Photography

History through photography: The Flagstaff Tintype Experiment chronicles ARTx festival-goers

History through photography: The Flagstaff Tintype Experiment chronicles ARTx festival-goers
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The amazing thing about photography is that it can be a snapshot of history.

Everything from architecture and landscapes to people and their clothing can reveal stories about the culture of the time.

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Photographer Kan Azuma makes Canada look unfamiliar to the local eye

Photographer Kan Azuma makes Canada look unfamiliar to the local eye
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Open this photo in gallery:

Kan Azuma, Untitled, c. 1973, from the series Erosion.Kan Azuma/National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives

When artist Kan Azuma’s mother passed away in 1995, he went on a pilgrimage to the Japanese island of Shikoku. The local folklore says that if you visit all 88 temples on the pilgrimage route, your deceased family members may come to see you.

On his way, Azuma photographed people – and one goat – and asked all of them whether they were his reincarnated mother.

Photos from this pilgrimage are now one of the first things you see when entering an exhibition of Azuma’s photography at the National Gallery in Ottawa.

A Matter of Place, which runs until June 16, consists of 160 photographs, most of which – unlike the Shikoku images – Azuma took during the 10 years that he lived in Canada.

“There was something that he carried with him from Japan to Canada and then applied to the Canadian landscape,” says Andrea Kunard, the co-curator of the exhibition. Because of that, the photographs can make Canada look foreign to the Canadian eye, says Kunard.

Most of Azuma’s photos are done in a style that, in the late sixties, became very common among Japanese photographers – “are-bure-boke.” The Japanese term can be translated as grainy, blurry and out-of-focus. In Azuma’s black-and-white photographs, people and objects become silhouettes, with parts of the photo dipping into black, nearly invisible, looking almost like a technical glitch.

Kunard says that instead of seeking technical perfection, Azuma’s photos provide an “immediate response to an event in the world.”

Azuma’s photo of Peggy’s Cove, a town of 30 permanent residents in Nova Scotia, is a great example of his approach to photography.

“Somebody said to him, ‘Oh, you know, there is this really cool stuff at Peggy’s Cove. You should go check out those rocks,’” says Kunard.

The sharp rocks of Peggy’s Cove photographed from below look very dark and almost extraterrestrial. “I mean, you wouldn’t recognize it, right? It could be Mars, for that matter,” says Kunard.

Open this photo in gallery:

Kan Azuma, Untitled, c. 1995, from the series 88 Shrines Pilgrimage.Kan Azuma/National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives

Everyone who moves to a new place is influenced by memories of their home, says Euijung McGillis, the co-curator of the exhibition. “We didn’t want to emphasize his nationality or ethnic origin,” says McGillis. “It could have been a Hungarian photographer or a Korean photographer. It happened to be Kan.”

Azuma’s introduction to Canada wasn’t entirely his own choice. Initially, he wanted to move to California in 1970, but in Japan he had participated in anti-Vietnam War protests, for which he was denied entry into the U.S. Since he had already bought a ticket to North America, the travel agency just changed the destination from California to Vancouver.

With his tourist visa, Azuma could only stay in Canada for three months. In an e-mail exchange with McGillis, which is reproduced in the exhibition’s accompanying materials, Azuma recalled being given a one-on-one interview with an immigration officer for a longer stay. Since he could barely speak English, he wrote down and memorized everything he wanted to say to the officer. Azuma concluded his plea by saying that a young, hard-working and motivated 24-year-old would be nothing but a benefit for Canada and, if he were turned down, the officer would regret it for the rest of his life.

Open this photo in gallery:

Kan Azuma, Untitled, c. 1975, from the series Dodge Away.Kan Azuma/National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives

The officer froze. Then he burst into laughter. Azuma passed the interview.

In Vancouver, Azuma did odd jobs, including, among other things, working in a darkroom at Abbott & Tincombe Photographic Services. He bought an old Leica IIIb camera for $25 at a pawn shop and started taking photos on the side. Many of those photos are now exhibited at the NGC.

