Underdogs Issue 18

UNDER

DOGS photography magazine / issue_18

Benjakon Preschelle Ann Bigueras Benoît Chailleux Marco Criante Ricardo Dominguez Alcaraz Gorsad Kiev Kyle Mc Dougall Vasso Paraschi Vitalik Sheptuhin Zsófia Sivák Dana Stirling John Paul Tierney

Curator/Editor/Publisher: Isa Gelb www.punkroyaltiger.tumblr.com/ www.flickr.com/photos/isagelb/ www.instagram.com/punkroyaltiger/ www.instagram.com/underdogs_mag/ Cover & back cover: Gorsad KievguiĂŠ All images and text published in Underdogs are the sole property of the featured photographers.

NO image can be reproduced, edited, copied or distributed without the express written permission of its legal owner.

NO part of the publication may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publisher.

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When I was looking through the images of Underdogs 17 I noticed several photos of people and other creatures: some looking at the camera, some looking away, some facing away from the camera.

I wondered how these different ways of portraying people might be viewed.

Many of August Sander’s portraits in his massive ethnographic documentation project, People of the Twentieth Century, are looking straight at the viewer.

Maybe we imagine we see their soul. There is something raw about this viewpoint, something basic that stretches across time. Clearly Sander appreciated the intimacy the eye could bring to the image, in fact he produced a photo just of his daughters right eye (which is in MOMA).

For instance it seems as though the person looking at the camera and directly at the viewer is looking out into the world. It’s a stare that can bounce off so many people, going on indefinitely, it has a sense of stillness, a sense of the infinite.The direct look could also be unnerving: think of many a news photo of people in desperate scenarios, pleading to your sense of empathy as one human to another. The more casual sideways glance feels more like a momentary capture: a sense of movement and a portrayal of a moment that remains in the time of the photo.

The image where the person might look away or to the side could imply there is a relationship between the person and what is occurring outside the frame of the photo as well as in it.

This can create a greater importance to the wider context of a story, which extends beyond the viewer. Maybe here, the viewer of the photograph is of secondary importance to the narrative suggested by image.

The image of the person facing away from us almost seems to invite us to look but at the same time excludes us. After all, we are social animals and we gain so much information from seeing someone’s face. The person is part of the image but there are fewer clues as to what they maybe thinking. Maybe they have their eyes shut and we can see more than them?

Maybe they will turn around any moment? There is an unsettling, unnerving relationship with this person and the viewer, here there seems to be many unknowns, more mystery.

Andy Pye https://www.flickr.com/photos/-klik-/

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BENJAKON

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BENJAKON

Berlin / Germany

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PRESCHELLE ANN BIGUERAS

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PRESCHELLE ANN BIGUERAS

Dubai / United Arab Emirates

HER CAMERAS Olympus Mju-II, Olympus IS 3000, Fuji Instax Wide 210

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BENOÃŽT CHAILLEUX

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BENOÃŽT CHAILLEUX Nantes / France

HIS CAMERAS Olympus Mju II, Mamiya 7, Ricoh GRII and Canon 5d II 18

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MARCO CRIANTE

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MARCO CRIANTE

Macerata / Italy

HIS CAMERAS Olympus Mju II, Fuji X100T and Nikon D800

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RICARDO DOMINGUEZ ALCARAZ

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RICARDO DOMINGUEZ ALCARAZ València / Spain

HIS CAMERAS Canon 5D MKII with a 50mm or with the 24-105mm, depending of the pictures.

And a Benro tripod for more stability.

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We are the spaces we live in. My target is to show them in their complexity and thus see ourselves.

My work takes us in front of a mirror that not always returns the desired reflection, so we don’t

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like to see it. That mirror forces us to see ourselves, as human beings and as a society, as we really are.

So it is no easy to talk about this places that define us. It never was, it never will be. But the try worths it.

