BARE ESSENTIALS Shira Gold created a series of composite still lifes interrogating the patterns of human behavior and consumerism through Covid-19 in Canada. BARE ESSENTIALS April 22, 2022 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Shira Gold INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded, the world experienced a collective sense of insecurity and uncertainty. With changes to our everyday lives felt all around us, Vancouver based photographer Shira Gold was driven to examine the psychological and economic effects the pandemic had on consumerism and our behavior. Through her project BARE ESSENTIALS, Shira captures the essence of these fleeting moments, exploring how our relationship with mundane objects has shifted during times of crisis and uncertainty. With a focus on still life and landscapes as metaphors for themes common to us all, Shira’s photographs provide visual respite and a means to focus on intention and simplicity. By deconstructing and digesting the experiences that shaped us during this time, BARE ESSENTIALS shows us how we have adapted in order to survive, as well as holds up a mirror to reflect on the effects that our behaviors have on our environment. In this article for The Pictorial List, Shira takes us back to the beginning of the pandemic to discuss her project and how it has helped her to explore art's intersection with mental health and well-being. “In this series, I created conceptual portraits of utilizing these banal commonplace items made valuable through the threat of scarcity — manipulating their form to visually convey their meteoric metamorphosis into often elusive objects of desire. As they seemingly drift through the frame suspended in light - their beauty is ephemeral, undermined by the realization of their functionality, effect on daily life and the environment. The images take on a spectral and slightly ironic quality, calling attention to the dependence on single use goods, supply chain and the newly emerging consumer hierarchy exposed during the early days of the pandemic. These are the ‘bare essentials’ of our private lives.” IN CONVERSATION WITH SHIRA GOLD THE PICTORIAL LIST: Shira please tell us about yourself? SHIRA GOLD: I was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, a city surrounded by temperate rainforests, the Pacific Ocean, and incredible mountains. The city is a convergence of multiple cultures, tourism, outdoor adventure and a ton of film-making. Although I have lived in short fits and spurts elsewhere, Vancouver is my home. It’s where I work and live… a constant source of inspiration. TPL: What draws you to photography and art? How did your journey into photography begin? SG: My mother was an administrator at Arts Umbrella a visual and performing arts school for young people and had a great many creatives as friends, so I was raised around art and artists. I attended Arts Umbrella several days a week and explored a variety of art forms. When I was 11, I began taking darkroom photography. After just a few weeks I knew that photography was a way to articulate my internal voice and sensed it would become a vital part of shaping my world. In a word the experience was magical. To have found such a profound form of self-expression at that age felt like the greatest gift imaginable. It can be a bumpy road to growing up and having a camera to use as armour, and also as a means to engage with others, was incredibly important for an introverted extrovert like myself. When I had my camera with me, I felt fearless. In looking back at those early years experimenting with the camera and in post, it’s interesting to see that my aesthetic was already being formed. There were nods to minimalism and negative space, experimentation printing on mixed media, and compositions that involved multiple exposures both in camera in in the darkroom. Today, I am realizing my childhood dream and have a studio on Granville Island (one of the jewels of Vancouver) right across from the front door of Arts Umbrella, the school that introduced me to my future. I share the space with one of the most motivated and positive artists I know, abstract painter Amy Stewart @amystewart…full circle…full heart. TPL: Introduce your series BARE ESSENTIALS to us. How and why did this first manifest for you? What is the full story behind the project? What was the inspiration? SG: The initial months of the pandemic, when we were told to live and work within the confines of our homes, was a period where I took inventory of my life. I used the time to reflect on my priorities as a person and consider the importance of contributing good to the world. When I make art, I most often utilize narratives from my life as a catalyst. “Bare Essentials” was born from reflection on my fears of Covid personally and its impact on the community and the environment. I was incredibly moved by how the often-invisible essential workers faced the risks each day to maintain the supply chains and keep producing to keep food on our shelves in the midst of such chaos. I learned in these moments the importance of recognizing everyone for what they contribute to society. In the spring of 2020, after multiple unsuccessful hunts for ever-elusive essential goods, I humbly turned to online ordering of toilet paper, disposable masks and hand sanitizer. The oversized box arrived with much anticipation. Opening with delight, the relief was short-lived as reality hit – each item carefully wrapped in bubble-wrap, an almost comedic and devastating visual commentary of early pandemic times. I kept the packaging as a reminder of my contribution to the environmental impact of the pandemic and how I succumbed to the culture of fear driven consumption. Reflecting back on these moments informed and shaped the body of work BARE ESSENTIALS. The collection of composite still life imagery in BARE ESSENTIALS interrogates patterns of human behavior and consumerism as they were affected by Covid-19 in North America. Prior to the world being upended by the pandemic, everyday products such as toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, masks and other disposable goods were generally assumed to be in endless supply with little awareness of the complex systems that deliver them to retail. As the world shut down, these basic items suddenly became scarce, panic purchasing ensued causing goods to fly off the shelves often into the homes of those hoarding against imminent disaster. This abrupt shift in purchasing habits laid bare several uncomfortable truths about our culture of consumption while shining a light on the vital work of vulnerable workers tasked with creating manufacturing and distributing items for our basic comfort. In this series, I created conceptual portraits of utilizing these banal commonplace items made valuable through the threat of scarcity — manipulating their form to visually convey their meteoric metamorphosis into often elusive objects of desire. As they seemingly drift through the frame suspended in light - their beauty is ephemeral, undermined by the realization of their functionality, effect on daily life and the environment. The images take on a spectral and slightly ironic quality, calling attention to the dependence on single use goods, supply chain and the newly emerging consumer hierarchy exposed during the early days of the pandemic. These are the ‘bare essentials’ of our private lives. 'Covert' © Shira Gold 'Pulp Dreams' © Shira Gold 'Elusive Pursuit' © Shira Gold 'Undone' © Shira Gold 'Ephemeral Findings' © Shira Gold 'Wavelength' © Shira Gold 'Keepsakes' © Shira Gold 'It's Complicated' © Shira Gold 'Hide' © Shira Gold TPL: Talk to us about your method of working and experimentation before the final image. Did you know exactly what you wanted from the beginning? How long did each image take to create? SG: I have always worked a bit like a ‘mad scientist’, experimenting with new materials and new methods. How I go about realizing the final concept is often a messy and playful experience, which is a juxtaposition from post where everything is very precise and particular. My approach to creating work has never been linear, however the materials I ultimately use to convey the messaging in my series are always clear. I couldn’t guess how long each piece takes but there is generally a lot of revision. I most often work on multiple pieces at a time as I find it helps me not over work individual images and it tend to help me with eye fatigue. I will say that for as much as my art is rooted in minimalism, my work is deceptively time consuming. TPL: Does your project "Bare Essentials" differ from your previous work? Is this type of visual storytelling something you would like to pursue again in future projects? What do you think is your next chapter in your exploration with future projects? SG: BARE ESSENTIALS is a natural progression from my previous series THE FINE ART OF LETTING GO where I used mostly simple materials and found objects - combining them to tell a story. I think each series I have made relies heavily on visual metaphors and most often involves composite images. In “Bare Essentials” I evolved to incorporated scanography (utilizing flatbed scanners) along with traditional photography and light boxes as alternative light sources in my compositions. The materials I used were toilet paper, disposable masks, hand sanitizer, facial tissue, paper towel and plexiglass. I think my art will always be tied to my personal observations and experiences, and the stories flow naturally. I have just recently completed a new series entitled “By a Thread” which also incorporates photography and scanography, and I am gradually developing a series about neurodiversity…a body of work I have been cultivating for the last few years. My art is alert to the discomfort we all face in our daily lives and I want to turn pain and angst on its side to discover the beauty that accompanies our struggles. TPL: Do you have any favorite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? SG: Yukari Chikura’s work is profoundly moving, quiet, and powerful. She created a book entitled “Zaido” based on her documentation of the 1300 year old Japanese ritual by the same name. Yukari lost her father (something I can relate to as I lost my Mother at 26) and he came to her in a dream urging her to go to the village where he had lived a long time ago. The work documents her pilgrimage. I love the work of Ingrid Weyland. Her art focuses on the fragility of the environment in such a beautiful poignant way through creative landscapes. I love how she reimagines traditional landscape photography and find her art to be very thought provoking. My favorite painter is Gordon A. Smith. He is a Canadian modernist painter who lived to 99 years old and made a massive impact on the arts community in Canada. He was very much inspired by British Columbia landscapes and would incorporate collage in some of his series. Gordon A. Smith gave back to the community in many ways, through his creations and through his Marion & Gordon Smith Foundation which supports arts education. TPL: If you could just choose one photographer to photograph with for a day...who would you choose? SG: Photography is a solitary practice for me. Though I adore so many photographers work, I choose to make imagery on my own. TPL: Does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? What camera do you use? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? How much post-processing do you do? SG: I consider myself an emotive photographer and lean less on the actual equipment and more on synchronizing my eye and camera with my heart and mind, and then see the subject and concept expressed through composition and digital collage in post. I have a very lean camera bag - I shoot with a D800 and often use Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII together with my 55mm and 85mm prime lenses. 'Musings' © Shira Gold 'Current Fixations' © Shira Gold 'Torn Sheets' © Shira Gold 'Catch & Release' © Shira Gold 'Four Squares' © Shira Gold 'With or With You' © Shira Gold 'Two Ply' © Shira Gold TPL: Do you have a favourite art inspired quote or saying that resonates with you? SG: “You start blocking out things, and that's a really important part of taking a picture is the ability to isolate what you're - what you're concentrating on.” - Sally Mann Sally Mann was the first photographer I really connected with, and I could go on and on about how formative her work was. Her imagery really captivated me. My mom shared an article about her series “Immediate Family.” And I was transfixed. She has so many wonderful quotes! I love this one because it expresses exactly how I feel. Blocking out the noise is a huge part of my practice. When I am photographing everything around me, the busyness of my mind disappears, and I often am told there is a strong sense of stillness in my photos. For me that’s a great compliment as it means that my practice translates through in my imagery. TPL: Is there any advice that you would give yourself if you started photography all over again? SG: Find your community earlier. I always had the idea that to be an “artist” one needed to be a certain way. As I got older and found my people (I joined a female artist collective Thrive Artist Network and began working with an incredible art consultant Pennylane Shen @dazed.and.confusious) I really came to understand that artists are everyone in their own way. I think I spent too much time concerning myself with the concept of belonging. Feeling like an outsider didn’t hinder me from creating but it did prevent me from showing my work to a greater audience. Today there are so many opportunities to connect virtually, and for shy people such as myself it can feel a little easier to meet people online. Seek out those wonderful resources and find your people…Once you do…It might just change your life like it did mine. TPL: When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… SG: Be with family. I love the small moments, walking in the woods, collecting sea glass with my kids, making meals together. These times are central to who I am. Hanging out with my family and being a part of the everyday is a precious gift. I also adore live music and cannot wait to take in a concert again! VIEW SHIRA'S PORTFOLIO Website >>> Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition.

