Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Nature can often present us with some rather wonderful and rare sights. Sights such as spinning ice circles in slow-moving rivers. One particularly giant and impressive example popped up in the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, Maine recently.
Fortunately for those of us who live nowhere near Maine, Todd McKee, founder of Bulldog Aerials, managed to capture some beautiful footage of the formation so that the rest of us could take a peek.
It’s one of those things that nature photographers and filmmakers struggle with. When to intervene in the natural course of events. Typically, most don’t intervene, especially when they’re there in a straight documentary capacity. Humankind has interfered with wildlife enough already.
Sometimes, though, it just feels like the right thing to do, as this wildlife documentary crew for BBC Dynasties decided.
I’ve always found it oddly calming to watch timelapse videos of blooming flowers. With a very basic setup, over 40,000 shots and nine months of shooting, Majo Chudý has created a timelapse of blooming flowers that you’ll certainly enjoy.
We have seen a few sad examples of what happens to natural wonders when they become too popular. In this video, Vox explores just how much geotagging your images on social media increases the destruction of nature. What happens when nature goes viral?
We’ve seen awe-inspiring photos of different natural phenomena: lunar fog bow, Aurora Borealis, storms… But a 1,000-feet long spider web blanketing a large part of a town? I’ve never seen anything like it, but photographer Alexandros Maragos witnessed it and managed to capture it in a series of unbelievable photos.
According to statistics, the equivalent of a truckload of plastic is dumped in the ocean every 60 seconds. Sounds kinda scary, right? Since the statistic may be difficult to visualize, Benjamin Von Wong has decided to demonstrate it with a series of photos, hoping to make a change. So, he gathered a team and a truckload of plastic, and created a set of impactful images, along with a project that aims to help decrease the pollution at the source.
The number of people who get to photograph is not huge, but the number of people who get to see a Polar Bear actually using a camera is close to zero.
Photographer Roie Galitz was leading a photography workshop in Svalbard when the team encountered a big male Polar Bear. Little did they know that the bear had artistic aspiration.
Roie tells DIYP:
Nature holds so many amazing sights the world never gets to see. Thanks to the proliferation of digital cameras and drones in the last decade or so, though, now there’s the chance that we can. It’s not that there are more people going out and looking for these sorts of things. When they do happen, though, it’s more likely that somebody’s got a camera handy to film it.
In this particular instance, that somebody is Ontario resident, Dan Nystedt. While out filming with his Phantom 4 Pro recently at Achigan Lake, Dan came across a moose. This moose sighting already excited him. But he definitely wasn’t prepared for what happened next, as a wolf comes running out of the trees to attack.
Taking photos and videos on vacation is what we all do, and it’s totally okay. But when you start ignoring signs and destroy the nature just to get more likes on Instagram, it becomes unacceptable. Recently, a group of tourists in Yellowstone National Park ignored all the warnings and gathered around a thermal feature to take photos.
Not only they walked all around the restricted area, but they even stuck their fingers i the water. All this doesn’t only damage the park, but it puts them in danger of hurting themselves, too. One of the visitors filmed them and warned them not to do it. While a part of them stepped away, some of them stayed persistent in sticking their fingers in the water and taking family snapshots.
No matter how cliché it may sound, it seems that photography sometimes really can change the world and influence the course of history. A perfect example of this is a 19-century American photographer Carleton Watkins.
He was born in 1829 in New York, and upon moving to California, Yosemite became his most favorite subject. Believe it or not, it was thanks to his work and his love for Yosemite that this area was preserved. And not only that – he also influenced the development of the national park system in general. This is the story of photography that, indeed, changed the world.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
Find my work on My website or follow me on Facebook or My page
