Here is an image from Heartland, one of Texan Bryan Schutmaat’s photography sets. You know when someone just has the eye? Well, if you don’t then this is a good chance to polish up on someone who most definitely does. Displayed through one of those sites that you just can’t seem to keep yourself from clicking through.
Day-to-day Francois Visser is the kind of photographer you’ll find with his lens trained on scantily clad, elfin adolescents, such is the nature of fashion photography. But his carefully-composed portraits have a sensitivity that many newcomers lack; a substance-before-style approach that denotes a mature understanding of his medium.
This year’s open submission Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize was awarded to London-based photographer David Titlow for a photograph of his toddler son. The photograph, if you haven’t seen it, is a hazy, Vermeer-esque image of David’s hungover friends on the morning after a party, passing his new son around in the cold light of the Swedish sun. Back on UK soil, David’s work couldn’t be more different. He seems to be something of a darling of the glossies: snapping models and celebs for the likes of Vanity Fair, Esquire, Nylon and Marie Claire. His impulsive, confident shots are a far cry from his tender, voyeuristic personal work – which is why we wanted to ask him a few questions about what he does. Here he is…
The annually ubiquitous words “resort collection” evoke whiffs of Campari and orange, sunset-lit terraces in The Hamptons, a suitcase of freshly pressed, pastel daywear. That’s why we were rather surprised when New York Magazine’s fashion branch The Cut decided to commission Asger Carlsen to help show off 2015’s sartorial offerings. Asger is a Danish artist living and working in New York, and is the go-to man for distorted, nightmare-like monochromatic images that have the power to send bolts of nerves fleetingly through your teeth.
I don’t mean to show off, but I’ve met quite a few Americans, and I often ask them about the creative scene in the USA. More specifically I’m interested in whether it’s possible to elucidate any recurring themes or general characteristics in such a huge, diverse country. Most of them, bluntly but politely, say that no, no it’s not. What a ridiculous question. Get out my car. So to study American creativity is actually to study its individual outposts, and that’s where Wesley Verhoeve’s One Of Many project comes in.
Cool Hunting used to be a place of current art and design, expensive watches, exclusive booze bottles, leather mountaineering accessories and cars you will never be able to afford. Nowadays it’s a place of exotic content nestled snugly in a brand new redesign that’s pretty ahead of the game. Recently it’s been championing the work of an American photographer called Arthur Drooker, largely focusing on his series entitled Conventional Wisdom. Arthur is something of a curiosity-lover, and his wild, weird series are the visual result of him being unable to resist the pull of “Bronies,” ventriloquists, clowns, re-enactors and taxidermists.
We featured Marco Kesseler’s This Land Of Ours That Is Not Ours series last summer. The project forms a portrait of the street clashes in Kiev between government forces and the pro-European movement, documenting the tensions that led up to the riots, seemingly mundane domestic details and the broader architectural setting of the uprising.
Remember back in July 2013 I said that photographer Till Janz was making a pretty impressive name for himself in the portrait photography business? Well, not to toot my own trumpet, but look who he’s been shooting lately. A-list Hollywood filmmaker Spike Jonze, check; king of the modern art world Olafur Eliasson, check; exclusive editorials for 032c, covers for Zeit Magazin and campaigns for Nike; check, check, check. It’s also worth mentioning he only got seven minutes for all those shots of Mr. Jonze. Anyway, needless to say the boy’s done good, and it’s great to watch him progress into the big leagues. Toot toot!
If the photographs in Stephen Shames’ series Bronx Boys don’t seem to sit comfortably alongside the funny, shareable, imagined-one-day-and-shot-the next photographic projects which we are so accustomed to seeing on the internet, then that’s because they don’t. Rather, Bronx Boys is the product of 23 years spent photographing a group of people living in the Bronx, New York City, and the photographs were taken not to garner likes or shares, but to publicise the plight of one of the poorest areas in NYC.
Thomas Prior is one of those sneaky names who first crept onto our radar with a stunning series documenting a firework fight in Tultepec, Mexico, and has since reappeared at six-monthly intervals with new and ever more adventurous projects from around the world. There was February last year, for example, when he photographed the YouTube awards for Vice magazine, and then a few months later he cropped up again with this brilliant series of images taken in Greece and Turkey for Afar magazine.
Andy Sewell’s new book Something Like a Nest is an archetypal portrayal of middle class Britishness, and it’s a picturesque, sentimental and charming one at that. To our delight, he steers clear of stereotypes and tired clichés – there are no weather-worn farmers nor Wellington boots in here, no sir – and instead creates a clear and honest portrait of country life. Placing perfectly centred shots of kitchen sinks and surrounding phenomena (plants, hand-soap, Fairy Liquid) alongside images of the English countryside coated in frost and glittering in the sun and frogspawn in Kilner jars, it’s enough to make even the most steely-hearted of expats teary-eyed.
If you were to search for a photographer who defines that gorgeous hazy middle ground between sleep and wakefulness, Marcelo Gomes would without a doubt be your best bet. He has built a career on creating images imbued with the kind of indistinct beauty that makes all of his subjects look about 50% more ethereal, nailing that dreamy aesthetic where so many photographers stumble.
If you want to be a great photographer, it’s all about “integrity,” “dedication” and a “strong self belief about what you’re trying to produce,” according to a man who knows better than most: photographer, curator and founder of contemporary photographic art magazine Next Level, Sheyi Bankale.
It’s rare that old age is really celebrated, let alone portrayed in a fashion that makes it look like fun, but street photographer Michelle Groskopf’s shots of oldies captured in Larchmont, USA are a different story altogether. These guys seem to be having a blast; they’re cheeky, glamorous and charismatic. The series doesn’t just focus its lens on the over-60s of this Los Angeles suburb, there are teenagers, young mums and suited businessmen too, but the photos of the older generation are refreshingly cheerful, so here they are edited down for your enjoyment.
