Photographer #260: Elise Boularan

Elise Boularan, 1984, France, works with polaroids to create her dreamy and sometimes estranged images. Her work is based on a particular perception of photography of which elliptic narration, silence and quietness are key-words in her research. She strives to retrieve something muted and undefinable in her work. Her photographs are both sharp and blurred and contains the saturated colours and haze of the polaroids. In recent years Elise has been published in numerous magazines world wide and exhibited her work mainly in France but also in various European countries and the US.The following images come from the series FEmâle, Lapsus Prompta and her portfolio Portrait / Musique.

Website: www.eliseboularan.com

Photographer #259: Nathalie Daoust

Nathalie Daoust, 1977, Canada, concentrates in her photographic work on unveiling the secrets hidden beneath the apparent stability of life. Daoust first got recognized in 1997 with her project New York Hotel Story which was published as a book. Since then she traveled the world to Japan, Brazil and Switzerland amongst other places to create conceptual projects. In her series Tokyo Hotel Story she explores female sexuality and subversion of gender stereotypes. She spend several months in one of the biggest S&M 'love hotels' in order to show the "universal desire to escape reality and create fantasy worlds that often oscillate between dream, reality and perversion." The following images come from the series Tokyo Hotel Story, Frozen in Time, Switzerland and Entre Quatre Murs, Berlin.

Website: www.daoustnathalie.com
(Video in French)

Photographer #258: Kanako Sasaki

Kanako Sasaki, 1976, Japan, is a conceptual photographer who also uses video for her projects. She travels all over the world to work on her photographic stories. She often uses herself as an actor in her photographs. Since 2001 she has exhibited throughout the world. In her series Walking in the Jungle, which was created after she read the Diary of Anne Frank, she recreates historical events and mixes them with her own memories and imagination. In this way she creates situations that are not fiction, yet they are not non-fiction either. In the series Wanderlust she explored her own imaginative world, influenced by Japanese novels, her own memories and Ukiyo-e paintings. The following images come from the series Walking in the Jungle, Ukiyo 1 - The World of Groping and Wanderlust.

Website: www.kanakosasaki.com

Photographer #257: Karen Mirzoyan

Armenian photographer Karen Mirzoyan, 1981, born in Georgia is a documentary photographer and a photojournalist. He has done several series and is currently working on various long-term projects. His photostory called The Unrecognized Islands of Caucasus is divided in four parts. These different parts of his story are also edited into different chapters. Karen's multi-layered chapters create a very profound insight into stories that deal with war. He shows us an enormous diversity of the effects of war. Karen's work is strong, personal, full of respect and frightening at the same time. The following images come from the storyparts Nagorno-Karabakh Republic / Artsakh, Republic of Abkhazia / Apsny and Republic of South Ossetia.

Website: www.karenmirzoyan.com
Video on his previous project My Roads: Armenia-Turkey Border

Photographer #256: Txema Salvans

Txema Salvans, Spain, 1971, is a documentary photographer with a special interest in how we humans spend our free time. He enjoys the positive interaction he has with his subjects making it possible for him to get a look at the physical and mental spaces of leisure where everyone is looking for happiness. His series Spanish Hits (De Carretera) is a journey through the Mediterranean coast stopping at the places where entire families enjoy their leisures on a small beach between the sea and concrete. In his series Spanish Roads he focused on the suppliers of leisure. On the outskirts of the city he photographed prostitutes and other suppliers of services by the road in unhabitable spaces that are nonetheless lived in. The following images come from the series Spanish Roads, Spanish Hits and Welcome Aboard.

Website: www.txemasalvans.com

Photographer #255: Anastasia Cazabon

Anastasia Cazabon, 1983, USA, is a conceptual photographer from Cambridge, MA. Her photography is raw, very personal and poetic. In her series From the Secret World she focused on her own childhood, especially the transitional period between the ages 9 to 15, the period when girls become aware of the world around them and how they are portrayed which brings along insecurities, excitement, jealousy and narcissism. The produced images by Anastasia revolve around the secret yet everyday lives of adolescent girls. The series Stories grew out of her fascination with fairy tales and children's folklore. The photographs are her contemporary take on the stories that have influenced her portraying characters in a state of emotional immobilization or a moment of self-discovery. The following images come from the series From the Secret World; I. Love & Rivalry and II. Transitions and Stories.

