Female Gaze: Revolutionary. in Every Way

Capital culture: Photo London, How do women photograph Laia Abril, Zuza Krajewska,
Peckham 24 and Prix Pictet women differently to men? Endia Beal, Riposte magazine
Established 1854
Female Gaze
REVOLUTIONARY. IN EVERY WAY.

Issue 7859 May 2017
Change the game with the E-M1 Mark II. It is a powerful, precise and high-speed OM-D which
$19.99
perfectly meets the needs of photographers. Even in combination with a super-telephoto M.ZUIKO
FEMALE GA ZE
UK £9.99 CAN/NZ $22.99 US/AUS
DIGITAL lens, it keeps you light on your feet throughout any photo assignment and with its
US/
weatherproof construction, anywhere in the world. The PRO Service dedicated to professionals
ensures you are free to focus on what you do best: taking inspiring photos.
NEW PERSPEC TIVES FROM
Find out more at your local dealer or visit www.olympus.co.uk T H E S E L F I E G E N E R AT I O N
Editor’s Introduction
Female Gaze
The leading source of inspiration
and insight into cutting-edge
contemporary photography.
How do women photograph women differently to men? It’s one of
theGet
questions we asked
12 issues Charlotte
of BJP Jansen,
with our a London-based
no-risk, writer and
full back money guarantee*
curator who is the author of the recently published Girl on Girl: Art
and Photography in the Age of the Female Gaze.
She argues that as more female photographers get behind the
camera and find their audience directly through social media, it
will have an effect on the way we see women. Put another way, as
women gain more control of how they are represented, they change
how women are perceived. “Photography is an expression of power,”
writes Jansen in our cover story. “The photographic act is often
viewed as an assertion of masculine dominance; a predatory point-
and-shoot action.” What is more contentious is the extent to which
women bring a ‘female gaze’ to the subject.
The phrase was first used in opposition to the ‘male gaze’, a term
coined by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey in the 1970s to define the
dominant masculine point of view, in which women are presented
Photo © Fredrik Lerneryd
as objects of male pleasure. However, many didn’t like the idea of a

female gaze defined by its male counterpart, or argued that women
couldn’t simply disengage from the influences of society and were as
likely to objectify female bodies as men.
Jansen says the current generation of women photographing
men are different to the second-wave feminists of the 1970s. “It’s
harder for women photographers working now to move against the
CALLING ALL STUDENTS DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES patriarchal system because wherever you put your pictures, you are
invariably consumed by that system,” she writes. But despite the fact
AND GRADUATES 08 MAY 2017 that women are expected to conform with or counter the male gaze,
EXHIBIT YOUR WORK BJPBREAKTHROUGH.COM she says, “they see the world differently – in just as muchwww.bjpsubs.com
colour and
GET FEATURED IN BJP
nuance. We are beginning to see that world, everywhere we look”.
Simon Bainbridge, SAVE PROMO CODE: MAY17A
MEET INDUSTRY EXPERTS

LAUNCH YOUR CAREER Supported by
Editor
37% Introduction: May 2017 3
36 50
76 68
JUDGES INCLUDE
EMMA LEWIS
ASSISTANT CURATOR, TATE MODERN
CALLING ALL STUDENTS DIANA MARKOSIAN Featured 36 – 49 50 – 66

I'll be your mirror Lost boys
PHOTOGRAPHER, MAGNUM PHOTOS
AND GRADUATES Charlotte Jansen explores the work of
the new generation of women artists
In breaking away from her usual work
in commercial fashion, Zuza Krajewska
EMMA BOWKETT and photographers who are thriving spent a year uncovering the sensitive
DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY,
FT WEEKEND MAGAZINE
in the image-saturated world of social
media, and asks whether this will be a
and, at times, tragic backstory of 32
teenage boys growing up in a youth
MONDAY 08 MAY 2017 catalyst for a new era of the female gaze. detention centre near Warsaw.
VIVIENNE GAMBLE 68 – 75 76 – 81
DIRECTOR, SEEN FIFTEEN GALLERY & PECKHAM 24
BJPBREAKTHROUGH.COM Am I what you're looking for?
Endia Beal taps into the unwritten codes
Secret history
Approaching provocative issues
MAISIE SKIDMORE of the corporate ‘look’ in a work that to expose challenges faced by
ONLINE EDITOR, ANOTHER combines testimonies and portraits vulnerable women around the world,
to expose prejudices and judgements Laia Abril gives an insight into her
LISA FARRELL women of colour experience in an
office workplace.
new project on misogyny, starting
with On Abortion.
HEAD OF EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS,
Supported by BRITISH JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Featured: May 2017 5
Index
WATCH THE XMT

BEHIND-THE-SCENES
VIDEO NOW
Projects
23 Lena Mucha captures life
for female army cadets in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
26 Tania Franco Klein explores
the culture of convenience in
her autobiographical project
Our Life in the Shadows.
30 Jennifer Niederhauser Schlup
mixes archival and digitally
manipulated images to
question notions of reality.
16 – 19
©Steve Brown - stevebrowncreative.com

Features
36 Charlotte Jansen looks at
the ways in which female
photographers choose to
represent women in their work.
50 Zuza Krajewska takes a 38 – 39
deeper view of youthful male
vulnerability in her record of a
Polish correctional institute for
troubled boys.
68 Endia Beal examines gender
and race in the corporate
world.
Unmatched
76 Laia Abril delves into the
history of misogyny with her
project On Abortion.
Intelligence 86– 87
Creative
83 Discovering a little-known
collection of Irving Penn's
early work.
86 Creative Brief: Shaz Madani is
Freedom
the co-founder and art director
Agenda of women's magazine Riposte.
10 Photo London returns for its
third, and biggest, edition. Technology
14 South London's upstart 89 Focusing on the latest
24-hour photofestival lenses announced at CP+ in
Peckham 24. Yokohama, along with new Generation X is a revolutionary and uncompromising range of flash products
from Bowens that has been engineered for speed, reliability and cutting edge
16 The seventh edition of the glass from Irix and Nikkor.
design. The XMT500 all-in-one battery flash is an unrivalled location system
annual Prix Pictet launches at
designed to provide photographers with limitless creative opportunities.
London's V&A with a shortlist Archive
of photographers exploring 98 Lise Straatsma's use of Includes TTL, HSS, Strobe mode (up to 100 flashes), 2.4GHz radio control,
the theme of Space with survivalist video tutorials and Lithium-ion battery (500 full power flashes), integrated reflector, easy-open Twitter.com/BowensFlash
diverse and surprising work. her own research materials and quick-lock angle adjustment latch, foldaway stand mount. Facebook.com/BowensFlash
20 Any Answers: mix order and chaos to Instagram.com/BowensFlash
Anders Petersen. intriguing effect. 90 – 91

6 Index: May 2017
Bowens.co.uk
Contributors Zuza Krajewska
One of the standout fashion and commercial
Editorial Director
Simon Bainbridge
Digital Editor
photographers in Eastern Europe, the Gdansk Diane Smyth
Peckham Twenty-Four and Prix Pictet women differently to men? Endia Beal, Riposte magazine
Academy of Fine Arts graduate has produced Lead Feature Writer

Tom Seymour
Established 1854
work that has appeared in Elle, Harper’s
Assistant Editor
Bazaar and InStyle, to name but a few. Izabela Radwanska Zhang
However, her featured project, Imago, set in a Creative Director
Polish youth detention centre, belongs to the Mick Moore
other side of her more personal documentary Senior Designer
Nicky Brown
practice. “I did it for the people living in Poland,
Contributors
also for the kids, so they could learn that life Rob Alderson, Gerry Badger, Taco Hidde
can be cruel,” she says. The project is a step in Bakker, Kathy Ball, Emma Bowkett,
Laurence Butet-Roch, David Campany,
a new direction for Krajewska, whose previous Federica Chiocchetti, Lucy Davies,
work has addressed stereotypes of gender, Damien Demolder, Martin Evening,
Paul Fairclough, Marc Feustel, Jessica
marginalised groups and the nude.
$19.99
FEMALE GA ZE Gordon, Michael Grieve, Peter Hamilton,

UK £9.99 CAN/NZ $22.99 US/AUS
US/

T H E S E L F I E G E N E R AT I O N
zuzakrajewska.com Lauren Heinz, Charlotte Jansen,
David Kilpatrick, Richard Kilpatrick,
Stephen McLaren, Donatella Montrone,
Female Gaze issue Charlotte Jansen Gemma Padley, Colin Pantall, Juan Peces,
Rachel Segal Hamilton, Maisie Skidmore,
May 2017 A British Sri Lankan journalist and editor-at- Shana Ting Lipton, Eliza Williams, Paul
Issue 7859, Volume 164 large of Elephant magazine, Jansen writes Wombell, Sophie Wright, Sonia Zhuravlyova
Cover about contemporary art and culture for Editorial Enquiries
Untitled, from Like a Stone series [email protected]
© Pinar Yolacan.
The Guardian, Vice, Wallpaper*,
Wallpaper* Artsy and
Sales Enquiries
Contemporary Art Review LA, among others, [email protected]
and also runs the art agency No Way. She is Head of Commercial
the author of Girl On Girl
Girl, a new photography Pax Zoega
book made under the female gaze, which Commercial Campaign Manager
Ameena Rojee
she deconstructs in this month’s issue. “I’ve
Marketing Director
learnt that photography is very important Marc Ghione
as a transformative social tool, and that this Head of Exhibitions & Events
moment is particularly important for women, Lisa Farrell
More Photos.
for both the bad and good,” she says. “I also Media Consultant
Harry Rose
understood selfies aren’t always vapid, and
CTO
that there really is such a thing as sisterhood.” Tom Royal
She is now working on a very different project: Founder & CEO
More Features.
the biography of a 74-year-old Japanese Marc Hartog
erotica artist. In May, she will be speaking at Subscription Enquiries
01795 414682
Fotogalleriet in Oslo alongside Anja Carr and [email protected]
Tonje Bøe Birkeland, who both feature in Girl Distribution & Marketing Enquiries
On Girl.
More Motion.
[email protected]
@omfg_NOWAY
Apptitude Media
Donatella Montrone 9th Floor, Anchorage House,
Montrone tells the story of the remarkable 2 Clove Crescent, London E14 2BE
020 7193 2625
uncovering of Irving Penn’s early work. She
explains: “Many years ago, I worked for a Distributed by Comag
publisher in Manhattan and shared a cubicle Printed by Park Communications Ltd
with Peter Homans – copy editor by day, parkcom.co.uk
@ParkCommLondon
composer by night. Peter is Katie Cangelosi’s #PrintedByPark
husband and Katie is the daughter of Nonny
ISSN: 0007-1196
Our new print partner is an award-winning Gardner, Irving Penn’s first wife. Katie and
London company celebrated for its Peter visited London a year ago and the three Published by Apptitude Media Limited
© Apptitude Media Limited, 34a Watling
uncompromising attention to quality and detail. of us met for a catch-up at the Ace Hotel in Street, Radlett, Herts, WD7 7NN.
Producing everything from auction catalogues Shoreditch. I was enthralled listening to Katie UK Company No: 8361351.
No part of this publication may be
and annual reports to high-end magazines and tell how she and her siblings sifted through reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
photobooks, Park’s clients include Pentagram, their mother’s belongings after her death and transmitted in any form or by any means
without the express permission of the
Christie’s, Mulberry and Lloyd’s of London. Park found this trove of images, and of the journey publisher or editor. This is considered breach
is the go-to printer for Mondial, Boat Magazine to getting them authenticated, which involved of copyright and will be acted upon.
and Riposte and is also active in supporting Penn’s brother, the filmmaker Authur Penn.” www.thebjpshop.com
A member of the
cultural initiatives with partners including She adds: “This may well be my biggest story Audit Bureau of Circulations Print | Online | iPad | iPhone | Social
The Photographers’ Gallery, It’s Nice That, ever, and I content myself in the knowledge Philanthropic & Media Partner
Stack and magCulture. BJP looks forward to that my long-lost friends in New York entrusted
deepening our relationship. it to me.”
8 Colophon: May 2017

Agenda Photo London co-founder Michael 2
Benson reflects on the hard work

behind establishing the fair as a key
date in the photography calendar
Photo London 35,000 visitors over its five-day run, with

Words by Tom Seymour collectors and VIP photography professionals
visibly active. Most of London’s commercial
photography dealers will be represented
among the 100 or so galleries booked so far
for this year’s edition (from 18 to 21 May);
many public institutions are either directly
involved or programming in response to the
fair, following the lead of Tate Modern, which
Spring is in the air in London and for the has staged Offprint London in its Turbine
first time this year the sun is shining on the Hall since the fair’s inception in 2015. “The
courtyard of Somerset House. Michael Benson, industry has a habit of almost talking itself to
one of the two founding directors of Photo a standstill,” says Benson. “We had to deal
London, sits in its centre, drinking a morning with a lot of scepticism. But I think we’ve had a
coffee and soaking up the rays. He could be rather good start.”
forgiven for feeling a little smug but today he That scepticism was not without merit
seems merely quietly content that later this – after all, Photo London had been tried
month the art fair will be back for its third before. A photography fair with the same
edition, its biggest yet. name, initiated by UK-based dealer Daniel
“We kept hearing from people that ‘there’s Newburg, ran at the Royal Academy’s
no market for photography in London, there’s Burlington galleries annually for three years
no interest’,” says Benson. “These were people between 2004 and 2006 before it was bought
in the industry and they should have known by Paris Photo owners, Reed Exhibitions, who
better.” In fact, the fair established itself as a closed it after just one failed edition. But
key fixture on the international photography Reed had relocated it to Old Billingsgate on
calendar and soon this grand old courtyard a Bank Holiday weekend – it’s fair to say the
and the labyrinthine rooms of Somerset House events organiser misjudged the date and
will be filled with gallerists, collectors, artists, location – while the mood of confidence from
curators and exhibitors once again. the first edition had been dimmed by the
Last year’s edition featured 84 galleries absence of North American galleries, some
from 19 countries, welcoming more than of which complained they had been burnt by
Photo London gears

