI (~$100 million).
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Photographers
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Sony has just unveiled its latest pro-oriented mirrorless camera, and we now know why it took them four years to develop it The Alpha A9 III is the first full-frame camera on the market with a global stacked sensor, a sort of holy grail in the photographic world. It allows for some wild specs, like 120fps shooting speeds with no blackout, up to a 1/80,000th of a second shutter speed and zero rolling shutter — albeit with a 24.6 megapixel resolution that may disappoint some.
The new tech opens up a lot of new possibilities for photographers. Without the constraints of a physical shutter (no, there isn't one), it can shoot full-resolution, blackout-free 14-bit RAW bursts at up to 120fps with a 1.6 second buffer (around 180 shots). Sony also installed the latest Bionz XR image processor and "high-density focal plane phase detection AF" that allows for real-time autofocus (AF) tracking.
"A designated AI processing unit uses real-time recognition AF to recognize a wide variety of subjects with high precision," Sony explains in the press release. "By combining high-speed performance of up to 120 fps with highly accurate subject recognition performance, it is possible to easily photograph scenes and moments that cannot be seen with the naked eye."
The global shutter also allows for shutter speeds of 1/80,000th of a second (1/16,000th during continuous shooting), ten times faster than most cameras. Compatible flashes can be synced all the way up to the maximum shutter speed, rather than being limited to much lower speeds in electronic shutter mode — normally around 1/250th to 1/500th of a second. It also allows the shutter speed to be finely adjusted to eliminate flicker in video. And Sony is offering a 1-second pre-burst feature that can capture scenes before the shutter button is pressed, reducing the possibility of a missed shot.
The stacked global shutter provides large benefits for video, as well. It's Sony's first camera to support 4K 120p video with no cropping and does so with no rolling shutter distortion (skewing), along with 4K 60p with 6K oversampling. It also offers 10-bit recording with S-Log3 capture in all video modes (including 4K 120p), along with S-Cinetone borrowed from the company's high-end Venice lineup that "makes human skin tones and subjects stand out beautifully," Sony said. It should be one of Sony's best-focusing cameras for video, as all the photo subject tracking features work in that mode, too.
It's got a long list of other features you'd expect on a high-end Sony camera, most notably in-body stabilization with up to 8 stops of shake reduction. The electronic viewfinder is Sony's best with 9.44 million dots, and It resolves the rear display tilt vs. flip debate by doing both of those things. And to help clear the buffer as quickly as possible, the A9 III supports fast CFexpress Type A cards on top of SD UHS II, much like the Alpha A1.
Other specs show an ISO range of 250-25600 (expandable to ISO 125–51200) with a minimum ISO that's a bit on the high side. That shouldn't bother photographers on sunny days, given the extremely fast shutter speeds, but video shooters will need ND filters to block some light.
What will be a key for this camera is the image quality and low-light sensitivity, given that this is an all-new sensor and there's not a lot of data on global shutters. Sony didn't release any sample photos yet from what I've seen, so upcoming reviews of this model will be key. The Alpha A9 III goes on pre-order tomorrow for $6,000, with a vertical grip available for $400 — but won't arrive until next spring.
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Photographers
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The first supermoon of 2023 illuminated the sky all over the world on July 2, inspiring photographers and skywatchers to turn their eyes to the sky.
July's full moon, the Buck Moon, rose at 7:10 p.m. EDT (2310 GMT) on Monday (July 3) in New York and set at 4:33 a.m. EDT (0833 GMT) on Tuesday (July 4), just as the U.S. was waking up into the July 4 celebrations.
Named after the buck deer, which grow their antlers in July, this year's Buck Moon attracted astrophotographers of all levels who caught the stunning celestial sight against a range of iconic backdrops including New York's Statue of Liberty.
Gary Hershom caught the Buck supermoon glowing in orange and red as it lit the copper torch of Lady Liberty, a symbol of enlightenment, said to light the way to freedom and the path to Liberty.
Another image taken from New York showed the supermoon shrouded by dark clouds as it shone over the city skyline with the Statue of Liberty gazing over it.
Of course, images of the full moon weren't restricted to making cameos alongside historic structures in the U.S.
Many of the settlers who emigrated to the U.S. during its history would have begun their journeys across the Atlantic from the docks of Liverpool in the U.K. Paul Ellis caught a stunning image of the Buck Moon behind dark clouds over the historic Albert Dock and Liver building of the city in Merseyside.
Also catching the supermoon in a brooding mood from the U.K. was Twitter user Veronica in the Fens, who, despite cloud coverage, sighted the moon playing "peek-a-boo" over Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire.
The Full Moon of July 2023 is playing peekaboo across the Fens as it is rising over @Ely_Cathedral this Monday evening. #FullMoon #BuckMoon #LovElyCathedral pic.twitter.com/noXkqUuigiJuly 3, 2023
In Paris, the July full moon was pictured by Stefano Rellandini over the Pont de Bercy, a bridge stretching over the river Seline, with a plane transiting its face.
Imaging the Buck Moon from slightly further afield, Saqib Majee saw the July full moon over the Indian summer capital Srinagar in the territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Hussein Faleh saw the supermoon as it rose behind the unique pine cone-like structure of the Basra International Stadium in Iraq's southern city of Basra.
An image of the supermoon taken at moonrise by space enthusiast, amateur space artist and amateur photographer Marwella Zhang and shared on her Twitter feed may lack the vibrant colors seen in the other Buck Moon images, but it more than makes up for this in sheer detail.
Full (Buck) Moon this evening at moonrise. #Moon #MoonHour #BuckMoon pic.twitter.com/pRJKsDWtR3July 3, 2023
If these supermoon images of the Buck Moon have you interested in capturing your own images of a supermoon, you will be spoiled for choice over the coming months. The July 2 Buck Moon marked the first in a series of four supermoons.
The next supermoon will occur on Tuesday, August 1, in the form of the Full Sturgeon Moon. After this, August will have a second supermoon, when the Blue Moon rises on Aug. 30. After this, the series of supermoons draws to a close on Sept. 28 with the rise of the Full Corn Moon, also the final supermoon of 2023.
If you're looking to snap photos of the moon and the night sky in general, check out our guide on how to photograph the moon, as well as our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography.
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Photographers
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Apple’s new iCloud Plus plans offer more storage at a higher price — and they’re available to purchase now. Starting today, you can sign up for the 6TB plan at $29.99 / month or the 12TB plan for $59.99 / month.
Apple first revealed the new storage options during its iPhone 15 event last week, which it will offer alongside the existing 50GB plan for $0.99 / month, the 200GB plan for $2.99 / month, and the 2TB plan for $9.99 / month. While 6TB and 12TB may seem like a lot of storage space, the new plans could come in handy for professional photographers or hobbyists who want to take full advantage of the iPhone 15’s upgraded 48MP main camera or store hefty ProRes files.
Each iCloud Plus plan also includes Private Relay, a VPN-like service that hides your browsing activity from third parties, along with a Hide My Email service that generates random email addresses you can use when signing up for offers, newsletters, and other services, allowing you to conceal your actual email. iCloud Plus also lets you personalize your iCloud email domain as well as store end-to-end encrypted security footage.
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Photographers
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If you're in the market for a capable and powerful drone this Black Friday, we've got a great deal for you. The Autel Robotics EVO Lite+ drone has been reduced by $200 on B&H, making it a rather serious bargain for any drone enthusiast.
The Autel EVO Lite+ is such a serious bit of kit that it's earned a place in our best drones round-up. It's a list that's absolutely dominated by DJI, the market leader when it comes to drones of all shapes and sizes. But this Autel drone gives DJI a run for its money, packing in great features and some serious power to make it one of the best consumer drones out there.
In our Autel EVO Lite+ review, we called it a "compelling option for enthusiasts and professionals". That's high praise indeed, but it's unsurprising considering all the features that this drone packs in. We were particularly impressed with its ability to shoot video up to 5.4K at 30fps in beautiful quality, and its still images came out fantastic, too. That's helped along by its aperture which is adjustable between f/2.8 and f/11, giving a great deal of control to photographers and videographers.
We also praised how well the Autel EVO Lite+ tracks subjects and enjoyed using its cinematic flight modes. And while it's easy enough to use for newcomers, the suite of advanced features means it's suitable for advanced users too.
Autel Robotics EVO Lite+ drone:
was $1,199 now $999 at B&H
Save $200 on one of the best non-DJI drones money can buy. This premium drone is great for newcomers and enthusiasts alike, with a range of powerful functions and incredible imaging tools to create fantastic videos and stills.
- Read our Black Friday 2023 deals page for big discounts on space gifts
The power of the Autel Robotics EVO Lite+ drone is not to be taken lightly. Its 1-inch CMOS sensor makes use of Autel's proprietary intelligent moonlight system to ensure images are bright and sharp. And coupled with a fantastic aperture range, great noise processing even at a high ISO and the ability to record video at up to 5.4K, you've got everything you need to create truly stunning videos and images.
It has a built-in 'defog mode', meaning your view always stays clear even if you're in a foggy or hazy location. Four automatic shooting modes make capturing videos super easy, too, with automatic effects such as a 'fast forward' available at your fingertips.
But there's more to the EVO Lite+ than just photography power. Its 'Dynamic Track 2.1' power makes it easy to automatically track a target, be it a person, vehicle or animal. And powerful wireless capabilities, which utilize 2.4, 5.2 and 5.8GHz signals, means you can stay connected even when you're more than seven miles away.
Key Specs: weighs 29.45oz/835g, up to 40 minutes flying time, three shooting modes, video transmission range of 7.4 miles, video resolution up to 5.4K at 30fps and 4K at 60fps, shoot up to 120fps at 1080p.
Consensus: This is one of the best drones not made by DJI on the market, and whether you're fairly new to drone use or are a seasoned expert, you'll find features here that make the Autel EVO Lite+ a joy to use. It shoots fantastic video and photos, and its advanced abilities push it to the next level.
Buy if: You want a highly capable drone that will shoot fantastic photos and video without completely breaking the bank.
Don't buy if: You're on a shoestring budget or are completely new to drone use - we'd recommend starting with something cheaper.
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Photographers
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This story is part of, CNET's collection of news, tips and advice around Samsung's most popular products.
Acamera bridges our everyday lives with our online identities, whether you're sharing family photos, posting clips from your vacation on TikTok or dialing into a Zoom meeting. Apple and Samsung clearly understand this, as evidenced by the iPhone 14 Pro and the new , which goes on sale Feb. 17. With both devices, Samsung and Apple are sending a strong message: The camera is what matters most in a new phone. It's the biggest factor that separates the best phone money can buy from reasonably priced devices.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra and the world's two largest phone brands by market share, Apple and Samsung have an outsized influence over the devices we carry in our pockets.represent the next step in each company's multiyear campaign to court photographers and videographers, all while expanding what can be done on your phone's relatively small screen. They're the culmination of the latest efforts by Apple and Samsung to outpace one another in an arms race that's been progressing for more than a decade. Apple and Samsung aren't the only ones focused on the camera; the same goes for Google and OnePlus. But as
Annual smartphone updates, making it harder for people to justify yearly upgrades, especially when the cost for everyday goods and services . The latest high-end phones from Apple and Samsung serve as statements that customers are willing to pay for the best. And for both companies, being the "best" often means having the best camera.
Samsung and Apple bet people will spend more on better devices
Cameras with a 100x digital zoom magnification and a nearly tablet-sized screen aren't for everyone, especially given their high price. As generational upgrades become holding onto their devices longer before upgrading. But there is evidence hinting that premium phones still appeal to shoppers despite inflation, potentially showing that Apple and Samsung's camera-first approach may be working., customers are
According to Counterpoint Research, the iPhone's average selling price increased 7% year over year in the third quarter of 2022, indicating Apple's more expensive phones may be its most popular. (However, that could also be because the price of Apple's regular iPhones , while the Pro's starting price has largely remained the same).
Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst for TF International Securities who's well-versed in Apple's supply chain, said on Twitter last fall that the pricier iPhone 14 Pro Max accounted for about 60% of Apple's order increase for the Pro models, hinting that Apple's priciest phone is selling well.
TM Roh, head of Samsung's mobile experience business, said inearlier this year that the Galaxy S22 lineup saw double-digit sales growth compared to the Galaxy S21 series. That indicates Samsung's more expensive phones are indeed top sellers.
Remarks from Roh and Apple CEO Tim Cook also suggest that people are simply willing to pay for better devices.
"When times get hard, then people would be more cautious in the choices that they make," Roh also said to CNET. "In other words, they would be looking for greater value to be gained."
Speaking with analysts during Apple's fiscal first-quarter earnings call earlier this month, Cook said he thinks "people are willing to really stretch to get the best they can afford in that category."
Samsung's and Apple's current premium phones could also influence the devices we see in the future as both companies are expected to lean more heavily into high-end devices. Apple is discussing releasing an iPhone Ultra that would be a step up from the $1,099 iPhone 14 Pro Max, according to Bloomberg, likely expanding upon the Pro Max's features. It may also incorporate more features into next year's iPhone Pro that further distinguish it from the regular iPhone, the report said. One of those features, Bloomberg reported, could be a periscope lens for better optical zoom on the Pro Max, further underscoring the camera's significance.
Samsung, meanwhile, used its previous high-end smartphone line, the Galaxy Note, to build the foundation for its current Galaxy Ultra devices. We're already seeing the Ultra line influence Samsung's other high-end devices, as the branding has carried over to its new premium laptop, the.
What makes an "ultra" or "pro" phone? Mostly the camera
Make no mistake, Apple and Samsung both view the camera as the most significant smartphone upgrade that customers are willing to splurge for. Samsung made that clear at itson Feb. 1, during which it tried to woo filmmakers with endorsements from acclaimed directors Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Blade Runner) and Na Hong-jin (The Chaser, The Wailing).
Samsung's camera system is the centerpiece of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and the biggest way it distinguishes the "ultra" model from its regular flagships. The company spent a large portion of its Unpacked presentation outlining the various new camera improvements: a higher-resolution 200-megapixel sensor, wider dynamic range, steadier optical image stabilization for video, faster autofocus and clearer shots in low light, among other upgrades. The regularalso are gaining improvements to the way photos are processed, but they lack the Ultra's extreme 100x zoom magnification and new 200-megapixel sensor.
If you weren't already convinced that Samsung is trying to entice camera enthusiasts, the company also makes it easier to access settings for shooting raw files by integrating those options directly into the native camera app. A raw file has uncompressed image data straight from the camera sensor, which allows for more leeway when editing. An Expert Raw file contains data from several images processed together and offers even more clarity and a wider dynamic range. Google and Apple have their own special raw files that are created in a similar way, bridging a traditional raw file with advancements from computational photography.
And to help fit all of those big files on your phone, the S23 Ultra's base storage is now 256GB, up from the S22 Ultra's 128GB. The decision to offer more storage in the entry-level model could also be seen as another effort to attract photographers and videographers, since high-resolution photos, raw files and 8K videos occupy a lot of space. The S23 Plus also starts at 256GB, but Samsung doesn't offer a 1TB storage option for that phone the way it does with the S23 Ultra. It shows what a long way Samsung has come since launching its original Ultra phone, the Galaxy S20 Ultra, which maxed out at 512GB and started at 128GB just like the regular Galaxy S23.
Apple also loves to flaunt the iPhone's photography prowess, and you could even argue that may have . That approach was on full display in September when Apple unveiled the iPhone 14 Pro, which has better optical image stabilization and low-light performance. Like Samsung, Apple also made a leap in resolution that brings the camera from 12 to 48 megapixels, although it's really the device's larger main sensor that's made a big difference in the camera's low-light performance. ProRaw, Apple's feature for capturing raw photos that still incorporate some of the company's image-processing algorithms, can now shoot at a 48-megapixel resolution.
As is the case with Samsung, the camera is a large part of what separates the iPhone 14 Pro and larger Pro Max from the cheaperand . Those phones, by comparison, are missing the iPhone 14 Pro's telephoto lens and have a smaller 12-megapixel main camera sensor. Apple's cheaper iPhone 14 models also lack a 1TB storage option, unlike the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
The camera is the star, but there's more to it
While the camera may be the biggest defining characteristic of Apple's Pro line and Samsung's Ultra line, there are other common threads between these phones. Both phones have more productivity-oriented features than the cheaper alternatives in their respective lineups. The S23 Ultra comes with a stylus you can store in the bottom of the phone, unlike the regular Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus. The iPhone 14 Pro has the, a clever software interface built around the selfie camera for showing system alerts and controlling background activities without leaving the app you're using. That feature is absent from the regular iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus.
Both phones also have more to offer when it comes to the screen. For Samsung, that's quite literal; the Galaxy S23 Ultra's 6.8-inch screen is physically larger than the displays on the Galaxy S23 (6.1 inches) and the S23 Plus (6.6 inches). Apple offers the same two display sizes across the entire iPhone 14 lineup (6.1 inches or 6.7 inches), but has found other ways to make the screens on its Pro iPhone's stand out. Only the Pro models have an always-on display, the Dynamic Island and an adaptive refresh rate for smoother scrolling and graphics.
Despite these similarities, Apple and Samsung's approaches also differ in significant ways -- mostly when it comes to which technologies these companies bring to cheaper devices. All of Samsung's Galaxy S23 devices have the same chip, a new customized version of. Apple, on the other hand, has only put its fresh A16 Bionic chip in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, while the regular iPhone 14 models have the previous A15 Bionic chip, marking the first time Apple has kept an older processor in a new flagship phone. Apple also equips its Pro iPhones with a lidar scanner for detecting depth, which helps improve AR apps and certain photography features like autofocus and enables accessibility functions like door and people detection.
For Apple and Samsung, adding more advanced camera and display features to their premium phones isn't just about boosting sales. Both companies are under pressure to uphold their reputations as innovators while proving there are still plenty of reasons to be excited about the smartphone's future.
Right now, many of those reasons come down to the camera -- the tool we use for everything from video chatting to documenting vacations and, perhaps in the future, fueling augmented reality apps. It will be fascinating to see how Apple, Samsung and others attempt to improve and redefine that experience over the next few years.
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Photographers
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The Sony A6700 camera is a new addition to Sony's lineup of mirrorless cameras, sitting between the A6600 and A7 IV in terms of price and performance. It was released in July 2023 and boasts a number of new and standout features. For starters, it has an impressive 26-megapixel APS-C sensor, as well as in-body image stabilization, which is a rarity in cameras of this size.
System: Mirrorless
Sensor: 26 MP APS-C
ISO range: 100-32000 (expandable 50-102400)
Burst shooting: 11FPS
AF: 759 phase detection
Video: 4K 120p
Storage: Slot for SD (UHS-I/II compliant) memory card
Screen: 3-inch LCD, 1,036,800 dots
Dimensions: approx 4.8 x 2.7 x 3-inch / 122 x 69 x 75.1 mm
Weight: 1.1 lb / 493g with battery
The A6700 is also equipped with a real-time tracking autofocus system, making it ideal for capturing moving subjects. Other new features include 4K video recording capabilities, a tilting touchscreen display and a weather-sealed body. It's best suited for amateur and professional photographers looking for a powerful and versatile mirrorless camera, but perhaps don't want to make the jump to full-frame. Its compact size and impressive specs make it an ideal choice for those who prioritize portability without sacrificing performance.
Sony A6700: Design
- First Sony APS-C model to feature a fully articulating LCD screen
- They've introduced a new front dial
- Still only one card slot
At first glance, the Sony A6700 exudes a sleek, compact design that appeals to both novice and experienced photographers alike. The camera body is small and lightweight, making it highly portable and easy to carry around — though that's not a huge shock for an APS-C camera. It's a similar size and weight to its predecessor, the Sony A6600 which we reviewed previously, being only 10g lighter and just a few millimeters different in size. It's comfortable to hold and fits really nicely in the hand, too — not too big, not too small — it's just right.
But the design of the A6700 goes beyond just aesthetics. Sony has put a lot of thought into the ergonomics of this camera, making sure that it not only looks good but also feels good to use — we thought it looks and feels like a mini full-frame camera.
One of the standout features we liked about the A6700's design is its fully articulating touchscreen. We raved about the versatility of the screen in our review of the full-frame Sony A7R V (we probably even got a bit too excited about it), and although the LCD screen on the A6700 isn't quite as functional or fun, we think it's the best one yet among Sony's APS-C range considering all the previous models were tilt-only, and it also has a much greater range of touch options without having to go into the menus.
This opens up the A6700 to vloggers and social media content creators who need to be able to see themselves while recording. One of our complaints about the previous model was that although the screen could flip up, it rendered it completely useless if you have anything attached to the hot shoe, so we were pleased to see they've rectified this issue by having it flip out to the side, and it doesn't get in the way of any of the ports. The screen is also slightly more detailed than its predecessor and has 1,036,800 dots, but it's still not quite as detailed as the full-frame range.
Another design change worth mentioning is the addition of a front dial, meaning you can now change all three exposure settings on the body itself rather than having to go into the menus (which have also been cleaned up and improved, by the way). The on/off toggle has also been rotated clockwise slightly, which we thought seemed like an odd choice as it means you need to move your finger in an awkward, unnatural way to turn it on and off. At first, we really didn't like it and thought it felt completely alien, but we did get used to it the more we used it.
When it comes to the buttons and controls, there are a few changes. The record button is now on the top of the body (where C1 used to be), instead of being built into the corner of the body which was, frankly, very annoying. However, poor little C1 has now been exiled to the side of the camera, away from all the other buttons.
In practice, though, this is actually a really convenient place to have a custom button because you can easily press it with your thumb while your eye is up to the EVF. There's also now a separate photo/video/s&q sub-dial, rather than everything being on the main mode dial. The AF/MF and AEL toggle has now been replaced by an AF-ON button, and they've done away with C4.
The card slot has moved from the bottom of the camera (in with the battery) to the side, along with a separate compartment for the microphone jack and charging port, and another compartment for the HDMI port and headphone jack. Sadly there's still only one card slot, and there's also no option for a faster CFexpress card.
Overall, we think it's a much better design than the A6600.
Sony A6700: Performance
- AI-based autofocus recognizes and tracks subjects better than ever before
- Struggled to shoot sports and fast action due to 11FPS speed
- Brilliant low light performance
Now let's talk about the biggest upgrade, and the feature that makes this camera incredibly attractive — that being the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the autofocus system (like we saw with the Sony A7R V). There are now seven autofocus areas available (human, animal/bird, animal, bird, insect, car/train and airplane), plus an overwhelming amount of customization for each. Though, to be greedy, we'd love to see bikes and other vehicles like boats added.
We tested it on a pair of black cats indoors on a dull day, and not only did it follow their eyes flawlessly, but it seemed to keep track of their eyes even when they turned their head away. It then picked up where it left off when they turned back to face the camera. It also switched to face-tracking when it couldn't find their eyes, which we haven't seen on previous models. It did struggle when the cats were backlit, though. When you're using the camera, it's obvious to see the improvements that AI has brought to the autofocus.
That said, we also tested it out at a triathlon and although it was good when it found the person we wanted to track, it got a little confused at times as there were so many different faces in the frame, and sometimes it would just end up focusing on the background instead — particularly during the bike section, as there's no subject recognition option for bikes. So while it's a big improvement over the autofocus on previous models overall, there does seem to be a few teething issues that could do with sorting out. Although, it's not a camera designed for shooting fast action or sports anyway due to its 11FPS speed, so that's worth keeping in mind.
The Sony A6700 is capable of focusing down to -3EV, as opposed to -2EV of its predecessor. When we shot in indoor light, with a moving subject, we couldn't slow the shutter speed down so the ISO had to do all the leg work. Noise was OK at ISO 2500, but more noticeable at ISO 5000 and beyond. However, when we were able to slow the shutter speed down and rely more on image stabilization to shoot static subjects, as well as astro, it performed very well.
For astro, we were impressed by its performance overall. We used it with the Sony E 16-55mm f/2.8 G lens wide open at 16mm, and the image noise only really started to look ugly after around ISO 6400, and if you only shoot the occasional astro image, you can clean the noise up in one of the best editing apps for astrophotography — we used the AI denoise in Lightroom.
(Click the expand button on the bottom right corner of the images to see larger versions).
Sony A6700: Functionality
- Sony has introduced their AI-based autofocus system into this camera
- Battery life is significantly reduced
- Image stabilization now works when recording video
As we mentioned, the A6700's autofocus has been significantly improved. It now has almost double the number of phase-detection points, with 759 compared to 425 on the previous model. These points also cover a larger part of the sensor — about 93% compared to the A6600's 84%.
As expected, the A6700 features the same 5-axis image stabilization that the A6600 did, but with one improvement — it now works with video. The A6700 includes Active SteadyShot, an electronic stabilization feature designed to improve the quality of footage when the camera is moving.
Not only that, but the A6700 shares the same sensor as the video-focused FX30 and brings notable improvements to video recording. It can record 4K video at up to 60p with a small 1.04x sensor crop. There's also an option for 4K recording at 120p, but it comes with a larger 1.58x sensor crop, which changes the field of view noticeably. These specs are a significant step up from the A6600, which offers 4K recording at 24/25 fps without any crop and 4K recording at 30p with a 1.2x sensor crop.
Other small tweaks and improvements worth mentioning in the A6700 would be the faster shutter speed of 1/8000s with the electronic shutter, while the A6600 has a limit of 1/4000s. You can also now do focus bracketing and record timelapses, which would be great for astrophotography.
But what Sony has given with the fantastic AI-based autofocus system, they take away in the form of battery life. The A6600 allowed for approximately 720 shots when using the EVF or 810 shots when using the LCD screen, however, the A6700 is significantly less — approximately 550 shots with the viewfinder or 570 shots with the LCD screen. It's decent enough for an enthusiast camera, but we think it could potentially fall short if you use it for a lot of professional work and don't want to keep a lot of spare batteries on you.
Should you buy the Sony A6700?
✅ You're at enthusiast level: While it's likely too expensive for absolute beginners, enthusiasts who want the best specs in the APS-C range would do well with this camera.
✅ You're a vlogger: The video specs are the best yet in the crop sensor range, plus the fully articulating screen will be perfect for vloggers and content creators.
❌ You're a professional: Due to its shortened battery life and singular card slot, we wouldn't recommend it as a primary camera for professionals.
❌ You shoot sports or fast action: Although the autofocus is impressive, 11FPS likely isn't enough for fast-action photography.
Whether you're a professional photographer looking for a reliable workhorse or an enthusiast wanting to take your photography to the next level, the A6700 is an excellent choice. It's an incredibly attractive option for vloggers and videographers, too, thanks to its improved video performance, image stabilization and fully articulating screen, which you won't find in other APS-C cameras from Sony. Plus, now that the crop sensor lens range is continuously expanding, crop sensor cameras are now becoming more of a viable option.
However, it's worth noting that the A6700 comes with a higher price tag compared to some of its competitors — it's currently listed at $1798, so there's no ignoring the fact that it's pricey for an APS-C camera. If you're on a tight budget or only require basic photography needs, you may find more affordable options that suit you.
Nevertheless, if you're looking for a camera that offers incredible image quality, advanced features and superb performance, the Sony A6700 is worth every cent.
If the Sony A6700 isn't for you
If the Sony A6700 doesn't meet your specific needs or budget, there are plenty of alternative options available in the market.
One such option is the Sony A6600, the predecessor to the A6700. While it may not have all the latest features found in the A6700 (namely, the AI autofocus), the A6600 is still an excellent camera option for those on a slightly lower budget — this camera is currently retailing for around $1399, although at the time of writing, Amazon is currently offering it for $999, which is a fantastic price.
If you have the money to spend but you'd rather go full frame, the Sony A7iii is similar in price to the A6700 and has similar specs in terms of megapixels (24.2MP), continuous drive speed (10FPS) and overall image quality. Although, because it's a much older camera, it doesn't have the same level of autofocus and video, so that's something to keep in mind. If you do want the AI autofocus in a full-frame camera, check out the newer Sony A7R V which we absolutely loved — but you'll have to dig deeper into your pockets for it.
