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Sylwia Makris
Sylwia Makris
Sylwia Makris

Sylwia Makris

Country: Poland
Birth: 1973

There is a spark within everything. A living light in the eyes of a person, a memory that flares up, the glow of a passion that was never declared. A face always tells more than it knows, wich is why photography is never a mere reproduction of what is. A good photo tells what was, why might have been or what is waiting painfully beneath the surface.

Sylwia Makris has been in pursuit of these sparks since she first held a camera. Her quest produces images that may delight or disturb but always move the beholder. She photographs people. People who are strong or delicate, broken or dynamic. She photographs faces of our time-and in doing so gives a face to our time. Nakedness is the most natural state. And in our day the most intrusive and common-every-where naked bodies are used to tempt, advertise and sell. Nakedness can only say as much as it is allowed to say. Sylwia Makris respects the nude body as part of a story that must be told. As part of a story that tels of people, nakedness regains its original magic, its archaic power and its complexity of expression in Makris' photos.

Until the viewer sometimes feels more naked than the model in the image. Sylwia Makris was born in 1973 in Gdynia, Poland. She worked as a sculptor before finding her way to photography in 2007. Today she lives in Munich as freelance photographer.
 

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More Great Photographers To Discover

Azim Khan  Ronnie
Bangladesh
1986
Azim Khan Ronnie was born in Dhaka and brought up in Bogra, Bangladesh. He has an utter passion for photography and photography has been his passion. As a photographer, his essential aim is to capture the moments of life and give them significance by making them static in time. He loves to travel and be in different places, meet new people, and enjoy the experience that photography offers, which is to capture Earth's beautiful and awe-inspiring moments. He also loves to experiment with his photography. He is working news channel as a senior camera person in Bangladesh. More than 15 years Azim Khan Ronnie working in TV Channel back to camera. That's why he was gain lot of photographic knowledge. He is completed foundation course from Pathshala South Asian Media Institute. He has taken part in many National and International Photography contest and till now he has won many national and international photography awards, including HIPA Merit Medal Award 2018, Andrei Stenin Press Photo Contest Winner, SIENA International Photography Award 2019, Two awards from Drone photo contest 2019, Asahi Shimbun award from Japan, Winner Agora images, Won Merit Awards from prestigious All About Photo Awards 2020, 2nd prize from HERITAGE for PLANET EARTH® travel photo competition 2018, BBC Wildlife Photo Contest winner 2017, Won the 1st prize in Securing Water For Food Global Water-Agriculture Photo Contest 2017, FIAP Bronze Medal from 15th Adana Rotary Club International Photography Contest. 3rd Place winner from Wiki Loves Monuments 2017 international photo contest organized by Wikipedia. PSS – Dr. Gibson Hill Memorial Gold Medal (Best of Section) from Singapore International Photography Awards (SIPA) 2017, 1st prize winner from COMPAS photo competition 2017, 1st Prize winner from 35AWARDS 2016 Russia, 2nd prize winner from The 4th Student Photography Contest, organized by Global Photography, China, Grand Prize winner of Endless Summer Photo Contest from Skylum, Two times MARUMI Photo Contest Silver Prize winner from Japan, Honorable mention award from ND Awards 2017, Top 10 Winners of Click India Photography Contest 2017, 3 awards winner from "Golden Orchid International Photo Awards" 2017, 1st & 3rd Prize winner from International photo contest & exhibition in China 2015, Achieve 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th & 9th total 5 awards from Bangladesh's Wiki Loves Earth 2017 Photo Contest, Achieve 1st, 2nd & 7th winner from Bangladesh's Wiki loves monuments 2017 photo contest, 3rd Prize from Dhaka-Kolkata International Photo Contest 2017, The Nature Conservancy's 2017 Top 100 Photo Contest, Anjan Kumar Majumder Memorial Trophy for Best Local Nature" from MahfuzUllah Memorial International Photo Contest 2017, Honorable Mention Award from Tokyo International Photo Award (TIFA). Honorable Mention Winner from IPA-The International Photo Awards. Gold Medal Award winners in the San Francisco Bay International Photo Show. Grand prize winner from Chania Photo Festival, Greece. Awards froms VOUBS are: 1st Prize in best Landscape, 1st Prize in best Lifestyle, 1st Prize in best Travel Photo, 1st Prize in best Eyes Photo, 1st Prize in best Pet Photo, 1st Prize in best Reflection Photo, 1st Prize in best Flower Photo, 1st Prize in best Sunrise/Sunset Photo, 1st Prize in best Spring photo, 1st Prize in best Travel photo 2018, 1st Prize in best People Photo, 1st Prize in best Waterfall Photo, 1st Prize in best Baby Photo. Finalist HIPA 2018, Finalist Smithsonian 15th annual photo contest, Finalist Siena International Photography