Category Archives: Nature Photography

Orville Spence.

FROM being a bridal photographer to a model scout, Orville Spence showcases nothing but greatness.

Spence, of 10.06studio fame, has been capturing and creating talent in the creative industry with his exceptional and artistic vision from as early as he could remember.

With a background in drawing and a passion for the arts, Spence, who hails from Kingston, has found his true calling in photography.

“I’ve always been kind of an artist; I used to draw when I was a kid and that just led to what I do now,” he shared. “I mean it’s still drawing, it’s still being artistic, the only difference is that I’m now using a camera instead of a pencil or paintbrush.”

Orville Spence

Highlighting the artistic nature of his work, Spence said a fire was lit at a crucial moment in 2011 when a friend lent him a camera and encouraged him to pursue his dreams.

Although he viewed photography as a hobby, Spence’s creative side began to grow in January 2015 when he decided to take it more seriously.

Specialising in model photography and weddings, his unique ability to capture the nature of his subjects has made him very sought-after in the field.

Spence says he posts mainly models on his page (IG @10.06studio) because he doesn’t want his brides to feel like they’re in competition with their photographer and other photos. But when he shoots a wedding, he captures the heart and soul of the event — every moment, every memory, immortalised as art.

Some of Spence’s work.

“I want them to have the freedom to post what they like when they like and I also like their weddings to be private, but I do have a website where potential clients can view my work,” he said.

One aspect of his work that truly inspires Spence is his desire to empower aspiring models to think outside the box of just posing.

“I love helping aspiring models find something within themselves to step further into the game instead of being lost in the pack,” he said. “I love the journey of shooting models.”

This commitment to working on talent led Spence to the idea of the diverse Wasomi Beauty International Talent & Modeling Agency. Having hosted its first successful fashion show in December, the agency (Wasomi in Swahili means ‘elite’) aims to provide models with opportunities to grow in the industry.

In his career, Spence has had the privilege of working with various agencies and has now embarked on a new venture with Wasomi Beauty alongside his friend and international marketing manager Phil Edwards, and model and coach Martha McGregor.

When asked about what inspires him, Spence acknowledged the influence of the “photography greats”.

“There are so many greats in photography who have made inspirational images that inspire me to get up and create,” he said.

“Creating is what I want to do, so I get up, I think of something that I can create, and I look for inspiration.”

Spence has had his fair share of memorable moments on the job. He recalls an unforgettable experience travelling with artiste Baby Cham.

During his time on the road, he captured memorable images in Europe and even had the opportunity to shoot on stage, capturing the energy of the artiste and the crowd.

Another significant achievement for Spence was creating an alluring flower girl image that now decorates the walls of the Spanish Court Hotel.

Spence mentioned that one artiste he would love to collaborate with on a concept would be Sean Paul. Although they are friends, Spence has yet to approach him about photography, but he hopes to do so in the future.

However, through all the good memories and work, his journey has had challenges. Spence highlighted the importance of never becoming complacent and never taking anything for granted, a valuable lesson he has learnt through his career.

A 3D environment artist/developer working in Unreal Engine, Matt Newell is also an avid photographer, and the creator of Lushfoil Photography Sim, a sim to… photograph landscapes without leaving home.

The marketing suggestion, “a tranquil exploration and photography experience set across a vast selection of faithfully detailed landscapes” may suggest a nature photography workshop or tour, but what is really being sold is… a photography simulation. Yes, just what you read!

The “game”, under the title Lushfoil Photography Sim, invites users to “capture photos in beautiful locales”… without ever leaving their sofa. Yes, the “simulator”, which is now announced as “coming soon” on the platform Steam, allows “coach photographers” to “experience detailed, true-to-life recreations of beautiful and diverse locations around the world”  inviting them to “trek through and explore environments to capture stunning vistas and landscapes with your fully-featured in-game camera.”

