the disarming honesty in the photographs of Arno Bitschnau

Not much I found on the photographer after a quick search on google. Just his Photoblur description : “male 43, orthopaedic surgeon, sometimes photographer, cologne, germany”. Although the selection of his photographs displayed here borders voyeurism, I wanted to convey the feeling of disarming honesty I get when viewing B&W photography like his. If you take a look on his photostream you might conclude that they are ordinarily amateurish, but there exists that certain something you see in some of his frames which makes you look closer to then realise it could be you actually taking the shot.

Fabian Stürtz : portraits that reach out

There is something about self-taught photographers, that separates their early work ; this amateurism that lingers on the borderline of professional commercial photography, this spirit that fails to frame as an experienced professional would, but ends up with a photo that has this liveliness, that certain something that you cannot actually put in words, but you can see it’s in there. Well, if you know what I’m babbling about, check out the work of German photographer Fabian Stürtz. In the laconic description of his portfolio we read : “Fabian Stürtz was born in Cologne, Germany in 1984 and still lives there today. The self-taught photographer has been working as a freelancer since 2006.” Read a brief interview here.

the female form through the eyes of Gregory Blake

Gregory Blake is a fashion photographer and motion artist who lives in Paris. His inspirations are life, love and all the beauty in everything he can find around him. He especially likes to shoot random beautiful things juxtaposed against the grit, texture and beautiful decay of the world. “He obviously has a fascination with the female form and this is reflected in his stunning photographs, stunning in terms of the beauty of his subjects and how he captures this with seemingly, little effort. Most of the work feels ‘homemade’, the look and feel is natural and light and the scenes in which the models are placed, seems organic. Many of Blake’s shots feel like they could just have been taken by a naughty boyfriend, catching his lady in her lingerie looking over the balcony after a morning of sexual exertion, most likely in a renaissance-style hotel, looking over La Louvre.” [1]

[1] Ref. http://cultureandlife.co.uk/2011/11/09/the-beautiful-world-of-gregory-blake/

straightforward portraiture by Benoit Paillé

Benoit Paillé is a Canadian photographer, based in Montreal, striving to be more an artiste than a photographer ; thus as he says he has just one lens. This is the Artist’s statement from the Flickr photostream : “I am above all else constantly experimenting with my immediate environment, both social and natural. To put it more accurately, my work focuses on questioning the limits imposed by humanity. How can one push away these self imposed limits and constraints. Or, as in my most recent series, how to redefine the landscape with the help of a manmade light presence. While playing with the boundaries between conventions, I try to find a personal definition of established photographic genres. At the heart of this research, light is predominant in the process of sublimation of the commonplace, of the forgotten and neglected subject. I work and explore light as I would a sculptural media, as a matrix of what we can see and interpret. I feel that showing banality could make it extraordinary, and thus I take great care to create repetitions, through a rigorous and obsessive series-oriented approach, motivated by a quest for pure aesthetics. I am also interested in the narrative the image induces, in the story it invariably creates. My approach could be said to be documentary-based, but only at first glance, for in truth I try to transform reality. I wish to present of people, things and places a vision that is free of any (self) learnt stereotypes. I lean therefore more towards the constructed image. Constructing images allows me to reach my goal quicker, which is to uncover a neglected reality, judged too commonplace to be of any interest. To show the real, I use tricks and fakery: it is my belief that photography is not a representation of the real, but creates it.” Check out his “Stranger” project here. Check out his Flickr portfolio here.

models in the morning by Asher Moss

Models in the Morning, a series of sensual photographs of women in their bare essentials, has made quite a splash in a very short time. Photographer Asher Moss (a.k.a. Basement Fox) has built a fan base of over 15k followers on Instagram in less than nine months, all with his posts of beautiful models in their most intimate moments and the hashtag #modelsinthemorning. Now the original titled work is featured on a dedicated website Models in the Morning by Basement Fox, with updates posted also on Tumblr here. He has given an extensive interview on Live Fast mag ; read the rest of it here.

The success of the series has inspired Basement Fox to take it on the road in a sixties camper to capture America’s finest women for a coffee table book, and we love the idea and the spontaneity of meeting and photographing diverse models from all over. For more videography go here.

the portrait photography of Nashalina Schrape

“I inherited the need for fairy tale and magical imagery from my mother. she would tell me the story of growing up in east Berlin, post WW2, with barely any food, no heat and only a couple of toys. she had one illustrated children’s book which she looked at all through the nights. By focusing on the beauty and the pixie dust, she was able to cope through a rather bleak period through her life. for myself, growing up, she fed me a steady stream of wonderfully illustrated children books. I seek that salvation in every one of my images.” Nashalina Schrape was born in west Berlin. her family continues to live in east and west Berlin. growing up, she came to America. all of her adult life she has lived in New York city where she continues to be most at home with all the different cultures and beautiful faces. parts of her heart will forever live in east Berlin but her soul if free-est in the Gotham city. Nashalina has a master's of science in art psychotherapy and occasionally uses photography with her pediatric clients. otherwise, she uses the camera to express herself and showcase faces, lights and dreams. You can also see her Flickr portfolio here.

the female forms of Jo Schwab

"Even if the majority of my pictures shows nudity, I seriously consider them as portraits. The naked body is nothing by itself without the story that only the face can tell." Johannes (Jo) Schwab is a Berlin photographer, born in 1969, that presents the female form with a stuning clarity, that indeed transcends nudity, succeeding to portray the subject per se, invoking a sense of familiarity, instead of being offensive or merely provocative. Go here to read a 60sec interview with the photographer.

Kylli Sparrek’s dance influenced photography

After years of training to become a professional ballet dancer, artist Kylli Sparrek realized it wasn’t the path for her and instead channeled passion for dance into photography and image manipulation. The influence of her past career is immediately apparent when viewing her conceptual photographs that depict posed figures, taunt with energy, at the peak of choreographed motion. Flickr portfolio available here.

the serene visions of Martin Stranka

Martin Stranka is a self-taught professional photographer, born 1984, in the Czech Republic. Stranka's distinctive vision of photography is etched as a unique space located in a balance and serenity, while his sophisticated and rewarding images exist in that narrow window of a few seconds between dreaming and awakening. During the last three years he has won over 40 major international photography awards while his solo and group exhibitions have been seen from South and North America, through Europe, all the way to Asia. The work of  Martin Stranka is indeed notable since it always conveys emotion, that sometimes borders on minimalism, sometimes more sophisticated, other times dark and brooding, but always kept extremely balanced.