Maybe Sony isn't the brand for you at all? In which case, we loved the Canon EOS R7 — it's the closest competitor to Sony's APS-C range, and we thought that Canon was hot on Sony's heels when it comes to autofocus (though, we reviewed it before Sony introduced their new AI autofocus). The R7 has a higher continuous drive speed (15FPS), more megapixels (32.5MP) and overall very similar specs to the A6700.
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Photographers
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A huge burst of energy from the sun directing radiation towards earth meant the Northern Lights were visible across parts of the UK earlier this week, as far south as the Isles of Scilly.
Amateur and professional photographers went racing to find the perfect spot to capture the phenomenon - and some of them have been speaking to the BBC.
Throughout last Sunday, John Gravett received several messages from friends saying there was going to be a really good chance of catching the aurora that night.
But, as he looked out from his home in Keswick in the Lake District, all he could see were clouds.
"At about 11:30 I was about to give up and go to bed, when I took a last look and I could just see a little hole in the clouds and a couple of stars," he said.
"I popped the camera on the tripod, took a photo and it was showing green, so I just knew I had to go out."
The 65-year-old, who has been a photographer all his life, drove to nearby Bassenthwaite Lake and by the time he arrived the sky was completely clear.
Most people can see very little of the display with the naked eye, having to photograph it to see the full spectrum of colours, he explained.
"The first exposure I took there - it blew me away - absolutely amazing," he said.
"I just stood there for about half an hour while it peaked and disappeared."
"The figure in the photo is actually me," he said. "I thought, I need a figure in this and there was not a soul around.
"It really was just a remarkable evening."
Fellow professional Andrew Fusek Peters said he had also been checking information on Facebook groups and apps hoping for a lucky break that night.
"It seemed every single time previously an alert came in, and people said you've got to get out, I've either missed it or the weather has been wrong," he said.
But on Sunday there were clear skies over Shropshire and so he "hared up the Long Mynd", a moorland forming part of the Shropshire Hills at Church Stretton.
There was an "extraordinary" amount of people there, he said. "It was like a traffic jam on busy stretches."
But the photographer, who had been working with the National Trust at the site for eight years, knew exactly where to go.
"There was a good spot at one of the bog pools to get the foreground of the water as well as the aurora, and what I was hoping for was to get the aurora reflected," he explained.
"And as you can see from the shot, I did that - and then even more amazing I think that either I caught a shooting star or it was one of the Lyrid meteors.
"To get a picture of the aurora, in Shropshire, in the Midlands, it's just fantastic."
Laura Scott also received an alert on her phone about the phenomenon.
The 38-year-old from Ambleside in the Lake District decided to drive to the nearby high point of Shap after finishing work at the local rugby club.
"The Northern Lights have been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember," she said, but explained she had no camera with her, only her iPhone.
"I started to take a few pictures and then the sky absolutely exploded," she said.
"I had no tripod so I had to use the bonnet of my car to steady myself," Laura said.
"It was actually quite emotional, I think I welled up at one point. For years I've been trying capture them."
One of those sending out information to aurora hunters on Sunday was James Rowley-Hill.
Himself a keen photographer of the night sky, the 48-year-old garage owner from Happisburgh, Norfolk, co-runs the AUK - Aurora UK Facebook group, with more than 30,000 members.
The aurora storm levels were expected on Sunday "but what happened that night was just kind of unprecedented", he said.
Parts of Scotland, northern England and possibly Norfolk were expected to see the lights, he explained, "but when it came in, it really came in with a big hit".
Unfortunately cloudy conditions in Norfolk meant he had no chance of seeing it himself.
"I was watching all the live cameras across Europe and was on Twitter with all my followers that were sending me pictures.
"It was one of those crazy moments, I was like, no way, it can't be this good."
One of those grateful for the work of Mr Rowley-Hill was Jono Kimber, who captured the lights reflected on the Mere at Ellesmere in Shropshire.
"My success comes from the the aurora followers and fans who run the groups and who provide us the tools to nip out when we get the chance," he said.
"More often than not you go out and you get disappointed," he said, but he had also headed out on Sunday night.
"I just glanced up, as you do, and I saw a streak in the sky and thought, 'is that because I've just been staring at my phone?'"
After pressing the camera release to take a six-second exposure, "boom, it was there", he said.
"It was just bright pink, with the beams and I was like whoa, from literally nothing one minute to full on beamage, as it's called."
Technology and social media has really helped proliferate the likelihood of seeing when it's going to happen, he said.
"I was so thrilled with what I'd got I messaged James and he was like 'get in!' - he literally celebrates everybody's success."
All photos subject to copyright.
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Photographers
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The man who shot the 70s: Iconic work of rock photographer Mick Rock - who photographed everyone from Bowie to Snoop and Queen - showcased in book published after his death aged 72
- Legendary music photographer Mick Rock's posthumously released photobook SHOT! by Rock showcases a veritable 'Who's Who' of industry icons
- Released on what would have been his 74th birthday, the book contains eye-popping behind-the-scenes snaps and iconic photoshoots of music legends from every generation
- Known as 'the man who shot the Seventies', Rock's life's work showcases his signature, off-the-wall style - alongside amusing backstage tales of his escapades with the likes of Mick Jagger and Snoop Dogg
When it comes to capturing iconic moments of music history, not many can stand toe-to-toe with Mick Rock.
The late and great rock photographer's posthumously released book, SHOT! by Rock, is a veritable 'Who's Who' of industry legends, from David Bowie and Queen in the 1970s to modern icons Lady Gaga and Janelle Monae.
Known as 'the man who shot the Seventies', Rock's life's work showcases his signature, off-the-wall style - alongside amusing behind-the-scenes tales of his escapades with the likes of Mick Jagger and Snoop Dogg.
Released on what would have been his 74th birthday, the snapper's wife Pati Rock said it best: 'Mick’s eye was always rock n’ roll, not to mention his heart... here are only some of his legendary photographs.'
Mick Rock, who passed away aged 72 in 2021, has posthumously released a life's work of photo shoots with the stars
Rock's lifetime of work is embodied in the unique photo album, capturing everything from his role in the early formation of 'Ziggy Stardust' to photoshoots with Miley Cyrus and Snoop Dogg
The legendary photographer shot to mythical status in the music world after he became David Bowie's official photographer in the early 70s, where he took some of the most memorable early shots of the pop-rocker as his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust.
No ordinary shutter-bug, there was clearly a lot more to Mick Rock's relationships with his high-profile models than photoshoots and small talk.
Speaking about his experience in a session with Snoop Dogg in Los Angeles in 2009, Mick said: 'I flew halfway around the world to shoot Snoop, and I still had to snoop around for him.
'Great session when we got there - he was channeling Bob Marley and Hendrix. Crazy!'
The photographer's fingerprints are on many iconic industry hallmarks - including early promotions for Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the famous Queen II album cover.
Speaking of his role in making the Queen album shot, Rock said: 'In February 1974, I shot the album cover Queen II. I felt it needed to have a certain grand quality.
'I’d come across a photo of Marlene Dietrich on the set of 1932’s Shanghai Express, and she was under a top light, with hood eyes, arms crossed, fingers spread. I showed Freddie the image, and he loved it, so that was it.'
Madonna was snapped in this raunchy look by Mick Rock during a visit to Bleeker Bob’s in NYC, 1980
Speaking about his experience in a session with Snoop Dogg in Los Angeles in 2009, Mick said: 'I flew halfway around the world to shoot Snoop, and I still had to snoop around for him. Great session when we got there - he was channeling Bob Marley and Hendrix. Crazy!'
Rock shot the iconic Queen II album cover in 1974, as he said he believed 'it needed to have a certain grand quality'. Speaking of his role in making the Queen album shot, Rock said: 'In February 1974, I shot the album cover Queen II. I felt it needed to have a certain grand quality. 'I’d come across a photo of Marlene Dietrich on the set of 1932’s Shanghai Express, and she was under a top light, with hood eyes, arms crossed, fingers spread. I showed Freddie the image, and he loved it, so that was it.
Rock shot to mythical status in the music industry when he became the official photographer of David Bowie as the artist launched his alter-ego, Ziggy Stardust
Rock took this iconic snap of Syd Barrett way back in 1969, as he said the rocker 'swapped his Mini for this massive American Pontiac car. He couldn’t drive it, but he rocked it'
Never afraid of testing the limits, this shot of Lou Reed on the phone was what Rock labelled an 'exploding plastic inevitable jacket'
As a friend as well as a professional ally to the stars, Mick Rock was able to capture numerous snaps that other photographers simply couldn't - such as this of Iggy Pop and David Bowie hanging out backstage
While he is best known as 'the man who shot the Seventies', Mick Rock has enjoyed photoshoots with the most famous stars from every generation, including Miley Cyrus and Janelle Monae
While he is best known as 'the man who shot the Seventies,' Mick Rock has taken photographs of the most famous stars from every generation, including Miley Cyrus
Rock's close relationships with his high-profile led to snaps that most music photographers could only dream of, including this of Lady Gaga and Bono enjoying a night out in 2009 at The Spotted Pig in NYC
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In the picturesque city of Arles, Parfums Christian Dior hosted its annual Photography & Visual Art Award for Young Talent. Done in partnership with LUMA, the competition continues the mission that began in 2018. Hundreds of photographers from around the world responded to the prompt “Face to Face.” Out of the submissions, twelve laureates and a winner were chosen by an esteemed group of jurors, including Maja Hoffman, Samuel Fosso, Maya Rochat, and Estefania Penafiel Loaiza. Artists, editors, collectors, and creatives descended on the coastal city, whose stone foundations date back to the Roman Empire. The town once served as a favorite destination for Vincent Van Gogh. (After he famously severed his ear, the painter stayed in the Old Hospital of Arles). Five years ago, LUMA—an arts center and the brainchild of Hoffman—established Arles as a cultural epicenter.In the shady lobby of Hôtel L’Arlatan, Fosso, encircled by journalists and admirers, held court. The Nigerian artist remains one of the most celebrated photographers of his generation for his self-portraits that engage, through a series of personas, the history of Africa. Leading institutions— including the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and The Museum of Modern Art, New York—have exhibited his work. With the help of an amateur translator, Fosso mused on his role as a juror and, more broadly, his global encouragement of young talent. “They are the future,” Fosso, 62, said of the finalists. “I am not the past, but I am not the future. Young photographers are the future, and I am captivated by what they propose.” Across the hotel, Rachel Fleminger Hudson, winner of the award, discussed her latest, career-altering achievement.“I think because it is very life-changing that it is overwhelming,” she said.Hudson’s work shows a clear emphasis on materiality. She fastidiously costumes her subjects with an art historical attention to detail. A recent graduate of Central Saint Martins, where she studied fashion, the photographer spoke about balancing her discomfort with fashion as a commercial entity and her reverence for clothes as means of storytelling. “I engage with clothes as costume,” Hudson explained. “It’s not fashion because it does not seek to be fashionable.”Later that evening, Hudson’s work hung alongside that of the rest of the laureates. The exhibition, “The Art of Color,” displayed the medium’s capacity for provocation and innovation. The images ranged from Jesus Torio’s bright abstractions to Joseph Craven’s cinematic seductions. In the shadow of the Frank Gehry Luma building—a fantastic, glittering silver tower—guests drank champagne and mingled with the artists. There, the jurors formally announced Hudson as the winner. At a celebratory dinner, as the light began to fade, revelers enjoyed a summer feast and spoke about culture, ideas, and current events. In a time when so much seems to threaten the future, the talent gathered by Dior offered a reassuring sign of what is to come.
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In 2008, I started a photography side hustle from my dorm room. My goal was to become a professional photographer. It wasn't easy, especially at the height of the recession, but I'm glad I never gave up.
Today, at 35, I'm a self-made millionaire and run a wedding photography and education business, Katelyn James Photography. With my husband Michael, who joined as Chief Financial Officer in 2013, we've helped more than 100,000 people learn about photography.
In 2022, we brought in $240,000 a month in revenue — 80% of which I put back into the business. Roughly $230,000 of our monthly revenue was passive income from online courses and training materials.
I now work just four hours a day and shoot about four weddings a year.
In the first year of my side hustle, I was a full-time college student, but I still worked 40 or more hours a week.
My rates started low: $750 for six hours of photographing and editing. As my skills improved, I started charging more. And by 2013, I was earning six figures.
I was lucky to have a great mentor, Jasmine Star, who photographed my own wedding. I also took some online courses, attended workshops, and took on projects for free to build my portfolio.
But there wasn't a lot of affordable photography training out there, so I started sharing tips on my blog. About eight years in, I realized online photography education could be a scalable business.
Through word of mouth and a consistent social media presence, I grew an email list of 7,600 photographers who wanted to learn from me. All the while, I developed outlines, designed a workbook via Adobe InDesign, and recorded and edited course content with help from a videographer friend.
In November 2015, Michael and I launched our first online training program to teach photographers how to edit and streamline their workflow. The course cost $397, a price point that was far more accessible than a semester's worth of college photography classes.
Our goal was $15,000 in total sales. But the first day, because of the trust we built with our customers over time, we made over $160,000.
The success of my first course showed me that it was more valuable to make photography education accessible, rather than just shooting weddings and continuously increasing prices.
We've created over a dozen downloadable courses, e-books and templates for various photography skills. Our resources are inspired by questions asked by our online community of over 70,000 people, and cover topics like posing couples and natural light photography.
We also have a membership product, KJ All Access. For $29 per month, photographers of all experience levels get to follow me as I shoot events and handle all sorts of unpredictable situations — like wedding dresses getting covered in mud or weather delays.
New videos are shot by my videographer, edited by me, and released each month. Members also have access to a library of past videos.
I love my job. Being in complete control of our schedule has allowed my husband and I to spend more time with our three kids, and to pursue projects we're excited about.
This year, we co-founded a school geared towards entrepreneurial families called Acton Academy West End. We focus on equipping children ages five to eight with the tools to find their unique passions through hands-on activities.
Whether we're creating tools that teach photographers how to build a career that supports their family, capturing wedding moments, recording podcasts, or just simply sharing the ups and downs of our everyday life on social media, we want our life and our business to change lives.
Katelyn Alsop is a business coach and founder of Katelyn James Photography. Over 100,000 students around the world have used her platforms to learn about photography and entrepreneurship. She is also the co-founder of Acton Academy West End. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
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While Adobe is bringing generative AI models to professional photographers and designers, another company is working to make easy-to-use generative AI tools available to a wider range of photographers, including hobbyists. Starting today, Luminar Neo, the photo-editing software from Skylum (formerly Macphun), is rolling out a set of generative AI features to its desktop apps for Mac and Windows that will allow users to remove unwanted objects from their images, expand a canvas, or replace and add specific elements into a photo.
The tools are similar in some ways to Google Photos' Magic Editor and Magic Eraser or Adobe's own Generative Fill tool. The difference between Adobe's Generative Fill is that Luminar Neo offers two tools, GenErase and GenSwap, instead of one. It also doesn't require the use of a text prompt field. Instead, the user selects an area on the image to remove and clicks "Erase." But unlike Adobe's Generative Fill, it doesn't offer result options to choose from -- the user would have to click the "Erase" button again to get a different outcome.
Founded in 2008 as Macphun by game developers and amateur photographers Paul Muzok and Dima Sytnik, the company now known as Skylum originally focused on iOS applications, like Vintage Video Maker, which Apple recognized among the best apps of the year in 2009.
The team then proceeded to develop around 60 other iOS apps over the years that followed, but were always drawn to photography. That eventually led the team to launch their first Mac app, FX Photo Studio Pro in 2010, which topped 50 million downloads. On Mac, they also launched other image editing apps like Snapheal, Intensify, Tonality, Noiseless, Auora HDR, then later merged several apps together to make Creative Kit. Photo editing software Luminar came about in 2016. And in 2018, when they also rebranded as Skylum, the team began to focus only on their Luminar project.
Image Credits: Skylum
The idea with Luminar was to create photo editing software for desktop users that lets you perform complex tasks in simple ways. The latest version of this app was launched in 2022 as Luminar Neo, and its user base is primarily hobbyist photographers. But a handful of professionals use the app, as well, the company says. For example, some commercial photographers tend to use Luminar Neo more as a plugin for Lightroom or Photoshop, they note.
With the rise of generative AI models for image editing, the team knew they wanted to incorporate this functionality into the product to make editing photos even easier. The plan is to release one generative AI tool each month through the end of 2023, starting with GenErase on October 26.
GenSwap (to replace elements) and GenExpand (to expand the canvas) will arrive on November 16 and December 14, respectively.
Image Credits: Skylum
"All three generative features that will be released this year are based on the same technology, but combining and changing the parameters gives us different results and covers different use cases for the end user, which is why we decided to have three separate features," explains Ivan Kutanin, the Ukraine-based CEO of Skylum, in an email interview with TechCrunch.
The models are based on Stable Diffusion, but Kutanin says the company also uses its own Upscale AI model and others in a single pipeline, which allows the software to increase the resolution and quality of the generated images. Currently, it offers up to 1536x1536 in image resolution, he says. For comparison, Photoshop currently offers a
resolution of 1024x1024.
The processing itself takes place in the cloud, so the app requires an internet connection to work. However, the company doesn't store either the input or output images to protect customer privacy.
The ease of use is what the company hopes will set its software apart from others that offer similar generative AI tools.
Image Credits: Skylum
"Luminar Neo is the latest-generation photo editing software and has around 40 complex AI models as part of its architecture, which makes it truly powerful. What we’re best known for is the ease of use and how effortless it is to start out if you’re a complete beginner," says Kutanin. "Since a huge part of our user base are photography enthusiasts, we really focused on the user interface and making it as pleasant and fresh as possible," he adds.
The software is offered at multiple pricing tiers for both new and existing users. After Oct. 28, it's either $14.95 per month, $119 per year, or $179 for 2 years. A lifetime pass is available for $299, which comes with a "Creative Journey Pass" that has time limits on the new generative AI features through August 16, 2024. After that point, they need to purchase a new Creative Journey Pass or switch to a subscription.
For current users, the upgrade is slightly less expensive with the 1-year plan starting at $79 for year 1, then $99 per year going forward, also after Oct. 28. There are other discounts available if bought prior to Oct. 28.
The company has never raised outside funding and has been profitable for a few years now, employing a team of over 120.
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An artificial intelligence (AI) program has warned that photographers may have to leave the creative industries, because of AI. Pratik Naik, a photo retoucher, spoke with Open AI’s ChatGPT bot and asked it if “humans have anything to fear when it comes to text-to-image AI generators.” ChatGPT is a prototype AI chatbot that specializes in dialog. Users can ask it questions on a wide range of topics, from asking for specific meal plans to summarizing a news article. The AI chatbot tells Naik that “it’s important to note that these AI image generators are still in their early stages of development and their capabilities are limited.” However as Naik reports on DIY Photography, when pushed on what will happen when AI art becomes indistinguishable from the art humans create, the AI says that it’s “difficult to predict exactly what will happen.” “It’s possible that these systems could be used to create new forms of art and media, and they could potentially help artists and creators to produce high-quality images more quickly and efficiently,” ChatGPT writes. “However, there is also a risk that these systems could be used for malicious purposes, such as creating fake images or videos for propaganda or deception. It’s important for society to carefully consider the potential implications of these technologies and develop appropriate guidelines and regulations for their use.” ‘What if Creatives Can’t Find Work Anymore?’ ChatGPT warns Naik that “there is a risk that they could disrupt the market for creative work and make it more difficult for artists and other creatives to earn a living.” “If text-to-image AI generators become advanced enough to significantly disrupt the market for creative work, there may be a need for new policies and programs to help support artists and other creatives,” it says. “Some possible solutions could include implementing basic income programs, providing government grants and subsidies for artists, and creating new education and training programs to help creatives develop new skills and adapt to changing market conditions. “It’s important for society to prioritize the support and protection of creative workers, and to ensure that they have the resources and opportunities they need to continue creating and contributing to the economy and culture.” ChatGPT does add the caveat that “it’s important to remember that these technologies are still in the early stages of development, and it’s difficult to predict exactly how they will be used or what impact they will have on the economy and the job market.” However, it’s certainly a chilling warning straight from the horse’s mouth. Image credits:Header image generated by DALL-E. Related Articles
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Spellbinding images of our galaxies and solar system have now been revealed, as this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year was announced.
Greenwich's Royal Observatory received more than 4,000 entries from over 64 countries, with photographers of all abilities competing to win the prestigious prize.
Shots were shortlisted across 10 different categories and include what appears to be a question mark on the Sun and even the bizarrely named Running Chicken Nebula.
But the mesmerising 'Andromeda, Unexpected' bagged first prize by capturing the surprising discovery of a huge plasma arc next to the Andromeda Galaxy.
This galaxy is the closest 'spiral system' to our Milky Way, composed of a twisted assemblage of stars and gas.
The mysterious plasma arc is a type of an 'emission nebula' formed of ionised gas that emits its own light.
But no one has ever seen this, as the phenomenon is only visible in a specific oxidized state - giving off its blue colour.
Scientists across the world are now investigating this arc to better understand its relationship to the neighbouring galaxy.
'What you see is gigantic blue arc of ionised oxygen gas that has never been seen before,' amateur astronomer and astrophotographer Marcel Drechsler said.
'As a result, it could be the largest and closest such structure to us in the Universe.'
Judge László Francsics added: 'This astrophoto is as spectacular as [it is] valuable.
'It not only presents Andromeda in a new way, but also raises the quality of astrophotography to a higher level.'
Two 14-year-old boys from China were granted this year's Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year award.
The pair had collaborated to capture the The Running Chicken Nebula situated around 6,500 light years away - with each lightyear equating to six trillion miles on Earth.
Its bizarre nickname comes as some say it looks like a cosmic chicken walking through the sky.
'Thank you to the Greenwich judges. We're very glad to receive this achievement as winners of the Young Competition,' said winners Runwei Xu and Binyu Wang.
Another winner is Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau, who led the Sun category with his intriguing shot of our giant star.
This depicted a filament that's the spitting image of a question mark on the scorching 5,600°C (10,000°F) surface.
Peter Ward's 'Dark Star' was a runner-up for this category with his shot that turned the hot ball inside out.
This put the spotlight on its uneven surface, with intense solar flares erupting in the Sun's atmosphere.
On the flipside, a view of Mars and the moon took first place for the Moon category, while mesmerising brushstroke-shaped lights won for Aurorae.
Vikas Chander also took home the trophy for People and Space with an eerie nighttime shot of a stranded ship off the Skeleton Coast in Namibia.
Meanwhile, James Baguley was highly commended for capturing a molecular cloud that looks identical to a howling wolf, and Angle An snapped an incredibly rare luminescent phenomenon at the Himalayas.
The Stars and Nebulae winner also made a scientific discovery of their own by snapping a previously unknown galactic nebula, now named 'the heart of the Hydra'.
'Once again, entrants to the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition have conspired to make things difficult for the judges, with a flood of high-quality images covering an amazing range of targets,' said Dr Ed Bloomer, astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich.
'The highlight of this year is perhaps a number of genuine discoveries being imaged, but we've had wonderful efforts in every category and I'm particularly pleased to see the continued strength of our young entrants and those eligible for The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer.
'It has led to some intense debate amongst the judges as we try to choose the very best of the best, but we don't mind!'
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FEBRUARY 2023
This photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published by Associated Press photographers in Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan in February 2023.
This selection shows scenes from across the region, including images of continued violence in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, political upheaval in Israel and also the aftermath in Syria of the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6.
The gallery was curated by Oded Balilty, AP Chief photographer for Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and Dusan Vranic, Deputy News Director for Photography for the Middle East, Afghanistan & Pakistan. ___
Follow AP visual journalism:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnews/
AP Images on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Images
AP Images blog: https://apimagesblog.com
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“I try to approach music photography in the mindset of a superfan,” says Pooneh Ghana. The Los Angeles-based photographer, 32, has been documenting the live music scene since she was a teenager.Her specialty is capturing musicians on stage in front of sweaty faces pouring over stage barriers – and also intimate candids of them on the road between shows. It is more interesting that way, she says.Fans at Turnstile’s 2022 tour. Photograph: Pooneh Ghana/Courtesy of Pooneh GhanaShe has gone on tour with some of the biggest names in indie rock – Fontaines DC, Idles, Cage the Elephant, Courtney Barnett, Sunflower Bean and Shame as well as 2021’s breakout pop star Olivia Rodrigo. She’s shot Travis Scott, Billie Eilish, BTS and Dua Lipa, to name just a few.Ghana started her career documenting the indie sleaze era in 2008 as an emerging photographer. As her career reached new heights, she found the world she worked in on pause – so she turned her lens to document the Black Lives Matter protests and the marquees of venues shuttered by the pandemic: “We’ll be back soon.” Now she is taking note of live music’s attempt at a comeback after the long Covid silence, with her unique behind-the-scenes position giving her insight to the burnout musicians are experiencing.“Touring has really taken its toll on everyone. I hope that bands can find a more sustainable way to do what they love and the fans don’t have to pay $100 a ticket to go see these artists because ultimately it affects each other,” she says.She notices musicians facing increased financial pressure from a broken industry. “It’s crazy – you hear about how basically if you’re not selling out a 3,000-, 4,000-capacity room tonight, you’re not even breaking even on tour. Hearing how much bands are struggling has been really tough.The Wiltern, Los Angeles, 2020. Photograph: Pooneh Ghana/Courtesy of Pooneh Ghana“Obviously there’s something broken in the system when bands are not only unable to afford to live, but they’re also canceling shows because they’re being pushed so hard,” she says.As touring musicians have taken a hit, so have the photographers who rely on them for work. “Every music photographer I’ve spoken to this year is so tired. None of us predicted it, so I think we’re all just really tired, but really grateful for things to be kind of back at the extent they are.”A masked crowd at Courtney Barnett’s tour, 2022. Photograph: Pooneh Ghana/Courtesy of Pooneh GhanaThe first live music Ghana shot in 2020 was two days before the year ended: two nights of livestreamed performances featuring Black Pumas and Maggie Rogers at the Wiltern. “It was a full production performance to no one, but they needed live shots,” says Ghana. “Looking back and seeing an empty theater was so jarring.”In early 2021, Ghana shot a cover photo of a pregnant Juliette Jackson for the Big Moon’s recent album Here Is Everything. She traveled to meet Jackson in London when the world was still reeling from the pandemic. Covid compliance required an extra level of planning – double vaccinations and two weeks of quarantining. At Idles’ tour, 2021. Photograph: Pooneh Ghana/Courtesy of Pooneh Ghana“The first tour I did back [after Covid protocols were lifted in late 2021] was six weeks with Idles. Idles shows are crazy. People were wearing masks, but for the most part people were just kind of letting loose. It was chaos, the guys are going into the crowd all the time. But within those six weeks nobody got Covid, miraculously.“Then I did another tour a few months down the road where it was like a strict Covid bubble and nobody was allowed to leave and it ended up getting canceled the last week and a half because somebody tested positive.”Turnstile fans at Lollapalooza 2022. Photograph: Pooneh Ghana/Courtesy of Pooneh GhanaThe diminished number of live music photographers and tour crew members who managed to get through the financial dry spell have faced a surge of live shows in 2022 – bands are trying to make up for lost opportunities and newer acts are vying for a shot. It’s been a busy year for Ghana, who now approaches her work with a new sensibility.“I’ve started to pay attention to the environment more, especially post-Covid. It’s just so fascinating looking at what the crowds are like and how the crowds react to being at a show or you know, the lead singer spitting beer into the crowd.”Dua Lipa at Lollapalooza 2022. Photograph: Pooneh Ghana/Courtesy of Pooneh GhanaBorn to Iranian immigrants, Ghana grew up in San Antonio, Texas and went to concerts in Austin in middle and high school. “It started with me going to shows and wanting to get a photo with the artists. Then I thought: ‘What if I eliminate myself from the photo and just shoot them?’” She started sharing her images on Flickr for fun.“The pivotal scene in my life that made me realize, ‘Oh, this is what it means to have music change your life’ – for lack of a better term, that whole Indie Sleaze era with the Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Arctic Monkeys, every band that I discovered that were adjacent to them.”When her early Polaroids of Kings of Leon blew up on Flickr, Ghana got her first taste of going viral. Now, she often shares her vibrant, energetic images to her 79,000 followers on Instagram. “Ultimately I want people to feel like they’re there,” she says. To this day, her genuine enthusiasm for live music makes her a relatable presence online. If the hundreds of comments on any given post indicate, that enthusiasm is contagious.At the Viagra Boys’ tour, 2022. Photograph: Pooneh Ghana/Courtesy of Pooneh GhanaWhen Ghana started out, she took every opportunity that came her way. She credits her success to a combination of perseverance, focus, a love for music, and the support of friends and loved ones. “There are millions of photographers out there and I am beyond grateful that I was able to get where I am today. I can’t imagine what it’s like trying to start being a photographer now, in an age where it’s so easy to share your work, but in the same way, it’s so hard for it to get seen and to make a profit from it,” she says.She is cautiously optimistic about the future and hopes artists and their crews will find a way to persevere, despite the uphill battle. “The music scene is such a community where everyone from the sound engineers to the photographers to the fans to the managers are all in this ecosystem that is fragile, but there’s also a support system through it.”
