WE ARE Magazine, June 2022

WE ARE

The RPS Women in Photography Magazine

Bloodline by Eve Milner, LRPS

In This Issue

4 SELFIES: Women in Photography Winners Gallery

6 Seoul Architecture: Right Place, Right Time

by Gigi Chung

18 Documentary Family Photography: art of the ordinary

by Alice Chapman WIP Member

24 Echoes – Crashing Waves

Interview by Yuki Miyake with Tomoko Yoneda

32 Give us Features, not Flowers

by Helene Jelenc and Sandra Potisek

37 Drip by Drip, we are fed with concrete

Online Exhibition - Anna Sellen WIP Member

44 Mapping as a Philosophy by Yas Crawford, ARPS WIP Member

52 Discovering a Passion for Architecture

by Candia Peterson, ARPS WIP Member

58 Time and Motion: capturing the lifeblood of a racing yard

Exhibition - Jayne Odell, FRPS WIP Member

59 Daughters of the Soil

by Joanne Coates

66 Lockdown Diary and Adriane's Thread

by Sandra Beauchard

74 Rescuing your Inner Artist

Visual artist Francesca Lando in conversation with photographer Nicola Albon

From the Editor

Celebrating the Selfie

Welcome to our June, 2022 issue of WE ARE Magazine.

This issue features an international selection of member and non-member articles and interviews that span a range of genre's and WIP related subjects A special thank you to everyone who has given their time to share their beautifual images, stories and information with us.

In news from the group, we've been delighted with the response that we had to our call for entries for our first WIP online exhibiton We had more than 500 images submitted from female and femaleidentifying photographers from around the world and as far away as Mexico, Greece, Australia and Saudi Arabia. It was a tough job, but our panel of judges have selected 50 photos for the SELFIES: Women in Photography online exhibition that will run from 15 June - 31 July, 2022 on the WIP website Four awards were handed down by the judges (see pages 4 and 5) including a Gold Medal to Eloisa Sanchez who was the only photographer to have both of her submitted images selected for the exhibition Thank you to everyone who entered!

We will continue to share our eMagazine to a member and non-member audience however, we will also continue to only feature our Women in Photography member images on our covers. For this issue, we are pleased to share the selfie's submitted by WIP members Eve Milner and Irina Petrova

Wishing you all a fun summer holiday season

All the best,

Teri Walker

Chair, RPS Women in Photography Interim Editor

See you in September

SELFIES: Women in Photography Winners Gallery

Online Exhibition 15 June - 31 July, 2022

Best in Show

Jekyll and Hyde by Frankie MacEachen (UK) @boldfrankphotography

"I first picked up my camera in 2016 after performing onstage for many years As an actor, much of my preparation focused on stillness Capturing the essence of a character and building a narrative from within

In making the transition from one creative medium to another, this process became a driving force in my photography whether it was portraiture or landscape I strived to get under the skin of my subject

I was diagnosed with a mental health condition in 2019 at age 49 On a personal level the diagnosis finally gave me answers but it subsequently inspired me to dig deeper in my photography with an emphasis on putting ‘the inside on the outside’ so to speak and to convey a deeper story through a still image.

During lockdown, I had no option but to turn the camera on myself I started to consider how light and shade could be utilised to capture different moods within one image Moving forward I want to explore further the impact of managing the highs and lows of a mental health condition through the stillness of an image "

Best B&W Selfie

Do I Sitwell by Dee Robinson (UK) @deerobinson5

"Usually faces have been a part of my pictures, now they are the main event

I started out taking pictures of architecture, would even wait until people moved out of shot This was a long time ago, maybe I got a little bored with bricks and mortar, maybe I needed actors for my stage of beautiful buildings but people started to appear and it started a fascination that grew slowly into a love of portraiture.

It was during the first lock down when as a group of photographers we couldn’t decide on a project to show for our next Zoom meeting and came up with the idea of selfies Not being terribly keen on the idea of seeing myself on a screen I decided to hide behind another’s persona, in this case Dame Edith Sitwell and all her rings "

Best International Selfie Reflections by Aljohara Jeje (Saudi Arabia)

@aljohara photography

"As long as I can remember I have been a woman and artist. Enraptured by techniques, I graduated in Product Design, after Art-Photography, in between propaedeutic in Art History, and later in life I took courses in medieval artistry techniques (in China and in Portugal) I raised my family in various countries and four years ago I restarted my career in the arts, slowly overcoming a 20+ years professional hiatus.

Enjoying Saudi Arabia’s vibrant society so much and convinced that its culture has all the elements to become the next artist's hub on par with Berlin and the like, I closed my house in Europe indefinitely and choose to live and work here, as long as The Kingdom is willing to have me, of course "

Gold Medal

Asphyxia (right) and Sinking (below)

by Eloisa Sanchez (Mexico) @saudadelo

Eloisa is a Mexican professional photographer based in Mexico City She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture and a degree in Photography

Eloisa started taking pictures at an early age. Since she was born, her father always had a camera in his hands and at the age 6 he gave her her first own 110mm camera Self-taught at the beginning, she grew up with photography as a hobby; but with time, and after graduating in Architecture, the idea of making photography her life consolidated in her head

Self-portraits for her at first were a way to explore photography, light and colour, being shy and introverted she always preferred to take photos of herself than someone else But later it became a means of venting emotions and concerns.

Eloisa Sánchez's photographic work has been published in several Mexican and International media outlets as The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, ESPN, Fox Sports, Bloomberg, Huffington Post, Marca, among other newspapers and magazines

During her professional career Eloisa has also photographed content for art books and documentaries, conferences, portraits and product shots for Grupo Modelo, Adidas, VISA, Nestlé, etc.

Seoul Architecture: Right Place, Right Time

by Gigi Chung

Gigi Chung is a California-based fine-art photographer specialising in abstract architecture She distills complex scenes into bold sculptural forms; emphasising lines, shapes and contrast with conscious inclusion of aesthetically pleasing elements. She is a contributor to Tagree, Jaamzin and Medium Format Magazine. Her photography work has taken her across the globe, to galleries and elite photography competitions in Athens, Chania, Cormons, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Greenville, Kyoto, London, Portland, Minneapolis, New York, Taipei, Trieste, Tokyo, San Francisco, Vermont and Zurich-Oerlikon Her recent accolades include the 17th Pollux Awards, the 17th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards, Tokyo International Foto Awards Jury Top 5, Kyotographie KG Plus featured artist and Hasselblad Heroine

Photos by Gigi Chung

Gigi Chung, Seoul

Seoul, the city and her architecture, to me, is about Pride, Status and Transformation

In order to acquire place identity, the city should give a sense of individuality and uniqueness. The diversity in architecture styles leads to aesthetically pleasing compositions. Seoul’s offering is abundant.

This project is an abstract visual representation of the architecture in Seoul. My collection seeks to accentuate curves, emphasise details, and create asymmetry.

Place identity of Seoul City Hall

Seoul, the capital city of South Korea where 1 in 5 Koreans call home, population about 10 million. Visual symbol of the nation’s pride, the facade of Seoul City Hall is unique as its design is based on the eaves of traditional Korean houses.

My images seek to accentuate the flowing, curvilinear form of the design.

The exterior is a green glass curtain wall which echoes the surrounding terrain of mountains and valleys. The multi-faceted surfaces reflect light, the same scintillation a perfect-cut diamond gives, in the heart of a city that never sleeps. Thanks to the precise artistry and workmanship, the facade delivers the best return of light. These golden sparkles give hope to all citizens who fight to be free. The effort I made by choosing an unusual and bold angle is being rewarded as a result. South-facing front maximises the amount of day light, while the east side dome-shape window captures the morning calm before the rush arrives.

The architecture of Seoul City Hall offers a sense of place for the community in the heart of Seoul. It is where people interact with the Seoul Metropolitan Government through the services provided to the citizens. Moving south and crossing the river, I witnessed the prowess of Seoul’s economic development, of what is called “the Miracle on the Han River.”

Seoul City Hall Front

Seoul City Hall

Place identity of Gangnam

Among my Korean friends who live here, they all want to know where I went to take pictures. Few and far between may go on to ask WHAT I was looking at “That building looks more like a half-moon than a banana to me ” Here, the use of imagination is boundless for creating what is the Gangnam style architecture: Showcase for the flamboyant new-rich urban modernity

This is the new face of the nation: Prosperous, choreographed urban space welcomes those creative individuals who understand no limits in the pursuit of status So, what exactly is that? Are these urban sculptures in disguise?

My images seek to illustrate what some of the possibilities are and at the same time reveal the talent of Korean architects who contribute to visual excitement, yet conveying harmony. Circles, in Korean culture, represent balance in the universe between the two cosmic forces

“Oh, that is one of the contemporary show pieces in Gangnam ”

Gangnam, the city that literally means “South of River” in Korean, is the place where modern architecture flourishes. Whether Gangnam offers a sense of architectural objects as built environment, a distinct form of art, or simply an unconventional spatial experience is up for debate. What is obvious in Gangnam is a show of lifestyle. Known for showcasing flagship stores by the fashion houses, Cheongdam area in Gangnam has numerous jaw-dropping structures to choose from

Among these, one of the fashion corporate headquarters along Dosan Road looks especially inviting to my camera I say, if French Mont Blanc brings sweetness to your palate, this facade offers imagination to my photography life Imagine, vermicelli purée layered in an orderly circular manner, cut in halves and hung on its side Capture that!

