Photographer #452: Julio Bittencourt

Julio Bittencourt, 1980, Brazil, started his photographic career in 2000 as a photographer and assistant photo editor for the newspaper Valor Economico in Sao Paulo. Since 2006 he has been working as an independant photographer. In his series In a Window of Prestes Maia 911 Building he documented the residents of possibly the largest squat in the world. The building had been vacant for over a decade. In 2003 the 'Movement of the Homeless' had moved in hundreds of homeless families. They created a new community who drove out the vermin and drug dealers and created workshops and a library. In 2006 the new residents were told that they would be evicted. The project was released as a book in 2008. For his project Citizen X he focused on the housing problem in Brazil again. He shows abandoned spaces that represent "both a testament to the magnitude of the problemas well as a source of potential hope for change."  His personal project Ramos focuses on an artificial salt water lake surrounded by 15 favelas run by drug-trafficking gangs. Even though violence plagues the favelas, the park has been mostly free of problems. It is a crowded and polluted place where people enjoy the beach, sun and Brazilian rum. His work has been exhibited on numerous occasions worldwide and published in prestigious magazines as Time, Stern and GEO. The following images come from the series Ramos, Citizen X and In a Window of Prestes Maia 911 Building.

Website: www.juliobittencourt.com

Photographer #440: Claire Martin

Claire Martin, 1980, Australia, is a documentary photographer with a focus on marginalised communities. In 2007 and 2008 she concentrated on Vancouver's Downtown East Side. Even though Vancouver is a city that was twice voted "the worlds most liveable", the residents of this part live below the poverty line. The suburb has an estimated AIDS rate of 30% and the leading cause of death is overdose. In 2009 she visited Slab City where she focused on the permanent residents of this community in the Colorado desert. It "is a place for the broken and desperate and for the fierce defenders of freedom from tyranny." In 2010 and 2011 she went to Haiti to document the aftermath of the earthquake. "Every spare piece of land has turned into a tent city and whole suburbs and major infrastructure lay demolished, essentially turning and entire city into a slum." Claire has exhibited her work in solo shows in Australia and has been in various group exhibitions around the world. In 2010 she won the Magnum Foundation Inge Morath award for female photographers under the age of 30. She is a member of the prestigious Australian photo collective Oculi. The following images come from the series Petionville - Life in Haiti's Tent Cities, Slab City and Downtown East Side.

Website: www.clairemartinphotography.com

Photographer #438: Chen Man

Chen Man, 1980, China, is a commercial photographer who focuses on fashion, beauty and style. In 2005 she received a B.A. in photography and media studio at the central Academy of Fine Arts. It was before she graduated that she had already begun to shoot the covers for the new magazine Vision. The covers she created between 2003 and 2007 were unique within the history of Chinese covers. Her manipulated photography is colorful, lucious, bright and fantastical. The images are often completed in post-production where she goes over the top, creating new dimensions and worlds. Her work has been exhibited throughout the world since 2004. Amongst her commercial clients are companies as Lancôme, Lee and Sisley and her images have appeared in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Elle. The following images come from the series New China, Environmental Protection and Red Beauty.

Website: www.chenmaner.com

Photographer #426: Chen Wei

Chen Wei, 1980, is a Chinese fine-art and conceptual photographer based in Beijing. He builds large installations to photograph. His narrative images show bizarre spaces, scenes and objects that leave the viewer wondering. Chen uses his personal memories, childhood fantasies and combines this with realities found in modern China. He assembles all the required objects in his studio and starts building his scenes. "Chen Wei illustrates an intricate imagination fascinated with the eccentric and fanciful pursuits of early science, mathematics, alchemy, philosophers and madmen." (M97 Gallery) His work has been shown in several solo exhibitions and in a vast number of group exhibitions throughout the world. The following images come from the series Everyday, Scenery and Props, House of Recovery and The Augur's Game.

Website: www.chen-wei.org & www.m97gallery.com

Photographer #414: Sabelo Mlangeni

Sabelo Mlangeni, 1980, is a South African documentary photographer. He was able to study photography thanks to a bursary from the Market Photo Workshop and graduated in 2004. In 2010 he released the book Country Girls, an intimate portrait of gay life in the countryside of South-Africa. The areas in which he photographed are rough and poor, yet Sabelo shows that glamour is also present. He worked on this project for six years, focusing on drag queens, hairstylists and beauty pageant contestants who are still often perceived as un-African or un-Christian. Besides Country Girls he also released the series Men Only as a book and a catalogue containing his series At Home and Ghost Towns. Ghost Towns concentrates on small towns that have been abandoned due to immigration towards the country's urban areas. His work has been shown at several venues in South-Africa, UK, Germany, Italy and the US. The following images come from the series Ghost Towns, Country Girls and At Home.