LANDSCAPES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA South Australian photographer Alex Frayne's new book is a comprehensive photographic homage to his big and beautiful backyard. LANDSCAPES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA December 7, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Alex Frayne INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE With a 8mm camera in hand, Alex Frayne has been capturing the beauty and resilience of South Australia's landscapes for over 20 years. He has documented his travels through short films, a feature film and still photography, earning much acclaim for his Adelaide Noir and Theatre of Life series and books. Now, Alex is embarking on a new journey to document the timeless and daunting beauty of his home state in his upcoming book, 'Landscapes of South Australia'. Through his honest and artistic approach, Frayne hopes to capture the rugged beauty and strength of the landscapes, as well as the marginal farming opportunities and a kind of rusted beauty that speaks of resilience and the triumph of human spirit. In this interview for The Pictorial List, Alex takes us on a journey to explore South Australia's vast and stunning terrain, giving us an insight into what it can mean to capture such beauty through his powerful images and narrative. “The idea for a series dedicated to landscapes has its genesis in my early career in filmmaking. One of the assets of South Australia is the plethora of wide open landscapes of incredible diversity we have here. I had always intended to shoot the landscapes either as part of a film or as part of a photographic series. Having a rural upbringing also played a part; I saw the world around me and wanted to depict that world in a way that was artistic.” IN CONVERSATION WITH ALEX FRAYNE THE PICTORIAL LIST: Alex, please tell us about yourself. How did you become interested in photography? ALEX FRAYNE: I think from the age of ten, I have had cameras around me. My mother bought me an 8mm movie camera in the early 90's and from there I moved into 35mm while studying filmmaking at Flinders University. Indeed my pedigree in film-making looms large in my photographic work, despite photography being my primary 'form'. Though born in the United Kingdom, (my Australian parents were studying there in the 70's) I have lived the majority of my life in South Australia and currently reside there. TPL: Tell us more about your project LANDSCAPES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA. What was your motivation to make it a book? AF: The idea for a series dedicated to landscapes has its genesis in my early career in filmmaking. One of the assets of South Australia is the plethora of wide open landscapes of incredible diversity we have here. I had always intended to shoot the landscapes either as part of a film or as part of a photographic series. Having a rural upbringing also played a part; I saw the world around me and wanted to depict that world in a way that was artistic. To achieve that, I needed to suffuse the work in honesty and integrity. It meant that I needed to eschew all the notions and stereotypes that existed about landscape photography and South Australia. I needed to create a 'tabula rasa' so that the work could not be linked to pre-conceived notions of South Australia, or movies, or tourism or tropes that float about in my visual memory. This process of "erasure" is key to starting a new project, I feel. The new book LANDSCAPES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA is a large, hardcover 216 page art tome which will be in shops for Christmas. I've been working on it this year with the designer Nick Phillips. Wakefield Press are publishing it, they've been very patient and loyal across this and my previous two books, 'Adelaide Noir' and 'Theatre of Life'. Michael Bollen is the boss at Wakefield Press, he works tirelessly at the helm. TPL: Your photographs tell a story and they have this special quality of light and richness of colour...all the quality of cinematography. Is storytelling actually a big part of your photography? AF: Yes colour and light and composition. These are the tools I use. Composition, specifically comes from my cinema heritage, as in the French phrase "mise-en-scene" which means "the arrangement within the frame" or the spatial geometry that exists within a frame. In terms of storytelling, yes, there is an element of that in photography, but I think it's not front-of-mind for me when shooting. For me, more important are notions of mood, tone, dreams, sadness, joy and revelation. People may ascribe a story to a photo, but that's their business. It will inevitably be different to my notion of the story. TPL: Where do you find your inspiration? And do you have a favourite place to photograph? AF: I love to photograph ghost towns or rust-belt places. I think Woomera and Tarcoola top the list here, because of the decay that is imbedded in the beautiful and remote areas where they are located. The juxtaposition of these 20th Century places set against the wilderness that eventually saw their demise is fascinating, photographically speaking. These places were all part of various "industries." Woomera was once a Space-Race outpost with cutting-edge technology and a rocket range. It was the place for the Anglo Australian cold-war rocket testing site. Tarcoola was a gold-rush town on the Trans-Continental Railway Line. Tarcoola is actually a proper ghost town - nobody lives there, as in NOBODY. It's difficult to reach, but rewarding, photographically because you are seeing how things are, how things were, and you're enveloped by an outback landscape that has existed forever. To the south, you're in the Gawler Ranges, on Barngala land, inhabited for 60,000 years, with trees like this one, standing there against time and space. TPL: Describe your style? Do you mainly focus on landscapes although I love your series "The Overseers of Street" where you shoot street portraiture. As a photographer sometimes you can get pigeonholed into a certain genre...what are your thoughts on this. What are some elements you always try to include in your photographs? AF: I think my style is free-flowing and improvised, a bit like jazz...It's unrestrained and unencumbered and low-tech. I shoot only analogue formats, my camera gear is probably worth less than 2 grand...but of course there are expenses in film stock and processing (but I develop my own black and whites.) I shoot 120 film and 35mm. So I create my own 'music' through my art, I really don't think too hard about genres and such...if my heart desires to shoot a street portrait series, I'll go and do it. My second book was a portrait book, 'Theatre of Life'. What I don't do is ask permission from anybody to do what I do. I don't sit around wondering what friends and colleagues or powers-that-be might think. That's not jazz, that's art by committee. Elements I include in my work are whatever elements are required to yield an emotional response; and that response is more important that format, sharpness, camera brand or film emulsion. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? AF: My favourite artists are the ones you've probably never heard of. The grass roots artists. The community artists, the rural artists, the art teachers in public schools, the amateurs and the older artists who've had to work in a factory their whole life and who have kept doing their hobby art. These people often they write to me asking if they can paint an image of mine to improve their technique. As far as major artists of influence I'd include Steinbeck, Miles Davis, the guitarist Allan Holdsworth and the noir-fiction writer James Ellroy. Frayne's eerily still urban landscapes have been likened in their classical framing and pervasive sense of strangeness in the familiar, to the work of Stanley Kubrick and Jeffrey Smart. - Simon Caterson, The Australian TPL: Do you have a favourite quote or saying that especially resonates with you? AF: Being a jazz nut I can't help but quote the great Miles Davis, who once wrote: "The real music is the silence and all the notes are only framing this silence." I think this applies to photography. It relates to using space, negative space and keeping the frame uncluttered. TPL: What motivates you to take photographs? Do you ever have any struggles in photography? AF: It's the same struggle that confronts most artists and that is the struggle of perpetually having to create new work that gives voice to the ideas that are always percolating away underneath the surface. The motivator can be variety of things. It can be artistic, commercial or in the best case, both. The motivator can also be boredom. If that is the case, taking photos is a sure-fire remedy. TPL: Describe what you love or hate about the camera you use? Does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? AF: I only shoot film, though have used digital for some night work. I shoot with three cameras: a Yashica 6x6 124g medium format camera; a 6x9 Fuji camera also in medium format; and I shoot a Nikon FE 35mm camera for everything else. I love all these cameras in different ways, they're all film cameras, and if handled properly yield images that produce sparkling, element images that digital can never reach. Film has an emotional undercurrent in the image, it just looks better to me. For monochrome I usually shoot Kodak Tri-x, and I develop at home in a HC110 developer. My favorite lens is the 4 element Tessar 80mm lens in my Yashica. Film can also have challenges. In a story that I've told many times, I once took my rangefinder Fuji 6x9 camera up to the Riverland. I shot what I considered to be my some of my best work. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to take the lens cap off - a mistake that can easily happen with rangefinder systems. A day later the lab called to tell me the developed slide film had "no density." That's a mistake you only make once. TPL: Have you ever been involved in the artistic world before photography? AF: Yes I've been around art since forever. I had great teachers all through school and Uni, and I am surrounded by great people in Adelaide in all the allied arts. Adelaide is the arts capital of Australia - my old Latin teacher would say..."quod erat demonstrandum," Adelaide is the Athens of the South. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist? Are there any special future projects that you would like to let everyone know about? Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself in five years? AF: I think a goal is to continue being curious about the world! Without that, there is no anchor. I'd like to continue collaborating with other artists as I do from time to time and to continue working on my aesthetics. I think the notion of aesthetics is really wound up in how you view the world, which is really about how you understand your own place in the universe. This could take five years or fifty! Apart from the immediate project and book LANDSCAPES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA, I am also working on a project with theatre director Catherine Fitzgerald, it's called called DRY, and it recently received major Commission Funding. It's a play, and features some of my images as projections. It's slated to tour in October 2021...definitely worth a look, Catherine's a top notch director. TPL: "When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… AF: I'm usually on a sand-belt golf course somewhere! I play golf off a handicap of 8...and if you think photography is a tough caper, try playing golf...it's an impossible sport." VIEW ALEX'S PORTFOLIO Buy LANDSCAPES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA Website >>> read more interviews >>> THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition.