The truth is, a collaboration is formed between Korean’s leading fashion designer Lie Sang Bong and architecture firm Unsangdong under a shared vision: “Fashion is architecture and architecture is fashion,” there is no clear distinction

Gangnam MontBlanc Lie Sang Bong

Moving along Yeongdong Road due south, I came across Summit Gallery whose facade resembles a topographic map with lots of contour lines. In art class, I learn that shading is the part that makes a drawing go from a flat contour drawing to a 3dimensional illusion. Here in Daechi-dong, the gallery’s east-facing facade has enough shadowlight play that makes it alive as the intensity of the sun and the angle of illumination vary. This “map” has all shading done, now is the photographer’s job to scan and decide which area is of particular interest.

The exterior consists of silver metallic surface created by massive sheets of steel, with concentric circles as cut-outs, layered on top of each other. Imagination flourished as I saw lots of circles One may say the sculpture-like facade resembles the front of a floor-standing loudspeaker, where the round holes are diaphragms or cones Facing the building, what I heard was the constant traffic behind me, as Yeongdong Road is a major thoroughfare in Gangnam Since the “speaker” I was looking at made no sound, the experience was odd and strange in a good way.

Gangnam Summit Gallery

If circles draw attention, the next building I visited has a lot of them Going north towards Coex, a landmark made up of convention center, shopping mall and hotels, an off-white building awaited The facade of Place 1, a white skin, looks like the bottom of an egg crate Some concave circles are simply openings, letting light and air in Others are art discs with design pattern, while the rest serve as windows They rotate about the xaxis between open and close. The roundish infundibula make the building look like a giant

tentacle I was in awe, happily photographing the octopus

I sum up my Gangnam experience speaking of current, modern architectural design The next location on the east side of city center is all about the future Dongdaemum Design Plaza, DDP in short, is neo futuristic architecture designed by Zaha Hadid If Dream, Design & Play makes more sense, this is indeed a dream come true

Place Identity of Dongdaemum Design Plaza (DDP)

The exteriors are metallic cladding reflective surfaces casting shadows on itself, making it a candidate for a successful photoshoot The liberating curves fit perfect with the idea of relaxation and cultural events which happen inside: TeamLab exhibitions and the Seoul Fashion Week Speaking of fashion, Dongdaemum area has always been famous as a fashion wholesale market, and Hadid’s marvelous work epitomizes DDP as the world stage of spatial design

Spatial design is about understanding how people move, interact and feel within the space. The DDP design team put focus on the space and the people who come to use the space. It is transformation with a holistic approach. It is not just the spaceship-like architecture which wows me, come to think about it. What is equally impressive is the connecting walkway that permits the flow of space from interior (library, exhibition space, conference rooms) to the park setting on the outside.

Changes in urban places are collective memory of its people, and Dongdaemum area has seen her fair share of transformation in recent years DDP facilitates new and continuous growth It is the result of collaborative effort between tourism industry and fashion industry. A series of memorable events during the Seoul Fashion Week take place at DDP. As the models marching down the stairs and crossing the walkway (as the runway), a new generation of fashion talents owns this space in history with the perfect backdrop of DDP. DDP is the stage. Seoul Metropolitan Government hosts Seoul Fashion Week, a global fashion business event.

Who are the regulars who come to visit DDP?

The creative fashion and design industry in Seoul gather in DDP. The clever design of walkway accommodates the constant flow of foot traffic by providing a ramp connecting the street level and the below-ground plaza. To us photographers, multiple vantage points along the ramp, as well as two stairways on each side offer different perspectives, thereby enhancing the composition of a photo. To top the list, this plaza is off-limit to any traffic except pedestrians. As a venue for leisure and recreation, being able to safely explore to enjoy the moment of photography is an equally important in my agenda

"Changes in urban places are collective memory of its people, and Dongdaemum area has seen her fair share of transformation in recent years."

Strategic Planning and Execution

Speaking of agenda and plans, here is a checklist I have considered, as part of my strategic planning and execution

First thing first, how do I locate the building? I use the local map system Nevar or KakaoMap to provide up-to-date information.

Orientation of the building structure, obviously, dictates how much natural light it receives Outdoor planning photography tool 'The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE)' lets users see directional light on a map to decide the best time to shoot Mapping out the area of interest is vital

Hydration and shelter needs are well taken care of, since cafes of various sizes are readily available

Plan to go back at a different time, as the light condition changes, the images will evoke different emotions What is a Right Time? I stay in one area long enough to feel “The Rhythm of the place ”

Walk. Keep walking to observe the spatial transition in order to better arrange visual elements in the frame.

Explore. Try all possible angles by circling around the building structure.

Conclusion

If the act of photography includes personal experience gained by approaching similar subjects at different stages of life, what do I gain from the experience of photographing what is unique, mostly memorable and sometimes strange?

“Let’s take a look!”

What is Place Identity?

It is how people perceive the place with their eyes, and how the place touches their souls On top of the unique aesthetics, place identity is how much people feel they belong through their involvement with the environment Getting on my feet day in day out, I gain a better insight of what place identity is

All photos were shot with Hasselblad X1D, XCD 45mm, XCD 65mm and XCD 80mm

Documentary Family Photography: art of the ordinary

by Alice Chapman

I still remember the moment years ago, when I realised documentary family photography was a “thing” I’d been photographing families for a few years and had been drawn to outtakes or behind the scenes style images. I stumbled across the genre online, and sat immersed until I’d seen, read and watched everything I possibly could I realised that candid images embracing the chaos of real family life could be the intention behind the entire shoot Everything about the way I wanted to make photographs finally made sense.

It was exciting to understand that family photography can be approached as photojournalism for families And although it’s technically client photojournalism, when approached with a photojournalistic ethos it’s nonetheless an act of honestly documenting the everyday and the ordinary. Real family life is chaotic, messy, funny, repetitive, emotionally all over the place and not what it looks like in the adverts (yet!) I very much feel the artistic drive to make order out of chaos, so I’ve found my perfect subject.

Photos by Alice Chapman

It’s incredibly rewarding to contribute to a more honest visual history of the family It’s an empowering genre all round. I feel that family photography can sometimes look homogeneous and idealised. As a mother, I’m all too aware of the pressures that social media imagery can put upon us By focusing on what makes people and their everyday lives together unique, we’re saying being yourself is not only good enough - it has real aesthetic value too. I’m drawn to tell stories of motherhood, childhood and family: the subjects are as valid, interesting and essential as any other aspects of human life, if not more so

I’m particularly driven to capture character; working hard to enable families and children to be

themselves in their family photos so that I can champion their individuality I tell my clients that best behaviour is optional; they don’t need to look, be or do anything different because I’m there.

But it’s not as easy as it might seem! It’s not enough to tell people to “act natural” Shooting undirected doesn’t mean we’re not responsible or in charge of the shoot. A good family documentary shoot happens when we combine client care with a well-honed technical and creative skill set

Building trust with clients is key Consulting carefully before the shoot enables getting to know each other and the client learning what to expect on the day. Family documentary is a growing genre and we need to help clients understand what it is and, crucially, what it isn’t So, I make sure everyone realises I’m not going to pose or direct, and we talk beforehand about routine and favourite activities and places I’m looking for genuine moments and interactions amongst real life everyday scenes, and it’s this preparation that enables those moments to happen I’m also looking to include the home for meaningful context, so I’m not going to move anything and I tell my clients they don’t need to tidy up. The empowerment and trust to be yourself happens as early as possible in the process

Technically, it can be a challenging way to shoot

With no direction or posing and usually no additional lighting, we need to work on that skill set and be ready to think on our feet as we go with the flow with our clients

Quality of light used to keep me awake at night

These days I relish the challenge of shooting in all light conditions: using backlight, rim light, silhouette or intentional motion blur in low light; shooting dramatic high contrast, colourful and dark images in harsh light, finding the definition in flat light; embracing real life colour casts and mixed light colours and levels in a scene; pushing my ISO and practicing switching between light conditions on the go

Perhaps more than anything else, I’ve learned to trust that the documentary process will deliver results for client photography It can be nervewracking to stop directing and to let go of that control. I felt like I took a leap of faith in fully committing to using the documentary approach for clients I’ve never looked back! I started to see the most wonderful and genuine moments happening in front of me because I fully enabled ordinary real life to play out. It’s so easy to burst that bubble by directing a little bit here and there. I learned that, except when shooting documentary portraits, I just don’t need to

Instead, there are techniques that I use regularly: slowing down to anticipate behaviour rather than constantly reacting to action; focusing on character and individuality rather than attempting to capture unity; capturing the feeling rather than the look of a scene or moment; and looking for a story arc in a shoot as I’m aiming for a long photo essay rather than a set of single images Socially, I immerse myself in the family while I’m with them, feeling as if I fall into the family unit for a while This enables me to shoot as if from within rather than from a constant point of external observation.

