As we enjoy the final hours of 2024, it’s the perfect time to reflect on an exciting year of photography and remember our favorite stories.
From interviews with incredible photographers making history, how people use cameras to create extraordinary art, and in-depth discussions of how photography is changing, here are our photography favorite stories of 2024.
Matt Grocott – Senior News Editor Culture
Matt writes photographer spotlight articles, photo culture and artificial intelligence, among other topics. Here he picks his five favorite articles from 2024.
Recreating iconic photos with an AI image generator
Despite some AI image generators banning users from asking for pictures in the style of specific artists, I doubt you can get away with this by simply describing an iconic photograph by a famous photographer.
And I was proven largely right when I spent a day using the leading text-to-image model To recreate famous photosThis proved that AI companies have no problem taking photos from famous photographers to train AI image generators. This is a controversial issue that is still to be settled in the courts.
Bobcat pounces on heron
Sometimes in photography you get lucky. And that’s exactly what happened when a bobcat came out of nowhere Pounce on a great blue heron A photographer had his lens trained on it.
Jacob Hall told me he didn’t realize what had happened until he looked back at the photos – it happened so fast. It may have happened suddenly but the story proved to be a viral hit.
Getting ‘professional’ AI headshots
Sometimes AI images can be funny. And while there was a serious reason for this Getting “professional” AI headshots Done by myself, it was also highly entertaining.
The purpose was to see if the photographers were concerned about anything and if I would use the headshots myself. Suffice it to say, I don’t use it on my LinkedIn profile.
‘Star Wars’ fans are saving the original movies
I love this story because it reflects the fans’ passion and enduring love affair with the film. Searching for the original Star Wars 1970s film reels That’s the passion of Robert Williams, a computer programmer living in Philadelphia who painstakingly restores original film reels in 4K.
Williams and his fellow like-minded individuals do not like the editing changes George Lucas made to the original trilogy in the intervening years. They don’t like changing colors and will always believe that Han shot first.
Photographer disqualified from AI image contest
I wrote about it yesterday in my AI images of 2024 articles But I had to mention it again because it was an amazing full circle moment in which photographers finally got their back on AI images.
After writing several stories of AI images winning photo competitions, photographer Miles Estre had the audacity to do so Enter her photo in an AI image contest And duly won the People’s Vote Award. It’s a great photo and shows that the camera will always be more powerful than the algorithm.
Pesala Bandara – Reporter
Paysala covers culture, tech and social media petapixelShe chooses her four favorite stories of the year.
Generation Z teens are covering their faces in family photos
It was interesting to know how Generation Z teens are handling growing up in the online landscape where their parents post unfiltered and unedited images of them on social media, sometimes without their consent. Gen Z has resorted to using “nose covering posture To satisfy your parents in family photos while maintaining some digital autonomy.
A photographer flew his drone in North Korea
Flying drones is illegal in North Korea, but this courageous photographer Managed to capture rarely seen aerial views Of the country before geofencing. These remarkable photographs offer a glimpse into the daily lives of people in one of the world’s most mysterious and isolated states.
Photographer sues woman over wallpaper of her 90-year-old grandmother
This was one of the most baffling and confusing legal photography cases I wrote about this year. This included a Photographer who sued woman who posted photo of her grandmother’s apartmentIn which his photo-based wallpaper was featured on a vacation property rental website. The wallpaper was purchased legally, but eight years after the woman began renting out her grandmother’s property online, the granddaughter received a letter from a Canadian company accusing her of copyright infringement because the rental photos included the wallpaper. Was. Spoiler: TUltimately the photographer lost the case.
Generation Z is taking aesthetic photos of their airport trays
Generation Z is changing the standard security screening process at airports In a creative photographic opportunityAlthough I might have been less happy if I were standing behind one of these snap-happy Gen Z travelers in the security line at the airport.
Jeremy Gray – Senior News Editor Technology
Jeremy writes about the photo industry with a particular focus on imaging technology. Here are his five favorite articles of 2024.
My solar eclipse experience gave me more than photos
Although most of my work focuses on the tools photographers use to capture images, I’m always eager to get behind the camera myself, and The great American eclipse was the perfect opportunity To do so in his native state of Maine.
Traveling a few hours north to the mountainous Katahdin area with my parents, we encountered clear skies, unseasonably nice weather, and one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen. Although I’m thrilled to return home with great images, I’m even more grateful for the wonderful memories I made with my parents that day.
How a photographer captured his spectacular dream eclipse
Although I loved shooting the eclipse myself, one of the best parts of the event was seeing how other photographers fared. One such person is a Canadian nature photographer. Liron Gertsmanwho caught one Amazing series of eclipse photosWhich also includes a bird flying in front of a total solar eclipse.
For years, Gertsman planned this incredible image — and many others he captured off the coast of Mexico on April 8, 2024. Speaking on the phone with Gertsman and learning about his dedication to art and passion for photography was one of my favorite experiences of 2024.
How a passionate new photographer made birdwatching history
While Gertsman spent years planning a very specific shot, the musician, school band director and budding photographer michael sanchez Showed that sometimes amazing shots come through serendipity.
Sanchez was trying to capture some beautiful photos of the sunrise at Hug Point along the Oregon coast one April morning, hoping to hone his photography skills and test his relatively new gear. While there, he saw a small blue bird hopping on the sand. Sanchez thought this was a good opportunity to take advantage of the range of his Tamron 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 lens, so he took some shots. it turns out, the photos were historical And sent ardent bird lovers into a frenzy. I love the interplay of dedication (getting up early in the hopes of getting a good photo) and luck (an extremely rare bird joining you on your sunrise adventure), so this story is easily one of my favorites of the year.
This Lego Camera Is a Real, Working 35mm Film Camera
I write about a lot of cameras, but few are as interesting as the LEGO ZH1 – A real, working 35mm film camera built from Lego blocksPhotographer Zung92 initially began work on the blocky camera in 2022, and the project came to life on Lego Ideas, a crowdsourcing platform where popular projects could one day become actual Lego releases.
when i Wrote my story about the Lego camera In August, the project fell well short of the required 10,000 user votes due to timeout. ZH1 eventually received the necessary support and is under active review by LEGO to see if it can become a commercial release. fingers crossed!
This astrophotographer captures a universe unlike any other
As those who know me best can attest, I Love space. I talk about it constantly – a lot – and think about it even more. I’m always looking for stories about the intersection of space and photography and one of these opportunities came when i chatted With Finnish astrophotographer and artist JP Metswanio,
While I originally got in touch with Metsvanio to discuss one of his recent images, the story quickly evolved into his long astrophotography career, his approach to photography, and how he artistically captures the beauty of space. About developed into a comprehensive form. Photography is often a marriage of artistic creativity and technical precision, and nowhere can this be felt more intensely than in astrophotography. While some people are really passionate about the science of space, Mtsvanio is more interested in the poetry of nature, and I appreciate that.
