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Thomas Hackenberg
Thomas Hackenberg
Thomas Hackenberg

Thomas Hackenberg

Country: Germany
Birth: 1963

Thomas Hackenberg was born in 1963 and lives in the German city of Braunschweig. With first strong influences going back to the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson and German photojournalist Thomas Hoepker, he describes himself as a street photographer today.

In the language business by profession and design, in street photography with his heart, Hackenberg characterizes himself as a classical flaneur-with-a-camera – though sometimes definitely more of a long-distance-runner, as he states. For him, a good picture must have a thought-provoking note, some humorous or quirky details, some kind of storyline. He likes pictures that pose questions rather than provide answers, and all of his photos are taken candidly. "What I like so much about street photography is the fact that you step out of the door, and you're right in it: no clumsy gear, you don't have to travel anywhere, you're always there. That's why it is so magical for me, many have said this before: It's positively an obsession! The big theater of life is always open with no closing hours." He also mentions the documentary aspect of street photography: The two old grannies he captured in 1991 in San Gimignano, Italy, one with the Hanimex 110 pocket camera: a time document today. As all the millions of smartphones today will be at some point in the future… Else, he feels drawn to social photography and photojournalism and likes to take photos at demonstrations.

Thomas Hackenberg's work was featured by resources and hubs such as EYESHOT, Lensculture, Street Photographers Foundation, and Street Sweeper Magazine. He received Finalist awards in the 2017 edition of the Street Foto San Francisco Festival, Siena International Photo Awards 2020, London Street Photography Festival 2020, Miami Street Photography Festival 2020 and won 3rd Prize in the Fujifilm Moment Street Photo Awards 2020 organized by the Center for the Promotion of Culture in Częstochowa, Poland.

Weekly interview at UP Photographers

Websites

www.hackenberg.info

@thomas_hackenberg_photo

 

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More Great Photographers To Discover

Mark Seliger
Mark Seliger
Unites States
1959
Mark Alan Seliger (born May 23, 1959) is an American photographer noted for his portraiture. Seliger was born in Amarillo, Texas, the son of Maurice and Carol Lee. The family moved to Houston in 1964. He attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, and East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University Commerce). He moved to New York City in 1984. Seliger began working for Rolling Stone in 1987, and served as its chief photographer from 1992 to 2002, and shot more than 100 covers for the magazine. As of 2010, Seliger lives in New York City and works for Conde Nast Publications. He has shot a number of covers for GQ and Vanity Fair. Seliger has also published several books; created a number of CD covers for Burning Spear, Diana Krall, and other bands; and directed short films. The celebrities whose portraits Seliger has made include Susan Sarandon, David Byrne, Matthew Barney, Willie Nelson, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Kurt Cobain, Lenny Kravitz, Rob Thomas, Brand Nubian, and Tony Bennett.Source: Wikipedia Seliger now shoots frequently for Vanity Fair, Italian Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and many other magazines. In addition, he shoots advertising work for Adidas, Anheuser-Busch, Levi’s, McDonald’s, Netflix, Ralph Lauren, Ray-Ban, and many more. Seliger is the recipient of such esteemed awards as the Alfred Eisenstaedt Award, Lucie Award, Clio Grand Prix, Cannes Lions Grand Prix, The One Show, ASME, SPG, and the Texas Medal of Arts Award. Seliger’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. His photographs are part of the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the National Portrait Gallery in London.Source: www.markseliger.com
Ming Smith
Ming Smith
United States
1973
Ming Smith is an American photographer. She was the first African-American female photographer whose work was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Smith was born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in Columbus, Ohio. After graduating from Howard University in 1973, she moved to New York City, where she found work modeling. While in New York she met photographer Anthony Barboza, who was an early influence. Smith's approach to photography has included in-camera techniques such as playing with focus, darkroom techniques like double exposure, collage techniques and paint on prints. Her work is less engaged with documentation of events than with expression of experience. It has been described as surreal and ethereal, as the New York Times observed: "Her work, personal and expressive, draws from a number of artistic sources, preeminently surrealism. She has employed a range of surrealist techniques: photographing her subjects from oblique angles, shooting out of focus or through such atmospheric effects as fog and shadow, playing on unusual juxtapositions, even altering or painting over prints." Smith's early work was composed of photos that were shot quickly to produce elaborate scenes, and due to this process many of her photos have double dates. She has used the technique of hand-tinting in some of her work, notably her Transcendence series. Ming Smith has photographed many important black cultural figures during her career, including Alvin Ailey and Nina Simone. In 1973 Smith was featured in the first volume of the Black Photographers Annual, a publication closely affiliated with the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. Smith had her first exhibition at Cinandre, a hairdressing salon, in 1973 as well. At Cinandre, she met Grace Jones, whom she photographed wearing a black and white tutu on occasion. Smith recalls that she and Jones would talk about surviving as black artists. Smith reflects on the memories by saying: "We came out of Jim Crow. And so just coming to New York and trying to be a model or anything was new." Two years later (1975), Smith became the first female member of the Harlem-based