Some recent analogue news items from around the web. Japan's camera industry sees a shift in marketshare and acclaimed analogue photographer, Sally Mann, wins a prestigious prize:
Fujifilm Overtakes Sony in Japanese Marketshare
Despite a recent struggle for microchips, the camera industry is booming in Asia. Recent data from Mordor Intelligence suggests a rising trend for photography coupled with rising disposable incomes in the region is increasing sales forecasts.
Reports also show a recent change in market share among the photography heavyweights of Nikon, Sony, Canon and Fujifilm. According to data released by Japanese firm BCN Retail, Fujifilm overtook Sony in Japan’s camera marketshare for the first time in recent memory. The shift is believed to be thanks to the release of the increasingly popular Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo. The analogue-digital hybrid camera allows buyers to shoot digitally and print analogically with a range of instant films available to load in the analogue-inspired camera. The camera, released in Japan in December 2021, is designed with an attractive film camera appearance including classic black and chrome features.
According to data, the Instax Mini Evo accounted for 10.7% of units sold in Japan in December - a huge 4.6% advantage over rival Sony’s Cyber-Shot W830 (a typical compact digital camera). In recent years Sony has shifted a significant portion of the company’s focus to smartphone camera technology, while Fujifilm has developed a variety of instant films and instant film cameras, bridging the gap between analogue and digital.
Sally Mann Wins Pictet Prize with Tintype series
Each year the Prix Pictet is awarded to a photographer whose work draws ‘global attention to issues of sustainability, especially those concerning the environment’, with a prize of 100,000 Swiss francs awarded to the winner.
The most recent prize was awarded to celebrated analogue photographer Sally Mann, whose evocative series of tintype photos focused on the wildfire-ravaged landscapes of south-east Virginia. The series, captured over several years, was shot on Mann’s antique 10x8 camera from which she has shot numerous other lauded bodies of work including Deep South.
The prize-winning series, titled Blackwater, was first exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and most recently in the Victoria & Albert in London, earlier this month alongside fellow Prix Pictet nominees.
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