Azuma says Canada influenced him. He told McGillis that a few years after he arrived, he could tell that his “gloomy Japanese character had changed.” Ten years later, when he returned to Japan to care for his ailing mother, he struggled to become reaccustomed to Japanese life.

“Kan is a very good example of that kind of twist that happens when people are moving around the world and they’re bringing so many different memories to another place,” Kunard says.

That twist isn’t unique to Azuma: As part of the exhibition, there are notebooks that prompt the guests to “share a story about a place that has shaped their journey.” Many did: A visitor named Anna-Mari, for instance, wrote about Finland, her home country. “I am proud of our history,” she wrote. Another, named Sase, mentioned Paris as the place where they first tried mussels. A third, McKayla, wrote a note about her grandmother’s house that “showed her what a loving home is.”

Open this photo in gallery:

Kan Azuma, Untitled, c. 1975, from the series Dodge Away.Kan Azuma/National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives

McGillis says the notebooks are there for people to “draw their own connections” and think about the significance of place in their own lives.

“When you move, you come with your history, your memory, and also your food and your language,” says McGillis. “You bring everything with you, whether you realize it or not.”

Noelle K Photography Celebrates the Art of Portrait Photography in Southern Indiana

Noelle K Photography Celebrates the Art of Portrait Photography in Southern Indiana
Noelle K Photography

Noelle K Photography

Professional Photographer Noelle K Scott

Professional Photographer Noelle K Scott

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My role as a professional photographer is not just to capture moments but to create a space where clients can see their inherent beauty and strength.”

— Noelle K Scott

EVANSVILLE, IN, UNITED STATES, May 2, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — Noelle K Photography, a prominent professional photographer based in Southern Indiana, is proud to emphasize the transformative power of photography. Specializing in portraits, boudoir, senior photos, and headshots, the portrait studio invites individuals and families to experience photography that highlights their true selves and strengthens their confidence.

With over 15 years of expertise as a portrait photographer, Noelle, the owner and visionary behind Noelle K Photography, commits to creating impactful, enduring images. Her work goes beyond traditional portrait photography by offering personalized sessions that reflect the uniqueness of each client.

In discussing her approach, Noelle emphasizes education and empowerment through her photography. “Every portrait session is an opportunity to educate clients about the significance of self-acceptance and the power of representation,” Noelle states. “My role as a professional photographer is not just to capture moments but to create a space where clients can see their inherent beauty and strength.”

Noelle K Photography is deeply rooted in the Haubstadt community and is known for its supportive, inclusive environment. The studio’s commitment to quality and client satisfaction makes it a trusted name for those seeking not only to preserve memories but also to embrace their current life stage with pride and joy.

Service Offerings Include Individual beauty portraits, family and group sessions, Specialized boudoir photography, and professional headshots.

Clients are encouraged to book a session to discover the impact a professional portrait can have on their personal and professional lives. Noelle K Photography aims to make each session a celebration, ensuring that clients leave feeling happier and more confident.

Noelle K Scott
email us here
Noelle K Photography
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Dazed Club Spotlight: April 2024

Dazed Club Spotlight: April 2024
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In our ongoing series highlighting Dazed Club talent, we meet the multi-disciplinary Dazed Club creatives to look out for

Dazed Club Spotlight is our monthly series showcasing up-and-coming talent from the Dazed creative community. If you’d like to be featured, download the app HERE and join our community. You just have to post your best project(s) and the Dazed team will take a look – we select one person from the community to spotlight per week, which then end up in our monthly spotlight roundup.

“Over the course of my photography experience, fashion has become the theme that I’ve gravitated towards most strongly. I love mixing different universes through world-building, and assembling scenes infused by the energies of all the people that inspire me.

“I really enjoy playing with the energies of each individual I encounter with my camera. I like to give myself a rough guideline when I create my own projects, but once I’m on set, I let myself be carried away by the personality of the models I photograph. I’m also not afraid to completely change direction at the last moment, and to allow for happy accidents – I feel like some element of spontaneity is needed. Ultimately, it’s all about the mood in the moment I’m capturing an image.