photography collective Kamoinge, under director Roy DeCarava. The Kamoinge Workshop was founded in New York in 1963 to support the work of black photographers in a field then dominated by white men. The collective, which still exists today, has undertaken a range of initiatives, including exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and the publishing of portfolios for distribution to museums. Smith participated with Kamoinge in three groups shows in New York and Guyana. Smith dropped off a portfolio at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), where the receptionist mistook her for a messenger. When she returned, she was taken into the curator's office. Susan Kismaric named a price for Smith's work, which Smith declined due to the price not paying off her bills. Kismaric asked Smith to reconsider, which she eventually did. Shortly after, she became the first Black woman photographer to be included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. In addition to the MOMA, Smith's art has been featured at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum & Center for African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Smith has twice exhibited at the Bellevue Hospital Centre in Morristown, New Jersey, through their Art in the Atrium exhibitions. The first was in 1995, for Cultural Images: Sweet Potato Pie, an exhibit curated by Russell A. Murray. In 2008 she contributed as part of the exhibition New York City: In Focus, part of Creative Destinations 2008 Exhibition of African American Art. Smith's photographs are included in the 2004 Ntozake Shange book The Sweet Breath of Life: A Poetic Narrative of the African-American Family and Life. In 2010, her work was included in MOMA's exhibition Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography. This exhibition recontextualized Smith's work alongside that of Diane Arbus and marked a growing interest in Smith's work. Organized by curator Roxana Marcoci, it was curated by Sarah Meister through the Department of Photography. In 2017, a major survey exhibition of Smith's work was held at the Steven Kasher Gallery in New York. The exhibition featured 75 vintage black-and-white prints that represented Smith's career. Smith has collaborated with filmmaker Arthur Jafa in the Serpentine Sackler Gallery's 2017 show, Arthur Jafa: A Series of Utterly Improbable, yet Extraordinary Renditions (Featuring Ming Smith, Frida Orupabo and Missylanyus). That same year, she was featured in the Tate Modern group exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, curated by Mark Godfrey and Zoé Whitley. The show received international acclaim before traveling to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, The Brooklyn Museum, The Broad, the de Young Museum of San Francisco and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Since then, Smith's work was featured in solo presentations by Jenkins Johnson Gallery both at Frieze New York and Frieze Masters in 2019, the former of which receiving the Frieze Stand Prize. In 2020, Ming's work will be included in the group exhibition Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, VA. From there, the exhibition will travel to The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, CA, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.[19] Smith's work is in museum collections including the National Gallery of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Some of Smith's work displayed in the Museum of Modern Art depicts motherhood in Harlem. These photos are taken using a documentary style way of photographing these subjects. Ming Smith lives and works in New York City.Source: Wikipedia Ming Smith is known for her informal, in-action portraits of black cultural figures, from Alvin Ailey to Nina Simone and a wide range of jazz musicians. Ming’s career emerged formally with the publication of the Black Photographer’s Annual in 1973. She was an early member of the Kamoinge Workshop, an association of several generations of black photographers. Ming has traveled extensively, showing her viewers a cosmopolitan world filled with famous landmarks and extraordinary landscapes. People continue to be her most treasured subjects. This is most apparent in her series depicting African American life. Ming’s early style was to shoot fast and produce complicated and elaborate images in the developing and post-printing processes, so that many of her pictures carry double dates. She experimented with hand-tinting in My Father’s Tears, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (1977/1979). Ming continues to expand the role of photography with her exploration of image and paint in the more recent, large-scale Transcendence series. Ming’s place in photography’s 175-year history was recognized by her inclusion in the Museum of Modern Art’s groundbreaking exhibition Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography in 2010. Ming Smith's photography is held in collections in the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York; the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum & Center for African American History and Culture, Washington, DC and the AT&T Corporation.Source: Steven Kasher Gallery
Ashley Suszczynski
Ashley Suszczynski
United States
1989
Ashley Suszczynski is an award-winning travel photographer based in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, focused on capturing ancient traditions in the modern day. She aims to tell the story of how lesser known cultures, relics, rites, and rituals have withstood time and evolved in our ever-changing world. Through visual storytelling, she hopes to share knowledge and understanding of these age-old customs in order to continue their preservation and social approval. About Ancient Tradition in the Modern Day "This project is an ongoing discovery of the ancient pagan roots masked throughout the villages of Basque Country and Northern Spain. This study and production of visual anthropology has taken me across the foothills of the Pyrenees, unearthing the various cultural traditions and winter rites of the region. Each event was unique in its characters and customs, yet shared profound similarities in symbolism. Through this imagery we discover age-old traditions alive and well in the 21st Century."
