February 2011

If an original location is desired, Hakan Ludwigson knows where to find it. Ludwigson was born 1948 in a small town on the Swedish west coast. 1968 he moved to Gothenburg to start photography studies. His career started in 1975 with advertising and fashion, and soon he found himself inspired by travel reportage, architecture and cars. Some of his clients include Condé Nast Traveller, Volvo Trucks,  Aqvavit, Fritidsresor, GEO, Oprah Magazine and Audi. He is represented by Agent Bauer in Sweden and Snyder & Co. in New York.

Robert G. Bartholot is a freelance designer with an emphasis on photographic illustration and art direction. Some of his clients include Diesel, Playstation, Surface magazine and Neo Vague. This is a selection of commissioned and personal work. I love that you can’t tell the difference between the two. Bartholot is represented by The Mushroom Company.

Via Changethethought

Elena Zhukova is a San Francisco-based photography student currently attending the Academy of Art University. Of her work, she writes, ‘The purpose of my photographs is to illustrate the magnitude and vast range of human character and individuality in fictitious ways. I draw parallels between individuals I meet or see in real life and cartoon-type characters I envision in my fantasies. Some ideas are inspired by paintings, some are based on movies and books and some find their roots in the depth of my imagination without correlation to any of existing forms of media I know of. On the same note, I find listening and communicating with kids to be essential for my creative process. I often try to put myself in shoes of my three year old son to understand his perspective of the world, which is undeniably more “unorthodox” then the one of the most adults I get to meet.

‘I purposefully avoid composite images because they take away the fine pallet of emotions present at the setting. I find that modern equipment and tools available to me are sufficient to distort reality and perspective in every necessary way’. You can see her work in the latest issue of CMYK Magazine.

Fulvio Bonavia is an award-winning Italian photographer. In 2010, he was selected Photographer of the Year by the Mobius Awards. He has shot ad campaigns for a wide range of international clients, such as Adidas, Heineken, Swatch, Jaguar, BMW and Audi. Prior to establishing himself as a photographer, Bonavia worked as a graphic designer and movie-poster illustrator. This work is from his series, ‘Scent of Flower’. Bonavia is represented by Stockland Martel.

Khuong Nguyen is an editorial and commercial photographer and designer based in Paris. Some of his clients include Wallpaper, Christian Louboutin and Virgin Radio. This work is from his Tronified series for Amusement Magazine.  Nguyen is represented by two.p.

Originally from Saskatchewan, Canada, Todd McLellan’s interest in photography began at an early age with the encouragement of his father. After graduating in 2002 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Alberta’s College of Art & Design, McLellan’s passion for photography brought him to Toronto where he is a member of the Sugino Studio team and specializes in automotive, commercial and conceptual work. This is new work where he disassembles, among other things, a Pentax camera.

Via Lost At E Minor

Sergeant Jen Hogg (L) served in the New York Army National Guard from 2000-2005. She trained as a 63Y track vehicle mechanic but also worked as the HEMTT wrecker operator. Jen is co-founder of the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN), a non-profit organization dedicated to serving military women and veterans. Pictured with her partner Jackie Scalone (R)

Jo Ann Santangelo’s obsession with documenting life began as a young girl growing up in Boston’s North End. After relocating to Austin, TX in 2006, Santangelo hopped on her bike and started photographing. Over 1,500 black and white portraits of the locals became her first photo essay, ‘Austin Seen’. In August 2008, she moved to New York to attend her first formal education program at the International Center of Photography. While at ICP she was awarded The New York Times Foundation Scholarship and interned with Eugene Richards. Her photographs have been featured in publications such as: El País Semanal, The Guardian, Mother’s Jones, New York Magazine, Food & Wine, The Washington Post, Austin Monthly, The Boston Phoenix and the Austin Chronicle.

STG1(SW) Marie J. Aponte, US Navy (Ret.) Marie J. Aponte enlisted in the US Navy in 1982 as a nuclear field electronics technician and served for twenty years. After participating in the integration of women into Navy combat specialties, she saw her hopes of transition dashed by the 1993 implementation of DADT; she ended her military career and began transition in 2002.

Can you talk a little about this project, ‘Proud to Serve’, and how it came about?
‘In the summer of 2008, just before leaving Austin to come to New York City to attend The International Center of Photography, I met a soldier who broke down in the back of my pedicab as he was telling me what it was like to be gay in the military. Honestly, before meeting him, I had never really thought about ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’. When I went home and looked up gays in the military, I was shocked by the numbers.

‘When I started the full-time photojournalism program at ICP, I was told that I needed a long-term project. I proposed photographing and recording the stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender veterans in their homes. After graduating, I had met and photographed about 10 veterans. I was just starting to really connect with service members across the country and I believed in the project, so I decided to continue. When I started this project I didn’t think I would still being working on it two years later. Now, I can’t imagine not working on this series’.

