Illustrator Matt Weems is bringing Victorian back. Dubbing his style “19th Century Ink,” he draws on the black and white woodcut and idyllic styles of the late 1800s to early 1900s, adding his own unique, sometimes subversive, point of view.

“There’s something rich that happens when you can tie into past work that has meaning to the public in terms of style, but used for a client’s modern purposes with original art,” he says. “There’s an inherent emotional impact.”

Matt gets inspiration from illustrators like Maurice Sendak and William Wallace Denslow, who did the original Wizard of Oz illustrations. More recently, Edward Gorey paved the way to revisit stark and startling illustrations in the classic style.

“Sometimes an assignment – like the Antiquarian Book Fair poster – will have me actually working off a piece of existing art, adding extensions or embellishments to give it new life. Other times, I get to create from scratch,” he explains.

“You don’t see that old pen and ink style too often anymore,” says Matt, “but I love it. It’s really challenging to strip communication down to the essentials of lines in black and white, but when you get it right, it stands out.”

Matt is also known for his technical and photo-real illustrations. You can see more of his commercial and editorial work right here.

Preparing to launch their new custom-made men’s suits, Macy’s tapped veteran photographer Steve Belkowitz for their Tailor Square brand’s first ever photo shoot. But with an all new internal team, and no visual precedents, Steve quickly realized his shoot would have to be made-to-fit as well.

“It was a bit unconventional,” laughs Steve. “There was no producer on their side, no shot list. “They casually threw in a request to take video of every still shot. So, yeah, we had to really have our side buttoned up.”

Shot over two consecutive days, Steve and his crew of six staged at his studio each morning before heading out to cover five locations per day. “It was about a hundred degrees, pretty tough on the models. We’d finish one location, try to cool them down and dress them for the next shot. Oh, did I mention it was also raining off and on?”

Fortunately for Tailor Square, Steve has seen, and managed, his share of challenging shoots over the years. An accomplished lifestyle and portrait photographer, he’s created high impact images for clients from Under Armour to Samsung to Wells Fargo.

“Tailor Square is just launching,” says Steve, “so we had to help them show more than the clothes. It’s about the brand and the lifestyle.” The brand will use the visual assets for their inaugural lookbook, as well as online communications. “In the end, I think we got some really good shots,” Steve says.

Next up, Steve is prepping for shoots with PECO, Pennsylvania’s energy utility as well as Vanguard Funds. You can see more of his high energy, highly-awarded work here.

Still and motion photographer Christina Schmidhofer does not want you to merely look at her images. “I want people to feel invited in,” she says. “You should feel the weather of the flowers, taste the cold water on the blueberries, smell the braised chicken coming off the pan.”

Christina brings her soft, tangible style to clients from Williams Sonoma to Walmart, Pottery Barn to Treasury Wine Estates, working on location or from her light-infused San Francisco studio. A native of Austria, she may surprise you on set with homemade Wiener Frühstück or Eiscafe between shots. “On a shoot I’m high energy and exacting with detail, but we have to have fun, too,” she says.

Away from work, you’ll find Christina with a camera in her hand, usually chasing her daughter around. Reflecting her professional aesthetic, she’s an avid gardener, baker, traveller and thrower of dinner parties. You can see more of her still life, food and lifestyle work here.

Here’s a quick roundup of some of the latest work from our photographers and illustrators.

Graphic Artist Filip Yip: Scenes of San Francisco
Known for his versatility and deep portfolio of icons, logos, infographics and more, designer Filip Yip captured the spirit of San Francisco in his recent icon designs.

Matt Weems: Sales Engine
No summer vacation for Illustrator Matt Weems. First he captured the entirety of monetization culture in one high-impact image.

Then he channeled the classic 1930s pen and ink style, manipulating and extending existing art for the modern purposes of the Antiquarian Book Fair.

Will Strawser: Farm to Table
Working in evocative video snippets, photographer and director Will Strawser explores concepts of farm to table, and all the steps between. Here’s a first peek at a longer project to come.

Carolyn Vibbert: Flavors of Summer
Long after the picnics and barbecues have ended, we’ll still have these tasty illustrations from Carolyn Vibbert to hold onto until next summer.

