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“Life Looks Better Through a Viewfinder”—Mentoring and Wisdom from David Alan Harvey
<i>David Alan Harvey wears many hats—as founder and editor of burn magazine, he discovers and publishes work by emerging and early-career photographers; he is an active mentor for photographers around the world; and, of course, he is a member of Magnum Photos. In his long career, Harvey has</i> …
Street PhotographyQuestion the Image: A View from Two Poles of the World
<i>Alasdair Foster is a writer, curator, researcher, teacher, and traveling expert who has been involved with photography for decades. Beginning his career in the film industry, he then switched over to photography and established a successful business in the field. After 10 years, he transitioned</i> …
AsiaIf I Could Only Remember
Maciej CzepielAnchored in the real world—and yet represented as if in a dream—a series that tries to catch the fading memories of a childhood marked by flight from Communist Poland to Canada in the final years of the Berlin Wall.I was born in 1987 in Krakow, Poland. At that time, the Berlin Wall …
AwardsHave Something to Say: 30 Years of Photobooks with Dewi Lewis
Dewi LewisThe renowned publisher offers his advice to street photographers hoping to publish their first photobook—and reveals the questions that all photographers should ask themselves before they seek to publish a book.<i>Established more than twenty years ago, Dewi Lewis Publishing is one of the</i> …
Street PhotographyWalking in the Invisible City
Jewgeni RoppelExplore the mysteries and magic of the “Russian Atlantis”—the fabled city that sunk below the surface of Lake Svetloyar in the 12th century. Even today, locals swear the lake contributes to the area’s inexplicable, intangible power…<i>On the shores of Lake Svetloyar in northern Russia,</i> …
SpiritualityTokyo Blur
“I'm in Tokyo. It's dark and raining. Everything blurs around me. The faces, lights, the times I’ve gone through. I feel myself fading away, losing control. I’m not worried, far from it: a sense of stillness, recognition and renewal flows through me. Beyond the first mists that hampered my sight, …
JapanRevealing the Cracks in the European Union
Photography books are said to be in a “golden age” right now. And it’s true: the innovation, diversity, and inventiveness of the printed form is certainly in an exciting phase. But even with this surge of interest and production, most best-selling photobooks run with (at most) an edition of a few …
European UnionNotions of the City; Notes on a Place
My work “Notions of the City; Notes on a Place” consists of observations and thoughts about the city seen through the eyes of one protagonist—me.<p>I try to question and challenge my ways of seeing and experiencing my immediate surroundings, particularly the city I live in, Helsinki.<p>Notes on a Place …
BehaviorLes Pêcheurs de Rêves (Chapter 2)
“Les Pêcheurs de Rêves” (The Fishermen of Dreams) is a small, family circus based in France. The company consists of a husband and wife duo, Vincent and Florence, who play the roles of Za and Krapotte, two married clowns. In the performance, they make a parody of their own life and of marriage …
CircusMichael Flomen’s All-Natural Photograms
Michael FlomenMoving through rolling, pastoral landscapes under the cover of darkness, this photographer relies on the natural world—drops of rain, the winking lights of nearby fireflies—to create his uniquely revealing visions of our planet.<i>For over 40 years, Michael Flomen has been exhibiting his</i> …
Border CrossingsFellow Creatures
<i>From my first glance, I was intrigued by Aleksi’s work. There was something humorous, but also mysterious, spontaneous and deep in his images. Without offering much explanation, he defined the work simply as showing the “special relationship between Finnish people and animals.” I felt it offered a</i> …
AwardsIt’s Hard to Kill: Searching for the Remains of Iran’s Revolution
“When I was a kid, we had a photo album in our house,” says Fatemeh Baigmoradi. “I remember it vividly; it had a bright red cover.” Yet as the Iranian photographer delves further into her story, it becomes clear that the album’s cover was not its most important feature: while most family photo …
Middle EastInfinite Tenderness
For the majority of my life, I was unsure where I belonged in the world. I grew up in a religious household in a small Southern town. My mother was raised in the Sanctified Holy Church and my father was raised Southern Baptist. As a result of the strict beliefs I had been taught since birth, I did …
LGBTQICuban Muslims, Tropical Faith
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world—a Pew Research Center report estimates that the world’s Muslim population will increase by 73 percent by 2050. As such, new Muslim communities have started to flourish in unexpected places, such as countries where the religion had few devotees …
ReligionAuschwitz: Ultima Ratio of the Modern Age
The concentration camp Auschwitz was created in 1940 by the order of Heinrich Himmler, the chief of the Waffen-SS (an armed wing of the Nazi Party’s SS organization). A former Polish garrison in the town of Oświęcim was chosen for the location.<p>A construction management group within the Waffen-SS …
