Photographer #361: Andrea Modica

Andrea Modica, 1960, USA, received a BFA at State University of New York College at Purchase and an MFA at Yale University School of Art. She released seven different monographs. Her latest book is Fountain. It contains images of the Baker's family taken over the course of ten years in the small city called Fountain in Colorado. Modica uses a 8x10" camera and creates moments that become narrative fantasies that mix documentary photography with portraiture. In her book Treadwell, made in an earlier stage of her career, she followed a girl called Barbara and her family. The staged images twist reality into fanytasy creating photographs that resemble fables and fairy tales. Amongst her other monographs are Minor League, Real Indians and Human Being. Andrea has exhibited her work extensively throughout the world and is in numerous permanent collections, books and catalogues. Her images have appeared in a vast amount of magazines. The following images come from the series Fountain, Treadwell and Minor League.

Website: www.andreamodica.com

Photographer #226: Christian Chaize

Christian Chaize, 1960, France, has had a career as a commercial photographer for the past 20 years. Since 2004 he has become obsessed with a small strip of coastline in southern Portugal. This was a new start for his on-going personal work and has taken precedence over his professional ambitions. In the series Praia Piquinia he focused on one secluded beach front and photographed throughout the years with a large format camera from the exact same spot at the same elevated angle. The results show the variables as light, weather, the ocean and the people on the beach. The following images come from the series Praia Piquinia, To Praia Grande and Paradis.

Website: www.christianchaize.com

Photographer #083: Jean-François Lepage

Jean-François Lepage, France, 1960, is a fashion photographer with thirty years of experience in the business. In his photography he often makes use of extra elements such as texts and graphics. Something else that is remarkable in Lepage' photography is his use of lighting. Often one can see the flash in the middle of his images, close to the portrayed. In 2009 Lepage got free rein to interpret the vision of the ANDAM fashion awards winners. This resulted in the book Modernes. The following images come from his portfolio and from the book Modernes.

Website: www.two-eyes.com

Photographer #079: Polixeni Papapetrou

Polixeni Papapetrou, Australia, 1960, used to make images that dealt with identity and contemporary culture, but now takes photographs that concentrate on the themes of childhood and childhood memories. She often uses her own children, Olympia and Solomon, in her photographs. In her latest series Between Worlds, she made images of children with masks. Even though it seems the photographs are merely humouristic, there is a serious underlying theme. The following images come from Between Worlds, Haunted Country and Dreamchild.

Website: www.polixenipapapetrou.net

Photographer #038: Vanessa Winship

Vanessa Winship, Great-Britain, 1960, is a documentary photographer. In her series Sweet Nothings she has been taking photographs of schoolgirls from the borderlands of Eastern Anatolia. She continues to take all photographs in the same way; frontal and with enough distance to capture them from head to toe and still include the surroundings.

Winship now lives in Turkey and focuses on stories on countries around the black sea. The following photographs come from the series Imagened States and Desires: A Balkan Journey 1.

Website: www.vanessawinship.com

Photographer #027: William Ropp

William Ropp, 1960, is a french photographer with a unique style. He is also known as 'the shadow sculptor'. He places his subjects in complete darkness and takes photographs by using long exposures. With a flashlight he starts "painting". His subjects are often children. The pictures get a mysterious and sometimes haunting feel to them. The following pictures come from the series: Casamance 2009, Dreamt memories from Africa and Children.

Website: www.williamropp.com