Calm is an elusive emotion. It seems like the world is set up to stress us out – and for good reason. When we’re stressed we act impulsively, and not always in our best interest. That can mean buying products we don’t need or indulging when we normally wouldn’t. That’s for most of us. But some of us have to act valiantly under pressure, under stress. For those people, they have to find a calm in any situation where they can work from a place of power. That’s the topic of this month’s cover story of The Observer Magazine, and the publication invited Kyle Bean to bring the concept to life in a single image. Of course, Kyle went above and beyond. Teaming up with London-based photographer Sara Morris, Kyle invested in an inventive concept that he was able to explore in a series of different executions. Remembering the old steady hand buzzer games where the player is meant to navigate a metal wand over a fixed pathway or risk a light and buzzer, Kyle created the same game but used the pathway as a way to communicate. In the first incarnation, Kyle spelled out “CALM” to be emblazoned across the front of the magazine. He kept it going by also engaging the light, and with those two images was able to create a GIF that shows the light blinking as if there were failure. A second version of the concept uses the metal path to illustrate an EKG’s reading of the human heart. Both versions of Kyle and Morris’ creation play on what it means to stay calm under pressure, even when the challenge is the calm. These moments are indescribably crucial: Sully Sullenberger landing US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River or South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster ordering evacuation ahead of a hurricane. These choices can often involve the lives of thousands and depend upon acting with a clear head. Finding calm under immense stress is a skill and a tool, and one that you never know you may need until everything is on the line. Does that stress you out?

The Digital Age has done more than merely change how we interact with one another socially, it’s also reshaped the entire economy. With these new relationships have come new jobs, and some of those jobs are super niche. Emoji Designers, playlist curators, international tutors, all these specialized jobs (and hundreds more) are only possible thanks to our online culture. And some of them are a little hard to explain. The Economist recently started a series on the 21st-Century jobs and asked Ryan McAmis to help bring them to life. Each article describing the stories behind these particular careers is preceded with a 3D mixed media collage from Ryan that offers a characterization of the worker and their unique career. Because Ryan uses a bevy of different materials, each creation is filled with different textures and colors, as well as surprising depth and emotion. Because of the sophisticated simplicity of the compositions, Ryan has to be careful about the choices he makes, and that affords him the opportunity to experiment a little bit. In the latest piece about the Emoji Designer, Ryan saw the chance to include a special light feature for the first time ever. He used a dollhouse light to give the designer’s phone a familiar glow. “I don’t know why, it just kind of pops into my head and it just works,” says Ryan. “And then after I photographed it, I tweaked it in Photoshop to make it look even better.” Part of the fun of these pieces is introducing whole new careers to an audience that’s generally of the traditional capitalism and commerce model. Ryan similarly doesn’t run into these unique careers frequently, so he’s finding it to be an educational experience himself. By approaching it this way, he’s become the ideal voice to introduce The Economist’s readers to this newer edge of the economy. “I’m terrible with technology so the one I’m doing today I had to do a lot of research on so I’m learning a lot,” explains Ryan. “I’m trying to explain it to people that don’t know either.” All of us, whether we’re creating brand new jobs for ourselves or watching them form from the outside, are better served by actively pursuing a greater understanding of the new economic landscape. Thanks to Ryan and The Economist we can learn a little more every day.

Rideshare apps have changed how accessible travel is to the average rider. We no longer have to scour the streets for available cabs or the yellow pages for drivers. Instead, our next trip is at the tip of our fingers when we log into our phones. But once you hail a ride: how do you find the car that’s come to pick you up? Lyft has solved that with Lyft Amp, a window display in the driver’s car set to alert the passenger they’re picking up. The brand most recently contracted Serial Cut to help them promote the new service and the results are glowing. Most riders have to read practically every license plate that drives by them when searching for their ride, but the Lyft Amp emits a colored light to make it easier. Serial Cut jumped on that feature and showed it off without even picturing the product in the trio of ads. Instead, Serial Cut created a series of three dimensional CGI cityscapes, in locations familiar to rider shares. There’s one at the airport, another in a skyscraper downtown district, and a third in a more residential neighborhood. Each cityscape shows a glow coming from the street showing a Lyft driver coming to pick up their passenger. Each ad is angled to the massive fleet that works with Lyft to turn their cars into moneymakers, creating a sense of industry and self-reliance, while also tugging on the pride that comes with personal responsibility. By hiding the car in each composition, Serial Cut allows the audience to imagine themselves as the driver, picking up their new passenger, creating a relationship with a customer and engaging self-reliant industry – all while lighting up someone’s trip to their next adventure.