We live in a time when, thanks to AI, landscapes and nature photographs need to have a stamp “made in the real world” so people understand what is real and what is created inside a computer. Recently, photographer Brian Matish published one article, “Improve Your Wildlife Photos With Photoshop Generative Fill” that shows how the use of the tool in Photoshop can, as he writes, “improve wildlife photos”. In one of the examples given he shows how AI can “actually ‘save’ a photo that would otherwise be deleted. It’s all seriously cool stuff!”

Galen Rowell and the morals of the photographer

The photographer notes that “Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that Generative Fill, Adobe Firefly, and Generative AI are transformative technologies” and adds “that while he supports AI and truly enjoy experimenting with it, it is not a substitute for making the effort to “get it right in camera.” Matish also writes that “however, I also live in a reality where it’s not always possible to get it right in camera despite your best efforts and noblest intentions. So, if one option is to be unhappy with the photo, another is to delete it, and the third is to leverage AI technology to suit your tastes and fix it, I’ll take door #3 every. single. time.”

The article from Brian Matish made me think of Galen Rowell, the extraordinary photographer who died in a plane crash in 2002, an artist known for his visual extremes. In one article from 2011, Tim Parkin & Joe Cornish note that Rowell’s images, like the iconic photo of the rainbow over the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet,  were often questioned for veracity,  and suggest that “this is probably why Galen wrote so much about the morals of the photographer and how ‘reality’ should not be distorted through the use of filters.”

An avid reader of Galen Rowell’s column in Outdoor Photographer, I remember well his comments on the importance of nature photography being a record of what was in front of the photographer. Which is an interesting note from an artist that worked with Singh Ray to develop a range of neutral filters that became a key tool for landscape photographers and whoever needed to control light.

Are photography sims a solution for overtourism?

What would Galen Rowell think about the announcement of a game that allows you to “trek through  and explore environments to capture stunning vistas and landscapes with your fully-featured in-game camera”? One thing is true today: the pandemic introduced the term “virtual” in our vocabulary, and the explosion of tools to create immersive worlds made Virtual Production a common term in the jargon of filmmakers.

The creation of virtual worlds has also led some to suggest that conventional traveling can be exchanged for virtual tours. It’s an eco-friendly solution that may not satisfy everyone but may be the only solution for many. Overtourism is, in fact, creating serious problems in popular places around the world, and local authorities are eager to find solutions. Already in 2019 Condé Nast Traveler published an interesting article, “How Technology Can Help Us Tackle Overtourism” about the problem, to which National Geographic added more information, in 2020, with “Is virtual travel here to stay, even after the pandemic subsides?”

This to explain that the Lushfoil Photography Sim may not be so strange a proposition, when you look around. After all, what it proposes is for people to do whatever they do when visiting new places: wander around and photograph. The difference is that here you don’t have to share space with thousands of other tourists or listen to the noise of the crowds: the rich atmosphere of Lushfoil’s world is enhanced by an ambient, ethereal soundtrack featuring licensed music from artists around the world.

Landscapes created in Unreal Engine 5

Because, at heart, it is built as a game, each environment is filled with objectives to reward players that have a good eye for angles and perspectives, and hidden secrets for those who are patient and observant. The goal is to capture the perfect shot, and for that the  in-game camera includes an abundance of settings that you’d expect from a real-world professional DSLR camera.

The camera simulates settings such as Auto/Manual Focus, Flash, Exposure, Contrast, White Balance, Aperture, Burst Shot and other effects for full creative control over your photography. The game further provides tools that allow for manipulation of the environmental conditions for your photos, such as manual adjustment of light angles, fog, snow, wind, and rain. Not much different from what “virtual travelers” can find in virtual worlds as Second Life or in many modern games, which offer a photo mode, for users to capture their best shots in game. I know, I do it all the time!

The difference when it comes to Lushfoil Photography Sim is that it recreates landscapes from the real world, all created in Unreal Engine 5. The sim is built from the ground up to be both efficiently optimized and showcase the game’s locations in stunning visual fidelity. There are extensive custom settings that will help the game run on a wide range of PCs, while taking full advantage of high-end graphics cards.

