VERDICT NEWS: NEW VERDICT BLOG !!

What's up to all the Verdict Blogees out there?!

We have been working hard behind the scenes to bring you the freshest stuff out there...and we want you to join us at our new blog!!!

Check it out here:

VerdictPhotographyBlog.com

We have a lot of stuff in the works, so expect to see some new stuff (again) pretty soon.

This blog with still remain as a jump off spot, but all the posts are available over on the new blog. 

Please join us!

VISUAL STIMULI: COIN

Coin from Olly Newport on Vimeo.

Have you ever wondered what mischievous things that gang of loose change that is always loitering around is up to when we are not looking? Well finally there is video evidence, and now the mystery of why I can never find things on my desk is solved. This video was created by teenage filmmaker Olly Newport of Brighton, UK.

AUDIO/VISUAL STIMULI: OI VA VOI

Oi Va Voi "Everytime" from Kijek / Adamski on Vimeo.

This video for the song "Everytime" by the UK group Oi Va Voi was masterminded by Kijek and Adamski out of Warsaw, Poland. This unique effect was created using a shredding machine. Every third frame of the footage was printed, shredded and shot three times blended with adjacent frames by different stripes configuration.

CHECK THIS: FREE VECTOR GRAPHICS

The folks over at DryIcon have an astounding number of vector graphics as well as icons available for free download, should you be in search of such things. They also offer custom logo and icon design services, for an appropriate fee of course.

CHECK THIS: 1,235 POTENTIAL ALIEN PLANETS

A photo may be worth 1,000 words, but a new depiction of NASA's Kepler mission is worth 1,235 potential alien planets.
The illustration shows all of Kepler's candidate planets — which await confirmation by follow-up observations — crossing the face of their host stars. This provides scale, and it's also a nod to Kepler's planet-hunting strategy: The spacecraft detects alien worlds by measuring the telltale dips in a star's brightness that occur during these planetary "transits."

COOL QUOTE: GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will."
- George Bernard Shaw

VERDICT NEWS: FORESHADOWING...?

There's some crazy things happening around Verdict Photography Studios.

This image has been popping up all over the place...

...but what could it mean?

- Verdict now builds custom closets?

-a new Verdict Blog?

-the end of mankind as we know it?

Guess we'll have to just wait and see...

CHECK THIS ARTIST: CHIARA FERSINI

"The only way we have to fight against our demons is not to delete them or to get rid of them. They are part of us, we just can try to transform them and to do that, we have to know them, give them a name, love them definitely.
This can be hard but only when we'll learn to accept our demons we will be able to turn them into something good, that means turning ourselves into something better too."

Italian photog Chiara Fersini of Himitsuhana Photography took this concept on demons given to her by a friend, and created her own visual representation. For this and other strikingly beautiful imagery for your viewing pleasure check the above link or visit her photostream.

CHECK THIS: TELEVISION IS A DRUG

Television is a drug. from Beth Fulton on Vimeo.

This video, created by Beth Fulton of b. fulton media, uses a poem by screenwriter Todd Alcott which castigates the addictive passive-receptive state the moving picture box produces.

CHECK THIS: CHASE JARVIS - PHOTO TIPS

Check out tips from Chase Jarvis...be sure to read 

'10 Things You Want To Know From An Art Director'.

VISUAL STIMULI: KIM PIMMEL

Light Drive from Kim Pimmel on Vimeo.

Check out this cool video from SF based photog Kim Pimmel...

a new way to use the 'ones and twos'.

BUY THIS: f STOP WATCH

Buy the The F-Stop Watch at the Photojojo Store!

VISUAL STIMULI: THE IMAGINARY FOUNDATION

The genius force behind the amazing installation 'The Undivided Mind' which fuses art with science is aptly named The Imaginary Foundation.

Beyond cool...

COOL QUOTES: JAMIE WIECK

Although geared towards designers, Jamie Wieck's book entitled 'The 50 Things Every Graphic Design Student Should Know' has something for all creative minded types.

Check it out.

Here's some of our favorites:

5. Starting anything requires energy.

It takes more energy to start than it does to stop. This is true for physics, your career, and that idea you need to work on.

34. Embrace limitations.

Limitations are invaluable for creating successful work: they give you something to push against. From this tension comes brilliance. 

47. Share your ideas.

You’ve nothing to gain from holding on to your ideas; they may feel precious, but the more you share, the more new ideas you’ll have.

CHECK THIS ARTIST: SURESH NATARAJAN

Check this work from photog Suresh Natarajan.  