up for its third
edition, bringing in
its wake Peckham
import and export duties. However, the wider cultural producers and entrepreneurs to
24’s non-stop fringe 1 CHAPTER XI, A Living Man Declared
Dead and Other Chapters I-XVIII, 2011
consensus at the time was that London simply create commercial partnerships with sponsors.
show. Plus we 2
© Taryn Simon, courtesy Gagosian Gallery
Dorothy with light face, 1962 © William
couldn’t sustain a photography fair without “When we started off trying to persuade
preview the work Klein, courtesy HackelBury Fine Art,
London.
the backing of local institutions or the kind of people to come, they had some bad memories
grass-roots enthusiasm the medium enjoys in of being in London from the previous fair,”
in the running for France or Germany. Benson admits today. “It was a very tough
the Prix Pictet and Benson and his partner Fariba Farshad sell. A lot of people had come to London from
hear from Anders (who together co-founded Candlestar, the abroad and discovered that nothing much
producer of Photo London and the Prix Pictet) was happening. I had to act as an evangelist
Petersen about have since gone a long way to confound for something that didn’t then exist. But I also
what makes a those assumptions, bringing to bear years had to convince them that, this time, their faith
photographer of expertise gained working as curators, would be repaid.”
10 Agenda: Photofestival
Agenda: Photofestival 11
3
3 Cafe with photo of Dylan Thomas, might one day rival that of Paris. “Our plan by indexing top image results for given search
Laugharne, Wales, G.B. 1974 © David
Hurn, courtesy Magnum Photos.
was to act as if we’d been around for a long terms across local engines throughout the
4 Thresholds early test visualisation
time: as if we were an established part of the world. It is a great example of Taryn’s ground-
© Mat Collishaw, courtesy the artist. cultural fabric of London,” says Benson. “Since breaking artistic practice and confirms her as
5 Drifting Over the Italian Riviera, 2016 then a lot of sceptics have become supporters.” an outstanding, pioneering artist.”
© Joshua Jensen-Nagle, courtesy
Bau-Xi gallery
Photo London still has its critics but the And while a lot of the paying galleries
voices that complained of conservatism in seemed to be playing it safe during the first
both the programme and the work shown by two editions, Photo London has encouraged
many of the selected galleries seem to have younger dealers in. This year it has introduced
been heard. For a start, this year’s Master a new Discovery section, led by Tristan Lund.
is a 42-year-old woman, Taryn Simon, who “The expansion of the Discovery section
works with conceptual themes guided by is very much in line with our determination
extensive research, presented in museum-style to establish Photo London as the global
installations. She will show Image Atlas, a work destination for anyone with an interest in
created in collaboration with the late computer the future of photography,” Farshad says.
programmer and activist Aaron Swartz. “We want visitors to learn about the latest
The exhibition will “index top image results developments in the market and, in doing so,
for given search terms across local engines discover new galleries and artists from around
throughout the world”, Benson says, alongside the world. We hope seasoned collectors will
a display of Simon’s books — spanning from find something new, and the Discovery section
The Innocents, first published 2002, through is a great place to start.”
to Paperwork and the Will of Capital, released Photo London continues to court a
last year. younger crowd of fledgling collectors. “Music
Photo London grew out of the founding Fariba Farshad, co-director of Photo and dancing events,” in Benson’s words, will
of Candlestar, which helps corporate clients London, says of Simon’s accolade: “The first take place in the vaults of Somerset House
sponsor major arts projects, and its flagship two Masters of Photography – Sebastião during the fair in an attempt to reach a more
project the Prix Pictet, which nine years Salgado and Don McCullin – are extremely garrulous, less monied crowd. “Young people
ago brought together a Swiss bank and a hard acts to follow. So we decided to turn are fascinated by photography,” he says. “They
major media partner in the Financial Times instead to Taryn Simon, an artist who is widely have a very different relationship to it than
to create “a global award in photography recognised as one of the most important people of my age and generation. There’s an
and sustainability”. Both institutions are photographers of her generation. enormous swell of excitement about it and a
also partners in Photo London and it was “We’re delighted she has selected Image thirst to understand the history of the medium
through that relationship that Benson met Atlas for her Masters exhibition. The work among younger people. For a long time this
Maja Hoffmann, a Swiss philanthropist with pushes the boundaries of what photography has gone unnoticed, or even been dismissed,
interests spanning the worlds of art, film and can be – and is, therefore, in tune with our by certain sections of the photography
photography. She agreed to funnel some of her thinking about this year’s edition. The work community. But attracting that demographic is
formidable funds into a London art fair that investigates cultural differences and similarities an extremely important part of what we want
4
to do.”
Elsewhere, William Klein will develop a
5
new 18-metre-wide mural in Somerset House,
while Juergen Teller will present a special
exhibition in the Great Arch Hall and, “using
the latest virtual reality technology”, Mat
Collishaw will re-stage British scientist William
Henry Fox Talbot’s first public exhibition,
when he showed his photographic prints to
the people of Birmingham at the city’s King
Edward’s School in 1839.
Magnum Photos will be celebrating its
70th anniversary, with Martin Parr and David
Hurn curating a selection of works that the
latter has compiled over six decades through
a series of swaps with fellow photographers.
Hurn’s own images will be juxtaposed with
prints from photographers including Bill
Brandt, Bruce Davidson, Sergio Larrain and
Diana Markosian.
It augurs well for another year of growth
and a further entrenchment of the fair into the
cultural fabric of London. For now, it seems, the
sun will continue to shine.
photolondon.org
In the past decade Peckham has blossomed with the help
2
Mack First Book Award), Jill Quigley and BJP
Breakthrough winner Jan McCullough all
of a community of artists, making for a singularly vibrant afforded solo exhibitions and the gallery has
established itself as a stalwart of the Peckham
cultural scene. The area’s 24-hour-long photography festival, scene. “It’s been challenging,” Gamble says of
set during Photo London, celebrates their creativity founding the gallery. “There have been times
when I felt like I could have given up, when the
going got tough; there’s a lot of uncertainty in
running your own gallery. But it’s a dream for
Peckham 24 In 1999, when she first arrived in Peckham as long been an artistic centre and, over the me and something I care about a lot.”
Words by Tom Seymour a recent graduate in modern history from the past two decades, has undergone a process Peckham 24 later started to take shape
University of Glasgow, Vivienne Gamble found of gentrification to become one of London’s as Gamble gained confidence within the
that taxi drivers would refuse to take her to hippest neighbourhoods. During that time, a photography industry. It launched for the first
the south London neighbourhood, such was disparate community of artists and creators time last year and, although small compared
its reputation for crime. “It was much rougher used the cheap warehouse spaces Peckham with this year’s edition, it attracted 2000
than what I was used to,” she says. “But it’s afforded, while developers updated the visitors over its 24-hour run. “I realised there
changed so dramatically.” The area, which area’s grand but crumbling Victorian housing was no fringe around Photo London,” Gamble
gained particular notoriety following the killing stock; the area has become, according to a says. “The photography community descended
of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor in 2000, and recent survey by The Sunday Times, the most on the city for that week and there was a huge
then again during the 2011 London riots, has desirable place to live in the capital, not least opportunity for artists to initiate their own
always endured a spurious reputation as for its burgeoning cultural and party scene. events on the fringes of the main festival.”
one of the capital’s ‘no-go’ areas. Yet it has This is encapsulated in Peckham 24, Hosting the event in the Bussey Building
a round-the-clock celebration of the was important – it was saved from demolition
neighbourhood’s contemporary photography in 2007 only after a concerted effort by the
1
scene, which takes place during the weekend local artistic community. The site has long
of Photo London and Offprint. The two-day been the cornerstone of Peckham’s creative
event, which is this year supported by British scene. “I don’t think there’s anywhere else in
Journal of Photography as its official media London quite like the Bussey Building,” says
partner, will be centred around the Bussey Gamble. “There’s a real sense of pride that
Building in Copeland Park – the red-brick we managed to save the space.” Her hope
former cricket-bat factory and warehouse is that Peckham 24 becomes an established
complex that has been at the heart of part of Photo London week, and that visitors
Peckham’s creative metamorphosis. to the festival will make the trip south to “see
In contrast to the grandeur of Photo an area of London where artists are actually
London’s home at Somerset House, the festival working on a day-to-day basis”.
will make use of some rather unconventional Peckham 24 will also see the launch, at
gallery spaces, such as DKUK Salon, where Seen Fifteen, of a new exhibition by Egyptian-
clients can get haircuts in front of artworks, born photographer Laura El-Tantawy, who
and the Safehouses, a pair of derelict grew up in Saudi Arabia and studied in the US
properties on Copeland Road now taken over 3 before moving to London. She was nominated
for art exhibitions and music-video shoots. The for the Deutsche Börse prize in 2016 for In
Nines bar, a teeming local drinking hole, will The Shadow of the Pyramids, her photographic
host a six-hour continuous screening of video meditation on the Arab Spring in Egypt.
art through to midnight on the Friday before “The series started as a personal journey
the programme continues into Saturday with into her own identity as an Egyptian woman,”
artists’ talks, workshops and exhibition tours. Gamble says. “And then it changed when she
The venue is also due to host the Peckham 24 witnessed, very closely, the events in Tahrir
closing party. Square. Now she has circled back to what she
Peckham 24 is the creation of Vivienne was originally exploring. I’m very excited about
Gamble, founder of Seen Fifteen, one of a showing this new work for the first time.”
number of galleries in the Bussey Building, One of the most anticipated exhibitions is
which she founded in 2015 during the week of curated by Tom Lovelace, a photography artist
the inaugural Photo London. After years spent who is a long-term member of the Peckham
in the television industry, she decided to act on 1 Merry Widow ©
creative community. For Peckham 24, he has
her love for the still image and worked towards Julie Cockburn. devised a show displaying various artists’ work,
a history of photography MA at Sotheby’s 2 Beyond Here is titled At Home She’s a Tourist, and available
Nothing © Laura
Institute. She then gained an internship at El-Tantawy.
to view in the Copeland Gallery of the Bussey
Candlestar, the agency behind Photo London. 3 The Open Door,
Building. “The show is a mix of established
Gamble is originally from Belfast and Closed and Inverted artists, like Clare Strand, Eva Stenran and
© Tom Lovelace.
has used her space to give a platform to Tereza, with lesser-known but exciting names
Images courtesy
Irish and Northern Irish photographic artists. Seen Fifteen and Tom
like Emma Bäcklund and Dominic Till.”
Ciaran Og Arnold (a recent recipient of the Lovelace. seenfifteen.com
The seventh cycle of the award, on the theme of Space,
launches its worldwide exhibition tour at the V&A, where
the winner of the £80,000 prize will soon be announced
Prix Pictet Dubbed “the global award in photography and “The intention was never to just feature
Words by Tom Seymour sustainability”, the seventh cycle of the Prix photojournalism, much as we all love it,” says
Pictet opens at the Victoria & Albert Museum Michael Benson of Candlestar. “It was about
(V&A) in London this month, showcasing the opening up to all genres of photography.”
work of a dozen artists and documentarists This year’s Prix Pictet comes through on
under the common theme of Space. Founded that promise, straddling the breadth of
nine years ago by Swiss private bank the Pictet photographic discourse.
Group and Candlestar – the company behind Among this year’s shortlist is classic
Photo London, which opens a fortnight later reportage in the form of Sergey Ponomarev’s
– the prize draws attention to environmental series Europe Migration Crisis, created in
issues but also reflects the strategies and association with The Sunday Times and on
approaches used by photographers to tackle show at the Imperial War Museum from
socio-political concerns. 27 April to 03 September. For the Russian
The first edition, in 2008, was themed photographer, the migrants’ journeys across
Water and was awarded to Canadian Europe represented a transgression of space
photographer Benoit Aquin for his photo – the crossing of literal borders as well as
essay The Chinese Dust Bowl, while Munem something much more personal, moving from
Wasif was commissioned to shoot a story home to a place both unknown and idealised.
on water shortages in his homeland, “Their pasts were no more than a memory
Bangladesh. Among the shortlisted names immortalised in the bright family photographs
was Edward Burtynsky, a photographer they’d saved on their smartphones,” he says.
whose commitment to documenting “Their whole lives were encapsulated in the
environmental issues through the prism of few possessions they’d managed to bring
stunning landscape photography seemed to along in their rucksacks. These fragments of a
encapsulate the Prix Pictet’s ideals. Indeed, broken, far-off land that each migrant carried
he was nominated for the first three cycles of with them are now scattered across Europe
the award but never won. Over subsequent … The refugees continued forward, entering
years more conceptual approaches have been into a strange, unknown but sheltered space.
shortlisted in response to changing themes, Sometimes they didn’t really know where they
which have included Power, Consumption and were or where exactly they were headed.”
Disorder, won by Lucas Delahaye, Michael Others have taken on the idea of space
Schmidt and Valérie Belin respectively. to explore transgression of both territory and
2
of the relationship between photographer
and subject. Munem Wasif (nominated for a
second time since the Water commission in
2008) photographs the unmarked edges of
the blurred boundary between Bangladesh
and India. In Land of Undefined Territory
this “mundane land” simultaneously hides
and represents the ongoing struggle between
dominance and subjugation, and ideals of
liberty and independence.
Richard Mosse is shortlisted for Incoming,
showing at the Barbican’s Curve Gallery
in London until 23 April. The Irishman also
photographed migrants’ journeys through
Europe using a military-grade thermal camera,
capturing them from miles away, oblivious
to his presence. The heat signatures of the
camera deprive Mosse’s subjects of facial
expressions and cultural demarcations – even
of gender, race, age or sex. By inverting the
sense of space between photographer and
16 Agenda: Award
Agenda: Award 17
3 subject – when so much of documentary work she is nominated for presents unique planet’s geology and plot potential landing
photography is defined by closeness and ‘specimens’ that echo the pioneering sites, reveal extreme close-ups of the red
intimacy – the idea is that he elevates the discoveries made by marine biologist John planet’s rugged surface, until recently unseen
people at the heart of the migration crisis to Vaughn Thompson in the same area during by anyone. He makes what he calls “visual
symbolic, parabolic stature. “We captured the 1800s. Thompson conducted pioneering statements that are at once documentary and
people asleep, people embracing each other, research on plankton while living in Cobh, fictional” by transforming the originals via
people at prayer,” says Mosse. “There’s a documenting the microscopic organisms chromogenic printing techniques. “Indicative
stolen intimacy to it. There’s no awareness, using the photographic technology of the of Nasa’s own efforts to measure topographic
there’s no self consciousness. They are, time; Barker’s plastic particles are presented highs and lows,” Ruff says, “these works add
instead, authentic gestures.” as microscopic samples that recall Thompson’s an aspect of the absurd, in that you can
Michael Wolf and Benny Lam provide early scientific investigations. actually recognise deep relief on the surface of
a more direct interpretation of space – or Germany is particularly well represented another planet with cheap 3D glasses.”
the intense lack of it. Wolf’s series Tokyo on this year’s shortlist, with photographers The Jewish-Russian photographer
Compression was photographed largely on Saskia Groneberg, Beate Gütschow and Pavel Wolberg was born in Leningrad and
commuter trains at Shinjuku railway station, Thomas Ruff all in line for the prize. Groneberg grew up in southern Israel. Now living
capturing rush hour at a rail hub that averages is nominated for her mediations on “artificially and working in Tel Aviv, he is ostensibly
3.6 million passengers a day, making it the moulded nature”, photographing manmade a documentary photographer but his
most crowded in the world. His images, he parks, landscapes and ornamental plants nominated work, Barricades, is driven by
says, depict “complete vulnerability in the most designed to mimic the natural world. Here personal exploration of his identity. The series
extreme of cities”. Lam, meanwhile, focuses she focuses on a very specific German term, comprises panoramic photographs taken
on the private spaces of a city. Commissioned Büropflanze, which translates as ‘office plant’. from within Israel and the West Bank and in
by the Society for Community Organisation “These bits and pieces of nature, almost Ukraine during the recent conflict. Each of the
(SoCO), he created a series of overhead unconsciously brought to the workplace, images focus on barricades, dividing fences,
images of poor families, singletons and elderly seem to reveal lot about the basic needs of separating walls and improvised borders
people living in Hong Kong’s cramped outer human beings when artificially placed into as “living signifiers” of conflicts and disputes.
slums. “Hong Kong is regarded as one of an inorganic, standardised environment “This is a photographic journey that focuses on
the world’s richest cities but lurking beneath where everything present is assigned to fulfil two contemporary conflicts: Israel-Palestine
the prosperity is also extreme poverty,” says a specific function,” she says. By focusing on and Russia-Ukraine,” he says.
Ho Hei-Wah, director of SoCO, referring to the such organic forms, often in the context of Both his Russian and Israeli heritage
thousands who live in caged homes and wood- highly institutional environments, Groneberg comprise active parts of his identity. “Both
partitioned cubicles, as well as the constant hopes to capture “a tiny bit of anarchy amid places are controlled by a human need to
flow of new arrivals from mainland China. the rigid clockwork, something amorphous constantly formulate, define and separate
among the geometric forms, a spark of life spaces for living, of nations or communities,”
Outer limits within the mechanisms of control”. he says. “Barricades is, therefore, a personal
From the space between photographer and Gütschow interprets space in a way that project – a research into landscape imagery
4
subject to how a photographer understands might be considered in the canon of Bernd and its transformation into an emblematic,
the space around him: Sohei Nishino is and Hilla Becher. Her images are architectural disordered space during territorial disputes.”
nominated for his ‘diorama maps’ of cities, studies of the borders that exist in a highly Finally, Prix Pictet has shortlisted
each painstakingly created from thousands built-up environment, inspired by a line from Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi,
of images taken on solo urban wanderings. Georges Perec’s book Species of Spaces: “To based in Tokyo, for a somewhat existential
Once back home in Tokyo, Nishino edits down live is to pass from one space to another while project. Her series focuses on a Japanese
handprints in his darkroom and pieces the doing your very best not to bump yourself.” farming practice called yakihata, in which
images together in a mosaic. The photographs “The built environment is the greedy fields are burned before planting. Yakihata,
are detailed studies of buildings, streets, counterpart of the natural realm,” Gütschow Kawauchi says, has been practiced for 1300
people and everything else that goes with city says. “A space is defined only by differentiation years and still takes place every year in March.
life. A composite map emerges from each from another space, for which it needs walls The inspiration came from a dream in which
but such studies share little with geometric that serve as barriers or borders.” she stood in front of burning fields, prompting
ordnance surveys. This is a more psychological Thomas Ruff, the celebrated student her to travel to the southern Japanese town of
understanding of space – one in which of the Bechers and the Art Academy in Aso to take these pictures. “Standing by myself,
1 S#1 © Beate Gütschow, perspective, scale and proportion give way to Düsseldorf, the city in which he still lives, solitary in that vast land, the feeling that I
courtesy VG Bild-Kunst Bonn.
mood, experience and emotion. is also represented on the shortlist. His was living on this planet called Earth suddenly
2 Police on horseback escort
hundreds of migrants after
Space has also been used in highly interpretation of space veers dramatically welled up inside me,” she says. “Since I never
crossing from Croatia in Dobova, conceptual ways by photographers selected from others on the shortlist, understanding paid attention to such thoughts in my everyday
Slovenia. Tuesday 20 October
2015, from the series Europe
for the Prix Pictet shortlist, not least by Mandy the term from a different etymological life, it was an odd sensation: the awareness
Migration Crisis © Sergey Barker. Her images could be mistaken for perspective in his ma.r.s. series, which that my legs were, at that very moment, being
Ponomarev.
Victorian glass-plate photographs; in fact considers photography’s relationship with the pulled by gravity toward the Earth.”
3 From Land of Undefined Territory ©
Munem Wasif, courtesy Project 88.
they are ornate, long-exposure studies of the universe – the infinite space beyond Earth. The work of the finalists goes on show at
4 Trapped 03 by Benny Lam, from
plastic debris that pollutes beaches in and Ruff ’s images are based on black-and- the V&A on 04 May, when the winner will be
the series Subdivided Flats, 2012 around Cobh in Cork Harbour, Ireland. white satellite photographs of the surface of announced by Prix Pictet Honorary President
© Benny Lam (photographs),
Kwong Chi Kit and Dave Ho
The series is part of an ongoing Mars taken by the high-resolution camera Kofi Annan. The exhibition runs until 28 May,
(concept). photographic study of human contamination aboard Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. before a global tour throughout 2017.
All images courtesy Prix Pictet. of the world’s oceans and coastlines. The These pictures, used by scientists to study the prixpictet.com
18 Agenda: Award
Agenda: Award 19
Any Answers My earliest memory is of sitting alone in my grandmother’s cherry tree in her pink
Anders Petersen underwear. I was four years old. Nobody could see me behind the leaves but I could see the whole
Words and portrait by Michael Grieve garden beneath, with apple trees and a cat running over the street far away. It was my paradise.
I was brought up in a privileged and bourgeois family. We lived in the countryside

surrounded by forest and I spent a lot of time there. I must have been a disappointment for them.
The first photograph to make an impression on me was a picture of a cemetery with

footsteps in the snow, surrounded by graves. The photographer must have been there very
early in the morning to capture that dead people met each other during the night...
For me, this was fantastic. It was both a symbolic and a literary way to use photography.
I didn’t know the photographer’s name. Many years later I found out it was Christer Strömholm.
I first met Strömholm when I was illegally using the photography lab at his school.
I had been using it for many months, making many mistakes printing and developing. One night
at 3am he stood at the door and found me.
I looked around and saw only a mess. But he asked to see my pictures. He told me to visit
him the next day, when I thought I would surely end up in prison. But instead he asked if I wanted
to join the school. He became not only a teacher but a close friend. I miss him a lot.
When I was a young man photographing Café Lehmitz, I learned that photography is
not about photography. And being strong is not going to help you much. But being weak – just
enough – opens up a presence. Then you begin to understand that we belong to a big family.
Since the 1970s, I’ve dreamt about a ‘Lehmitz Family Album’. When I was shooting in
the bar I felt like it was a big and warm family. I finally hope this can be realised with a revised
version of Café Lehmitz. It’s a desire to give back something to those I photographed.
I have a profound fear of intolerance. But also a profound excitement at the diversity of
people and different cultures. I profoundly miss a world built on equality and justice.
Failure must be a part of everything. If you are lucky enough to survive a failure or a loss,
you will be stronger. And your new self-confidence makes the impossible suddenly more possible.
I am a father. My son is called Jens and I love him. He brought responsibility into my life.
I was married recently and it feels fine. To experience love is a favour, a present everyday.
Though my wife does keep me awake at night.
I like being Swedish. Emotionally and for many other reasons, such as the stillness of nature.
It doesn’t mean that I’m for everything that happens politically or culturally here. But compared
with other countries, Sweden is privileged. We haven’t been in a war for more than 200 years.
The Swede made
his seminal work I am interested to see what is hidden; what you cannot see. That is a decent explanation
of why I spent so many years photographing behind closed institutions, such as a prison, a
in the late 1960s, psychiatric hospital and a home for old people.
photographing the
I had four walls and my time. I could focus on the people and get to know their personalities,
denizens of a bar on their dreams and secrets and vulnerabilities, their innermost longings.
Hamburg’s infamous
To know I exist, I need to be at touching distance. Not only when I’m shooting. It’s often a
Reeperbahn. Café question of approaching a reality I’m aware of but don’t want to know. This behaviour has many
Lehmitz, published names; one of them could be curiosity.
eight years after In life there is a constant movement between feeling up or down. Between presence
he finished, is and absence, love and hate, defying the natural meaninglessness, as I got to know it. If you are
now considered a unprotected and curious you easily suffer, you are a target.
classic. Petersen When you are older, people expect you to know how things are. But the truth is you don’t
has produced more know at all. The more you know the less you know. When I was younger, I knew everything.
than 20 books since My advice to younger photographers is not to be a photographer but to be a human.
then, and has been It is about you: your emotions, experiences and knowledge. The camera is just a tool. So find a
language with your own distinct smell. It is important to be weak enough to feel and innocent
particularly prolific enough to enter the confusion.
over the past decade anderspetersen.se
20 Agenda: Any Answers

