Innholdsfortegnelse for 11/4/25 i Amateur Photographer

RRP £35, Luster Publishing, hardback, 256 pages, ISBN: 9789460583896 There’s something irresistibly romantic about the American road trip: the long highways, neon signage flickering in the dusk, and those roadside motels promising both rest and a story. Ellie Seymour’s Vintage Motels taps into that nostalgia with flair, offering a richly illustrated love letter to mid-century motor lodgings that have been lovingly revived for the 21st century. The book brings together 40 historic motels scattered across the United States, each built in the post-war boom years of the 1950s and 60s. In their heyday, these motels were more than just stopovers – they were architectural statements, cultural symbols, and staging posts in the mythology of American freedom. Today, as Seymour reveals, they’ve been reborn as boutique destinations, balancing modern comfort with…

When Alejandro Cegarra first picked up a camera in his native Venezuela in 2012, he could hardly have imagined that a decade later he would become the first photographer in history to win both categories of the prestigious Leica Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA). On 9 October 2025, inside Leica’s headquarters in Wetzlar, Germany, Cegarra was named the Main Category winner for The Two Walls, a searing yet empathetic chronicle of migration along the US–Mexico border. German photographer Serghei Duve received the Newcomer Award for Bright Memory, an intimate exploration of family and contested identity in Transnistria, the breakaway territory between Moldova and Ukraine. Now in its 45th edition, the LOBA remains one of documentary photography’s most coveted honours. This year’s ceremony formed part of Leica’s centennial celebrations, marking 100 years…

The Lumix S 100-500mm F5-7.1 is Panasonic’s longest zoom yet for its L-mount full-frame mirrorless system. It’s small and lightweight given its 500mm range, being similar in size to conventional 100-400mm zooms. It should appeal to photographers shooting distant subjects, including sports, wildlife, airshows, motorsports, or other kinds of action photography. However, while this may be Panasonic’s longest full-frame zoom, it’s not the only option for L-mount users. Instead, it’s up against two fine alternatives from Sigma. Firstly, the 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS is about the same size, but offers a shorter zoom. Meanwhile the 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS provides even longer reach, but is much larger and heavier in return. At £1,799, this 100-500mm lens costs rather more than either of these rivals (£899 and £1,199, respectively).…

‘Go Away’ by Annette Kirby is amongst the shortlist for this year’s Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards. The popular, free-to-enter photo contest attracted over 10,000 entries, with prizes incuding the Nikon Z6III, Z50II and the new compact cine camera. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, 9 December, followed by a free exhibition at the Gallery at Oxo between 10 and 16 December. See comedywildlifephoto.com…

£59.50, Remembering Wildlife, Hardback, 200 pages, ISBN: 9781999643393 Ten Years of Remembering Wildlife stands as a breathtaking record of what we risk losing. The landmark tenth volume in Margot Raggett’s award-winning series is the first to bring multiple species together, celebrating a decade of remarkable photography and vital conservation work. Since 2016, the Remembering Wildlife books have raised more than £1.2 million for projects in 34 countries, each title focusing on a single endangered animal. This anniversary edition expands the vision, drawing on the best images from the previous nine books and unveiling 20 new competition-winning photographs selected from more than 4,500 entries worldwide. Guest judges Art Wolfe and Federico Veronesi praised the ‘incredibly high standard’, and the results are dazzling: rhinos in the Kalahari, a lioness in Namibia, polar…

£19.99, Ammonite Press, softcover, 176 pages, ISBN: 9781781454992 Street photography has always occupied a curious position within the photographic canon: democratic, unpredictable, and endlessly debated. In Mastering Street Photography, Brian Lloyd Duckett brings both authority and enthusiasm to the subject, presenting a guide that balances technical instruction with the creative mindset needed to thrive on the street. This edition – updated again – reflects how much the genre has evolved in recent years, not least through the arrival of new camera technologies, editing software, and shifting ideas about ethics and legality. Duckett, a seasoned commercial photographer and the driving force behind the respected Streetsnappers workshops, makes a strong case that the essence of the discipline remains unchanged: framing unposed moments that capture the drama, absurdity, or fleeting beauty of everyday…

