In what ranks as possibly the most unlikely statement of an outrageously lucky career, Julia Roberts and I are in the September 2010 issue of Elle Magazine. Julia is on the cover where she belongs but the massive 562-page issue also spotlights my ‘Art & Soul’ celebrity portrait project that I photographed for The Creative Coalition with the generous support of Sony.

The spread in Elle previews a few of the images of creative artists Jimmy Smits, Alyssa Milano, Samuel L Jackson, James Denton, Spike Lee, Harry Belafonte, Taraji P Henson, Porsche Doubleday, Debi Mazar, David Hyde Pierce, Jesse Williams, Tony Bennett, Dayna Mendoza, Kim Kardashian, Kerry Washington, Miss J Alexander, Marlon Wayans and Taye Diggs in the project that showcases the importance of support for the arts and arts education.

Big THANKS to all the Creative Artists who have lent their voices to this cause and to Sony and Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. for their support!

Click here for a PDF of Brian Smith in Elle Magazine.

DEADLINE is September 5th to enter EYEʼEM’s 2nd Mobile Photography Exhibition 2010. The event will be hosted at the renowned OPENHOUSE gallery in New York City starting on September 27th 2010. So get them iMasterworks iN Now!

http://exhibitions.eyeem.com/nyc2010/

PDN’s PhotoPlus Expo is always the can’t-miss-event in the Photo Industry and this year is no exception. There are a bunch of cool new seminars at this year’s PhotoPlus Expo this October 28th-30th at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in NYC. Here are a few I got circled… including my first solo appearance on their big stage. Registration is open now.

Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 – 8:45 AM to 11:45 AM
Extreme Web site Makeover: Putting Your Website to Work for You
Speaker: Grover Sanschagrin, Vice President & Founder, Photoshelter Inc.
There’s not  another company that freely provides as much good information to photographers as Photoshelter. Grover really knows his stuff!

Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 – 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM KEYNOTE
Chase Jarvis Live: Creativity and The New Social Art of Photography
Speaker: Chase Jarvis
Chase is the only guy with more energy than the X-treme sport athletes he photographs and always a great and motivating speaker.

Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 – 1:15 PM to 3:15 PM
Publishing Your Photobook
Speakers: Darius D. Himes, Consultant, Publisher, Author, Radius Books
Mary Virginia Swanson, Consultant and Educator, M. V. Swanson & Associate
Swanee is THE Authority on the Fine Art Photography marketplace and she knows everyone in the photo industry. She and Darius ‘Sir Books-a-Lot’ of photobooks will be rolling out their new book. Can’t wait..

Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 – 3:45 PM to 5:45 PM
Secrets of Great Portrait Photography
Speaker: Brian Smith
Shameless Plug…I know, but I’m very excited for the chance to do a whole new presentation and spill all the secrets I can about shooting great portraits…

Thursday, Oct 28, 2010 – 6:15 PM to 7:45 PM SPECIAL EVENT
Legacy: Portraits of the Environment
Speaker: Colin Finlay
I love Colin’s work and he’s quite worthy of Special Event Status.

Friday, Oct 29, 2010 – 8:45 AM to 11:45 AM
The Big Picture: Editorial Photography Behind the Scenes
Speaker: Art Strieber
OK, OK…This is actually a repeat performance..What can I say…Art Rocks!

Friday, Oct 29, 2010 – 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM KEYNOTE
Strip Search: Albert Watson in Conversation with Laurie Kratochvil
Speakers: Albert Watson and Laurie Kratochvil
I got this one double-triple circled! A can’t miss event!!! Albert is one of my favorite portrait photographers and Laurie is an icon of the industry who gave me one of my first big breaks when she was at Rolling Stone.

Friday, Oct 29, 2010 – 3:45 PM to 5:45 PM
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for Portrait Photographers
Speaker: Katrin Eismann, Chair, SVA
Katrin is the Pixel Diva. I learn stuff from Katrin just walking past her…

Friday, Oct 29, 2010 – 3:45 PM to 5:45 PM
New Media Marketing for Next Generation Photographers
Speakers: Jack Hollingsworth, Jason Moriber, Lindsay Adler and Rosh Sillars
Rosh and Lindsay really now this stuff. Jason does EP’s Social marketing and @photojack has more people followers than anyone in the photo industry…except for Polaroids’ Creative Director Lady Gaga...

