Fedor Shmidt

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SALT + SEA, Javiera Estrada

In Salt + Sea, the artist intentionally places women in their most vulnerable form—naked—back into a natural environment in order to display their strength against the elements. The interaction between the two forces narrows the gap between society’s hackneyed constructs of women’s place in society and the unfailing honesty of the nude form– where her spirit can run free. The sand and rocks are representative of the harsh political environment, while the water demonstrates the more “fluid” nature of women.
In addition, the division between the latter symbolizes our current social and monetary disparity between women and men, and specifically, African American women. African American women are rarely seen on sand or sea due to the old paradigms of fear instilled by their ancestors. This fear not only disempowers, but suppresses a huge demographic of women in our country.
The ocean’s multi-faceted cycle has often been likened to the female temperament, a great force. Therefore it’s no surprise that salt, a vital element of the sea, has been referred to as feminine in numerous cultural mythologies as well as embodying healing properties. Therefore, it is imperative that we view women as the “salt” of our communities, the essential element needed in healing this antiquated imbalance.

Frank De Mulder

The leading Belgian Fine Art photographer Frank De Mulder is a celebrated personality within the international photo scene. He has worked for large advertising campaigns and well-known magazines, including Playboy, FHM, GQ, Maxim and Elle. 


De Mulder’s most intriguing work, however, are the intimate impressions of female emotions and beauty. De Mulder released 5 books with the renowned publishing group teNeues: SENSES (2007), PURE (2010), GLORIOUS (2013), HEAVEN (2015) and TRIBUTE (2017).

The images are never provocative, but they tend to balance on the edge of what is forbidden. That balance is what makes the photographs so powerful and interesting. De Mulder shows us the delicate sensual world of women—from fragile and emotional to flamboyant and erotic—always at the highest level of beauty.

Frank De Mulder was born 22 August 1963 in Ghent, Belgium. Already as a young boy he was fascinated by image, light and beauty. He got his first camera from his father at the age of 12. At 17 he started to copy the pictures of David Hamilton, invested all his pocket money in photo equipment and learned by books the world of light and photography. He studied film direction at RITS in Brussels and continued his studies in Ghent at the Royal Art Academy, where he graduated cum laude. Frank did his army service in the cinematography division where he made several “war movies” for military trainings.

He started his career as cameraman and director of photography in several short movies and commercials. At the age of 29 he decided photography was his real passion. Since then, he worked his way up to become a worldwide celebrated photographer, represented by teNeues Publishers. At his side there is always Michèle van Damme, his associate. “It takes two to tango”. Michèle is responsible for art direction and digital postproduction. Together they built in total 3 studios, the third one in Merelbeke near Ghent.

 

Marc Lagrange

Marc Lagrange, filled with longing and sensuality, Marc Lagrange’s photographs celebrate fantasies and desire—placing beauty and dreams at the center of his world. Lagrange was born in Kinshasa, Congo, in 1957. His career path led him from engineering to photography, and his creativity from fashion to art. Privileging analog over digital, the Antwerp-based Belgian artist searches for intimacy and emotion as opposed to artificial effects. His giant Polaroids—which have been exhibited worldwide—are a powerful example of his craft as well as his attention to detail: he can display the texture of skin, highlight natural curves and make his models stand out. Lagrange elaborates entire sets until he finds the exact mood he wishes to convey, with the end goal being to create the images he wants. From the color of the walls to the shape of a chair, every single detail counts, underlining Lagrange’s perfectionist streak and his willingness to unfold narratives.Throughout his career, Lagrange has photographed the same women over different periods of time, turning them into his muses. Inge Van Bruystegem—a striking model and talented dancer—is one of them. Lagrange has been working with her for more than fifteen years, developing a privileged relationship. The trust that has flourished between them over the years is quite rare in photography and still generates surprising results. Individuals who pose in front of Lagrange’s lens end up spontaneously performing and revealing more about themselves than they perhaps intended to. One thing Lagrange respects is the mystery and power of women: even fully nude, his models are confident and in control; real protagonists as opposed to passive figures.