Author is an avid hiker and photographer

Lushfoil Photography Sim, which will be available for PC and console, even uses a classic marketing term from the travel industry – “Off the Beaten Path” – to challenge users to dive deeper into the game’s many locations to find unlockable cameras and experience the world from unique perspectives. Find a first-person drone that allows you to soar above the landscape and capture the world from above or find a hidden rowboat that allows you to traverse still waters in pursuit of the perfect shot.

Matt Newell, the author, lives in Perth in West Australia and has been working on this project solo for about 4 years (as of April 2023). As an avid hiker and photographer, he takes his experience from the real world into the development of the sim and hopes “you’re able to appreciate the atmosphere and details I have tried to encapsulate in these environments. I sincerely hope you have a great experience!”

In the end Lushfoil Photography Sim only continues to expand on what has been available, in many cases thanks to the expanded use of Virtual Reality. The simulation brings together a series of sceneries the author had published before, from the uniquely colorful lake Braies, located in the heart of the Italian Alps, to the rolling green hills of the French alps, at the foot of Mont Blanc or Mýrdalssandur, a section of barren, mossy landscape from Iceland’s southern coast, which I had a chance to download, a while ago, from Steam, and which left me wanting more.

Photo Mode in Death Stranding

For anyone thinking this is “new”, let me say that the use of computer simulations for photography has been done before, and what is probably the greatest example of the possibilities continues to be the real-life photos created in Photo Mode in the game Death Stranding, from Kojima Productions. Award-winning landscape photographer Pete Rowbottom takes us through what can be considered a “Masterclass in landscape photography” using the game’s world, in which he talks about the advantages of photographing … in virtual worlds. This is from 2020!

Pete Rowbottom says that the in-game photo mode is something that he could actually use “to teach people, ideas about framing, composition, lighting.  You’re able to do everything, you’re able to move around, you’re able to create composition just like you would do if you were outside.” The experience gained in Death Stranding can, in fact, be used to create better photography in the real world.

Lushfoil Photography Sim brings that experience in a simulation that is not part of a game, but a real “virtual photography tour”. Yet, it will be published by a games company, Annapurna Interactive, which has in its portfolio some very interesting titles, from Stray, an adventure with cats, to Twelve Minutes, an interactive thriller about a man trapped in a time loop, featuring James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe.

Annapurna Interactive also announced Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth, which brings the revered franchise back to games for the first time in 25 years. Set between the original film and 2049, Blade Runner 2033 takes place after the events of the Black Out and asks: what does a Blade Runner do when there are no Replicants left to hunt? It may look as if this is a completely different story, which has nothing to do with the subject of this article, but looking at the trailer, the first thing I thought was: “I want to take pictures inside this game. Virtual pictures, I mean…”

Before I close, one remark I believe it’s important to make: photographs taken in virtual worlds or any other image created or “saved” with AI, need to disclose that information. As we live, now, between real and virtual worlds, and gather images from both to keep as mementos of our journey, it’s important, in my humble opinion, to clarify the origin of each document.

A record number of people are expected to travel 50 miles or more to their Independence Day destinations this year, and AccuWeather meteorologists have all the details on which parts of the country could experience the best and worst weather for holiday cookouts and firework displays.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) projects a new record to be set for July Fourth holiday travel, with 50.7 million Americans expected to hit the roadways or airports.

“This year’s projection surpasses the previous July 4^th weekend record set in 2019 of 49 million travelers,” AAA said.

Where will disruptive thunderstorms erupt and lead to natural light displays? Which regions will experience their best fireworks weather in years? And who will swelter in the heat and humidity typical of the season? Read on for all these details and more.

A slow-moving weather system that is expected to cause a daily eruption of severe thunderstorms into Monday will finally be on its way out of the United States on July Fourth.

