JONATHAN JASBERG

“I selected this image as the first place image because it feels like a genuine moment in time. It can often be challenging to create a personal point of view at famous landmarks. This image feels authentic and tells a story.” – STEVE MCCURRY

Photographer statement – From the series Cairo: A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect. Sailors & The Sphinx – Members of the French Navy’s bagpipe band “Bagad Lann Bihoue” visit the Sphinx in October 2020, during their first and only outing during Covid. Due to this being at the height of travel lockdowns during the pandemic, the normally extremely crowded tourist sight was virtually void of tourists, making for a very surreal scene to stumble upon.

MIKE LOUAGIE

“The photographer successfully captures the monochromatic Antarctica landscape, with a dash of color highlighting the people trekking. The juxtaposition of the people mimics the penguins in an interesting way. Photographing here can be very difficult and requires a different approach.” – STEVE MCCURRY

Photographer statement – “Abbey Road”. Curious penguins follow passengers of the Ponant expedition ice breaker ‘Le Commandant Charcot”. Hanusse Bay, Antarctica.

MARCO PARENTI

“Shot at dusk, as the light begins to fade and mute the colors of the day, Marco handles the low light well to create an atmospheric scene redolent of an oil painting. The mighty baobab trees tower over this single car making its way through the landscape, their distinctive forms reaching up to a vast and empty sky. It’s a magical moment infused with adventure – one of those privileged, unexpected glimpses of beauty we’re treated to when traveling through a new place.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Dusk view of the Avenue of the Baobabs at Morondava, Madagascar.

MONIK MOLINET

“Moník’s image, of boys playing pick-up soccer on the wet streets of Malecon in Havana, feels almost timeless – the black and white treatment and silhouetted figures untethering it from a place in time. When we think of Cuba we think of blue skies, colorful buildings and busy streets, and so it’s refreshing to see this perspective, brilliantly composed to allow the viewer to absorb each figure and detail. They say bad weather makes for good photography, and it’s certainly true in this case.” – LIFE FRAMER

DIMITAR KARANIKOLOV

“Dimitar’s environmental portrait of a shepherd from the Rhodope mountains in Bulgaria is beautifully done. Cradling a lamb in his warm embrace against a backdrop of unforgiving terrain, we’re left with a sense of the combination of hardness and softness required for a life such as this. Looking out beyond the frame, Dimitar’s subject seems lost in thought surveying his landscape, and we’re invited into his world for just a moment. With beautiful lighting, the bright colors of his artisanal blanket and this thoughtful pose, it’s an image that celebrates rather than denigrates such a lifestyle that may seem so far removed from our own.” – LIFE FRAMER

DAVID KEITH BROWN

“David provides only the most minimal of image statements alongside this candid beachfront slice of life (“Chennai, India, 2019.”), and so we’re left asking who these young men are. Are they out for leisure? Or trying to pick up tourists next to the food stall for beach horse rides? Regardless, it’s an exceptional composition – every zone of the frame filled with interest, and David’s crouched point of view finding a sense of order, each element given its own space. It’s a deceptively difficult thing to achieve – to create a satisfying visual arrangement that grounds the viewer in the moment in such an immersive way.” – LIFE FRAMER

TAL MAZIG

“Tal’s poetic statement captures something that will be familiar to many of us – passing countless childhood hours watching the world race by as a backseat passenger, some of it familiar, some of it new and enthralling. Boredom and excitement in equal measure, but all part and parcel of travel. Her subtle, nostalgic recreation of this time and those feelings is beautifully done – a strange sense of wonder in her subject’s expression, rooted in the moment as her older sibling escapes from it in a book or a phone. The soft, hazy light imbues the scene with a nostalgia, of memories at once vivid and imprecise. It’s a lovely, well-crafted shot that draws the viewer in.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Daydream. While sitting through long car rides as a child I used to love staring at the beauty outside the window, imaging characters running by the car, jumping from the street lights. I liked looking at the shapes of the clouds and watching the moon follow us, day dreaming of seeing the world. This is a recreation of that childhood memory, using my younger siblings as the subjects.

CARLOS DE LA REINA

“Carlos presents a wonderfully evocative low-key portrait of this Ghanaian girl, far removed from the image of a surfer most of us will have in mind. By stepping back, he roots her in this beautiful landscape and reminds us of the rich world that exists beyond the stereotypes and boundaries we sometimes hold.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series The Dreams We Had. Obibini Girls surfing in Busua, Ghana. This image is part of an ongoing project I’m working on in Ghana and Sierra Leone. I’m trying to capture the life of kids and teenagers in different towns and cities. The focus is on discovering how different it is growing up in different parts of the world, and how similar some of the dreams and aspirations of these kids are.

