Although photography speaks a clear and easily understood language, it is utterly silent — a balm for the soul in today’s noise-saturated world. Still, there are moments when I wish I could turn up the volume on an imaginary dial. This rarely happens when I look at a photograph of a person, but quite often when the subject is a bird — just like the Choco Toucan in the image below. Its open bill and the way its entire body is positioned suggest that it is filling a stretch of cloudforest with sound, and yet you hear nothing. This week, I wrote an article about that situation. But right now, let’s give voice to the photography news that surfaced this week.

Black and white wildlife photography is a radical choice to strip the subject of its literal appearance and reveal its essence. In this article, I'll explore how eliminating color can allow us to go beyond merely chronicling the moment in front of us, and instead embrace what I call the "Archetype."

Photography is a remarkable medium. In high-resolution photos, we can study every patch of skin, fur, or feather on an animal. High-speed burst shooting can capture fleeting moments of animal behavior in fractions of a second. What photography cannot capture, however, is sound—that vital yet invisible component of both animal and human existence without which an image may be incomplete. Today, using the example of two magnificent species of toucans inhabiting the western slopes of the Andes, I want to give you a glimpse of where photography does not tell the whole story.

It's always a treat to see a good photo that employs a "visual echo" - when different parts of the photo call out to one another and make the whole composition feel interconnected. Not all scenes will have visual echoes that you can photograph, but they're sure worth searching for.

Since its launch in 2021, the Nikon Z9 has received a steady stream of firmware updates that added a number of genuinely excellent features. Lately, however, it felt as if the update wind had died down—or perhaps more accurately, as if Nikon’s flagship had been sailing with partially reefed sails. Indeed, some really useful features such as the in-body focus limiter, pixel shift, or maximum aperture live view were available only on lower-tier models like the Z8 or even the Z6 III. However, firmware update 5.30—released in December of 2025—not only closes some of these gaps, but also introduces several entirely new features. In my opinion, it puts the Z9 back at the very front of the fleet.

It’s only been a few hours since I returned from a Sunday walk through the heart of Prague, where I passed dozens of photographers aiming their lenses at centuries-old architecture and the picturesque medieval panorama crowned by the largest castle complex in the world. I tried to see my city through their fresh eyes—and indeed, bathed in winter sunlight, it was beautiful. Especially now, with everything covered in fresh snow and ice skaters gliding along the frozen river.