Capturing one orphan’s extraordinary journey as he heads back to Bosnia 20 years on from the snipers and shelling in search of answers from his long lost family.

Born with water on the brain, abandoned at birth and given just months to live, Serbian born, he did not get the best start in life. Twenty seven years on however against the odds and through the kindness of strangers, he is alive and well and living happily married in the UK. After a childhood plagued by near starvation, shelling and continuous suffering it seems like everything is finally falling into place until one day he receives a phone call. His long lost family have tracked him down.

It’s the moment every orphan waits their entire life for. There’s just one thing. He was born a Serb but brought up a Bosnian and it turns out the family he has waited his entire life to hear from are in fact his natural born enemies, Serbs – the same ‘Men in the Hills’ who shelled and sniped at him during the 1300 day siege that began 20 years ago. His uncle, four sisters and entire extended family are keen to reconcile and make up for lost time however his mother still won’t mention his name or even acknowledge his existence…

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These movies are full length films directly related to photography.

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First, one of my favourite film directors, Ridley Scott gives his advice to first time directors, and talks about his approach to editing.

Steven Spielberg gave a speech at the Academy of Achievement, where he talked about how he got into film, considering the audience in the filmmaking process, and listening to intuition.

Film director of films such as Shutter Island and Aviator Martin Scorsese talks about his experience in film school, his influences, and 21st century filmmaking.

Writer and Director of films such as Mulholland Drive, David Lynch talks about multiple aspects of filmmaking

And finally, George Lucas gives a speech at the Academy of Achievement on how following his various passions led him to becoming filmmaker.

I would like to hear your opinion and thought on advice from these filmmakers and directors?  Is there advice from your favourite filmmaker which was helpful to you in your career you would like to share?  Please leave a message below.

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So after you’re done reading and watching the trailers, please share this on your Twitter / Facebook to support this blog – thanks! Also, please let me know in comments below if I missed anything out, I’m sure I have!

McCullin

Directed by David Morris

Released 1 January

Documentary portrait of the photographer Don McCullin is necessarily a distillation of the most harrowing atrocities witnessed since the Second World War.  His startling images, some beautiful, many horrible, attest to his bravery, but also to his quick eye and artistic sense of composition, the picture of a shocked Belfast woman cowering in a doorway as soldiers charge past is a marvel of timing.

The Gangster Squad

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Released January 2013

A chronicle of the LAPD’s fight to keep East Coast Mafia types out of Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s.

Jobs

Directed by Joshua Michael Stern

Released 2013 TBC

The story of Steve Jobs’ ascension from college dropout into one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of the 20th century.

A Good Day To Die Hard

Directed by John Moore

Released February 2013

John McClane travels to Russia to help out his seemingly wayward son, Jack, only to discover that Jack is a CIA operative working to prevent a nuclear-weapons heist, causing the father and son to team up against underworld forces.

Flight

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Released 1 February

An airline pilot saves a flight from crashing, but an investigation into the malfunctions reveals something troubling.

Twelve Years A Slave

Directed by Steve McQueen

Released Winter 2013

A man living in New York during the mid-1800s is kidnapped and sold into slavery in the deep south. Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender and Benedict Cumberbatch star.

Hitchcock

Directed by Sacha Gervasi

Released February 2013

A love story between influential filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and wife Alma Reville during the filming of Psycho in 1959.

Star Strek Into Darkness

Directed by J.J Abrams

Released 14 February

After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

Cloud Atlas

Directed by Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer

Released 22 February

An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.

The Grandmaster

Directed by Wong Kar-Wai

Released 2013

The story of martial-arts master Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee. Going head-to-head in the post production perfectionism stakes with Terrence Malick.

Upstream Color

Directed by Shane Carruth

Released 2013 TBC

A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.

No

Directed by Pablo Larraín

Released 8 February

An ad executive comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile’s 1988 referendum.

Evil Dead

Directed by Fede Alvarez

Released 19 April

Mia, a young woman struggling with sobriety, heads to a remote cabin with her brother and a group of friends, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads to danger and horror.

Side Effects

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Released 15 March

A woman turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband’s upcoming release from prison.