Intelligence: New Media 21
Lena Mucha All images © Lena Mucha. media and, more and more, investigations
into gender roles – which led her to the
befriends female female cadets in Karabakh.
army cadets in
To
Their motivations to join the army vary;
Nagorno-Karabakh some yearn for the frontline and some to be
peacekeepers. They are all, however, deeply
while Mexican patriotic. “They grew up in the context of war,”
photographer says Mucha. “Many of their family members
Tania Franco Klein died or they had parents or grandfathers
“It’s what I miss in the media. Some people fighting in the army.”
explores the notion don’t even know where Karabakh is.” The Female training was introduced less than
of isolation in our Berlin-based photographer Lena Mucha two years ago, so the majority of their facilities
evermore connected says this in reference to her newest project, and accommodation is off site. In Karabakh,
Women to the Frontline, which began when they live a 50-minute bus ride away, “but
world. And Jennifer she flew to Yerevan in Armenia last September they are happy to be there,” says Mucha. “I
Niederhauser Schlup with journalist Naomi Conrad. She was think maybe they see it as an honour because
probes how we there on the back of a Reporters in the Field they’re the first.” But some opposition and
scholarship from the Robert Bosch Stiftung scrutiny remains, particularly among the older
construct knowledge foundation in Germany. The duo drove for male officers who rationalise their inclusion by
and historical facts.
your
six hours across the border to Stepanakert saying that “with the presence of women, the
Interviews by Izabela in Nagorno-Karabakh, a self-declared men should be better behaved – they’re there
independent state wedged between Armenia to help the men be better,” explains Mucha.
Radwanska Zhang and Azerbaijan, defined for more than 20 “It’s a story about conflict and society,
years by its frozen war. without showing the country as a conflict
Mucha graduated with an MA in social zone. More, it talks about the girls and
anthropology and political sciences from the their challenges. When they put away their
University of Cologne in 2011. She has since uniforms they are just ordinary girls. I became
been mentored by Max Pinckers, Cristina very close to them and hope that the people
de Middel and David Alan Harvey, among who will see the photos can connect and
others, and had her images published in Geo identify with them. That’s what I’m looking for
door.
and Der Spiegel. Her work draws attention with my work – to connect.”
to stories that go unreported by mainstream lenamucha.com
Buy the next issue of

BJP direct from us
and have it delivered
straight to your door.
www.thebjpshop.com Projects Lena Mucha
96 Intelligence: Robbie Cooper
23
Projects: Personal 25
All images © Tania Franco Klein.
We are living in a world where we are more connected than

ever and yet we can still be left feeling completely alone. In
his book, The Burnout Society, the philosopher Byung-Chul
Han explores this, and the idea that the overload of modern
technology and the “culture of convenience” are catalysts
for depression and various personality disorders. Drawing
inspiration from his theories, Mexican photographer Tania
Franco Klein places this contradiction at the centre of her
ongoing autobiographical project, Our Life in the Shadows,
which also explores the pursuit of the American Dream and
facets of perfection. “We have these compulsions to perform
and we live in a society of achievement and positivity that has
led to a constant fatigue,” she says.
The need to escape from media overstimulation is seen
through the eyes of fictional female characters placed in
vulnerable, hunched positions, shot in different rooms of
a 1970s-style house. They smoke cigarettes, stare at the
television and lie on the floor. Some were cast from the street,
with Franco Klein particularly looking for individuals “trying to
be invisible and avoid any attention from the crowd”, but most
are self-modelled. Her clever use of bold, dramatic colour
blocking, which engulfs each image in a separate tone, serves
as a contrast to their introverted behaviour.
“Emotions are the most important for my work. If you can
connect through emotions and the experience of the visual,
sometimes it opens up the door to imagine smells and sounds
and a whole 4D experience.” She adds: “It’s funny because
I’m talking about isolation, but at the same time I realise that
doing self-portraits isolated me more.”
The photographer pays meticulous attention to the
spaces used as backdrops for the sensitivity she seeks to
communicate. She finds specific rooms and locations by
knocking on neighbours’ doors, and constructs her own
sets and props – often entirely from scratch. It is perhaps
no surprise, then, that she came to photography through
architecture, which she studied in Mexico before moving to
London to do an MA in fashion photography at the University
of the Arts London in 2014.
Crucially, although relatable, her narrative carries an
ambiguity, which encourages the viewer to apply their own
story and interpretation, and hopefully think about our
modern-day dual identities. “We are always trying to create
identities with social media to express the good part of
ourselves, as if there is some kind of shame in knowing what
we are on the other side… because we feel that we have failed
in what we are supposed to be.”
taniafrancoklein.com
Tania Franco Klein

26 Projects: Personal Projects: Personal 27
28 Projects: Personal Projects: Personal 29
It’s nearly a half-century since man first set foot on the moon, yet
many remain sceptical it ever happened. Countless conspiracy
theories speculate about inconsistencies and inaccuracies in
the footage of that “one small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind”, ultimately arguing that the Apollo missions were a
highly elaborate hoax.
For Swiss photographer Jennifer Niederhauser Schlup,
it’s a fascinating example of our innate dependence on film
and photography to authenticate – or debunk – perceptions of
historical fact. It’s also the basis of her latest work, Do you really
believe they put a man on the moon?, for which she amalgamates
archival and digitally manipulated imagery with straight
photographs to challenge our assumptions of reality.
The series evolved following an invitation to teach a semester
at Alfred University in upstate New York last year. Niederhauser was
thrilled to discover that not only does the small village of Alfred have
one of the oldest observatories in the country, but that it is also
just a few miles from the birthplace of Glenn Hammond Curtiss,
the aviation pioneer and founder of the American aircraft industry.
It is also the site of the first public demonstration of a powered
aircraft flight in the US. “From this decisive historical fact I drew up
a fictional character, telling an abstract story that combines strange
experiments and discoveries,” writes Niederhauser in her project
statement, entered into BJP’s International Photography Award last
year. “It is a utopian tale of seemingly unattainable dreams, which
alludes to a place of hope and togetherness in a common effort to
transcend natural frontiers, to the moon and back.
“Examining visual and written archives; building useless tools
and an escape vehicle bound to crash as a metaphor for happy
failure; mixing replicas and artefacts with scientific records to
confound their veracity while embodying the wildest of ideas,
Do you really believe they put a man on the moon? questions the
construction of knowledge and the interpretation of history seen
through a specific prism. Borrowing devices that enhance our
perception of the world, it aims to open our eyes to the possibility
of utopia and dreams.”
As well as raising questions of complexity, Niederhauser is
playful in the techniques and devices she employs to enhance
her narrative, which treads the line between fact and fiction. For
example, there is one image of two circular frames of mountains
viewed through a stereoscope, a device that presents a pair of
photographs of the same subject taken from subtly different
angles, creating an optical illusion of a 3D image when viewed
together. “It’s a very old process and another device to enhance
your vision, and,” she says, “it’s actually just a pile of flour –
everything is constructed.”
Although Niederhauser is far from finished with this
project, she hopes to eventually publish it. A selected edit of her
investigations will be shown at Les Boutographies festival in
Montpellier this May. The question remains, does she believe that
man walked on the moon? “Now that I know how I am able to
make things up, I shouldn’t trust it. But I do believe it, because I
want to.”
jennifer-niederhauser-schlup.com
Jennifer Niederhauser Schlup

30 Projects: Work in Progress Projects: Personal 31
All images © Jennifer Niederhauser Schlup.
32 Projects: Work in Progress

Image © Isabelle Wenzel.
FEMALE
GA ZE
Charlot te Jansen considers a new generation
of female photographer s who make women
their subjec t. Zuza K rajewska goes inside
a y o u n g m e n’s c o r r e c t i o n a l i n s t i t u t e . E n d i a
Beal addresses themes of race, gender
and corporate culture. And Laia Abril
uncovers secret histories in her wide - ranging
e x a m i n a t i o n o f m i s o g y n y.
34
I’LL BE
YOUR
MIRROR
Charlot te Jansen looks
at how a new generation
of female photographers
are choosing to represent
women in their work
36 Female Gaze: Girl On Girl Habitat: Format Festival 37

Three years ago, I got into a Twitter fight iPhone. I wanted to find out why and how I don’t know if a woman took the picture from early on to represent themselves. It was frame the artists as bra-burning, man-hating through photographic imagery, making
about selfies. A fiery debate had ensued they photographed women and what the effect of Azalea but most of the photographs of a tool of crucial importance in the Suffragette psychopaths to be feared. To get noticed in the a significant impact on everyday media.
about an article I had written, suggesting that might be on the way we perceive women in women we see daily are made to appeal to the movement (Christina Broom, dubbed world in the 1970s, artists had to go out and Suddenly it was possible to be a woman and
photographs – especially sexy ones – that society. This is what the book, titled Girl on heteronormative male gaze. We’re supposed ‘Britain’s first female photojournalist’, recorded confront it. Valie Export strapped a box to her photograph yourself or the women around
women took of themselves and shared online Girl: Art and Photography in the Age of the to see Iggy Azalea’s bum, compare ours to some of the movement’s landmark events) bust and invited people to touch her breasts, you as you wanted.
couldn’t be feminist. Several feminist selfie Female Gaze, is all about. it, panic and then buy things to prevent a but it was perhaps not until the 1970s, during or in another action, thrust her bare groin
artists, including a former Australian TV star The research soon led me beyond the similar physical ‘disaster’. The message such the so-called second wave of feminism, that into a cinema audience’s faces. Photography A new generation
turned feminist magazine editor, disagreed. realm of feminist selfies. There is a wider photographs of women give us is still very women’s photography became a force for in their day was often rooted in performance, In 2017, the age of social media, our
I saw this as an opportunity to try to shift happening in photography as more and narrow. Photography undoubtedly has an change in its own right. Experimental artists which was then really the more effective form context is totally different. On the internet,
understand the female gaze and how it was more women get behind the camera and more effect on the way we understand people so, as such as Renate Bertlmann, Valie Export, of disruption. photographs are seen together, juxtaposed,
being used. For the next three years, I began of their work is out in the public domain. more women create photographs of women, Lynda Benglis and Birgit Jürgenssen – all In the 1990s, as Naomi Wolf ’s bestselling with their only frame created by the device
to look at the photographs women take of Photographers no longer have to wait to will it change how we understand them? included in the Feminist Avant-Garde of the The Beauty Myth was published, photography used to view them. It’s almost as if we have
women – either of themselves or of other have their work published to reach a wide In the patriarchy in which we live, 1970s (2016) exhibition at The Photographers’ was seen by artists as a more malignant to start again. Online, photographs women
women – more closely. It’s not hard to find audience. Women are able to control how photography is an expression of power. Gallery – used photography in their practice power. Images of women in the media were take of themselves and of other women still
them. They are everywhere. But how many they are represented more than ever before in The photographic act is often viewed as to reclaim their bodies and reveal the artificial selling a lie: the women shown in ads for the have the same connotations: that they are
of those images are created by fellow women, cultural history. an assertion of masculine dominance; a construction of gender roles in mainstream cosmetics and fashion industry were plastic, narcissistic, flimsy, vain or vapid. It’s much
and do they photograph women differently I was recently perusing the magazines in predatory point-and-shoot action. This media to limit their position in both the art manipulated, unreal. And they were still harder for women photographers working
to men? the women’s section in a newsagent. On the control over a subject – what to show and world and society as a whole. presented as objects of male desire. Finally the now to move against the patriarchal system
I interviewed more than 40 women cover of one was a picture of a scantily clad how to frame it – has made photography a The photographs created by women first female art photographers photographing because wherever you put your pictures,
photographers from very different pop star on the beach with the text, “Iggy duplicitous partner of colonialism, the sex in the 1970s were mostly staged – posed women broke through in a big way: Cindy you are invariably consumed by that system.
backgrounds, countries and cultures. They Azalea’s Bum Implants Are Sagging!”. We are industry and the veiled agendas of advertising against patriarchy – and they never really Sherman, Carrie Mae Weems, Annie Petra Collins [above] is an obvious example
were at various stages in their lives and careers so accustomed to this kind of portrayal of and the mass media. made it to the mainstream. They were part Leibovitz, Nan Goldin, Shirin Neshat, Sally of this. When in 2013 she made a T-shirt
but have all emerged since 2010, the year the women, and to it being so in our faces, that Photography was introduced before of a radical, intellectual movement that was Mann, Rineke Dijkstra. Their work paved the with a drawing of a menstruating vagina
front-facing camera was introduced to the the horror of it almost escapes us. Almost. women could vote but it gave women power kept away from the press unless it was to way for understanding women differently for American Apparel, the resulting media
38 Female Gaze: Girl On Girl 39

outrage made her point, yet she was still so significant that, conversely, it means In 2015, I visited an exhibition of Zanele
working with a fashion brand known for its other women photographers who also Muholi’s work [left] at the Brooklyn Museum
sexualised imagery, selling women’s bodies photograph women have found their work featuring her ongoing Faces and Phases
for profit. Collins is to mainstream US youth described in the same terms: feminist, selfie project; portraits of black lesbian and trans
culture in the 2010s what male predecessors art, Instagram art and so on. The thing is, women that began with her own community
(and mentors) Ryan McGinley and Richard photographs women take of women do not in South Africa. I saw a young boy, no more
Kern were for their times: photographers who all have something to say about feminism or than five years old, taking in the pictures,
have captured the aesthetic and ambience femininity. They are not all a comment on the some of them depicting lesbian weddings
that define their generation by being part body and sexuality. That interpretation proves and sex. I realised in that moment how
of it. Having photographed herself and her that the way we see women is still limited. important photographs are in changing the
friends since the age of 15, her shoots are Yvonne Todd [page 37] and Juno future of how we see gender and sexuality.
like teen therapy sessions; she emphasises Calypso [pages 44-45] are among the women Muholi photographs with tenderness and
collaboration, so her models also act as I interviewed who have been labelled in this simplicity, usually one subject at a time, shot
technical assistants and Collins encourages way. They’ve also been compared to Cindy in black-and-white. She has given a face to
full and open conversation. Sherman and their work called pastiche. They a community whose stories – many of them
Her work is often consumed by the both use self-staging and fiction to tell truths awful, violent, some ending in murder – have
fashion industry, advertising and the media about private fantasy, about the subliminal been invisible in the media. Her strategy as
– the same structures it criticises – but the messages we get from society about how a visual activist is straightforward: show the
content of her photographs is subordinate to to behave, about the corrosive effect of real faces of these people without decoration
the community she has built through them. commercial photography. Neither artist or judgement. Her photographs are the simple
She uses her own image, celebrity and online has ever said their work is feminist or even proof that they exist. Muholi didn’t wait for
platforms, including all-girl art collective The declared themselves as such. the system to change to accommodate these
Ardorous, to interpret feminism for a new women, she showed the world herself.
generation of North Americans and talk about Female perspective To be in a photograph today means you
the issues affecting young girls, such as shame, Many of the photographers I spoke to also are seen. A photograph is presence. Pinar
periods, acne, body image, sex, sexuality and told me that when their work had been Yolaçan is aware of the problem in that,
mental illness in a relatable way. But when she written about, there was often interest in how which is to create a singular idea about your
walks the catwalk for Gucci, I wonder how they looked in front of the camera, rather subject through a photograph. The way rural
it vies with the fashion world that causes so than what they were doing behind it. There and tribal women have been portrayed until
many problems for the young girls she has is a commercial undertow to photographs now has usually been through a Western
supported through her photography work. of women, that it seems the chance to reveal male lens. As a Middle Eastern, Muslim
Online platforms have also been a woman as good-looking is irresistible. woman, Yolaçan creates a different picture.
hugely beneficial. Revisiting some of the Photographers such as New York-based She has spent years with her subjects, which
confrontational and confessional strategies Leah Schrager realised this. The power of a include female farmers in Turkey, BBW (Big
of the body- and sex-positive feminists of the photograph is not only in what is depicted Beautiful Women) models in Los Angeles
1970s, Molly Soda [page 38] makes art out of but who is profiting from the image. Schrager and Candomblé women in Bahia, Brazil. She
the anxiety and shame she feels about being a raised important questions of ownership and doesn’t shoot them in their ‘natural’ setting,
woman who posts ‘private’ pictures of herself copyright with her #paythenipple campaign: but makes their lives more ambiguous so
online – with blood, belly hair, thongs – from a former model, she makes sure she is the one that we look at them as individuals. Having
the comfort of her bedroom. There’s also earning from her image. Women have been studied fashion at Central Saint Martins,
Alexandra Marzella, a millennial version of made to feel ashamed for exploiting their own she creates each ‘costume’ for her subject by
Hannah Wilkes and a trained erotic dancer who sexy image but if the woman herself is not hand, with each woman in mind. They are not
keeps a self-reflexive visual diary on Instagram, profiting from it then who should? exoticised or eroticised for a colonial gaze but
at times irreverent, at others inflammatory, and It was for that reason that I agonised shown as powerful, fleshly and feminine.
who is far more influential in terms of audience over what would be on the cover of the book. There still exists a generalisation that
numbers than any of her predecessors. The final image, the back cover, by Isabelle women photographing women is one of two
Photographers such as Collins, Soda and Wenzel, dovetails these issues beautifully: it’s a things: a continuation and conformity to
Marzella (or Maya Fuhr and Maisie Cousins, compelling image that feels feminine and fun the standardised structures of the clichéd
who also feature in the book, and many but is gender ambiguous and doesn’t judge perception of the female, or to counter and
others who don’t) have, for the first time, the form at its centre as anything other than a provide an antidote to the male gaze. Can
taken feminism into the mainstream. They are surprising and joyful shape. selfies be feminist? Yes. Is Instagram a valid
creating the photographs we see in magazines, The female-led shift that’s happening art form? Of course. Do women photograph
on billboards and in ad campaigns, and they in photography is so interesting because we women differently to men? Certainly. And
give us a different message to the previously are much more aware of how we engage with female subjects interact differently with the
male-dominated images. Their photographs photographs. What seems to matter the most camera when a woman is behind it. But
suggest friendship, hardship, happiness. to women photographers working now is the female gaze is so much more than that.
Bodies are bodies that go through many the community they build and the exuberant Women see the world differently, in just as
experiences and not only sexual pleasure. dialogues they are able to have with their much colour and nuance. We are beginning to
However, there is a problem with that. audience. Photography isn’t about finding a see that world everywhere we look.
These young female photographers have position for women in the art world or in the
made their name independently thanks field of photojournalism or fashion – it’s about Girl on Girl: Art and Photography in the Age of
the Female Gaze is published by Laurence King.
to the internet. But their impact has been creating a space in the world. laurenceking.com
40 Habitat: Format Festival Female Gaze: Girl On Girl 41

