Young and talented photographer Femke van Veen has just started a new project. A photo series that will cover 365 days. She is 5 weeks into her project now. On her blog she will share the photos with us. A 365 photos kind of project has been done by others before, of course, but knowing the kind of photographer she is, it might be a very interesting blog to follow. Beautiful photographs guaranteed.
Inspired by the works of old Dutch Masters and the Italian Renaissance, Hendrik Kerstens‘ photography shows an interesting series of his daughter Paula. Important moments in her life were captured by the crisp sharp image-making of Hendrik Kerstens. The techniques he uses bears a great resemblance to the old Dutch masters.
By the use of photography, the new master gives us a mix of the greatness of the paintings from Johannes Vermeer and the likes, and the modern interpretation of this art form. By using classical poses and techniques combined with modern objects the photos send out an appropriation of the Dutch golden age of painting and the rising acknowledgment in art photography.
To develop an image one can use different techniques. Especially when photographing analog. And usually the end result is presented on paper. But Brazilian artist Vicente Jose de Oliveria Muniz, also known as Vik Muniz, takes a different approach. In his series “Pictures of Garbage” he uses, well its in the name, garbage.
In this series he is portraying the garbage pickers of Jardim Gramacho, a 321-acre open-air dump just outside Rio that is one of the largest landfills in Latin America. In the wonderful documentary “Waste Land” we follow him during this project. In it we see the lives of the portrayed garbage pickers. We see what it means to have a job at such a landfill. We see how proud people are for the work that they do. And Vik Muniz brings it all together in those wonderful portraits. The story, the people and the proudness. Luckily for us, Vic did also developed the portraits on paper. It makes the exposure for this project some what easier.
We all try to live by certain standards. But we all live by certain rules. One of them is gravity. Without it, things would get pretty surreal. And that surrealism is exactly what photographers Li Wei, Natsumi Hagashi and Denis Darzacq share in their works. Floating or playing with the laws of nature captured in a photograph.
Light is the most important ingredient for creating a photo. The more light the better you would think. But some artists roam the nights. With only a few light sources they record a different face of places you probably normally wouldn’t even pay attention to. Carl Wooley and Todd Hido are two examples of artists that roam the nights to record what we normally wouldn’t see. Long exposures and light sources like streetlights and beaming TVs through a window make for some pretty wonderful photos.
Look them straight in the eyes. Close Up: Portraits by Martin Schoeller. He portrays the people we all know from the wonderful world of entertainment and politics. Or is that the same thing? This project gives you a chance to study the faces of the famous ones in great detail. Both the quality and quantity brings an interesting dimension to portrait photography. It is a wonderful appropriation of the works of Bernd and Hilla Becher.
One of my favorite artists is Gregory Crewdson. This photographer knows how to capture a moment in time as if it were a movie still. The feeling of something has just happened or is about to happen resonates through every of his very large format photographs. Scenes that remind me of the paintings of Edward Hopper.
