Want to see what pure dedication looks like? This music video for the song “In Your Arms” by Kina Grannis is a stop-motion animation done with a background composed of jelly beans. It’s a crazy project that required 22 months, 1,357 hours, 30 people, and 288,000 jelly beans. Each frame was carefully created by hand and photographed with a still camera. It’s even more mind-blowing given this fact: most of it was done without the use of a green screen.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video on exactly how it was done and how much work was truly involved in the project.

f5 tornado hits Alabama on April 27, 2011

Working photojournalist, Gary Cosby, Jr. will be addressing Mr. Isaacson’s photography classes on Monday, December 5th at 4pm and again at 7pm. The lectures will occur on the campus of Liberty University in Demoss Hall room 3028. Mr. Cosby, who shoots for The Decatur (AL) Daily newspaper, will present an overview of his greatest images, sharing the behind-the-scenes story of how they came about. Mr. Cosby will also address the issue of faith in the workplace and how he reconciles being an outspoken Christian and working in the secular media. Cosby will also share his images from this past spring’s devastating tornadoes in Alabama and their impact on both his immediate community and his personal life as well, having narrowly escaped an f5 tornado with his life back in April. Mark your calendars now for this exciting event! Check out his blog here for more.

tornado victim searches through rubble

Rhein II, 1999, Andreas Gursky, photo courtesy of Christie's

The above photograph is the most expensive single photograph ever purchased in history. Photographer, Andreas Gursky’s, photo entitled, Rhein II sold for $4.3 million on Tuesday at an art auction by Christie’s. Click here for the full story.

The Liberty University Art Gallery senior exhibition for Fall 2011 is “Echoes  & Whispers.”  This will be a four-person exhibition presenting the work of Kaitlin Malvaso, Erin McCool, Kelsey Nicholas, and Morgan Taylor. The show will  include work from the entirety of their scholastic careers and will feature photography, painting, mixed media, and drawing.

The show will run from November 10th – December 16th, 2011 with the  exhibition opening and artist’s reception scheduled for Thursday, November 10th  from 6:00 to 8:30 pm.  The event is free and open to the public.  The gallery is located in the Student Life and Academic Building (Bldg. #36 on the LU campus map), adjacent to the Helms School of Government.  Entry to the Art Gallery is on Eagle Run, across from the Vines Center. Come and check out what your peers are doing with their art!

photo illustration by Alyssa Boggess, spring 2011

The following is an excerpt from the course’s syllabus:

This course will assist the student in discovering and developing their own personal photographic style from within a historical context of fine art photography. Various assignments will be given to aid the student in the self-discovery of their own photographic strengths and weaknesses. Extensive critiques by both peers and instructor
will shape the student’s photographic vision. The student will develop an extensive and cohesive body of personal work that will be available for public display upon course completion. This course will directly prepare the student for using photography within any chosen career path.

Students will be able to critically analyze visual imagery and put it into context in relation to art history and present culture, while integrating the Christian worldview into
their own art making process. The communication of thoughts and ideas through the creation of single, stand-alone photographic works, as well as through a series of works will enable the visual artist to better hone their skills and present their vision to a mass audience.

photo illustration by Cara Williams, spring 2011

The following are the course student outcomes:

Students will be able to:

1. demonstrate a continued mastery of their DSLR camera skills and of post-processing software.
2. wisely evaluate and compare visual tools for future purchases.
3. intelligently criticize photographic imagery and create visually stimulating images themselves.
4. recognize other artist’s personal styles and develop and be able to defend their own personal style or artistic vision.
5. effectively share their Christian worldview through the images they create.
6. cohesively organize a present body of work into an effective printed and web-based portfolio.

Details are beginning to leak out as to the new content in a fresh update to Photoshop early next year. Sources say there is not much to be excited about as photographers. Apparently, most of the upgrades come on the 3D and animation side of the beastly program. One interesting feature I am excited for is a new ability to auto save a working document at regular intervals (ie–no more panic because you lost a file you were working on before being saved). There is a “remix tool” located in the spot healing drop down menu. Your guess is as good as mine as to what it does. The main upgrades seem to be going towards presenting the user with a slicker, more sleek, darker gray interface, much like Apple’s Aperture pro image editing program. I guess we’ll just have to stay tuned to see more in the near future! Check out this link for more info.

“…virtually none of the obituaries mentioned the man Jobs himself considered his hero, the person on whose career he explicitly modeled his own: Edwin H. Land, the genius domus of Polaroid Corporation and inventor of instant photography.”  –quote from NY Times, 10/7/11.  Follow this link to read the full article at The NY Times.

Here is is…Canon’s new 1Dx in all it’s glory. More autofocus points, 18 MP full-frame sensor, 5 different on-board computer processors, ISO sensitivity up to 204,800 ISO, 14 frames per second shooting burst speed. All for only a $6,800 price tag. WOW! Canon has really upped the ante with this one! Nikon better get on the ball! Last I heard from Nikon is that some major announcements have been delayed by a couple of months…disappointing!

photo by Mike Sandri

It’s time once again for our semi-annual photography class field trip! We will be visiting several beautiful fall locations up near the campus of Virginia Tech this coming Saturday, October 22nd. Our first stop will be at Pandapas Pond, a tranquil pond surrounded by bright, fall foliage at it’s best. We will then move on to photograph a scenic covered bridge setting. Then finally finish off with a great waterfall. Should be a great time getting away from the grind of classes and being emersed in nature for a few hours. All current photo class students are welcome, as well as my TRBC photo group. Also, feel free to bring a friend to enjoy the day with. We will meet at 7am near Doc’s Diner at Campus East. For those who need to get back by 2pm or so, we will pair you up with others who need to get back then as well. We will be carpooling. If you can drive, great. If you would rather ride, please donate $5 or so to your driver to cover gas. Bring comfortable hiking shoes, a jacket, hat, camera, snacks, water, and tripod. Be ready for a great time! Of course, as always, Mr. I will be giving extra class credit for those in attendance. See ya there!

photo by Mr. I

photo by Mr. I