joshua smith miniaturizes urban life Since 2015, Australia-based artist Joshua Smith has been creating miniature sculptures depicting urban decay
joshua smith’s intricate miniature sculptures depict urban decay across the globe
joshua smith’s intricate miniature sculptures depict urban decay across the world
the miniature works focus on the often overlooked aspects of the urban environment, such as grime, rust, discarded cigarettes, and graffiti.
India Art Fair 2024: Iranian artist perforates ideas of body through experimental photography
Iranian visual artist Zahra Yazdani, whose first solo show in India, Scripted Selves: Sutures of Signs and Symbols, opened at the Latitude 28 gallery in Delhi on January 24 in the run-up to the India Art Fair (Photo: Latitude 28 gallery)
Months after the coronavirus pandemic showed signs of ebbing, Zahra Yazdani began scouting for locations in Delhi that would become the set for her new work based on alternative photography.
“It was the end of 2020,” recalls Yazdani, an Iranian visual artist who lives in Tehran. “I found two locations in Delhi,” adds the artist, whose recent works straddle spaces and ideas between Iran and India.
Yazdani converted the two locations into sites for her new work and sent out an open call inviting performers to pose for her camera. Three years later, Yazdani’s first solo show in India is ready to extend her experimental photography practice to the next level.
Scripted Selves: Sutures of Signs and Symbols (January 24-February 29) shows the artist’s works using 18th century photography methods (Photo: Faizal Khan)
Scripted Selves: Sutures of Signs and Symbols, which opened at the Latitude 28 gallery in the national capital on January 24, continues the artist’s practice of using 18th century photographic methods to aid her experiments on truth and reality.
In her new show, Yazdani mounts photography works created using analogue camera and gelatin silver printmaking technique, a handmade process practiced by alchemists and photographers two centuries ago.
Part of the set is a surgery room, the artist’s tool to perforate the ideas of the body through experimental photography. “I find the vocabulary around old photography methods interesting,” says Yazdani.
The slitting and slashing of photography prints in a dark room became akin to a surgery room where similar tools are used to cut the body. For Yazdani, the process of cutting was an aggression happening to the body. “Not a hard aggression, but a soft aggression because it is happening with photography,” she says. “It is not like somebody is cutting somebody else’s body.”
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The exhibition, whose initial work of photography was created in location in Delhi, uses experimental photography to explore the human body’s capacity for feelings (Photo: Latitude 28 gallery)
“But if you can experience in a very mild way, it is a kind of excavation through the body through the tools,” explains the artist, who began working with old photography practices nearly a decade ago after earning a degree in painting at the Soree University in Tehran.
Yazdani, who began her career as a painter, moved to alternative photography after finding the medium responsive to her work in documenting reality and fiction. “I was thinking about wanting to do something about using the techniques of the early camera,” she says. “I realised that I can use its ability to interfere in the process of photography. You can just cut a part of the body and paste it into something else while you are doing photography. As if the camera is an assistance to you doing all these cut and paste and ‘dismantling’ bodies.”
Tehran-based Zahra Yazdani photographed an art space created by her in the national capital with performers to continue her work on the body that straddles fiction and reality. (Photo: Latitude 28 gallery)
Scripted Selves: Sutures of Signs and Symbols, which has the artist map the body’s capacity for feelings through photography prints on glass, and videos, transports the viewer into an imaginary realm of a world between an operating space and a photography studio.
“The exhibition space is inspired by the Museum of Modern Art, New York’s ambitious 1955 photography exhibition, The Family Man. It set a benchmark for photography exhibitions in the world,” says Manan Shah, who has curated Scripted Selves: Sutures of Signs and Symbols in a space that resembles the black room of a photography studio with hanging prints.
The first from her family to pursue art, Yazdani, who admires the works of Iranian-American artist Reza Alhosseini and famous Iranian artist Farideh Lashai, exhibited her last solo show based on alternative photography, Forbidden Lands, in Iran in 2018. “The main concept is the body for most of the works I have done,” says Yazdani, who was inspired by the progressive works of Lashai.
Zahra Yazdani began working with old photography practices nearly a decade ago after earning a degree in painting at the Soree University in Tehran. (Photo: Latitude 28 gallery)
Forbidden Lands, some works from which was exhibited in a group show at the Latitude 28 two years ago, explored the border between painting and photography through images of performing bodies on top of landscapes of Tehran, most of them found footage.
“It was like a kind of documenting your mindset,” says Yazdani, who collaborated with Indian artist Ashish Sahoo during the pandemic for Project Blink, an online art project that invited people to play a popular card game of Iran online as storytelling. “Other than documenting the reality around you, I was gathering photos of landscapes and using performative arts to create a mixture of landscape that doesn’t exist because it is created through these experiments,” she adds. “Everything happens through experiments with photos for me and slowly they find their own stories. Then it becomes fiction.”
