Underdogs Issue 9

UNDER

DOGS photography magazine / issue_9

Colton Allen Safouane Ben Slama Lesha Berezovskiy Stanley Bloom Thomas John Mon Levchenkova Jasper Muse Dylan Pfenning Orfeas Sampatakakis

Curator/Editor/Designer: Isa Gelb punkroyaltiger.tumblr.com/ www.ickr.com/photos/isagelb/ Cover & back cover: Lesha Berezovskiy 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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One of the defining features of Underdogs is its emphasis on the photographs themselves, and the minimization of textual commentary. I have always believed photographs should be able to “speak” on their own. Attempts by the photographer, or even by third-party critics, to explain the meaning of photographs seem futile to me.

Additionally, I must admit I do not find typical interviews with photographers particularly enlightening.

It is true when I discover a new photographer whose work I admire, I want to learn as much about it as possible, and will even go “out of bounds” to learn more about the photographer's background, influences, etc.

However, I find the photographic process is considerably mechanical, and not much different for any of us—we search for images, we attempt to capture them, sometimes we are successful, sometimes not.

I could rest comfortably in those dogmas. But they are not the full story. Sometimes I come across a piece of information that causes me to revalue a photograph, or the entire work of a photographer.

For a well known example, the fact that a penetrating collection of portraits and street scenes were made by a woman who was unknown to the art world during her lifetime, and that hundreds of her exposed rolls of film lay undeveloped in a storage locker before their sale at a foreclosure auction.

I am writing of Vivian Maier, and although I would say her images do speak to me on their own, they gain value when united with what is known of her story.

Photography theorists have written much about the “index” quality of photographs. The “index” could be a described as a point of contact between the subject of the photograph and reality—the sense we have when looking at a photograph that this actually happened.

Our sense of reality should go deeper than what is only visible. When reflecting on the “index” quality of the photograph, I think it follows that in addition to the point of contact with the reality of the subject of the photograph, there is also a point of contact with the reality of the photographer as a subject.

Although this “second index” is very difficult to pin down, I think its existence is what makes photography veer from the purely visual in unexpected ways, and is what ultimately makes the idea of photography as an art, or of a photographer as an artist, make any sense at all.

JOHN KOCH www.flickr.com/photos/orphotographer/

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COLTOn ALLEn

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COLTOn ALLEn Talent, Oregon / USA

HIS CAMERAS Contax G2, Bronica ETRSI Hasselblad 500c/m Speed Graphic 4x5

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SAFOuAnE BEn SLAMA

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SAFOuAnE BEn SLAMA Paris / France

HIS CAMERAS Minolta SRT 101B and Olympus mju II

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LESHA BErEzOVSkIy

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LESHA BErEzOVSkIy Kyiv / Ukraine

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HIS CAMERAS Konica Hexar AF, Yashica T4, Ricoh R1

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STAnLEy BLOOM

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STAnLEy BLOOM Paris / France

HIS CAMERAS Fuji GSW680, Mamiya RB67 and Olympus XA2.

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THOMAS JOHn

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THOMAS JOHn Frankfurt / Germany

HIS CAMERAS Digital: Ricoh GR and Canon 550d Analog: Olympus Mju II, Contax G1

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MOn LEVCHEnkOVA

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MOn LEVCHEnkOVA London / England

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HER CAMERAS Olympus mju, Canon AV 1, Canon 5D MK II. And sometimes an Olympus XA2

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JASPEr MuSE

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JASPEr MuSE New York / USA

HIS CAMERA Nikon D700

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DyLAn PFEnnInG

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DyLAn PFEnnInG Sydney / Australia

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HIS CAMERAS Contax T2, Leica M2, Minolta 110 Zoom, Fuji x100

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OrFEAS SAMPATAkAkIS

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OrFEAS SAMPATAkAkIS Athens / Greece

HIS CAMERAS I mainly use Olympus Mju-ii, but also Nikon AF L35 and Konica Big Mini

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THAnkS TO ALL PHOTOGrAPHErS COLTON ALLEN Talent, Oregon / USA www.coltonallen.com/ www.flickr.com/photos/daiku_san

SAFOUANE BEN SLAMA Paris / France safouanebenslama.com/ safouanebenslama.tumblr.com/ www.flickr.com/photos/safouanebenslama

LESHA BEREZOVSKIY Kyiv / Ukraine brzvskiy.com www.instagram.com/lewa_kartowa/ www.flickr.com/photos/lesh79/

STANLEY BLOOM Paris / France stanleybloom.com/ www.flickr.com/photos/dasmooth www.velveteyes.net/

THOMAS JOHN Frankfurt / Germany www.flickr.com/photos/thomasjohnx thomasjohnx.tumblr.com/ www.instagram.com/artificialelation/

MON LEVCHENKOVA London / England monlev.uk www.flickr.com/photos/dressed2depress/ Instagram: mlevv

JASPER MUSE New York / USA http://www.jaspermuse.com/ Instagram: @jasperscamera

DYLAN PFENNING Sydney / Australia dylan-pf.squarespace.com www.flickr.com/photos/126365529@n07/

ORFEAS SAMPATAKAKIS Athens / Greece flashhhhhh.tumblr.com/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/orfeas_photography/

Next issue October 2016

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