Francisco Reina
Francisco Reina
Spain
1979
Francisco Reina, is a politically and socially-engaged conceptual photographer based in The Netherlands. In his project The Art of Power he meticulously manipulated architectural elements that depict political institutions, making them into impenetrable structures. We see the ruling institutions of today as rational enterprises who's interest should be to further the interest of their societies as a whole. Francisco strongly believes that this notion is not always rooted in reality and that the leaders of our world are gradually becoming an elite class primarily concerned with defending its own interests. The series called Strauss' Legacy focuses on "the so-called neoconservatives and the way in which their presence in the American presidential administration on September 11, 2001 shaped events." He created images that through a conceptual way takes a close look at "the role of multinational corporations in a conflict which began under the name "Operation Enduring Freedom" and turned into a perfect market niche for multi-million dollar earnings." His work has been exhibited mainly in Spain, but also in The Netherlands and New York. The following images come from the series The Art of Power, Strauss' Legacy and The Silent Enigma.Source 500 Photographers
Fabio Bucciarelli
Fabio Bucciarelli
Italy
1980
Fabio Bucciarelli is an international photographer, journalist, and author renowned for his coverage of global conflicts and the dire humanitarian fallout they entail. With a career spanning over 15 years, he has documented major global events, capturing images that reflect his unwavering empathy and commitment to telling the stories of those affected by war, climate change, and other human rights crises. His work is a powerful call to action, advocating for those whose lives have been upended by these devastating issues. He’s reported from conflict zones across the Middle East, including Libya during the civil war and the fall of Gaddafi, and Syria during the battle of Aleppo, Iraq, Gaza, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, and Ukraine since the start of the conflict in 2014. Bucciarelli has also documented the humanitarian crises that have unfolded in Africa, including South Sudan and Mali. In addition to his coverage of conflicts and humanitarian crises, he has reported on a range of global events, including the devastating wildfires in Brazil, the protests against the neoliberal economic system in Chile, and the mass migration of Central Americans to the United States. In 2020 and 2021, he covered the COVID-19 pandemic at its epicenter in Italy for The New York Times. Most recently, he returned to Ukraine to document the Russian invasion as a special correspondent for Italian TV News TG3/Rai3, as well as on assignment for leading international publications, including Die Zeit and Il Fatto Quotidiano. Fabio Bucciarelli’s unwavering commitment to telling important stories through vivid imagery and detailed reporting has earned him widespread recognition and respect within the industry. His reporting on the Syrian War earned him the prestigious Robert Capa Gold Medal from the Overseas Press Club of America. He has won 10 Picture of the Year International awards, 2 World Press Photo awards, 2 Sony World Photography Awards, the Prix Bayeux-Calvados for War Correspondents, VISA d’Or News of Perpignan, Lucie Foundation, Yannis Behrakis International Award, Premio Ponchielli, World Report Award, Best of Photojournalism, Days Japan International, Kuala Lumpur International PhotoAwards and Getty Images Editorial Grant among others accolades. He was named Photographer of the Year in 2019 and Photographer of the Year Award of Excellence in 2023 for his work covering the war in Ukraine and the devastating impact of the climate crisis in South Sudan. Today Bucciarelli contributes to leading news outlets, including The New York Times, La Repubblica, Die Zeit, Il Fatto Quotidiano, La Stampa, Yahoo News, Newsweek, L’Espresso, Time Magazine, Al Jazeera, Paris Match, M Le Monde, and Internazionale, among others. Additionally, he collaborates with several NGOs and international agencies, including UNHCR, ICRC, Emergency, Intersos, and Soleterre. In 2006, Fabio Bucciarelli earned an MS in Telecommunication Engineering from the Politecnico of Turin before embarking on his career as a photographer. The following year, he was selected for the “Master dei Talenti” engineering grants program, which enabled him to work in Barcelona. In 2009, he left his engineering job to pursue photography