This piece is entitled 'Green Guardians'...

more like red hot.

CHECK THIS: PHOTOSHELTER VIDEO - THREADLESS TEE

COOL QUOTE: RUTH BERNHARD

"I never question what to do, it tells me what to do.  The photographs make themselves with my help."  

~Ruth Bernhard

BUY THIS: COOL SPECS

Check out Madrid based designer Ruben Gomez. 

His simple and straight forward design of these glasses won this guys some awards.

Fo realsies.

Cool Photos too.

CHECK THIS: FIND THE SWEET SPOT

This graphic pretty much breaks it down for ya.'

As a creative person, it's all about being able find yourself in all of your professional work as in your personal stuff.

Found this over on swiss-miss.com. Here's what they had to say:

'This graphic was from Ji Lee’s Creative Mornings talk last month. (It should be up any day now, I’ll make sure to post it) He was making a point of how personal projects feed into your professional life and vice versa. He was able to track what personal projects lead him to new professional opportunities. So, the two intersect in the end.

It made me chuckle and nod my head in agreement. Obviously I am a huge proponent and believer of the importance of side projects. (Hello there, TeuxDeux, CreativeMorningsand Studiomates)'

VERDICT WORK: SOCIETY SKATE SHOOT UPDATE

A while back we shot some cool footage for the boys at Society Skateshop in San Carlos, CA.

Well, after a little delay, the video is in its final touches in post production. 

It looks cool, but we'll let you be the judge of that.

Stay tuned to the Verdict Blog as we are gonna drop this thing soon!

CHECK THIS: SHEPARD FAIREY - IN THE STREETS

Check out my man Shepard Fairey at the 'Art in the Streets' gallery exhibit opening at the MOCA in LA.

Click HERE to read the whole article from TheFoxisBlack.com

CHECK THIS ARTIST: MR. TOLEDANO

Hope and Fears care of Mr. Toledano

VISUAL STIMULI: LATEST HD SUN VIDEO

To piggy-back onto the last post, today actually marks the one-year anniversary of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory beginning the imaging phase of it's mission. This is the absolute most sophisticated space-based solar observation instrument that human beings have been able to construct. The image quality is 10X that of an HD television camera, allowing us to see in vivid detail the supremely powerful, yet elegant forces at work on the star surface.
(For best quality video click here)

AUDIO/VISUAL STIMULI: BRILLIANT NOISE

Brilliant Noise from Semiconductor on Vimeo.

The star we orbit is alive. It eats, breathes, moves, consumes, and expels energy. It wasn't until the advent of ground-based and orbiting telescopes that we were truly able to grasp this concept. This video was created by the artistic duo Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt who make up Semiconductor. It uses raw direct observation images (the graininess is from galactic cosmic rays and energetic particles from solar storms striking the CCD of the camera) and from their own description:

"The soundtrack highlights the hidden forces at play upon the solar surface, by directly translating areas of intensity within the image brightness into layers of audio manipulation and radio frequencies."

VERDICT WORK: EASTON RAPTOR TEST SHOOT #2

COOL QUOTE: VINCENT VERSACE

"The belief is once you own a camera you are a photographer.

SO that means if I buy a cello...

then I own a cello."

-Vincent Versace

BUY THIS: HOLGA

Buy the Twin Lens Holga with Color Flash at the Photojojo Store!

If you don't own a Holga, then you're stupid.

Here's your chance.

Don't Blow it.

Mine's green.

CHECK THIS ARTIST: HARK LEE

Check these rad photographs of Ryan Harc's killer colorless design for Coca Cola Classic.

CHECK THIS: WVIL CONCEPT CAMERA - VIDEO #2

Concept Camera: The WVIL from Artefact on Vimeo.

A while back we posted the unveiling of the WVIL Concept Camera...well, here's another video update on the camera from designers Artefact.

VISUAL STIMULI: STUNT DRIVING FONT

iQ font - When driving becomes writing / Full making of from wireless on Vimeo.

Finally, someone has combined two things I really like: crazy driving and cool fonts.

This idea springs from the guys at Pleaseletmedesign, a graphic design firm out of Belgium.

Big production, small font, huge result.

You can download said font right here.

VERDICT WORK: EASTON RAPTOR TEST SHOOT

Check out this killer shot from a recent test shoot with the Easton Lacrosse and their new Raptor Helmet.

Me gusta mucho!

BUY THIS: BREAKING IN

Get a hold of this cool new book on 'Breaking In' to advertising.

 Written by William Burks Spencer, the book covers how to put together an advertising portfolio and uses 100's of interviews with practical question you want to know the answers to.