Website: www.stevenson.info

Photographer #405: Daniel Gordon

Daniel Gordon, 1980, USA, is a conceptual photographer who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He received a BA at Bard College in 2003 and an MFA at Yale University in 2006. He works in a sculptural way. He searches on the internet for images that he can use. The images he finds are printed and cut in order to make large three dimensional collages. These collages are life-size, using his own body as a reference. Once the collages are finished he photographs them with a large format camera. After the photograph has been made he disassembles the sculptures in order to use several body parts for new works. In his series Thin Skin II he depicts the human body in extreme situations as giving birth, accidents and operations. Both of his parents were doctors and he feels that seeing the images of operations when he was young have influenced him in his work today. His photographs have been exhibited extensively in the US and several times in Switzerland and France. The following works come from the series Still Lifes, Portraits & Parts, Portrait Studio and Thin Skin II.

Website: www.danielgordonstudio.com

Photographer #372: Will Steacy

Will Steacy, 1980, USA, is a highly productive and engaged portrait and landscape photographer. For his project Down These Mean Streets he wanders through American ghetto's at night. He walks between the airport and the central business district of each city with a large view finder camera examining fear and the abandonment of America's inner cities. He admits being scared while working on this project, but is convinced that by taking risks and push limits one is able to create something meaningful. The series 48 Hours examines the evisceration of the middle class through a portrait of the economic challenges confronting Madison and Gary. In Madison he focused on the events in and around the capitol building before Governor Scott Walker signed the bill that took away nearly all collective bargaining rights from state's public employees. In Gary, home of the first US steel plant, he concentrated on city institutions. Will made several bodies of work in New Orleans. The series A Silent Affliction focuses on the deterioration of buildings in New Orleans due to mold. The following images come from the series 48 Hours, Down These Mean Streets and A Product of our Environment.

Website: www.willsteacy.com

Photographer #348: Jeff Sheng

Jeff Sheng, 1980, USA, is a portrait photographer with a special mission. In 2003 he started working on a project called Fearless. The images portray athletes on high schools and college sports teams who openly identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. The ongoing series has been exhibited at over 40 colleges to gain awareness how homophobia affects our society. In 2009 he started working on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It contains portraits of people currently serving in the US military who are affected by the don't ask, don't tell policy. The policy prohibits people who "demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" to serve in the armed forces. The faces of the men and women are not shown, hidden by hands or darkness, as they could lose their jobs and pensions. The series was published in two volumes in 2010 and a third volume will be published in 2011. The following images come from the series Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Fearless and Thesis Album.

Website: www.jeffsheng.com

Photographer #329: Ziyah Gafić

Ziyah Gafić, 1980, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is a documentary photographer. Since 1999 he has traveled extensively to more than forty countries for his work. Troubled Islam is a large body of work, covering the aftermath of a number of countries. Ziyah was 12 when the war in Bosnia started. The series of essays are made in Bosnia, Palestine/Israel, Kurdistan, Iraq, Ossetia, Rwanda, Chechnya, Lebanon and Afghanistan. He focuses on the aftermath of war and violence in the daily life of people, capturing the determination of people trying to carry on with their lives. All countries consist of a significant Muslim community. He states that; "for someone who went through war and personal loss empathy is essential. If readers do not emphasize with the subject in my photographs then I have failed." The following images come from Troubled Islam: Damaged People, Damaged Landscape (Afghanistan), The Land Without People for People Without Land (Palestine/Israel) and Tales from the Dark Valley (Bosnia).

Website: www.ziyahgafic.ba

Photographer #285: Kosuke Okahara

Kosuke Okahara, 1980, Japan, is a photojournalist who has been covering stories around the world since 2003. He made a lot of photographs throughout the years in Colombia, dealing with drug wars and the drug business, journeys of illigal migrants to the USA, the harsh emerald minig business and the ordinary life of a Colombian hitman amongst others. Besides Colombia Kosuke has traveled from South Africa to France, Sudan to Burma and China to most recently Libya. Stories of self mutilating girls in Japan, the protests in Thailand and abandoned leprosy villages in China are all in his large portfolio. He received several awards and grants and has exhibited his work throughout Europe and Asia. His work has been published in many of the leading magazines and newspapers. The following images come from the current civil war in Libya and the stories Almost Paradise (Colombia - Mexico) and Rebels on the Edge (Burma).