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Image source, Clementine SchneidermannImage caption, Laundry Day 3 by Clementine SchneidermannImages of an elderly woman hanging out her washing during Covid lockdown have won the prestigious Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2022.Two of Clémentine Schneidermann's portraits from her series Laundry Day documented the daily life of her neighbour in south Wales, while navigating quarantine.She will receive £15,000 for her win.Judges praised the simplicity of the project, for "capturing the calm mundanity of domestic tasks".They said in a statement on Tuesday that the images "evoked a strong sense of stillness and quiet, yet perhaps also loneliness and isolation, despite the proximity of the photographer".They also praised "the unusual perspective" of the portraits, which are "close, but not close enough to see the sitter's face", creating "an intriguing play with the conventions of traditional portraiture".Image source, Clementine SchneidermannSecond prize was awarded to Haneem Christian for Mother and Daughter and Rooted, which explores queerness, transness and the importance of chosen family.While Alexander Komenda took the third prize for Zahid's Son, a portrait that examines themes of identity and the post-Soviet landscape in Kyrgyzstan. The Wessing Prize is organised by the National Portrait Gallery in London. But due to its ongoing major development work, the shortlisted photographs - chosen from 4,462 entries by 1,697 photographers - are being displayed in an exhibition at Cromwell Place, a new arts hub in South Kensington, from 27 October until 18 December 2022.'Create magic out of the simplest moments'The winner, Schneidermann, is a French photographer, living and working between Paris and south Wales.With a focus on being a social documentary photographer, she has a particular interest in communities. She said her Laundry Day series was intended to "document micro-events which deal with the passage of time through the small moments of our daily lives".The photographer intended to capture the everyday by honing in on one daily chore, noting how "the beauty of photography is to create magic out of the simplest moments".Her socially distanced portraits are part of a series of works taken during times of quarantine, self-isolation, and national lockdowns prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.Schneidermann is the co-founder of the Ffasiwn Stiwdio, a photography- based creative studio that creates programmes with youth groups.
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Photographers
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The much-hyped prequel is a go, and the writers’ room is underway on the love story of Jamie Fraser’s parents “Outlander”Jason Bell Starz has announced development on the much-hyped-about prequel to its worldwide hit series “Outlander,” set to be titled “Outlander: Blood of My Blood.” In the first reveal of any plot details for the rumored follow-up, the writers’ room is already underway on the drama, which will follow the love story of Jamie Fraser’s (played in the ongoing series by Sam Heughan) parents.
“‘Outlander’ is a riveting show that from season to season has captured the hearts of its fans around the world,” said Kathryn Busby, president of original programming at Starz. “We are excited to peel back the layers of this vibrant world to bring our audience the origin of where it all began. [The creative team of ] Matthew [B. Roberts], Maril [Davis], and Ronald [D. Moore] will continue to bring their excellent vision and creativity to this new iteration, and we can’t wait to see what happens next.” Matthew B. Roberts is writing “Outlander: Blood of My Blood” and will serve as showrunner and executive producer. He is also the showrunner and executive producer for “Outlander,” which is currently in production on its seventh season. In addition to Roberts, Maril Davis will also executive produce the prequel along with Ronald D. Moore, who developed “Outlander” for television, under their production banner Tall Ship Productions. Story Mining & Supply Company will also executive produce with Diana Gabaldon serving as a consulting producer.
“Outlander: Blood of My Blood” will be produced by Sony Pictures Television. Executive Vice President of Original Programming, Karen Bailey will oversee the prequel on behalf of Starz.
The “Outlander” television series is inspired by Diana Gabaldon’s wildly successful, internationally bestselling books, which have sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide, with all nine of the books gracing the New York Times best-seller list. The “Outlander” television series has been a hit with audiences since 2014, spanning the genres of history, science fiction, romance and adventure in one amazing tale.
Season 6 of “Outlander” debuted back in March of this year. It was an agonizingly long time for fans to wait, as new episodes hadn’t screened since the brutal Season 5 finale back in 2020. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
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FILE - A view of the stage at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, is shown Sept. 22, 2019. Nominations for the 74th annual Emmy Awards will be announced early Tuesday, July 12, 2022, during a virtual ceremony. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)(Chris Pizzello / Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nominees for the 2022 Emmy Awards are being announced, with “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” among the shows looking to add to their previous trophy hauls.JB Smoove of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and Melissa Fumero of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" are announcing this year's contenders in a livestreamed ceremony on Emmys.com.The nominees for best comedy series are: “Abbott Elementary”; “Barry”; “Curb Your Enthusiasm”; “Hacks”; “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; “Only Murders in the Building”; "Ted Lasso" and “What We Do in the Shadows.”The nominees for best comedy series actress are: Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”; Kaley Cuoco, “The Flight Attendant”; Elle Fanning, “The Great”; Issa Rae, “Insecure”; Jean Smart, “Hacks.”The nominees for actor in a comedy series are: Donald Glover, “Atlanta”; Bill Hader, “Barry”; Bill Hader, “Barry”; Nicholas Holt, “The Great”; Jason Sudeikis, “Ted Lasso” Steve Martin, “Only Murders in the Building”; Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building.”The limited series nominees are: “Dopesick”; “The Dropout”; “Inventing Anna”; “The White Lotus”; “Pam & Tommy.”The nominees for variety talk series are: “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah”; “Jimmy Kimmel Live”; “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”; “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”Television Academy President Frank Scherma kicked off the nomination announcement by saying that a record number of shows had been submitted, which reflects that series production was an all-time high after being drastically reduced during the pandemic.“Succession,” a 2020 top-drama winner, may face a showdown with “Squid Game” by the time The South Korean hit about a brutal survival contest is vying to become the first non-English language Emmy nominee.The Emmys once were dominated by broadcast networks and then cable, with the rise of streaming services changing the balance of power and perhaps the awards themselves. The possibility of Netflix's "Squid Game" joining the Emmy mix is the result of streaming's global marketplace focus.Other possible drama contenders include the modern Western “Yellowstone,” workplace thriller “Severance” and “Yellowjackets,” a hybrid survival and coming-of-age tale.There are a number of outgoing shows looking for some final Emmy love. Among dramas that includes "This Is Us," and "Ozark," with "Insecure" and "black-ish" on the comedy side.“The Crown,” which dominated the 2021 drama awards, wasn't televised within the eligibility period and is sitting this year out.The Emmy ceremony is set for Sept. 12 and will air on NBC, with a host yet to be announced.___For more on this year’s Emmy Awards, visit: www.apnews.com/EmmyAwardsTop Arts & Entertainment StoriesGet the latest Arts & EntertainmentCatch up on North Texas' vibrant arts and culture community, delivered every Monday.By signing up you agree to our privacy policyMost Popular on DallasNews.com123456
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The life of an actor can be very unstable. One minute walking red carpets and earning big money, the next a cancelled show or a contract comes to an end and no wages coming in. So it was perhaps no surprise to see Eastenders' Adam Woodywatt working behind a stall at a food festival earlier this week, after developing a new career in cooking since leaving the show after 36 years in 2021.Despite the show leaving the door open for his to turn, fans of Ian Beale may have a wait on their hands, with the actor hinting that he has no plans to return to the Square. His one-time co-star Charlie Clements also dabbled in the culinary world, revealing that he took a job as chef in a garden centre during the pandemic - moving to the plant section when the cafe closed due to lockdown restrictions. The father-of-two previously told Loose Women that he's a jobbing actor, and that there's no shame in trying out a different industry between roles to provide for his family. Meanwhile, Hollyoaks star Gemma Merna has avoided the traditional route of reality shows after soap stardom. Aside from an appearance on diving show Splash! she's focused on her career as a yoga teacher. Here, FEMAIL reveals the soap stars who have embraced different careers after their stint in the nation's favourite shows ended. ADAM WOODYATT Adam, who played Ian Beale on Eastenders from its first episode in 1985 and was there for 36 years Now a days Adam works on food stalls at festivals across the country and this week was spotted selling vegan food at a festival in CheshireThis week Adam, who played Ian Beale on Eastenders, was spotted selling vegan food at a festival in Cheshire. The actor, 54, was helping to run a plant-based street food trailer with catering company Kilty & Co.He wore a green branded T-shirt, a wide brimmed camouflage hat and a microphone so he could address the crowd. It's not the first time Adam has been seen serving up food to customers since leaving the popular BBC soap. He was spotted selling Cajun wedges and kedgeree at Pub In The Park in Wimbledon earlier this year. And was seen working in a food stall in Marlow in 2021, telling customers he was 'getting paid in burgers'. Adam was on Eastenders from its very first episode in 1985 and was the longest-serving member of the cast of EastEnders when he stepped back from the role in November 2020.His character has not been killed off, and the route has remained open for him to return. Howeverm he has hinted that he has quit for good, previously telling Steph McGovern: 'I've kind of left, but not left. It's kind of the way the storyline has gone, I'm not there.'I could go back and I could not go back! I don't know. The speculation has been hysterical.'I think everyone is always going to speculate. But there are no plans at the moment.'Recently Adam slammed EastEnders bosses, claiming they shouldn't have turned his character Ian Beale into a 'sociopath'.The actor, admitted the businessman was 'very unpopular' with viewers due to his 'forthright' and 'quite rude' ways, going so far as to say he was a 'narcissist'.Having played the role since its first ever episode in 1985, he quit the BBC soap last year and has now said producers should have 'gone in a different direction'.Despite being introduced as 'a spotty, teenage kid who got bullied at school', Ian's downfall came after splitting from his wife Jane (Laurie Brett) for good in 2020. Adam told Kate Thornton on her White Wine Question Time podcast: 'The character evolved. If you think back in the 80s, he was a spotty, teenage kid. He was getting bullied at school, his dad wanted him to do boxing.''It's been a very, very long journey. But don't get me wrong, I don't always think that some of the changes were right.'Maybe they should've chosen other directions to go but they weren't my decisions. They were stuff the bosses chose.'Did it make Ian unpopular? Yeah, at times. He was quite forthright and quite rude to everyone, even people he loved.' CHARLIE CLEMENTS Charlie Clements played Bradley Branning in EastEnders between 2006 and 2010. He left the soap in 2009 and his character died Charlie continued acting after leaving the popular soap while also working as a chef, and posting lots if food photos on his Instagram account over the yearsCharlie, 35, starred as Bradley Branning in Eastenders, winning multiple awards between 2006 and 2010 for his role as Max Branning's downtrodden son.His character was killed off during the EastEnders live 25th anniversary episode on 19 February 2010. At the time he commented that it was 'time to move on and take on some new roles'. Soon after EastEnders he played the part of David Filde in a touring production of The Haunting. And in 2012 he played the role of Mick in Meredish Oakes' controversial play Faith at the Courtyard Theatre in Hoxton, London. In 2020 he started posting photos on his Instagram with hashtags chef and the acting chef. He later told Loose Women he'd been working in a garden centre, both in the kitchen as a chef, and in the plant section, when acting work dried up during lockdown. 'Working there has increased my knowledge of everything plant related. The acting stopped for everybody, it was way to support my family. At end of the day, I've never been afraid of work,' he said. 'I've never been work shy and it does get picked up by the media.'There's the mentality that if you had a job in the public eye, you can't get a normal job. I'm a jobbing actor and I have to support my family.' Explaining he had been furloughed during the UK's first lockdown not long after picking up work in a kitchen, he said: 'I just did home-schooling with the kids and my wife. We tried to have fun with the kids.'In April 2021 he posted a photo of himself as a chef, but captioned the pic: 'Last day as a chef today! Onto rehearsals next week.' It's not clear which production he was auditioning for, but he appeared in The Mousetrap in April 2021 in London's West End. ADAM RICKITT Adam Rickitt played Nick Tilsley in Coronation Street between 1997 and 2004 and became a teen pinup, garnering millions of teen fans Adam and his wife Katy, a Good Morning Britain presenter, bought a popular craft beer bottle shop, gin specialist and micro bar called Dexter and Jones in Knutsford in 2020As Nick Tilsley in Coronation Street, Adam was very popular and became one of the country's teen pinups. He played the character between 1997 and 2004, and during that time he signed a six-album deal with Polydor and released a album - Good Times - in 1999. 'I Breathe Again', reached number five in the UK charts.Adam, 44, went on to star in New Zealand's soap opera Shortland Street and became well knows as Kyle Kelly in Hollyoaks for some time but when he left the soap in 2020 he bought a popular craft beer bottle shop, gin specialist and micro bar called Dexter and Jones, in Knutsford. He and his wife Katy, a Good Morning Britain presenter, bought the place and relied on it solely for their income during the early days of the pandemic.That summer he was banned from the roads for drink driving when he was stopped by police for driving without his lights. The Sun reported his solicitors in court saying: 'He's found the whole process very upsetting and takes full responsibility for his actions.'He owns a bar and had had a difficult day, he's put most of his savings (into the bar) and spent some time getting it up and running only for Covid to hit and caused a strain.'He is also known as an actor but that work ended for him in March and there is no acting work at the moment because of the situation with Covid. That work has all but dried up for him and he is relying solely on his bar to keep him afloat.'He's only receiving £1,000 a month, a modest income and anything he does have is going back into the bar. He offers a takeaway service so he's doing everything he can to work on that for him and his family.''TONY DISCIPLINE Tony played Tyler Moon, cousin to Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), in EastEnders until 2013 and his character fell hard for long running character Whitney Dean After finishing on the soap Tony went to Hollywood for some time but then returned and he trained as a London firefighterAs EastEnders' Tyler Moon, cousin to Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), and filmed many scenes with long-running character Whitney Dean, he created a huge fan base, but Tony, 33, refused to let fame go to his head.After he quit the show in 2013 he became a firefighter he told Inside Soap magazine: 'When it was time to leave the show, I didn't want to go — however, there were no more storylines for Tyler.'He went to Hollywood for some time but then returned and he trained as a London firefighter. He has tackled a fire in a block of flats, at a bakery and a waste disposal plant.The actor applied for the job in 2019 and said the idea of becoming a firefighter appealed to him because he could help the community and be part of something he was 'proud of', but said it is 'quite dangerous'. He said: 'You have to put food on the table,' he told the Soap on the Box podcast. 'One of my friends was in the service and told me they were recruiting. So, I applied and I got in – I was very fortunate.Now when fans see him they think he's still filming. He once said: 'I was walking back to the fire truck and someone walked past and said: 'oh my God, what are you filming?' Tony replied: 'I said: 'no, I'm a firefighter. There have been a few occasions like that.'Tony, who was working at Billingsgate Fish Market when he landed the part of Alfie Moon's cousin, joked: 'I always knew the attention was because of the show, when I was down the fish market I wasn't getting that attention.''When I got the call for EastEnders, it was like winning the lottery. I was working at Billingsgate Fish Market in the day and going to acting classes at night, it was so surreal to go from selling sea bass to being stopped in the street and asked for a picture.' ADAM THOMAS Adam played Adam Barton in Emmerdale from 2011 to 2018 after seven exciting years on the soap After quitting the soap, Adam saw the need to work and got a job as an estate agent in Manchester, before buying a bar in Gatley with a friend in 2019Adam played Adam Barton in Emmerdale from 2011 to 2018 after seven exciting years on the soap. After quitting the soap, Adam, 33, saw the need to work and got a job as an estate agent in Manchester. In an Instagram post back in 2018, he revealed: 'I haven't, nor will I ever, turn my back on acting but I have a family to support and will carry on doing so…whether it be acting or otherwise.'Adam launched his first bar, The Spinn, in Gatley, in 2019, with his friend Scott Graham. But only six months later they were broken when the national lockdown forced hospitality to shut down.Adam began launching other food ventures and enjoyed success with summer pop up Box on the Docks. Another eatery, Oh My Glaze, specialise in sticky chicken wings, burgers and wraps.And last month things looked up when he also bought his second bar in Stockport. Adam posted photos on Instagram of the yellow bar on the Underbanks with a message saying: 'We finally opened ours doors in little under bank in Stockport!RYAN THOMAS Ryan's played Jason Grimshaw in Coronation Street for 16 years and became a much loved house-hold name After quitting the soap in 2016 he went on Neighbours but these days he's been helping out his brother, Emmerdale star Adam (above), who runs a bar and burger barRyan's character Jason Grimshaw in Coronation Street was a house-hold name. He played the character for 16 years and was involved in some of the soap's most famous storylines.After quitting in 2016, he joined Neighbours as Rafael Humphreys, but revealed that he'd given up on acting after 'losing the bug'.Ryan said he found it 'really hard' being criticised for his performances and has no intention to act again. He added that he struggled with the criticism from Australian viewers when he appeared on Neighbours in 2018 as Rafael Humphreys. Speaking on the popular Mancs On The Mic show with his brothers Adam and Scott recently, Ryan, 38, explained his decision: 'It's so hard for me. I started off acting, I started off in that game and I really lost the bug for it.''I always think, 'Oh, it'll [the desire to act] come back at some point and maybe it will and it's still something that I have in my locker if I want to explore it again. Right now I'm really happy with the direction I'm going.' He's since been helping out his brother, Emmerdale star Adam (above), who runs a bar and burger bar. One night he told fans on his Instagram he was bringing food to customers of the burger joint, and suggested they should put in their orders for a chance for him to be their delivery driver.He said he originally came to the restaurant to enjoy his own burger, which he ate in his car as he 'couldn't wait to get home plus no TV in the new house.'But it seemed not long after his meal that Ryan was asked to chip in and help the busy staff, as he then joked: 'Came in for a burger now I'm doing deliveries.'He posed with his back to the camera to show off his hoodie from the restaurant while carrying a number of packaged orders that were ready to go.Ryan then hopped into his car and said he was 'en route' to fans, before filming himself delivering the order to 'another happy customer.'Back in his car, Ryan said in a short video: 'I'm just waiting outside The Spinn to pick up my next delivery. Make the call, you know you want to. I might be coming to a home near you.'He posted a photo of him wrapped up in the dark, delivering burgers saying: 'Waiting for my next delivery #thespinn_'KATE JARVIS Kate played Kat Slater's boisterous cousin Hayley Slater in EastEnders for a year until February 2019 Eastenders actress Katie Jarvis who played Hayley Slater in the soap has now got a new job after being released from the soap. She is working for B&M budget stores as a security guard She is pictured on a break outside the store in Essex in 2019Kate played Kat Slater's boisterous cousin Hayley Slater in EastEnders for a year until February 2019.In October 2019, Kate, 31, began working on the door at her local B&M store, in Romford, East London, and looking after her two children. At the time newspapers wrote negatively about her working as a security guard, and many fellow celebrities said she was 'job shamed' by the press. They showed their support by sharing their 'regular' jobs on social media.She said at the time: 'I've taken a step back from acting. I've got a job and I'm looking after my kids.' She went on to appear on Victoria Derbyshire's BBC show, followed by an interview with Grazia magazine, to admit she had felt 'hurt and embarrassed' for being 'made to feel ashamed for having a normal job'.She added that she was proud to speak out on behalf of hard-working single mums because providing for her family is paramount to her.Jarvis said: 'It's the nature of being an actor; gigs come and go, and after my contract with EastEnders ended in February, I found a new job as soon as I could. Doing work like this is also what keeps me grounded.'Dagenham-born Jarvis revealed she 'crumbled' and was left in tears after a friend alerted her to the front page news.But upon reflection and thanks to the support of fellow thespians from Tamzin Outwaite to Nathalie Emmanuel, she is 'proud' to have changed the conversation.'Their support gave me the strength to speak out and stand up for hard-working people - especially single mums', she said, and insisted her priority in life is caring for her two children, saying: 'As long as I'm providing for them, nothing else matters. Everything I do is for them.'She said she is proud to take on any work she can to 'keep busy and learn new things'.Jarvis pointed that 'all actors go through it over the years, I've had so many jobs in between and not just being a security guard.''At 17 when I got [first movie role] Fish Tank I was doing doughnuts with my uncle at the time at festivals and things like that so I'd go on there and do the food carts,' she said. 'I've been a waitress, I've worked at a credit card company, I've done admin, I've done all types of things.'Jarvis added that when she first saw the photos of herself she felt ashamed but is now proud that she's doing all she can to provide for her family.'One of my sisters she calls me a dabbler because I seem to do a bit of everything and I like to be busy and I like to learn new things, it doesn't matter what it is.'SEAN WILSON Sean was on Coronation Street as Martin Platt for 20 years and had some fabulous story lines along side Gail. He quit in 2005 After quitting the soap Sean, 57, became a chef, and after meeting Susie Fenwick and the pair set up a cheese-making business called the Saddleworth Cheese CompanySean was on Coronation Street as Martin Platt for 20 years. After quitting in 2005, he subsequently appeared in several other UK television dramas, including an appearance in Waterloo Road.Sean, 57, then became a chef, and after meeting Susie Fenwick and the pair set up a cheese-making business called the Saddleworth Cheese Company.He told ITV's Lorraine: 'We have 46 international and national cheese awards since 2009. Anybody that knows me knows I'm a big cook,' he said.'I became really interested in the science of foods back in the 80s when it wasn't fashionable, and then in 2005 I went to work at a Michelin star restaurant after leaving Coronation Street.In 2012, he even published The Great Northern Cookbook and secured a four-part Channel 5 TV series. He's also cooked in several Michelin-starred restaurantsIn 2018, Sean announced he was returning to Reaseheath College to become a lecturer in cheese. He said: 'I'll be returning to the class where it all started 10 years ago, as the lecturer.' Sean appeared back on Coronation Street briefly in 2018 and he told ITV's Lorraine: 'I went to the butchers the day before filming and he said, 'How are you gonna feel? Are you nervous?' and I said, 'I don't know', but everyone kept asking me and making me nervous!''I walked into the building and when I arrived it was all the same people on the set. The first scene is with Jack [P Shepherd], and the first on-set take they said 'Thank you very much,' it was like rolling back the years.'It felt like just putting on an old jumper. Everybody made me feel really welcome, I make it sound easy-going but it was really nice.'GEMMA MERNA Gemma, 38, played Carmen McQueen in Hollyoaks for eight years from 2006 until 2014, winning awards for her comedic performances After departing Hollyoaks, Gemma committed to her fitness career and went on to work as a yoga instructor and personal trainerGemma, 38, played Carmen McQueen in Hollyoaks for eight years from 2006 until 2014.And in 2007, she even won Best Comedy Performance at the British Soap Awards.The year she left she was a contestant on the ITV diving show Splash!, fronted by Tom Daley.But after departing Hollyoaks, Gemma committed to her fitness career and went on to work as a yoga instructor and personal trainer. On her Instagram page, with 120k followers, she calls herself an accredited Mind & Wellness Coach, and always posts photos of her yoga or fitness.Gemma said she had always planned to give up acting and retrain as a yoga teacher in Morocco and finally took the plunge in 2015 after being persuaded by a friend.Speaking to Digital Spy, Gemma explained: 'Yoga is my life at the moment, so it doesn't ever feel like something I'm 'falling back on'. I do it day to day, but then if another [acting] job comes in and it suits me, it's all quite flexible.'When people first come into the room for one of my classes, they may see me as 'Gemma from Hollyoaks'. But by the time they leave, I'm just "Gemma the yoga teacher" and they've had a great class.'I'm very tough in my classes - nobody gets away with anything! So when they're in the room, they need to focus on their breathing and just do the class.'In March 2016, Gemma helped to keep Liverpool Yoga Studios open up for 24 hours when she volunteered to teach drop-in classes to raise money for Sport Relief.NIGEL PIVARO In 1983 Nigel was cast in Coronation Street as Terry Duckworth and was back and forth for decades In 2006 he completed a NTCJ Post Graduate course and became a Journalist and worked for the Manchester Evening News before going freelance and writing for the nationalsIn 1983 Nigel was cast in Coronation Street as Terry Duckworth, son of the famous and much-loved characters Jack and Vera. He left in 1987 but returned to the show on a recurring basis in the 1990s and early 2000s. And returned again in 2012 for a major storyline involving his estranged son Tommy. After, he made guest appearances in other TV shows including Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and Expert Witness. He also appeared in The Sunny Side of the Street for Channel Four.And appeared in many theatre productions, including Wuthering Heights, What the Butler Saw, A Taste of Honey, The Tempest. But in 1999 he returned to education at Salford University and graduated in 2003 with a 2:1 Honours degree in Contemporary Military and International History. In 2006, he graduated from the University of Wales in Aberystwyth with an MSc in Social Science and Economics while also completing a NTCJ Post Graduate course and became a Journalist.Nigel, 62, worked for the Manchester Evening News and then the Tameside Reporter in Stalybridge before going freelance and since has written for the Daily Star, Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror. In recent years he's written and presented documentary films for the BBC Inside Out series, including 'Regeneration Game' which challenged the Government backed Housing Market Renewal programme and criticised its treatment of residents who were forced out of their neighbourhoods. It ended up being short listed for a Royal Television Society award in the best Current Affairs programme category.
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Criticized since its 2009 premiere for exploiting young children as they competed in beauty pageants—and for stoking both provocative behavior from them and disturbing behavior from their parents—Toddlers and Tiaras was nonetheless addictive television. Stage moms became the backbone of this TLC series, and the appetite for the drama that comes with kids’ talent competitions only grew with the arrival of more shows like Lifetime’s Dance Moms, which launched the careers of actor Maddie Ziegler and influencer JoJo Siwa. But Toddlers and Tiaras, credited with influencing the rise of “kidsploitation,” also introduced viewers to Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson and her mother, June “Mama June” Shannon, who would become central to the debate surrounding reality TV series starring children. The duo made their Toddlers and Tiaras debut in season 5, and eventually went on to have their own spin-off show, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, also on TLC, from 2012-2014. That show underscored the ugly realities of what it takes to win a children’s beauty pageant, and was canceled after news broke that Shannon was romantically involved with a convicted child molester who had allegedly assaulted one of her children years before (the case involving Shannon’s daughter was dropped, but the man was convicted in a separate one). The drama that followed Shannon, Thompson, and their family escalated discomforts when it came to creating—and consuming—entertainment about extremely young kids. —Annabel Gutterman Contact us at letters@time.com.
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So yeah, Sunday's "House of the Dragon" series premiere was larger than 2011's "Game of Thrones" launch. HBO’s “House of the Dragon” premiere brought the fire in terms of TV ratings.
The “Game of Thrones” prequel series launched to 9.986 million (you can call it 10 million) multiplatform viewers on Sunday, a significant increase from the O.G. show’s own start. Of course, “GoT” debuted more than a decade ago to very little built-in fanfare — and in a much different television-viewership environment — only the fans of George R.R. Martin’s books really even knew the material ahead of launch. That would soon change, and “Game of Thrones” concluded as HBO’s most-watched show ever.
