From the monthly archives:

October 2010

Scheltens & Abbenes, Amsterdam

by Alison Zavos on October 31, 2010 · 0 comments

Having worked together on various projects (and having been a couple for many years), photographer Maurice Scheltens (1972) and visual artist Liesbeth Abbenes (1970) have decided to consolidate their professional collaboration. Scheltens & Abbenes are the sum total of the unique talent of a still-life photographer and the creative craftsmanship of an artist/stylist. Combining their distinct but partly overlapping fields of expertise, Scheltens & Abbenes create commissioned photographs for cultural institutions and large companies (Vitra, Nike, Hermes, Viktor & Rolf) and editorials for magazines (Fantastic Man, Wallpaper, Another Magazine). The specialty of Scheltens & Abbenes is to meticulously arrange objects – chairs, glassware, shirts, perfume bottles – into configurations that have a strong two-dimensional or graphic character.

Matt Nager documents Campania’s struggle with illegal toxic dumping

by Alison Zavos on October 29, 2010 · 0 comments

Matt Nager is a Dallas-based photographer specializing in editorial, documentary and travel photography in the Southwest United States and Latin America. In addition to photography, he also works in video and film. A selection of his clients include: Mother Jones Magazine, Discover, US News & World Report, AARP, National Public Radio, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Of this series, ‘Campania In-Felix (unhappy country)’, he writes, ‘For nearly two decades, Campania, the southern region of Italy where Naples is located, has witnessed the ongoing practice of illegal toxic material dumping. This practice has taken place in the provinces of Naples and Caserta known as “The Triangle of Death” taken from the towns of Acerra, Nola and Marigliano. The material that is illegally dumped in this vastly fertile region comes mostly from industries in Northern Italy. As of today, the management of waste material in Campania is fully in the hands of the Camorra – a mafia organization with vast economic and political power. The waste material, including aluminum salts, ammonium salts, lead, rubber from tires, and asbestos, is unlawfully incinerated. As a result, high levels of dioxin are released in the atmosphere causing a high rate of birth defects and cancer among the people who are living in the contaminated area.

Video: Simon Duhamel, Montreal

by Alison Zavos on October 28, 2010 · 2 comments

Sitting somewhere between photography and illustration, and influenced by cinema, video games and pop culture, Simon Duhamel takes a distinctly modern approach to the art of digital photography. In early 2009, he co-founded Made of Stills, for whom he has shot several stop-motion animations. He filmed this clever behind-the-scenes video, which is the making of a playful and creative interactive site called Danse Dance. Duhamel is represented by L’Éloi.

Photographer Martin Klimas fires a projectile into fruits and vegetables

by Alison Zavos on October 27, 2010 · 4 comments

Martin Klimas was born in 1971 in Lake of Konstanz, Germany. He received his degree in Visual Communications from Fachhochschule Dusseldorf and has had many exhibitions in Germany and abroad. He is represented by Foley Gallery in New York and Bransch for commercial assignments. This new series, ‘Exploding Vegetables’, is created by firing a projectile into different kinds of fruits and vegetables reflecting our shift towards healthy (bio) food and away from junk food.

Raissa Venables, New York

by Alison Zavos on October 25, 2010 · 2 comments

Raissa Venables recently graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York with a Masters of Professional Studies in Digital Photography. She currently has a solo show up at Galerie Wagner + Partner in Berlin showing this large format work, ‘All That Glitters’, which is assembled from a multitude of captures.

Nikon Small World Competition 2010

by Alison Zavos on October 24, 2010 · 0 comments

Cacodylic acid crystals (100x), Photo by Dr. Rong Wen

Now in its 36th year, the Nikon Small World competition is widely regarded as the leading forum to recognize proficiency and photographic excellence of photography taken under the microscope. To select the winners, competition judges analyzed more than 2,000 micrographs from all over the world, covering subject ranging from chemical compounds to up-close-and-personal looks at biological specimens. Judges for 2010 included Jeremy Kaplan, Science & Technology Editor, FoxNews.com, Betsy Mason, Science Editor, Wired.com, Alison J. North, Ph.D., Director of the Bio-Imaging Resource Center and Shirley A. Owens, Ph.D., Retired Director of the Confocal Lab in the Center for Advanced Microscopy, Michigan State University. This is a selection of Winners, Honorable Mentions and Images of Distinction.

