In contemporary photography, a rare breed of artist exists, one who effortlessly marries the tactile beauty of traditional film with the ethereal world of the imagination. Kayhan Jafar-Shaghaghi, a Persian-born artist, now calls Edinburgh, Scotland, his creative sanctuary, where he weaves the threads of history, culture, and personal experiences into striking 8x10 film images that speak to the soul and provoke deep introspection…
Read MoreI’m on a bit of a tear here with some environmental articles and bodies of work. It’s hard to pass them up, primarily because of the immediacy of the situation facing future generations. I think anyone with an eye towards wanting to live on an inhabitable planet and avoiding severe climate disasters might be having some sleepless hours during the night on occasion. Speaking about the gravity of the situation and what may come of it to the youth of our world has become a top priority for many, especially parents. So once again, I bring you something to chew on and think about. This time around is a body of work I saw while reviewing portfolios during Review Santa Fe last November – Cracks in the Ice, by photographer Jason Lindsey.
Read MoreThe photographic art world is a place where an immense amount of skills and abilities reside. It takes a considerable amount of time and energy to excel in any one of them, and is one of the things that I'm constantly surprised and delighted by. It's not simply that people put so much energy into them, but those with multiple talents that stand out clearly have a passion for the medium, often rising above the fray. So, this is not the first time that the work of Cathy Cone has been on my radar, and it is for this aforementioned reason that it remains there. She embodies the work ethic, sheer talent, and creative energy that it takes to not only maintain a discerning photographic eye but also have the adjacent qualifications that make her a master printmaker. While I am highlighting a specific body of work here, a cursory look at past collections patently spells this out, and I implore you to seek her photographs out whenever possible.
Read MoreAs an artist, Grew explores her intentions through a variety of media, including photography, painting, printmaking, installation, and collage. For this latest series, she combines alternative photographic processes with installation to create something that piques the imagination with a visual tapestry worth experiencing. Photographic representations of living forest scenes are made as lantern slides using the carbon printing method on glass, with the carbon harvested from the actual coals left behind from the fires. The glass plate images are then hung towards the center of a room to represent the Ghost Forest. As a result, the experience is immersive and interactive. Grew also does an incredible job of rigging the individual plates adeptly throughout the installation through a combination of cables and glass mounts.
Read MoreTrees are an essential building block of this planet, and most importantly, without trees, there is no life at all. Artists, writers, and philosophers all wax poetic from the inspiration found in sharing our lands with them. So it’s easy to see why so many gravitate towards photographing trees – they are vital, unique, and have a beauty that is pure and significant to the energy they project.
Adam Gerlach is one of these photographers that feels the pull of trees and captures their essence in his own uncommon way.
Read MoreLet’s talk about the elephant in the room, shall we? As a person and artist, Molly McCall is a favorite around these parts. She has appeared in Analog Forever Magazine, Catalyst: Interviews, and Diffusion Annual – all outlets that show, promote, and emphasize photographic creatives and creativity.
Now she’s here on Poignant Portfolios, and in order to illustrate her work once again as a visual support component for her appearance on The Diffusion Tapes podcast. Apparently, Blue Mitchell and I have been sending up flares for a while now. Oh damn – I didn’t think we worked for her, but maybe we do!
Read MoreStübing values the intrinsic artistic qualities linked to the photographic process, where experimentation yields unique and unrepeatable works. This is a reaction to the current state of digitally reproducing photographs and finding meaning in the physicality of participating in the alternative methods of making images. The often encountered “happy accidents” only add to the nuance and enjoyment of it all. In fact, the repetition of the actions inevitably bores him, leading to continually changing processes and introducing modifications through experimentation. Taking a hybrid approach often leads him to a workflow that includes using analog slide film, scanning, digital manipulation, printing, then back to experimental treatments of new negatives, back to scanning again, and finally printing of a final piece. Clearly, there can often be a lot happening behind the scenes in making his stunning botanical studies – and often, the means to get there is not easily identified.
Read MoreOnce again, I'm sitting at the table reviewing work for Photolucida in April of 2022, and in comes Landry Major to show me her platinum/palladium and gelatin silver prints of horses and ranch life of the American West. Am I familiar with work like this? Yes. Have I seen a multitude of images of the West through the eyes of the cowboy and what they represent from an Americana perspective? Again, yes. But have I seen it done so well and beautifully that I cannot take my eyes off the scenes I'm seeing presented to me? Absolutely not.
As I learned, this collection, Winter's Horses, is a subset of a larger body of work from Major, Keepers of the West. However, it was the winter images that stood out to me (note: everything here is incredible). These images were simply magical, as what one might expect from witnessing scenes in such a frosty environment. Making photographs in this environment is difficult at best, but when you couple that with fast-moving subjects of an unpredictable nature, you more or less have a recipe for disaster. That's why I was so stunned by what I saw in this work. Major has committed herself fully to capturing the essence of these beasts and those who strive to control and use them in their ranching efforts.