Buy it HERE.

COOL QUOTE: CHRISTINE BURGOYNE

A photograph is an opportunity to glimpse the interior of its creator. It is an opinion based on what was going on inside the photographer at the time the shutter was released. Look back on the unfolding of any one of the great timeless artists—see the unique evolution of that person and their artwork as they created through the years. Then take a closer look at any given time—what are they saying now? Isn't that an opinion? 

- Christine Burgoyne

BUY THIS: UN01 iPHONE 4 PHOTOGRAPHY KIT

Click HERE to learn more!

STROBIST ARCHIVE: LESSON 9: UMBRELLAS

Click HERE to read lesson 9 from the Strobist Archive.

This one's all about getting soft light from your umbrellas!

CHECK THIS: BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK - TRAILER

Peep the trailer to the award winning documentary 'Bill Cunningham New York.'  

A touching glimpse into the world of the famed fashion photographer, Bill Cunningham.

Watch this...see the whole movie...thank us later.

VERDICT WORK: SNAPSHOT FROM RECENT SHOOT #2

Check out this pic from a recent commercial shoot.

Stay tuned to find out what these were shot for and where you're gonna see 'em next.

COOL QUOTE: ANDY WARHOL

"My idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person."

 - Andy Warhol

VISUAL STIMULI: NEW YORK ADORNED TATTOO VID

N.Y. Adorned “Tradition” from Evan Owen Dennis on Vimeo.

Check out 'Tradition'...a piece by Evan Dennis on the art, power, and tradition of Tattooing.

A must see.

 Done deal.

CHECK THIS: HAIR BY MARC LAROCHE

A signature of style...your hair often tells its own story and has it's own personality. 

Photographer Marc Laroche captures your coif in its own light.

COOL QUOTE: HELMUT NEWTON

"It's that I don't like white paper backgrounds. A woman does not live in front of white paper. She lives on the street, in a motor car, in a hotel room."

-Helmut Newton

BUY THIS: PHOTOLETTERING.COM

Do yourself a favor a head over to PhotoLettering.com to get your hands on some sweet fonts for a sweet price! With a subscription, you can pick up fonts of your choice, in any color saying whatever you want for $2....fo reals!

Also, check out this really cool video on English spelling from (102 year old) PhotoLettering founder, Ed Rondthaler.

Ed Rondthaler on English spelling from Bob Smartner on Vimeo.

AUDIO VISUAL STIMULI: TV ON THE RADIO'S NEW FILM/VIDEOS

The band TV on the Radio has just made history...and you can see it here, on the Verdict Blog. Basically, the band is releasing a feature length film (above) along with their new Album, 9 Types of Light. 

The film features all the videos for their new songs and much much more.

Read this to get more info...or just watch the damn thing.

Write up from Juxtapoz.com:

TV On the Radio just released their newest LP, Nine Types of Light, where they have filmed a music video for each 10 tracks, and will be stitching those videos together to make a full-feature film. Well, that film was screened in NYC this week, and now TVOTR have put the film out for everyone to see.

One of the band's singers, Tunde Adebimpe,told NYC writer Brock Fetch, the band is proud of this new film, and were excited to share it with the world.

From TV On the Radio:
Nine Types of Light is as much an album as it is a movie by TV on the Radio. The movie is meant to be a visual re-imagining of the record, and includes a music video for every song on the album. The band personally asked their friends and the filmmakers they admired to help direct the music videos. Tunde Adebimpe, the director for the full Nine Types of Light movie, storybooked the music videos together with interviews from local New Yorkers on various topics, including dreams, love, fame and the future. Tunde also directed the music video for Forgotten.

 As Tunde Adebimpe, one of the band’s vocalists, said in an interview, “For less than the price of a Maroon 5 video, you can make a full-length feature.”

This video, for the track, "Will Do," will be part of the film, also called Nine Types of Light. The film will be part of a deluxe CD set. “The things that we have been asked to do to add value to something that we feel is pretty valuable already, it’s weird after a while, “ Mr. Adebimpe said, “where you’re kind of like, I don’t want that person to do a remix, I don’t have it in me to make another song.”

BUY THIS: WOOD TRIPOD

Buy the The Expedition Wooden Tripod at the Photojojo Store!

STROBIST ARCHIVE: LESSON 7: POCKET WIZARDS

Click HERE to read Lesson 7 from the Strobist Archive: Lighting 101.

This segment is all about using your on camera flash...off camera.

A great tutorial on what you need and how it set it up.