Amos Chapple: "When I take photos in Siberia, I put my camera in my panties"

Photographer Amos Chapple has already visited over 70 countries, but for the first time photographed only with a smartphone. He made his latest photo reportage from frosty Murmansk in Russia, where the polar night reigns at this time of year, made only with a smartphone. How did the iPhone 11 Pro deal in the cold night conditions ? Why did the creator abandon the camera this time? What is the way to deal with the cold? And finally - why does he love Russia so much?

Amos Chapple is a photographer from New Zealand, where he started working as a photojournalist in the largest local daily newspaper in 2003. After two years he started working for UNESCO, and since 2012 he has been a freelancer. He is a traveler who has visited over 70 countries. As he says, "during these travels I met almost exclusively with the decency and good will of people." The photographer tries to look for ordinary people in unusual places, and their stories are immortalized with his photos. His photographs are published in most major media around the world. You may also have seen on the Reddit or other online viral media series about the search for mammoth remains or a report from Ojmiacon, the coldest village on Earth.Her drone travel photos taken in 2015 collected over 6 million views.

Amos Chapple recently went to Murmansk, Russia during the polar night, when the night lasts 24 hours. This time, however, instead of a digital camera, the creator took with him a new iPhone 11 Pro .

Krzysztof Basel: Why did you use iPhone instead of a regular digital camera to take photos in the coldest places in the world?

Amos Chapple: The technology was new and I wanted to have an interesting catch on my story. For a long time I wanted to photograph life in the darkness of Russia's arctic, and then, when the new iPhone received night mode, I thought that photographing it would make the material more timely, more timely and interesting for a wider audience.

Are you satisfied with the quality of the photos and the new "night mode"?

I was so impressed that I finally wrote an extensive article about him that was later published by many portals around the world. I think Apple would be very happy with me. The situation changed completely when I wrote the second article . Much less flattering.

What did you not like?

The biggest problem with night mode is that the camera decides when to turn it on. And usually he does it only in very dark scenes.

While I didn't have any problems with the main wide-angle camera, the telephoto lens almost never turned on the night mode option. I lost one really strong frame that was so dark that the guy I photographed had to use a flashlight to find myself, but the telephoto lens just didn't let me turn on night mode. It's the exact opposite of the name "pro". This aspect made photography very difficult for me. To make matters worse, it turned out that even if the night mode is turned on in telephoto, the iPhone is really cheating on us.

How?

Using the telephoto lens on the iPhone 11 Pro in night mode, the device without informing us about it switches the image to a standard lens and makes a digital zoom. The photo on the smartphone screen looks like taken with a telephoto lens, but it is really fake. My subsequent tests have shown this.

But he does it so well that almost nobody notices it

Yes, but it's a scam. I find this disappointing, not from a technical point of view, but because of honesty. The camera on this phone is amazing and I doubt anyone criticizes Apple for limiting the night mode to one lens. But it could have been openly written, not hidden. A lie by omission is still a lie.

What I find particularly confusing is that Apple has increased the size of the digitally enlarged photo so that the image size (3024 × 4032 px) remains the same. This makes it harder to guess at first glance that this is a low-quality digital zoom. However, just look at the metadata to see that there is a 4.25 mm focal length.

By revealing this matter, you are unlikely to become a favorite with Apple marketers

After the publication of the second article, where I described the whole problem, Apple is unlikely to be happy. I have nothing to count on the sponsorship agreement ...

Let's leave the picture and let's move to the second very important element - the battery. The iPhone 11 Pro is praised for its long working time without charging. How did your iPhone deal with the frost in Murmansk?

It was really great, it was very cold there one day, I think about -24 degrees Celsius and I was outside for a long time without any technical problems. The biggest difficulty was the limitations of my own body.

What was bothering you?

My thumb was too cold to pull it out of the glove. Fortunately, I have a large nose, so I actually changed the camera settings with the tip of my nose.

This is not your first visit to Russia. Why are you traveling to these cold places? Why did you choose to Murmansk?

I love being in Russia. I have always felt at home there, especially outside large cities. Russians in small towns are strict, kind and very funny. I chose Murmansk only because it is very dark throughout the winter. In Russia there is another city, Norilsk, which is even darker and looks more exotic.

Why didn't you go there?

Another photographer, Elena Czernyszowa, spent many months working there and took such good photos of the city that I could only admire her work and accept the fact that I cannot match her.

A few years ago you also photographed in Ojmiakon, where the average temperature is -50 degrees Celsius. It is said to be one of the coldest places in the world. How do you prepare for such trips? What is the biggest obstacle?

There are a few things to keep in mind when shooting in the cold. The main problem is that when you take pictures outdoors, the camera you take pictures with cannot be used indoors for hours. When the camera is too cold, it simply evaporates when you take it to a warm place. So when I take pictures in really cold places, such as Eastern Siberia, where the temperature can drop to -50 degrees Celsius, I usually have a camera (I will be completely honest here) stuffed in my panties.

How is that

When I enter the building, I put the main camera in the bag, then turn towards the corner of the room and "voila" - I take out a nice, warm camera that I can use inside. The second thing is your breathing. On very cold days, water vapor exhaled in front of the lens can affect the image. So sometimes it can be hard. Imagine that you are crossing a slippery hill, you are tired and want to breathe, but you see a great frame and must hold your breath.

What is the camera that fits in your pants?

I am using the Micro Four Thirds system camera. This is Panasonic Lumix GX9 . It is small, light and easy to use.

What are your next goals?

I will probably be in Europe. I can't talk about it because it is a story about corruption, so I hope to be in Uzbekistan and photograph a very cool place that I recently discovered. This country is very interesting for the photographer.

What are you looking for in photography? What is the most interesting for you?

I have always worked as a journalist, but in a way I really don't like this industry. We live in the best times ever, life has never been better, but the media is simply ruthlessly pessimistic. Today's media is too focused on negatives.

I want to photograph stories that show ordinary people in unusual places. Give readers a chance to break away from the hysteria of news media and give them a chance to go back and say "hey, the world is really a pretty cool place".

Amos Chapple: "When I take photos in Siberia, I put my camera in my panties"