Someone’s got attitude! British Wildlife Photography Awards
Greener photography involves spending a bit of time sorting out and discarding pictures of clouds and chopped-off heads, and then using one simple camera to take pictures when needed, not to spend your life taking selfies or thousands of photos.
Old-fashioned cameras were simple but the film was made from animal bones, so it’s good that things are digital. But now we have people taking thousands of photos, rather than living life.
Spend an evening going through your photos and just dump any that are not of special times or good memories (don’t recycle them or burn them, as they are toxic). It’s good psychology to get rid of photos of old boyfriends/girlfriends who children who bullied you at school. Keep what’s left and then blow them up and put them on the wall.
Don’t feel bad about throwing old photos away, writer Paulo Coelho never takes photos at all, he keeps all his memories in his head. Nothing bad will happen (simple living writer Karen Kingston writes that if that were true, think of all the photos on newspapers and magazines, they all get tossed). Also go through your phone and computer and delete unwanted photos. Then just take proper photos, when there is a reason to.
If you’re good at photography or graphic design, volunteer for Operation Photo Rescue. This global organisation takes and restores photos damaged by fire, flood etc.
Vintage Photo Lab can take all your old photos from a shoe box to an attic-full, and restore them to modern digital standards, for the next generation to enjoy. Recommended by Michael Palin, this service is a great way to store and display all your favourites, while letting pictures of clouds and cut-off head go! You get nationwide home collection, the photos are professionally scanned and then emailed to you, within a short time. Obviously there is always a slight risk, but if you’re happy doing it, then this is the best company to choose. This company has been operating since 2012 and (so far!) has not lost a single photo. After saving the family (including pets), 90% of people say saving photos is the next thing, but this means you don’t have to worry.
Simplifying Digital Photography
- The iPhone Photography Book shows how to take great photos on your iPhone, so you have no need to buy a digital camera. Each page covers a single tool to capture amazing images. You’ll learn how to get great shots in low light, how to capture awesome portraits, how to nail composition and how to take travel, food and landscape photos. Also covers time lapse photography, long exposure and panoramas. Includes a list of 10 photo apps to improve images.
- Digital Photography is a complete guide to become an expert photographer with a digital camera, in just 20 weeks. Go from novice to pro, and learn 20 user-friendly modules in simple language, with practical demos and tutorials.
Photo Albums to Help Elephants!
Paper High Photo Frames (can be personalised) are made from a blend of recycled paper and elephant dung (collecting gives locals an income, so they see elephants as good, instead of as a threat for eating crops). Or for a pop of colour, go for the handcrafted photo albums.
52 Nature Photography Assignments
Nature Photography is a book of 52 assignments. Find a portfolio of photographic workshops, a personal journal and an inspirational guide to putting the creativity back into your craft. Small enough to fit in you rucksack, the book features a year of weekly commissions and concepts, for composing eye-catching nature photography in all its forms. From shooting macro masterpieces to capturing birds in flight, all the assignments help to inspire you to explore the natural world around you.
British Wildlife Photography Awards
Enter snaps at British Wildlife Photographer Awards. Your work could end up in one of their books. The international Wildlife Photographer of the Year features over 50 photographers from nearly 20 countries.
Also read Wildlife Photography: Saving My Life One Frame at a Time, a book by a former soldier who recovered from post-traumatic stress & depression, by discovering wildlife photography.
Bird Photographer of the Year (there’s also an international competition).
The Power of Good Photography
This photography of Afghan Girl for National Geographic Magazine is probably one of the world’s iconic photos ever taken for a media outlet. The striking green eyes that looked at the camera were seen by millions, a girl who lived in a refugee camp after being orphaned age 6 by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Spending the next 30 years as a refugee in Pakistan before returning to Afganistan, she now lives with her surviving children (she lost one child and her husband).
Years later, photographer Steve McCurry went back to the find the ‘Afghan Mona Lisa’ as she is known in her home country. Sharbat Gula had no idea the photo was so well-known, and agreed for an updated meeting, to highlight the plight of refugees. Her life has not been easy. But the steely green eyes are still there on the still beautiful (yet more tired) face.
