Photographer #376: Jodi Bieber

Jodi Bieber, 1967, is a documentary photographer from South Africa. She studied photography at the Market Theatre photographic workshop and attended the World Press Masterclass in 1996. Between 1994 and 2004 she worked on a project that focused on youth living on the fringes of South African society. These images were assembled in the book entitled Dogs and Wolves - Growing up with South Africa. In 2010 she released her second monograph; Soweto. When thinking of Soweto one often refers to crime, poverty and problems with aids. The color photographs of Jodi are however a celebration and portrait of life in Soweto today. She represents the place how the inhabitants experience it, where they have their homes, do their shopping and live their lifes. Jodi is this years winner of the World Press Photo Award with the portrait of Aisha, an Afghan girl who's face was mutilated as retribution for fleeing her husband's house. She received several other World Press Awards in preceding years. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the world. The following images come from the series Soweto, Las Canas and A Weapon of War.

Website: www.jodibieber.com

Photographer #343: Greg Miller

Greg Miller, 1967, USA, is a portrait photographer who's images are a mix of documentary, conceptual and street photography. In 1990 he received a B.F.A. in photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He works on an 8x10" view camera. By using this technique it forces him to interact with his subjects. He wants his images to convey stories and concentrates on the relationships between people within a single frame. He directs the people in his large-scale scenes and perfected this technique over the years. When people misinterpret his directions he embraces it, as it creates a more believable moment. Greg's images are sharp, clear and contain a strong narrative. In 2008 he earned a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. The following images come from the series Nashville, County Fair and Asilo.

Website: www.gregmiller.com

Photographer #334: Evžen Sobek

Evžen Sobek, 1967, Czech Republic, is a documentary photographer. In 2011 he released his monograph Life in Blue. It contains images that explore the leisure-time activities at a created reservoir in the south-east of the Czech Republic. It raises question on why people from urban environments decide to spend weekends to entire years at this often uncozy campsite. Sobek currently continues his Life in Blue series covering other places in Europe. In 2010 the series got an honorable mention at the LensCulture Awards.  In an earlier series called Home Sweet Home he already focused on leisure-time activities of the Czech people and the grand changes in freedom after the fall of the communist regime. He has exhibited throughout Europe and the US. The following images come from the series Life in Blue, Hidden Landscapes and Home Sweet Home.

Website: www.evzensobek.com

Photographer #307: Jake Chessum

Jake Chessum, 1967, UK, is an editorial portrait photographer who lives and works in New York. He did a foundation course at the Central School of Art and received a degree in graphic design at the St. Martins School of Art. Jake was already concentrated on the photographic medium during his studies which resulted in him solely focusing on photography during his third year at St. Martins. After doing a vast amount of small jobs, slowly climbing the ladder, he finally moved to New York in 1999. Today Jake has had an amazing amount of celebrities in front of his camera, from Robert De Niro to 50 Cent. Amongst his clients are GQ, New York Magazine and Paper. He released two books; The New York Look Book, images on the streets of New York and Rubbish, photographs of discarted items at various locations around the world. The following images come from his portfolio People and his books Look Book and Rubbish.

Website: www.jakechessum.com

Photographer #295: Dimitris Triantafyllou

Dimitris Triantafyllou, 1967, Greece, studied physics and mathematics and even received an MA in Biophysics. He also studied photography at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He works as a freelance photographer and teaches photography at various locations in his hometown in Greece. His photography is dark, gritty and very personal. It focuses on themes of identity, perception and memory. In his series Human Face, Heart of an Animal he questions himself how we look at other human beings and ourselves. By recording the events with his camera he started to create his own world, a world of expression that gave him a chance to comprehend himself. Thru the Looking Glass is a series that questions reality and fantasy. If reality is guided by emotions, memories, thoughts and dreams, maybe reality is fiction itself. He focused on people he knew including their dreams, their worlds and their realities. The following images come from the series Diaries of Ghosts, Thru the Looking Glass and Human Face, Heart of an Animal.

Website: www.dimitristriantafyllou.com

Photographer #286: Stephen Dupont

Stephen Dupont, 1967, Australia, is a photojournalist and portrait photographer who focuses on fragile cultures and marginalized people. He has released several monographs amongst which are also three handmade limited edition books. His exhibition Afghanistan: The Perils of Freedom 1993-2009 is a fifteen year retrospective on all of his journeys to Afghanistan. It shows the various stages the country has gone through, the resilience of the Afghan people and the growth of the photographer himself. Stephen puts a lot of respect into his photography, showing the human dignity of his subjects. Raskols is a series of portraits shot in 2004 which shows a gang member community, better known as the Raskols of Papua New Guinea. Dupont does not limit himself, he uses polaroid, medium format and 35mm camera's. The following images come from the series Afghanistan: The Perils of Freedom 1993-2009, Axe Me Biggie, or MR Take my Picture and Raskols.

Website: www.stephendupont.com

Photographer #278: Denis Rouvre

Denis Rouvre, 1967, France, is a portrait photographer with a large and impressive portfolio. He has photographed an extensive amount of internationally known celebrities throughout the years, but works on many other series, personal and editorial. These numerous series have been exhibited extensively throughout the world. He has also released several books and monographs. The series Senegalese Wrestling won the second prize in the Sports features stories at World Press Photo in 2010. His series Ethnic is a collaboration between Denis and the painter and sculptor David Nal-Vad. The photographs of Denis are sharp, crystal clear and direct. The following images come from his Portraits portfolio and from the series Senegalese Wrestling and Ethnic.

Website: www.rouvre.com

Photographer #235: Miwa Yanagi

Miwa Yanagi, 1967, Japan, got recognized in 1994 with her series Elevator Girl which showed groups of uniformed girls in large and sterile interiors. Her photography is often theatrical and manipulated. Her latest series; Windswept Women shows gigantic women of different ages in warrior postures. The final prints are also immense. In My Grandmothers she asked young women to imagine their lives 50 years in the future. She then went on to photograph the women with the use of make-up and other attributes. In Fairy Tale she restaged scenes from fairy tales as Snow White and Cinderella. Her work is mostly about women in combination with the Japanese culture. The following images come from the series Windswept Women, My Grandmothers and Fairy Tale.

Website: www.yanagimiwa.net

Photographer #199: Michael Ackerman

American photographer Michael Ackerman, 1967, Israel, works and lives in Berlin. Recently his third book Half Life came out. It contains images that focus on Poland and Berlin. Michael shows us his view of the world, made up of feelings as love, anxiety and obsessions. His photography is easily recognized due to his very dark and gritty images. His photography is a reflection of his personal malaise, his doubts and anguish. The following images come from the story Half Life, his Portrait portfolio and the story Smoke.

Website: www.agencevu.com

Photographer #165: Ghada Khunji

Ghada Khunji, 1967, Kingdom of Bahrain, lives and works in Brooklyn, but travels the world for her projects to places such as Honduras, India, The Dominican Republic and Cuba. In 2006 she was named the Lucie discovery of the year and has won various other awards. Ghada concentrates on documentarary photography that consist of portrait and landscape imagery and does this with great respect for her subjects. The following images come from her projects Hallelujah Momma, The Dominican Republic and America (Color).

Website: www.ghadakhunji.com

Photographer #135: Xing Danwen

Xing Danwen, 1967, China, currently lives and works in Beijing. She has been taking photographs of maquettes since 2004. Xing then takes pictures of herself playing various characters to add them to the image of the maquette. The prints are more than two meters wide, that's when the viewer can see the stories that unfold on the photograph. To see detail examples go to her website. The following images come from the series Urban Fiction, Duplication and Disconnexion.

Website: www.danwen.com

Photographer #099: Heimo Schmidt

Austrian photographer Heimo Schmidt, 1967, currently lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA. He has worked for a large number of clients throughout his career and has appeared in numerous publications. In his series Iceland Schmidt has made a visuel reinterpretation of Icelandic culture's ancient mythology and epic Norse tales also known as "Sagas." The following images come from his Portraits portfolio and the series Iceland and 17 Reasons.

Website: www.heimophotography.com

Photographer #063: Jill Greenberg

Jill Greenberg, Canada, 1967, lives and works in the USA. She is also known as the "manipulator" because she digitally manipulates her photographs. Her body of work is vast, containing personal projects, commissioned work and a large number of portraits. An example of a project is End Times, a series of pictures in which toddlers cry. Simple and pure emotion. She has also photographed various animals, such as bears and monkeys and then manipulated the images. The following images come from the series End Times, Monkey Portraits and some examples of her human portraits.

Website: www.manipulator.com

Photographer #048: Palani Mohan

Palani Mohan, India, 1967, uses his photography as a means to tell stories. The stories he tells come from various places in Asia and covers various subject matters. For the story on the downfall of the Asian Elephant he traveled to 11 countries in a six year time period. Mohan is represented by Getty Images' Reportage Group, worked for magazines as National Geographic, published several books and currently lives in Malaysia. The following images come from the stories Leap of Faith - The Kumbh Mela, Rice and Vivid - Colours of Asia.

Website: www.palanimohan.com

Photographer #004: Marc Hom

Marc Hom, 1967, is a Danish photographer now living and working in New York. His focus lies on portraiture, and most commenly the rich and famous. His photography is classic yet playfull, but most of all very clean. In 2006 he presented his book portraits. He is represented by TrishSouth.

Website: www.trishsouth.com