Technically, shooting with a short focal length and using layers to visually immerse the point of view can emphasise this effect I’m aiming for the resulting images to look like artful representations of ordinary family life, not to look like photos of people paying to have their photo taken

The genre has grown a lot in the last ten years and continues to grow at pace. These days there’s a wealth of information to soak up, a huge body of work to take inspiration from, and a thriving documentary family community Photography education is my most recent passion I enjoy mentoring photographers who work in or are transitioning to the genre; developing their creative skills or working on their business skills. I have a specialist course on documentary nursery school photography too As a co-founder of Made for Documentary, an education and community hub for documentary family photographers, I love flying the flag for the genre. If you’d like to find out more, please do get in touch

@alicechapmanphotography

alicechapmanphotography.co.uk

!"―#$%&'( Echoes―Crashing waves

Yuki Miyake of White Conduit Projects interviews photographer Tomoko Yoneda for WE ARE Magazine

Tomoko Yoneda was born in Hyogo prefecture, Japan in 1965 Yoneda graduated from The University of Illinois in Chicago in 1989, the Royal College of Art, London in 1991 and now lives in London Yoneda has been conducting thorough research on the subject of ideology in the 20th century. She continues to make photographs by visiting places where her memory remains strong in a wide range of regions such as Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia and Japan. Through photography, she approaches the historical truth layered behind a scene with poetic sensibilities to evoke memories

Tomoko YONEDA, Echoes – Crashing waves

Saturday, June 4 – Saturday, July 9, 2022

ShugoArts

Tokyo

12pm – 6pm, Closed on Sun, Mon and Public Holidays

River – view of earthquake regeneration housing project from a river flowing through a former location of evacuees' temporary accommodation, 2004

From the Series A Decade After

All images: © Tomoko Yoneda, courtesy ShugoArts, Tokyo

What made you start photography?

I travelled to the United States to study journalism in the Midwest I thought there was pride and tradition in design and photography there. There is a new Bauhaus school (Institute of Design/ID at what is now the Illinois Institute of Technology) established by Lászlo Moholy-Nagy in 1937 Many of the professors at the University of Illinois, Chicago where I was enrolled have inherited the tradition of ID. I studied under professor Joseph Jachna who was taught by Aaron Siskin and Harry Callahan This would make a lasting impression to shape my aesthetics I lived where everyday life was in a modern cityscape, where photography was as important as, and even more important than art.

How do you decide on a theme?

Themes come out in response to the present, such as what I have been wondering about since I was a

child and questions still remain at the present. It's a conversation with my timeline regarding my thoughts and feelings Then I want to express or present question marks as a photograph

You are active globally, but what kind of importance and character do you think that being Japanese adds to your work?

I don't particularly emphasise being Japanese and female but I can't escape from the facts. "I" exist but I am not a Japanese person who remained only in Japan As I have lived in the United States, Europe and UK for a long time, I have an objective and critical gaze toward Japan.

After the Meiji Restoration, Japan had an era of advancing to imperialism together with other great powers In 1945, the world's first nuclear bomb was dropped, the end of the war, and democratisation Also, Japan always lives next to natural disasters. These factors have a large influence on my work.

Hiroshima Peace Day, 2011 From the Series Cumulus

Why are war, justice, humanity, love, and reconstruction related matters the subject of the majority of your works?

I think because I had heard about my parents' war experiences since an early age and the place and time when I grew up have an influence on me During the midst of the Cold War, I was surrounded by various anxieties due to the threat to nuclear war, the various wars that followed after WW II and the fear of extremist terrorism.

As there was a Kawasaki aircraft factory near my home town, Akashi, it was hit by a heavy air raid

and shelters remained nearby As Hiroshima is not far away, I knew much about the atomic bomb I think it was because I was praying when I was young that we are able to achieve utopia or Shangri-La to exist somewhere so as not to go back to the war and the militarism After I moved to Europe, it was a big influential experience for me to face the possibility of dismantling a large social structure and various events that began with the Berlin Wall in 1989, which seemed to be the end of the Cold War.

Window I, Soviet Border Guardhouse, Saaremaa Island, Estonia, 2004 From the Series After the Thaw

In the solo exhibition Echoes―Crashing waves at ShugoArts in Tokyo in June, the theme is about endless conflict even in the 21st century. With that constant recovery, how do you perceive the Russian-Ukraine War? Russia's satellite cities are both countries that have achieved independence and democratisation over a long period of time, but democracy is once again threatened by peaceful independent countries.

War is an act that breaks ethics and allows murder under "rules" - overturning everyday life to make unrealistic violence and hatred routine I felt during my life in London that it was achieved with the hope of opposition to the war and global coexistence However, it is shocking that the great loss of life in this Russian-Ukraine war has become a major event that overturns what we have hoped for and progressed so far

The still-swaying world situation and the constant conflict are all historical beginnings and endings of the road show. The story of "events" in the past is not taboo, but because it is an era where we can listen to various voices of each person and talk openly and democratically about "events". We want to be able to illuminate the light of hope for the next era That feeling is within the series [After the Thaw]

In 2004, I was selected as one of the participants for photography projects in EU countries. I chose to shoot in Estonia and Hungary, which had just joined the EU. Both countries achieved democratisation and independence again after the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Visiting that memorable year, I felt greatly that their sealed memories have definitely been revived

The theme of Hungary is "water". I followed the places where people's history of the 20th century remains deep, the lakeside areas, and the 1989 Pan-European Picnic that triggered the fall of the Berlin Wall In Estonia, under the theme of "forest," I traced the resistance which was hiding deep in the forest fighting for independence and the secret Estonian exclusion zone which was an area of the Soviet army

Chrysanthemums, 2011 From the Series Cumulus

The series The Island of Sakhalin is based on the reportage "Sakhalin Island" written by Anton Chekhov. Why did you use a past book? Similarly, in Dialogue with Albert Camus, his exposure to Camus's "Neither Victim nor Executioner" or “The Stranger" seems to have been the starting point for this series, but literature seems to be the starting point for that event and person. Is it indispensable in the production to imagine and create for the work?

Unlike photographs and paintings, texts do not directly challenge us visually, but they inspire us, plot imagination and shake our emotions. The image visualised by words will be different depending on the reader Like art, literature exists in history and lives with sociality in the memory of self, individual, masses and various factors. Many of my works are interested in what lies between the images, hidden behind the surface images, emerging images by different viewers Many of my works are inspired by literature

The first reason I wanted to go to Sakhalin was when I saw a picture of Sakhalin as a penal colony at a bookstore in Moscow immediately after the dissolution of the Soviet Union Also hearing the fact that Japan ruled the area south of 50 degrees north latitude until 1945 and a story about a Japanese director and actress who ran off together to cross the border of Sakhalin and became a victim of Stalin's Great Purge.

While reading "Sakhalin Island” I became interested in them as an island where various historic shadows intersect. The prisoners sent from every corner of Imperial Russia depicted the harsh nature, the indigenous people, Japanese and the people who were at the mercy of history Although it is close to Japan, it is a distant island due to political relations.

The 50th Parallel, former border between Russia and Japan, 2012 From the Series The Island of Sakhalin

The Parallel Lives of Others brilliantly revived the existence of a spy, Sorge, through photographs, as if reading a detective novel set in history. Is this based on some novel, or is it composed solely of research?

I have read various documents including archives of Sorge’s interrogation hearing, writing by himself, by his mistress, his inspectors, former German ambassadors and requisitioned files from German ambassadors in the National Archives

The photography was done in Japan and in the former area of Manchuria following what is documented in his interrogation records.

These images may also appear to capture the uncertain first secret meeting of the spies By shooting quickly with the Kodak Brownie Hawkeye, I couldn't be sure of the image until the end. Being unprompted is the process of producing this work.

For CORRESPONDENCE – Letter to a Friend, I used my father’s Olympus Pen which divides one frame into two. It is not a single-lens reflex type but a rangefinder. The pair of photographs reflects the dialogue of distress of [Albert] Camus who was suffering between the Algerian independence movement and France and the world that shakes greatly even now

A statue in a pond and sky seen through palm trees Botanical Garden of Hamma, Algiers, Algeria, 2017 From the Series CORRESPONDENCE – Letter to a Friend

In Between Visible & Invisible uses a technique such as inviting the viewer to see through the eyes of a historical figure, but why did you add these dignitaries' glasses to the subject without shooting the letter as it is?

In 1998, I was in Europe and felt a big change in the times When we entered the new century, I had the opportunity to look back on 100 years and begin to shoot the glasses of Freud, Hesse, Trotsky, and those in the memory of the masses who have been tossed by great history. Serving as a buffer between viewer and the objects, by arranging dignitary’s glasses between the object and the lens rather than the audience looking directly at the object, the audience feels as if they have obtained

their gaze and is more likely to immerse themselves in the subject object.

