Neal Auch’s Dark Food Photography Is a Slap in the Face to Factory Farming (NSFW)

All images and words by Neal Auch. Used with permission.

I’m a fine art photographer living in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Most of my recent work concerns the commodification of suffering, and the ethics of eating animals. My work explores these themes by presenting animal organ meats that are intended for human consumption in an unfamiliar context where I hope that the underlying ugliness of our food system is exposed.

I took a somewhat chaotic trajectory to get to where I am now. My background is in pure mathematics, and I spent the better part of a decade in academia, doing rather esoteric research. Those kinds of jobs are almost all short-term contracts, so I moved around a lot. The frequent moves took a toll on my personal life, and my passion for the work I was doing waned. I hit a breaking point a few years ago, while I was living in the UK, and I rather abruptly abandoned my post there to come back home to Canada and settle into a more stable life with my spouse. To make ends meet I did contract work for a while and, in my spare time, I made a lot of art and I did a lot of introspection about what I wanted to do with my life. I stumbled into photography at this point and fell in love with the process. Since then I’ve devoted pretty much all of my creative energy to taking pictures.

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Debmalya Sinha: A Black and White Personal Documentary Photographer

All images and text by Debmalya Sinha. Used with permission.

My name is Debmalya Sinha and I’m a personal documentary photographer. As Martin Parr once said, “Unless there’s some vulnerability there, I don’t think you’re going to get good photographs”; I started looking for my vulnerabilities inside my otherwise easy and mostly satisfying life and quickly found out one can find pain even in the intense orgasms inside the most loving embraces of life if one is looking for it. Emptiness and fear became central to my photographs and my life during this period. A downward spiral of self inflicted sufferings later, I slowly realised that crisis is not only about pain and suffering. Simultaneous joy of an ephemeral moment and the sadness as it floats away is a projection of vulnerability too and can be expressed together. This helped me start my current project “Mono No Aware” where I’ve explored emptiness and togetherness concurrently in a dreamlike fictional sequence. Here is a very short video of a subset of the pictures from the project.

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Dan Grove: Photographic Perfection in the Reimagination of the Mundane

All images and text from Dan Grove. Used with permission.

Hi! I’m Dan – I’m 19 and from Gloucester in the UK. I’ve just finished my Photography A2 course and I’ll be setting up my exhibition for it at school soon! I shoot with a Canon 60D and 18-135mm STM or occasionally my iPhone for quick snaps.

My photography is all about reimagining the mundane – the bit of England I live in is reaaalllly dull so taking decent photos can be quite a challenge at times. I love to notice the things that other people might miss and I’m always looking to get the shot that makes people look twice or wonder how/where I’ve taken it. I tend to switch across a few different styles in my work – I either shoot bold and clean architectural stuff or gritty, documentary-style street work when I’m out and about. I’ve also spent some time in the studio at school as part of my A Level course.

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Brandon Pittser: On Artistic Geometry, Symmetry and Shapes in Photography

All words and images by Brandon Pittser. Used with permission.

As a photographer, I would describe myself as a permanent learner, because I think the most enriching work happens at the intersection of my vision and something I’ve never done before. I try to adopt a growth mindset, because I deeply believe progress only happens outside of your comfort zone, but I balance that self-applied pressure with a sincere love of the craft. Robert Frost once wrote that a poem “begins in delight and ends in wisdom,” and that describes my creative process. Many times, I’ll have an epiphany in the development phase that elevates or entirely re-interprets the material from the shooting phase, and those are the most exciting moments for me.

For gear, I use a humble Canon T3i (with 50mm and 55-250mm lenses) and my favorite object, the Ricoh GR II – I take all of this gear with me everywhere. I use Photoshop and Lightroom for development, but not necessarily in that order. For subjects I favor architecture, street photography, and landscapes. Because I try my hand at lots of styles, it’s tough for me to encapsulate my work in a single genre, but I think of my work broadly as dream-like, candid, surreal, minimal, abstract, and contemplative. That’s a lot of adjectives, which is probably cheating.

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Purple Mangrove: Exploring the Rougher Side of Miami in Documentary Photos

All images and words by Daniel Valledor. Used with permission.

Miami is probably America’s most multicultural city (perhaps with the exception of NYC). In fact, you’d think you’re in a different country if it wasn’t for the red, white and blue flags in front yards and massive deep beats coming from black SUVs.

I hadn’t been to Miami for over 20 years, so when I arrived I was (once again) very impressed by how the most evident sociocultural contrasts blended in with the tasty pinkish colors and palm trees. A guy in a Bentley here, a homeless who’s just passed out in the middle of the sidewalk there… And I felt very lucky to see each and every scene with an unbiased eye, something that usually helps photographers capture cultural shock in an honest way.

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100 Days of Protests: A Kickstarter Book Campaign Highlighting Trump Protests

All images and words by Stefan Immler. Used with permission.

