Friday Happy Hour: Sparkler$, Lytro Photowalks, Secrets of Great Portraits & More

Friday Happy Hour: Sparkler$, Lytro Photowalks, Secrets of Great Portraits & More

We’re still four months out from Luminance, PhotoShelter’s 2-day photo, tech & business conference this September in NYC, but we want to start featuring some of the exciting things that our speakers and their respective companies are up to. So this week we cover Lytro’s photowalks at the Bay Area Maker Faire and Tumblr’s new #storyboard feature (both companies are speaking at Luminance), plus exciting news coverage from PhotoShelter members like Logan Mock-Bunting in CNN Photos and Carli Davidson on My Modern Met. Here’s a roundup of our favorite stories from this week – enjoy!

Lytro to host photowalks at Bay Area Maker Faire

On May 19th and 20th, Lytro will be hosting several photowalks at the Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo, CA – a self-described “part science fair, part county fair, and part something entirely new”. The Maker Faire attracts tech enthusiasts, crafters, engineers, artists, and more to show off what they’ve made. Lytro’s photowalks will be an opportunity to get a live demo of their light field camera, which allows you to focus your shot after the picture is taken.

Source: Lytro

You can win two free adult passes to the Maker Faire by sharing a picture of something you’ve made to Lytro’s Facebook Wall or tweet the link to @Lytro with #MakerFaire. Deadline is 12pm PT on Wednesday, May 16. Five winners will be randomly chosen and join Lytro’s Director of Photography Eric Cheng for a photowalk. Learn more about the Maker Fair Challenge here. Not in the San Mateo area? Eric Cheng is one of over 20 speakers at Luminance on September 12 & 13 in NYC.

Sparkler$ – an animated GIF project

Last fall we spoke with motion picture director and photographer Ryan Enn Hughes on The 360 Project, which was built off the concept of creating a 360-degree photograph in black space. Now Ryan is back on our radar with “Sparkler$“, his first published animated GIF project featuring jumping subjects light painting with sparklers. This totally awesome video shows a behind-the-scenes look at the setup, lighting, and execution of the project. Check out his website for the finished animated GIFs.

Brian Smith publishes “a book 30 years in the making”

PhotoShelter member and celebrity portrait photographer Brian Smith says he’s been working on his latest book for over thirty years. “Drawing upon the best lessons I’ve learned over the last three decades photographing portraits of the rich and famous, the book blends lavish celebrity portraits of a coffee table book with the technical how-to insights with a side dish of behind-the-scenes celebrity stories,” says Brian on his blog.

The result is Secrets of Great Portrait Photography, filled with all of Brian’s tips and tricks to make every person who comes in front of your camera feel like a celebrity. It’s a sexy, inspiring book that’s a must-have for any portrait photographer or fan of Brian Smith.

Photo by Brian Smith

Tumblr: Welcome to Storyboard

In an effort to curate and highlight more in-depth features, Tumblr has recently created the Storyboard – a collection of the top Tumblr stories found within the massively diverse community. Every day the editors will select one story to feature on the Storyboard Tumblr, and it launched with content from The New York Times, photographer Theron Humphrey, and singer Michael Stripe from R.E.M. Users can submit their own content for consideration by tagging their posts with #storyboard, and the editors will select the most compelling and viral to share.

Fighting back Cleveland’s inner city boxing

The latest project for the photojournalists and writers of Facing Change: Documenting America (FCDA) – a collaborative non-profit that produces and publishes under-reported issues in America – showcases a boxing coach dedicated to getting drug dealers and addicts off the streets. How? By getting them into boxing and hoping to change their outlook on life for the better.

“Boxing coach Fred Wilson and boxer Deloren Grey navigate Cleveland’s economic depression, violent tragedies and personal convictions to confront the enduring challenge of competitive boxing. This unconventional 13 minute film by Emmy award winning photographer Anthony Suau and famed jazz artists Curtis Lundy, Victor Lewis and Frank Lacy explores the complexities and hardship of inner-city life in the midst of the great American recession.”

Photo by Anthony Suau

To see more of Anthony’s work and the project, please visit Fighting Back Cleveland’s Inner City Boxing.

Landon Nordeman wins James Beard Foundation Journalism Award

Congrats to PhotoShelter member Landon Nordeman for his 2012 James Beard Foundation Journalism Award in Visual Storytelling! Landon won the award for his portrait work with Saveur, capturing the masters in the kitchen in stories including “Soul of Sicily,” “BBQ Nation,” and “Heart of the Valley“.

Photo by Landon Nordeman

Carli Davidson on My Modern Met for “Fetch”

She’s at it again: pet photographer Carli Davidson, famous for her “Shake” series, is back with a new series titled “Fetch”, which captures dogs catching balls, Frisbee’s and other objects midair. We caught the photos on My Modern Met – are these hilariously fun photos the next Carli projec to go viral?

Photo by Carli Davidson

Logan Mock-Bunting on CNN Photos

PhotoShelter member Logan Mock-Bunting was also received some great publicity this week in CNN Photos for his work photographing the Performance Freediving International’s Deja Blue II. If you’re not familiar, freediving is diving to the depths of the ocean without underwater equipment – most significantly, without an air tank. To stay true to the sport, Logan also freedove to capture these athletes competing for the longest time underwater.

Photo by Logan Mock-Bunting/Source: CNN Photos

Your news here

Have a new photo project, media coverage, or something else that you think is feature worthy? Let us know by emailing marketing@photoshelter.com with a brief description and any relevant links. We’re always looking for cool, noteworthy, weird, or just plain interesting news.

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