History does not only appear in monuments and buildings, but also exists intangibly We can't just look carefreely at the sight in front of us. Sometimes we need a force to see the reason behind the scene.

The impact received from the inconspicuous peripheral things and the negative traces around them shock us. I think that comparing the past with the present will lead to rebirth and hope and a warning to ephemeral peace

Sartre’s Glasses Viewing a letter by Albert Camus addressed to Sartre when he was the director of Les Temps Modernes, 2018

From the Series Between Visible and Invisible

Give us Features, not Flowers

Examining gender bias in the photography industry and digital landscape

by Helene Jelenc and Sandra Potisek

Women have contributed to the history of photography as much as any man, but many people probably struggle to name a few

Julia Margaret Cameron (née Pattle; 1815-1879) started her photographic career at the age of 48. She was a British photographer known for her portraits of famous Victorian men (such as Charles Darwin) Doris Ulmann (1882-1934) photographed daily life in rural southern Appalachia, capturing workers, musicians, and artists Or how about Florestine Perrault Collins (1895-1988), who captured realistic images around gender and race in New Orleans in a point to fight against stereotypes of Black women

All of these women are incredibly talented and contributed to the history and development of photography, but they are unfortunately not included in most top photography lists or in museums That is because women are rarely professionally featured in those spaces.

Women photographers are discriminated against in the workplace, are passed over for big jobs or brand ambassadorships, and are completely underrepresented in the industry. On top of that, women photographers earn 40% less on average, than their male counterparts

Many of these statistics are repeated at length, year after year, with little change

As photographers ourselves, we noticed a deafening silence when it came to women being represented in digital spaces such as camera brand social media accounts or being awarded brand ambassadorships. All of these opportunities help boost individuals’ careers, so where are the women? Why does it feel like only men are testing out the latest gear on YouTube or being featured more often on Instagram feeds?

This led us to dig into the topic of the digital representation of women as professional photographers Do the numbers match reality? How do they affect women’s economic opportunities?

Discrimination in the Workplace

Women are no stranger to discrimination in the workplace, but it is safe to say that some industries are worse than others Through our research we encountered many statistics that show a glaring issue of gender-based discrimination

- Associated Press found that 86% of their photo staff are men.

- Reuters’ photographers are 80% men

- When looking at the photo bylines by gender, women are represented between 6-23% of the time, depending on the paper

- Over the past 60 years, only eight women have received the Pulitzer for feature photography, and six for breaking news photography

- Since 1955, the World Press Photography of the Year has gone to only four women.

Aside from getting jobs or awards, women photographers are also not featured in museums.

A study from 2017 (Muñoz-Muñoz and GonzalezMoreno) looked at the representation of women photographers at top museums in the world The worst performance was by Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg which had 63 artists and 98% of them were men

In the UK, Tate Modern had a total of 31 artists being shown in which 94% were men, and only 6% women.

The best museum, with regards to representation, was KIASMA in Helsinki – out of 163 artists shown, 36% were women and 64% men

These unjust statistics are not a reflection of reality. According to the US Bureau of Labor in 2021, there were 192,000 photographers employed and 49.3% of them were women. Almost half of the employed photographers in the US are women, yet they are less likely to be recognised, featured, or celebrated as much as men – in spite of making up 50% of the industry. And these opportunities also quickly disappear if you are not white.

The State of News Photography report from 2018 shares that more than half of participants of their study were white, 80% men, and only 1% of respondents classified as Black Photographers that identify as non-white were much more likely to cite physical risk at work and 69% of women reported discrimination in the workplace

Nearly half of professional photographers are women, yet we are passed over for jobs, paid less,

not given professional awards for our achievements, and have to deal with sexism on the job

Underrepresented on the Timeline

Unfortunately, this reality is further perpetuated in digital spaces What might appear to be an equal playing field is still very skewed in its representation. For our research we decided to examine two digital spaces in which well-known camera brands could easily provide professional opportunities for everyone; brand ambassadorships and on their Instagram feeds.

Brand Ambassadors

Year after year, we hear the same thing that “next time, brands will do better”, but we know it isn’t true. Every single year, articles are published stating that another camera brand announced their new ambassadors, and guess what? They are predominantly men Our research examined the gender representation for ambassador programs for Canon, Nikon, Sony Alpha, and FujiFilm in the US and in Europe

Nikon’s numbers are a bit better than others, but this may also be due to the small size of their program. In the US, there are 15 women out of 34 ambassadors, and in Europe, 7 out of 22 are women.

In 2021, Canon US nominated 12 women photographers out of 38 ambassadors, and this year it is just 14 out of 36 It is even worse for Canon Europe which has 109 ambassadors and only 14 are women

Sony Alpha US has 141 ambassadors and only 42 are women while the Europe ambassador program has 95 members and only 9 are women.

FujiFilm US has 28 ambassadors in their program, only 9 are women In their European ambassadorship, there are 256 members and only 29 are women

The representation for POC within these ambassador programs was even lower than that of women These statistics are important because they show the lack of opportunities for women and minorities when it comes to professional development and recognition

On the IG Feed

After we collected statistics about representation in ambassador programs, we analysed major

camera brands’ Instagram feeds. These accounts flourish on the platform since it was originally designed to showcase photography. The brands have massive reach and often update several times a day, leaving plenty of opportunities to showcase a diverse set of photographers

Unfortunately, that is not what happens

Instagram accounts of five of the leading camera brands – Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, and GoPro were analysed for the number of times a woman photographer was featured in 2021. For example, if a carousel had 5 posts and 2 were from women photographers, 5 is added to the total, 2 is added to the number of features for women.

In the rare few cases where gender could not be determined by checking their social media profile or website, the feature wasn’t included in the count To gather more data and see if any patterns existed, we examined all five brands’ US Instagram accounts, and in cases where European accounts didn’t exist, UK accounts were used

As the images show below, women photographers are featured less than 50% of the time across accounts

Canon USA featured women only 34% of the time and in the UK just 26%.

Nikon USA didn’t fare much better with women being featured 38% of the time and 39% in Europe.

GoPro had the worst results of any brand in spite of posing more than 6500 times in 2021 Women photographers were featured only 16% of the time in the US and 17% in the UK

FujiFilm US featured women photographers 22% of the time and in the UK, 26% of the time

SonyAlpha in the US featured women 36% of the time, but unfortunately that drops to 17% in Europe.

In total, women photographers appeared in 16-39% of the features, with Nikon taking the lead

At the bottom is GoPro (16% GoPro USA, 17% GoPro UK)

If women are accounting for nearly half of paid photographers, why aren’t we being shared on huge platforms? Why isn’t our art being shown? Why are we primarily existing as the subject rather than the author?

How to Support Women Photographers

While the research is bleak, it comes as no surprise Photography isn’t the only industry that lacks representation and if we want things to improve, then we must act Supporting access to education for young women interested in photography is a great start to initiate change

Digital skills, including photography, are skills that can not only allow women to express themselves in

creative ways, but can also bring economic benefits. This of course depends on the availability of opportunities for marginalised groups.

Therefore, we suggest the following solution Hire women, especially women of colour, non-binary, and other marginalised voices Include more women in your projects, campaigns, and pay them a fair and equitable wage

- Black Women Photographers has a global directory of over 1000 black photographers to hire, or Native Agency which features professional photographers from underrepresented regions.

- Organisations like Hundred Heroine offer support for women in photography.

- She Sees is an organisation to support young women in film

- Foto Feminas supports women photographers in Latin America and the Caribbean

- Authority Collective is a group with more than 200 women, non-binary, and gender-expansive people of colour working in photography, film, and VR/AR.

Are you a photographer that is feeling underrepresented? We encourage you to apply for grants this year. Women Photograph and Black Women Photographers keep an ongoing list of grants and deadlines. Ethnovision also offers a range of financial grants to support photographers.

Enough gatekeeping Enough misrepresentation

Let’s create a supportive, inclusive, and collaborative environment because there is enough room at the table for all to eat

About Wallfower Studios

Helene Jelenc and Sandra Potisek are multi-passionate co-founders of Wallflower Studios, a creative content marketing agency based in Ljubljana, Slovenia With their combined international background in research, digital marketing and content creation, they are helping emerging and established brands get found, grow and create impact, all while trying to connect and empower the next generation of female creatives They also share a passion for travel and photography Helene, an anthropologist with an SEO obsession, loves to document her travels, and so does Sandra, a social media native who takes it a step further and can’t help but to share her adventures on every possible platform Her photography has received a nomination in Best Imagery for Traverse Creator Awards and got featured in ELLE Australia.

Drip by drip, we are fed with concrete

Images and Poem by Anna Sellen

Words by Nathan Sellen

Winner of FORMAT2021 Shutter Hub portfolio award, photographer Anna Sellen launched virtual multimedia exhibition Drip by drip, we are fed with concrete at CULTVR Portal. The exhibition can be accessed here: www cultvr cymru/catalyst-360o-anna-sellen

Anna Sellen is a photographer and multidisciplinary artist, based on the West Coast of Wales. She works with images, sound and text to tell stories about transitions that people and places undergo Her projects often start autobiographically and evolve through extensive research Anna is currently artist-in-residence at the Kelvedon Hatch Cold War Bunker (2020-2022).