“When shooting, I’m most excited by people with a strong and innate sense of their own personalities, people with a lot of self-confidence and character, but also people with extreme sensitivity who reveal their vulnerable sides.

“I work with a team that consists of a makeup artist, Nafik Bouchareb, and a stylist, Tessidy Soleil. We use my apartment balcony or my underground garage as a small studio, and find our designer set in flea markets. I mainly buy items for shoots at Marché Saint-Pierre – a fabric store in Paris.”

@anthonys.a

“We’re Ezra Alexander and Ramiyah Kofi, and this is our recent project Tie and Error. The shoot features four young Black British creatives who artfully blend traditional school uniform elements with alternative attire. Through this shoot, our aim was to start conversations around the public’s perception of Black youth, and to shine a light on the creative and alternative side of Black British culture.

Ramiyah: “My style stems a lot from the early 2000s British rap scene and has developed a lot over the years. I tend to get most of my style from the boys of the iconic grime scene, such as Dizzee and Skepta, and from the 00s images by Simon Wheatley. I like to add my own accessories to my looks and get a lot of inspiration from my surroundings, while also maintaining my own originality.”

Ezra: “We were meant to shoot this project entirely in a studio, but ended up taking to the streets to further convey our message. In terms of location, it was between Ancoats and Castlefield in Manchester, but we ultimately went with the latter because we loved the cobblestone roads. We also got the best of both worlds during shooting as it rained at first, then we caught the sun just before we wrapped.

“I want to add a massive thank you to Rachel Tsang – the photographer of this project. I’m so proud of her and her work and she had a major hand in bringing this vision to life. I also want to mention SpaceToCreate. The people who run it are truly genuine and I’m happy to be in a space that wants to see everyone succeed.”

@ezraa.mp4, @ramiyahkofii, @racheltsangggg

“Women are always under so much pressure to focus on what they eat by men and wider society. Pie and Mash Girl shows the innocence of a girl who doesn’t care what these men think. This shoot is inspired by my own experiences as a woman from a working class background, growing up in the pie and mash shops which have always held a special place in my heart. With this project, I wanted to kickback against what society thinks a woman’s diet should look like. The rise of ‘girl dinners’ on social media has made me think more about the foods we eat, and I think generally there’s more fixation on women’s diets. I want this piece to have a wider impact and encourage young girls to not have to worry about what they eat for the sake of society, or feel that they need to adhere to patriarchal values.

“I’m inspired by my own British and Irish heritage, as well as my upbringing in the outskirts of London by my Irish mother. Pie and Mash Girl not only draws on the British cultural side, but also my own experience with my strong friend group of creative girls. We’ve inspired one another in a way that’s allowed us to forge our own creative community.”

@keanacrago

“My name’s Anisha and I am Punjabi Indian, born and raised in England. I have witnessed a lot of indifference and racism due to the colour of my skin in so many different areas of life. Photography is one of my favourite things and has been a way for me to counter this experience. I want to stake some of my claim on photography because I feel that, as a practice, it is heavily skewed away from minorities. The images presented here are a combination of photos from the first exhibition with my collective OUTSIDE LOOKING IN, along with photos of the exhibition itself.

“A lot of my work has been focussed on the nightlife scene in Manchester, but I’m wanting to expand that and make this collective more widely about culture and art. My goal for the collective is to allow people to be able to tell their own stories and to thrive in their own ways.

“I would like to thank the beautiful people who took part in the exhibition, @dapicnik, @trnsrd and @gretaktaylor. I am taking submissions for people to post their work now that the @out.lookin.in page is fully up and running!”

@anishabedesha, @out.lookin.in

Princess Kate takes candid photograph of Princess Charlotte to mark 9th birthday

Princess Kate takes candid photograph of Princess Charlotte to mark 9th birthday

The Prince and Princess of Wales proudly shared a new photograph of Princess Charlotte to make her ninth birthday on Thursday.

