Photographer #447: Brent Stirton

Brent Stirton, 1969, South-Africa, is a photojournalist and documentary photographer who focuses on issues related to conflict, health and the environment. He has traveled extensively to places as Timbuktu, Yemen, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and India. He is the official photographer for the Global Business Coalition against Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Twice he visited the Ukraine, a country with the highest concentration of HIV+ people in Europe, to document the victims of Aids and the social workers and doctors who improve the lives of the infected. His goal was to humanize the disease through his photography and to lessen fear and prejudice against those who live with the disease. His work has received numerous awards amongst which are five awards from the World Press Photo Foundation and six from the Lucie Foundation. His images have been shown in a vast amount of exhibits including one at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and has been published in leading magazines as the National Geographic Magazine, Time, Newsweek and Stern. The following images come from the stories Tuareg Rebels Niger, Aids, Drugs & Uncertainty: Ukraine and Narco-wars in Afghanistan.

Website: www.brentstirton.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 #414: Sabelo Mlangeni

Sabelo Mlangeni, 1980, is a South African documentary photographer. He was able to study photography thanks to a bursary from the Market Photo Workshop and graduated in 2004. In 2010 he released the book Country Girls, an intimate portrait of gay life in the countryside of South-Africa. The areas in which he photographed are rough and poor, yet Sabelo shows that glamour is also present. He worked on this project for six years, focusing on drag queens, hairstylists and beauty pageant contestants who are still often perceived as un-African or un-Christian. Besides Country Girls he also released the series Men Only as a book and a catalogue containing his series At Home and Ghost Towns. Ghost Towns concentrates on small towns that have been abandoned due to immigration towards the country's urban areas. His work has been shown at several venues in South-Africa, UK, Germany, Italy and the US. The following images come from the series Ghost Towns, Country Girls and At Home.

Website: www.stevenson.info

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, however,  the color photographs of Jodi are 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 lives. Jodi is this year's winner of the World Press Photo Award with the portrait of Aisha, an Afghan girl whose 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 #275: Mariel Clayton

Mariel Clayton, 1980, South Africa, is a self-taught photographer who works and lives in Canada. She discovered the world of miniature items in a Tokyo toy shop. Since then she has been photographing dolls to tell her stories. Through the internet she buys and collects the miniature items she needs for her photography shoots. Her images are often brutal, full of sex and violence, yet display and reflect on the dark side of the western society. She calls herself a "Doll photographer with a subversive sense of humour." The first image she took with a barbie was a story in which she commited suicide because Ken had dumped her for another man. It was Mariel's wishful thinking of the end of what she believes to be "an evil influence". Over the course of several years she has taken an amazing amount of staged photographs involving the barbie dolls. The following images come from the series 25 Rooms, Fables and Hystoria.

Website: www.thephotographymarielclayton.com

Photographer #273: Andrea Olivo

Andrea Olivo, 1980, South Africa, has been living and working in the fashion capital Milan since 2003. He started out assisting photographers in the fashion scene which took him all around the world carrying equipment and people's underwear. Two years ago he started on his own and got signed to Aura Photo Agency. He began working for various magazines as Italian Cosmopolitan and Gioia and got featured in C-Heads magazine amongst others. Andrea tries to place obscure references to movies, comics, music or poetry in his imagery. In 2009 he also started photographing girls on his couch who stopped by his place for go sees. These images are combined in his weblog Andy Olives Casting Couch. He describes his photography as "tongue-in-cheek, never taking itself too seriously but always trying to create a beautiful image." The following images come from various fashion shoots and from his personal portfolio Girls Girls Girls.

Website: www.andreaolivo.com

Photographer #265: Mikhael Subotzky

Mikhael Subotzky, 1981, South Africa, works and lives in Johannesburg and is an associate member of Magnum Photos. Mikhael has concentrated on prison life in various projects. In 2008 he released the book Beaufort West, about a small town with a prison in the middle. The prison is situated at the center of a traffic circle. Due to the prison he started to explore this transit town and its margins. Beaufort West was shown at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. His latest project Ponte City, together with Patrick Waterhouse, is a work of art. He photographed each window, door and TV set of the fifty-four storey building in Johannesburg that has had an eventful history. All of these images have been put together in three massive light-boxes of nearly four meters tall, having similar proportions to the Ponte City buildings. The following images come from the series Umjiegwana, Beaufort West and Die Vier Hoeke.

Website: www.subotzkystudio.com

Photographer #183: Nico Krijno

Nico Krijno, 1981, South-Africa, works between Cape Town and London. His photography often contains nudity and has an element of spontaneity and rebelliousness. Nico primarily uses analogue cameras to create his works that capture the raw hedonistic essence of youth and sexuality. He has worked for clients as Nike and Dazed and Confused and is currently working on a monograph that should be titled; On how to fill those gaps. The following images come from various portfolio's.

Website: www.nicokrijno.com

Photographer #002: Pieter Hugo

South African photographer Pieter Hugo, 1976, has made Africa his playground. Last year his book Nollywood came out. Pictures of actors and actresses from the third biggest film industry with a 1000 movies. The moviesets are just the surroundings. The movies are fast made and lack big budgets.

The book before Nollywood was The Hyena & other men. Pictures of a group of men that live with hyena's and baboons to earn their living. Strong men with strong animals, but there is a certain sadness to all the strongness and heroism.

Website: www.pieterhugo.com