Douglas Friedman captures the new Melissa Shoes store in SoHo, New York City. The gallery-like space is the first American store for the Brazilian footwear brand, known for its colorful PVC jelly shoes and high-end design collaborations. Past collaborations include designers Vivienne Westwood, and Thierry Mugler, and architect Zaha Hadid.  Recent collaborations with designers Jason Wu and Gareth Pugh are available in the new store.

Friedman shot the space earlier in the week, capturing the ultra-modern décor. The unique aesthetic includes all-white plaster walls, resin-painted floors, and movable, stalagmite-like pedestals for the shoes. The space also features installations from Assume Vivid Astro Focus, the art collective behind Gaga’s Workshop at Barney’s.  The store opening was Wednesday and was hosted by model and Marc Jacobs ex Lorenzo Martone.

See more of Douglas Friedman’s photography here.

Ruud Baan photographs sport stars from around the world for campaigns for Reebok and C100. Baan shot football, hockey, soccer, racing, and cricket for Reebok. He also captured 36 of the best Dutch soccer players for supermarket chain C1000.

The Reebok campaign took Baan all over the world to shoot the athletes. He captured football stars Peyton Manning and Chad Ochocinco and hockey player Alexander Ovechkin in different cities in the United States. He then traveled to Shanghai to shoot Formula 1 racer Lewis Hamilton, Spain to shoot soccer player Iker Casillas, and finally Mumbai, India to shoot cricketer Singh Dhoni. The concept was to capture the athletes in training and exercising mode with Reebok gear. Baan says the experience was “fantastic” and adds that preparation was very important as the client needed several shots and the athletes were on tight schedules.

The Stars of Football were captured on locations in the Netherlands and other countries in Europe such as Germany, Italy, and England. The soccer stars were shot separately, with each demonstrating their particular skill and power.  Baan was involved in the process from the beginning of the concept through the end. It is his second year collaborating with C1000 on their football stars campaign.

The Reebok campaign is airing worldwide.  The C1000 campaign is in supermarkets in the Netherlands.

See more of Ruud Baan’s photography here.

Client: Reebok Worldwide
Agency: DDB Germany
Art Director: Tim Schmitt
Production: Lunik Berlin
Post-Production: Gloss
Photography: Ruud Baan

Client: C1000
Agency: Vijf890
Photography: Ruud Baan
Styling: Isis Vaandrager
Post-Production: Jan Hibma

Gary Baseman’s photograph is part of a group show for Polaroid at the Impossible Project Space NYC. “Instant Revolution” features photography by Baseman and four other contemporary artists, James Franco, Maripol, Mary Ellen Mark, and Jennifer Juniper Stratford. The exhibition is the first in an upcoming series of artistic collaborations throughout 2012 that honor the launch of the Polaroid Classic line. The new product line celebrates the seventy-five year legacy of the instant film and camera company.

The photographs in the show were captured with the last original Polaroid Spectra film production from 2008. Baseman explains his image process as, “I wanted to use the camera the way I originally used such a device in the 1970s and 80s…to capture an immediate memory. My art is about discovering one’s “True Self,” and Polaroid cameras have been an important tool in assisting in this truth-finding and free expression.”

“Instant Revolution” opens at Impossible Project Space NYC on February 9^th. Find out more information about the show here.

See more of Gary Baseman’s portfolio here.

Raymond Hom and Aelana Curran collaborate on Origins’ latest campaign. The skincare company offers products made from high-performance natural ingredients.  Their new campaign focuses on Origins’ anti-aging and eye treatment products and promotes in-store specials. Hom photographed the ads while Curran styled the products.

The shoot took place at Noho Studios in New York City. The concept was to create a fun, clean, fresh, and natural look.  Curran used many beautiful plants and flowers to mirror the ingredients in Origins products. Even the corkboard background was chosen to reflect the brand’s natural image. Curran adds that Hom was “a joy to work with,” on the campaign.

The ads are running in all Origins store now.

See more of Raymond Hom’s photography here.

See more of Aelana Curran’s prop styling here.

Joachim Ladefoged photographs international soccer star Lionel Messi for the cover of this week’s Time Magazine. The Argentine-born Messi plays for FC Barcelona and was recently awarded FIFA’s Ballon d’Or. Notoriously shy and guarded, Messi sat down with the magazine to discuss his shining career, his rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo, and his relationship with his home country.

Ladefoged had a mere eight minutes to shoot Messi on set. Despite the time limit, Ladefoged found Messi very patient and easy to work with. The photographer is also a longtime fan of the soccer player. He admits, “For the first time in my 20-year career as a photographer, I asked for an autograph.”

Time Magazine’s latest issue with Lionel Messi on the cover is on newsstands now.

See more of Joachim Ladefoged’s photography here.

Uli Weber captures the women of Downton Abbey for Vogue Magazine. The hit PBS show follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants at the fictional Downton Abbey estate. Weber shot Jessica Findlay-Brown, Laura Carmichael, and Michelle Dockery, who portray the Crawley daughters, in a crumbling Georgian mansion in London’s West End. The Vogue article highlights the actresses’ natural beauties and the makeup that captures their Edwardian characters. Weber calls them “a wonderful bunch of ladies” and adds, “It was a very enjoyable shoot.”

Weber’s photographs will also appear in The Sunday Times Magazine exhibition at The Saatchi Gallery in London. The show celebrates the world-famous photographers who have contributed to the magazine since its launch fifty years ago. Weber has three photographs in the show, one of Kylie Minogue, one of Stephen Fry, and one of Boy George. His images will be featured alongside those of David Bailey, Eve Arnold, Sam Taylor-Wood, Snowdon, and Richard Avedon. Weber says he is “very honored to have contributed some images to such a memorable and important magazine.”

Read the full Vogue article here.

The Sunday Times Magazine show opens tonight in London and will run into February 19^th. Find out more on the gallery’s website.

See more of Uli Weber’s photography here.

Julene Harrison hand-cuts the words and flowers of Spring for The Washington Post’s Spring Arts Preview. The special Arts section features spring’s most anticipated events in theater, film, art, dance, and music recommended by the newspaper’s staff.

The Washington Post wanted the cover to feel alive and fresh, and evoke the exciting feeling of the start of spring.  Harrison designs her work on the computer first, so there is opportunity for changes before she commits the art to paper. In this piece she tried a few single color/gradient grounds in spring shades but they felt a little flat. Susana Sanchez, the Art Director at The Washington Post, suggested photographing the paper-cut on a grass background, as that was something Harrison had experimented with before. She ended up shooting it outside on natural grass and on Astroturf.

The Spring Arts Preview was part of The Washington Post’s Sunday issue.

See more of Julene Harrison’s portfolio here.

Andrew Rae collaborates with VML to give Bear Naked’s website a winter makeover. The granola brand calls itself the “official fuel of winter fun.” The “Winteractive” site features a Wintervention, polls, games, and advice from the Mountain Oracle Man. The site allows users to connect with their friends over Facebook and Twitter by sending them the different interactive features.

Rae used his signature illustration style to create fun characters at play in a winter snow scene.  Skiers, snowboarders, and sledders mingle with bears, a Yeti, and life-like snowmen on the mountain.

Visit the Bear Naked website now to see Andrew Rae’s work.

See more of Andrew Rae’s illustrations here.

Client: Bear Naked
Agency: VML
Group Creative Director: Robb Smigielski
Creative Director: Becky Ervin
Associate Creative Director: Andy McLeod
Senior Copywriter: Jane Waske
Art Directors: Ian Tirone, Caitlin Harsch
Producer: Jason Calloway
Illustrator: Andrew Rae
Development Team: Stefan Miller, Caleb Kniffen, Chris Massey, Gaurav Parikh, Brandon Meyer, Jason Schlosser, David Starkweather

Bernstein & Andriulli are hosting Tristan Eaton’s 3D Book signing event at Chateau Marmont in conjunction with The Supper Club. Tristan Eaton, Gary Baseman, Shepard Fairey and James Jean will be in attendance, signing complimentary books, and doing a meet-and-greet for the art-loving crowd. Two ten-feet-high Gibson Les Paul model guitars, customized by Eaton and Fairey, will be placed outside the Chateau for all to admire. These are part of The Maxamillian Gallery’s “Guitar Town on Sunset Strip” series, a public art project launched in August 2010 featuring the World’s foremost street artists.

Kai and Sunny’s “Flower Show” box sets have been accepted in the Victoria & Albert Museum Collection. The British museum’s prints collection consists of about 500,000 prints encompassing both fine art and commercial production. The V&A’s Senior Curator of Prints Gill Saunders accepted box set 1 and box set 2.

The first box set was released as part of Kai and Sunny’s “The Flower Show” exhibition at the Stolen Space Gallery in London. The five A3 letter-pressed images took inspiration from flowers and their complexity. The second box set contains six letter-pressed images. Kai and Sunny released a limited edition of fifty. There are twenty-five left for sale here.

In addition to the two box sets, Kai and Sunny’s “Migration East” print has been accepted as part of the museum’s Ghost of Gone Birds portfolio by the a curator of prints, Frances Rankine.

See more of Kai and Sunny’s portfolio here.

Stockton Johnson photographs metallic makeup and sparkling jewels for Vogue China. The beauty story, entitled “Jewellery Allure,” appears in the magazine’s February issue. Johnson shot models Xiao Wen and Grace Gao at Central Studios in Shanghai, China. Wen and Gao were styled in gems from Tasaki by Thakoon and glamorous clothing by Dolce & Gabbana by Yi Guo.

Johnson also photographed a portrait of designer Thakoon on the shoot. The next day he shot a celebrity feature with actress Kiera Chaplin, also for the February issue, in Beijing.

See more of Stockton Johnson’s photography here.

Publication: Vogue China
Issue: February 2012
Story: “Jewellery Allure”
Photographer: Stockton Johnson
Models: Xiao Wen, Grace Gao
Stylist: Yi Guo
Makeup: Kevin Long

The Selby visits the Berlin apartment of fellow B&A artist Olaf Hajek. The illustrator currently divides his time between the apartment in the Mitte borough of Berlin and London and New York. The Selby photographed details in the apartment including a wall covered in chalkboard paint, statues and artifacts from Hajek’s travels, and framed artwork including a collection of twenty-three frames with sayings that include the word “Run” in them. Hajek also answered one of The Selby’s famous hand-written Q&As. He drew a map of his favorite spots in Mitte, illustrated his own version of the German flag, and offered up his favorite things about South Africa, Berlin, and New York City. Hajek comments he has long been a fan of The Selby’s blog and was thrilled to be included on it. He adds, “I love the way how he shows people in their homes and the way he portraits them.”

See more of The Selby’s photography here.

See Olaf Hajek’s illustration portfolio here.

Tom Corbett captures eight pages of retro fashion in the February issue of US Cosmo. The story, entitled “Cosmo Girls,” pays tribute to the 1960s and the time when the magazine was born.  The spread was photographed over two days last October. When at the last minute one of the locations fell through, the team ended up shooting some of the shots in the Manhattan office of the magazine. Check out the original Cosmo cover from the 1960s on page 179!

The models wear eye-catching patterns and curve hugging shifts by designers such as Dior, Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs.  Their flirty makeup and bombshell hair sets the tone for the perfect day-to-night experience.

The magazine is on newsstands now.

See more of Tom Corbett’s photography here.

Publication: US Cosmo
Issue: February 2012
Story: “Cosmo Girls”
Fashion Director: Michelle McCool
Photography Director: Liane Radel
Photographer: Tom Corbett
Hair: Alberto Guzman at Ray Brown
Makeup: Renee Garnes at Artists
Manicurist : Olya Titova at Judy Casey
Models: Amanda Streich, Rachele Schank, Sigrun, Matheus Strapasson, Remy Baquiche

Michael Schnabel photographs the natural beauty and everyday experience of Mexico for Mexico Today. The initiative promotes a positive image of the country as both an unrivaled tourist destination and a global business partner.  In two ads, Schnabel captures stunning mountains and an innovative wind farm.

Schnabel shot the ads over the course of one week on two locations.  The first location was in Oaxaca at what is said to be the world’s largest wind farm.  The area around the farm is incredibly large and the temperature the day of the tech scout was high, making for a difficult task in finding the perfect spot.  However they finally found a nice pond with windmills in the background for photographing three small children admiring the landscape.

The second location was Sierra de Órganos, a national park in Durango. A thousand years ago the park was an ocean and as the water receded it formed the mountains into astonishing round barrens.  The crew chose two spots among the rocks to drill cables into and have professional climbers climb for the shot. Schnabel adds it was “breath-taking” to see the easiness with which the climbers moved on the rocks. He says of the overall experience, “It was an amazing job through an incredible country with a lot of good and hard working people!”

See more of Michael Schnabel’s photography here.

Client: Mexico Today
Agency: Ogilvy LA
Creative Director: Jeff Compton
Production: Elle Sullivan Wilson
Art Director: Nazanin Arandi
Photographer: Michael Schnabel
Retouching: Recom

Ilovedust collaborates with Wieden + Kennedy NY for an exciting, multi-media branding for ESPN’s Winter X Games in Aspen. The design studio worked with the team at Wieden + Kennedy to create a multi-facetted campaign consisting of two 30-second animated spots, a course map, for the interactive site and custom posters featuring action sports’ biggest names, including Sebastien Toutant. The campaign blends rich illustration in Ilovedust’s signature style with photography from previous Winter X Games.

The Winter X Games will air January 26- 29th on ESPN.

See more of Ilovedust’s portfolio here.

Client: ESPN
Agency: Wieden +Kennedy NY
Talent: Ilovedust