The portrait, taken by mum Kate in Windsor in the last few days, shows the youngster smiling at the camera and casually posing outside next to a clematis plant with pink petals. 

Sporting a burgundy cardigan over a floral shirt and a navy knit and a denim skirt, Charlotte wears her long locks loose over her shoulders. 

The caption read: “Happy 9th Birthday, Princess Charlotte! Thank you for all of the kind messages today.”

Princess Charlotte's ninth birthday photo, taken in Windsor© The Princess of Wales
Princess Charlotte on her ninth birthday

In line with the new precedent they set for Prince Louis’ sixth birthday last month, Prince William and Kate posted the image directly on social media on Charlotte’s special day on 2 May, rather than under embargo to the press as was the tradition.

It avoided the uproar sparked by the Princess’s digitally altered Mother’s Day photo.

Charlotte’s ninth birthday comes during unprecedented time for the Wales family with Kate appealing for time, space and privacy as she continues her treatment following her cancer diagnosis.

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On 22 March, the Princess announced her diagnosis in a moving video message, saying to camera: “It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK.

“As I have said to them; I am well and getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal; in my mind, body and spirits.”

Charlotte was last seen in public on Christmas Day when she walked to church with her family and second cousin Mia Tindall at Sandringham.

Princess Charlotte’s early life, education and more

Charlotte Elizabeth Diana was born in the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, at 8.34am on 2 May 2015, weighing 8lbs 3oz.

William and Kate leave hospital with baby Princess Charlotte© Getty
William and Kate leaving hospital with daughter Charlotte in May 2015

Mum Kate captured the first official photograph of newborn daughter with her big brother, Prince George, a month after Charlotte’s birth.

The tot was christened at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, with the then Cambridges residing nearby at Anmer Hall at the time.  

Charlotte made history at the age of two as she was the first female royal to benefit from The Succession to the Crown Act (2013), which states that girls will not be overtaken by any future younger brothers, keeping her place in the line of succession when little brother Prince Louis arrived in April 2018.

The princess joined her parents on her first royal tour to Canada when she was just 16 months old. Relive this sweet mother-daughter moment between Kate and Charlotte as the royals attended a party for military families…

WATCH: Kate shares a dance with daughter Charlotte on Canada tour

George and Charlotte, then aged three and two respectively, also joined their parents on their royal tour of Germany and Poland in July 2017.

She began her education at Willcocks Nursery School in Kensington in January, following the family’s move to London and later joined George at Thomas’s Battersea School.

the cambridge family at george's school© Getty Images
Charlotte’s first day at Thomas’s Battersea School in September 2019

George, Charlotte and Louis enrolled at Lambrook School in Berkshire in September 2022 after William and Kate relocated to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor.

Charlotte, who has a passion for dancing, has accompanied her parents to some major royal events over the years, including the King’s coronation at Westminster Abbey in May 2023.

Princess Charlotte, Princess of Wales Prince Louis© Getty
Charlotte on the balcony with William, Kate and Louis at the King’s coronation

She wore a mini-me version of Kate’s silver bullion, crystal and silver thread headpiece by Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen, along with a caped ivory McQueen frock.

LISTEN: The reason why Meghan and her children don’t want to visit the UK just yet

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The photographs worth a thousand words

The photographs worth a thousand words

You are on an escalator, standing behind and slightly below a middle-aged woman who is wearing a sensible black knee-length skirt and flat shoes. Your visual field is filled by two stoutish legs in pale tights that are preparing to step off the top of the moving stairway. You are looking at a photograph by Dolorès Marat: Legs, Paris, 1997. Maybe you choose to focus on the contrast between the disembodied limbs and the industrial metal of the escalator; or to imagine the office routine ahead and all the traipsing those legs are going to have to do; or to think about the woman behind the camera, who is just as present in the image as the woman whose legs you are looking at, if not more so. What did she see in this image, and want you to see?

