Photographer #451: Bela Borsodi

Bela Borsodi, 1966, Austria, studied graphic design and fine art before moving to New York in 1992. His work often incorporated photography but it wasn't until 1999 that he started to fully focus on still life photography, which is still the main direction of his work. He concentrates on editorial and advertising photography and is strongly influenced by his graphic background. He combines ordinary objects and puts them in an unusual context. In his much acclaimed series Foot Fetish for V Magazine he put images of naked bodies of women in awkward positions inside women shoes. For Yalook he created a series of photographs and videos in which clothing was folded to resemble a face that spoke. Amongst his advertising clients are Galeries Lafayette, Hermes, Nike and Puma. He has also created images for editorial clients and magazines as The New York Times Magazine, Another Magazine and Stern. The following images come from the editorial series Livraison #2: Hidden Objects, Tatler #19: Seperation and Stern #36: Aus dem Schatten Getreten.

Website: www.belaborsodi.com

Photographer #386: Richard Learoyd

Richard Learoyd, 1966, UK, graduated in Fine Art Photography at the Glasgow School of Art. He has a very unique way of working which creates absolutely unique photographs. He build a giant camera that can best be described as a huge camera obscura. The camera is comprised of two rooms. In one room is the model or the object in a light source. In the other room, behind a large lens, is a huge piece of photographic paper. Once exposed, a unique, life-size direct-positive print is created. Unlike the pinhole camera images, Richard's photographs are clear of distortion, sharp and very detailed. Apart from the technical aspects, he manages to create poetically stunning imagery. He places people, clothed and nude, as well as objects in front of his lens. The exposure takes 8 hours, so the models have to sit still while being under hot lights for the same amount of time. The final and approved images, he destroys the one's that are imperfect, have a painter-like quality to them with soft tones and melancholic poses. He considers the method to be a natural step in search of the ultimate image.

Website: www.richardlearoyd.com
For more work visit: www.fraenkelgallery.com & www.mckeegallery.com

Photographer #383: Lauren Greenfield

Lauren Greenfield, 1966, USA, is a documentary photographer and film-maker. She is widely known for her work involving youth culture. She released three monographs, all dealing with the subject matter of youth, entitled Fast Forward (1997), Girl Culture (2002) and Thin (2006). Thin is an in-depth documentation about the treatment of eating disorders. She photographed the lives of nineteen patients at the Renfrew Center in Florida. Adjacent to the images she also followed the patients with a film camera. The project shows the complicated and difficult process of treatment, rehabilitation and the experience of struggling with an eating disorder. Girl Culture is about girl's and their relationship to their bodies, their inner lives, emotional development and the material world with it's popular culture. Fast Forward shows the ways children in Los Angeles are influenced by the values of Hollywood. It deals with the quest for "fame" and the preoccupation with trends and materialism. Lauren has a vast archive of editorial stories and advertising campaigns, all produced in a recognizable and colorful style that has created her signature in photography. The following images come from the series Thin, Girl Culture and Fast Forward.

Website: www.laurengreenfield.com

Photographer #224: Alex Fradkin

Alex Fradkin, 1966, USA, originally studied and practiced architecture. It is no surprise that when he started his photographic career in 1996, he focused on architecture and landscapes. In 2011 two books will be released by Alex. One of the projects is Bunkers: Ruins of War in a New American Landscape. It contains images of whole or partially intact bunkers found across the San Francisco Bay Area. The serenity of the landscape is broken apart by the process of erosion and seismic activity that is gradually ripping the hillsides apart. The other project is The Left Coast: California on the Edge. Since 2006 Fradkin has documented the changing Californian coastline and it's people with a large format camera. Following images come from the series The Left Coast: California on the Edge, Bunkers: Ruins of War in a New American Landscape and The Lakeshore Project.

Website: www.alexfradkin.com

Photographer #218: Mayumi Lake

Mayumi Lake, 1966, Japan, is a conceptual artist. She studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she received a BFA and an MFA. Her photography and video work explores issues as sexual identity, desire, memory and fantasy. She uses herself and others as models. In her series My Idol she revisited her childhood fantasies from an adult perspective. For Ex Post Facto Lake also went back to her childhood memories. Both of her grandfathers died during WWII and it was her fantasy to get them back. In staged photographs she tells us her own story. The following images come from the series Æther, Ex Post Facto and My Idol.

Website: www.mayumilake.com

Photographer #201: Charles Grogg

Charles Grogg, 1966. USA, printed his fractured photographic images from the series Reconstructions in platinum and palladium on handmade Japanese washi that are restitched into whole images. The series After Ascension and Descent was inspired by a thought process about "our attempt at domestic growth" and being at a loss of "knowing one's roots". It is an expression "of desire for growth at the moment of inhibition, when hesitation is the gap between disiring and having." The following images come from the series After Ascension and Descent, Reconstructions and Body.

Website: http://www.charlesgrogg.com

Photographer #169: Josef Schulz

Josef Schulz, 1966, Poland, lives and works in Germany. In his series Sign Out he photographed billboards from below and in postprocessing he deleted any text or logos. Schulz often manipulates his images to add meaning to them. In the series Übergang (Transition) he photographed the border posts that are no longer in use. He blurs the background to get them out of context. Josef has exhibited extensively around the globe. The following images come from the series Sign Out, Übergang and Sachliches.

Website: www.josefschulz.de

Photographer #143: Renan Cepeda

Renan Cepeda, 1966, Brazil, has been doing research with infrared film since 1991, making especially landscape photography essays using this technique. More recently Renan has worked with Tungsten film making images at night. Using a flashlight, long exposures and color filters he has created stunning and surreal images of people and abandoned houses. The following images come from his series Night Paintings, Vão de Almas and Corações ao Alto.

Website: www.renancepeda.com

photographer #111: Julie Blackmon

Julie Blackmon, USA, 1966, is the oldest of nine children. This and the fact that nowadays she is a mother of three resulted in her focus on family life in her photography. For the project Domestic Vacations, which was released as a book, she was inspired by the paintings of Jan Steen and other Dutch and Flemish painters from the 17th century. Her staged scenes tell stories of family life, being both fictional and auto-biographical. Blackmon has been published in a large number of magazines and won several awards. The following images come from her portfolio New Work and from the series Domestic Vacations and Mind Games.

Website: www.julieblackmon.com

Photographer #102: Michael Najjar

German photographer Michael Najjar, 1966, focuses in his photography on the notion of our society being "driven and controlled by computers and information technology." He made many impressive series throughout his career. In his most recent series, High Altitude, he went to 7000 meters altitude in the Andes to photograph mountains, only to combine them with the statistics of the Nasdaq or the Dow Jones and thus visualizing the development of the leading global stock market. The series Bionic Angel deals with the technological control of human evolution. Netropolis is about the development of cities in the future. These images are a combination of twelve hybrid photographies, one videowork and one image sculpture. Following images come from the three series described above.

Website: www.michaelnajjar.com

Photographer #087: Jane Burton

Jane Burton, 1966, is an Australian photographer. She has been in various exhibitions (group and solo) and her work is held in numerous private and public collections. Her photographs are dark, mysterious and often poetic. She often combines images of landscapes together with portraits. The following images come from the series Velvet Portrait Suite, Ivy and Wormwood.

Website: www.janeburton.com.au

Photographer #078: Wang Qingsong

Wang Qingsong, China, 1966, makes large, staged images that are printed in enormous sizes. His photograph China Mansion stretches to the length of 12 meters. Qingsong is sometimes described as the 'enfant terrible of Chinese art photography'. He often uses themes as China's consumer culture and materialism. He has described his work as "kitschy, but powerful ... contradictory, but critical." Apart from photography he also works with video. The following images are Safe Milk, Dormitory, China Mansion and Follow Me.

Website: www.wangqingsong.com