photo: Emanuele Cucuzza / EdiFore
Publishing and Photography
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COVER
ph.: Bara Prasilova - www.baraprasilova.com (see interview page 122)
www.imageinprogress.com info@edifore.com SEMESTRALE - ANNO V - N.2/2015 - N.7 DIRETTORE RESPONSABILE Emanuele Cucuzza RESPONSABILE DEL TRATTAMENTO DEI DATI PERSONALI (D.LGS. 196/2003) Emanuele Cucuzza IMAGE IN PROGRESS (VERSIONE TELEMATICA) Registrazione del Tribunale di Roma n. 260 dell’8 giugno 2010 ISSN: 2038-6214 IMAGE IN PROGRESS (VERSIONE STAMPATA) Registrazione del Tribunale di Roma n. 261 dell’8 giugno 2010 ISSN: 2038-6206 PRINT / STAMPA Novembre 2015 - NovaTiporom srl Via G. A. Sartorio, 89 - 00147 Roma, Italy IMAGE IN PROGRESS È ASSOCIATO ALL’UNIONE STAMPA PERIODICA ITALIANA
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8th – 12th Jan 2016 Maag Hallen Zurich 11 am – 8 pm www.photo-schweiz.ch
PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVALS
t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Opportunities beyond the contest
Interview with Juan José Estrada who introduces us to GuatePhoto. Where did you get this passion for photography? “After graduating from university I took a trip around several countries in Europe and carried with me a small digital camera, this was back in 2005, and it was then that I realized that photography was something that I wanted to explore more deeply, I realized that photography as a medium was much deeper than I expected and linked in so many ways to everything about our humanity.” …and how come the idea of GuatePhoto? “The idea came after a participation in the New York Photo Festival in 2010 with my partner Clara de Tezanos, in an exhibit organized by curator Adriana Teresa. It was then that we saw the opportunity to create something similar back in Guatemala, so just like that GuatePhoto was born just months after that in collaboration with FotoVisura and Adriana.” What are the results so far? “It has been a very humbling experience to see the impact that GuatePhoto has had on a cultural level for Guatemala City and also for the photographic community. We have shown the work of over 1,500 photographers and
have received over 3,000 submissions from 75 countries for the international Open Call. The Festival also blends people from all ages and interests attracting over 30,000 visitors to see the exhibitions.” What’s new for this edition? “We have expanded the Festival into Antigua Guatemala, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site and also almost doubled the number of participating artists to over 700.” Considering your experience, probably you have developed your own views of what are the most common mistakes of applying to photocontests. Do you have any advice for photographers who want to propose their own works or choose the right ones? “For sure it’s important to understand that institutions behind the Festivals and also their particular interests or photography they promote. We believe that photo contests are a great way to promote the exchange of ideas and create spaces of collaboration and many times even if some portfolios are not selected as finalists other opportunities arise which are not necessarily obvious.” www.guatephoto.org
Juan José Estrada. Co-Founder and Director of La Fototeca alongside Clara de Tezanos. He began his photography studies in Barcelona in 2005. He has exhibited internationally at the Galería Grisart (Barcelona) and the New York Photo Festival. His work has also been presented in major auctions and various exhibitions in Guatemala City including the Museum of Modern Art Carlos Mérida, Fototropia and Ana Lucía Gómez Gallery. Juan José has also been a curator to many local and international photography contests. 4 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
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PHOTOGRAPHY CONTESTS
t: Emanuele Cucuzza
A new promising photo contest
ph.: Alvise Forcellini
Interview with Teresa Sartore, artistic director of the first edition of Prisma Human Rights Photo Contest
Teresa Sartore (Venice 1981) is the artistic director of the first edition of Prisma Human Rights Photo Contest. Since 2005 she has been internationally involved in several research and photographic projects dealing with human rights. From Cameroon to Morocco, from Palestine to Malta and Greece, from England to Germany, Belgium and Italy, her work focuses on migration issues, ethnic minorities rights and transculturality. Her projects are driven by the idea that change is possible through knowledge, research, art and social action. She holds an MA in Anthropology from SOAS School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. She has been working as research assistant at Heidelberg University (2009-2013) and visiting researcher at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (2011-2013). Since 2013 she lives and works in Venice as Communication Manager and Event Organiser at Lightbox, and Editor at My Art Guides. www.teresasartore.tumblr.com How come the idea of your contest? “The idea of organizing a human rights photo contest comes from the Global Campus of Human Rights and its will to complement academic research with other media of knowledge, such as photography, to reach a wider international public and foster a better understanding of human rights issues and their protection. The Global Campus is a project coordinated by the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC) thanks to the support of the European Union and based on the collaboration among seven EU-funded Regional Master 6 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
Programmes on human rights and democracy from Europe, Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, South Esast Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Caucasus. Prisma Human Rights Photo Contest was born from the collaboration between the Global Campus and Lightbox, a publishing house and a communication company specialized in Contemporary Art. Lightbox has an international network of collaborators that contribute to give a global, but at the same time local, vibe to each project. I am honored that I was appointed as Artistic Director of the contest and had the possibility to conceive the first edition of Prisma, with the aim of creating a network of international artists, intellectuals and professionals interested in strengthening the protection of human rights and the promotion of democracy and peace. Prisma’s purpose is to become an annual event for photography - and other forms of art- on human rights worldwide.” What are the results so far? “I would say that the results are amazing, especially if we think that Prisma was at its first edition. After the launching event, last May, with Alfredo Jaar as a special guest during the Venice Art Biennale openings, we had a huge number of noteworthy submissions, and it has been really difficult for the selection committee to decide. We selected 20 photographs among images sent by photographers, professional and amateur, from all over the world. The exhibition just ended, it was held from 11 September to 11 October at the Monastery of San Nicolò (EIUC premises) in Venice. The selected images were on show along with photographs from the powerful project “Zones of Silence” by the guest photographer Rena Effendi. Furthermore we had an outstanding jury: Rena Effendi, internationally renowned Azerbaijani photographer; Isabelle Gattiker, General and Programme Director of the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva; Almir Koldzic, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Counterpoints Arts, organization comprising creative arts and cultural projects exploring refugee and migrant experiences; Azu Nwagbogu , Director of the Lagos Photo Festival and of the African Artists’ Foundation; and Alberto Prina, photojournalist and Founder of the Gruppo Fotografico Progetto Immagine and of the Festival of Ethical Photography. The theme of this first edition
ph.: Max Bastard - A Peasants Struggle
PHOTOGRAPHY CONTESTS
was “Freedom”. The value of Freedom is at the very base of the concept of human rights: freedom from oppression, freedom of speech and belief, freedom from fear, freedom of thought, freedom of opinion and freedom of movement. The winner of Prisma 2015 is Max Bastard, who, according to jury, best illustrated the relevance of Freedom with his wonderful photograph “A peasants Struggle”. This image forms part of an ongoing larger body of work which narrates, through photography, the AmaPondo people’s decades old struggle in South Africa to maintain custodianship over their heritage and land, and to be free to choose their own destiny. An Honorable Mention was given to the touching autobiographical photograph “Love Notes on Toothbrushes” by Ivan Kovalev. Few words of love and support, scratched on toothbrushes, that Ivan
secretly managed to send to his wife while both were prisoners of conscience in the 80s in the USSR.” Considering your experience, probably you have developed your own views of what are the most common mistakes or the most effective ways in choosing right photos for a contest. Do you have any advice for photographers who want to join the next editions of Prisma? “This is not an easy question. We selected the most powerful images on the basis of subject, originality, artistic merit and style. One important aspect is that each photographer can participate to the contest with just one image. Therefore, the image submitted should be powerful and communicate the message and the story behind it.” www.prismaphotocontest.com IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 7
PHOTOGRAPHY PRINTERS
t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Back in the Darkroom
ph.: Massimo Matera
SelfPortrait, 1985
ph.: Fabio Campo
Interview with Giulio Limongelli, photographer, printer and inventor of a new technique to print digital files in the darkroom.