42 Habitat: Format Festival Habitat: Format Festival 43
46 Female Gaze: Girl On Girl Female Gaze: Girl On Girl 47
Page 37: Bo-Drene, 2004 © Yvonne Todd.
Page 38: Mad About U, 2015 © Molly Soda.
Page 39: Untitled #23 from the series Selfie,

2013-2016 © Petra Collins.
Page 40: Xana Nyilenda, Los Angeles, 2013

© Zanele Muholi.
Page 42: Rotation 2, 2014 © Isabelle Wenzel.
Page 43: Untitled from the series Like a Stone,

2011 © Pinar Yolaçan.
Pages 44-45: 12 Reasons You’re Tired All The

Time, 2013 © Juno Calypso.
Page 46: Cetos from the series Spider Monkeys

Volume II, 2015 © Aneta Bartos.
Page 47: Untitled, 2014 © Yaeli Gabriely.
Opposite page: Peonie, Bum from the series

Grass, 2015 © Maisie Cousins.
Right, above and below: From the series

Experimental Relationship, 2017-2016
© Pixy Liao.
48 Habitat: Format Festival Female Gaze: Girl On Girl 49

LO S T B OY S
Zuza K rajewska f inds good in the
bad as she exposes the vulnerability
of child criminals in Poland.
Words by Izabela Radwanska Z hang
50 Female Gaze: Zuza Krajewska Habitat: Format Festival 51

The drive takes you 30 miles along the eight months pregnant, sat in the passenger The photographer describes her first subjects from a distance. She approached and wildlife to rehabilitate its inmates. The revealing a fake Armani belt around his waist.
motorway southwest of Warsaw towards seat of her boyfriend’s BMW with blacked- scheduled visit there as like “a comedy”. Her, them from a place of empathy and began to director arranges for them to spend time on Oblivious to the camera, he reclines on a
Studzieniec before you make the turn. The out windows. She didn’t get out, but returned in an arty T-shirt and “weird trousers and take photographs straight away, capturing children’s oncology wards, to play with the chair, gently cupping one of the tiny, yellow
road eventually falls away to a dirt track, to the desolate commune half a year later to cowboy boots” with her hipster assistant, some of her most memorable portraits sick patients and make them laugh by dressing birds in his leathered hands. He also breeds
unnoticed by anyone who has no reason to begin work on Imago. Taking its name from Borys, coming from the city: “A world where in doing so. “I don’t know how else to up and wearing silly outfits. Ex-alcoholics rabbits and “cares about them immensely”,
know where it leads. At this point, you will an entomological term used to describe the everyone is polite and everything is nice, into communicate with people,” she says. “The attend bonfire nights to tell them about Krajewska recalls. “Each cage is beautifully
lose phone signal, but keep driving. Just as interim form that insects adopt between this grime and animosity – the boys’ eyes strongest portrait of the twins was from the the dangers of drinking. They are schooled kept and clean. But on the other hand, he is
you think you’ve completely lost your way, larvae and fully formed adult, the series hungry like small wolves. We were scared first meeting with them.” The twins, Andrzej in carpentry, catering and gardening, so brutal.” When he showed her the rabbits, he
through the trees you will come across a large, follows the lives of adolescent boys who have they’d rob us of our equipment and cameras.” and Adrian, came to the youth detention when they leave they might have a chance was rough and cruel, picking them up like
wooden cross towering next to a placard that repeatedly committed serious crimes but are It seemed like Krajewska may have been centre with one another. They belonged to a of finding a job and leading a normal, objects. A few years ago his little sister was
reads ‘Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwości, Zakład too young to be incarcerated in adult jails. out of her depth here, but this was not the first gang and were brought in after having robbed law-abiding life. That is, if they can find an bitten by an Alsatian, so he killed the dog by
Poprawczy’ (Ministry of Justice, Correctional “One beat someone up, another has been time the photographer had found herself in 30 houses in the village where they lived. In employer in any of the already over-saturated hanging it.
Division). Past the gated entrance stands a stealing since he was a child, another is a such company. She grew up in the ‘outer circle’ their photograph, Andrzej looks directly at the villages willing to hire an ex-offender with no The division between what is good and
statuette of the Virgin Mary, shying her gaze rapist,” Krajewska writes. But that’s only half in Malbork in northern Poland, a large estate camera with the glazed eyes of someone who other qualifications. what is bad is warped here; the line that
away from a cluster of red-brick barrack of the story. of tower blocks built during the communist has seen more in his teens than most will see Mateusz is another whose face features separates right and wrong is barely defined.
buildings, one grounded by a broad chimney, What she thought would be a project years, “where an academic scholar could in a lifetime. His brow and cheek are etched prominently throughout the series. His The engrained duality in the boys’ character
and a church. Horses canter nervously around lasting a week turned into a year-long journey be neighbours with a construction worker”. with scars from beatings, just like his brother mother is an abusive alcoholic and his makes their behaviour unpredictable and
the yard at the back, and small groups of of conflicting emotions, questioning of morals “I hung out with boys like that – they were my Adrian’s, whose head he clasps in his hands. six other siblings are all born of different, erratic. Day after day, Krajewska observed
crop-haired boys dressed in black tracksuits and a test of patience. Terrified at first, she pals,” she says. “But when I grew up, most of Adrian died not long after the photo was unknown fathers. One image shows the their hierarchies and pecking orders, the
pace and stare. slowly pieced together the stories of the 32 them didn’t end up too great. Some got out taken. He drowned while swimming drunk in 17-year-old sat in a room surrounded by internal feuds that came with gang culture and
“Where the hell am I?” the Polish young offenders. “You have to cross a line, but some are in prison, or went to correctional a flooded quarry with their 22-year-old uncle. wooden cages he built in his carpentry brotherhood. At first they would show off; try
commercial and fashion photographer Zuza go into the ‘underground’, so to speak,” says centres, got into drugs, HIV…” It was the day of the twins’ 14th birthday. lessons to house the canaries he is breeding. to outperform each other. But eventually the
Krajewska remembers thinking when she Krajewska. “You need to learn the rules so Having this experience allowed her the The centre is one of the few in Europe The canaries are used to a warm climate, so rough exterior was exhausted, and an unusual
first came here in the winter of 2014. She was that you don’t get eaten alive.” confidence to do more than just observe her that uses education and contact with nature the room is heated high and he is topless, bond began to form. “What you have to
52 Female Gaze: Zuza Krajewska Female Gaze: Zuza Krajewska 53

understand is that this isn’t a prison,” says aggressive.” Only after six months of spending
Krajewska. “They’re just children. They can time with them did one of the teenagers sit
manipulate you emotionally but at the same beside her and give her a friendly nudge on
time they are desperate for attention. You the shoulder to say, “You’re alright.”
can’t dwell on the bad things that they have Even so, there were moments when the
done. I’d say to them that just because in here spell was nearly broken. Krajewska recalls
someone might be the smallest, doesn’t mean how for the first few months she would always
that it will be the same on the outside. He arrive in her old Nissan, a car that the boys
might be the one that makes it.” would come to recognise as hers. When one
Despite coming from a life of hardship day she borrowed her boyfriend’s BMW, they
and neglect, women have a special place for turned. “They thought that I had sold the
these children. Their mothers may be elusive, photographs and made money on them; that
offering little by way of maternal support, I was using them and going to ‘do them over’.”
even forgetting their names, but the boys She explains that as long as she was there, they
“IT WA S still love them dearly and, in a certain way,
respect them too. As a woman and a mother
never stopped trying to trip her up. “It’s just
how they check people, how they size people
E A SIER FOR herself, Krajewska recognised this in the boys’

behaviour towards her. “Maybe because they
up.” Even now, as Krajewska continues to visit,
she will only drink coffee that she sees being
saw that in me, and saw someone, let’s say, made. “If they bring it from the kitchen and I
THE BOYS a little weaker, they weren’t playing games. didn’t see them make it, I won’t touch it.”
They treated me a little differently.” She adds: In March last year, Krajewska held an
TO OPEN “It’s not that only a woman could have taken
these photographs – both a man and a woman
exhibition and auction of the Imago work at
the Griffin Art Space, the former Dom Słowa
T H E M S E LV E S could view it under the same gaze if they let

themselves. But it was easier for the boys to
Polskiego (The House of the Polish Word)
in Warsaw, curated by Michał Suchora. She
open themselves up emotionally in front of a invited friends and family, and her contacts
UP woman than in front of a man, who, there at from the Polish popular media, commercial
least, they always view as a rival.” and fashion worlds. Twelve of the better-
E M O T I O N A L LY In assuming this role, Krajewska was
sensitive, but firm. Her attentive approach
behaved boys, who were allowed to leave
the centre for the day, also came. “It was like
IN FRONT OF was unfamiliar, even “an element of surprise”,

and helped to develop a relationship that
two worlds colliding,” she says. “They were
hanging out, smoking cigarettes together. It
allowed her to be bolder in moving to was incredibly moving. For the boys it was
A WOMAN capture rare giveaways of vulnerability and showing there could be something different
quiet – an intake of breath with eyes closed, a out there for them, it’s not all darkness, vodka
THAN IN uncontrollable shriek of laughter, a flash of a
tattoo that reads “I’m sorry for…”. She, in turn,
and crime. It can be different.”
The dozens of portraits were displayed
FRONT OF would offer compassion, and try to satisfy

their curiosities of the world she came from.
alongside objects taken from the boys’
bedroom shelves: cheap deodorants, rosaries,
One of these moments came during a roll call, photos of girlfriends. And letters – messages
A MAN, WHO a daily event when each block gathers outside written from the boys to their loved ones and
for registration. To settle the boys, who to each other, but also letters to the director
T H E Y A LW AY S were pushing each other around, Krajewska
asked them to stand and close their eyes. By
from old boys who weren’t able to break out
of the vicious cycle and write of regret from
VIEW AS cancelling out just one sense for a split second,

the troubled teens look almost angelic and at
the inside of prison cells. Krajewska explained
that she wanted to show beauty in their loss
peace. “I managed to get seven frames,” says and help people understand that these were
A R I VA L” Krajewska. Usually she would only manage just children that needed to be looked after.
two or three before the distraction of a shove “People began to cry when they read those
or a yelp cut off the flow. Things moved letters,” she says. “Andrzej began to cry too
on quickly. and ran out when he saw the photograph of
“Everything you give them that is his brother, so we had to take it down.”
good, they take like a drug,” she says. “At the The event touched and spoke to many,
beginning, they just chuck facts at you to and Krajewska donated all the proceeds
get a reaction, or they don’t want to tell you from the auction to the boys’ personal funds
anything. Then they open up more and more. and the detention centre. The series began
With some I had a flow from the beginning. to attract more interest and was featured in
With others I didn’t know if they liked me or magazines in Poland and abroad. But it was
not, or if they just had a psychotic character, not appreciated by all. After the success of the
or if I was just irritating them. But it’s also a auction and exhibition, Krajewska was invited
defensive mechanism. There’s always a side to speak about the series on national radio,
to them that you can trust and a side that is but her interview was unexpectedly cancelled
54 Habitat: Format Festival Female Gaze: Zuza Krajewska 55

56 Female Gaze: Zuza Krajewska Habitat: Format Festival 57
“ T O T H E G O V E R N M E N T, P L A C E S
L I K E T H I S D O N ’ T E X I S T: P O O R
KIDS IN DE TENTION CENTRES
W HO ARE NOT WAN TED”

All images from the series Imago the day before. On 07 January 2016, Poland’s Malbork, Ostryk, who now lives in England,
© Zuza Krajewska.
newly elected conservative government, saw the series on the internet and sent her
PiS (Law and Justice), implemented a a Facebook message saying: “Those kids
controversial law that gave it a monopoly look like us!” The monograph will soon be
of control over state media outlets, defining published by KAHL Editions in Paris, but
their content and programming according then it will be time to “close the book” on
to their nationalistic policies and “Christian Imago. “I can’t look after them and hold
values”. Imago, Krajewska believes, does not them by the hand, but they promised me
“fit the vision” of the new editorial directives. that they’d use the money to get their driving
“To them, places like this don’t exist: poor licence and refurbish the blocks.”
kids in detention centres who are not wanted. The boys, some as young as 11, stay at the
The fact that these kids need help from the centre until they become a legal adult at 18.
justice system means that it’s all hush-hush.” When they are released, some hope to move
Krajewska believes that if she sought to do the to the bigger cities or abroad, wherever they
project now, the government would not have can find work. But more than half will quickly
allowed it. “Right now, in Poland, we’re not return to crime and end up behind bars. A
living in the greatest times to be doing this short video to promote the past exhibition
sort of thing.” shows one of the boys climbing up a tree in
The project was very personal to full blossom. With sunlight flickering in and
Krajewska, rooted in her childhood, unlike out, the camera follows him up as he narrates
much of her day-to-day work in fashion some details of his life and lists his crimes.
and beauty (which has been published in “Time for regret is when I’m up there,” he
Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, says. “Now I gotta live.”
Men’s Health). Her childhood friend from zuzakrajewska.com
66 Female Gaze: Zuza Krajewska

AM I
W H AT
YOU ’RE
LO O K I N G
FOR?
E n d i a B e a l ’s p h o t o g r a p h s h i g h l i g h t t h e
judgements and prejudices facing young
women of colour in the corporate job
mar ket. Words by Laurenc e Butet- Roc h
68 Female Gaze: Endia Beal Habitat: Format Festival 69

“At Yale University, I found myself in a place the otherwise indistinguishable dress of white the workforce, she began a project titled Am “No matter what I did – straighten my
of double consciousness,” recalls Endia Beal, shirt and dark jacket. Evidently there’s little I What You’re Looking For?, which sheds light hair, put on less make-up, wear blue, black
citing WEB Du Bois. She was the only black room for expressions of individuality within on the choices they must make. or grey, don pearls and earrings – I was still
person in the 2013 cohort for the fine arts MA the corporate sphere. So much so that as soon Asking her subject to dress as they ‘othered’. People would make comments that
in photography, as well as in her workplace: as someone is different, it is immediately would for a job interview, she poses them in made me feel uncomfortable and like I didn’t
the IT department. “I grew up in one culture noticeable and therefore must be tamed. their childhood home in front of a backdrop belong. And the more I tried, the more I was
and now inhabited another, becoming a “These women had their own stories about depicting the Yale office space she once losing myself,” remembers Beal, ultimately
mediator between these two worlds,” she being stuck in situations where they were worked in. By juxtaposing the two, private asking herself, “Why should I have to alter
adds. Upon learning that her hair, a red made to feel uncomfortable for who they and public personae meet. The edges of the myself to fit in a space that was never designed
Afro, fascinated her colleagues, she turned were. For instance, one of them is called Ann frame show family pictures, trophies, musical for me?” But rather than throw in the towel,
the tables on them, allowing them to feel it but her real name is Desiree. When she started instruments, heirlooms and other decorations she is trying to transform corporate culture.
but recording their impressions. “It felt like working, she was asked to change it because that hint at how they grew up and remind us In the hope of initiating a conversation
I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to Desiree is too exotic for the office,” says the that there’s more than meets the eye. around hiring practices, her photographs
be doing but wanted to do,” admits one of photographer. “It’s not just a minority thing. While the subjects play the part of serve as the basis for talks on diversity and
them, while others speak of the moment being It’s a woman thing,” she told The Huffington candidates, presenting themselves in a inclusion. She’s spoken to career counsellors
“uncomfortable”, “voyeuristic” or “awkward”, Post. “All women can relate to that experience deliberate way in a bid to make a good across the United States as well as company
highlighting the inappropriateness of the in some way. So I really learnt something impression, the viewers become the managers. She’s also creating a book destined
[Above and opposite page] From the series Can I Touch It?,
which looks at the types of hairstyles typically seen on black
question, “Can I touch your hair?”. through this project as well.” interviewers, judging the efforts of the to be a teaching tool that combines her images
women in the corporate world of work. Beal’s work since has continued to Now an associate professor of art person in front of them. In doing so, we with first-person testimonies. “My job as an
[Previous page and pages 72-75] From the series Am I What
question and provoke, often challenging at Winston-Salem State University, an are confronted with our own biases and artist is to add to the existing narratives,”
You’re Looking For?, which investigates the experiences of the uniformity of corporate culture. In an historically black institution in North presumptions. What is our conclusion and she says. “Although there are movies such as
young women as they attempt to adapt for job interviews.
amusing but no less incisive series, she styled Carolina, Beal still hears about her students what is it based on? Do we focus on what Working Girl and 9 To 5 that speak of women’s
All images © Endia Beal. seven white women in their forties with being asked how they do their hair, whether the applicant is wearing or the environment experiences in corporate spaces, there aren’t
‘black’ hairdos, then took head shots of them or not they have children and where their that surrounds her? Would we hire the one any about women of colour. It’s the same thing
in corporate garb and pose. Their coifs stand ‘interesting’ name comes from when seeking wearing patterned shoes and a bold dress in fine arts. So I thought, ‘I’m a woman, I’m
out not merely because they look incongruous employment. Reflecting on the moment when or the one with a demure outfit and genteel black and I’m going to do this right now.”’
to the sitters, but because they contrast with young women of colour are preparing to enter haircut? What do our decisions say about us? endiabeal.com
70 Female Gaze: Endia Beal Female Gaze: Endia Beal 71

