Name: Heather Landis

Occupation: Photographer

Clients: Interscope Records, Simon & Schuster, Playboy, Urban Outfitters

The photography I have included above is from Heather’s portfolio entitled ‘Abyss of the Disheartened’. It is a beautiful collection of photographs which tell a narrative and create a visual spectacle in equal measure. The movement projected in the clothes, bodies, and water is stunning, and easily coveys what Heather conceptualised as ‘the feeling of being in love’. She described it an emotion ‘where you can feel this safe floating and sense of drowning simultaneously. There’s a comfort and a danger when you begin to fall in love with someone, eventually the relationship primarily falls into one of those two sensations’. The dichotomy between the darkness of the water, and the light beaming down on the two lovers, perfectly expresses the danger and comfort Heather describes – love as an unknown, passionate and terrifying entity.

Heather describes a day in the life of a photographer as ‘Chaotic and fun. If you plan ahead, have a good idea and good company to work with you will feel like the luckiest person to have the job of a photographer.’ Asked how she got into the photography industry, Heather remarked ‘I took an introductory summer class in community college and immediately fell in love with the camera. From that class on I obsessively shot concepts, portraits of friends, pets and places and built a portfolio to get into an art school, my ideal school of choice was Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, which is also the one I ended up attending’.

Asked on the photographic process, Heather responded ‘the process of photography is pretty simple once you understand the technical aspects of photography. It really helps to understand light, have strong subjects (models) and time to properly shoot and edit your concept. Once you get into the habit of organizing a set and are willing to push yourself, you can complete some incredible shoots’.

Despite having worked for some big names in her three years of professional photography work, such as Playboy and Urban Outfitters, Heather prefers home life. ‘I started about a year ago working as a photo illustrator on top of being a photographer. Between my photo illustration work and my photography I’ve started to enjoy working at home on collages more than travelling for photography. But, I still do both because I get an equal amount of work from both medias’.

But travelling isn’t the worst part of the job: ‘The worst aspects are losing jobs you really want to shoot to another photographer, a freelancer’s income, working with new people who are moody or flaky (rarely happens but still exists, ugh!)’. Well, that certainly doesn’t sound like much fun. What are the best parts of being a professional photographer? ‘I think the best aspects of my job are being creative on a daily basis, working with other creative people, creating products for people to enjoy, and being my own boss’.

And finally, some words of advice for any aspiring photographers out there: ‘I think its important to be honest and open with yourself. If you’re a creative person and show early skills, continue to build on that. There are a myriad amount of jobs in the art world. If you’re creative and talented as any kind of artist you should strive to continue working as one with a good education. The art world is incredibly competitive and full of talented people who will become your friends and future competition. It’s important to have a strong work ethic, have a healthy ego and a desire to create things. It’s also incredibly important to have a variety of skills, being ‘great’ at one thing doesn’t mean anything now. Spread out your talents and learn as much as you can in your fields of interest’.

Website: Heatherlandis.com

Winkler+Noah create stark and intense images that are hard to initially digest; however their work always evokes a personal response. It is work that you have to be mature and open minded in witnessing, due to the nature of the work. It’s this sort of photography, which for me, is the best kind of art. It’s personal and unique to the audience and most of all brings peoples personal opinions to the surface. 

All of their projects have a meaning and story behind them; there are often slightly edgy meanings, some which are taboo, their examples of death, or surreal, their vision of children as dolls. Winkler+Noah produce work that fuses traditional photography with experimentation. Their pictures are strange; they give the sensation of hyper reality; because the focus of the photo appears in a real situation however they seem to stand out, as if the reality is highlighting them; it’s something I haven’t seen before.  The other side of their images is the enclosed ideas and powerful emotions contained within, all of which is controlled by the artists throughout the process as they handle everything personally.

The first image is about ‘Short Life.’ It stems from a tourist that died whilst waiting to witness an art exhibition and everyone just took out their cameras and started taking pictures as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do. They tried to represent that the end of respect for man means the end of everything and that nothing is private anymore.

Secondly is the visual representation of living on the other side of the Berlin wall. On the other side reality is just a surrogate offered by the authorities. They portrayed this by taking close up shots where the eyes are covered by a film making their vision of the world impossible.

Next is ‘Dolls.’ This is in response to people expecting too much of children, for them to be perfect, like dolls. As well as children who have become sons and daughters of perfection, pretence and image, manipulated by the media and the social context and who are inevitably losing their naturalness.

