As of 31 October 2019, National Geographic has sadly closed the YOUR SHOT section of its site. This post remains for historical reasons. There are fortunately many other sites online to share images. We recommend FSTOPPERS and 500px. Both sites have high quality contributors and good editors. We give perhaps the nod to Fstoppers, which also has excellent tutorials, articles, reviews and top notch community discussion rooms. That is where I am active. If you check out the site, stop by and say hello. You can find me at Carl Kruse on Fstoppers. Keep doing good art and being kind to each other.
Carl Kruse
ORIGINAL POST:
Among the many sites to share images online — Instagram, 500px, Pinterest, Fstoppers, Snapchat – one of the best is National Geographic’s “Your Shot,” a place where amateurs and professionals gather. A feast for the eyes and often, soul.
Some of what happens on “Your Shot” finds its way to the fabled pages of National Geographic, making YOUR SHOT a catapult for aspiring artists vying for the attention of a larger stage.
Of special interest is the “Daily Dozen” where magazine editors select their 12 favorite images from the thousands uploaded daily. Most of these are fantastic voyages in of themselves, a respite from the travails of daily life. Much goodness there.
For fun I’ve taken to posting some of my own iPhone images to strut along the Canon 5D and Nikon 4DS images of the world-class. While superior cameras make it easier to create beautiful images, it is ultimately technique and the artistic eye that make way for magic on YOUR SHOT, so even those with lowly smartphones have a chance to run for the money.
Examples of iphone photos I have posted on “Your Shot” include:
Photographers retain full copyright of their photos, so all cool for those worried the big bad magazine will abscond with your work. By the way, all images on this site are (natch) copyright Carl Kruse.
Check out what’s happening, and if you do, say hello.
What to do with an abandoned, six-story tall World War II bunker in Berlin? If you’re Christian Boros, build a 10,000 square-foot penthouse atop, fill lower levels with eclectic post-1990 art and open to the public.
Side view of the Boros Bunker with war damage. Photo: Carl Kruse
The Boros Bunker, originally designed by Albert Speer in 1942 as an air raid shelter for top-level Nazis, metamorphosed into a banana storage during the Communist era, then into a rave hotspot in the 1990’s before finding itself in the hands of Christian and Karen Boros.
A five-year renovation by Berlin’s Realarchitektur resulted in its present-day glory, receiving the Beton Architectural Prize for 2008.
Night descends on the Boros Bunker. Photo: Carl Kruse
A historical structure, home, and private art collection all in one, the bunker is a fantastic testament to what we can do if we want to do it. The artists in the collection include Olafur Eliasson (a favorite of Christian and Karen), Damien Hirst, Elizabeth Payton, Anselm Reyle, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Tobias Rehberger. This is not a museum but a private vision, the personal adventure of two people who love art and gathered what they thought worth gathering. And as they went collecting, they imagined living with all of it (or at least on top of it), which led them to the bunker.
Exhibit within the Boros Bunker. Photo: Carl Kruse
This place is worth a visit when in Berlin. Its collection might leave you wondering what is Art, and why some works are here. Christian Boros perhaps wonders himself as he says that he deliberately buys art that he does not understand. Whatever your impression it is a magnificent project, an adventure, one heck of a wild exploration.
Christian Boros says he deliberately collects art he does not understand, like a series of tires suspended from the ceiling. Photo: Carl Kruse in Berlin.
As Carl Kruse is away, we let intern Vicky Srivastava write an article on the different types of photography for this blog update. His first on the internet.
Photography and Its Unending Types
Photography is an art of different forms and types. Most people would have it that the fundamental purpose of photography includes preservation of memories, precious moments and subjects, even if this description seemingly limits the scope of the craft. Photography has developed in various stages, and it is still developing with its history going back to early man; although obviously not in electronic form, images of subjects were still preserved.
This article aims to expose the different types of photography practiced by both amateurs and professionals.
Standard types of photography are portraiture and landscape, however there is an unending list of what people do with photography.
Both professionals and amateurs usually align towards a certain type of photography over others, with professionals usually being uber-specialized. But as most types of photography overlao with each other it is easy to pick an area of specialty in tune with the personality of the photographer.
Photojournalism
This type of photography involves capturing events or actions as they are happening. These photographs are mainly used to entice readers for news stories. Photojournalism requires many years of practice to gain the ability to capture human emotions in a single photograph.
The taking of photos at a very close range is the domain of macrophotography. To specialize in this kind of image-taking, in-depth knowledge and the appropriate professional film equipment are prerequisites. Moreover, handling lenses and other expensive tools require training.
Documentary
This type of photography resembles photojournalism. However, documentary photography is usually intended for historical proof of an era while photos taken in photojournalism often show one event, action, or scene. Experience and training are needed in order to capture human emotion in documentary photography.
