We’re featuring images of banged up frying pans that we guarantee are more interesting than the one in your kitchen; an insightful, in-depth interview with Canadian commercial photographer Joey L.; some sad news about the future of Google Reader, and a few noteworthy events to add to your calendar.

Photos of frying pans create planetary illusion

We’ve expressed our love for space photography before. So it comes as no surprise that Christopher Jonassen‘s celestial frying pan photos caught our eye straightaway. His book, Devour, is filled with detailed images of your everyday frying pan transformed to look like something from outer-space. Jonassen tells Good, “Part of the idea is to create a link between the tiny marks we leave behind every day to the enormous impact this adds up to over time. I am very concerned about the way we are treating this planet.” (via Good.is)

Interview with photographer Joey L.

Joey Lawrence (known as Joey L.) is a renowned and highly respect commercial photographer who describes his work as “stylized environmental portraits”. In an in-depth interview with PetaPixel, Joey L. describes his travels around the globe photographing everyone from celebrities to Ethiopian tribesmen.

Joey shared his thoughts on formal education in photography. “There is so much information available online and access to other photographer’s workshops that you can put any sort of tuition money to better use, if you know how to properly manage it,” he says.

Joey also cautions aspiring photographers against spreading themselves and their businesses too thin. “You need to specialize in the beginning, and get really good at one thing instead of mediocre at many things. Then people in that field will recognize that work, and it may just be the style of work you one day get paid to create…This doesn’t mean that will be the only kind of work you ever do, but it will become a launching pad for getting your work recognized and help create a unique identity in a sea of photographers.” Read the full interview here.

Google Reader shutting down

On July 1st of this year, Google is shutting down several of its services, including Google Reader. While the product has a loyal following (PhotoShelter team members included), usage has declined since its launch in 2005. If you’re looking for alternative readers, check out CNET’s 5 suggestions. (via TechCrunch)

Rumors: new Leica X3 concept camera

Here’s what we know about the reportedly new Leica X3:

(via Leica News & Rumors)

Photography, Expanded: Interactive & Multiplatform Strategies for Photographers

Magnum Foundation and The Open Society Foundations Documentary Photography Project are presenting a one-day conference at the Aperture Foundation in New York City on Saturday, April 20th. The conference will feature a series of case studies and lead discussions examining works-in-progress and the challenges facing photographers in the field. Featured photographers include Marcus Bleasdale, Pete Pin, and Jason DeSilva. The conference is free to attend, and while registration filled up quickly, there is a waitlist.

BK Wine Photography wins book awards

Swedish writer Britt Karlsson and PhotoShelter photographer Per Karlsson of BKWine Magazine and BKWine Photography recently won “best wine book for professionals” in Sweden at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Their book Wine and the Environment, Organic, Biodynamic and Natural was selected from over 10,000 food, drink and wine books. Their book also won second place for the “world’s best educational wine book”.

Sketchbook’s “A Million Little Pictures” aims to capture your point of view

The Sketchbook Project – an initiative put on by Brooklyn-based Art House – is announcing its sixth installment of “A Million Little Pictures” (AMLP), which aims to challenge people to capture the world around them in a different light. Here’s how it works: sign up for the project, and Art House will mail you a disposable camera to snap pictures of your world. Send your developed photos back, and Art House will select two prints to for their exhibition featuring thousands of photographs from hundreds of people – all in one space. Find out more and sign up here.