There’s finally a case that makes the iPhone the camera it wants to be. The vintage-inspired iCA iPhone case ($65) available from Four Corner Store is made from polycarbonate and comes with two mock mirrored lenses attach to the front that you can use for self-portraits. One of the coolest features of this case is that it’s shutter buttons actually work your iPhone shutter. It’s available in black, brown, or white.

Via Design Milk

The Grand Rapids, Michigan based Ryan Pavlovich is a life-long music lover and recently fell in love with motorcycle culture.

“I think everyone should experience a great rock concert, and a ride on a motorcycle at least once in their lives, those things can change your thinking sometimes.”

He uses a variety of cameras like the 5DmkII, but is loving the new Fuji X-100 and has it with him at all times.

“I can’t say I have a favorite camera per say, but if I had to pick only one to have it would be my Canon FTB 35mm with a 50mm … that camera is a tank.”

Ryan loves environmental portraits and capturing people and the true life around them. He aims to keep the equipment simple to not overwhelm his subjects. His ongoing artist portrait series began with artist/designer Drew Melton (thepraseologyproject.com) and continues now as he meets new and inspiring artists like designer Chuck Anderson and a host musicians in his local community.

When he’s not traveling Ryan also likes to give back to his community by volunteering with organizations and events like Help-Portrait.

“You can’t really describe how it feels to take part in such a great event, but getting to help out families, hear their stories, and meet new people is a really cool thing. My hats off to Jeremy Cowart and all the people who originally created the event. So much goes into making something like that happen, so its awesome to see so many people involved each year.”

Ryan turns 30 this year and wants to challenge himself and others stay inspired, travel, take lots of pictures and Keep Living. Enjoy a selection of some of our favorite images from his portfolio.

Visit:

Ryan’s Portfolio
Ryan’s Blog
Follow Ryan on Twitter
Ryan on Facebook
Ryan on Flickr
Keep Living on Tumblr

Be sure to Contact Ryan for your next portrait, lifestyle or music shoot.

All Images © 2012 Ryan Pavlovich. Used by permission.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and the camera kids at Lomography have released a new batch of cameras for the animal-loving camera-lover in you.

From the Roarrr series:
The teal Diana F+ Zebra
The pink Diana Mini & Flash – Leopard
the green Fisheye No. 2 – Python

The Snakeskin Sardinas:
The orange La Sardina – Orinoco Ochre
The blue La Sardina – Sapphire Serpent

Ansel is a legend, and I realized after watching this documentary that I didn’t really know as much about him as I thought. PBS has done a great job and made this a part of their history series called The American Experience.

Via PetaPixel PBS

Peruvian-born, Cecilia Paredes creates these incredible self-portraits using her background as a painter to blend herself seamlessly into the environment.

Via mymodernmet featureshoot

This simple lighting tutorial hosted by Eve Hazelton (DOP of The Underwater Realm) walks you through some simple lighting techniques to interviews or other close up shots with your DSLR shots better.

Via Swiss-miss Philipbloom.net

Feeling a void out there with photographers not getting the credit they deserve for their images, photographer Tim Mantoani set out on his own personal 5-year long project now titled Behind Photographs. He has now photographed over 150 of the most iconic living photographers with the images that made them famous. One unique aspect of the project is that Tim used the mammoth 20″ x 24″ Polaroid Camera to capture the images and allowed the photographers to write a short story about their iconic shots at the bottom of the huge prints.

The final result is a beautiful 220 page, 11″x14″ book, Behind Photographs in 3 versions—Standard, slip-case and special edition (150 cloth bound book blind embossing and case.) If you buy 3 of the standard books ($60) from his site he’ll even upgrade one of them to the slipcase edition ($99).

Via @SamSpratt @Joeyldotcom Wired

I’m constantly amazed at the young photographic talent we come across from around the globe. Small-town farm girl Kelly Steffey, 23, from just outside Birmingham, Alabama is no exception. She’s a girl of many passions, but her love for nature, sustainability and living off the land really inspires and energizes her work. She combines breath-taking surroundings, vintage/recycled wardrobes, and beautiful models to create some fantastic and moving images. Her subjects seem confident in their own skin and aren’t afraid to get dirty or explore what the world has out there.

A fact that may surprise you is that she’s not formally trained and only recently started shooting, just two summers ago in mid-2010. She’s now living and breathing the art-form with hopes to make a career for herself in the fashion world, linking arms with eco-focused fashion magazines, green companies and designer labels that use recycled or sustainably grown materials and fair labor practices.

Visit:

Kelly’s Portfolio
Kelly Steffey Photography on Facebook
Kelly on Twitter
Kelly on Tumblr
Kelly’s first magazine A Child of the West

Be sure to Contact Kelly for your next editorial or fashion shoot. She’s definitely not afraid to travel, as she frequents LA and Denver often.

All Images © Kelly Steffey. Used by permission.

Photographer and author Michelle Bates first discovered the Holga camera back in 1991 and has been playing with them ever since. She’s an advocate for analog toy cameras and claims they are:

“the Antidote to the tyranny of Technology.”