full-time and joined the wire agency La Presse/Ap in Italy as a staff photographer. However, he soon became a freelancer, focusing on documentary photography. In 2015, he co-founded MeMo, a cooperative of photojournalists dedicated to pushing the boundaries of digital storytelling. Working alongside coders and graphic designers, MeMo developed apps, interactive exhibitions, and educational programs until 2017. MeMo Magazine was awarded the Derechos Humanos de España Prize as the 1st Prize Winner, recognizing the commitment to telling stories of human and social relevance through digital innovation. In 2016, Bucciarelli successfully crowdfunded and published his book, The Dream, in partnership with New York-based publisher FotoEvidence. The project was a long-term endeavor that began in 2011, covering the refugee crisis in over 11 countries. The Dream is a poignant exploration of the human condition, a narrative experiment that blends photojournalism with conceptual photography. The book was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the best photo books of the year. After covering the “Great March of Return” in Gaza in 2018, he shifted his focus to Central and South America, documenting the migrant exodus to the United States, the Amazon wildlife fires, and the Chilean struggle against the Neoliberal system. These projects earned him the 2019 POYi Photographer of the Year and the 2020 World Press Photo awards, respectively. In 2020 and 2021, Bucciarelli covered the COVID-19 epidemic in its European epicenter in Italy for The New York Times, bringing global attention to the effects of the coronavirus and the resilience of families with multiple covers in the American newspaper. His story “We Take the Dead From Morning Till Night,” was recognized by the Visa d’Or News in Perpignan and the Lucie Impact Award, as well as the Yannis Behrakis International Award. Fabio’s images have been exhibited worldwide in solo and group exhibitions at museums and galleries, and his artworks are part of several collections. His photographs have also been featured in international art fairs, including Photo London, AIPAD New York, MIA Milano, ArtVerona, Photo Basel, and Zona Maco Mexico. Over the past ten years, Fabio has dedicated himself to spreading information and expanding his journalistic reach to engage an ever-growing audience. He has taught at Italian universities and led international photojournalism courses and masterclasses. His expertise in conflict zones has been shared through numerous conferences and lectures at significant national and international festivals. Fabio has spoken at events such as the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Repubblica delle Idee, the Turin International Book Fair, the Bronx Documentary Center in New York, Visa pour l’Image in Perpignan, and various cities around the world including Copenhagen, Sofia, Kuala Lumpur, and Vilnius. Alongside his projects as a photographer and reporter, he has been assigned to work as a curator and Artistic Director by several museums and institutions, including the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In November 2023, Fabio Bucciarelli became a Canon Ambassador, aligning himself with a distinguished group of the industry’s renowned photojournalists. His presence among these dedicated storytellers reflects his commitment to excellence and his significant contributions to the world of photography. Source: www.fabiobucciarelli.com
Frédéric Lipzyc
Frédéric Lipzyc
France
1954
Frédéric Lipzyc was born in Paris in 1954, he has been a professional photographer for fifteen years. His passion is Street Photo, he never goes out without his little Lumix GX8 which allows him to photograph in a humble and discreet way. According to his encounters in Paris or elsewhere, with easy contact and full of humanity, he wanders the streets with no specific project other than to catch what moves him. He prefers to move than to surprise. He allows us to see the most different aspects, the human being is at the center of his compositions. Social photographer, street photographer, he captures what we do not always see, anonymous people whom we wonder who they truly are, what are their joys and sufferings. The face, the body, the urban life in all its forms are captured by his curious and pure eye. Frédéric is a photographer of emotion and modesty, expressionist, he conveys emotion through the posture of his characters. In most of his photos, the urban is there as a character in its own right. He is the photographer of the human and the emotion in the city.
