The winners of USA Landscape Photographer of the Year 2016 have just been announced and their photos are nothing short of spectacular. One of my favorites is by Mark Basarab who won the DPR Special Award Youth Winner for his clever photo showing a leaning man juxtaposed with a slanted tree. It was taken in Point Reyes, California.
The two big winning images can be seen below. You can check out all the winners on the USA Landscape Photographer of the Year website or you can sit back, relax and enjoy a compilation video, that includes a great selection of the winning images.
USA Landscape Photographer of the Year Winner: Alex Noriega
Sunrise light illuminates Mount Rainier as it rises above low clouds, seen from high above Tipsoo Lake, Washington.
My USA Youth Winner: Raiatea Arcuri
Coastal lava tubes in Kona, HI cause the water to flow in and out creating beautiful water motion.
Yesterday, my older sister Grace told me to check out the work of photographer Gray Malin. She said he had a “Max Wanger”-type of vibe, clean and crisp images of beaches and ocean waves. I instantly fell in love with his photographs.
A quick search led me to this article at the LA Times. Though it mostly has to do with his home, I came to find out that Malin also sells his fine art photography. (This is a dream of mine.)
“Malin has found the sweet spot between fine art and decorative photography. Today, his direct-to-consumer approach has blossomed into something bigger than a cottage industry, with 10 employees, commissions from designers, hotels and retailers, and a host of fashion and home decor items — including wallpaper, bathing suits and Sperry Top-Sider shoes — all bearing Malin’s colorful images.”
If you’re a fan too, you can buy a print on his website or follow him on Instagram. In his beach photographs, I love how people appear as tiny, colorful dots.
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.”
Last week, I was helping with the fair so I couldn’t put up my Friday’s list of Top 10 Images of the Week. This week, I thought I’d combine the past two weeks into one post and show you 15 total images. Not only will you get a peek into the fair, you’ll see some photos of Logan playing at the park and hiding inside a huge box. As mentioned last time, I also took some photos of patterns that caught my eye.
Photo above shows Sam pointing out a hummingbird in a tree. This was during one of our hikes at Santa Rosa Plateau.
Parker borrowed this toy car from a neighborhood kid. He loved zooming around in it.
I like the look of the colorful wheel at this angle.
On our walk, I spotted this yellow fire hydrant surrounded by pink roses. Pretty sight.
That’s Logan listening intently for the ice cream truck. (Sadly, it didn’t come that day.)
I took Logan to a close neighborhood park. I like all the lines in this picture.
The park was really empty so I got to place around with symmetry.
At this year’s fair, I only brought my iPhone but was happy to capture this shot of Parker greeting his dad.
First stop at the fair was at the fireman’s truck. They were kind enough to give us this photo op. Surprisingly, Parker was pretty shy.
Can’t beat 50-cent snowcones! Bu the time Logan finished his, all of the syrup was over his white shirt.
At the fair, in the petting zoo, Parker got to feed both the turtle and the birds.
Here’s an outtake from our Disneyland trip. I love Riverton’s face of pure joy.
Out of all the toys at my sister’s place, the boys gravitated towards this big, empty box. I guess it’s like a mini man-cave!
These stones are part of a pathway at my in-laws house. I like how they’re all different sizes but they make up a cohesive pattern.
Smooth stones look beautiful when interspersed with golden leaves.
One of my favorite photo competition, The National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest is now well underway, and boy, do they have some spectacular nature entries. Photographers, you still have time to enter, images will be accepted until the end of the month, May 27. As they state, “Enter your most powerful photos for a chance to become the 2016 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year. Show us photos that tell the story of a place or reveal insights about what inspires you when you travel.” The grand prize winner gets to go on an amazing adventure, a seven-day Polar Bear Safari for two in Churchill, Canada. The contest has three general categories: Nature, Cities and People. Courtesy of National Geographic, enjoy these stunning entries under Nature.
