EDITORS’ PICK
The Created and the Unexpected
OPEN CALL
Open Call Editors’ Pick
Following Dilys Ng’s selection of winning images for our recent Open Call 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 COURTESY OF ALIZE YACCINO
www.alizejireh.com / @alizejireh
“Blending In, Fox River Grove, IL May 2022, from my series Boundless exploring the power of solitude and the wonderment towards ourselves cultivated as we embrace our loneliness and see the boundless magic we have within to create worlds of imagination and self reflection”.
IMAGE COURTESY OF HENRIETTE SABROE EBBESEN
www.henrietteebbesen.com / @henrietteebbesen
“Another Face.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF MARTINA BRAJDIC MANOJLOVIC
@martinabrajdicm
“”Only in the dark one can see the stars”. This little star is my son Neo, at sunset on the island of Pag, Croatia.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF ELISA MILLER
www.elisamillerstudio.com / @elisamillerstudio
“My series The Other poses questions of identity and invites us to consider the limited possibilities of expressing one’s true self. Limitations that we can feel due to society, our domestic situation, or even us. The modern world is still a difficult place for women, alas. Taking inspiration from the famous quote of French author Jean-Paul Sartre “Hell is other people”, these staged photos explore our self-limiting beliefs and our desire to fit in, and the gap between our true selves and what we are expected to be. What if hell isn’t actually other people – but the things we do to ourselves?”
IMAGE COURTESY OF MAXIMILIAN GOTTWALD
www.maximilian-gottwald.de / @gottwaldmaximilian
“In Asian Dusk – The Empire of Light I document cityscapes and impressions of Asian metropolises. The fast economic, political and demographic growth in Asia is rapidly changing these urban landscapes. Condensation transforms them into dystopias. the excessive use of artificial light, the light pollution, even sometimes makes the night look like day. I try to get a certain order from the urban landscapes, which never come to rest, through the composition of light, color, surface and lines. The human element is often implied in my pictures, but the human being is not visible. this also underlines the anonymity that prevails in large cities. Visiting an Asian city is an overwhelming experience that engages all of the senses. In search of a suitable location, I let myself be driven by the smells and noises of the urban jungle, with the intention of transforming the hectic and chaos into an aesthetic calm and balance.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF RENATA DUTREE
www.renatadutreephotography.com / @renatadutreephotography
“My ongoing series Pride and Prejudice is intended to challenge the viewer with social constructs that are centred around masculinity and femininity. Gender bias, gender roles and stereotypes can affect everyone negatively. In our society the normative narrative of “male” is tough and assertive and “female” equals tender and weak. Manhood needs to be proven continuously and can be lost. Research demonstrates that men too face backlash if they don’t adhere to masculine gender stereotypes. Showing vulnerability, displaying empathy, expressing sadness and acting nicer can lead to lower status, less income and potential career derailment. With my “female gaze” I only see beautiful people, who can dress, think or act in a traditionally feminine manner and be anything they want. There is no correlation between expressing femininity and someone’s competence.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF SHANA DENNIS
www.shanadennis.smugmug.com / @shanadennisartist
“Long Exposure Faces are a series of self portraits that have been coloured in photoshop and/or with the use of makeup. All effects of the faces besides the colouring have been done in camera.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF HAKIM TAHI
www.hakimtahi.com / @hakim_tahi_photographs
“Recycling tyres in Africa.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF LIZ BRETZ
www.lizbretz.com / @lizbretz
“Tech, Amirite? A colorful character portrait with nostalgic tones.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF ANTON KUEHNHACKL
www.antontonton.com / @antonkuehnhackl
“I am interested in questioning approaches towards photography, through presentation, how an image is constructed, or re-photography. I believe that for the medium to continue on, it needs to push ways of looking at and considering images; how they function in the 21st century. These works ask if formal roles of photographs, as things that can only be displayed in rigid ways, are really working. Using the “Materiality” and “Object-ness” of photographs, its structure, to turn it into something new; outside of these constraints, asks even more impactful questions. In constructing physically and digitally, it obscures the overall truth of the image and focuses the viewer on specific parts.
Did a flower set remind them of shopping with their parents, or decorating? Does a stack of unbalanced plates bring about anxieties? Its these personal answers that I seek to mine from the viewer, in order to generate new meanings and contextualize my work within the broader domain of the medium.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF IVO STANI
www.jivostani.ch / @ivo_stani
“As an architectural photographer I mainly try to capture and decode the different kinds of interactions between a variety of natural and artificial elements, focusing on aspects such like composition, light and shadow, color, surface texture, structure and contextual purpose.
From a moral point of view the architectural photography suited me very well straight from the beginning, because it’s mainly about rigid elements, and therefore I could escape from the everlasting question whether someone really has the right to take a picture from an unknown person or not. But I soon realised that especially in public places it’s quite impossible to take a picture without having any person on it, so I took it as a chance to add people as ephemeral elements to my rather static architectural sceneries, and I was amazed how the presence of just a single person, if captured accurately, could transform an architectural structure in something much more poetic. From this point on my perspective changed, and now I’m constantly hoping that somebody may cross my view, so I can add to the picture this little something special.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF ALIENOR LLONA BONNARD
“Studies show that one in five women who have given birth has experienced postpartum depression symptoms. The stigma surrounding mental health, in our society, pushes most to withdraw or pretend everything is all right, rather than to seek help. Melancholy has a long history and its treatment has at times been closer to torture than medicine. This project has been part of my own road to recovery, following the birth of my first child. I aimed to capture a sense of fragility and disconnectedness, to others and to one own sense of self.
My creative paradigm consists of a Rolleiflex camera loaded with black-and-white film, a cable release, self-portraiture and a black dress. Using a film camera to create self-portraits brings a distance between the performance in nature and the discovery of the image in the lab. This allows the performative experience to take centre stage. The photographic self-portrait allows me to discover hidden aspects of my personality, it is revealing due to a certain loss of control, as I cannot be in front and behind the lens at the same time. The loss of control, in connection with the performance, exposes glimpses of the unconscious. It is this element, simultaneously created and unexpected, that I am looking for.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF CARL DE SOUZA
“An albino girl has her eyes tested on Ukerewe Island, which has become a refuge for threatened Albinos on Lake Victoria in Tanzania.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF DANIEL NEWCOMB
www.architectphotography.com / @daniels_photo_art
“I’ve spent the past 30 years exploring the world’s forgotten architectural sites. In America, we tend to stucco over or tear down our past, and replace it with subpar, soulless boxes. My intention is to artistically preserve these structures. We should not forget these nostalgic series of dreams. They are displayed here for our memories; for our children’s memories. As Jack Kerouac said: “I realized these were all the snapshots which our children would look at someday with wonder….””
IMAGE COURTESY OF EZRA BÖHM
www.ezrabohm.com / @byezrabohm
“Fishing weir is most likely as old as humanity itself. It is a hunting technique based on the tidal effects of the water level. Fish are driven into the trap as the water level falls. In the province of Zeeland in The Netherlands, we find the last weir fishermen of the world.
For this new series, I photographed the worlds of the Craftsmen. Hardworking people with incredible passion and dedication for their work. People with knowledge and expertise which has developed and formed over many generations. Could it be possible? An alternative in which our crafts provide a smaller scale world, with a sense of less hurry and better quality products with more symbolic values than those coming from the factories. It lets us look at and deal with the hyper economy in a different way. The goal of the series is to enthuse the new generation about the work of a craftsman and to prevent these crafts and their knowledge from becoming extinct.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF FOTEINI ZAGLARA
www.foteinizaglara.com / @foteinizaglara
“An ongoing collection comprised of self-portraits since 2018. Each anthropocentric photograph states a story, revealing the different aspects of the individual’s personality and subjective identity. The idea of the project coincides with the syntactic oddity of Rimbaud ‘s famous phrase “Je est un autre” – I is another, as through introspection we manage to “objectify” ourselves by experiencing our “being” as something detached from us. The process of placing the self in the story and identity of another personality (“persona”) is fascinating and at the same time revealing, as each personality acquires its own entity, without necessarily being identified with elements of the artist’s own personality.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF MITCHEL HOLSON
@mitch_holson
“Dumped by border patrol at a local McDonalds with nothing but the clothes on their backs, droves of asylum-seekers were rescued by one of New Mexico’s poorest cities. Local fire fighters from the city of Deming rushed to convert a WW2 plane hanger into a make-shift humanitarian center despite dwindling resources and a massive lack of federal and state support. On a mission to both congratulate the efforts of these local heroes, and document the horrors of displacement, I provide you with some of my most meaningful work to date.”
IMAGE COURTESY OF MICHELLE DENNIS
@golden_hour_studios
“Different but not divided. Jezzi and Peytan showcasing what it means to be different but not divided.”