SECRE T
H I S TO RY
E v e r y y e a r, s o m e 47, 0 0 0 w o m e n d i e
from backstreet abor tions because
of a lack of legal or free access.
Those who sur vive are alienated
a n d s t i g m a t i s e d . To l a u n c h h e r
n e w w o r k o n m i s o g y n y, L a i a A b r i l
visualises the space in between,
f r o m r e p e r c u s s i o n t o r e c o v e r y.
Words by Izabela Radwanska Z hang
76 Female Gaze: Laia Abril

[Previous page] A set of household abortion tools apply to the situation we are in now. But just communications from the University of
from Vienna’s Museum of Contraception and
Abortion, from A History of Misogyny, Chapter
because something is now the law, that doesn’t Barcelona in 2008, Abril insists that her work
One: On Abortion. mean it’s fine. There’s always a risk.” For is not documentary. Photographing the harsh
[Opposite] Portrait of Marta, 29, Poland, from A
Abril, looking back is necessary to “highlight realities of post-war life in the Balkans not
History of Misogyny, Chapter One: On Abortion. the long, continuous erosion of women’s long after starting out, she realised she was
[Overleaf] Images from On Abortion: Illegal Stories,
reproductive rights”. “never going to be able to understand” the
a photonovel that details the experience of the She begins with A History of Misogyny, region. “So I started working on stories that
subject of Portrait of Marta, 29, Poland. From
A History of Misogyny, Chapter One: On Abortion.
Chapter One: On Abortion, the first episode were closer to me,” she says.
of a project that will attempt to “visualise the With her previous work, Abril
All images © Laia Abril, 2016.
comparison between the present and the past, experienced an overwhelming reaction from
so we understand that we have always to be her audience. Sufferers of eating disorders
conscious that things are not as certain as we and their families wrote to her to share their
think”. In the UK it has been legal to terminate experiences; observers called to empathise
a pregnancy of up to 24 weeks since 1967, with devastating realities. Not so with On
yet it was only in March this year that MPs Abortion. It may be that the exhibition and
voted to decriminalise it entirely, regardless of series has not yet reached a wide enough
circumstance or time constrictions. Western international platform; she had hoped to
society is considered to have liberal views display it in Ireland this year but was refused
on cases of abortion but in the Republic of space by all the galleries she approached
Ireland and in Poland it is illegal, with the (“Even those that liked my work”). But she
exception of cases posing a risk to the health also believes it is partly due to the illegality of
of the woman or in the event of a pregnancy abortion and that women are scared to come
arising from rape or incest. In Malta, it forward and share their experiences.
remains forbidden altogether. Nevertheless, she has travelled and held
The project is not about the experience meetings about the repercussions of abortion
of abortion itself but about the repercussions in Poland, India, Nepal, Turkey and Brazil
of women not having legal, safe or free access among others – countries where the subject
to the procedure, often forcing them to use is still taboo. Sometimes she shows a small
dangerous alternatives and causing physical selection of images but mostly it is about the
and mental harm. “A woman was using a coat action of conversation. “I’m trying to adapt
hanger to perform a DIY abortion in Uganda the project for the opportunity to go to places
Laia Abril is no stranger to themes of distress. and I hear the same story in Tennessee. [The where I can’t have an exhibition because it’s too
Bulimia, coping with the death of a child, the problem] is everywhere, with pretty much the uncomfortable. At least we can talk about it.”
asexual community, virtual sex-performer same consequences.” As she prepares to manifest this first
couples – these are all topics that the Rather than focusing on one story in one chapter in a book, to be published by Dewi
Barcelona-based photographer has explored location, as has been the tendency, she casts Lewis this summer, she starts work on
and attempted to demystify with her multi- her net wide, “trying to create a conceptual the second episode with the working title
layered, story-based practice. The subjects map to connect the repercussions so that of On Hysteria. She plans to focus on the
she tackles are complex and provocative, but we can empathise more with these women”. historical tendency to accuse women of being
ones she is able to connect with by way of There is a series of black-and-white portraits crazy or possessed as a form of dismissal,
female empathy, “where I can be involved to accompany personal, graphic testimonies together with analysis of menstruation myths
emotionally”, she says. of women who have had to turn to illegal and other constructed ‘mental’ and ‘female’
Her most extensive work to date explores terminations. Marta from Poland was 29 illnesses used as a justification for control.
the struggle of eating disorders and is divided when she went through the traumatic ordeal, “I’m not an activist,” she says. “I’m not
into chapters, starting with a short film titled which lasted 15 hours. She recalls how, on trying to change anyone’s mind or fix the
A Bad Day. Next came Thinspiration, a self- telling her boyfriend of her experience of the situation because I don’t have the power to do
published fanzine exploring and critiquing the stuffy, overcrowded room where it took place, that. But maybe I do have the power to shed
selfie culture used by the pro-ana community; he responded: “That seems right, murderers some light on the stories that we don’t think
and finally The Epilogue, which follows an should be treated like cattle.” There is also a about or that don’t get the same audience
American family in the aftermath of losing series of images of ‘DIY Abortion Methods’, that I’m reaching.” She describes her method
their daughter to bulimia. Separating the work such as a steaming, scalding-hot bath and of working as being “like a strategy”, not
into sections allowed her to approach different a bunch of ruda and chiplin herbs, as well wanting to “shout” but instead materialise
aspects through different platforms, not only as ‘artistic’ still lifes of instruments made what is invisible and give prominence to
in the multiplicity of perspectives but also in in Vienna’s Museum of Contraception and the overlooked.
a constantly evolving visual stimulation. Her Abortion, a collection of Peruvian ads for “I’m trying to visualise the history of
new work, A History of Misogyny, also adopts helplines and clinics that “regulate” menstrual misogyny so we don’t forget what’s in the past
the use of a layered representation. delays, and an image of a drone used by Dutch and don’t get too comfortable in the present;
“The ‘history’ part is important,” she pro-choice organisation Women on Waves to so we take a look at things that sometimes we
says. “Every time I tried to talk about female fly packages of abortion pills from Frankfurt don’t want to – in a visual way that doesn’t
issues or any kind of situation that I saw to Słubice, Poland, in June 2015. make you just turn the page but makes you
was not right, I was confronted with people But despite a stint in reportage that engage somehow and think a little bit.”
telling me that it was in the past and it doesn’t followed her degree in journalism and laiaabril.com
78 Female Gaze: Laia Abril 79

80 Habitat: Format Festival 81
Next issue Intelligence The early years of Irving Penn
June 2017
1
Ones To Watch, BJP’s annual talent issue, returns with our pick
of emerging photographers drawn from across five continents.
Selected from the hundreds of nominations we received in
March after a call out to photography experts worldwide,
these are the names we believe you’re going to become better
acquainted with over the coming months and years, and our
Subscribe for just £39 for the next by Direct Debit; thereafter
Ones
paying £65.95To Watch
annually initiative
(still saving 31%). You’ll also receiveis designed to help them on their
a free Tote Bag worth £10 with UK orders only, upon renewal
way. Now insavings
itsmaysixth edition,
(your second payment). Promoted offer is redeemable by UK
subscribers only. Price and vary depending on it is the most far-reaching and
comprehensive
ie, Print, Digital or Pack. Imagessurvey
the country, payment method, subscription term and product
type; of its kind, committed to discovering
used are for illustrative
purposes only. Offer ends 06 January 2016.
talent beyond established photography centres in Europe and
North America to include new voices and perspectives in the
developing world. Photographers previously selected include
Sohrab Hura (2011), Namsa Leuba (2013), Jack Davison (2014),
Diana Markosian (2015) and Diego Moreno (2016).
On sale 03 May
Eva and Kyra, Merthyr Tydfil © Tom Johnson
As a major retrospective at The Met husband – as named on the certificate

celebrates a century since his birth, recorded by the Office of the City Clerk in the
the recent discovery of a black-covered City of New York on 2 October 1940 – was
photo album reveals the formative Irving Penn.
years of one of the 20th century’s The discovery of their mother’s
true photographic legends – and his previous marriage to one of the most feted
first marriage, to British-born Nonny photographers of the 20th century led to
Gardner. Words by Donatella Montrone an extraordinary and emotional journey
that begins in a cupboard in the attic of
Not long before Katie Cangelosi’s father died their childhood home in East Northport,
in 1999, she visited him in the nursing home Long Island, and ends at the photography
We preview a little- where he would eventually see out the rest of department of the Metropolitan Museum
known body of work his life. As he rambled about his wife, Nonny of Art in New York, where freelance curator
from one of history’s Gardner, who had died the year before, he Maria Hambourg has been preparing a
kept muttering the word “Penn”. She took it for blockbuster exhibition of Penn’s work, a century
most influential the confusion of weakened health, but later, after his birth, along with an accompanying
photographers, while after his death, she and her siblings started to catalogue that contains three images “relating
our Creative Brief clear out their childhood home and discovered to Gardner”, including two from the revealing
a trunk full of negatives and photos that collection that Katie and her siblings found
is Shaz Madani, belonged to their mother – boxes of memories while sifting through their mother’s keepsakes,
co-founder and of a life shared with another man. They knew and one from the Penn archives.
art director of she had been married once before, but the Her mother attended Dartington Hall
details remained secret until after their father’s in Devon, a progressive school that focused
innovative women’s death, when a search at the local marriage on the arts, from 1928 to 1932, and was
magazine Riposte bureau revealed that their mother’s previous then awarded a scholarship to study at the
82 Intelligence: New Media Intelligence: Report 81

1 Cuzco Children, 1948, a platinum- and Gardner found a job as a docent at the Foundation was not aware of the photo album,
palladium print of which, created in
1968, is showing at The Metropolitan
Museum of Modern Art. They married in 1940 and it came as a surprise. The Foundation
Museum of Art, New York, in Irving and soon after left for Mexico, where Penn has both acknowledged the authorship and
Penn: Centennial from 24 April to
30 July. The Met was given the print
had intended to paint. “They travelled by train relevance of the album.”
as a promised gift of The Irving Penn to Washington DC, and through the South to Penn died in 2009, but in 1996 he
Foundation. Image © Condé Nast.
New Orleans,” says Katie. Penn chronicled donated his archive to the Art Institute of
their journey along the way, and many of those Chicago, which also now holds the Black
2 A page from an album of photographs
attributed to Irving Penn and kept by his
images are contained in the Black Album. Album. “We decided to donate it to the AIC
first wife Nonny Gardner, who features There are photos depicting Mexico and local because they already hold an archive of Penn’s
here getting ready for a Surrealist Ball
in Philadelphia in 1937. It was given
people and markets, but there are also still-life work and we felt they were best-placed to
as a partial gift to The Art Institute shots with plants and animals. “My mom preserve it. The Black Album was exhibited
of Chicago from the family of Nonny
Gardner Cangelosi. Image © The Irving
appears in many, sometimes as the subject by the AIC in 2014, at the anniversary of the
Penn Foundation, courtesy The Art and sometimes camouflaged among dense opening of the new photography gallery at the
Institute of Chicago/Art Resource NY.
vegetation in the gardens. In one shot she is Institute,” explains Katie.
holding two baby chicks on her head.” Hambourg, founder of the Met’s
Gardner and Penn returned to the US photography department, and Jeff L
as the threat of war in Europe grew, and Rosenheim, curator in charge of the Met’s
they divorced not long after. “We found out Department of Photographs, have organised
that before leaving Mexico, Penn burned all the Irving Penn Centennial Exhibition, a major
Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art the paintings he’d made while there,” says retrospective of Penn’s work, to mark the
[now the University of the Arts, Philadelphia], Cangelosi. He initially intended to become a centennial of his birth. It opens on 24 April
taking classes in costume design, theatre and painter but in his mid-20s took a job designing and runs until 30 July, comprising more than
photography in her freshman year. That’s covers for Vogue, where he soon established 200 images, the core of which are taken from
where she met Irving Penn. They both studied himself as a formidable fashion photographer. work gifted to the museum by the Irving Penn
under Alexey Brodovich, the Russian-born In 1950, he married model Lisa Foundation in 2015. The show will travel to the
photographer who went on to become one of Fonssagrives, who was the subject of much Grand Palais later in the year (21 September to
the postwar legends of magazine design in of his work. He also became an influential 29 January). “When Katie Cangelosi brought
his influential role as art director of Harper’s portraitist, doing shoots of celebrities, and her family album to our attention, Penn’s last
Bazaar from 1934 to 1958. experimented extensively with platinum prints years in art school and his somewhat later trip
“My mother kept all the photographs of of everything from female nudes to cigarette to Mexico became more vivid, more alive with
herself taken by Penn during their relationship,” butts and detritus. He played with tonal range detail,” says Hambourg.“We had not known
says Cangelosi. “We found them stored and texture, giving his work a Surrealist quality, about the images relating to the Surrealist
away, along with negatives, letters and other and he’d flit easily between the artistic and Ball at the Philadelphia Museum School of
memorabilia,” she explains. They included the commercial. He’d often travel the world on Industrial Art, for example, and they filled in
a black photo album, tucked deep into the commissions and would erect a portable tent, that moment with the gaiety and spontaneous
bowels of a cupboard. Hand-assembled, with or rent a makeshift space, to serve as a studio creativity that so often characterise the
covers constructed of paper-wrapped boards, in which he would do shoots of indigenous interactions of art students at play.
it contained 327 gelatin silver prints adhered people outside of their surroundings. One such “In the accompanying catalogue we
to black paper. example is Cuzco Children (1948), which was have included three images by, or of, Gardner
“The Black Album contains numerous taken in an antiquated studio he borrowed because they illustrate early moments in
photographs Penn took of my mother and during a trip to Peru, featuring a boy and girl, Penn’s life, about which we had only the
other people modelling costumes that she both barefoot, hands clasped together, posing barest scaffolding of facts. One is a portrait of
had created for the Surrealist Ball,” explains against a table in what appears to be Western Penn in Mexico, which was made by Gardner.
Katie. It was 1937, a time when Surrealism dress. Undoubtedly, though, he is most famed Two more depict Gardner. One is a solarised
was engaging the imagination of students for elevating fashion photography to an image of a nude woman we assume is Nonny
across the nation, not least those at PMSlA, art form. Gardner. It is from the Philadelphia Museum
who organised the Surrealist Ball at the “We tried to piece together our mother’s School years, and we think it was made by
Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. Penn life with Irving Penn – before she married Penn to illustrate a poster for the Surrealist
photographed Gardner and other fellow my father and dedicated her life to raising a Ball. The third is a picture of Gardner in the
students wearing Surrealistic costumes, often family. It all seemed so bohemian and artistic garden in Mexico, taken presumably by Penn
in provocative poses. One image depicts and full of adventure, so I took off on my from, it would seem, a second storey window
Gardner kissing a skeleton, its hand cupping search for the story behind those photographs. or the roof.”
her left breast. Others, taken from above, This led me to Vasilios Zatse, associate director “My mother always had lots of stories to
depict Gardner lying naked on a white sheet, of the Irving Penn Foundation, who confirmed tell,” says Cangelosi, “though none of them
objects placed strategically on her body to the identity of the man behind the lens,” included the fact that she had once been
cover her modesty. Some images are inscribed says Cangelosi. married to Irving Penn.” While the discovery
with the words ‘Beaux Arts Ball’ in blue ink, “Surprisingly, little is known of Irving of this phenomenal trove of images cannot
in Gardner’s own hand, and there are many Penn and Nonny Gardner’s time together, and be underestimated from a photographic
close-ups of a beautiful Nonny gazing into apparently the pair did not remain in touch standpoint, for Cangelosi and her siblings, it
the distance. upon parting,” writes Zatse in his appraisal raises as many questions as it has answered.
She and Penn moved to Manhattan in of the Black Album in 2013. “Although it is metmuseum.org
1938, where Penn worked as a freelance artist known that Penn photographed in Mexico, the irvingpenn.org
82 Intelligence: Report Intelligence: Report 83

