6 Reasons Universities Are Building Media Labs Now — from edtechmagazine.com by Brad Grimes
Digital production centers help institutions close the gap between academic training and professional practice.

Higher education is undergoing a significant transformation in how it prepares the next generation of media professionals. Across the country, universities are investing in state-of-the-art media labs — facilities built not around traditional classroom instruction, but around the tools, workflows and collaborative environments that define today’s professional production landscape. These spaces represent a fundamental rethinking of what it means to train students for careers in film, animation, gaming and digital storytelling.

 

Navid Baraty’s Atmospheric Photos Explore Contrasting Scales of Time — from thisiscolossal.com by Navid Baraty and Kate Mothes

When we consider that enormous metropolises like New York City and Chicago have only come into being within the past few hundred years, it’s impossible not to stand in awe of ancient cultural sites that have existed for millennia or geological features that expose millions—even billions—of years of the planet’s natural history. For Navid Baraty, the contrasts and tensions of contemporary urban life and timeless landscapes merge in otherworldly photographs.

Baraty’s series The Time Between juxtaposes cityscapes with dramatic terrain, from desert dunes to snow-capped mountains. The project revolves around images in which two distinct digital photographs converge in a composite, drawing on the film technique of double exposure and exploring ideas of permanence, presence, and the “space between different scales of time,” the artist says.

 

Street Artists Take On Monumental Infrastructure in ‘Impossible’ Photos — from thisiscolossal.com by Kate Mothes and Joseph Ford


Also see:

2025 Photo Awards Winner: Jonah Reenders — from booooooom.com by Jonah Reenders

 

Dueling Hares and Leaping Toads Top the 2026 British Wildlife Photography Awards — from thisiscolossal.com by Kate Mothes & various photographers


Also see:

Spectral Birds Endemic to New Zealand Find New Life in Fiona Pardington’s Portraits — from thisiscolossal.com by Kate Mothes and Fiona Pardington

 

Rediscover a Rembrandt After More than Six Decades in Hiding — from thisiscolossal.com by Kate Mothese and Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (Rembrandt)

In 1898, Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum staged an exhibition of paintings by renowned Dutch Golden Age artist Rembrandt (1606-1669). Included in this show was a 23-by-19-inch oil painting titled “Vision of Zacharias in the Temple,” which was completed in 1633, relatively early in the artist’s career. Fast-forward to 1960, and the work was deemed to have not actually been made by Rembrandt. Despite that in the past it had been catalogued as part of his oeuvre, that was no longer the case. So, a private collector purchased it in 1961, from which point on, it remained out of sight—until now.


Also from thisiscolossal.com, see:

Scale the Dramatic Verticality of Grundtvigs Kirke in David Altrath’s Dreamy Photos — from thisiscolossal.com by Kate Mothes and David Altrath

 

See the Best of Nearly Half a Million Entries to the Sony World Photography Awards — from thisiscolossal.com by Kate Mothes & various others

For its 19th edition, the Sony World Photography Awards welcomed over 430,000 submissions for its Open competition from photographers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe. Ten categories, ranging from portraiture to landscapes to travel, encompass the staggering breadth and beauty of nature and society captured throughout 2025.
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Also see:

Journey Through Autumn and Winter in Robinsson Cravents’ Hand-Drawn ‘Yosemite’ — from thisiscolossal.com by Grace Ebert

 

 

12 Photographer Portfolios Packed With Ideas and Inspiration — from booooooom.com



Speaking of photography, also see:

Photographer Spotlight: Pelle Cass — from booooooom.com

 

 



“Whither Rivers Flow” by Photographer Ximeng Tu — from booooooom.com by Ximeng Tu


Zaha Hadid Architects completes waterfront stadium and sports centre in Guangzhou — from dezeen.com by Amy Peacock

 

Adobe Reinvents its Entire Creative Suite with AI Co-Pilots, Custom Models, and a New Open Platform — from theneuron.ai by Grant Harvey
Adobe just put an AI co-pilot in every one of its apps, letting you chat with Photoshop, train models on your own style, and generate entire videos with a single subscription that now includes top models from Google, Runway, and Pika.

Adobe came to play, y’all.

At Adobe MAX 2025 in Los Angeles, the company dropped an entire creative AI ecosystem that touches every single part of the creative workflow. In our opinion, all these new features aren’t about replacing creators; it’s about empowering them with superpowers they can actually control.

Adobe’s new plan is to put an AI co-pilot in every single app.

  • For professionals, the game-changer is Firefly Custom Models. Start training one now to create a consistent, on-brand look for all your assets.
  • For everyday creators, the AI Assistants in Photoshop and Express will drastically speed up your workflow.
  • The best place to start is the Photoshop AI Assistant (currently in private beta), which offers a powerful glimpse into the future of creative software—a future where you’re less of a button-pusher and more of a creative director.

Adobe MAX Day 2: The Storyteller Is Still King, But AI Is Their New Superpower — from theneuron.ai by Grant Harvey
Adobe’s Day 2 keynote showcased a suite of AI-powered creative tools designed to accelerate workflows, but the real message from creators like Mark Rober and James Gunn was clear: technology serves the story, not the other way around.

On the second day of its annual MAX conference, Adobe drove home a message that has been echoing through the creative industry for the past year: AI is not a replacement, but a partner. The keynote stage featured a powerful trio of modern storytellers—YouTube creator Brandon Baum, science educator and viral video wizard Mark Rober, and Hollywood director James Gunn—who each offered a unique perspective on a shared theme: technology is a powerful tool, but human instinct, hard work, and the timeless art of storytelling remain paramount.

From DSC:
As Grant mentioned, the demos dealt with ideation, image generation, video generation, audio generation, and editing.


Adobe Max 2025: all the latest creative tools and AI announcements — from theverge.com by Jess Weatherbed

The creative software giant is launching new generative AI tools that make digital voiceovers and custom soundtracks for videos, and adding AI assistants to Express and Photoshop for web that edit entire projects using descriptive prompts. And that’s just the start, because Adobe is planning to eventually bring AI assistants to all of its design apps.


Also see Adobe Delivers New AI Innovations, Assistants and Models Across Creative Cloud to Empower Creative Professionals plus other items from the News section from Adobe


 

 

Cosmic Wonders Abound in the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest — from thisiscolossal.com by Kate Mothes and various/incredible photographers

 

The Top 100 [Gen AI] Consumer Apps 5th edition — from a16z.com


And in an interesting move by Microsoft and Samsung:

A smarter way to talk to your TV: Microsoft Copilot launches on Samsung TVs and monitors — from microsoft.com

Voice-powered AI meets a visual companion for entertainment, everyday help, and everything in between. 

Redmond, Wash., August 27—Today, we’re announcing the launch of Copilot on select Samsung TVs and monitors, transforming the biggest screen in your home into your most personal and helpful companion—and it’s free to use.

Copilot makes your TV easier and more fun to use with its voice-powered interface, friendly on-screen character, and simple visual cards. Now you can quickly find what you’re looking for and discover new favorites right from your living room.

Because it lives on the biggest screen in the home, Copilot is a social experience—something you can use together with family and friends to spark conversations, help groups decide what to watch, and turn the TV into a shared space for curiosity and connection.

 

Dennis Lehtonen Documents a Pair of Immense Icebergs Paying a Visit to a Small Greenland Village — from thisiscolossal.com by Dennis Lehtonen and Kate Mothes

 


Excerpt:

 

A Stunning Image of the Australian Desert Illuminates the Growing Problem of Satellite Pollution — from thisiscolossal.com by Grace Ebert and Joshua Rozells

 
© 2025 | Daniel Christian