Archives
volume 26 (7.2010-8.2010)
Más Világ
(Other World)
Judit M. Horvath and Gyorgy Stalter have documented the lives of Hungarian Roma gypsies for more than 15 years. Their photos are filled with joy, tenderness and love — and argue against prejudice and stereotypes.
Wasted Expressions
Charlie Ferguson sees the scrapes, scratches, rust and peeling paint on trash dumpsters as random artistic abstractions.
Dream about Motherland
Using an inexpensive old camera, Tamas Paczai captures a romantic view of the last generation of traditional rural life in Romania.
Allen Ginsberg Photo Album
Poet, mystic, and spokesman for the Beat generation, Allen Ginsberg also photographed his friends and lovers over the years. He made albums of these photos, with elaborate hand-written captions.
Sweden's New Photography Museum
Fotografiska, a beautiful and impressive new photography museum, opened in May on the waterfront in Stockholm. Premier exhibitions included stellar shows by Annie Leibowitz, Joel-Peter Witkin, Vee Speers, and Lennart Nilsson.
Marcin and Gienik
Two aging men, down on their luck, live happily together in Warsaw, salvaging junk. Andrzej Mitura creates an intimate portrait of their day-to-day lives.
Tony Ray-Jones
Photographer Tony Ray-Jones,who died in 1972 at the early age of 31, exerted an enormous influence on the development of British documentary art photography that continues to be reflected in the work of Martin Parr and many others. A retrospective of his work was a highlight during the Month of Photography in Krakow, Poland.
Women of Vrindavan
Massimiliano Clausi reports on the harsh lives of 20,000 widows in the holy city of Vrindavan, India.
VII: The Magazine
Readers of Lens Culture now have access to exclusive multimedia reports from inside the world of photojournalism.
Often disturbing, always insightful.
Shipbreaking
Shipbreaking is a controversial industry. The recycling of these old vessels is often consigned to scrapyards in India, Bangladesh, or Pakistan, where salary, health, safety and working standards are minimal, and workers are desperate for work. Pierre Torset reports.
Memoria Scaduta
In Italy, one's final resting place in a cemetery is not considered to be forever. Photographer Jim Vecchi documents what happens when the lease is up.
Roma Relocation
200 Roma families who lived in a ghetto on the banks of one of Belgrades’s most important rivers have been run off the land, which is now considered premium real estate coveted by the elite class. Matt Lutton reports.
Scenes of Life:
Winner of the 2010 HSBC Prize
We float high above peaceful moments of a romantic life when we view the work of young Franco-German photographers Lucie and Simon. This series was just awarded a prestigious prize in Europe, the HSBC Prix pour la Photographie.
Inside photojournalism:
VII The Magazine
Lens Culture has joined with the leading international photo agency, VII Photo, in an innovative online project that gives readers of Lens Culture unprecedented access and insight to the work of some of the world’s leading photojournalists. The weekly features are edited specifically for online distribution, and are accompanied by intimate commentaries from the photographers themselves. The photo above is from a fun multimedia presentation of American cars and trucks, by Christopher Morris.
Daughters
Two young Norwegian sisters appear to be creatures of Scandinavian folklore in this series of photos made over several years by their mother, Margaret M. de Lange. Dark and moody, sometimes care-free, sometimes menacing or dreamlike, these photos represent memories, fantasies, and realites of Norwegian childhood during the brief but sweet summer months.
Daily Life in Kabul
As the war escalates in Afghanistan and foreign dollars continue to flow into the country, aid meant for the masses has, for the most part, only thickened the wallets of corrupt Afghan officials, warlords and drug lords. Michael Christopher Brown delivers a photo-essay along with his first-hand observations.
Photo Souvenirs,
with embroidery and beads
Artist-photographer Carolle Benitah uses the decorative function of embroidery and beads to re-interpret her own history (through old snapshots in her family albums) and to expose its failings. She writes a compelling text about this work, in French, as well as in an English translation.
40 Preview Picks:
Rencontres d'Arles Festival 2010
Every July, the ancient town of Arles, in the south of France, becomes one of the world centers for photography, attracting photographers, curators, art collectors, and photography lovers from all over the world. Watch our high-resolution slide show featuring 40 examples of the eclectic work you will find there at the 41st annual festival. The photo above is by Marcos Lopez from Buenos Aires.
Near the Egress:
Analog/digital circus performance
Photographer, film-maker and professor, Antonio Martinez, has created one of the most exciting mash-ups of old and new photo techniques that we've seen. This experimental stop-motion animation incorporates black-and-white film, modern tintypes, digital scans, and a custom soundtrack. Watch it "full screen" and take a short trip of delight. You can buy the DVD, too.