1 2
Do you prefer to use female
photographers?
We love working with talented female
photographers but would never disregard a
male – it’s not about excluding genders. We
work with whoever is most suitable for the
job. It’s really important both in our visual
and editorial commissioning to include male
viewpoints and collaborators.
What are your main considerations

when commissioning?
It’s a massive contradiction but the first thing
I always ask is, “Does this feel like Riposte?”,
but at the same time we’re looking for work
that challenges our ideas about what we
should feature. Honesty has been a constant
criteria. I’m interested in photographers who
have a nuanced approach; an eye for detail
and the ability to break down the wall between
Creative Brief Arriving in London from Tehran, aged 10,
and not having English as a first language,
the subject and viewer. We try to use natural
lighting where possible and avoid over-styling
Shaz Madani
3
Shaz Madani remembers finding “great or heavy post-production.
comfort in the universal language of images
and pictures”. That refuge in the visual was How do you collaborate
probably the genesis of her career, as more with photographers?
than a decade later she graduated from It’s about understanding them and how they
the London College of Communication with work best as much as it is about knowing what
a degree in design for advertising. Three you want from the project. It’s a fine balance.
years on, she set up her own studio, and Sometimes too much direction or involvement
soon after, a mutual friend put her in touch can stifle or confuse people. We usually give as
with Danielle Pender. Together they founded much freedom to photographers as possible so
Riposte, a biannual “smart magazine for they are able to express their own creativity. If
women”. Now in its seventh issue, the award- we do the first part of our job right, which is to
winning title, edited by Pender and art directed pair the right person to the right brief, the rest
by Madani, is lauded for its intelligent voice should work organically.
and smart aesthetic.
The Iranian-born designer continues with Is it important to be active
project work, including commissions from on social media?
MoMA, Wellcome Trust, Elephant magazine, Definitely. I’ve only recently (and reluctantly)
and two books for photographer Giles Duley. taken to platforms such as Instagram for
research and for sourcing commissions. It’s
Why doesn’t Riposte have a great place to see more casual work or
4 5
a front cover image? look at personal projects, and to get some
Riposte came about as a response to the extra insight into the sort of photographer
barrage of image-saturated magazines we someone might be.
were seeing on the shelves, which too often
focused on unrealistic or negative visions of How much value do you place
female beauty; either highly unattainable, on experience?
heavily retouched women in expensive clothes It’s not always about being really experienced.
or celebrity gossip mags berating women for It’s more about a photographer’s eye and
not being perfect enough. natural ability. There may be situations
1 Deborah Sussman, issue 2,
We wanted to create a platform that where, due to time constraints or the nature
shot by Jiro Schneider. celebrated talented women, with a space of the shoot or the subject, you definitely
2 Kelsey Lu, issue 7, where they could have open and honest want someone who is well skilled, will know
shot by Laura Coulson.
discussions about their failures and successes what they are doing and is able to conduct
3 Anna Trevelyan, issue 3,
shot by Francesca Allen.
and the issues that matter to them. With the themselves professionally. Other times,
4 A feature on Nova, the legendary
cover concept, it seemed like the perfect way when there is more freedom to be playful,
lifestyle magazine of the 1960s and 70s, to wipe the slate clean and shift the focus back a young or less experienced photographer
issue 5. Image © Catherine Losing.
to these women, and champion them for who can bring unexpected and raw interpretations
5 A feature on Bidoun, an arts and culture
magazine published in the Middle East,
they are and their achievements rather than to a brief.
issue 2. Image © Catherine Losing. their faces or bodies. smadani.com
86 Intelligence: Creative Brief Intelligence: Creative Brief 87

Technology News
Japan’s annual photography trade fair CP+
delivered plenty of news, much of it lens-
related. Sigma, whose factory is a four-
hour drive north of the show’s location in
Yokohama, led with three top-of-the-range
DG HSM Art lenses: two primes and a zoom,
designed for full frame Canon, Nikon and
AVAILABLE NOW Sigma camera systems. They include what
THE GAME Sigma claims is the “world’s first and only f/1.8
HAS CHANGED
ultra-wide-angle”, as well as a 14mm that has
nine rounded aperture blades and a minimum
focus distance of 27cm. It will be joined by a
THE NEW
参考
GF のみ GF 用フォント
135mm telephoto lens – said to offer “a strong
FUJIFILM GFX 50S perspective compression effect, while the
IS HERE!
0%
X フォント
large diameter with f/1.8 brightness provides
a dramatic bokeh effect” – and the image-
FINANCE FOR
24 MONTHS
£500
TRADE IN
stabilised 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom. In addition,
Sigma announced the 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG
AVAILABLE BONUS OS HSM super-telephoto, relatively compact
AVAILABLE
at 182mm, weighing 1160g. Pricing and
availability were not ready at time of press.
Help us make history and be part of the first
National Photographic Survey! Among the stories that hinted at rather than
detailing forthcoming glass, Ricoh says it
Help us, with the support of The Photography Show, uncover the latest trends,
will release 50mm and 85mm f/1.4 primes
factors and challenges facing the photographic industry today by heading online
for the Pentax K-1, and Fujifilm updated its
to calphoto.co.uk/NPS
lens roadmap to include X-mount versions of
its 18-55mm and 50-135mm MK cine zooms
Plus, the chance to WIN a Fujifilm X-Pro2 worth over £1,000 Supported by recently announced in Sony E-mount, as well
Terms & conditions apply, see website for details calphoto.co.uk/national-photo-terms. as an 80mm f/2.8 macro and an unspecified
calumetRental
ultra-wide and telephoto due next year.
*Excludes damage waiver and VAT.
Hasselblad says it has four new lenses

arriving over the next 12 months, all designed
4 EASY STEPS TO RENTAL specifically for its X1D camera. An XCD
120mm f/3.5 macro is first to arrive, in June.
It is equivalent to approximately 90mm in
ORDER COLLECT/ SHOOT RETURN £95.00 £65.00 £30.00 35mm format, giving a maximum image scale
DELIVER PER DAY* PER DAY* PER DAY*
of 1:2 and a closest focus distance of 43cm.

Place your order online at www.calumetrental.co.uk or phone 0333 033 5000 Its integrated shutter will deliver flash synch
with flash at shutter speeds up to 1/2000s.
There was no pricing as we went to press and
TRADE IN... TRADE UP

there’s scant detail on the remaining three
lenses, but they include the system’s first
zoom (a 35-75mm), a 22mm wide-angle and a
Looking to upgrade your equipment? 65mm standard.
Why not PART EXCHANGE your old kit towards the latest model? Sony E-mount users will have three manual
focus, Cosina-made Voigtländer primes to
Visit www.calphoto.co.uk/trade-in for further information on our Trade In process choose from, although exactly when has
We focus on lenses this still not been made public. They include the
NATIONWIDE STORES SIGN UP TO OUR month, with news of Macro APO-Lanthar 65mm f/2 Aspherical,
offering a repro ratio of 1:2 and said to be one
Visit us in store at any of our 8 stores nationwide NEWSLETTER things to come from of the brightest macro lenses available for full
expert and advice from our specialist team.
Belfast - Birmingham - Bristol - Edinburgh
to be the first to hear about new
products, great offers, and exciting
Yokohama, along with frame; the Classic Nokton 35mm f/1.4, which
Glasgow - London Drummond Street updates from Calumet Photographic. reviews of a debut is a redesign of the M-mount version that has
London Wardour Street - Manchester been ‘optimised’ for the Sony sensor; and the
www.calphoto.co.uk product from Iris and a Nokton 40mm f/1.2 Aspherical, which is one
fast 105mm from Nikon of the fastest E-mount lenses around.
8 UK retail stores Click & Collect calphoto.co.uk 0333 003 5000 /calumetphotouk @calumetphotouk /calphotouk
Technology: News 89
Prices correct at time of going to press. E&OE. Job No.1354 09.03.2017
Irix 15mm f/2.4
Blackstone
[Above] Wide open at f/2.4, the Irix 15mm can be pre-focused for street photographs. Here, with the stallholder’s face very sharp,
there’s a visible change in focus between the awning and the building beyond, while foreground text remains sharp.
[Left] It required stopping down to f/7.1 to remove strong vignetting where the upper corners were already very dark. The geometry
of the lens needed no correction and the sharpness is very high, except at the bottom of the shot due to the closeness of the ground.
Illustrative images © David Kilpatrick.
Designed in Switzerland with Polish input is small by Distagon standards, it does not
and South Korean manufacture, Irix is a new bulge out – the filter rim is 95mm and the
name in manual focus SLR lenses in Canon bayonet lens hood, with its matt silicon inner
EF, Nikon G and Pentax K-AF FA-J electronic face, has a hatch to access polariser rotation.
aperture-coupled mounts. The product design The rear element has a slip-in frame to accept
and the packaging point to high ambition. The 30×30mm gel filters. This allows high ND
first lens is a 15mm f/2.4 full frame rectilinear filters at low cost without the problems of
wide-angle in two versions: the lightweight front mounting, but you have to use live view
consumer Firefly at a little over £400 and the to compose.
magnesium-alloy, weather-sealed Blackstone The Irix 15mm has excellent geometry,
at just over £600. with slight barrel distortion on distant
The Blackstone looks like it’s worth horizons increasing, as usual, to stronger
twice the price, with its well-designed curvature at closer focus (down to a useful
box, inner metal tin and press-formed zip 28cm). It’s easily corrected even without a
lens case. The Zeiss 15mm f/2.8 Milvus lens profile. Vignetting is dramatic – more
is almost four times the price, yet Irix can than three stops loss at f/2.4 in the corners.
be considered a viable alternative. There’s It’s a look you may prefer to even illumination
no OLED focus display and the manual with noisy, low-contrast corners caused by
focus travel is 145 degrees instead of 270 correction. Flatness of field is good for distant
degrees, making the useful depth-of-field and views but you might want to curve a group
hyperfocal markings tightly spaced. taken wide open indoors.
This lens has adjustable focus scale Central sharpness is superb even
calibration to overcome poor tolerances on wide open, while outer-field sharpness
bodies and adaptors. The focus goes past benefits from stopping down to at least f/8
infinity (soft clickstop) to benefit from live (typical with a 110-degree view). Flare is
view focus without recalibration. Live view well controlled by the hard, dirt-resistant
magnification reveals how wrong your focus multicoating but can throw up sharp
can be even if the Nikon D810 (used for this reflections from light sources in-shot; f/11 or
test) manual focus signal is positive. less is recommended for iris stars. The South
Newcomer Irix makes The Nikon EXIF data gives aperture Korean partner is almost certainly Samyang,
an impressive debut figures in third or half stops (Canon reports although the Irix designs are not shared with
with its 15mm f/2.4 f/2.5 for f/2.4). Focus distance is transmitted, its brands.
giving correct flash control. There is no Overall, a fine debut product. We now
wide-angle lens, says aperture ring on the lens itself and it must be await Irix’s 11mm f/4 and 45mm f/1.4.
David Kilpatrick set on the body. Although the front element en.irixlens.com
102 Technology: Camera Test Technology: Lighting 102 Technology: Lens Test 91
AF-S Nikkor [Opposite page] In this distant view of St Mary’s
Lighthouse, Whitley Bay, an aperture of f/2 allows
105mm f/1.4E ED hand-holding by the last rays of midwinter sun,

keeping the lighthouse in sharp focus with a small
trade-off in sharpness on the closest figure.
[Left] For background bokeh, f/2 is probably

the optimum aperture, as it produces the most
consistently circular blurred highlights. Although
there are fussy details in this street scene, the Nikon
105mm bokeh is smooth and in no way distracting.
Illustrative images © David Kilpatrick.
The lens shows no distortion worth

correcting, though the Adobe profile makes
an adjustment you can hardly detect. It’s
suitable for copying or accurate record work.
Vignetting is a different matter; it’s got fairly
strong fall-off to the corners at full aperture,
two stops relative to illumination at f/5.6 or
smaller settings. You can choose to use this,
or lose it by using the lens profile.
Sharpness across the frame shows
only a very slight loss to the outer field – f/4
achieves optimum across the frame, the
edges matching the centre at f/2.8, though
all apertures from f/2 to f/11 look equal
in practice.
When lens tests concentrate on a design’s parallel section of the lens body, works The Nikkor is supplied with a fairly deep
MTF performance at full aperture, there’s a because it is hand-sized yet finger-friendly. circular lens hood, matt-painted inside without
temptation for the maker to look for the best If you want to focus manually, just place your any ribbing. It’s not all that effective but the
readings and forget that lenses have other thumb to support the mount and rotate it lens resists flare from sources outside or inside
qualities. Not so Nikon. In making the first with your forefinger touching the underside. the frame. The nine iris blades create a nearly
ever 105mm f/1.4 (sounds unlikely, but true), It’s effortless. perfect circular aperture between f/1.6 and
it has given the lens many qualities – from With the current Nano Crystal coating f/2.8, gradually acquiring a polygonal look.
handling to rendering – with the aim of and a conventional Nikkor design and They are positioned far back in the optical
pleasing photographers, not lab technicians. construction, this Chinese-made lens is well design, resulting in a slightly swirled look
From the start, the 985g weight and sealed against dust and moisture. Inside, to backgrounds far out of focus, but nothing
106mm length of this lens – compared with there are three extra-low dispersion elements like the effect of a classic Sonnar. Nor is it
what’s coming out of the workshops of Zeiss, but there are no aspherical elements, which like a symmetrical Planar. Although many
Sigma and other rivals – is immediately means there is no moulded glass and a very photographers will want to work wide open,
appealing. It uses a reasonable 82mm filter clean bokeh. the bokeh at f/2 shows less longitudinal
thread, hugging the fluorine-protected front At a little over £1500, it’s a fairly priced chromatic shift and a better circular rendering
element closely. The light, super-proportional lens for its specification. The SWM motor is of blur discs. If you are used to the effect of
action of the 95mm-diameter focus barrel, almost silent, although most will prefer to an 85mm f/1.4 used wide open, the 105mm
which occupies the front half of the main use manual focus. Thanks to the internal achieves about the same visual result at f/2.
focus, it does not have to shift 14 elements, The difference between 85mm and
while clever design has enabled Nikon to 105mm might seem small but once you enter
avoid serious focus breathing and achieve a crowd or a room with people, it has real
a 0.13× image scale at the one-metre close impact. The distance you must step back to
focus limit. The autofocus is surprisingly fast frame a portrait, two people together or a
and, over a range of situations that included full-length shot is critical. Many rooms allow
night shots, it needed no AF micro correction us no more than 6ft to 8ft of clear space. The
on the Nikon D810 body used. Close and far 105mm will need a 10ft working distance,
AF never failed to be spot on. whereas an 85mm needs 8ft. There are more
Examining the images, those at f/1.4 situations where you can’t frame your subject,
have just the slightest glow to them – a “The difference between 85mm and or where someone may step between the
softening of micro contrast that gives skin 105mm might seem small but once you subject and the camera. It’s not an alternative
tones a flattering texture. It’s still there to choice but an additional lens, or one that
some degree at f/1.6 and f/1.8, disappearing enter a crowd or a room with people, may fit your special requirement: ideal, for
by f/2. Even so, there’s a distinct dominance it has real impact” example, for music gigs, theatre, some sports
David Kilpatrick puts of higher-contrast detail, such as eyelashes and for studio head shots (if you have a large
and hair, in portraits over the lower contrast enough studio). For this, 105mm has always
Nikon’s lightweight of skin pores. This quality is combined with a been the choice.
prime to the test warm, clear colour rendering. europe-nikon.com
92 Technology: Lens Test 93

ADVERTISING FEATURE ADVERTISING FEATURE
ADVERTISIN
G FEATURE
Stuart’s photo-homage to
Fujfilm telling your
stories in the national
photo press: every month
specially commissioned
F D-Day heroes
or those born after the Stuart’s regular lab is One interviews and features
Second World War it’s Vision, and they were only on new work, exhibitions,
difficult to imagine the too happy to get involved books and specialist If only Mich
elang
horrors that confronted a from the outset, agreeing to Wallpaper onelo could have used Fujifi
imaging services have been WHEN A NEW the Sistine Ch
restaurant
apel…
lm
previous generation. While produce the necessary exhi-
commissione nature of the
d a motor- job and who
put in the press spotlight

themed displa suggest a suitab might
y for its bar area
Over 70 years on,

photographer le media to print
Nick Turley turned on. “The first
CC Imaging and to step was to measu and printed on
Fujifilm’s Wallpa all the bays very re an Epson Stylus
Media for help. per carefully,” says 11880 64" inkjet Pro
Nick, “and then
young men and women these bition prints, which will all
printer. The whole
Michelangelo to produce scale process was really
drawings. Then
by Fujifilm.
may have I had straightforwa
established the to produce a The ink went rd.
trend for ceiling visual design down really well,
with his celebr art and make any no smudging with
stories of those who

ated treatment they asked chang es or banding, and,
Sistine Chape of for. At this stage importantly,
l, but the princip the go ahead and I could the colours from
days have all the everyday be output on Fujifilm’s iconic

creating rich le of produ ce the finished roll also matched perfec roll to
visual artwork files, tly.”
above the heads entertainment all at the
“I chose to work correct sizes.”
Great care was
of visitors is still taken to ensure
that the colour
Imaging in Leeds with CC
land
going strong s would be resista
some
years later - albeit five hundred a lab I knew well
because it was to fading. “We
did some tests
nt
took part in D-Day e

FEATURE in a 21st centur and I was aware where we coated
The lie of th
Crystal Archive DP II profes-
y
worries that come with mod-

ENT
ADVERTISEM of their reputa the paper
While the newly tion for high cellulose spray,” with a
printing and quality says Mark, “but
Waterwheel restau -opened They advised
attention to detail. quickly becam
e apparent that
it
Mark Senior of
Yorkshire might rant in Howden, would be the
that Fujifilm Wallpa
per CC Imaging with media was actual
ly really durab
the
not share the perfect media on Fujifilm’s Wallpa output and it wasn’t le
same sweeping Halifax-based to use.” per Media requir
quite lightweight ed. It was also
ern living, such as landing a sional paper.

dimensions as Nick provided
joint
continue to inspire.
the Vatican, this comprehens despite comin
an ambitious lab.
upmarket new ive printing faced were ensuri rolls that were g in
venue nonet instructions and ng we got the 42 inches wide,
er mounted
heless boasts measu rements spot
a sizes to CC our fear that and
pro sumptuous interio
of Westminst ifilm and the Bayeux
Imaging. Mark handling the on and also of it might be difficu
r
setting for a remark that’s the Senior, the non-standard to hang was lt
University
company’s joint sizes unfounded. In
Fuj able overhead and overlaps. short,
tes from the sible by support from
MD says, “This Fujifilm has got
job, making ends meet and “We use this media for One Vision Imaging, Stuart’s choice for printing and framing his Fujifilm
artwork, design a first for us but was the product exactl
ed and create
ent gradua d by we knew we “The images right.” y
were created
rec de pos the facilities to had
Stuart Wood FMPA

up of ma Fujifilm Image in
in June,
cope and we
A gro “There’s a motor confident that felt Hunter softwa Mark also apprec
in London
ing theme Fujifilm’s Wallpa re iated the fact
running throug that, like genuin
exhibition hout the whole media would per e wallpa per,
be up to Fujifilm produ the
“In fact, the only the job.
getting on the housing lad- virtually everything we

ct had the right
DP II Pro prints. See: http://bit.ly/fujifilmDPII

were briefed issues we when it was wet smell
by our (“a little fishy”)
at putting togeth client to look Fujifilm Imag it was pasted
up at the restau
, and
er a selection eHunter rant
was determined
photographs of by two profes
that tapped into Software sional paper
hangers
and which would this working off a
scaffol
be displayed record the choice d. For the
der, those who were their age print,” confirms One Vision’s
the ceiling/wall on Fujifilm’s Image
in the bar area. Hunter produ of adhesive was
The manager Peter ct Erfurt Mav ready
Hayward sugge mixed paste
this RIP softwa sted to CC Imagin the mounting and
re, designed g that of the 24 prints
Looking for leads

large and wide specifically for achieved in just was
use with
to play his part in

format printe two days.
printing job. rs, might be “The result is
seventy years ago were facing product and marketing man-

Senior produ perfect for this breathtaking
ct specialist
lab through
the set up. Image Mark Wade then particular comments Nick.
“Photograph
,”
cropping with Hunte guided the the ceiling look s of
an accurate previe r delivers easy resizing, amazing, but
an image into tiling and don’t do justice they
borderless strips w and also offers the ability to the actual
Download a - perfect for to divide effect.” ‘wow’
trial version a project of this
a far sterner test, an ultimate ager Adam Scorey. “As a pro

at: http://www.
honouring this heroic

fujifilm.eu/es kind. For more inform
p Nick: www.inside-o ation see:
utbranding.co
CC Imaging: www.c m
cimaging.co.uk
15" up to
x 15
battle for freedom. They faced lab it’s crucial we offer top
size from 11 print sizes
It wasn’t the easiest of pro- “This worked out spectac-

– ranging in x 40
40"
30" and 60
but now dwindling

giant 40 x 30 lm Crystal
ced on Fujifi matching
– was produ ctly
e paper, perfe individual
Matt C-typ ach of the
supreme sacrifice to liberate quality and consistent results,

antly appro
‘Being In-betw
graphers const the fine art
jects to get moving because ularly in the case of Ernie, an C

reative photo ers.
ce thought photograph orship enabl
ed the ADVERTISEMEN
strive to produ and expose it to While spons
T FEATURE
band of survivors.
provoking work possible – and of Modern Life
Topography there was still a need for
audience as
een’
as wide an catalyst in come together, within which to displa
y
Europe. and that’s what Fujifilm paper

a key
Stuart had no personal con- ex-artilleryman I’d sourced

often prove
exhibitions a prestige venue ry was an obvio
us
Galle
that mission. y of Modern
Life’ it, and the 71a
The ‘Topograph n’s 71a Galle
ry
ited at Londo
show exhib cased the
Those who survived the gives us: beautiful colours and

in June show
nections with veterans and through my local paper. I W

in Shoreditch ion of photographers est Yorkshire-bas
work of a select t first class graduates ed portrait
who are all
recen
of Westminster
. photographer Caroly ‘Inside me is
n still
sat in the cup the gap-toothed small girl
Unive rsity the Mendelsohn
from the was set up
with too well that magica remembers only
storming of the beaches of deep contrast.