Nikon Small World 2010 photography competition

Air bubble in Carbopol gel sample (300x), Photo by Jerzy Gubernator

Crystallized melt of resorcinal and carbon tetrabromide (33x), Photo by Dr. John Hart

Divaricatic acid from Evernia divaricata (lichen), recrystallized from acetone (10x), Photo by Dr. Ralf Wagner

Penicillin (sodium salt) recrystallized from mixed solvents (60x), Photo by Thomas Deerinck

Anopheles (mosquito) eye (20x), Photo by Dr. Marie Andersson

Crystallized soy sauce (16x), Photo by Yanping Wang

Sodium saccharin crystals (100x), Photo by Darryl Hover

Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) intestine (800x), Photo by Dr. Paul Appleton and Ian Newton

Mesocriconema sp. (ring nematode) (1000x), Photo by Dr. Jonathan Eisenback

Crystallized melt of sulfur and acetanilide (10x), Photo by Dr. John Hart

Soap film (150x), Photo by Gerd Guenther

Polished Mexican fire agate (4x), Photo by Thomas Shearer

Potassium ferricyanide (40x), Photo by Stefan Eberhard

[/caption] Now in its 36th year, the Nikon Small World competition is widely regarded as the leading forum to recognize proficiency and photographic excellence of photography taken under the microscope. To select the winners, competition judges analyzed more than 2,000 micrographs from all over the world, covering subject ranging from chemical compounds to up-close-and-p" data-image="http://www.featureshoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Nikon_Small_World_61.jpg" data-site="Feature Shoot">

Cacodylic acid crystals (100x), Photo by Dr. Rong Wen

Now in its 36th year, the Nikon Small World competition is widely regarded as the leading forum to recognize proficiency and photographic excellence of photography taken under the microscope. To select the winners, competition judges analyzed more than 2,000 micrographs from all over the world, covering subject ranging from chemical compounds to up-close-and-p" data-image="http://www.featureshoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Nikon_Small_World_61.jpg" data-site="Feature Shoot">

Matthew Gafsou, Lausanne, Switzerland

by Alison Zavos on October 21, 2010 · 1 comment

Photographer Matthew Gafsou lives and works in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was recently selected as part of Aperture’s ReGeneration2 book and exhibition, the Plus1000 festival and PDN’s 30. In 2010 alone his work has been featured in many exhibitions such as ‘Surfaces’ at Burri Bondy Gallery (Zurich), ‘Rock your dreams’ at Aart Gallery (Geneva), ‘A Thursday on Earth’ at Imaginaid Gallery (Geneva), and ‘New Homeland’ (Kassel, Germany).

Ragnar Schmuck, Berlin

by Alison Zavos on October 21, 2010 · 0 comments

Ragnar Schmuck is a photographer based in Berlin. He is represented by Nerger M & O. Some of his editorial clients include 11 Friends, Fire One, Brigitte, de: Bug, finger, Groove, Neon, Spex and XLR8R among others.

Geordie Wood, New York

by Alison Zavos on October 19, 2010 · 3 comments

Geordie Wood is a freelance photographer based in Brooklyn, NY. His work is focused in portraiture and fashion. These photographs are from his latest series, ‘The Long Skies’, of which he writes, ‘The work depicts Southwest Iceland beneath a veil of ash that shrouded the sky for months. By shooting quiet moments against the backdrop of Iceland’s natural landscape I hope to illustrate the immense power and beauty of an earth that is still making itself. It’s hard to escape this presence traveling through a land so rife with towering waterfalls, lush cliffs of roosting terns and black sand beaches made from remnants of liquid earth. Indeed, it was hard not to photograph constantly and by the end I was rationing film’. You can read more about this series on his blog.

Christian Tagliavini, Lugano Switzerland

by Alison Zavos on October 19, 2010 · 2 comments

Christian Tagliavini is a photographer who lives and works in Lugano, Switzerland. He has been in several group exhibitions in Switzerland and his work has been published in magazines such as Eyemazing and toBE – Lux [R]evolution. This work is from his series 1503 (2010) and Dame Di Cartone (2008).