Neighbouring Sounds

Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho

Released 2013

Life in a middle-class neighborhood in present day Recife, Brazil, takes an unexpected turn after the arrival of an independent private security firm. The presence of these men brings a sense of safety and a good deal of anxiety to a culture which runs on fear.

Iron Man 3

Directed by Shane Black

Released 2013

Tony Stark uses his ingenuity to fight those who destroyed his private world and soon goes up against his most powerful enemy yet: the Mandarin.

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HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON:  The Impassioned Eye

Heinz Bütler interviews Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) late in life.  Cartier-Bresson pulls out photographs, comments briefly, and holds them up to Bütler’s camera. A few others share observations, including Isabelle Huppert, Arthur Miller, and Josef Koudelka. Cartier-Bresson talks about his travels, including Mexico in the 1930s, imprisonment during World War II, being with Gandhi moments before his assassination, and returning to sketching late in life.

CONTACTS, Vol. 3: CONCEPTUAL PHOTOGRAPHY 

Features Thomas Struth, Wolfgang Tillmans, Roni Horn, Bernd and Hilla Becher, and other contemporary photographers told in their own words.

Director Josh Tickell takes us along for his 11 year journey around the world to find solutions to America’s addiction to oil. A shrinking economy, a failing auto industry, rampant unemployment, an out-of-control national debt, and an insatiable demand for energy weigh heavily on all of us. Fuel shows us the way out of the mess we’re in by explaining how to replace every drop of oil we now use, while creating green jobs and keeping our money here at home. The film never dwells on the negative, but instead shows us the easy solutions already within our reach.

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Most recently I’ve had a Canon 5D Mark II and have decided to upgrade to Mk3 and boy, what a difference it made!  Canon, like Nikon have had a busy year with regards to their full frame camera releases. They unveiled quite possibly the most anticipated release of 2012 in the 5D Mark 3 and most recent release their answer to the D600 is the 6D.

SENSOR DETAILS

The 7D is the oldest camera in this article and the only one of the three with a crop sensor. There is the obvious extra reach advantage to this sensor, especially for sports and wildlife shooters but obviously this comes with the price of noise at higher ISO.

Both the 6D and 5D Mark III benefit from newer full frame CMOS chip, although it has to be noted that the 6D is not quite a full frame sensor (35.8×23.9mm vs. 36x24mm on the 5D3) being almost identical to that found on the original 5D.

The only way that the sensor will influence your decision to purchase is whether you want the extra reach offered by the 7D or the lower noise at higher ISO and shallow depth of field offered by both of the full frame options. The pixel count difference is negligible with all 3 cameras offering plenty of megapixels, although it has to be said they are still quite a way behind the megapixel monster that is the Nikon D800.

IMAGE DETAILS

It will come as no surprise that the 7D is the worst performer here at high ISO.  Noise is one of the major drawbacks of APS-C. That said, it does hold up well with other cameras in its class such as the D300. You can get away up to ISO 800 and will hold up above that, especially with a little extra post processing of the image.

Both the 5D Mark III and the 6D deliver amazing high quality images at higher ISO. They deliver a huge jump in noise for those coming from a crop sensor cameras.

High ISO from the 6D is very good. It is almost identical to that of its biggest competitor, the Nikon D600.

The 5D Mark III delivers exceptional high ISO images. Almost a stop better than the 5D Mark II.  Even going as far as ISO 6400 it will usable and above that is equal to the best in class.  This means for those who shoot in low light situations like myself as a documentary filmmaker and someone who prefers to use natural light, it will deliver consistently outstanding results.

AUTOFOCUS SYSTEM

The 7D setup has a very good system. The 19 cross type focus points track well and it works good in lower light conditions. There are several options within the camera that, along with the maximum 8fps make the 7D a perfect choice for sport shooters on a budget, or those who are simply looking for a reliable backup to their 1D range camera.

The newly released 6D autofocus works well in incredibly low light conditions and therefore instantly makes it a step up for owners of the 5D Mark II.   The 11 point system will work perfectly well for those who shoot portraits or tend to do studio work.  The ability to focus well in low light conditions make it a good choice for wedding photographers. It still is slightly disappointing when compared to the D600, but it is a great camera as long as you are happy with the limitation it comes with.

