Flash & Fuse Magazine Issue #02
Curated by The Brothers Riff & Co. www.thebrothersriff.com Conway, SC
Mission Statement: Flash and Fuse is dedicated to empowering artists through publication. Each month, Flash & Fuse will showcase a handful of talented visual artists currently in an undergraduate or graduate program whose work we find inspiring, unique and innovative. Flash & Fuse aims to inspire young, creative minds to take on their craft and follow their passion. A majority of the monthly proceeds will be given directly back to the contributors to help fund their creative processes. Harnessing the power of community and crowd funding, Flash & Fuse will act as an incubator for creative visionaries and watch as they spread their wings and soar.
Melanie Costanzo Cuyahoga Community College Website: melaniecostanzophotography.com Instagram: @mel_costanzo Email: mcostanzo21@gmail.com Phone: (440) 623-3555
Literacy Comes To Life "Literacy Comes To Life originally started as an assignment for my photography class. I needed to depict a movie still-scene based off a piece of literary work. 13 Reasons Why, a book written by Jay Asher, tells the tale of a young girl’s tragic demise which results in suicide. There was a specific image (the girl in the bathtub) that needed to translate from my camera to the prints and, once my first idea was developed, an explosion of new creations followed as seen in the series. Natural light played a rather big role as well. The viewer should sense the subjects quiet pain. The light on the body and the monochromatic color and texture help the image come to life. The deep red of her quiet lips draw the eyes of the on-looker into focus, leaving the question open; 'Could she still be alive?'" - Melanie Costanzo
Sarah E. Borst Savannah College of Art and Design Website: www.sarahelizabethborst.com Instagram: @sarahelizabethborst Email: saraheborst@gmail.com Phone: (704) 995-1008
410 East Gaston "410 East Gaston shows my dear friend, Diana Rogers, within the environment of her Victorian Mansion. Fifteen years ago, Diana moved to Savannah and nested in on East Gaston Street, working as a performer at Vicks on the River and The Ol’ Pink House. I met Diana through a local health food store, where I have worked part-time for the past three years while completing my undergraduate degree. Working in the community has been an essential part of my photographic practice because it has given me the ability to instill trust in and build relationships with my subjects. Arguably, the most intriguing thing about Diana is not only her home, lovingly littered with vintage dresses, fur coats, feathered hats and perfectly curved martini glasses, but also, the stories she has shoved into her closet, nestled between fur coats and white gloves. Through a documentary series involving visits over the course of ten weeks and countless jalapeno martinis, Diana began to reveal herself to me by sharing her life story, and eventually, the current low country gossip of Savannah, in which she has become a main fixture."
Artist Statement Sarah Elizabeth Borst is a senior at Savannah College of Art and Design studying to get her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Photography. A recent finalist in the 2014 Lucie Awards, Sarah is an internationally exhibited photographer, having had work shown in Budapest, New York, Colorado and Savannah, Georgia. Finding brilliance in seemingly banal, everyday occurrences, she is intimately and obsessively drawn to situations that stimulate the documentary portrait. Sarah’s mother will tell you that she does not know a stranger. With adoration for humankind, people become characters and characters become her subjects. She thirsts to understand and relate to their condition through making their picture. Sarah believes it is the event of the Americana tradition that sparks the unveiling of the human condition. Interested in exposing the every day for how wildly exotic it actually is, Sarah seeks subjects that are strikingly honest in their vulnerability. For Sarah, photographing is an approach to process, understand and explore questions about America and the social gallery we have oh, so carefully and comfortably constructed for ourselves.