Archives
volume 25 (4.2010-6.2010)
Military Camp
for Kids
In Hungary, super-realistic military "survival" or army camps for boys and young men aged 8 to 18 are very popular — the only thing missing is live ammunition. Árpád Kurucz presents a compelling and disturbing photo essay.
VII: The Magazine
Starting with this issue, the readers of Lens Culture will have direct access to an insightful look at the inside world of photojournalism through our collaboration with VII Photo Agency. Get ready to dig in!
Not In Your Face
Susan A. Barnett explores t-shirt culture as a wearable artform that "advertises hopes, ideals, likes, dislikes, political views, and personal mantras."
Intimate look at Lithuania
In a new photobook, Mindaugas Kavaliauskas captures life in 21st century Kraziai, an historic village in northwestern Lithuania.
Time
With a fixed tripod, and a simple, straightforward technique, John Clang creates hand-ripped montages that compress time in one place.
Book Review:
Not Niigata
American photographer Andrew Phelps lives in Europe and just published his personal take on life in a Japanese city. Reviewed by Marc Fesutel.
Heavy Hand, Sunken Spirit
In the 2-1/2 years since Mexican President Felipe Calderon escalated the battle against the country’s drug cartels, nearly 13,000 people have been killed and kidnappings have skyrocketed. David Rochkind delivers a graphic and disturbing report.
Recollections: Philip Jones Griffiths
A big, beautiful book that looks at life in Great Britain from the 1950s through the 1990s.
Moving Performance, Still Photos
Self-taught photographer Laurence Demaison plays — delightfully — with film photography and with the idea of photography. Taking full advantage of showing what the camera sees (sometimes over long periods of exposure) compared to what the human eye cannot or does not see, she creates rich, quirky, complex images without the aid of digital manipulation. What you see was really there.
VII Photo: Inside Photojournalism
Lens Culture has joined with the leading international photo agency, VII Photo, in an innovative online project that will give readers of Lens Culture unprecedented access and insight to the work of some of the world’s leading photojournalists. The weekly features are edited specifically for online distribution, and will be accompanied by intimate commentaries from the photographers themselves, recorded exclusively for this website. One of many stories this week: In a very personal interview, photographer Ashley Gilbertson opens up about the effects of war on soldiers and their families, himself, and the country. The photo above is by James Nachtwey on the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.
Unintended Light
Hungarian photographer Zoltán Vancsó sees art in daily life, and creates modern-day, classic black-and-white photographs that vibrate with visual delight.
Iran 1979-2009
This series of photos by Alfred Yaghobzadeh reveal quite a range of daily life in Iran over the past 30 years — from the Iranian Revolution in 1979 through the highly contested political elections of 2009.
Touchless Automatic Wonder
For more than 20 years, photographer Lewis Koch has collected fragments of found text from all over the world with his camera. After several years as an innovative web project, the best of his collection is now compiled in an excellent new photobook — guaranteed to make you smile.
In Between Layers
Affluent cultures around the world have recently embraced a mash-up of photography, trompe-l’oeil imagery, conceptual art and super-large-scale digital printing, to cloak the temporary “ugliness” of construction scaffolding with building-size outdoor art installations. Photographer Han Sungpil has documented this trend as it evolves into more and more sophisticated illusions.Archives
volume 24 (1.2010-3.2010)
Roger Ballen
talks about his art
In this engaging 10-minute video interview, Roger Ballen talks about psychology, metaphor, controversy and art in photography. From the new video series, Lens Culture: Conversations with Photographers.
Hydrology:
Visions in Ice
Remarkable, organic, and complexly chaotic still life photographs of formations in ice, by Douglas Capron.
Claimed: Landscape
Alexis Pike explores the delicate balance of the scenic and the mundane, and documents the way ideals of picturesque landscapes literally overlap conventional structures in the American West.
Useless Things
Leopoldo Plentz makes large-scale scanner art from crumpled, discarded, anthropomorphic pieces of junk he finds in the streets.
Southern Depictions
Wonderfully rich and quirky portraits by Donna Pinckley of young kids at play.
The Cinemas Project
Aging single-screen cinema theaters of Bombay are lovingly documented by Zubin Pastakia.
Somerset Stories — Fivepenny Dreams
In her new photobook, Venetia Dearden explores the tough, vanishing ways of life of subsistence farmers and travelling communities in England.
kai fàng
Kate Shortt travelled through China in 2006 to photograph everyday heroes, now in their eighties and nineties, who are silent survivors of decades of politcal repression.
Beyond History
Vincent Delbrouck's book, subtitled "poetic documentary versus dirty realism" is an odd, unsatisfying mixture of self-indulgence with a handful of decent photos.