The last image is about how beautiful skin is. It’s the ‘box’ of the body and although we can have such a different variety from Extra White to Dark Black, it all shows the soul of the person both behind and in front the camera. It’s also a deeply private thing; the eye can always find a secret scar, a strange mole, a wonderful curve, or a part of the body that it doesn't like.

Website: Winkler-noah.it

Name: Tim Jarosz

Age: 26

Occupation: Photographer/Artist

Inspiration: Urban landscapes, music, people.

Tim describes his work as “Gritty digital urban landscape and lifestyle collages”, and there really is no better way of putting it. The images above showcase just a few of the ways Tim implements an edgy, urban style into his part art/ part photographic works. If I was to play a word association game with the word: urban, words such as city and people, inevitably spring to mind. Whilst Tim’s subject matter is unquestionably urban: the city landscapes which he projects, “urban-ness” is equally and evocatively exposed through colour, collage and texture.

Harking back to the Modernist age when collage and fragmentation were the artistic, poetical and literary responses to an increasingly urbanised cityscape, Tim’s use of collage here is perhaps indicative of a nostalgic undertone for an era synonymous with experimentation and newness. Tim thinks of his work as a ‘mixture of different mediums and styles that I have experimented with that has produced my "look" for both my photography and design work.  My brain works kinda crazy sometimes and I think that’s what makes my work my own.  It’s part process and part idea’.

Asked how he got into photography and art, Tim replied ‘Well, I have always been very serious about both those subjects, ever since I was a child.  I graduated art school with a degree in graphic design and still had an extreme passion for photography.  I worked as professional graphic designer for years before deciding to expand my skills and take on a new venture in photography.  I quit my design job and started freelancing in photography.  Not long after I found an amazing photography career where I have the ability to shoot photos and still create artwork in my free time’.

It is often difficult to tell just how Tim’s works are put together, whether they are art, edited photography, or an amalgamation of the two; as Tim puts it, collage. ‘It's a bit of a long process, even though sometimes my artwork only takes a few hours to create.  It pretty much always starts with photography.  Shooting lots of photos, mostly street photography.  It then moves to editing and collaging those photographs together and then adding my own color and texture treatments.  Somehow, they end up coming out nice.  I wouldn't be able to create my style of work if I didn't use photography and design equally.  For me, they go hand in hand and both are a crucial part of what I call art’.

Spontaneity is another crucial part of Tim’s artistic process ‘sometimes I don't even know where an idea for a piece of work comes from.  Sometimes it is just a random thought or idea that will inspire me to create a piece.  Be it drawing, painting, design or just making something with my hands, I have always had a personal need to create something new.  When adding all those elements together, sometimes something beautiful comes out’. 

Asked what he hopes to have achieved by 2022, Tim responded ‘Who knows what life will bring in the next ten years.  I just hope I'm alive and happy and still creating.  Oh, and never having to wake up to an alarm would be amazing’.

Website: Timjarosz.com 

Vic Xia draws inspiration for her photography from daily life, carrying her cameras everywhere and taking photos of everything around her – flowers in full bloom, colourful straw tubes, a zebra stretching its neck, houses with red roofs, telephone booths in the rain, and her friends with long hair, black eyes, and a brilliant smile. Though the objects of her photos vary, there is a simple, fresh and natural feeling in her images.

The photos shown above were taken when Vic was enjoying an autumn day on a hill in Winchester with her friend and model Guan. Complex and contradictive moods are conveyed in these shots; the elfin girl combines vulnerability and toughness, happiness and melancholy, carefree spirit and befuddlement, and purity and mystery. The ambivalent feeling gives Vic’s photo an extraordinary charm.

Vic emphasises that she is still exploring the world of photography, especially portrait photography. With Ann He as her favourite photographer, she is thriving to find and develop her own style.

Name: Glenford Nunez

Age: 25

Occupation: Photographer

Inspiration: Richard Avedon,  Anne Leibovitz, Jamie Nelson, Miles Aldridge, and Patrick Hoelck.

Glenford is a photographer hailing from Baltimore in the U.S. state of Maryland. He utilises all sorts of devices to find inspiration for his vibrant and edgy fashion photography, from the photographers named above to blog hosting platform, Tumblr. ‘Tumblr is also a great source of inspiration. It is cool to see what other people find interesting. It seems like people are more honest about what they like on Tumblr compared to Twitter or Facebook. I don’t know how long that will last though because Tumblr is getting popular now. People start to filter what they post when they think people are watching. I get inspiration from everything, books, movies, blog posts, interviews I have read. Anything!’

