Happy Hour: Emojis IRL, Jezebel vs. Vogue, Ami Vitale’s Next Undertaking

Happy Hour: Emojis IRL, Jezebel vs. Vogue, Ami Vitale’s Next Undertaking

Emoji’s IRL, LOL

Like most of us with iPhones, graphic designer and artist Liza Minnelson loves emojis. She’s currently creating a series of spot-on photographs dedicated to the tiny graphics. The images are bright, bold and quickly gaining a lot of media attention.

On her site she says of them: “They’re completely personal and completely universal. They’re really quite stupid. And they’re the best thing that ever happened… By finding, posing, and sculpting emojis in real life I’ve created a set of shrines to the individual characters. Because somebody had to do it.”  This is a great idea executed with solid technique. Which emoji should she create next? (see her site here)

Image by Lizzy

Image by Lizzy Minnelson

Image by Lizzy Minnelson

Image by Lizzy Minnelson

Image by Lizzy Minnelson

Image by Lizzy Minnelson

Jezebel Goes to War With Vogue Over Retouched Lena Dunham

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen feminist blog Jezebel do this – make a call out for the untouched photographs of cover stars. But this is the first time they’ve offered a $10,000 bounty for them. The site made a bold call out this week, demanding the untouched photos of February cover star Lena Dunham who was shot by Annie Leibovitz. Any photographer knows, a Leibovitz shot is probably going to be heavily retouched, not to mention its an image within the pages of Vogue.

Within 2 hours, Jezebel had already received 6 “allegedly unaltered images.” The so-called untouched images are already up on Jezebel – and, by the looks of them don’t seem that manipulated. While some are rolling their eyes at the “big deal” Jezebel is making over Photoshop, it is an important reminder to younger girls that these type of images are retouched, and most imperfections are just not welcome in the world of fashion magazines. But not to worry – if you do have any, they’ll just ‘shop them out. (Follow up post from Jezebel)

Photographers – what’s your opinion on heavily manipulated fashion photography? Leave your comments below.

Vogue cover shot by Annie Leibovitz

Vogue cover shot by Annie Leibovitz

The 4th annual National Geographic Photographer’s Photographer Award

Last week Nat Geo photographer Michael Nichols was recognized with the 4th annual National Geographic Photographer’s Photographer Award. The award, which was presented by George Steinmetz is viewed with great prestige within the publication. George says, “To me, there is no greater honor than to be recognized by ones peers, especially with a crowd as accomplished as this. The award is for the photographer who has most inspired us by expanding the possibilities of our medium. This definition is purposely vague, as what inspires is almost always something unexpected.”

George compares Michael’s work to that of Hunter S. Thompson’s – saying that to him, Michael “has always been something of a mentor to me, and used to have these fabulous no-rules photo salons in his Berkeley loft, where he invited everyone from his mother to the FedX guy to come and share their pictures. These were freewheeling affairs, and were like a mini version of a photographic Woodstock for Bay Area photojournalists. And my how that mini-Woodstock has grown.” (more on The Photo Society)

Photo by Michael Nichols

Photo by Michael Nichols

Saving Animal Species Through Photography: Ami Vitale’s Next Undertaking

Famed photojournalist Ami Vitale is currently raising funds for her next big project, documenting commercial poaching in Kenya that is a very real threat to rhinos, elephants and a host of lesser know plains animals. “Commercial poaching organized by sophisticated heavily armed criminal networks and fueled by heavy demand from newly minted millionaires in emerging markets is devastating the amazing mega-fauna of the African plains,” she explains on her Indie Voices site.

Her efforts will focus on documenting the “indigenous nomadic communities of Northern Kenya on the frontlines of the poaching wars and their efforts to preserve community cohesion, ultimately the best immunization against forces that threaten their wildlife and their way of life.”

Find out more on Ami’s site and donate to the cause today.

Photo by Ami Vitale

Photo by Ami Vitale

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Marketing associate at PhotoShelter

There is 1 comment for this article
  1. Sean Cook at 2:40 pm

    Those shots of Lena Dunham are LIGHTLY retouched. I am very much a feminist, but Jezebel is making way too big of a deal out of this. Making every woman look like some buxom supermodel can have very negative consequences on young people and just people in general, but these are not “squeeze in her big gut, make her boobs bigger, show more cleavage, shorten the skirt, remove the cellulite” retouching. This is what happens to every portrait taken by any competent photographer, maybe a touch more, which makes sense considering they are a huge fashion magazine and they sell beauty.

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