Friday, Oct 29, 2010 – 3:45 PM to 5:45 PM
Institute Presents: New Directions in Storytelling
Speakers:  Elisabeth Biondi, Visuals Editor, The New Yorker,  Gillian Laub, James Longley an d Lauren Greenfield, Photographer & Filmmaker
Photojournalism isn’t dead – it’s just moving in different directions.

Saturday, Oct 30, 2010 – 8:45 AM to 11:45 AM
Mark Seliger: Icons & Images
Speaker: Mark Seliger
I’m not sure who is more of an icon – Mark or the people he shoots, but this is bound to be good.

Saturday, Oct 30, 2010 – 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM KEYNOTE
Avatar: The Struggles of Indigenous People in a Modern World
Speaker: Cristina Mittermeier, Photographer & President, International League of Conservation Photographers
My Sony Artisan sister is the Mother Theresa of the photo industry – Saving the World One Pixel at a Time…

Saturday, Oct 30, 2010 – 1:15 PM to 3:15 PM
Platform Building: Using Online Video Sharing to Attract an Audience, Establish Creativity and Network
Speakers: Blake Whiteman, Director of Community and Product, Vimeo,  Philip Bloom,  Ryan Koo and Vincent Laforet
I don’t really need to hype this one, you know you want to see these guys.

Saturday, Oct 30, 2010 – 1:15 PM to 3:15 PM
Demystifying DSLR: Beyond the Green Box!
Speaker: Me Ra Koh

Me Ra is loaded with energy. If you shoot kids, families or weddings stop by and hopefully some of that will rub off on you.

BIG THANKS to Kayla Lindquist and everyone at Sony for sponsoring my talk and Lauren Wendle and Moneer Masih-Tehrani of PDN for giving me the stage to talk on. Hope to see you all there!

This Sunday is the deadline to enter this year’s NYPH ‘Capture Brooklyn’ Photography Contest sponsored by AdoramaPix, PowerhouseArena and Laminall, so get those freakin’ entries in now or Fuggedaboutit!

Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Capa rewinding in their graves as the Leica film era comes to an end after a storied 85-year history. Read more at asahi.com

I just got sad news that Herman Leonard, the Greatest Jazz Photographer who ever lived, has passed away. Even if you don’t know the name, you know the photographs. Herman captured iconic photographs of the Legends of Jazz better than anyone. I know all his friends up above are playing a great jam session for him tonight. Check out tonight’s ABC World News Tonight for a tribute to a legend I can proudly call my friend…

Herman Leonard "Jazz at Lincoln Center" October 2009

Me and Herman at the opening of "Jazz at Lincoln Center" October 2009

Herman Leonard
March 6, 1923 – August 14, 2010

I went to see Lindsay Adler & Rosh Sillars yesterday at B&H Photo. Even if you’re a photographer with a Website and Photo Blog and you’re social media savvy enough to be all over Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and FlickR you can still learn a lot from Rosh and Lindsay, since THEY WROTE THE BOOK on Social Media for Photographers: “A Linked Photographers’ Guide to Online Marketing and Social Media” It’s a must read..

Apple has added NEX RAW support to Aperture 3 and iPhoto 09 in the latest Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update v3.3 which adds support for:

Sony Alpha NEX-3
Sony NEX-5 camera
Sony Alpha DSLR-A390
Olympus E-PL1
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G10
Canon PowerShot SX1 IS
Samsung NX10

Apple users can also find this update by running Software Update or at: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1072

My favorite new piece of cool photo gear is this super-slick Acratech GP Ballhead. It’s great design maximizes function while minimizing weight. Unlike in other ballheads, the Acratech ballheads have no excess metal so no excess weight and no place for dirt or sand to get trapped. Scott Dordick and the guys at Acratech are always coming up with great designs and this one is not just highly functional engineering, it’s Positively a Work of Art!

The Acratech GP Ballhead has become my new favorite. It’s paired above with my other favorite a Sony a900 camera with Sony Zeiss 135/1.8 lens.

My good friends at PhotoShelter have created a super-slick-gotta-have-plugin-for-Wordpress-blogs which allows you to post photos to your WordPress blog directly from your PhotoShelter account. Talk about simplifying your workflow!

Simply Select an image from a gallery and select “Insert Image.”

and then in the words of one of the greatest poets of our generation: “BAM!”

Or it you prefer more security, you can choose to upload a flash image: