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 #217: Peter Granser

Austrian photographer Peter Granser, 1971, lives and works in Germany. He will release his book J'ai perdu ma tête at the end of 2011. It will contain images of a psychiatric institute in France. Granser was not interested in the outer manifestations of insanity, he approached the subject from an interior perspective. It will be his sixth book if one does not include his special editions. Amongst his earlier books have been Signs, landscape images taken in Texas that give us an insight into the contemporary US identity through words, signs and other expressions. His earliest book is Sun City, about a retirement colony in the American southwest. The following images come from J'ai perdu ma tête, Signs and Sun City.

Website: www.granser.de

Photographer #191: Irene Andessner

Irene Andessner, 1954, Austria, has been focusing on the self-portrait since 1988. In the beginning she realised her portraits through paintings, but from the mid-90's in tableaux vivants, photography and video stagings. She gets into the roles of various women such as the Black Madonna, Rachael from the movie Bladerunner or Marlene Dietrich. Not only women are being portrayed, in 2006 she interpreted the traditional but questionably authentic portrait of Mozart. She released the Book I Am Irene Andessner which shows her works between 1995 and 2003. I Am (present tense) because she herself gives absolutely contemporary expression to historical figures. The following images come from the series Citylights [Vienna], Ida/Artemis/Merian and Donne Illustri.

Website: www.andessner.com

Photographer #104: Bernd Preiml

Bernd Preiml, Austria, 1973, makes photographs that look like dark and sinister fairy tales. His images contain both magic and mystery, they are haunting like a beautiful nightmare. He uses this in his own projects aswell as in fashion and editorial shoots. His style roots from growing up in the mountanous region outside of Vienna where folk tales were told about ancient creatures who inhabit the forests. Next to photography Preiml is also working with video. See a video by Bernd below. The following photographs come from "...it even has a Giant in it!", Sisters and Below.

Website: www.berndpreiml.net

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 #096: Josef Hoflehner

Josef Hoflehner, Austria, 1955, is a landscape photographer. Josef shoots black and white images traveling all over the world from Dubai to China and from the USA to Iceland. He has a large number of books published throughout his career. In 2009 his book Jet Airliner came out. Bizarre photographs of airplanes flying over people and streets while landing at St. Maartens, Dutch West Indies. Also in 2009 a book called China was published. The following images are from the series Jet Airliner, China and California.

Website: www.josefhoflehner.com

Photographer #076: Reiner Riedler

Reiner Riedler, Austria, 1968, is a photographer who has published various books. In 2009 his book Fake Holidays came out, bizarre photographs of fake places that give people a sence of adventure or a way to escape their daily life. In his most recent series Between the Lines, Reiner is trying to simulate scenes from novels he reads, thus giving his visual interpretation through staged photographs. Riedler has also travelled extensively, amongst which are many trips to Eastern Europe. Several images have been combined in his series On the way. The following images come from Fake Holidays, Between the Lines and On the way.

Website: www.photography.at

Photographer #031: Alexandra Hager

Austrian photographer Alexandra Hager, 1971, often takes pictures with victorian clothing but with a twist. She uses bizarre backgrounds and modern techniques to get the final result. The people in her photographs appear like dolls giving it a haunting fairy tale look. These photo's come from various series.

Website: www.alexandrahager.com