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

A child in red traditional costume with bright pink face makeup and decorated headdress gazes at her reflection in a mirror surrounded by elaborate props.
Chris Yan's photo series about a Chinese New Year festival is a masterclass in using color and framing to evoke meaning

By Tom May Published

This Beijing photographer documents Shehuo traditions with commercial expertise and visual precision

Travel Photography
Blurred close-up detail of dental models or casts showing fine textural detail.
Ishiuchi Miyako photographs completely different things, yet her 50 years of work all looks unmistakably hers

By Tom May Published

news

news
Lee Miller sits grinning between a towering American soldier and a small French boy against a cobbled Luxembourg courtyard wall, her helmet on and camera round her neck.
This remarkable wartime snapshot reveals an important truth about model-turned-photojournalist Lee Miller

By Tom May Last updated

A new exhibition of Lee Miller's work opens this week – and a single image tells you everything you need to know

Photojournalism
Best microphone isolation shields in 2026: for podcasts, streaming, and more

By Tom May Last updated

Updated Want to sound clear, crisp and professional? Then you need the best microphone isolation shield!

Updated
A lone silhouetted figure stands before a giant projected black-and-white portrait of Malala Yousafzai, surrounded by colourful animated flowers and foliage at the base of the image.
When Shirin Neshat photographed Malala, she turned to calligraphy to say what the camera alone could not

By Tom May Published

News The Malala Yousafzai portrait that went beyond photography is now on show at a new immersive London experience

News
Ansel Adams at a party celebrating the fortieth anniversary of his photograph "Moonrise Over Hernandez, N.M." He stands next to a large print of the photograph, pointing to the moon. (Photo by Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
A New York gallery exhibited an AI version of a famous photo without getting permission, and I'm not surprised people are furious!

By Tom May Published

Opinion The Danziger Gallery hung an AI-generated version of an iconic image by Ansel Adams and offered it up for sale

2 Comments
Opinion
The silhouettes of an adult and a child stand before a vast black-and-white projection of Nelson Mandela's portrait at FRAMELESS London, with floating abstract symbols scattered across the image.
The one photo of Nelson Mandela the world needed: why Jillian Edelstein went against the grain to shoot this portrait of the South African icon

By Tom May Published

The story behind the Mandela portrait that defied expectation, now brought to life at a new immersive London experience

Portrait Photography
The Birdfy Nest Duo feeder on a stone wall
The best bird box cameras

By Lauren Scott Last updated

Updated Capture images and video of nesting birds you couldn't get by yourself, with the best bird box cameras

Updated
Left: A close-up self-portrait of Richard Avedon grinning broadly, both hands pressed against his temples, the image slightly soft-focused and full of manic energy. Right: A young man in black sits casually across two ornate chairs before a white studio backdrop marked with a large red painted X.
Ron Howard's new documentary movie, Avedon, reminds us why the greatest photographer of the 20th century didn't care what camera he used

By Tom May Published

Premiering at Cannes this week, the film shows us how the greatest images come from reading people, not mastering f-stops

Portrait Photography
Triptych showing a nude figure bathing in two contemporary photographs flanking a classical painting of a crouched bather
Nan Goldin turns her camera onto art history, and the results are an inspiration for any photographer wishing to reinvent themselves

By Tom May Published

After five decades documenting lived experience, the American photographer is now shooting marble, myths and mortality

Fine Art Photography
A close-up, high-angle view of a densely packed group of koi fish with various orange, white, black, and speckled patterns swimming in murky water, with a single small pink flower floating near the center-left.
Oscar-nominated filmmaker is reinventing nature and landscape photography and this beautiful free ebook highlights how

By Tom May Last updated

News The writer and producer behind Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves has swapped the big screen for impressionist images of nature

News
Address label being printed by DYMO LabelWriter 4XL thermal printer, on office desk in front of packages
The best thermal printers for printing labels, addresses and more in 2026

By Tom May Last updated

buying guide You don't need ink to print address labels, tickets and labels: just use the best thermal printers!

buying guide
Group of young people in office gathered around one of the best iPad alternatives
The best iPad alternatives in 2026

By Mike Harris Last updated

Buying guide Forget Apple: these iPad alternatives from Samsung, Microsoft, Amazon, and Lenovo provide better value and great specs

Buying guide
Black and white photograph of a group of children
Edith Tudor-Hart was one of Britain's best documentary photographers and a soviet spy - so why have most people never heard of her?

