English

MegaPixel – Shana Tova Photography Project

ע״י עידו גנוט

פורסם ב 27/09/2011

MegaPixel.co.il – Israel’s largest photography website, is proud to announce the largest photography related Jewish new year project ever created. For our project we collected new year video greetings from over photography 15 companies as well as famous photographers from around the world.

All the videos could be found on our special Shana Tova page.

Background

The idea for the project came to us several weeks ago while we were considering all sorts of projects for the Jewish new year (which takes place this year on the 28’th of September). Eventually we decided to approach all the major photography manufactures (as well as several high-profile photographers) and ask each of them to record a 30 seconds video with a greeting in both English and Hebrew (Shana Tova – Hebrew for Happy new year).

Despite our strong connections in the photography world we were somewhat skeptical that we will be able to gather enough companies in time – a major problem when dealing with large bureaucratic companies who tend to work at their own paste. In spite of our best efforts, some of the companies received the information about the project only a few days before our deadline.

We were very happy when most of the companies (and photographers) we approached did not only get back to us fairly quickly but were also very excited to help. Even more surprising was the high quality and huge efforts some of the companies who participated put into their videos.

The participants

Here is the full list of participants in the project and a few words on each of them:

Carl Zeiss – The well known German optical manufacturer sent us a very well put video. We were especially curious to know which camera/lens was used to make it, so we asked Carl Zeiss – the answer – at the end of this article.

BlackRapid – The advanced camera strap manufacturer from Seattle sent us a video string Ron Henry – the company’s Founder (who we meet during Photokina 2010 last year) who presented the greeting in his our unique way.

Joby – The well known GorillaPod manufacturer sent us a new year greeting from the lovely Anna with a few examples on the table.

Manfrotto – In the very last moment we received a short video from KATA’s CEO (a part of Manfrotto). Both companies have extensive camera bags lines and Manfrotto also manufactures a variety of tripods and other camera accessories.

Leica – The German camera and lens luxury maker has been synonymous with high quality manufacturing for almost a century. Leica spared no effort in creating a really magnificent clip for us with none other than Mr. Stefan Daniel, Director of product management photo at Leica Camera, with whom we had an interview last year at Photokina.

Lens Pen – The Canadian company which specializes in cleaning products for lenses and sensors sent us a short and sysinct video.

Shutterbugs – A new Australian web comedy series about a group of obsessive photographers. We had a chance to interview David Collins – director and Screenwriter for the series (to be published soon on MegaPixel) and we got a fun new year video staring two of the series actors.

Olympus – One of the oldest and most well respected photography companies in the world. The Olympus Germany team sent us well organized video with participation of several people from its stuff lead by Mr. Dominic Papenheim who we had the chance to interview twice (both at Photokina 2010 in Germany and on his last visit to Israel earlier this year).

OPTech – The Montana based camera accessory company was actually one of our nicest surprises we had in this project. OPTech created a special video for us with all of the company’s employees in a heartwarming happy new year greeting including a Hebrew sign and a Shofar sound at the end.

Pedro Nóbrega – One of Portugal’s leading commercial photographers who sent us a somewhat different Happy New Year Greeting.

Robb Williamson – Denver and Phoenix based commercial and editorial location photographer who specializes in architecture, commercial and landscape photography. Williamson worked for some of the big names in the industry including USA Today, Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated and other and cleared some time from his busy schedule to record a short happy near video for us during a photo shoot at the Chicago science museum.

Markus Klinko & Indrani – Two of the most well known commercial photographers in the U.S.. They have been working together for the past several years, creating many iconic images of famous artists, actors and celebrities including: Lady Gaga, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton, Keanu Reeves, David Bowie and many others. They appeared on numerous interviews on television as well as Double Exposure.

Zacuto – The Chicago based filmmaking accessories manufacturer (who’s very proud of its long Jewish heritage) created a video for us with a quick look at some of its products as well as some of its content initiatives including the extremely well done “Great Camera Shootout” (which we also covered on MegaPixel).

Frank Doorhof – Third generation photographer from the Nederlands who specializes in fashion photography. Doorhof also published a book on model photography as well several DVDs.

B&H – The largest photography store in the world. The store, which was founded in 1973 by Herman Schreiber (an orthodox Jew like many of the company employees), is located in N.Y. city and was happy to share with us a new year video.

Gary Fong – The U.S. camera lighting accessory manufacturer sent us a short new year video.

Who Is Missing?

Looking at the list of companies who participated you can easily see some big names missing, including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic and Pentax. We actually been in touch with all of them (as well as many others) and some appeared quite keen to join the project. However, big companies call for complex and mostly extended PR procedures for approving external projects (however simple they may be) and so they have not been able to make it in time. There is always room for more next year!

Answer to the question – with what equipment was the Carl Zeiss video shoot? Lens: ZEISS Planar T* 1,4/50 ZE, Camera: Canon 7D.

עידו גנוט

עידו גנוט הוא עורך ומייסד אתר הצילום מגה פיקסל. הוא מסקר חדשות טכנולוגיה מאז סוף שנות ה-90 וכתב וערך עבור שורה של מגזינים בינלאומיים מובילים. הוא עוסק בתחום הצילום מאז שנת 2009. עידו הוא גם מייסד שותף בחברת ההפקה Shooteat.co.il העוסקת ביצירת תוכן ויזואלי עבור חברות מסחריות.