Innholdsfortegnelse for 11/12/24 i Amateur Photographer

If you are looking for a new genre to try, dance photography has a lot of appeal. As well as working with talented subjects, capturing the dynamism and grace of their movements is a fascinating creative challenge. Top dance photographer Jon Raffoul reveals more on page 36, and you can get more action photography inspiration from the Sports and Games portfolio winners of this year’s EISA Maestro competition. Other highlights of this diverse issue include John Wade’s look at the much-hyped, now-obscure APS film format, and Amy Davies’ in-depth test of the bokeh-tastic Nikon Z 135mm f/1.8 Plena lens. We also see whether a macro photography workshop is worth the money. Don’t miss our great subscription offer on page 11, too! Our striking cover shot was taken by Jon Raffoul…

Paul Hill – Vintage Photographs Centre for British Photography (online exhibition) Free, Until 30 November Taken from three of AP regular contributor and photography legend Paul Hill’s important early bodies of work, this is an interesting exhibition in that it’s online only. The Centre for British Photography used to occupy a temporary physical space in Jermyn Street, London, but is currently closed while the centre looks to secure a permanent home. Until then, it is holding print sales and online exhibitions. In this set, we see Paul’s photojournalism from the late 1960s and early 1970s, his celebrated semi-surrealist ‘Prenotations’ of the mid 1970s and his later landscapes of the Peak District from the series White Peak Dark Peak. An exhibition of Paul’s large-scale platinum prints was held in 2023. All…

Tech Talk Having cut my teeth on fully manual mechanical 35mm SLR cameras, I was unfamiliar with the final, fully automatic, iteration of this camera type. Perhaps rather snobbishly, I’d never really felt the urge to use one of these. But when I found one in a charity shop for a fiver, I decided to give it a go. Minolta’s autofocus SLRs were introduced in 1985. In Europe they were named Dynax, but went under the Maxxum and Alpha monikers elsewhere in the world. The first in the series was the 7000AF, and in all more than 30 versions appeared, with small incremental improvements in the specs as time went on. The final model, the Dynax 60, came in 2004, at which point, like many other manufacturers, Minolta threw in…

You said... Barry Regan For me, it has to be Don McCullin’s, ‘The Guvnors’, taken in 1958 in Finsbury Park. McCullin’s street photography is brilliant. Dean Gale Easy. Don McPhee and the Miners’ Strike in the 1980s. Duncan McNaught ‘Morris the Midge’, won me first prize in the Royal Society of Biology competition. Paul Scott Favourite is not the right word, but the image that has stayed with me forever is ‘Napalm Girl’ taken during the Vietnam war in 1972. Hits every emotion. Gareth Hughes ‘Migrant Mother’ – Dorothea Lange. Jeff Allsopp In my lifetime there have been dozens of ‘favourite’ photographs, but in recent years it has to be of our late Queen sitting alone during her husband’s funeral. It is a very powerful image that perfectly portrays the…

Mike Abrahams is one of those photographers whose pictures resonate with everyone at some stage in their photography journey. A highly regarded freelance photographer since 1975, he is particularly renowned for his sensitive documentation of the lives of ordinary people, often in extraordinary situations. I love his work. This was Then is Mike’s first career-spanning publication, capturing three decades of Britain in the years immediately before and after Margaret Thatcher’s time in government. Covering Mike’s images from Belfast and the ‘Troubles’, to daily life in the Glasgow tenements and the demolished terraces of Liverpool, the book captures the harsh reality of those years in a truly moving way. Having lived and worked around so many of the areas photographed I found it hard to choose a ‘favourite’ image from the…

TRACY CALDER The AP regular talks to dance photographer Jon Raffoul as he shares his technique JOHN WADE Our expert on camera history looks at the rise and fall of APS cameras JESSICA MILLER Dep Online Editor Jessica explores the benefits of West Dean College as she goes on a macro course AMY DAVIES Features Editor Amy tests Nikon’s Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lens and gives you her verdict ANDY WESTLAKE Technical Editor Our resident chief reviewer compiles the best cameras and accessories in Best Buys TONY KEMPLEN AP regular and longtime camera collector Tony talks about his Minolta Dynax 5 in his Tech Talk column…

LONDON Camera Exchange has announced that its Photographer of the Year competition is returning for a second year. The national retailer’s contest, which is free to enter, has 14 categories encompassing popular genres, along with a new Emerging Talent category open to photography students and a publicly voted People’s Choice Award. The prize pot is worth £10,000 and you have until 21 January 2025 to enter, either in-store or online at poty.lcegroup.co.uk…

