#Ridgefield ECDC RFP
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The Best Images from GuruShots “Night Photography” Challenge |
If you’re a photographer and haven’t participated in “The World’s Greatest Photo Game,” hosted by GuruShots, you’ll want to take a peek at their latest challenge. Participants submitted a wide variety of night photography to their latest challenge. Thousands of people entered and cast millions of votes. See the three winners of the challenge as well as hundreds of top rated images below.
GuruShots is a great place for anyone who loves photography and wants to share their work with fellow photographers. If you missed this challenge, don’t worry, they host hundreds of challenges with a wide variety of themes and prizes that turns sharing your photos into a great game for all those who are involved. The best part is that it’s free to join. Simply visit www.gurushots.com to start sharing your work. Also, check out Gurushots’ newest app AI Art Master.
Congratulations to the Winners
Viktoria Farkas, United States – Top Photographer Winner
TAMER KUNDURACIOĞLU, Turkey – Top Photo Winner
Vladimir Podrez, Israel – Guru’s Top Pick
Explore Mars’ Craggy Topography in an Enormous 5.7 Terapixel Mosaic of the Red Planet’s Surface
All images via Bruce Murray Laboratory for Planetary Visualization
A new composite released by the Bruce Murray Laboratory for Planetary Visualization details 99.5 percent of Mars’ surface in unprecedented detail. Using images captured by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the lab stitched together a 5.7 terapixel mosaic of the Martian planet, approximately rendering each pixel the size of a parking space. See some of the cratered topography here, and get the full experience by navigating Mars’ surface using the lab’s 3D explorer, which includes quick links to interesting destinations similar to Google Earth. (via Kottke)
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Explore Mars’ Craggy Topography in an Enormous 5.7 Terapixel Mosaic of the Red Planet’s Surface appeared first on Colossal.
Photography + Review: Boston Calling 2023
Posted: 14th June, 2023 by The Editor
Boston Calling 2023 will be remembered as a return to normalcy for a multitude of reasons. It was the first year since the pandemic with a brand new lineup – no carryover lineups from lockdown. In 2022, positive covid tests and a rain induced evacuation forced significant lineup changes as well but for this year’s Boston Calling, it was clear skies and one lineup change that brought in Dropkick Murphys.
Attendees were not the only ones making a return to normal at Boston Calling as Friday’s headlining band was the Foo Fighters performing their second show since the loss of their drummer Taylor Hawkins. Leading up to this monumental headlining performance was a stacked opening day lineup that started with Alisa Amador performing on the Happy Valley Red Stage. Amador performed songs in both Spanish and English. Though she often performs solo, the large festival stage called for full band arrangements that even included a cover of Radiohead’s “High and Dry”. Following Alisa was Brooklyn’s own Razor Braids. Rushing out on the Green stage, they brought a high energy set that clocked in as the loudest performance on Friday. Canadian rockers The Beaches and hometown heroes Dropkick Murphys.
Foo Fighters triumphant set was filled with emotion as the band began to put the pieces back together.. During the set, Dave Grohl’s daughter Violet would join him on stage to perform two songs, “Shame Shame” and “Rope”. The peak of this performance was seeing Oliver Shane Hawkins, the son of the late Taylor, come out to perform drums for the tune “I’ll Stick Around”.
Despite Saturday having periodic sound issues, it was also the highest attended day with tickets completely sold out. Perhaps the festival’s biggest draw, New England native Noah Kahan had over 40,000 people at the Green stage for his 6 pm set. Following Noah Kahan, was pop legend Fletcher. We saw Fletcher regain control of the crowd after being struck with sound issues midway through her set by putting together a vibrant set that thrilled members of her loyal fan base. Fletcher is currently touring for her debut album Girl of My Dreams and we can’t wait to see what comes next.
English indie-pop phenom Declan McKenna played a highly anticipated set on the Blue stage that was exciting enough to have fans camping out from the moment festival gates opened. McKenna’s tongue in cheek personality brought a touch of whimsy to the middle of the day as he leaned into his glam rock inspired stage persona. His set was one of those moments at a festival where the right performance goes down at exactly the right time to rejuvenate the crowd.