Marat’s photographs of street scenes form part of the ‘Exteriors’ exhibition at the Museum of European Photography in Paris. Curated by the writer Lou Stoppard during a residency at MEP, the show displays works in the permanent collection – shots of everyday life in France but also London, Scarborough, New York, Tokyo and Shanghai by over 25 different artists – alongside extracts from Journal du dehors, a published diary by the writer Annie Ernaux in which she recorded her immediate impressions of life in and around the Paris suburb of Cergy-Pontoise between 1985 and 1992.

‘Can you see a text? Can you read a photograph?’ asks Stoppard in the catalogue essay. What the medium of photography does best is ‘describe’, said the American street photographer Garry Winogrand, whose photographs of a shop window in San Marcos, Texas, and another in New York City are paired with Ernaux’s street images. One extract reads, in its entirety: ‘A trolley on its side, a long way from the shopping centre, like a toy forgotten in the grass.’

Shinjuku Station, Tokyo (1962), Hiro. MEP Collection, Paris. © The Estate of Y. Hiro Wakabayashi

Ernaux has joked that her signature ‘flat’, unrhetorical style was an attempt to create work at ‘a cut below literature’. Her texts are hung on the walls of the exhibition like photographs: scenes at the supermarket, on the metro and the RER, very often focusing on women and girls performing themselves in public. There’s a hairdresser ‘cleansing herself’ after an encounter with a woman carrying head lice by complaining loudly; girls chatting at the supermarket checkout, ignoring their customers; snippets read over the shoulder of fellow passengers on the metro.

Stoppard’s pairings work best when the overheard, or ‘overseen’, aspect of the image is embedded in the photographs themselves. The camera lens nods to real-life framing devices: windows, mirrors, streetscapes and even hedges. Take the foreshortened view in Richard Kalvar’s work Sunbathing Woman, Bryant Park, New York City (1969): torso, arm, tipped-over plastic cup and straw, seen through bushes and what may be the framing window of a bus. These photographs insist on perspectives that are simultaneously stolen, accidental and set up.

Because there is, of course, no neutral seeing. ‘I have put a lot of myself into these texts, far more than originally planned,’ says Ernaux, ‘memories and obsessions subconsciously dictating my choice of words, and the scenes I wished to freeze.’

Istanbul (Turkey) (1986), Jean-Christophe Béchet. MEP Collection, Paris. © Jean-Christophe Béchet

Ernaux’s exteriors lead to a personal interior, but her book is also intended as a documentary of behaviours she finds wanting:

The violence and shame inherent in society can be found in the contempt a customer shows for a cashier or in the vagrant begging for money who is shunned by his peers – in anything that appears to be unimportant and meaningless simply because it is familiar or ordinary […] a supermarket can provide just as much meaning and human truth as a concert hall.

For all the focus on the image, Ernaux is less interested in the visual shape of what she sees than in what it means. There’s nothing like the glorious visual rhyme in Bernard Pierre Wolff’s Mid Manhattan, New York (1984), in which the red and white striped fabric of a woman’s dress repeats the red and white stripes on a warning barrier in the street.

My favourite image in the exhibition frames another visual rhyme for the viewer, and one more in keeping with Ernaux’s preoccupation with female generations. It’s Jean-Philippe Charbonnier’s Two Hands and a Pair of Underpants, Luxembourg, Paris (1978), and it’s a drama in three acts. We catch sight of them in the park, a middle-aged woman in the sun, left hand to her chest, right hand on her knee. Beside her a teenage girl, most probably her daughter, is caught in the same gesture – it’s unclear whether she’s modelling herself consciously or not. Up in the right-hand corner sits a young girl, casually showing us her knickers. She’s not yet inducted in the ways of femininity, but she will be.

Nabari Mie (1977), from the series Fushikaden (1971–78) by Suda Issei. MEP Collection, Paris. Courtesy Akio Nagasawa Gallery; © Issei Suda

‘Exteriors – Annie Ernaux and Photography’ is at the MEP, Paris, until 26 May.

