Friday Shout-Outs, Head Nods, and High Fives

This week one photographer spends some quality time with the man who plans to publicly burn the Koran, and another spends time at a festival of testicles (seriously.) We also take a look at the rehab efforts for oil-soaked birds, a series of Tea Party portraits, and a collection of beautiful documentary work made in Panama.

Shout-Outs are a regular Friday thing, and you can be part of it too. Send us suggestions! If we think it’s worth shouting about, it will show up here in the blog on a Friday. To submit something, scroll to the bottom to see how.

MAKING A BURNING STATEMENT
Chip Litherland, a photographer based in Sarasota, Florida, shot a series of images recently of Pastor Terry Jones, who is planning the controversial act of burning the Koran on September 11th. The images were shot for an assignment for the New York Times. Great stuff.
 
Pastor Terry Jones | The Man Planning on Burning the Koran on Sept. 11th – Images by Chip Litherland

A FESTIVAL OF TESTICLES
M. Scott Brauer, an American photographer currently based in China, documented the Montana Testicle Festival, an annual event at the Rock Creek Lodge in Clinton, Montana, USA.

Montana Testicle Festival – Images by M. Scott Brauer

“Booze and balls are the name of the game,” said Brauer. “People come from all over to eat a few Rocky Mountain Oysters–deep-fried bull testicles–and take part in the beer-soaked, anything-goes 4-day festival.”

REHAB IS FOR THE BIRDS
Matt Slaby, a freelance photographer based in Denver, Colorado, has a series of images of the rehab efforts currently underway for birds impacted by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

“To date, the treatment facility has seen more than 800 birds brought in by wildlife workers for oil-related injuries and illnesses,” Slaby said. “When a bird is covered in oil, it’s ability to repel water is severely impacted, leaving many birds without the ability to thermoregulate, forage for food, or properly hydrate.”

Archive: Gulf Spill Bird Rehab – Images by Matt Slaby

Slaby is one of the very talented photographers of Luceo Images, a photographer owned and operated cooperative.

A SPOT OF TEA IN DC?
Jay Westcott is a Washington DC based editorial photographer. He shot a series of portraits of “Tea Party” members during the Glenn Beck “Restoring Honor Rally” on 8/28/2010 in Washington DC.

He found a nice location, some strobes, and a chair – and shot portraits. I found it an interesting (even-handed) view of “what a Tea Party person looks like.”

Tea-Party-Portraits-828 – Images by Jay Westcott

KAUFMAN’S PANAMA
Congrats to Miami-based photographer Andrew Kaufman, who will be having a solo exhibition of his photographs in Munich, Germany on September 10th at the Fotogalerie Im Blauen Haus.

The body of work shown is from a long-term project – images from Panama.

“I have been traveling to Panama for more then 7 years,” Kaufman said. “During that time I have been documenting the Expansion of the Panama Canal and some of the historical moments in the project such as the referendum to expand the canal, the inauguration of the project and the expansion project itself.”

There are over 30 galleries of projects I have worked on during my more then a dozen visits to the country. In total over a 1,000 rights managed images are available.

Los Diablos Rojos – Images by Andrew Kaufman

But that’s not all. In the September issue of American Photo magazine, a six page editorial about one of his personal documentary projects, “LOS DIABLOS ROJOS,” has been published.

“LOS DIABLOS ROJOS are the private/public buses that transport the citizens of Panama on a daily basis,” he said. “The documentary focuses on the artists that paint these buses. The government is in the process of modernizing it’s transportation system and the buses are in imminent threat of extinction along with the artists who paint them.”

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I am always looking for things to include here in our Friday Shout-Outs – so if you have anything you think is worthy, let me know.

Or, better yet, post a note to Twitter with my name in it (@heygrover) or “friend me” on Facebook, and that way I won’t forget it later.