To cap off this massive day, all star Alanis Morissette played one of the most anticipated sets of the day. Alanis was subjected to sound issues as the folks further away from the stage complained of not being able to hear well, but this didn’t stop her from delivering a memorable performance.
Boston Calling’s third and final day featured some of the most anticipated sets of the weekend with pop giants Paramore headlining the Green stage as jamband luminaries King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard simultaneously closed out the festival on the Blue stage. To get the crowds ready for these acts, Boston locals Juice opened things up on the Red stage
Moving into the afternoon of the final day, Bleachers whipped the crowd into a frenzy with some older hits and a high energy performance from frontman Jack Antonoff. He also mentioned how Bleachers played Boston Calling years ago in the infancy of the band. Large inflatable tomatoes were bounced around like beach balls in a fun finale to their set.
Maren Morris delivered the festival’s lone dose of country music with an early evening set on the Green stage. During her set she got emotional when talking about her song “The Bones” and how it became a song of hope for many of her fans during the pandemic. The finale of her set was the Grammy winning single “My Church”. It was finally time for pop giants Paramore to play the festival’s final set. Performing several songs from their newest album This Is Why while sneaking in several of the band’s classic hits including “Decode” and “Misery Business”. Following tradition, they brought a fan on stage to perform the ending of “Misery Business” with them.
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Luxury Hotel Brand Shangri-La Evokes Eco-Fantasia in New Video
Skift Take
The Shangri-La concept has always had a fantasy streak. But a new marketing video cleverly connects real-world experiences at its luxury hotels with a conjured haven of imaginary delights.
Anyone still in touch with their inner child may be drawn to the whimsy, color, and movement in Shangri-La’s new brand video. But will the marketing campaign resonate and boost bookings among guests looking for a luxury hotel experience?
The 90-second story follows a bellhop as he guides a blooming peony that’s a traveling protagonist, in a parallel that will be familiar to fans of Beauty & the Beast’s iconic enchanted rose. Shangri-La’s lush blossom is escorted to Paris, China, Muscat, and Singapore to experience the brand’s core offerings: wellness, family travel, culinary excellence, and special occasions.
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“It’s the ultimate Shangri-La, so this campaign really speaks to me,” said Chekitan Dev, who has written a textbook on hospitality branding and who is a distinguished professor at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration in the SC Johnson College of Business.
Although the video doesn’t focus on Bhutan specifically, Dev said that it’s reminiscent of the time he spent living there.
The “Find Your Shangri-La” campaign passes his litmus test for a solid campaign that helps the brand stand out in people’s memories, the professor said. “If I was to replace the branding for Shangri-La at the end of this video, would I be able to simply insert another one? My response is definitely no.”
Not Perfect
Other people might be more critical of the video. While a bubble-blowing toy train may be analogous with a multigenerational adventure, whether swimming pool penguins equate to wellness or a hummingbird sipping nectar to fine dining is a fuzzier corollary.
Like Peninsula Hotels’ bid to capitalize on celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz for its recent ad campaign, Shangri-La enlisted Grammy-Award-winning video director Dave Meyer. While he’s renowned for his fresh and thought-provoking work with musicians like Missy Elliott and Kendrick Lamar, the Shangri-La campaign leans into convention by using a tune as iconic as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Experiences That Make the Feeling Real
Yet while the music may be unoriginal, Shangri-La’s new themed experiences that it’s rolling out globally seem exclusive and unique.
In Paris, Shangri-La just launched a new package featuring the iconic Guerlain fragrance boutique on the Champs-Élysées. The private tour includes a special bottle filled with the guest’s perfume of choice, as part of a package recently priced starting at about $3,400. In Istanbul, guests can try their hand at painting Ebru marble art or meet with the city’s first “Baklava butler” for a private demo.
Shangri-La Al Husn, Muscat is introducing Oman’s first “Frankincense butler” for a history lesson on Omani culture and a private tour of the resort’s Frankincense garden. It’s complimentary for guests.
The rarity of the experiences helps to give credibility to the Shangri-La campaign, another rare connecting-of-the-dots in hotel marketing.
