Tom May

Tom May

Tom May is a freelance writer and editor specializing in art, photography, design and travel. He has been editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine. He has also worked for a wide range of mainstream titles including The Sun, Radio Times, NME, T3, Heat, Company and Bella.

Latest articles by Tom May

Female policewoman standing in front of police car
The long road to being seen: one photographer's 90-day quest to portray what Muslim America really looks like

By Tom May Published

News British photographer Mahtab Hussain is setting out to discover what it truly means to belong in the United States

News
Mission Specialist Christina Koch looks out the window of Orion back to Earth
This clip of an astronaut chasing a memory card in space is hilarious… but it also makes me think seriously about storage

By Tom May Published

ARTEMIS II Most of us never think seriously about what our memory cards go through. A viral clip from NASA's lunar mission changed all that.

ARTEMIS II
Dave and Philip Sharkey talk in the cramped darkroom at Passport Photo Service in 1978, with a Kodak Versamat processing machine and a Beseler enlarger visible among the equipment around them.
No stylist, no lighting rig… but passport photos make some of the best celebrity pictures. This new book helps me understand why with its mugshots of Joan Collins, Mick Jagger, Mohammad Ali and more

By Tom May Published

Opinion It documents how a modest Oxford Street studio, open for 66 years, assembled an astonishing archive of famous faces

Opinion
Left: Black and white portrait of a shirtless Andre 3000 wearing a large fur hat, leaning on one arm and looking over his shoulder at the camera. Right: Black and white studio portrait of three members of Public Enemy wearing baseball caps and sportswear, posed close together against a grey background.
Rebels & icons: why Janette Beckman didn't wait for permission to photograph music history

By Tom May Published

The British photographer spent four decades pointing her camera at the future. A new Seattle retrospective proves the best photographs aren't taken, they're anticipated.

Galleries and Exhibitions
A close-up crop of a contact sheet showing six frames: a blonde person photographed among flowers in a hospital setting, with expressions ranging from eyes closed to direct engagement with the camera.
A love letter to the contact sheet, and what 5,700 of them reveal about one of photography's most essential names

By Tom May Published

news Before Lightroom, there was the contact sheet. Peter Hujar's archive offers a masterclass in editing your own work

news
A 35mm diptych pairing a pole dancer suspended horizontally against warm nightclub bokeh with a luminous golden Pacific sea nettle jellyfish trailing long white tentacles against a deep purple-green background
Two frames are better than one: this new show demonstrates what the diptych can do for your photography

By Tom May Published

news Pole dancers beside jellyfish, ancient statues beside contemporary nudes... it's all a compelling argument for one of photography's most underused formats.

news
Old memory cards on a pile of shredded paper
Your archived photos may be slowly disappearing – but Lexar wants to do something about it

By Tom May Published

News The memory cards in your camera bag may be slowly losing your photos, but almost nobody in the industry is talking about it

News
An overhead black-and-white photo showing the skeletal remains of a zebra lying on dry, cracked earth.
A zebra that ran to the end: why Peter Beard’s unflinching photography of African wildlife still haunts us 60 years on

By Tom May Published

Book TASCHEN reissues the American photographer's landmark record of wildlife collapse in East Africa

Book
Blue Microphone, one of the best boom arms
Best boom arms in 2026: supports for your microphone when vlogging or filmmaking

By Tom May Last updated

Buying Guide Position your mic perfectly, with the best boom arms for vloggers, podcasters, filmmakers, streamers, and more

Buying Guide
A vibrant underwater scene featuring artificial, multi-colored corals and anemones arranged on a dark rock formation over a bed of light-colored gravel.
Zed Nelson photographs shock us all into seeing just how twisted our bond with nature has become

By Tom May Published

Six years, 14 countries and one big observation: as we destroy the natural world, we're replacing it with a very convincing illusion

Galleries and Exhibitions
Four people in full white cleanroom suits and masks gather around to inspect a large, dark semiconductor wafer in a high-tech manufacturing facility
The AI boom is making your memory cards more expensive – and Lexar doesn't bank on that changing any time soon

By Tom May Published

News My high-level access to Lexar's China operations shed light on why the price of your camera's memory cards is ticking up

News
A grid of ten black-and-white photographs showing the Serra Pelada gold mine in Brazil, ranging from wide aerial views of a vast pit swarming with thousands of workers to close-up portraits of mud-covered men carrying heavy sacks up precarious wooden ladders
From gold mine to auction house: what Sebastiao Salgado's latest print sale teaches us about making photos that really matter

By Tom May Published

News As signed prints attached six-figure sums, there are lessons for every photographer who's ever doubted the value of their work

News
The Nikon Z6 and Nikon Z7 will receive more robust support for CFexpress cards
Lexar confirms that CFexpress cards run hotter than SD cards in cameras – and says it's an industry-wide challenge

By Tom May Published

News The memory card giant confirms what Panasonic's controversial guidance implied: CFexpress cards run hotter than SD, and the industry knows it's a growing problem.