It did become fiction for Yazdani when she was completing her Iran-India collaborative show, “Scripted Selves: Sutures of Signs and Symbols”. An artist book, which she calls “visual fiction”, is part of Yazdani’s new solo show. The book, which is not displayed in the exhibition, is a 176-page book in Farsi with images from the process and text by Iranian writer Alborz Zahedi called Headless Eye.
Scripted Selves: Sutures of Signs and Symbols by Zahra Yazdani, Latitude 28 gallery, Delhi (January 24-February 29)
Ten buildings that make a sculptural feature of their balconies
Featuring buildings equipped with meandering balconies and terraces that fan out like leaves, this roundup collects 10 dramatic sculptural balconies.
Sutton photographer featured at Small Stones Festival – The Millbury-Sutton Chronicle
Snow sculpture
Martin Malicki (front) and Stan Gornicz work on their snow sculpture at the Bass Guest House on Edson Hill Road, during the 1993 Stowe Winter Carnival. Their three-section sculpture includes
Through Their Lens: Veterans find artistic outlet through photography
Samantha Johnston, the executive director and curator, emphasizes CPAC’s commitment to community outreach and the importance of providing ongoing support to veterans. The Veterans Workshop Series not only teaches photography skills but also establishes a lasting community for veterans to connect with.
“There’s a larger photo community they’re now a part of, but then there’s also the veteran photo community as part of this workshop that they’re a part of. And all of that is really important and has been really, really powerful.” Johnston said.
Jason Alfaro, a workshop graduate, said he stumbled upon the program through an email from Metropolitan State University of Denver. The networking opportunities and the chance to work on a meaningful project piqued his interest. His project followed a classmate and fellow Army veteran during his equine therapy. Alfaro showcases the therapeutic bond between veterans and rescue horses.
“It just all started kind of improvising, seeing how it all went. And I think the project went well, actually. He was always bringing his dog, his service animal, Boaz, who had a very close connection to one of the horses that he worked with who was named Summer. And all those horses at that ranch are rescue horses, and it all just kind of fell into place,” Alfaro said.
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Photographs taken by veteran Robert Grimmer on display at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center in the exhibit “Through Their Lens: Personal Projects By Veterans.” -
“Through Their Lens: Personal Projects By Veterans” is an exhibition at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center featuring photographs taken by veterans.
Robert Grimmer, another workshop graduate, shared his journey, which intertwined with his volunteer work as a medic in Ukraine. He emphasized the therapeutic aspect of photography and encouraged veterans to explore it as a hobby.
“Around the time that I had submitted the Veterans Workshop application, I was also applying to work as a volunteer medic in Ukraine for a non-governmental organization. It’s called Global Outreach Doctors, and they’re similar to Doctors Without Borders basically. They have been in Ukraine for over a year providing medical support to the Ukrainian Army,” explained Grimmer.
It turns out he was accepted to both the photography program and the medical program at the same time. Rather than choose one over the other, he figured out a way to do both.
“So I was serving as a medic but also had cameras in hand and took pictures as I could. The frustrating thing was passing up the opportunity to take a really good photo. You can’t really pause patient care for a great shot, so I had to incorporate both of them,” said Grimmer. “I mean, my primary task was being a medic, but I had some opportunities to take some pictures and I thought they turned out pretty good, the ones I had.”
When discussing their hopes for the exhibition, Alfaro and Grimmer emphasized the importance of networking, sharing meaningful stories, and offering a therapeutic outlet for veterans.
They expressed a desire for visitors to understand the unique perspectives of veterans through their photography.
Courtesy “From the Hip Photo”Johnston encouraged visitors to not only appreciate the visual aspect of the exhibition but also engage with the written statements accompanying each project. She emphasized the diversity of projects, reflecting individual experiences and stories.
As CPAC celebrates its 60th year and settles into its new space, the “Through Their Lens | Personal Projects By Veterans” exhibition is on view through Feb. 17, 2024.
Close-Up Photographer of the Year competition showcases stunning underwater images
The Fifth Close-Up Photographer of the Year Awards showcases some beautiful underwater photography – check out the best shots here
The Close-Up Photographer of the Year competition, now in its fifth successive year, has thrown up some outstanding images in the dedicated and highly competitive Underwater Category.