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Japan
1948
Hiroshi Sugimoto was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1948, and lives and works in New York and Tokyo. His interest in art began early. His reading of André Breton’s writings led to his discovery of Surrealism and Dada and a lifelong connection to the work and philosophy of Marcel Duchamp. Central to Sugimoto’s work is the idea that photography is a time machine, a method of preserving and picturing memory and time. This theme provides the defining principle of his ongoing series, including "Dioramas" (1976–), "Theaters" (1978–), and "Seascapes" (1980–). Sugimoto sees with the eye of the sculptor, painter, architect, and philosopher. He uses his camera in a myriad of ways to create images that seem to convey his subjects’ essence, whether architectural, sculptural, painterly, or of the natural world. He places extraordinary value on craftsmanship, printing his photographs with meticulous attention and a keen understanding of the nuances of the silver print and its potential for tonal richness—in his seemingly infinite palette of blacks, whites, and grays. Recent projects include an architectural commission at Naoshima Contemporary Art Center in Japan, for which Sugimoto designed and built a Shinto shrine, and the photographic series, "Conceptual Forms," inspired by Duchamp’s "Large Glass: The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors, Even." Sugimoto has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts; in 2001, he received Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography. He has had one-person exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; among others. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, and Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, were joint organizers of a 2005 Sugimoto retrospective. Source: PBS Hiroshi Sugimoto was born in Japan in 1948. A photographer since the 1970s, his work deals with history and temporal existence by investigating themes of time, empiricism, and metaphysics. His primary series include: Seascapes, Theaters, Dioramas, Portraits (of Madame Tussaud’s wax figures), Architecture, Colors of Shadow, Conceptual Forms and Lightning Fields. Sugimoto has received a number of grants and fellowships, and his work is held in the collections of the Tate Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Metropolitan Museum of New York, among many others. Portraits, initially created for the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin, traveled to the Guggenheim New York in March 2001. Sugimoto received the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography in 2001. In 2006, a mid career retrospective was organized by the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. A monograph entitled Hiroshi Sugimoto was produced in conjunction with the exhibition. He received the Photo España prize, also in 2006, and in 2009 was the recipient of the Paemium Imperiale, Painting Award from the Japan Arts Association. During the 2014 Venice Biennale, Sugimoto unveiled his “Glass Tea House Mondrian” at Le Stanze del Vetro on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Source: Fraenkel Gallery
Jonk
Jonk
France
1985
Jonk discovers photography at the age of 11 when his parents send him for a language exchange to the USA, where each of the ten children forming the group lives with a different host family. The few souvenir pictures shot with the famous disposable orange cameras were his firsts. For the following six years, he travels each winter to a new family in a different state, and in the meantime upgrades his gear with a basic analogue camera. After having swapped it for a pocket numeric device, he realizes his first solo trip, at the age of 19. This trip to Barcelona changes his life, and he comes back with two passions that won't leave him: travels (he has since visited more than 70 countries) and urban art (street art and graffiti), whose discovery gave him his first photographic subject that still occupies him today. Living in Paris, he discovers urban exploration at the end of years 2000 through rooftops, subways and the city's unofficial catacombs. At that time, he finds another subject: documenting the unseen side of the city and invest in his first digital reflex camera, an APS-C. Climbing roofs to see her from the top, going at night in subway tunnels or spending whole days underground in the catacombs exploring the tens of kilometers of galleries looking for beautiful carved rooms: he finds in that activity a thrill, the adrenaline that he looks for in his life. These urban explorations, and his search for unseen graffiti, bring him to abandoned places, where graffiti artists often go to paint, to be alone and able to take time to make bigger and better paintings. After some time frequenting these artists, he starts himself to paint there and adopts the nickname “Jonk”. At that time, he also sticks his travel pictures on the walls in the streets. Visiting abandoned places looking for graffiti, he realizes the intensity of the atmospheres and the beauty of the spectacle of time passaging: rust, decaying and peeling painted walls, broken windows, Nature taking over create unbelievable, highly photogenic sceneries. For him, such sceneries feel like infinite poetry. Traveling, painting, sticking, photographing, roaming on roofs, metros and catacombs, a very time-consuming job don't leave him enough time to do everything. At the hour of choices, he drops the spray, the pot of glue, the height and the undergrounds to stay with the photography of lost