As a fun, creative, and unique annual report Jon Flaming illustrated an image for the Summit Area YMCA. The director of the Summit Area YMCA has worked very hard to increase the membership of the facility and make sure that the YMCA serves a growing community and it’s various needs.  Jon took the director’s goals and successes and created a growing tower of a thriving community that is ready to serve all the members that come along.

Not only is it super fun to shoot with Ryan and his crew, but you also get to see him in action as a “professional” stand-in while the talent is being prepped! Here’s a fun little outtake from a recent shoot with DraftFCB for Hampton Inn and Suites.

Brian Kuhlmann has caught the eye of Studio Photography Magazine, a magazine dedicated to the photography business. They wrote a great article about Brian’s work ethic and gave some great tips on how Brian runs his business. Click here to read the article!

The McArthur’s worked in collaboration with Chicago Tribune Magazine art director Joe Darrow to create a magazine cover that represented the feature story about rich lawyers and poor lawyers. Most lawyers out there never get the opportunity to make the big bucks, and so the idea came up to shoot the same model dressed as both a polished well dressed success story in an Armani suit, Prada shoes and briefcase and then again as an everyday working stiff outfitted in suiting and accessories from a discount store. 

The Australian design collaborative, Design Is Kinky asked Ryan to be a part of their annual collection of the some of the globe’s artists and designers. The new book, Semi-Permanent 2008, is available online right now and is expected to sell out fast, as it tends to do every year. Its the second time Ryan has been included in this book. If you have a chance and got a little cash to throw down, I highly recommend purchasing it!

In addition to the Semi-Permanent 2008 book, Ryan was also chosen to be a part of Connect an all new collection of artists and photographers who have been hand-picked by Design Is Kinky in Australia. Think of it as a super tight edit of the top young image makers in the world!

This show is a marriage of Brian’s personal vision as an artist and his intuitive sense of what’s in the current market. Interested in fashion photography because of it’s tendency to lend itself more to creative freedom, these pieces draw the viewer in because of their aesthetic beauty first, but then upon spending time with them, one notices subtle psychological twists. What Brian is exploring is the possibility of making us think while also incorporating beauty and sex.  The work suggests something more than meets the eye, making the viewer an accomplice to the story.

Although they didn’t get to go to the 2008 Final Four Championship, McArthur Photography partnered with ARC Worldwide to promote Coke Zero. Being a Jayhawker myself, I was thrilled that my boys took home the title. It was a big upset for my Hoosier husband. Sorry Tom.

If you don’t have any plans from 5PM on May 2nd until 2AM on the 3rd you better be partying down in the Loop for the 2008 Looptopia - Chicago’s “All-Night Cultural Celebration”My Project Superhero will be featured in the upstairs gallery at the Metropolis Building (The Art Store, also known as Blick Art Materials)!But wait, there’s more!Cross over State Street again and head to the storefront windows of Sears and you’ll see MORE damn Superheroes!! We’re taking over, I swear.Its going to be a fantastic 2008 Looptopia and I look forward to seeing a HUGE turnout! And stay tuned . . . the 2008 Project Superhero is well underway. Shooting begins June 12th and there’s a special addition to our creative team that will knock your socks off!

In mid-november we headed to the Chicago suburbs for Laurie Rubin to shoot the latest Stove Top campaign. We worked with AD Chris Kloet and AB Laurie Laube from DraftFCB. Considering our winter, Chicago surprisingly didn’t have any real snow at that time so we had to
manufacture it. It was the calm before the real snow storm we got later this winter.

We very excited to post that Andy Batt is featured in Communication Arts! The March/April issue has a 2 page spread featuring 7 images, showcasing his sports-motion, dance and quirky lifestyle work. He was featured on the CA homepage for a day ‘above the fold’ and ‘below the fold’ for a week.

Quoting from the text: “I like to tell stories with my photography-small stories and big stories-and encourage viewers to think past the single image. To envision the motion, the feel, the sound, the results and the causes. I’m fascinated by small changes that can completely change the story. I push myself to create images I haven’t seen before, to give my clients, and myself, a fresh approach.”

You can see the CA feature online or see a large JPEG of the spread here.