Innholdsfortegnelse for 5/6/25 i Amateur Photographer

Welcome to our special film issue, dedicated to all things analogue. Even if you no longer shoot film yourself there’s plenty of nostalgia within this issue’s pages. We look back at the history of Minolta, test a new version of a classic Rollei, and a DIY pinhole camera. Andrew Walker’s digital conversion of an old plate camera is a particular highlight for me. And this issue sees the welcome return of our ‘From the Archive’ feature which revisits old AP’s from back in the day. If you haven’t yet secured your ticket for AP’s Festival of Outdoor Photography, don’t delay – we’ve got a fantastic programme of talks lined up from some of the biggest legends in photography, and tickets are selling fast. Details are on page 60. Our cover…

THE SOCIETY of Photographers has announced free-to-enter roadshows from May to September, giving visitors the chance to try the latest cameras and learn from expert speakers. The schedule is as follows: 13 May – Wetherby Racecourse, Wetherby14 May – Colwick Hall, Nottingham15 May – Bank House Hotel, Spa & Golf Club, Worcester16 September – Webbington Hotel & Spa, Somerset17 September – Green Park Conference Centre, Reading18 September – Priestfield Stadium, Kent See thesocieties.net/roadshows…

£50, GOST, hardback, 128 pages, ISBN: 9781915423740 In July 1973, the photographer Mark Cohen spent a month living in a dorm room at New York University (NYU) while taking part in a film production workshop. The daily classes were short enough that he had plenty of spare time to walk around the city with his camera. At the time, only a few of the images he shot were printed, with the vast majority remaining unseen – except as negatives – until now. During this decade, New York had a notorious reputation for high crime rates, with social disorder, a dangerous subway system and a quality of life which was far from ideal. Beyond that, a tough economic backdrop had affected the city badly, with many of its middle-class residents moving…

WIN! The AP Pic of the Week winner will receive a beautifully framed print of their winning image worth up to £100. If you Love it, Frame it! ThisPicture.com is an experienced, high-quality framing company with a unique, easy-to-use website. Build single or multi-image frames with a few clicks of your mouse and select from a wide range of frames, window mounts and glazing options. Each frame comes with a three-year guarantee and FREE P&P within the UK. Visit thispicture.co.uk Calla Lily Love by Shauna Hogg Fujifilm X-H2, XF 56mm F1.2, 1/4sec at f/9.0, ISO 200 ‘This calla lily was reduced in a local garden centre. It was wilting badly, but still had two beautiful blooms. I took it home, trimmed it and positioned it in front of some black…

In association with Once again, AP is championing the best in image-making with the launch of this year’s Amateur Photographer of the Year award (APOY), where the best non-professional photographers in the world compete over ten rounds to win some fantastic prizes. This year, we are excited to announce the return of Camera Centre UK as our headline sponsor, with a £500 voucher for the winner of each round – and a £1,000 voucher for the overall winner. Our other sponsors are DxO, Bob Books and ViewSonic. Together, they are giving away more than £20,000 worth of vouchers, software and products. In addition, we are excited to reveal that there will be a touring exhibition and book featuring the winners of each round and a selection of runner-up images. We…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Evolution is brutal Machines have been causing unemployment since the Industrial Revolution and this has rapidly increased since 1811, when the Luddites saw the future and destroyed the new machinery and resorted to violence to protect their traditional cottage industries. Obviously, they were fighting a lost cause as the genie was out of the bottle, and the Luddites were brutally put down. As the evolution of cameras and the photographic process have made it easier for the masses to create photographs, the eventual demise of the photographic profession was always inevitable, sooner or later. I wrote as much in a letter to the BJP in 1990, long before digital (and now generative AI) came along to accelerate the process, and was ridiculed at the time, but…

These portraits of rural Ecuadorian women in the Zuleta community highlight the women’s essential roles as caretakers of tradition and the environment. The images are printed using plant-based photosensitivity on banana leaves, cacao, coffee, vegetables and herbs from their home gardens. The series, titled Traces, by Yinna Higuera, was shortlisted in the creative category, professional competition, Sony World Photography Awards 2025. Yinna Higuera spoke to us about her series. AP: What drew you to the chlorophyll printing process? YH: We live in a world where time has become fleeting, where speed and immediacy dictate our perception of reality. Chlorophyll printing offered me a pause, a breath amid this relentless pace. More than just a technique, it is a dialogue with nature – a process that demands patience and surrender, where…

AMY DAVIES Features Editor Amy speaks to Lee Shulman about his Anonymous Project book; and talks to Mandy Barker JOHN WADE Our expert on camera history looks at the innovative cameras in the nine lives of Minolta DAMIEN DEMOLDER AP’s former editor talks to Andrew Walker, who has restored a 100-year-old camera ANDY WESTLAKE Technical Editor Andy tests the Rollei 35AF film camera; and builds a JollyLook zoom pinhole camera PETER DENCH The AP regular interviews Yinna Higuera about her SWPA shortlisted entry – portraits printed onto leaves AILSA MCWHINNIE The APOY 2025 contest launches this issue! Our APOY coordinator shares details…

