DORIYAN TODOROV

“I chose this image for its intriguing characters and its precise construction, which reinforces the dramatic impression: what is going on between this woman in a virginal dress sinking into a kind of bloodbath and these women who are calling out to her? And this man preoccupied with his child? Reading the caption of the image, where we learn the nationality of these women, brings us back to a contemporary reality that is less mysterious but just as intense…” – DAMARICE AMAO

Photographer statement – Iranian women warn a Russian influencer that the water is deep and a dangerous place to take pictures.

SAM MONTALBETTI

“This image represents one of the aspects I love most about the photographic medium: the interplay of shapes, light and chance that helps us to see the world around us better.” – DAMARICE AMAO

Photographer statement – From the series Playtime. I use photography in a painterly and musical process, constructing and composing multiple exposure photographs of photograms. Layered with colours and forms, the pictures have a psychedelic quality to them, inviting viewers to get lost in the images and reveal details unnoticed at first glance.

These pictures begin in the darkroom, where I play with light, colour filters and the physicality of light sensitive paper. In my studio I cut, arrange, light and install these prints for the camera. Laying them out, I then photograph different arrangements on the same piece of film. This allows light and the prints’ colours, forms and positions in space to mix on the film.

Play is the free-flowing actions and behavior done within a set of rules. After realizing how much I was playing in the darkroom and studio to compose these pictures, I came to understand play as a natural part of me using photography, akin to how musicians are thought of as “playing” their instruments. Playing my instruments (the camera, the lights, the boundaries of the film, etc.,) I too am making a dense, layered mixture of recordings. Except instead of sound, I mix recordings of light.

CHRISTOPHER HUDSON

“A study of form, color and texture, there is something calming and quietly beautiful about this image of salt mountains resting – as Christopher puts it – at dusk. Framing the shot such that it’s devoid of the human and mechanical activity that will have harvested them, they look like natural, organic forms – a peacefulness at odds with the heavy industry that surrounds them.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Sal. Taken on the south coast of Mallorca, mountains of harvested sea salt rest under a twilight sky.

PERSIA CAMPBELL

“It’s the saturated, candy colors that first confront you when viewing this highly-stylized image – accentuating the picture-perfect teenage bedroom with an aesthetic drawing on American high school cinema. But then you spot the television – ignored by Persia’s subject but broadcasting a police incident on the streets of Ciudad Juarez, an episode from the war on drugs she describes in her statement. It’s a powerful dichotomy between the safe internal haven and harsh exterior world, and asks us to question the pervasive influence of American culture, the harsh reality of life for many, and the need for escapism, particularly as a young person. Behind the superficial idealism of this brilliantly executed image there’s a cleverly constructed comment on the modern world.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series Reminiscencias de Ciudad Juárez. When the war against the cartel began in Ciudad Juarez back in 2006, many of us took refuge in our private spaces (in our homes and in our bedrooms). In view of the public spaces being taken over by terrorism and violence, we made our homes a safe haven, a sanctuary where we spent most of our time given that we were subjected to an implicit involuntary confinement. This image represents duality and contrast. The interior is fully decorated in pastels in representation of our border aesthetic, which is significantly based on the commercial exchange with the United States, therefore this interior decor simultaneously becomes a metaphor of the border life and the American dream, a superficially perfect life. The violence, public spaces, and the war on drugs are displayed on the television placed in the room, this depicting the active role of the media on the strategies of terrorism that affected everyone that lives in this city.

HELGA MADAJOVA

“With a minimalistic treatment and draining this scene almost entirely of color, Helga creates a peaceful, ethereal atmosphere that emphasizes the powerful elegance of this horses’ muscular form, and the silent, unspoken bond with its owner. A mesmerizing image.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Connection. The photo shows pure and strong connection between horse and its owner.

JUAN SOSTRE

“With attacks on human rights and the high-profile acts of shocking police brutality dominating our news stations over the last few years,this is a powerful image that encapsulates the social and political zeitgeist. Packed with symbolism, it asks us to reflect on the complexity at play – flags, uniform, carefully painted nails resting on the grip of a gun, and what each of those things represent. And color is of course central to that – black signifying authority and force, juxtaposed against the pride rainbow signifying diversity and acceptance. It’s a brilliantly framed image that captures a lot.” – LIFE FRAMER

HELIN BEREKET

“Playfully titled Monopoly after the little plastic mass-produced houses used in the board game, this aerial shot of a housing complex in Namibia is a visual treat – a mosaic-like pattern of pastel colored structures clustered in a seemingly barren, lifeless environment. With no hint of human life in view, one wonders about the notion of community and the people who call – or will – call this place home.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Monopoly. I took this image during a sightseeing flight around Swakopmund / Namibia. I was hoping to take some nice landscape photos but definitely didn’t expect to see those tiny houses being built as part of the government’s mass housing project. Sometimes luck is everything.

LUIZA MARINAS

“With a creative, playful approach, Luiza attempts to visualize the symptoms of asthma. It’s a brilliant brief – one that would engender very different reactions from photographers responding to it – and one she tackles in an aesthetic, non-literal way. The delicate arrangement of flowers, bright colours and soft, translucent finish might evoke positive emotions, but there’s also something stifling and overpowering under the surface. She makes asthma a thing of beauty, while reflecting on its impact. A gorgeous, experimental and attention-grabbing frame.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Color Breathe. Every year, millions of people around the world get to the emergency rooms day and night with severe breathing difficulties due to asthma attacks. Also known as the most common chronic disease of the childhood, asthma does not only affect the physical and emotional health of children, but also the adults. This image is intended to show allergy to pollen, flowers and strong odours and what it feels like to have such a medical condition. Anxiety, shortness of breath, sadness are some of the feelings that both children and adults with different allergies feel.

ANDREAS BAUER

“With a great eye for color, light and shadow, Andreas presents a fabulous, dynamic shot of boys playing pick-up basketball Havana, brilliantly framed and timed to capture the action.” – LIFE FRAMER

ROMY MAXIME

“A confidently executed portrait that utilizes tight framing and an upwards angle, with a limited color palette and tasteful, complementary make-up, to create an empowering shot – one that celebrates this woman’s rare skin condition and shines our superficial differences in a positive light.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – African albino woman Nontobeko photographed in Cape Town, South Africa.

PAUL KUSSEROW

“Sunsets are perhaps the most ubiquitous of subject matter for photos, but with a simple double exposure (one frame in portrait, the other in landscape we think?), Paul creates something that feels artistic, unexpected and uniquely his – a beautiful accident washed in appealing pastel tones.” – LIFE FRAMER

SERGE BEGUET

“A feast of near fluorescent color, Serge’s tightly-framed shot comes with no statement for context, and so it’s to be enjoyed for what it is – an immersive, kaleidoscopic single image with almost ever color of the rainbow on vivid display. An example of the crowd offering as much interest to the photographers’ eye as the event that brings them together.” – LIFE FRAMER

YVETTE MORRIS

“The beautiful orange-yellow ombré of Yvette’s image is not an effect she’s applied, rather the result of the huge bushfires that ravaged huge areas of Australia in 2019-20. Framing these skeletal trees against the incandescent haze, her image speaks to the intensity of these fires and the devastating impact they wreak.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Taken during the 2019-2020 bushfires that engulfed Australia. This was red smoke haze from a large fire close to Canberra and its surrounding townships.

SIBYLLE FENDT

“The trust and openness between photographer and subject is clear in this portrait, an honest collaboration that celebrates this woman for her “very special language and the way [she goes]” as described in Sibylle’s statement. Shot with great attention to lighting and background, she created a moment of unfiltered connection, painted in gorgeous colors.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Ina Holub. Since January 2021 I have been portraying artists in whose work the exploration of gender roles, gender identity and the fight against exclusion of any kind play a major role. To date I have portrayed over 50 personalities from the fields of fine art, comic art, acting, literature, music, performance and photography. Our mutual respect and appreciation are the basic conditions for the creation of the photographs. The goal was to create an image of diversity, freedom, individuality and uniqueness in the overall impression of the portraits, in which role expectations have no place. This idea of freedom is also supported by the color scheme of the images and I have “really let it rip” in terms of color.

The selection of my protagonists is very subjective and can have no completeness to the goal. All unites that I appreciate them, for their uniqueness, their unwillingness to compromise, for their very special language and the way they go. That they show themselves and show themselves to us in all their self-evidence.

ELLA MACK

“A single shade of bright color against a drab grey concrete boardwalk and underneath an overcast sky, this image of North Korean cheerleaders practising a routine to energize passing commuters offers a fascinating cultural insight into this closed nation, as well as a striking example of the symbolic power of color.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – North Korean Cheerleaders practice their routine. These women dance and wave red flags every morning, with the aim of motivating and inspiring workers during their daily commute.

CHARLOTTE CUMMING

“The recent death of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth recent death was a huge cultural moment, and one captured in many ways by thousands of amateur and professional photographers, as well as covered in painstaking detail by news stations across the world. Despite that saturation, there’s something profound and unexpected about this image – an intimacy in the ‘eye contact’ with this image of a young queen set against a bed of vibrantly colorful flowers. It feels warm and celebratory, and an apt document of someone whose every public moment was captured by the world’s media.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – From the series Colour in Death. Visiting tributes to the Queen recently in Hyde Park, UK, surrounded by colour.

GLEESON PAULINO

“Gleeson describes a “kind of magical movement” in his statement, and it’s an apt phrase for this image – a gorgeous, fluid sense of motion pervading the scene, a freedom and weightlessness. Floating untethered somewhere between fine art and fashion, it’s brilliantly done. ” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Colors live in the details, they are brief moments of our lives. I focus on these details, expanding in time what is so brief. When we give space, colors spread across the view flooding our glance, to be no longer just glimpses. With care and attention, my photographs let the colors dance calmly in front of us, in a kind of magical movement – fleeting moments become an affectionate record of life, eternalizing the glance.

ANDREA POZZONI

“A wonderful, candid shot taken on the streets of La Vila Joiosa in Spain, the contrast between deep shadow and bright paintwork creating a satisfying composition of geometric shapes and block color that flirts with graphic art, with all anchored by this young girl lost in the moment. It’s a vivid slice of life.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – The light and colors of a glimpse of a small coastal town in southern Spain, where the signs of time have painted the colorful walls typical of this place, creating a set of chaotic shades of color, but at the same time, surprisingly pleasant and capable to transport me into the iconic Mediterranean “heat”. La Vila Joiosa, Spain, Summer 2021.

WENYING LIU

“Wenying’s portrait of a senior man in his home offers a poignant perspective on social isolation, the walls and windows here emblematic of his seclusion from the outside world, and the green tone emphasizing the melancholic air. While sad in subject matter, it also typifies the power of photography as a tool to connect, as described in her touching statement.” – LIFE FRAMER

Photographer statement – Back in 2014, I had a chance to meet these seniors left behind at their own homes alone. Since then, I have kept in touch with them for the past eight years. I made a promise to myself to visit them at least once every two years, to help them the way I could, to record their daily lives, and give them the photos I made. As a photographer, I take tens of thousands of photos a year. It is just routine works, but this small act makes a significant difference to these left-behind seniors because most of them never had a chance to shoot a self-portrait in their lifetime.

They are the people who live at the edge of modern human society, impoverished and isolated. Therefore, they are incapable of handling and recovering from crises, such as Covid-19. In this project, I focused my lens on them, trying to arise more attention to them. Otherwise, when society distancing and lockdown measures to be eased, loneliness and depression will remain.

OLEG MOSKVIN

“With pockets of bright color – purples, reds, green and yellows – against an endless blue sea and sky, Oleg’s image shot on the deck of a passenger ferry offers a visually-absorbing document of an unassuming moment. Nicely done.” – LIFE FRAMER