Images
World Images
Yellowstone
Moscow
Hostel in Vietnam
Hong Kong
Dubai
Wooden church in Norway
Winnipeg
Japan
New York City
British Columbia or Alaska?
Somewhere in Space
Tea field India. A few hazards?
Yosemite
Elephant in the room
BBC
Adam Oswell wins the Photojournalism award for this picture which shows zoo visitors in Thailand watching a young elephant perform underwater. Elephant tourism has increased across Asia. In Thailand, there are now more elephants in captivity than in the wild.
Brent Stirton was awarded the Photojournalist Story Award. His sequence of images profiles a rehabilitation centre caring for chimpanzees orphaned by the bushmeat trade in Africa. The director of the centre is seen introducing a newly rescued chimp to others in her care.
More than 20 polar bears took over Kolyuchin Island, Russia which has been abandoned since 1992, in search of food. With climate change reducing sea ice, polar bears are finding hunting more difficult, pushing them closer to human settlements to scavenge. A low-noise drone was used to capture the striking image.
The Pigeons Who Took Photos
At the turn of the last century, when aviation was still in its infancy, a German named Julius Neubronner submitted a patent for a new invention—a miniature camera that could be strapped to the breast of a pigeon so that the bird could take flight and snap pictures from the air.
Julius Neubronner was an apothecary who employed pigeons to deliver medications to a sanatorium located near his hometown Kronberg, near Frankfurt. An apothecary is one who makes medicines. A pharmacist is a more modern word, but in many German speaking countries, such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland, pharmacies are still called apothecaries.
Apothecary was Julius Neubronner’s family profession. His father was an apothecary, and so was his grandfather. In those days, homing pigeons were used extensively to carry messages and small supplies. It was Julius’s father’s idea to use pigeons to receive prescriptions from the sanatorium and send out medicinal supplies in a hurry—a practice that continued for more than half a century until the sanatorium closed.
One day, Neubronner let out a pigeon on an urgent errand but it didn’t return. When several days passed and there was still no sign of the bird, Neubronner assumed the pigeon was lost, or it got caught and killed by predators. A month later, the lost messenger showed up unexpectedly at Neubronner’s place. The bird appeared well fed, which got Neubronner into thinking. Where had he gone? Who had fed him?
Neubronner decided that he would start tracking his pigeons’ future travels.
Julius Neubronner with one of his pigeons.
Being a passionate do-it-yourself amateur photographer, it didn’t take long for Neubronner to fashion a miniature wooden camera which he fitted to the pigeon’s breast by means of a harness and an aluminum cuirass. A pneumatic system in the camera opened the shutter at predetermined intervals and the roll of film, which moved along with the shutter, took as many as thirty exposures in a single flight. The entire rig weighed no more than 75 grams—the maximum load the pigeons were trained to carry.
The pictures turned out so good that Neubronner started making different models. One system, for instance, was fitted with two lenses pointing in opposite directions. Another one took stereoscopic images. Eventually, Neubronner applied for a patent, but the patent office threw out his application citing that such a device was impossible as they believed a pigeon could not carry the weight of a camera. But when Neubronner presented photographs taken by his pigeons, the patent was granted in 1908.
Aerial photograph of Frankfurt.
Aerial photograph of Schlosshotel Kronberg.
Neubronner exhibited his photographs in several international photographic exhibition gaining him accolades. In one such exhibition in Dresden, spectators watched as the camera-equipped carrier pigeons arrived at the venue, and the photos were immediately developed and turned into postcards which they could purchase.
The technology was soon adapted for use during the First World War, despite the availability of surveillance aircraft then. Pigeons drew less attention, could photograph enemy locations from a lower height, and were visibly indifferent to explosions on a battlefield.
Neubronner’s avian technology saw use in the Second World War too. The German army developed a pigeon camera capable of taking 200 exposures per flight. The French too claimed they had cameras for pigeons and a method to deploy them behind enemy lines by trained dogs. Around this time, Swiss clockmaker Christian Adrian Michel perfected a panoramic camera and an improved mechanism to control the shutter. Pigeon photography was in use as late as the 1970s, when the CIA developed a battery-powered pigeon camera, though the details of the camera’s use are still classified.
Aerial photographs of Dresden.
Today, aerial photography has been replaced by aircrafts, satellites, and more recently, by affordable drones. But the legacy of Julius Neubronner’s pigeon photography lives on in these images which are among the very early photos taken of Earth from above.
Bonus fact: So what happened to Neubronner’s pigeon who stayed away from the owner for a month and returned fattened up? It had flown away to Wiesbaden, some twenty kilometers away, and was taken care of by a restaurant chef.
Insect Photo Competition
A photograph of a mating pair of golden-tabbed robber flies, entitled It Takes Two by Pete Burford from Shrewsbury, has been crowned overall winner of the Royal Entomological Society Insect Week competition.
The annual amateur competition attracted more than 700 entries from 34 countries, with a total of 24 images receiving commendations this year.
Mr Burford took up macro photography during lockdown and publishes his work on Instagram and TikTok.
Gustav Parenmark, 16, from Sweden, won the under-18 category with a picture of a blue-tailed damselfly, entitled Fresh Out Of The Shower.
“Each year this competition becomes more difficult to judge as the standard of amateur insect photography continues to improve,” said Tim Cockerill, head judge and senior lecturer at Falmouth University.
“Interest in insects, in all their fascinating glory, is increasing as we begin to better understand the role insects play in our lives, and the role humans must play in theirs.”
Marc Brouwer’s picture of a hummingbird hawk moth was awarded second place in the over-18 category.
Organised by the Royal Entomological Society, Insect Week runs from 19 to 25 June and you can find out more details or enter the new photographic competition on their website.
This is a selection of the pictures that caught the judges’ eye.
Nice Weather and a Park
Dolores Mission park in San Francisco
Safari park in the U.K. Neutered male lion that lost its mane.
Western tourist in Egypt.
Texas open carry gun laws. Having something to eat with a gun pointed at your head.
Week in pictures: 18-24 March 2023
BBC
A selection of powerful news photographs taken around the world this week.
Out-Of-Sight Photos from around The World
What the circus looked like in 1931, Brooklyn, NY
Mount Fuji, Japan
Venice sunset
Village in the Alps
Heavy clouds moving into Duluth, Minnesota
Blue Lake Michigan water in Chicago
Guy changing a bulb on top of the Penobscot building in Detroit
Israeli Defense Force Search and Rescue soldier
Pingualuit Crater, northern Quebec
Temples in Burma
Seattle sunrise
Apocalyptic sunset in Tel Aviv
Amazing topography in China
Little guy has a front row seat
A ship in deep trouble
Ghost clouds over New York and other cool photos
Who you gonna call?
Volcano over Chile
Soccer field in Moscow
Far side of the Moon and Earth taken from Discover satellite from 1 million miles away
London Bridge under construction
Floods in Saskatchewan
United States submariners coming up for sunshine
Meanwhile in India: a spiral staircase climbing holy cow.
New supermodel in Antarctica
Photos of This and That
Japanese boy soldier prisoners on Okinawa WWII. One said he was 21 years old and the other one said he was 18.
Greek village
Niagara Falls
Antarctica from space
Fish Tank?
Bridges in Winnipeg
Young lady skateboarder Winnipeg. I think chick skateboarders are really cool.
Condo in Winnipeg with a different design. Locally known as the UFO building.