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Win a Solo Exhibition this February. Juror: Harvey Stein
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Zak van Biljon
Zak van Biljon
Zak van Biljon

Zak van Biljon

Country: South Africa
Birth: 1981

Red turf is the homeland of Zak van Biljon. The South African photographer, born 1981, spent his childhood and teenage years in both Johannesburg and Cape Town. In 2003 he graduated as best student at the National College of Photography. With a study of black & white printing – ironically, for someone who grew up under the colorful impressions of the Rainbow Nation.

In 2004 he left the country and emigrated to Europe. It was in Rome, where he discovered another sunlight and in London, where he scored himself on top of booking lists for prestigious underground labels. He continued his career as a part-time commercial photographer in Zurich, Switzerland, exerting his mastery to his fine art projects.

His work range from digital to analog with skills in contemporary advertising and modern art photography. His main focus is the directorial handling of light – as shown in his recent art work, capture the world in infrared. The world seen in red and pink colors provides a new and impressive insight to reality as we know it.

Website

zakvanbiljon.com

 

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More Great Photographers To Discover

Ralph Gibson
Ralph Gibson
United States
1939
Ralph Gibson is an American art photographer best known for his photographic books. His images often incorporate fragments with erotic and mysterious undertones, building narrative meaning through contextualization and surreal juxtaposition. Ralph Gibson studied photography while in the US Navy and then at the San Francisco Art Institute. He began his professional career as an assistant to Dorothea Lange and went on to work with Robert Frank on two films. Gibson has maintained a lifelong fascination with books and book-making. Since the appearance in 1970 of The Somnambulist, his work has been steadily impelled towards the printed page. To date he has produced over 40 monographs, his most current projects being State of the Axe published by Yale University Press in Fall of 2008 and Nude by Taschen (2009). His photographs are included in over one hundred and fifty museum collections around the world, and have appeared in hundreds of exhibitions. Gibson has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1973, 1975, 1986), a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (D.A.A.D.) Exchange, Berlin (1977), a New York State Council of the Arts (C.A.P.S.) fellowship (1977), and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1985). The Rencontres d'Arles festival presented his work in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1989 and 1994. I embrace the abstract in photography and exist on a few bits of order extracted from the chaos of reality. -- Ralph Gibson His book Syntax received a mention for the Rencontres d'Arles Book Award in 1983. He was decorated as an Officier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1986) and appointed, Commandeur de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2005) by the French government. His awards include: Leica Medal of Excellence Award (1988), "150 Years of Photography" Award, Photographic Society of Japan (1989), a Grande Medaille de la Ville d'Arles (1994) and the Lucie Award for lifetime achievement (2008). Gibson also received an honorary doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of Maryland (1991), and a second honorary doctorate from the Ohio Wesleyan University (1998). He has worked exclusively with Leica for almost 50 years. Gibson currently lives in New York and travels frequently to Europe and Brazil.Source: Wikipedia Having begun his acclaimed photographic career as an apprentice to the great documentarians Dorothea Lange and Robert Frank, Ralph Gibson is known for his highly distinctive vision in still photography. By intensifying contrast and emphasizing the grain of the film in his prints, Gibson concentrates on the minute details: the edge of a café table, the arc of a hip, the glint of a fork. Gibson’s works are both formally vigorous and eternally evocative. His photographs are in major private and public collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.Source: Weston Gallery I’m interested in producing truncated shapes in proportion to the frame and composition, shapes that are preferably luminous. I’m not interested in the full-figure. I want to abstract forms. -- Ralph Gibson
James Houston
James Houston
Australia
James Houston's background as a sculptor helped shape and influence his graphic photographic style. Australian born, Houston celebrates beauty and the human form, creating sensual iconic portraits and international campaigns for L'Oreal Paris, GAP, Donna Karan, Hugo Boss and Givenchy. New York based Houston balances his career with passion projects that make a difference in the community. Five award winning international books have been published on his work. Houston's book MOVE (PowerHouse Books), was created to benefit various HIV/AIDS charities and raised close to US$500,000 from sales and launch events. The book project, titled MOVE FOR AIDS was launched in 2006 with the support of Elton John, Hugh Jackman, Baz Luhrmann and Sarah Murdoch. While working on MOVE FOR AIDS, Houston was shocked to learn about American attitudes towards adolescent sexuality and the impact it has on U.S. teens. This discovery inspired Houston to raise over 1 million dollars to fund his first feature documentary titled, LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX (www.letstalkaboutsexthefilm.com). The Award winning film takes a revealing look at how American attitudes towards adolescent sexuality affect today’s teenagers. The film aired nationally on the TLC network in April, 2011 with the goal of helping parents and communities understand the importance of honest and open communication. For his latest photographic project, Natural Beauty, Houston turns his eye to nature for inspiration with the goal to raise awareness for the environment and funds for environmental non profit Global Green USA. In collaboration with MILK, Houston shot a series of striking portraits of some of the world’s leading models and celebrities. These captivating photographs, bring together two of Houston’s great passions – the human form and the natural world. Natural Beauty launched at MILK Gallery NYC April 2013. Houston also directed a web series on the 'making of' Natural Beauty as well as several film installations for the exhibition. Source: www.houstonphoto.com