Prior to its exit, AccuWeather forecasters say local downpours can impact holiday plans from portions of upstate New York to New England on Tuesday, but most of the stormy weather may stay away from the Interstate-95 corridor.

“After an active couple of days Sunday and Monday in terms of showers and thunderstorms, folks along the I-95 corridor should see improvement for the holiday on Tuesday,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Dean DeVore said.

“For both the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks over the East River in New York City, and on the Esplanade at the Charles River in Boston where the Boston Pops Fireworks and concert takes center stage, things are looking hot, but drier,” DeVore said.

Out of the two cities, Boston stands the highest risk of experiencing a stray shower or thunderstorm on the holiday.

Story continues

Farther south in Washington, D.C., conditions will be dry but steamy for the spectacular fireworks display at the National Mall. Temperatures may still be in the lower 80s with high humidity levels by the time the show begins.

The intense temperatures that Texas and other portions of the South have experienced in recent days and weeks will diminish to more seasonable levels by the time the July Fourth holiday rolls around.

Although the risk of heat-related illnesses will lessen, anyone spending time outdoors will need to be wary of another weather-related hazard, forecasters warn.

AccuWeather meteorologists are highlighting the zone from portions of eastern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas to Georgia and North Carolina as the most likely area to experience pop-up showers and thunderstorms, including in Atlanta and Nashville.

GET THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP

“Forecasters strongly recommend that people on the road or spending time outdoors through the Fourth of July keep an eye on the sky and have the means to receive weather watches and warnings due to the potential for changing weather conditions,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.

Dangerous lightning strikes and downpours will be the primary hazards with any thunderstorm that pops up, but gusty winds and localized damage can also occur. Given the hit-or-miss nature of these storms, some communities can still wind up with a rain-free holiday.

As of the start of July, six people across the United States have been killed by lightning strikes.

The greatest threat for severe weather on July Fourth will focus on part of the central and northern Plains, where thunderstorms could produce damaging winds and large hail late in the day and at night.

Residents from Seattle to Portland and Medford, Oregon, will not have to worry about rain-dampening celebrations but rather should take precautions against intense heat. Temperatures are projected to challenge daily record highs along portions of I-5, ranging from near 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Seattle to the lower 100s in Medford.

Las Vegas is expected to mark its fifth consecutive day of triple-digit temperatures on Tuesday, following a record for the longest streak of days with the mercury staying below the 100-degree mark.

In California, intense heat over the weekend will ease slightly in time for the July Fourth holiday. For the Golden State and most other portions of the West, the weather story that will likely take center stage this year for the holiday is the lack of drought.

“Since the drought has vastly improved in much of the West since last year, many cities and towns may be able to hold fireworks shows for the first time in years,” Sosnowski said. “In recent summers, officials throughout drought-affected regions instituted bans on fireworks and canceled scheduled fireworks shows due to the risk of wildfire ignition.”

Want next-level safety, ad-free? Unlock advanced, hyperlocal severe weather alerts when you subscribe to Premium+ on the AccuWeather app. AccuWeather Alerts are prompted by our expert meteorologists who monitor and analyze dangerous weather risks 24/7 to keep you and your family safer.

Chattanoogans Adam and Cortney Swann are now booking guests at the former summer camp on Monteagle, which they purchased and spent the last year renovating, transforming it into a vacation destination worthy of a magazine spread.

Most of the 10 remaining cabins at the former Camp Mountain Lake, built in 1942, were primitive-style cabins — screened-in rather than air-conditioned, and with composting toilets instead of the flushing sort.

“We’ve redone a cabin before — or a yurt or a condo or whatever, but never 10 cabins at the same time,” Cortney Swann says.

The Swanns added drywall, air-conditioning, electricity and running water to the cabins, nine of which are available to rent, with the tenth cabin occupied by the property’s caretaker. Most are one-bedroom cabins, and one is a two-bedroom, which they call “the lodge,” that features a full-size kitchen, washer, dryer and shower. While all the cabins have running water, all but the lodge share a separate shower facility nearby.

