SOUTHBURY — After 37 years in business, 25 of those being in Watertown, Images Studio has moved to a new location in Southbury, 49 Peter Rd. Owner Lisa Daunis explains there are multiple reasons behind this move, including being closer to her grandkids, it being a good area for all the surrounding schools they cover and wanting to have that “nice outdoor area” to take photos.

Ms. Daunis explained that in 1986, her husband Ric Daunis opened Ric Daunis Photography, and then in 1999 they opened Images Studio in Watertown. They eventually combined their studios once to consolidate.

“Watertown is very dear to us because the studio was born and raised there. So it’s important to me that they know we’re not just abandoning Watertown. It’ll always be our home,” Ms. Daunis said. “But, you know, with this picturesque area, we have our families out this way and the next generation is going to move in when Ric and I are done. So this offers a more central area for the grandkids to move in as they get older.”

Images Studio mainly offers student photography, but they also do a lot of publicity.

“I would say our business is split mainly between underclassmen, and when I say underclassmen I mean all the grammar schools where we go to the school to photograph, and the high school. So that’s probably maybe 40 percent of our business,” Ms. Daunis said. “The rest is publicity. Lots of publicity, real estate, and any headshots. We’ve done headshots for doctors, lawyers, and more.”

According to Ms. Daunis, their main packages are for high school seniors.

“For our high schools we have one set of packages where they come here. They get a full session, all different things, and they have other options to choose from. High school seniors are our big thing. They’re all done here and they’re all custom. We go inside, outside, we have a golf cart and we take them down to the corner Plaza,” Ms. Daunis said. “Our seniors we give them the total experience. That’s important.”

She then explains the regular school photos that are taken every year are fundraisers because the school gets a percentage.

“A lot of people don’t know that they’re fundraisers for the school. So those are done at the school and those are much less expensive packages because they’re volume. So those are a total different package price,” Ms. Daunis said. “We photograph all their teams, all their sports, all the events, plays, everything at no charge.”

She continues, “High school seniors are custom where the schools are quick packages, done in one day. What a lot of the parents don’t know is yes, you pay a lot more for custom services, but we also do everything for free for the school.”

She noted that if the seniors only want to get their one regular yearbook photo taken, there is no charge.

Images Studio photographs many schools in their new area including Region 14’s Bethlehem Elementary School, Mitchell Elementary School, and Woodbury Middle School; and Region 15’s Long Meadow Elementary School, Memorial Middle School, Middlebury Elementary School and Pomperaug High School. As well as Oxford Middle School.

They will continue photographing for all of the Watertown Schools.

Ms. Daunis said she is excited to meet new people in the community and take care of their needs but wants the Watertown Community to know nothing will change.

“I want my Watertown community to know that we are only a couple towns away and we will always be here for them. Our heart is with them.

“We’re there all the time dropping pictures off so nothing will change for them,” she said. “For our new community, Woodbury and Southbury, we want to get to know them all and we’re hoping that this move made it easier for our Southbury people to come to us.”

Those seeking more information may visit imagesstudioct.com.

Republished from WEKU.

Kentucky is now the first state in the nation to capture oblique photography of its entire geography from the sky. This is photography taken from a side angle, or parallel view.

Kent Anness is the Geographic Information Officer for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He said this will have multiple uses, especially when it comes to first responders.

“For examples, one of the first integrations that is occurring is in the 911 call centers. So, for example, when they get a call, there is a dot on the map, they can click on that, it launches this viewer and it lets them see that structure from four different sides.”

Aerial images make it easier for emergency management leaders to assess damage after natural disasters and find safer places to rebuild. They can also enhance:  

economic site development and selection;  

• plan and design work for infrastructure projects; 
• broadband deployment; 
• wildlife management; 
• property assessment; and  
• a variety of projects undertaken by engineers, surveyors, real estate firms, commercial developers, roofing and fencing contractors, consultants and other professionals.

Anness said typically, images like this are considered licensed products, but that will not be the case here.
“I think that is another unique thing about this. We’re putting it in the public domain, this data is being stored in a public facing AWS S3 bucket, it’s very discoverable, you’re not going to have to have a username or password to access this data resource, it’s just going to be free and open to everyone.”

The Kentucky from Above Program and its contractor, N-V-5 managed this after pilots flew 2,600 flight lines over the commonwealth, traveling 117,000 miles and capturing 40,660 square miles. More about the program can be found here.

** WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, and fact-based journalism. Monthly supporters are the top funding source for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation.

Originally published by WEKU.

Republished with permission.

https://www.weku.org/the-commonwealth/2024-05-08/kentucky-the-first-state-to-capture-oblique-photography-of-its-entire-geography-from-the-sky

Wildlife photography: 7 offbeat destinations in India

Wildlife photography is a dream of many! There are enthusiasts who are always looking for not regular but offbeat destinations that offer opportunities to capture the beauty of nature and its inhabita…

Heavy rains that began last week have caused rivers to flood, inundating whole towns and destroying roads and bridges across the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The local civil defence agency said the death toll had risen to 90, while 131 people were unaccounted for with 155,000 homeless. A state of emergency has been declared in 397 of Rio Grande do Sul’s 497 towns and cities as rescue efforts continue.