Dani Olivier

Dani Olivier is a French photographer. He lives and works in Paris. This website features his experimental photographic work from 2014 to 2015.

Dani Olivier creates his effects at the time of the shoots, by projecting complex images and intricate light patterns on his models. He never touches up the originals.

The models are nude. They do not wear enhancing accessories. Their make up is minimal.

The pictures are taken with a black background. There are no artifacts: just the models and the light projection. The projections are either abstract or figurative.                                                                       

The final composition is always surreal.

Dani Olivier’s abstract and psychedelic nudes are his exclusive creations. They confer a new dimension and innovative approach to the art of nude photography.

You can also discover his new projects photos on his facebook page: Dani Olivier

Ed Ross

The wet plate, aka collodion, photographic process dates from 1851, having been invented by Frederick Scott Archer, an English sculptor. Archer did not seek a patent on his process, and in fact “died in extreme poverty.” An obituary described him as “a very inconspicuous gentleman, in poor health.”
There are two “types” of wet plate photography — ambrotype and tintype. An ambrotype, which was described by Archer, is based on glass, and a tintype is based on metal.
All of the images on this site are tintypes — a piece of blackened aluminum over which the image is created in silver, and over which a varnish is placed to protect the fragile image from physical harm (eg, scratches) and tarnishing (changes to the silver due to exposure to chemicals found in the environment).
I’ve used three cameras, a half-plate box-style camera (made by Ty Guillory), an 8×10 bellows-style camera (made by Black Art Woodcraft), and a 16×20 Chamonix. I use “period” lenses, , i.e., from 1850 to 1900, manufactured by Dallmeyer, Voigtlander, and Ross.

Ruth Bernhard

 

 

Ruth Bernhard was born in Berlin in 1905, and studied at the Berlin Academy of Art. After moving to New York in 1927, she began a career in commercial photography. Almost a decade later, she met Edward Weston, whose compelling images convinced her that photography was indeed a creative medium. In 1953, Bernhard moved to San Francisco where she continued to live and pursue her many photographic interests. Bernhard is associated with the history of Northern California’s wealth of eminent photographers, among them Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, and Minor White. In a career spanning more than seven decades, she created an imposing body of work. Distinguished by their exquisite use of light, her images have been internationally recognized and acclaimed by her peers. Radiant still lifes and nude forms reflect her passionate search for the universal connection of all things.

 Bernhard’s work has been exhibited and included in the permanent collections of major museums and universities in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Mexico, and has been published worldwide.



Wingate Paine

 

 

 

Born in 1915, Wingate Paine was a member of a Mayflower New England family with ties to law, banking, and the ministry. He broke from those traditions and became a Marine captain, connoisseur of French wine, devotee of Hatha Yoga, and finally a gifted photographer.
Paine was one of the hottest advertising photographers in New York in the 1960s, commanding fees bested only by Avedon and Penn. He was the photographer of the iconic Volkswagen Beetle ads, considered a touchstone of modernist print advertising.
In the mid-1960s Paine set aside his successful advertising career to devote himself to his magnum opus, Mirror of Venus, which he described as a “confirmation of my feelings toward beauty and beautiful women.” In Mirror of Venus, Wingate Paine created an icon of the 1960’s Sexual Revolution. Though innocent by today’s standards, Paine’s photography pushed the limits of what was considered acceptable art photography. The book illustrated playful, strong, modern women posing in flagrante delicto for an enamored photographer. With the help of his wife, Natalie Paine, who directed a major New York modeling agency, Paine enlisted three remarkable models as collaborators: Sandy, Carla, and Scarlett. Printed in ten editions and four languages, Mirror of Venus gave the world a glimpse into a private realm that was at once elegant, earthy, sexy, and pure.
After finishing Mirror of Venus and overseeing its many editions, Paine retired from photography. He became a spiritual teacher, authoring two books: Tilling the Soul (1984) and The Book of Surrender (1987). He passed away in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1987.