Read MoreThe world of fashion and beauty is most certainly a strange one to most people. Even those who are thrilled and enamored with the latest trends and styles often find a never-ending stream of oddities coming from designers and cosmetic companies. Unfortunately, there's also a dark side to it all - one that teaches young girls the perfection of their skin, hair, teeth, and weight are paramount in their lives. Having been on my fair share of fashion shoots for some of these companies, I can say that I've seen and heard things that are not in the best interest of any impressionable young girl.
Read MoreIt's no mystery to anyone who knows the slightest thing about me that I'm drawn to art or photography that has an overwhelmingly crushing and f'd up appearance. It's both a reflection and a response. When you couple that with a message about the environment, climate change, or rising sea levels, then you have my undivided attention.
Read MoreWith a tendency to learn by herself, either from online classes or books, Amy's curiosity will cause her to take a deep dive into whatever topic interests her. Her initial foray into photography began digitally, but later the lure of the darkroom took hold. In addition to traditional gelatin silver printing, lith printing, cyanotypes, lumen printing, and even chemigrams became much enamored processes full of opportunity and found places in various bodies of work. In addition, an instinctual way of actively photographing, mixed with a bit of serendipity, results in imagery she then reflects upon later in order to make her final photographs: "When I try to think and plan the image, I am rarely happy with the results. I need 'the magic' of the unknown to be part of the process."
Read MoreWith this installment, I have the honor of highlighting the unique works of Cuban artist Ricardo Miguel Hernández and his When memory turns to dust collection. It is photographs like this that seriously pull me in and make me linger a lot longer than I usually would. Isn't that what any great picture does? Shouldn't that always be the goal of the creator? There's a lot to take in and discover in every image in his series, as each has its own story to tell. What's more, it's not a story that he invents, but one that the viewer receives from their neurons bouncing around and creating it at a cellular level in their head. We develop and drive the tale built upon our past and present, using Hernández's fractured images as fuel. I, for one, welcome this from imagery that is as much installation work or performance art as it is photography. Hernández reminds us what cut, copy, and paste were before the computer age. These images are not composites put together in Photoshop but physical objects that have been rebuilt and reborn as assemblages.
Read MoreFor this installment of Traverse, I wanted to reach back in time and retrieve the work and ideals of a photographer I greatly admire. Having known David Ellingsen’s photographs for several years, this was my chance to investigate the images and the man a bit more, as well as include some thoughts on photography and the subject of conserving our natural environment.
Read More“Once again, I get to credit social media for allowing me to discover a photographer doing something that, to me, stands out and captures my attention. This time around, it is the work of Stefano Questorio, an Italian dancer from Bologna working in theater and traveling the world with a camera always at his side. Creating whimsical, surreal, and thought-provoking diptychs and triptychs, his images are reminiscent of storyboards from the motion picture, animation, and comic book worlds most are familiar with. With each photographic array, one expects the images to fully animate and continue the story of their birth into a fully evolved narrative. Some of the photographs are also paired with objects or include stitching to achieve his vision. Let's just say I'm hooked and feel the need to investigate this artist's background and process.” — Michael Kirchoff, contributing editor
Read MoreWelcome to our new column that discovers, investigates, and highlights fine art photographic work from an international forum of creatives. Aptly named “Traverse” and written by our newest contributing editor, Michael Kirchoff.
“I quite literally find that some photographic artists own their own world, most especially when they produce their work from scratch. They dive in headfirst to either creating or modifying a way of working that sets a precedent for the rest of us to admire and marvel at. My latest case in point is the talented Aline Héau, from the Loire Valley, France. Her photographic objects epitomize the word blue in the purest sense. She excels at creating cyanotype works of such brilliant blue color that it is impossible to look away. The added factor that makes this even more spectacular is the fact that she creates these cyanotype masterpieces on glass of differing shapes and sizes. Resembling the small panes of glass in a stained glass window, her photograms from the natural world rendered in this way have garnered her attention far and wide.”
Read MoreWelcome to our new column that discovers, investigates, and highlights fine art photographic work from an international forum of creatives. Aptly named “Traverse” and written by our newest contributing editor, Michael Kirchoff.
“One of the most fascinating things about the visual marketplace is how people who are not simply photographers by trade are drawn to image-making out of curiosity or a need to explore art and the world around them. Doing this in a way that is unique to themselves, and especially those that do it in a very bold way gets my attention every time. The case in point is Mohd Azlan Mam, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.”
Read MoreWelcome to our new column that discovers, investigates, and highlights fine art photographic work from an international forum of creatives. Aptly named “Traverse” and written by our newest contributing editor, Michael Kirchoff.
“Occasionally while exploring the endless grid of Instagram, one comes across something that catches your eye. It’s usually something that, once examined more closely, is something you’ve seen before. Not that that is bad, mind you - I mean, no crime, no foul - but it’s really something when you discover a true gem of a photograph. That’s what happened to me one day when I came across the work of Matthew McCully.”
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