Well, “House of the Dragon” also has a best-ever claim: Sunday’s debut marked the largest audience for any new original series in the history of HBO, according to HBO.
“It was wonderful to see millions of ‘Game of Thrones’ fans return with us to Westeros last night. ‘House of the Dragon’ features an incredibly talented cast and crew who poured their heart and soul into the production, and we’re ecstatic with viewers’ positive response,” HBO & HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys said Monday of Sunday night’s big numbers. “We look forward to sharing with audiences what else George, Ryan, and Miguel have in store for them this season.” The first episode of “Game of Thrones” had 4.152 million “live” viewers back in 2011. Including HBO Go and counting about 90 days beyond the series premiere, Season 1 episodes ended up averaging 9.305 million viewers apiece. (HBO Now did not enter the picture until the “Game of Thrones” Season 5 premiere. Now launched in April 2015; HBO Max essentially took over in May 2020, though Now and Go were recently reinstated.)
“Game of Thrones” was one of those series that grew and grew. The Season 2 premiere grossed 6.278 million night-of viewers, and the season’s cross-platform gross (again, including about three months of viewership beyond the season premiere) was 11.583 million. Season 3 started off with 6.718 million Live + Same Day viewers, but ended up tallying 14.352 million per episode with that generous catch-up viewing, which is how HBO measures its programming these days. The third season of “Game of Thrones” included the infamous “Red Wedding” episode.
Season 4 (again, still without HBO Now) launched to 8.186 million viewers; by the end, episodes averaged 19.073 million viewers across linear HBO and streaming HBO Go. This was the season when the show’s finales began to outpace the premieres in terms of appointment-TV viewing: the Season 4 finale posted 9.325 million “live” viewers.
“Thrones” Season 5, which finally included HBO Now, initially bowed to 9.773 million Live + Same Day viewers. By the finale, the fifth-season episodes climbed to an average of 20.231 million multiplatform viewers. The “Game of Thrones” Season 6 premiere drew 10.735 million viewers. The multiplatform gross for that season was 25.690 million. Season 7 jumped again, with 16.603 million premiere viewers and a gross of 32.758 million for the season. The final “Game of Thrones” season, Season 8, launched to 17.915 million viewers. The all-in per-episode gross was a whopping 45.985 million viewers.
If you’re wondering, no, “The Sopranos” is not HBO’s second-most-watched series ever on a season-by-season basis — at least, not since its fifth season. Since 2004 (the “Sopranos” finale aired on June 10, 2007), a year HBO cited in a recent press release, the silver medal belongs to “Euphoria” Season 2. We told you, TV viewership is totally different these days — the Zendaya vehicle has only even aired 19 total episodes, but overall access to HBO’s programming via the advent and adoption of streaming is far greater.
Episode 1 of “House of the Dragon” introduced the family of King Viserys Targaryen and the matter of his succession. And yes, there were dragons.
New episodes of “House of the Dragon” will debut each Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max, leading up to the October 23 finale. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
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This Morning's Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have been ruthlessly snubbed in nominations for the upcoming 27th National Television Awards.Although the daytime double-act have been given the cold shoulder by organisers, Alison Hammond, 47, one of the programme's Friday presenters, has received a nod. She will battle it out against Ant and Dec, both 46, who have been shortlisted for the 21st year consecutively, while the ITV show itself will compete with The Chase, The Repair Shop and Loose Women for the Daytime Award. Confused: This Morning's Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have been ruthlessly snubbed in nominations for the upcoming 27th National Television Awards (pictured in June 2022)Neighbours is set to go head-to-head with UK soaps, EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale for Serial Drama award.The Australian show has been nominated for one final final gong at the upcoming ceremony, after its 37 year TV reign ended with an emotional finale in July.Elsewhere, Tom Parker - who died aged 33 on in March following a battle with brain cancer - receives a posthumous nomination for his moving documentary, Inside My Head.With a brand new venue of Wembley's OVO Arena, the star-studded awards will be broadcast live on ITV on September 15 from 8pm, with Joel Dommett hosting. Woohoo! Although the daytime double-act have been given the cold shoulder by organisers, Alison Hammond, 47, one of the programme's Friday presenters, has received a nod And this year's NTA shortlist features more streamers than ever before, reflecting the changing broadcasting landscape.The likes of Heartstopper, After Life, Sex Education, Bridgerton and Clarkson's Farm prove the sheer breadth of programming that the digital providers now offer.Four productions that set pulses racing for very different reasons compete for the New Drama award. Heartstopper became an instant coming-of-age classic, while This is Going to Hurt provided a visceral look at life on the NHS frontline.Time, meanwhile, took us behind bars to show us the brutal realities of prison, and Trigger Point proved to be an incendiary Sunday-night hit. Victorious: She will battle it out against Ant (left) and Dec (right), both 46, who have been shortlisted for the 21st year consecutively (pictured in 2021)The Talent Show contenders each gave us showstopping moments, with Krystal Versace becoming the youngest ever winner of RuPaul's Drag Race UK, while Rose Ayling-Ellis gave us a glimpse into her world with a silent Strictly Come Dancing routine.The private lives of well-known faces were revealed in the candid Authored Documentary category.Inaugural winner Kate Garraway gave an update on her husband’s treatment in Caring for Derek, and Katie Price shared her son’s next chapter in What Harvey Did Next.Plus, Julia Bradbury charted her medical journey in Breast Cancer & Me, Paddy and Christine McGuinness shed light on disability in Our Family and Autism, while The Wanted's Tom receives a nomination for his moving cancer study. Brave: Elsewhere, Tom Parker - who died aged 33 on in March following a battle with brain cancer - receives a posthumous nomination for his moving study, Inside My HeadElsewhere, comic Axel Blake wowed crowds on Britain's Got Talent and Natalie Imbruglia kept us guessing as the triumphing costumed performer on The Masked Singer.Keeping their fingers crossed will be ray of sunshine Alison , the multi-talented Bradley Walsh and king of Friday-night chat Graham Norton.We saw both the highly-skilled and a complete novice in action in Factual Entertainment, where cherished stalwart The Great British Bake Off takes on a self-effacing Jeremy Clarkson, whose Clarkson's Farm proved to be a big streaming success.Plus, more four-legged friends were made in Paul O'Grady's For the Love of Dogs, and caustic critiques ensured Gogglebox remained required viewing.There were head-turning entrances and exits in the Drama Performance category, with Vicky McClure fraying nerves in the debut of Trigger Point, while Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) and Nicola Walker (The Split) both said goodbye to beloved roles.Plus, Jonathan Bailey took centre stage in the second season of racy period phenomenon Bridgerton.The Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award continues to honour those who keep the spirit of consummate showman Brucie alive.Two Ant & Dec favourites – Saturday Night Takeaway and I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! – are in contention, with competition coming from often-surreal but always-hilarious Taskmaster and A-lister magnet The Graham Norton Show. Talented: There were head-turning entrances and exits in the Drama Performance category, with Jonathan Bailey taking centre stage in the second season of racy Bridgerton The brand new Expert award honours the born communicators who share their wisdom and knowledge with us, often enriching lives in the process.Making the shortlist in 2022 are The Repair Shop's Jay Blades, Clarkson's Farm breakout star Kaleb Cooper, moneysaving maestro Martin Lewis and broadcasting legend Sir David Attenborough.It's Emmerdale vs EastEnders in Serial Drama Performance where Paige Sandhu is nominated for her turn as Emmerdale terror Meena alongside her colleague Mark Charnock, who charted Marlon's recovery from a stroke.Also hoping for glory are two EastEnders residents: Gillian Wright, who captured Jean's mental health plight, and Rose Ayling-Ellis who continues her golden year as Fankie Lewis dealing with a fractured family set-up. Couple: Inaugural winner Kate Garraway gave an update on her husband’s treatment in Caring for Derek (pictured in 2019)A brand-new format in the form of The 1% Club became a Saturday-night hit – but can it triumph over the perennially popular offerings all up for Quiz Game Show?Bidding for success here are Beat The Chasers and In For A Penny, while Michael McIntyre's The Wheel continued to put fans in a giddy spin.Returning Drama is an intriguing mix of period romps and farewell favourites. Feelgood hits Bridgerton and Call The Midwife are up against the last ever series of divorce saga The Split and gangster epic Peaky Blinders. Iconic: Neighbours is set to go head-to-head with UK soaps, EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale for Serial Drama award (Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan are pictured) Heartstopper became one of the most talked-about new dramas of 2022 and its two main stars – Joe Locke and Kit Connor – are both vying for the Rising Star award.Elsewhere, a nomination is in place for Paddy Bever, who gave the Platts plenty of heartache playing Max Turner on Coronation Street, while Charithra Chandran's debutante Edwina Sharma set temperatures rising in Bridgerton.A quartet of shows that raise eyebrows, swell hearts and effortlessly entertain are hoping to take home the Daytime prize.Each has a devoted fanbase, but it remains unknown where voters' loyalties truly lie when it comes to Loose Women, The Chase, The Repair Shop and This Morning.In Comedy the heartbreaking final series of Ricky Gervais' After Life takes on the finely tuned farce of Not Going Out.Also in contention for the coveted award are Sex Education and Derry Girls, which delivered a fittingly emotional finale that left viewers wanting more.Their role is to either make or break dreams, but it is currently unclear which Talent Show Judge will triumph on the night of the NTAs.Anton Du Beke, in his first full year holding the paddles aloft on Strictly, makes the shortlist. But he faces stiff competition from such skilled arbiters as David Walliams, Mo Gilligan and RuPaul. THE FULL 2022 NATIONAL TELEVISION AWARDS NOMINEES NEW DRAMA HeartstopperThis Is Going To HurtTimeTrigger Point TALENT SHOW Britain’s Got TalentRuPaul’s Drag Race UKStrictly Come DancingThe Masked Singer AUTHORED DOCUMENTARY Julia Bradbury: Breast Cancer and Me Kate Garraway: Caring for DerekKatie Price: What Harvey Did NextPaddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and AutismTom Parker: Inside My Head RETURNING DRAMA BridgertonCall the MidwifePeaky BlindersThe Split TV PRESENTERAlison HammondAnt & DecBradley WalshGraham Norton FACTUAL ENTERTAINMENTClarkson’s FarmGoggleboxPaul O’Grady: For the Love of DogsThe Great British Bake Off DRAMA PERFORMANCE Cillian Murphy, Thomas Shelby, Peaky BlindersJonathan Bailey, Anthony Bridgerton, BridgertonNicola Walker, Hannah, The SplitVicky McClure, Lana Washington, Trigger Point THE BRUCE FOSRYTH ENTERTAINMENT AWARD Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! TaskmasterThe Graham Norton Show SERIAL DRAMACoronation StreetEastEndersEmmerdaleNeighbours EXPERT Jay BladesKaleb CooperMartin LewisSir David AttenboroughSERIAL DRAMA PERFORMANCE Mark Charnock, Marlon Dingle, EmmerdalePaige Sandhu, Meena Jutla, EmmerdaleRose Ayling-Ellis, Frankie Lewis, EastEndersQUIZ GAME SHOW Beat the ChasersIn for a PennyMichael McIntyre’s The WheelThe 1% ClubRISING STAR Charithra Chandran, Edwina Sharma, BridgertonJoe Locke, Charlie Spring, HeartstopperKit Connor, Nick Nelson, HeartstopperPaddy Bever, Max Turner, Coronation Street DAYTIME Loose WomenThe ChaseThe Repair ShopThis MorningCOMEDYAfter LifeDerry GirlsNot Going OutSex EducationTALENT SHOW JUDGEAnton Du BekeDavid WalliamsMo GilliganRuPaul
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CNN — Missing “Breaking Bad’s” iconic characters? Not to worry – the drug dealer protagonists of the famous TV show will soon be immortalized with larger-than-life bronze statues in New Mexico. Sony Pictures Television announced the unveiling of the statues in a Monday press release. The bronze statues of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, played by actors Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, were sculpted by artist Trevor Grove and cast by American Fine Arts Foundry, says the release. They were donated to the city of Albuquerque by Vince Gilligan, the creator of “Breaking Bad,” and Sony, which distributed the show. The statues will be unveiled on July 29 at the Albuquerque Convention Center. Gilligan, Cranston, and Paul will attend the event, in addition to Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller. “Over the course of fifteen years, two TV shows and one movie, Albuquerque has been wonderful to us. I wanted to return the favor and give something back,” Gilligan said in the statement. “These larger-than-life bronzes of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman exist thanks to the generosity of Sony Pictures Television and the artistry of sculptor Trevor Grove, and I love them. It makes me happy to picture them gracing The Duke City for decades to come, attracting busloads of tourists.” The five-season series was set and filmed in Albuquerque. The story features Cranston as Walter White, a demoralized high school teacher who has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer. Hoping to secure his family’s financial future before he dies, he teams up with an old student to manufacture and sell crystal meth. The show has also spawned a critically acclaimed prequel series, “Better Call Saul,” which started airing its final episodes this week, and a Netflix film. “We are thrilled and humbled to be getting bronze statues of our characters from Breaking Bad permanently placed at the Convention Center in downtown Albuquerque,” said Cranston and Paul in a joint comment in Sony’s statement. “This city has meant so much to us over the years, and we want to thank everyone in ABQ, for not only being great hosts through our show and Better Call Saul but being an important character in the storytelling as well.” “We also appreciate that the statues will be indoors, and therefore protected from pigeons depositing their critiques on our heads.” The beloved TV show has been a driver of tourism to Albuquerque, with several companies offering “Breaking Bad”-themed tours and events in the city. Keller also expressed his gratitude for the show’s influence in Sony’s statement. “The cast and crew of Breaking Bad changed American television and have had an unmistakable role in our city’s meteoric rise in the film industry,” Keller said. “In Albuquerque, they’ve been our friends and neighbors for the past decade and a half, and we’ll always be grateful to this team.”
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The House committee investigating the storming of the US Capitol by Donald Trump supporters wraps up its gripping public hearings on Thursday with a televised primetime finale dissecting the former president's actions on the day."It's pretty simple," said Congresswoman Elaine Luria, a member of the panel made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the violent January 6, 2021 insurrection."He was doing nothing to actually stop the riot," the Democratic lawmaker from Virginia said, despite "his advisers urging him continuously to take action, to take more action."Luria told CNN the committee will examine Trump's actions "minute by minute," starting with a fiery speech to his supporters near the White House claiming the November 2020 election was stolen to when he finally told the rioters they were "very special" but it was time to go home.Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chair of the committee, said the panel will present evidence that "Donald Trump never picked up the phone that day to order his administration to help.""For multiple hours, Donald Trump refused to intervene to stop it," Cheney said.The panel has subpoenaed numerous advisors and aides to Trump as it seeks to determine whether the former president or associates had a role in planning or encouraging the bid by his supporters to prevent certification of Democrat Joe Biden's election victory.Thursday's two-hour hearing in Washington, the committee's eighth, will start at 8:00 pm (0000 GMT). It is expected to be the last one this summer although the committee has not ruled out further sessions.The committee's opening hearing was also held in primetime, when television audiences are largest.Two witnesses are expected to deliver live testimony at Thursday's session: former deputy White House press secretary Sarah Matthews and Matthew Pottinger, who served on the National Security Council.Matthews and Pottinger both resigned on January 6 as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.- 'Wild' -Committee members said the hearing would also feature excerpts from a videotaped deposition by White House counsel Pat Cipollone.In testimony aired previously, Cipollone said he agreed that there was no evidence of significant election fraud and that Trump should have conceded to Biden.Previous committee hearings have focused on Trump's attempt to sway elections officials in swing states that Biden narrowly won and pressure put on Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the Electoral College results.During its seventh hearing last week, the committee examined the impact of a tweet Trump sent on December 19, 2020 urging his supporters to descend on the nation's capital on January 6 for a rally he promised would be "wild."Members of right-wing militia groups the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and other Trump supporters saw the tweet from the president as a "call to arms," lawmakers said.More than 850 people have been arrested in connection with the attack on Congress, which left at least five people dead and 140 police officers injured.The 76-year-old Trump, who has repeatedly hinted that he may run for the White House again in 2024, was impeached for a historic second time by the House after the Capitol riot -- he was charged with inciting an insurrection -- but was acquitted by the Senate.The House committee is expected to submit a report to Congress this fall with its findings.The committee may issue criminal referrals to the Justice Department, leaving it up to Attorney General Merrick Garland to decide whether Trump or others should be prosecuted for the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.Garland told reporters on Wednesday that the January 6 probe is the "most important" investigation the Justice Department has ever conducted and stressed that "no one is above the law in this country."cl/md
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"That kind of awkward humor has always been really funny to me," Bayer tells IndieWire about her sweetly oddball character Joanna on the Showtime show. While no one would mistake the endearing Showtime comedy “I Love That For You” for a documentary, co-creator and star Vanessa Bayer drew heavily from her own unabashed love for home shopping television. Here, let her tell you.
“The way the hosts talk [I] found to be so mesmerizing,” Bayer explained to IndieWire. “The way that they would touch the products. The whole world. How much fun it was, how glamorous the hosts were, and how they could sort of talk about anything for such a long time. I was always really mesmerized as a child. I found it to be really comforting to watch and sort of like an escape. I just absolutely love it.”
In “I Love That For You,” Joanna (Bayer) is a childhood leukemia survivor who, following a disastrous first day at her dream job as a home shopping network host, avoids getting fired by pretending her cancer has returned. In addition to Bayer’s real-life love of TV shopping, the show is loosely inspired by Bayer’s own cancer battle. “When I was a teenager I had childhood leukemia and I really always loved exploring the perks of that,” Bayer said. “Obviously, it was a difficult time, but [I realized] I can use it to get special attention and get out of things I didn’t want to do, like gym class. I always thought that that was a fun take on a difficult experience.”
The show manages to be both workplace comedy — full of brightly colored offices and secret co-worker hookups — as well as a darker look at how formative traumas can mean you’re all grown up and still working through years-old wounds. In Sunday night’s first-season finale, the fake-cancer jig is up and Joanna must confess her big lie. Spoiler alert: Things do not go well.
Bayer chatted with IndieWire to break down the finale, Catherine Zeta-Jones’ impeccable QVC line, and how one perfect Ryan Phillippe cameo came together.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
IndieWire: Did the tone come easily, or was there a version of the show that was darker?
Vanessa Bayer: When I left “SNL” I wanted to do something about home shopping and I ended up talking to my friend [co-creator] Jeremy Beiler, who was also very interested in that world. We were thinking, “What would be a good journey for my character to be on?” and we thought of my story of being a survivor of childhood leukemia [and] the way that gave me sort of arrested development and also I got all these perks out of it. We always wanted this to be a really comedy-forward show and a really laugh-out-loud-funny show. I don’t think we ever really thought of it as wanting it to be super dark, but obviously it deals with some dark topics.
Your character on this show is a little bit awkward and it’s different from your “SNL” work, but there’s a similar throughline. What attracts you to characters that are maybe a step behind or don’t always perfectly read social cues? Well, I think that’s sort of how I am! In my heart of hearts, I’m a pretty awkward person. I think there’s something in all of us that we’re just sort of awkward and kind of faking it till we make it… It’s just kind of exaggerating something that’s already very much [me].
“I Love That for You”Nicole Wilder/SHOWTIME
When did you originally meet Molly Shannon and what made this part right for her?
I originally met her, I think, at the “SNL” 40th anniversary. I was just so charmed by her. As we were creating this role [of Jackie], we were thinking who could really play this kind of star of the network who’s a pro. Molly felt like such a natural fit because she’s so charismatic. She’s just really mesmerizing and such an exuberant personality. It also [was very] meta. When I used to watch “SNL,” I used to always love watching her and wanted to be just like her. So getting to play this character who looks at Molly’s character who’s a home shopping host and then getting to work at the same place as her sort of mimicked real life in that I got to be on “SNL” after Molly was there. We weren’t there at the same time, but it just felt really exciting that there was [this] sort of parallel thing to what happened in real life.
When did you know that the moment of Joanna confessing her lie and the HSN job offer was where the season would end?
We didn’t want Joanna to be keeping up this lie forever. At some point we wanted to have her come clean in one way or another, and that we were trying to create a show that could keep going without this lie. In terms of the HSN stuff, I don’t think we knew exactly how we would work it in there but it was always fun to think about, “How does HSN play into the storyline knowing that they’re the big competitor of SVN?” and “What does that world look like and how is that different than the SVN world?” It was something that we were working toward but we didn’t know exactly what it was until closer to when we were writing it.
“I Love That For You”Nicole Wilder/SHOWTIME
How did the Ryan Phillippe cameo come about? It was the idea of this extremely famous heartthrob, kind of like a serious actor, selling steaks. We’re certainly not the first people to find out he’s so funny — I mean, him in “MacGruber.” I met him because we were doing guest spots on “Will & Grace” together. Just getting to see him sell steaks and the line, “You have to put them in the refrigerator because we don’t pack them on ice,” that’s something he improvised. He’s just so great.
Did you have a favorite moment or scene to film this season?
I always loved filming the scenes with Paul James who plays Jordan because he is such a good actor. He would really ground these scenes where Joanna was just acting insane. Those would always really make me laugh. …Jenifer, I’d always try and make her laugh when we were filming together. Molly, sometimes I would get emotional because I’m so excited that we were filming together. There’s one when I’m running out of work in the fourth episode and I’m carrying this big greeting card from these kids. I run into Paul and I get really startled… It was just like a real moment of everybody losing their minds and it just made me laugh so hard. We had to do it like 100 times because I kept laughing.
Are you someone who breaks a lot or can you normally keep it together?
When I was on “SNL,” I didn’t break until I think the last episode of my sixth season and I was only there for seven seasons. I feel like now I’m not quite as good about it, but I really try not to. It’s so fun to break and laugh and stuff, but we had a pretty quick schedule and you want to pack it in, especially being a producer. But sometimes you just have to laugh because I just couldn’t help it.
Do you have a favorite home shopping product you own? When Jeremy and I found out Showtime was going to do our show, we bought our Showtime executives blankets by Casa by Zeta-Jones, which is Catherine Zeta-Jones’ homeware line. They have [each] independently told us how much they love these blankets, so I think those blankets were really good!
“I Love That for You” is now airing on Showtime. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
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Image: FXThe new trailer has just been released for the season 4 premiere of the hit vampire mockumentary comedy, What We Do In The Shadows, and it promises a season that’s sillier and more absurd than ever. Based on the film by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, and adapted for American television by Clement, the show has been a massive success, with 10 Emmy nominations and critical acclaim for both the actors and writers. It has, additionally, been renewed for seasons 5 and 6 ahead of the season 4 premiere.At the end of season 3 we saw two of the four vampires (plus one haggard familiar/bodyguard) trapped in coffins, heading for the old world. In the season 4 trailer, however, all vampires are back on Staten Island (presumably) and living it up. Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) has opened a nightclub, Lazslo (Matt Berry) has taken over parenting the baby Colin Robinson (previously, Mark Proksch) with the intent of making him “the most interesting man in the world,” and Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak) trying to find love in all the wrong places. And poor Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) is just trying to hold it all together.I was already excited about this season, but the trailer promises some incredible antics, tension, and hapless romance. I’m not holding my breath for a Nandermo kiss this season, but maybe this is laying the groundwork for Nandor to realize that the love of his after life has been by his side for ten years. What We Do In The Shadows season 4 will premiere on July 12 on Hulu.Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
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LOS ANGELES — Roger E. Mosley, best known for his role as the helicopter pilot Theodore “T.C.” Calvin in the CBS television series “Magnum P.I.,” died early Sunday. He was 83 years old. No further details about Mosley’s death were available.Mosley’s daughter confirmed the news of his death through a tribute post on her Facebook.“Roger E. Mosley, my father, your friend, your ‘coach Mosley’ your ‘TC’ from Magnum P.I., passed away at 1:17am,” she wrote. “He was surrounded by family as he transcended peacefully. We could never mourn such an amazing man. He would hate any crying done in his name. It is time to celebrate the legacy he left for us all. I love you daddy. You loved me too. My heart is heavy but I am strong. I will care for mommy, your love of almost 60 years. You raised me well and she is in good hands. Rest easy.”Clockwise from left: Larry Manetti, John Hillerman, Roger E. Mosley, Tom Selleck in season 1 of Mangum P.I. Universal / Everett CollectionThe actor was well-known for his role alongside Tom Selleck in the original 1980s series “Magnum P.I.” In total, Mosley starred in 158 episodes and made a cameo in the show’s rebooted 2018 CBS series as the barber to the character he originated, T.C.Born in Los Angeles on Dec. 18, 1938, Mosley was raised in Watts and was a student at Jordan High School. In 1971, he got his start in screen acting with playing small roles in “Cannon” and “Longstreet.” He went on to play Monk in “Terminal Island,” alongside Phyllis Davis and his soon-to-be co-star Selleck.After a number of roles in the late 1970s, Mosley began his time on “Magnum, P.I.” as Theodore “T.C.” Calvin, a helicopter pilot who operated a tourist charter business called “Island Hoppers.” His character often appeared alongside Orville “Rick” Wright, played by Lawrence Francis Manetti. Mosley also directed and wrote an episode of the original series.In addition to “Magnum, P.I.,” Mosley also made appearances on the shows “Love Boat,” “Night Gallery,” “Sanford and Son,” “Kung Fu,” “Kojak,” “McCloud,” “The Rockford Files,” “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams,” “Starsky and Hutch,” “You Take the Kids,” “Night Court,” “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper,” “Walker,” “Texas Ranger,” “Rude Awakening,” “Las Vegas” and “Fact Checkers Unit.”On the film side, Mosley is credited for his work on Blaxploitation films such as “The Mack,” “Hit Man,” “Sweet Jesus,” “Preacherman,” “Darktown Strutters” and “The River Niger.” He also played one of the main roles in the 1979 TV film “The Jericho Mile,” which was the feature debut of Michael Mann.Mosley is survived by his partner, Toni Laudermick, and three children.
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Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comLONDON, June 21 (Reuters) - The squabbling siblings of "The Umbrella Academy" return for more superhero antics this week, contending with a fresh universal threat and some new family rivals.Season three of the hit Netflix show sees the introduction of the slicker Sparrow Academy as well as the transition of character Vanya Hargreeves to Viktor Hargreeves, mirroring the personal life of actor Elliot Page.Showrunner Steve Blackman said he worked closely with Page on a storyline after the 35-year-old Oscar nominee, formerly known as Ellen Page, said in late 2020 he was transgender and had changed his first name.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"Elliot had called me after the scripts were done and said he was making the transition and I obviously wanted to be very supportive. No one...made me write it into the story but I did think was the right thing to do," Blackman told Reuters."I reached out to (LGBTQ media advocacy group) GLAAD, I reached out to a trans writer that I wanted to be my consultant and together with Elliot, we talked about how we were going to do the story. We didn't want it to become the story of the show, so we had to find a balance between making that transition at the same time doing it in a way that felt authentic, sensitive, real."Season two wrapped with the siblings halting a 1963 apocalypse and returning to the present to find themselves in another timeline and their home occupied by the Sparrow Academy - siblings adopted by their father, including a mean version of their deceased brother Ben.Creator Steve Blackman and cast members Robert Sheehan, Ritu Arya, David Castaneda, Justin H. Min, Aidan Gallagher and Tom Hopper attend a premiere for the Season 3 of the television series The Umbrella Academy in West Hollywood, California, U.S., June 17, 2022. REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniPreviously, Ben, played by actor Justin H. Min, only appeared as a ghost to his brother Klaus."It was great though to finally be able to act alongside some of the other cast members for the first time, to see them look me in the eye for the first time," Min said.Based on the comic books by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, the show has won over fans with its relatable family struggles, catchy tunes and surrealist elements.Asked about the set dynamic, actor Tom Hopper, who plays Luther, said: "We all know each other so well and we know each other's characters so well now and how we're all playing it that it's a lot of fun.""But it can be a little bit chaotic sometimes.""The Umbrella Academy" season three premieres on Wednesday.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Alexandra HudsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Image source, PA/Liam McBurneyImage caption, Creator Lisa McGee based the show Derry Girls on her experiences growing up in the cityDerry City and Strabane District Council has voted unanimously to award Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee the freedom of the city. SDLP councillor Martin Reilly put forward the proposal in recognition of the "global positive impact" Ms McGee's work has had on the city and district.Ms McGee will be the first woman to receive the city's highest honour. Reacting to the news, Ms McGee posted on social media saying that she was "stunned, shocked and very honoured".Derry Girls, which first aired on Channel 4 in 2018, follows four teenage girls - and "a wee English fella" - growing up in Londonderry in Northern Ireland during the 1990s.It follows the group as they navigate the ups and downs of teenage life, all in the shadow of the final years of The Troubles.Derry Girls has been a massive success for Channel 4, winning Royal Television Society Awards, Irish Film and Television Awards and being nominated for BAFTAs.The final episode aired on Wednesday 18 May after three series. Notable recipients of the freedom of the city include:Image source, PAcemakerImage caption, John Hume, pictured on the walls of his home city Derry, helped create the climate that brought an end to Northern Ireland's TroublesNobel Peace Prize winner and former SDLP leader John HumeFormer UK Prime Minister Winston ChurchillComposer, musician and songwriter Phil CoulterFormer Catholic and Church of Ireland bishops, Edward Daly and James MehaffeyDerry City's treble-winning manager Jim McLaughlinUltra-endurance athlete Danny Quigley'Broken the mould'Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle on Friday, councillor Martin Reilly said he is delighted the motion was passed unanimously. "It recognises the value of Lisa's work and the contribution it has made to the arts and the wider impact it has had on tourism for the city. "The number of people who now visit Derry specifically to see where Derry Girls was filmed and to get their picture taken in front of the Derry Girls mural is amazing."Councillor Reilly said that Ms McGee will be making history when she receives the highest civic honour that the council can bestow."Lisa will be the first women to receive the award and that is something that council definitely needed to put right because all the previous recipients were male. "All of the previous recipients have been worthy nominees, but it was right that we also made sure that there was a female on that list. "Derry Girls has broken the mould and Lisa has as well," he said. Image source, Channel 4Image caption, Derry Girls centres on teenager Erin Quinn (centre) and her friends growing up in the cityMarie-Louise Muir, from The Talking Derry Girls podcast, has said "there is a sense of pride and joy" about being from this city which Lisa has encapsulated so beautifully with Derry Girls."I am a bit shocked that Lisa will be the first woman to be awarded the freedom of the city. "Sadly we are still talking about gender, while I completely agree that Lisa does deserve it, it is a crying shame that women haven't been recognised up until now."Especially with something like Derry Girls, which is a celebration of the strong matriarchy and the strong women of this city."There is a huge discussion to be had here, and that is not to take away from the absolute joy of Lisa McGee getting it". Ms McGee's other notable work includes the television series Raw, which she created for Irish broadcaster RTÉ; the Channel 4 sitcom London Irish and The Deceived for Channel 5.A date will now be set to convene a dedicated special meeting of the council to confer the honour upon Ms McGee.
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The Weeknd is getting into series television with a project titled The Idol for HBO, and he has recruited Euphoria creator Sam Levinson to help him. Which tracks. The man, also known as Abel Tesfaye, is famous for creating elaborate mythologies and storylines around his music. So much so that he recently convinced a good chunk of people that he really did get extensive plastic surgery (he did not, it was all just part of a story he was telling around his album After Hours). He’s also spoken of trying his hand at screenwriting before but has refused to elaborate on any of the details. You can tell from his music videos alone, the man definitely watches a lot of movies. The Weeknd will co-created the project with Levinson and his own longtime creative producer Reza Fahim. Lily-Rose Depp will co-star in the series with Troye Sivan joining the cast as a series regular. Here’s everything we know about the series so far.Is there a trailer for The Idol? Finally, over a year after the series was officially announced, we have our first look at the The Idol in a 90-second trailer. Filled with all the intensity one would assume to come from a Tesfaye and Levinson project, the teaser introduces us to Depp’s character, Jocelyn, as well as Tesfaye’s club owner/cult leader. Described as “the sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood,” we get a glimpse at the sex, alcohol, and wealth that are going to drive this series, as well as the relationship between Depp and Tesfaye’s characters. “Do you trust me,” he asks her, to which she shakes her head in response: “Not really.” Will The Weeknd star in The Idol?In addition to his behind-the-scenes work, Tesfaye will also co-star in the series. He’s previously tried his hand at acting in Uncut Gems, and he certainly seems to give his dramatic all in his music videos. In the first trailer for the series, we see the singer’s character for the first time, a sleezy nightclub owner who engages in a relationship with Depp’s pop star. It’s a character we could imagine seeing in one of Tesfaye’s music videos, but will absolutely be his most realized role to date. What is The Idol about?According to a statement from the show, The Idol is “set against the backdrop of the music industry, centers on a self-help guru and leader of a modern-day cult, who develops a complicated relationship with an up-and-coming pop idol.” This of course begs the question of which one is the titular “idol”: the actual famous pop star or the guy who has a cult devoted to him? Who Will Lily-Rose Depp Play? Photo by WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesDepp stars in the show as Jocelyn, the pop star who develops a relationship with Tesfaye’s club owner. This will be Depp’s first time on TV, and pretty much her first chance to helm any project. As for her singing ability, well, Depp had a memorable musical moment in one of her earliest films, Yoga Hosers. She took lead vocals on a rendition of Styx’s song “Babe.” Singing is also in her blood. Before her mother Vanessa Paradis became a Chanel model and actress, she actually first found fame at 14 as a teenage pop star in her native France. Paradis has kept up with her music career, most recently releasing a studio album in 2018. In August, Depp also uploaded a first look at “Jocelyn” in her full popstar glory. She’s seen in an elaborate crimson lingerie set more appropriate for the stage than a boudoir, with red streaks good enough for Y2K-era Christina Aguilera throughout her hair. Who is producer Reza Fahim? Fahim is The Weeknd’s longtime creative producer, though the Iranian native first made his mark in Hollywood as a well-known nightlife guru himself. He’s best known for being the co-owner of former Silverlake hotspot Tenants of the Trees (a favorite among celebrities) but left nightlife with the ultimate goal of screenwriting. Who is in the cast of The Idol?Along with The Weeknd and Depp, The Idol has quite the cast. Australian singer Troye Sivan has been announced as a series regular, as has Suzanna Son, Steve Zissis, Hari Nef and Rachel Sennot. In addition, Melanie Liburd, Tunde Adebimpe, Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, Nico Hiraga, and Anna Heche are joining the cast in recurring roles. The first trailer also provides a sneak peak of Blackpink’s Jennie, who will seemingly have a part in the series, though at this point it’s unclear how large of a part she will play. When is the release date?The Idol has had some struggles throughout its production, including a creative snag back in April 2022 that led the show to “build, refine, and evolve their vision for the show,” according to Deadline. Because of that, the release date is unclear, and the teaser didn’t provide any more information, just announcing the series will be “coming soon.”What channel is it on? HBO, which means it would also likely stream on HBO Max.Is it anything like The Neon Demon?Several commenters have noticed some parallels between The Weeknd’s cinematic music videos and Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2016 film The Neon Demon before. Elle Fanning plays a young model who finds fame in Los Angeles who gets entangled with something like a cult (or at least occult-ish). It’s maybe not a surprise that the film’s co-writer Mary Laws has been recruited as a writer and producer for The Idol. We doubt she wants to directly repeat herself, but the two projects are bound to be compared. This article was originally published on 07.01.21
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Television
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Watching the opening credits on the final episode of Neighbours (Channel 5), with almost four decades of variations of the famous golden typography edited into one, it would not be hyperbole to suggest that it feels like watching your life flash before your eyes. Ramsay Street may be in a fictional suburb on the other side of the world from the UK, but from the start of this nostalgia-filled finale, it’s clear that producers – and viewers – are well aware that this is more than simply the end of a television show. More an era.We begin as we close, with Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne) looking tearful as she surveys the street. For sale signs loom over every corner of the cul de sac, with many of the residents planning to leave. Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) is set to sell his beloved Lassiters hotel complex and move to New York. Even Toadie Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney) is selling up after 25 years. It is Toadfish’s wedding to Melanie Pearson (Lucinda Cowen) that is the crux of the final episode, ushering in a celebratory mood and most importantly, an excuse for old faces to return.Neighbours birthed a slew of pop legends and Hollywood stars and it’s a testament to the fondness they feel for the show that many choose to return for the finale. Natalie Imbruglia and Holly Valance are on a bench musing about what makes a good singer. Margot Robbie says hi on FaceTime, filming from what appears to be her toilet. Guy Pearce looks to be having the time of his life returning as Mike Young, creating a moving reunion with high-school lost love Plain Jane Super Brain (Annie Jones). No appearance is more anticipated, though, than that of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. While brief, the novelty of seeing the two of them as 1980s love birds Charlene and Scott once again does not disappoint. Driving on to the street as the car radio blasts Especially for You, Minogue dons a denim jumpsuit with more than a small nod to Charlene’s infamous overalls. Thirty years have passed and no time at all.Toadie and Mel’s wedding … Photograph: FremantleThe challenge for the writers was always going to be wrapping up existing plots, while providing sufficient nostalgia for older fans. They do it very well. Former mistress of Karl Kennedy, Izzy Hoyland (Natalie Bassingthwaighte), returns as a homage to one of soapland’s classic affairs (coming back to sleep with Karl’s son then dump him for a millionaire, naturally). Pearce being taken on a tour inside the Ramsay Street houses gives a summary of events for any viewers who have lost track over the years (“How many wives has Paul had?” he asks Jane. “Six.”) Meanwhile, Harold Bishop’s “memory book” enables present-day scenes to be interspersed with classic clips. Seeing legendary characters – Helen Daniels, Madge Bishop, Mrs Mangel – again, and on fuzzy 80s tapes, is a reminder of just how long this Australian suburb has been with us.Any soap ending feels strangely unnatural. Continuing drama is, by its definition, continual. While other shows come into our lives for a few weeks, soaps are with us day in day out through our childhoods, university days, to adulthood. After 37 years, the creators of Neighbours could claim its demise will be particularly keenly felt. They would not be wrong. It is not just that the series has a uniquely positive place in British culture – and not only with fans who haven’t watched it since they were skipping lectures to watch the BBC lunchtime slot. The show was still pulling in 1.5 million viewers on Channel 5 when it was axed and despite never being able to reach the halcyon days of the 80s-90s, was still producing headline-worthy storylines in its final weeks.Outlandish … the Ramsay Street party rages around Karl and Susan Kennedy. Photograph: FremantleIn the end, fittingly, most of the departing characters decide to stay on the street, and Paul Robinson holds on to Lassiters. It is a last-minute reprieve, as if to replicate the one fans were hoping to get from television executives.By the time Susan gives her closing monologue as a street party rages around her, even the ghosts of “lost friends” such as Madge Bishop, Doug Willis and Sonya Rebecchi emerging doesn’t seem too outlandish. As an errant balloon pops in the sky and confetti rains down on the famous street, the original theme tune starts to play. Charlene clinks a champagne glass with her old friend Paul. This isn’t a finale mourning a show’s demise: it’s a celebration of its success – and what a success it was.
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Television
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"Larry's the only person on the planet who doesn't think he'll come up with more good ideas," "Curb" showrunner Jeff Schaffer tells IndieWire. Welcome to It’s a Hit! In this series, IndieWire speaks to creators and showrunners behind a few of our favorite Emmy-nominated television programs about the moment they realized their show was breaking big.
If there’s one clear distinction between the simpatico minds driving “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” it’s that Larry David always thinks he’s out of ideas and Jeff Schaffer knows that will never happen.
“Bad things are still happening to me,” Schaffer said. “So I’ve still got ideas.”
Schaffer, who’s been officially producing, writing, and directing the HBO comedy gem since Season 5, spoke to IndieWire about the show’s sustained success, including returning from a six-year “interregnum” and why each season could be the last… but almost certainly isn’t.
“When you sign up to do a season of ‘Curb,’ you’re signing up to do the final season of ‘Curb,'” Schaffer said. “And I finally figured out why. It’s because when Larry does a season, he puts every idea that he really likes into that season. So at the end of the season, there’s this hole — there aren’t any ideas that he really likes — so how could he possibly do another season? He’s the only person on the planet who doesn’t think he’s going to come up with more good ideas.” Schaffer said he even wrapped Season 11 — nominated for four Emmys in 2022, including Outstanding Comedy Series — like he would a series finale. “This last one, more than any, was built to be a finale,” he said, echoing comments to The Hollywood Reporter when he said they originally planned for Larry’s character to drown in the season’s closing shot.
“We shot as if it was going to be the last one ever. I had to at least prepare for it,” Schaffer said, before David changed his mind and chose to keep his beloved curmudgeon alive for a few more awkward complaints.
But fear not “Curb” fans: The duo is already hard at work on Season 12. David confirmed the series’ return in April, and Schaffer said they’re aimed to start shooting this fall. Ideas are still being generated. Scripts are still being fine-tuned. But along with all the “generally terrible” people who inspire the show’s social critiques — “There’s an open spigot on bad behavior [on L.A.’s] west side. We’ve just got to get our cup in there.” — the showrunner credits the joy “Curb” brings its creators for its longevity. They make it for themselves: as an outlet for their frustrations, an artistic expression, and just for the plain fun of it. That so many fans get to feel the same way, well, that’s just a bonus.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
IndieWire: If you’re acting like every season is the last season, does that free you from worrying about the ratings?
Jeff Schaffer: I don’t even honestly know what the ratings are. OK.
Alec Berg [the current “Barry” showrunner and former “Curb” and “Seinfeld” producer] actually said it best: “There’s no ‘they,’ when we make this show.” And that’s the beauty of HBO. There’s no “they.” There’s not like, “I wonder what they think.” “Will they like this?” “Will they make us cut that?” If you told me Larry was making this to put on his shelf as a home video, just to make himself happy, it would be [made] the exact same way. Some of the chances we take and the extreme or wild things we do, we’re doing them because we like them, and we truly don’t care if anyone else watches.
Larry David in “Curb Your Enthusiasm”John P. Johnson / HBO
But you still need an audience for HBO to keep renewing it. If truly no one watches, you couldn’t make what you’re making.
So we have this six-year interregnum, right? I finished “The League” and [Larry and I] started talking. First, Larry wanted me to direct a movie that someone wanted him to be in. So as we were talking about ideas for this movie, we kept going, “That would be a funny ‘Curb’ idea.” “Oh, that would be a funny ‘Curb’ idea.” And he said, “I really just — I feel like I just want to do ‘Curb’ again.” And I said, “Well then why don’t you do it?” And he goes, “Well, do you think anybody else would want to do it?” “Yeah, the actors would love to do it.” He goes, “You want to do it?” “Yeah, I’ll do it. That’d be so fun.”
And then he said — it’s the oddest thing — he said, “Do you think anyone would want to see it?”
I said, “Yeah! Yeah, I do.” So I think the reason why the show feels fresh all the time is because it never exists because it is obligated to exist. It only exists because Larry has an idea that he feels is worth doing. The show never comes back as an obligation. It always comes back because of an inspiration.
But when you did come back from that six-year break, there wasn’t a moment where you thought you were right? That, yeah, people did want to see it and the show’s really clicking again?
Here’s the thing. If you stay away for a long time, people are happy to see you again. We had some built-in love just by the fact that we weren’t around. But in terms of, “Is it working?” I mean, that’s a daily and episodic thing, right? We’re still worried about the micro: “Is this story working? Is this episode working? Do these stories work together?” And then you think, “OK, this episode is working.” I guess we never worry about the show itself [working]. We’re still worried about each brick. I don’t really worry about the house.
The show is micro and we’re micro. I could honestly say Larry and I literally — I’ve been with him for millions of years now, and in all of the years, we never reflect on it.
That’s so interesting because then Season 10 famously wrapped at the start of the pandemic, and a lot of people seemed to catch up on the show or appreciate it all the more. Even then, you weren’t thinking about “Curb’s” greater impact? We were sitting there FaceTiming, trying to figure out how to do Season 11. That’s what we were worried about. Like, “This is impossible — [Season 10] tied together so well. How can we do that again? How can we match that?” But when you start that long hike of writing a season, you can’t look up to the top of the mountain. It’s too daunting. So you just sort have to put one narrative foot in front of the other and grind it out.
And by the way, there are such big issues in the world and people doing such good, big things and solving big problems. But someone has to take care of the little stuff. That’s us. The real niggling, annoying stuff, that’s where we come in.
So thinking about it now, in this interview, what’s the greater impact?
I think the reason why people watch the show, well, they see it a few different ways. Sometimes they see it as wish fulfillment. “Oh my God, ‘That happened to me. I wish I had done that.” And I’m going to tell you something: It’s wish fulfillment for Larry, too. That’s how the show gets written. He comes into the office like, “I went to this dinner party last night, and they served tap water. The host served tap water! Who serves tap water at a dinner party? I really wanted to complain!” And I said, “Well, Real Larry didn’t, but TV Larry sure is.” And that becomes the start of an episode.
All this stuff is from real life, and people don’t stop being annoying. So the show can continue as long as we have Larry’s radar.
Where are you at with Season 12?
We’re writing it right now, and we’ll start shooting, I don’t know, late fall. We’re in the middle of it right now. I’m looking at a dry erase board. […] We’re just basically sitting in a room, showing each other our awkward scars, and coming up with new stuff.
Funny things are like cockroaches. They’re hard to kill. They stick around, and I think we’re just comedy cockroaches.
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” Seasons 1 – 11 are available on HBO. Season 12 is expected to shoot this fall. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
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Television
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Entertainment July 28, 2022 / 5:16 AM / AP Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings Getty Los Angeles — "Jeopardy!" is giving itself two answers to the question of who gets to host the quiz show - Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings. Bialik and Jennings have been serving as rotating hosts since Mike Richards exited the show amid controversy after a short tenure as the late Alex Trebek's replacement. Executive producer Michael Davies said in an announcement posted online Wednesday that deals were signed with Bialik and Jennings "to be the hosts of Jeopardy! moving forward." "In Mayim and Ken, we have two outstanding hosts at the beginning of their Jeopardy! hosting careers who connect with their own unique fanbases, new fans, and the traditional Jeopardy! viewer," Davies said in the statement. Jennings, an all-time "Jeopardy!" champion, and actor Bialik ("Call Me Kat," "The Big Bang Theory") were among the guest hosts who filled in after Trebek's death from cancer in 2020. While the stints were seen as tryouts, the job unexpectedly went to then-executive producer Richards last summer. At the same time, Bialik was given a role by "Jeopardy!" studio Sony as emcee for the show's prime-time and spinoff series, including a new college championship. It was viewed in part as an effort to placate fans who complained that the succession of guest hosts seemed like a publicity stunt and that the job was Richards' all along. But Richards was quickly gone from the show following a report of his past unguarded and offensive comments on a podcast. Jennings and Bialik stepped in to share hosting duties as their schedules allowed. Davies laid out details of how the job-sharing plan would work when the show begins its new season in September. Jennings, who is also a "Jeopardy!" consulting producer, will kick off the season and host the Tournament of Champions with past winners including Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio, Mattea Roach and Ryan Long. During that period, Bialik will host "Celebrity Jeopardy!" on ABC in prime time. "When she takes over from Ken in January, the current plan is to have her host a couple of new tournaments as well as the Jeopardy! National College Championship" and whatever else her commitment to "Call Me Kat" will allow for with Jeopardy!" Davies said. "We know you value consistency, so we will not flip flop the hosts constantly and will keep you informed about the hosting schedule," he said. "Jeopardy!" had enjoyed remarkable stability under Trebek, who hosted the show for 37 seasons. Davies said Bialik and Jennings "love and and respect this institution of a television program." Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue
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Television
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The premise was simple yet intriguing: put a group of strangers in a house and film them as they “stop being polite and start getting real.” The Real World, which marked MTV’s first foray into non-music programming when it debuted in 1992, was an instant success, setting a blueprint for reality docusoaps to come and inspiring multiple spin-offs. A central tenet of the show was its firm and, at the time, radical belief that diversity was integral to its success. Producers positioned difference as a vehicle for social change and “growth” amongst the cast (as well as, let’s be clear, tension, conflict, and dramatic storylines)—but the series ultimately sparked meaningful dialogue off-screen, too. The Real World: San Francisco, the third season of the show, which aired in 1994, featured a boisterous cast of seven roommates (including notable antagonist David “Puck” Rainey), but it’s best remembered through the legacy of its most beloved star, Pedro Zamora. Zamora, a 22-year-old Cuban American AIDS activist who had been diagnosed when he was 17, made history when he became the first cast member, and one of the first reality TV stars, to openly live with AIDS. He also broke barriers when he and his partner, fellow cast member Sean Sasser, took part in one of the first same-sex commitment ceremonies ever aired on television. While Zamora’s time on the show marked a huge step for on-screen representation, it was also his tireless commitment to fighting the stigma around HIV-AIDS, as well as his efforts to dispel homophobia and misconceptions about queer identity, that helped to change the minds of his castmates and viewers alike. Over the course of 20 episodes, Zamora humanized an epidemic that had long been characterized by fear and ignorance, so much so that then-President Bill Clinton thanked him for his activism. The star, whose condition worsened over the course of filming, died the night after the finale of his season aired. But his legacy as both an educator and a foundational reality TV figure lives on. —Cady Lang Contact us at letters@time.com.
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With 2022 Emmy nominations now announced, the Best Drama Series race between "Squid Game" and "Succession" has "Severance" as a dark horse. Last Year’s Winner: “The Crown”Still Eligible: No.Hot Streak: With last year’s winner out of the race, talk of a streak goes to a network level. Will Netflix, which won the category for the very first time last year, keep the momentum going with a “Squid Game” win, or will HBO reclaim their throne now that “Succession” is back?Notable Ineligible Series: “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Season 6 was not eligible); “The Crown” (Season 5 was not eligible); “Westworld” (Season 4 was not eligible); “The Boys” (Season 3 was not eligible); “The Mandalorian” (Season 3 was not eligible)
This article will be updated throughout the season, along with all our predictions, so make sure to keep checking IndieWire for the latest news from the 2022 Emmys race. The nomination round of voting took place from June 16 to June 27, with the official Emmy nominations announced on Tuesday, July 12. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be given out over two consecutive nights on Saturday, September 3 and Sunday, September 4, with an edited presentation on the ceremonies to be broadcast on Saturday, Sept. 10, at 8:00 p.m. ET on FXX. Finally, the 74rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will take place on Monday, September 12, and air live on NBC at 8:00 p.m. ET/ 5:00 p.m. PT. The State of the Race
Emmy nominations morning certainly brought more surprises than expected, yet this year’s Outstanding Drama Series race has been the most predictable of the major categories. A large part of that is due to the fact that “Succession” is back! And is leading the pack with 25 nominations! And broke a decades-old record for most acting nominations for a single season! What’s fascinating as well is that none of the actors being recognized come as curveballs. For example, Kieran Culkin, Nicholas Braun, and Matthew Macfadyen were all nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the second season, and the latter two just did their best work yet with Season 3. J. Smith-Cameron is the only series regular to get their first nomination for the show this year, likely some residual love for her titillating scenes with Culkin, of which there were too few in Season 3. And all of the nominated guest stars, from Adrien Brody to MVP Guest Actress Harriet Walter took part in a lot of the season’s most pivotal moments. That said, while its three Directing nominations are deserved (Lorene Scafaria’s work on “Too Much Birthday” in particular conveying the unique atmosphere of the show), to say “Succession” Season 3 was the best of the series so far would probably be an unpopular opinion.
Its biggest competition is another record-breaker that was the biggest surprise of the television season. “Squid Game” now has the distinction of being the first non-English show to be nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, and is tied with fellow freshman series “Severance” for the third-most nominated Outstanding Drama Series contender (with 13 nominations). Netflix’s biggest international hit has the most captivating narrative of any nominee, with threads that appeal to both critical and populist ideals. It is likely the first time there’s been a global conversation about a series, but the phenomenon was also made for a tiny fraction of the cost for a season of “The Crown,” last year’s category winner and one of the streaming network’s most expensive shows. Predicting how “Squid Game” will be awarded in the major categories, if at all, is tricky. If “Parasite” is the precedent for how Hollywood honors major non-English projects, then that film won Best Picture without any of its cast even being nominated in the actor categories. If we base it off of the show’s success at this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, stars Lee Jung-jae and Jun Ho-Yeon won the Male and Female Actor in a Drama Series categories, but “Squid Game” lost to “Succession” in the major Ensemble category. Obviously the ideal is that the show wins in all major categories, but if it is an either/or situation, it may be the safer bet to predict it winning Outstanding Drama Series just because of its achievements overall, though Netflix famously had an extremely difficult time winning this award until last year (a year where many big contenders were ineligible).
Anyhow, as far as dark horses go, we’re going to see a bigger push for “Severance.” The people that binged it seem to really love it, but on the other side are plenty of people who have drawn out their viewing of the mind-bending drama. Its excellent showing on the nominations front incentivizes more voters to finally give it a full watch, meaning that it will be more top of mind in Phase 2 of Emmy voting.
“Ozark” did a good job of sticking the landing in its final, extra-long season, so it may be due for a parting gift in the form of a big win here. However, while it has collected dozens of nominations over the years, the only three that the show has won so far are two back-to-back Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Emmys for Julia Garner, and one Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series Emmy for Jason Bateman. With no love in the below-the-line categories, the Netflix hit remains a longshot to the end.
One nominated series that kind of has the opposite problem is HBO’s blockbuster teen drama “Euphoria,” which is actually the second most nominated Outstanding Drama Series contender this year. While its most notable win so far has been for its star Zendaya, it is largely a show that does better below the line (its other two Season 1 wins are Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) and Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics). Its lack of nominations for Outstanding Writing or Directing for a Drama Series makes a win in Outstanding Drama Series seem difficult, but there could be enough good will for Lead Actress frontrunner Zendaya, supporting cast breakout Sydney Sweeney, and the many great artisans working on it behind the scenes to push it over the edge, and surprise everyone.
“Yellowjackets” is another case where it did not get a ton of love below the line, receiving only 7 nominations, but the categories it did get nominated for show that its freshman season went over really well with voters. It is the only show nominated twice in the Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series category, it broke into the tight Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series race, and it has Melanie Lynskey, who is likely Zendaya’s biggest competition for the Lead Actress category (she already won a Critics Choice Award this year for her performance). Showtime’s only Outstanding Drama Series Emmy was for Season 1 of “Homeland,” so maybe beginner’s luck will work its magic for the network again. Finally, “Better Call Saul” and “Stranger Things” both had highly regarded seasons this year, that both served as a prelude to their concluding season, but neither series has ever had a win in any major category. Given how voters will still have one more shot to award both shows at a later Emmys, there seems to be little chance either will win in this specific category come September.
Power Rankings: “Succession” (HBO)
“Squid Game” (Netflix)
“Severance” (Apple TV+)
“Ozark” (Netflix)
“Euphoria” (HBO)
“Yellowjackets” (Showtime)
“Better Call Saul” (AMC)
“Stranger Things” (Netflix) Will Win:“Succession”Could Win:“Squid Game”Should Win:“Squid Game” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
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Television
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House of the Dragon is now one month away, and to say that it has an uphill struggle ahead of it is an understatement. It’s a Game of Thrones spin-off that has to regain everyone’s trust after Game of Thrones disintegrated so thoroughly during its final season. It has also had the carpet whipped out from underneath it by news that HBO is going to make another Game of Thrones spin-off, starring Kit Harington as Jon Snow. And, potentially worst of all, it will find itself competing with Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which has already made a splash by being the most expensive television series ever made.And these challenges might explain why the House of the Dragon press onslaught has already begun. Little by little, we’re starting to learn more about the series, and why HBO desperately needs us to watch it. Here’s what we know so far.The cast Photograph: HBOSome of the earliest information released about House of the Dragon concerned its stars. Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy play the blonde ones. Rhys Ifans, Paddy Considine and Olivia Cooke play the darker-haired ones. Steve Toussaint plays the only Black person in Westeros. Gallingly, and inevitably, Toussaint has reported already being the subject of racist abuse from Game of Thrones fans.The plot Photograph: Landmark Media/AlamyTaking place 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon will see the Targaryens in full pomp, although judging by nudges and hints from those in the know, this might not last for the entire duration of the series. In an interview for the Hollywood Reporter, co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik said that at its heart, House of the Dragon will be about four characters: “There’s the king, his brother, the king’s daughter and her best friend. Then the best friend becomes the king’s wife and thereby the queen.” Essentially the story is, ‘What if your best friend hooks up with your dad?’, which would be fairly icky for most people, but comparatively normal when compared to a family that isn’t exactly unfamiliar with the concept of incest.The structure Photograph: HBOThe Hollywood Reporter also points out that there will be several multi-year jumps throughout House of the Dragon. In this regard, it will be less like Game of Thrones (the story of a royal family gone mad with power and wealth) and more like The Crown (which is also that).How it came to be Photograph: HBOThis is one of the most interesting aspects of the whole shebang. HBO basically created House of the Dragon with what essentially amounts to an Apprentice task. Teams of people were asked to pitch spin-offs, with the resulting ideas ranging from preposterous (a show about the gods of Westeros learning how to be gods) to the wildly plausible (Bloodmoon, Jane Goldman’s prequel based on eight lines of text in George RR Martin’s books, which was turned into a $35m pilot starring Naomi Watts, then binned). In the end HBO went with House of the Dragon, possibly because Martin had written about this portion of history at length, or possibly because all the blonde wigs are the closest thing that Game of Thrones has to a logo.It’ll be faithful Photograph: Album/AlamyMartin has never really written books for the casual reader, with so many characters having so many near-identical names that it takes real dedication to keep them separated in your mind. This is also the case for House of the Dragon, which will feature both a Princess Rhaenyra and a Princess Rhaenys. According to the Hollywood Reporter, there was a meeting to see if some names could be altered to make it easier for viewers to follow. This request was shot down, underlining the fact that is a serious show for people who maintain a reverence for George RR Martin.It’ll be like the Game of Thrones you remember … Photograph: Karolina WebbOne of the only people on Earth to have seen House of the Dragon is George RR Martin himself, who wrote online: “Those of you who like complex, conflicted, grey characters (as I do) will like this series, I think. There will be plenty of dragons and battles, to be sure, but the spine of the story is the human conflicts, the love and the hate, character drama rather than action/ adventure.” Which, more than anything, seems like reassurance that House of the Dragon will be tonally similar to the first few seasons of Game of Thrones, rather than the berserk, pitch black CGI slugfest of the finale.… Although not exactlyThroughout the Hollywood Reporter piece, various higher ups keep wringing their hands about all the gratuitous nudity that filled much of Game of Thrones earlier seasons. Instead, House of Dragons will be much more pared down, with stridently feminist themes. One is how the patriarchy would rather tear itself apart than have a female leader. Another is apparently about the inherent dangers of childbirth. This is great news for anyone who really enjoys tedious online discourse about how wokeness is spoiling everything.There is much, much more to come Photograph: APAs well as House of the Dragon (and the Jon Snow spin-off), HBO is determined to wring more from the Game of Thrones IP. There will soon also be a direct Game of Thrones sequel, a Dunk and Egg series, a prequel series about Toussaint’s character and four different animated Game of Thrones shows. Put simply, if you’re excited about House of the Dragon, then remember this feeling. If HBO gets its way, soon you’ll be absolutely sick of it. House of the Dragon begins on HBO and HBO Max on 21 August in the US and on Sky Atlantic and Now in the UK on 22 August
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Television
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It’s hard to remember now, but back when Donald Glover’s peerless series first aired on FX in 2016 – a time before the release of Jordan Peele’s Get Out or Trump’s presidency – people thought they had a handle on it. A TV show named after a city famous for its music tradition, about an up-and-coming rapper named Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry) and his aimless cousin Earn (Glover), Atlanta (Disney+) looked set to be the Black version of country music soap Nashville. Or a quirky sitcom take on hip-hop melodrama Empire? Or like Lena Dunham’s Girls, but for boys?Instead, Atlanta has evaded expectations, rejected the norms of episodic television and generally roamed far and wide from its nominal home town, without ever crossing state lines. It is four years since the season two finale aired – a long gap even by post-pandemic standards – and Atlanta’s third season strays further than ever: Paper Boi and his entourage are touring Europe.First, though, a standalone episode centring on a character we’ve never seen before: a schoolboy called Loquareeous. We don’t even meet him until after an opening scene, featuring two men – one white, one Black – floating on a dark lake in a fishing boat. It plays like a fable on America’s wilful obliviousness to its own history of racial violence. Then, at the climactic moment, the action switches to a classroom where Loquareeous is asleep at his desk. He wakes to the happy news of a school trip to see Black Panther 2, “in an effort to promote more Black history in the curriculum”, but an overexuberant response lands him in the principal’s office. This sets in motion a chain of inept state interventions that lead to Loquareeous being taken out of his Black mother’s care and placed in the home of two apparently nurturing, white hippy women. There, the stench of brewing kombucha masks something far fouler.These nightmares-within-nightmares have a surreal quality – Glover once jokingly described Atlanta as “Twin Peaks with rappers” – but are firmly rooted in historical fact. Lake Lanier, 50 miles north-east of Atlanta, really does hide beneath its waters the site of Oscarville, a former thriving Black community turned into a ghost town by KKK “night riders”. And, horrifically, in 2018, two white women really did drive their six Black adopted children off a cliff in an incident known as “the Hart family murders”. Their Facebook friends remarked on what a happy, wholesome family they seemed.Donald Glover as Earn Marks and Brian Tyree Henry as Alfred ‘Paper Boi’ Miles go to Europe in season three of Atlanta. Photograph: Coco Olakunle/FXThat’s how Atlanta is. Just when you think you’re watching a whimsical stoner-comedy, it grabs you like a dead hand reaching up from a haunted lake, and reminds you of the absurdist horror lurking beneath. Opening a new season with such a narrative non-sequitur would be a bold move for any other show, but here it makes perfect sense. This is television as likely to take inspiration from internet memes and 90s kids cartoons as from a Palme d’Or-winner’s canon.Earn and the gang do turn up eventually, in appearances interspersed with more standalone episodes. Their encounters with the “Zwarte Peit” blackface tradition in Amsterdam, overzealous white allies in London and semi-cancelled Irish actor Liam Neeson (playing himself) promise to make this season a bracing watch for any non-Americans who smugly assumed “real racism” was a Trumpland-only phenomenon.Character continuity has not lost out to these bigger themes. Earn has developed impressive professional self-assurance, though an embarrassing incident at airport security might be his karmic retribution for the season two finale. Van (Zazie Beetz), meanwhile, is on a quest for purpose, accompanied by mystic sidekick Darius (LaKeith Stanfield). When they find themselves at a Midsommar-esque deathbed vigil, surrounded by whispering people in white, Darius argues the dying man must be Tupac, while Van has her existential anxieties soothed by a beatific “death doula”. But only temporarily.Outside the world of the show, Atlanta’s cast members have ascended to a higher realm. Henry is a Marvel superhero, Stanfield is Oscar-nominated and Beetz is in Brad Pitt’s latest, Bullet Train, while creator-star Glover has signed a deal with Amazon’s Prime Video that may see him get his own channel and announced that Atlanta is over. The fourth season, already filmed, will be its last. Not to come off too much like a Tupac-worshipping Dutch cult member, but the end is nothing to fear. Atlanta’s impact is such that it is sure to live on with us for ever.
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Television
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While Netflix is busy pumping out more shows than any one person could watch (probably), Amazon Prime has remained the place to go for a few key pieces of original content. Trouble is, navigating the service’s labyrinthine menus can make finding the right series a pain. We’re here to help. Below are our favorite Amazon series—all included with your Prime subscription. For more viewing picks, read WIRED's guide to the best films on Amazon Prime, the best TV shows on Netflix, and the best films on Netflix.The BoysSuperheroes are meant to represent hope and optimism—the best of us, given form. In The Boys, adapted from the darkly satirical comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, they're a reflection of humanity's worst—greed and unrestrained power, marketed to a gullible public by vested corporate interests, operating without restraint and leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. Enter Billy Butcher and his “associates,” who gleefully dispatch "Supes" who've gone too far, often in extraordinarily violent ways. The newly dropped third season finds the team forced to go legit and work for the US government, while struggling to find a way to topple the sadistic, psychotic Homelander, leader of The Seven—the world's premier superheroes, brought to you by Vought International—all while Butcher wrestles with becoming the thing he hates most: a Supe. Possibly Amazon's goriest show, The Boys stands as a pertinent examination of the abuses of power, all wrapped in superhero drag.Night SkyIrene and Franklin York are just like any retired couple, living out their twilight years in a home filled with decades of memories, and spending their evenings teleporting to a cabin on an alien world to look at the stars. Well, perhaps they’re not like any retired couple—and their lives get all the more complicated with the arrival of Jude, a strange man who appears in their secret bunker without explanation. A slow-burn sci-fi drama that explores themes of mortality and the rigors of aging as much as the central mystery of the cabin, Night Sky finds Sissy Spacek and J.K. Simmons in career best forms as the Yorks, struggling to solve the cosmic riddle they stumbled upon in their youth before their bodies and minds fail on them.The Wheel of TimeBased on Robert Jordan’s sprawling novel series—one so vast it makes Game of Thrones look concise—this is one of Amazon’s most ambitious, and expensive, series to date. The eight-episode first season follows Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), a powerful weaver of an ancient form of magic, as she gathers five unassuming young people, one of whom is destined to either save the world—or destroy it. The only problem is, no one knows which one it is, or which way their loyalties will sway should their powers awaken. A visually stunning series that blends sumptuous location shoots with cinematic effects work, this is sure to fill the epic fantasy void left by that other show.InvincibleWhen Mark Grayson inherits the incredible powers and abilities of his father, Omni-Man, he sets out to follow in his footsteps as the costumed superhero Invincible. Unfortunately, his coming-of-age is marred by a shocking twist that shakes his entire world—both personally and on the global political stage. A brilliantly animated adaptation of the hit Image comic book by writer Robert Kirkman and artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, Invincible offers a more mature look at the impact superpowered beings would have on society. And while it starts as an homage to classic teen superhero tropes, it goes on to do something Marvel and DC characters rarely do: grow up.Travel ManRichard Ayoade, polymath comedian and iconic introvert, visits a city with a celebrity. It’s a simple premise held up by the quality of the guests and Ayoade’s great rapport with them. Highlights include Ayoade and Bob Mortimer in Hamburg, and the particularly charming bromance Ayoade strikes up with Mad Men’s Jon Hamm, a surprisingly great foil for Ayoade’s nihilistic banter. “Do you see what I see?” Hamm asks when he sees Ayoade’s new tailored suit. “No,” he responds. “That's the prison of consciousness.” Seasons 1 to 8 are on Prime in the US, and 1 to 6 in the UK.Truth SeekersOne for the Doctor Who crowd, Truth Seekers is a gentle, silly season of paranormal hijinks. A Simon Pegg/Nick Frost project that’s heavier on Frost, as gruff broadband engineer and ghost hunter Gus, and lighter on Pegg, more of a fun cameo throughout as Gus’ boss. Stacked with genre references to chew on, it’s a family-friendly option with Samson Kayo, Susan Wokoma, and Malcolm McDowell rounding out the crew.Clarkson's FarmWe know, we know. But hear us out. This series sees Jeremy Clarkson—the broadcaster famous for the BBC’s Top Gear, whose emotional range usually occupies a narrow wedge between obnoxious lad and old bore—demonstrating a touching rawness and humility. It follows Clarkson's decision to purchase a 1,000-acre farm in the English countryside, and to run it himself despite a lack of farming knowledge, through extreme weather, limp crops, and Covid-19. Clarkson quickly realizes that he's in the debt of experts, and he's eager to learn and turn things around.The Underground RailroadBased on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead, this limited series from Moonlight director Barry Jenkins sticks pretty closely to the premise of the book. It's a work of historical fiction that takes the idea of the underground railroad—the network of smugglers who helped escaped slaves flee the South—and reimagines it as an actual subway system with trains and secretive station agents.FleabagYou're not meant to like Fleabag. She's maniacal, selfish, self-destructive, and morally bankrupt. Her family is loathsome, her lifestyle is ridiculous, and her job is a joke. Yet after watching this 12-episode series we defy you to not love her a little. This magnificent sitcom about a Londoner (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) grappling with the death of her best friend has no filter: You'll hear her thoughts on feminism, familial tension, love, and sodomy. The first time Waller-Bridge interrupts her own dialog to shoot a disarming, conspiratorial glance to the screen, you're hooked. Season 1 is a smutty yet wonderful crescendo of self-destruction driven by a cast of characters including Fleabag's intensely awkward sister Claire (Sian Clifford), her selfish and pretentious stepmother (Olivia Colman), and clueless father (Bill Paterson). The second season cheerfully bounds into blasphemy as she grapples with inappropriate (and reciprocated) feelings for a Catholic priest (Andrew Scott). It's shocking, and immensely watchable. One of the rare cases where a series truly is as good as people say.The Man in the High CastleThis adaptation of sci-fi master Philip K. Dick's novel about a world in which the Nazis won the Second World War was one of Amazon's first forays into producing its own content. The world-building is stunningly done—a divided, alternate-reality 1960s America never seemed so plausible—but be warned: There might be just a touch too much present-day resonance for some viewers.The Marvelous Mrs. MaiselWhat can a New York lady do when she finds out her husband is having an affair with his dim-witted secretary? If Mrs. Maisel is anything to go by, the answer is to head to a grotty watering hole in your nightgown, do a bit of standup comedy, and get hauled away by the police after flashing the entire audience. Set in the 1950s, this fast-talking fashionista hides her new life as a comedian from her family and ex while battling sexism, bad crowds, and big competition. Rachel Brosnahan stars as Midge Maisel in this subtle nod to Joan Rivers' career. With four seasons and a host of awards and nominations to its name, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is one of Amazon’s sharpest comedies.The ExpanseHumanity now lives among the stars—well, the rest of the solar system, at least. A group of antiheroes are linked by the disappearance of a wealthy political activist, and between them they must unravel what happened to her. Adding to the complexity are the political tensions between Earth, Mars, and the Belt, a group of loosely affiliated colonies between the two planets. That's just season 1—there are six available on Prime, and each is packed with enough daring missions, space fights, and Martian politics to keep fans of hard science fiction hooked.UndoneIf you’re a big fan of BoJack Horseman, you are going to love Undone, a similarly acerbic animated series following familiar themes of mental illness from the same creators of the Netflix show. Undone follows 28-year-old Alma (played by Rosa Salazar), a woman stuck in the monotonous rhythm of life who feels utterly unfulfilled in her relationship with her boyfriend Sam (Siddharth Dhananjay). But after a near-fatal car crash, Alma’s life physically begins to change—time is now nonlinear, and Alma has the uncontrollable ability to travel back and forth. While it’s a fun genre-bending romp, what’s even more special about Undone is that it’s one of the first TV series to use an animation style called rotoscoping for every single episode. With splendid writing, acting, and gorgeous visuals, Undone is well worth every second of your time.The BoysIn the world of The Boys, superheroes are big business. Venerated by the public and managed by a shady corporation who ensures they're properly marketed and monetized, the “supes” are more like Instagram influencers on steroids than traditional caped crusaders. The Boys form to uncover and punish their corruption, led by the fanatical Bill Butcher—played brilliantly by Karl Urban—who holds a serious grudge against the most powerful and unstable of all the heroes, Homelander. Based on the comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, The Boys is a darkly satirical take on the cape-and-cowl genre, with three seasons and an animated spin-off (The Boys Presents: Diabolical, also on Prime) under its belt, making it one of Prime Video’s most successful exclusive shows.Good OmensFeeling battered and emotionally bruised by bleak TV dystopias and even bleaker world news? Good Omens is your shelter in the storm, and inside it's warm, cozy, camp, and kind. Neil Gaiman has adapted his own 1990 book, cowritten with Terry Pratchett, which follows an angel (Michael Sheen) and a demon (David Tennant) trying to stop Armageddon. The six-part event series gives fans exactly what they dreamed of from such a fusion of cast and crew. Silly stuff with Cold War overtones, extreme whimsy, and gruff British wit.CatastropheFilthy, foul, and full of heart, this modern romance is less about love than it is the moments that test it. While on a business trip to London, American alcoholic Rob Norris (Rob Delaney) knocks up Irish school teacher Sharon Morris (Sharon Horgan). He moves to the UK, and they attempt life together—something they fail at often across four seasons. Catastrophe veers between hilarious and painful, with Delaney's gruff anger and Horgan's brilliant viciousness tripping up their personal and professional lives. Prepare to envy Horgan's brutal one-liners as much as her wardrobe. Costars often steal the show, notably broken couple Ashley Jensen and Mark Bonnar, as well as Carrie Fisher in her last television role.The Night ManagerThis six-part drama based on a novel by John Le Carre earns the accolade “all-star cast.” Tom Hiddleston is in James Bond audition mode as a hotel manager who volunteers to take down Hugh Laurie's scheming arms dealer, Richard “Dickie” Roper, while Olivia Colman plays Hiddleston's security service handler, Angela Burr, the moral center of the story.ForeverYou’ll know within the first episode if you’re into this slow, stylized miniseries from Parks & Recreation/Master of None alums Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard. It’s part high-concept TV, part uncomfortable marriage drama with a side helping of shtick from the two outrageously talented leads, Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen. It might make you impatient at times, but Forever will stick with you once you’ve watched the finale.Sneaky PeteJust released from prison, Marius (Giovanni Ribisi) steals the identity of his former cellmate Pete Murphy in order to hide from the dangers of his old life. On the run from a vicious debtor played by Bryan Cranston (who also jointly created the show), Marius nestles into Pete’s motley crew of estranged family, who are delighted to be reunited with their long-lost relative–and enters waters just as shark-infested as those from which he’s come. Over the course of three seasons, Sneaky Pete proves itself one of the finest dramas Amazon has produced yet.Mr. RobotThis Emmy-award-winning thriller starts out strong, and it just keeps getting better over the course of its four seasons. Rami Malek's turn as Elliot Alderson, an isolationist cyber-security expert turned vigilante hacktivist, provides a vulnerable face to a subject that's largely impenetrable to many viewers, while the corrupt organizations and faceless corporations his hacker collective targets make for relevant contemporary villains. Not just one of the most accurate hacking shows ever, but an exceptional television series in all senses.Mozart in the JungleA comedy-drama documenting the world of professional orchestra musicians in New York, Mozart in the Jungle is a strange beast. The series follows Hailey Rutledge (Lola Kirke), an aspiring oboist trying to build a career with the New York Symphony, and her conflicted relationship with eccentric conductor Rodrigo De Souza (Gael García Bernal). With a strong creative team and real-world source material in the form of professional oboist Blair Tindall's memoir Sex, Drugs, and Classical Music, the compelling and frequently hilarious show has picked up Golden Globes and Emmy awards, and proven itself one of Amazon's best exclusives.Red OaksIn the mid '80s, college student and struggling filmmaker David Myers (Craig Roberts) wants one last, great summer before adulthood beckons. Unfortunately, he's stuck working at a pretentious country club and struggling to gain momentum in his life. Big dreams of making it in the film industry meet crushing reality as David navigates the club's eccentric guests and their demands—from awkward wedding shoots to filming sex tapes for swingers clubs—while also struggling to maintain his relationship with girlfriend Skye. All three seasons of this delightful period comedy are available now.VikingsInspired by the real-life Viking hero and ruler Ragnar Lodbrok, Vikings is a family saga exploring the lives, epic adventures, and cultural politics of the raiders and explorers of the Dark Ages. Six seasons of the historically inspired action series are available on Amazon Prime Video, with WWE wrestler Adam “Edge” Copeland joining the cast in season 5 as the story expands to a civil war in Norway, battles in England against the Nordic invaders, and exploration of northern Africa.LoreEntertaining well past Halloween, this anthology series presents “the frightening and often disturbing tales based on real people and events that have led to our modern-day myths and legends.” Based on the award-winning podcast of the same name, there are two six-episode seasons exploring real-world horror stories available to chill your bones now.The TickOne of the world's strangest superheroes, Ben Edlund's Tick debuted in indie comics form in 1986, before gaining wider popularity thanks to a 1994 animated series. Now due for his second live-action adaptation (the first aired for one season in 2001), this take sees Peter Serafinowicz as the big, blue lover of justice—who may just be an escaped psychiatric patient with unusual durability. A graduate of Amazon's pilot season program, the full show is a delightful two-season tonic of superheroic whimsy.
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Television
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Supervising sound editors Nick Forshager and Kathryn Madsen look back on the joys of using sound to fill in key moments of the series. The 2022 Emmy nominations for Best Series Sound Design are a varied bunch: from the eldritch gurgling of “Stranger Things” to the explosive space adventures of “Picard,” “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” and “Boba Fett” to the retro, timey-wimey vibes of “Loki,” all these series feature nuanced and expansive work, creating fantastic worlds and immersing viewers in thrilling action.
But then there’s “Better Call Saul,” the lone show in the category which takes place wholly on planet Earth in the 21st century (however alien the landscape of the Albuquerque desert might look sometimes). It is a huge outlier by genre. It’s not an outlier at all, though, when you look at how “Better Call Saul” uses sound in its storytelling, or at how the show’s sound drives the series forward.
Co-supervising sound designer Nick Forshager said that, for longer episodes in Season 6, the team recorded 28-30 hours of foley — which, for anyone in need of a quick refresher, is the art of creating sounds in a post-production studio for a TV show or movie, in sync with each scene as it’s projected onto a screen. When you think about an old-time radio producer tapping a set of shoes on a wooden board up close to microphone in order to simulate footsteps, you’re thinking about foley effects. The “Better Call Saul” team does so much foley work in particular not because it’s hard to capture sounds on set, but because the show has made rich use of sound in all sorts of enterprising ways. Sound often gets a special emphasis in moments where the camera comes right up close to or enters the perspective of a specific character, or when the real world intrudes on characters, for both comedic and dramatic effect, to say nothing of the show’s action sequences, which rely less on the volume of gunfire and explosions (though when The Twins get involved, sometimes that changes). It’s more about finely threading a needle and finding ways to telegraph precisely where sounds are happening in space and how the characters under fire perceive them.
“It’s become a huge and integral part of the show,” Forshager said. “We’ll take something very minute, like a pen or something, and we’ll blow it up. We work on a stage where we have a movie-sized theater picture, so you’re looking at it from that perspective: What is the scope of this small thing gonna be in relationship to the story that we’re telling in that scene?”
“Better Call Saul”Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television Sometimes all it takes is the sound of a small thing to tell the whole story. In Episode 9, “Fun and Games,” the scene of Kim (Rhea Seehorn) revealing that she has quit the bar captures Kim’s nervousness for everything she’s about to do by going close on a pen she can’t stop clicking. The sound of the pen is basically the only noise on the soundtrack because the only information that matters is that rapid plastic click, and what the audience infers about Kim based on it. She needs to get out of here, she needs to just be gone, and she’s terrified of what she’s doing: It all comes through the volume and speed of the sound.
The scene immediately cuts from Kim’s disclosure to another extreme close-up of a cigarette as she’s smoking it outside her and Jimmy’s apartment, the sound of burning tobacco acting as a coda to the moment in a way that poetry does, extremely boiled down and precise but containing multitudes of emotion. The screech of tires on a car pulling up below her, likewise, are all we need to know that Jimmy is the one driving it. After Kim has told Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) what she’s doing, the camera lets her walk out of the room and stays behind Odenkirk’s head. We don’t see his expression but we hear, magnified, the sounds of zippers and packing tape. These tell the audience everything we need to know. The fact that we don’t actually see her leave or the expression on Odenkirk’s face makes the action feel so much worse.
“It’s really powerful, and then that moment moves forward so far in time in such a short span. We don’t need to know what happened because we know exactly what happened at that point. It is a very powerful filmmaking choice to do it that way,” said Forshager. “I think that’s a perfect example of the show stretching out and expanding as we need to. We stay in our lane of where we need to be, but then we take liberties or we open it up to new ideas and new thoughts [about how sound will help shape the story]… Sometimes, sound is filling in production dialogue [where] there are holes or noises that you gotta try to balance out, and that’s the general scope. But then you start breaking down scenes and you look at the story that sound is gonna help tell.”
Behind the scenes of “Better Call Saul”Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television The entire environment of the show is one of heightened, emotional sounds that punctuate key moments (the echoing out of Kim and Jimmy’s last kiss, in the parking lot earlier in Episode 9, is poignant for reasons that only become apparent to the audience later). But co-supervising sound designer Kathryn Madsen is responsible for making those key moments whole. Sometimes, the most dramatic scenes are the ones that need additional dialogue recorded to fix noise or smooth out sometimes just the smallest pieces of takes. It’s Madsen who must help the cast find their original level of performance again, much later and alone in a studio booth, and to help adjust dialogue so that it’s either the focus of a key moment or another ingredient in a rich stew of sound.
For example, Poppy Liu pops up briefly at the start of Episode 2, “Carrot and Stick,” as Jo, one of two women staying at Nacho’s pad and potentially discovering a passion for dominos. “She was saying so many funny things, and I really wanted people to be able to understand what she was saying. But [with how the scene was shot], sometimes they can’t get a mic in there so she was off-mic sometimes,” Madsen said. They called Liu back to do ADR so that her one-liners could be heard clearly and also more easily adjusted to create a slightly manic, coked-up sonic mix, which provides a sense of these women’s whole vibe and makes the scene turn all the harder when a taciturn Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) appears.
“That scene is crazy because we’ve got the TV going and then she’s got the dominoes going and then she’s talking. And we spent a lot of time trying to find the balance to make sure that people could hear the funny things that she was saying. It is kind of like this cacophony,” said Madsen. “So we brought her in again to rerecord and to redo some of the funny things she had said. And, my goodness, she did some more funny things that [when Vince Gilligan, the episode’s director,] heard them for the first time on the mix stage, he was laughing.”
“Better Call Saul”Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Tel
Madsen also said that ADR work can be fun even for very serious sequences. “[In Season 5,] in another Vince episode, when Bob is getting shot at and trying to crawl between the cars? I will never forget this. Bob, and it was his idea, wanted to get on the floor of the studio, and we recreated that entire scene. I got the boom mic off the stand, and I was following him around [as he ducked and weaved]. It was amazing. You see what this cast gives on the screen, but they give the same level of commitment in ADR.”
And, according to Madsen, one of the beautiful things about working with a committed cast is being able to play the entire scene they’re covering again and help them make physical adjustments in the room so that they can bring the same level of performance even to just replacing words or syllables on words. “When we actually go to record, we will go for the individual pieces [as opposed to re-recording the scene all the way through]. And [the actors] get right back into the emotion,” Madsen said. “That scene where [Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian)] gets shot in the head, he does that great monologue right before he gets shot, calling out Jimmy and Kim. His performance was just amazing. And I mean, you can’t tell there’s ADR in that scene.”
Both Madsen’s and Forshager’s work on “Better Call Saul” is all about crafting a strong perspective for every episode of the show. Sometimes, we enter and experience entire scenes through a heightened sonic point-of-view; other times, the sound work is all about seamless dialogue and benign background noise. But sound is always placed as intentionally as the camera’s frame or the edit’s cut because the show’s creative team understands that showing who the characters are and what they’re feeling through it is so much more impactful than telling us what’s going on with visuals alone.
“The one thing I tell film students when I do work with them is, ‘Don’t just put sounds in just to put sounds in. Put them in so they have a purpose,'” Forshager said. “On this show specifically, everything gets magnified and gets looked over many times, you really have to know what its intent is. And if it doesn’t have an intent, then you get rid of it, and you leave room for something else.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
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Television
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"The Kingdom" marks the first TV show acquired by MUBI, with Season 3 set to premiere at 2022 Venice Film Festival. Lars von Trier’s highly-anticipated third and final season of “The Kingdom” TV series will host its world premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival.
Von Trier’s “The Kingdom Exodus” will premiere this fall after being acquired by MUBI. The first two seasons have been newly restored with directors’ cuts and will stream exclusively on MUBI ahead of the broadcast of the five-part “The Kingdom Exodus.” MUBI will handle the distribution and streaming rights for North America, UK, Ireland, Latin America, Turkey, and India.
Presented by TrustNordisk and produced by Zentropa Entertainments, “The Kingdom Exodus,” the third and final season of von Trier’s legendary TV series, will receive its World Premiere out of Competition at the Venice International Film Festival and broadcast exclusively on MUBI in Fall 2022 on a weekly episodic basis. The cast includes Mikael Persbrandt, Lars Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Tuva Novotny, David Dencik, with Alexander Skarsgård and David Dencik guest starring. The official synopsis reads: Heavily influenced by the ghostly series “The Kingdom,” the sleepwalker Karen seeks answers to the unresolved questions of the series in order to save the hospital from doom. Sound asleep one night, Karen wanders into the darkness and inexplicably ends up in front of the hospital. The gate to the Kingdom is opening once more…
“The Kingdom” premiered in 1994, followed by Season 2 in 1997. Since the series first came out, von Trier has helmed hit films “Dogville,” “Melancholia,” and “Nymphomaniac.”
Von Trier penned the “Kingdom Exodus” script in collaboration with Niels Vørsel, with whom he also wrote the previous seasons. Louise Vesth is producing for Zentropa Entertainments with NENT Group and DR as co-producers.
“MUBI is now home to ‘The Kingdom’ – an incredible show, and the first television series released by MUBI, ever,” Founder and CEO Efe Cakarel said. “We want to bring more great artistic visions to as many people as possible, whether that’s through film or series. ‘The Kingdom’ is the perfect first show to introduce episodic storytelling to MUBI, and marks one of our biggest steps forward as a company. We can’t wait to bring all three seasons to all our members, very soon.”
Susan Wendt, Managing Director of TrustNordisk, added, “We are excited to be working with MUBI on this grand project and having their platform as a new home for Lars von Trier’s ‘The Kingdom’ series.”
MUBI negotiated the deal with Susan Wendt, Managing Director of TrustNordisk, handling international sales. Lars von Trier’s “The Kingdom Exodus” is presented by Viaplay and DR and is produced by Zentropa Entertainments in co-production with Film I Väst, Zentropa Sweden, and Ginger Pictures.
The series has support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond and tco-produced with support from BNP Paribas Fortis Film Finance and was developed with the support of The Creative Europe Media Programme of the European Union. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
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Television
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From "Pose" to "Orange is the New Black" here are our picks for the best LGGBTQ+ shows of the 21st century. Queer representation on the small screen has certainly come a long way over the past two decades, not only in terms of quality but also quantity. Back when I was a baby queer in the early 2000s, “The L Word” was pretty much all I had to see parts of my experience on TV, save for the rare gay subplots of popular teen shows — never forget Marissa’s brief but extremely hot dalliance with Olivia Wilde on “The O.C.” The stereotyped gays of “Sex and the City” and “Will and Grace” were replaced over the years by more fleshed out and nuanced queer characters across the LGBTQ+ spectrum, and, finally, we’ve seen some actually well-written trans characters played by trans performers. Its mostly been in the latter half of the 2010s and early 2020s that we’ve really seen a rise in more dynamic and diverse LGBTQ+ storytelling, with shows hosting largely queer and trans writers rooms (as they always should have), history-making series, and ones that finally put queer and trans folks of color behind the camera and in the showrunner’s seat. Such a variety of beloved shows thankfully made selecting the best ones of the 21st century a fairly easy task, but one that still comes with some caveats. While the industry has made great progress, there’s tremendous work to still be be done — for one, we need more series with transmasculine and non-binary characters (leads, please and thank you!), shows that represent non-able-bodied folks in the community, more racially diverse casts and writers rooms (on shows that don’t get canceled right away) and generally just more.
It’s also hard to look back on the past couple decades and find many queer shows free of flaws. Queer and trans lives are, obviously, rich with nuance and so multitidinous that any attempt to depict them for mainstream audiences will typically fall short in some capacity. There’s also the fact that many of the excellent shows we have seen with authentic LGBTQ+ narratives have often not gotten the same multi-season commitments that hetero-centric series do from their networks (you’ll sadly find many examples below).
But even so, there is plenty to celebrate from the past 22 years of television. From series that have given us hot queer sex scenes to ones that have depicted painfully poignant yet vital pieces of queer history, and especially the ones that have given us romances we’ll continue swooning over for years, there’s a lot of queer TV to love. Below, in no particular order, are 10 series worth watching.
1. “Veneno”
“Veneno” isn’t just one of the best LGBTQ+ shows, but one of the best damn series of the past few years, period. The Spanish limited series from creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo chronicles the life and death of one of the most famous trans women in Spain, Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez, better known as “La Veneno,” a sex worker who skyrocketed to superstardom in the ‘90s after appearing on a late-night talk show. “Veneno” is a show bursting with sizzling energy, bold color, and larger-than-life extravagance — a fitting approach to depict the life of a woman who lived on her own principles, often struggling to just survive. The HBO Max series jumps through time to not only tell Cristina’s life story, but parallels it with the story of Valeria (Lola Rodríguez), a young trans woman and journalist writing a book on Cristina’s life. “Veneno” also does what so few series and films have failed to: casts multiple actors to depict a trans character at various stages of their life and transition. JEDET, Daniela Santiago, and Isabel Torres portray Cristina across three different eras of her life, each giving such moving performances it’s tough to choose a favorite. It’s a shame more people haven’t raved about “Veneno,” a show that should be hailed for its thrilling and sensitive take on both the messy and intimate details of a trans icon’s life.
2. “Work In Progress”
Queers In Crisis Going to Therapy is essentially “Work In Progress”. The short-lived series from Abby McEnany is that underdog show that, despite critical acclaim, not enough people watched (hence why Showtime canceled it after only two excellent seasons), but was a rare gem that found humor in the exhausting nightmare that is just trying to get through life.
Playing a version of herself, McEnany stars as Abby, a “fat queer dyke” who’s struggling with depression, obsessive compulsion, and suicidal ideation. Dark-sounding, but “Work Is Progress” also gets credit as a show that’s consistently made viewers laugh the hardest while also deftly tackling topics around mental health. It unpacks the anxiety of moving through the world as a gender non-comforming person, it understands the exclusionary nature of many queer communities under the LGBTQ umbrella, it gets the impossibility of finding a good therapist, and it portrays a tender relationship between two non-cis people (the other played by Theo Germaine) that is so refreshingly and honestly queer. The fact that another wonderful queer show produced by Lilly Wachowski was cut short too soon will forever remain heartbreaking, but at least we got 18 episodes we can revisit again and again.
“Sense8”Murray Close / Netflix
3. “Sense8”
If there was an award for the Queerest Show of the 21st Century it would undoubtedly go to the wacky, the wild, and the unabashedly horny “Sense8.” This bold sci-fi fever dream from the minds of Lana and Lilly Wachowski and J. Michael Staczynski is the one show that comes to mind when one thinks of what television should look like when it celebrates the multifaceted beauty, and at times struggle, of loving and being loved as a queer person.
Beyond giving us a trio of queer orgies, “Sense8” gave us so many different variations of what being queer can look like. Lito and Hernando’s love story explores the pressures of coming out as a gay celebrity in a hypermasculine industry — and eventually introduces a poly triad with Dani. Nomi and Amanita are the sweet yet fierce lesbian activist couple, with Nomi’s arc alone giving us much-needed representation of a fearless trans woman fighting her oppressors in a sci-fi universe. There’s Kala, Rajan, and Wolfgang’s surprisingly exploration of a sexual poly dynamic. But beyond all that, “Sense8” at its core is a show about love and the many types of intimacy that bind us together, be it romantic, sexual, and/or emotional. It’s a show that uses the sci-fi notion of a cluster to explore the significance of queer community, chosen family, and untraditional, non-heteronormative forms of connection. It simply doesn’t get queerer than a finale ending with a used rainbow strap on after a slow-motion orgy.
4. “The L Word”
For better or for worse, “The L Word” was the lesbian bible of the 2000s. Ilene Chaiken’s series brought so many elements inherent to lesbian culture to the screen for the first time, and that alone makes it deserving of joining this list. It showcased gay women starting a family, navigating fidelity, embracing desire, stirring up endless drama, U-Hauling, dating their exes and their exes’ exes, and most importantly, sex. “The L Word” was a treasure trove of hot sex scenes in almost every location and dramatic scenario you could ask for, and every queer certainly has their favorite (for this one, CeCe Peniston’s “Finally” will never not trigger joyous memories of Alice and Dana’s long-awaited hookup).
As much as “The L Word” gave the lesbian community a show to call their own, it was also a deeply flawed series in many ways, from its very white, cis, and privileged lens on queer female culture (not all lesbians are bougie skinny white women living in Hollywood!) to its cruel treatment of transmasculine identity and a healthy topping of cringy stereotypes. Thankfully the recent “Generation Q” has made efforts to atone for past sins by featuring a more racially diverse and gender inclusive cast (and writer’s room) that attempts to depict a broader and more authentic queer world. Most queer media of the early 21st Century is imperfect, but “The L Word” has both defined a culture and learned from its mistakes to better represent one.
5. “Pose”
“Pose” gifted us so many magnificent firsts. It was the first series to star five trans lead actors, as well as the show that made M.J. Rodriguez the first trans performer to win a Golden Globe. But beyond those historical accolades, “Pose” was also a show that depicted something incredibly rare and authentic on television for the first time: the intimate experience of moving through the world as Black trans women and Black queer HIV-positive men. Over the show’s three seasons we’ve seen so many beautiful and harrowing slices of these realities, from Blanca’s HIV diagnosis to Elektra’s painful backstory to Pray Tell’s heartbreaking death, and so many more moments big and small.
“Pose” has also done what so few series have in acknowledging queer and trans history and those that came before us. Throughout its run the series paid homage to and kept the memories of many real-life women from “Paris is Burning” alive, from episodes that allude to the skeleton in Dorian Corey’s closet, Venus Xtravaganza’s death, and Octavia St. Laurent’s modeling career. Though “Pose” was never shy when it came to the extreme melodrama, it should be remembered most for its most down-to-earth moments. It was a series that was as eager to showcase the opulence and joy of being seen and loved, as it was unafraid to dive into the more painful parts of surviving as a queer or trans person of color in this country. It was honest and real, and you can’t ask for much more than that.
JoJo Whilden
6. “Orange Is the New Black”
Back in 2013, Jenji Kohan gave us the most fun and deliciously melodramatic show about queer women since “The L Word.” Piper Chapman and Alex Vause’s seasons-long love affair was the initial gay crux of the series, and the type of messy relationship you get a thrill from rooting for like the urge to get back with your toxic ex. But “Orange Is the New Black” also gave us a sea of queer romances across Litchfield, and a ton of queer sex scenes. There was Nicky Nichols and Morello’s romance across the series, Nicky’s endless hookups, Poussey’s unreciprocated love for Taystee, as well as Poussey and Brooke’s sweet romance, and the endlessly horny Big Boo. And of course “Orange” broke ground with Laverne Cox’s Sophia Bursett, a character I’m grateful existed for bringing the reality of incarcerated trans women to the screen, but who, over the course of seven seasons, never got nearly enough screen time.
7. “Transparent”
While the memory of “Transparent” has been tainted by the allegations of sexual harassment experienced by multiple trans women, and the unsavory fact that its trans protagonist was in fact played by a straight cis man ( the same man accused of said harassment), it still remains one of the most groundbreaking shows of its time for trans storytelling. As entertaining as the Pfefferman family drama could be, “Transparent” shined the most when it broke away from their day-to-day lives to spotlight its trans supporting cast.
There was Shea’s (Trace Lysette) “I’m not your adventure” episode, which touched on the difficulties of dating as a trans women, disclosing HIV status, and sex work. Ian Harvie’s Dale hilariously burst the bubble of Ali’s hyper-masc expectations of trans men early in Season 1. Hari Neff’s guest spot in Season 2 brought the 1930s history of Magnus Hirschfeld and the first trans clinic to the screen. And of course there’s every scene-stealing moment from the wonderful Alexandra Billings, whose Davina finally got her own origin story in the fourth season.
Like many shows on this list, “Transparent” certainly wasn’t without its flaws — no one show can fully speak for a community — and we can and should look back to critique its missteps. But at the time it undoubtedly gave mainstream audiences an introduction to various aspects of trans lives with both humor and sensitivity. 8. “Her Story”
Unlike most series on this list, “Her Story” didn’t debut with A-list names, a large production budget, or even on a network. The 2016 Emmy-nominated web series from Jen Richards and Laura Zak was crowdfunded and released straight to YouTube for anyone to watch for free, and six years later it remains one of the very best and most earnest shows about the romantic lives of trans women. It follows Violet (co-creator Richards), a waitress who begins falling for a queer woman (Zak’s queer journalist Allie) while stuck in an abusive relationship with a man, and Angelica Ross’ Paige, a lawyer who we watch navigate the difficulties of dating and disclosing her transness to new partners. In just six episodes, all clocking in around nine minutes, “Her Story” packs in more authentic storytelling about relationships than most major series accomplish in a full season. It’s a gem of a show not enough people have seen, and the only shame is we never got more of it.
9. “Vida”
Tanya Saracho’s “Vida” suffered the same fate as many excellent queer shows on this list — getting canceled by its network far earlier than it deserved. But its three seasons gave audiences some of the most heartfelt, the most full of life, and the sexiest episodes about Latinx queer women. The dramedy, which came from an all-Latinx writers room, explored gentrification in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights through the eyes of two sisters, the high-strung Emma and the free-spirited Lyn (Melissa Barrera), who return home after the death of their mother. At its core, “Vida” was a series about family and community, and the complexities that come with confronting old wounds and learning to grow through them. But it also was the rare show that represented Latinx queer women as they beautifully owned their sexuality and desires.
10. “Sex Education”
Yes, I’m aware that technically “Sex Education” isn’t a queer show. But if you were to ask, what’s a show about young people that brazenly tackles sex and relationships with wit and maturity while representing various LGBTQ identities? It’s undoubtedly “Sex Ed,” one of the queerest non-queer shows there is right now.
Ncuti Gatwa’s Eric may fall into the frustrating Netflix gay best friend role, but “Sex Ed” has continued to explore his identity in various ways, from learning to embrace his queerness in his religious home to the messy arc of dating Adam, his former bully who’s learning to reckon with his own internatalized homophobia. There’s Ola discovering her pansexuality and, in season 3, navigating role-playing and communicating sexual desires with Lily. The latest season also introduced two non-binary characters, Dua Saleh’s Cal and Robyn Holdaway’s Layla, and began to broach on the subject of dysphoria and sex as a young non-cis character. There’s even a whole damn episode about anal douching; I mean, how much more queer do you want it? Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
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Television
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Audrina Patridge's new memoir "Choices: To the Hills and Back Again" Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books For someone who has spent much of her young adult life in front of television cameras, The Hills reality star and entrepreneur Audrina Patridge has moved onto the next chapter of her life. Speaking of chapters, Patridge, 37, has a new memoir out titled Choices: To the Hills and Back Again (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster), where she candidly speaks out about the highs-and-lows, including her years on the popular The Hills reality show, which aired on MTV from 2006 to 2010. Audrina Patridge's new memoir "Choices: To the Hills and Back Again" Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books “I feel like I’ve been through so much since I was 18 with the show and the show was a hit overnight - like we went from just being normal to being followed and paparazzi and it was just a culture shock almost, but we got used to it. Everything from that to just being in entertainment industry and the ups-and-downs of what you go through with fame, relationships, and friendships - people that you can trust and the judgment. There’s a lot more to fame that people don’t know about, so I feel like with my book, I really had an opportunity to talk about that. A lot of young fans come up to me and they’re like I want to be on a reality show! It’s kind of like Do you? You got to have thick skin. You can’t let other people’s opinions of you get you down, because they will, and just give them the pros and cons to it because it’s not for everybody.” In her book, Patridge also speaks openly about the “controlling” relationship she had with her ex-husband, but focuses on the birth of her daughter Kirra in 2016 as the silver lining from all of the turmoil that she has endured throughout the years. Audrina Patridge with her daughter Kirra. @audrinapatridge (Instagram) “Having Kirra changed my life in so many ways - in all amazing, positive ways,” Patridge continues. “I feel like when I had her, it opened my eyes to things that I was blind to and it gave me purpose. I didn’t know what my life purpose was. It just stopped me in my tracks and made me look at my life and realize I have a purpose. My daughter is everything. She changed my perspective on everything in life.” The Hills followed Patridge and her friends as they worked to make major moves in their young professional lives, while striving to maintain good friendships and find love in LA. Now being 12 years since The Hills aired its final episode after six seasons, I wondered how Patridge reflects on her reality show experiences more than a decade later. Whitney, Heidi, Audrina, and Lauren of "The Hills" (Photo by Michael Tran/FilmMagic) FilmMagic “I look back and I am actually okay with it all. I think 15 years ago in the moment, I was probably more sour because I was living it and watching it and you’re like I had so much more to say. You didn’t show any of it! Now looking back, the producers did such an amazing job with the editing and how they pieced it all together and they created an iconic reality show.”
Today in 2022, now with her focuses on other business and her life as a mom, I asked Patridge if she continues to keep in touch with any of her former The Hills co-stars. “I keep in touch with Heidi [Montag], Kristin [Cavallari] - Whitney [Port-Rosenman] every now and then. Lauren [Conrad], I ran into at Disney On Ice a couple years ago - right before Covid, I think. I met her little boy and she met Kirra and we’re friendly. We’re not friends - we don’t hang out all the time, but if I see people out, we’re friendly. It’s just our lives have grown in so many different directions.”
With the growing demand from fans seeking rewatch podcasts on their favorite television shows and movie franchises, Patridge has jumped on that bandwagon with her new Was It Real? The Hills Rewatch podcast show with Kast Media, which she hosts alongside her former reality castmates Brody Jenner and Frankie Delgado. Patridge goes on to tell me that on the show, fans can call in to discuss episodes and they even have The Hills producers and their celebrity friends come on the podcast to share their perspectives. With this growing fad in media right now, I was curious why Patridge believes that these types of rewatch shows have become so popular. “It’s nostalgic! I feel like it takes you back. We all grew up with it and there’s so many questions around The Hills - Was it real? What really happened in this scene? It gives us the opportunity to give our side. It’s just wild to go back in time. Even watching the first season, it’s a little cringy to watch for me. We were all so young, we had no responsibilities, not a care in the world, and all about fun. Not everybody gets to go back and watch their early twenties. I have a lot of explaining to do to my daughter one day, which I can use as an educational journey with her and teach her about choices. The choices you make and the choices I made and where it led me.”
Beyond her ongoing podcast and her new memoir, I wondered what other business plans Patridge has her sights set on within the near future. “I had my swim line Prey Swim and I loved that. I loved the creative outlet and I pulled from different cultures into our designs and graphics and everything. I would love to continue my swim line. When I went through my divorce, it kind of took me for everything I had, so I couldn’t financially continue the swim line. I didn’t give up on it yet - it’s still there. I’ve been working on saving to make it happen again, so that’s what I’m hoping for. I’d love to do beach accessories and mens and kids and the whole beach genre.”
After everything that has happened in Patridge’s life so far, both in front of the camera and behind closed doors, she goes on to say that she fearlessly confronts her mental health more than ever these days. Audrina Patridge Ashley Burns Photography “I think a lot of people do shy away from talking about mental health because they don’t want to sound crazy or be shamed or judged because of certain things. It’s so common and everybody brushes it under the rug. We all need support. We’re all going through something that we can help each other with. You can’t judge people for it, because you don’t really know what someone is going through until you’re in it.” As I began to conclude my conversation with Patridge, this dedicated mom and entrepreneur shared with me what she hopes her honest storytelling experiences will do for readers, as she speaks her mind today without the need for cameras, expressing within her new memoir, “I’ve given my power away for too long, and this book is one more step toward reclaiming it.”
Patridge goes on to tell me, “I felt so empowered writing this book and I’ve always been the type to just bite my tongue and not really stick up for myself. This was my opportunity to really clear everything up and put it all in one place for my fans and really be vulnerable. I hope that it helps other people and inspires them. For me, I know it made me such a stronger person, everything I went through. I don’t have regrets. Looking back, I have a good life. I’m very grateful for it.”
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Television
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NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! "Days of Our Lives" has reached the end of an era. The soap opera has been NBC's longest-running series, but will soon find a new home on the Peacock streaming platform. The network announced that the show would be moving to the streaming platform this coming fall and a new show will air in the time slot that "Days of Our Lives" previously held. The replacement will be "NBC News Daily" which will be anchored by Kate Snow, Aaron Gilchrist, Vicky Nguyen and Morgan Radford. Even though "Days of Our Lives" has reached its end of airing on network television, the show is not over. There will still be new daily episodes (available to Peacock Premium subscribers) released on the platform staring on September 12. There will also be over 14,000 of the shows old episodes available for subscribers to watch. ‘DAYS OF OUR LIVES’ STAR DEIDRE HALL SAYS SHE USES HOLY WATER BEFORE FILMING DEMONIC POSSESSION SCENES "Days of Our Lives" is moving off NBC and going to Peacock. (Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)During the shows 57 years on air, it has received 58 Daytime Emmys. Peacock is already home to the "Days of Our Lives" spinoff series "Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem," a Peacock original show.KRISTIAN ALFONSO SAYS ‘DAYS OF OUR LIVES’ PRODUCERS WANTED TO TEMPORARILY WRITE OFF HER OFF SCRIPT BEFORE QUITTINGMark Lazarus, chairman of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming said in a statement "This programing shift benefits both Peacock and NBC and is reflective of our broader strategy to utilize our portfolio to maximize reach and strengthen engagement of viewers." There is already a "Days of Our Lives" spin off series "Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem" on Peacock. (Photo by: Evans Vestal Ward/Peacock)Lazarus went on to say "With a large percentage of the "Days of Our Lives" audience already watching digitally, this move enables us to build the show's loyal fanbase on streaming while simultaneously bolstering the network daytime offering with an urgent, live programming opportunity for partners and consumers."Now that the popular soap opera will no longer be aired on NBC, there are only three daytime soaps left on network television. "General Hospital" still airs on ABC and "The Young and the Restless" and "The Bold and the Beautiful" still air on CBS. Ashlyn Messier is a writer for Fox News Digital.
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Television
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Native TV featuring actual Native stories.
The concept seems like a simple one, but for fans, and the cast and crew of “Reservation Dogs,” the hit FX on Hulu show, nuanced examples of what life is like growing up on “the Rez” are few and far between.
“‘Rez Dogs’ is changing the game,” said Sierra Revis, an assistant art director for the show. “There’s been so many moments on the show where it’s just felt like they’ve been tapping into my life. It’s ‘cause this is a community project about community, and I think it’s hard to find another show that’s done that before.”
Director and actor Take Waititi, creator Sterlin Harjo and cast of the “Reservation Dogs” pose in the photo room after receiving the Best New Scripted Series award during the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards in 2022. Photo by Aude Guerrucci/Reuters
The show, which premieres a new season Aug. 3, follows the exploits of four Indigenous teenagers — played by D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Alexis and Lane Factor — living on a reservation in rural Oklahoma who are working (and scrounging) in hopes of making it to California.
While “Reservation Dogs” is a comedy by genre, co-creators Sterlin Harjo, who grew up in Holdenville, Oklahoma, and New Zealand director Taika Waititi have said they wanted to illustrate real problems facing Native youth and not shy away from the difficulties and inequalities of Native American life.
“I think portraying Indigenous communities in this way is very new,” said Waititi, the director behind films “JoJo Rabbit,” “Thor: Love and Thunder”), in pre-show press. “What we tend to get portrayed as is someone running their hands through the wheat grass and getting their answers from the wind. I’ve never done that. I don’t know any ghosts, and I don’t talk to trees.”
“I grew up loving comic books and being interested in girls just like the other kids,” he added. Part of what sets the show apart is its all-Indigenous writer’s room, crew and regular cast. Native Americans landed just 0.3 percent of all top film roles in 2018 and 0.5 percent in 2019, according to the University of California, Los Angeles latest “Hollywood Diversity Report.” Native women did not land any of these roles in 2018 or 2019. Native directors were not behind any of the top films in these years, either.
A 2020 inclusion report from the Writers Guild of America West’s Native American & Indigenous Writers Committee found that 1.1 percent of the about 2,400 television writers for the 2019 to 2020 season were Native and Indigenous. Among screenwriters, that figure drops to 0.8 percent among the about 1,800 people who held the jobs.
Part of the show’s success is that it does away with the pitying and mysticism tropes of the “sad Indian,” said Frances Danger, a Native freelance journalist.
“It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen or felt before,” said Danger, who is a member of the Muscogee and Seminole nations. “We are so often seen as historical relics. To see us in a modern setting, dealing with real problems – but also rez problems – was so refreshing and says, ‘We are here. And we are going to represented.’”
A lack of Native representation
UCLA’s diversity report and data from the writers guild show a lack of representation and the portrayal of Indigenous stereotypes in media have undermined and damaged Native culture and heritage.
In a 2020 letter directed at the Hollywood film industry, Harjo and 27 other members of the guild called for a commitment to advance Native and Indigenous representation “in all facets of television and film,” while asking for more “authentic and equitable” stories of Native American and Indigenous narratives.
The letter went on to specify that a lack of representation “contributes to the harm of Native and Indigenous women” and allows misconceptions to “continue regarding the legal rights of Native Nations.” and Native American creatives are sometimes hired only as cultural consultants, rather than key contributors to projects, the letter added.
That’s a reality Harjo himself has seen first-hand and a reason he was hesitant to let himself believe that “Reservation Dogs” could ever become a reality.
“Reservation Dogs” co-creator Sterlin Harjo at a screening for Season 1 of the show. Photo courtesy of Shane Brown/FX
In an interview with The New York Times, Harjo recalled that before “Reservation Dogs,” a show he was working on got the ax because a “well-known filmmaker” backed out — he did not believe there were enough Native actors to cast, Harjo said.
“Our communities are filled with amazing talented people,” Harjo told. “But we are the descendants of people who survived genocide, forced removal and displacement, so we don’t leave home as easily as others. We don’t just go to L.A. and say, ‘I’m going to be an actor.’ So you have to find those people.”
One of “Rez Dogs”’ actors came directly from the show’s inspirational source. Lane Factor, 16, is from Yukon, a suburb of Oklahoma City, and had never landed a serious acting role before but wanted to audition for the show’s first season to gain some experience. He said he nearly didn’t go for the interview, telling the Tulsa World that he wanted to stay home and play video games, but his mother insisted.
Lane Factor as Cheese (left) and Gary Farmer as Uncle Brownie. Photo courtesy of Shane Brown/FX
After the success of “Reservation Dogs,” Factor landed a supporting role in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film, “The Fablemans,” which is described as a semi-autobiographical film about the famous director’s early life.
For Factor, it’s Season Two of “Reservation Dogs” that he’s most excited for people to see.