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GORSAD KIEV

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GORSAD KIEV Kiev / Ukraine

THEIR CAMERAS Contax G2, Yashica T5, Olympus Mju II

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KYLE MCDOUGALL

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KYLE MCDOUGALL Washago, Ontario / Canada

HIS CAMERAS Fuji GA645, Yashica FX-3 Super 2000, and Sony A7RII

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VASSO PARASCHI

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VASSO PARASCHI Athens / Greece

HER CAMERAS Olympus Mju II, Nikon L35 AF and Nikon FM 49

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VITALIK SHEPTUHIN

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VITALIK SHEPTUHIN Moscow / Russia

HIS CAMERAS Sony A7 with old manual lenses, Leica III, Sigma DP1 and DP2 55

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ZSÓFIA SIVÁK

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ZSÓFIA SIVÁK Budapest / Hungary

HER CAMERAS Nikon D610 and Nikon DF.

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DANA STIRLING

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DANA STIRLING

New York / USA

HER CAMERAS Bronica 6X4.5 and Mamiya RZ 67 66

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The Dead Sea is a salt lake with no way out. Surrounding this unique lake grew an industry of pleasure, beauty, healing and myth. People come from all over the world to experience the wonder of the Dead Sea. Kibuts Kalia is one of many small cooperative settlements, hotels and resorts, along the sea that have tried to form a haven from the desert’s abyss.

Kalia was well known for their water amusement park, the Atraktzia (attraction – word that was borrowed from English), as an oasis of sweet water in the sea of death. Many Israeli’s share memories of Atraktzia as part of their tradition of family vacations and weekends. I have never had the chance of experiencing Kalia’s Atraktzia myself, and yet I grew up knowing of a miraculous fantastic oasis in the middle of nowhere. Years after, In one of my trips down south I had my first encounter with Atraktzia. It was hot, dry and colorless, a pale refection of its past glory. The once amazing water park stood empty, abandon and waterless.

Afer doing some research it came to my knowledge that in the year 2000 the water park was shutdown due to the politic tension in the area as well as financial and legal problems.

Since then, for 19 years, it stands empty.

The stories of others , on which I based my memories , of the place I have never visited, were far from the place I could have now see for myself. And yet, I still feel nostalgic in regards to the fall of the attractions from its glory; not owning even one true memory of Atraktzia haven’t prevented me from yearning its past. As I photographed the park it became smaller, paler and lifeless. In this body of work I do not try to recreate the park, or resurrect it, but document a place that so many people had strong feeling to, as children, and try and understand that glorious period that I myself had never got to experience.

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JOHN PAUL TIERNEY

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JOHN PAUL TIERNEY

Brighton / England

HIS CAMERAS Contax G2, Leica M6, Mju II, Ricoh GR1, Nikon FE

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THANKS TO ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS BENJAKON Berlin / Germany

http://benjakon.com/ https://www.instagram.com/benjakon.xx/

PRESCHELLE ANN BIGUERAS Dubai / United Arab Emirates

https://www.instagram.com/preschelleann/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/grysky/

BENOÎT CHAILLEUX

KYLE MCDOUGALL

http://www.benoitchailleux.com/ http://benoit-chailleux.tumblr.com/ https://www.instagram.com/bchailleux/

https://www.kylemcdougallphoto.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kyle__mcdougall/

Nantes / France

MARCO CRIANTE Macerata / Italy

Ontario / Canada

VASSO PARASCHI Athens / Greece

https://www.instagram.com/herelsewhere/

https://www.instagram.com/marcocriante/

RICARDO DOMINGUEZ ALCARAZ València / Spain

https://dominguezalcaraz.com/ https://www.instagram.com/dominguezalcaraz/

GORSAD KIEV Kiev / Ukraine

http://gorsadkiev.tumblr.com/ https://www.instagram.com/grsdkyiv/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/103057033@N02/

VITALIK SHEPTUHIN Moscow / Russia

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nulllndscp/ https://www.instagram.com/sheptuhin/

ZSOFIA SIVAK Budapest / Hungary

www.sivakzsofia.com https://www.instagram.com/zsofiasivak/

DANA STIRLING New York / USA

http://www.danastirling.com/ https://www.instagram.com/dana_stirling/

JOHN PAUL TIERNEY Brighton / England

https://www.johnpaultierney.com/ https://www.instagram.com/j.p.tierney/?hl=en https://www.flickr.com/photos/154162762@N04/

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Next issue August 2019

UNDER

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