This May be the Most Important Year for Photographers to Do This

Yes, I know this sounds urgent. And it kind of is. It's about the long-term sustainability of the Phoblographer. Real talk: if everyone who came to the site was charged $1, I'd have enough money in under a week to fund the website for the entire year without banner ads. Trust me…

Podcast interview with two photojournalists who have...

Podcast interview with two photojournalists who have been covering ICE in Minnesota. “It’s a conversation about what they’ve seen, the vital role of photojournalism at this moment, and the personal toll of doing this work.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottk…

Haven’t watched this 90-minute video yet, but...

Haven’t watched this 90-minute video yet, but I’ve seen so many recommendations for it that I’m posting it as a to-do list item for myself: You are being misled about renewable energy technology. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

A group of 50 Chileans recently spent several hours...

A group of 50 Chileans recently spent several hours powering a human-operated chatbot. Some questions were answered quickly but “when they didn’t know the answer, they walked around the room to see if someone else did”. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org…

Killing In The Name, The Minnesota Edition

Late last week, Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello led a crowd gathered at the iconic First Avenue music venue in a spirited rendition of the band’s Killing In the Name. The band handled the music while the crowd, in the absence of Rage frontman Zack De La Rocha, sang t…

The Border Patrol Is the Problem. It Always Has Been....

The Border Patrol Is the Problem. It Always Has Been. “If you are uncomfortable with what the Border Patrol is doing in Minneapolis, you are uncomfortable with the Border Patrol, full stop.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Toes Day

Sounds right enough Axios: 1 big thing: 3 historic shifts. It begins, "You can only fully understand politics, business and your own anxiety in 2026 by reckoning with the three, once-in-a-generation shifts unfolding at once, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Cu…

The Nikon DSLR That’s About to Become Expensive

Nikon cameras, especially their DSLRs, have proved what the company is capable of. From launches such as the D500 to more professional models such as the D6, Nikon has offered rugged devices that can withstand any weather. However, unlike other cameras, this full frame DSLR is a…

A Year with the Nikon Zf: Is There Buyer’s Regret?

This article is being written in December of 2025, but is being published in February 2026. And around a year ago, I bought the Nikon Zf. The reasons were plentiful: I wanted a full-frame retro camera that I could afford, and that looked good. So after looking on eBay, I found a…

Get the Look of Retro Digital Cameras Easily

Seriously, it's that simple! Our presets are designed to make editing a minimal task so you can get back to shooting! We're in love with Retro Digital. Luckily, that's when we founded the website closer to two decades ago. So we dove into our image archives, looked at how the Ad…

The Curious Case of the Emotional Support Camera

Since I was a very young photographer, I always remember mentors of mine to always have my camera on me. I also fondly remember how some folks would hide behind it while others always felt that it was just a part of them. Amongst this, some folks brought it with them as simply j…

Elon Musk and other internet racists started an internet...

Elon Musk and other internet racists started an internet war over Christopher Nolan’s casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, thereby immediately disproving their point. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Early this month, a wily coyote swam across San Francisco...

Early this month, a wily coyote swam across San Francisco Bay to Alcatraz. He was in such rough shape, observers thought he’d probably die, but he’s been snacking on birds and rodents and was recently observed fat as a pickle. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke…

Seu Jorge’s Lovely Tribute to David Bowie

For his 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Wes Anderson enlisted Brazilian musical artist Seu Jorge to perform several of David Bowie’s songs in Portuguese. Jorge released an album of the songs about a year or so later. A few weeks ago, to mark the 10th anniversary…

The 5 Most Influential Cameras from Canon

Canon cameras are pretty exceptional in many ways. The company has introduced devices that remain exceptional in many ways, from colors to build quality to higher megapixels. While there are multiple models that do great, we are looking at a few that truly changed the world of p…

The Accidental Winners of the War on Higher Ed ....

The Accidental Winners of the War on Higher Ed. “Well-resourced and prestigious small colleges are less exposed in almost every way to the crises that higher ed faces.” (My kid goes to a liberal arts school & anecdotally can confirm.) 💬 Join the discussion o…

Significant Find of Cambrian Explosion Fossils

A recent paper in Nature details what scientists found at the Huayuan biota: Here we report the Huayuan biota — a lower Cambrian (Stage 4, approximately 512 million years ago) BST Lagerstätte from an outer shelf, deep-water setting of the Yangtze Block in Hunan, South Ch…

Culinary Students Given Live Baby To Learn How To Care...

Culinary Students Given Live Baby To Learn How To Care For Bag Of Flour. I laughed so hard at this. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Volleyball Player Does Sliding Dogeza Apology

During an exhibition, Japanese volleyball player Yuji Nishida hit a courtside judge in the back with an errant serve. He immediately sprinted across the court and dove prostrate in apology. The gesture was a sort of sliding dogeza: Even in a country where a sincere apology can…

As part of their coursework, students at UC Berkeley are...

As part of their coursework, students at UC Berkeley are contributing edits to Wikipedia about “LGBTQ+ history, with an emphasis on queer and trans people of color”. They’ve added 300,000+ edits and 3,000+ citations. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Groundhog Day Meaning

Will Canon Launch its Boldest lens This February?

Canon has introduced some great lenses for the EF mount that photographers still attest to today. Given the current lineup for the RF mount, Canon is still far from the numbers they had launched during the EF days. It now appears that to change this, the company is developing a…

The Schoolchildren of Minneapolis . “As thousands...

The Schoolchildren of Minneapolis. “As thousands of ICE agents arrived, kids started staying home from school. A local principal, teachers, and parent volunteers have banded together to keep the families safe.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Autocratic backfire : when dictators construct echo...

Autocratic backfire: when dictators construct echo chambers, overestimate their abilities, and dismiss their adversaries’ capabilities, leading to weakening or ruin. Examples: Mussolini, Putin, and now (hopefully) Trump. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Darren Aronofsky’s AI Studio Used Artificial...

Darren Aronofsky’s AI Studio Used Artificial Intelligence Tools for Revolutionary War Animated Series. Interesting use of “animated” to mean “AI-generated photorealism”. I watched the trailer…everything looks vaguely plastic. 💬 Join the discussion on…

Do you know about the original vampire ending for Marty...

Do you know about the original vampire ending for Marty Supreme? (You heard me.) 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Tim Burton on Catherine O’Hara :...

Tim Burton on Catherine O’Hara: “Catherine’s so good, maybe too good. She works on levels that people don’t even know. I think she scares people because she operates at such high levels.” Loved her. RIP. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Funday

Story Bowl I'm a Patriots fan who was pained for the Seahawks when a bad play call (blame coaches) snatched defeat from the jaws of victory the last time the two teams met in the Super Bowl. So I won't be too bummed if the Seahawks win this one. The Revenge Bowl will be a […]

The 5 Important Cameras That Every Fujifilm Users Shot

Fujifilm cameras are important for many users. The X series is important for serious enthusiasts, while the medium format ups the game for professional photographers. However, the story began a while ago, and today we are looking at the few offerings that changed the way we look…

What You Should Know About Zeiss Lenses (In a Nutshell)

If you've been considering the new Zeiss Otus lenses or even something older, then know that the Phoblographer has reviewed pretty much all of them over the years except for the new Otus glass. And more importantly, we're very aware of all the big differences between them. If yo…

The 5 Most Important Cameras From OM System

OM System, formerly known as Olympus, has always been at the forefront of Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds technology. The company introduced cameras that prove why smaller sensors work better in many situations, and how they can withstand many challenges in a rigid environment…