Ryan Hardman About Ryan Ryan has a passion for street photography and people pictures in particular. See more of his images on Instagram at @ryanhardman.photography. How did you get into photography? I started photography with a GoPro and capturing shots of surfing and mountain biking, which led me to photograph other subjects that weren’t focused on extreme sports. I then studied at Plymouth University, which propelled my photography, particularly my love for street photography. What are your favourite photographic subjects and why? People are my favourite photographic subjects. I love capturing people’s individuality and quirkiness through the lens of my camera and sharing 'unusual' sights on Instagram. I love that people are unpredictable, and when going out to take photographs, I never know who or what I will come across;…

52 Assignments: Composition by Antony Zacharias £12.99, Ammonite Press, hardback, 128 pages ISBN 9781781454961 Composition is photography’s invisible scaffolding – the structure that shapes how we read an image, often without realising it. In 52 Assignments: Composition, award-winning photographer Antony Zacharias sets out to make that structure not only visible, but playful. His book is part manual, part workbook, and part motivational nudge: a year’s worth of creative prompts designed to help photographers see differently and shoot with fresh intent. The format is straightforward but effective. Each week presents a new assignment that encourages the reader to experiment with framing, perspective, colour, contrast, or movement. Some are familiar rules of thumb given a twist; others more lateral exercises designed to push photographers out of their comfort zone. The key is…

Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY) is always a huge highlight in the photographic calendar. Developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London, the prestigious competition always attracts the very best of the year’s wildlife photography, and of course 2025 is no different. Striving to inspire a love for the natural world, generate public interest in conservation and enhance the prestige of wildlife photography, Wildlife Photographer of the Year is presented through an exhibition of incredible images of animals, their environments and the important photojournalism stories. Now in its 61st year, entry records continue to be broken, with 60,363 entries from across 113 countries and territories submitted. The 19 category winners, and Grand Title and Young Grand Title awards, were announced at a ceremony hosted by TV presenters and…

I’ve always had a camera with me. My reality has had a seismic shift though, from one extreme of choosing smaller-sensor cameras as a carry-around, to the other extreme of considering a medium-format camera for that role. The GFX100RF is so well designed and so compact for what it is, that it could very easily become my everyday carry (EDC). If someone had ever told me that my EDC camera could be a medium format, I really would have questioned their grasp on reality! No other digital medium-format camera has opened up the format to such a wide audience. The best camera is the one that you have with you, so why not have the best EDC camera with you? Do read on, as I know my intro may sound…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Be there, be square What an excellent article John Wade produced about the inimitable Max Wall and Trafalgar Square (Final Analysis, 14 October). Yes, in my early childhood it was de rigueur for mums and dads to take the family to feed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square. I have many happy memories of the Square and have had my photo taken, feeding the pigeons with those 6d bags of seed, on many occasions. I have attached one of the first, taken in 1953, of me, in school uniform, and with Dad holding my younger brother. I have others including from my time in the Army when I took my best Army pal, a gamekeeper’s son from Selkirk, to see the Square, and in each of them…

Lenses Interchangeable lenses come in a huge array of types for shooting different kinds of subjects IN GENERAL, the easiest way to expand the kinds of pictures you can take is by buying different types of lenses. For example, telephoto lenses let you zoom in on distant subjects, while macro lenses enable close-ups of small objects. Large-aperture lenses allow you to isolate subjects against blurred backgrounds, or shoot in low light without having to raise the ISO too high. Meanwhile, all-in-one superzooms cover a wide range of subjects, but usually with rather lower optical quality. Lens mounts On the whole, each manufacturer uses its own proprietary lens mount. Notable exceptions are Micro Four Thirds, shared by Olympus and Panasonic, and the full-frame L-mount that’s used by Leica, Panasonic and Sigma.…