 

Russell James

 

 

 

Over the past two decades photographer Russell James’ images have become synonymous with provocative, unique perspectives of many of the most prominent people of our time in the worlds of entertainment, fashion and beauty. He is renowned as an international Vogue cover photographer and his works have appeared in many leading publications such as W, Vogue, Allure, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, American Photo, French Photo and Sports Illustrated. James’ works are the subject of five fine-art books of his solo works including ‘Russell James’ (2009), ‘Nomad Two Worlds’ (2010), ‘V2’ (2011), ‘A Virgin Island’ (2013) and ‘Angels’ (2014) all published by world leading art book publisher teNeues Publications. The books have achieved critical acclaim and mass popularity, appearing on multiple best-seller lists. They are published in more than seventy countries around the world.
In August of 2007 James was awarded the Hasselblad Masters Award, and in 2009 he joined the prestigious ranks of Irving Penn and Helmut Newton as a resident artist of Camera Work, the world’s leading gallery for contemporary photography and vintage master works.
Russell’s diverse photographic achievements range from exhibiting for brands such as Hermes in association with Guggenheim, to breakthrough advertising campaigns for global brands such as Rolex, Victoria’s Secret, Evian and Revlon, to emotional portraits of many of the world’s leading celebrities, musicians and supermodels, such as Scarlett Johansson, President Bill Clinton, Halle Berry, Faith Hill, Rihanna, Kendall Jenner and a host of others. He has been the subject of solo photographic exhibitions in New York, Berlin, Los Angeles, Sydney, Aspen, The Hamptons, Oslo among other cities.
Russell’s fine art project entitled Nomad Two Worlds, a series inspired by the global consequences of cultural collision, has been recognized and lauded by critics and fans alike. Nomad Two Worlds is informed both by Australia’s ancient past and by an unfolding, present-day political narrative. It has become a global example of reconciliation in action. Since its launch in New York City in 2009 with the support of Donna Karan, Hugh Jackman and the Australian Government, the collection has previewed in the national gallery of Victoria and lead to the forming of ‘Nomad Two Worlds Foundation’ in 2012. The Foundation provides grants and supports artists in indigenous and marginalized communities around the world.
His eye originally inspired by the rich natural location of his home lands in Western Australia, James developed his cutting edge and provocative fashion style in the cities of London, Paris, Tokyo, Stockholm and Milan in the years 1987 to 1996 creating a unique blend of fashion and extreme location as his signature trademark. Known for his love of the environment, social activism and dramatic architecture, James is often found shooting in locations ranging from the shores of the Caribbean beaches, to the outback of Australia, to the ice flows of the Arctic Circle to the more civilized realm of designer homes and studios in the major cities of New York, Los Angeles, London and Paris.

Marco Michieletto

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Michel Comte

 

 

For decades Michel Comte has been shooting protagonists from the world of art, film and entertainment. However, he does not only take photos – perhaps more than any other artist Comte understands the art of capturing the beauty of the moment by choosing the perfect angle and light intensity. Leaving nothing to chance it is his attention to detail and meticulous approach that creates the enchanting atmosphere underlying his art work.