Amanda Davies Maryland Institute College of Art Website: behance.net/ajdavies Email: adavies01@mica.edu Phone: (978) 844-2992
Elements of Visual Thinking "Some people will classify taking portrait photos as the act of trying to capture the person or subject’s essence. I am trying to capture the person in that moment; who they are in the fraction of a second it takes for my finger to hit the button. No one acts the same in front of a camera as they do walking down the street. Some people think being in front of a camera is more pressure than a set of human eyes staring at you. The persona of someone in front of a camera is often not naturalistic. For me, photography is about capturing moments; holding onto that fraction of a second within a frame. When taking a portrait, you can try and capture that person’s true form or create an entirely new character. That’s the allure behind photography that I’ve grown to admire." - Amanda Davies
John Dionisio Burlington County College Instagram: @john.dionisio Email: jdionisio720@yahoo.com Phone: (856) 383-4630
The Decisive Moment "My work captures the ability to acquire the 'decisive moment' that is both spontaneous and transitory. This concept is what each and every street photographer emulates when taking pictures. We need to recognize with confidence when to click the shutter. Being able to showcase the raw characteristic of what life can offer is what drew me in to this style of photography." - John Dionisio
Cameron Hanley Maryland Institute College of Art Website: portfolios.mica.edu/cameronhanley Instagram: @cameroniiii Email: chanley@mica.edu Phone: (443) 226-2174
Order/Chaos "This series is called Order/Chaos and it was produced for my Landscape Photography class. Order can be found within the calm, quiet and almost soft nature of the clouds as they move counteracted by the chaotic need for humans to build structures that ultimately block our view from the world around, and the beauty of the sky. The photos are a way of showing the tension between humans and the Earth that we feel. The need to develop and destroy so we can accommodate the growing population is expressed in these photos. The series is also an investigation of the power of vertical images and the play between manmade structures and the sky. Vertical images can change the space that you can capture in an image, giving more room to expand vertically rather then a conventional horizontal image. Stressing the idea of negative space and what it can do to change the reading of a photograph, these photos strive to show the viewer how the eye can be tricked to put oneself in the space to have a better understanding of how the image was composed. " - Cameron Hanley - Cameron Hanley
Artist Statement My name is Cameron Hanley and I’m photographer from Baltimore, Maryland. I am currently studying Photography at the Maryland Institute College of Art and will graduate in the spring of 2017 with a BFA in Photography. I have been taking pictures for as long as I can remember, always being interested and connected to the wonders of photography, but never got serious about it until my junior year of high school. I have four years experience with digital photography, and three with 35mm film photography. The photographs I take cover a wide range of photography as a source of exploration of the physical, mental and emotional. I tend to deal with man made forms/spaces/architecture, as well as natural forms found in nature.
Zeina Zeitoun Maryland Institute College of Art Website: behance.net/ZeinaSZeitoun Email: zzeitoun@mica.edu Phone: (703) 655-5477
Artist Statement "As a growing artist, I am constantly learning more about myself and what style of photography I value. The world is a living, breathing machine. Having a Middle Eastern background, I feel compelled to bring forth issues that continue to arise in unknown parts of the world. Society today tends to turn their heads when they see evil happening, whether it's on the streets or in the news. I want people to look at my work, stare at my work, talk about my work, and remember my work because in order to make some sort of difference, the viewer must realize a difference must be made. " - Zeina Zeitoun
Mentor Artists Malik Beser Ray Ranoa Maranie Staab Joanne Jankowska
John Dionisio
Malik Beser Seminole State College of Florida (Alumni) Website: malikbeser.com Instagram: @malikbeser Email: malikbeser@me.com Phone: 90-532-565-2224
"I realized my interest in photography when I was 19. Without any knowledge of the logistics, I started to take photographs with my Minolta X-700; the only thing left from my beloved grandfather after he passed away. I started doing work for a magazine out of Orlando, Florida in 2008 and soon realized I had found my calling. Two years later I moved to New York City to accomplish my goals. I had no idea how to deal with studio set life and produce professional work. I tried to get in touch with professional photographers in New York City, but they kindly rejected me since they already had assistants and were already established. I purchased my own lighting equipment and created a studio in my own garage at home. I used to take about 1,000 photographs everyday and played with different lighting setups. My goal is to be featured in Vogue, Elle, or any other well-known fashion magazines. No one, even those close to me, thought I could do it. No one believed in me and then in 2012, one of my works was featured in Vogue. It was a lot of hard work and a huge accomplishment I admire, but I’m still working towards a bigger goal. I now work out of Istanbul where fashion is a hot topic. Photography is universal; photography is bilingual. Each photographer approaches photography in a different way. I pioneered a path for myself. I basically tried anything to see what I liked about photography. At last, I realized my passion for fashion. I love what I do here as a fashion photographer. My parting words: follow your dreams till the end. " - Malik Beser