The competition, which features 11 categories in total – Animals, Insects, Butterflies & Dragonflies, Invertebrate Portrait, Underwater, Plants, Fungi & Slime Moulds, Intimate Landscape, Human Made, Micro and Young Close-up Photographer of the Year – attracted almost 12,000 entries from 67 countries, which were judged by a panel of 23 expert photographers, scientists, naturalists, journalists and picture editors.
The overall prize was won by Hungarian photographer Csaba Daróczi, with his picture of a Eurasian nuthatch in flight taken from inside a hollowed-out tree stump.
The Underwater Category, first added to the CUPOTY competition in 2021, was won by Australian photographer Simon Theuma, who drew on Dreamtime Aboriginal art in his category-winning image of a Commensal shrimp floating above a Mosaic seastar. The winning images, runners-up and finalists are shown below – head to www.cupoty.com to view all of the Top100 images submitted across all 11 categories.
Underwater Winner – ‘Dreamtime’
Simon Theuma, Australia
Picture details: A Commensal shrimp floats above a Mosaic seastar. March 4th; Bass Point Reserve, Shellharbour, Australia.
Simon: ‘Like an intricate tapestry of the marine ecosystem, this image captures the relationship between a commensal shrimp and a mosaic sea star. Dreamtime Aboriginal art reminds us of the delicate balance that exists in the grand tapestry of our natural world – this ancient wisdom serves as an important reminder to preserve what we have. To capture this image, I needed to use a snooted strobe, which was set at an acute angle to the subject. This set-up accentuated the depth and beautiful texture of the two organisms. Additionally, I enhanced magnification by using a +15 wet lens dioptre.’
Technical information: Nikon D850, Nikkor 85mm f/2.8G, 1/200, f/14, ISO64, Sea & Sea Housing, YS-250 Pro Strobes, INON UCL67 +15 Wet Dioptre (underwater close-up lens), snoot.
Second Place – ‘Heart of the Sea’
Liang Fu, China
Picture details: During a night dive, at 28 metres deep, a lava moray eel curls into the shape of a heart in Romblon, Philippines.
Liang Fu: ‘This photograph was taken during a blackwater dive in Romblon, Philippines. Blackwater diving is a type of scuba diving that takes place at night in the open ocean, with thousands of metres of water below the boat. Divers descend a rope with underwater lights as their only orientation system. When the tide and moon phase are right, creatures from the deep migrate to shallower waters. This vertical migration is one of the most remarkable natural phenomena. During the dive, I saw something shining under my searchlight at 28 metres deep. As I swam closer to investigate, I found a lava moray eel curled into a heart shape. I was extremely fortunate to capture this moment with my camera. The eel remained at that depth for less than 10 seconds before swimming down and disappearing into the darkness.’
Technical information: Canon EOS R5, Canon RF 35mm F2.8L MACRO IS USM, 1/200, f/13, ISO400, Underwater housing, underwater flash x2,
Third Place – ‘Pinkaboo’
Chris Gug, USA
Picture details: A golden damselfish above a bright pink, soft coral backdrop. October 22nd; Misool, West Papua, Indonesia.
Chris: ‘For years, I had been wanting to make a relatively simple image of a golden damselfish set against a background of red sea whip coral. But on multiple trips to various South Pacific diving locations, there was always some problem with the sea whips – one branch would be broken, lack of current caused the polyps to be retracted, the damselfish was too rough… just always something to make me cringe with OCD! So when I found this little gem living in what is clearly NOT red sea whips, I had to twist my mind out of its rigidity, and realise that the gorgonian coral background I was searching for was indeed a different species, and was right in front of me!
As a traditional fisheye lens shooter, water-contact optics have been a game-changer in underwater wide-angle photography. While not quite as wide as a fisheye lens, they still cover a large field of vision, while maintaining far superior corner sharpness and don’t introduce the extreme barrel distortion of a fisheye lens. Using Nauticam’s revolutionary WACP-1 lens/port allowed me to use a medium zoom, and create a close-focus wide-angle view from just a few inches away that, unlike a fisheye lens, appears flat and maintains focus on the entire coral environment.’
Technical information: Nikon D850, Nikon AF Nikkor 28-70mm f/3.5-4.5D, 1/50, f/14, ISO320, Nauticam underwater housing, WACP-1 lens/port, dual Ikelite DS-161 strobes, scuba gear.
Finalist – ‘Underwater Constellation’
Csaba Daróczi, Hungary
Picture details: Freshwater fish gather in a pond beneath a moonlit night. March 8th; Soltvadkert, Hungary.
Technical information: Nikon Z6, Laowa 15mm f/4 Wide Angle Macro, 30sec, f/4-22, ISO4000, Self-made stand, two flashes.