“Every cabin has its own unique theme,” says Cortney Swann, who did all the decor with the help of Kentucky-based SB Designs and murals by Chattanoogan Olivia Reckert. Themes include Palm Springs, wilderness glam, Dolly Parton and vintage camp style.

They’re making good use of the former summer camp’s communal spaces for the new micro-resort, including converting an old tennis court into pickleball courts and a surface used for a giant chessboard. There’s also a picnic area with grills and a fire pit for s’mores, as well as access to the lake located in the neighboring state park where guests can fish or kayak. They’re in the process of remodeling the old dining hall and gym into game rooms with pool tables and gathering areas for guests that should be completed within the next few months.

 

Located about 45 minutes from Chattanooga and an hour and a half from Nashville, the property draws guests from both cities as well as people just passing through the area, she says.

“Some of the best hiking in the Southeast, like Foster Falls and the Fiery Gizzard trail, are just right down the road, and we also get people coming in for concerts at The Caverns,” Cortney Swann says, referring to the subterranean concert hall in Grundy County. “We also have people who are local who are looking for somewhere not too far just to get away.”

People can also rent out the entire camp for groups of friends, birthday parties or family gatherings, as the Swanns did with their family a few weeks ago.

“I think it’s really fun and a really great place to connect to nature,” she says. “I’m not really a camper type person, but this kind of gives you all the luxuries of boutique camping — getting to build a fire and go to the lake and be in nature — but still has a lot of the modern amenities.”

Instead of the typical Gatlinburg-style bear-theme cabins you often find for rent in the area, the couple wanted to create something with an eclectic, trendy vibe that makes for good photos and a fun experience.

“I think that that’s what our guests are getting,” she says. “We’ve only been open a few weeks … but we’ve already had several people be like, ‘I’m definitely coming back. I want to rent it out for like a week next time. This just wasn’t long enough.'”

Prices range from $119-$229 per night, depending on the cabin and season, or $1,750 per night for the entire 50-acre property. Find out more at campswann.lodgify.com.

SACRAMENTO, CA — The beauty of a large metropolitan area such as Sacramento is that you can find a community that shares your interests. This Aussie Rules Football game was being played at North Natomas Park recently.

Meanwhile, in Barandas Park, a spirited game of basketball was played this week.

While the baseball field was also occupied.

Thank you for sharing your photos, Claus Weisemann.

If you have an awesome photo of nature, breath-taking scenery, kids caught being kids, a pet doing something funny, or something unusual you happen to catch with your camera, we’d love to feature it on Patch.

We’re looking for high-resolution images that reflect the beauty and fun that is Northern California, and that show off your unique talents.

Email it to [email protected].

WWE’s Money In The Bank is right around the corner, and speculation on the internet about the upcoming matches is at an all-time high. (Speaking of: check out CinemaBlend’s MITB predictions.) There’s a big rumor that the WWE is planning for something big at its London Premium Live Event, potentially via an upset, a surprise appearance, or both. Many fans thought evidence of a spoilery nature was discovered when a viral photo making the rounds seemed to reveal a wrestler deliberately being scrubbed from a photo taken on the plane to London, but let’s pump the brakes a bit because all is not as it seems. 

There’s a photo circulating the internet right now that shows wrestlers Ricochet, Otis, Damian Priest, Matt Riddle, Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser, and Giovanni Vinci all smiling and seated at a bar on the plane ride. It seemed like an innocent enough photo, minus the blatant disregard of kayfabe and not keeping up the act that Riddle and Imperium hate each other until a Twitter user noticed an intentionally sloppy Photoshop job potentially obscuring another person in the photo, which can be seen right here.

From designer Matt Newell comes a game about exploring nature, discovering its secrets, and immortalizing them with a fully featured camera.

