‘W’ for Weird; ‘W’ for Wildlife

"Weird & Wild," says NatGeo on the day we post our 'Weird News' edition which happens to have a distinct NatGeo flavour: Wildlife.  Here are four stories from the past 24 hours.

A Toad and a Bat

Peruvian wildlife ranger Yufani Olaya was on hand with a camera when a Cane Toad snagged a careless bat.  The remarkable head-on photo he took seems to be that of an extraterrestrial creature.

Though cane...

A How-To, a Gallery, a Controversy

Our weekly three-pack includes the usual tutorial and online gallery but the third component is a photography controversy which category is a weekly staple on our Pro blog.

The Einstein Monolight

We had featured this marvellously versatile piece of gear on our pro blog not too long ago.  Here it is on our retail blog as the subject of a nice tutorial by Rob Taylor on phototuts+ in which the...

Awards, Prizes, and Neil Leifer’s Knockouts

Today's post is all about awards and prizes and who won what, such as—

Maja Daniels wins Getty Images' Portrait Prize

Out of 721 photographers vying for the $10,000 prize plus a solo exhibition in Paris, Maja Daniels hit the jackpot, reports BJP.  She won Getty Images' inaugural Contour Portrait Prize.

Daniels's winning project 'Mady and Monette' is about twins who are Parisian peripatetic performers.  Visit her website for some of...

“A Buzzard Took a Monkey for a Ride in the Air . . .”

The week is closed out with a laugh and a chirp (or a howl) as our semi-weekly look at unusual and weird Photography News for today has humour and wildlife flavours.  All this from the past 24 hours!

The 'Bunny' Premier

British Premier David Cameron...

Three-Pack Tuesday featuring Parkour

Our weekly three-pack takes in a specialist mini-gallery, a mirrorless compact, and a how-to.

Gallery

This (very) specialized mini-gallery on the Nikon Blog is about an emergent urban 'x-sport' that originated in Palestine from whence it gradually spread to Europe: Parkour.

 Claudiu Voicu is "a former parkour athlete" and "professional street sports photographer" so he brings the sensitivity of the athlete to his photography.

This sport, generally associated with marginalized social classes on...

Where Facial Aspect Tends to Form: David English’s B&W Images

If ever there was a Photographic category for which colour is not only wholly superfluous, but, unwelcome, and for which black-and-white is ideal, it's sculpture, particularly of the human form.  (And this from someone who is a proponent of the merits of colour and its general superiority over black-and-white!)

That's the first impression one gets and the last conclusion one draws from David English's gallery, Ethereal Shadows, on the Leica...

New Gear and Gadget Roundup

Most Photogenic Religion and Other Curiosities

Our semi-weekly tri-pack takes in a camera, a gallery, and an interesting news post.

Brand New from Olympus

Photography sites are abuzz today with Olympus's new offering: a 16.1 MP Four-Thirds.  That's the OM-D E-M1.  The big selling point is super-fast AF, named 'Dual Fast AF.'  In addition, as long as you have a 'Regular' or Micro Four-Thirds lens mounted, the camera can focus on any one of 37 phase-detection focus points...

The Gorgeous Hues of Robert Caplin’s Photojournalism

It is enough to merely absorb the rich – even intense – and lustrous hues of Robert Caplin's photographs and luxuriate in them.  How he does it is reflected in what he is principally drawn to: "First and foremost, I’m attracted to beautiful light both hard and soft," explains Caplin in a just-published interview on the Leica Blog.

Caplin's work is regularly featured in America's premier periodicals including National...