Awards 2017 & 2018, Finalist dotART Urban 2017 photo awards, Hourly Winner of CBRE Urban Photographer of the Year Photo Competition 2018, Landscape Diversity' Expert Judge Winner from Photocrowd, Won Bursa PhotoFest Medal for Contest Special Award Winning Photographs from Bursa International Photo Festival,Turkey, 1st Prize Winner of We Said Go Travel Photo contest 2018, Grand prize winner in Chania Photo Festival, Greece. First place prize in the Social Life category in Ikei Photo Contest, Spain, 2019. Award Highly Commended CBRE Urban Photographer of the Year 2016, one of my photograph has been selected for the 2019 New Internationalist Almanac and many more. His photographs was published Switzerland, France, UK, Russia, Korea, Iran, China and many national & international newspaper & magazine include The Times, The Sun, The Guardian, Daily Mirror, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, New Atlas, BBC Wildlife Magazine, National Geographic Magazine, Smithsonian magazine, F-Stop Magazine (also cover photo), Edge of Humanity Magazine, Swiss newspaper Blickamabend, France daily newspaper (LaDépêche, 20minutes), France magazine Le Figaro, Le Parisien, View magazine in Germany, in China CCTV, Global Times, Beijing Television (BTV), Russian magazine Вокруг света (One of the oldest popular magazines in the world), GEO Magazine, The People, Popular news magazine Newsweek, SangSaeng Magazine, Korea, Canon (France, UK, Europe), Politiko, Iconstyle in Tirana, Albania, The Week Junior etc.
Marcin Owczarek
Poland
1985
My art has always been focusing on condition of our globe and the condition of man. My antiutopian, critical photography is based on the anthropological research. I focus on exploring and interpreting the impact of: new technologies, bio-science, unconscious, fears, morals, social situations, behaviors, habits, rituals, biological changes, the use of animals, depression in urban envi...ronments, destruction of the soil, overpopulation, deforestation, universal famine and - over human life. As a result, I create the image of the 21 century and the image of our current society. In this way, by commenting behaviour of human individuals I want to indicate that: Man is imperfect. Man is a savage, greedy rebel of Nature, living between the insanity and lunacy, away from his true nature. Man live in the play cage because he was captured by Illusions of this world: welfare tyranny, desire of possessing material things, consumption, jealousy, hate...what all in all led him to the broken relationship with the globe and other human beings. As a result I stress the present process of dehumanization, mechanization and standardization of human race, false norms and illusional values that was given for the truth to the society by religion, governments,laws,propaganda, false mirror of the television...etc. In my opinion, nowadays it is essential to articulate this kind of behavior, because the way which the present world run, might guide the human species: firstly- into a total slavery, then to new nuclear era, and finally to the total extinction...There is number of potential scenarios, but one of them is definitely Total Extinction... I admire the way of dadaism as well as surrealism. My spirit flies with counterculture and the idea of transgression. I regard my critical collages as the prediction of human degradation, and as a consequence - 'Apocalypse'....... Many wise people said that before but I will repeat: we are responsible for this world and for other human beings, and in our hands is decision: Do we want to live in coexistence or do want to reproduce another monsters to this world who will fight against each other in another nuclear war... What are the crucial implications of this? - The world's Future. "You pays your money and you takes your choice".Marcin Owczarek, Lier 2011
Colby Deal
United States
1988
Colby Deal is a photographic artist born (b. 1988) and raised in Houston, Texas. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in the practice of photography from The University of Houston. Within his practice, he explores the culmination of elements of the psychological environment as well as the physical. He shows the dynamic range of family, community and the individual by combining street photography and portraiture to capture vibrant communities. In recent years he has incorporated the medium of sculpture and public art as a means of preserving cultural characteristics that are being erased and positively influencing his community and others alike. Colby is directly inspired by his upbringing through getting to see his family’s photographs that were mostly taken by his father. This appreciation for slowing down and concentrating on photographing what’s right in front of him, “The Now”, has led him to be more in touch with using analog photography. Colby Deal is an alumni of Project Row Houses residency, Red Line Contemporary Art Center residency in Denver, Colorado and in 2020, was awarded an exhibition at the Houston Museum of African American Culture. Colby became a Magnum nominee member in 2020.Source: Magnum Photos Colby Deal is a firm believer in the potential of