Robi Chakraborty
Robi Chakraborty
United States/India
1959
Originally from India, Robi Chakraborty studied photography under the prestigious O.P. Sharma at Triveni Kala Sangam Photography in New Delhi. He began his career doing both commercial and press photography in the early 1980s, but through wanderlust and with a spirit to explore, Robi became drawn to photographing the people in the cities and villages of his native India. Taking roads less traveled, Robi sought out cultures and ways of life that were quickly becoming lost in the contemporary, more homogenized world of today. With his knack for finding people and places where tradition survives in the face of modernity, Robi delves below the surface and succinctly and eloquently captures moments in time that wonderfully illustrate the connection forged with the peoples and cultures that he encounters on his journeys. His work tells his subjects' stories in a way that is relatable and invites the viewer directly into their worlds. Having lived in India, Nepal, Africa and the US, Robi portrays his global view of the world through his photography by celebrating both the diversity of his subjects yet beautifully revealing the striking similarities and capturing the humanity that we can all relate to. Discover Robi Chakraborty's Interview
Josephine Cardin
Josephine Cardin
Dominican Republic
Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Josephine Cardin is a fine arts photographer who grew up in South Florida, until moving to Boston, MA in 2006.Presently, Cardin has been developing her figurative work, inspired by music, dance, and the human themes of loneliness, isolation, melancholy, love and loss. Cardin uses both dancers, and self-portraiture to illustrate scenes that bewitch, seduce, and explore our human sensibilities; through abstract stories with a visual dialogue between the subject and the artist created through a symbiosis of harmonic gestures and magnetic artistry.Cardin's work has been published in The Spoiler�s Hand, Lucy�s, Canto, beau BU, Scope, F-Stop, and Dance Magazines; Playbill, and the book Meet The Dancers. She has exhibited with The Professional Woman Photographers, The Boca Raton Museum of Art Juried Exhibition, and with The Woman in The Visual Arts. Most recently Cardin received and honorable mention for the 2014 Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, and was selected as a finalist for the PhotoNola/International House Mary Magdalene Exhibit in New Orleans. She has done work for the Boston Ballet, Rochester City Ballet, Arts Ballet Theater, and The Broward Center for the Performing Arts; as well as work for corporate clients. Additionally she earned an artistic grant from the state of Florida, prior to her move to Boston.Always an artist in some capacity, Cardin started out as a ballet dancer, then earning her B.A. in Art History from Florida Atlantic University, followed by an M.A. in Communications from Lynn University. She went on to hold several professional jobs in the arts, while continuing to produce personal and professional photography projects as a freelancer. In 2010 Cardin focused on pursuing her fine arts career full-time. She lives and works in Rochester, NY, with her husband and two young children.
Jaime Nisenbaum
Jaime Nisenbaum
United States
1959
I am an experimental photographer based in Berkeley, California. The camera has been a faithful companion throughout my life; however, over the past 20 years, my photography slowly began shifting from documenting life to being a more intentional form of self-expression. The wide expanses of the California coast, its rugged terrain, wide vistas, and thunderous waves were my first entry point into that process. Concurrently, I was discovering and getting inspired by Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Minor White, Ann Brigman, and several other pioneers whose work celebrated and exalted the natural environment. The quiet and intimate botanical images by Imogen Cunningham, the simplicity of Harry Callaham's nature shots, along with the moody atmosphere of the early 20th-century Pictorialists like Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, and Gertrude Kasebier, have also found their way into how I think and imagine photography. The textural and sculptural properties of natural elements are a main source and inspiration for my photography. I like to think of my images as inhabiting a world between the representational and the abstract, revealing the hidden beauty and simplicity of natural forms while evoking a sense of reverence and wonderment. My photographs have won awards through the Marin County Society of Artists (CA) and Louisville Art Association National Photography Show (CO), and have been exhibited at the A.Smith Gallery (TX), Arts Square Gallery (NY), Black Box Gallery (OR), d’Art Center in Norfolk (VA), Praxis Gallery (MN), Si Gallery in Austin (TX).
Sam Haskins
Sam Haskins
United Kingdom
1926 | † 2009
Sam Haskins, was a British photographer, born and raised in South Africa. He started his career in Johannesburg and moved to London in 1968. Haskins is best known for his contribution to in-camera image montage, Haskins Posters (1973) and the 1960's figure photography trilogy Five Girls (1962), Cowboy Kate & Other Stories (1964) and November Girl (1967), plus an ode to sub-Saharan tribal Africa African Image (1967). Cowboy Kate & Other Stories was probably the first book to deliberately explore black-and-white photographic grain as a medium for expression and image design. It was highly influential at the time, sold roughly a million copies worldwide and won the Prix Nadar in France in 1964. It continues to influence contemporary photographers, filmmakers, fashion designers, and make-up artists. Cowboy Kate & Other Stories or 'Kate' as the book is often referred to, had its place in photographic history cemented in 2005 when the International Center of Photography in New York included the book in their exhibition The Open Book: A History of the Photographic Book from 1878 to the Present. November Girl contained key image collages which formed the basis of many graphic and surrealist experiments in the 1970s and 1980s. African Imagewas a visual homage to the indigenous