World Press Photo
2010 Winners
Lens Culture is pleased to present a high-resolution slideshow of this year's winning photographs from the World Press Photo competition. The photo above, Rainbowland, New Mexico, by Canadian photographer Kitra Cahana, won 1st prize for Arts and Entertainment Stories. Most of the other winners focus on areas of conflict. All of the photos are remarkable this year.
Simon Roberts video interview: Visual Anthropology in Russia and England
Simon Roberts talks about his in-depth visual studies of people and the places they live. "I want to create a series of pictures that you want to look at longer... and are rewarded for the more time you look at it."
Chaotic Harmony:
Contemporary Korean Photography
Discover the work of 40 contemporary Korean photographers who were chosen to represent the current state of Korean art for large-scale exhibitions at The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
Priya Kambli:
Color Falls Down
Priya Kambli's artful combinations of vintage photos, contemporary photos, colors and textures visually express the notion of transience and split cultural identity caused by the act of migration — in this case from India to the US.
Claire Bayrasy: Ride
Ride is more of a visual poem than a photo documentary. Claire Bayrasy made this series of photos from inside cramped narrow motorcycle taxis that she took to work each morning in Beijing.
David Helsham: Bongin Bongin
Bongin Bongin Bay and its surroundings in northern Sydney Australia provide the raw material for this magical series of diptychs. Photographer David Helsham often juxtaposes found objects he discovered on the beach – from discarded toys, to shoes, to skulls – with views of the bay in all weathers and seasons.Archives
volume 23 (11.2009-12.2009)
Video Interview: Klavdij Sluban's Photography Workshops in Jails
In this 8-minute video interview, French photographer Klavdij Sluban talks about his work with juveniles imprisoned in jails around the world.
Dust Book
French photographers Aline Diépois and Thomas Gizolme have created a hybrid, bizarre and fun photobook —
part travel journal,
part scrapbook,
plus a healthy dose
of hallucinatory experiences from their road trip in the
American West.
Drug Trafficking in West Africa
2009 Portfolio Prize winner Marco Vernaschi documents the violence and tragedy taking place right now in Guinea-Bissau.
Jeff Cowen: Attacus Atlas
A new exhibition in Paris reveals all-new sculptural photomurals, hand-cut collages, and other photo-based artwork by Jeff Cowen.
Eiffel Tower Replicas
Korean photographer Han Sungpil explores the worldwide phenomenon of replicas of this iconic structure. We have his text in both English and Korean.
From Back Home
Anders Petersen and JH Engström were both born in the same remote province in Sweden, but generations apart. Together they revisited Värmland, and documented their experiences with two distinct photographic styles.
Marc Feustel writes a review of this great book.
Cuba: Campo Adentro
Susan Bank
self-published this
book of photographs of Cuban tobacco farmers and their families to great acclaim in 2008.
These portraits are raw, yet poetic, and
full of humor and compassion.
BMW Prize 2009 Finalists
Discover each of the 20 finalists chosen this year for the $18,000 Prix BMW. The theme is: "When was the last time you experienced something for the first time?" As always, it's an eclectic mix.
Prix Pictet Finalists
Twelve great photographers are finalists for the yearly Prix Pictet award for photography that promotes environmental sustainability. See a selection of the short-listed work.
Paolo Roversi: Studio
Fashion and celebrity photographer Paolo Roversi has just published a romantic photobook of some of his favorite images, plus some personal shots from inside his studio.
Winners:
Lens Culture
International Exposure Awards 2009
After sifting through and evaluating more than 6,000 photographs submitted by photographers from 48 countries on six continents … the panel of judges for the Lens Culture International Exposure Awards 2009 have chosen the winners. Top prize went to Italian photographer Marco Vernaschi for his disturbing photo-essay about the effects of drug trafficking in a small West African country. Top prizes in the Single Image category were awarded to Brad Moore, Stella Johnson, and Laura Pannack. And 25 photographers from 13 countries won Honorable Mentions. Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to all of the participants and everyone who made this competition such a success!
Paris Photo 2009: Preview
Paris Photo, the largest and perhaps most important international photography fair in the world, opens its doors on November 19, 2009. This year, in addition to exhibitors from all corners of the globe, there will be a special emphasis on photography from the Arab world and Iran. See 150-plus preview photos here.
Laura Sackett:
Liminal Portraits
Teenage identity has been the focus of many recent series of photography portraits. Using a unique approach, Barcelona-based photographer Laura Sackett explores the concept of teenage portraits made remotely through the internet via iChat — a significant way in which her subjects actually see and interact with each other. 
Lucia Ganieva: Factory
These triptychs depict disappearing links in the "supply chain" of a globalized marketplace. Each is like a fragment of a novel based in this once-bustling factory town just outside of Moscow. Photographer Lucia Ganieva connects her photographs like lines of haiku — each one registers a different emotion.