We are excited to introduce a new episode of Picture Perfect with photographer Christopher Anderson. In this episode, we sit down with Anderson at his studio in Brooklyn to learn more about his past projects, including the life-changing assignment he took on for The New York Times Magazine in 1999. We then follow Anderson all over New York City as he captures the people and stories within the city in new and intimate ways as part of his work for New York Magazine.

Anderson is a member of Magnum Photos and internationally recognized for his emotionally charged photographs that cross the boundaries of documentary and art photography. Born in Kelowna, British Columbia Canada in 1970, Anderson grew up in Abilene, Texas, where his interest in photography grew after an early job out of university printing pictures for The Dallas Morning News. He gained recognition in 1999 when he boarded a handmade wooden boat with Haitian refugees to document their attempt to sail to America. The boat, named Believe In God, sank in the Caribbean. In 2000, the images from that harrowing journey received the Robert Capa Gold Medal.

Anderson is also known for his work as a war photographer. His images from Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and the conflict in Israel have also received international acclaim. In 2004, he traveled to Venezuela to document the self-described “revolution” of Hugo Chavez. The resulting book, Capitolio (RM 2009), was named one of the best photographic books of 2010 at the Kassels Photobook Festival, and has since been turned into a groundbreaking app for iPhone and iPad. In our exclusive bonus footage, Anderson gives us a tour of an exhibition of portraits of New York-based war photographers. He explains that he made the photographs on the weekend after Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros’ death in Libya and gives us a glimpse into this very tight community. The show opened as a benefit to RISC, an organization that was started by Sebastian Junger and whose aim is to make things safer for photographers and journalists on the front lines.

Anderson was one of the early members of the agency VII, formed by legendary photographers James Nachtwey and Antonin Kratochvil. He joined Magnum Photos in 2005. He has served as a contract photographer for Newsweek and National Geographic Magazine, and is currently the first ever “Photographer in Residence” at New York Magazine.

We are proud to announce the release of the fourth episode of Picture Perfect featuring Vincent Fournier. In this episode, Picture Perfect visits Fournier at his studio in Paris, France where we talk about his unique process, inspirations and distinct style that merges fantasy with reality in photographs of robots, research facilities, otherworldly landscapes and cosmonauts. We then travel with Fournier to Cape Canaveral, Florida as he documents NASA’s Kennedy Space Center prior to the last space shuttle launch.

Born in Burkina Faso, photographer Vincent Fournier spent the majority of his childhood in Brittany, France. Earning degrees in visual arts and sociology at Montpellier, Fournier went on to study at l’Ecole Nationale de la Photographie in Arles. Fournier’s frequent visits to the Palais de la Decouverte Museum of Science as a child planted the seeds for what would become the focus of his work. Fascinated by the magic of machinery, Fournier’s photographs explore humanity’s relationship with technology and attempts at using it to gain an understanding of the world. Staging his subjects in controlled environments, Fournier’s images mix fantasy with reality while introducing an element of futuristic irony.

For his ongoing Space Project, Fournier’s stylized vision is realized at some of the world’s most prominent space centers: Gagarine Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow (Russia), Mars Desert Research Station in Utah (US), observatories in the Atacama Desert (Chile), and the Guyana Space Center in Kourou (French Guiana). In this episode, we follow Fournier to the NASA Kennedy Space Center. During this long awaited visit, Picture Perfect documents Fournier’s process in finding his unique point of view on-location as he captures the vast expanse of the center and the space shuttles Discovery and Atlantis.

This year’s SXSW music conference was long, loud and lurky. We did not sleep much nor did we eat much. We were too busy bee-boppin’ around venues, visiting friends and sponsoring events. Of the many shows and parties we attended our favorite of the week would have to be the ‘Best In Show’ showcase at Trailer Space Records. Located next door to East Side Pies and across the street from Ideal Soul Mart, this beautiful record shop played host to hundreds of all-ages music fans and more than 30 musical guests, (including Thee Oh Sees, La Sera, King Tuff, Strange Boys, Vomettes and White Mystery). Thanks to the efforts of organizers Jonathan Harry Weinberg, Col. Abe, Volar Records and Trailer Space owner Spot, the party struck just the right balance between a raw DIY punk show and a simple neighborly visit with friends.

As for MWTX 5—WOW!!! Transmission Entertainment, FYF Fest Productions and the East Side Drive-In definitely pulled it off again. It was a joy to participate for the fourth year in a row in an event so consistently fun, friendly, and energetic. Over 55,000 people rsvp’d on mwtxparty.com, (of which more than 20,000 attended the all-day party), making it once more the largest unofficial event of the entire music conference. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to Rosa, Johnny, Brendan, Graham and Max at Transmission Entertainment, and to Sean, Phil, Mike and Kate at FYF Fest Productions.

Vice Late Night ran 12 midnight to 4AM on the final night of the conference. Harsh tokes for tired folks. After a 12-hour day spent shooting photos in the hot hot sun, doling out a few thousand Incase Slider Cases for iPhone 4, and watching a zillion bands at MWTX and Trailer Space we were reasonably certain we might not make it to the brutal end. But thanks to Thee Oh Sees, OFF!, and Odd Future we certainly did. In true Vice fashion the party was a bewildering mess held in a blown out vacant bank building. Booming sound, rumpled fashions on crumpled hipsters, dim lighting, happy cops and a few hundred friends… Classic. It was a great (albeit exhausting) late night lurk. Thanks again to Shanon Kelley and Stewart Stone, you are like angel babies in our arms. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Performances by OFF!, Thee Oh Sees and Odd Future. Bring ear plugs and a quadruple espresso. You’ll DEFINITELY need both. And maybe a pillow. The first 250 maniacs through the door will receive Incase Slider Cases for iPhone 4 (AT&T and Verizon compatible). We look forward to seeing you there!