Rachael Hale Mckenna is the woman behind some of the most adorable pet pictures you’ll ever see. For the past 21 years, she’s been taking unique images of our four legged friends. She doesn’t just take pictures of animals, however, she’s also gifted at photographing babies and families. In her animal photos, I love how she uses props like roller skates, hearts and teddy bears. They elevate her pet photography to a new cute and quirky level.
What exactly are you looking at? It’s one of the most incredible thunderstorm photos you’ll ever see. Pilot and photographer Santiago Borja was circling around the thunderstorm at 37,000 feet altitude en route to South America when he captured this spectacular sight. The clouds are lit up because the photo was shot at the moment of a lightning flash.
“Storms are tricky because the lightning is so fast, there is no tripod and there is a lot of reflection from inside lights,” Borja told The Washington Post in an email.
“I like this photo so much because you can feel the amazing size of the storm and its power,” Borja said. “But at the same time it’s wonderful how peacefully you can fly around it in still air without touching it.”
Borja is a pilot for LATAM Ecuador Airlines. The photo was taken south of Panama on a Boeing 767-300 with his Nikon D750 camera.
The pilot states that he primarily likes nature, landscape and cityscape photography. He carries his camera with him everywhere he goes, and, since his job requires him to be up in the air, he often shoots storm photos. Lucky for us and him, he’s combined two of his biggest passions, flying and photography, into creating one unforgettable image.
via [Colossal]
The winners of the 2016 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest have just been announced! Beating out over 10,000 entries, the grand prize went to Anthony Lau for his photo Winter Horseman. Lau’s incredible image is of a horseman showing off his skills in Inner Mongolia. Aren’t the silhouettes and the snowfall just breathtaking? Here’s Lau describing how he got the shot. “The snow was getting heavier, the wind was getting stronger, the morning snow was getting thinner and the light was moving away from its optimal position. I knew I only had a couple of shots to get the best out of this encounter. With a bit of luck, one of my final attempts managed to capture the moment when one of the riders charged out from the morning mist along with his horses.”
Lau takes home the grand prize, an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime trip. It’s a seven-day Polar Bear Photo Safari for two at Churchill Wild–Seal River Heritage Lodge, a National Geographic Unique Lodge of the World.
The quality of the entries in this contest is always outstanding. Congrats to all the winners. You can see all of the top entries below.
Photo above: Grand Prize and People First Place
Winter Horseman
The Winter in Inner Mongolia is very unforgiving. At a freezing temperature of minus twenty and lower with constant breeze of snow from all direction, it was pretty hard to convince myself to get out of the car and take photos. Not until I saw Inner Mongolia horsemen showing off their skills in commanding the steed from a distance, I quickly grab my telephoto lens and capture the moment when one of the horseman charged out from morning mist .
Photo and caption by Anthony Lau / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
People Second Place
Rooftop Dreams, Varanasi
I arrived at my guest house in Varanasi at 5:30am, I instinctively climbed the 7 sets of stairs to the rooftop (which happened to be the highest in the vicinity) to see the sunrise over the famous Ganges River. As the sun was rising I looked over the right hand side of the balcony and my jaw dropped with disbelief. Below were families – mothers, fathers, children, brothers, sister and dogs all sleeping on the top of their houses. It was mid summer in Varanasi and sleeping sans AC was difficult.
Photo and caption by Yasmin Mund / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
People Third Place
Remote Life at -21 Degrees
Kinnaura tribal old women in remote village in Himachal Pradesh carrying big log back home to warm up her house.
Photo and caption by Mattia Passarini / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
People Honorable Mention
Muscle Beach Gym
A weightlifter lifts a barbell loaded with heavy plates while a bodybuilder performs an aerial handstand at the Muscle Beach Gym in Venice Beach, CA.
Photo and caption by Dotan Saguy / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
Nature First Place
Wherever you go, I will follow you!!
Romance is in the air. It was the time of day immediately following sunset. I heard a voice. “Wherever you go, I will follow you” the voice says.