places, even if he could not get rid of his nickname, symbol of his graffiti artist times, highly important to him. He then continues to travel, almost exclusively looking for abandoned locations to shoot, with or without graffiti. He upgrades his gear again with one, then two, full-frame reflex. Today, he has visited more than one thousand and five hundreds of them in around fifty countries on four continents. With time, his interest focuses on what appears to him to be the strongest in this vast subject of abandonment: Nature taking over. It is poetic, even magic, to see this Nature retaking what used to be hers, reintegrating through broken windows, cracks on the walls, spaces built by Man and then neglected, until sometimes guzzling them up entirely. This topic naturally imposed itself to him due to the ecologic consciousness that moves him since his youngest age and to the strength of the message it carries: the question of the place of Man on Earth and its relationship with Nature. She is stronger, and whatever happens to Man, She will always be there. In March 2018, he releases the book Naturalia on the topic and currently works on volume II for which Yann Arthus-Bertrand wrote the preface. In June 2018, at age 33, he quits his job in the finance to fully dedicate himself to this project. With this series, as a photographer Jonk tries to humbly contribute to make people aware of the critical ecological situation we are all in. Since, four other books were released. His work has been featured in prestigious paper publications (Der Spiegel, Corriere della Sera, Lonely Planet, Le Monde, GQ, Telerama…) as well as on prestigious web platforms (National Geographic, New York Post, Smithsonian, ArchDaily, AD, BBC, The Guardian…). He received various distinctions in recognized international contests with Honorable Mentions (International Photography Awards, ND Awards), nominations (Fine Art Photography Awards), Silver Awards (Tokyo International Foto Awards, Moscow International Foto Awards), places in shortlists (Arte Laguna Prize, Environmental Photographer of the Year, Royal Photography Society, Felix Schoeller Photo Award, Siena International Photo Awards), places of finalist (InCadaquès International Photo Festival, Nature Photographer Of The Year, Umbra Awards) and winner of the Chelsea International Photography Competition and the Earth Photo 2020 Photo Competition. His work has been part of many group shows across the world (Paris, London, Lisbon, Rome, Athens, Budapest, Moscow, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, New York…) as well as many solo shows in Paris, the main ones being in Paris 20th district City Hall “Salon of Honor”, at the OECD, the Forum des Halles and the Nicolas Hulot Foundation for Nature and Man. In October 2020, Jonk realizes his first solo shows abroad. The first one is the central show of Home Expo in Luxembourg, the most important Fair of the country. Consisting of 91 photos, this exhibition is also his biggest show to date. He simultaneously conducts five solos show in China for the Franco-Chinese Environmental Month. They take place at the Park View Gallery of the magnificent Design Society in Shenzhen, the French Institute of Beijing, the Kingold Century Center of Guangzhou, the Westred Art Museum of Harbin and the Parc Hongmei of Shenyang. Jonk had set a first foot in China the year before by giving a conference on his Naturalia series in Shenzhen. It was his second after a TEDx given in Paris in 2018. Several exhibitions of Naturalia are planned for 2021 and 2022. Naturalia: Chronicle of Contemporary Ruins As a child, I saw a wildlife documentary that marked my life. It focused on the melting of the ice caps and its consequences on polar bears' life. I still remember this bear that struggled to swim and find a piece of ice floe. It seems that "children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression." (Dr Haim Ginott). This vision marked me so much that during all my childhood, every time any of my parents did anything that seemed bad for the environment, it told them this sentence: «Watch out, you kill the bears!!" This ecological consciousness, that moves me since my youngest age, has little by little focused my interest on abandoned places reclaimed by Nature. She is stronger, and whatever happens to Man, She will always be there. Moreover, Naturalia: Chronicle of Contemporary Ruins asks a fundamental question: that of the place of Man on Earth and his relationship with Nature. Far from being pessimistic, and at a time when Man's domination of Nature has never been so extreme, it aims to wake our consciousness. Man builds, Man abandons. Every time for his own peculiar reasons. Nature does not care about those reasons. But one thing is for sure, when Man leaves, She comes back and She takes back everything. In his poem Eternity of Nature, brevity of Man, Alphonse de Lamartine writes "Triumph, immortal Nature! / Whose hand full of days / Lends unlimited strengths / Times that always rise again!" In her inexorable progression, She starts reclaiming the outsides of a Taiwanese reservoir (Picture 1) before infiltrating the insides of a Croatian castle (2) or a Belgian greenhouse (7). Then, She grows in the atrium of a Polish palace (8) or a Cuban theater (9) before invading a Montenegrin castle (10). Then, given more time, imprisons a Taiwanese mansion with her strong roots (20). The next steps? Collapse and burial. French poet Léo Ferré said "With Time goes, everything goes". So, when Nature and Time will have taken back what Man abandons, what will be left of our civilization?
