Category Archives: Photography

Photographer Catherine Panebianco: ‘These are my family pictures, but they’re every family’s story’

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Her father’s Christmas Day tradition of showing his old slides to the family inspired Panebianco’s award-winning series, which connects tender memories to the present

When US photographer Catherine Panebianco was a child, her family moved around North America a lot: by the time she entered high school she had had maybe 10 different homes – “in Pennsylvania, Georgia, a couple places in California, two places in New York…”. One constant, though, was a set of photographic slides. Her father, Glenn, a metallurgical engineer, had taken the pictures when he was a young man in Toronto during the 1950s and 60s. On Christmas Day each year, wherever they were, Glenn would lug out a hulking, prewar metal projector and set up an old slide screen. The family would then gather round, the children in pyjamas with a bag of popcorn, and listen to stories they had heard “a bazillion times”.

I wanted my hand to be in there… it links the series and I wanted my past and present to be physically linked

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From Che Guevara to lockdown: photo book tells story of Madrid

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Work features images by some of the most famous photographers of the past century

One warm June weekend 61 years ago, a scruffily bearded Argentinian on his way from Cuba to Cairo stopped over in Madrid. With almost a day to kill between flights, he did what any tourist of the time would have done: explored the city, visited a bullring, had breakfast and did a little shopping.

He was, however, no ordinary tourist. A photograph taken very early that Sunday morning shows the unmistakable figure of Che Guevara standing in boots, beret and battle fatigues, one hand hooked over his belt and the other clutching a newspaper.

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Treasure trove of Nasa photos including first selfie in space up for auction

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Sale by Christie’s in London of 2,400 vintage images ranges from the dawn of space age to the last men on the moon

Neil Armstrong’s giant leap for mankind is on sale to the highest bidder after a private collector released a treasure trove of Nasa images from spaceflight’s golden era for auction, including the only photograph taken of the first human walking on the moon.

Related: Apollo 11: the fight for the first footprint on the moon

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Before and after the start of England’s second lockdown – in pictures

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England began its second nationwide lockdown on 5 November. Before-and-after photographs reveal the impact of the first days of the four-week stay-at-home order in which all non-essential shops and venues have to close.

People have been told to “stay at home” where possible, but will be allowed to leave their homes for education, medical appointments, to shop for essential goods, and for work if they cannot work from home.

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‘We have lost a limb’: Azu Nwagbogu, the visionary curator bringing African art home

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From helping photographers capture the Nigerian protests to exhibiting during a pandemic, the director of LagosPhoto festival has had his work cut out. Now he wants to fight ‘afro-pessimism’ and the posturing around Black Lives Matter

When I first spoke to Azu Nwagbogu, the recent protests against police brutality in his native Nigeria had just entered their second week. The curator was upbeat, describing them as “an incredible awakening”. A week later, when we made contact again, he sounded more sombre, but no less defiant, following the fatal police shootings of at least 12 protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos, the main gathering point for the daily demonstrations.

“This protest is not about ‘the poor masses’,” he tells me. “My sister, who is a medical doctor and a consultant anaesthetist, was active in the protests. Everyone who isn’t in government has had enough. The genie has been let out of the bottle and it won’t go back in without the wishes of the people being fulfilled.”

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The New East photo prize 2020 shortlist – in pictures

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Calvert 22 Foundation and The Calvert Journal have announced the finalists of the New East photo prize 2020. This year marks the third edition of the competition, which celebrates contemporary photography from eastern Europe, the Balkans, Russia, and central Asia. The shortlist includes 11 photographers from Albania, Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Uzbekistan.

The winners will be announced to the public on 10 November.

The biennial prize received over 700 entries this year from 26 New East countries.

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Ed van der Elsken’s crazy world – in pictures

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Recognised as one of the most influential photographers of the last century for his raw street-style images of daily life, Ed van der Elsken’s working archive has been acquired by the Rijksmuseum and the Nederlands Fotomuseum, and includes unseen images in an unpublished photobook, Feest (“to party”), which provides insight into his approach

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Instagram row over plus-size model forces change to nudity policy

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Facebook amends code after deletion of black users’ photos sparks outrage

As campaigning victories go, forcing Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire to admit a discriminatory flaw in its policy is no small feat.

But following a campaign launched in this paper, the Observer can exclusively reveal that Instagram and its parent company Facebook will be updating its policy on nudity in order to help end discrimination of plus-size black women on its platforms and ensure all body types are treated fairly.

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Image of tiger hugging tree wins 2020 wildlife photographer award

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Sergey Gorshkov left a hidden camera in a Russian forest for 11 months to capture the big cat

An image of a clearly ecstatic tigress hugging an ancient Manchurian fir tree in a remote Siberian forest has won one of the world’s most prestigious photography prizes.

It took Russian photographer Sergey Gorshkov 11 months to capture the moment using hidden cameras. His patience led to him being named 2020 wildlife photographer of the year by the Duchess of Cambridge at a ceremony at London’s Natural History Museum.

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Trench warfare, drones and cowering civilians: on the ground in Nagorno-Karabakh

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The battle over Nagorno-Karabakh, waged on and off for a century, has flared anew and civilians once again suffer the consequences

Over the road from the 8-metre-deep crater left by a medium-range missile, Sergei Hovhnnesyan and three of his neighbours are hunkering down in the basement storage space of their local grocery shop in Stepanakert, a mountain town in the heart of the Nagorno-Karabakh territory claimed by both Armenia and Azerbaijan.

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Purrfect match: cats and their human doubles

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We all know someone who looks like their dog, but what about our feline friends? Photographer Gerrard Gethings set out to match moggies with their lookalikes – with uncanny results. By Kathryn Bromwich

If you’ve spent much time on the internet over the past decade, chances are you’ve seen some cats on there. Cats chasing their own tails. Cats attempting ill-judged jumps from one piece of furniture to another. Or, in the case of Gerrard Gethings, a cat who looked exactly like the actor David Schwimmer. “There’s something about the shape of Schwimmer’s face that’s quite interesting,” says the London-based photographer, “and the cat had exactly the same face. That pushed me over the edge, into thinking there was something in it.”

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