Photographer #450: Sølve Sundsbø

Sølve Sundsbø, 1970, Norway, is a fashion photographer and director based in London since 1995 where he studied at the London College of Printing. While studying he assisted world renowned photographer Nick Knight, who became an important mentor to him. Today Sølve is one of the leading photographers in his genre. Among his clients are big names as Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Gucci. He created editorials for the Italian Vogue, i-D and Interview. His series 14 Actors Acting, made for The New York Times, received an Emmy Award in 2011 for New Approaches to News & Documentary Programming: Arts, Lifestyle and Culture. Solve has an experimental approach to his photography, using a vast amount of techniques and styles, creating larger-than-life, sophisticated and innovative images. He is not afraid to tread uncommon paths. For an YSL fragrance campaign he convinced them to create and use an image of a full-frontal male nude, causing some controversy. The following images come from Interview Magazine: Scarlett Johansson, Vogue Japan: The Virgin Spring and W Magazine: The Everchanging Face of Beauty.

Website: www.artandcommerce.com/ss & www.solvesundsbo.info

Photographer #442: Vincent Fournier

Vincent Fournier, 1970, France, is an image-maker who combines documentary and staged photography. He studied photography at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie in Arles. His ongoing series entitled Space Project reflects his fascination for the space age. His inspiration stems from various things in his youth and by watching movies as 2001: A Space Odessey and Solaris. His large scale images contain an aspect of humor, mainly due to carefully placing his subjects and objects. For this project, as well as his other personal works, he has traveled around the globe. Tour Operator is a body of work inspired by the book Around the world in 80 days by Jules Vernes. He has documented the transformation of landscapes and the interaction between mankind and the environment. In an intelligent and witty manner he directs our eyes to the bizarre and the usual. In his project The Man Machine he carefully staged robots in urban settings and the spaces where they are being developed. Both his projects Tour Operator and Space Project have been released as books. The following images come from the series Space Project, Tour Operator and The Man Machine.

Website: www.vincentfournier.co.uk

Photographer #410: Christopher Anderson

Christopher Anderson, 1970, Canada/USA, is an all rounded photographer who is well-known for his documentary / photo-journalistic work. He has traveled extensively to conflict zones throughout the world as Israel, Afghanistan and Haiti. He photographed these conflicts from a personal point of view. In 2009 he released the book Capitolio, a cinematic journey into Caracas, Venezuela. "He notates the country's current incongruities, where the violent and the sensual intermingle chaotically." (Magnum Photos) A recent body of work is called Son. He photographed his wife, his son and his father who was ill with cancer. Due to the birth of his son and several other happenings Christopher has decided to step away from war photography. Son is a very intimate and emotional project, touching themes as the cycle of life. It is a project that defines the real reasons for our existence and our drive as human beings. Christopher joined Magnum Photos in 2005 and became a full member in 2010. He has worked on commercial fashion shoots and had portrait sessions with people as Lady Gaga, Lance Armstrong and Al Pacino. The following images come from his book projects Son and Capitolio and from his story on Bethlehem.

Website: www.christopherandersonphoto.com

 (Video 2008)

Photographer #384: Juul Hondius

Juul Hondius, 1970, The Netherlands, studied at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague. At first glance his photographs look like documentary or photojournalistic images. The images of Hondius however are carefully constructed and staged. Images we believe to be of Bosnian immigrants can be shot in a Dutch field. As viewers we might believe we are looking at images depicting immigration, civil war, refugees, smuggling and other situations. He plays with the language of photography that we know from the media and takes all these details combining them into an image that is all about the eye of the beholder. For his image Bus showing three people sitting in a bus, he took a perspective that is impossible to create in real life. The bus is sawn in two, making it possible for Juul to create the narrative image yet making the image more convincing. His work is suggestive and leaves enough space for the viewer to create his or her own stories. His work has been exhibited extensively and has appeared in numerous books, catalogues and magazines. The following photographs come from his portfolio.

Website: www.juulhondius.com

Photographer #354: Xavier Comas

Xavier Comas, 1970, Spain, graduated in 1995 at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Barcelona University. Driven by the passion for travelling and cultural immersion, he left on an adventurous journey to Asia in 2002. He wants to be a visual storyteller by using an intimate, spontaneous photographic approach.  In Thailand he focused on the most southern provinces creating a body of work called Derelict that deals with Thailand's muslim majority and the subject of abandonment. He spend three months living with an ethnic Malay muslim family. His project Tokyo Up, Down is a series of tryptychs taken inside and outside of elevators. The elevators are, according to Xavier; "a showcase for the basic paradox of personal alienation in urban living: the inescapeble physical proximity countered by emotional distance." In the series Pasajero he focused on the commuters in Tokyo's rail system. He takes the position of a beholder creating a photographic exploration of the transit space. The following images come from the series Noe, Tokyo Up, Down and Pasajero.

Website: www.xaviercomas.com

Photographer #309: Jens Assur

Jens Assur, 1970, is a Swedish photographer and film maker. From 1990 until 1997 he worked as a photojournalist at Expressen, then the leading newspaper in Scandinavia, covering stories in nearly 100 countries. From 1997 until 2001 he worked on the project Under the Shifting Skies which resulted in a book comprised of two volumes. In the first volume he traveled through Sweden taking pictures of people slipping through the cracks, Sami, refugees, Hells Angels, neo-nazis and porn stars. As he found out that every situation in Sweden is tied to events in other countries he decided to make a second volume. In 2010 he released the book Hunger which consists of five seperate books dealing with how we consume and how we treat our world. The following images come from the books If you love global warming - honk, Hunger and Under the Shifting Skies Vol I.

Website: www.studiojensassur.com

Photographer #299: Guillaume Herbaut

Guillaume Herbaut, 1970, France, is a documentary photographer with a vast amount of projects and stories in his portfolio. He has been to the region where the Chernobyl disaster happened in 1986 on many occasions. He covered stories on the aftermath, the ghost town of Pripyat which is located only 3 kilometers from the power plant, the nouveau riche coming to build vacation villa's just 200 meters from the forbidden zone, partying youngsters in the third contaminated zone and many others. He also focused on Hiroshima and Urakami, the Japanese places where the US dropped their atomic bombs. Guillaume has traveled the world to cover often harsh stories, from Chechnya to Mexico and from Georgia to Iran. He has released several books amongst which is La Zone, a sensory journey into the heart of Chernobyl's exclusion zone. The following images come from the series Chernobyl Riviera, Urakami and Russia: The Slavic Union.

Website: www.guillaume-herbaut.com

 

Photographer #291: Matt Black

Matt Black, 1970, USA, is a socially engaged documentary photographer. He grew up in a small town in California's Central Valley, an agricultural area that is home to some of the poorest communities in the US. In his Dust Stories he photographs the various communities, including indigenous Mexicans and the isolated Hmong population, who have come to Central Valley to work on large and rich farms or try to make a living on their own. However, poverty, unemployment, drug and alcohol addiction, crime and teenage pregnancies are commonplace in these areas. The area produces nearly half of the US supply of fresh food. In Cloud Stories, Matt went to photograph the Mixteca, a mountain range in southern Mexico that is home to four indigenous ethnic groups, living largely isolated, speaking the pre-Colombian languages and often living without electricity and indoor plumbing. These towns have recently (and currently) transformed as the inhabitants are largely migrating to the USA. Matt has received numerous awards and grants for his work. The following images come from the Dust Stories: Oaxacan Exodus and The Black Okies and from the Cloud Stories: The Third Root.

Website: www.mattblack.com

Photographer #213: Osama Esid

Osama Esid, 1970, Syria, lives in Minneapolis, USA. He hand colors his black and white prints. His work is often about "Orientalism" and the social preconceptions and stereotypes that have been created in the past and still exist today. For his series Cairo Street Workers, he created a studio in the streets of Cairo, Egypt. By doing this, he gave the impression of being a mobile businessman, just like the other people in the street. This gave him the opportunity to photograph the working men. Due to the backdrop of fake palmtrees they step out of reality, but their clothes, expressions and gear tell the true stories of these men. The following images come from the series Cairo Street Workers, Orientalism and Stereotypes and Marie.