Alain Daussin

The Belgian Alain Daussin, who was born in Brussels, was introduced to the world of picture by a comic strip drawer (Maurice Tillieux) and started photography studies in 1977 in a school of the City of Brussels. After three years, he entered the labour market. But he was soon discovered by the “Photo” magazine (France), and his pictures were published under the heading ‘young talent’. From that time on, he worked for lots of magazines and advertising campaigns. He specialized in female photography. In 1983, his career was launched: some of his pictures were spread in the whole world through the publishing of black and white art posters and postcards (Catch publishing, Verkerke, Art Unlimited). In 1985, he received the Eurobest Award of advertising for his picture in the Belgian campaign » Le soir, les hommes accouchent « . Although he was more famous for his black and white pictures, he did not abandon the colour pictures. Since the middle of the eighties, he has collaborated on a regular basis with magazines such as « Photo », « Max », « Telerama », « Zoom » in France or « Elle », « Knacht », « Donna », « Per lui » in Italy, « Stern » in Germany, for « Amateur Photographer’s » in London … He had an exhibition in London in the Portfolio Gallery within the framework of the festival of contemporary art as well as in Rome and Milan in 1990 within the framework of an exhibition that was organized by Lancôme, called « Imagine Donna, La femme de 1940 à nos jours ». In 2000, he exhibited at the Bortier gallery in Brussels a work called « Corps et Eau ». He joined the « Getty images » group in 1997. Alain Daussin Works for advertising (Bultex, Renault (Award), Vedior, Mac- Leans, Le Soir) and collaborates with the biggest European magazines. He also had an exhibition in Brussels in Gallery « Espace Blanche » in 2007. In 2014 his work was exhibited in Genève in the gallery « Krisal » and in Saint Tropez (France). His work his regularly sold in contemporary art fairs such as the « Art Hamptons » fine art fair in US, Cornette de saint Cyr in Belgium or Drouot in France. Online magazines (ND Magazine, Fineartnude, Monovisions) specialized in photography regularly publish his images. Today, Alain Daussin lives in Brussels and keeps collaborating for with Getty images, magazines and fine art market.

Daniella Midenge

Strong women, accentuated by their beauty and sensuality, are the hallmark of fashion photographer Daniella Midenge. Her pictures evoke intimacy and passion, beyond the outer shell. Black-and-white or color, her photos have an incredible power of expression that draws the eye of men and women alike. Her unique style still shows the influence of photographers like Peter Lindbergh and Herb Ritts. As a woman and a model herself, Daniella Midenge is at home both behind and in front of the camera, directing, producing, doing hair and make-up, retouching—all of which she does herself. It’s no wonder she is reluctant to let others handle the processing of her photographs. Growing up in a creative family, her love of images, faces, shapes, and exotic places combined with her work as an oil painting restorer—all contributed to the many twists and turns on Midenge’s path to photography. After her first contact with a camera, she never looked back.

Daniella Midenge is a self-taught photographer and an enthusiast of contrasts. Her first magazine cover was for Marie Claire, shot in New York 2010, starring top models Candice Swanepoel and Behati Prinsloo. Other illustrious magazines in her portfolio include Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and ELLE. Her client base continues to expand with commissions from major companies like H&M and Swarovski.

Michael Papendieck

Michael Papendieck is a German photographer born in 1970, dedicated to this since 1989.

Since 2005 he works as a freelance photographer, author and teacher, and since 2009 he teach photography in FF-Fotoschule (Hamburg, Germany)

Nowadays he’s based in Braunschweig.

Body Talks, Anka Zhuravleva

Anka was born on December 4, 1980. She spent her childhood with books on art and her mothers’ drawing tools, covering acres of paper with her drawings. In 1997 she entered the Moscow Architectural Institute deciding to follow in her mothers’ footsteps. But at the end of 1997 her mother was diagnosed with cancer and died in less that a year. Then her father died in 1999.

After that Anka’s life changed dramatically. In attempt to keep sane, she plunged into an alternative lifestyle – working as a tattoo artist, singing in a rock-band, sometimes looking for escape in alcohol. In order to make a living while studying, Anka worked at several modeling agencies. Thanks to the drawing lessons she wasn’t afraid to pose nude, and her photos appeared in the Playboy and XXL magazines and at the Playboy 1999 photo exhibition. But she was not looking for a modeling career – it was just a way to make some money.

In 2001 Anka was working in the post-production department at the Mosfilm StudiosThat same winter one of her colleagues invited her to spend a week-end in Saint-Petersburg with his friend, composer and musician Alexander Zhuravlev. In less than a month Anka said farewell to Moscow, her friends, her Mosfilm career and moved in with Alexander in Saint-Petersburg. Living with her loved one healed her soul, and she regained the urge for painting. She made several graphic works and ventured into other areas of visual arts. In 2002 Gavriil Lubnin, the famous painter and her husband’s friend, showed her the oil painting technique, which she experimented with for the following several years. During that period she made just a few works because each one required unleashing of a serious emotional charge. All those paintings are different as if created by different people.