Website: www.anastasiacazabon.com

Photographer #254: Pieter Henket

Pieter Henket, 1979, The Netherlands, works and lives in New York. He is a self-taught portrait photographer who in recent years has photographed various celebrities. In 1999 he left for New York to study at the Film Academy but soon fell in love with the photographic medium. At a young age he managed to get an internship with the film director Joel Schumacher. The influence of cinema is easily noticed in his images. The Interrogation Project is a series in which he asked directors, actors and musicians how they would react to a police interrogation. He might be most known for the cover of Lady Gaga's first album The Fame. The following images come from the Interrogation Project and his portfolios Images and Portraits.

Website: www.pieterhenket.com

Photographer #253: Matthieu Gafsou

Swiss/French photographer Matthieu Gafsou, 1981, is a landscape or urban landscape photographer. In his impressive body of work we find the series Surfaces, a collection of photographs taken in Tunisia. The places he encountered in Tunisia varied in strange ways. He felt that the land was devided by tradition and aspiration and that the structures failed to create any coherence. He photographed the buildings that merely create a surface or make-believe. He feels that "these new cities are in fact a mere reflection of a modernity the country has not really found out for itself." The hotels, a mix of modernity and false authenticity. and the modern houses are for a large part a created reality which can be seen on the surface, but it cannot be felt or experienced as something real. In 2009 he released Surfaces as a monograph. Matthieu has exhibited his work on numerous occasions in Europe and the USA. The following images come from the series Terres Compromises, Alpes and Surfaces.

Website: www.ph0.ch

Photographer #252: Jeroen Hofman

Jeroen Hofman, 1976, The Netherlands, is an editorial and commercial photographer who also focuses on his personal work. He is currently in the process of self-publishing his book Playground, which should be released towards the end of 2011. Playground is a long-term project in which he photographed training facilities where members of the fire brigade, the police force and the ministry of defense are getting prepared for various situations. Jeroen often takes an elevated position with the use of a platform crane while shooting his large-format images of these orchestrated scenarios. In his commercial and editorial work Hofman often focuses on portraiture. The following images come from the series Playground, Beringsea Fishermen and Inferno.

Website: www.jeroenhofman.com

Photographer #251: James Mollison

British photographer James Mollison, 1973, born in Kenya, published his latest book Disciples in 2008. For three years he photographed fans outside various concerts. He was fascinated by the different tribes of people and how they copied their favourite stars. In 2004 the book James & Other Apes came out. James was struck by the similarity of the human face to the faces of monkeys. He photographed the monkeys in various places on this planet using the aesthetic of the passport photograph. The following images come from the series The Disciples, James & Other Apes and Hunger.

Website: www.jamesmollison.com

Photographer #250: Boushra Almutawakel

Boushra Almutawakel, 1969, Yemen, has been focusing on social interpretations of culture in Yemen. She studied in the United States and returned to Yemen in 1994. Since 1998 she has been a full-time photographer with a vast amount of projects and an impressive body of work. One of her long term projects is the Hijab Series. In this series, which consists of various sub-series, she explores women and the veil they wear. The veil has become an icon to the west of suppression, yet Boushra wants to emphasize that under the veil, women are individual and varied, and the reasons for wearing the veil vary enormously. In one of her images; True Self, she compared the veil to make-up, both masking the true identity of the women underneath. Boushra socially engaged photography is daring, beautifully executed and contains a very strong message. The following images come from the Hijab Series: Mother Daughter Doll, Veil-Unveil, Fulla and Untitled.

Unfortunately Boushra does not have a website yet, for more info and images visit: universes-in-universe.org and/or www.greatermiddleeastphoto.com

Photographer #249: Cédric Delsaux

Cédric Delsaux, 1974, France, studied literature and cinema in Paris. He started out as a copywriter in the advertising world before he decided to devote all his time into photography in 2002. He does personal work aswell as advertising campaigns for major brands. His series Here to Stay explores the relationship between humans and nature. The series was published as a monograph in 2008. In his series The Dark Lens he combined two worlds, the world of Star Wars and Earth. The post-apocalyptic scenes blur reality with fiction. 1784 is again a series in which reality and fiction, myths and symbols, the present and the past meet and collide. In 2005 Cédric was awarded the 'Bourse du Talent' award in France. The following images come from the series Here to Stay, The Dark Lens (Star Wars) and 1784.