News
Left: A solitary, crooked tree with sparse branches leans sharply over a pristine, white snow-covered bank. Right: A large bronze Buddha statue sits in serene meditation against a dramatic, swirling sky filled with white clouds
The art of doing nothing: what Michael Kenna can teach every photographer about composition and taking it slow

By Tom May Published

News His new book is a masterclass in emptiness, restraint, and the discipline of taking less from a frame, not more

News
A painterly, long-exposure seascape featuring deep amber and golden waves that appear like liquid silk, crested by soft, misty white sea spray tinted with violet hues.
Why Pen Densham photographs waves at dusk on a 400mm lens at f/40

By Tom May Published

The Oscar-nominated filmmaker-turned-photographer explains the technique behind his impressionist pictures

Photography Styles
Lucia Moholy with the cover and pages of her book on the history of photography
She wrote the history of photography. Then they cruelly erased her from it

By Tom May Published

Ironic, much?

Photography
Left image: A woman in a teal satin dress sits in profile on a chair against a dark studio backdrop, holding a blonde doll in her lap with a composed, contemplative expression. Right image: A woman wearing a patterned top and headscarf works with bricks outdoors, leaning forward with focused attention amid a dusty, blurred background of a brick-making area.
All about women: AAP Magazine's 55th issue puts female photographic vision front and centre

By Tom May Published

news For its latest issue, All About Photo invited photographers to explore the subject of women. Here's what rose to the top.

news
Seven Man Gun Crew, c. 1863 (left) 1st Louisiana Guards, c. 1862 (right)
These astonishing American Civil War photos are 160 years old – but some of them feel surprisingly contemporary

By Tom May Published

News The National Gallery of Art just acquired 35 images that remind us that tech changes, but the rules of good composition are eternal

News
A side-by-side diptych featuring a dark, moody green-toned photograph of a standing statue of Balzac on the left and a high-contrast, sepia-toned close-up of rose petals on the right.
Someone bought this photo at a yard sale: it could now be worth $1 million!

By Tom May Published

The extraordinary provenance of Edward Steichen's image tells us something profound about how photography gets valued

Photography
Two Allen Smart Suction Snap Camera Mounts are secured to the hood of a dark vehicle, holding a DJI action camera and a GoPro camera.
Car photography without the stress! Allen's new suction mount lets you know if your camera isn't actually safely secured

By Tom May Published

News Every photographer who's ever fixed a camera to a car bonnet knows the knot-in-the-stomach feeling. Allen's new Smart Suction Snap finally does something about it

News
null
Our favorite April Fools for photographers ever - from fake news to dream cameras

By Chris George Published

APRIL FOOLS These news stories all had photographers reaching for their wallets... before checking the calendar

APRIL FOOLS
Four mobile app promotional screenshots showcase the features of a video recording application, highlighting capabilities like simultaneous portrait and landscape capture, single lens mode, and customizable quality settings.
One app, two aspect ratios: DualShot Recorder ingeniously solves video's most annoying modern-day problem

By Tom May Published

The portrait-versus-landscape dilemma has plagued video shooters since TikTok took over social media. A $6.99 iPhone app may now have cracked it.

Apps
An orange and a black Unihertz Titan 2 Elite smartphone are displayed side-by-side on a blue surface, showcasing their physical QWERTY keyboards and Android home screens.
This new 5G phone reinvents the Blackberry for 2026: here's why photographers should be interested

By Tom May Published

Remember how the BlackBerry phones gave you physical keys to type with? Unihertz thinks it was onto something, and I think they have a point

Android Phones
Two lion cubs drinking water from a puddle in the middle of the night
Noctourism: the new safari travel trend that's changing the wildlife we can photograph in Africa

By Tom May Published

After dark, another Africa wakes up... and a new travel movement offers a window onto this fascinating world

Nature and Wildlife Photography
Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher share a rare, smiling moment backstage in a grainy black-and-white photo while surrounded by their crew.
The truth behind the Oasis reunion headlines, captured in one photographer's 1,000 secret images

By Tom May Published

After capturing the reunion image seen around the world, here's what the British photographer did next

Books
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Archives

Other versions of this page are available with specific content for the following regions: