Shadow & Light Monthly #52

Shadow & Light is a list of curated photography stories, features, techniques, news and inspiration that I’ve come across this month.

In this edition we look at the world of female sumo wrestlers fighting for recognition and look at the camera developed for the new Sphere in Las Vegas. We look at a new service that allows you to take control of a drone from the other side of the world and discover the beauty of nature beyond the limits of human perception.

So, with no further ado, I give you this month’s Shadow & Light Monthly. Go grab yourself a cuppa and enjoy this month’s selections below. Please let me know in the comments what you think.

Pick of the month – Salt and Tears, the World of Female Sumo Wrestling

For four years, Yulia Skogoreva has been documenting female sumo wrestlers fighting for recognition in a sport from which they are banned, following the story of Nana—a young sumo wrestler who dreams of going pro.

In September 2019, Yulia Skogoreva attended Japan’s first-ever amateur sumo competition for girls. For the first time in history, young female wrestlers gathered from all over the country to compete in a martial art that has historically forbidden women from taking part. As Skogoreva entered the sports hall, fitted with a temporary dirt floor and white wrestling ring, she noticed a handful of spectators holding up posters for a wrestler called Nana. “So many people were screaming her name,” the Russian photographer remembers. Who was this young girl, and why had she amassed such a following?

You can read this story in full and see more of Skogoreva’s stunning accompanying documentary photography over on Lens Culture.

Additional reads

Behind the One-of-a-Kind Camera Made for the Sphere

The new Sphere in Las Vegas is a massive technological feat. Inside, the Sphere has the world’s largest screen at 160,000 square feet. But projecting images and shows in a spherical format at an ultra-high resolution isn’t easy; new tech had to be developed to make it work. 

In the video below, WSJ explores how a new camera called the Big Sky was developed for the Sphere and what it takes to get from film to a massive screen.

NatureEye Lets Online Users Fly Real Drones Over Amazing Places

Camera drones have made aerial photography way more accessible, but… what if there isn’t much to look at where you live? That’s where the NatureEye service comes in, as it allows you to remotely pilot a drone at conservation areas throughout the world.

It’s a fascinating concept and you can read more about it over on New Atlas.

And Finally – Photographing Nature Beyond the Limits of Human Perception

In this short TED talk, Artist Doris Mitsch invites us to revel in the wonders of nature through her dazzling photography: stacked images of starlings in flight, hawks surfing thermal updrafts, bats echolocating through the night sky and more. Revealing the hidden trails created by creatures in flight, her work offers unique insight into the intelligence behind nature’s invisible rhythms.

I’ve seen stacked multi-frame photography showing the patterns created by nature before (it may even have been Mitsch’s work I’ve seen) but it’s wonderful to see her digging deeper into the work in this short talk. You can watch below.

Until next time…

I hope you enjoy the articles above. Don’t forget you can follow my Shadow & Light magazine over on Flipboard if you’d like to see more of what I’m reading if you like what you’ve seen here.