Stephan Vanfleteren

Stephan Vanfleteren studied photography at Lucas Institute in Brussels (1988-1992). From 1993 to 2009, he worked as a free-lance photographer for the Belgian Journal De Morgen and always worked and invested in his own personal projects. Actually, Stephan works for museums, he's publishing his portraits in foreign journals and several foreign magazines. He's cofounder of Hannibal Publishing and Cannibal Publishing. Stephan Vanfleteren is art-director for the two publishing houses.

PRICES
1996 - World Press Photo Award - Sports, third prize stories - Boxing in Cuba
1997 - World Press Photo Award - Daily Life, first prize stories - Aids, Kenia
1998 - European Fuji Awards
2000 - World Press Photo Award - Arts and Entertainment, third prize stories, Elvis & Presley
2001 - World Press Photo Award - Children's Award, prize singles - Afghanistan
2001 - European Fuji Award
2007 - Nikon Press Photo Award
2009 - Louis Paul Boon award - Belgium
2010 - Lead Awards: 'Portätfotografie des Jahres', Germany
2011 - Henri Nannen Price, Germany - Tomi Ungerer
2012 - Vijfjaarlijkse Cultuurprijs voor de Provincie West-Vlaanderen
2012 - National Portrait price of the Netherlands - Rem Koolhaas, Dutch architect
2013 - World Press Photo Award - Staged Portraits, first prize stories, People of Mercy
2019 - Henri Nannen Price, Germany - Angels of the Sea - Mare Publication.

BOOKS
1999 - Elvis&Presley, with photographer Robert Huber (Switserland)
2000 - Buren, with Mark Power & Eva Leitolf
2003 - Tales from a Globalizing World
2005 - Flandrien - Cannibal Publishing
2007 - Belgicum - Hannibal Publishing
2009 - Portret 1989-2009 - Lannoo
2012 - En avant, marche! - Hannibal Publishing
2013 - Façades & Vitrines (Limited edition 666 exp) - Hannibal Publishing
2014 - MMXIV - De Red Devils - Cannibal Publishing
2014 - Atlantic Wall - Hannibal Publishing
2015 - Charleroi, il est clair que le gris est noir - Hannibal Publishing
2018 - SURF TRIBE - Hannibal Publishing
2019 - PRESENT - Hannibal Publishing
2019 - ONUITGESPROKEN - Hannibal Publishing

About PRESENT

Stephan Vanfleteren is mainly known to the general public for his penetrating black & white portrait photography, but over the past decades his work has ranged to documentary, artistic and personal pictures. From street photography in world cities like New York to the genocide of Ruanda, from storefront façades to the mystical landscapes of the Atlantic wall, from still lifes to intense portraits. The iconic images sit side by side with unknown treasures in this heavy tome containing no less than 505 photographs.
In the very personal accompanying text, Vanfleteren reflects on how his own work and the photography genre as a whole have evolved in recent decades. You get a close-up look at his intriguing career from the very beginning, when he travelled the world with an appetite for action. He also photographed his home country: all of the headline news stories of the 1990s appeared before his lens. Around the Millennium, Vanfleteren started to focus on that which is disappearing. With painstaking attention to nuance he created a visual archive of his homeland and of his fellow Belgians, in his own inimitable style. In the last few years Vanfleteren has brought the world inside, to his daylight studio, resulting in many encounters and portraits. This book includes two new series – not previously published – which were born in the intimacy of his studio: an exploration of the still life and a study of nude photography, both in colour.
Present is an impressive overview of Vanfleteren's oeuvre that provides a complete picture of him as a photographer, an artist, and above all a human being who faces life with empathy, wonder, and curiosity.