This photo is shot shortly after sunrise at mesquite dunes. George Lucas has chosen this location for some scenes of Star Wars. The blue background is not the sky. These are mountains in the distance. Location: Death Valley, California. Johannes Öhl/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
Last December I sailed to Antarctica on a 54 feet long-haul steel vessel. As we entered the Polar Zone this was one of the first icebergs we saw. Sculpted by the wind and waves, majestic in scale and with a dazzling white colour with layers of deep blue. The sun makes a quick appearance through a hole in the clouds, just in time for this shot. Massimo Rumi/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
I took this photo in July 2014 at Trollstigen in Norway. Standing there alone in the fog, I was waiting for the view to become clear. And then it happened, the fog disappeared and though it was 1 am already, one car came slowly up the steep serpentines. It was my dream for a long time to take a photo of lighttrails like this in Norway – and it was just an awesome feeling that it worked out on the most beautiful and famous street. A few minutes later the fog returned, even thicker than before. Christoph Schaarschmidt/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
During a snow storm I decided to head over to Bryce Canyon National Park and enjoy the freshly fallen snow. Visibility was down to almost zero, but then I found this single tree right next to a snow drift and knew this would be my shot. Yvonne Baur/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
I had heard a lot about how beautiful Uluru should look like when it rains. But I never believed that I would see it with my own eyes because the red center of Australia is a very arid area. That’s one of the reasons why Uluru is such a special place for the Anangu – the local aboriginal clan. If it rains, the water fills up the reservoirs around the rock, the only water source for several kilometers. This makes the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park to special place for lots of rare animals as well. Christoph Schaarschmidt/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
Just how creative are some individuals in this world? How did a photographer capture that moment? These are the questions I asked myself over and over during the nearly eight years I was editor-in-chief at My Modern Met. Every day, I had the rare privilege of writing about and curating art, design and photography and I fell head over heals for each of the three disciplines. (My heart ultimately led me to favor photography.) Photos have a way of leaving an indelible mark on your mind, they change your very being, providing you with a new perspective or a giving you a new appreciation for life.
Today, I’d like to share 21 images that have ultimately led me to want to become a photographer. These photos do everything from make me see the beauty in the everyday to nudge me to live in the present. While some photos capture the amazing feeling of love, still others tell a fascinating story of a foreign culture.
I hope you enjoy this collection.
Above: After living in Nepal and exploring Tibet and the Himalayas for more than a decade, photographer Hamid Sardar-Afkhami decided he would travel to outer Mongolia to document the nomadic tribes and their unique way of life. Sardar took photos of the Dukha people, Mongolia’s last nomadic reindeer herders. The Dukha tribe is quickly disappearing. Only about 44 Dukha families remain, or between 200 to 400 people. In the 1970s, it’s estimated that there was a population of about 2,000 reindeer but that number has since dwindled to about 600. Here, a young child rests her head on one of the reindeer.
This striking black and white photo of a man feeding ducks and swans in the snow is one you just can’t get out of your mind. It was shot by photographer Marcin Ryczek in Krakow, Poland. The contrast between river and bank as well as the framing are just perfect.
This is an iconic and powerful portrait of composer and pianist Igor Stravinsky by Arnold Newman. The piano cleverly appears like a large musical note. Simple and minimalist but powerful.
Tim Walker shot his first Vogue fashion story at the age of 25, and has been contributing his magical images to the magazine ever since. He’s known for fantastical settings and theatrical characters.
This photo of a man reading while an elephant leans into him looks like it was taken from the pages of a storybook. If you look closely, in the background you can see other elephants roaming the land. In 2010, this serene photo was shot in Chiang Mai, Thailand by famed photojournalist Steve McCurry.
Back in 2011, when the Vancouver Canucks lost in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, it sent their home city into chaos. Riots broke out, leaving buildings destroyed, cars burned and even people injured. Seemingly out of the blue, photojournalist Richard Lam was able to capture a truly unique image of a couple kissing.
I discovered the photos of Alex Stoddard when he was just 17-years-old. By that time, he had already created an impressive body of work like this one of a cotton cloud coming out of his mouth.
This hilarious photo of a fallen superhero is by Flickr favorite Rosie Hardy. She’s not just a master of self-portraits, she creates stunning portraits of other people as well.
Photographer Vitor Schietti uses long exposures to create light paintings all around trees. The lights appear to rain down from the branches!