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Boris Davidov

Oliver Rath

Ever since some creative know-it-all came up with this widespread witticism, saying “One Picture is Worth Ten Thousand Words”, the necessity to say anything about Oliver Rath is basically obsolete. Year of birth (78), place of birth (Heidelberg) – who cares about it anyway? His mover/shaker-mentality, his DJing-past, his talent to translate boredom of one thing into a passion for another one – it is all nice things to say about him, but you actually don’t need to know. His DIY-enthusiasm, that built up the whole technical foundation of his existence as a photographer, his mindscape that no school in this world could have teach him, his creative lunacy that’s hidden beneath this Frankish and easy going surface – they are all pretty ornaments for writings like these, but still: anything you could say about him doesn’t come close to the impression of his pictures.

Those are pictures of a maniac. His imagery is infiltrated by codes of urban hedonism, yet ruptured by sometimes prankish, sometimes caustic humour. It is a hard and rough picture language, a language without diplomatic attachments or compromise, but fuelled with unchecked temper and elegant to subtle sense for semantics. He takes everything in that makes a good picture: geometry, contrast, perspective, arrangement. But more than that, he’s a master of those little things, that push a good picture to become an outstanding one. He is the advocate of maximizing impacts. He’ll find the big talk even in the smallest gestures. He might just slam you in the face with a picture. But he might lick your wounds with the very next one. His sense for the right sentiment is without comparison, be it on national or international scale. Call him man of the moment. What do I say? Call him a depicting chronicler of the Zeitgeist. Well, why do I say so much anyway? Just find one of his pictures and call him your new favourite photographer.

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Lida Chaulet

A Dutch photographer having lived in the Netherlands for most of her life, while travelling abroad, from time to time. At age 10, she received her first camera as a first prize, resulting she carried her camera everywhere, becoming professional some years later.

She studied chemistry, math, computer sciences and programming languages. Her career has encompassed: chemical analyst, technical support engineer and as manager of an international computer help-desk. Recently she commenced a senior position for the Publicity & Promotion of a Lighting firm.

In 2004 she was asked for a few photography projects and this made her decide to study photography at the Fotovakschool in Apeldoorn (NL), specializing in Portrait and Fashion.

Horst P. Horst, Ruth Bernard, Jeanloup Sieff, Elliott Erwitt, André Kertész, Herb Ritts, and Robert Doisneau, amongst others, have influenced her professional views.

2007 was her start for capturing nudes, working with light to emphasize the beauty of the human form.

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Katsuji Fukuda

 

Born 1899 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Fukuda moved to Tokyo in 1919 to work at Takachiho Seisakusho (now: Olympus Corporation). Following the Great Kanto Earthquake, he moved to Osaka. In 1926, he won the Ilford Diamond Prize at the “First Japanese Photography Art Exhibition.” The following year, his attempt to establish a photography museum in Sakai (Osaka) failed, but Fukuda continued to take photography such as still life and compositions under the influence of Bauhaus aesthetics. His series “Camera Diagnostics” (published in “Asahi Camera”, 1936) was well-received, and Fukuda thus compiled “How to Photograph Women,” and other instructional books on photography. After the war, he focused on nudes, publishing “Shell of Light” (Hikari no kaigara) in 1949.

While realism became the dominant current in photography, Fukuda never gave up on his own, unique approach. In 1955, he received funding from the Canon Photo Competition to travel to Italy, and published his photographs from Italy in the next year. Books on Kyoto, Ginza and Sumidagawa followed. Since the late 1950s, Fukuda also engaged in experimental photography. In 1970, his solo exhibition “Flowers and Nudes: Fukuda Katsuji Exhibition” was held at Takashimaya Department Store in Nihonbashi (Tokyo). Fukuda passed away in 1991, aged 92. His works are held at the Yokohama Museum of Art, the Kawasaki City Museum, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, the Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art and others.