people, culture, landscape and wildlife of sub-Saharan Africa. The images represent a lifelong interest in photographing graphically stimulating environments and formally document his passion for the indigenous craft. He broke bones on river rapids and wrote off two Volvo saloon cars on African dirt roads while shooting the book. Despite its international award, this meticulously constructed book, celebrating a love for sub-Saharan Africa, is probably the least known of his major creative projects, but it is coveted by serious collectors of African art and photography. In 1968, Haskins moved to London and ran a studio in Glebe Place just off the King's Road. He worked as an advertising photographer for international consumer brands Asahi Pentax, Bacardi, Cutty Sark whisky, Honda, BMW, Haig whisky, DeBeers, British Airways, Unilever and Zanders, and specialised in the art direction and shooting of calendars, especially for Asahi Pentax in Japan. Although he endorsed Hasselblad for a short period in the late 1960s and early 1970s, his loyalty to the medium format 6x7 camera and lenses from Asahi resulted in a rare long-term association between a camera manufacturer and photographer. From 1970 to 2000, Asahi Optical (later Pentax) produced 30 calendars, of which Haskins shot and art-directed 15 editions including the millennium calendar. No other photographer was invited to contribute more than once. He is still involved with the Pentax Forum Gallery in Tokyo, which hosts his exhibitions. His first contact came in 1967, when Asahi Optical presented him with a 35 mm camera after hearing that he had shot African Image with various competitors' products. In 1972, he produced his first colour book, Haskins Posters. The large-format publication contained pages printed on one side using thick stiff paper and a soft glue perfect binding allowing the pages to be removed and used as posters. Haskins and Alida successfully published the book internationally through their own company, Haskins Press. The book won a gold award at the New York One Show. At the time the best-known image from Haskins Posters, a girl's face superimposed on an apple with a bee near the stem, appeared on the cover or in editorials of almost every major photographic magazine around the world. This image was part of a well-publicised visual and graphic experimentation with the apple theme in the 1970s that for a while resulted in photographic journalists nicknaming him 'Sam the Apple man'. He suffered a stroke on 19 September 2009 the opening day of his exhibition to launch Fashion Etcetera at Milk Gallery in New York, and died at home in Bowral, Australia, nine weeks later.Source: Wikipedia
Trevor Cole
Trevor Cole
Ireland
To capture people and landscapes and the interactions between them in the light of a world in transition is to encapsulate an inimitable moment, which will never again materialise. My own 'take' as a geographer photographer! Born in the City of Derry, but I have lived most of my life outside the bounds of Ireland; in England, Singapore, Togo, Italy, Ethiopia and Brazil. I returned to Ireland (Donegal) in 2012. My photography, together with travel, have become two of my life's passions. My photography focuses predominantly on culture and landscapes; images which reflect a spatial and temporal journey through life and which try to convey a need to live in a more sustainable world. I seek the moment and the light in whatever context I find myself and endeavour to use my photographic acumen to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. I lead small photo tours in my 'own Donegal' and Ireland but also to other destinations. I lived in Ethiopia from 2006-2010 and since then have returned to take photographers to the Western and Eastern Omo, Harar, the Danakil desert and the highlands of Ethiopia. Additionally I take photo tours to Chad, Angola and South Sudan, Iceland, Namibia and India as well as travelling myself to discover and capture in new locations. I aspire to have a vision for tomorrow - An Alternative Vision. I believe that photography can capture those inimitable moments and empower us to make a positive change in our world. Article: Exclusive Interview AAP Magazine: AAP Magazine 10 Portrait AAP Magazine 51 Colors
Nicoletta Cerasomma
Nicoletta Cerasomma
Italy
1977
Born in Lucca, Italy, I learned to see photographically during my travels around the world. I studied photography with training courses at Fondazione Studio Marangoni in Florence to qualify my knowledges. My work is bound up in an ambiguous and cinematic image-making that borders the real and the fantastic. My approach to photography provokes contemplation and reconfiguration of common place subjects via playful revelation of the bizarre and the uncanny. Statement As conceptual photographer I merge new ideas and heritage adding a touch of nowadays disenchanted, attractive and oniric. Recent portfolios show a personal thought with romantic hints and at the same time soft reminders towards symbolism. The recepient of my works has to assign a meaning to them because concepts, vision, dreams, real word are not defined. The content and the form melt in a unique item. What can happen seems to be the true world and what is really true have so many aspects that leave space at imagination.
Cassandra Margotti
Cassandra Margotti
United States
1992
Cassandra Margotti is a New Jersey native and a passionate photographer whose work explores the intersections of human relationships, color, and light. With a BFA in Photography from the University of the Arts (2015) and currently pursuing an MFA at the Academy of Art University, Cassandra’s practice bridges the worlds of street photography and lyrical documentary. Her work delves deeply into the emotional connections between individuals and the environments they inhabit, capturing moments that evoke raw, personal emotion. Cassandra’s keen eye for contrasts—whether it be between light and shadow, or subtle shifts in color—imbues her images with a timeless quality that invites viewers to pause and reflect on the quiet beauty of everyday life. Her photographic journey is an exploration of both the visible and the unseen, where every shot becomes an opportunity to capture the poetry of fleeting moments. Awarded Photographer of the Week - Week 17
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Win a Solo Exhibition in February
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Latest Interviews