In Drip by drip, we are fed with concrete, Anna questions the Cold War legacy through the physical space of the bunker and her family archive. She uses photography, oral history, archives and diaries to examine her own and her family’s lived experiences in the Soviet Union between 1952 and 1986 She is interested in the impact of the political decisions and the state-driven silencing and misinformation on people’s lives and identities, from one generation to the next, and what this means in today’s world

It is rare and unusual to see contemporary virtual art combine so effectively with historical narrative, done in a way that brings to life personal stories and events that helped define the Cold War era and with the added poignancy and meaning for the current day

Drip by drip, we are fed with concrete is a brave historical set of accounts told from a personal perspective Using virtual environments, the observer is enabled to journey through an immersive space, each passage and room providing insights into a rarely told and little understood past.

Set in a Cold War bunker, a series of related historical events are told with stark, yet beautiful images, brought together with first hand narrative accounts. Passage through the bunker leads through corridors and rooms, each one depicting a piece of history which dramatically impacted entire communities and the lives of individuals and which set far reaching international geopolitical context

Drip by drip, we are fed with concrete looks at the past events to question their relevance today. The artwork becomes a place of transition where the past, present and future interact and where the artist and the viewer meet to make and re-make meanings. The work asks questions and carries a

warning – of the past repeating itself and of the kind of future that Stephen Fry spoke about in his Introduction to Orwell Collection (2021), “The future that O’Brien describes to Winston Smith, a boot stamping on a human face - forever, that looks most unlikely. But are we free from the distortions of language, the annulment of human reputation and effacement from history? Are we free from hate weeks, the surveillance state, technological control and the sacrifice of privacy?”

Brought to you by collaboration between CULTVR Lab and the artist Anna Sellen, Drip by drip, we are fed with concrete can be visited via CULTVR Portal: cultvr.cymru/catalyst-360o-anna-sellen

The exhibition is part of Catalyst 360° programme that supported the production of six digital exhibitions. The programme is funded by the Arts Council of Wales. CULTVR Lab is Europe’s first immersive cross-disciplinary space with a focus on digital arts, live performance and 360º cinema

Visit www.cultvr.cymru to cast your vote for the exhibition to be physically realised at CULTVR Lab venue in Cardiff in 2023 The public voting will close at the end of June

Mapping as a Philosophy

by Yas Crawford

Yas Crawford is an internationally awarded photographer who has exhibited in the UK and Europe She is an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society and a Fellow of the Geological Society Yas was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales where the landscape and biological makeup have subliminally influenced her work. With a degree in Geology and a master’s in Photography, she has worked in various business roles, an entrepreneur in life sciences, and is now working in what she calls ‘The Grey Space’ in-between disciplines.

Yas's work has been recognised over the last two years with several international awards including Winner of the Art of Neuroscience Award 2021 for Cognition IX and BIFA Silver Award for her personal project The Edge of Sentience, Winner of the Land Air 4 0 Quasi Quadro Award 2021 with Inception I Yas held her first solo exhibition Cellular Flow, I've been thinking' in Barge, Turin 11 Dec 2021 to 25 Feb 2022, and has completed several international multidisciplinary collaborations.

As a young Geology student roaming the SubAlps close to Castellane and the Gorge du Verdon in the Haupt Provence region of France with a clipboard, compass, and Pentax Super A camera, was where it all started for me. Years later, the concept of mapping came quite naturally as a backbone or structure for new photographic work The idea of mapping, its Babylonian roots and ideas created in post-modern times with all its nuances has served me well, as a tool, to develop abstract thinking, contextualising events and building multidisciplinary collaborations to consolidate projects

Mapping to many of us conjures up visions of street maps, ordinance survey maps, tube maps and geographical maps. The use of google maps and aerial satellite imagery allowing us to travel virtually and these different forms helps us structure and understand the world The development of maps, however, from historical to post-modern has a somewhat unchartered history. Its accuracy, usefulness, scientific foundations and its mathematical constructs have been constantly in question Although key to understanding the world by monitoring geographical, social, political and natural features, after World War II, maps started to lose their historical influence, remaining stuck in premodern times

We eventually see the emergence of Cartographers and their work dedicated to improving accuracy, both technical and scientific in their approach to clarify understanding, through mathematical constructs, distance, and direction The post Enlightenment Period giving raise to topographic maps in 3D revealing depth and height, maps that measure everything from the movement of sea currents to wind directions Later the reintroduction of the emotional map, ensuring the map-work remains both a physical and mental practice.

As a photographic artist the concept of the mapmaking acts as a skeletal backbone to support and developing ideas, a type of system for organising knowledge It allows too for the development of abstraction and ambiguity within my projects as a type of emotional mapping, mainly through its inaccuracies and contradictions. The connectedness between series guiding the visual communication

I have long, indeed for years, played with the idea of setting out the sphere of life-bios-graphically on a map

- Walther Benjamin, A Berlin Chronicle, 1978

Just as Walther Benjamin points out, I find myself connecting my projects and then deconstructing them. Deconstructionist strategy, is a strategy that has been used in many disciplines including philosophy, literature, architecture and more recently geography Whilst we might believe that mapping has a finite connectedness it has also been used over the centuries to deconstruct, in other words break the assumed links between reality and representation. An example of this deconstruction in my work, is the use of external and internal landscapes, the layering and later deconstruction creates new imagery with no deliberate ties to science or art, but something in between. Once a series of images is created, I deconstruct again by selecting successful and unsuccessful images, reflected in the numbering The numbering is systematic as if a scientific process, the rejection of failed images deconstructs the sequence, breaking that link again between reality and representation. Deconstruction permits abstraction, develops abstract thinking and a focus on the ambiguous, The Grey Space between disciplines In turn the audience remains in control of both their conscious and subconscious thoughts and ideas, protected from any stigma or label they might otherwise feel associated with

1 Delano-Smith, C (2001) The grip of the enlightenment: The separation of past and present In Woodward, D , Delano-Smith, C & Yee, C (eds ) Plantejaments i objectuis d’una histo`ria universal de lacartografia/Approaches and Challenges in a Worldwide History of Cartography, pp 283--297 Barcelona: Institut Cartogra` fic de Catalunya

2 Foucault ,M (1980) The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, Vintage Books, New York

3 Knox, P L (1988) The Design Professions and the Built Environment, Croom Helm, London Gregory, D (1987) Postmodernism and the politics of social theory Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 5, 245–248

Maps can be rhetorical in nature, they communicate intentions but not answers, they explore space and time, not just measurement and topography, they can record anything from emotions to political strategies. I deliberately develop ideas around what the eye cannot normally see, the landscape images created with a technological machine (camera) with a limited frame, then intertwined with a microscopic image from a much smaller eye. However, when viewing the microscopic image, the microscopic world expands to that of our external landscape, so combining the two becomes rhetorical and a little surreal This

deconstruction method allows the creation and birth of something new, from something deconstructed

As I develop the collection of Mapping Projects the idea of map-making images is an attempt to situate the images in a social as well as an environmental context, rather than create what is obviously or literally a scientifically constructed mapping form. This is developing over time, and I have an idea of the endpoint but as our environment and life experiences change, so the end could change too

Mapping I.

At its most tangible, a body can be a seemingly well-defined organ like a liver. Or it can be a spatially challenging network of solid and liquid like the vascular system Or it can be an invisible assembly, truly as an abstract a thing as "traffic" or "democracy", like the immune system, with its lymphocytes and T4 messengers, a miniaturized cryptography machine for encoding and decoding data about invading organisms

-

Chaos by James Gleik,

P280

Mapping I focuses on mapping aspects of human functions Imagining the human body as a map, its bodily functions are revealed in different projects: Blood Flow, Cellular Flow, Bio-Mapping for example. It is possible to consider individual images as a single map. Cognition I, is a form of rhetorical map. It outlines the primary or natural subject (the landscape), it explains the secondary subject (the illustrated neural network of the brain) and it finally reveals an intrinsic and subliminal feeling of how our internal and external worlds collide, just as art and cartography collide in map-making As we travel through the different series there is a sense of the landscape or space securing the science, allowing us a glimpse into the unknown.

©Yas Crawford 2019 Cognition I Series: The 8th Sense

©Yas Crawford 2021 Oxidative Stress IAiii Series: Oxidative Stress

Mapping II.

Like the dead-seeming, cold rocks, I have memories within that came out of the materials that went to make me. Time and place have had their say.

- Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on the Road.

Mapping II focus moves to an evolutionary concept, from the biological to the geological It’s collection of a series of images moves with time from In the Beginning, imaginary and metaphorical creations of what it might have been like when earth was first created to one of disorder and chaos. Chaos theories we understand to be circular, one aspect having a direct impact on the other The series Space, Light and Order develops metaphorical ideas around the geometrical and organised aspects of a map The series Nature, Energy, Technology, use technology as cameraless techniques, dislocating the topography (created to set boundaries) around us helping us to identify with our surroundings and recognise environmental changes.