Website: www.osamaesid.com

Photographer #175: Martijn van de Griendt

Martijn van de Griendt, 1970, The Netherlands, is specialised in documentary photography and portraiture. His images contain personal stories of the portrayed. He is fascinated by teenagers who are always searching for their identity and a way to interact with eachother. Martijn released several photography books in the last five years. One of them, Smokin' Boys Smokin' Girls, depicts smoking teenagers throughout the world.  The following images come from his ongoing series on Teenagers, Maria and Smokin' Boys Smokin' Girls.

Website: www.martijnvandegriendt.nl

Photographer #138: Paolo Woods

Paolo Woods, 1970, The Netherlands, grew up in Italy and currently works and lives in Paris. He has published various books together with journalist Serge Michel. Paolo concentrates on long-term projects that are news related, but not "hard news." He travels the world, from Afghanistan to Algeria and from China to Nigeria for his in-depth stories. In his series Chinafrica or China Safari he focused on Chinese workers and investers in Africa. These Chinese businessmen go to some of the most dangerous places to set up their business and to make money. The following images come from the stories Walk on my Eyes,  Chinafrica and Oil / A Crude World.

Website: www.paolowoods.net

Photographer #127: Li Wei

Li Wei, 1970, China, has exhibited his work all over the world and has been in an amazing number of publications. The photographs are a mix of performance arts and photography where we see people in bizarre and gravity-defying poses. Li achieves these awkward positions through the use of mirrors, metal wires, scaffolding and acrobatics and not through the use of computer manipulation. The following images come from his portfolio.

Website: www.liweiart.com

Photographer #109: Andreas Gefeller

Andrea Gefeller, Germany, 1970, is a photographer who works hard to get one single image in the end. In his series Supervisions, he took hundreds to thousands of photographs of the ground, only to put them together in the computer to create one big image. The effect is that these images are so detailed that one can stare for hours and still find new details. To see how Andreas creates his pictures, watch the video below. The following images come from Supervisions, Soma and Halbwertszeiten.

Website: www.andreasgefeller.com

Photographer #090: Perou

Perou, Great-Britain, 1970, learnt how to photograph while he was running a hire studio. This is where he met the people behind Dazed and Confused Magazine. While working for Dazed and Confused he started taking more and more pictures. Perou now shoots music, portrait, editorial and fashion. Next to his photography he has also directed video's for various artists such as Marilyn Manson and KT Tunstall. The following images come from various shoots.

Website: www.perou.co.uk
Make sure to check out his diary: www.perou.co.uk/diary

Photographer #085: Julia Fullerton-Batten

Julia Fullerton-Batten, Germany / UK, 1970, has worked for several years on a single project. It is a project on teenage girls that consists of three parts. The first is Teenage Stories, where the girls are placed in settings where they dwarf their surroundings. The second is School Play, where Julia compares Asian and Caucasian schoolgirls. The third is In Between, where the girls are floating in their surroundings. Read the biography on her website to find out what her thoughts behind this project are. The following images come from the three parts of her project.

Website: www.juliafullerton-batten.com

Photographer #054: Dave Anderson

Dave Anderson, USA, 1970, is a photographer that sees beauty in the less pretty sides of life. Poverty, disaster and racism. His believe that there is something beautiful in everyone made him go to Vidor, Texas many times. Vidor is known as a stronghold of the Klu Klux Klan. He photographed the people in this town and his book Rough Beauty was released in 2006. Make sure to watch this video about Rough Beauty by pressing here.

This year his book One Block is coming out. A non linear story on the rebuilding after the Katrina disaster in New Orleans.

Following images come from his travels to Mali.

Website: www.dbanderson.com