Radana Kuchařová
Radana Kuchařová
Czech Republic
Radana Kuchařová was born in Czechoslovakia, graduated from the Czech Technical University and then worked as an engineer and designer. When the borders opened after the "Velvet Revolution", she began to get to know previously inaccessible regions with great joy, like many Czechs. She always carried a camera with her on her travels and recorded foreign countries. In addition to buildings and architecture, I became interested in people, their lives and customs. I also visited regions quite far from my homeland, especially in Asia, and tried to capture moments from the lives of people living a different way of life. People and the human story is what interests me the most in life and their depiction in photography. Recently, when I have been photographing more intensively, I have participated in various international photography competitions, in which I have also won awards and medals. I have participated in several joint exhibitions of Czech photographers and I have also had solo exhibitions in the Czech Republic.
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Interview
Exclusive Interview with Matthew Finley
American photographer Matthew Finley turns inward, using photography as a way to explore identity, memory, and emotional truth. Based in Los Angeles, his practice moves between performance, gesture, and found imagery, creating a visual language that is both intimate and deeply personal
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Exclusive Interview with Jan Janssen
Interview
Exclusive Interview with Jan Janssen
Dutch photographer Jan Janssen explores universal human experiences through his long-term project It Matters, winner of the May 2025 Solo Exhibition. Begun in 2016, the series captures intimate moments of everyday life—love, loss, connection, and belonging—across Central and Eastern Europe. Working in countries such as Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, Janssen spends extended time within communities, building relationships based on trust and respect. His approach allows him to move beyond observation, revealing deeply human and authentic moments. Rooted in travel and personal discovery, It Matters reflects Janssen’s search for what connects us all in an increasingly divided world. The project is ongoing and will culminate in a photobook scheduled for publication in 2026.
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Exclusive Interview with Henk Kosche
Interview
Exclusive Interview with Henk Kosche
German photographer Henk Kosche turns his lens toward the streets of Halle an der Saale, capturing everyday life in the late years of the former German Democratic Republic. At the time, Kosche was studying design and exploring the city with his camera, drawn to the atmosphere of its industrial landscape and the quiet rhythms of daily life. His series Street Photography at the End of the 80s, selected as the Solo Exhibition for July 2025, revisits a body of work created just before a period of profound change. Rediscovered decades later in a small box of 35mm negatives, these photographs offer glimpses of a city and its people at a moment suspended between the familiar and the unknown.
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Exclusive Interview with Anastasia Samoylova
Interview
Exclusive Interview with Anastasia Samoylova
Anastasia Samoylova is an American artist whose photographic practice is shaped by close observation and a deep attentiveness to place. Working between documentary and formal exploration, she photographs landscapes, architecture, and everyday scenes with a sensitivity to light, structure, and atmosphere. Since relocating to Miami in 2016, her work has increasingly focused on how environments—both natural and built—carry social, cultural, and emotional traces. We asked her a few questions about her practice and her way of seeing, to better understand the thoughts and experiences that shape her work—while allowing the images themselves to remain open and speak in their own time.
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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
Josh S. Rose is a multidisciplinary artist working across photography, film, and writing. His practice bridges visual and performing arts, with a strong focus on movement, emotion, and the expressive potential of the image. Known for his long-standing collaborations with leading dance companies and performers, Rose brings together authenticity and precise composition—a balance he describes as “technical romanticism.” His work has been commissioned and exhibited internationally, appearing in outlets such as Vogue, at the Super Bowl, in film festivals, and most recently as a large-scale installation for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. A sought-after collaborator, he has worked with major artists, cultural institutions, and brands, following a previous career as Chief Creative Officer at Interpublic Group and the founder of Humans Are Social. We asked him a few questions about his life and work.
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Interview with Maureen Ruddy Burkhart
Interview
Interview with Maureen Ruddy Burkhart
Photographer Maureen Ruddy Burkhart brings a quietly attentive and deeply human sensibility to her exploration of the world through images. Shaped by a life immersed in photography, film, and visual storytelling, her work is guided by intuition, observation, and an enduring interest in the emotional undercurrents of everyday life. With a practice rooted in both fine art traditions and documentary awareness, she approaches her subjects with sensitivity, allowing subtle moments to emerge naturally rather than be imposed. Her series Til Death, selected as the Solo Exhibition for February 2025, reflects this long-standing commitment to photography as a space for reflection rather than spectacle. Drawn to moments that exist just outside the expected frame, Burkhart’s images suggest narratives without resolving them, leaving room for ambiguity, humor, and quiet connection. We asked her a few questions about her life and work.
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