©Yas Crawford 2022. Inception IIId. Series: Nature Energy Technology

©Yas Crawford 2021 Inception Ia Series: Nature Energy Technology

Mapping III.

For nineteen years, he said, he had lived like a person in a dream: he looked without seeing, heard without hearing, forgot everything-almost everything On falling from the horse, he lost consciousness; when he recovered it, the present was almost intolerable it was so rich and bright; the same was true of the most ancient and trivial memories. A little later he realised he was crippled. This fact scarcely interested him. He reasoned (or felt) that immobility was a minimum price to pay. And now his perception and memory were infallible

- Jorge Lui Borges, Funes the Memorius, Ficciones 1962

Mapping III maps and connects individual stories more documentary in nature but retaining a fine art form. As we move through biological and geological changes we have had to adapt as human beings. Our environment past, present, and future dictating our longevity The boundaries we know to be comfortable no longer clearly defined The Lombardy Series is a direct reflection of a change we have all had to adapt to recently Coronavirus, a virus with no respect for boundaries dislocates the Italian landscape and lives. The Edge of Sentience, not completed yet, deals with social anxiety and mental illness that becomes exacerbated when we are forced to accommodate changes. The Universe and Chinese Herbs is an attempt to find a way to express the effort that is made for our own self-healing The effort of creating the series of images of individual Chinese herbs, were in themselves difficult to dissolve in solution, some more granular than others The solutions were then photographed through glass vessels using 35mm film, leaning on older processes and ancient Chinese therapies reflecting the human effort.

©Yas Crawford 2021 Floral V Series: The Edge of Sentience

The parallels with photography may not be obvious, at first, but the map is an artifact, an object, an image and used as a vehicle of communication fashioned by time and society. Similarly, my work is researched not only through direct camera use but also by developing illustrations (Cognition IX) and using cameraless techniques (Inception Ia) Printing first and then re-creating the image has sudden and apparent similarities with the printed map, its many versions, reproductions, the medium itself, nature of the paper, inks used, colours, watermarks, and its legitimacy The deconstruction of images by cutting or marking the image, the print or negative reflects similarities with the processes found in mapmaking, the damage to a wood block or copper plate in printing creating similar effects These differences and similarities develop ideas about

what is subjective in my visual world and helps set those ideas in a social context

As we bring disciplines together and away from the secularisation of specialised subjects in early academic settings, cartography and art is one way of understanding how over time disciplines can be brought together Subjects intermingling in a way that changes our understanding of the word ‘discipline’ and of the world today.

©Yas Crawford 2021 Frozen II Series: The Edge of Sentience

www yascrawford com/home

Discovering a Passion for Architecture

by Candia Peterson, ARPS

Candia Peterson was born and brought up in London. After attending Oxford University she worked in investment banking for some 18 years whilst simultaneously working with her American architect husband, Paul Peterson, in developing the furniture and lighting designs of her grandfather, Sir Edwin Lutyens When Candia decided she had had enough of the City, in 2003 the couple moved with their two children to the French Alps where, with the benefit of the Internet, they continued to expand and develop their business. Following Paul’s death in 2015, Candia continued to live in France, run the business and develop her passion for photography. However, in 2019, she moved to Upstate New York to be closer to her son and his wife, the beneficiary of the right to a Green Card as the mother of adult American citizens Candia’s daughter is now a doctor in Dublin and her son, living in the same village as she does, is a real estate agent, a successful DJ and works with her part time. Candia was awarded an LRPS in 2017 and ARPS in 2021. She continues to run her design business and spends most of her spare time with her camera, occasionally selling her work She became a grandmother for the first time in May 2022

Photos by Candia Peterson, ARPS

In the years since I started taking my photography more seriously and moved beyond the snapshots of children and pets, I’m frequently asked – as I am sure we all are – what kind of photography I like to do Until fairly recently, I don’t think I have had an answer to that, and I have had a sense that my photographic journey, whilst growing – some would say – in a degree of proficiency, has lacked a sense of purpose or recognisable style. Flippantly, I generally would answer “anything without a pulse” To a large extent that has been true I find myself irritated by people in a landscape – and I love landscapes – I have no interest in putting a person in a studio though I love working in my makeshift studio with still life, flowers and objects Wildlife leaves me cold and, apart from occasional forays on to the street in an attempt to summon my inner Vivian Meier, I have always been drawn to the inanimate rather than the live and kicking.

Having lived in the Alps for many years with a vast array of beauty on my doorstep, my photographic learning curve was intensely geared towards the great outdoors However, much as I enjoy that and have taken one or two landscape photographs that I’m intensely proud of, I don’t feel that I am inherently or sentimentally a landscape photographer.

It was only on moving to the United States, I realised that my first and dominant true calling in photography is to architecture. Quite why this should have dawned on me so relatively late is a little surprising to me. As the granddaughter of Edwin Lutyens and the daughter and widow of architects and having lived in an architecturally submerged bubble my whole life, I guess I should have realised that there was something quite literally in my genes that drew me towards it as a subject

What I also realised is that it is less the entire building than its details that grab me. I am fascinated by the small details, the way elements interact with each other and the degree to which abstraction can be found in the built environment

Though I still live deep in the rural countryside having swapped the Alps for the Catskill Mountains of Upstate New York, “The City” is a manageable (3-hour) drive away and, as it has reopened, I have made frequent trips down there looking at buildings old and new However, it was the chance to join renowned architectural photographer Angie McMonigal on a workshop in Los Angeles this February that I leapt at with great enthusiasm

I have been fortunate in that work and play have taken me to Los Angeles very frequently and I feel I know it a little, but I have never had the chance to explore some of the fabulous buildings with a camera in my hand Los Angeles is an urban sprawl bisected by a couple of freeways, yet it remains a series of connected villages and districts, each very different and with its own function and characteristics. We based ourselves in the “downtown” area where we were seconds’ walk away from two of the finest buildings in the wider city: the Disney Concert hall and The Broad (pronounced Brode) art gallery Both are utterly unique and striking both inside and out.

Interior Westin Bonaventura

The Disney is very characteristic of Frank Gehry and instantly recognisable as such Its curved and glittering steel panels create shapes and vistas that lend themselves wonderfully to abstract details Above street level, its multi-level terraced gardens give whole new angles and – not visible from the street – several surfaces that are highly polished, as opposed to satin, and these create lovely intersections of reflection, bouncing the blue Southern California sky from one side to the other

The Disney occupies a whole block and The Broad occupies the whole block next door. I have put in the website address as, so entranced was

I by the details that I clean forgot to take many images of the entire building – indeed it was quite difficult to do so from the other side of the busy road. Suffice it to say that it is an extraordinary piece of architecture comprising a veil and a vault The cloak of the veil is the external structure with its pattern of slits collapsing into the black hole of its “eye”. The vault is the core of the building through which you rise up to the main art collections. Once there, the light is magically filtered through the slits offering perfect conditions both for viewing the artworks and – in my case –clicking away

Skyscraper

A short distance from these buildings down the quaint cable car known as Angel’s Flight, you find yourself in the City Hall area with police headquarters, the courts, the LA Times and various other administrative buildings. Anyone who has binged on the multiple seasons of the TV show Bosch (and if not, why not?!) will be intrinsically familiar with the area without having been there This is a feast of modern architecture in a small radius and there is so much to observe and interpret with the lens. I think we spent an hour or so there and I could have spent all day.

Slightly out of the city centre, we spent a very pleasant chunk of the day at the Getty Museum by Richard Meier Here the blue sky comes into its own as the bright white buildings intermixed with others in a pale sandstone, punctuated with glass and steel connecting details, are made to be offset against a bright and intense backdrop of deep azure Without even venturing inside there are infinite possibilities for photography from the architectural details to the juxtaposition of the various buildings to the planting scheme and off out towards the desert beyond Such a worthwhile day

The number of buildings we visited on this three day extravaganza on architectural amazingness is too numerous to document with the number of images I’m allowed on these pages but a couple of honourable mentions go to the Vespertine in Culver City – an edifice of red shuttering concealing a restaurant behind and the bizarre 1970s edifice that is the Westin Bonaventura Hotel – whose brutalist massing of concrete and steel is certainly of its time

Overall, this was a wonderful and rewarding workshop and Angie McMonigal is an inspirational guide whose work I greatly admire. This was not a

“get out your tripod and contemplate the view” experience We moved relatively quickly from building to building, around each building, inside many of them and mostly looking at them up close and in detail rather than from afar. We put in a lot of steps and a lot of miles so it was important to keep the weight down and the faffing with kit to a minimum

This happens to suit my preferred style, and apart from a wide angle prime that I kept largely in my bag, I used a lightweight mirrorless camera (Fuji X-S10) and a single lens, my much-loved Tamron 16-300. The versatility for this sort of shooting was unsurpassed and the quality of light was such that quick decisions made rapidly required little readjustment of settings from shot to shot. Much as I realised that this is a genre with which I have rapidly come to love and enjoy above all others, I also realised that it suits my temperament and gives me a process that excites me I feel that I am set on a path towards specialisation in architectural details; that form and structure, particularly when delivering a degree of abstraction, lights my photographic fire and I’m excited for the excursions to come this year

www.candiapeterson.com

Time and Motion: capturing the lifeblood of a racing yard

Text and Photo by Jayne Odell, FRPS

Jayne Odell developed a passion for equine photography since moving to Newmarket in 2016 Her work conveys the unique rhythm of a town devoted to horseracing She captures beautiful images of thoroughbreds in training as well as the landscape and kinfolk of Newmarket Jayne became a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 2020 and is now an Assessment Panel Member. In this, her first exhibition for the National Horseracing Museum, Jayne has captured the atmosphere and emotion of moments rarely seen by those outside racing Jayne’s images show the diversity, talent, and dedication of those working behind-the-scenes in racing NHRM is honoured to have the opportunity to exhibit her work and appreciate the openness and honesty of all those who agreed to take part. www.jayneodell.com

July 9th –

December 4th

Moller Gallery

National Horse Racing Museum

Palace Street

Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 8EP

Ticket entry to the museum is £15, which includes the exhibition.