‘I was lying on the ground beside a wall of cops’: student photographers’ best images of the campus protests

‘I was lying on the ground beside a wall of cops’: student photographers’ best images of the campus protests

As protests in support of Palestine sweep university campuses across the US, student journalists from New York to Texas have documented the reality inside the encampments. They have risen to the occasion, capturing the quiet moments, the celebratory elements, the tense scenes and the violent police arrests.

We asked nine photographers – who have been covering the demonstrations at Columbia, Berkeley, the University of Texas and beyond – to tell the stories behind their most powerful photos.


Lily Speredelozzi | George Washington University
When a portion of the encampment at George Washington University was closed off by barriers, protesters outside chalked quotes such as “GW is complicit in genocide”, “shame on you GW”, or “power to the people”. Later, protesters broke down the barriers. I was excited to take this photo. I wanted to include context: the Palestinian flag, the students, the chalk. I love the overhead shot and the shadowsThe GWU encampment protest has been peaceful, with GW police and DC Metro police presence but no activity.


Christian Harsa | The Lantern, Ohio State University
This photo was taken on the South Oval, across College Road from the Ohio Union. I wanted to get a shot of how police were making arrests so people could see what was happening on the ground. Adrenaline was running high because I was so close to where the police and the line of protesters met. The threat of being arrested myself was ever present. In this photo a student is being arrested after being brought to the ground and pulled from the line of protesters. I love the action this photo caught. I can’t help but put myself in her shoes and consider the anger and fear she must have felt.


Krish Dev | Washington Square News, New York University
This was taken on the evening of 25 April, right before over 100 students formed a picket line outside Gould Plaza to protest the 120 arrests of protesters, including students and faculty, at the site two days prior. I saw police aggressively charge at protesters in riot gear and zip-tie them; they even pepper-sprayed one of our photographers. Following the arrests, police constructed a wall using metal boards and plastic barriers. Some wrote messages and attached flyers calling on students to go to Columbia University to support the encampment there. The person who is looking at the board in the image is a campus safety officer. Campus safety officers have been guarding the protests 24/7 over the past week and, in my experience, have been respectful of demonstrations and kept protesters safe from those outside. Originally, I was planning to take a photo of the wooden board and the words “WALL OF SHAME” written on it. As I was taking the photo, a campus safety officer started to look at the message. I thought the juxtaposition between him and the message was very powerful. I felt a little sad for the officer, who looked slightly upset in the shot. I’ve seen multiple campus safety officers who appear conflicted. I was also reminded of the violation of student trust taking place on campus.


Anita Liu | The Daily Californian, University of California, Berkeley
This picture was taken from the balcony of the Martin Luther King Jr student union building, which is directly opposite the encampment. It’s a common location to take protest photos, to show a wider perspective. There were approximately 150 tents and no police activity at the time. The steps were named after a leader of the free speech movement, making the encampment grounds an important site in political activism.

When taking this photo, I knew I was documenting an important moment in campus history. I couldn’t help but think about the parallels between the Free Palestine encampment and the South African apartheid demonstrations on campus back in the 1980s.


Charlotte Keene | The Daily Texan, University of Texas, Austin
After protest and police interactions got more hectic, many students started running away.

Another photographer and I ran into this building after police started using force to disperse the crowd. We knew we had to do more than hide, so we started looking for classrooms with windows. We heard the commotion coming from the bottom floor exits. And then we saw the scene.

I was scared. I almost did not take it. Those of us in the building were unsure whether the police would force their way in. But I stopped for a second and knew I needed to capture what I was seeing.

I love the symmetry. I think there is something pleasant to look at about the contrast in light and the repetitive squares from the window – almost as if there is a sense of calm before the storm. To me, the stillness reads as anticipation.


Marco Postigo Storel | Columbia University
Different groups within the Gaza Solidarity encampment at Columbia University were having a dance presentation inside the encampment during a warm afternoon. I decided to lie down on the grassy ground in the center of the circle, and get their feet in the foreground while the rest of the people were moving in the background. It was a warm day with good lighting.

I like how everything in the frame is at the right spot at the right time, and the three-dimensionality that the photo has makes it better. Like a finished puzzle. I got a lot of dirt on my clothes by taking this photo, but it was worth it.


