photographers

claire bayrasy, ride

Photographer Claire Bayrasy’s photo series, Ride, caught my eye, because I’m so interested in the idea of photographing the minute details of your life- things that seem mundane because they are familiar to you can be so interesting to other people. Here’s the explanation for this series, via Lens Culture:

Ride is more of a visual poem than a photo documentary, where my own confusing identity as a French woman of Chinese heritage is intertwined with China’s rapidly changing cultural identity.

This series of photos was taken in Beijing over the course of one year in 2009 during my daily morning rides to work. On those mornings, I let myself slip into reverie. Enclosed in a narrow vehicle, I acted as a quiet observer. My visual curiosity turned the taxi into a portable laboratory where I got to examine and dissect the ever-changing environment which surrounded me. I saw people, they saw me, but we never met. I silently observed the chaotic ballet of cars, bikes and people. Between voyeurism and contemplation, my focus on insignificant objects and anonymous people seemed to amplify their significance.

The use of blurred photography, the shaky movements of the camera, and the intentionally low quality feel of the images recreate the chaos and confusion in which I was entrapped. This relentless photographic communication with my environment gradually brought me to meditate on the complexity of China, and ponder my own relationship to it. As a Chinese person born in France, I have a volatile identity that refuses to be either one or the other. I feel on the edge and never complete.

Check out some of my favourites below, and Lens Culture for more from this series:

52 suburbs

Australian photographer Louise Hawson has taken on a massive project, and I think it’s an amazing idea. It’s called 52 Suburbs. Here’s the description from her website:

My name is Louise. I’ve lived in Sydney for over 30 years but have never set foot in most of its 600 plus suburbs. Now I’m on a mission to explore and photograph one new Sydney suburb a week for a year in search of the beauty in the ‘burb. Care to join me?

What I really like about this project is the way she juxtaposes images together that match, and especially how she interacts with the people she is photographing. She’s not just passively walking around, she’s actually engaging with the people in the neighbourhoods she is visiting. It makes for some great photos!

Check out some of the pink series from the Randwick suburb below:

marc da cunha lopes

It was difficult to decide which photos to post from photographer Marc Da Cunha Lopes because all of his stuff is so weird and cool, but I decided on this series of this little girl, I’m not sure what it’s for but I really liked it. Check out his portfolio for more of his surreal (and somewhat disturbing) commercial work!

ktinka photography

I found Ktinka Photography through an awesome site called Cargo (more on that later), but as I was browsing through their portfolio I came across this one series called “White” and I really loved it so I wanted to share. Check out the photos below and their site for more!

nicholas alan cope

I’m usually not that into architectural photography because to me, a lot of it ends up looking like an ad for the building or the city or something, but I really liked photographer Nicolas Alan Cope’s architectural work because it was so abstract and geometric, and not overly commercial. I think this really is what architectural photography should do, make you look at the building’s lines and design. And I love the super contrast he uses to emphasize shapes and forms. Check out some of my faves below and his website for even more work:

fred muram: kissing the ceiling

I found this cool photo series by Fred Muram called Kissing The Ceiling, and I thought it was so weird and interesting I had to post about it. I’m a big fan of photos and photo series that make me ask questions and wonder more about the subject matter. Why are these people kissing the ceiling? I like how it feels like we’re getting a look into their homes and private lives… where they secretly kiss ceilings.

gregor collienne: unknown

I really liked this photo series Unknown by photographer Gregor Collienne. They are just photographs of random people on the street, there’s something really fascinating about looking at them. They aren’t doing anything out of the ordinary, but their anonymity and the randomness of who they are is what makes it interesting. Who are these people? Where are they going?

The lighting was great too, it spotlights one person and makes you look closer at them and wonder what’s so special about this one person? Why them?

staple street project by chris zedano

Chris Zedano is a portrait photographer currently based in New York City, and he’s been working on his Staple Street Project for a couple years now. I love street photography, and his work is great, so I wanted to share.

Also cool to note, the photographs from this project have been accepted into a group exhibition at AFF Berlin Gallery, part of the European Month of Photography in Berlin in November 2010.

Check out some samples below, and the Staple Street Project site for more!

simon duhamel: vintage hair

I love the vintage look and am (mildly) obsessed with creating it in my own photos, which is why I was especially interested in this photo set from photographer Simon Duhamel. He took hair photos for the 2009 graduating class of the Kazz Academy.

Here is his description of the post-processing:

They were shot on a blue background but the colors were washed out, the highlights were yellow and the skin tones were shifting on the magenta side of the spectrum due to time. So we lit and shot the pictures accordingly, all digital, and I colorized the shots, soften the skin to match our vintage shot and retouched the hair. The hair was the only element that would remain in it’s original color, for obvious reasons.

You can view all the images here.

peter kemp

I loved this photo series by photographer Peter Kemp, called Happy Loving Couple. Check it out and check out his website for more cool stuff.