More about PRESENT

Selected Books on

Stephan Vanfleteren: Transcripts of a Sea

Stephan Vanfleteren

Stephan Vanfleteren: Flandrien

Websites

www.stephanvanfleteren.com

@stephanvanfleteren

Selected Books

Stephan Vanfleteren: Flandrien

Stephan Vanfleteren

Present

Stephan Vanfleteren

Belgicum

Stephan Vanfleteren

Surf Tribe

Stephan Vanfleteren

Inspiring Portfolios

Aline Smithson

Lydia Panas

Grace Weston

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More Great Photographers To Discover

Imogen Cunningham

United States
1883 | † 1976

Imogen Cunningham is renowned as one of the greatest American women photographers. In 1901, having sent away $15 for her first camera, she commenced what would become the longest photographic career in the history of the medium... Cunningham soon turned her attention to both the nude as well as native plant forms in her back garden. The results were staggering; an amazing body of work comprised of bold, contemporary forms. These works are characterized by a visual precision that is not scientific, but which presents the lines and textures of her subjects articulated by natural light and their own gestures. Her refreshing, yet formal and sensitive floral images from the 1920’s ultimately became her most acclaimed images. Cunningham also had an intuitive command of portraiture but her real artistic legacy was secured though her inclusion in the "F64" show in San Francisco in 1932. With a small group of photographers which included Edward Weston and Ansel Adams, she pioneered the renewal of photography on the West Coast. Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, Cunningham’s work continues to be exhibited and collected around the world.Source: Photography West Gallery I never divide photographers into creative and uncreative, I just call them photographers. Who is creative? How do you know who is creative or not? -- Imogen Cunningham Cunningham was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1883. In 1901, at the age of eighteen, Cunningham bought her first camera, a 4x5 inch view camera, from the American School of Art in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She soon lost interest and sold the camera to a friend. It wasn’t until 1906, while studying at the University of Washington in Seattle, that she was inspired by an encounter with the work of Gertrude Käsebier, to take up photography again. With the help of her chemistry professor, Dr. Horace Byers, she began to study the chemistry behind photography and she subsidized her tuition by photographing plants for the botany department. After being graduated in 1907 Cunningham went to work for Edward S. Curtis in his Seattle studio, gaining knowledge about the portrait business and practical photography. In 1909, Cunningham won a scholarship from her sorority (Pi Beta Phi) for foreign study and applied to study with Professor Robert Luther at the Technische Hochschule in Dresden, Germany. In Dresden she concentrated on her studies and didn’t take many photographs. In May 1910 she finished her paper, “About the Direct Development of Platinum Paper for Brown Tones,” describing her process to increase printing speed, improve clarity of highlights tones, and produce sepia tones. On her way back to Seattle she met Alvin Langdon Coburn in London, and Alfred Stieglitz and Gertrude Käsebier in New York. In Seattle, Cunningham opened her studio and won acclaim for portraiture and pictorial work. Most of her studio work of this time consisted of sitters in their own homes, in her living room, or in the woods surrounding Cunningham's cottage. She became a sought-after photographer and exhibited at the Brooklyn Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1913. In 1914, Cunningham's portraits were shown at An International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography in New York. Wilson's Photographic Magazine published a portfolio of her work. The next year, she married Roi Partridge, a teacher and artist. He posed for a series of nude photographs, which were shown by the Seattle Fine Arts Society. Although critically praised, Cunningham didn’t revisit those photographs for another fifty-five years. Between 1915 and 1920, Cunningham continued her work and had three children (Gryffyd, Rondal, and Padraic) with Partridge. In 1920, they moved to San Francisco where Partridge taught at Mills College. Cunningham refined her style, taking a greater interest in pattern and detail and becoming increasingly interested in botanical photography, especially flowers. Between 1923 and 1925 she carried out an in-depth study of the magnolia flower. Later in the decade she turned her attention toward industry, creating several series of industrial landscapes in Los Angeles and Oakland. In 1929, Edward Weston nominated 10 of Cunningham's photographs (8 botanical, 1 industrial, and 1 nude) for inclusion in the Film und Foto exhibition and her renowned, Two Callas, debuted in that exhibition. Cunningham once again changed direction, becoming more interested in the human form, particularly hands, and she was fascinated with the hands of artists and musicians. This interest led to her employment by Vanity Fair, photographing stars without make-up. In 1932, with this unsentimental, straightforward approach in mind, Cunningham became one of the co-founders of the Group f/64, which aimed to “define photography as an art form by a simple and direct presentation through purely photographic methods.” In 1934, Cunningham was invited to do some work in New York for Vanity Fair. Her husband wanted her to wait until he could travel with her, but she refused. They later divorced. She continued with Vanity Fair until it stopped publication in 1936. In the 1940s, Cunningham turned to documentary street photography, which she executed as a side project while supporting herself with her commercial and studio photography. In 1945, Cunningham was invited by Ansel Adams to accept a position as a faculty member for the art photography department at the California School of Fine Arts. Dorothea Lange and Minor White joined as well. In 1973, her work was exhibited at the Rencontres d'Arles festival in France through the group exhibition: Trois photographes américaines, Imogen Cunningham, Linda Connor, Judy Dater. Cunningham continued to take photographs until shortly before her death at age ninety-three on June 24, 1976, in San Francisco, California.Source: Wikipedia The imaginative photographer is always dreaming and trying to record his dream. -- Imogen Cunningham