PIERLUIGI MESOLELLA

“Travel for many is synonymous with relaxation and this aqua blue pool provides an inviting escape as well as a pocket of tranquility amongst the chaos of apartment blocks, cranes, yachts, power lines and parasols. It’s a well-balanced scene and offers an interesting perspective on modern ideas of leisure, tourism, wealth and status – few places more associated with such words as Monaco.” – LIFE FRAMER

DENIS VEJAS

“Travel can be driven by curiosity and a desire for fun, but also by necessity. In a world where we create artificial boundaries, and discussions on immigration can often reduce people to numbers, this image of the border wall between Mexico and the US humanizes the concept of human movement – the lone man looking out to sea and the handwritten text on the wall acting as a poignant reminder that it is all just driven by circumstance and the hope of finding something better at the other end of the journey. Taken at this social activism hub -as Denis puts it in his statement- the moon ahead is perhaps a small beacon of hope, to compassion and togetherness eclipsing fear and otherness.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series The Wall. A migrant from Haiti stands by the border wall in Tijuana. A wall as a symbol of separation, supremacy and racism. All these social scenes were captured around the small part of the wall on the beach of Tijuana. Being widely outspoken on the media, the place turns into a hub of migration, social activism, and a tourist attraction.

GAILE MARTINENAITE

“Route 66, the highway slicing the US in two from Los Angeles to Chicago, is a cultural touchstone, synonymous with the great American road trip. So embedded is it in our popular conscious that its visual language – endless straight roads, remote gas stations, motels and vintage neon signs – has become something of a cliché, over-photographed and often perversely uninspiring. It’s a long road covering an almost endless array of terrains however, and Gaile’s image offers something different to those well-worn perspectives. The signage may be immediately recognizable but the lone tree bursting forth from simple housing against a thick foggy sky creates a scene imbued with a strange eeriness, a nowhereness of being untethered from a specific place. Road trips are about adventure, of heading out into the unknown for new experiences, and this compelling image channels those feelings quite effectively.” – LIFE FRAMER

VERONIKA K KO

“Taken at Oktoberfest in a packed beer hall, this busy, pastel-toned aerial shot is a visual feast, offering an insight into the curious ways we celebrate tradition and spend our leisure time. With festivities taking place below idyllic hand-painted village scenes and a perfect sky, it provides an interesting comment on the real and the artificial, community and capitalism, while offering fun diversion exploring all of the people and details that Veronika captures in crisp focus.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – The Oktoberfest is the world’s largest festival, featuring a beer festival and a travelling funfair. It is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany – a 16 to 18 day folk festival running from mid-September to around the first Sunday in October, with more than six million international and national visitors annually attending the event. Locally, it is called d’Wiesn, after the colloquial name for the fairgrounds, Theresienwiese. The Oktoberfest is an important part of Bavarian culture, having been held since the year 1810. Other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations that are modeled after the original Munich event.

During the event, large quantities of Oktoberfest Beer are consumed. For example, during the 16-day festival in 2014, 7.7 million litres (66,000 US bbl; 1,700,000 imp gal) were served, making it the year where the most beer was consumed at the Oktoberfest. Visitors also enjoy numerous attractions, such as amusement rides, sidestalls, and games. There is also a wide variety of traditional foods available.

KAREN EPPINGHAUS

“Nothing in this image is quite in focus, and yet the motion blur creates a real sense of velocity, of a drama and breathlessness as this cowboy and horse charge through the shrubland. The brushstroke-like effect renders this scene into something artistic, expressive and visceral. An image you feel as well as see. We’d love to know more from Karen about her subject and the story behind her travels.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Brave cowboy from the Brazilian Caatinga.