Photo and caption by Hiroki Inoue / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
Nature Second Place
Double Trapping
Picture taken in the Brazilian Pantanal… when I downloaded the CF did not want to believe it …. The nature knows we always give magnificent events but sometimes extraordinary.
Photo and caption by Massimiliano Bencivenni / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
Nature Third Place
Lagunas Baltinache (Atacama Desert)
The Baltinache Ponds, also called Hidden Ponds are a set of seven salt ponds located in the area of the Salt Cordillera, near San Pedro de Atacama, in the second region of northern Chile, in the Atacama desert. After much research, I believe to be the first photographer to publish night photos of this place, but it is still necessary to confirm this information. Tech Details: Photography done in one shot. Foreground was illuminated by the moonlight.
Photo and caption by Victor Lima / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
Nature Honorable Mention
Bears on a Berg
This photo was taken far out on the sea ice in the Davis Straight off the coast of Baffin Island. This mother polar bear and her yearling are perched atop a huge snow covered iceberg that got “socked in” when the ocean froze over for the winter. To me, the relative “smallness” of these large creatures when compared to the immensity of the iceberg in the photo represents the precariousness of the polar bear’s reliance on the sea and sea ice for its existence.
Photo and caption by John Rollins / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
Cities First Place
Ben Youssef
Even though there were a lot of people in Ben Youssef, still here was more quiet and relaxing compare to the street outside in Marrakesh. I was waiting for the perfect timing to photograph for long time.
Photo and caption by Takashi Nakagawa / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
Cities Second Place
Silenced
This photo was taken on my last trip to GuangZhou, China. This place is a school dormitories of South China Normal University. When I was hanging around, most of them were taking a break. After the lunch time, they need to go back to study. The dormitories were smelly and messy.
Photo and caption by Wing Ka H. / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
Cities Third Place
Celestial Reverie
Lightning seemingly strikes Komtar Tower, the most iconic landmark of George Town, capital of Penang state in Malaysia. It is symbolic of the rejuvenation that the city, famous for a unique blend of centuries-old buildings and modern structures, has enjoyed in recent years. While many of its old neighbourhoods fell into neglect in the 1990s and early 2000s, UNESCO World Heritage listing in 2008 sparked a transformation, and today, they are all part of a vibrant tourist destination.
Photo and caption by Jeremy Tan / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year
Cities Honorable Mention
Divide
In the helicopter looking south on Central Park West – dividing the architecture and Central Park, on November 5th 2014, a day before my 27th birthday. The flight was my birthday gift.
Photo and caption by Kathleen Dolmatch / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
In my quest to become a professional photographer, I’ve decided to take on a new challenge. I want to start a photo a day project. You may have heard people call it Photo 365 or a Photo A Day (PAD) project, either way what it is taking one photo (or more) a day and then sharing it (or them) with the world.
Photographer Katherine Heise of Lamb Loves Fox inspired me to begin this project. I’m sure that this will help sharpen my skills while providing a neat documentary of daily life. Also, have you read this Petapixel article by street photographer Marius Vieth? It’s called How a 365 Project Changed My Life. Since I have a love for both family photography and street photography, I’m interested in seeing which niche I’ll gravitate towards.
There’s a bunch of websites that offer great tips on how to begin this exciting endeavor. I decided to round up the best advice out there. Do you follow anyone’s Photo 365?
1. Maintain A Heightened Awareness
At every moment of the day keep your eye open with a photo in mind. Look for the obscure moments or observations that you might otherwise let go by with out a second glance. Training your eye and brain in this way is where a Photo365/Photo A Day project can help you improve as a photographer the most. Taking great photography can’t happen if you never see or never know when to react.
