Michelle Wong
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Summer of Something Special Vol. 5

 Summer of Something Special Vol. 5

Summer of Something Special (SoSS) is an annual photo book by Something Special Studios: a visual diary of summer captured by SSS’ favorite photographers from around the globe. 2023 marks the fifth year of SSS publishing SoSS. To celebrate a half-decade of the project, we went big with Volume 5, highlighting the work of 65 photographers (instead of the usual 10 to 13). Clocking in at 428 pages, SoSS Vol. 5 is our most ambitious volume yet.

Press: Document Journal, i-D

Agency: Something Special Studios
Producer: Michelle Wong
Team: Michael Goldberg, Jillian Hoey, Joaquin Bartra, Sally Symons, Jordan Stanton, Enrique Alba, Nikki Brown, Sam Jayne, Jonathan Katav, Cris Martinez, Vivian Mak, Xena Brar, Sharlene Deng
Photography: Enrique Alba, Adam Powell, Kadar R. Small, Emily Sarah DLT

We curated featured photographers through a mix of outreach to talent we admire and community submissions — the latter of which introduced us to some new favorites (and does so year after year). Featured photographers include:

  • Aaron Deng

  • Adali Schell

  • Adam Jason Cohen

  • Alima Lee

  • Ania Freer

  • Anna Pollack

  • Asato Iida

  • Ashley Markle

  • Carlos Jaramillo

  • Caroline Xia

  • Chris Llerins

  • Devlin Claro

  • Edward Martin Shaughnessy V

  • Elisa Sue Young Park

  • Erinn Springer

  • Francis Plummer

  • Gili Benita

  • Grade Solomon

  • Grady Neilan

  • Hailey Heaton

  • Heather Sten

  • Henry O. Head

  • Honglin Cai

  • Igor Furtado

  • Jack Bool

  • Jackie Kursel

  • Jalan and Jibril Durimel

  • Jeffrey A. Tang

  • Jeremy Grier

  • Jim Longden

  • Jorge Badillo

  • June Kim

  • Kana Motojima

  • Kyle Ferino

  • Lara Lussheimer

  • Lauren Alex Kim

  • Leslie Soto

  • Lily Gavin

  • Lindsay Ellary

  • Luca Werner

  • Lucka Ngô

  • Maly Mann

  • Marcelo Gomes

  • Marco Galloway

  • Mateo Arciniegas Huertas

  • Maya Krtić

  • Mayan Toledano

  • Mecca Jihad Mshaka-Morris

  • Mikayla Miller

  • Mitch Epstein

  • Nate Langston Palmer

  • Nori Rasmussen-Martinez

  • Pauline Scotto Di Cesare

  • Rafael Rios

  • Raphaël Gaultier

  • Roberto Gramostini

  • Sandy Kim

  • Sara Messinger

  • Shirt

  • Skyler Dahan

  • Steven Traylor

  • Winter Vandenbrink

  • Zamar Velez

  • Zev Magasis

As a commemorative touch, this year's book includes a custom dust cover that unfolds to reveal a poster featuring the work of all 65 photographers. SSS donates all SoSS proceeds to Ghetto Film School — an award-winning nonprofit founded in 2000 to educate, develop, and celebrate the next generation of great storytellers.

We hosted events in NY and LA to celebrate the book's release, giving guests first access to the publication. SoSS Vol. 5 was made available for purchase on the SSS webshop and select stores, including Printed Matter (New York, NY), Iconic Magazines (New York, NY), Lichen (Queens, NY), Arcana (Culver City, CA), Dale Zine (Miami, FL), Library Fetish Palm Heights, and others.