Fotographiqa

Here's part of the story behind Robert Capa's famous D-Day landings photos, fumbling lab technicians and melted emulsions and all: 

A rare Nikon F camera, believed to be the earliest pre-production version of the company’s first SLR, has gone on sale in London today for £250,000.

The Black Nikon F carries the serial number 6400077 and was one of around 100 pre-production units offered to photographers and journalists for testing, before being released onto the general market in 1959, according to Nikon dealer Grays of Westminster.

Speaking exclusively to Amateur Photographer (AP), the store's founder, Gray Levett explained that the camera was discovered overseas by Japanese camera expert Toni Kowal.

‘It is an almost unbelievable find and, to the best of our knowledge, the earliest black body to have ever surfaced on the international market,' said Levett.

‘Not only is it one of the first Nikon Fs, but it is also fitted with a rare cloth shutter, which [Nikon] changed to titanium as soon as commercial production began...'

It's Oscar season! 

Audrey Hepburn with her Academy Award for Roman Holiday in 1954. 

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. 

In 1911, Edward J. Steichen photographed models wearing gowns for a magazine and invented the modern fashion photo shoot.

Although fashion magazines like Harper's Bazaar began publishing in the 1860s, it wasn't until 1911 that Lucien Vogel, an enterprising French magazine publisher and editor, decided to feature fashion photography as an editorial feature.  He enlisted leading American photographer Edward J. Steichen to photograph the gowns of couturier Paul Poiret for publication in Art et decoration in April 1911. This magazine feature is considered one of the first examples of modern fashion photography – traces of which are still evident in fashion magazines the world over today.