EDITORS’ PICK
The Ache for Home
HOME SWEET HOME
Home Sweet Home Editors’ Pick
Following Jonas Tebib’s selection of winning images for our recent Home Sweet Home competition, this compilation of 20 images represents some of the other talented photographers whose work struck us and left a mark. Each a stunning image worthy of exposure and attention…
When selecting for editor’s picks we’re always searching for those striking photographs that make for an unforgettable single image, whether from a broader series or not. We enjoy the accompanying text some photographers submit with their images, and while not always necessary it can be relevant when understanding the work in full context.
These are intended to be a conversation starter… so feel free to join the discussion on our social networks.
BANNER IMAGE: BRETT PARSONS
“A jubilant scene welcomes the viewer, cutting through the drab coloring and heavy grain, and heightened as the photographer describes the accompanying soundscape. This upward perspective of balloons reaching towards the clouds punctuates the urban setting and brings a softness to the imposing brick structure. The photographer’s use of negative space adds to the sense of wonder and joy within this uncomplicated yet amusing image – one where happiness is elegantly juxtaposed against tedium, and which reminds us of the myriad lives that go on behind the non-descript architecture of our urban environments.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Happy Birthday Kid. In the city’s tumultuous landscape, I audibly encountered this birthday celebration. I hope this kid had a day that made them feel like the world and everything in it could wait just one more day and they could be a kid in the fullest sense.
VERONIQUE DUPLAIN
“The detail the photographer has put into creating this image truly represents their consideration of AI and its effect on our everyday lives. There is a fear around the concept of artificial intelligence and how it will evolve. This photograph serves to both heighten this fear – depicting AI as something that masquerades as human – as well as deconstructing our fears – portraying an ordinary task with an extraordinary subject. The image forces the viewer to see AI as another tool, to really consider where it would sit within their own lives. A visually pleasing aesthetic with a vital narrative on the future of humanity, at a time when our future feels more uncertain than ever.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Ed 10 – Day 7 – Selfimpersonator. Laundry day. I feel artificial intelligence is evolving to the point where we can have full conversation with them and the line between artificial and human gets thiner by the hour. I tried representing this line in a context where the 3d printed robot named Vé2.0 (representing AI) is impersonating the human in a home environment we know very well – the laundry room.
WENDY STONE
“A true action scene from family life, full of fun, energy and innocence. The photographer was quick to compose a sweet moment between their son and the dog, but the unexpected jump added another level of excitement, cementing its legendary status in the family archives. Light and shadow are beautifully balanced, framing the dog at the perfect moment. A charming view into the everyday chaos of a family home.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Bath Time. I heard my son ask his dad if he could take a bath. I went in to check on him to find that he had the dog in the tub with him. Soon after Marius tried to jump out a closed window.
TILLYE VANDERMOLEN
“The photographer turns their eye to those places and objects that are usually overlooked by most as they pass by, hunting for intrigue in the mundanity of suburbia. Their emphasis on color and contrast creates a sense of hope from within these drab locations, setting a challenge to the viewer to really look and observe each area for life in the detail. An ordinary scene, elevated by clever framing and a thoughtful and optimistic viewpoint.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – This is from a series called Untold Stories. Walking around neighborhoods in different cities, visiting parks, and commercial areas, I tend to find interest in the mundane. As mundane as our lives can be, there are untold stories that exist and wish to be told. Color is a huge part of this series.
ANDRES GALLEGO
“Contrary to what this photographer might believe, they have managed to express themselves eloquently in both a visual sense and through their written text. They have allowed themselves to become vulnerable, enabling the viewer to have a real insight into their private thoughts and mood. The photographer’s internal dialogue is echoed outwards throughout the scene in the muted tones and earthy colours. A compelling mixed media piece, quite unlike anything else we’ve recently seen.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – “Room at Sunset”. In the room, a man is seated in the bed with a sleeping baby next to him. Despite the presence of the child, the man seems lost in loneliness, as if trapped in his thoughts. Outside, through the window, an urban landscape can be observed, full of buildings and bright lights that seem distant and disconnected.
The contrast between the calm of the baby and the man’s loneliness, along with the distance between them and the outside world, creates a sense of isolation and disconnection. It is a scene that evokes feelings of nostalgia, sadness, and melancholy.The scene depicted is a self-portrait with my newborn daughter, an attempt to express through images what I cannot express in words.
ARGUS PAUL ESTABROOK
“This close crop of human intimacy emits pain and grief while also revealing an element of comfort. Even though the high definition, black and white aspects create a distance between the viewer and subjects, they don’t distract from the personal connection, allowing the viewer to empathize as they contemplate the scene. This photograph depicts home as another person – family, friend, partner – where security, support and love is always on hand. We’d love to know more about the circumstances in which it was taken.” – LIFE FRAMER
JAVIER CABRERA
“The photographer has staged and styled this scene to a flawless finish, cleverly composing the home as the main character, overseeing the events that play out between the people that come and go. The near-symmetrical aesthetic is visually arresting – from the body language to the luggage, the fashion to the flowers – this photographer has considered each element of their photograph in great detail. An inviting image with an amusing concept.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Home can be bitter sweet, and the places where we live watch us arrive (and leave). I created this image using an “omnipresent” and very soft lighting to achieve a painterly style. The characters are almost absent and the objects around them tell a simple story of hope, disappointment and uneven emotions.
