The Archive
Owen Freeman
PPD Readers Pandemic Projects: John Sobczak's "Dance In Place"
In a sense, we've all been dancing in place recently. Detroit-based photographer John Sobczak, who often shoots dancers, took the metaphor at face value, however, when he began his series "Dance In Place," which we spotlight today as part of a series featuring pandemic projects by PPD readers. "I noticed that as studios closed during the pandemic dancers took to the internet to teach from their homes," says Sobczak. He decided to create a series of portraits of dancers on location, shooting them at their homes from a safe distance with an iPhone 11 ProMax.
How To: Improve the Quality of Your Videos, Shoot Pro Timelapse With a Phone, Shoot Product Commercials, and More
Shooting video can be daunting. Even for experienced photographers. Creating video requires careful control of a variety of elements, from lighting and exposure to editing and storytelling, creating video requires car. You can pick up some insights on improving the quality of your filmmaking in a new video from YouTubers Becki and Chris, one of the tutorials we feature in today's roundup. You'll also get tips on shooting time-lapse with a smartphone, shooting products commercials like pro DPs, how to light videos with affordable gear, and more.
The DART Interview: Paul Alex
Peggy Roalf: Your ink/wash drawings are so expressive. Where did you first notice this medium and when did you take it up yourself? Paul Alex: I’ve been drawing with Chinese brushes and ink wash for about three years now; before that I mostly used technical pens. I can’t recall specifically where I first noticed the technique although I have been a life-long admirer of Quentin Blake, who, uses water colour -- but it’s that free-flowing brush that’s more like an acc...
Spotlight: A Moment from Colombian Photographer David Betancur's Travel Journal
David Betancur travels in order to find "character and scenarios." The Colombian photographer's portfolio is filled with people he finds on assignment and on his excursions throughout his country, which he records in what he calls "a sort of travel journal." Among the images in his journal is a shot of a girl resting on the edge of an abandoned swimming pool. "She told me, 'For enjoying the pool, there is no need to get wet in the water,'" Betancur recalls. His photograph was named a winner of the Latin American Fotografia 8 competition.
American Photography Open 2019: Meet the Winner, Alain Schroeder
Last month we revealed the ten finalists. Today, we introduce the winner of the American Photography Open 2019 competition - Alain Schroeder, a Brussels, Belgium-based photojournalist who has worked all around the globe, from Thailand and Tuscany to Crete and Vietnam. From October 2018 through April 2019, he was in Sumatra, Indonesia, to document efforts to aid the area's critically endangered orangutans. His photograph of an abused three-month-old female orangutan named Brenda being treated for a severely broken arm earned Schroeder the top spot in this year's contest.
The SONY a9: What the Pros Have to Say
"Eventually you knew it had to happen. Sooner or later cameras would get so good at what they did that basically your job as a photographer would be to look for interesting things to shoot and then try not to get in the camera's way as it did it's thing capturing them. I mean, imagine if a camera had pretty much flawless exposure capability, flawless focusing and could fire and focus so fast it never missed a frame?" So writes Jeff Wignall in todays Street Test of the Sony a9 full-frame mirrorless camera. Sony Artisans of Imagery Katrin Eisman, Andy Katz, and Pat Murphy-Racey join in with their takes on the 24.2-megapixel camera that has caused an uproar in the photo industry.