Ron Cooper

United States

I am a travel, documentary and portrait photographer based in Denver, CO. I began exploring photography ten years ago after retiring early from a corporate career. I travel extensively in pursuit of images that reflect local cultures and people. My emphasis in recent years has been on portraiture with the objective of “introducing” viewers to the people I meet and photograph at home and around the world. My work has been exhibited in juried group shows at Colorado Photographic Art Center (Denver, CO), Center for Fine Art Photography (Ft. Collins, CO), Southeast Center for Photography (Greenville, SC), Naples (FL) Art Association, PhotoPlace Gallery (Middlebury, VT), ACCI (Berkeley, CA), A. Smith Gallery (Johnson City, TX), Blackbox Gallery (Portland, OR), Click! Photography Festival (Raleigh/Durham, NC), Midwest Center for Photography (Wichita, KS). Solo exhibitions include: Asian Journeys (2016) at Gallery MFC, Denver, CO; Faces (2016) at the Hamilton Family Gallery, Children's Hospital of Colorado, Aurora, CO; Faces of the American West (2016) at The Darkroom, Longmont, Colorado; and Pleased to Meet You: Portraits from Places Near & Far (2018) at Gallery MFC, Denver, CO; and Keepers of Tradition (2019) at Robert Anderson Gallery, Denver, CO. My photographs have been published in Black & White Magazine, Monovisions Magazine, AAP Magazine, PDN, New Mexico Magazine and Photographer's Forum. My portraits celebrate humankind. I've been privileged to meet and photograph people in may different places - across five continents, diverse geographies, cultures and ways of life. My objective is to make interesting, accessible and compelling images that tell a story or convey a sense of place and personality. As a matter of respect and courtesy, I always engage with my subjects, asking permission to make their portrait. My request is sometimes met with skepticism. Occasionally I'm turned down. More often, however, my approach results in a conversation - sometimes quite brief, and often through sign language or a translator. That conversation - whatever it's form - yields a connection that I hope is reflected in the final image. I favor simple compositions - straightforward and tightly framed. This approach directs the viewer's attention to the subject's eyes. In most of my images the individuals are looking directly at the camera and, by extension, at us. This approach feels honest and straightforward. The great majority of my portraits are made in natural surroundings with available light. No studio, no strobes. This approach is less intimidating and less formal. It improves the chances of capturing a genuine portrait, an unguarded moment that reveals something of the person behind the photograph. My portraits document the amazing diversity in appearance, lifestyle and circumstances of the people I meet in my travels. At the same time, I hope the message that stays with the viewer is, despite our many superficial differences, our shared humanness connects all of us in the human tapestry.

