Christian Popkes

Popkes World of Imaging

Christian Popkes is the artistic director of PHOTOPIA Hamburg and a highly networked industry professional. He regularly shares his perspectives on current topics and trends in the international photo scene.

AI = ARTificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is creeping into more and more areas of life as a so-called enabling technology, including creative and artistic areas. AI not only composes music and writes entire books, such systems have long been capable of generating photorealistic-looking images based on a…

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Foodporn, the environmental sow?

Dear PHOTOPIA family,

Digital Minister Dr. Volker Wissing recently officially exposed smartphotography, of all things, as an environmental sow: In the Q&A session of the closing press conference for the G7 digital ministers' meeting on May 11, he recommended doing without (quote) "superfluous…

Photographers for Charity

Dear PHOTOPIA Family,

sometimes photography gets out of focus and becomes a side issue. Especially when you actively follow the terrifying news from our neighbouring countries to the east. The humanitarian consequences for Ukrainians are devastating. Several million people are already on the run -…

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The Next F* Thing

Dear PHOTOPIA Family

The market for photographic art has been booming for years. But while photo artists usually produce a print edition of their images to offer them physically, NFTs significantly expand the possibilities of marketing photographic art. In the case of a technically reproducible…

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Momentum in the imaging industry

Dear PHOTOPIA family,

"Forecasts are difficult, especially when they concern the future" - this is a popular saying attributed to Mark Twain, Karl Valentin, Niels Bohr or even Winston Churchill. Today I am making it my own, because the first quarter of 2022 is coming to an end and the current…

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Smart- & High End Photography

Dear PHOTOPIA Family,

 

The new year is still young, and yet there are already a few highly noteworthy developments. The first, major and important camera innovation in 2022 is undoubtedly the Leica M11. The fifth generation of digital rangefinder cameras from Wetzlar is certainly remarkable for…

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Quo vadis Photo trade?

Dear PHOTOPIA Family,

 

Noboru Akabane, President and CEO of Ricoh Imaging, recently caused a stir with his thesis that "the traditional way of doing business, based on mass production and mass sales, is becoming less and less suited to recent changes in the market environment."

Bildnachweis: Porträt Christian Popkes: Copyright: Wolfgang Köhler