Glamor
Glamor photography specializes in showing the beauty of the human body. The photos taken in glamor photography are mostly sexy but usually respectfully and stylishly taken. There is a significant focus on light and shadows to reveal the human body.
Action
Action photography has different forms, but sports photography is the more popular of the genres. It requires the photographer to rely on his instincts, after studying the subject, to predict the next move to get an outstanding shot.
Portrait
This type of photography is one of the oldest and the most traditional types of photography. Its primary aim is to capture the distinctive nature of the subject in a photograph, which could be human or animal.
Art
Art photography can involve photos in several subjects. The subject can be animals, nature, fascinating view of typical daily objects, etc. However, its basis is aesthetic.
Wedding
Wedding photography in very complex because it is an amalgam of documentary photography and portrait photography. It requires a high sense of responsibility, knowledge, and skill. Photographs taken by wedding photography are usually post processed for cool vintage and lasting look effects.
Advertising
This is another photography type that combines different types- portrait, glamor, and macrophotography. The photographs must be interesting and catchy to the consumers, especially in print since they are to illustrate a service or product. A design firm or an advertisement agency is always involved in advertising photography.
Travel
Travel photography also incorporates different types of photography- glamor, advertising, documentary, and portrait photography. The photographs taken must reveal the life or activities of a certain place in the world, which could either be in landscape or portrait form.
Aerial
As the name implies, it involves capturing of photographs from above. To achieve this, the camera could be handheld or mounted on a helicopter, aircraft, kite, etc.
Baby
Baby photography involves taking photographs of babies. The photographer is expected to understand babies and their ways to be able to get great photos. Some people specialize in this form of photography. It also combines portrait photography and documentary photography.
Commercial
This is a blend of photojournalism, advertising photography, wedding photography, portrait photography, and editorial photography.
Concert
Concert photography is one of the most complicated types of photography; in that, the location is full of action from the band in front and thousands of fan behind with no one standing still. It is a type of action photography.
Fashion
This type of photography captures clothing and various fashion items. It is majorly engaged for fashion magazines or advertisements.
Equine
It involves specializing in taking photographs of horses and everything about horses. It could also include action photography and portrait photography.
Fine Art
Also referred to as art photography, fine art photography involves producing high-quality photographic prints of creative works of professional artists. It is very technical and requires various settings to preserve the properties of the original work. This type of photography is the favorite of Mr. Carl Kruse.
Food
The primary aim of food photography is to create awareness and educate viewers about the art and business of food.
Landscape
This type of photography aims at interpreting the land, its beauty, and features.
Nature
It places a strong emphasis on displaying natural elements such as wildlife, plants, landscapes, etc. in the photographs taken. The photographs are always taken outdoors.
Underwater
Underwater photography involves capturing marine elements and events. It is usually taken during scuba diving or swimming. It requires specialized cameras and equipment.
Wildlife
This is the most challenging type of photography because the photographs are taken in the natural habitat of the subjects involved.
Conclusion
Although anyone could go into photography, becoming a professional photographer requires training, knowledge and certain equipment. Expertise and experience are needed when it comes to photo subject ideas, lighting and exposure settings, composition, etc.
Some time in the early 1990s I came across Jack Delano’s work in a photography book titled “Puerto Rico Mio: Four Decades of Change.” Here Mr. Delano compared images from his first visit to the island in the 1940s with those he later made of the same sites 40 years later. Delano had first traveled to Puerto Rico in 1941 while working for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and in 1946, after his service with the U.S Army Air Forces, he returned, having received a Guggenheim Fellowship to photograph the island.
Coming of age in the 1970s-early 1980s in Puerto Rico as I did, was to witness socioeconomic changes that saw my grandmother raised in a shack yet found me in a first-world college prep school with eyes set on the Ivy League. Delano’s images are stirring and magnificent, capturing a people and place in deep flux. I highly recommend his photo book on Puerto Rico if you can find it.
Delving further into his work I noticed he had experimented with light photography / light painting with long exposure shots using mostly natural light for effect. Many of these images are well known but they were a surprising treat for me.
“Chicago Railyards,” Jack Delano, 1942
“Chicago Union Station,” Jack Delano, 1943
Carl Kruse uses both images from the public domain — photographs from the U.S. Farm Security Admin., which employed Jack Delano in the early 1940s.
I invite everyone to learn more about Jack Delano, a photographer of his time, and beyond.
Side view of the Boros Bunker with war damage. Photo: Carl Kruse
Night descends on the Boros Bunker. Photo: Carl Kruse
Exhibit within the Boros Bunker. Photo: Carl Kruse
“Chicago Railyards,” Jack Delano, 1942