JAMES KNIGHT-SMITH | A Series of Moments

Issue 6

I have often stood on the coast, looked out at the ocean in all weather conditions, and felt a great sense of calm. I have never asked myself why. I just know that water is incredibly relaxing to me. I have always wanted to capture this feeling in art and I struggled with this idea for a long time, first in drawings and later in photographs. It was by pure chance that one day last year I finally captured exactly what I wanted. I have worked on perfecting that style ever since.

ACHIM LIPPOTH | Wrong Right Wrong

Issue 06

Usually children are very true to themselves and no one can force them to perform. This leads to an exciting challenge: how can a photographer get them to do what he or she wants in a picture? How can they play the roles a photographer needs but remain natural? These are the points which make the photography of children so interesting—finding ways to show the childrens' authenticity.

KASHMIR | Andy Spyra

Issue 06

I first came to Kashmir in the spring of 2007, at the end of a motorcycle trip across India. Instantly, I simply fell in love with the people, the light and the atmosphere of this remote part of the world.

But as much as I love it, I dislike the valley's political situation.

TIM MANTOANI | Behind Photographs

Issue 06

I began this series in December of 2006 in San Francisco. I had grown up in the Bay Area and I was home visiting my parents for the holidays. I took a day to rent a 20 x 24 Polaroid camera. I had seen the camera advertised for rent and had come to a point in my photographic career when I was thirsting to get back to working with a more tactile process. Being a commercial shooter in San Diego, my business had, like most, become nearly 100% digital. My background was in large-format photography, and I shot much of my early portrait work on 4-x-5-inch film. The process seemed more special than working in 35mm digital.

MARVIN E. NEWMAN | Untitled

Issue 06

I have BEEN A photographeR all my adult life and I love doing it. The act of creativity still moves me more than anything else. When you have truly been creative you know it. There is nothing more satisfying, and making this series of photographs of trees was one of those experiences.

REZA | War and Peace

Issue 06

In my travels in war zones, natural disaster areas, places of sorrow and beauty, I have often been reminded of the tale told by Rumi, the 13th-century Persian sage. It is a tale known to many cultures, the tale of villagers who had never seen an elephant and are frightened when one comes near their village. The three men who are sent to examine the beast in total darkness come back with three completely different explanations of what it is. This is because each has only touched one part of the creature – an ear, a leg, its trunk – and mistakenly believes the single part is the whole of the animal. The different viewpoints lead to deep divisions in the community.

FAZAL SHEIKH | The Circle

Issue 06

VrindAvan, in northern India, is a place of exile for widows who have been put out onto the streets by their families because of superstitions that the women were responsible for their husbands’ deaths. When I first visited the small town, I knew little about the circumstances that had brought them there, where they lived, or their extreme poverty. In the following years I met some of them and listened to their stories of hardship, religious devotion and endurance.

Int’l Photography Awards Tribute | 2009

Issue 06

Featuring Nominees for the 2009: International Photographer of the Year, Deeper Perspective Award, and Discovery of the Year

JEFF JACOBSON | In the USA

Issue 06

Sundance, Mt. Tremper, NY

Lucie Awards, Honoree Slideshow | 2009

Issue 06

A tribute to the 2009 Lucie Award Nominees: Fazal Sheikh, Jean-Paul Goude, Gilles Peress, Marvin Newman, Reza, Ara Guler, and Mark Seliger.

Guest Intro by Hossein Farmani

Issue 06

Like most of you, I am passionate about photography—the art form that is for me, the very highest means of communication. As a student of photography, I learned to appreciate the art of image making at an early age. The love of photography helped change my world views and broadened my horizons.

ARITI LAL | Untitled

My interest in film began at a young age. My mother would rent Bollywood films; if I was lucky enough I would get to watch two films in one night, which was six hours of action, drama, and dance. I began dancing at a young age as well, and I eventually became a choreographer for both the temple and my high school dance company. It had not been until I began my undergraduate studies when film became a passion.

PAUL JEFFREYS | Let’s Toast the Cold War!

An ongoing project, Let's Toast the Cold War! is a visual examination of America's power during and after the Cold War, and how it's affecting my American experience. In his analysis of national power, Joseph S. Nye Jr. coined the phrase “soft power,” which refers to a nation’s ability to influence other countries through its popular culture and collective beliefs.

ARA GULER | Aphrodisias

Issue 06

APHRODISIAS, the most celebrated of the several ancient cities, is dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite. The city was situated in the village of Geyre, located in the district of Karacasu in Aydin Province. Sixty years of excavations have revealed ancient buildings of major importance in Aphrodisias. These include the Temple of Aphrodite; the Sebasteion; a stadium capable of seating 30,000 people, the best preserved example of such a structure in Turkey; the Tetrapylon; the Hadrian Baths; and the Odeon. Everything began by chance in the late summer of 1958.

JAIME PERMUTH | The Completely Visible World

One of the newest trends in digital imaging is High Dynamic Range (HDR). This set of techniques allows for an expanded range of exposure values between light and dark areas in a photograph. In other words, HDR aspires to render a completely visible world. It is a world where light is present everywhere; nothing is hidden and nothing is private.

ALAA HASAN | Building Damascus

If you walk the streets of Damascus, you may find a group of mostly young men sitting on a street corner, waiting for somebody who needs anything done cheaply—anything, from building a house and moving furniture, to cleaning after fires and digging holes. They mean neither harm nor misfortune; they look you in the eyes and speak in few yet confident words. Most of them come from "Al-Jazira," an area in northeastern Syria. They were once farmers; now, they’re construction workers. When I asked why they thought they were here instead of on their farms, they never answered—silence was the only answer possible.