This photo, called Felix, Gladys and Rover was shot in New York in 1974 by photographer Elliott Erwitt. While at first glance you think you’re looking at two pairs of human feet and then a small dog, you’d be surprised to find out that the first pair of legs actually belongs to a large dog! The advertising and documentary photographer is known for his black and white photos of funny and ironic situations.
Hawaii-based photographer Dallas Nagata White captured this incredibly “hot” kiss by an active lava flow. Her husband dipped her into a dramatic kiss as rain began falling. There’s hardly any retouching, the photographer only adjusted the color contrast and sharpened the image. This photo leaves you breathless. “When we say this was a spontaneous shot, we mean the kissing pose was,” White states. “We’d all first taken our ‘Look at us, standing next to lava in the rain’ power stance photos, but after Ed and I had taken a couple, he said, ‘One more,’ and dipped me in a kiss without warning. It was the only kiss shot we took that night.”
Jason Lee is a father who creatively captures his kids. Using a bit of Photoshop, he makes silly scenes come to life, like this one of his two girls playing around with duct tape.
Migrant Mother, shot in 1936 by photographer Dorothea Lange is known as the iconic image of the Great Depression. Florence Owens Thompson, was a 32-year-old destitute pea picker in California who had seven children. You can just see the worry, of how she’s going to feed her children, etched on this mother’s face.
Elena Shumilova is a Russian mother who takes stunning photos of her children with the animals on her farm. This one, of her son gently touching their large dog, shows the sweet friendship between the two.
Moscow-based Russian photographer Katerina Plotnikova is known for her breathtaking fairy tale-like photos of women with live animals. This one, of a bear kissing a woman’s hand looks like it’s been Photoshopped but it hasn’t. While these encounters may seem dangerous, they’re actually quite safe because the photographer enlists the help of professional animal trainers.
Kirsty Mitchell is one of those photographers who works tirelessly to create storybook-like photos in-camera. She, along with a dedicated team, work on lighting, make-up and wardrobe to make enchanting worlds come to life. This photo, of a women in an ombre dress standing in a lavender field, was one of her earlier works.
For the 2012 National Geographic photo contest, British-born, Thai-based photographer Ashley Vincent won the overall prize and first place in the wildlife category, with this fun image of an tigress shaking off water while at the zoo.
Photographer Chris Morgan shot this magnificent macro photograph of a hummingbird n 2011 at Bosque De Paz, a 3,000 acre privately-owned biological reserve in the middle of Costa Rica. He got a clear shot of the eye and captured the beautiful colors of the feathers.
Chinese photographer Fan Ho captured the everyday life of Hong Kong throughout the 1950s and 1960s. This image is captivating because it captures light and shadow in an artistic way. The shot is called Approaching Shadow and it was taken in 1954.
Using a long exposure, the path of the kayak paddle over serene lakes is brought to life. As photographer Stephen Orlando of Ontario, Canada states, “I’m fascinated with capturing motion through time and space into a single photograph. Using LED lights with custom color patterns and long exposure photography, I’m able to tell the story of movement. This technique reveals beautiful light trails created by paths of familiar objects. These light trails have not been artificially created with Photoshop and represent the actual paths of the objects.”
Hungarian photographer Noell S. Oszvald‘s conceptual black and white photos are striking. This one, of a bird flying in the air while a woman hunches over with her hands over her eyes is unforgettable.
When I made the list 8 Photographers That Made Me Fall in Love With Photography I forgot to add one very important person. Peruvian-born photographer Mario Testino has work that has graced the pages of such publications as Vogue and Vanity Fair and he’s shot for such fashion houses as Versace, Gucci and Burberry. One of his most recent editorials was a breathtakingly beautiful one featuring girl-of-the-moment Gigi Hadid alongside her rockstar boyfriend, Zayn Malik.
Testino has a gift for capturing everyone’s best side, it would be a dream to be photographed by him. The closest most of us will probably get to that is viewing his work at a new exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark. Starting May 12, visitors will be immersed in Mario Testino: No Limits, a show running over three levels of the gallery. The three overarching themes of his practice will be on view, his fashion and iconic portraiture, royal portraits and austere nudes. How I want to go!