GARDEN Safari, a new book by expert wildlife photographer and OM System Ambassador Andrew Fusek Peters, goes on sale on 8 May for £25. It shows how you can get amazing wildlife shots in your garden or local park, and Andrew will also be one of our star speakers at our Festival of Outdoor Photography in London (30 May to 1 June). Get your ticket at bit.ly/fopdetails – just use the Promotional Code: FINAL25 for your 25% off.…

The launch of the ‘video first’ Canon R50 V vlogging camera, among others, has got me thinking. I noticed it happening more or less immediately after the pandemic. Perhaps you did too. With increasing frequency each press release I received heralding a new camera launch replaced the word photographer, videographer – or both – with the non-specific ‘content creator’. At first, I assumed this was just the latest buzz word being trotted out by marketing teams. But was, in fact, a more fundamental shift taking place? And at a stealth-like pace? It’s true that the pandemic prompted a whole slew of new YouTube accounts and podcasts, as people sought to communicate ideas further than the four walls we were restricted within. A joke did the rounds that the surest sign…

Round one Black & White A black & white image has a certain something that colour photography simply can’t emulate, and the pursuit of a great monochrome picture is something many photographers devote their whole lives to. The joy of this category is that it is completely open – any subject goes, because the medium is equally stunning whether you shoot landscapes, portraits, abstracts, or go down the classic route of street photography. It’s always worth shooting with a conversion to black & white in mind – don’t make it an afterthought. Your guest judge Dimpy Bhalotia is an internationally awarded photographer, renowned for her powerful, pioneering images. Her instinctive timing, original perspective, and emotionally resonant storytelling have inspired audiences around the world. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post,…

You said... Szabolcs Kátai Use it as an escape. Feel down? Feel mentally drained? The best thing is to go for a walk with the camera. Better than therapy. Methanosarcina barkeri @Methanosarcina1 When I can’t find anything to photograph or don’t have my camera with me, I study light. I look at highlights, shadows, and contrast and observe the light directions. Then I try to visualize something I would like to photograph in that light. Pammy Sheldon Trying something new or trying something that you tried years ago but didn’t continue with. Rick Bowden @rickbowdenphoto I stopped thinking of myself as a landscape photographer and just as a photographer. That set me free to take any old rubbish. Elle Bee @ElleBeePhotos I’m a caregiver awaiting an autism assessment for myself.…

Reader Portfolio winners receive a one-year subscription to a Gold Portfolio Series website worth £300. UK domain name included. Amazing Internet designs, builds and hosts amazing websites for creative people and companies. It has specialised in creating websites for photographers since 1999 and has services to suit all budgets. Whether you need a simple template-based site for £60 per year or a fully bespoke site, they’ve got you covered. www.amazinginternet.com Submit your images See page 3 for details of how to submit. You could see your photos here in a future issue! Please note: the prize is subject to change. Jonathan Williams, Colchester About Jonathan Jonathan is retired, and is a member of the Royal Photographic Society. How did you get into photography? In the 1960s I took photographs of…

What do you think you see when you look at the bold cyanotypes on these pages? At first glance, they are almost indistinguishable from the Victorian pictures of algae, created by the pioneering photographer Anna Atkins, who is credited with creating the first ever photo book in 1843. But they’re not. They’re by Mandy Barker, taken in the past ten years or so, and don’t show algae at all. These are the remnants of textile garments, long forgotten about, discarded and washing up on shorelines. As beautiful as they are, they’re a stark reminder that ‘fast fashion’ has an impact. And it’s a big one. Reports suggest that the industry is a catastrophe for our planet. Here in the UK, we are particularly guilty of adding to the problem. In…

IN ASSOCIATION WITH OM System Tough TG-7 ● £449 ● 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…

It was a strange start to a project and an eventual book, but that is often the case with photography. Derbyshire photography lecturer George Miles was, like us all, enduring Covid lockdown inactivity five years ago. One day he was messing around and put an image of a pile of bricks placed on a carpet on Instagram. It was seen by a Nottingham mate and fellow teenage raver from years back. He contacted George and asked him for the bricks. Through this strange episode they reacquainted, and his mate told him he had become a wild swimmer, and would George care to join him and his friend for a dip in a local river. That started what became a wet weekly ritual and a book just out entitled Mid Week…

6 May 1959 For those who complain today’s AP has too many ads, this week in 1959 you’d have had to navigate past 75 ad pages before you got to the welcome and contents page. The last 50 pages were also ads. The editorial content was preoccupied with the forthcoming Photo Fair at London Olympia, a forerunner of The Photography Show, with ten pages dedicated to a floorplan, exhibitor list and a preview of all the things to see and do for the 2s 6d admission fee – equivalent to £3.96 today. Of the 96 trade exhibitor stands at the show only Ilford, Kodak, Focal Press, the RPS and AP are still around today. The Fair would be showing ‘well over 50 cameras that are either completely new, new to…