Showing all posts about photography
Emulate Wes Anderson with Shoot Like Wes, a book by Adam Woodward and Liz Seabrook
3 July 2025
Perhaps the world is still sufficiently pre-peak the work of American filmmaker Wes Anderson, to the point that photographers still want to emulate his style in their work. If you believe the former, and are among the latter, then Shoot Like Wes, a book by British journalist and film critic Adam Woodward, and London based photographer Liz Seabrook, might be for you.
Inspired by the distinctive vision of director Wes Anderson, Shoot Like Wes is packed with rich imagery and in-depth analysis of the auteur’s remarkable body of work. This is the only guide you’ll need to create your own cinematic masterpiece, transforming everyday scenes into vibrant, storytelling moments worthy of the big screen.
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books, film, photography, Wes Anderson
Foto, an Instagram-like photo-sharing platform and alternative
28 June 2025
While I am (slowly, very slowly) working to host my snapshot photos here on disassociated, I couldn’t resist signing up for Foto, a new Instagram-like photography platform.
Unlike similar platforms, Foto offers posts in chronological order, free of adverts. Foto also undertakes not to crop any images uploaded by members. Revenue will be generated by yet to come pro features, which members can opt for if they so desire.
Describing Foto as new is not completely accurate though, as the startup has been around for close to three years. In that time, it has, according to a welcome email I received, worked with sixteen-thousand testers (an impressive number), since going into beta about eighteen months ago.
There is, at the moment, in my early hours on the platform, an encouraging degree of interaction.
Despite only having one follower at present, the five photos (including the one above) I have so far posted have garnered up to half a dozen likes, from people I don’t even know. How often does something like that happen on the other, algorithm-saturated, platform?
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photography, photos, social media
In a world gone mad here is the clearest yet photo of Pluto
24 June 2025
This is — if anything you read on social media is accurate that is — the clearest ever photo of dwarf planet Pluto. The original set of images used to composite this one were taken ten years ago, when NASA‘s New Horizons space probe flew passed Pluto in July 2015.
By colour enhancing the image — Pluto doesn’t actually look quite so vivid — more detail is resolved, allowing for more information to be gleaned about the distant planetoid.
I’ve not been able to precisely ascertain when this image was first published. According to Project Ubu (Instagram page), in a post on Sunday 22 June 2025, NASA had “just released” the image. On hunting around, I found the same image on the Galaxies Instagram page, but they posted the photo on Friday 25 April 2025.
So the image certainly hasn’t been “just released”, I’d have gone for recently released. But enough being pedantic, let’s instead marvel at this incredible image.
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astronomy, photography, Pluto, science
Astronomy Picture of the Day website turns thirty
19 June 2025
Administered by NASA, the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) website started posting images in June 1995. This is a time, that in 2025, feels positively prehistoric, when it comes to the web.
I’ve been looking at APOD on and off for maybe twenty years, and as far as I recall, the website has barely changed during that time. I don’t know for sure, but I suspect APOD has sported the same “Web 1.0” design since debuting thirty years ago. While the interface may not be much to look at, that’s not what we go there for: we’re there for the stunningly awesome images.
You can’t follow APOD on any socials channel, but you can subscribe to their RSS feed.
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astronomy, history, photography, science
AI is changing the way photos are classified, photos or memories
26 September 2024
The iPhone 16, Apple’s latest smartphone, has arrived on shop shelves. There are four versions of the device: 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max. In time all will feature Apple Intelligence, Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI) offering, which will be “deeply integrated” into iOS18 and other Apple operating systems. From what I can gather, Apple Intelligence features will be rolled out over time, presumably by way of incremental updates to iOS18, and beyond.
One of the iPhone 16’s — specifically the Pro and Pro Max models — big talking points though, has been the inclusion of a physical shutter button (although Apple calls it “camera control”) for the camera. It means people will be able to tilt their phone into (what I’ll call) landscape mode, and have the device mimic cameras of old.
