July 2009

Photo by Mathew Scott

Photo by Simone Lueck

Photo by Christian Patterson

Photo by Alexis Pike

Photo by Allison V Smith

Photo by Gina Zacharias

Joel Micah Miller grew up in Maryland and is a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, MA. and Hochschule der Medien in Stuttgart, Germany. He assisted Germany’s best advertising photographers while completing his studies. Miller’s work has been featured in solo shows at Dandys, Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Kanste Stuttgart in 2008, and My Friendsters, at Hochschule der Medien Galerie in 2006.

Born in the Canadian prairies, Liz Wolfe studied photography at Ryerson University’s School of Image Arts in Toronto. Since starting out in 2004, Liz has become known for creating colorful, fantastical worlds out of everyday objects. In 2009, she exhibited her work at the Architecture + Design Museum (Los Angeles), the Gladstone Hotel (Toronto) and Project Basho Gallery (Philadelphia). She has also exhibited at the Center for Photography at Woodstock, Pikto Gallery, and other locations in Canada, USA, Portugal and Australia. Liz currently lives in Toronto.

You must get some really fun commissions considering the nature of your work. What are some of the more interesting projects you have been asked to photograph?
‘One of the most amusing projects I’ve done was for Chronicle Books. They commissioned me to shoot an entire book of Peeps-themed recipes and crafts. I had never heard of marshmallow Peeps, I knew nothing about the obsessive Peeps fan culture that exists in America, I had no idea how simultaneously hilarious and surreal life could get.

‘And when I awoke, as if from a nightmare, to find myself crouched on the floor, covered in a stickiness that can not be removed with domestic cleaning products, my arms coated in sugar, my fingers placing a miniature veil ever-so-gently on the head of a marshmallow chick bride, preparing her for her imminent role as one half of a wedding cake topper, I finally understood what people mean when they say you never know where photography will take you’.

How much of your work evolves from experimentation and how much is carefully thought out from the beginning?
‘I only experiment in the pre-production stage, never during shooting. Occasional scenarios have arisen in which I’ve altered elements of the photograph slightly during shooting, but these situations are extremely rare. Typically, everything is sketched out, color-coded, planned in advance. I know exactly what the final photograph is going to look like before I start shooting. And I mean exactly! (Not just because I’m a control freak, but also because I like to shoot on film and I try to keep my shooting ratio as low as possible.)

‘Though I have incredible respect for people who take full advantage of photography’s inherently spontaneous qualities, for me, photography is not a spontaneous medium. It is a recording device and very little else; the most practical way for me to translate the images from my mind into reality’.

A lot of your work is available for sale through your site. What made you decide to sell your work in this way and is this proving to be lucrative?
‘I sell inexpensive open edition prints through my site; it’s not lucrative, but it’s the best way to keep things accessible, so people have an affordable option for purchasing work. It’s important to me, to have photographs for people who would love something for their walls, but have no interest in exclusivity or collecting art in the traditional sense’.

Do you usually work alone or is there also a stylist that you work with?
‘When I’m creating photographs for exhibitions, I usually work alone. When I’m shooting commercial work, I consider it essential (and also very fun) to work with stylists’.

Simone Lueck lives and works in Los Angeles. Of her work and environment she says, ‘I like that the palm trees were all planted at the same time. I like that Gloria Swanson played herself in Sunset Boulevard. I like that she had it, and then she lost it, and she didn’t know the difference. I like that she buried her dead chimp in a satin lined casket. Making pictures in LA is good. It’s like sifting through an old trunk filled with worn out fan letters and a bright blonde lock of hair from 1953. I am fascinated with the performance that exists and is played out in the ceremonies and rituals practiced every day. For the past year, I have been making pictures of people posing as glamorous movie stars. The series, The Once and Future Queens, includes pictures of individuals who answered an ad soliciting older women to pose as glamorous movie stars. The pictures are collaborations: Each participant is asked to provide her own makeup, hair, and wardrobe and to select a desired location for the shoot’.

Bharat Sikka worked as a photographer in India before deciding to study at the Parson’s School of Design, where he earned a BFA in photography. His work now documents contemporary visions of India. Since his first exhibition, Indian Men, at the Artists Space in New York City, his photographs have been displayed as part of numerous exhibitions, including one at the National Museum of India in 2008. He has contributed for magazines such as the New Yorker, Vogue, Details and Time Magazine, where his work was featured amongst the best photographs of 2005, and now divides his time between Europe and India.

Photo by Jaime Warren

Photo by Ch’ng Yao Hong

Photo by Julia Fullerton-Batten

Photo by Kathryn Parker Almanas

Photo by Felix R Cid

Photo by Matt Stacey

Liam Henry was born in England in 1986 and currently lives and works in Leeds, UK.  He studied Photography and Digital Imaging at Leeds Metropolitan University.  His work has been included in many exhibitions including Urban Outfitters Exhibition (Leeds), Articulate Magazine Launch, and The Broland Fabrication.

London born Poppy de Villeneuve grew up dividing her time between West Sussex country life and her mother’s family home in Ohio. In 2002 she received a BA in photography from London College of Printing, graduating with the cover of the prestigious Art Review’s student issue. The following two years she trained in the Method acting technique, influencing Poppy’s ongoing projects as a professional photographer. De Villeneuve has exhibited in group and solo shows in the UK and US. Shows in London included “Culture Bound VII” at The Courtauld Institute and “I shot Norman Foster” commissioned by The Architecture Foundation as well as solo show “The Strangers” at University of the Arts gallery, May 2007, as part of its emerging artists program. Poppy was part of “Being True” a group show for Nike in New York and Los Angeles. Most recently Poppy was commissioned by London’s Bloomberg Space for “Within,” an exhibition where she photographed sextuplets and their relationships with each other. Living in New York, de Villeneuve divides her energy between fashion and fine art, bringing life to both in equal measure.