Asked on his preference for fashion photography, Glenford revealed ‘I believed that this genre would give me the most creative freedom. However, that is not always the case depending on the client. I try to choose my clients wisely so I won’t be miserable before, during, and after a shoot. I like to photograph just about anything except for weddings’. Perhaps it is the collaborative medium of fashion photography, working with different designers, different models and different locations, which has, in Glenford’s words, not yet afforded him a style. For him, style is more a consequence of experience and time. ‘I read somewhere that one should not look for their style. A creative person will come into their style over time’. 

Like many photographers interviewed on the blog, Glenford enjoys the visual documentation of his medium. ‘I like the idea of capturing unique moments that will last forever. I also like that you can manifest ideas that you have created in your mind into existence’. In order to achieve this, Glenford implements a three-fold process of photographic memories. ‘I first start with being inspired by something, it could be anything. I will plan and visualize the entire shoot in my head. Things always look great in my head. The hard part is trying to convey your ideas to a team of people who don’t read minds. I try to find visual aids to show the team what I am looking for. For the most part I have a very strong idea of how I want the final product to turn out but things usually go astray. I call it the creative process. Haha!’

Describing himself as ‘sort of fickle’ when it comes to choosing his favourite piece from his photography, Glenford settled on ‘the photos that I have taken of the Band Grad Dai. I think that I have produced some of my most interesting photos while documenting the band. I love the realness and unpredictability of concert photography. When working in the studio things are heavily produced and you can make things happen the way you want but in live photography anything can happen at any given moment. I love freezing those rare moments that no one will ever see in real life again’.

By 2022, ‘I want my work to be published in every major magazine imaginable. I also want to visit all the places on my “Places to visit” list. Rome, Australia, London etc. I want to shoot while riding on the back of an Elephant in Africa. (Long Story)’.

Website: TYP Baltimore Photography

Joe Cowley and Alex Kimber are both Swindon based photographers. Together they produced these striking and unique images that instantly catch the audience’s attention. They managed to combine an ordinary, everyday object (the light bulb) and introduce a random act (shooting it with a pellet gun) to create this set of images.

The amazing thing about this is that however you do this shoot, you would always achieve different images, each of these show a different part of the pellet hitting the bulb, this progression and development, something that you would not be able to see with the naked eye due to the speed and this in turn intrigues the audience. The different bulbs used help this project too. In fact my favorite photograph is the energy saving bulb. This is perfectly timed as you can see the bulb exploding from the impact of the object. The colour is intense against the stark black background and the light is almost sprayed across the background just before the bulb breaks. The minimal background really enhances the photographs. The eyes are drawn to the focal point of the piece, the impact, however it makes the shrapnel from the bulbs become even more interesting as they are clear, crisp and are easily visible.

            This project was in answer to a brief about energy, looking at the advantages and disadvantages of green living. It’s this type of imaginative thinking to solve a brief that really makes these guys stand out. Taking a subject and putting it on its head to get the point across to the audience.

Contact Joe: Joseph.cowley@live.co.uk

Contact Alex: Kimber_land@hotmail.co.uk

James Sebright is a photographer who tends to focus on conflict, division and contradiction. Sebright’s choice of subjects clearly demonstrates this, particularly in the projects he undertook whilst travelling in China in 2009. These photographs capture the nation at a crucial moment in time as it becomes more and more economically developed. There is a stark contrast throughout the country of tradition and modernity, which is reflected in Sebright’s images of people, technology and architecture. This contradiction is sometimes represented as slightly absurd but more often than not there is subtle uneasiness that points towards some of the underlying tensions in present day Chinese culture. Perhaps the most poignant example of this can be seen in the photograph of a former Mongolian farmer who sells souvenirs on the Great Wall. This enigmatic man is the perfect representative for the changing face of China in light of its rapid industrialisation: he holds on to the simple, wooden stick whilst donning a military-esque khaki jacket and hat. Just like much of Sebright’s other work, this is an image full of contradictions.

In addition to documenting his impressions of China, James Sebright has found other areas of interest closer to his current base in Newcastle upon Tyne. In his photographs of the Border regions of Scotland and England, Sebright explores the struggle for identity in a place that is simultaneously both and neither one place or the other. Sebright’s work can be found at Jamessebright.com, with more recent images at Jamessebrightphotography.wordpress.com.