Manoo Sirivelu | The Daily Texan, University of Texas at Austin
In this picture, University of Texas police (UTPD) officers are pinning a protester on the concrete sidewalk and zip-tying them. Law enforcement would push in at intervals and surround the protesters, 360 degrees. Nearby crowds and media often couldn’t see the full extent of the force used and how the protesters were being detained. I wanted to show the feelings of imprisonment and suffocation that the students were experiencing, so I tried to depict the officers’ legs as bars that were already surrounding the student.

I was beside the student in this picture when the arrest was made and a UTPD officer had pushed me down while trying to make space. I was lying on the ground with a wall of cops between me and the student when I sat up to take this picture, not more than five feet away from her.

I was shocked from being pushed to the ground when I met her gaze and realized we were close enough to make eye contact. I felt needed to take a picture that would encapsulate both her feelings and my own.

It shows how unnecessary the force used in these arrests was. Our cameras bear the responsibility of recording the events – to allow the viewers to see, and, most importantly, place themselves in our point of view with a space for empathy that a photo like this provides.


Jason Alpert-Wisnia | Washington Square News, New York University
In this photograph, students were eating donated and purchased food. They had supplies gathered in the center of their space and students would sit around by their tents there to eat. I wanted to show the stillness, in between the moments of action that are everywhere. Shooting from above gives scale to the campus protests. I took this from the third floor of NYU’s Paulson Center looking down on the camp. As a student I can enter buildings and work from angles that non-students cannot, so I had the advantage of height.


Top Image:
Lorianne Willett |
The Daily Texan, University of Texas, Austin

I was looking to tell the stories of students being arrested. When I took this picture, I was standing just in front of state troopers who’d surrounded the van they were putting arrested people in. I was in the front of a large crowd of people protesting and spectating. After going through my take, I really felt so affected by seeing the faces of people my age being taken to jail. In this shot, I like the framing of arrested protesters in between the helmets of state troopers.

In pictures: The thrill and chaos of growing up in New York

In pictures: The thrill and chaos of growing up in New York
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Nolan Zangas’ move towards photography was a natural, “organic” journey. “I started filming skateboarding at a really young age and over time that transitioned into taking pictures,” explains the 25-year-old New Yorker. “I slowly lost interest in skateboarding and started taking photography more seriously, and here I am today.” 

While having made his name as a photographer shooting fashion editorials, his debut monograph, So Far So Good (published by Blurring Books) instead reflects on New York’s streets and the city’s youth culture. The culmination of the past five years, Zangas’ first book is like a time capsule which chronicles the skateboard kids and their unique culture at a very particular moment in time. 

“Photography gave me a real reason to straighten out my life and grow as a person. I think people know my work for documenting celebrities and models and, don’t get me wrong, I love doing that. But that’s not where I come from,“ Zangas tells Dazed in a conversation over email. “I started taking pictures just being a kid running around the city. I wanted to make a book that reflected that and shed light on those less recognised, to take beautiful pictures that make them feel noticed.”

The principle story emerging from Zangas’ pictures is a coming-of-age tale many of us will feel an affinity with. He conveys that heady sensation of the newfound freedom of adolescence and all the precarity and risk it entails. From fireballs in the streets to the bridges of the Hudson River at dusk and friends fucking about with flames, skateboards, cigarettes and aerosols, Zangas’ portraits evoke the febrile quality of NYC nights and the sense of feeling reckless and part of a crew. One topless figure brandishes a knife, a masked kid gazes out defiantly through the eye holes of a balaclava, a young couple kiss against the backdrop of a gathering crowd, a pair of cyclists wheelie daringly toward the camera. A sense of fevered danger permeates the pictures. 

“I was definitely a bit of a troublemaker growing up,” he admits. Yet, despite the riotous undercurrent, there’s also an overriding sense of hopefulness in the pages of So Far So Good. Even the name of the book is tentatively positive. “The theme is optimistic but also questions, ‘What’s next?’” he explains. “I always think about how far you can push something until you hit breaking point. It’s a question I’ve often asked myself when I felt things were going too far in a negative way. I wanted the book to question that a bit as well, and I think the title is very fitting in that sense.”