Finally the Canon 5D Mark III autofocus system is simply outstanding.  The autofocus system on my previous 5Dmk2 was really disappointing so it is great that Canon has finally decided to do something about it.  When I owned Nikon kit, focusing system is something I was wowed by and then disappointed once I moved to Mk2.  Thankfully, the 5D Mark III addresses all the issues from the Mark 2 and adds much, A LOT more.

The camera has a new autofocus system similar to the one found in the 1DX.   It has 41 cross type focus points available when using lenses that are f4 or faster and if you have f2.8 glass then you also benefit from 5 double cross type sensors.   The only small thing to criticise is that the cross type points can only be used with lenses f5.6 or brighter.

It also works amazingly well in low light conditions that the 5D Mark II would have not been able to cope with.  This will come as a great relief to those who have had problems and were disappointed with the 5D Mark II autofocus system.

VIEWFINDER/SCREEN

One thing worth to note is that 6D has only 97% viewfinder coverage which if you’ve used Canon Mk2 you will likely notice a difference or that it will affect your use of camera.

PHOTO FEATURES

The 7D is the only model here with a built in flash as Canon prefer not to have a built in flash in their full frame models. The thing is, although a built in flash will rarely lead to an amazing image, sometimes can be helpful.

Talking of flash, the sync speed on both the 5D3 and 6D are not good, especially the 1/160th on the 6D. This is a nightmare to strobist style shooters and enough to put many off. Why not move to the 1/250th offered by the 7D or at least keep up with those offered by the current equivalent Nikons?

Max fps are good for both the 5D3 and 7D which will keep sports photographers happy.  The 6D has a maximum speed of 4.5fps, which is slightly faster than the 5D Mark II but still limiting for its use for things such as wildlife, still fast enough for almost all other situations though.

The 5D Mark III and the 6D also feature Canon’s silent shutter mode which offers quite, discreet shooting.  Something that is very nice to have in certain situations.

VIDEO FEATURES

As many of us know already, Canon has a good reputation for video.  The 5D Mark II was the camera that launched a thousand film makers and they have heavily invested in the C300 for film makers. The 5D Mark III continues in the tradition of outstanding video quality from a DSLR.  The main issue about the new 5D Mark III is that there is no clean HDMI output, which is really annoying.  There are few changes to video, obviously the cleaner image at high ISO is welcomed and the inclusion of a headphone jack is nice. Basically though, it is made up of small improvements over the video on the 5D Mark II.

The 6D has identical video modes as the 5D Mark III and will be bought in large numbers by those who are purely using their DSLR for video.  Important thing to take a note is that it does not have the headphone jack or audio input found on the 5D Mark III – the way around this is to record your sound separately using i.e. Zoom H4n.

The main advantage of both cameras comparing them to 7D is much much better video performance in low light.

EVERYTHING ELSE

For a camera that is aimed at sports and wildlife photographers it seems strange that the 7D does not feature weather sealing on the camera. Make sure that if you are planning to use it in less favourable conditions you use a camera cover.

(CORRECTION 8/12/2012 @ 21:43 – confirmed by a photographer Roger M Richards, 7D is weather sealed even more than the 5D MK 2.  Canon redesigned the 5D MK 3 to the same specs as the 7D.  The flash port on the 7D has gaskets to keep moisture and dust out – thanks Rog). 

The lack of USB 3.0 in the newer models shown here is something of an oversight by Canon.  Everything else is pretty much standard apart from on the 6D.

The 6D has the inclusion of WiFi and GPS built into the body.  This is a first for Canon and a feature that will interest many, especially as with the addition of your smartphone you can have full remote control over the camera including live view.

When it comes to weight of all these cameras, 6D is the lightest edition on the market.   This can be very beneficial if you are planning on rigging the camera, using i.e. 24-105 f4, same setup on 5Dmk3 will add 500g extra.  For me, this is not an issue but for some it might, I’d rather have a camera that performs extremely well and handles great than worry about weight

Hopefully what you have read above and have seen some direct comparisons between all these cameras, the question now is really which camera to invest into?

