Modern Photographers / V

Cole is best known for her underwater photography, but her other studio practice during the cold months in Toronto is an ongoing series of wet collodion photographs. This heavily analog process from the 19th Century is a years-long endeavor of revitalization and experimentation, offering modern day viewers an understanding of what it took to develop photographs in the early days of its invention. Cole has added her own unique take on the process by adding a layer of color in contrast to the usual sepia tones associated with the genre. The resulting wet plate photographs are tactile and dimensional dances between light and shadow, past and present, depicting women in timeless dreamscapes. We asked her a few questions about this specific project

Lia: A Body Building Story is the documentary study of a woman training for a body building competition to be held in November 2022. She competed in the category of “figures” which entails posing in 6 different viewpoints to show her muscle definition and stature. The project is the look into a world that most people do not know nor understand. The photographs tell her story of training, diet control, beauty preparations and finally the competition in November in San Antonio, chronicling every stage of the process.

In 2022, after two years of strict lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic, Cuba’s precarious economy, already damaged by decades of embargo and whose primary sector of activity derives from tourism, had plunged into a desperate phase. The crisis hit worse due to Russia Ukraine war with the consequent difficulty in finding primary necessities such as wheat.

Since 2008 I’ve been interested in pinhole photography. Nowadays I’m working with a Zero 2000 6×6, a Zero 6×9 Multi Format camera and a Zero 810, using both a black and white and a color film. The photographs composing this portfolio are realized using this technique.

This is a work I shot in Central Park, New York, in November 2016, for the first time collaborating with Annie Leibovitz for the Moncler brand. It was arranged by Eli Klein Gallery, and we completed two works at the time: one was in the most historically significant bookstore next to Central Park, and the other was this piece, completed in Central Park. We entered the park from the northwest side, and Leibovitz chose a backdrop of high-rise buildings, but I hoped and insisted on capturing the authentic autumn and tranquility of New York City, and finally convinced Leibovitz. Together, we completed this piece.

From the late 1950s, Bernd and Hilla Becher initiated a photographic inventory of the architectural heritage from the industrial era, then marked by obsolescence and destined for disappearance. Their photographs, perfectly neutral due to their adherence to a systematic protocol, unveil the formal variations among the buildings photographed (blast furnaces, gas holders, water towers, etc.), which they refer to as ‘Anonymous Sculptures’.

Seoul was starting January 2024 in a white world due to the heaviest snowfall in 42 years. I was so happy to see snow falling in Seoul that I walked around Cheonggyecheon with my camera. Unlike cities with tall buildings in North America, where I live, the old market and Dongdaemun, which lead to narrow alleys, and the snow piled up below Cheonggyecheon made me happy. The family was happy to see snow for the first time in a long time, and the father in the family was happy like a child, running along Cheonggyecheon. It was like he had returned to his childhood.

I am an astronomy, landscape and night cityscape photographer and I propose fine art images. My photographs celebrate the wonder that the night hours can offer, creating fascination in the viewer in discovering how much light there is in the darkness.

Conundrum is a poetic reflection on human beings and our existence on earth. The human strives to be loved, find meaning in life and hide our failings. After all, we're all just humans, trying to do our best to create a meaningful life during the limited time that we have been given