Exclusive Interview with Marijn Fidder
Interview
Exclusive Interview with Marijn Fidder
Marijn Fidder is a Dutch documentary photographer whose work powerfully engages with current affairs and contemporary social issues. Driven by a deep sense of social justice, she uses photography to speak on behalf of the voiceless and to advocate for the rights of those who are most vulnerable. Her images have been widely published in major international outlets including National Geographic, CNN Style, NRC Handelsblad, Volkskrant, GUP New Talent, and ZEIT Magazin. Her long-term commitment to disability rights—particularly through years of work in Uganda—culminated in her acclaimed project Inclusive Nation, which earned her the title of Photographer of the Year 2025 at the All About Photo Awards. She is also the recipient of multiple prestigious honors, including awards from World Press Photo and the Global Peace Photo Award. We asked her a few questions about her life and work.
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Exclusive Interview with Josh S. Rose
Interview
Exclusive Interview with Josh S. Rose
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Interview with Maureen Ruddy Burkhart
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Winner of AAP Magazine #45 Travels, his series reflects this unique vision—capturing the spirit of place through subtle layers of light, color, and emotion. Whether traveling abroad or observing the rhythms of his own surroundings, Ydeen creates images that feel both grounded and enchanted, inviting viewers into a world where reality and reverie meet.
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Exclusive Interview with Ghawam Kouchaki
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Exclusive Interview with Robert Mack
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Exclusive Interview with Alan Schaller About Irys
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All About Photo Awards 2026
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