Following the legalization of gay marriage across the United States in 2015, we landed on a visual concept that would differentiate itself while staying true to NewFest’s core values to inspire dialogue, shift cultural bias, and empower the diverse LGBTQ community. Using direct light through prisms we casted a cinematic rainbow across faces in a series of portraits. In essence, taking the rainbow – traditionally found in the Pride flag – and moving it into the real world.

Prisms were used to redirect light onto the portrait subjects' face. While serendipitous sunlight is traditional used for prism imagery, a more reproducible approach was needed to shoot in studio.

After tests, a rig was designed using a focused-ellipsoidal white beam light into a big soft source as a key light. A stick of three prisms was placed in the beam, redirecting light into a “sweet spot” for subjects to stand in. Post-production was used to composite exposures, some where the prism looked best and some where the key light did, to create a tastefully balanced frame.

The portrait session was held during a summer day at New York's LGBT Community Center – a cultural hub for the community. An open casting was for members to come by to have their picture taken. The diversity of the people and personalities created a dynamic range of authentic portraiture.

This was the first time in NewFest’s 30 year history that they garnered media exposure of this magnitude. Through our partnership with Kinetic, we were able to secure OOH in Times Square and other NYC neighborhoods making 2016 NewFest’s biggest year in communications and turnout.

Attendance rose by 1,500. Instagram followers increased 27%, Twitter garnered 275K impressions, and nearly 6 million Facebook engagements were documented. Traffic to the website increased by over 10,000.

We had 10 million impressions from the bus shelters and metrolights. The Times Square billboards garnered an estimated 4 million impressions. In a traditionally jarring space, the NewFest Time Square billboards were able to communicate a welcoming invitation. Robert Kushner, the Executive Director of NewFest, remarked how a young boy or girl traveling with their family might look up and seeing the letters “LGBT” shining bright above the city would feel a powerful sense of inclusion.