• The Taquari River in Rio Grande do Sul. Photographs: Maxar Technologies/AFP/Getty Images

• Flooded areas around Grêmio Arena in Porto Alegre. Photographs: Maxar Technologies/AP

• Before and after images of the flood affecting the Taquari River. Photographs: Maxar Technologies/AFP/Getty Images

• The Taquari River and the highway 386 bridge in Estrela. Photographs: Maxar Technologies/AP

• Homes and neighbourhoods in north Porto Alegre. Photographs: Maxar Technologies/AFP/Getty Images

• An area in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. Photographs: EU/Copernicus Sentinel-2/Reuters

• Salgado Filho airport in Porto Alegre. Photographs: Maxar Technologies/AP

• The area around the Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in Lajeado, Rio Grande do Sul. Photographs: Maxar Technologies/Reuters

• The railyard and buildings north of the airport in Porto Alegre. Photographs: Maxar Technologies/AP

• A neighbourhood by the Cai River in Montenegro, Rio Grande do Sul. Photographs: Maxar Technologies/AFP/Getty Images

• Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite images showing a broad area along Jacuí River, in Rio Grande Do Sul. Photographs: Maxar Technologies/AFP/Getty Images

Photographic works by Gordon Parks take viewers back in time more than 80 years to 1940s Daytona Beach in a new exhibition on display in Winter Park.

“Gordon Parks: Power of Photography” at the Albin Polasek Museum highlights the work of the African-American photographer, who worked for the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information and was sent to document Florida’s Atlantic Coast. His assignment focused on civil rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune, the university she founded and the surrounding Daytona Beach community.

“They were documenting the nation’s social conditions. Photographers, including Dorothea Lange, were part of a team that was going around and photographing the country, showing what was really going on at the time,” said Tamie Diener-Lafferty, the museum’s curator. “He had this great talent and ability to capture the essence of people and to capture emotion in his photographs with his distinct style.”

The 1943 black-and-white photographs (on loan from the Southeast Museum of Photography) show students in school, some in special programs to learn about agriculture or welding, high school football players and scenes from Daytona Beach during a time of segregation. Even while working on assignment as a government employee for several weeks, Parks, a Black photographer, faced negative encounters in the community.

“He had two racist encounters when he was there. He was at a gas station where a white man was very threatening to him, and he was also harassed by police,” Diener-Lafferty said.

Despite the hurdles he faced and a lack of professional training, Parks once stated, “I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera.”

A big part of Parks’s job was to highlight Bethune, a powerful unifier in the community later appointed as a national advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the school she helped establish in the Daytona Beach community.

Because the works shown are all from the days of analog photography, a darkroom exhibit showcases the process of making film photographs in pre-digital times. The equipment is on loan from Peter Schreyer, the executive director of Crealdé School of Art, who will lead a one-day photography workshop on June 30 (pre-registration required).

Ultimately, this body of work transports viewers back in time with an empathic look at the social conditions of African Americans in 1940s Daytona Beach, a time of segregation but also education and communal joy thanks to the tireless efforts of Bethune.

Find me @PConnPie on Instagram or send me an email: pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com.

If you go

“Gordon Parks: Power of Photography” is on view through Aug. 18 at 633 Osceola Ave. in Winter Park. The museum is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Sunday (closed Mondays). Admission is $12 per adult, $10 per college student with ID and seniors ages 60 and older, and $7 for K-12 students. The exhibition has special events, including a member reception from 6-8 p.m. June 12, the photography workshop from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. June 30 and a gallery talk by Peter Schreyer at 6 p.m. July 11. For more information, visit polasek.org.

The 2024 Met Gala was supposed to be a night of high fashion and celebrity glamour. But for K-Pop group Stray Kids, it turned sour thanks to insensitive and racist behavior from photographers. Fans erupted online after a TikTok video captured the disrespectful treatment the eight-member group received on the red carpet.

Clad in navy blue coats, Stray Kids made a grand entrance, only to be met with comments like “I’ve never seen so many unemotional faces in my life” and “They’re robots.” This blatant stereotyping sparked immediate outrage. But wait, there’s more. When the band members revealed their coordinated Tommy Hilfiger suits, photographers complained, “We gotta do it again.” You can hear one of them yelling, “Now, let’s do it with feeling!”

One photographer even asked a colleague, “How do you say ‘right’ in Korean?” thinking he was totally hilarious. Someone responded, “Arigato,” making the situation even more cringe-worthy. As the band walked away, photographers commented that fans would confuse the group with two separate bands due to the coat removal — a racist stereotype implying Asian people look alike.

The incident quickly went viral, with fans worldwide expressing disgust on social media under the hashtag #RespectStrayKids. The photographers’ childish antics overshadowed the group’s Met Gala debut and left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

A message to disrespectful Met Gala photographers

Before I wrap up, I’d like to add some personal commentary. Okay, let’s be honest: it’s pure rant.

First of all, there is no need to say “right” in Korean – many of us who were born in other countries also speak English in addition to our native language. Some of us speak it better than certain native speakers, thanks to formal education and tons of books we’ve read. Let me know when you speak Korean as well as they speak English. Oh, and by the way – arigato is Japanese. I guess you really can’t tell Asian people apart, huh?

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Speaking of telling Asian people apart, do you really think people will mix Stray Kids members for another band? I mean, really? And you find that joke so funny, you think you’re hilarious? Grow the hell up and stop using immature, racist jokes you used in elementary school. It wasn’t even funny then, especially now that you’re a grown man.

Finally, I have to say I’m really glad I’m not your publisher or employer. I’m so glad people like this don’t represent me or my business.

As you can see, this incident really struck a nerve. Not only in me personally, but in many people around the world. But other than annoying the crap out of so many of us, it highlights the need for inclusivity and cultural sensitivity in the entertainment industry. Hopefully, this will serve as a wake-up call for those who fail to recognize the importance of respect for all artists and all people, regardless of their background.