Don’t get me wrong, I think 7D is a great camera for wildlife or sports photographers on a budget and it offers a great image quality, as well as good autofocus system.  It is a good upgrade from models lower down the Canon range.  You will also benefit from the extra reach that the 1.6 crop offers as well as the benefit that it will take any EF-S lenses you may already have in your collection.  The only downside to the 7D in this test is it cannot compete in terms of high ISO with the other two cameras on this comparison which of course I knew before putting this together but was good to see the differences I hope you’ll agree.

The newly released Canon 6D is aimed at those who want to make the jump to full frame and at the same time save money. The image quality is very good and it competes in most respects with the Nikon D600 although the D600 does benefit from a slightly better autofocus system and a higher fps burst rate.

It would be simple to say that it is the 5D Mark II replacement.  Well it is aiming for the market that was dominated by that camera and it does it well, even beating out the 5D Mark II in some respects. The addition of built in GPS and Wi-Fi is a first for Canon and the remote control via Smartphone feature is certainly a very nice addition.  Also if weight is an issue then it is the lightest full frame DSLR currently available.

The 5D Mark III is a great camera.  It outperforms the 5D Mark II in every area but unfortunately this also includes price.  It is very much a worthwhile upgrade from the Mark 2 simply on the new autofocus system alone.  Add to this higher fps and a stop advantage in high ISO images and it is a simple decision.  To put it simply the 5D Mark III is a stunning camera.  If you are a Canon shooter and can afford it, this is the camera you should buy.

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The Lomo LC-A was built by the Leningrad Optical Mechanical Association in what is now St Petersburg. Designed by Michail Panfiloff, the camera was based on a Japanese compact called the Cosina CX-2.  It was intended to be handed out to Communist Party cadres as a gift.   LC-A’s abilities in low light quickly made it a favourite with experimental photographers. The shutter stays open for as long as the photographer wants it to, allowing the camera to take night-time shots without flash.

Golden rules

• Take your camera everywhere you go
• Use it any time – day and night
• Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it
• Try the shot from the hip
• Approach the objects of your Lomographic desire as close as possible
• Don’t think
• Be fast
• You don’t have to know beforehand what you captured on film…
• … or afterwards either
• Don’t worry about any rules

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Read below for more details about the UK launch and what makes it different from the U.S. version.

From a recent Kickstarter post:

Can people outside the UK pledge to UK projects?

Yes! Backers from anywhere in the world can pledge to any project on Kickstarter.

Is there a UK-specific Kickstarter site?

No. UK-based projects are listed alongside all of the other Kickstarter projects. Backers can check out UK projects specifically through the location sections of the Kickstarter homepage (the first row of projects under Staff Picks) and the Discover page (the Cities area in the sidebar).

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Summit took place from 18 – 23 October and delegates were guided by a line-up of Counsellors that included former Presidents Bill Clinton (USA) and Alvaro Uribe (Colombia), musician and activist Bob Geldof, former Secretary-General of the UN Kofi Annan, Jamie Oliver, Muhammad Yunus, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, actor Kal Penn and many others.

After each Summit, the newly-minted One Young World Ambassadors work on their own projects and initiatives or lend the power of the One Young World network to those already in existence. Of those in employment, many return to their companies and set about creating change from within, energising their corporate environment. Since the 2010 Summit, One Young World Ambassadors have been creating change on a global level. Previous initiatives have included the presentation of The Missing Millennium Development Goal to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the creation of the first-ever African Student Leaders Summit.

To date, almost four million people have been directly impacted by the work of One Young World Ambassadors. There are currently more than 125 projects and initiatives involving in excess of 100 countries.

No youth-dominated event outside the Olympic Games brings together more countries than One Young World.

This was such an inspiring and life changing summit and it was an absolute pleasure and honour to be part of it.

Next OYW will take place in October 2013, Jburgh – South Africa.

Update 29 October 2012:
One Young World Summit 2012 Summit Highlights in pictures

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As Dave Dugdale shows in the video review below, the camera bag you choose may have more to do with you than it does with the design of the bag.

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