As well as being an ode to his friends and the skateboard community that embraced him, So Far So Good is also a love story with New York itself. “New York is very chaotic and there is always something happening,” he says. “The streets are filled with excitement. It makes me always want to carry a camera because I never know what I’ll see. I think New York gives me a constant sense of attention and curiosity.”

The book preserves a sense of Zangas’ own transition from adolescence to adulthood but also immortalises his wider community during this seminal five-year period. In a city that moves so quickly, even his relatively recent pictures are already artefacts of the past. “Looking back at these images, everything looks so different now… the clothes people wear, the buildings, the cars, the streets. New York is constantly changing and people are too… I don’t really know what’s going to happen, but I think one day it will be cool to look back and interesting to see the directions everyone’s life took.”

Nolan Zangas’ So Far So Good is published by Blurring Books and is available here now. 

Encompassing Euphoria: JK Wong shakes up the world of photography

Encompassing Euphoria: JK Wong shakes up the world of photography
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JK Wong is shaking up the world of photography. The Chinese-born, LA-based fashion photographer is not one who shies away from being bold or adding dramatic flair to her work.

Using photography to celebrate the female form and fashion, Wong loves exaggerated poses, euphoric expressions and saturated colors. She finds inspiration in models who feel elevated in garb that show women as playful, desirable and powerful.

Wong moved to the Pasadena area three years ago and works as a freelance photographer throughout California.

“I told my parents about eight years ago that I was going to move to America to pursue photography,” Wong said. “Well, I actually first knew I wanted to have something to do with fashion design, but then my mom encouraged me to look into pursuing media.”

After gathering some model friends for photos, Wong built her portfolio in hopes of becoming a professional photographer.

“Back then, I fell in love with this guy I had met through friends, and I wanted to capture moments of his life,” Wong said. “But if you look at my website now, with all the photos I’ve taken in my career, they’re all of women — I found them more interesting to photograph, down to the way they move their bodies in photos, to their fashion.”

One of Wong’s most prominent attributes to her photography is color. Back when she was studying at university about eight years ago, someone had given her the advice to purchase a reflector to add more color to a session. The one she ended up buying for $4 is something she still uses in almost every photoshoot.

“It’s so much easier than transporting around heavy, expensive lighting equipment that seems to break so easily,” Wong said. “I first dreamed of moving out to New York, but when I visited, the sky was so dark and gray. When I landed in Los Angeles, though, it was at sunset and I just knew how perfectly the light would complement my photos. I knew my future was here.”

To keep each photoshoot fresh, Wong typically doesn’t use the same model more than twice. In most of the stories she has depicted, Wong’s models are dressed as fairy tale characters like Alice or the Queen of Hearts from “Alice in Wonderland,” Barbie, Ex Machina, fairies, circus clowns and many more.

When reflecting on some of her most memorable shoots, JK shared the story behind “Alien Pilot,” where her first model, who was bald, was disrespecting a makeup artist and stylist on the set. After hearing this, Wong canceled the shoot but still wanted to use the idea she had prepared. After calling an agent, another model Wong had wanted was able to work on the idea for “Alien Pilot,” but with one problem.

“She had so much hair, I had no idea what to do,” Wong said. “Everything was so last minute, I asked the makeup artist if she was able to get a bald cap, and she did! Looking back at the photos, it’s one of my favorite photoshoots I’ve done.”

Before her photoshoot titled “Euphoria,” Wong felt it was a word that resonated most with the way she felt taking photos.

“I want to create and show a euphoric experience — it’s my favorite word and it’s the way I think about my art. It’s what I want to show the world,” Wong said.

Her whimsical and surreal imagery can also be seen in her featured publications like Vogue, covers of Harper’s Bazaar, L’Officiel, Playboy, Grazia, Glamour and many more.

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