We’ve seen some gimmicky photography games in the past or been presented with photo modes as a side thought, but Annapurna Interactive and developer Matt Newell are bringing a game that puts the artistry and skill of photography at its core. Lushfoil Photography Sim was revealed today, inviting players to travel to lush and diverse environments inspired by locations around the world and capture the beauty of these places with a fully-featured in-game camera.

Lushfoil Photography Sim was unveiled during the Annapurna Interactive Showcase on June 29, 2023. Built in Unreal Engine 5, Lushfoil invites players to interesting locations and sets them loose to try to capture the perfect shots of nature and the worlds around them. Aiming to be a true natural photography experience, Lushfoil includes camera gameplay that aims to simulate the functions of a professional camera perfectly, will features and settings including Auto/Manual Focus, Flash, Exposure, Contrast, White Balance, Aperture, Burst Shot, and other effects. You might even be able to use the environment to your advantage, working around weather effects that include rain, snow, and fog, as well as manipulating the environment to create the best light angles for your shots.

Lushfoil Photography Sim is something quite out of the ordinary for a game in a time where players often love to play with Photo Modes. It’s one of the few games that makes the process of nature photography the very core of its gameplay. Sure, we’ve had games like Pokemon Snap, and those are fun too. However, Lushfoil also doesn’t look arcade-y where you’re scoring points on a level for the best shots. Traveling, positioning yourself, finding the right camera settings, and even being patient for the perfect shot sound much more involved in the creative and professional aspects of the art.

Lushfoil Photography Sim doesn’t have a release date yet, but is expected to come to PC and consoles. Stay tuned for more details and be sure to check out more coverage from the full 2023 Annapurna Interactive Showcase.

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at [email protected] and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.

African wild dogs have been spotted for the first time in decades at a national park in Uganda.

The dogs (Lycaon pictus), also called African painted dogs, reportedly went extinct in Uganda way back in the 1980s. The species is said to be one of the most endangered mammals in the world. By 2020, it was believed that the African painted dog population was just about 6,600 adults.

On Monday, the creatures were once again spotted in Uganda decades after they went extinct in the country. In a tweet, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) shared photos of African painted dogs at Kidepo Valley National Park.

“One of our resident rangers captured these images hastily before the pair skipped out of view,” the UWA said, calling it “exciting news.”

EXCITING NEWS: African Painted Dogs (commonly Wild Dogs) which went extinct in Uganda in the 1980’s were sighted this morning around the Narus River in Kidepo Valley National Park. One of our resident rangers captured these images hastily before the pair skipped out of view.

1/5 pic.twitter.com/MuMRwr68Rt

— Uganda Wildlife Authority (@ugwildlife) June 26, 2023

Though the images appear grainy as the creatures seem to be rushing away, one can still see the signature patchy fur in colors brown, white, black, reddish and yellow. Even from afar, their big, rounded ears are also quite visible.

“(O)ur teams in the field will head out to track them, to collect some data vital for conservation. Hopefully we can get you some better images too,” the UWA said in a follow-up tweet.

The return of the creatures does sound like good news. However, the species‘ population is still in decline. The UWA, citing the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said the population “fluctuates but is in a likely irreversible decline.”

Although African painted dogs may not be as popular as other creatures in need of protection like elephants or rhinos, they also have some very interesting characteristics. For instance, their furs are pretty unique as no two of them have the exact same pattern. They are quite social, living in packs ranging from seven to 40, sometimes even 100.

The packs take care of each other and lack aggression toward members of the pack. Both males and females are involved in taking care of the pups.

But these fascinating creatures are also facing various threats like habitat loss, diseases, conflict with people and human activities that decrease the habitats of their prey. In fact, humans are even considered to be among its predators.

So even though the sighting does stoke promise for African painted dogs, the hope is that it would also raise awareness about their plight and the need to take action.

“The threats are many. Loss of quality habitat and poaching represent the biggest problems,” said Peter Blinston, the executive director for Painted Dog Conservation, an organization with the mission to “create an environment where painted dogs can thrive.” “Unless we take action to address these threats, painted dogs will become extinct in our lifetime.”