CLIFF YEUNG

“A brief moment of connection in the chaos, Cliff’s slow shutter frames this man against a background of unstoppable momentum. It captures that feeling of being a tourist in a new place, of pausing to take everything in as the rest of the world races by. It’s perhaps not an image rich with insight, and a lack of a statement doesn’t aid that, but it is one rich with feeling. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” as a wise young man once said.” – LIFE FRAMER

KIN CHAN

“Shot in soft, washed-out lighting and set against a backdrop of lush rolling hills, Kin’s semi-staged -we assume- portrait of these Tibetan artisans is dreamy and evocative. There’s something theatrical in the arrangement of people and lanterns, and it’s an image that lingers because of it, but we’d love to know more about the context behind it.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Tibetan artisans of Norlha Atelier, Ritoma, Ganan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

PHILIP MARSHALL

“Travel affords us the opportunity to see spectacular architecture, artwork and monuments, and so travel photographers have to be aware of a certain truth – that an image of a spectacular thing isn’t always a spectacular image. This stairway to nowhere on Salar de Uyuni in Boliva, a sculpture by artist Gastón Ugalde, is in itself an arresting work of art that many a traveler will have stopped at, but Philip’s execution elevates it beyond a simple tourist snapshot. Taken from a raised viewpoint by drone against a setting sun, he maximizes the sense of scale and the tire-marked texture of the salt flats. With the drawn out shadows and lone silhouetted figure it’s truly mesmeric, on first glance as if the staircase is jutting above low clouds, the surreal scene shot from a passing plane window. A creative shot of a creative thing..” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – This image is from a trip I am currently on across Latin America. So far I have been travelling for 1 month in Peru and Bolivia. It was taken by a friend of mine under my order of composition. I basically crash my drone an hour before so I told him the shot I wanted and this is what came out. The shot was taken in the Salar de Uyuni. This stairway is, according to our guide, more popular in Latin summer during wet season. During wet season the whole salar is a very huge mirror and you can’t tell the difference between the ground and the sky. This stair, purely made of salt, is supposed to represent “the passage to the sky”. I personally prefer without water because we can clearly see the shade behind the stairs and the texture of the salt that surrounds the stairs. That texture, combined with this sunset was stunning.

SEBASTIEN DURAND

“Variations on Sebastien’s image -shot through the window of a subway carriage in motion, capturing the reflection of a billboard behind- have probably been taken by many a photographer, but there’s something in the juxtaposition of the stony-faced commuters and the cinematic couple in embrace which triggers thoughts on intimacy and anonymity, the facelessness of the crowds that swarm through our transport networks every day. Beautifully framed and layered, it provides a window into a window into a window, and is elevated beyond a typical subway shot because of it.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series Subway Travel Companions.

LORENZ BERNA

“Partially obscuring this scene by shooting into the fog and golden morning light, Lorenz creates a scene which, while capturing a touristic aspect of Myanmar in this puppet stall, also feels authentic and enchanting. One can imagine themselves in his shoes, exploring the streets and absorbing the atmosphere as the busy day rears itself into life. A lovely shot that makes great use of light and shadow.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Bagan, Myanmar. At the first light of the morning, two friends converse in front of a Burmese puppet stall shrouded in fog.

MARIE JULIETTE AZIZ

“Marie’s image is not one that’s particularly complicated or crafted, but there’s something absorbing in the off-kilter perspective and elongated shadows that helps define the scale of the courtyard of the Duomo di Milano and of its many visitors – both people and pigeons! – each going about their day in their own way. Black and white is a good choice, to strip the image back and allow the viewer to focus on the shapes, textures and clarity of the low-level light.” – LIFE FRAMER

MICHELIA KRAMER

“Michelia’s statement provides an interesting perspective on the nature of travel and tourism, of the tricky aspect of voyeurism inherent in experiencing for a pleasure a life harder than one’s own. Those ideas are worth contemplating at length, but as a single frame she captures something of this hardship –the bone-chilling cold emanating from the scene– in a beautifully aesthetic way, the sheep and mountainous valley cutting strong diagonal lines, and the bright overcast light rendering the scene in an almost black and white. It’s immersive and tactile.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Our comforts are taken for granted. To step outside of our comforts intentionally is seen as adventurous, an opportunity to engage with nature, an interpretation of “real life.” In Kyrgyzstan, many make their living as shepherds. They rarely own their own sheep, but manage them for others earning a small income. The comforts are minimal, but still sought out. A cigarette whenever possible, climbing a mountain to get the best cell phone reception, sharing a YouTube video with a friend, to eventually return home, drink some say, and to repeat the process every day. One could romanticize this family, and this home, as more in tune with the natural world, but the day to day reality is much more complicated.

I spent just 10 days up in the At-Bashi mountain range with Kyrgyz shepherds and their families, in small villages, and a local school, following and observing their routines. They spend all day every day with this reality. To intentionally step outside of our comforts for the sake of adventure is disillusionment in itself, yet the spectacle and the true beauty of nature does provide knowledge and wonder. To live in it constantly comes at a cost.