Daughters of the Soil

by Joanne Coates

Photos by Joanne Coates

Joanne Coates is a working-class photographer born and based in North Yorkshire Working across the North of England, Coates explores rurality, social histories of class, and inequalities relating to low income through photography, installations and audio. Coates was educated first in working class communities, then at The Sir John Cass School of Fine art (Fda Fine Art) and The London College of Communication (Ba Hons Photography) Her practice revolves around process, participation, and working with communities. She is interested in questioning stories around power, identity, wealth, and poverty.

In 2020 Coates was commissioned as artist in residence at The Maltings and Newcastle University where she developed Daughters of the Soil, exhibited at The Maltings in 2022. In 2017, she was one of the artists working in Hull, for the UK City of Culture. In 2016, she was awarded the Magenta Flash Forward Top 30 emerging talent in the UK, and in 2012, during her Foundation year, she was awarded a Metro Imaging Portfolio Prize, a Magnum Portfolio Review and The Ideastap innovators award.

When I first played with disposable cameras as a child I didn’t know what a photographer was, I didn’t know that you could have a job as an artist

This way of sharing views of the world, of communicating through images started young. I didn’t have access to any expensive digital cameras or kit These cheap little boxes loaded with 35mm and covered in paper were my way of communicating. I struggled with expressing myself verbally, visually there was a whole other world of possibilities

Last month my first solo show launched at The Gymnasium Gallery in Berwick-upon-Tweed The work will tour to Yorkshire and Vane gallery in Newcastle and is supported by Arts Council England. Could I have ever thought this possible a few years ago? No

It all began in 2019 with an application for Artist in Residence at Berwick Visual Arts and Newcastle University The topic Women in Agriculture The reason I felt compelled to apply was I had already

begun making work around women in farming in 2017. On a personal level I was connected to the work Graduating as a working class woman who lives in a rural area and trying to make it work as a full time photographer is tough. I started milking cows to get by. My partner is also a farmer and I grew up in a rural area I was already deeply connected through my own personal history

With that lived experience came knowledge. I knew that many women worked off farms, that many women were behind diversification projects, that many women did lots of hidden work, that many women farmed but may not call themselves farmers You may be reading this and thinking ’well, what can photography do?’ For me it can make the invisible visible; tell stories of those who are traditionally less visible. If no one tells these stories then these people are not represented To be able to tell the story you need to know it That’s where the lived experience part becomes important. Of course there are female farmers but with that inner knowledge comes a deeper story

In the historical art world, gender bias is not a secret Ever since stories have been told, they have been told through the voice, seen through the eyes, and felt through the experience of the masculine As recently as 2012, only 4% of artists in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) were women In my own medium, photography, only 15% of photographers are women In the industry, women earn on average 40% less than men[1] This project gave me the opportunity to work with the academic Professor Sally Shortall at the Centre for Rural Economy, and our conversations about gender bias get my mind racing The situation is no different in agriculture According to the UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, only 14.9 % of registered farm holders in the UK are women.

Women aren’t as visible as men on farms, but we are seeing them. The female workforce is driving tractors, having a social media presence, and can

be seen on the telly, BUT they aren’t often inheriting land. As someone who lives in a rural area I’m used to seeing women on farms I don’t know any women that will go from farmer's daughter to farm manager.

The day I was meant to move up to Northumberland to start the work was March 26th 2020. Lockdown was announced. I stayed put, in the lowest part of the North East, in the furthest-up part of North Yorkshire. It was a hard time to make work, communicating through email chains and online messages. When it was safe to carry on making the work it was a real challenge. I usually spend a lot of time with people, chatting and observing and then making photos. I always worked outside and safety was always on my mind. The work took place over 12 months, stopped when we had to. The women carried on working Farmers are classified as key workers

In those North Northumberland rolling hills, I met women who could be looked upon as leaders for the future. Women who work as farmers and support the farm with diversification, with regenerative farming and care Women who bring farming and outdoor education to local schools. Women who make the most of the situation they have It was in these borders between Scotland and England that I found hope

A few years ago someone asked me what my boyfriend did for work, when I said a farmer, their attitude changed drastically “You’ll just end up a farmer's wife.” That word, ‘just’. I cannot think of any other job where a person is defined by what their partner does I think of all those wonderful women; some farmers, some farmers’ wives, some farm workers, some business women...’just’ is not a word I would put in front of anything I would use to describe them

I’m a keen advocate of voices For women to see themselves as farmers or leaders, they need to literally see themselves as farmers and leaders To make space and create space for this That’s not as simple as it sounds The Daughters of the Soil work has created a natural progression to my next body of work around working class erasure in rural spaces from a gendered perspective It is a commission as part of the Jerwood / Photoworks award The changes we can make as photographers may be small, we can ask questions and explore issues with art, which is what matters.

www joannecoates co uk

Lockdown Diary and Adriane's Thread

by Sandra Beauchard

Photos by Sandra Beauchard

Left Hiroshima Habibti, Transfulgurances Series (or ‘Dazzling Journey’), 2020

Right

Autoportrait, 2022

Sandra Beauchard was born and lives in France. With a degree in Art History and Art Market, images - painting and photography in particular - have always been her vehicles for getting through her personal and professional life

As a child, seeing her father's eye hidden behind his Kodak Retina, she understood that the viewfinder was more than a frame: it was the gateway to the world’s vastness. As a teenager, she used her own camera as a diary to be closed as soon as the confidences are made.

In 2018, deciding to focus more openly on photography and writing, she left Paris for the beautiful light of the Loire region This was the start of getting out boxes, a multitude of forgotten negatives and slides She bought a scanner and began to organise her photographic work It has been a long road: almost forty years to look at her own work with equanimity and confidence.

In 2012, Sandra Beauchard became the director of the Estée Lauder Pink Ribbon Photo Award - the first photographic competition dedicated to breast cancer

There is nothing I love so intensely as the elsewhere, the foreign and the others

End of February 2020: everything sounded good. For a few weeks, the joyful perspective of moving from one continent to another had me jumping out of bed every morning as excited as a child First, New York where I was invited for the 1st edition of "Paris PhotoNew York" (which has still not taken place), then, towards the Gulf, for Art Dubai and to continue to photograph the region which inspires me strongly for more than twelve years

“French citizens, my fellow countrymen. Thursday evening, I addressed you to evoke a public health crisis across the country Until present, the COVID-19 epidemic was, perhaps, for certain among you, a faraway idea. It has become an immediate and pressing reality…” Emmanuel Macron’ speech to the French Republic, March 16, 2020

The 17th of March 2020 was to become the first of 54 days of strict, severe, unprecedented lockdown, to prevent an enemy with no army and of which we knew so little The planes would remain on the ground We would have to produce a signed and written document to buy our daily baguette. Our plans came to a halt The certainties of the weeks and months wavered I was starting to feel a bit feverish myself and my internet connection collapsed at the same time, depriving me of any possibility of boring myself with TV series and films. The radio programs were too anxiety-provoking I was left with my precious books, my records,

my cameras, my phone, an unconnected computer and words in my head, dazed, spinning endlessly like shadows in a prison or hospital yard The loneliness does not weigh on me Far from it But immobility and confinement are unbearable for me.

Lockdown Diary, Bailey in the Air, Day 25 - April, 10, 2020

Lockdown Diary

Day 5 – 03/21/2020 - LIFE IN SLICES

A strange play that's being performed here. Unconscious authors and forced actors that we are. Breaking the rules: under the unity of place, breaking the ones of time and action. Slice cabbage and make small portions to freeze for the days to come Watch the light come in the house without knocking Go up the stairs and down the stairs With no purpose other than to feel the blood warming in the veins Cut off the hotspot to save the data since the fiber has fell to pieces too Two hours for working and three for jumping from pillar to post Cut the time to find one's breath Let's deconstruct the drama and invent a new theatre After all this, let's meet to dance on a new stage that we will take great care of.