“I deal with Photography since 1985. I started in a workshop, my training is therefore Artisan and I care a lot to specify it. Photography has always been an Artisan practice, from shooting to printing in Darkroom: it all began as apprenticeship, with the title of “boy”, just to become later a master in the exercise of this occupation. My experience ranges from commissioned photography to photography based on my personal projects: I use to show mine in exhibitions each year. I showed my works in cities like Bologna, Rome, Florence, Milan, Padua, Novafeltria, London. Obviously I personally print all my works in the darkroom. I public also in trade magazines with articles and my photographs. Moreover in my lab I do Photographic Prints, with the conventional printing process that involves exposure to light and chemical development: I print everything in the darkroom, either films and digital files. I give to other photographers my printing service both in Italy and abroad.” 8 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
How do you call your printing technique? “I print digital files in the darkroom using a self-made digital magnifier that I called “Digingranditore”. It is a printing by straight projection through a lens, the most classic of all systems. My technique is simply called “print from digital with genuine silver gelatine paper in the Darkroom”. Before digital cameras it was called simply photografic printing, today I realize many people struggle looking for a definition to identify the printing and underline some differences between darkroom printing and the one from photographically unconventional printing systems (such as inkjet, carbon pigments or sublimation printings): we see this event where on a side traditional printing misses the simplicity of the usual word itself while on the other side the unconventional printing is looking for an ennobling by mean of terms like “fine art printing” as it was the only detainer of the word itself. More clarity is needed to identify once and for all the two printing ways. I think photographic printing is only the one
PHOTOGRAPHY PRINTERS
What is the main difference between yours and lambda printing, another hybrid printing? “Lambda technology does not involve any lens projection: it is still a light exposed and chemically developed paper but exposition actually does not happen by using a magnifier, instead it happens using a totally digital technology device: this way the image is “printed” on paper using a laser in three RGB steps. It is therefore not a print in which you can intervene in various areas in the traditional way for exhibiting areas than need different exposures . Also in the majority of the few laboratories that possess lambda technology use the process of printing on colored paper so they do not produce prints on true black and white paper . The lambda is the best way to obtain color photographic prints . Instead it takes a true digital magnifier for black and white printings.” What kind of paper do you use? “Using my Digingranditore in the darkroom it is possible to use once again all the papers we used: from common 190gr/m2 Rc (that is a syntetic “resin coated” paper) to 255gr/m2 ending with fine FB baryta papers (fiber based papers) and even Warmtone and Cooltone. I use Ilford products: my laboratory is accounted to them and it can be found on the site www.ilford-foto.it ” If you want to say it, how much is your service? “My b/w darkroom printing prices are not so different from high quality paper (like Hahnemühle) inkjet prints . As the size is the same, prices can vary within a few euros depending on the kind of paper required. For example a 20x30 print will cost from 15,00€ to 18,00€ while 30x40 from 25,00€ to 30,00€. I often use to make some quantity discount.” Who is your printing service for? “My customers are different, from the amateur to the professional photographer, even historical archives. Thanks to the Web I can serve anyone in Italy and abroad: I get the files to be printed via mail through a file sharing service, then I send the printings everywhere www.studiofineart.it around the world.” ph.: Giulio Limongelli
that foresees a light exposition and a chemical bath development inside the darkroom, possibly without making the name more complicated by adding “silvers salts” and other words which add nothing but more confusion. Photographically unconventional printings should be classified as common printings or digigraphies and not as photos because those haven’t been exposed to light during printing process.” How did this idea born and how did you refine it? “I always have been involved in printing, from black and white to colors. As digital technology arrived nothing changed about professional color printing: the only difference is the source which has changed from analog film to digital file but the printing process still stays the one involving a printer exposing the paper and a Ra4 chemical developer.As for the chemical black and white printing things got more complicated: no new digital magnifiers have been produced to print digital files in the darkroom except for some cases (like De Vere 504s for a short time). There begun my research to get real photo prints in black and white from digital files in the darkroom. Based on all my experiences and prior knowledge I worked on a project of my own personal digital magnifier that was designed to print digital files via direct projection on paper as done with normal films. There are other ways to obtain black and white prints from a digital file such as to create an internegative with a printer to be printed subsequently by contact in the desired size, or create a true negative from a reproduction of a inkjet printing, or through the use of a film recorder comminicating with a PC. What I’ve worked on is to bypass these systems that require intermediate steps to print directly without anything in the middle and with the same technique that is used to print from a negative with “masking” and “ burns “ during exposure to finish with the treatment of development and fixing in the basin. It is in practice of an intervention of digital artisanship in which the artisan component is still prevalent on the digital one.”
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ARTIST DIARY
ph.-t: Mitar Terzic
Photography as a mirror Born in Montenegro in 1959, Mitar Terzic is a dentist and Professor of University of Belgrade. Since 1996 he lives in Spain. Self taught photographer, he started his artist career with “Tales from Lemuria”, published in 2014 and shown in 2015 in two solo exhibitions. He’s now working on two new projects for this year...