Of course, photos can still be taken in portrait orientation using the button. There are a number of other major new camera and photo settings, but Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge, suggests the new camera/photo features alone may be reason enough to consider buying a 16.
There’s also speculation as to the difference Apple Intelligence will make to photos taken, going forward. A yet to arrive feature, called “Clean Up”, which like the “Magic Eraser” function on Google phones, will allow people to alter, with the aid of AI, their iPhone photos. They’ll be able to remove (and add) objects and people. It’s going to be a game-changer. So much so, that some smartphone images are being referred to as memories:
I asked Apple’s VP of camera software engineering Jon McCormack about Google’s view that the Pixel camera now captures “memories” instead of photos, and he told me that Apple has a strong point of view about what a photograph is — that it’s something that actually happened.
This distinction is significant. Old school images, raw and unedited, recording an instant in time, will continue to be referred to as photos. This will be a journalistic application. Images edited by way of AI, meanwhile, will become more appropriately considered memories.
Clean Up or Magic Eraser can be used to remove that inadvertently photo-bombing stranger who strays into the background of a family group shot, thus preserving the memory of the moment as those present would like to remember it.
Photos or memories. It seems all very inconsequential, a small step even — I’m merely scratching the surface here — but another of the many changes AI technologies are bringing our way.
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artificial intelligence, photography, smartphones, technology, trends
Accidentally Wes Anderson exhibition now on in Melbourne
20 September 2024
Photography exuding the aesthetic of American filmmaker Wes Anderson, is on show in Australia at the Accidentally Wes Anderson exhibition, in Melbourne, until early November 2024.
“Accidentally Wes Anderson: The Exhibition” is a journey through more than 200 of the most beautiful, idiosyncratic, and interesting places on Earth — all seemingly plucked from the whimsical world of Wes Anderson. 10 themed areas provide you a personal passport to visual inspiration and adventure with amazing photography and immersive moments throughout.
Surely a treat for Wes Anderson fans, and an excuse (for some of us) to visit the southern capital.
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film, photography, Wes Anderson
The photorealistic AI-generation revolution is here
29 August 2024
Chris Welch, a writer for The Verge, on the new “reimagine” feature, that shipped with Google’s recently launched Pixel 9 smartphones. Long story short, “reimagine” allows someone to edit/enhance any photo, anyway they choose:
With a simple prompt, you can add things to photos that were never there. And the company’s Gemini AI makes it look astonishingly realistic. This all happens right from the phone’s default photo editor app. In about five seconds.
That’s quite the leap for generative artificial intelligence, one that’s going to leave the rest of us wondering if what’s depicted in a photo is actual or not.
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artificial intelligence, photography, technology, trends
Australian Glenn Homann wins 2022 mobile photography award
14 April 2023
Brisbane based Australian photographer Glenn Homann has been named the 2022 Grand Prize winner in the twelfth annual Mobile Photography Awards, with a portrait titled “Old Mate”.
Glenn Homann’s mobile photography is remarkable on so many levels. He takes us with him through a broad sweep of genres with particular mastery of light & shape, character & narrative. From landscapes to architecture, portraits & street photography, Glenn repeatedly locates the visual ephemera at the intersection of geometry & color.
Before I actually read who the winner was, I speculated they might be Australian, after spotting the photo title, old mate.
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Australia, photography, technology
The 2022 Wiki Loves Earth photographic competition
4 February 2023
Photo by Sven Damerow. Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International.
Check out the stunning entries in the 2022 Wiki Loves Earth photographic competition. This image, by Sven Damerow, of a cuckoo wasp, was created by blending several photos together. A larger version of the photo can be seen here.
Wiki Loves Earth was established in 2013, and initially took place in Ukraine, before becoming an international contest in 2014.
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Karine Aigner wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022
17 October 2022
Washington, DC. based American photographer Karine Aigner has been named Wildlife Photographer of the Year for 2022, with a stunning image of male bees tussling it out to mate with a female bee.
Convened by the British Natural History Museum, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award celebrates the best in nature photography, and is considered one of the world’s most prestigious photography competitions. A selection of other entries can be seen here.
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