James’ photography above is from a series called ‘Shadows’, in which faces are obscured by masks, hats, red cloaks, cameras, televisions and smoke. The ‘Shadows’ series features exterior backgrounds, some managed (field of crops/manicured hedge), others seemingly wild (forest). Rather than focusing his work on the contrast between synthetic cameras, televisions, humans to some extent, with the natural world, James juxtaposes manmade exterior with manmade technologies. Centring his subjects in each of the photographs gives his work a sense of purpose. They stand before you, wearing much the same as any person on the highstreet. There is nothing particularly special about them or their surroundings until you look where their faces should be. Perhaps, camera-face-man and tv-face-man were so embroiled by their technological, media-based world that they became the very things they were so engrossed in. If so, is this James commenting on the media, and their effects on young people? Or, as the photograph of the smoke-man suggests, do their facial substitutions, disguises, distractions, in fact reflect emotion? Maybe the steam is anger. Perhaps the television with a child’s face in it is this man’s desire to go back to childhood. Does the camera just depict a desire, a love for photography? There are so many possible meanings and implications behind James’ photography; and this is what I love about it – ambiguous, multi-semantic, engaging images, which give you something to talk about on a cold, winter’s day.

Website: Jald.co.uk

Name: Tamara Lynn

Age: 33

Occupation: Photographer

Inspiration: Helen Levitt’s street photography, Julia Margaret Cameron's portrait photography

The thing I love about Tamara Lynn’s photography is her ability to take the mundane and transform it into something vibrant and exciting. A simple ‘STOP’ sign, for example, utilises the style of pop art to transform a sign into a work of art. Another of Tamara’s techniques is never to use the obvious angle or frame. Much of her photography is angled slightly diagonally, from either a low or high angle perspective. However, she manages to avoid the conventional effect (dominance/inferiority) of such perspectives by using colour and cropping to draw our attention to an entirely different message: finding something original, beautiful and unexpected in the everyday aspects of life. Tamara explains that she likes ‘to capture the quirkiness of mundane scenes that are often passed by. I love warm vintage colours, and old architecture. With portraits, I like to capture the true essence of my subject and showcase their personality. I'm very instinctual with my work and seldom stage any of my photographs’.

Tamara’s spontaneous approach to her photography is perhaps the source of her originality; certainly in the scenes which she captures: ‘my first step is simply walking out the front door. I frequently take photo-walks. With my camera in hand, I stroll whatever area I'm in and see what I find. I started in film, but have embraced the editing of digital photography. One of my favourite editing techniques is cross-processing. It adds warmth to the colours that attract me. Playing around with the rules of perception is a great way to grow as a photographer, and that growth is the most rewarding part of the process for me’.

Asked how she got into photography as a career choice, Tamara revealed that it ‘was a natural progression to earn income off my art photography. If you have a passion for something it becomes part of you. I had a desire to share my art and see what people thought. Hence, my blog was born and grows everyday. If you are approachable, confident, and willing to keep up with a blog format, you will be amazed at the opportunities that come right to you. Just be willing to take those chances when they present themselves. It was a natural progression to become a portrait photographer as well. This is a great source of relevant income and I'm still able to maintain my creative voice. My third form of photography income is selling my art photography in local shops. Gift shops and coffee houses are great locations to approach with a portfolio’.

Selling and creativity are the ingredients of a successful photographer, in fact any artistic or creative occupation. But what sets apart a great photograph from an average piece of photography? For Tamara, a great photograph is made by ‘look(ing) at the overall image. Colour, space, lines, frames, are all taken into account. I think you need to nail all the details of a photograph to enhance the over all presentation. Thus, making it a great photograph’.

By 2022, Tamara would like to have ‘travelled more, so I could photograph a wider range of scenery and cultures. I would hope to still be active and established in the sales of my art photography. Most importantly, I would want to still have the passion to grow in photography’.

Website: Tamaralynnphotography.com

Brought up in New Jersey, and now living in San Francisco, it is no surprise that much of Geoffrey’s photography centres on coastal and seaside locations. There is something dramatic and engaging in Geoffrey’s works which tell a photographic narrative - a flash of lightning above the fairground ride; fireworks before they settle; a shadowy, decaying room – they are a moment of motion captured in a single frame.

Geoffrey’s exploration into ‘the uneasy coexistence between human populations and the natural world’ reflects a total juxtaposition between that which is manmade (fairground rides, houses, fireworks, wooden structures) and that which is nature (the sea, sky and trees). This juxtaposition is most clearly shown in the firework and fairground images. The latter projects a battle between swings and storm, as they impose on, and clash with each other till the better half wins. The firework image also has an air of imposition as a firework explodes over the calm, natural landscape. Geoffrey is neither condemning, nor endorsing the natural or synthetic. He simply takes an observer’s perspective, combining the two in a stylised, dramatic aesthetic.

Website: Agrons.com