Website: www.kosukeokahara.com

Photographer #275: Mariel Clayton

Mariel Clayton, 1980, South Africa, is a self-taught photographer who works and lives in Canada. She discovered the world of miniature items in a Tokyo toy shop. Since then she has been photographing dolls to tell her stories. Through the internet she buys and collects the miniature items she needs for her photography shoots. Her images are often brutal, full of sex and violence, yet display and reflect on the dark side of the western society. She calls herself a "Doll photographer with a subversive sense of humour." The first image she took with a barbie was a story in which she commited suicide because Ken had dumped her for another man. It was Mariel's wishful thinking of the end of what she believes to be "an evil influence". Over the course of several years she has taken an amazing amount of staged photographs involving the barbie dolls. The following images come from the series 25 Rooms, Fables and Hystoria.

Website: www.thephotographymarielclayton.com

Photographer #273: Andrea Olivo

Andrea Olivo, 1980, South Africa, has been living and working in the fashion capital Milan since 2003. He started out assisting photographers in the fashion scene which took him all around the world carrying equipment and people's underwear. Two years ago he started on his own and got signed to Aura Photo Agency. He began working for various magazines as Italian Cosmopolitan and Gioia and got featured in C-Heads magazine amongst others. Andrea tries to place obscure references to movies, comics, music or poetry in his imagery. In 2009 he also started photographing girls on his couch who stopped by his place for go sees. These images are combined in his weblog Andy Olives Casting Couch. He describes his photography as "tongue-in-cheek, never taking itself too seriously but always trying to create a beautiful image." The following images come from various fashion shoots and from his personal portfolio Girls Girls Girls.

Website: www.andreaolivo.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 #242: Jonathan Waiter

Jonathan Waiter, 1980, USA, found his love for photography in 2006 while photographing his sister's kids. Late 2008 he became serious about photography and left for The Netherlands to build a strong portfolio. At the end of 2009 he went to New York City where he currently works and lives. He is interested in the subtle darker viral pervasive feelings. He is fascinated by the human perception and how easily it is coloured by our mental outlook on the world. Jonathan also focuses on the artist / subject relationship, a process he beliefs can reveal the emotional vulnerability of the portrayed. He explores this while testing models for various agencies. The following images come from his portfolio's Selected Work I, Selected Work II and his Tumblr site.

Website: www.jonathanwaiter.com

Photographer #211: Billy Kidd

Billy Kidd, 1980, USA, is a fashion, portrait and celebrity photographer. He grew up in Phoenix, Arizona but currently works and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Since 2007 he has been shooting commercial and editorial work. In 2010 his images of Paul Dano were selected for the PDN Faces contest aswell as the shots of Pharrell Williams and NERD for PDN's The Look contest. Billy's images are soft and rough at the same time, it is young, edgy and rebellious. The following images come from his portfolio's Portraits I, Portraits II and Celebrity.

Website: www.billy-kidd.com

Photographer #205: Yang Yongliang

Yang Yongliang, 1980, China, approaches photography in a very unique way. He studied traditional Chinese art and calligraphy from an early age. He recreated Chinese Shanshui paintings with the use of a camera in order to express himself and the subjects that concern him. It is a combination of the layout of these traditional paintings with images of construction sites, cranes, traffic signs and more which he arranges in a way that from far they look just like an original painting, but when coming closer one can see the detailed photographs. On his website we can see the details of his masterpieces. The following images come from the series Artificial Wonderland, Viridescence, Phantom Landscape III and Phantom Landscape Pages.

Website: www.yangyongliang.com

Photographer #200: Chloe Aftel

Chloe Aftel, 1980, USA, studied Cinema and received an MFA at the University of Southern California, but got into the photography business. She is an editorial and portrait photographer with a keen sense for style and fashion. She also shoots a lot of her photography on polaroid. Her poetic, lifestyle minded and narrative images are full of life and have a sense of freedom. The following images come from the portfolio's Lifestyle, Familiar Faces and Fashion.

Website: www.chloeaftel.com