‘I want to put a human face on the statistics, to remove the ‘gay’ label, or what people typically think a gay person looks like. That is why I decided to photograph the subjects in their homes. To show in the end, we are all just humans. I feel honored and blessed to have had the opportunity to meet everyone featured in this project, show their faces and share their stories’.

Yeoman Timothy V. Beauchamp joined the Navy in 1984. He was trained as nuclear engineering specialist, cross-rated and then served on the submarine U.S.S. Henry Clay, where he was the ship’s Protestant Lay Reader while out at sea. After his wife shared her thoughts with friends and word got out about his homosexuality, Timothy was honorably discharged for homosexual conduct in 1988.

You’ve photographed over sixty men and women for this project. How have you gone about finding your subjects?
‘At first I contacted all the various organizations such as: Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), Knights Out, The Palm Center, AVERNY and SWAN, with little success. Then I went to a SLDN rally in Washington, DC and met the first four veterans in the project. Word of mouth also helped a lot. My good friend Justin Elzie, who was the first Marine to come out in 1993, put me in touch with many of his contacts. It’s a really tight community, especially now with social networking. I posted on all the various forum sites, and veterans would respond from across the country. At the time, I had no way to get to them, so I kept everyone’s contact information for the one day I would make it on the road’.

Rear Admiral Alan M. Steinman, MD, MPH is the former Director of Health and Safety for the Coast Guard, in which he served as both the chief medical officer and chief safety officer. During his 25 years of service, Dr. Steinman developed the Coast Guard’s system of emergency medical services and was instrumental in creating the Coast Guard’s EMT School. He served from 1972 - 1997. RADM Steinman is the most senior military officer to self-identify as gay after his retirement.

You’ve travelled around the United States photographing gays in the military, some who have been discharged under ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’. Can you talk about the experience of raising the funds for this project through Kickstarter?
‘After unsuccessfully applying for funding several times, I was getting frustrated. I had been working on the project for over a year and a half with an exhibit that was going to open on Veteran’s Day at the LGBT Center in Manhattan- I had access to so many LGBT veterans across the country, yet I was stuck in Brooklyn with no money. I remembered a friend of mine had raised money through Kickstarter, so I decided to try it. I set up the project for thirty days asking for $3,000 to cover my 30 day road trip. The first few days, I sent out emails to colleagues and friends with really no response. Then I started the facebook page for ‘Proud to Serve‘ and set up a twitter account, which really helped get the word out. It felt great when I started getting backers from active duty military serving in Iraq. In the end I hit my goal with 65 backers and hit the road about a week later. Forty-six of the sixty-six portraits featured in Proud to Serve took place on a recent, 28-day, 10,167-mile solo road trip accross the United States.

Lieutenant Dan Choi is a 2003 graduate of the US Military Academy. He is an Arab linguist and combat veteran of the Iraq War. Choi served in the Army National Guard as an infantry platoon leader until 2010 when he was discharged for coming out on the Rachel Maddow Show in March 2009.

These portraits are very intimate. How do you get your subjects to relax when discussing such a personal experience?
‘I am very low key and low tech, which I think helps people relax. Almost all the portraits are taken using natural light or with just a flash on my camera. I think it also helped that I was on a 30 day road trip which initially gave us something to talk about. Overall, the subjects were honored that I was doing this project and we talked about how much it meant to them to finally be able to tell their story. Most of these veterans have never told their stories beyond close friends and family, and some haven’t spoken about their experience or discharge in over ten years’.

Allyson (L) and her wife Danyelle (R), are both 1994 graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Allyson and Danyelle have been married for 15 years; they met their freshman year at West Point. Allyson began her transition from male to female in 2007 and is the Associate Director of Diversity for the Human Rights Campaign.

René Pedraza Del Prado joined the United States Navy in September 1979, he was separated from the Navy in July 1981 for homosexual conduct. René served aboard USS Jason AR-8. He is currently a writer and film producer living in Maryland with his partner of 16 years.

You recently made the move from New York City to Austin, Texas. How is life as a documentary photographer different in Austin?
‘What’s different is that Austin gives me room to breathe, to relax, to go on daily bike rides. There is less pressure here. The community is so amazingly positive and supportive. In New York, a vast majority of my friends were fellow photographers, perhaps because I met most of my friends while a student at ICP. Whereas, here in Austin, my friends are photographers, metal workers, painters, musicians, bike builders, writers, farmers, and so on. You can meet someone and say you have this crazy idea for a project. Most often they will say ‘let me see how I can help you with that’.

Sergeant Tracey Gerald joined the Marine Corps in 1991 with her twin sister Stacey. Tracey was a recruiter and served as an ambulance driver in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Due to the strain of serving under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, Tracey retired from the Marine Corps in February 2008.

Sergeant Jen Hogg (L) served in the New York Army National Guard from 2000-2005. She trained as a 63Y track vehicle mechanic but also worked as the HEMTT wrecker operator. Jen is co-founder of the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN), a non-profit organization dedicated to serving military women and veterans. Pictured with her partner Jackie Scalone (R)