photography to be a transformative medium. “Especially now with Covid and how it is separating people, imagery is so important” he says, over video call from outside his home in Houston’s Third Ward, where he has been photographing with the intention to uplift cultural representations of the predominantly Black neighborhood. “People of color and people from under-resourced communities are always shown negative images about themselves,” says Deal, whose practice involves pasting his images onto abandoned buildings and derelict shopfronts. “Imagine being a kid, waking up, getting on the school bus, and seeing yourself displayed monumentally in a positive manner. That can have a strong psychological effect on the way you think about yourself and others. Like seriously, just a glance at an image can change your thought patterns — it can change your whole life.” Adopting a participatory approach, Deal’s process involves a lot of talking and walking. On a typical day, he will drag his large format camera on a wagon, stopping at people’s doorsteps and porches for a drink, smoke, and conversation, about their lives and the condition of their community. “I don’t want to call it a story because I sound like a fucking news reporter,” he laughs, “but what I’ll do is walk around, find things I like, and shoot around it”. The culmination of these excursions is Beautiful, Still, an ongoing collection of over 1,000 black-and-white negatives of street photographs and portraits. The ability to layer these historical, personal, and social contexts in a single image can be cited back to Deal’s childhood and evolution as an artist. Deal was initially self-taught, later enrolling in the Photography BFA at The University of Houston, mostly for “the network,” he says, and to “learn how to better articulate what I was doing”. The documentary photographer, who last month became a Magnum nominee, is also a sculptor, carpenter, graphic designer, and painter. “As a child, everything I found joy in was about art,” says Deal, who was drawing from the age of three, and later developed an obsession with breaking down objects and piecing them back together. “That aspect has played a huge part in what I do today, which is looking at an idea, concept, or message that I want to get across, then starting from the root, and working from there.”Source: British Journal of Photography
Francis Haar
Hungary
1908 | † 1997
Francis Haar born as Haár Ferenc was a Hungarian socio-photographer. He studied interior architecture at Hungarian Royal National School of Arts and Crafts between 1924 and 1927. His master was Gyula Kaesz.He started working as an interior architect and poster designer in 1928, and taught himself photography. In 1930 he became acquainted with Munka-kör (Work Circle) led by socialist avant-garde poet and visual artist Lajos Kassák, who just returned from Vienna. Kassák pointed out that the photography is more than the painting and can access to such part of reality that cannot be accessed by painters. Kassák's motto was photography is the real child of our age not the painting. That was a life long inspiration to Francis. He became an active and leading member of the Munka Kör, his partners in socio-photography were among others Sándor Gönci, Árpád Szélpál and Lajos Lengyel, who later became renowned graphic artist and book designer. The first socio photo exhibition ever in Hungary was held in 1932, which brought the first success to Francis. His first photo studio was opened in Budapest in 1934. Some of his photos were exhibited at the Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in 1937, so Francis Haar decided to move to Paris where he established himself as a portrait photographer. However in 1939 he was invited by Hiroshi Kawazoe to Japan and the International Cultural Society of Japan (Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai) officially arranged his trip. With help of Japanese friends he opened and operated his photo studio in Tokyo between 1940 and 42. The Haar family was evacuated to Karuizawa in 1943 and they spent 3 years there. He became the photographer of Yank, the Army Weekly magazine of the U.S. occupation forces in Japan, and subsequently filmmaker with U.S. Public Health and Welfare Section (1946-48). Again his Tokyo photo studio was opened in 1946 and was in active business until 1956. His wife Irene opened the famous restaurant Irene's Hungaria in Ginza, downtown Tokyo, which was frequented by celebrities, intellectuals, army men and sports people from all over the world besides the Japanese. Accepting a challenge he moved and worked as photographer for the Container Corporation of America, Chicago from 1956 until 1959. He returned to Tokyo and operated his photo studio again for a year. 1960 brought a great decision and the Haars moved to Hawai'i and Francis started his photo studio there. He taught photography at the University of Hawai'i between 1965 and 1985. He became the production photographer for the Kennedy Theater, the University of Hawai'i Drama Department. Francis Haar died at the age of 89 in Honolulu.Source: Wikipedia
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