World HistoryLike a Bird: The Freedom of the Circus in Muslim Countries
The circus is a place free of religion, nationality or skin color—it is a refuge in times of uncertainty or conflict. With my long-term documentary project “Like a Bird,” I focus on circuses in Muslim countries and, abstractly, on the desire for freedom within these conflict areas.<p>Seen from an …
CircusLightworks
My pictures are studies of feeling and composition.<p>In my practice, I play with sunlight in a painterly way—I explore how light acts on a surface like a tangible material, like paint on a brush. The camera then captures this interaction; the photograph is the canvas.<p>This collection of images is …
PhotographyChildren of Zanskar
Sir Francis Younghusband, the famous British explorer who travelled widely in the Himalayas at the turn of the 20th century, once remarked:<p>“If, while still impressed with the immensity of things as witnessed by the mountains and the stars, we turn our attention to the tiny gentian at our feet, we …
Adventure TravelNicholas Nixon on 40 Years of Portraits, Seducing Your Subject, and a Good Death
They are direct, sometimes confrontational, occasionally aggressive—but also, at times, vulnerable, wounded, uncertain. In Nicholas Nixon’s series “The Brown Sisters,” the same four figures (the eponymous sisters) stand in the same order for 42 sequential photographs, taken over a period of 42 …
Street PhotographyTrace
In my series “Trace,” my aim is to uncover different traces of memory; those expressing emotions, or others which recall people and places. The process finds its beginning in daily life, by hearing, seeing, reading or experiencing the things that draw my attention. I like to think of my images as …
AwardsKajnikaj, or Here and There in Silesia
Sometimes it seems to me that everything here is going to collapse. The houses, grey from soot, and the broken pavements threatening to fall into the mine corridors below.<p>I live in a small town in Silesia, a region in Central Europe that includes part of Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. At …
Silent Voices: L(G)BT+ Iran
“Silent Voices” reflects on the vulnerable and dangerous circumstances of lesbian women in Iran. The series owes much to the brave LGBT+ women in the country, who—despite the risk to their personal safety—were willing to work with me in order to raise awareness about their lives in Iran. The …
Lava: Athens’ Invisible, Brewing Anger
The past decade has been a remarkably difficult one in Greece. The country’s fragile finances, stricken from the very beginning of the worldwide economic crisis, have yet to fully recover. Discussing the problem on the streets of Athens, it is common for people to sigh when they hear the word …
Provocative Generosity and the Joy of Scope: Meyerowitz’s “Where I Find Myself”
I should begin with a confession. I am no great fan of Greatest Hits albums. Looking at my music collection, it seems I own a number of them, yet not one of them calls for my continued attention. There is, in each of them, something missing. There is no B side. There are no mistakes, no …
Lanzarote: A Man-Made Reverie of the Natural World
With “Lanzarote” I intend to document my experience and visionary interpretation of the island of Lanzarote and its unique landscape. In this body of work, I create a visual world that encourages the viewer to reflect on how landscape is, or should be, understood today. By combining personal …
35 Photographers to Watch: Celebrating International Women’s Day 2018
<i>In honor of International Women’s Day, we reached out to an impressive network of female curators, photo editors, program directors, and photographers to compile a list of women who are making remarkable photographic work today. Our associate editor, Coralie Kraft, shares her thoughts on the</i> …
The Illusion of Purpose
Technology is restructuring our communication methods, transforming our perceptions and interactions with our environment, and rendering the physical realm comparatively cumbersome and slow.<p>Untitled VIII. © Victoria J. Dean, Winner, LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards 2017<p>Disconnected from the …
Black Dots: Into the Depths of the British Landscape
“Black Dots” is an exploration of mountain bothies and bothy culture throughout the United Kingdom.<p>Far from civilization and mostly accessible only by foot, bothies are secluded mountain shelters scattered across the British Isles and tirelessly maintained by volunteers from the Mountain Bothies …
Out West: Exploring China’s Farthest Reaches
Borrowing from romanticized notions of the American frontier—a mythos that is synonymous with ideals of exploration and expansion—the photographer Patrick Wack captures a visual narrative of China’s westernmost region, Xinjiang. But while the American West conjures images of cowboys and pioneers, …
The Singular Loneliness of New York City
Loneliness is New York’s leitmotif. This feeling is palpable everywhere in the city—a place filled with 8 million people, many of whom are immigrants and transplants. There are different shades of it: the loneliness of an Uber driver who fled Venezuela, leaving his family behind, who sighs wth …