Guy Bourdin

France
1928 | † 1991

Guy Bourdin (1928-1991) was born in Paris. A painter his entire life and a self-taught photographer, he was working for magazines, such as Vogue as well as for brands such as Chanel, Ungaro and Charles Jourdan. He exhibited his first photographies at Galerie 29 in 1952. Nowadays his work has been exhibited in the most prestigious museums, such as The Victoria & Albert Museum, The Jeu de Paume, The National Art Museum of China, The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography and The Moscow House of Photography. His oeuvres is part of the collection of many prestigious institutions such as the MoMA in New York, The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, SFMOMA in San Francisco and the collection of the V&A among others. Guy Bourdin's career spanned more than forty years during which time he worked for the world's leading fashion houses and magazines. With the eye of a painter, Guy Bourdin created images that contained fascinating stories, compositions, both in B&W and in colors. He was among the 1st to create images with narratives, telling stories and shows that the image is more important than the product which is displayed. Using fashion photography as his medium, he sent out his message, one that was difficult to decode, exploring the realms between the absurd and the sublime. Famed for his suggestive narratives and surreal aesthetics, he radically broke conventions of commercial photography with a relentless perfectionism and sharp humor. Guy Bourdin used the format of the double spread magazine page in the most inventive way. He tailored his compositions to the constraints of the printed page both conceptually and graphically, and the mirror motif so central in his work finds its formal counterpart in the doubleness of the magazine spread. Layout and design become powerful metaphors for the photographic medium, engaging the eye and with it, the mind. While on the one hand employing formal elements of composition, Guy Bourdin, on the other hand, sought to transcend the reality of the photographic medium with surreal twists to the apparent subject of his images and his unconventional manipulation of the picture plane. Given total creative freedom and with uncompromising artistic ethic, Guy Bourdin captured the imagination of a whole generation at the late 1970s, recognised as the highest note in his career. Guy Bourdin was an image maker, a perfectionist. He knew how to grab the attention of the viewer and left nothing to chance. He created impeccable sets, or when not shooting in his studio rue des Ecouffes in le Marais, in undistinguished bedrooms, on the beach, in nature, or in urban landscapes. The unusual dramas that unfold in these seemingly everyday scenes and ordinary encounters pique our subconscious and invite our imagination. Moreover, he developed a technic using hyper real colours, meticulous compositions of cropped elements such as low skies with high grounds and the interplay of light and shadows as well as the unique make-up of the models. Guy Bourdin irreverently swept away all the standards of beauty, conventional morals and product portrayals in one fell swoop. Around the female body he constructed visual disruptions, the outrageous, the hair-raising, the indiscreet, the ugly, the doomed, the fragmentary and the absent, torsos and death - all the tension and the entire gamut of what lies beyond the aesthetic and the moral,« explains the exhibition's curator Ingo Taubhorn. Bourdin investigates in minute detail the variables of fashion photography, from brash posing to subtle performances and from complex settings to novel and disturbing notions of images. Guy Bourdin was among the first to imagine fashion photographies that contained fascinating narratives, dramatic effects with intense color saturation, hyper-realism and cropped compositions while he established the idea that the product is secondary to the image. A fan of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Macguffin' technique - an inanimate object catalyzing the plot - the photographer constructed 'crime scenes', getting rid of all usual standards of beauty and morals while his images demanded cerebral responses. When such photographers as David Bailey, in the 1960s, produced fantasy images of the girl-next-door, Guy Bourdin captured the atmosphere of the 1970s with sharp humor, erotism and outrageous femininity. Collaborating with Issey Miyake, Chanel or Emmanuel Ungaro, it was his work for the shoe label, Charles Jourdan, that brought him the attention of a wider public. With the campaign, Guy Bourdin dared to barely show the product and turned the shoe into a trivial element of a theatrical mise-en-scène that enhanced sex and bad taste. Guy Bourdin's imagery not only changed the course of fashion photography but influenced a host of contemporary artists, photographers and filmmakers. It is without question, that Guy Bourdin's work for Vogue and his highly acclaimed print advertising for Charles Jourdan in the 1970s are now being seen in the appropriate context of contemporary art.