Finalist – ‘Gimme Shelter’
Henley Spiers, UK/France
Picture details:A juvenile fish takes shelter in the open ocean beneath a blue button hydroid. Offshore, Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Technical information: Nikon D850, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 AF-S, 1/500, f/13, ISO800, Nauticam housing
Post processing: Basic adjustments in Lightroom, backscatter removal in Photoshop.
Finalist – ‘Entourage’
Jake Wilton, Australia
Picture details: A reef manta ray (Mobula alfredi) glides by with an entourage of juvenile golden trevally fish. Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia.
Technical information: Nikon D810, Nikkor AF-S Fisheye 8-15mm f/3.5-4.5E ED, 1/250, f/9, ISO640, Underwater housing
Finalist – ‘Juvenile Anglerfish’
Koji Shinke, Japan
Picture details: A juvenile anglerfish floats in the blue deep sea. April 25th; Osezaki, Numazu Shizuoka, Japan.
Technical information: Nikon D810 Nikon 105mm f/2.8, 1/250, f/16, ISO160, Sea & Sea underwater housing, 2x Retra Flash pro
Instagram: @cozy312
Finalist – ‘Cloud Nine’
Laura Storm, UK
Picture details: A Ghost goby hides out among the undulating textures and swirls of its pink sponge daybed. March 26th; Lembeh Strait, Molucca Sea, Indonesia.
Technical information: Canon EOS 800D, Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM, 1/80, f/14, ISO200, 2 x INON s2000 strobes with filters, Sea & Sea RDX750 housing with a DX Macro Port 52, Light & Motion Sola 1200 focus light.
Post processing: Basic adjustments in Lightroom, colour adjustment in Nik Colour FX Pro 4.
Finalist – ‘Alpine Water Salamander’
Luc Rooman, Belgium
Picture details: An Alpine water salamander rests on a water lily before making its way to the surface of a freshwater lake. May 23rd; De Melle, Antwerp, Belgium.
Technical information: Nikon D500, Nikon 16-35mm f/4, 1/160, f/22, ISO100, 2x Subtronic flash,
Post processing: Basic adjustments in Photoshop.
Instagram: @LucRooman
Finalist – ‘Fairy Shrimp Showing Colourful Eggs’
René Krekels, Netherlands
Picture details: A female fairy shrimp displays the colourful eggs inside her. June, Germany.
Technical information Canon R5, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro, 1/250, f/8, ISO250, Flashlights
Post processing: Basic adjustments in Lightroom
Finalist – ‘In the Moonlight’
Sandra Stalker, UK
Picture details: A stalked jellyfish clings to seaweed in turbulent waters, summer; Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset, UK.
Technical information: Sony A7R IV, Meyer Optic Trioplan 50 vintage lens, 1/320, f/2.8, ISO50, Nauticam underwater housing, 2x backscatter miniflash, 2 strobes (one with a blue filter, one with a snoot).
Post processing: Basic adjustments in Photoshop
Instagram: @teenytinyunderwaterphotos
For more information, the Top 100 best pictures and further details on entering, visit cupoty.com
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Detroit Lions NFL statue lawsuit is one of the weirder design disputes we’ve seen
We’ve seen plenty of examples of photographers suing brands or publications for using their work without permission, but this might be the first time we’ve seen a photographer complain that their work been quite literally set in stone.
In a lawsuit, Allen Kee claims a statue unveiled last year of footballer Barry Sanders is based on his own 1995 photo of a game. In a behind-the-scenes video from the Detroit Lions depicting the creation of the statue, the photo can be seen in the background, presumably acting as a reference. (For more NFL controversies, check out the Super Bowl logo conspiracy theory that’s sweeping the web.)
According to Michigan Live, Kee is suing the Detroit Lions, as well as Getty Images, NFL Properties, NFL Enterprises, Fanatics, Dick’s Sporting Goods, McFarlane Toys and others in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, for “direct, contributory and or vicarious copyright infringement”. The suit claims that he “was working as a freelance photographer when the photo was taken, was not an employee of any entity or organisation at the time he created the photograph and did not create the photo under any “work for hire” arrangement or contract.”
In a short statement to Michigan Live, Detroit Lions responded to the accusation. “We are aware of the suit,” the statement reads, “and are prepared to vigorously defend our position that these claims lack merit.”
We’re certainly curious to see how this one plays out – while copyright disputes involving the use of photos tend to be somewhat clear-cut, whether the statue will prove to constitute unlawful use of an alleged reference photo remains to be seen. For something altogether more ridiculous, take a look at the logo dispute between Rockstar and Remedy Games that’s currently bemusing the gaming community.
