Aurora Select photographer and Ohio University student Matt Eich has been recognized as Student Photographer of the Year by SportsShooter.com.  According to judge Sabine Myer, Director of Photography for National Geographic Adventure, Matt’s exceptional portfolio demonstrated “consistency of vision and personal style, as someone who can tell a story in only a few images.”  Other judges Darren Ching of Photo District News, freelance photographer Ami Vitale, and Nadja Masri of German GEO, commented “that he didn’t have to go abroad to get the great shots, but was able to find them in his own backyard”, “that he has a knack of understanding that less is more”, “a sense empathy for his subjects” and that his portfolio was “fantastic, compositionally”.

Read the complete article and view a video of the contest judges discussing Matt’s winning portfolio.

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Aurora Select photographer Corey Rich’s aerial photograph of snowboarder Mikey Wier, has won the Pro Photography/Sports category in the IPN GO INDIE photography competition. The image is also featured on the contest gallery’s main page.

“This image is the result of a great day last season, spent hanging out of a helicopter shooting images for Heavenly Mountain Resort,” Corey said. “Many thanks go to the snowboarder, Mikey Wier – Former pro snowboarder, now a Patagonia fly fishing ambassador, filmmaker and a great friend.”

 To see more of Corey’s great photography, visit Aurora Select’s Website.

Aurora Select photographer Matt Eich’s images were featured in the January/February 2009 issue of Mother Jones.  The article, entitled “Brave New Welfare” details abuse in the Georgia welfare system illustrated by Matt’s images of a struggling family.

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As part of their Fourth Annual “Creativity 50″, Creativity-Online.com has profiled Aurora Photographer Callie Shell as a photographer who has “made a significant mark on the creative consciousness of our industry and our culture as a whole” with her images of Barack Obama and his family.  The 50 people included range from ad creatives, filmmakers and  artists and honored creatives such as actress Tina Fey, Obama strategist David Axelrod and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos.  Click here to view the entire profile on Callie Shell.

Photo by Vincent J. Musi / Aurora Photos

When asked about how she chose to integrate herself with Barack Obama, Callie says “I try to pick someone and start following them early, hopefully before they announce or are the big news. I have no problem standing and waiting for as long as it needs for the moment to happen. I don’t talk a lot. I try to just become part of the scene. I try to just ingratiate myself to the person and their staff. I quietly take pictures and try to make sure they trust me and know that I’m not there to photograph every time they trip.”

To view more work by Callie Shell, visit Aurora Photos.

Aurora photographer Callie Shell and Aurora partner photographers Paolo Verzone (Agence Vu), Yuri Kozyrev (Noor) and Pep Bonet (Noor) have been honored by 2009 Annual World Press Photo Contest.  Each year the contest celebrates press photographers worldwide and judges images in ten categories, including People in the News, Portraits, Contemporary News and Sports Features.  For more information, visit http://www.worldpressphoto.org.

Callie Shell (USA, Aurora Photos for Time) won 1st Prize for Stories in People in the News for her coverage of Barack Obama’s campaign for the White House.

To view more work by Callie Shell, visit Aurora Photos.

Yuri Kozyrev (Russia, Noor for Time) won 1st Prize for Singles in Portraits for his image of Rajiha Jihad Jassim with her son Sarhan in Baghdad, Iraq.

To view more work by Yuri Kozyrev, visit Aurora Photos.

Pep Bonet (Spain, Noor) won 2nd Prize for Stories in Portraits for a story on transsexual sex workers in Honduras.

To view more work by Pep Bonet, visit Aurora Photos.

Paolo Verzone (Italy, Agence Vu for Le Monde 2) won 3rd Prize for Stories in Sports Features for his story on traveling with former French National Team soccer player Michel Platini.

To view more work by Paolo Verzone, visit Aurora Photos.

The cover of The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt, published in 2006, features an image by Aurora photographer Jonathan Kingston. The photograph is an underwater shot looking up at an elephant swimming in the Andaman Sea in India with his  trainer on its back. Jonathan tells us that when people see the image they often think it is digitally manipulated, however the image was captured on film and other than some basic tonal correction and dust removal, is a straight shot.

Jonathan was inspired to take the shot by some documentary footage of the elephants by Jacques Cousteau.  Thinking it would be a relatively easy feat to find elephants swimming, he was surprised by the difficulty he encountered arranging government permission to shoot the elephants.  On his second attempt, he was able to get his shot.  “Seeing the underwater view of an elephant swimming in the crystal blue waters of the Andaman sea was was one of the most amazing and beautiful things I have ever witnessed.  When the elephant is swimming, its entire body slips below the surface of the water, save the top of its head and its trunk that is raised up like a snorkel.  The frustration of two trips and nearly two years of planning were instantly forgotten in that moment.”

Responding to the ever-growing demand for motion picture and online content, Aurora Photos announces the launch of Aurora Novus, its new West Coast-based company that specifically addresses the needs for digital storytelling.  Aurora Novus, located in Los Angeles, will oversee the development of new media for current and future clients seeking a multimedia format to present still photography and video, accompanied by narratives and music.  These short, powerful films range from traditional, documentary-style to experimental and edgy productions.

For more information and samples of Aurora Novus’ work visit: http://www.auroranovus.com/.