“I do love summer,” says Carolyn Vibbert about the inspiration behind her collection of eternally sunny illustrations. “I hike, canoe, swim in the ocean. And when I’m illustrating, I combine that feeling with the message the client is trying to communicate.”

Solving the puzzle of communication plus emotion is what has driven Carolyn’s extensive career. Her styles range from whimsical brush strokes to fine lines to cut paper, but through it all is a thread of human insight and warmth.

“Design principles are very important to me,” she says. “I love figuring out how to tell a story with shapes and color.” She’s done just that for notable clients ranging from Clorox to Quaker to Safeway.

Want to keep Summer going? You can find more of Carolyn’s work from all seasons right here.

With plenty of experience in both food and lifestyle shoots, photographer Nader Khouri always gets a thrill when he gets to combine both skill sets. “They’re two specialties that require two sets of knowledge,” he says. “I love the challenge of doing them together.”

For Vivino, a popular wine app, Nader planned two distinct approaches. “First we did a shoot in my studio with a hand model and the app,” he explains. “Then on day two we headed out to the bar…the wine bar, that is… to capture lifestyle shots with the founder, Heini Zachariassen and CEO, Chris Tsakalakis.”

“I have to know the way light moves through liquid and how it highlights food, and also how to frame people’s faces with light and shadow,” he says, on the differences between the two specialties. “I have to be meticulous enough to bring the most out of a studio shoot, but nimble enough to guide a location shoot.”

“And, I’m experienced enough to know when to bring in reinforcements,” he laughs. “For a shoot like this I’ll usually pull in a first AD and a digital tech who also have a balance of studio, people and location skills.”

Thirsty for more of Nader’s work? Find more proof of his ability to seamlessly glide between studio, location, food and lifestyle right here.

Illustrator Shane Johnson’s latest job was to draw something that doesn’t exist yet. “I was asked to create visual concepts for a music-focused venue being developed in San Francisco,” he explains, “and the interior is still just studs and nails.”

Called the Music City Hit Factory, the venue is slated to include a bar and casual dining, performance stage for live shows, hotel, recording studios, classrooms, and exhibits showcasing the San Francisco music scene and supporting local artists.

Dean Weldon Exhibits, the curation team involved in restoring the historic building where the venue will live, plans to use Shane’s drawings for fundraising purposes.

An avid music fan himself, Shane listened to a mix of artists from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Lord Huron for inspiration while working on the project. You can see more of Shane’s illustration and character design work here.

“I love ice cream,” says retoucher Rachel Kissel, “so looking at these shots all day was the most difficult part of the job.” Rachel recently wrapped a substantial composite for Häagen-Dazs’ new non-dairy flavors.

The packaging for their Trio product was shot in pieces: three different shots for the different layers of flavor, plus separate shots of the inclusions – that’s food industry speak for mix-ins like chocolate-covered peanuts or cookie chunks.

Rachel meticulously optimized each individual element, then united them into one tempting visual to clearly communicate what’s inside each flavor.

Other elements were developed for social media and marketing purposes, like in-store posters and clings for windows or dipping cabinets.

“I could never pick a favorite flavor,” laughs Rachel. “It’s whichever one I’m staring at.” In addition to food, Rachel is deeply experienced in composite and retouching work in categories including people, nature, sports apparel and more. You can see more of her highly-finessed work here.

“Car designers are artists,” says Photographer Eric Frazier.  “I like to find the little details and subtle shapes they spend time on that most people miss.”

Known primarily for his people and lifestyle work, Eric has also shot a number of car jobs over the last few years. “It’s a nice change of pace,” he says. “Cars never get tired in the middle of a shoot. And you don’t have to feed them,” he laughs.

Often called on to shoot prototypes and pre-production models no one has ever seen, his shoot prep begins with simple observation. “I like to just look at the car for awhile, get a feel for the shape and lines. There’s a personality to every car. And different personalities of the people that will buy them.”

While not a deeply obsessed ‘car guy,’ Eric appreciates them in his own way. “They can be the perfect marriage of form and function,” he says. “The way the designers work creatively within the constraints of the vehicle’s price and purpose is so interesting to me.”

Eric has partnered with brands including Toyota, Lexus, Chrysler, Hyundai and Acura. You can see more of his people, places and machines portfolio here.