www.mitarterzicphotography.com 10 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
ARTIST DIARY
Photography as a mirror of the artist. Nobody in my family was a photographer, or artist. Curiously, from my early days art was something, which attracted me, maybe because of the mystery, imagination and alternative realities often present in artwork. I got my first camera at the age of twelve. It was a modest Soviet made Smena 8, today a Lomography bestseller. In school we had a darkroom and that’s where I discovered the magic of photography, a way to show others how you see things around us. Although my life took a different course leading me to a PhD in dentistry, my love of photography never waned. To this days I have never switched from analog photography and I still use exclusively medium format film cameras. My interest in fine art photography come about
some 5-6 years ago, which coincided with me having more free time and conveniently, the affordability of some of my desired analog cameras. I have always thought of photography as a mirror of the artist. My photography is based on imagination. I have always liked to dream and for me that is the perfect vehicle to show that world to other people. I want to be a creator. In my approach to photography I don’t want to be just an observer or witness, I want to be a creator, making my own stories and characters. In my work-out I do not chase after stories, famous people or cutting edge news, nor do I look for exotic settings or distant countries, as practically all my photos are taken in my city, with my family or friends as models… IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 11
ARTIST DIARY
ph.-t: Michael Taylor
ph.: Yan Callum Taylor
A crash for light “My name is Michael Taylor, a 52-year old full time photographer based in Belfast (UK). Born near the beautiful North Coast of Ireland, as a child I loved light. My initial explorations in photography were using film in ‘box’ cameras. In 1978 at 15 years old, my parents bought me a Praktica camera: I shot a roll of 35mm film and was hooked for life! A 16 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
few years later I made a small darkroom in the loft of my parents’ home and loved watching the magic of black-and-white images emerge before my eyes. This experience will never leave me. I still have a good darkroom. Throughout my Science degrees (to MSc) I photographed mainly abstract images during the Summer. I left a career in science and attended Art College to MA level then immediately started my professional practice in 1992. Photography was thus always part of my life and will always be of primary importance.” www.michaeltaylorphoto.com
ARTIST DIARY
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy: “Photography is Light Architecture.” (From: Moholy-Nagy, Laslo. “Fotografie ist Lichtgestaltung”, Bauhaus, 2/1, 1928, p.1) In 2010 I read about light and I had the simple thought: what if “light itself ” was the photographic subject? Thus avoiding definitions of work that were based purely on subjects such as landscapes, portraits, nudes, flowers… I called this project “Lumen”. Each new annual release of work investigates a particular area of light. My Ultimate Aim. My ultimate aim is that
collectors purchase limited edition large scale prints. Hopefully this income would pay living expenses and sustain the development of future work. Ideally, I would like to move back to the coast, build my own studio and focus exclusively on “Lumen”. Promotion is via editorial, several art fairs (eg ART13 and ART14 London) and some social media. My Inspiration. Primary inspiration is always drawn from nature, especially observing light. I am constantly looking at the world around me and sketching/developing ideas. Influences IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 17
ARTIST DIARY
ph.-t: Tom Gore
The new nude is such exciting territory
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ARTIST DIARY
“At heart I’m a surrealist at the intersection of Freud’s dreams and de Chirico’s dreamscapes, of Becket’s absurdist drama and Delvaux’s erotic fantasies. At present I’m working on three projects, “Art History Portraits” - studio portraits fused in backgrounds from the past; “Singular Improbabilities” - juxtaposed figures from the studio in backgrounds shot all over and “On the Rocks”, the series from which two of these pictures come. I worked as a photographer specializing in fashion and architecture and then taught photography for many years at the University of Victoria, Canada, while working on projects of my own, including street photography and the nude, both on location and in my studio in Victoria’s historic Chinatown. I search for locations and Italy, France, Spain and Turkey have been wonderful sources. I’ve received many awards over the years including the Trierenberg Gold Medal and the Photo Society of America’s critical writing award and my work has been widely exhibited and published.” www.tomgore.ca 24 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
What I learned The paintings of the Renaissance and pictures by the Dadaists and Surrealists were my first visual nursery school. Then I discovered photography and images that extended the possibilities of traditional photography and these became another huge influence on my work. Work by Oscar Gustave Rejlander, William Mortensen, John Heartfield and more recently Jerry Uelsmann taught me so much about how to break the bounds of straight photography. At the same time paintings by Pieter Bruegel and Piero della Francesca taught me about effective picture space while Sandro Botticelli and Peter Paul Rubens taught me about pose. Portraits The two portraits are from earlier film based work, both shot with a Hasselblad, one from play in the studio and the other to illustrate a magazine article about hypnosis. The latter was built from three negatives mounted together in the enlarger. My postproduction I live in Photoshop CS6 aided by plugins including the Nik Collection, the Perfect Suite and Filter Forge and work on a 27” iMac with as much RAM as I could cram into it. I shoot with a Nikon D800e with a variety of lenses and use Elinchrom strobes in the studio. The pictures in the “Love on the Rocks” series have both their contrast and structure somewhat exaggerated using Nik Color Efex and they were then converted to black and white in Nik Silver Efex. Finding models Finding models is always difficult. Often the best have been friends of friends, but some I’ve found using Model Mayhem and some through local model groups on Facebook. Three women have so far been part of “On the Rocks” and I’m so grateful for the energy and grace each has brought to the work. One of the wonderful aspects of working with models is the collaborative nature of the shoot. A model will often make a gesture or develop a pose that wouldn’t have occurred to me and watching that evolve is very exciting.
ARTIST DIARY
ph.-t: Daniele Cascone
Neurotic moments Daniele Cascone (Ragusa, 1977) began his artistic career in 2001, as become interested with the new possibilities of digital art. He enjoyed experimentation, mixing digital techniques with more traditional tools. He was also interested in photography, stop-motion and video. He founded several projects on the visual arts, including the 28 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
web magazine “Brain Twisting�. At the same time, he took part in exhibitions both in Italy and abroad and his works were included in various publications. In late 2008 he decided on photography as predominant medium for his work, for which he uses the studio sets, where he can stage the situations connoting his works. His is a constant search for a balance between creative impulse and technique to explore themes like the Man, the Existence, subconscious and symbolism. www.danielecascone.com
ARTIST DIARY
The beginning of my work was not in photography, rather it was digital art: for a long time I’ve been producing my works using different techniques, focusing mostly on digital developing. Photography came really slowly to me: first as simple leisure activity and, later, as a predominant means to develop my artistic research. The themes I face in my work can be defined “existentialist”. My references are many and different: literature, cinema, psychology, symbolism, classical and contemporary art. My working method is a
mixture of planning and instinct. I put a great deal of effort into preparation: I spend months drafting the sketches, preparing the set, recruiting the right people and items, but at the same time, during the shooting I like to improvise and pursue new ideas that emerge in the very moment. I use a full frame DSLR, with focal lengths ranging generally from 35 to 50 mm. I prefer to set up different sets in my studio, which is equipped with a pose room perfectly fitting my needs. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 29
ARTIST DIARY
ph.-t: Alyz Tale
SelfPortrait
Walking around with my camera
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Alyz Tale (real name Sophie Roger) was born in 1976 in the South of France. In 1999, when she got her diploma after five years of International Trade studies, she decided to finally follow the path she really wanted to: Art. In 2000 she went for a career in cultural journalism and became the editor of Elegy magazine, a culture and music magazine, which allowed her to evolve within the world of art, interviewing artists of all kinds during 10 years. In 2006, as her passion for art in general and photography in particular was still growing,
ARTIST DIARY
“I see nobody on the road,’ said Alice. “I only wish I had such eyes,’ the King remarked in a fretful tone. “To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance, too! Why, it’s as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!’” Lewis Carroll, “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There” she finally picked up a camera to take her own pictures, starting to create the dreamy and strange universe that now characterizes her work. Meanwhile, as she felt the need to learn as much as she could about photography and lighting techniques, she worked as an assistant for various photographers, mainly in the fields of fashion and still life photography. Since 2010, she has been working as a professional photographer in Paris. Of course, she also keeps on developing her own universe, always looking for emotions and
strangeness, chasing the little cracks that will let her go under the surface.
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ARTIST DIARY
ph.-t: Paolo Vergnano
Photography like a novel
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ARTIST DIARY
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ARTIST DIARY
ph.-t: Mairi-Luise Tabbakh
The raw essence of woman Born in Croydon to a Scottish Mother and Arabic Father, MairiLuise Tabbakh wants to keep the rest of her story as a “mystery” lol .
www.mairi-luise.com 50 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
I’ve always been interested in art, exploring various forms painting, drawing at school and college. But it wasn’t until just before I started an art degree at Edinburgh College of Art (from which I subsequently left early) that I really got into Photography. My father had a keen interest in the medium at one point owning a Leica, Rolliflex and Olympus. The Olympus was still kicking around so I took hold of that and started shooting. Initially boxers, musicians, I favoured documentary, candid portrait.
ARTIST DIARY
This led onto fashion style shots which led to girls, nude, erotica… My equipment is now much wider 6x7 Mamiya Rangefinder, Nikon D800, Polaroid 110a land, Polaroid 600 and of course the 35mm Olympus OM2… And I found a place to capture beauty. From models to friends, family, whoever crosses my path in life. Inspiration for me usually comes first from the person who I’m going to photograph, so the model is already inspiring, whoever that may be, professional model, friend, lover, family.