Sustainability Motif
”The video is timely in that it uses ‘eco-luxury’ nature images like flowers, foliage, topiary, and the hummingbird – all visual cues that evoke ‘Shangri-La’ as I imagine it,” Dev said.
Dev highlighted Shangri-La’s use of other technology like computer-generated art as rare in the hospitality advertising space, which typically relies on images of guests hanging out at a property’s pool.
What joy first impressions leave from Shangri-La’s colorful content can have a powerful effect even if it doesn’t tie into a product initially.
The professor said Shangri-La’s campaign artfully captures some of today’s top trends in an approach that he called “‘Polar Express’ meets luxury hotel.”
Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis To Give Nearly $4.5 Million in Grants to Local Artists and Arts Organizations
(St. Louis, MO) – The Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis (RAC) will award a total of $4,489,944 in grant funding to 350 individual artists and organizations in St. Louis
Sculpture by Cherry Hill artist that envisioned modern State of Israel is memorialized
Cherry Hill resident Maurice Ascalon, working on the World’s Fair Sculpture in 1938 which envisioned a modern State of Israel. 84 years ago, Maurice Ascalon created a masterpiece. At the age of 26, Ascalon, a longtime Cherry Hill resident, created an enormous copper relief sculpture for the façade of the Jewish Palestine Pavilion at the
Photographer Free Dives With Orcas and Captures Incredible Photos
A photographer got into the water with a pod of killer whales capturing magical photos of the creatures in their natural habitat.
Dan Zafra from Capture the Atlas tells PetaPixel that are “no words to describe the experience of seeing and photographing orcas underwater.”
“Norway is the only place in the world where you can take trips focused on swimming with this cetacean,” he says.
“There are some rules to follow; for example, diving with scuba is banned, you can only snorkel. Also, you can’t get on top of the bait balls of fish since it can be dangerous, not so much for the orcas but because of the humpback whales that also hunt in these areas.”
Orcas are very intelligent mammals and there is no recorded attack on a human in the wild — recent boat attacks notwithstanding.
“Some encounters were very quick, as they were traveling across the fjord looking for food, but others were longer, coming closer to us when there were curious youngsters with their mums,” says Zafra.
“However, the most intense experience was seeing them hunting the so-called ‘bait balls’; giants schools of herring that they surround in groups, hitting the fish with their tails to stunl the fish, and then eating them a few feet from us. Seeing them hunting in groups was very special.”
Zafra says he wanted to dive with the orcas because they are his wife’s favorite animal and it has always been her dream to swim with them.
“There are multiple places to see [the orcas] from boats, and a few where you can find them kayaking or swimming by chance, but no place offers reliable encounters as the Northern Norwegian fjords,” says the photographer.
“It took us a few years to plan the logistics to make it happen, and in November 2022 we took our first trip.”
Zafra is a professional landscape and natural photographer so he jumped at this special opportunity. Taking his Sony a7 III camera with an astromodification — removal of the LP filter to capture more light beneath the waves.
“There is not a lot of light at this time of year in the fjords and it’s even dimmer underwater, so using a camera with a good low-light performance is recommended,” he adds
The camera was housed in an Ikelite that also held a Sony 20mm f/1.8 and could also fit a 35mm f/1.4.
“Swimming with orcas is an otherworldly experience that I recommend to anyone interested in sea mammals and in unforgettable wildlife encounters,” he says.
“I’m sure that this will become a more popular activity over time, but no one knows how long the orcas will stay in these fjords since they migrate following the schools of herring of the North Atlantic.”
Zafra is organizing a photo tour that takes swimming with orcas as well as capturing the northern lights, details here.
More of his work can be found on his website, Facebook, and Instagram,
Image credits: All photos by Dan Zafra.
The fascinating tale of Manchester’s most ill-fated sculpture
We explore the history of the hugely divisive B of the Bang sculpture that was erected near the Ethiad way back in 2002.
Relocated sculpture now welcomes visitors to Wright Dunbar District
DAYTON, Ohio (WKEF) — A sculpture of the Wright Brothers’ iconic Wright Flyer III has a new home, back where it all began.Steve Brown, president of the Aviatio