Astonishment That was the word

To get out of there, to escape, both literally and figuratively, I immediately decided to keep a diary in photos and words on my Instagram account (in French and in English) Not very original in itself, but it was the only way I could find to not sink; to keep the rhythm of the days, to believe that there would be new dawns. It was probably also a way of internalising a global - "universal" - event that was completely out of my hands

This lockdown diary does not really tell the story of my daily life, except on rare occasions linked to current news; I share more than my own intimate thoughts and the intimacy of my home, even if most of the photos shared have had this sole setting Often I woke up with an image in my head that helped me - as the hours went by - to put down my ideas and feelings of the day. Sometimes it was the other way around: I knew what I wanted to share and the image came next

I didn't know if there was any point to it, except for myself, but I was soon surprised to receive messages from people - not close - who said that every morning they checked Instagram to see if my day's post was there This encouraged me to share photos and texts for 50 days (I kept the last four days to myself)

The lockdown’s restrictions probably also helped me to concentrate more on the objects in my immediate environment: I set up a small "home studio" which allowed me to photograph and make “sacred” vegetables and fruits (we know how important everything related to food was then!)

This diary - and the confinement in itself - actually gave me a clearer idea of my photographic practice. Apart from two or three older photos that seemed to fit my mood of the day, I had to produce a photograph immediately By this I mean to shoot and look at the result immediately

Lockdown Diary, ‘Through the Looking-Glass’, Day 22- April, 7, 2020

Fifth day of the fifth month Fiftieth day of lockdown This will be my last post in this context

Apart from being thankful to come out of all this in relative good physical and moral health, and expressing my gratitude to those who have sent me kind words of encouragement, to my family, my friends who are here in spite of everything I don't really have an assessment to draw from these fifty days And I don't specifically want to do it. It would be hollow in the face of all my impossibilities and my helplessness. Maybe I should make an imprint of this, so that the light could draw the relief of a new road to take

512,146 is the number of paces I did not take during those fifty days of lockdown. Which is 341.45 kilometers! Like the sleepless nights, this cannot be recovered. But it’s so impressive! For now, I have to start by getting out my shoes to prepare to reconnect with Earth Since childhood, there is nothing that I love so much as to feel the different surfaces of the ground under my feet The foot, "this masterpiece of engineering, this work of art" as Leonardo da Vinci said Both together, a marvel of 48 bones that supports and guides me, without even thinking about it.

341 45 kilometers, on foot: what a beautiful journey it would be! From here or elsewhere Then, like a godless pilgrim, I might come back here to tell the tale of this adventure. Until then, take care of yourself and your loved ones and keep safe!

This is very unusual for me. As far back as I can remember, I only look at the results of my shots weeks or even months later - whether in analogue or photographic mode Apart from commissions, such as portraits, wanting to look at my work straight away can also be linked to the "imminence of disappearance", the urgent need to save a trace before the subject is lost forever This is the case with my Breathe series devoted to flowers at the end of their lives, whose only purpose is to keep the memory of their passage through the house.

As I write these lines, I realise that if I was quick to look at the result of a Breathe shooting, it is probably due to its principle of closing my eyes while I capture the photograph.

This confinement has therefore allowed me to question the particular link between photography and memory in my work It was something I hadn't particularly thought about. I believed that I was only interested in the act of photographing in the

moment without really caring about the result. Which is, of course, not true

If the relationship between photography and memory is obvious, its mechanism is particular to me. Thus, for me, a photograph is very rarely a support for memory For various reasons, probably linked to my childhood, that doesn't interest me On the contrary, time seems to act directly on these photographs. Sometimes it is "chemically" right: it can happen that the films or slides alter. In digital photography mode, I also feel this when I open SD cards that have been left aside for a long time So as far as my photos taken over the years in the Middle East are concerned, the ones that will hold my attention are those that are the least "documentary", those that include accidents of light or colour

Carnation, ‘Breathe’ Series, 2019

Rose Variation I, ‘Breathe’ Series, 2019

Memory is a construction: it is as if its foundations also give meaning to my photographs. So the narrative is not built from reality. The photographs become the markers of my own fiction As if the 'oblivion' of these photographs had de facto reinforced the subjectivity of my gaze As if time had mysteriously acted on them to restore the feeling and the state of mind in which I was when I took this or that photo, and which I remember perfectly This is what I wish to restore

Before this lockdown, I had begun to sense this through my Transfulgurances (Dazzling Journey) series started in 2019, when a nasty shoulder break had deprived me of travel and left me grounded at home, suitcases and camera relegated to the sideline

The same goes for the State of Nature series, which began in January 2020. The consciousness of my manner of working allowed me to continue in a more assertive way on these series, sometimes by combining different places taken in different times or by colouring certain black and white photos, according to what my memory required.

In November 2020, three photos from Transfulgurances were chosen and put up for sale in support of women artists affected by confinement through the Friends of the NMWA (National Museum of Women in the Arts) committee, which I am quite proud of: the creativity linked to my own frustration of not travelling could be a concrete support to other women artists prevented from working!

Today I would say that this period of confinement has paradoxically allowed me more freedom in my work thanks to a more conscious approach to my individuality, which, by revealing itself, has ceased to be a burden and has been transformed into a greater source of creativity.

‘State of Nature’, V, 2020-2021

‘State of Nature’, VI, 2020-2021

@sandrabeauchard

RESCUING YOUR INNER ARTIST

Visual artist Francesca Lando in conversation with photographer

Nicola Albon

Francesca Lando is a visual artist and the founder of Immuto, an ever changing collective of artists and ideas creating immersive spaces and stories to explore human connections

www.immutocollective.com

Nicola Albon is a street, portrait and event photographer She tells stories She started her working life in regional newspapers - reporting on everything from pub brawls to golden weddings. It was there that she learned the power of a story and that everyone has one to tell.

@nicolaalbon

Rescue Your Inner Artist is an online course by Francesca Lando designed to unleash the transformational power of creativity in just 4 weeks. Nicola Albon joined one of the course cohorts in March 2022

www.immutocollective.com/courses

Above

Green and yellow - Soho Windows

Opposite

Soho Windows #1

Soho Windows #2

Photos by Nicola Albon

Nicola, when did you decide you wanted to be a photographer and how did you become one?

I had wanted to be a photographer since I was a child. I loved capturing fleeting moments - like the moment a wave splashes over a rock, or a street scene where the people in it would move and it would be over I saw moments I wanted to capture but didn’t have the equipment or knowledge to do it until in 2009, I decided to buy a DSLR and take courses I started to take photos in every spare moment, to experiment and learn When I was out with my camera, I was in the moment It was pure joy to be behind the camera

You joined the course after 13 years of practising photography. Why did you think you still needed to rescue your inner artist then?

I had lost my love for photography In trying to make a living at it I had lost the joy of it - the reason I did it in the first place The marketing and promotion took up more time and energy than taking photographs I just didn’t enjoy it any more, I found other work and I gradually stopped taking photographs I barely picked up a camera for 2 years before I started the course. But the urge to scratch that creative itch was still there deep down. I needed to find a new way to approach photography.

Was there a personal breakthrough that you would like to share?

I realised how much my lack of confidence in my own vision had contributed to me losing the joy of photography. I had focused on what would sell, what other people wanted. When people were paying me for portraits or event photography, I worried that my work wouldn’t be good enough, that they wouldn’t be happy with it. That really took the joy out of it! With my more artistic work, there were all these people who could tell me what I needed to do and what they thought was good I had taken on board so many opinions, my head was spinning! I now understand that other people’s opinions have more to do with them than what I’m doing

How has that changed the way you approach your practice?

I am much more aware of my inner critic and I am learning to trust my own judgement again, to allow mistakes and to stop second guessing myself

I meditate more regularly. I stop and listen as well as look now, just enjoying a whole scene I am not rushing to achieve something but instead I try to focus on the pleasure of the creative process and I play and experiment more I have started drawing and gardening again – getting my hands dirty in the soil

What would you say to other photographers who may be looking for new ways to rekindle their creative spark?

Every day, pause, take a step back and find joy in the small things – the sound of the birds, the movement of a flower that opens in the day and closes at night. Explore the things that

feed your curiosity. You need to refind that child who discovered painting by sticking their fingers in the paint pot and making a mess! Techniques and rules of composition are important of course, but sometimes you just need to look at things from a different angle I personally found it helpful to do that with you, an artist who works in a completely different medium.

What is up next in your photography?

I have gone back to plant photography that I hadn’t done for almost 10 years I have hurt my hip so I can’t carry a camera very far I am taking that as an opportunity to focus on the everyday things around me. I am looking at alternative photographic processes – it is just more physical I am going back over my past work and re-evaluating it – asking myself what I think about it. I have begun experimenting with video I am feeling my way I am not judging the ideas, just going with them and seeing what happens

Get notified first when doors for Rescue Your Inner Artist course open again Join the waiting list at: www immutocollective com/courses

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Yellow cafe - Soho Windows

Almost David by Irina Petrova