Shuwei Liu

China
1985

Shuwei Liu (b.1985) was born in Tangshan and currently lives in Shanghai, China. He received his Bachelor of Engineering in Guangdong University of Technology in 2009, then he decided to do what he really love such as photography, design and writing. He's a finalist of LensCulture Portrait Awards 2016. His works got exhibited internationally include Power Station of Art, the State Hermitage Museum, Artefiera Bologna, JIMEI × ARLES Photo Festival Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Vu Photo. He was an residency artist in Vermont Studio Center, Red Gate residency and granted by them, and was awarded Fine Art "First Place" by PDN, and he was a finalist of LensCulture Portrait Awards, Three Shadows Photography Awards, Barcelona International Photography Awards, British Journal of Photography, described as "Ones to Watch" talents and Photovogue Festival.All about Childhood Revisited"Childhood is a human water, a water which comes out of the shadows. This childhood in the mists and glimmers, this life in the slowness of limbo gives us a certain layer of birth... " Gaston Bachelard "Childhood is not a thing which dies within us and dries up as soon as it has completed its cycle. It is not a memory. It is the most living of treasures, and it continues to enrich us without our knowing it." Franz Hellens All about Visible Darkness "Visible darkness" is a part of my "Blue" trilogy. When I discovered 4 moon-like crescents at the base of my corneas, I thought I was going to lose sight. The anxiety reminded me of Derek Jarman's "Blue is darkness made visible." , blue was the only thing he could see before he went blind. Meanwhile I was hiding in my own corner, chasing the color blue, turned out to be adjusting the distance between the world and me. Blue itself is just like distance, not reachable.

Kristina Varaksina

Russia

Kristina Varaksina is a Russian photographer currently living and getting Photography MFA Degree in San Francisco, USA. In May 2013 she received Best in Show Portfolio Award at Academy of Art Spring Show. In May 2013 she received 1st Place Award for at Academy of Art Spring Show for her image "Aspirations". In April 2013 she was chosen among the six recipients from USA of 2013 APA EP Educational Grants. In February 2013 her image "Aspirations" won the Digital Photo Magazine "6th Annual Your Best Shot" photo contest. In May 2012 she recieved Best in Show award at Academy of Art Spring Show for her self-portrait image 'Typewriter'. Her work was exhibited at the APA Something Personal show in January 2012 – February 2013. In the Fall 2012 she was also published in CMYK magazine among 100 New Best Creatives of the US. In her photography she explores human psychology by telling stories and creating imaginary worlds. Color palette is one of the key elements in her work.Source: kristinavaraksina.com

Antonio Masiello

Italy
1987

Antonio Masiello was born in Rome on 1987. Journalist since 2013, he documented the Kosovo and Lebanon for the foreign mission of Italian army between 2013 and 2014. On 2015 he began a collaboration with the photo agency Nurphoto, for which he follows the main international news. His works are currently published in the main foreign magazines, among others: TIME Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek USA and Europe, The week USA, Vanity Fair USA, Fortune, Mashable, Frankfurter Allgemeine, The Guardian, The Times, The independent, Die Zeit Magazine, The Sun, The Telegraph, Internazionale, Panorama. With his work on the refugees in Greece, he won the Award of Excellence at the Picture of the year international (POYi) and is a Finalist in the LensCulture Exposure. He is based and works in Rome.

