Name:
Joe Martinez

Aka:  
Joe Focus, J-money, Joe Martinez Photography

Website:
www.joemartinezphotography.com

Where are you from?
Always an interesting question. My parents are in the Navy, so I don’t have a “hometown” per se. We moved up and down the east coast for a while before heading out to Okinawa, Japan for 8 years (our longest deployment), so I guess technically I’m from Okinawa (aka, THE ROCK!)  

Who do you work for? 
I’m a freelance photographer so it varies, but I guess my biggest clients are Atlanta Magazine, Yahoo! Music, Converse, and Decrypt Productions.

What are your Current Project(s)? 
I just finished up shooting a couple assignments for ATL Magazine which should be in the October & November issues. Before that, I was in Europe shooting some press kit images for international singer-songwriter, Ana Free, and my good friend, Blake Brandes. We shot for two weeks in the Greek Islands; white sands, crystal clear water, and amazing weather. All in a hard days work! Next up, I’m looking to continue some personal projects and get some new promotional pieces out. Gotta stay grinding!!

Who would you love to work with?
I’d love to shoot for Monocle Magazine and GOOD Magazine. Love their design and the organic look to all of their photography. I’d also like to do some collaborative documentary work with some of my fellow young shooters here in the ATL.

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
My BRONZE Nike R9 soccer cleats. They’ve been all over the world with me, and even though the soles are finally starting to fall off, I’ll keep taping them up until they literally fall off my feet.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Ryan Leslie, Third Eye Blind, Phoenix, Maximo Park, Soulfire, Blueprint 3, J. Cole, Janelle Monae, Little Brother, Outkast, Kid Cudi, Common Market, Blu, Blue Scholars, Mos Def, Fabolous, Donnis, Frank Sinatra and John Mayerz, haha.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Western omelette from the Majestic for breakfast, Brick Burger from Brick Store for lunch, anything from 2 Urban Licks for dinner. Oh, and R. Thomas for a late night snack.

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Every time I think I’m over El Bar, I show up and fall in love all over again.

What are your Pet Peeves?
Dook University, the Cowboys not making the playoffs, dudes in super skinny jeans, Comcast, tourists, past due invoices, bad photography from good photographers, cheap labor from bad photographers.

Shout outs?
Big shout out to THE Wake Forest University, all of my fellow Demon Deacons, Coach Buck and the LuHi Crusaders, the Huge Mules, DJ Decryption (Yo Mookie!!) , Ana Free (Greecey!), Juliet & Ed, The Soulfire fam, ALL of the A.I. JOE SUPPORTERS, Treehouse crew, EC, The Graduates, Innuendo, the Columbus crew: Swellica (and Babo!) & J-Shores, Furlough Creamery, Ross “Rossome” Martin Photography, Jamie “J-Hops” Hopper Photography, Emily “E-Drizzles” Dryden Photography, Special K (Die first, then quit!), the whole Oki crew (Which Foo??), all of my OZ/NZ friends, to my little sis who just graduated from college and is already making more money than me, and to my mom (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!!) and dad…this will all be worth it one day. Hang in there with me.

I’ve been reading a lot of Atlanta Hawks Basketblogs lately, and they’ve officially confirmed that the Hawks ARE unveiling a new alternate jersey on October 25th (3 days before Opening Night). I have a feeling (actually more like verbal confirmation from the beaks of designers at ATL Spirit) that they are going to be red jerseys with ATL written across the chest… similar to my mock-up that I posted during last season’s playoffs.

This is really exciting for peeps out there that are hardcore about sports-branding like myself. Sign me up for a #27 Zaza Pachulia joint!

Head over to StandardATL.com and fill out their market research survey (it takes about 30 seconds to fill out) and receive 10% off your next purchase. Don’t be stupid.

Our homie from Charlotte, A Huf, recently released this mixtape to the web. It’s great fodder for Monday morning creativity, so check it out!

Download (via Mediafire): A Huf - The Morning After

photo taken from AJC.com

I apologize about the lack of updates lately. We, among other ATLiens, have experienced being flooded out from historic rains over the past few weeks. Here are some photos taken at our apartments by Jared Dalcourt this past Monday. Read the rest of this entry »

Check out our boy, Greg Mike, getting ready for his first solo show in San Francisco at the Medicine Agency . The show features hand painted pieces, sculptures, tee shirts, accessories, prints and collectibles designed and created over the past ten months. The centerpiece of the show is an army of 100 hand painted soda cans that have been transformed into the kaleidoscopic “POPSTARS AND COKEHEADS” characters, a playfully sinister cast of unique and eye-catching creatures. If you happen to be in San Francisco, go check out the show.

NOVEMBER 6TH, 2009
GREG MIKE’S: POPSTARS AND COKEHEADS
LOCATION: THE MEDICINE AGENCY
1262 MASON STREET. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

Mike Germon from ThoughtMarker sent in this sweet photo of him enjoying one of the last days of summer 2009 in one of our “Dirty South” trucker caps. If you want to know what’s going on in the underground art scene in ATL, his blog is the go-to spot.

Photo by Kevin Byrd

Name:
Michael Gluzman

Aka:
Gluz or The Gluz

Website:
www.michaelgluzman.com

Where are you from?
Riga, Latvia

Who do you work for?
Armchair Media, Quo Vadis, Christopher Moulder, and myself.

What are your Current Project(s)?
I just wrapped on a short film directed by David Bruckner called One for the Road on which I was the production designer. I’m also working on a miniature DIY video about the SAT Test at Armchair Media for the College Board.

Who would you love to work with?
Honestly, I’m already working with some of the people I’ve always wanted to. I get to work with Christopher Moulder, David Bruckner, Wesley Wingo, Travis Ekmark, the people of Quo Vadis, Armchair…that being said, I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to work with Teague, Frog, Formation, Ziba, or with some of the greats of cinema.

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep?
My silver Diesels.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Miike Snow, Jay-Z, David Guetta, Trentmoller.

What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Cheese Fritters and Belgian Fries from The Porter.

What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
Octane.

What are your Pet Peeves?
When people finish my sentences. People who say they will do something and never do. Pretention.

Shout outs?
Shout out to my wonderful lady, Ieva. Shout out to my family, friends, coworkers, and cohorts.

I just finished this illustration for our friend and local DJ, Rob Wonder. He’s been on tour with Scion this summer and just started a new campaign. We’ve been working on a few things with Rob so keep an eye out for more stuff to come soon. Photograph was taken by Zach Wolfe who just recently just shot the cover of Time magazine. Congrats Zach. Big things happening in Atlanta.

Here are a few close-up shots after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

I found some really awesome videos on the world wide web this week one of which was done by an Australian photographer by the name of Keith Loutit. After looking a little bit more I found that Loutit had a whole series of videos that use a combination of tilt-shift lenses and time-lapse photography. Take these two things and combine them into video and you get some really amazing imagery. Here are a few of my favorites after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

This week marked the end of a great project we did for FINN Jewelry here in New York.
EC was part of a great team assembled to give this hip jewelry company a fresh identity and new web digs.

I just wrapped development on the FINN Jewelry website. Checkout their beautiful products! The website includes some fun interactive elements that show the spirit of FINN’s creators, Soraya Silchenstedt and Candice Pool. Photography is by Alexi Lubomirski, photographer from Future Digital, another EC branding and web project. Design by Epidemik Coalition and Black Rose NYC.

Check out what our friends at Fresh.i.Am have been working on. They have just release some limited edition polished acrylic pendants which feature two distinct designs. They only made 100 of these so don’t sleep on ‘em. Check out both pendants here. Support Your Local Brands!!!

Here’s a new track from an ATL artist, PILL, that’s debuting this week on MTV Jams. What’s special is that this video was filmed and edited by our friends, Zach and Sumner respectively, from Zach Wolfe Live. This is their first music video to produce and they’ve already made it to MTV. They are batting 1.000! Congrats fellas! How many A-town landmarks can you spot?

Name:
Zach Shuta

Aka:  
I don’t have a cool moniker, but my Grandma calls me Z.

Website:
www.zachshuta.com

Where are you from?
Upstate NY, but reside in Charlotte, NC

Who do you work for? 
I freelance and also work full time for a company designing headwear and apparel for mass and mid tier retail stores.

What are your Current Project(s)? 
Right now I am doing some identity development for a couple of NHL teams. 

Who would you love to work with?
Maybe Kidrobot or Medicom. I think it would be cool to see how my 2D work would translate to the 3D world. In general, any like minded individuals interested in putting something out there. The door is always open.

If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep? 
I doubt even a hobo would want a pair of my sneakers when I get through with them. I wear my shit. I do have a pair of Air Max 90’s that are about 5 years old that are still hanging around. I’d probably keep those.

What’s on your iPod right now?
Leonard Cohen, Ill Bill, Tomahawk, Queens of the Stone Age, DOOM

What’s your Favorite Charlotte food?
The Crab Soup at Eddie’s Place

What’s your Favorite Charlotte hangout?
The Penguin is pretty much a weekly tradition for my family. Good atmosphere, great food, AND cheap beer. 

What are your Pet Peeves?
Making excuses

Shout outs?
My little man D and little girl ZoZo.