Photographer #408: Stephen Gill

Stephen Gill, 1971, UK, is an experimental, conceptual and documentary photographer. In 2005 he founded his publishing company in order to gain maximum control over the publication process of his books. He has released an impressive amount of books. For him a book is not merely a vessel or a shell in which to house and show his photographs, it should be the finished expression of the images. Various techniques are used as cut printing, spray paint or rubber stamps are used to what he considers "the key final stage in the production of his photographic works." The images for the series Outside In were made in Brighton where he featured objects found in the local surroundings that he literally put inside of his camera and started making images of street sceneries. To finish the images he used a magnifying glass to concentrate the sunlight onto some of the negatives in order to create markings. Other negatives were dipped into the sea hoping that the finished series would become something like the regurgitated contents of a giant vacuum cleaner. For his series Billboards he photographed the backsides of these large objects taking us to strange places that are normally hidden from our point of view. His work has been exhibited extensively throughout the world. The following images come from the series Outside In, Billboards and Hackney Flowers.

Website: www.stephengill.co.uk

Photographer #286: Stephen Dupont

Stephen Dupont, 1967, Australia, is a photojournalist and portrait photographer who focuses on fragile cultures and marginalized people. He has released several monographs amongst which are also three handmade limited edition books. His exhibition Afghanistan: The Perils of Freedom 1993-2009 is a fifteen year retrospective on all of his journeys to Afghanistan. It shows the various stages the country has gone through, the resilience of the Afghan people and the growth of the photographer himself. Stephen puts a lot of respect into his photography, showing the human dignity of his subjects. Raskols is a series of portraits shot in 2004 which shows a gang member community, better known as the Raskols of Papua New Guinea. Dupont does not limit himself, he uses polaroid, medium format and 35mm camera's. The following images come from the series Afghanistan: The Perils of Freedom 1993-2009, Axe Me Biggie, or MR Take my Picture and Raskols.

Website: www.stephendupont.com