Dr Kumar Bishwajit Sutradhar

Bangladesh
1987

Dr. Kumar Bishwajit Sutradhar is an award-winning documentary photographer from Bangladesh whose work powerfully foregrounds marginalized voices and unseen social realities. Rooted in social justice, environmental crises, women’s empowerment, and humancentered narratives, his photography goes beyond documentation to inspire awareness, empathy, and change. For over a decade, he has participated in more than 50 national and international exhibitions, with his work showcased across Australia, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Montenegro, and Bangladesh. His compelling visual storytelling has reached global audiences and earned widespread critical recognition. Dr. Kumar’s work has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Grand Winner of the International Save Water Competition (Australia, 2013) and the Peoples and Planet International Award (2013). More recently, his photography was recognized at the Bangladesh Press Photo Contest (Politics, 2025), the World Environment Day Photography Contest by ICDDR,B (Climate Change, 2025), and “Framing Possibilities” by UNICEF–UNFPA (Child Marriage, 2025). His earlier recognitions include the Sony World Photography Awards (London, 2015), International Filter Photo Competition (Japan, 2013 – Special Merit Award), the Humanity Photo Awards (HPA, 2013), the Spanish Photography Competition (2014), and multiple accolades across Spain, Turkey, India, and Bangladesh. He believes the role of a photographer extends beyond aesthetics to making invisible voices visible. Through his work, he challenges dominant narratives and advocates for education, human rights, and gender equity. Alongside his photographic practice, Dr. Kumar is an educator and mentor, having served as a lecturer, workshop instructor, competition judge, and mentor to emerging photographers. During his PhD at UNSW Sydney, he was also recognized for his work in scientific photography, earning an award from the Electron Microscopy Unit at UNSW for imaging ultrasmall nanoparticles, a ground-breaking visual achievement later exhibited in Australia and Italy (2025). He has also completed multiple internationally recognized certifications from the University of Birmingham (UK), University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC, USA), Procter & Gamble (USA), the British Orthodontic Society (UK), and the Institute of Digital Dentistry (New Zealand), specializing in Advanced Clinical Dental Photography. Currently, he serves as a Mentor at Tooth Tomorrow Bangladesh (TTBD), supporting dental professionals nationwide through advanced visual documentation and communication. Beyond photography, he remains actively engaged in social and humanitarian initiatives with organizations such as HOPES Foundation, JAAGO Foundation, and Bangladesh Youth Environmental Initiative (BYEI) and Community Action, advancing education, environmental advocacy, and community development. Awarded Photographer of the Week - Week 02, 2026

Jordon McGhee

United Kingdom
1986

Jordon McGhee (United Kingdom) is an artist who mainly works with photography. By rejecting an objective truth and global cultural narratives, McGhee creates with daily, recognisable elements, an unprecedented situation in which the viewer is confronted with the conditioning of his own perception and his views on his stay in Jeddah. His practice provides a useful set of allegorical tools for manoeuvring with a pseudo-minimalist approach in the world of photography: these meticulously planned works resound and resonate with images culled from the fantastical realm of imagination. With a subtle minimalistic approach, he creates work in which a fascination with the clarity of content and an uncompromising attitude towards conceptual and minimal art can be found. The work is free spirited yet systematic with a cool and neutral imagery used. His collection of work from Jeddah urges us to renegotiate photography as being part of a reactive or - at times - documentary medium, commenting on oppressing themes in our contemporary society. With Plato's allegory of the cave in mind, he makes work that deals with the documentation of events and the question of how they can be presented. His work of Jeddah expresses this in detailed portraiture. His works are an investigation into representations of (seemingly) concrete ages and situations as well as depictions and ideas that can only be realised in photography.

Timurtaş Onan

Turkey

Timurtaş Onan was born and brought up in Istanbul. He became involved in photography in 1980 and from that time to the present day he has participated in a wide range of photographic activities both organizing and participating in them. This has included taking part in and holding solo exhibitions of his work at home in Turkey and abroad and also acting as a jury member for national and international photographic competitions. His many activities in the field of photography have involved him in international photographic projects and the creation of documentary films particularly those on socially relevant issues. He is particularly recognized and appreciated for his distinctive photographic projects about Istanbul. His work is to be found in very many public and private collections in Turkey and abroad and at the present time he is holding photographic workshops; curating various exhibitions and working on new photographic projects. Istanbul: A City of Strange and Curious Moments

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