The exhibition board dreamin who
bit to ensure that this dimin- a book that would raise funds
x and awkward age betwe l and potentially
was struggling to find his first went to his house in my

m and Bayeu I wanted to take
support of Fujifil nts showing his work, becoming a young en childhood and – Carolyn Men g of Narnia’ beautiful portrai
ts
one of the stude also happens to adult, and it’s proved delsohn of these girls and
opportunity to
give them the
uren, to be priceless celebrate who
is Gage Solag l imaging experience for they really
r and a digita project/exhibition. her latest are at this point
in their lives.”
be its curato
Normandy and all the other “Exhibition printing is

ition
lab. “The exhib ings
ishing band would never be for the National Memorial subject. Eventually, however, usual way and was scanning
at the last 12 years The mome As part of the
technician and mean lab for the nt that stands process Caroly
temporality worked at the targeted is a
mix Carolyn Mende out for invites each subjec n
explores the factors that we lsohn t to bring their
home and the . Top right:
by nce
and the audie within the photograph
ic her personal ‘in-bet as the epitome of choice of clothes own
of place and raphy that surro
und
Top left: by
Jasper Jones
s Berrington. als ween’ years (loosel along to the sitting
shape the topog “Every student came Brick by Jame of profession curators, and defined as that y just to make them –
Leticia Batty. seen below graphers, and age feel comfortable.
activities that supported it all nothing new for us and we’re

Solaguren, world, photo mics within twelve when childre between ten to also interviews
forgotten. “I thought my con- Arboretum. I wasn’t looking

ins. She
through his local branch of every room to see if there was

us,” he expla ach, and Above: by Gage Bayeux. ssional acade each
own appro at also the profe ng market.” from their ‘cute’ n have moved
on pertinent questio girl and asks them
up with their include a look
at a checking prints of the housi phase but have ns – and for the
subjects cover ed
ern Engla nd the politics Fujifilm with
its to mature into yet Mill exhibition
the audio incorp
Salts
town in north Meanwhile, rting industry
young adults) was orating
post industrial ination of a of suppo incident at home an the girls’ voices
was incorporated
personal exam ination of long tradition tandem with a on
evening. She had a balmy summer’s
those years ago are old men regularly involved in some

through to a ‘soundscape’, created into a
tribution would be a selection to make any money out of the Armed Forces charity SSA- something I could use, when
and an exam newcomers
– in
with Bayeux plucked up the choral trainer Graham by composer and
childhood home through the form of relationship courage to ventur
e downstairs wearin
crisis commercial – also Coatman.
the housing ” several years a pair of garish g
house brick. x arose stretching back e a sponsor of the lime green shorts. The art of exh
the ubiquitous
presentation ibition
with Bayeu “I was only a small
assoc iation
course of agreed to becom thing at the
and women now, most well really big shows, such as the
The
through the worktime,” she recalls, “but I was
of portraits of D-Day veter- the project, not even expens- FA, he came across Charlie, he suddenly invited me out-
naturally since of the students had show. this most of the self-co incredibly
As a result of nscious. The shorts
their studies
all that 71a Gallery exactly weren’t Over the years
of the discounts walls of the subtle, Carolyn has becom
taken advan
tage
many had seen on the al Archi ve and
pape rs
I remem ber walking acutely aware e
students and slowly
m Cryst downstairsgton of the need to
the lab offers d and mounted there ation on Fujifil e call Peter Wigin to be met by my work effectively present
into their nineties, but their Comedy Wildlife Awards and

For more informsample print pleascomme nting: ‘Oh my – mum Carolyn checks and for ‘In-Bet
ans,” he says, “that would es, because, to me, that would

their work printe e shows.
an old soldier who lived near side to see his air raid shelter.
st a your prints emerging she decided to ween’
degre or to reque chubby!’ hic-paper/legs look so by Louise Rayner from the system have
for their final always been ing
involved
on 01234
57213 8, email tofinishing
/photograp . Below, Alice,
December 1st
at CC Imaging in
Leeds, right (photo slightly larger than the pictures printed
“Bayeux has oducts/pho Photographs © 2015; right, Eve, life, and to mount
, “help m.eu/uk/pr Carolyn Mende April 1st 2015. graph them unframed
says Gage www.fujifil lsohn – see www.c to Dibond (alumi
with students,” itions and providing arolynmendelso
hnphoto.com which made them nium),
experiences can never fail to the Pink Lady Food Photogra-

them with exhib ssional advice on how rigid and more
include both men and women have felt wrong. Instead my him in Derby. A meeting was I didn’t know what to expect,
robust. She also
them with profe they’ve graduated. I’ve opted for a painte
once feel, achieved by rly
to proceed using the Giclée
process and output
ting the work on
ADVERTISING FEATURE Fujifilm Fine
Art Photo Rag
inspire. and representatives from all reward would be the chance phy competition.
a cotton 100% media,
set up and then Stuart had to but there was indeed a shelter ‘Psst – tell me a joke and I’ll
rag traditional
paper featuring fine art
a special, smoot
coating. h matt
“When I was invited
Stuart Wood considers “We can’t wait to see Stu- take your picture and make a
growing body to exhibit my
of the armed forces. My aim to meet some of these remark- explain his idea and persuade there, now requisitioned for
of work
Gallery I was delight at the Artlink
arts council fundin ed to receive
g
mount the exhibit to enable me to
real exhibition of you’

ion in the way
them to be his ultimate art’s amazing imagery printed

would best suit I felt
was to produce around 20 able people face to face and to Charlie to be part of it. “I just gardening uses, and I knew
the photographs,”
says Carolyn. “At
this point I contac
Chris Baxter, the ted
creative directo
L
ife as a stand-up comedian is them to contribute a one-line joke CC Imaging in r at
Leeds, to discuss
might be the best what
heroes, and, as such, he was and framed when the venue’s

no laughing matter. There’s and a few unknown facts about
or so images and pull them spend some time listening to immediately this would work
material to print
told him that I wanted to do

endless amounts of travelling; themselves. Although there had on. He recomm
ended
hours of hanging around never been the intention to turn test prints he produc Photo Rag. The
backstage just waiting to go on; the series into a full-scale project, simply breathtaking ed for me were
the fear of encountering a difficult eventually there was enough , so we went ahead
with the rest and
determined to do his personal together in an exhibition and their recollections.” been finalised.”
the end result
perfectly as a setting.”
audience and too many late nights material – pictures of around 450
him justice in his picture and

stunning, way was
to mention, but still this is a career comedians, ranging from famous beyond what I
hoped for. originally
that those involved would never names such as Jo Brand, Sean Lock,
swap. Lee Mack, Harry Hill and Sarah Every portrait just
which adds to looks so real,
In this ‘another night, another Millican through to complete the compelling
that was enough,” says Stuart. For Stuart the real joy of
town’ environment Steve Best unknowns who were just working of the show, and nature
appreciates more than most just the circuit – to compile a book,
while the finish
“I ran upstairs prints is matt and of the
how unique this business is, and Comedy Snapshot mortified and didn’t non-reflective they
show my legs for all rich in colour.
over the twenty years he’s been Such was the positive reaction years. Eventually me thinking about The texture invites are
friend commented a the in-between to reach out and you
treading the boards he’s built up to its appearance in 2014 that on her confusion where we’re all age famous Salts Mill touch them.
so vulnerable.”
With the project finally the project was meeting a

a special camaraderie with his it very quickly becameabout my attitude to
obvious The more that in Yorkshire where “Those who see
that a second volumeand wasI called
my ‘chunky legs,’
realised I was worryi Carolyn ponde it will be part of
the commenting about the work are always
fellow performers and a unique
nothing. The truth ng about this largely ignore
d group, the more
red that’s taking place Saltaire Arts Trail People love it,
the print mediu
m.
understanding of what makes for, and at this point Steve
was they were realised she had she from May 28-30. and there’s no
thin.toItadopt stick discovered an engag “I can so relate it brings out the doubt that
them tick. “I realised some time London-based stand-up comedian Steve Best decided that he needed was ridiculous,
funny and a little personal project
, which has now ing she says, “and
to my subjects,” best in the work. I’m
so grateful to have
wide variety of people who

ago that I was in a very privileged a more serious attitudesad,tothat
his
underway Stuart trawled the

I give
position to be on the inside of started taking a camera along with him to his photography. had created
one throwaway
comment into an exhibit
ion, ‘Being In-betw
turned who they are and them space to be Fujifilm Fine Art
been introduced
to
This was initially een.’ to talk while I
this profession,” he says, “and at He began to look around for aso much impact, but it got shown at the Artlink Girls of this age listen. Photo Rag.”
gigs and over the years has used his ‘inside track’ Gallery in Hull are bombarded
that time I started to take a simple more advanced camera that would and it’s moving advertising and with For information
point and shoot camera along with still suit his candid approach and on to the marketing aimed on Fujfilm Fine n
‘tweens’, but it at Art
status to build up an outstanding collection of shouldn’t define Photo Rag Paper
internet for leads and got had amazing experiences to

me so that I could take some snaps found what he was looking for by them. see:
of the people I met up with along hanging out in Park Cameras and http://tinyurl.com/jd
the way.”
images of his fellow performers trying the kit that was on sale.
6b8ax
Steve’s interest quickly The camera he fell for was the
morphed into a formula: he For more information on Fujifilm Crystal Archive papers Fujifilm X-Pro 1 plus 18mm and
in touch with regiments to share and he listened en-

would take un-posed pictures of or to request a sample print please call Peter Wigington 35mm lenses: “It was the perfect
on 01234 572138, email [email protected] or visit
his subjects using available light, tool for me,” he says. “I loved its
www.fujifilm.eu/uk/products/photofinishing/photographic-paper/
whilst at the same time asking retro styling and, although it was
A trio of true ta
ADVERTISEME
Making the Prints
see if they could help in his thralled as one lady, found
NT FEATUR
E
ALL OF THE PRINTS for Steve’s show were made by theprintspace,
lent and prints

to
which is located right in the centre of Shoreditch, London’s creative
last a hundred
hotbed. First opening its doors in 2007, the company has now grown to
search. What finally opened through the blind veterans’

become one of the UK’s leading providers of professional photo and fine
years
art printing services, offering printing, mounting and framing, both online
and in-house. A firm favourite with creative artists and photographers,
theprintspace’s award-winning service offers gallery-standard quality at
Woodshedding
things up for him was a meet- association, described how

affordable prices, which is why Turner Prize-winning artists and National it
Portrait Gallery award-winners consistently choose to work with them. in the Fenlan
ds –
Another service recently launched by theprintspace is thehub, a new Alastair Bartle
tt
online ordering system that allows users to store their images online for
easy reprints and to create customised branded online art stores where
ing with George Batts, the she was an air operating

they can sell prints of their work directly to the public.
“We’ve been working with Fujifilm ever since theprintspace first
opened,” says Dave Lucken, the company’s operations director. “After
extensively testing a wide range of products we discovered that Fujifilm
papers gave us the most consistent results and the most neutral prints,
chairman of the Normandy officer for flight control

especially when we were working with black and white images, which can
be very tricky to print on colour papers.
“Steve was introduced to us via Fujifilm and we saw straight away
that this project was a unique take on what you usually see at a comedy
Veterans Association, who during the Battle of Britain.

show. It was a rare, almost backstage, viewpoint on how a comedian
might see their show, and we loved the work. The decision to print it all
out on Fujifilm’s DP II Matte media was a simple one: it really suited the
images and, in our opinion, it was going to be the best all-round paper in
terms of being able to cope with the different lighting levels that Steve
was not only the subject of “She was actually in the room
encountered in the course of shooting his images.”
www.theprintspace.co.uk
Putting som
ething back
a portrait but a man with a when Churchill famously The Metro Imag
– Metro Me
ntorship
programme launc e Mentorship
treasure trove of contacts. asked how many reserves we

hed in 2005. The
set the platform lab
up because it felt
bridge between the
ing
graduates comp
at’s boom
FEATURE their education leting
and the industry
Alastair bangs
had and was told there were
ADVERTISING
“I had to win him over and

port lab th
broken down. “The had
re was no clear the drum for Fuj
ers ifilm Crystal Arc
communication
The Stock rowing online ord

between indus IT WAS while
that of emerging
photographers,”
try and tourin
that Alastair Bartle g as a drummer in a band
tt first realised
hive
none,” Stuart says in awe.
One of the big
convince him that I was

Professor Steve says genuine passio
n for photography had a
he benefits of the
g
Macleod, abov Alastair was the mentorship for
thanks to
se, Metro’s creat e, it overto ok my obsession with . “Eventually fact that it introd
unf old ed but tho ive director. “and I decided music,” he says, pro lab standa
rds and quality
uced him to
olution to the “We introduced a schem to head to university to opene d his eyes to Fujifilm , and in particular it
s as the digital rev bus ine ss thanks supp e that
time.” While there
Alastair won the study it full
Paper, which perfec Fujifilm Crystal
“Someone who witnessed his-

in
genuine,” recalls Stuart, “but ny prolab surge orted graduates as they prize mentorship Archive
enjoying a
offered by Metro tly complement
ak for ma transition from made the Imaging with ‘Here “The quality of ed his imagery.
looked ble d are now ordering educa Are’ – a series We Fujifilm Crystal
The future
of images captur
that survive l growth of online We enlisted many tion to industry. Cambridgeshire ed around the second to none,” Archive is
our Labs, Fenlands (above asserts Alastair.
“My work can
exponentia
be very subtle
like DS Col advise and supp industry leaders to provided a huge ). The
boost to his career award
and the vivid colour
tory in the making and here

really help to bring s of this paper
once I did he simply asked me

ort the progress validated the work and not only out
rd- mentee. The platfo of each enable he was producing hues. I’m still blown the different tones and
r, the forwa
J
rm but also
resourced by Metro is fully funded and expert feedbato benefit from a wide selection
onathan Porte of DS Colour
d him is output on this away every time
r
thinking owne Stockport, is of paper. There’s just my work
Imaging and is ck and tangib describe that exhila no way to
Labs in Redd
ish, established in now “Winning the Metro le material support. rating feeling when
both academic
they were, sitting in front of
t the
to give him a shopping list of

he talks abou Mentorship Prize print for the first you see a
candid when faced this family- academic route and non- an incredible feeling was time.
so archivally stable The fact that the paper is
challenges
that s into the indus be a lonely place ,” he says. “Photography can is anothe
ess just a few years
www.metro.co try.” and self-doubt me. People really r big plus point
for
owned busin r in: awards and can easily creep do look out for
Set up by his
grandfathe .uk prizes are a great and silver halide that reassurance,
ago. company know what you’re way to technology is one
1950s, the doing is both releva let you
the people I was looking for my camera.”

in the early Didsbury appreciated.” guaranteeing this way of
of a shop in nt and incred
operated out prolabs, More information: ibly important factor.”
many other
and, like so core www.alastairba
its traditional rtlett.com
was seeing and fast
processing
services of
With his project now com-

et steadily
and he put me in touch with ng for the pro mark

printi of digital.
the advance
eroded by decline
“There had
been a huge what online
” says Jonat
han, “and
our eyes to
in business, lves, for opening athan Porter,
plete Stuart is proud to have
ing to ourse
them. Things really started ifilm to thank s owner Jon

we were think from here? We
where do we
go
the original
premises ‘We have Fuj r’ – DS Colour Lab ters
were still in over ld offe film prin
ordering cou team and Fuj
in
started out e to be
that we had small book servic
r and it was
line-up of lab lay flat photo the range
played his own small part

fifty years earlie no room for
moving after this.”

a year after
and cramp
ed with
we weren’t above with offered, and
was introduced
it’s proving
to be
At that time
expansion. .” lar.
that we had a future extremely popu nly’ packages
even sure ess “Despite ‘CD-o quarters
of the busin
The saviour in some Fujifilm Crysta
in honouring the heroes of

of l Archive
From the outset Stuart’s

atic grow th taking over high
was the dram coupled with demand for Type II freshly
’s still a huge on processed
online order
ing,
of a
there20
• MAST booksPHOTprinted out
and courage quality photo ER OGRA
Jonat han.
the foresight that, four years halide paper,” says PHY MARCH/APR Fujifilm Crysta
l
nt team silver ers not IL 2016
manageme to relocate photograph Archive Fujitra
the decision “And for those album approach ns
plan was to photograph D-Day, and the body of work

ago, made an full
to a unit on going for the cts that
DS Colour Labs times other produ
that was ten there are many cases,
industrial site ke such as CD
out in bespo they can offer, folios. You can
the size, fitted for the needs of and
cards, boxes it all
fashion to cater to match and
everyone as an individual and that’s resulted will ensure

l get everything professional.”
the business. m to thank icolor Crysta looks extre
mely d a bit
“We have Fujifil to what
prints on Fuj into Success has
now create
for opening
our eyes
ing could offer,”
notes How bigger ught DSCL for DS Colou
of a challenge already filling the
r Labs.
online order ing -II Paper bro is
was an amaz
Archive DP The company it’s taken on and
to arrive for his sitting with that the extraordinary stories market
Jonathan. “It one that
opportunit
y and we were ed.
to get fully
involv lay-flat photobook the larger prints
needed
extra space
five internal
walls have
had to
te
of the first graphers the Previously inkjet to accommoda
wedding photo much larger ced using an be taken down been
T
Previously could he move to to be produ the inery that’s
use us if they ed the door couldn’t match the extra mach future even
Has a Fujifilm
would only printer, which
a deliberately blank canvas, they had to tell will live on.