This clip from TEDx explores her work and some of her toy camera contemporaries who are using Holgas to capture amazing images from around the world.

Via @holgajen

This video, Sh** Photographers say by wedding photographer Jason Groupp had us cracking up today because these are the saying you may hear often around you if you’re in the design or photography world. Enjoy!

Via @photojojo

Olivia is a 19-year-old fashion enthusiast from Geneva, Switzerland. She’s only been behind the lens for about 4 years, but has always been captivated by fashion and beauty since she was a little girl. While Switzerland is where she calls home, she lives most of the year now in Falmouth, Cornwall sharpening her skills at the University College Falmouth majoring in Fashion Photography.

Enjoy a sampling of her ever-growing portfolio and be sure to check out more of her work on her other sites as well.

Visit:

Olivia’s Portfolio
Olivia Bossert Photography on Facebook
Olivia on Twitter
Olivia on Flickr

Be sure to Contact Olivia for your next editorial or fashion shoot.

What do you get when you combine images shot by astronomy photographer of the year, Tom Lowe on the Red Epic and Canon still cameras? You get Timescapes a documentary film capturing time-lapse photography throughout the American southwest. While the full movie still wont be out until May of 2012, it is available for pre-order now.

via Curiosity Counts

If you’ve ever wanted to know about photography and camera history, The George Eastman House museum has a ridiculously drool worthy collection of cameras. In this video, Todd Gustavson, (the curator) talks about the Museum’s awesome new book, 500 Cameras: 170 Years of Photographic Innovation.

via iso1200

Photographer David HJ. Lindberg shows us that we don’t need a $100,000 camera to get some pretty great slow-motion results. We just need say a Canon 550D T2i($760) shooting at 60fps and a little plug-in called Twixtor($300).

Via Crasho.net

PART 4 of our Holiday Gift Guide is a collection of cool gifts you can use or display in your home, office or studio. Pillows, Posters, Polaroids and pretty much everything else. Enjoy!

Here’s another one of those I wish we had made those products, the Shutter pillows ($48) from Inhabit, available now on Fab.com. (If you’re not signed up  for Fab, you need to to get a cool curation of killer designery products everyday for good prices.)

The Poladarium 2012 tear off Calendar ($34) is a really cool gift for the instant photo lover in your life. It features 366 photos in a collectors box, one for each day and 1 extra to get you into 2013. Not only are you getting tons of variety in the images, you get to learn about the photographer and a brief story about the image on the back of each one. Such a cool idea. (It’s coming from overseas, so order now!)

Accessorize your desk in style with some of these fun camera-infused products.

The Say Cheese Camera Tape Dispenser ($21.99) | Retro Camera Pencil Sharpener ($14.99) | Photo Fanatic Key Cover ($11.99) | Snapshot Pencil Case ($15.99) | Camera Pencil Sharpener ($19) | Camera Stamps ($9)

Got some fun photographs or art to display Creative Walls ($29.99) will lead and inspire you.

You have to hold your cards somehow, why not with this Camera Card Stand ($9.99).

Know someone who’d likes to send pretty pictures in the post? Grab a box of 20 different Pretty Polaroids Notes ($10).

The 35mm ($85) and 16mm ($125) are both hand-made of concrete as part of the “Future Fossil” collection by artist Bughouse and available now at Henry Road.

This 2012 Polaroid Calendar by @xo_azuree ($20) is a fun 5.5″ x 5.5″ calendar for that instant lover who has everything else.

Shiny aluminum camera of yesteryear ($49.95) Need I say more? It’s not small, with measurements of 11.5″ x 8.5″ x 3.5″ available exclusively at Zgallerie.

Got some tables you want to keep nice from drinks and spills? Just use these ceramic Polaroid coasters ($11) from justnoey on Etsy.

1. Starmite on Red - 16″x16″ on canvas ($200) | 2. Icons 101 – 8″x8″ print ($18) | 3. Hawkeye in Red – 4″x6″ framed print ($25) | 4. Smile Yellow on A3 paper ($34) | 5. What Pictures are Made of -12″x12″ on wood ($200) | 6. Photographic Memory - 8″x10″ print ($28) | 7. Stay Focused – 8″x8″ on wood ($100) | 8. Old Camera - 11″x14″ ($50 – Unframed) | 9. Hawkeye on Yellow – 12″x12″ on canvas ($150) | 10. Cameras – 7″x10″ print ($15) | 11. Glitch Part 2 – 13″x13″ print ($36) | 12. Photographer’s Dilema – 11″x14″ print ($50) | 13. 8 1/2 – 11″x17″ poster ($35) | 14. Vintage Camera Hasselblad - 8″x10″ Print ($15) | 15. 28 Camera Drawings – 11″x14″ ($50 – unframed) | 16. Starbright, Starmite - 5″x7″ framed print ($35)

Know of additional camera-infused products you’d want for your home or office? Let us know by commenting below. If you want to see more from the 2011 Gift Guide, check out Part 1: cool cameras under $400, Part 2: Cool Camera, iphone and computer accessories, Part 3: Cool Camera and photography infused Wearables like shirts, bags and more.