– via Digital Photography School
2. Train Your Eye To See Light
Learn how to get the most out of the light whether sunny, overcast, or any thing in between. Learning how to get the most out of high contrast and low contrast lighting situations is a great way to broaden your photographic opportunities. In addition experiment and make use of off camera lighting to supplement the available light to you. I learned a lot forcing myself to take photos in all different lighting environments during my Photo365 / Photo A Day project several years ago and it helped make me a stronger photographer.
– via Digital Photography School
3. Bring Your Camera Everywhere
Yes, everywhere. Get in the habit. Grocery stores, restaurants, parties, work, and school. Going to a movie theatre? Snap a pic of the flick with your phone–there are photo-ops everywhere. If you have one of those tiny tiny cameras, you have no excuse not to have it in your pocket all the time. And if you don’t? Camera phones are a great substitute.
– via Photojojo
4. Tell a Story
Use your blog entry, or your photo description, to explain what’s going on in each day’s photograph. How good did that dinner taste? What made you want to take a photo of that stranger? It’ll help you remember down the road, and it gives friends following along a better appreciation of why you took the photo you did. You don’t need to write a lot, just enough to add some color.
– via Photojojo
5. Don’t Stop, No Matter What
This is perhaps the most important tip of all. You will get tired of taking a photo every single day. Some days, you will consider giving up. Don’t. The end result is worth the effort. Remind yourself why you wanted to do it in first place.
There will be times you’ll think there’s nothing interesting left to take a photo of, and times you’ll think you didn’t do anything exciting enough to take a photo of. There’s always a great photo to be made.
Get out of the house and take a walk. Or stay inside and look around. Take a photo of something important to you. Take a photo of the inside of your house so you can see how your taste has changed over the years. Take a photo of anything, just don’t stop.
– via Photojojo
6. Think Ahead
Sometimes you’ll find an interesting shot without even trying, particularly if you’re out and about a lot. If you’re not, or if you’re having a slow day, it’s good to have a list of ideas that you can photograph. The list can include places, subjects, techniques you want to try and more. If you’re really stumped, go to your favourite spot for shooting.
– via The Next Web
7. Make a List of Happy Things
Listen, you are going to get in a photography rut. I am not going to lie and say that every single day it is going to be easy. There are going to be the days when you feel uninspired. But creating and keeping a list handy helps. Sit down and create a list of all the things that make you happy. Whether it is seeing your little one jump off the school bus at the end of the day or pulling a baking sheet of cookies out of the oven, make a list of all those things that bring a smile to your face. Then, tuck that list away in your camera bag and pull it out on those days when you are feeling uninspired. Trust me, this works! And your list will bring a smile to your face, too!
– via The Bethadilly blog
8. Try Different Things
Try different things. A lot of different things! Different cameras, different cities, different settings. Play with light and darkness. Find out what suits you best and then get really good at it. Photography teaches you how to get the best out every situation and to look at things from different angles.
– via Telegraph
9. Think About Whether You Want to Print Your Photos
Personally, I believe that printing your Project 365 is one of THE best things for motivating you to continue. Honestly, I am not sure whether I would have continued through this far if it hadn’t been for the fact that I don’t like to see a gap in the album that holds my 365 images! I love printing out my photos each month: there is something very rewarding about holding a print in your hand.
Of course you may choose not to print as you go along, but perhaps make a photo book out of them each year: again, though, I would suggest filling this in as go along, and then printing at the end of the year. Either way, it’s a good idea to get this set up before you start taking photos!
-via Live Snap Love
10. Start Today!
The best thing is that you don’t have to wait until the end of the year to start your Project 365. You can start today! If you are looking for ways to improve your photography skills, you should consider starting a Project 365.
-via The Sits Girls
So, I’m going to start today! Each day, sprinkled within this blog you’ll see one picture I took, the day prior. I’ll also be posting to my Instagram. Let’s hope I can keep this up!