Jonah Hills’ big break came more than 20 years ago when he starred in Superbad alongside Michael Cera and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. He continued to prove himself a formidable actor over the coming years, but his original pursuit was always to be on the other side of the camera. This year we’ll finally see Jonah Hill in the form he always imagined for himself, the role of Director. This week’s New Yorker features a cover story about the writer turned actor turned director with photographs by Marco Grob. Marco offers two portraits of Hill, the cover is a complex black and white while the inner photographs is a much more straightforward color image. On the cover, Marco engaged every bit of light mastery, employing a collection of sources that cover together on Hill’s face, freezing him into a dynamic representation that is scarcely offered in traditional portraiture. The composition is exacting with an entire light meant just to highlight his left eye, creating a look that is striking. It pulls Hill out of the expected trope of a youthful funny man into the aesthetics typically reserved for Orson Wells and Alfred Hitchcock. A duotone blur at the edges of red and blue add to the otherworldly quality of the image.  On the inside of the magazine, Marco offers a more convention photograph of Hill, one dressed in the clothes he wore to the companion interview, once that invites us to the table to sit with him and hear him and his story. It’s not the same story that we’ll see in Hill’s upcoming mid90s, nor is it the story whose lines he’s spoken for the last two decades. It’s his story, one that he’s still writing but we’re welcome to hear.

When brands come to photographers it’s for one of two reasons: either the photographer fits exactly with the brand’s established aesthetic or they want to explore something new. The Selby’s latest campaign with Polo Ralph Lauren is in the latter camp, an opportunity to play in the middle ground between the brand’s heritage and Todd’s techniques. And the results are a lot of fun. “Polo Ralph Lauren has such a strong singular image around what they do and then I have a strong point of view about what I do, and they have such a clean aesthetic and I’m a maximalist, but we connect on the positivity,” Todd explains. “Everything I do is an endorsement of the people that I photograph. I find these amazing people and share them with the world. And I think that Polo really celebrates people and personal style, and I think that celebration of American style was the way that we connected.” The shoot was an exposition of families preparing to go back to school. We think of Polo Ralph Lauren as an exclusive fashion brand, but this was a great opportunity to present a more accessible identity. “It's nice that Polo Ralph Lauren is a fashion brand but it’s also embracing people,” says Todd. “They’re not preaching exclusivity or exclusion, so it’s very inclusive which is very American and also very positive. I really appreciate that.” Todd’s work has always been an expression of authenticity and an invitation into the lives of his subjects, and they were able to do that while still showing off the best from what Polo Ralph Lauren has to offer. “It was really cool,” Todd says. “They were really open with me doing my thing. Once we found these great families and got them in the clothes, it was very them but it’s also very me. So, it was kind of one of those ideal situations.”

Your wedding is no time to play it safe and this summer Harper’s Bazaar proved the point highlighting 14 surprising wedding dresses choices they picked for beach weddings. The story, photographed in Turks and Caicos, features makeup by Victor Henao whose balance of light and texture make the models look as natural as they do elegant. His masterful eye proves you don’t have to get gussied up to match the high fashion choices on the momentous day. With photography by Christopher Ferguson and styling by Carrie Goldberg, Victor and the creative team were able to create captivating images that feel luxurious without being distracted by fashion. Each image is a holistic composition where every element suffuses into a balanced aesthetic. Victor's light touch expresses energy and grace in a way that feels supremely authentic.