I’m a photographer from Washington DC and I am excited to tell you about “100 Days of Protests”, a photo book about the protests during the first 100 days of the Trump inauguration.

From day 1 to day 100 after the inauguration of President Trump, I have documented all protests in my home town Washington, D.C., by taking thousands of photos on black & white film. The 100 best photos are included in the upcoming photo book “100 Days of Protests”, representing 100 days of protest. “100 Days of Protests” is very timely and will find very broad public interest, has a massive built-in audience, and has the potential to become a “classic” and important historic document similar to the photojournalism books of the Civil Rights and Vietnam ears.

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January Turla’s Rorschach Inspired Photos Help Her Combat Mental Illness

All images and words by January Turla. Used with permission.

​​​​I am Ja Turla and I’ve been shooting since my sophomore year in my secondary education here in the Philippines. University came and I met my late Photojournalism professor, Amer Amor, who taught me to keep on shooting and be great at what I do despite the fact that I didn’t have my own gear that time. He was a great influence and still is even though he left the material world so early.

Now at 23 with Bipolar I disorder and with rapidly fluctuating state at freelancing (equal to my mood), I have been engaging myself in tweaking photos of trees to create mirrored images. I was inspired by Rorschach from the graphic novel Watchmen by Alan Moore. Rorschach inkblot test got my attention and I merged my love for nature and this psychological test. I call it Mirrored Trees. It then progressed to kaleidoscopes and mandalas that I guess are very new to my audience’s eyes.

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How I Learned to Connect the Technical and Artistic Parts of My Photographic Mind

All images by Tracie Maglosky. Used with permission.

When I was 25 years old, I was pregnant with my first child. I was the most excited I’d ever been in my lifetime because all I’d ever dreamed of being was a mother. The love I felt for this invisible being was more than my heart could hold and it would spill out all over anyone and everyone with whom I came into contact. I’d never felt more creative or inspired. At 26 weeks I was headed to my ultrasound appointment to have the results of our gender identification. It was then I learned that our sweet little dream had no heartbeat. I delivered our little baby with the most broken heart you could ever imagine and I have not one image to remember it by.

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One Photographer’s Perspective from the 2017 Women’s March

Photo Essays is a series on the Phoblographer where photographers get to candidly speak their mind about a specific subject or project of theirs. Want to submit? Send them to editors@thephoblographer.com.

All Images By Spencer Bentley. Be sure to follow him and his business on Instagram. Used with Permission. 

 

Every now and then an event occurs where disparate points of tension and interests in your life converge. Whether or not that event is something you want to celebrate or just hurry to forget is usually a matter of chance and circumstance. Luckily for me one such an event occurred in the best way possible with the Women’s March on Washington.

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Tomasz Cuncvir Created a Pinhole Camera with a Matchbox

Photo Essays is a series on the Phoblographer where photographers get to candidly speak their mind about a specific subject or project of theirs. Want to submit? Send them to editors@thephoblographer.com.

All Images By Tomasz Cuncvir. Used with Permission. 

I wanted to present you some of my work I did back in 2010/2011 with a similar design. I have updated it since to make it a SLIT SCAN MATCHBOX PINHOLE CAMERA! (world’s first, perhaps) 🙂 I am attaching those photos as well at the end of this email, should you be interested. Films were Agfa APX 100 New, And Kodak Portra 160. Those photographs come from my first exhibition in Nowa Ruda, June 2011.

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Greg Turner’s Candid Street Portraits Use Light in a Gorgeous Way

Photo Essays is a series on the Phoblographer where photographers get to candidly speak their mind about a specific subject or project of theirs. Want to submit? Send them to editors@thephoblographer.com.

All images and text by Greg Turner.

My interest has always been to explore identity, emotions and experiences, in particular those influenced by existentialism and angst. It is almost certainly a little self-indulgent but it is entirely the product of my own experiences and difficulties as a child; of having to figure out who you are and how you’re going to ‘be’ when those around you don’t want you to ‘be’ with them. Exclusion at a young age has a lasting impact but thankfully my conclusions as an adult are entirely positive. I’m happy to be who I am even if the process of self-understanding is by no means finished.

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I Used to Say, “I’ll Never Do Weddings.” Then I Shot One.

All images and guest blog post from Nathan Hostetter. Be sure to also check out his instagram.

The phone call was great; the groom and I had a lot in common and he sounded really excited to have me photograph the wedding. I made sure he understood I had never shot a wedding before and that,  based on the budget, I would not be bringing a second shooter. The groom (also named Nathan) told me they weren’t looking for traditional wedding photos. He explained this would be a small wedding, no wedding party, and no expectation of a shot list.

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Unicorn Dream: Anastasia Egonyan’s Intimate Portrait Process

All images by Anastasia Egonyan. Used with permission. All words by Anastasia Egonyan for the Phoblographer.