CHINESE smartphone maker Tecno has launched its #ToneProud Campaign, which seeks to end skin-tone bias in imaging technology – a particular concern as AI image-generation and editing tools become much more common. The campaign aims to raise awareness of skin tone diversity while reminding consumers of the 268 skin-tone database featured in its phones. You can also try out Tecno’s Universal Tone technology yourself at a new website set up as part of the campaign, www.268toneproud.com. ‘By gaining a deeper understanding of their own skin tones, consumers can join the conversation by sharing their portrait with skin tone code on Instagram using the hashtags #ToneProud, #UniversalTone, and #TECNO,’ said the company. ‘This sends a united message that everyone should be proud of their own skin tones.’ For more details about…

EISA MAESTRO WINNERS 2024 In addition to its awards for best photographic products of the year, which AP featured in our 3 September issue, the Expert Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) runs EISA Maestro – its own annual pan-European photography competition. Open to amateur and semiprofessional photographers, this year’s theme was Sports and Games. The winning portfolios from each of the 16 participating EISA countries were judged together and the winners of the International contest have now been decided. The overall winner was Gabriele Pardini from Italy, who takes home €1,500 and the EISA Maestro 2024 Gold Trophy. Janusz Jurek from Poland was second and wins €1,000 and a trophy, while third-placed Cees van der Jagt from the Netherlands wins €750 and a trophy. All three also have their portfolios…

Jon Raffoul A former wedding photographer with an eye for detail, a willingness to experiment and a knack for releasing the shutter at the right moment, Jon Raffoul knows how to get the best out of his subjects – whether they are aspiring dancers or seasoned pros. To find out more about his location and studio workshops visit www.jonraffouldancephotography.com or Instagram: @jonraffouldancephotography Earlier this year a contortionist arrived at Jon Raffoul’s studio in an outfit that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the science fiction film Avatar. ‘It was purple and blue with scales and her hair was slicked back and secured in a ponytail,’ he recalls. ‘She was doing all of these poses and she looked like some sort of sea mammal or lizard.’ At one point the…

7 daysA week in photography AP picture of the week Interstellar Visitor by Goran Loncar Canon EOS R6, Canon EF 16-35mm F4L and Move Shoot Move tracker. Sky: 10 photos, 120sec at f/4, ISO 1250, 16mm, Foreground: 3 photos, 196sec at f/4, ISO 2500 + 1 photo, 30sec at f/4, ISO 10,000. Stacked in Sequator and edited in Photoshop ‘Since I found out our interstellar visitor Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was coming, I started planning where to catch it. This location is locally known as “Eagles nest” and was a perfect fit. On 22 October, a cloudless night finally happened and this photo was created! And yes, I almost fell down in a lake from that rock, it was a wild dance for few seconds.’ Instagram: @loncarphotographyFacebook: loncarphotographyWebsite: www.loncarphotography.com #appicoftheweek…

NIKON has announced the development of the Nikkor Z 28-135mm F4 PZ, a full-frame zoom lens for videographers compatible with its Z-series cameras. The new lens is designed to be easy to use, provide quality optical performance for video recording, and support efficient recording for documentaries and location work by a solo videographer or small crew. No further details have been released at this stage.…

WEST DEAN COURSES West Dean, home to West Dean House and the Edward James Foundation, is a charitable educational trust in Sussex. Edward James was a patron to the Surrealists who supported and worked with the likes of Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, and Leonora Carrington. In 1971, James opened West Dean College as a centre for education in conservation and visual arts to fulfil his desire to nurture music, traditional crafts and the fine arts. West Dean College has continued to be a hub for creativity in honour of James’s legacy and ethos for lifelong learning. A range of creative short courses in a broad range of subjects are offered all year round. From photography, painting and drawing to ceramics, jewellery and textiles, there is something for everyone to try…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Hats off to Pentax I was interested in your Black & White special issue. I’d like to remind people that the Pentax K-3 Mark III Monochrome is a good-value way of getting into pure black & white photography. Whilst it only has a 25MP APS-C sensor, the reviews have been very good. I used Pentax cameras for many years and they were always high quality and good value for money. The firm’s lack of direction in recent years has made me switch to Fujifilm, but I do love the K-3 and having this in a monochrome variety at less than £2,000 makes this a real opportunity to buy into a system which is compact, beautiful to hold and gives very good results. For those of us…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH OM System Tough TG-7 ● £499 ● explore.omsystem.com This latest model in a long line of class-leading rugged cameras is waterproof to 15m, shockproof against a 2.1m drop, crushproof and freezeproof. The 25-100mm equivalent lens is paired with a 12MP sensor, with in-body stabilisation to combat shake. Viewing is via a 3in LCD. The TG-7 is also one of the few cameras of its type that can record raw files. Reviewed 2 Apr 2024 Ricoh GR III ● £949 ● ricohgr.eu/en-gb A favourite of street photographers, the GR III combines a 24MP APS-C sensor and a sharp 28mm equivalent f/2.8 lens in a slim, pocketable body. It offers sensitivities up to ISO 102,400 and 4fps shooting, while in-body image stabilisation helps keeps image sharp. Viewing is via…