GRATUITY INCLUDED Chris Suspect is a street and documentary photographer whose work specialises in capturing absurd and profound moments in the quotidian. GRATUITY INCLUDED October 9, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Suspect INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Chris Suspect is an acclaimed street and documentary photographer whose work has been exhibited around the globe and has won numerous awards. His photography captures the absurd and profound moments in everyday life, as well as the results of his deep dives into various subcultures. He is currently the chairperson of the Focus on the Story Festival in Washington, DC, and a guest lecturer at StreetFoto San Francisco and Street Photo Milano. His work has been published in the form of a book titled Suspect Device, which is held in the Leica Galerie Archives. In this interview, we delve into Chris Suspect's relationship with photography and uncover the stories that have shaped his approach to the craft. We explore the creative processes that inform his work, the events and experiences that inspire him, and the impact photography has had on his life and career. “Photography has literally taken me around the world. My first publication, Suspect Device, in 2014, brought me to Photokina in Germany where my work was included in a massive exhibit on music photography. This was part of Leica’s presence at Photokina, and they flew me to Germany to participate. While there, I shared my work with several German gallerists, and those connections brought me to Tbilisi, Georgia, for an exhibit of the same work as part of the Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival. While this was going on I was also entering my street photography work into several street photography competitions in Miami, San Francisco, London, Brussels, etc. I often was a finalist in these events and over time I have been asked to present my work in these locations. All of this served as a springboard to other opportunities, which led me to Romania, Italy, the Middle East, etc. It’s been a nice and surprising journey.” IN CONVERSATION WITH CHRIS SUSPECT THE PICTORIAL LIST: Chris please tell us more about yourself. What led you to photography? CHRIS SUSPECT: I am from Hyattsville, MD, just over the border of Washington, D.C. While the DC area has been my home for most of these years, I have lived in Moscow, Bangkok and Copenhagen. In addition to being a photographer, I am also a musician, video producer and podcaster. My interest in photography started in my early 20s. I was not a photographer at that time but a bass player for a punk band called The Suspects. I used to go to the library to browse photo books and then make copies of the photos I liked for band flyers. I was primarily interested in war and crime photography because these kinds of graphic images lend themselves to great promotional posters for the kind of music we played. Fast forward 15 years and I wound up getting my first point and shoot camera to document the birth of my son. I read the manual and would go out on my own and try to see what I could do creatively with the camera settings. I had no idea I was doing “street photography” at the time, I was really looking to recreate the style of images I used for flyers many years ago. After some positive feedback on Flickr, many stolen images by bloggers, and requests by a few magazines, I decided to get more serious and started to pursue photography by enrolling in a colour photography class as a continuing education student at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. TPL: What excites you about the photography you are creating? CS: Ultimately what inspires me is that I do photography for myself. When I started out I told myself I did not want to do photography for money or earn a living off of it. In the past, I have started many creative ventures, for example music publishing, videography, and podcasting, that have turned successful and have become a job. Meaning, I started doing work for clients. What ultimately happens in each case is that I found myself doing work more for the money than for the sake of doing the work itself. This sucks the passion for it right out of the process for me. I think by not caving in to the lure of financial gain, I have been able to maintain my passion for my photographic work. It doesn’t matter if I make money or not. That is not what photography is about for me. Just the ability to create what I want to create, whether successful or not, is what keeps me going and still excites me to this day. TPL: How do you choose your subjects and your projects? Also tell us a bit about your two previous published books? CS: Almost everything for me begins with a serendipitous act. Often I don’t choose a project, it finds me. For example, I have a body of work called Faith that explores gay African Americans and their relationship with religion. This came about by witnessing a car accident in Washington, D.C. I photographed the scene and gave copies of the images to the person who was hit by the car. Months later this person called me up and asked me to shoot a party. Knowing he was black and gay I thought it could be interesting, as I had never been to a party like that before. This experience opened up a whole new world to me that eventually led me to shooting underground African American Baptist Church services. Going to Romania for the VSLO photography and visual arts festival is what led to working on “Old Customs.” I wasn’t planning on starting a project when I went there, but once I got interested in their youth culture I just kept pulling on those threads and pursuing it, doing my best to make sense of what I was doing. At the start of 2020 I made a New Year’s resolution to publish 4 books, 1 for each quarter of the year. Old Customs is book number 3. The previous books are Gratuity Included, a collection of wild party-type photos from over the past 8 years that reads like a fever dream or an Alice in Wonderland-type sequence, and Leather Boyz, a deep dive into the gay BDSM culture in Washington, DC. The fourth book will likely be a return to my roots with an emphasis on music photography. All of these other books are black and white. Old Customs is the only one in colour. TPL: What was the process of getting the people in Vama Veche to be open to you photographing them? Can you describe your creative process in your project/book OLD CUSTOMS that you shared in our stories? CS: A lot of photographs in the book are straight street photography style observations, so I basically just shot freely, like I do in any public space situation. Unlike a lot of countries in Europe, Romania seems more open to candid photography. As far as the conceptual mirror shots go, that came about by meeting people through the photography festival I attended and who were open to my ideas. There are a couple of exceptions where I just met people on the beach or in the town and they were willing to be part of the project. What’s interesting is when I share an image of a mirror shot from my phone, people become really intrigued and open up to the idea of being a subject. It helps that you do not see the person’s face so it allows for anonymity as well. TPL: Do you have a favourite quote/lyric/saying that resonates with you the best? CS: Yes I do! The quote is, “In the fields of observation chance favours only the prepared mind.” This was said by Louis Pasteur, the great French biologist, chemist and microbiologist. Even though he is referring to the process of scientific discovery it also applies to the art of photography. How do you prepare your photographic mind? You take classes, you read photo books, you study the masters, etc. Having all of this photographic history and knowledge in the back of your mind while you are out shooting helps you to better identify interesting situations and challenges, things you may miss if you don’t study this sort of background material. Once you get to this point, you can really start to develop your own unique visual identity or voice. Just the ability to create what I want to create, whether successful or not, is what keeps me going and still excites me to this day. TPL: What do you want to express through your photography? What are some of the elements you always try to include in your photographs? CS: A lot of what I am trying to express is really dependent on the project or goal. For example “Old Customs” is partly about expressing the feeling of freedom. However, there are numerous photographic tropes and elements that I often return to or explore. One of these is trying to have the viewer feel as if they too are in the midst of the action. I like to get close and I want the viewer to be part of it. Another is humour, I am a sucker for visual puns and juxtapositions. I think gestures can be very telling. And light is very important. I always try to consider the role and meaning of light (or lack of it) in my images to convey a feeling or an intentional interpretation I want to bestow on the viewer. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? CS: I am inspired by many different photographers and artists, from Lee Friedlander and Dawoud Bey to Barbara Kruger and Jeff Wall. All of them have opened my eyes to different approaches and techniques. I often “borrow” or reinterpret ideas from various photographers from time to time depending on my end goals. For my black and white work I am definitely inspired by people like Weegee, Anders Petersen, Larry Fink, Daido Moriyama, and Robert Frank. In my colour work I often look to folks like Joel Sternfeld, Alex Webb, Harry Gruyaert and Ryan McGinley. TPL: Has your style of shooting changed since you first started? CS: I don’t know if it has changed as much as it has been refined. I first gained notice as a music photographer, then as a street photographer and documentarian. I have since moved on to personal diary type work and I am now exploring ideas of conceptual work. I think all of these genres or styles for me still contain the principal elements of my photographic voice. They just get adapted to the genre I am shooting in. If you study the work of Lee Friedlander you will notice his particular viewpoint weaves itself through a wide variety of styles, from street photography to landscapes and nudes. The same holds true for numerous other photographers that have had a long and varied career. TPL: How does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? CS: I have two cameras that I have stuck with throughout the years, mainly for their form and image quality. I have a Leica MP and Ricoh GR II. And, I usually stick with a 35mm or 28mm focal length depending on what I am shooting. Both the Leica and Ricoh are unassuming cameras. I always use my Leica during the day and sometimes at night when I know I am going to be shooting something with purpose. The Ricoh I often take with me at night when I have no real plans. It’s just super handy and can produce fantastic images with the on camera flash aesthetic you see in a lot of Japanese street photography and fashion photography from the 90s and 2000s. As far as focal length goes I use the 35mm during the day and the 28 mm for when I am in close quarters and want to capture as much of the scene as possible. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist? Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself in five years? CS: Once the COVID-19 nightmare is over I’d like to return to shooting and travelling more. This has really been a tough year for me photographically as all of my work involves people. I have been thinking about what I’d like to explore and I have some ideas of what I’d like to pursue. But for now my main goal is working on this current books project. I hope the ground work that I am laying in 2020 with these publications will offer me more opportunities in the future for exhibits, travel and workshops. I also have a few more book ideas that I already have content for. So essentially in five years I hope to be doing more of the same while broadening my photographic practices. TPL: “When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… CS: I love cooking so I am always working on new recipe ideas and food combinations. I also enjoy playing music with friends and neighbours. And, I am a fitness freak to some extent. I exercise almost everyday, whether running or lifting weights." VIEW CHRIS'S PORTFOLIO Read OLD CUSTOMS by Chris Website >>> read more interviews >>> THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition.

THE CURIOSITY GAP Samuel Ioannidis is a photographer who searches for beauty through light, color, and lines, communicating his story and generating a curiosity gap for the viewer. THE CURIOSITY GAP February 10, 2023 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Samuel Ioannidis INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Samuel Ioannidis stands on the street, camera in hand, looking to capture the moments that unfold around him. Having always had an eye for capturing moments, Samuel bought his first real camera four years ago and has never looked back. His passion for street photography has led him on a journey of exploration and discovery, unearthing hidden gems and unexpected beauty in his home city and beyond. Rather than a fleeting glance at the world around him, Samuel is driven to capture a glimpse into the stories that reside in his photographs; to capture a piece of time and to communicate his story through his images. His goal is to create images that captivate and draw viewers into a curiosity gap, a contrast to the dizzying pace of modern life and social media. “I wanted to see the world through my lens, with lines and forms that reminded me of geometry. When I put this together I set myself up as a photographer who searches for beauty through light, color, and lines.” IN CONVERSATION WITH SAMUEL IOANNIDIS THE PICTORIAL LIST: Hello Samuel, please tell us about yourself. What would you say first drew you to photography? SAMUEL IOANNIDIS: I was born in Nuremberg, Germany, as a child of immigrants from Greece that came to Germany in 1960. Growing up here in Nuremberg, in my youth, I first came in contact with my fathers camera. I remember fondly of taking the holiday photographs with disposable cameras back then. I think that is what drew me into photography, having the responsibility for the family photographs and I liked it. TPL: You told us that you are obsessed with street photography. What is it that you love about this genre? How would you describe your photography, and what would you say you are always trying to achieve artistically? What is the story you want to tell with your photographs? SI: When I moved out of my parents place I lost the connection to photography for several years. Then I bought a cheap point & shoot camera for my vacations and tried to take some nice shots with it. But still, it didn't ‘click’ just yet for me. Then I remember seeing a Fuji X-E1 at the house of a friend and somehow I fell in love with the design, the look and feel, just the all around aesthetics of this camera. I bought a used Fuji X-E1 and was hooked again into photography. I got my first taste of street photography after attending a public street photo walk with a local street photo collective. The possibilities of taking photographs just being on the streets in the middle of daily life amazes me still today. The last couple of years, my style has moved towards a more minimalistic style. I try to avoid too many colors and concentrate on compositions with high contrast scenes. Artistically I want to achieve photographs that generate a curiosity gap for the viewer, capturing their attention for longer than a second, as a contrast to the fast paced social media. To be honest, I don’t try to tell a specific story with my photographs. I use my intuition and let it lead me without searching for a specific story. But I definitely do want to explore storytelling and thinking of creating a series in the future. TPL: Could you tell us what living in Nuremberg, Germany has inspired in your work? What special qualities unique to your town/city influence your street and the way you portray your community? Outside of your hometown do you have/had a favorite place to photograph? SI: Nuremberg has many sides. You can find many historical buildings in the old city centre with a rich history, but also many new and modern buildings that you can integrate in your photography. There is also a very active photography community you can find for any genre. I'm an active member of a local street photography collective, Nürnberg Unposed Collective (www.n ürnbergunposed.de), where I have found my photographic “home” so to say. Outside of my hometown I would love to visit New York City and Brooklyn again. But also the capitals of Europe are a destination for me in the future. TPL: When you take pictures, do you usually have a concept in mind of what you want to shoot, or do you let the images just "come to you", or is it both? Please describe your process. SI: Inspired by my favorite street photographer Siegfried Hansen, I try to use a concept the most of the time. Which means I am trying to set myself so called triggers. If I go out taking photographs, for example, one of those triggers could be a specific color that someone wears, or for example, hats. Of course I don’t close myself off to other opportunities, which means I'm also on the lookout for good and soft light. But it helps to keep me focused if I already have an idea of what I want to achieve on a specific street session. TPL: What is the most rewarding part of being a street photographer for you? What are some challenges that you have faced? SI: The most rewarding thing I am experiencing has to do a lot with the street photography community, here in Germany, and elsewhere. Especially my good friends from the Nuremberg Unposed Collective. We consider ourselves like a small group of sworn-in good friends or even family who want to raise the acceptance of street photography here in Germany by organising exhibitions and meetups (small and big). But of course, also to have a lot of fun in the process. The biggest challenge so far, which continues to be my biggest challenge, is to keep my motivation up, especially if there are days where you don't have any photograph that you like. But I think the key to stay motivated is to stay humble, and to just appreciate the scenes and photographs that are not the best you have encountered yet. TPL: Is it impossible for you not to be constantly on the lookout for a moment to be captured? SI: Good question! Never thought about this, but yes. Definitely! I find myself keeping on the lookout, even if I don't have any specific camera with me (except my cellphone´s cam) or while running errands. But not always, as life is happening and is sometimes also very stressful. That's why I see photography also as a method of mindfulness meditation. Artistically I want to achieve photographs that generate a curiosity gap for the viewer, capturing their attention for longer than a second, as a contrast to the fast paced social media. TPL: How do you manage a work/photography balance? SI: If you are motivated it always seems easier to find time. But yes, a sort of plan during the week for some hours where you will be only focusing on my photography helps to stay in the ‘flow’. TPL: Do you have any favorite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? SI: Too many, that I can't mention here because the list would be too long. But I want to mention all those street photography collectives and solo street photographers in Germany that are part of a wonderful and great community. But to play by the rules, I will mention two of them: German street photographer Siegfried Hansen, who has helped me and many others also finding their own styles by establishing a specific system. Street photographer Pia Parolin, for her amazing energy, motivation and effort she puts into her work. Not only in her own photography, but also in many other fields. Like her great books, projects and her community work. TPL: If you could just choose one photographer to shoot alongside for a day...who would you choose? And why? SI: Joel Meyerowitz. He was one of the first street photographers that I have spent time researching about him, his photographs and specific style. I'm quite sure he is a great mentor. TPL: What was the first camera you ever held in your hand, brought to eye, and released a shutter on? What is the camera you use now and your preferred focal length? Does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? Is there anything on your wishlist? SI: The first camera I ever have used was a one-time use analog camera when I was a kid and used them every once in a while during my youth. The first real camera was also an analog point and shoot camera from Canon. Many years later (around 2015), I just had the urge to get a camera for my vacations. A friend of mine showed me his Fujifilm X-E1 and I was totally hooked from the design, look and feel and the all-over aesthetics and wonderful colors. Since then I have stayed with Fujifilm. I use an Xpro3 at the moment. I love the design with the hidden monitor that helps you stay in the Flow, but also the rangefinder style of this camera. My preferred focal lengths are 23mm and 35mm (APS-C). To experiment a little bit more I am planning on getting a 50mm lens. But my all round focal length is and will be 35mm. To me personally it is very important to have a camera that you love to take in your hand because of its aesthetics, but also because you know it perfectly in and out. Of course I could take street photographs with any smartphone or any other camera as well. But I would always prefer my Fuji Xpro3 in every sense. TPL: Are there any special projects that you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? What are some of your photography goals? Where do you hope to see yourself in five years? SI: I am proud to announce that my good friends and I from Nuremberg Unposed Collective are hosting the annual street photography community meetup in our hometown Nuremberg on the 8th of July. More information can be found at: www.meetandstreet.de . It is a meetup of the German street photography scene where we just meet, talk and have fun together. But we will host also a public gallery with prints from the community that everybody can take with them and give a voluntarily donation. We are also working together with a local charity organisation for social projects. TPL: “When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… SI: Enjoy the company of my good friends and go to the cinema.” VIEW SAMUEL'S PORTFOLIO Website >>> Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition.

MINIMALIST IMPRESSIONISM To offset his advertising and environmental footprint, Ixi Nijhawan uses his art to raise awareness for sustainability and minimalism. MINIMALIST IMPRESSIONISM October 15, 2021 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Ixi Nijhawan INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE As a photographer, Ixi Nijhawan’s work has always been a reflection of the world around him. After spending time in the advertising industry, he was struck by the shocking impact it was having on the environment, and the vast quantity of items being consumed. As a result, Ixi has shifted his focus to ethical and sustainable photography, using his art to raise awareness and promote minimalism. Through years of practice and experience, Ixi has developed an eye for capturing the beauty of the everyday, often creating abstract scenes full of vivid colours and shapes. He has a unique ability to isolate elements from their surroundings, creating minimalist yet powerful images that draw attention to their subject. By using his craft to advocate for environmentalism and sustainability, Ixi is creating a movement that goes beyond the artwork itself. Through his art, he is encouraging viewers to become mindful of the impact their consumption has on the environment, while promoting a lifestyle of mindful minimalism. Whilst working on an ad campaign, Ixi discovered that the average household in rich countries have over 300,000 items. Working with companies (big and small), the global advertising industry has ramped up growth and demand for products that is costing the earth nearly $3 trillion in environmental, social and human health damage. Ixi's journey as an ethical photographer is truly inspirational. His story shows us all that with creativity and passion comes great responsibility, and that through art we can create real change in our world. “I’m very fortunate to say that photography found me. And not the other way round. In many ways, it unshackled me and let me experiment. And the more I photographed, the more I gravitated towards certain aesthetics and causes that inadvertently helped shape the ‘why’ of my photography. Which is why, you’ll find certain recurring themes in my images - minimalism and abstract impressionism.” IN CONVERSATION WITH IXI NIJHAWAN THE PICTORIAL LIST: Ixi please tell us about yourself. How did you become interested in photography? What does photography mean to you? IXI NIJHAWAN: I was born in Chandigarh, which is north of India, but have little recollection of the place really as the family moved to New Delhi soon after. A few years later we shifted to Mumbai, when it was still called Bombay. That is the city where I studied and grew up and discovered the world of advertising. It wasn’t much later that I moved to Dubai and have been here since the early noughties, working in some of the finest advertising agencies in the region. Photography was always part of my professional life, working closely with different photographers on advertising campaigns. But I only looked at it more seriously late last year when I quit my job and decided to take some time off of advertising. It was during this time that I wanted to explore art that didn’t involve putting a logo on it. TPL: Where or how do you find your inspiration? IXI: From the photography greats. I can spend hours pouring over their work. The craft, the details, the angles, the stories. I also enjoy scrolling through my Insta feed. So much talent out there. It’s great to see people putting so much love into photography. TPL: Talk to us about your experience in how global advertising has impacted the environment. What would you like to see change and how can we all help to make a difference? How has this changed your own perception to how you photograph now? IXI: Thank you for asking me that question. It’s obviously a very broad one and also quite personal. To begin with, it’s not just the global advertising industry. It’s a massive cog, sure, but it’s the whole machine we should be looking at - from the manufacturers to the advertising agencies to the big tech. They have so much data on us that they know what triggers to press and how to sell to us. We’re turning our homes into warehouses. And it’s not like there’s a pool of unlimited resources. The limits of consumption have grown more and more visible. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, for instance. If ever there was evidence of us trashing our planet, it’s right there. Floating. Three times the size of France. And it’s not even part of the conversation any more. It would be naive to think that profit driven companies will actually want to put limits on growth. So to answer your question, yes, we can all do something. And we should. It’s not sustainable at the moment. Justin Rosenstein, the former engineer at Facebook, summed it up quite accurately, “We live in a world in which a tree is worth more, financially, dead than alive. A world in which a whale is worth more dead than alive.” Which is why I’ve adopted minimalism and advocate it through my photography. Whether it’s for you or not, that’s an individual choice. But let’s make it part of the conversation at the very least. TPL: Describe your series “Minimalist”. How did the concept come about? What do you want the viewer to take away from these images? IXI: So this series, in a way, is the meeting point of many things that I cherish - aesthetics, values, philosophies. And it came to me when I was trying to experiment with the broader concept of minimalism in my own life - stripping away everything unnecessary and keeping just the essential. Slowly, it crept into my photography without announcing itself. If the images can evoke a sense of quiet reassurance and become a gateway to minimalism, it would be a personal triumph. TPL: Describe your series “Abstract Impressionism”. How did the concept come about? What do you want the viewer to take away from these images? IXI: This series is the desire to capture life in motion. How I experience the streets. Never still. People, a perpetual blur. Abstractions caught in light and shadow. And this helps me look at scenes a bit more theatrically. Everyone playing out a certain emotion or feeling in the arena of life. Ordinarily I might not remember these people once they have passed me by, but when I look at these images, I know exactly who they are and how they helped define that moment. A reminder of sorts, if you ever needed one, that our canvases can only be enriched by strangers. TPL: What are some tips or advice you would give yourself if you started photography all over again? IXI: It took me a while to understand what focal lengths are important for my photography. So, if anything, I would fast track that knowledge probably. Instinct helps me identify all the creative possibilities. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us? IXI: Susan Burnstine, Michael Kenna, Sally Mann, Daido Moriyama, Vivian Maier, Sebastiao Salgado, Ken Van Sickle, and Barbara Kruger. And then there is Edward Hopper - his paintings are such an inspiration. TPL: When you are out shooting - how much of it is instinctual versus planned? IXI: When I’m working on my minimalist series, it’s a combination of both really. Instinct helps me identify all the creative possibilities, and if it’s not happening in a certain way on a certain day, then I plan to make it happen the next day or the next week. As for the abstract series, it’s mostly instinctual. Even with an identical technical process, the results can vary quite a bit. And I think that’s part of its charm as well. TPL: Does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? What camera do you use? Do you have any preferred lens/focal length? IXI: Of course the equipment helps. There are certain features in the camera that make a difference to how I shoot. I’m currently shooting with a Fujifilm X-T3, but want to give Ricoh GR III a go as well. I prefer shooting wide, so 16mm or 23mm or anywhere in between (on a cropped sensor) are my preferred choices. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist or photographer? Where do you see yourself in five years? IXI: I have visions of certain images I’d like to make in the future. And it will require planning as they are quite ambitious in their scope and visual detail. Beyond that, I’d like to explore more travel and landscape photography. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? IXI: I’m currently working on a project commissioned by a zine for the abstract impressionist series. TPL: "When I’m not out photographing, I (like to)... IXI: Remind myself that I should be out photographing and stop being a lazy ass." VIEW IXI'S PORTFOLIO Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition.

SOCIOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE Capturing the sociology of everyday life, searching for human faces and emotion, brings Neslihan Uslu closer to photojournalism. SOCIOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE March 11, 2021 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Neslihan Uslu INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Photography has the ability to capture and communicate stories in a way that no other medium can. For Neslihan Uslu, a Turkish-born photographer living in Antwerp, Belgium, photography is a way of life. Combining her studies in sociology and photography, her artistic practice is about uncovering the everyday stories of our lives. To her, the nuances of everyday life are the most powerful and beautiful stories that can be told. Neslihan's passion for documentary photography began three years ago when she moved to Antwerp. In her desire to learn more about this new city, she saw photography as the best way to do this. Every week she would focus on a different topic, seeking out the hidden stories that were hidden away in the streets of Antwerp. Her images are a reflection of her passion for looking at both the ordinary and extraordinary through a photographer’s eye. She looks for emotional moments and captures them in an honest and cinematic style, creating a visual dialogue of the beauty of everyday life. Neslihan Uslu's work is a powerful blend of fine art and photojournalism. It is a tribute to her dedication to capturing the subtle stories of our lives and the emotion that lies within them. Her work gives us a glimpse into hidden moments that many of us would never have the opportunity to witness. Through her lens, we can experience the intimate beauty of the everyday and appreciate the unique stories of our lives. “In my opinion, sociology is bold, but photography is even bolder. What I want to express with my photos is to convey events, social problems, situations, sometimes everyday life and routines as much as possible, to show real lives and feelings. I also want to do this by keeping the story plain and simple, without trying to transform or reproduce reality. Photography is already reproducing its reality through the eye of the photographer.” IN CONVERSATION WITH NESLIHAN USLU THE PICTORIAL LIST: Neslihan please tell us about yourself. How did you become interested in photography? NESLIHAN USLU: I was born and raised in Istanbul. I have been living in Antwerp for about 3 years. I've been the photographer of the family since I was young. But it was more about taking snapshots and recording everything. I started photography training in AFSAD (Ankara Photography Artists Association) the year I decided to study Sociology at the university in 2000. I feel like I’m still at home while developing photos in the dark room. During my 4-year university education, photography training and projects continued simultaneously. During this period, I also had the opportunity to participate in group exhibitions. My focus on documentary photography was continued with my thesis. This was the breaking point for me. While I was writing my thesis on "Othering and Labeling in Modern Era: Romani people living in Turkey”, I met many people, took many pictures and I had the opportunity to learn a lot about photography. That's why Josef Koudelka's Gypsies project is always very special to me. TPL: Tell us more about the series of images from Chinatown that you have shared with us. Could you elaborate a bit on your thoughts on the concept and how you manifested your ideas into a documentary project? NU: Actually, this short study is one of the first steps of my work on the “cultural importance of festivals and their perception in different cultures” that I want to do in the long run. Festivals are an impressive way to celebrate culture and traditions. At the same time, we come together with our loved ones and share happiness. It is important for cultural solidarity. In addition to this, it can evoke different emotions in different cultures. What I wanted to show was the difference and similarity of the emotions it aroused in people from different cultures through the Chinese New Year celebration. To put it better, it was the cultural perception of this celebration. Before the celebrations, I went to Chinatown many times and observed. That gave me the information about the photos I will be taking: where I should stand, from what point of view I will see. I don’t think I can easily tell a story that I don’t have an idea about, whether it is a documentary or a photojournalism. TPL: Sometimes you combine your Sociology into your Photography. What do you want to express through your photography? And what are some of the elements you always try to include in your photographs? NU: In my opinion, sociology is bold, but photography is even bolder. What I want to express with my photos is to convey events, social problems, situations, sometimes everyday life and routines as much as possible, to show real lives and feelings. I also want to do this by keeping the story plain and simple, without trying to transform or reproduce reality. Photography is already reproducing its reality through the eye of the photographer. When I think of myself as a viewer, the photographs that awaken a feeling in me, make me ask myself questions and think critically feed me. I want them to inspire similar feelings in those who look at my photos as well. I believe that the more we present to the world, the greater steps we take for change and development. That's why Lewis Wickes Hine, the photographer and sociologist who documents child labor, is one of my idols. Hine's images of working children helped change the nation's labor laws. Through his photography, Lewis Hine made a difference in the lives of American workers and, most importantly, American children. I'm trying to include the connection between the sense of place and people in my photographs. I think this allows me to tell my photo stories more powerfully. TPL: Where do you find your inspiration to photograph? NU: I find my inspiration in history. Everything that has witnessed history means a lot to me. Maybe that's why I love to chat with old people and listen to them, to go around antique markets and second-hand bookstores. TPL: Do you have a favourite place to photograph? NU: Everywhere that I can find documentary photos and stories. To be honest, I think the events and the connections you establish make the difference, not places. Nevertheless, the historical streets in İstanbul that start from Istiklal Street and end in Galata Tower are always a journey to my heart and my childhood. I also like to go to the old passages and shoot in low light conditions there. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? NU: There are many photographers and artists. Master photographers always inspire me, teach me to see and narrate. Dorothea Lange, Vivian Maier, Bieke Depoorter, Semiha Es, Ansel Adams, Sebastião Salgado, Alec Soth, Ara Güler, İzzet Keribar, Martin Parr, Josef Koudelka, Emin Özmen, Alex Webb…Their works play a big role in making me who I am. Cinema and my favorite directors also make me look at photography differently. I learn how to use tones, whether in monochrome or in color, and how to take dramatic photographs through cinema. I think it is necessary to keep the intense and fertile relationship between cinema and photography in order to do a good job in photography. Jean-Luc Godard expressed "Photography is truth. And cinema is truth 24 frames a second." I absolutely agree with this. At the same time, the magical world of cinema contributes to my imagination in every way. Vittorio De Sica, Lars Von Trier, Ken Loach, Nuri Bilge Ceylan have a special place in my heart. And all of my photographer friends who live in different places of the world. We also have a photography group called Antwerp Photo Collective in Antwerp and I am inspired by all of them. I find it historically and sociologically important to convey culture from generation to generation. Being able to explain a cultural structure that I know makes me feel both excited and responsible. We're losing so many memories and I want to keep them alive. TPL: Do you have a favourite quote, lyric or saying that especially resonates with you? NU: In an interview, Ken Loach says, “You have to find a story you have to tell. It should be a story that you must tell, not a story which might have been a good one when you tell.” I'm trying to do this with my camera. It takes me into photography, pushes me to research and learn. TPL: Does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? What camera do you use? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? NU: I currently have equipment that I love very much. I use Fujifilm X-T3. I want to have a medium format camera in the long run. I take most of my photos with 35mm f/1.4 lens and 50mm f/1.8 lens. However, sometimes I need different equipment and lenses, depending on the style of the photo I want to shoot. 35mm prime lens is always my favorite. It is a wide angle lens and it helps me have a more accurate perspective. It's enough to capture powerful images. I also have zoom lenses but I rarely use them. I like my camera being small and quiet but I always have to carry a spare battery. I do my analog shots with Nikon F80 and Leica Z2X, even though less often. I'm a fan of cinestill film. TPL: When you go out photographing, do you have a concept in mind of what you want to shoot, or do you let the images just "come to you", or is it both? NU: I often let the images come to me when I go out shooting. Maybe I will encounter something new that I do not know or I will see something I am familiar with, from a different perspective. I keep a sort of photo diary. Sometimes I just give myself homework about a specific theme. I am trying to create a photo series about the theme. For example, from the people who are reading at the café to the street lamps, from the women dressed in green to the bins, from the joy of victory to the someone who seems unhappy, there can be a variety of subjects and emotions. Also, even when I have a concept in my mind and shoot about that, the results I see are different from what I plan. Sometimes this makes me happier, sometimes it causes me to throw everything away and rework the same concept. It helps me to realize long and extensive projects. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist? Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself in five years? NU: I want to reach more people with my photos. I'm building my website (www.neslihanuslu.com ) and it will be accessible in February. I would like to publish my project that I am working on and dedicate it to my parents. I would like to present my 2nd draft project to a publishing house in Belgium and work on it in collaboration. I have a long way to go, and I love this feeling. Some things will change along the way and this will influence my approach to photography. TPL: You mentioned that you are currently working on a documentary project 'Crimean Tatar Villages.' Could you tell us about it. NU: I find it historically and sociologically important to convey culture from generation to generation. Being able to explain a cultural structure that I know makes me feel both excited and responsible. We're losing so many memories and I want to keep them alive. I am a Crimean Tatar from my father's side. My grandfather settled by migration to Turkey after a difficult period. My father was born and grew up in Eskipolatlı, a typical Tatar village in Ankara. Crimean Tatar is spoken among themselves. This group has a unique culture and lifestyle. This is what I was born in. I listened to the stories and witnessed this culture. I will especially focus on the food culture and domestic life. I will do photo shoots and interviews in Eskipolatlı village in order to maintain the cultural heritage and introduce this culture to future generations. Due to Covid-19, I couldn’t travel to Turkey and I couldn’t make the shots that I had planned last spring. For the moment I continue to do interviews. If everything goes well, I aim to complete my project within a year. Unfortunately, while I was writing my thesis, I could not reach the references that I wanted and I think I know the difficulty and the meaning of this. For this reason, I want it to be a small contribution for those who are interested in the subject. TPL: When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… NU: Watch movies, spend time with my family and friends, cycle, do handicrafts and travel. VIEW NESLIHAN'S PORTFOLIO Website >>> Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition.

SPECIAL LIGHT Assia Starke shared some of her travel and landscape photography with us. Special light inspires us in all of them. SPECIAL LIGHT October 14, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Assia Starke INTERVIEW Karin Svadlenak Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Assia Starke was born in Russia, but has lived in Austria half of her life. She has been fascinated in photography since childhood, having grown up watching her father develop photos in an improvised darkroom at home. She renewed her interest in photography when she became a mother and now finds inspiration in everything around her. In her photos she tries to include lines, patterns and emotions, and she always reminds herself that you have to let your inner self decide what makes a good picture. Assia shared some of her travel photos from Morocco and other places with us. We asked her to tell us more about what drives her passion. “Nature, the world around me gives me inspiration. I can get touched to tears by a beautiful sunrise or sunset but also be fascinated by the green glossy wings of a bug or the pattern of a maple leaf in the back-light.” IN CONVERSATION WITH ASSIA STARKE THE PICTORIAL LIST: Assia please tell us about yourself. When did you start getting interested in photography? ASSIA STARKE: I was born in Moscow and grew up there, went to school and to the University. My first job as a tourist guide took me through the country and a little bit through the world. I guess, this is where and when my passion for travelling started, although the way I do it, the perception is very different now. I did not take many pictures on the way then but it is still interesting to compare the pictures I bring now from my journeys to those early ones. My encounter with photography started many many years ago as I was allowed to watch my father print black and white photos in our bathroom – the only room without windows in our small apartment in Moscow (where I was born and grew up). My father was a hobby photographer. He was very much interested in nature but most of the pictures I know were family photos. Photography can be a very time consuming hobby, so I guess he sacrificed some of the time he would have liked to work on it for the family - to spend more time with my brother and me...but he passed his photography passion on to us - it became my brother's hobby as well. I was so much fascinated by this magical moment when the image was slowly emerging on the white paper that I wanted to try it myself. And so I took my first pictures with the fully manual Praktica film camera with a Carl Zeiss 50mm f 2.0 lens – which I am still using with an adaptor on the digital cameras now...the so called imperfection of this lens (measured by today’s standards) is its magic – again compared to the technically more advanced but too sober “modern” lenses. I also printed my pictures myself – even with dodging and burning here and there – but of course those were only childish first attempts. I then studied, moved to another country with a new job, married – and only when my daughter was born, I picked up the camera again. TPL: What was it like, growing up in Russia, and when did you move to Vienna? AS: I personally think that I had a very happy childhood. I had loving parents who took good care of me and supported me in my development. I was very fond of reading and could read for many hours non-stop. Children had access to a lot of 'culture' - museums, theatres were cheap, libraries free...there were many activities - sports, music shows, drawing and painting classes - that were free as well, and many teachers were real enthusiasts (as they did not got paid much...). I do not think that many children of my generation got the impression that they were suppressed in any way and were not living in a free society...These are things that you start thinking about and understand when you get older. I came to Vienna with a job for a joint venture (I started working for them in Moscow) - planned for a year. It has been more than 20 years now. TPL: Did you have any exposure to photography, as in art in books or exhibitions, back then in Russia? AS: I do not think so, not photography. I often went to the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and to the Hermitage when travelling to St. Petersburg, and we also had big albums with paintings from those museums - and I loved to go through them (well, with childish awe) - and then I discovered the Impressionists... so these are my 2 big 'loves' - the light of the old masters and the colours and style of the impressionists. As I cannot paint, it comes out through photography, I guess. TPL: Where do you find your inspiration? AS: Nature, the world around me gives me inspiration. I can get touched to tears by a beautiful sunrise or sunset but also be fascinated by the green glossy wings of a bug or the pattern of a maple leaf in the back-light. TPL: Is there anything you want to express through your photography? And what are some of the elements you always try to include in your photographs? AS: My first digital camera made me want to make better pictures – I started reading and watching, joined a couple of online communities – this educated me a lot, of course… at first I learned what I liked and did not like, then I learned the rules – and then I found out that what makes good pictures is letting your inner self make them (knowing the rules at the back of your head still – this helps a lot, of course). The ultimate and crucial thing is light of course, and I always try to include lines, patterns and emotions (when photographing people which does not happen very often, I must admit). Being able to combine photography with my second passion – travelling makes me happy. Being able to combine photography with my second passion – travelling makes me happy. TPL: Do you prefer to photograph alone or with friends? AS: I prefer to photograph alone so that I can take my time but even with people around I get so much carried away that I tend not to notice them. TPL: Who or what would you say has has mostly inspired your style? AS: I do not think I am advanced enough to say that I have found my own style already…my interests are too widely spread. And I must say that I am fascinated and most impressed by other people’s good photos in genres that I cannot or do not do myself – I am so much attracted by black and white photography (with very high contrast) – and I myself mostly do colour, by street photography – and I myself mostly do travel and landscape, by artistic still life – and my still life shots are more about geometry - shapes, lines and patterns… I love impressionism – I think, it is a way of thinking and can come out in different ways. TPL: How does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? AS: My mostly used gear are zooms – 24-70mm and 70-200mm – but sometimes my soul calls for dreamy bokeh – so my father’s 50mm Carl Zeiss and my other favorite Canon 50mm f1.2 come out to warm my heart. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist? Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself in five years? AS: What are my goals? I hope not to get stuck and bored by my own photography. I will keep trying out new things and I also hope to be able to show the beauty of nature and love that is in the air and share it with other people – my way of trying to make this world at least a little bit better through it… Life and photography are so diverse and there is place for everyone, any style, any opinion. TPL: "When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… AS: My 9 to 5 job can be very time consuming. I started learning Spanish as we were planning to go to Latin America next year...but now - who knows. I enjoy reading (not much lately, I must admit) and cinema, hiking and Nordic walking are my other hobbies." VIEW ASSIA'S PORTFOLIO Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition.

A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY March 16, 2025 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Fanja Hubers INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE In the subtle interplay of light and shadow, Fanja Hubers’s approach to photography unfolds from a foundation of personal experience, introspection, and the act of observation. Inspired by her father’s use of the camera, Fanja’s journey began in 1982 with her first camera, a Konica Pop, a camera that became an extension of her daily life. Since then, she has maintained an unwavering commitment to carrying a camera wherever she goes, capturing the moments that connect her inner world with the external environment. Her work is not only a documentation of what she sees but a continuous exploration of how personal history, memory, and emotion intersect with visual storytelling. In A Voyage of Discovery, Fanja shifts her focus inward, using photography to explore a time of vulnerability and a deep, personal reimagining of her creative process. This project serves as a meditation on identity, questioning what it means to be both a photographer and a human being. Influenced by Indian photographer Raghubir Singh’s belief that photography reflects both the inner and outer worlds, Fanja seeks to bridge these dimensions through her images. The result is a body of work that does not merely record the visible but seeks to reveal the unseen — emotional states, fleeting thoughts, and the deeper layers of human experience. Beyond this project, Fanja’s broader portfolio includes Empty Faces, One Moment in Time, People as They Are, Rediscover the First Moment of Seeing, and The Simple Beauty of Nature. Each series represents an extension of her visual inquiry, whether through candid street scenes, studies of human presence, or explorations of momentary ephemeral beauty. Her approach remains consistent in its attention to atmosphere and the emotions embedded within the act of seeing. Her work has gained recognition in international exhibitions, including the Women Street Photographers Annual Exhibition in New York (2024), the Rome Art Expo (2023), and Photography in the Visual Culture in Palermo (2023). She has also been published in Quadro Magazine, Mina Art Magazine, and other photography journals, further establishing her presence in contemporary photographic conversation and visual culture. This interview examines the foundations of Fanja’s artistic development, her evolving relationship with photography, and the ways in which her images serve as both documentation and personal reflection. Through this conversation, we explore how she constructs meaning through visual language, how her experiences shape her perspective, and what continues to drive her pursuit of capturing life through her camera. “I started capturing and recording events, especially on weekends and summers on our boat. Over time, I learned more about the technical aspects and bought my first DSLR camera during my student years. I increasingly photographed street scenes, everyday life, and funny moments. In recent years, I have come to see photography more as an art form to express emotions.” IN CONVERSATION WITH FANJA HUBERS THE PICTORIAL LIST: Your father’s influence played a role in your early interest in photography. Are there any specific lessons or philosophies he passed down that you still carry in your work today? FANJA: Besides the fact that he also used to shoot in black and white and had a certain calmness in his compositions, it was mainly the technical aspect that stood out. When I passed my final exams, he took me to Paris. Because of his fear of heights, he didn’t dare go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. On the first floor, he explained how his camera (a DSLR) worked, and I was allowed to go to the top alone to take photos. From that moment on, I wanted a camera that I could set entirely manually. TPL: How has growing up in Utrecht, the Netherlands, shaped your visual perspective and artistic approach? FANJA: Utrecht is a beautiful city full of life. But in other cities, I felt more anonymous, and I sought that out more often—until recent years. After visiting many other cities, I have come to appreciate Utrecht even more. TPL: You emphasize carrying a camera with you at all times — is there ever a moment where you feel capturing an image would interfere with truly experiencing it? FANJA: I noticed that during my first trip to India. I had to be careful not to experience the entire journey through my viewfinder. That’s when I decided to occasionally put my camera away so I could fully experience the trip. And I know you always have to pay attention to that. TPL: Your project ‘A Voyage of Discovery’ is deeply personal, exploring vulnerability and self-reinvention. What inspired this particular shift inward, and how did the creative process evolve throughout the project? FANJA: In recent years, I have been struggling with feelings of sadness, and photography has become an important outlet. I wanted to express this in a creative way because I was increasingly discovering that photography is not just a way to document life but also an art form to express emotions. I was (and still am) quite insecure about this, but with the feedback of an inspiring photographer, I gradually gained the confidence to share more of my work. Since I started photographing with more emotion, I have also gained recognition for my work. TPL: Do you see your photography as an act of storytelling, or is it more about capturing fleeting emotions and moments in time? FANJA: Both. Photography has become more of an art form and a passion. But I must not forget to capture memories, such as my son growing up. For me, the essence of photography is still about capturing moments so that later, you can relive memories when looking back. In recent years, I have been struggling with feelings of sadness, and photography has become an important outlet. TPL: Your work captures the subtleties of human presence. Do you feel that photography has changed the way you see people in everyday life? FANJA: People don’t change, but how you see them might. This is also strongly dependent on how I feel that day. TPL: Raghubir Singh’s philosophy on photography bridging inner and outer worlds is a key inspiration for you. What other artists inspire you and your photography and why? FANJA: Valerie Jardin — I really love the romance in her photos. Elliot Erwitt—for his humorous images. But also, Anton Corbijn, when it comes to capturing emotions. TPL: How does seeing your photography in print — whether in exhibitions, magazines, or books — change your relationship with the images compared to viewing them digitally? And what are your thoughts on the role of printed media in an increasingly digital world? FANJA: I think both are important. Digitally sharing is a good way to eventually end up in an exhibition or a book. And that is ultimately more valuable than the fleeting nature of the online world. But social media also allows me to meet others from around the world, from whom I can learn and gain inspiration. TPL: As you look to the future, how do you see your photography evolving? Are there particular themes, techniques, or approaches you are eager to explore? What are your aspirations for your photography, and where do you hope to see yourself creatively in the next 3–5 years? FANJA: I would like to further develop the series ‘A Voyage of Discovery,’ and ultimately, it is a dream of mine to have a solo exhibition in my own country, so that friends and family can visit it as well. I hope I can continue like this and that I will retain my passion for photography. TPL: What would we find in your camera bag? Is there anything on your WishList? FANJA: I have no camera bag, just one camera, the Fuji x100vi, around my neck. For a backup camera, family shoots and video I have a Fuji S10 with some interchangeable lenses. But for 99% I use the Fuji X100vi. TPL: “When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… FANJA: ...Enjoy life with family and friends, my work as an educator, and play the piano.” VIEW FANJA'S PORTFOLIO Website >>> Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition.

CANDID OBSERVATIONS Street photography for Lasse Persson is an art of observation and a photographic statement about the human condition. CANDID OBSERVATIONS December 18, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Lasse Persson INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE When it comes to capturing beauty in the ordinary, few can rival the work of Swedish photographer Lasse Persson. With over four decades of experience as a press photographer, Lasse has developed a unique and powerful style of street photography that seeks to capture the extraordinary, humorous, and absurd moments in everyday life. His works are a moving testament to the human condition, inviting us to observe and appreciate the hidden beauty in the seemingly mundane. Join us as we explore the captivating art of street photography through the lens of Lasse Persson. “I started to work as a press photographer when I was 19 years old. I overcame my timidity which later has been an advantage for me in my street photography since I don’t have problems with approaching people. Street and press photography have a lot in common...they are both about observation, to have a keen eye and an interest in people to be able to tell a story in a single picture.” IN CONVERSATION WITH LASSE PERSSON THE PICTORIAL LIST: Lasse, please tell us about yourself. When did you become interested in photography? LASSE PERSSON: I was born in Malmö located in the southern part of Sweden but I have been living in Stockholm for quite many years now. I also lived in Los Angeles for some years back in the 1970s from where I worked as a freelance photographer for Swedish newspapers and magazines. Became interested in photography already at the age of 10. I received a camera as a gift from my uncle and soon after, I became a member of a photo club. Due to my young age, I got a mentor who taught me the basics of photography, how the camera works, the technology, and how to develop film and make prints in the darkroom. TPL: Where do you find your inspiration to photograph? LP: I find my inspiration from traveling and watching people on the streets but also from other photographers. All streets wherever they are, inspires me. I especially I like the streets of Stockholm but also in many different Spanish cities were I love to walk the streets with the camera in my hand and with open eyes. TPL: What do you want to express through your photography? And what are some of the elements you always try to include in your photographs? LP: The human element is essential in my pictures. I want my pictures to reflect a curiosity about people and show people in everyday life which can be humorous, absurd, extraordinary and much more. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists that you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? LP: I have many favourite photographers like Elliott Erwitt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, W. Eugene Smith, Robert Doisneau, Peter Turnley, Peter Kool and many more. But the photographer who’s style inspired me the most when I was a young and avid photographer traveling around Europe in the 1960s was Tony Ray Jones. He made a fantastic book 'A day off' about the English people just before he died of cancer very young. TPL: Does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? What camera do you use? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? LP: I have always and still am unimpressed by cameras and equipment. I have a camera that I am comfortable with that is light and that I can hold in one hand to be ready to snap. The camera I use is a Nikon D3500 with a zoom 18-105 mm, mostly I use it at 18 mm. This camera gives me a picture quality that I’m happy with…. but the most important tools are my eyes, not the camera. I love to walk the streets with the camera in my hand and with open eyes. TPL: Your photos show people in Spain, France, and your home country Sweden. Do you have a favourite place(s) to photograph in? LP: Yes, I like to travel and have done so all my life. Nowadays, my wife and I travel around in Southern Europe with our motorhome for about 6 months every year and have been doing so for quite a many years now. It gives me great opportunities in my street photography to get to new places and cities, which is very inspiring. I particularly like to shoot in Spanish cities such as Malaga, Murcia and Valencia. TPL: When you go out on the streets, do you have a concept in mind of what you want to photograph, or do you let the images just "come to you", or is it a combination of both? LP: I let the images just 'come to me'. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist? Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself in five years? LP: To continue to shoot on the streets and to stay alive for five years more. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? LP: I am preparing for my first solo exhibition which I hope will taking place in a gallery in a gallery in Stockholm in August or September 2021. TPL: "When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… LP: Travel with our motorhome and much more." VIEW LASSE'S PORTFOLIO Lasse's instagram >>> read more interviews >>> THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition.

CREATIVE FOCUS Inspired to see the world through a different lens by the greats. We find out from Jasper Tejano how it changed his creative focus. CREATIVE FOCUS August 3, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Jasper Tejano INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE For those who appreciate the art of street photography, Jasper Tejano is a name they would be familiar with. This calm and collected photographer has managed to capture the attention of both local and international audiences, with his works being featured in various print and online publications. His journey into the world of street photography began out of a need to explore and grow creatively, leading him to discover the works of Magnum photographers who inspired him to start seeing the world through a different lens. Since then, Jasper has become renowned for his vibrant and expressive style of photography. He is able to capture powerful emotions and intense energy through his use of strong colours, light and multiple planes of focus. Even in his moments of rest, Jasper is never far from his camera, as he enjoys spending time with his wife and creative partner, with whom he can share his love of photography, or doting on his son giving the little tyke basics on photography. This interview takes a closer look at the life, works and motivations of Jasper Tejano; an incredible street photographer whose passion for his craft is evident in every frame. “When I see an interesting traffic of people and light pockets, I would go on a state of 'creative restlessness' (that’s how I describe it) and before I know it my camera is turned on and ready to shoot almost instinctively. I go to urban places where there is a busy flow of people traffic and decent lighting. When I find a good spot, I will exhaust that spot until I feel I have a good photograph.” IN CONVERSATION WITH JASPER TEJANO THE PICTORIAL LIST: Jasper, when did you start getting interested in photography? JASPER TEJANO: I started exploring photography when I was in my pre-teens. I used to borrow my mom's Minolta Pocket Autopak 450E and would use it to photograph school and family events. I was always the designated photographer during family events. However, photography took a backseat when I was in high school and college. It was actually my wife, who was then my girlfriend, who rekindled my interest in photography. My first serious camera was a Pentax Auto 110 which I borrowed from her. She was also the one who taught me the fundamentals of photography. When we got our first DSLRs, this was also the time when my wife discovered the joy of travelling. Since then we never stopped photographing our journeys together. When I became really serious in photography in 2008, I started experimenting on various lenses and researching on settings that can bring out the best in my photos. I started to appreciate the importance of light in creating drama in my images when I attended a workshop on portraiture and creative lighting. However, there was at some point between 2010 and 2011 that I felt that my photography was on a plateau and needed a 'creative jolt'. Most of my photographs were in the category of travel photography – which for me were too manicured, too clean and technical. Nothing wrong with that but I guess I was looking for something else. For a while I explored portraiture, still photography and even fashion photography but none of these were giving me fulfillment. I wanted something different something raw and edgy that somehow defies convention that could bring out my style. It was perfect timing that I started to get interested with the works of Magnum Photographers. The photographs of Henri Cartier Bresson, Alex Webb, David Alan Harvey and Harry Gruyaert blew me away. In 2012, I started seeing the world through a different lens. Street photography has become my genre of choice. TPL: Since you have begun your street photography journey since 2012, how would you describe the way you photograph now compared to then? And what are the characteristics that make a photographer a street photographer? JT: Before, I interpreted street photography as photojournalism (telling it as it is with objectivity) or documentary photography. In the recent years, my street photography has become really subjective. What matters to me now is how my subject interact with the scene considering light quality, how the colors would compliment my subject, how the other details would strengthen my subject and lastly, what fantasy would my finished frame reveal to me. Though I admire many street photographers who present their work in black and white, color street photography has its way of presenting life with much more realism and dynamism. Especially with my work on silhouettes, the blackness of my subjects will just drown in the different shades of gray. I need color to make my subjects emerge from the frame. As a street photographer, what will make me go out and hit the streets and capture moments is the thought that there will always be a new opportunity to experience 'magical moments'. You anticipate with excitement what you will be capturing. Sometimes, you will go home with nothing – not even a single image worth keeping; but there will also days that you have an SD card full of beautiful photographs. Having patience and diligence play an important role in your development as a street photographer. The reward of your patience and diligence is joy. Joy in street photography is when out of randomness in making multiple frames in a scene, I was able to capture a meaningful moment that has a story to tell. I know that, that moment will not happen again and I was very fortunate that I was there in the right place at the right time to witness and record that magical moment. Awareness of your surrounding is crucial as you will need to be comfortable in the scene that you are photographing, making sure that you stay focused and be less distracted when doing your studies. Street photography will always be a reflection of yourself. It reveals who you are, your imagination, your hopes and even your fears. By presenting your work to the world, you are also opening a window for people to see who you really are. Question is, are you ready to reveal yourself to your audience? That window will reveal to everyone that you are either authentic with your vision or a mere copy cat just trying to get 'likes' from photography communities. I learned that to define your vision, you need to build a solid body of work that your audience can say is your signature work. You can only achieve this if you are consistent with your outputs. Being serious about practicing street photography is studying the works of Magnum photographers, going out often and making lots of photographs by exhausting your street scene. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? JT: When it comes to learning and appreciating photography, I would go straight to studying the photographic works of my favorite Magnum Photographers. My curiosity would always be about what made photographers like Alex Webb, David Alan Harvey and Harry Gruyaert stay in a particular street or public scene and decide to press the shutter button. What was it that they saw? What was in their minds? What emotion was prevailing during that moment? What personal battles do they need to set aside for them to focus on their work? So many questions to ask. I don’t have their published hard copy books but I do have their photographs indexed in my hard drive and several of their works are in my mobile as my 'quick inspiration recovery tool'. TPL: Do you think equipment is important in achieving your vision in your photography? What would you say to someone just starting out? JT: At some point, you need to look for your equipment or gear that will work seamlessly in translating your creative vision. Of course budget is considered highly as I don’t really believe in the idea that expensive gear is the best gear when it comes to bringing to life your photography. Always go for what you can afford based on your budget but this purchase should be backed up by good research of the system and positive consumer and expert reviews. For me, photography is never about the gear and how massively it is endorsed, but about your creative vision and output. It’s all about making the most of whatever camera you are using. Photography is never about how cool or updated your gear is, but about your creative vision and the commitment and dedication that you put in your work to develop that vision. Lastly, it is also about being consistent with your outputs because from these will eventually emerge your style that will define your work and provide identity to your brand of photography. Street photography will always be a reflection of yourself. It reveals who you are, your imagination, your hopes and even your fears. TPL: Have you ever been involved in the artistic world before photography? JT: When I was a kid, I did a lot of sketching and painting of animals and sceneries. I was also into playing the acoustic guitar that led me to do performances back in my college years. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on? JT: I’ll be launching a regular scheduled live broadcast via Facebook Live called Street Talk. This is a program with Street Photography in mind which will feature guest interviews, critique and feedback, portfolio review and insights sharing. TPL: “If I wasn't photographing what would I (like to) be... JT: I can only think of one wild thing and that is making my own house or trance music and playing it live in front of a packed crowd!” VIEW JASPER'S PORTFOLIO Jasper's website >>> Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition.