I have always valued analog photography over digital as there is simply no way of getting the same result out of latest technologies as much as I get it from the good old film. Well, at least to satisfy my needs and maintain my photography style that you might have noticed has evolved to a clear and romantic side which is proudly called the “Fine Art Photography”. Yet I try to maintain my own point of view here as well and not merge with the numerous artists that hold the classical label.

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Enlightened Captures: A Photographic Reflection of Self

All images by H.S. Bentley. Used with permission. Words by H.S. Bentley for the Phoblographer. 

I consider myself a generalist. My interest tends to change with my surroundings, though lately I’ve been leaning more towards street and portrait photography. I sustain a few paid gigs a month: I wouldn’t consider myself a professional just yet. My lack of a specialty comes from my desire to explore the art of photography in its entirety. I was introduced to the art form through street photography, then quickly developed a passion for landscape photography and most recently portraiture. Regardless of the subject matter, my approach to crafting a photograph remains fairly consistent. I take a slow and measured approach. I take the time to define and contextualize what my subject is and what type of feelings I want to elicit in my photo. Once I have that idea, I allow myself the freedom to experiment and allow my imagination take over.

My approach is really a reflection of my personality. I’m naturally introverted and tend to dissect and plan details of my life goals, only to let my instincts take over when its time to act.

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Night Owls: A Colorful Analog Photo Project on Old School Cars

Photo Essays is a series on the Phoblographer where photographers get to candidly speak their mind about a specific subject or project of theirs. Want to submit? Send them to editors@thephoblographer.com. This essay and images are by Seth Harwood and used with permission.

I am currently working my way towards my MFA in Photography. The first year was spent trying to figure out a sense of direction for my thesis work, and it was a stressful time, enlightening, but stressful. I touched on all of these different facets of my life, but nothing quite clicked. Night Owl slowly surfaced out of all these explorations. In all of these little projects I began to pull out photographs that seemed to be part of an overarching series, and when I finally made that connection,, that’s when Night Owl was born.

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20 Photographs of Mongolia’s New Skate Scene

“In partnership with Format Magazine. Click here to build your Format portfolio website today with a free 14-day trial, no credit card required.” This post was syndicated from Format, prepared by Anthony Thurston. Originally done by Jill Blackmore Evans.

Photographer Bejan Siavoshy’s shots of up-and-coming Mongolian skate crew Uukhai are funny, touching, and gritty all at once. Currently based in Beijing, Siavoshy depicts the fresh faces and playful energy of these young skaters with a careful eye for detail, paying as much attention to background details as he does to a well-executed jump.

According to Siavoshy, Uukhai is likely the most prominent skating crew in Mongolia. He explains that skating “is just burgeoning in Mongolia, as are many other contemporary subcultures.”

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Faces: Telling a Story Through Portrait Lighting

All images by Joel Locaylocay. Used with permission.

Photo Essays is a series on the Phoblographer where photographers get to candidly speak their mind about a specific subject or project of theirs. Want to submit? Send them to editors@thephoblographer.com

I am most proud of the lighting that I did for my Faces project. This series is inspired by the look and feel of the portraiture of Dan Winters. Well, at least it started out that way. I surely didn’t have the equipment he was using. I lit my subjects using hot shoe flashes triggered off camera. And over the months that I worked on the series, I found that I had developed a look that I could call my own.

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Why I Photograph Drag Queens in Beijing

In partnership with Format Magazine. Click here to build your Format portfolio website today with a free 14-day trial, no credit card required.

This is a syndicated blog post from Format Magazine. It’s contents are being used with exclusive permission. All images by Tom Selmon.

Photographer Tom Selmon explains his fascination with China’s drag and queer culture.

Sexuality and gender fluidity in China are very much “alive” concepts set within the country’s rapidly changing social landscape. British Beijing-based documentary photographer Tom Selmon is one artist keeping a close eye, literally, on China’s evolving relationship with non-binary identification.

Selmon follows alternative youth culture and has created an impressive body of work that explores street fashion, drag culture and the cultural context of modern-day Beijing.

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The Psychology of Creative Wedding Photography

Photo Essays is a series on the Phoblographer where photographers get to candidly speak their mind about a specific subject or project of theirs. Want to submit? Send them to editors@thephoblographer.com.

All images by Travis and Nina Tank. Used with permission. Be sure to also follow them on Instagram.

Something that I have spent the last few years trying to perfect in wedding photography is creating moments. Raw, real emotion is actually very difficult to achieve when you have a semi-stranger in your face expecting you to model. I have found there to be a significant difference in what sets photographers apart… there are ones who create moments and some that simply capture them. While yes we are all technically “capturing” moments, photojournalism in its purest form doesn’t tend to lend itself to the creative imagery that couples want or hire us for.

Those laughs that you see, the smiles and the people who look like they are having a good time are actually having a good time and laughing with us. This is the reason why few photographers seem to have more stiff imagery in their portfolio than authentic emotions. The good news? It only takes a simple switch in your mindset to completely change the way you view yourself as a photographer and how you capture any subject on the other side of your camera.

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