Photographer and mom Katherine Heise takes timeless photos of her two children, who she endearingly refers to as “fox” and “lamb.” Dressed in vintage clothes or in unique pieces found on Etsy, the two kids have their lives chronicled by their incredibly talented mother. Australia-based Heise started her first 365 day project in 2013 with the intention of capturing the transition from a one to two child family. She first started taking pictures around her 21st birthday, and though she has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography, it wasn’t until she had children of her own that her love of photography turned into a passion. As she states, “The stark realization of the transience of childhood brought on by parenthood drove me to record every tiny detail.”
What I love most about her photos are her interesting compositions. She finds different angles to shoot from and her photos each tell a simple but sweet story.
What does she try to convey in her photos? As she told Artifact Uprising, “I am a storyteller, telling the story of a very small event in one particular day. I try to relate the wonder of childhood, I suppose, and the small, seemingly inconsequential details of life, which actually become significant memories for most adults when they reflect back on their own childhood.
“The visual elements of childhood cut across all cultures and times so there is a timelessness in capturing the particular history of my family.”
I’d love to be able to take photos of my own two kids like this. Heise is able to create clean and crisp shots while also incorporating a timeless feel. To me, they have that feeling of fine art.
What does a photographer do when he first moves to a new city? Well, if you’re Skander Khlif you head to your local museums and take photos of those engrossed in art. In his new series called The Silence of Munich, he shoots photos of people surrounding by sweeping architecture or in front of beautiful masterpieces. I love how he mostly has one or just two people in his shots. It goes to show that less is more when it comes to street photography such as this.
Here’s what Khlif stated about this body of work. “I just moved to Munich. And on the first Sunday I had to present my self to my new city and in the same time get to know ‘Her’ better! The heart of every city is the museum area and there I went! Alte Pinakothek and Pinakothek der Moderne! What a beautiful silent Sunday!”
How I’d love to try and do this at the recently opened Los Angeles museum, The Broad.
Photographer Adrian C. Murray has a brand new book he’d like to get published through Kickstarter called The Last Art of Childhood. His magical photos speak for themselves. Murray takes photos of his own children with their dog and teddy bear in ways that evoke the spirit of childhood. 500px recently featured him on their blog and was able to interview him about his project. Here we learn the concept behind the book: “The lost art of childhood has a double meaning to me,” he states. “First and foremost, the viewers of the book will typically be adults. Adults who, over time, have lost their sense of childlike wonder and amazement. It’s a natural progression of life, as we come to understand more about the world and take on greater amounts of responsibilities. This starts to whittle down our own perception of the world into the narrow boxes we deal with in the day to day. Taxes, mortgages, the nine to five grind. These activities and worries consume our ability to look at the world in amazement and wonder. It takes a conscious effort for us to get back to our younger selves, and remember what it was like to look at the world with a young set of eyes. To view life as the masterful piece of art that it is. Childhood becomes lost.”
A former dentist, Murray recently transitioned to becoming a full time photographer. He doesn’t post process in Photoshop, rather, he uses Lightroom for all of his edits. Most photos were taken in his hometown of Kentucky, at local parks near his home. He’s also photographed in Idaho where his wife is from and in California, where he was raised. “From swinging above a creek, to eating with deer, there are some of my most recognizable images taken in California. I had an amazing childhood there myself and each time we visit I want to give my kids a taste of what I had growing up.”
Murray reminds me of Elena Shumilova in that they both are to capture what it was like to be a child; the imagination and curiosity that come with it. Their photos also have a similar feel to them, appearing timeless and classic. (Here’s an old post I wrote about Murray’s adorable teddy bear shots.)
The 12″ x 12″ cloth bound hardcover book has over 60 color images across 120 pages with accompanying quotations. On Kickstarter, his goal is to raise $30,000. Let’s help him!
It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, especially when you’re dealing with photography. What should I shoot? Is there something I should concentrate on? Over on Pinterest, I found this great list of “prompts” or themes that give you an idea of what you could be shooting. It was created by Stephanie Clark from the blog Behind the Camera and Dreaming.
“As part of supporting and encouraging our 365 group my co-hosts and I thought it would be a good idea to have a weekly (optional) prompt or inspiration to help us stay creative in our photography and boost us out of our funks! We proposed the idea to the group and made a list of 52 prompts! I decided that we should make our prompts pretty, so here is a list of prompts by week and an inspiration printable for inspiring your photography.”
Currently, we’re in week 24, so this week it’s all about dad! I like how the list incorporates holidays. For instance, the first week of the year is “resolution” for New Year’s and the last week of the year is “joy, hope and peace” for Christmas.
In my daily shooting, I hope to incorporate these prompts. You’ll see a hint of them in my weekly wrap up posts, Life Unfolding, which are up on Fridays. You can download a printable 8×10 of this sheet, here.
Winners of the 2016 Fine Art Photography Awards (FAFA) were recently announced and David Tortora and Jaime Travezan won in the overall Professional category with their series Flora. A celebration of nature, it shows a nude woman surrounding by a sea of vibrant flowers. The Awards received more than 3,994 submissions from 83 countries around the world and winners were selected by a highly acclaimed panel of international judges including one of my favorites, Kilian Schönberger. (He photographed that beautiful blue forest in Belgium.) The FAPA mission is to celebrate Fine Art photography and to discover emerging talent from around the world.
In the Flora series, three out of the five pictures were NSFW. You can see it in its entirety here.
You may remember the name Grace Chon. She’s the photographer behind the viral series Jasper and Zoey where she paired her adorable young son next to their rescue dog. It turns out that Grace is a pet photographer by trade, she shoots photos of dogs, cats and more and has a large portfolio of work to show for it. On her website, one of the sections I accidentally stumbled across is called Funny Bones. Why did she create this separate section? “Dogs are inherently really funny creatures,” she said. “Aside from the obvious things like they smell each other’s butts to say hi and they have no problem eating poop, dogs are just funny. They’re like furry preschoolers that never throw tantrums. And like kids, each and every dog has their own very funny characteristics and quirks. As an animal photographer I strive to capture emotion – whether it’s a soulful look, a poignant moment between human and animal, or a hilarious unscripted moment from a dog. Funny Bones is a compilation of the funny stuff.”
Out of the 30 or so photos in the section, I picked out seven of my favorites. These images spotlight smartly dressed dogs who are overflowing with personality. More than anything, these funny photos show the hilarious side of the pet owner, the dog itself, and, of course, the photographer.
I got to ask Grace what she’s learned about shooting dogs over the years and here’s what she told me. “I’ve learned to go with the flow. I like to say that I’m not making the dogs work for me, because we are working together. I don’t make dogs do things they don’t want to do. If something isn’t working, owners oftentimes want to keep making the dog try but I just like to move onto the shot. It keeps the dog happy and makes the shoot more about a collaboration between the dog and I. When the dog is unhappy or uncomfortable, believe me, it shows in the shot. The dogs I photograph look happy and look like they’re having fun because they are!”
Finally, how does she catch dogs showing such funny expressions? “I really just go with the flow and let the present unfold in front of me,” she said. “I am really relaxed when I shoot and capture what I can without forcing moments.”
(The first and last photo are my favorites.)
Hello, I’m Alice Yoo! I’m founder and CEO of Skylar Yoo, a company dedicated to inspiring and empowering women to be bold. We sell apparel, art prints and accessories to the modern feminist.
In my former life, I was editor-in-chief of the art and culture blog My Modern Met, which I founded back in 2007. I curated and wrote about art, design and photography for more than seven years. (In fact, I published over 7,000 articles which were seen by millions of people worldwide.) I’m also co-author of a book called For Love: 25 Heartwarming Celebrations of Humanity, which is on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
I live in southern California along with my husband and my two toddler boys.
This blog is about what I love, the tough experiences that I’ve learned from, and my journey as a second time entrepreneur. Right now, I’m in the midst of a 365 day challenge, to read one book a day. If you share my passions or want to learn some cool new facts, come along for the ride. I hope to inspire, educate and entertain you!