Inspiration… Films are hugely inspiring for me, too many to mention! Literature, and of course other Photographers. Favourites are Bruce Weber, Nan Goldin, Helmut Newton and Terry Richardson. I love Bruce Weber’s style, he’s always shooting something new and it’s still as luscious as the old fashion stories/portraits he did. I love those of River Phoenix and Matt Dillon. I saw an amazing show years ago at the National Portrait Gallery, “Branded youth and other stories”, just beautiful. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 51
ARTIST DIARY
ph.-t: Mirial
SelfPortrait
To look beyond the visible Born in 1989, Mirial, whose full name is Anthony Mirial, is a self-taught photographer. He lives and works in Nice, South of France and in Paris. Mirial uses the human body as a witness but especially as a paper sheet, reflecting his first passion: drawing. He spreads his fears, desires and ideas… Those naked bodies are “collected” and, according to his inspirations,
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offer them a message to deliver. This is the birth of a new art work. His approach is very personal, searching constantly to impose his own techniques: underground photography, use of neon light, rejected by photographers. He is dedicated to the message, emotion and aesthetic. The purpose of his work is not limited to its graphics. It opens a door to a universe full of imagination, a mirage picturing reminiscence of a forgotten dream. His photos sublimate what disturbs. www.mirial.fr
ARTIST DIARY
When I was young, I draw a lot but wasn’t very good at it, and I think that’s why my art is pictorial. At first I wanted to be an illustrator, using my pencils... But finally I’m happy, I’m not that far from my target! My last creations looks more like paintings than photography. I discover photography at college, with a friend we used to go by night taking pictures in the university’s parking... Since that time, I’ve never left that parking and I work only with a neon. The naked bodies takes the light and everything else stays into darkness... They are no added
lights. Never. I take pictures by hand, I don’t use a tripod, and I have just one zoom lens, a 50mm, it’s a raw process... Neon. The neon’s lighting inspired me because it refers to Caravaggio, the great Master of chiaroscuro, low-key painting and religious scenes. The fist person who noticed me was an Art History Professor who was also a priest. Funny coincidence! My mum is an antique dealer and I think I’ve learned history of Art in the attics... Today it’s my profession but it’s my first passion IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 63
ARTIST DIARY
ph.-t: Alessandro Visconti
SelfPortrait
Fictional Dramas “Born in Florence, Italy, I started doing professional photojournalism while I was living in New York City, from 2006 to 2010. The sheer spectacle of New York’s bustling urban landscape was so amazing to me that I tried my best to squeeze out every drop of the delightful liveliness of the city through my photographs. I portrayed the old amusement operators of old Coney Island, the shoemakers and fish vendors of Chinatown, and the bootleg vendors of Harlem. Slowly, I developed my own photographic approach to this magnificent American city. I started portraying New York’s urban landscape as a theatrical stage where different architectures and historical layers accumulate and overlap. A trafficcongested city cluttered with people, cars, posters, billboards, grungy facades and rusty water towers. A city whose grittiness is at times overwhelming, and yet profoundly human. During those years, I studied photography at the International Center
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of Photography (ICP) and became a contributing photographer for Getty Images. When I moved back to Europe, I turned inward. Nowhere in Europe I could find the magical, movie-like atmosphere of American cities. Hence I decided, probably unconsciously, to use the photographic medium to create my own fictional theatres of wonders - in studio, or in carefully selected locations - and to become the director of my own photo stories. This is how my fictional dramas came to light. Since 2010, I have focused on my fictional portraits inspired by the cinematography of the past, especially the masterworks of Italian Neorealism (Pasolini, Visconti and Rossellini), and of the Film Noir. I currently work as an academic and writer, and I do photography for passion between Milan, Berlin (the city where I moved as a young student in 1999), and the US. Through Getty Images, my more commercial photographs have been published all over the world.” www.alessandro-visconti.com
ARTIST DIARY
Cinematic Photostories. The primary inspiration for my photography comes from the movies. I have been interested in the world of cinema since a young age. I always loved the idea of portraying characters in action, and of capturing the intensity of moments that do not actually exist other than in my own imagination. I always loved neo-romantic tales of drama and mystery, therefore I love to deconstructs the iconography of memorable movie masterpieces, from Visconti’s neorealism to Fritz Lang’s noir, and reassemble them to create my own, evocative narratives. I love to take the viewer into a fictional world that is seething with cultural and historical references. From the world of cinema I have borrowed my passion for elaborate stage sets, dramatic narratives and expressive characters. In my photo stories, I try to convey emotionally charged images that look like as if they were stills taken out of a movie. Each photo story is made of around 30-40 uniquely composed images. Each of these “movie stills”, despite being part of a larger narrative, can be viewed as a work of art in its own right. Each still condenses the experience of a long and
complex creative process, in which the stage set, the composition, the lightning, the mood, the costumes and the human figure all interact with each other to deliver the story I want to tell. My characters. My characters are first and foremost human beings, and as such they are the expressive means that give depth to my stories. I try to reveal their authenticity by scraping away every unnatural pose, every affected movement, leaving them the sheer freedom to express their narrative power. This is why the protagonists of my photographs are never professional models, but ordinary men and women. More notably, they are characterized by an unbridled sensuality and a voluptuous romanticism - probably an unconscious statement I make against today’s fashion photography’s tendency to propagate images of desexualized and dehumanized male and female bodies. My style. My photographic style could be called “cinematic”. Although this isn’t an officially recognized photographic genre, it is a creative approach that I share with contemporary IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 67
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ARTIST DIARY
ph.- t: Giulia Bersani
Photography can be precious.
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ARTIST DIARY
ph.-t: Claudio Parentela
Creativity Chaos “I’m an illustrator, painter, photographer, mail artist, cartoonist, collagist, journalist free lance... in the international underground scene. During the 1999 he was guest of the Break 21 Festival in Ljubliana, Slovenja). My obscure and crazy artworks have been exhibited in many art galleries in the endless web and in the real world too...” http://www.claudioparentela.net http://claudioparentel.altervista.org 86 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
ARTIST DIARY
My love for photography is as old as I am - a logical and natural development of being in the artistic world. I drew and painted only in black and white for 15 years with gallons of black Indian ink. Collage and color have been a logical consequence and necessity as well as the perfect way to experiment with everything that falls under my attention. I’ve always used photographs for my collages, and I’ve always photographed my collages. All my photos are collages, and all my collages are photos. Being one single wide photo-collage, they continually
exchange roles with each other and continually mingle with each other, and seek each other continuously without ever finishing their run after each other. I try to transform my lens into a tiny and gigantic blender with an extreme wide visual, able to catch all my thoughts and my emotions continually and tirelessly. My art is frantic - anarchic - rebellious - shamanic, a swirling trip inside me and myself and in my emotions and in my world. I love experienced emotions, the absolute and stunning contrasts, the black and white and the 10,000 shades of IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 87
This work is made using an old printing technique, Cyanotype, mixed with hand-painted areas of Rooibos tea in the drying process. Model: Kristina Labunskaite
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Mixed media. Drawing with a photograph as a starting point and later mixed in Photoshop. Model: May Lisbeth Myrvang
ARTIST DIARY
Moving into the unknown
ph.- t: Ragne Kristine Sigmond
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PUBLICATIONS
ph.- t: Rene de Haan
FROM MAGAZINES TO HIS OWN BOOK…
THE EVOLUTION OF PROFESSIONAL MARKET THROUGH THE EXPERIENCE OF A SELF TAUGHT NUDES PHOTOGRAPHER. Rene de Haan is a self-taught photographer who is working freelance since 1989. Starting off in architecturep h o t o g r a p h y, he coincidently enrolled into the Dutch filmindustry for which he began making publicity stills. Until now Rene has made stills for some 40 Dutch shorts and feature films. From 1999-2013 he shot glamour and 100 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
nude pictures for the Dutch edition of Playboy Magazine, and ever since he shot more and more nudes. He has published in several magazines in Holland and abroad, among which many foreign editions of Playboy, and contributed pictures to quite a few photobooks. In November 2013 he released his first own (152 page) photobook, “Mooi”, which can be ordered via his website. Rene also makes portraits for (a.o.) actors, casting agencies and does model tests. His portraits were published in Dutch magazines like Viva, Panorama, Qui Vive, JFK, Avanta and Elegance. In 1995 Rene won a Kodak Camera D’Or Award for his portrait of actress Amanda Ooms.
