The photographer got as close as he could when cadets’ endurance, strength and teamwork were tested at Canada’s Royal Military College

Every year, as spring blooms, first-year officer cadets of Canada’s Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, take part in a series of competitions. The challenges and obstacle course aim to test their strength, endurance and teamwork.

“As long as you don’t mind getting a little wet and don’t step on any of the smoke canisters, you can get really close to the action,” says Elliot Ferguson, who had captured the event before in his capacity as a news and sports photographer.

Bren Pointer says the American pianist Keith Jarrett was right to disallow photography during his performances. Plus letters from Barry and Joy Norman, Meirion Bowen and Joan Lewis

Your editorial about mobile phones in concert halls reminded me of the very strong stance taken by Keith Jarrett, the American jazz and classical pianist, who insisted that no photography was allowed during any of his performances (The Guardian view on phones in concert halls: what engages some enrages others, 19 May). This was expressed before the concert by the promoters and by Jarrett’s manager.

Sadly, on many occasions, a flash from a phone in the audience would happen and subsequently either the concert would come to an abrupt end or there would be a lengthy delay before the performance would resume. The wishes of the musician were not respected.

The photographer had to gain the trust of women in south Iran to capture this image

Iranian photographer Forough Alaei has a special interest in women’s rights: she has documented female football fans prohibited from entering her country’s stadiums, and for this project spent a month on Hengam Island. Alaei explains that here, in the south of Iran, “the women have a major role in the economy of the family. While they are very traditional and do housework, they also do fishing and crafts, and have jobs. This is Marziyeh; she’s 38 and a chef in an independent restaurant serving delicious, spicy seafood to the increasing number of tourists in the region.”

Alaei stayed for an extended period in order to gain the women’s trust, and found it easiest to document their lives and work using a phone. “They’re familiar objects,” she says. “Digital cameras can be intimidating or off-putting to people in the small, traditional regions.”

Commons education committee chair says online world poses serious dangers and parents face uphill struggle

MPs have urged the next government to consider a total ban on smartphones for under 16-year-olds and a statutory ban on mobile phone use in schools as part of a crackdown on screen time for children.

Members of the House of Commons education committee made the recommendations in a report into the impact of screen time on education and wellbeing, which also called on ministers to raise the threshold for opening a social media account to 16.

Top camera, chip, seven years of updates and advanced Google AI tools beats the competition

Google’s latest mid-range A-series Pixel handset steps it up a notch, bringing almost every feature from its high-end phones down to a more affordable price, including the latest AI and camera tricks.

The Pixel 8a starts at £499 (€549/$499/A$849). That may be £50 more than last year’s 7a, but the new model improves just about everything, and undercuts the Pixel 8 by £200.

Screen: 6.1in 120Hz FHD+ OLED (430ppi)

Processor: Google Tensor G3

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 128 or 256GB

Operating system: Android 14

Camera: 64MP + 13MP ultrawide, 13MP selfie

Connectivity: 5G, Sim and eSim, wifi 6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3 and GNSS

Water resistance: IP67 (1m for 30 minutes)

Dimensions: 152.1 x 72.7 x 8.9mm

Weight: 188g

Daisy Greenwell from Smartphone-Free Childhood says move likely to have domino effect in other parts of UK

“This is mega!” said Daisy Greenwell from the Smartphone-Free Childhood campaign. “We are absolutely thrilled and we believe it’s going to have a domino effect.”

She was reacting to news that St Albans in Hertfordshire is attempting to become the first UK city to go smartphone-free for all children under 14.

While some feel that allowing live performances to be photographed or filmed adds to the buzz, others hate it

Since an outbreak last year of rowdyism in musical theatre, the question of how audiences should behave during live performances has been burrowing its way into the heart of the cultural establishment. It has now popped its head up in the classical music world, where it is not about sprayed beer and dancing in the aisles, but phone etiquette at concerts.

The debate was sparked when the tenor Ian Bostridge halted a recital in Birmingham because he was being distracted by people recording him. He later discovered that he was out of line with policy at the Symphony Hall, home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), which welcomed its audiences to take photographs and short video clips. The resulting set-to, with supporters deluging the orchestra with complaints about the policy, and its management promising to clarify and refine but not withdraw it, casts an interesting light on efforts to build new audiences in a sector that has been struggling to find its way in a straitened economy at a time of rapidly changing habits.

The photographer and her husband came across an abandoned boat while out walking and took the opportunity to float a surreal idea

Every September, Carla Vermeend and her husband go on holiday to Terschelling island, in the Netherlands.

“It has lots of nature, right in the middle of the Wadden Sea, which is listed by Unesco as a world heritage site,” says Vermeend, a Dutch photographer. During their visit in 2014, the couple were walking by the sea together.