Portrait Sessions for Military Families, "Dandyism" Exhibited, a Rejuvenation for the Super 8 and More

Master Sargent Craig Lawrence partakes in tea time with his daughter, Natalie, in their backyard in Little Rock, Arkansas. Photo © Tonee Lawrence

Operation: Love Reunited
With the goal of giving treasured portraits while boosting morale to deployed service members, Operation: Love Reunited provides free photo sessions to military families facing periods of deployment. Colorado photographer Tonee Lawrence founded the nonprofit in 2006, sending volunteer photographers around the country to take photos of the often-emotional farewell and welcome-home moments between military members and their loved ones. “It’s all made possible by artists wanting to give something back to those who make our country what it is,” Lawrence writes, “and ask for nothing in return but for these brave men and women to come back home.” Photographers interested in volunteering their skills (and who have been in business for at least one year) can apply on the website. The nonprofit now pays for all photographers’ session prints.

Barima Owusu-Nyantekyi at the King’s Head Club, London, 2013. Photo © Rose Callahan

The Return of Dandyism
Tracing the idea of the “Black Dandy” phenomenon through the esthetics of the Harlem Renaissance to some of the contemporary celebrity reincarnations like Andre 3000, this cultural movement has come to encapsulate sartorial style. A new comprehensive exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago is highlighting the young men who are mixing Victorian-inspired fashion with traditional African sensibilities, thus challenging the stereotypical understanding of Black masculinity.

Kingsley, 2010. Photo © Russell K. Frederick                   Ubiquitous SWAG, 2010. Photo © Hanif Abdur-Rahim

“Dandy Lion: (Re)Articulating Black Masculine Identity” is featuring work from both emerging and established photographers from around the world—including collodion shooter Jode Ake and fashion photographer Rog Walker—and will run from April 6 to July 12.

Larry. Raleigh, North Carolina. Photos © Linnea Bullion

A Portrait of America
With a photojournalism background, Linnea Bullion—a Minneapolis native who released a photo book of European skateboarders called …And For a Moment, Time Stops—turned her lens on the United States during a nearly 20,000-mile journey around the country last summer. “The United States is a country whose vastness is complemented by its diversity,” writes Bullion, who is also a shooter of quirky and humorous self-portraits. “I wanted to show this diversity while simultaneously acknowledging its continuity.”

Collon, a.k.a. “Barbershop Boy.” Grand Forks, North Dakota. “I’m the smallest in my class,” Collon says to the photographer, “but with the loudest voice.”

After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Bullion self-published the documentary photo book American this year. The 10 x 8-inch hardcover is packed with 132 pages of photos that unfold thematically. Portraits of the people and landscapes from around the country include a farm in Boulder, Colorado; Times Square street vendors in New York City; a barbershop in Raleigh, North Carolina; a theme park in Ocean City, Maryland, and more.

                                                                              Price: $50

Logmar Revives the Super 8
It’s been over 20 years since an updated 8mm video camera has hit the market, but the Dutch company Logmar Camera Solutions has caught on to the film fascination among photographers and videographers, releasing the Logmar S-8 in response. With a promise to fix the jolting footage so often associated with Super 8 film, this video camera features a fixed pressure plate and pin to lock film firmly during exposure, a C-mount for interchangeable lenses and a flip-out LCD. Powered by an ARM Cortex M3 processor, the Logmar S-8 records time and date-stamped, lip-synchronous audio files onto an SD card, allowing for easier sound-syncing in post. The camera is outfitted with a USB port and has built-in WiFi (plans are brewing to release a Wi-Fi remote-control app, too).
Price: $5,500 (body only)

Panasonic HC-WX970
The WX970 not only captures 4K footage but also delivers the first high dynamic range mode for camcorders at this price, enabling users to soak up more detail in the shadows and highlights. The device also sports a second camera on the LCD display that can be angled to simultaneously record a different vantage point than the main camera, with a tilt of +/- 20 degrees. The second camera’s footage is stored, picture-in-picture style, alongside video recorded from the main camera. The WX970 sports an 8.29-megapixel back-illuminated image sensor and runs the company’s Crystal Engine 4K image processor. A built-in 20x optical zoom lens is kept steady using Panasonic’s five-axis optical stabilization. If you like the WX970’s specs but could do without the second camera, try the VX870.
Prices: $999 (wx970); $899 (vx870)

Panasonic Lumix 42.5mm
Panasonic will add a new portrait lens to its Micro Four Thirds lineup in May. The Lumix G 42.5mm is equivalent to an 85mm lens on a full-frame camera. It has a bright maximum aperture of f/1.7 and features a focusing distance of 12.2 inches, letting you get up nice and close to your subjects. The 10 lens elements feature multi-coated glass to reduce flare and ghosting while Panasonic’s Power O.I.S. stabilizes the lens to keep blur at bay. It also utilizes the company’s high-speed, 240 frames per second Drive AF system to keep moving objects crisply in focus.
Price: TBA

Off-Roading with Manfrotto
For photographers who like to venture a bit off the beaten path. Manfrotto has released a new line of tripods called Off Road, touted for their compactness as well as their quick and easy setup. Measuring 5 cm in diameter and weighing 5.5 pounds, the tripod has a universal camera attachment with a quick wheel, allowing for speedy attaching and detaching. The Off Road—available in red, green or blue—comes with a built-in aluminum ball head with a single adjustment knob, an integrated leveling bubble and spiked bases on the feet for some added stability.
Price: $150