Even
their films off. premises open a grand halide and
was
brought in.
In the
to be
physically drop wasn’t secure to expansion
on quality of silver ises may need in any
ry the most recen
t
expensive. bigger prem han is not
special delive with unprocessed one of more mess age but Jonat
scale, and r Labs is push the sourced, quite
trust “We always the business
Á
enough to t that s at DS Colou vity
That mean installation a major y and longe hurry to move
wedding films. very local, but lab printer, about the qualit
product featured
a giant Laser output,” says
so that he could react in re-

was d yet. e feet
our clientèle l files that has move of silver halide superb “We’ve got
6,000 squar
can send digita investment level. prints look to
because you now gettin
g on to a new Jonathan. “The nce is still got room
here we’re everything al ssional audie here, so we’ve says.
from anyw world.” Fujicolor Cryst and our profe them because moment,” he
all over the Working with r halide based
)
happy with grow at the for
orders from UK-ba sed ve DP-II (silve very mess age to is a very exciting time
er of
in YOUR current
Archi up to a great “This most
More information:
“The numb e services are
al-time to what he found. “In

with in deliver prints it provides Our
ers we deal paper it can of surfaces, own clients. us and onlin success of
photograph , thanks to on a range convey to their days to inkjet future. The
flourishing 49.5x30ins , certainly our much
particular is today . If it’s as gloss y, lustre and pearl only output these
and canva s.” book s shows how
speed such the lab can fine art the photo and
our turnaround a standard print means that printers is to of the new could be there
time and it now of the jobs The acquisition ed a new potential there quality of Fujifilm
ordered in vast majority
success? If so, we
day and g
my job I often have to work

out the same er output the the outstandin
www.stuart-wood.com
media, also allow got great
order will go couri e on the same y. printer has es that we’ve
goes for the they receiv
er consistenc
media ensur customers.”
if the client day offer to our
e then it will be a next Mail ensuring great al Archi ve papers products to ation :
servic
wise it’s Royal m Cryst Wigington More inform
delivery, other ation on Fujifil e call Peter lourlabs.co
.uk
clientèle loves se For inform print pleas o.uk or visit www.dsco
want to know –
st a sample [email protected] tographic-paper
like that,” he says, “and it’s

first class. Our
www.stuartwoodweddings.com
becau or to reque
service, and 8, email photo g/pho
this kind of produced in on 01234 57213 /products/photofinishin
we offer is .eu/uk
everything lete www.fujifilm
s we’re in comp
house it mean
thing.”
Photographs from Stuart’s documentary essay on D-Day veterans – above, a just a case of being able to www.onevisionimaging.com
control of every
2 • MASTER
PHOTOGRA
PHY SEPTEMBE
R/OCTOBE
R 2015
contact us now!
Nanza Hughes; right, Ernest Turner. think on your feet. http://bit.ly/fujifilmDPII [email protected]
visit wex.co.uk
01603 603819 short and intensive
courses in Central London
Many a small
thing has been
Call us
Call us Mon-Fri
Mon-Fri 8am-7pm,
8am-7pm, Sat
Sat 9am-6pm,
9am-6pm, Sun
Sun 10am-4pm
10am-4pm
17,000++ Products
•• 17,000 Products •• Free
Free Delivery
Delivery on
on £50
£50 or
or over
over •• We
We deliver
deliver at weekends◊◊ •• 30-Day
at weekends 30-Day Returns Policy†† •• Part-Ex
Returns Policy Part-Ex Available
Available •• Used
Used items
items inc
inc 12-month
12-month warranty ††
warranty†† Photography discussion group with Shirley Read
code VY975 Thu 27 Apr – 25 May , 18.30–20.30
Adobe Premiere Pro video editing for beginners
code VG367 Thu 27 Apr – 15 Jun, 18.30–21.30
made large by
Now in stock
Contemporary art photography
code VY659 Fri 28 Apr – 2 Jun, 18.00–21.00 the right kind of
Exploring the V&A photography archive
code VY946 Wed 3 – 17 May, 14.30–16.30
Montage and constructed images: a practical course
advertising.
Pursue code VY958 Wed 3 – 31 May, 14.00–17.00
A history of British photography Mark Twain
perfection
code VY605 Wed 3 – 31 May, 18.30–20.30
Photographing London’s hidden gems: Charterhouse
code VY403 Mon 8 May – 5 Jun, 14.00–17.00
The business of photography workshop
code VY813 Fri 11 – 18 May, 14.00–17.00
Wildlife photography: red and fallow deer To advertise here
30-megapixel CMOS sensor code VY963 Wed 17 May, 10.00–16.00 please contact
City Lit Pro: technical photography skills intensive +44 (0)20 7193 6763
61-point AF system code VY922 Fri 19 May – 23 Jun, 14.00–17.00
City Lit Pro: Adobe Lightroom intensive
7fps continuous shooting code VY997 Fri 19 May – 9 Jun, 09.00–13.00
Social media for visual artists: promote & network
4K video recording code VG524 Sat 27 May – 10 Jun, 10.00–13.00
Event photography
code VY951 Thu 1 – 15 Jun, 18.30–21.30
£3,499 Follow us on Twitter @CityLitArts
Our studios in Covent Garden have up-to-date equipment and

Where offer a comfortable and inspiring learning experience. To enrol
London now or for a comprehensive view of all our courses please visit:
www.citylit.ac.uk/BJP or call enrolments on 020 7831 7831
Learns 1–10 Keeley Street, Covent Garden, London WC2B 4BA
BG-E20 Battery Grip EF 16-35mm f2.8L III USM EF 24-105mm f4L IS II USM
Enhance the handling of the 5D Premium image quality from an A professional-quality standard
Mk IV when shooting vertically. ultra-wide angle zoom lens. zoom lens.
£284 £2,099 £1,065 Coffee?

New New New
Cats?
Or the world’s
best contemporary
New
photography?
Creativity
and Control
Follow @bjp1854
From £829 on Instagram
Terms and
Terms and Conditions
Conditions All
All prices
prices incl.
incl. VAT
VAT atat 20%
20% Prices
Prices correct
correct at
at time
time of
of going
going to
to press.
press. FREE
FREE Delivery**
Delivery** available
available on
on orders
orders over
over £50
£50 (based
(based on on aa 44 day
day delivery
delivery service).
service). For
For orders
orders under
under £50
£50 the
the charge
charge isis £2.99**
£2.99** (based
(based onon aa 44 day
day delivery
delivery
service). For
service). For Next
Next Working
Working DayDay Delivery
Delivery our
our charges
charges are £4.99**. ◊◊Saturday
are £4.99**. Saturday deliveries
deliveries are
are charged
charged at at aa rate
rate of £7.95**. ◊◊Sunday
of £7.95**. Sunday deliveries
deliveries are
are charged
charged at at aa rate
rate £8.95**.(**Deliveries
£8.95**.(**Deliveries of
of very
very heavy
heavy items,
items, to
to N.I.,
N.I., or
or remote
remote areas
areas may
may be be subject
subject
to extra
to extra charges.)
charges.) E.
E. && O.E.
O.E. Prices
Prices subject
subject to to change.
change. Goods
Goods subject
subject toto availability.
availability. Live
Live Chat
Chat operates
operates between
between 8am-7pm
8am-7pm Mon-Fri
Mon-Fri and
and may
may notnot bebe available
available during
during peak periods. ††Subject
peak periods. Subject to to goods
goods being
being returned
returned as as new
new andand in
in the
the original
original
††
packaging. Where
packaging. Where returns
returns are
are accepted
accepted in in other
other instances,
instances, they
they may
may be
be subject
subject toto aa restocking
restocking charge.
charge. ††Applies
Applies to
to products
products sold
sold in
in full
full working
working condition.
condition. Not
Not applicable
applicable to
to items
items specifi
specifically
cally described
described as as “IN”
“IN” or
or incomplete
incomplete
(ie. being
(ie. being sold
sold for
for spares
spares only).
only). Wex
Wex Photographic
Photographic is is aa trading
trading name
name of of Warehouse
Warehouse Express
Express Limited
Limited (registered
(registered as as company
company no. no. 03366976.
03366976. VATVAT number
number 231 231 9471
9471 12).
12).
©Warehouse Express
©Warehouse Express 2017.
2017. Please
Please refer
refer to
to our
our website
website forfor details.
details.
Showroom: off
Showroom: off Drayton
Drayton High
High Road,
Road, (opposite
(opposite ASDA)
ASDA) Norwich.
Norwich. NR6NR6 5DP.
5DP. Monday
Monday && Wednesday-Saturday
Wednesday-Saturday 10am-6pm, 10am-6pm, Tuesday
Tuesday 10am-5pm,
10am-5pm, Sunday
Sunday 10am-4pm.
10am-4pm.
96
Follow us on social media: 97
Personal ‘Prepper’ tutorials and how-to drawings
Archives are the source materials for a Dutch
Lise Straatsma photographer’s failed attempt to create
Words by Simon Bainbridge order out of chaos The leading source of inspiration
and insight into cutting-edge
contemporary photography.
Get 12 issues of BJP with our no-risk, full back money guarantee*
Installation views of Lise Straatsma’s to deal with the unpredictable. It poses the with her own sense of order, she realised this
The Alpha Strategy – An Index Of The
Unpredictable showing at the Royal College
question of where the dividing line is between dichotomy could feed directly into the work.
of Art in The Hague, February 2017. useful information and knowledge possibly “After working on the project for a year, I
All images © Lise Straatsma.
being completely useless. Is knowledge power felt I was drowning,” she says. “The amount of
or is ignorance bliss?” information I had gathered was enormous and
The title of the project originates from I started doing something I always do at that
a bestselling book published in 1980 by point: I put my research and photographs into
“I am fascinated by order and chaos,” economics commentator John Pugsley, which categories. My walls were full of Post-its and
says Amsterdam-based photographer Lise detailed strategies for preserving wealth colour-coordinated stickers. And when I was
Straatsma. “The two go hand in hand; where in the face of inflation, but it is now used done, staring at my walls, the ridiculousness of
you try to create order, more chaos seems in a wider sense as a term for preparing me colour-indexing the end of the world as we
to emerge.” It is one of the central themes for disaster scenarios. “There is something know it was just so apparent. It said so much
of her latest work, The Alpha Strategy – An romantic about the idea of not having modern about me, as a person and as a photographer,
Index Of The Unpredictable, which also technology, it being just you and nature,” that I wanted to incorporate this in the project.”
became something of a personal battle as she says the photographer. “The urge to survive is For her graduation show she combined
struggled with the sheer volume of research also this very primal need, and then there is her research, including a split-screen projection
materials she collected online. this modern phenomenon of online tutorials of 16 clean-water tutorials, with her own
The 26-year-old, a recent graduate of and how-to drawings. This juxtaposition is photographs and portraits of preppers
CALLING ALL STUDENTS the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague,

describes the project as an investigation into DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES
interesting. Survival tutorials might be the
most useful ones out there, since we are all
alongside survival tools she created from the
guides, all presented together in a kind of
AND GRADUATES “the quest for self-reliance”, focusing on the

guides and tools developed by survivalists 08 MAY 2017
so dependent on modern technology that
there are not that many people left that carry
organised chaos that echoed her wall layouts.
“When I started working on the project it
and ‘preppers’ for living back in the wild. And this knowledge.” was much more traditional, in the sense
EXHIBIT YOUR WORK while she describes it as an “ongoing research

BJPBREAKTHROUGH.COM
She originally began watching the that I was only using my own photography www.bjpsubs.com
SAVE
on how to weapon yourself against fear and tutorials so she could create her own clean- to tell this story about people preparing
PROMO CODE: MAY17A
GET FEATURED IN BJP anxiety”, it also addresses one of the more
existential questions of our time: “Living in
water filter in the wild or bush-craft a shelter
in the woods, both of which she built and then
themselves for major disasters. It fast became
boring and impersonal and it didn’t feel like
37%
*Standard T&C’s apply, however, should you wish to cancel, our no-risk
MEET INDUSTRY EXPERTS the information age, we have access to a
multitude of sources, data and visuals,” says
photographed. But as she delved deeper into
her research and began to feel overwhelmed
I was telling the truth, even though I was
documenting reality.” full money back guarantee offer is valid up until 60 days from purchase
by contacting [email protected]. Images used are for illustrative
LAUNCH YOUR CAREER Straatsma. “This research tries to grasp ways by it and unable to contain the growing chaos
Supported by
lisestraatsma.nl
purposes only. Offer ends 2nd May 2017.
98 Personal Archive
Peckham 24 and Prix Pictet women differently to men? Endia Beal, Riposte magazine
Established 1854
Female Gaze
REVOLUTIONARY. IN EVERY WAY.

Issue 7859 May 2017
Change the game with the E-M1 Mark II. It is a powerful, precise and high-speed OM-D which
perfectly meets the needs of photographers. Even in combination with a super-telephoto M.ZUIKO
FEMALE GA ZE
DIGITAL lens, it keeps you light on your feet throughout any photo assignment and with its
weatherproof construction, anywhere in the world. The PRO Service dedicated to professionals
ensures you are free to focus on what you do best: taking inspiring photos.
Find out more at your local dealer or visit www.olympus.co.uk T H E S E L F I E G E N E R AT I O N

Female Gaze: Revolutionary. in Every Way

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Female Gaze: Revolutionary. in Every Way

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Female Gaze: Revolutionary. in Every Way

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Capital culture: Photo London, How do women photograph Laia Abril, Zuza Krajewska,

REVOLUTIONARY. IN EVERY WAY.

as objects of male pleasure. However, many didn’t like the idea of a

MEET INDUSTRY EXPERTS

CALLING ALL STUDENTS DIANA MARKOSIAN Featured 36 – 49 50 – 66

WATCH THE XMT

©Steve Brown - stevebrowncreative.com

20 Any Answers: mix order and chaos to Instagram.com/BowensFlash

Anders Petersen. intriguing eﬀect. 90 – 91

Academy of Fine Arts graduate has produced Lead Feature Writer

FEMALE GA ZE Gordon, Michael Grieve, Peter Hamilton,

NEW PERSPEC TIVES FROM

8 Colophon: May 2017

Benson reflects on the hard work

Photo London 35,000 visitors over its five-day run, with

Photo London gears

I was brought up in a privileged and bourgeois family. We lived in the countryside

The first photograph to make an impression on me was a picture of a cemetery with

20 Agenda: Any Answers

Buy the next issue of

We are living in a world where we are more connected than

Tania Franco Klein

Jennifer Niederhauser Schlup

32 Projects: Work in Progress

36 Female Gaze: Girl On Girl Habitat: Format Festival 37

38 Female Gaze: Girl On Girl 39

40 Habitat: Format Festival Female Gaze: Girl On Girl 41

Page 38: Mad About U, 2015 © Molly Soda.

Page 39: Untitled #23 from the series Selfie,

Page 40: Xana Nyilenda, Los Angeles, 2013

Page 42: Rotation 2, 2014 © Isabelle Wenzel.

Page 43: Untitled from the series Like a Stone,

Pages 44-45: 12 Reasons You’re Tired All The

Page 46: Cetos from the series Spider Monkeys

Page 47: Untitled, 2014 © Yaeli Gabriely.

Opposite page: Peonie, Bum from the series

Right, above and below: From the series

48 Habitat: Format Festival Female Gaze: Girl On Girl 49

50 Female Gaze: Zuza Krajewska Habitat: Format Festival 51

52 Female Gaze: Zuza Krajewska Female Gaze: Zuza Krajewska 53

E A SIER FOR herself, Krajewska recognised this in the boys’

T H E M S E LV E S could view it under the same gaze if they let

IN FRONT OF was unfamiliar, even “an element of surprise”,

FRONT OF would offer compassion, and try to satisfy

VIEW AS cancelling out just one sense for a split second,

54 Habitat: Format Festival Female Gaze: Zuza Krajewska 55

64 Habitat: Format Festival Female Gaze: Zuza Krajewska 65

66 Female Gaze: Zuza Krajewska

68 Female Gaze: Endia Beal Habitat: Format Festival 69

70 Female Gaze: Endia Beal Female Gaze: Endia Beal 71

76 Female Gaze: Laia Abril

78 Female Gaze: Laia Abril 79

Eva and Kyra, Merthyr Tydfil © Tom Johnson

As a major retrospective at The Met husband – as named on the certificate

82 Intelligence: New Media Intelligence: Report 81

82 Intelligence: Report Intelligence: Report 83

What are your main considerations

86 Intelligence: Creative Brief Intelligence: Creative Brief 87

Hasselblad says it has four new lenses