Photographer #446: Tomasz Gudzowaty

Tomasz Gudzowaty, 1971, Poland, studied law at the University of Warsaw before starting a career in photography. He started as a nature photographer, turned to social documentary work and is currently focusing on documentary sports photography. He concentrates mostly on non-commercial sports, sports that are not present in the media or those that are somehow different from the mainstream sports. Examples of these activities are pole dancing, sumo wrestling, wrestling and urban golf in India, Lucha Libre; a Mexican version of free wrestling, car racing in Mexico, freerunning, Mongolian horseracing, Chinese gymnasts and synchronized swimming. Tomasz tells his stories in the form of photo-essays. His strong and powerful black and white images are made with a large format analogue camera. His work, consisting of a vast amount of projects, has appeared in numerous exhibitions and magazines as Newsweek, Time and The Guardian and has won a large number of awards amongst which are the World Press Photo and NPPA Best of Photojournalism. The following images come from the essays Naadam Race, Lucha Libre and Pole Dancers' Families.

Website: www.gudzowaty.com

Photographer #437: Pierre Crocquet de Rosemond

Pierre Crocquet, 1971, South Africa, started a career in the merchant-banking sector only to find out that his choice of career was flawed. Therefore he studied photography at the London College of Printing. He returned to South Africa and embarked on a photographic career. Since 2002 he released five books of which the latest is entitled Pinky Promise. It is an exploration into the terrain of child sexual abuse. During a period of three years Pierre combined seven stories of abuse, survival and healing in the monograph. The book breaks newground by including the stories of not only the victims, but also the perpetrators of child sexual abuse. In 2008 he released Enter Exit, a book showing the inhabitants of an isolated, small, multi-racial community. "The isolated community became a portal through which to explore facets of the human psyche." It is a very strong collection of black and white portraits. His work has been exhibited on numerous occasions throughout the world. The following images come from the series Pinky Promise, Enter Exit and Us.

Website: www.pierrec.com

Photographer #409: Shinya Arimoto

Shinya Arimoto, 1971, Japan, is a conceptual documentary photographer who studied at the School of Visual Arts in Osaka. Within his body of work there is a lot of street photography containing images of structures, objects, women and homeless people. In contrast to a lot of other street photographers he does not just snap his camera but carefully creates the images showing a photographer who communicates with his subjects. The world he shows us is chaotic and vibrant yet he manages to create a sense of calm within his photographs. His story-telling images are well-composed, sensitive and intimate. His work has been exhibited on numerous occasions in Japan. The Totem Pole Photo Gallery released two limited edition 20 page books with his work. The following images come from the portfolios Ariphoto2011 Vol.1, Ariphoto2009 Vol.3 Why Now Tibet and Ariphoto2009 Vol.1.

Website: www.arimotoshinya.com

Photographer #408: Stephen Gill

Stephen Gill, 1971, UK, is an experimental, conceptual and documentary photographer. In 2005 he founded his publishing company in order to gain maximum control over the publication process of his books. He has released an impressive amount of books. For him a book is not merely a vessel or a shell in which to house and show his photographs, it should be the finished expression of the images. Various techniques are used as cut printing, spray paint or rubber stamps are used to what he considers "the key final stage in the production of his photographic works." The images for the series Outside In were made in Brighton where he featured objects found in the local surroundings that he literally put inside of his camera and started making images of street sceneries. To finish the images he used a magnifying glass to concentrate the sunlight onto some of the negatives in order to create markings. Other negatives were dipped into the sea hoping that the finished series would become something like the regurgitated contents of a giant vacuum cleaner. For his series Billboards he photographed the backsides of these large objects taking us to strange places that are normally hidden from our point of view. His work has been exhibited extensively throughout the world. The following images come from the series Outside In, Billboards and Hackney Flowers.

Website: www.stephengill.co.uk

Photographer #396: Stéphane Remael

Stéphane Remael, 1971, France, is a socially engaged documentary photographer and photojournalist who also concentrates on portraiture. He was a co-founder and member of the Oeil Public Agency between 1996 and 2008. His main focus lies with the human condition, placing mankind in his environment, often those on the margins of society. He has traveled the world to cover humanistic stories from Bolivia, Georgia, China, Nepal to Morocco amongst other places. In Japan he took a close look at an ancient phenomenon called 'evaporation'. After the financial bubble burst in the 90's entire families made suicide pacts and other men who lost their jobs decided to disappear and continue living with a new identity. In Georgia he focused on a remote region in the country called Svaneti. In this region one woman in three is abducted with disasterous outcomes for the women. They are considered impure and have little hope for leading a normal life. His work has been published in numerous French and international newspapers and magazines as Newsweek, TIME and The Wall Street Journal. He is a member of the M.Y.O.P agency. The following images come from the series The Disappeared, Kidnapped for Life and Cabanisation: What is left when you have nothing?

Website: www.stephaneremael.com

Photographer #385: Chris McCaw

Chris McCaw, 1971, USA, received a BFA in photography at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. He works on his photography using a large-format camera and the platinum/palladium process. His current project is called Sunburn. He was making all-night exposures of the stars while on a camping trip in 2003. He woke up late and therefore the shutter was not closed in time. What he found out by mistake was the start of a new project. The rising sun was so focused and powerful that it physically changed the film. The sun burns its path onto the negative creating an effect called solarization, a natural reversal of tonality due to over-exposure. The negative literally has a burnt hole in it with the surrounding landscape in complete reversal. He then started experimenting and perfecting his technique using the sun as an active participant in his images. In 2006 he chose to use vintage fiber based gelatin b&w paper. The gelatin in the paper gets cooked and leaves orange and red colors. In this way he created one of a kind paper negatives. His series The Family Farm and Travelogue were shot using a 7x17" view camera. In this way he was capable to create 7x17" direct contact prints  by hand. Since 1996 he also uses this technique for clients with digital negatives using Dan Burkholder's method. The following images come from Sunburn, The Family Farm, and Travelogue.

Website: www.chrismccaw.com

Photographer #362: Araminta de Clermont

Araminta de Clermont, 1971, UK, is a documentary photographer who has created several bodies of work in South-Africa. In her series Before Life she portrayed girls on the Cape Flats, an area full of problems as poverty, crime, teenage pregnancies, drug addiction and gangs. The girls are all dressed up for their Matric Dance, a South African tradition for graduating 12th grade. These girls are often the first matriculants of their family, having been disadvantaged by the apartheid era. In Life After she focused on the tattoos and lives of South-Africa's prison gangs after having been released into society. The men have often been imprisoned for many years, if not decades. The tattoo's, forbidden in the prison system, show life stories, hierarchy, testimonies and personal statements. Araminta has worked a lot for the life style section of The Sunday Times in South Africa and has exhibited her work in a few solo and several group exhibitions. The following images come from the series Before Life, Life After and A new Beginning.

Website: www.aramintadeclermont.com

Photographer #356: Mark Squires

Mark Squires, 1971, USA, is a fashion, celebrity and portrait photographer based in New York City. He is currently working on two personal book projects entitled Girls, Girls, Girls and My Black Hat. In the beginning of 2011 he released the book Flip. The book contains snippets in time spend individually with four different women which created a certain freedom between subject and photographer. The images are sensual, playful yet elegant. Mark has worked for a large number of magazines as V Magazine, Rolling Stone and L'Uomo Vogue. He also worked with a large number of celebrities as M.I.A., Mary J. Blige, Marion Cotillard and Jack White and worked with bands as No Doubt and Die Antwoord. His photographs are stylish yet contain an element of rawness and spontaneity. The following images come from the portfolios Fashion, Celebrity/Portrait and My Black Hat.

Website: www.marksquiresphoto.com & www.marksquiresphotodiary.com

Photographer #344: Martin Klimas

Martin Klimas, 1971, Germany, is a still-life photographer who captures motion. He studied Visual Communications and Photography at the Fachhochshule in Düsseldorf. In his personal work he does not use photoshop. He uses analog technology for his visually complex photographs capturing the moment between being whole and completely broken. In complete darkness he dropped porcelain figures, the sound of the objects hitting the floor triggers the lights to go off for a fraction of a second. For his work with flowers and vases he used the same technique, however it is the sound of a projectile, shot by Klimas, hitting the vase that sets off the flash. He is capable of capturing a moment we cannot see with the human eye. Even though catastrophy is happening in his large scale images, they are peaceful, silent and aesthetically beautiful. The following images come from the series Flowervases, Porcelain Figurines and Flying Birds.

Website: www.martin-klimas.de

Photographer #296: Guy Aroch

Guy Aroch, 1971, Israel, focuses on fashion, beauty and celebrity photography. In 1988 he moved to New York to persue a career in photography and in 1993 he graduated from the School of Visual Arts, New York. Today he works both in the USA and Europe. He describes his photography as modern pictures with a sexy, dreamy, nostalgic twist. He has worked for major clients including Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger and L'Oreal. His editorial work has appeared in magazines as Vibe, Vogue and GQ magazine. Ashton Kutcher, Christina Ricci and Michael Pitt are amongst the list of celebrities Guy has worked with. His photographs are beautifully lit, strong, sharp yet soft and sometimes magical. The following images come from various shoots.

Website: www.guyaroch.com

Photographer #256: Txema Salvans

Txema Salvans, Spain, 1971, is a documentary photographer with a special interest in how we humans spend our free time. He enjoys the positive interaction he has with his subjects making it possible for him to get a look at the physical and mental spaces of leisure where everyone is looking for happiness. His series Spanish Hits (De Carretera) is a journey through the Mediterranean coast stopping at the places where entire families enjoy their leisures on a small beach between the sea and concrete. In his series Spanish Roads he focused on the suppliers of leisure. On the outskirts of the city he photographed prostitutes and other suppliers of services by the road in unhabitable spaces that are nonetheless lived in. The following images come from the series Spanish Roads, Spanish Hits and Welcome Aboard.

Website: www.txemasalvans.com

Photographer #246: Karine Laval

Karine Laval, 1971, France, works and lives in New York, USA. In her series Poolscapes she tries to explore the friction between the real and the imaginary. The series consists of images of people underwater, reflections in pools or objects in the water. The photographs in her series The Pool are saturated with bleach-out tones. Karine carefully composes her images as a choreographer isolating moments that may be familiar, but created a visual narrative. In Leisure Time she focused on places and situations that echo moments from her childhood. Laval has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe and her work has been published in numerous magazines. The following images come from the series Poolscapes, The Pool and Leisure Time.

Website: www.karinelaval.com

Photographer #240: Franky Verdickt

Franky Verdickt, 1971, Belgium, graduated with a masters degree from the St-Lukas academy in Brussels in 2007. In his personal work he searches for the ideal society, a utopia. Even though his work shows real places and real people, there is an ironic criticism of the ideology and the search for perfection. His series Fantasma was created in the self-pronounced republic of Transdnistria, an area between Moldova and the Ukraine. It's a non existing country in which the people want to believe in their own ideas of reality. In his personal work there is a certain stillness, which is also visible in several of his documentary projects. He travels the world to places as Georgia, China and and Albania for his photographs. The following images come from the series Totem II, Fantasma and Work.

Website: www.frankyverdickt.be

Photographer #229: Albrecht Tübke

Albrecht Tübke, 1971, Germany, is a portrait photographer that also focuses on landscapes and objects. Most of his portraits are, whether taken of fashionable ladies in the streets of Italy, citizens of Europe and the US or the inhabitants of a small town called Dalliendorf, taken with the portrayed comletely in the frame, looking into the camera. His series Caves consists of portraits, objects, tins and landscapes. For more than a year Tübke went to the Marble Quarries in Carrara, Toscany. He was fascinated by the strange objects, the wonderful landscapes and the interesting people working there. Albrecht has exhibited extensively throughout the world. The following images come from Citizens, Caves and Heads.

Website: www.tuebke.info

Photographer #228: Victor Cobo

Victor Cobo, 1971, USA, is a self-taught photographer who lives and works in New York City. In 1999 he was fired from his first job after college after being caught with inappropriate photographs he had taken on the streets. That's when he began focusing on the margins of society. Cobo functions as both the choreographer and the actor in his images. His subjects, the "renegades, outsiders and survivors," are his reflections and companions in his photographic diaries. In this way his photographs are just as much about himself as they are of his subjects. Victor's work has been featured in numerous magazines an has been exhibited internationally. The following images come from the series Remember when you loved me, The face forgives the Mirror and Down in the Hole.

Website: www.victorcobo.com

Photographer #221: Anthony Goicolea

Anthony Goicolea, 1971, USA, is an artist with Cuban roots specialised in more than just photography. He draws, builds installations and works with video. His conceptual art deals with various themes and contains many layers. For the entire Related series Anthony used drawing, photography, sculpture and installation to explore his family history and identity as well as themes of ritual, assimilation and alienation. His series Almost Safe consists of digitally composed images using familiar elements from different locations to create new topographies. Goicolea has used himself as an actor in many of his series. With the use of digital manipulation he is able to clone himself and play various characters in the images that deal with several different issues. The following images come from the series Related, Almost Safe and Self Portraits.

Website: www.anthonygoicolea.com

Photographer #219: Eliot Lee Hazel

Eliot Lee Hazel, 1971, UK, is a California based photographer. He makes gritty and cinematic images. They are well composed, stylish yet have a raw edge. He has worked for various musicians like Morcheeba, Yeasayer and Basement Jaxx and with actresses as Shannyn Sossamon. His images are fragments of stories told, triggering the brain to start associating. Eliot's images can be compared to cliffhangers, raising more questions than answers. The following images are a variety of his portfolio's.

Website: www.eliotleehazel.com