These three African photographers are celebrating the birthplace of coffee
CNN
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A giant coffee bean in the middle of a forest, a woman with flowers for eyes camouflaged against a patterned backdrop, and a group of women pulling leafy vines, symbolizing a tug of war with nature, are featured among the images in Lavazza’s 2024 calendar.
Every year since 1993, the Italian coffee manufacturer has produced a photography calendar, featuring images from the likes of Helmut Newton, David La Chapelle and Annie Leibovitz. This year’s edition celebrates the African continent as the birthplace of coffee (widely considered to be Ethiopia).
Featuring the work of three African photographers, Thandiwe Muriu, Aart Verrips and Daniel Obasi, and themed “More than Us,” the 2024 calendar is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Giuseppe e Pericle Lavazza Foundation, a non-profit that supports international sustainability projects in coffee-cultivating countries.
“I am so excited by opportunities to provide conversation around Africa and this amazing continent. But the theme itself, for me, was so powerful,” said 33-year-old Kenyan photographer Thandiwe Muriu. “I live in a very communal culture, and our way of life is ‘More than Us’ — you are always your neighbor’s keeper, and I deeply connected with that.”
Muriu was introduced to photography at 14 years old by her father, as part of a list of skills her parents wanted to teach her and her three sisters so they could be strong, independent women in an often-patriarchal society.
“When he put the camera in my hand, something happened,” she said. “I always enjoyed art, but I could never draw. I always enjoyed music, but I could never sing. But the camera just felt right, and it was almost like one of those moments in a movie. Photography just became the voice that I had been looking for to express everything that I was feeling and experiencing.”
Since then, Muriu has been perfecting her craft; from watching YouTube tutorials and reading photography magazines as a teenager, to meeting other photographers and learning from their experience while she studied for a marketing degree.
Today, Muriu’s photographs focus on three ultimate truths about herself which she says shape how she views the world: “I’m a woman, I’m African, and I love color.” This informed her four photographs in the Lavazza calendar, focusing on female models, and creating colorful illusions that haven’t been digitally enhanced.
“Beyond that, every work I produce is paired with an African proverb,” said Muriu. “I realized I come from a culture that historically was not one that did images. It recorded wisdoms, learnings, lessons in words. So this work in a way has become archival, an archive of proverbs that we don’t use anymore that could be forgotten if I didn’t bring them back into use in my work.”
For 31-year-old South African photographer and filmmaker Aart Verrips, the Lavazza project, and its emphasis on Africa and African creatives, is a big step forward in terms of recognition. “Being African and being on this continent, we are so many times deemed to be less a fit than someone that’s coming in from Europe, just because of where we are from,” he said. “So to be part of this is kind of amazing.”
Verrips originally studied to be a chef, and was completing a pastry course in the French Alps 10 years ago when a friend introduced him to photography.
For him, “More than Us” is about loyalty, and it taking a village to create something beautiful, just as each photograph has an entire team behind its creation, from stylists and makeup artists to assistants and agents.
“I brought that [theme] into every kind of image [for the Lavazza calendar],” said Verrips. “In ‘The Vanguard,’ which is the woman standing in the hand, that’s the people elevating her to do what she can do best and fight for gender equality.”
The theme of togetherness is at the heart of every image produced for the calendar, but it is most obvious in Nigerian photographer Daniel Obasi’s work. The intended meaning behind Obasi’s images continuously evolves, but his interests are firmly centered on community, and creating work that offers an opportunity for people to come together.
“Responding to emotions, understanding them and giving them a form in my visual world is important,” he said. “[More than Us] is unity. It’s lending our hands and voices for a common goal.”
Each of Obasi’s images tackles a different issue that requires a community to solve, including climate change, growth and development of the next generation, sexual violence against women, and innovating for the future of the planet.
Like Verrips and Muriu, Obasi picked up photography by chance, having first worked as a freelance stylist. He said a “visual story-telling awakening” happened when he traveled to Badagry in Lagos State, on a school exchange program.
“I was very much obsessed with how the sky ran into the ocean, the way the sands felt and how the sun always fell right against people’s skin as they passed me,” said Obasi. “There was just an overload of colors and beauty that I had to tap into it.”
Obasi says the Lavazza project gave him an opportunity to tell beautiful and positive African stories, where he was in control of the narrative; that’s something Kenyan photographer Muriu believes is essential.
“I think for many years as a continent, we’ve given away our stories, and we’ve not had the voice to tell our own stories,” said Muriu, adding the project is “an opportunity for us on a global scale, to sing our own songs and not just tell our own stories, but tell them in our style, in our distinct visual language.”
She sums up this sentiment with a single African proverb: “Until the lion has his own storyteller, the hunter will always have the best stories.”