“I can’t wait to see what happens,” Factor told Tulsa World. “No one can really say what the future holds. Life is full of uncertainties, so who knows? But I’m really positive about the future.”
New opportunities for Native stories
Perhaps an even bigger impact of Native-centric shows like “Reservation Dogs” and Peacock’s “Rutherford Falls” is the chance for Native storytellers to take charge of their own narrative, said comedian, actor and filmmaker Chad Charlie.
Charlie, an Afro-Indigenous filmmaker from Ahousaht First Nation, joined the cast and writer’s room for the new season, helping to co-write the third episode.
A criticism of Season 1 of “Reservation Dogs” was the lack of Black Natives in the show. Black Native American descendants have been fighting for recognition and enrollment in the Muscogee Nation after a 1979 constitution unenrolled ancestors of Black Native freedmen.
Charlie said people have asked him what he thought about the lack of representation of Black Indigenous people in Season 1, but Charlie, who is longtime friends with Harjo, said it didn’t bother him.
“I didn’t feel disrespected,” Charlie said. “When I see Native people on screen, I feel represented. When I see Black people on screen I feel represented. Just because there’s not someone labeled as a mixed Black Native on screen didn’t make me feel any less represented.”
When he was hired to join the writer’s room, Charlie said he discussed including Black Natives into Season Two with Harjo.
“If there’s a lack of Black and Native representation then I’m glad to be the one to write it,” Charlie said. “We don’t want to do anything that’s pandering. We want to portray an authentic experience. There’s no sign on my back that says ‘Black Native.’”
Charlie said he believes “Rez Dogs” is the first of its kind when it comes to contemporary representation.
“It’s a great moment for Native people in television and film,” he said. “After these shows, there’s a taste for Native storytelling and authentic Native storytelling.”
The series won a 2022 Peabody Award, as well as two Independent Spirit Awards, one of which was for Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe.
Jacobs, who plays Elora Danan, earned a 2021 Gotham Award Nomination for Outstanding Performance in a New Series and has been cast in Marvel Studios’ upcoming Disney+ series “Echo” about a deaf Native American superhero.
For Revis, a member of the Yuchi Nation, she said it’s been a surreal feeling helping make “Reservation Dogs.” The 29-year-old grew up in the area of Oklahoma where the show was filmed, including going to school in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, the town where the majority of the first season was filmed.
She said the themes around the show dealing with loss, being poor and wanting to run away to California, all hit home for her and her experience.
She said she hopes kids will grow up on the reservation and watch this show and future projects and feel less isolated.
“Representation is so complicated because it’s needed, but it’s not like we are curing hunger,” she said. “But putting a point of reference into people’s minds about who we are and changing people’s unconscious biases. I can’t wait to see the effects.”
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Television
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nominees for the 2022 Emmy Awards are being announced, with “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” among the shows looking to add to their previous trophy hauls.JB Smoove of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and Melissa Fumero of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” are announcing this year’s contenders in a livestreamed ceremony on Emmys.com.The nominees for best comedy series are: “Abbott Elementary”; “Barry”; “Curb Your Enthusiasm”; “Hacks”; “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; “Only Murders in the Building”; “Ted Lasso” and “What We Do in the Shadows.” The nominees for variety talk series are: “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah”; “Jimmy Kimmel Live”; “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”; “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”Television Academy President Frank Scherma kicked off the nomination announcement by saying that a record number of shows had been submitted, which reflects that series production was an all-time high after being drastically reduced during the pandemic. “Succession,” a 2020 top-drama winner, may face a showdown with “Squid Game” by the time The South Korean hit about a brutal survival contest is vying to become the first non-English language Emmy nominee.The Emmys once were dominated by broadcast networks and then cable, with the rise of streaming services changing the balance of power and perhaps the awards themselves. The possibility of Netflix’s “Squid Game” joining the Emmy mix is the result of streaming’s global marketplace focus.Other possible drama contenders include the modern Western “Yellowstone,” workplace thriller “Severance” and “Yellowjackets,” a hybrid survival and coming-of-age tale.There are a number of outgoing shows looking for some final Emmy love. Among dramas that includes “This Is Us,” and “Ozark,” with “Insecure” and “black-ish” on the comedy side.“The Crown,” which dominated the 2021 drama awards, wasn’t televised within the eligibility period and is sitting this year out.The Emmy ceremony is set for Sept. 12 and will air on NBC, with a host yet to be announced.___For more on this year’s Emmy Awards, visit: www.apnews.com/EmmyAwards
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Television
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Jayde Adams has been announced as the fifth contestant to sign up to Strictly Come Dancing 2022.The comedian and actress, 37 said that keeping the secret hidden had been like 'torture', but that she was a 'massive fan' of the show, as she joked appearing on the beloved show was her main career goal.She said: 'Since I watched the first series in 2004, I feel like every step I’ve taken in my career over the last 11 years was to be on Strictly. Big fan: Jayde Adams has been announced as the fifth contestant to sign up to Strictly Come Dancing 2022'I cannot begin to express the emotions I am feeling, this means so much to me and my family. I’ve always watched it, apart from a brief hiatus in 2011 as I was relentlessly gigging every weekend (to try and get on Strictly).'I’ve been a massive fan of the show for years. I feel like I’m watching myself in a dream and I can’t believe I’ve manifested this. She added: 'Holding this in has been torture for me!'Best known as a comedian, Jayde has won several comedy awards and was nominated for the coveted Best Newcomer with her Edinburgh Fringe debut stand-up hour. Talented: Best known as a comedian, Jayde has won several comedy awards and was nominated for the coveted Best Newcomer with her Edinburgh Fringe debut stand-up hourHer Amazon Prime special, Serious Black Jumper, received global critical acclaim, was released worldwide and was longlisted for an Emmy. As an actor, Jayde has starred in BBC Two BAFTA winning comedy Alma’s Not Normal, the upcoming Take That movie Greatest Days, Amazon Prime’s Good Omens, and BBC One’s The Outlaws, while she is co-creator and star of ITV2’s upcoming brand new series Ruby Speaking. The news was revealed on Saturday morning on BBC Radio 5 Live by Scott Mills and Chris Stark. It comes after Kaye Adams was revealed as the fourth contestant on the series, making the exciting announcement live on Friday's Loose Women on ITV.It's official! Kaye Adams has been announced as the fourth contestant to sign up to Strictly Come Dancing 2022Kaye stunned her fellow panelists Denise Welch, Carol McGiffin and Sunetra Sarker - as well as Nadia Sawalha who appeared via video link - with the news towards the end of the show, with the studio welcoming a plethora of dancers.While panelists in the studio were thrilled at the announcement, Nadia was left visibly shocked and emotional, telling her friend: 'Is It actually you?! Oh my God. I could cry!''It’s amazing you can do it because let’s face it, you can’t dance, but that’s what we like to see on Strictly - somebody learn to dance. You’re going to be incredible, you’re so funny, you’ve got the best legs in the business. I can’t wait to get home and cha cha cha with you!'Revealing how she felt about taking part, Kaye admitted: 'It's me! I'm absolutely terrified because I can't dance. I could think of a million reasons not to do this'.Surprise! The Scottish TV star, 59, made the exciting announcement live on Friday's Loose Women on ITV after keeping it a secret from her co-stars The secret's out! Kaye stunned her fellow panelists Denise Welch, Carol McGiffin and Sunetra Sarker - as well as Nadia Sawalha who appeared via video link - with the news towards, with the studio welcoming a plethora of dancersThe journalist went on: 'When these gorgeous dancers came on, I nearly exited from both ends of my body, honestly. Sorry about that!'But I thought, "Am I going to be thinking at the end of September I wish I’d done this". I’m 59, 60 at the end of this year and I was like, "Well, why not?"'I’m a really competitive person and Nadia, you know that’s true but in this I’m not. If I enjoy myself, I’ll be so happy.'She added her daughters were not too fussed with the new as they simply told her: 'Okay mum'. Nervous: Revealing how she felt about taking part, Kaye admitted: 'It's me! I'm absolutely terrified because I can't dance. I could think of a million reasons not to do this' Support: Sunetra, who took part in the show in 2014, insisted that Kaye would have the best time and would make friends for life, while Denise commented: 'I could never live with the nerves but it will be fantastic'Sunetra, who took part in the show in 2014, insisted that Kaye would have the best time and would make friends for life, while Denise commented: 'I could never live with the nerves but it will be fantastic. I did 'Dancing On Ice' and it's terrifying but it's worth it!'At the end of the show, Kaye got some practice in as she and the ladies joined the guest dancers were a twirl around the studio as the programme came to an end. Kaye follows in the footsteps of fellow Loose Women stars Judi Love, Ruth Langsford and Christine Lampard who have all taken part in Strictly.A source previously told The Sun of Kaye's upcoming Strictly stint: 'Kaye is a classic Strictly signing. She ticks so many boxes.'She's been keeping it a closely guarded secret for some time. Even her own co-stars have been kept in the dark.' Exciting stuff: 'I’m a really competitive person and Nadia, you know that’s true but in this I’m not. If I enjoy myself, I’ll be so happy' Leading the way: Kaye follows in the footsteps of fellow Loose Women stars Judi Love, Ruth Langsford and Christine Lampard who have all taken part in Strictly (Judi pictured on the show last year)Meanwhile, BBC Radio 2 DJ Richie Anderson, 34, revealed he will be joining the 2022 series during his radio show on Friday, and joins Coronation Street stars Will Mellor and Kym Marsh in the current line-up.The former Sunday League footballer - who went viral in 2018 when he came out as gay to his teammates at Coombs Wood F.C in an emotional documentary - said that it's a 'massive honour' to be part of the show's all-male partnership. He said in a release: 'This is a dream come true! I cannot wait to get in those sparkles and sequins and shimmy across the most famous dance floor in the world! Strictly is the ultimate feel good show, as soon as I hear that iconic theme tune it’s just pure escapism.'I’m going to have to cancel my legendary 'Strictly' launch night kitchen party that I throw every year, I’m sure my friends and family will understand.' Supported: Kaye was surrounded by her pals who were shocked at the huge announcement Dancing queen: Kaye showed off her best moves as she spun around the studio with a group of dancers He added: 'It’s also a massive honour to be part of an all-male dance partnership, it’s so important we have that inclusion on such a huge show.'Last year's series saw Great British Bake Off star John Waite form the show's first all-male partnership with pro Johannes Radebe - with the couple reaching the final. The year before saw the show's first ever same-sex pairing as boxer Nicola Adams was paired up with Katya Jones - however the duo had to withdraw from the competition in week three after Katya caught Covid. At last! The first two stars for Strictly Come Dancing were announced on Thursday, with actor Will Mellor (right) and soap favourite Kym Marsh (left) joining the lineup Chuffed: The former Sunday League footballer said that it's a 'massive honour' to be part of the show's all-male partnershipIn 2018, Richie famously came out as gay to his Sunday league football teammates during a feature for The One Show exploring homophobia in the sport.The team knew Richie was filming a piece for the daily BBC One programme, but it wasn’t until he sat them down in the locker room after the match that they discovered he was looking into the issues around being gay in grassroots football.'One of the big issues we’ve looked at this week, erm, it’s really close to my heart, is homophobia in football,' Richie began. Candid: In 2018, Richie famously came out as gay to his Sunday league football teammates during a feature for The One Show exploring homophobia in the sport'The reason why that means a lot to me is – I’m a gay footballer. So I just wanted to be open and honest with you lot. It’s just been class.'This is really hard for me to do...' he added, before his teammates began to applaud him. Richie went on to say he was 'So, so relieved. I can’t even tell you.' He continued: 'I expected it as they’re a good bunch of lads. It probably helped that I scored as well, but I’m so relieved. 'The main thing is, I hope there’s people watching this that are in the same boat I was in, and they’re thinking, "You know what? I can do that as well."' Talented: Last year's series saw Great British Bake Off star John Waite form the show's first all-male partnership with pro Johannes Radebe - with the couple reaching the final Groundbreaking: 2020 saw the show's first ever same-sex pairing with boxer Nicola Adams and Katya Jones - however the duo had to withdraw after Katya caught CovidOn Thursday, the first two stars for Strictly were announced, with actor Will and soap favourite Kym joining the lineup.The Coronation Street actress and the Two Pints Of Lager and A Packet Of Crisps star, both 46, were unveiled on Thursday's BBC Breakfast, with Kym revealing she's wanted to join the show for 'a number of years.'She said: 'I've considered doing Strictly for years but the timings never worked out. I'm so delighted that this year they have! 'I'm a huge fan of the show and can't believe I'm going to go from watching at home in my pyjamas to actually dancing in front of the judges in a glittery dress, it's unreal!' Speaking on Breakfast, Kym admitted she hadn't told her Morning Live co-host Gethin Jones about taking part in the show, despite him previously taking part in 2007.She said: 'I was joking with him and I said ''were you on Strictly because you've never mentioned it!'' I think he was always asking me if I was going to do it, and he kept going on about it again over the next few months, and of course I've not spoken to him and I'll probably get a message later saying ''you never told me!'' Here she is! Former Coronation Street star Kym was unveiled as the second contestant on Thursday's BBC Breakfast Soap favourite: Kym is best known for playing Michelle Connor on Coronation Street from 2006 to 2019Speaking via. Zoom, Kym revealed that her parents were both hiding behind a curtain while she took part in the interview, and they were even more excited to see her take to the dancefloor.The actress, who rose to fame as a star of the band Hearsay, added she's open to learning the new dance styles, as they will be a stark contrast to her pop star days. She continued: 'I'm just very keen to learn watching it, I've done dancing before when I was a little girl, and when I was in Hearsay, my husband is very excited about me being able to teach him, so we can do it when we go to the balls.'Any of them really, just to learn how to dance properly would be brilliant.'Asked whether she'll fear the harsh critiques of Craig Revel Horwood and the rest of the judging panel, Kym added: 'I was judged by Nasty Nigel in Popstars don't forget that, he was the villain back in the day!'These are the people I truly respect, this is what they do, I'm just going to have to suck it up I guess, you've just to take it on the chin.' Determined: Asked whether she'll fear the harsh critiques of Craig Revel Horwood and the rest of the judging panel, Kym added: 'I was judged by Nasty Nigel in Popstars don't forget that'Kym is best known for playing Michelle Connor in Coronation Street from 2006 to 2019, and since October 2020 has co-hosted BBC's Morning Live.It is set to be a busy year for Kym as she also set to film Waterloo Road at the end of the year, joining the school drama as mother-of-two Nicky Walters.Kym's unveiling came after fellow Corrie star Will was unveiled as the first contestant earlier in the show, with the actor saying he's signed up to bring some joy to his mother after a 'tough time' for his family. He said: 'I'm honestly so chuffed to be taking part in Strictly Come Dancing this year! Not going to lie, it's totally out of my comfort zone and I know it will be a huge challenge but that's what life is all about.'This is also my Mum's favourite show and she's had a really tough few years so I'm doing this is for her as well. Bring it on!' First big star! Kym's unveiling came after fellow Corrie star Will was unveiled as the first contestant earlier in the showFollowing a series of clues alluding to his previous acting roles, Will was unveiled as the first Strictly star during the Breakfast show, and said he agreed to join the show after vowing to 'grab life' following his father's death in 2020.He told Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt: 'Excited is one word for it, terrified is another, that's one of the reasons I'm doing it, it's stepping out of my comfort zone.'When I said yes to doing it, it was a long way away, but it's going a bit closer it starts settling in and it gets a bit frightening now.' Tragic: He said he signed up for the show to bring some joy for his mum, after his beloved father Bill passed away from cancer in 2020Will added that he has already told his two children he would be joining the show, adding he wanted their blessing to take part over fears he could embarrass them.He added: 'I had to tell my kids, because I had to ask if it was alright, they're 18 and 14, I'm not going to do anything they find mortifying, they're OK. It's something that I've never done before.'Will also revealed that he decided to join the show after vowing to 'grab life and create new memories,' and said he wanted to bring some positivity for his mother following his dad's death in 2020, two weeks after being diagnosed with cancer. Blast from the past! Will starred in the BBC comedy Two Pings Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps from 2001 to 2011 Sinister: He also played the villains drug lord Harvey Gaskell on Coronation Street last year'I lost my dad in 2020, and from then I thought I've just got to grab life and do things and create new memories, and that'sone of the reasons I said yes.'Because she's had such a tough time of it I wanted to give her something to look forward to, she lost my dad and her brother and brother-in-law and sister in a year and it was a really tough time for the family. I think mentally it will be good for me as well.'While he is best known for playing Gaz Wilkinson on the BBC comedy Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, Will has also had roles in Holby City, Broadchurch and more recently, drug lord boss Harvey Gaskell in 2021. Ready to dance? Following the announcement, Will was in high spirits as he exited the BBC Breakfast studios Dance it out! He showed off some of his best moves as he stepped out in Media City Salford Return: It comes after the launch date for this year's Strictly was revealed as Wednesday September 7 (Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly pictured)It comes after the launch date for this year's Strictly was revealed as Wednesday September 7, when the series will film a pre-recorded launch show which sees this year's celebrity contestants paired up with their professional partners.Strictly bosses released a statement confirming the date while inviting fans to apply for tickets, with launch set to air on BBC One later that month.They wrote: 'Dust off your dancing shoes, Strictly Come Dancing is back!'The stunning 20th series returns, bringing glamour and show-stopping dancing back to Saturday nights on BBC One – and we're extremely excited to be able to welcome an audience back to the studio for this year's shows.'Hosted by the very talented and glamorous Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, the show will once again come live from Elstree Film and Television Studios.'Registration is now open to be part of the exciting Launch Show, which is recording in advance of this year's live shows on Wednesday, September 7.' Show: The series will film a pre-recorded launch show on this date, meaning viewers will likely see the celebrity contestants paired up with their partners the weekend of September 10 (L-R Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse)To mark the BBC's 100th anniversary, the professional dancers will be putting on a special group routine like they have never done before.In another statement, Strictly bosses said fans can enter a draw to watch a recording of the special performance take place on August 24. They said: 'Strictly Come Dancing is celebrating 100 years of the BBC! The professional dancers will be throwing a party like only they know how, with a group number full of all the usual sparkle and glamour. 'There may well be a surprise or two as well, with special guests and fun tributes to some of your favourite BBC shows.' Show: To mark the BBC's 100th anniversary, the professional dancers will be putting on a special group routine like they have never done beforeJudges Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke have all been confirmed to return.Meanwhile, four new pro dancers have joined the line-up, which means that 20 professionals in total are ready to bring their skills to the BBC show's dancefloor later this year - the show's biggest dancer line-up in history.The four new world class dancers completing this year's professional troupe are European cup winner Vito Coppola, Chinese National Champion Carlos Gu, former Under 21 British National Champion Lauren Oakley and Latin dance champion Michelle Tsiakkas. A statement said: 'Registration is now open to be part of the exciting Launch Show, which is recording in advance of this year's live shows on Wednesday, September 7'They join the professional dancers already revealed for the upcoming series: Dianne Buswell, Nadiya Bychkova, Graziano Di Prima, Amy Dowden, Karen Hauer, Katya Jones, Neil Jones, Nikita Kuzmin, Cameron Lombard, Gorka Marquez, Luba Mushtuk, Giovanni Pernice, Jowita Przystal, Johannes Radebe, Kai Widdrington and Nancy Xu.Show favourites Alijaz Skorjanec and Oti Mabuse both quit Strictly Come Dancing earlier this year.Not every pro dancer will be paired with a celebrity with four traditionally performing only in the pro routines. New faces: Strictly Come Dancing will have its biggest professional dancer line-up in history when it returns this autumn for its 20th series with four new pros joining the show STRICTLY COME DANCING 2022: WHO ARE THE CONTESTANTS? KYM MARSHAge: 46Profession: Coronation Street star and presenterKym says: 'I'm so delighted that this year they have! I'm a huge fan of the show and can't believe I'm going to go from watching at home in my pyjamas to actually dancing in front of the judges in a glittery dress.'RICHIE ANDERSON Age: 34Profession: Radio presenter Richie says: 'This is a dream come true! I cannot wait to get in those sparkles and sequins and shimmy across the most famous dance floor in the world!' WILL MELLORAge: 46Profession: ActorWill says: 'I know it will be a huge challenge but that's what life is all about. This is also my Mum's favourite show and she's had a really tough few years so I'm doing this is for her as well. Bring it on!'KAYE ADAMS Age: 59 Profession: Television presenter Kaye says: 'I said I wanted to make the last year of my fifties memorable and i can’t think of a better way of doing it than showing the world my two left feet. Pray for me!'
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Television
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There is no glass ceiling stopping those of ethnic minority and Muslim backgrounds from entering the world of TV. It’s more of a concrete ceiling, given how difficult, painful – and sometimes ultimately futile – bursting through it can feel.Increasingly, there are examples of Muslim creatives who are helping television to shun offensive and outright harmful narratives in favour of exciting, multifaceted Muslim stories. In the US, shows such as Ramy and Ms Marvel have given Muslim talent the space to tell stories that are unflinchingly authentic. In the UK, comedy is making particularly impressive advancements, with groundbreaking shows such as Guz Khan’s Man Like Mobeen and Channel 4’s Bafta-winning smash hit We Are Lady Parts – which has been renewed for a second series. Other programmes from Muslim writers are on the way from the BBC and ITV, including Count Abdullah, which follows a British Pakistani Muslim junior doctor who is bitten by a vampire. But in terms of UK drama’s approach to Muslim stories, there is still a long way to go. When ITV’s Honour dramatised the real-life honour killing of Banaz Mahmod, it told the story from the perspective of the white, female detective investigating the case rather than the woman at its heart. Too often, this is the kind of narrative that dramas opt for when depicting Muslims: ones with an air of criminality, such as the Rochdale grooming scandal. During the trial of Darren Osborne, the terrorist who drove his van into Muslim worshippers outside Finsbury Park mosque in north London, it was revealed that the BBC drama Three Girls’ portrayal of the Rochdale child abuse sex ring is what led him to become “obsessed” with Muslims.“When people ask for Muslim stories, in my experience, they tend to look for those that fit their limited preconceptions,” says Faisal A Qureshi, a screenwriter and producer who has worked in the industry for more than 20 years. In 2005, he tried writing a thriller for the BBC with an Asian female lead, only to be frustrated by small-minded conceptions about how Muslims should be portrayed on TV.UK comedy is making advancements … Man Like Mobeen. Photograph: Paul Husband/Tiger Aspect“During the script development session, they basically said we should make this about honour killings. I just went no and the project died. We wouldn’t have been having that conversation if I made the character a white woman.”There has been improvement in the years since. Themes around terrorism, radicalisation and honour killings are falling out of favour, but preconceived notions of what a Muslim narrative should look like still linger. “The feedback I receive rarely questions my writing ability. The problem is always the themes I want to explore, and the way I want to depict my Muslim characters,” says screenwriter Zainab (not her real name). So bad has the situation become that Zainab now writes characters who are south Asian but not Muslim. “The types of stories producers and commissioners want at the moment is not reflective of my Muslim friends and family. I do not want to write Muslim characters, because I know those in the industry will butcher their stories.”Another issue writers trying to create authentic Muslim characters struggle with is a pressure for them to shed their identity. From Netflix’s Elite to Hulu’s Hala, the narrative arc of a hijab-wearing Muslim woman taking it off after falling in love with a non-Muslim is well-worn. “It appears that the only way to be a Muslim on screen is to either renounce your religion or to be a lapsed Muslim,” says Zainab, who once worked on a book-to-film adaptation, only for its producers to turn around and claim that the Muslimness of the characters made them uninteresting.“They called a Muslim character’s no sex before marriage values boring and wanted to ditch that. They were looking for the Muslim Fleabag and didn’t care about the intricacies of the Muslim experience,” she says. “If you have a disabled character in a story, the subversion is not for them to miraculously become able-bodied. So why is the subversion for Muslim characters for them to shed their Muslimness?”There are many Muslim screenwriters with projects in development, but the number that get commissioned is low, especially in drama. “Commissioners are often afraid to take ‘risks’ on stories they do not recognise – or do not relate to their lived experiences,” says Raisah Ahmed, a screenwriter and director based in Scotland. “Our experiences as Muslims only seem like a risk to people who do not understand our community and have never engaged with us on a meaningful level. We are not a risk. We just do not have enough people in those roles to go: ‘Oh yeah, this story makes total sense. Of course we will commission this.’”Another issue for Muslim creatives is how industry perceptions affect the kind of work they are able to get. “I had an interview for a book adaptation whose protagonist was sex-positive – which I was excited to explore,” says Zainab. “When the producers realised I was Muslim, it became a sticking point. I felt it was assumed that as a practising Muslim woman, I would not be able to write this story. They asked me to write a page on how I would approach this story from a sex-positive angle. Why should I have to jump through additional hoops to prove I can write a sex-positive character?”The lack of representation of Muslims – and members of other BAME communities – in TV is something broadcasters have pledged to change. In 2020, the BBC announced its £100m Creative Diversity Fund, which it says will fund more diverse stories and talent, both on screen and from a production perspective. It is far from the only such initiative, with ITV committing £80m to a similar scheme and a £30m pledge from Sky to improve its BAME representation.Yet there is scepticism about whether this money is being put to good use. “There are substantial pots of money available, but it goes unspent,” says Sajid Varda, a producer, founder and CEO of the charity UK Muslim Film. “There seems to be uncertainty over how it should be allocated due to disconnects between creative diversity leads and commissioners.“The other challenge is over commissioners and departments who are reluctant to take a chance on projects presented to them by talented BAME indies. They find it easier to greenlight projects from familiar networks, provided that they hire freelance BAME talent. They are unsure how to commission projects from people of diverse backgrounds.”We Are Lady Parts, a show that all Muslim stories are increasingly compared to. Photograph: Laura RadfordOne of the biggest barriers to the commissioning of authentic Muslim stories is the notion that British audiences are not “ready” for them. GB News and talkTV both crashed and burned after discovering that the audience for “anti-woke” programming is very small. TV executives seem to be taking a lead from politics. Like our politicians’ obsession with catering to the socially conservative “red wall” constituent, who is caricatured as anti-woke and anti-immigration, TV commissioners see programming for middle England and programming for diverse audiences as mutually exclusive.“Satisfying what the commissioner wants, what the wider audience wants and what Muslim audiences want is made to feel impossible without serious compromise to the authenticity of our stories,” says Zainab. Screenwriter and theatre-maker Karim Khan – whose play Brown Boys Swim is set to open in August at the Pleasance Dome in Edinburgh – agrees. “They are scared to put these stories on TV, uncertain if our shows will be marketable and well received by British audiences.”The risk-averse nature of commissioners leads them to rely on already successful shows. “Every Muslim creative you speak to, especially women who are writing female stories, is getting compared to We Are Lady Parts,” says Ahmed, “even if their stories are completely different.”Such a burden of expectation can weigh heavily. “We need to get away from this idea that one Muslim story, because it comes from a community that has been so marginalised and underrepresented on screen, has to tell every story for all Muslims and be everything to all of them,” says Kaamil Shah, writer of the forthcoming Count Abdullah. “Count Abdullah is not the Muslim story. It is a Muslim story.”A big-budget drama in the 9pm slot featuring an authentic Muslim story or Muslim lead remains elusive, but positive steps are being made. Dramas such as The Bay and The Good Karma Hospital have given Muslim writers the chance to pen authentic Muslim storylines. And with the arrival of Ms Marvel, there is an opportunity for bold, authentic, big-budget Muslim stories to be given the green light in the UK.“No one asks about my influences or my writing process or my actual work. They only ask me about the Muslimness of it or the Asian womanness of it,” says the screenwriter and journalist Amna Saleem. “I hope we can move past these conversations with Ms Marvel coming out.”Ultimately, the more success Ms Marvel enjoys, the better the outlook for UK dramas telling authentic Muslim stories. Or, as Khan puts it: “It will be a game-changer. It is in the mainstream space and it looks to be a ‘risk’ that is already paying off.” Here’s hoping.
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Television
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