By Tom May Published

History Bauhaus-trained and politically fearless, Edith Tudor-Hart was one of Britain's finest documentary photographers. She was also a Soviet secret agent. Now, a new book tells her astonishing story

History
A dreamlike night landscape featuring a gravel path leading toward blooming cherry blossoms, obscured by ethereal blue and green light flares and motion blur.
How do you photograph history that people would rather forget, or grief that has no shape? Two Japanese photographers give very different answers

By Tom May Published

News From postwar Hiroshima to pandemic-era Tōhoku, a landmark exhibition pairs two Japanese photographers who've spent careers turning trauma into art

News
A woman rests her head on a man's shoulder on a Washington Square Park bench, eyes closed, while he gazes away into the middle distance with a book in his lap.
John Baer grabbed a Leica from a captured German soldier in 1945. Nearly 50 years later, his son found the negatives – which were some of the best postwar street photographs ever

By Tom May Published

NEWS Meet the untrained amateur who shot postwar Europe and New York City like a Magnum master, then locked it all in a box

NEWS
Left: A black and white, slightly grainy photograph of a shirtless young man with tousled hair kneeling on a bed, holding a glass and wearing patterned trousers with a large decorative belt. Right: A black and white full-body shot of a woman with short, dark hair standing by a canal, wearing a dark, long-sleeved mini dress with a white collar and patterned tights.
One of the world's most private photographers is finally showing his work

By Tom May Published

Discover what Steven Meisel saw in London in 1993, and why every photographer should pay attention

Fashion Photography
A woman wearing a fur coat and a black headscarf adorned with mussels and a starfish lies on a sandy beach behind a pile of seashells.
Annie Leibovitz launched a new prize for emerging photographers, and it's already producing remarkable work

By Tom May Published

News Only in its second year, the Saltzman-Leibovitz Photography Prize is shaping up to be one of the most interesting awards in the field

News
This famous photo of New York workers eating lunch on a steel girder has been seen by billions, but the daredevil story of how it was photographed can only now be told

By Tom May Published

History A new book unpacks the untold story behind Lunch on a Beam, the 1932 publicity photo that became a 20th-century icon

15 Comments
History
A visitor examines the cameras on display at the Bièvres international photography fair, on June 3, 1973. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
The world's greatest photography flea market returns to this small French town this June

By Tom May Published

A small town south of Paris will transform into a photographers' paradise: part flea market, part festival, part pilgrimage

Trade Shows
Left: Four young Black girls in matching gold and white sequinned majorette uniforms and tall feathered headdresses stand against a plain wall, each looking in a different direction with composed, unselfconscious expressions. Right: A chimpanzee sits alone on a concrete pyramid in a zoo enclosure, in front of a large painted mural depicting a lush tropical forest, with water trickling from an opening in the painted landscape above.
These 4 awe-inspiring photos show just what it takes to stand out amongst 10,000 images

By Tom May Published

NEWS These shortlisted images from the RPS exhibition reveal what separates good from great photography

NEWS
A smiling woman wearing glasses sits in the open window of a car, holding up a bundled infant against a wintry rural backdrop.
Revisiting Dorothea Lange's lost Californian valley: 3,200 photos from an almost-forgotten 1950s project just went free online

By Tom May Published

News A Texan rainstorm killed one of the greatest photo essays you've never seen. Now you can download every frame, including the ones Lange chose not to publish

News
A tight crop of a smiling young dancer's face and throat, her red lips and gap-toothed grin set above a spectacular orange costume collar encrusted with large iridescent crystal gems.
Britain in full color: why photographer Sophie Green refuses to make her subjects look grey

By Tom May Published

NEWS Championed by the late Martin Parr and 11 years in the making, Tangerine Dreams is a vivid love letter to overlooked communities

NEWS
A green sea turtle photographed under ultraviolet light, its shell and surrounding water illuminated with vivid neon-green fluorescent powder dye that reveals a human handprint on its back
This glowing turtle is unlike any wildlife photo you've seen before

By Tom May Published

NEWS Environmental photography's most prestigious prize goes to an image captured not in the great outdoors, but in a lab

NEWS
2NCN6G2 Civil rights activist James Meredith grimaces in pain as he pulls himself across Highway 51 after being shot in Hernando, Miss., June 6, 1966. Meredith, who defied segregation to enroll at the University of Mississippi in 1962 completed the march from Memphis, Tenn., to Jackson, Miss., after treatment of his wounds. (AP Photo/Jack Thornell)
RIP Jack Thornell: the press photographer who captured James Meredith's assassination attempt, but worried he'd be fired for not getting the photo – only to go on and win a Pulitzer

By Tom May Published

Obituary We look back at the late photojournalist's extraordinary career

Obituary
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Archives

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