Ray Ranoa East Sydney Design Studio (Alumni) Website: rayranoa.com Instagram: @rayranoa Email: ray@rayranoa.com Phone: 61-411-069-088
"My desire to create comes from a sense of purpose and joy. Invest time in the development of your ideas. Work with like minds, initiate projects, generate opportunities. Seek inspiration from what fulfills your desire to create." - Ray Ranoa
Maranie R. Staab Coastal Carolina Univeristy (Alumni) Website: maranierae.com Instagram: @Maranierae Email: maranie.rae@gmail.com Phone: (412) 979-6187
"My work is an observation of the world as I see and experience it with an intent to uncover and communicate stories of people and issues that are seldom covered by popular media. I consider myself a documentary, street and travel photographer. While photography has always played a role in my life, it is only within the past several years that it has become my primary and preferred way to communicate what I see, experience, feel and believe. Images are a universal language and as such it is my hope that by sharing my work I can do my part in increasing an awareness of people, issues and places. Everyone approaches photography differently; I offer these comments as simply my approach and thoughts on the subject. Whether at home in Pittsburgh or in a foreign country I am drawn, more than anything, to the people. As someone more famous than I once said, "human moments� triumph all; to that end, I strive to pull the humanity out of any situation. Photography is largely about relationships, about doing your homework, about respecting the people and the place and to being able to make a person comfortable enough that they are willing to open up their life to you. I do my best to always keep in mind that I am privileged to be where I am and fortunate to have access to that situation; everyone has a story and if you show respect and genuine interest they are often responsive. ...
Too much can be glossed over and unappreciated when speeding around in a vehicle. I have found that some of the most compelling scenes and people have been found in the least expected streets and alleys. Explore, wander, and don’t let your curiosity fade. I believe in intuition and investing time in people and situations. Persistence and hard work pay off. My biggest advice is that if you love photography for what it is to continue pursuing it with all that you have. Reach out to those who know more than you. Be open to seek critical feedback and take the type of images that make you feel alive. Whatever direction you choose to go, I encourage you all to cling to a passion for the work, a love of the journey and remain relentless, with camera in hand. These images are a collection of some of the people that I have been fortunate to encounter and meet over the past few years. If interested in talking photography or life don’t hesitate to contact me. - Maranie Staab
Joanna Jankowska The University of Lower Silesia (Alumni) Website: invisiblemartyr.tk Instagram: @invisiblemartyr Email: the.invisible.martyr@gmail.com
"I am unapologetically in love with art. My journey with photography began over 8 years ago, and in the last 4 years I have realized that taking pictures gives me a lot of satisfaction and freedom. In 2011 I graduated from The University of Lower Silesia with a degree in Journalism and Social Communication, defending the diplomatic ideology of 'Gothic trend in modern versions of creative photography'. In 2014 I completed a Masters degree of Photography in multimedia. I want my work to mirror emotion and show my inspiration of various media. My work focuses on the darker aspects of human life; the topics most are too afraid to touch on. I value looking into the deeper parts of a persons soul. I try to capture human emotion as a tangible thing; that’s what interests me the most. I'm willing to work with anyone who likes my art and my style. I am always available for commercial work upon request." - Joanna Jankowski
Who's Next? Submit your work for a chance to be featured in the next issue of Flash & Fuse Magazine: www.thebrothersriff.com/submissions
Curated By - The Brothers Riff & Co. Founder/Creative Director - Daniel Riff Head of Design - Drew Smith Written Content Editor - Eden Halevy Head of Marketing - Jacob Riff Maryland Institute College of Art: Director of Recruiting - Cameron Hanley Assistant Director of Recruiting - Amanda Davies Publishing - MagCloud.com Digital Publishing - ISSUU.com Special thanks to this issues Mentor Artists: Joanna Jankowska Maranie Staab Malik Beser Ray Ranoa
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Flash & Fuse Magazine Issue #02