Website: www.cedricdelsaux.com
(Video in French)

Photographer #248: Percy Dean

Percy Dean, 1973, Great-Britain, started photographing at a young age around his love of skateboarding. In 1997 he founded Document Magazine, an internationally renowned skateboard / lifestyle magazine and held the position of editor and senior photographer for over a decade. In 2009 he was commissioned to shoot the 1966 Photo-Book for Vans footwear. Amongst his clients are various skateboarding brands and magazines. In 2008 he completed an MA in photojournalism and documentary photography. His series Clouds of Glory is about an Orthodox Jewish community on the outskirts of Manchester, documenting a society he had no prior knowledge of, wanting to show the struggle to maintain their culture within the wider community. Percy's photography style is very direct and without pretence. The following images come from the portfolio's Vans 1966 Photo-Book, People and Clouds of Glory.

Website: www.percydean.com

Photographer #247: Luis González Palma

Luis González Palma, 1957, Guatemala, is an artist who works and lives in Córdoba, Argentina. In his impressive and extensive body of work we see him using various disciplines to achieve his end results. He uses fabrics and textiles, manipulates images, sometimes hand-painted and plays with our perception. Originally trained as an architect and cinematographer, he has exhibited his photographic work since 1989. Palma got international recognition with his first series depicting haunting images of the Maya Indians showing the pain and sadness of the Mayan people who have suffered from a violent and racist regime since the early 16th century. His work is held in numerous private and public collections around the world. The following images come from the series Escenas 2011 and La Luz de la Mente.

Website: www.gonzalezpalma.com
(Video in Spanish)

Photographer #246: Karine Laval

Karine Laval, 1971, France, works and lives in New York, USA. In her series Poolscapes she tries to explore the friction between the real and the imaginary. The series consists of images of people underwater, reflections in pools or objects in the water. The photographs in her series The Pool are saturated with bleach-out tones. Karine carefully composes her images as a choreographer isolating moments that may be familiar, but created a visual narrative. In Leisure Time she focused on places and situations that echo moments from her childhood. Laval has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe and her work has been published in numerous magazines. The following images come from the series Poolscapes, The Pool and Leisure Time.

Website: www.karinelaval.com

Photographer #245: Raphaël Dallaporta

Raphaël Dallaporta, 1980, France, is concerned with public issues addressing human rights as well as more symbolic subjects such as the fragility of life. He is the winner of the 2010 Young Photographer ICP Infinity Award and FOAM's 2011 Paul Huf Award. In his series Antipersonnel he focused on landmines. He has isolated the many different kinds of mines and photographed them against a black background, using the same lighting a product photographer could use. His series Domestic Slavery shows images of ordinary houses. He did this project together with Ondine Millot. Ondine's writings let us know what happened in these buildings. They are all stories related to issues of human trafficking. The photographs show an unsensational façade with stories of abuse and cruelty. Both Antipersonnel and Domestic Slavery have been published as books. The following images come from the series Antipersonnel, Domestic Slavery and Fragile.

Website: www.raphaeldallaporta.com

Photographer #244: Zeng Han

Zeng Han, 1974, China, received a BA in International Journalism and Communication at the Jinan University in Guangzhou and attended the artist residency program at the School of Visual Arts, New York. His series Soul Stealer is a four part series of portraits in various landscapes. It plays with modern and traditional role playing of characters of ancient chinese opera's and those of popular culture. The four parts are Landplay, Cosplay, Mulian Opera and World of Warcraft. In his series Hyperreality China Zeng documented the transformation and urbanization of China in which the actual viewsights appear to be somewhat of a "hyperreality", a term that derives from the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, referring to the blurring of the destinction between reality and falsity. The following images come from the series Soul Stealer - World of Warcraft, Hyperreality China and Dizzy City.

Website: www.zeng-han.com