Yesterday, Parker rode his bike around the neighborhood so I was able to catch a few shots of him as well as some flowers in full bloom. After watching this video by B and H, called The 15 Features of Your DSLR That Every Photographer Should Know, I learned how to get more shots in focus. Want to know the secret? There are two. First, you change your camera’s settings so you’re using the AF-ON button behind your camera. Now, you don’t have to click your shutter button halfway down and then click again to get a shot. The only downside is that you now use two fingers, you push the AF-ON button and then the shutter button. Here’s step by step instructions on how to set up your back button focus on your Canon Mark II. (This article explains what the benefits are to using back button focus.)
The other handy thing I learned about was changing your focal point, especially when shooting portrait versus landscape. For most photos, especially landscape shots, you can get away with center point focus but, every so often, you want to change your focal point so that you’re getting what you want in focus. This is especially useful for subjects like animals and people in portrait shots.
I’m happy to report that after learning these two tricks, my photos started to come out much sharper.
My go-to photography blog, Petapixel, recently released an article titled 40 Tips to Take Better Photos. There are lots of great gems in there. I’ve reduced the list down to 10 of my favorites.
Shoot every day
The best way to hone your skills is to practice. A lot. Shoot as much as you can – it doesn’t really matter what. Spend hours and hours behind your camera. As your technical skills improve over time, your ability to harness them to tell stories and should too. Don’t worry too much about shooting a certain way to begin with. Experiment. Your style – your ‘voice’ – will emerge in time. And it will be more authentic when it does. — Leah Robertson
See the light
Before you raise your camera, see where the light is coming from, and use it to your advantage. Whether it is natural light coming from the sun, or an artificial source like a lamp; how can you use it to make your photos better? How is the light interacting with the scene and the subject? Is it highlighting an area or casting interesting shadows? These are all things you can utilise to make an ordinary photo extraordinary.
Buy books, not gear
Having expensive camera equipment doesn’t always mean that you’ll take good photos. I’ve seen some absolutely amazing images shot with nothing more than a smart phone. Instead of having ten different lenses, invest in some fantastic photography books. By looking at the work of the masters, not only do you get inspired, you come away with ideas to improve your own photos.
Slow down
Take time to think about what is going on in the viewfinder before pressing the shutter. How are you going to compose the shot? How are you going to light it? Don’t jump straight in without giving it some thought first. — Brad Marsellos
Shutter speed
Being aware of your shutter speed means the difference between taking a blurry photo and a sharp photo. It all depends on what you are after. If you are shooting a sporting event or children running around in the backyard, you probably want your subjects to be in focus. To capture fast action you will have to use a shutter speed over 1/500th of a second, if not 1/1000th to 1/2000th.
Keep it simple
Don’t try to pack too many elements into your image; it will just end up looking messy. If you just include one or two points of interest, your audience won’t be confused at where they should be looking or what they should be looking at.
Be aware of backgrounds
What’s in your frame? So often I see great photos and think “didn’t they see that garbage bin, ugly wall, sign, etc?” It’s not just the person or object in your frame, it’s everything else in the background that can make or break a great photograph. So don’t be afraid to ask the person to move (or move yourself) to avoid something ugly in the background. — Marina Dot Perkins
Hold your camera properly
You might not know it, but there is a right way and a wrong way to hold a DSLR camera. The correct way is to support the lens by cupping your hand underneath it. This is usually done with the left hand, with your right hand gripping the body of the camera. This helps to prevent camera shake. If you are gripping your camera with your hands on either side of the camera body, there is nothing supporting the lens, and you might end up with blurry photos. To get an even stabler stance, tuck your elbows into the side of your body.
Inspiration from all forms
Take in as much photography as you can – online, and in books and magazines. But not passively. Look at different styles. Work out what you like or don’t like about them. Look at the technical elements of pictures and think about how they were made, and what the photographer is trying to say. The more you take in, the more arsenal you’ll have when creating your own work. — Leah Robertson
Be patient and persevere
With time, patience, and perseverance, you will get better; with each and every photo you take.
Photo by Eugene Kim
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!