MINAMI IVORY
“This unconventional portrait made up of shape and muted tones is a playful nod to its subject and the fun they bring to this photographer’s environment. There is a clever use of pattern throughout as the creased cardboard bears a resemblance to the child’s skin tone, their eyes dark with an air of innocent mischief, echoed in the small, surrounding shadows. A witty scene and a true insight into the meaning of home, and the quiet, everyday moments from which its comprised.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – From my photo book “I love you to the Sun and back 100 times”. A collection of images of my children, who make our home.
DEBDATTA CHAKRABORTY
“The photographer sums up the sentiment of the image faultlessly in their accompanying text. The core of this family home is the harmony and interactions between the generations – from teaching and understanding to playing and joking. They capture each subject in action, happy in each other’s company without needing to directly interact. The photograph embodies their rapport and connection – a simple color palette allowing the family dynamic to become center focus, the playful composition full of character and warmth.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Pastoral Symphony. Tribal communities of West Bengal mostly live in a large joint family, mostly in big thatched houses, consisting of several generations sharing a common kitchen. It is the sweet anecdotes between the elderlies and the young ones, the siblings caring for the family pets and siblings sharing their antics, that make their earthen huts into a warm and sweet home.
MAURO PESCE
“Aspects of worship, wonder and respect are weaved into this scene, never is there any element of fear alluded to in text or image, as the volcano is a valued, spiritual symbol to most of the people and animals occupying the surrounding land. In the distance the mountainous mass glows in the moonlight, as if quietly supervising the inhabitants of its territory. The appreciation of this wondrous land is not lost on the photographer, and the series is a homage to this home.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Boy going to look for the ball in Quinco. “For us the volcano is part of the geography, of the beautiful landscape that God gave us, that we had to inhabit. As a preacher says: ‘God blesses us in all areas, we are even blessed geographically’. He used that term: that we are geographically blessed to live in this paradise.
From the series 36 Views of Villarrica Volcano. Villarrica volcano has an active lava lake and is one of the few in the world frequently emitting incandescent particles. Located in the south of Chile, in the Araucan?a Region, its surroundings were for centuries inhabited by native nations organized into small autonomous groups. When the Chilean state occupied the territory in 1883, the area entered an accelerated transformation process.
MONÍK MOLINET
“Using the camera to study oneself can be both painful and cathartic, unlike a mirror you’re not distracted by yourself, but instead simply observing. The style of this portrait seems to visually depict how the photographer is flipping the perspective as they look inwards at themselves, away from their familiar environment they search for a place of solace and understanding from within. An intricate image that provokes musings on societal perceptions and self-reflection for both the viewer and photographer. Nicely done.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – The borders of the structure of romantic love and the home can be a very difficult line to cross when you have professional aspirations and are born a woman. This photograph is part of an extensive series of self-portraits 2014 – present. When I emigrated from Cuba to Mexico, I was forced to be reborn not only because of reinsertion into a completely unknown context, or because I did not have a close circle of support, or because I was facing severe depression, I also gave up my career as an actress to start in the photography and thus be able to appropriate my own speech, my voice, the stories that I was interested in telling.
Action, emotion and conflict. I started by portraying myself as a way to understand everything I felt, in an exercise of intimacy and introspection.
How to tell in a photo how I feel, without words, the camera was the tool to transcend the feeling, so that I could validate my emotion when seeing it from the outside, creating an exact reference with which to identify myself. It relieved me.
OLIVIA DE VILLAINE
“A privileged moment for both subjects, building on their young relationship as they sit in the comfort of the family home at sunset. The photographer’s understanding of natural light, and how it crystallises significant, intimate moments like this is key to telling the story of this treasured connection. A happy, harmonious scene that is being cherished and celebrated in front of, and behind the camera.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Generations united. In the heart of Normandy, the family home is a sanctuary of memories and traditions. In this peaceful house, a special moment takes place between my son and his grandmother. As the sun slowly descends, casting a warm glow in the room, the two generations are bathed in a serene light. The room seems to vibrate with echoes of family gatherings and past laughter. Together, they look to the horizon, savoring the simple joy of being together. In that moment, time stands still and the bond between them grows stronger.
TEBANI SLADE
“A paranormal picture awaits the viewer, the silhouetted figure is almost posing in anticipation for the photographer to capture the scene, waiting until the last minute to plunge the apartment block into darkness. The light flare, a happy accident, enhances this image with futuristic qualities. This weird and wonderful glitch ignites both the viewer’s and the photographer’s imaginations as we ponder the fate of humanity in a post-pandemic world.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – An Alien World. Taken not long after the lift of travel restrictions, the city of Frankfurt was emerging out of a 2 year darkness. I took this image from my hotel window. For me it has an alien sense about it. The light flare shooting upwards like a tele-transporter, and the human form ready to flick the switch and disappear. With all the advances in technology, could this be our future?
ANASTASIIA FESIURA
“So many have had to redefine their relationship to home due to war and conflict, forced into becoming resilient and ridding themselves of nostalgia to survive and move on. This photographer chooses to become the main subject, their expression one of acceptance and quiet confidence, knowing they have internalized their sense of home, it becoming more than the surrounding bricks and mortar. Their understanding of true freedom is achieved through experience and reflection. A bittersweet portrait that captures the best and worst of humanity in one.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Home is not four walls of your apartment, nor the four nearest districts or even four cities, but a place where you are free to go to all four cardinal directions, do whatever you want and be who you want to be. Self-portrait.
SOFÍA CARRASCO
“The photographer poses an interesting concept – that home is just a phase. It’s an interesting thought as we consider this room to be the grandfather’s final home. From the reflection in the window, to the hanging portrait, we see many figures within one scene – all at various stages in life – as if replaying the different points of the subject’s lifetime. This image is full of intense emotion and reflective thought – a heartbreaking scene of reality captured in a layered and multi-faceted way.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Sometimes home turns into a phase, where we realize that it’s time to face and process life / death. At times it give us comfort, strength or even nostalgia and vulnerability. My friend Mauricio wanted to make a documentary about his grandfather before he gets more sick. I empathized like never before with my heart and camera. This image: “Pause-Silence”: Mauricio’s grandfather started to feel unwell. family members start to gather.
LESLIE FRATKIN
“An image that brings to mind the song lyrics “there’s a crack in everything. That’s where the light gets in.”. Through the photographers’ past health difficulties they develop new ways to approach their work and process their subjects and concepts. The photograph challenges the viewer on how it fits within the theme and prompts questions like, ‘what was this space?’ and ‘what has it become now?’ – the dichotomy of the chalk-written word ‘peace’ and the bullet holes around it powerful in its lack of subtlty. A poetic and thought-provoking scene, shared by a knowing and meditative perspective – one that combines universal themes with very personal ones.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Apartment Building Lobby Damaged by Bullets and Shrapnel During the War in Bosnia, Sarajevo.
Multiple Sclerosis forced an abrupt end to my twenty-five-year freelance photography career. It required me to slow down, frequently rest, and become more conscientious about my health and my approach to photography. Even though I am now asymptomatic, this slower, more methodical process has stayed with me. I now see and appreciate people and streetscapes that I might never have noticed before. My unhurried process results in images that are more considered, more carefully and advantageously composed. I spend just those few seconds more than I used to, allowing both people and the elements in front of me to fall together into a clearer, more intimate way. I do not consider myself to be the only author of the final image. My process itself is embedded in collaboration with my subjects and my surroundings.
BENEDETTA RISTORI
“The Covid-19 pandemic may be in large part behind us, but such was its social impact that many images are still immediately recognizable as ‘pandemic shots’. The facial expressions from both human and pet seem to sum-up the pandemic perfectly for a lot of people – boredom and confusion. Our homes during these frequent lockdowns became different places – places of both refuge and imprisonment – and we had to get comfortable with our own company and refamiliarise ourselves with familiar spaces. This image of simplicity is layered with complex emotions and unusual circumstances, an effective portrait of life during a challenging episode in human history. ” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Aysha and her cat during the isolation caused by the pandemic of Covid-19 in 2021, Italy.
SURYENE RAMAGET
“The sparse setting and position of the subject, facing towards the shuttered windows, mirrors a prison cell. The mask becomes the main focus, a symbol of the pandemic which became a prison in its own right for many people. The photographer has captured the mood through their subtle use of shadow and tone. A well-timed portrait from a painful period in time we are still processing.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – An elderly Sicilian woman looks from the window of her house.
RONA BAR & OFEK AVSHALOM
“A room of soft light and neutral tones builds a scene of quiet calm, where the couple awaits the viewer’s gaze. Couples -or individuals- with Down’s Syndrome aren’t often celebrated or documented in terms of romance, beauty or fashion, but images like this, and people like this photographic duo, are slowly helping to change the narrative from an exclusive ‘mainstream’ to an inclusive one. This portrait reminds us of the founding connection of love, a shared acceptance and appreciation, and the comfort it provides us with.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Nino and Olivia from our project “Us” – documenting couples in their homes, Bristol, UK.
ANØDINE
“The angle of this image appears as if it’s taken from the same position as the sleeping subject, someone lying on the ground next to them – hopefully, someone known to the subject – putting the viewer and subject at the same level. In the background, people go about the space in a regular fashion, emphasizing the point that this space is generally not for sleeping. The viewer contemplates the circumstance that brought this person to their current situation. How homelessness is documented is key to how society perceives and ultimately takes action to prevent more people falling into poverty, and we hope this image has impact in that sphere.” – LIFE FRAMER
Photographer statement – Sleeping Room.