PUBLICATIONS
I started in photography by borrowing a camera from a friend, in 1981. I was immediately enchanted by it, mainly focusing on things I found on the streets, mostly colors and shapes, architectural things. I was studying Dutch language at that time, a study I did not finish by the way. After that I did a study to become a librarian, finished that, but never worked in a library. I did not study any photography, did not even do any course. So I’m completely self-
taught, learned it from books, but mostly: from making a lot of pictures, and learning from your mistakes. I got to know some photographers, had some (very) small exhibitions. Did some practice with an advertising and fashion photographer. I started working freelance myself in 1988. First I tried in architecture photography, but that turned out to be too technical for me. And then I got the chance to work as a still-photographer on a Dutch movie. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 101
PUBLICATIONS
ph.: Bryan Adams, Courtesy of the artist and of Zoo Magazine - t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams is best known for his achievements in the music industry, having built his name as one of the most successful contemporary rock singers, writers and producers in the world. However this time around the public will uncover the parallel career he has built in another artistic practice, photography. His work as a fashion photographer has equally received international acknowledgement and has been featured in various magazines such as L’Uomo Vogue, Interview Magazine, I-D Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar and German, British and Spanish Vogue as well as in advertising campaigns for many of the worlds leading fashion brands. His works have been displayed in exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Haus Der Kunst in Munich. He mixes traditional staged studio portraits with highly intimate and unconventional shots, revealing the vulnerabilities of numerous iconic figures within the entertainment industry. He has photographed a huge array of subjects 106 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
PUBLICATIONS
ranging from Mickey Rourke to Her Majesty The Queen. Bryan Adams is also the copublisher of Zoo Magazine, a magazine for photography, which he founded in Berlin in 2004 and still continues today. In 2012, Bryan Adams was presented with the Lead Award for fashion history of the year for his portraits of the artist Hon Daphne Guiness and in the same year he released his first book of photos, a comprehensive retrospective entitled Exposed. His second book, Wounded - The Legacy of War, was released in the autumn of 2013, featuring images of injured service men and women. He is currently working on his next book of abstract images, Untitled, to be published by Steidl later this year. A great singing career… and then a decision that took everyone by surprise: in addition to your singer profession, you became a photographer. What prompted you to take seriously this passion? “I’ve always enjoyed
working with photographs and also working with other photographers. Eventually I started doing my own album covers in the 90’s and that led to doing photographs for friends, which led to my doing photos for magazines.” When did your passion for photography start? “When I was in my teens. My first cameras were a little Agfamatic 2000, then a Canon AE1, then a Polaroid and then finally a Rolleiflex.” Are you self-taught or did you attend any course? “Self-taught.” I think that posing for some of the most important photographers and magazines did help; which photographer impressed you the most in terms of approach and result? “Initially it would have been the photographers hired to work on photos for my covers. I was always impressed by the amount of thought that would go into creating images, either with lighting or with styling. However I was most impressed with Hiro who did the cover of Reckless.” Since you became a photographer, have you IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 107
PUBLICATIONS
ph.: Nenad Saljic - t: Emanuele Cucuzza
THE MATTERHORN PROJECT
ph.: Tajana Saljic
“...A HOMAGE TO ALL THOSE WHO DARE TO REACH HIGHER”
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Nenad Saljic, born 1961 in Croatia, is a photographic artist. After obtaining a PhD in Economics and spending 18 years in the world of business, he
decided to dedicate himself to his art projects. Trained as a mountaineer and caver in his youth, Saljic is inspired by his love of nature’s most ancient textures, forms and shapes. His black-and-white photography is a testament to his ability to capture nature’s essence, whether it’s award-winning portraits of the Matterhorn, or the awe-inspiring depths of the Dalmatian caves, revealing earth’s geological history. His current projects include four artist books:
PUBLICATIONS
“Matterhorn: Portrait of a Mountain”, “Petrified”, which will showcase his explorations of the Dalmatian caves, “Birth of a Ship”, a photographic journal recording the reproduction of a traditional wooden boat, and “Naked Mountains”. His work has received numerous major awards, it is exhibited internationally and is also included in various international collections. The Matterhorn project brought him the 2012 and 2010 National Geographic Award and he
was named Professional Landscape Photographer of the Year at the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards, among others. Recognised for his aesthetic, Saljic’s Matterhorn photograph was the choice of Louis Vuitton Men’s Fall/Winter 2013/14 Collection. Saljic currently lives and works in Split, Croatia.
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BEYOND PHOTOGRAPHY
ph.: Jim Kazanjian - t: Emanuele Cucuzza - Special Thanks to: fotofever - www.fotofeverartfair.com
Jim Kazanjian
“WHERE THE MUNDANE INTERSECTS THE STRANGE, AND THE FAMILIAR BECOMES ALIEN...” 116 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
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Bara Prasilova ph.: Bara Prasilova - t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Creativity from Czech Republic
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Napkin, 2009 - © Hendrik Kerstens
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ph.: Hendrik Kerstens, Courtesy of the artist - t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Hendrik Kerstens “THE LAST IMAGE IS ALWAYS MY FAVORITE.” 130 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
Aluminium, 2012- © Hendrik Kerstens
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FOCUS ON Ph.: Stefano Brunesci Sophie Allen for Bambi Magazine III Styling: Raphaelle Marshall Hair/MU: Sandra Bermingham Model: Sophie @ Profile
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FOCUS ON Ph.: Stefano Brunesci Agency Test Styling, Hair/MU:A Kate Sutton Model: Ambra Gutierrez @ M+P
Ph.: Stefano Brunesci - t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Stefano Brunesci’s way
ICONIC AND STRONG WOMEN, NUDE PHOTOGRAPHY, HYPOCRITICAL APPROACH TO SEX AND NUDITY… THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE SUBJECTS FACED BY THIS INTERVIEW WITH A PHOTOGRAPHER, WHOSE OPINION EXPRESSED THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA IS GETTING EVERY DAY A WIDER AUDIENCE… IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 137
Quentin Shih - Gifts - Wuhan, NO.3 - 2012 Digital Chromogenic Print - 183 x 112cm / 72 x 44in Edition 8 + 2AP
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ph.: Quentin Shih - t: Emanuele Cucuzza
Quentin Shih
“KEEP MOVING FORWARD!” Born in Tianjin, China in 1975, Quentin Shih (a.k.a. Shi Xiaofan) is a self-taught photographer and one of the winners of the “Hasselblad Masters Awards 2009”. He began to shoot photos in college for local underground musicians and artists. After graduation, he came to Beijing to develop his career as a professional photographer/artist. From 2000 to 2002, he participated in exhibitions in China and America with his fine art photographic works and his works have been collected by American museums, such as the Danforth Museum of Art and the Worcester Art Museum. In 2009 144 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
he arrived in New York, having won a one-year fellowship from the innovative School of Visual Arts. Since then he has made New York his home, although he travels frequently to China for work. In the last decade he has embarked on several bodies of work which will be shown in the three shows mentioned. His art photography takes the form of large tableau in which he has art directed every detail. From his commercial career, he has learned to create each picture as if it were stagecraft, and indeed he says, “I’m drawn to theatricality, and I use it in my work.” Shih knows that what draws the eye is a bit of drama – something out of the ordinary, something exquisitely beautiful. In many of his photographs, there are subjects that are being looked at or observed, highlighted or put on stage in some way, and then there are observers. Two of his best known series, “Stranger in a Glass Box” (2008) and “Shanghai Dreamers” (2010) were commissioned by the famous French fashion house of Dior for the occasion of the exhibition “Dior & Contemporary Chinese Artists” that was presented for the first time in
Quentin Shih - Gifts - Wuhan, NO.8 - 2012 Digital Chromogenic Print - 183 x 112cm / 72 x 44in Edition 8 + 2AP
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INTERVIEW WITH QUENTIN SHIH, A SELF-TAUGHT PHOTOGRAPHER FROM CHINA, INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED AND AWARD WINNER. HE’LL TELL US MORE ABOUT HIS STORY, THE DIFFERENCE OF FASHION ADVERTISING LANGUAGE IN DIFFERENT CONTINENTS AND HIS NEXT PROJECTS. 2008 in the center of Ullens Contemporary Art in Beijing in 2008 and has exhibited around the world to arrive at U.S. mall South Coast Plaza, a year later. The focus of attention in these photographs are tall, statuesque women in Western haute couture, which references China’s current taste for Western luxury goods and trends. In the “Stranger” series the subjects are actually placed inside a glass box and strike runway poses; this both highlights their extraterrestrial presence against backgrounds of abandoned industries and towns, and sets a distance between them and those ordinary Chinese people – schoolgirls, factory workers, bureaucrats – staring at them. In “Shanghai Dreamers” figures are arranged in rows for a formal group portrait – they are all the same and in uniform, which suggests the conformity and regimentation of pre-reform China. With one exception. In each, again, there is one tall woman dressed in haute couture, like a goddess dropped to earth. Nowadays Quentin Shih lives and works as a photographer/artist between New York and Beijing.
Quentin Shih is represented by Art Lexïng, located in the burgeoning design community Miami Ironside, in the historical Upper Eastside neighborhood. Since its founding at the end of 2010, Art Lexïng has quickly established itself at the forefront of contemporary Chinese art through the vision and direction of Lexing Zhang. In her role as owner and director, Lexing is responsible for editing the Art Lexïng ‘s innovative gallery programming and developing partnerships with institutions galleries throughout the United States and Europe. Art Lexïng is committed to promoting museum-quality works from emerging artists, each with truly original and challenging perspectives filtered through photography, sculpture and traditional two-dimensional media. The gallery is proud to represent young artists with sophisticated, international backgrounds and diverse sources of aesthetic dialogue. The ground floor is dedicated to contemporary art. The second floor is a creative space showcasing contemporary design. (See our interview with Art Lexïng founder Lexïng Zhang, page 149). IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 145
Quentin Shih - The Stranger In the Glass Box, NO.6 - 2008 Digital Chromogenic Print 44in x 75in | 112cm x 191cm Edition 8 + 2AP
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if you know more techniques you can tell more interesting stories. American painter Edward Hopper influences me a lot about the composition, the color, especially the lightning, photographers like Gregory Crewdson, PhilipLorca di Corcia are my favorite.” What are your recurring themes and why? “In the last few years, I have been working on a project called “the Realities Imagined”, it’s about people I have met and places I have visited. The photography style is between documentary and staged photography, in this project I try to connect the photos with my old memories, I mean that I try to find the right people, places or a moment that already in my memories. So I think “memories” will be my themes or subject matter in the next a few years.” As for every photographer or artist, certain successful images are a source of pride; however, in some cases they may become a burden and a recognizable stylistic limitation which you are forced to adopt constantly because that’s what the market wants. What is your experience in that respect? “That’s a very normal phenomenon, for example, in early 2000s Radiohead was my favorite band, I pay to buy a “Radiohead” style, after several years this band had changed their music, I didn’t like this band anymore, but I totally understand that they wanted to change and to challenge 148 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
themselves, they don’t want to repeat the same music again and again. Although I don’t like their new music style, I respect the band a lot because they kept moving forward. As a photographer I think you have to keep challenging yourself, although you may lose some of your audience.” What are your upcoming projects? “I will shoot a Louis Vuitton short film for Vogue magazine.” Nice! Break a leg!
www.quentinshih.com www.artlexing.com
Quentin Shih - The Stranger In the Glass Box, NO.16 - 2008 Digital Chromogenic Print 44in x 75in | 112cm x 191cm Edition 8 + 2AP
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Art Lexïng f o u n d e r Lexïng Zhang is a gallerist and artist’s agent with a uniquely global perspective. Lexing is committed to promoting the next generation of important contemporary Chinese artists. Based in Miami, with frequent travels to Paris and Shanghai, L e x ï n g represents some of today’s most innovative talents on an international scale, working closely with galleries, museums and corporate partners to bring together the best talents on large-scale creative collaborations. A native of Xinjiang, China, Lexing grew up in an old Silk Road city and was exposed to art early on by her father, a collector of antiquities. She majored in economics at the prestigious
Fudan University in Shanghai, where she also studied Eastern and Western arts before obtaining a master’s degree in cross-cultural and international business at ESCP Europe in Paris. Lexing’s dynamic background in Strategy and finance together with her experience at French Vogue and LVMH, allows her to infuse creativity and global rhythm to the art world. In October 2010, Lexing opened her Miami gallery. She has since become an important supporter of the city’s vibrant art scene, organizing the Design District exhibition “Access to China” and serving as an executive committee member at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Leadership Circle. Representing such talents as photographer Quentin Shih and painter/multimedia artist Ye Hongxing, whose imaginative sticker collages have made a favorite of fashionable collectors including Lady Gaga and Christian Louboutin. One of Lexing’s recent discoveries is Qin Weihong, a young sculptor whose fanciful bronze works she introduced to the U.S. at Miami’s Art Asia fair—attracting the attention of The New York Times and Artinfo. She continues her efforts to provide an international platform for artists, watching them grow and finding collectors around the world from China and the United States to Latin America and beyond. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 149
FASHION IN PROGRESS shirt, Alain Figaret skirt, Tara Jarmon harness, Zana Bayne glasses, Marc Le Bihan
GEOMETRICAL Photographer: Michaël Luppi Light assistant: Oscar Dumas Digital assistant: Pierre-Etienne Huvenoit Post-production: Marco Castro Stylist: Lénaïg Le Gac Make-Up artist: Débora Emy Hair stylist: Rosalina Johnson Model: Olga O from Crystal Agency Special thx to Youcef Mabsoute for his help 152 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
FASHION IN PROGRESS
shirt, Alain Figaret skirt, COS
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Studio F1/F2
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Studio F1/F2
Rental Studio Name Flashback Studio Foundation Year 1996 Founder Zoltán Boldizsár
Flashback Rental Studio is Hungary’s leading photographic rental studio and one of the largest studio in Central-Europe, with 15 years of experience and a broad routine in the fields of production, camera and lighting system rentals, professional photographic assistance and digital assistance. It is located in the onetime hosiery factory building - today scheduled monument - and has 5 different studio spaces in two separate floors. The studio is fully equipped with devices needed for any kinds of productions. Our colleagues will give you professional assistance and help thanks to their extensive technical skills and professional experience. New areas to come Fine Art Print Sales
Rooms Studio F1/F2 140 + 130 sq m, 4 m ceiling height, studio F1 and F2 can be divided, cyclorama, greenbox, hair and makeup, kitchen, dining room, dressing room, restrooms, shower, goods lift, industrial power. Studio F3 100 sq m, 4 m ceiling height, hair and makeup, dining room, dressing room, restrooms, shower, goods lift, industrial power. Studio F4 53 sqm, 4 m ceiling height, restrooms, shower, goods lift, industrial power, hair and makeup, dressing room. Studio F5 400 sq m, 4 m ceiling height, kitchen, restrooms, shower, hair and makeup, dressing room, goods lift, industrial power. Studio Clients Flashback Rental Studio has been studio of choice for countless Hungarian and international productions: Newsweeek USA, The Rolling Stone Magazine, Saatchi & Saatchi, Mark Seliger and many more. IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 165
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Studio F4
Can cars be photographed inside the studio? No. Equipment At Flashback Rental Studio is offered a wide range of rental equipment, such as packs, flashes and light shaping tools, as well as analog and digital cameras, digital backs, lenses, and a variety of accessories. Rentees can choose from a number of equipment like Profoto’s Lighting System and Light Shapers (e.g.: Profoto Giant, ProBox, ProGlobe, Beauty Dish, softboxes, umbrellas, reflectors, ring flashes, etc.), Avanger and Manfrotto stands, or Hasselblad, Mamiya, Phase One, Canon and Apple products. Other accessories are available as well, such as still life tables, smoke machine, wind machine, engine generators, lens filters, extension rings, camera and flash triggers, white boards and flags, etc. Flashback Rental Studio has white, grey, black, and coloured paper Colorama backgrounds, as well as various draperies, solid backgrounds and walls, or different types of floorings, all of which enables its clients to create unique sets 166 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
and interiors. Throughout the years Flashback Studio has managed to acquire and keep good relations with professionals and companies in the field, making it simple to supply any other kind of equipment or service, let it be film production equipment, lighting systems or camera systems, etc. Post Production Flashback Postproduction offers a full range of services to photographers and artists including digital assistance, scanning, retouching, editing, exhibition printing and archiving. A blend of creative retouchers and technicians, with the common goal of creating exceptional visuals have been joined the company to achieve a unique level of service. Understanding the photographer’s and the client’s visions, enables us to help them in producing works of unparalleled standards. Their extensive knowledge of still life, automotive, advertising, fashion and people photography enables Flashback Post Production to be a reliable partner in finding solutions for any individual needs.
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Studio F3
Post Producer Mihรกly B. Demeczky Mihรกly Demeczky was born in 1988 in Budapest, has attended the KREA Contemporary Art School faculted Photography. He became a retoucher at Flashback Photo Studio in 2012. Since then, Mihรกly has worked as a digitech/capture assistant and a retoucher for various Hungarian and international photographers such as: Marton Perlaki, Rid Burman, Graham Shearer, Manjot Bedi, Greg Swales, Zoltan Tombor, Melanie Acevedo, Tamas Dobos, Sven Schrader, Marc de Groot, Pascal Heiduk. Meanwhile, he is pursuing personal photography projects.
Studio F3
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Studio F5
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Studio F5
Printing service Flashback Studio offers high-end large format printing service for artists, photographic professionals, photography enthusiast, graphic designers and students. Our goal is to deliver exceptional quality to our clients. To achieve this, we calibrate our devices regularly, pay attention to images one by one, and give the customer on the spot help with preparing the pictures for printing, if necessary. Flashback Studio offers a wide range of papers to let its customers find the one that is best suitable for their needs, whether it is going to hang in a home, an exhibition or a high-end art gallery. Flashback Studio can arrange mounting on various plates such as foam board, kappa or dibond.
Rooms for events Studio F5.
Printing technologies Giclée quality high-format inkjet print.
Address: 1033-H Budapest, Bogdáni út 1-3
Printing service manager Mihály B. Demeczky.
www.flashbackstudio.eu www.flashbackevent.eu
Events manager Ágoston Guitman.
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Flashback photographers Csaba Barbay
Studio F5
Photo Production Flashback Photo has more than 20 years of experience in the field of photography, with an extensive experience and insight to all areas - from the preparations and organization of the production all the way to the last steps. Flashback Rental Studio’s all equipments and every studio space is available for our colleagues to be able to fulfill any requests with the highest technical background, without compromise. Due to their different professional interests, and the their experience gained over the years in various positions our photographers’ activities cover all aspects of photography, let it be interior, still life, fashion, portrait or food photography. Clients Audi, Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Nestlè, Unilever, Leo Burnett, McCann, Ogilvy, Saatchi&Saatchi, ELLE, Wallpaper… 172 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
As one of the most sought-after Hungarian still life and interior photographers, Csaba Barbay has gained a strong reputation amongst international design magazines and publications including Marie Claire India and Elle Decor Russia. Csaba has worked with hundreds of prestigious Hungarian and international clients, including DDB, McCann Erickson and Leo Burnett, along with magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Playboy, InStyle, Elle and Elle Decor Hungary. Csaba is the cofounder and director of the leading Hungarian photo studio and equipment rental company, Flashback Studio. Using the latest digital tools, he combines international trends with classic aesthetic standards.
György Károlyi György Károlyi was born in 1988 in Budapest, attended the Budapest Services and Crafts School faculted Photography. He became an apprentice at Flashback Photo Studio in 2007 as an assistant of Csaba Barbay. Since 2009 he is a full time still-life, portrait and fashion photographer. György has been working for Hungarian and international clients such as: Glamour Hungary, Cosmopolitan Hungary, Playboy Hungary, InStyle Hungary, Men’s Health Hungary, The Room Magazine, Superior Magazine... His main personal tasks are subjective documentary and experimental imaginary. He is also a member of the Studio of Young Photographers Hungary since 2011.
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Balázs Máté Balázs Máté was born in 1988 in Budapest. His photographic attitude has a strong experimental aesthetic throughout his personal and commercial work alike. In 2014 he completed a photography MA diploma at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest. Since 2011 he is a photographer and high-end retoucher at Flashback Studio. Balázs has been working for clients such as The Room Magazine, NUBU, Elle Hungary, InStyle. His photographic projects were exhibited in The Saatchi Gallery, Ludwig Museum Budapest, Dubai Design Days, Vienna Photobook Fair and Budapest Art Market and they have been featured in magazines and blogs including; Wallpaper Magazine, IGNANT, SPBH, U+MAG, Der Grief and Waterfall Magazine.
Csaba Villányi Csaba Villányi was born in Győr in 1973. Since 1998 was working as a freelance photographer shooting for advertising agencies and various companies. In 2001 he co-founded Flashback Photo Studio which since has gained a leading role among Hungarian rental studios and in the Hungarian commercial photography scene. His clients include: Young & Rubicam, Saatchi & Saatchi, Elle Decor, Marie Clarie, Audi, Instyle, Cosmopolitan…
András Tulok Born in 1975, András Tulok followed the family path becoming a professional photographer after his grandfather, father and mother. After high school he attended the Budapest Services and Crafts School faculted Photography, as well as worked for Péter Záray as an assistant. Among with friends he founded the Flashback Photo Studio in 2001. Clients include Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Ogilvy, Young & Rubicam, Pizza Hut, KFC, Schweppes, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Elle Decor, FHM, Glamour, Marie Claire…
Studio F5
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NOVEL
t: Anita Zechender
Photos of a Soul CHAPTER 6 - Against the current
You travel against the current to stay alive. To not give the impression that you have stopped. Going against the current is when a strong wind is blowing in New York and you stay on your feet, battered by the relentless passage of time marked by the Downtown current, which echoes through your ears and through your mind. I am not tired tonight, and I have no place where I can really go, no one to meet; these streets seems so empty to me, suddenly they are so dead to one’s dreams. I put my heels on tonight, heels that you could hear clattering among these dormant yet responsive alleys. Right now, I feel emboldened to go anywhere; I have never seen New York so empty. It seems that those few souls that walk by are all wearing soft and bourgeois slippers. You do not hear them, they do not shout, they do not laugh. Or maybe they have bare feet, maybe they are not making any noise because they are going against the current. I want to hear the demented laughter coursing through the politically correct gardens of this neighbourhood, in the era of the harmonica producing its poetry. I want to capture that crazy laughter in a photograph, because it keeps me company. They flee amid the singlefamily, brownstone houses of Gramercy. Perhaps they are lost; they are looking for dissolute imperfection, the only sense that makes you feel truly free, that you are not making mistakes. You are not yielding to compromise, nor are you having to subscribe to any canon of photography. I turn and I photograph these houses. They are expensive, uniform, beautiful. I ponder if these are the colours that I would like in my life. I feel a slight attraction - growing now - I capture it to get a better look, I examine it, but still I do not feel like I fully belong. And then it seems that from behind their immaculate walls, a dirty and ragged clown appears, smiling at a world that is no longer non-conformist. It is the same clown that made me first laugh and then cry as a little girl. I am a
clown. I laugh often, and almost always. I only cry with Ethan and with my mother. With them I can be unbearable. Samuel taught me languor, the real and sweet tenderness. He improves me, and Ethan does too. When I am with him, our hearts live, as if to preserve a small piece of time that is not yet used to the ticking of a festering clock marking the moments of absurdity. There are smiles that go against the tide, and I protect and preserve while shedding a tear. In my little girl’s heart from the sanctity of my cot, with the people that I really love, when I see those memories my tears crystallise like true sentiments of revolution. New York is still part of my revolution, but here too the wind stops blowing, gradually coming to a standstill. Sometimes I wonder if you could take photos of the wind while walking against it. I consider it is as difficult as doing the same with silence. There is silence here this evening, and I await that romantic interval to colour these houses at sunset. I find that this is their revolution; silent, still, crushed by the dynamics that they wish to be immaculate, much like the people inside those houses sipping tea in their living rooms. The sun, however, does not discriminate, and when it reaches these roofs, it transforms the colour of each in turn. I get in the car and encounter the Manhattan henge, the singular network of New York streets which means that twice a year, the sunset runs parallel to the roads of Manhattan. I stop. Countless New Yorkers stop with me. We stand dumbfounded before this spectacle. For a moment, I forget about photography, with everyone around me brandishing their cameras. Then I close my eyes and decide not to. That blinding light is behind me. With my mind I capture the sun, lying supine in this corner of the world. I breath and think that I have captured what I wanted. It is twilight, and New York seems like Paradise to me. To be continued in the next page.
*Anita Zechender, a free-lance journalist, a traveler by inclination, loves to observe the world’s nuances, understand their interconnections and leave them again free to play. After she obtained a Master’s degree in fashion, she has been researching new trends and has performed advertising work for Miss Sixty e Murphy&Nye. Writing for her has always been artwork, something that needs phantasy to be intuited, courted and loved. Photography, fashion and art unveil the eternity of time to those who have the soul to understand it. She writes about travel, photography, fashion, art and design for international magazines. Inspired by Bradbury, Nabokov, Allende and Tim Burton’s films, she is taking her first steps as a writer with a story written in installments for Image in Progress. 174 IMAGEINPROGRESS.com
NOVEL
t: Anita Zechender* - ph.: Silvia Canestrale
Photos of a Soul
Edward’s time arrived quickly, steadfast and with delightful discretion. It is a time that you expect, but when it arrives, you only manage to witness it in its entirety by admiring it from afar, turning back, when you see it riding the latest wave and emerging triumphant in an immense Point Break. The trees of the New York parks are stripped of the leaves, where the calash pulled by white horses traces its European footsteps. You feel the cold from your nose down to the furthest reaches of your limbs, while your eyes crystallise before anything that proffers a breath and every last detail that delineates life. New York is too high, long, and great to witness the sole winter flowers resisting the cold, shielded by their colours. Yet now I look upon them. And New York does too. They are everything that interests me. I am the meaning of this time. The refined heartbeat of this era. I pull out my camera and capture them with my purpose, I would not have dared disturb them in any other way. They will always be alive. Their colours will never fade. And each time they will herald the memory of this time. The long overcoat that I bought in a Berlin Zweite Hand shop envelops my soft forms, as I walk slowly, offering one foot in front of the other to not lose that balance that I pretend to have. The sun is distant, icy, and almost white. I feel an inexplicable lightness of being, while I settle down on the banks of the Hudson River, letting that cold water wash away my childhood fears. It caresses them gently but never lets them go, telling me that my double line of dawn speaks of a new wonder. Here is that Goddess again that I once new, she has come to pay me a visit once more. She is no shadow, but an authentic reflection of life, dancing beneath the sky, past the frozen leaves, while the enchanted trees watch her timorously. They remind me of windswept beaches, dishevelled hair, dirty and children’s feet, and free hands that draw shadows among the sun’s rays. It envelops me with its covers, and tells me that we can proceed again through the broken
CHAPTER 7 - Edward’s Time rubble of time, far from the senseless and twisted pain, beyond the smoke of souls and minds. On the horizon I see an amphitheatre: outlined on the palm of the White Statue, the sand of the world once again tracing small footsteps that walk in decisive rebellion, like those of a child who starts to totter for the first time. Suddenly, the present reminds me of the nuances of the past, and allows me to forget the fears of tomorrow. For a moment, I recognise that sense of restless confusion. This is the taste of happiness, and now I am sure of it, I feel it beat strongly inside me, and see it reflected in Ethan’s eyes. I think that I am prepared, but suddenly discover that the road to life can take many different paths. They are unique, once in a lifetime, like two brothers shaking hands and like kites soaring above the world, they witness it from their parallel trajectories. Their perspective will never be the same, but still they complement each other, I am sure. I try to crystallise this new journey, I run after it, sharpen its diverse uniqueness and capture the moment. But I am unable to encapsulate its absolute beauty. It is impossible to render all of these contrasting and intense emotions that I feel inside. So I stop. Languor has not been my friend in recent months, but now it comes to me like an Angel of yesteryear. It whispers to me that in one photograph it can experience traits of those nuances, but that I will have to look at them to recall the intensity of the smell and the sublime greatness. I search for the new route, fearful of not catching sight of it again. Here it is, in its disarming imperfection, coming towards us, and yet so perfect. A new cry of joy awakens the souls on the island. Edward is born with a grace similar to that of an unknown prince, and with hands that resemble the brushes of an artist. Samuel gives him a flower and smiles. Once again it is morning here, and the sense of the absolute permeates us with that rare fragrance of the creatures of Autumn. To be continued in the next issue.
anita.zechender@libero.it IMAGEINPROGRESS.com 175
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Model: Andrea Jรณnรกs / Dream Media Budapest Photographer: Emanuele Cucuzza / EdiFore Earrings: Giuliana Mancinelli Bonafaccia Make-Up Artist: Rebeka Nagy Hair stylist: Bogi Gรกl Stylist: Richard Demeter Special thx to Flashback Studio
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