Photographer #445: Michael von Graffenried

Michael von Graffenried, 1957, Switzerland, started his career as a photojournalist in 1978. Today he lives in Paris and works on long term projects often dealing with themes of ethnology. He uses a panoramic analog camera using 35mm film yet creating impressive large-scale photographs. For Michael content comes before technology and his choice for the panoramic format came somewhat by accident. He was in Algeria during the 1990's when tension was high documenting the daily life during and after the civil war. The panoramic camera proved usefull as one can keep it on the chest while taking images. People can see the camera yet do not know that an image has been taken. Once Michael saw the results he realised the aesthetic part of this format and decided to use it. His socially engaged stories and narrative images are strong, daring and sometimes provocative. He has been in numerous exhibitions and released an enormous amount of monographs between 1980 and today. The following images come from the series Eye on Africa, Cocainelove and War without Images.

Website: www.mvgphoto.com

Photographer #420: Joël Tettamanti

Joël Tettamanti, 1977, Switzerland, is a photographer who travels to remote places around the world for his photographic art. His work is a mixture of documentary, architectural, landscape and travel photography. He has traveled to places as Togo, Kuweit, Japan, Azerbaijan, India and Greenland. His photographs are a reflection of a traveling observer who sees ordinary objects, landscapes and buildings that others would pass without noticing. In his images the ordinary becomes the extraordinary and tell the story of man and its environment. In 2006 Joël released the book Local Studies in which his work from various series is combined with texts of 6 different authors. He studied graphic design and photography at the Ecole Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne. Since 2009 he is also a photography teacher at ECAL. His work has been exhibited extensively, mainly in Switzerland and France. The following images come from the series Ayome, Qaqortoq and Harajuku.

Website: www.tettamanti.ch & www.tettamanti.li

Photographer #333: Augustin Rebetez

Augustin Rebetez, 1986, Switzerland, is a conceptual photographic artist who also uses film, drawing and painting as ways of expression. With his work he takes us into a dark and gritty world. He got recognized with his series Gueles de Bois (Hangover). It explores alcohol, one of the most cherished aspects of local folklore. For his series tout ce qui a le visage de la colère (...) he was asked by the Kunstmuseum of Bern to explore anger for a group exhibition on the seven deadly sins. The images created a pessimistic essay on rebellion and revolution. Augustin was selected as one of the photographers for the reGeneration2 project with a travelling exhibition and book as result. In 2010 he was the winner of the photo folio review at the prestigious festival Rencontres d'Arles resulting in a current solo exhibition at this years edition. The following images come from the series Afterdark, Crabe and tout ce qui a le visage de la colère (...).

Website: www.augustinrebetez.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 #253: Matthieu Gafsou

Swiss/French photographer Matthieu Gafsou, 1981, is a landscape or urban landscape photographer. In his impressive body of work we find the series Surfaces, a collection of photographs taken in Tunisia. The places he encountered in Tunisia varied in strange ways. He felt that the land was devided by tradition and aspiration and that the structures failed to create any coherence. He photographed the buildings that merely create a surface or make-believe. He feels that "these new cities are in fact a mere reflection of a modernity the country has not really found out for itself." The hotels, a mix of modernity and false authenticity. and the modern houses are for a large part a created reality which can be seen on the surface, but it cannot be felt or experienced as something real. In 2009 he released Surfaces as a monograph. Matthieu has exhibited his work on numerous occasions in Europe and the USA. The following images come from the series Terres Compromises, Alpes and Surfaces.

Website: www.ph0.ch

Photographer #196: AlexandFelix

Alex Gertschen, 1969, and Felix Meier, 1969, both from Switzerland and better known as AlexandFelix work as a team. They are known for staging their subjects and models, without the use of computers, with divers objects and materials. AlexandFelix create imaginative, somewhat absurd and surreal worlds. Also the background is not made by computer which is a conscious choice in an effort to make the images more vibrant and less artificial. The series 13 Queens shows how detailed the two photographers work, with much to discover in each image. The following images come from the series 13 Queens and from their Pictures portfolio.

Website: www.alexandfelix.com

Photographer #190: Marco Grob

Marco Grob, 1965, Switserland is a portrait and fashion photographer. He has photographed countless celebrities, from Obama to Clinton and from Samuel L. Jackson to Jeff Bridges. His work has appeared in Vogue and Time amongst many other magazines and he has shot for clients as Nike, Tag Heuer and Louis Vuitton. Marco's portraits are stylish and classic. The following images come from his portfolio's Portraits, Portraits Archive and Editorials.

Website: www.marcogrob.com

Photographer #139: Christian Kettiger

Christian Kettiger, 1962, Switzerland, is a beauty and portrait photographer. Christian got into photography after seeing the work of Guy Bourdin in Zoom Magazine. He has worked for clients as La Roche-Posay and Pantene. Besides his commercial work he also makes personal work. He went to  Gibsonton, a town in Florida that is known for the circus people or "freaks" that spend the off-season there. The following images come from his portfolio's Beauty, Celebrities and Personnel.

Website: www.kettiger.com

Photographer #133: Yann Gross

Yann Gross, 1981, Switzerland, went to Uganda in 2008 and 2009 to document the only Skatepark in East Africa. The skatepark was build by the youngsters themselves from Kitintale, a suburb of Kampala, without support from the government or NGO's. The series Kitintale is released as a book. Earlier he released the book Horizonville. He went on a motorcycle through the Rhône valley in Switzerland to find a community that wants to live and look like citizens of the USA. Although most of them have never been there, "they feel a sense of belonging to another culture that they don't really know." The following images come from the series Kitintale, Horizonville and Agreste.

Website: www.yanngross.com

Photographer #128: Christian Tagliavini

Swiss/Italian photographer Christian Tagliavini, 1971, presented his new series to the world only a few days ago. The series 1503 are nine still characters from a visionary renaissance. They are portrayed in solemn, die-cut costumes. In 2008 he made his the series Dame di Cartone (Cardboard Ladies). Costumes from different era's were made with cardboard and shot with live models. In the proces of making a photograph Christian is not merely the photographer, he is in fact the author, stage- and costume-designer, casting manager and director all at the same time. The following images come from the brand new series 1503, Dame di Cartone and Aspettando Freud (Waiting for Freud).

Website: www.christiantagliavini.com

Photographer #115: Henry Leutwyler

Henry Leutwyler, Switzerland, 1961, works and lives in New York. He is most known for his portraiture, but in the last seven years he has started to photograph objects as "artifacts". Prior to the death of Michael Jackson, Henry photographed a large number of the collectibles from the collection of the King of Pop. In 2009 his book Neverland Lost came out. Leutwyler has had many prominent people in front of his camera, from Michelle Obama to Jean-Paul Gaultier. The following images come from Neverland Lost and his portfolio's Portraits and Dance/Nudes.

Website: www.henryleutwyler.com

Photographer #113: Irene Kung

Irene Kung, Switzerland, 1958, started her career as a painter and with success, but it has only been in the last several years that she has fully concentrated on photography. Her images are dark and isolate the objects or subjects she photographs. She has photographed architecture in several cities in Europe and in New York, but she manages to capture a detailed look that the human eye will not perceive. Next to photographing architecture she has also made pictures of animals, trees and mountains. The following images come from the series Italy, Trees and Animals.

Website: www.irenekung.com

Photographer #110: Guido Mocafico

Guido Mocafico, Switzerland, 1962, is a still-life photographer, even though he might use subjects that are alive. He is well known for his colorfull and stunning series called Serpents. Due to the confinement of the snakes they curl up and create twisted shapes. This series, as many others, was also released as a book. In the series Movement, he photographed the machinery behind clockwork. Again the background is kept black, making the watches come out as large marvels of technology. The following images come from the series Serpents, Movement and Nature Morte.

Website: www.guidomocafico.com/index.html

Photographer #008: Thomas Kneubühler

Swiss born photographer Thomas Kneubühler, 1963, now living in Montreal, Canada, was fascinated by the mountains full of light that made night skiing possible. He made the surreal landscapes his subject matter. Night photography of mountains that radiate. He calls this series Electric Mountains.

Earlier he worked on a project called Office 2000. Again a landscape arises of surrealism, although it is very real. The pictures become abstract objects of repetition.

Website: www.thomaskneubuhler.com