LET THE SUN SHINE Elizabeth Paoletti is mesmerized by colour, beautiful light and the tiniest details. She enjoys the challenge of photographing the mundane. LET THE SUN SHINE March 2, 2022 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Elizabeth Paoletti INTERVIEW Karen Ghostlaw Pomarico Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Elizabeth Paoletti is a passionate photographer who is always ready to take her skills to the next level. While she loves all genres of photography, she considers herself more of a creative photographer. As her interest in photography evolved, she began to experiment with different camera techniques and particularly loves using intentional camera movement to create a more abstract or artistic feel to her photos. She is mesmerized by vibrant colors, beautiful light and the tiniest details, and enjoys the challenge of photographing the mundane. Yellow is one of Elizabeth’s favorite colors and is the color of thread that ties this series of photographs together. For Elizabeth, yellow is cheerful and reminds her of her sister, Alyssa. She loves Alyssa’s sunny and positive disposition, and dedicates this selection of photographs to her. She also wants to thank her brother, Marc. He knows why. “Once I picked up the camera and understood the basics, I realized that I could play around with color, contrast, texture and pattern with more success. The irony is that I may not have been good at painting with a paintbrush, but I sure do enjoy the process of “painting” with my camera.” IN CONVERSATION WITH ELIZABETH PAOLETTI THE PICTORIAL LIST: Elizabeth, you say you were born and raised in the United States. What do you think you bring to your work as an American photographer? How does that translate to your images? ELIZABETH PAOLETTI: Not only was I born and raised in the United States, but I was raised by Italian-American parents who valued the arts. I was raised with the classics. I grew up playing the piano, and I was surrounded by opera, ballet, theater, musicals and painting. My mom is a painter, and I grew up with a lot of vivid color in the home. I believe the genesis of every artistic impulse I have revolves back to my upbringing, and in the case of my photography, I strongly resonate with brighter, more vibrant colors. TPL: When did you first pick up a camera? What was that experience like? How did you know you wanted to be a photographer? EP: I first picked up a camera when my daughter was born, and then later when my daughter decided to pursue Eventing. Eventing is essentially an equestrian triathlon where a single horse and rider compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country and show jumping. For me the most exciting part of this competition was show jumping, and I wanted to capture my daughter in action jumping over fences and other obstacles. At the time, I kept trying for successful photos using my old point-and-shoot camera on auto mode. Fast forward a year and my husband purchased my first Nikon DSLR as a Christmas gift. I must confess, it sat in the box for a long time before I actually opened it. That big Nikon camera intimidated me, but with time I began to feel more comfortable using it. In the end, I still didn’t get those satisfying shots of my daughter jumping. Show jumping is inherently dangerous. I realized I was shaking and that it wasn’t the wrong shutter speed that resulted in an out-of-focus photo, it was my nerves. It’s a mom thing. In any case, I was hooked on photography. I loved how the creative process felt. My adrenaline would pump when I looked through the viewfinder and saw something compelling. TPL: You say that you consider yourself a creative photographer, tell us what that means to you. EP: Over the years, I’ve experimented with many forms of creativity: drama, sewing, pottery, stenciling, collage, drawing, painting and interior design. I wanted so badly to be good at drawing and painting, but I was just terrible. Once I picked up the camera and understood the basics, I realized that I could play around with color, contrast, texture and pattern with more success. The irony is that I may not have been good at painting with a paintbrush, but I sure do enjoy the process of “painting” with my camera (intentional camera movement), and I feel successful in the process. TPL: Do you consider your playfulness with the camera to be part of your photographic style? EP: Definitely. Photography wouldn’t be a passion of mine if I didn’t have the opportunity to go beyond just looking through the viewfinder and clicking. Shooting through objects, creative focusing, using props to create interesting shadows and flares and intentionally moving the camera. I find all these processes very rewarding. Sometimes just pushing a button is wonderful. The world of macro is fascinating. If I were to move the camera while shooting macro, I wouldn’t have the clarity I wanted, but being playful with the camera is when I feel the most gratified. TPL: Your unique use of color is captivating, please tell us about the important role color plays in your work. EP: I grew up with bright colors in the home. At one time we had an orange rug, colorful artwork on the walls, and brightly colored seat cushions on our kitchen chairs. I connect to the happiness and joy that only vibrant colors can bring, so to express myself with my camera in this manner is immensely satisfying. TPL: You mention the 'Mundane'. What inspiration do you find in the 'Mundane'? EP: Aaahhh, the mundane. I love the challenge of photographing the ordinary, whether there are vibrant colors or not. Let’s say I’m out hiking and I want to photograph the mountainous view. I will take the picture, but I will never feel creatively satisfied with a landscape shot. Not to take anything away from all the exceptional landscape photographers out there, but for me, Mother Nature has done all the creative work. Mother Nature has given me what is big and beautiful, so I feel less challenged in the photographic process. I love photographing ordinary things in a way that sings to me and hopefully to the viewer as well. I connect to the happiness and joy that only vibrant colors can bring, so to express myself with my camera in this manner is immensely satisfying. TPL: What are some tips or advice you would give yourself if you started photography all over again? EP: I would tell my beginner photographer-self to listen with abandon to her creative voice. Art is an expression of the artist, and there is a vulnerability that goes along with that. Don’t worry about what other people think. The beauty about art is that it doesn’t want anything from you. It gives to the viewers, and the viewers decide whether the gift is right for them. Be okay with the fact that your work will not resonate with everybody. Creatively express yourself in a way that makes YOU happy. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? EP: I love Avtandil Makharoblidze. I have one of his giclees hanging on my dining room wall. His use of vibrant colors is fantastic. I also have Mahmood Sabzi hanging in my home. I adore his use of line, color and symbolism. In terms of photographers, I love Bryan Peterson’s work. You can find him on Instagram. He doesn’t know it, but he totally inspires me. His unabashed use of color is wonderful. He creates portraits, abstracts, landscapes, macros…you name it, and he does it. Not only does he do it, but he does it all so beautifully. As a photographer, I would be miserable if I were locked into one genre of photography. I want to photograph anything and everything to the best of my creative ability, so when I see the work of someone like Bryan Peterson, it motivates me beyond measure. I actually learned from him. I have taken several of his online courses and have all his books. He has a very diverse, creative and colorful approach to his picture making. TPL: What are any lasting impressions you would like to leave the viewer? What is their ‘Take Away’? EP: Color makes me feel like that six-year-old who received a new box of crayons. If I can pass that feeling along to my viewers, I’m happy. If I can distract people from their daily responsibilities by transporting them to a time when they felt more childlike and free, I’m happy. Color evokes a spectrum of emotions. I hope to evoke an authentic emotional reaction with my photography. I’m especially thrilled when people tell me that they find my work inspiring and, because of it, they want to try something new. TPL: Does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? What camera do you use? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? EP: I use a Nikon D7200 for most of my images, and I have several lenses. I’d say most of the time I am using my Nikon 18-300mm lens. When I’m shooting macro, I’m usually using my Sigma 60mm lens. At some point, I plan on transitioning to mirrorless and look forward to carrying a camera that is lighter. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist or photographer? Where do you hope to see yourself in five years? EP: One of my goals is to finally have a website. Every now and again I get asked if a photo is for sale, so I figure I'd get some content online. I’ve been working towards this goal for the past several months. It’s been a grueling process. I look forward to when I’m finally finished. I also plan on shooting several series of images and joining at least one supportive online community. There’s something very empowering and motivating about spending time with creatively like-minded people. I’d also like to be part of some gallery exhibits and to be published in print magazines. TPL: "When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… EP: Listen to music; spend time with family, both human and furry; and get my 10,000 steps in for the day." VIEW ELIZABETH'S PORTFOLIO Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition.

WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. May 17, 2026 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Marlon Ramos INTERVIEW Karen Ghostlaw Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Throughout the Hudson Valley with a focus on the city of Newburgh, New York, photographer Marlon Ramos walks familiar streets with the quiet attentiveness of someone searching for meaning within the everyday. Born in Honduras and raised in Newburgh after arriving in the United States as a child, his life has unfolded between cultures, communities, and shifting definitions of home. These experiences have shaped the way he observes the world, approaching photography not simply as documentation, but as a way to explore identity, belonging, and the subtle connections that bind people to place. Working primarily in black and white, Marlon photographs the environments and moments that emerge within the flow of ordinary life. Sidewalk conversations, storefront reflections, gestures of routine, and quiet encounters throughout the places we call home form a quiet visual conversation. Often returning to the same locations again and again, he allows time, familiarity, and instinct to guide the images he creates. In doing so, his photographs reveal the layered character of Newburgh, a city shaped by history, culture, and resilience, and an integral part of the Hudson Valley community. At the Pictorial Foundation, the physical ArtSpace of The Pictorial List Inc., where we have opened our doors in the city of Newburgh, we believe deeply in supporting the voices that emerge from the communities around us while sharing those perspectives with a wider world. Community storytelling lies at the heart of the Pictorial Foundation’s mission, and Marlon’s work reflects the spirit of the place we now call home, offering an intimate view of the people, streets, and everyday moments that shape the character of the city. It is with great pleasure that we introduce Marlon Ramos to the international community of artists and readers who engage with The Pictorial List. His photographs remind us that the search for belonging is both deeply personal and universally shared, unfolding quietly in the streets, neighborhoods, and moments that shape our sense of home. “To me, the values instilled by my grandparents, such as a person's character and their word, have gifted me with a sense of responsibility for my family and community. I care for the people around me and beyond. It translates into my personal work by making it hard for me to let time go by without photographing the area I call home and its subjects within. What happens to those moments not captured?” IN CONVERSATION WITH MARLON RAMOS TPL: You were born in Honduras and raised in Newburgh after coming to the United States at a young age. How have those early experiences shaped the way you observe people and places through photography? MARLON: I have a sense of unsettled curiosity with a constant contemplation of our connectedness. I am a firm believer that we all have something in common, even when raised in different places and despite the different messaging one can receive while growing up. I want to capture those things that feel familiar and we can identify as relatable. In the worst-case scenario, opening a window into something could become familiar. TPL: Identity and belonging seem to be recurring themes in your photographs. How has your personal journey between cultures informed the way you explore these ideas visually? MARLON: Feeling grounded or settled has been difficult, but I believe in turning it into a strength. My goal is to be able to move fluidly between the two worlds. I think there is work to be done to showcase all of the things that feel familiar to me and to hopefully the viewer. I hope to bridge different perspectives and bring people along through my photos. TPL: While studying Business Administration and Accounting, you found yourself daydreaming about photography and the world around you. What was happening internally during those years that eventually led you to pick up a camera? MARLON: I felt very unsettled and unsure about my direction in life, like most young adults, I would look around and observe how others interacted differently with the same spaces I was in. To me, it was very intriguing, and I dreamed about capturing as much as possible but did not know how. Eventually, a camera made sense. It was the first thing I bought with graduation money. I am glad I did! TPL: You began photographing seriously after a major life transition when your position was eliminated after nearly a decade in the corporate world. How did that moment change the way you viewed both your life and your surroundings? MARLON: I knew that the look I saw in my older coworkers was not something I wanted for myself in my late 50s. It was a confirmation from the universe to be true to myself. I believe in the further you walk away from your true self the heavier each step gets. I saw an opening to listen to myself, and it is a muscle that I have been working out ever since. TPL: Much of your work focuses on the places and people within your personal community of Newburgh and the Hudson Valley. What draws you to stick to “home and your backyard”, and what do you feel the city of Newburgh reveals about the broader human experience? MARLON: Through my ongoing work, I have realized how differently we live our lives, even while in close proximity to one another. It is not groundbreaking news, but when you pay close attention to the flow you cannot help but be impressed by it. We have so much in common yet there is always a feeling of separation. One can wonder how intentional it is. On the streets of Newburgh, you cannot help but notice how resilient we are as humans. It is a place with many layers, but somehow it wins over those who want to be part of the community. The emphasis is on community! In other places there's large pieces of properties with manicured landscaping creating a physical and psychological barrier. I always wonder what one is giving up in exchange for it. On the streets of Newburgh, you cannot help but notice how resilient we are as humans. TPL: You have mentioned revisiting certain locations many times in search of moments that unfold within them. What does returning to the same places teach you about time, familiarity, and the life of a community? MARLON: Time passes effortlessly, and change is sometimes very slow. Slow enough that we may not notice it in our day-to-day lives. I hope to somehow capture that gradual change. By revisiting a location repeatedly, I also hope to become familiar enough to truly capture the essence of the space and its subjects. I have a hard time accepting that one can gain a real understanding of a place from a brief visit. This practice helps me to cultivate patience and to let things be what they will be. TPL: Although you are drawn to the vibrant colors found in Latin American towns, you primarily photograph in black and white. What does black and white allow you to express that color might not? MARLON: Many agree that there is a timeless feel to B&W and that one can focus on the subject more easily. I do too. In a more superficial take, I love the tones that live within the black and white scales. I think it makes for visually appealing images. TPL: You have cited photographers like W. Eugene Smith and Daido Moriyama as inspirations. What lessons have you drawn from their work, and how do those influences appear in your own photographic language? MARLON: The commitment to their work. In the case of W. Eugene Smith, who combined beautiful photos with deep storytelling. Daido Moriyama, who used a distinct style that broke from the mold. Of course, their use of black and white is so inspirational and serves as a benchmark for so many people around the world. I am not an exception. TPL: Your work reflects a deep awareness of current events and the ways social change becomes normalized over time. How do you see photography as a tool for paying attention to those shifts? MARLON: I believe the permanent nature of a photograph allows us to document people, giving them an undeniable mark in the world. Even in challenging times, we all exist and have the right to take up space and be part of a community. TPL: When photographing the people and environments, how do you approach the responsibility of representing a community that you are deeply connected to? MARLON: I believe that I should make the effort to capture what I feel needs to be captured while allowing things to naturally unfold. I am not opposed to being in the mix to get the image, but I do not intervene. I also use an old and small camera that seems to be less jarring for the subjects. Lastly, patience and revisiting a location multiple times to truly capture something that has depth. TPL: Your work often asks questions about what it means to belong and how we create a sense of home wherever we are. Through your photographs, what do you hope viewers might reconsider about community, diversity, surrounding communities and the ways we coexist with one another? MARLON: Even if only one image feels familiar to you out of the many, you have to understand that there is a thread that connects us all. That the scenes and subjects are part of this time and world. We are all in this together. Undeniably. PORTFOLIO INSTAGRAM read more interviews >>> THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition.