Photographer #430: Rinko Kawauchi

Rinko Kawauchi, 1972, Japan, is a fine art photographer based in Tokyo. She studied at the Seian University of Art and Design and graduated in 1993. She started as a photographer on a freelance basis from 1997. In 2001 she launched herself into the photographic world with the simultaneous release of 3 books, UTATANE, HANABI and HANAKO. Since then she has released a large number of monographs of which the latest addition is Illuminance. Her images seem simple, but they evoke primal emotions within the viewer. By paying attention to tiny gestures and incidental details within her environment she finds the extraordinary within the mundane. The editing within her books is crucial to her work and the stories she wishes to tell. The photographs show a large range of emotions and fundamentally adresses life itself, from the good all the way to the bad. Her work has been exhibited extensively in solo and group shows around the world and is in several public collections as the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Phtography and Huis Marseille in Amsterdam. The following images come from the books Illuminance, AILA and Cui Cui.

Website: www.rinkokawauchi.com

Photographer #417: Ulrich Lebeuf

Ulrich Lebeuf, 1972, France, is a photojournalist and documentary photographer. He has worked on numerous stories for the French and international press. Next to his photojournalistic work he is interested in themes of popular culture, representation, consumption and the notion of immediate pleasure. The series Antonyme de la pudeur takes a look at the sex industry. It is a glimpse into a world in which Ulrich manages to humanize the actresses, making the viewer reflect on the stereotypes of the business and on our own moral judgments. His work has been published in newspapers and magazines as Le Monde, Libération, Time and National Geographic. His photographs have been shown at several venues as the opening of the Rencontres d'Arles festival in 2006. He is a member of the M.Y.O.P agency. The following images come from the series Antonyme de la pudeur, Tropique du Cancer and Alaska Highway.

Website: www.ulrichlebeuf.fr & www.myop.fr

Photographer #406: Txema Yeste

Txema Yeste, 1972, Spain, is a fashion photographer based in Barcelona, Spain. His career started as a reporter after completing his photographic studies in Barcelona and Birmingham. He was traveling the world shooting images for newspapers like El Pais. He sees this period as very helpful for the photography he does today. His editorial fashion shoots have a narrative quality, build up of story-telling images. This is reflected in the titles given to the series as Spy in Nice, A Summer Waisting or Beyond Love and Evil. Txema is known for his sophisticated style, his experimentations, surrealism and graphic expression. His work has appeared in numerous magazines as Harper's Bazaar, V Magazine and Vogue. Amongst his commercial clients are major brands as Lacoste, Levi's and Nike. The following images come from various different shoots.

Website: www.txemayeste.es

Photographer #374: Hellen van Meene

Hellen van Meene, 1972, The Netherlands, is a portrait photographer who studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Most of her portrait images are of young teenage girls. She is widely known for her exceptional use of light and the sometimes awkward yet fragile poses. She works with girls that have no experience being a model and guides them in how they need to pose. She only uses natural light in order to keep fully concentrated on her models. She has traveled to Japan, England, Latvia and Russia amongst other countries for her portraits. In contrast with her earlier work, where she would ask girls in her surrounding and have time to create a strong image, she asked complete strangers in the streets to be photographed while she was traveling in search of the right teenagers. The portrait sessions were often finished within ten minutes. Hellen has been exhibited extensively throughout the world, been in numerous publications and released several photography books. The following images come from her portfolio.

Website: www.hellenvanmeene.com
(Video starts in Dutch but includes an interview in English towards the end and shows a large collection of her works)

Photographer #364: Christy Lee Rogers

Christy Lee Rogers, 1972, USA, is a self-taught photographer from Hawaii who lives and works in Los Angeles and Kailua, Hawaii. Throughout the years she has specialized and perfected her technique of photographing in water. The water, in which light travels slower thus creating a higher optical density, is used to produce dream-like illusions. It intensifies colors and blurs the subjects creating painter-like images. The color photographs are achieved without digital manipulation and remind us of Baroque paintings. The floating female bodies and clothing bend and distort due to this technique. She uses Chiaroscuro, a term that dates from the Renaissance period describing the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, to capture the female form in an abyss of boundless space. In 2008 she released her book Siren and has exhibited her work extensively throughout the United States. The following images come from the series Odyssey, Siren and Inversion.

Website: www.christyrogers.com

Photographer #345: Zach Gold

Zach Gold, 1972, USA, is a fashion and commercial photographer and film director. He studied at the Parsons School of Design and graduated in 1995. In various of his shoots he freezes an intruiging moment of people in battle, falling or dodging flying powder. He collaborated with the dance company Gallim Dance and choreographer Andrea Miller. The video and photographs of semi naked dancers in a pool of milk is alienating yet breathtaking. The images hold a certain suspense, but due to the very sharp detail they have become quiet and elegant scenes. He has photographed numerous celebrities including David Bowie, 50 Cent and Willem Dafoe and worked for clients as Nike, Sony and K-Swiss. The following works come from Milk, his Motion and Fashion portfolio's.

Website: www.zachgold.com

Photographer #332: Antony Crossfield

Antony Crossfield, 1972, UK, is a photographer who digitally manipulates his images. He tries to "question and undermine traditional conceptions of corporeality whilst exploring the relationship between the body and identity." Much like a painter he combines his subjects with each other or other objects, presenting the body as unstable and constantly in flux. In his series Foreign Body he constructed the final photographs from various elements shot at different times and angles. He carefully puts every aspect of the images together, also thinking about the decor and the objects in the room as narrative symbols. The process of making an image can take up to several months. The following images come from the series Foreign Body, Missing Mass and War Dance.

Website: www.antonycrossfield.com

Photographer #324: Marianne Engel

Marianne Engel, 1972, Switzerland, is a photographer who also concentrates on various other art forms. She creates objects, works on installations and collaborates with various artists. She graduated in Biochemistry at the University of Zürich in 2001. The interest in biochemistry is visible in various bodies of works. On objects as bacteria, fish and bonsai trees she used a glow in the dark pigment creating alien like imagery. Her photographs of trees and other objects in nature, often photographed in the dark using a painting with light technique become magical and fantastical. Her photographs are dramatic and often feel like a hallucination. The following images come from her extensive portfolio.

Website: www.marengel.ch

Photographer #287: Jesse Burke

Jesse Burke, 1972, USA, is a conceptual photographer who received a BFA in photography at the University of Arizona and an MFA at the Rhode Island school of Design. In 2008 he released Intertidal, a monograph in which Burke explores the complexity of the masculine identity. In a poetic manner, Jesse shows the various facets of man, strong, vulnarable, insecure and emotional. In 2009 he self-published the book Low. For this series he photographed people living on the streets. The portraits, combined with images of plants, show the men with a bare chest against a pitch-black background. His work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and several places in Europe. The following images come from his portfolios Intertidal 1, Intertidal 2 and Low.

Website: www.jesseburke.com

Photographer #167: Youssef Nabil

Egyptian photographer Youssef Nabil, 1972, works and lives in New York. His images are hand colored gelatin silver prints. Next to his portraits of singers, writers and actors, often from the Arab world, he makes self-portraits that "reflect his dislocated life away from Egypt." Youssef's images remind us of film-stills from earlier Egyptian and Arab movies. He has been in numerous solo and group exhibitions and released two books; Sleep in my Arms, 2007 and I won't let you die, 2008. The following images come from his portfolio's Works I, Works II and Works III.

Website: www.youssefnabil.com

Photographer #103: Viviane Sassen

Dutch photographer Viviane Sassen, 1972, released her monograph Flamboya in 2009. The book combines photographs taken in various African countries. It is a mix of spontaneous and staged photography. She is taken by the appearance or behaviour of the people she encounters. Often one sees a play of shadow and light, where heads might be completely in the dark. In other images she uses objects to cover parts of her subjects body. She uses this style aswell in her fashion and commercial work. She has worked for clients such as Diesel and Miu Miu. The following images come from the series Ultra Violet, Flamboya and Realm.

Website: www.vivianesassen.com

Photographer #077: Ambroise Tezenas

French photographer Ambroise Tezenas, 1972, has won various awards for his photographic work. Currently he is working on a large series called Dark Tourism. He travels to places where as a tourist you can visit sites where disaster has taken place. Examples are; the Sichuan Wenchuan Earthquake Ruins tour, where you can visit the southwestern area of China where 90000 people were killed during the earthquake, or Prypiat, the town that became a ghosttown after the Chernobyl disaster.

In 2007 his book Beijing: Theatre of the People came out about the Hutongs of Beijing and their downfall. These traditional blocks of Beijing with small alleys had to move for new large buildings with giant boulevards.

Website: www.ambroisetezenas.com

Photographer #050: Christopher Wahl

Christopher Wahl, Canada/USA, 1972, is in the first place a portrait photographer. He has had a wide range of people in front of his Hasselblad. Examples are: Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Mick Jagger, Peter Beard, David Lynch and Jane Jacobs. The images are strong, honest captures of the portrayed.

Wahl also works on projects. He made pictures in Disneyworld and in North Huron that are double exposed inside the camera. Another project focuses on people working in the news business.

Website: www.christopherwahl.com

Photographer #037: Mika Ninagawa

Mika Ninagawa, Japan, 1972, is a very productive photographer. Her images are full of colour and still have a direct link to the ancient arts of Japan. She has been exhibited all over the world and she been published in 35 books in the last 13 years. The following pictures come from the series Flowers and Fashion & Portraits.

Website: www.ninamika.com

Photographer #034: Maleonn

Ma Liang, better known as Maleonn, 1972, is a Chinese photographer. His photography can best be defined as theatrical and fantastical. He has gotten international acclaim for the images made with props, actors and fable like sets. The following pictures come from the series: White on White, Little Flagman and Leaves of Grass.

Website: www.maleonn.com