We are on a mission to discover new photographers, and the most pictorial and interesting photo stories out there. SPOTLIGHT / EMMA VARGA London UNITED KINGDOM AARON RUBINO ABBIE BRIGGS ABDULLA SHINOSE CK ABHAY PATEL ABHISHEK SINGH ADAM SINCLAIR ADESH GAUR ADRIAN PELEGRIN ADRIAN TAN ADRIAN WHEAR AGATA LO MONACO AHMET HOJAMYRADOV AJ BERNSTEIN ALAN THEXTON ALEJANDRO DAVILA ALESSANDRO GIUGNI ALEX FRAYNE ALEX GOTTFRIED BONDER ALEX RUTHERFORD ALEXANDRA AVLONITIS ALEXANDROS ZILOS ALEXEY STRECHEN ALICIA HABER AMY HOROWITZ AMY NEWTON McCONNEL GET ON THE LIST © John St.

The Pictorial List is a global online magazine exploring the beauty and complexity of all things photography. CODE GIRL ART EXHIBITION May 30 to July 26 This exhibition positions GIRL as structure, as manifesto, and as blueprint. It moves beyond representation, unfolding as a system that shapes how work comes into being, finds its place, and is experienced. ALTERED PERCEPTIONS There is a deliberate precision in Dan Florin’s work that reveals itself over time, both in the image and in the process behind it. Latest features PICTORIAL STORY ARE THOSE WINDS Along Istanbul’s northern edge, Ci Demi photographs the last water buffalo herders as they keep working, remembering, and staying put while the city closes in. INTERVIEW 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. PICTORIAL STORY COLORS OF HUZUN Through fragments and gestures, Pedro Vidal traces Istanbul as shared melancholy lingers in everyday life, the city unfolding slowly and refusing to settle into a single, definitive understanding. PICTORIAL STORY OUT OF PLAY An exploration of abandoned interiors in which Marco Lugli examines how objects, light, and space carry memory beyond human presence, establishing absence as a condition of material continuity rather than loss. PICTORIAL STORY REIMAGINING TALIESIN Form gives way to flux in Amy Newton-McConnel’s photographs, where architecture unfolds as a field of shifting relations and perception moves with light, geometry, and time. PICTORIAL STORY WHERE THE MUSIC BEGINS Before the strings, Jeevan Akash Jayavarthanan leaves the movement of the street for the rhythm of the workshop, where time holds, hands work, and each moment forms what will later be heard. PICTORIAL STORY LAND, LABOR AND THE GOLDEN FIBER In West Bengal’s jute fields, Rajesh Dhar examines the systems of land and labor, tracing how a single material sustains communities and informs a changing ecological future. PICTORIAL STORY WITH GRATITUDE AND DEVOTION A quiet and intimate account of devotion in Zaraza, Venezuela, Rafael Ayala Páez reflects on faith, memory, and community through photographs and words that honor the enduring power of small gestures. PICTORIAL STORY SILVER AND BREATH Within this fragile space between looking and being seen, Eva Christina Nielsen has developed a practice that is both restrained and deeply attentive. INTERVIEW 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. PICTORIAL STORY RUPTURE REPAIR REMNANT In this reflection on rupture, Donna Bassin invites us to consider how grief settles into the body and the image, and how the slow work of witnessing becomes a form of repair. PICTORIAL STORY DELTA DUSK John Agather weaves image and text into a single current, tracing how music, memory, and daily life continue to move through the Mississippi Delta. PICTORIAL STORY SILENT BEAUTY Tamara Quadrelli photographs the world by slowing down inside it. There is no rush to explain what we are seeing. The pleasure comes from staying with it. PICTORIAL STORY SOLITUDE UNDER A TECHNIFIED SUN Tracing the space between movement and stillness, Héctor Morón reveals a city that persists as human presence slips by. PICTORIAL STORY 4320 MINUTES WITHOUT COLOR Moving between photography and narration, Mohammed Nahi traces a period in which sight could no longer be assumed as reliable, and attention shifted toward memory and duration. MUTABLE MORPHOGENESIS By merging scientific methodologies with photographic experimentation, Emma Varga creates images that challenge fixed distinctions between human and non-human, visible and invisible. New York, New York! PICTORIAL STORY NYC SUBWAY RIDERS BEFORE THE INVASTION OF SMARTPHONES Hiroyuki Ito’s subway photographs reveal a vanished intimacy. INTERVIEW FABRIC OF NEW YORK VISUALS Elle Clarke lives NYC — snapping its heart and hustle with her smartphone, one real city moment at a time! INTERVIEW NOD OF RECOGNITION B Jane Levine’s portraits give a playful wink — inviting a nod of recognition to the hidden stories we all carry inside. INTERVIEW NEW YORK IMPROVISATIONS Fast-moving, off-kilter, witty, raw and classic film noir define Bill Lacey's photography. PICTORIAL STORY MERMAID MAGIC AJ Bernstein captures the magic of the Mermaid Parade—where fantasy, freedom, and community come together in a sea of color and joy. INTERVIEW GOTHAM MEMORIES Jeff Rothstein clicks, time unfolds — capturing the heart of the city in timeless frames, from 1969 to today. PICTORIAL STORY TAKING THE PLUNGE Carol Dronsfield takes the plunge with the Coney Island’s Polar Bears, capturing the chill, the thrill, and the heart. INTERVIEW THE AUTHENTIC GAZE Amy Horowitz says “Don’t Smile”— and in doing so, captures the real and wonderfully unscripted faces of New York City. VOLUME ONE- NEW YORK BUY NOW EXHIBITION CODE GIRL May 30 to July 26 2026 Opening Party May 30 @ 5pm This exhibition positions GIRL as structure, as manifesto, and as blueprint. It moves beyond representation, unfolding as a system that shapes how work comes into being, finds its place, and is experienced. MORE INFO © Woobie join the Pictorial Community >>> Follow us on Instagram #thepictoriallist @thepictorial.list Load More THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. Interviews you may have missed REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE Camille J. Wheeler documents Austin's streets, with a particular focus on its homeless community. COMEDIANS Steve Best documents the British comedy scene, backstage and on stage, the highs and lows, and the joy of being a comedian. QUARANTINE IN QUEENS Neil Kramer's humorous and compassionate lockdown diary has gone viral. ENROUTE TO THE PINES Robert Sherman shares his documentary series about drag queens celebrating the 'Invasion of the Pines'. SERVICE INTERRUPTION Wojciech Karlinski documented Poland train stations during the pandemic, highlighting their formal and aesthetic side. VOICES OF THE NILE Voices of the Nile by Bastien Massa and Arthur Larie is a project documenting the relationship of Ethiopians with the Blue Nile. BREAKS FROM REALITY The magic only dreams are made of become reality for viewers as they engage in the poetic imagery of Mariëtte Aernoudts. BEYOND THE STORY Through her documentary photography, Christina Simons is compelled to tell the stories of those who are unable to do so themselves. © Russell Cobb Stay up to date Subscribing to The Pictorial List means joining a community that values visual storytelling. You will get exclusive content, inspiring pictorial stories, thoughtful interviews, book reviews, and more — delivered weekly to your inbox. Media Partners

GALLERY BUILDING A SOLID FOUNDATION November 15, 2023 GALLERY PHOTOGRAPHY Martin Parr Foundation TEXT Karen Ghostlaw Pomarico SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link For over 50 years British photographer Martin Parr has explored humanity, documenting his observations through the lens of a camera that has helped define a generation of British culture. He has exposed the way societies globally live their day to day lives, how they play, work, consume, communicate, revealing connections or disconnections to community. The years of experience focusing through the lens of a camera created an awareness and desire to support photography in more meaningful ways. In the fall of 2017, the Martin Parr Foundation opened their doors in Bristol, United Kingdom. I asked Martin where the idea and motivation came from, to create the Martin Parr Foundation. “For over 20 years I have been collecting prints and books. More recently, I have started specializing in British photography, and I decided I needed a foundation to launch this so I could officially collect them, find a building to exhibit them, build an archive, build a library, and that is what happened. And in 2017, we opened the current site where we are at now. I had an office in London with maybe 4 people working there, we all helped look for buildings in Bristol. About 6 months of looking, we found our new home. The Foundation started a charity, and the charity bought the Foundation’s building. I have another building in Bristol that I have had for ten years in fact, and we are continuing to expand. We are about to purchase a building next to our current one.” Martin Parr and his foundation have a mission, and together with his inspirational Board of Trustees, they are devoted and work diligently to accomplishing the Foundation’s Mission Statement. MARTIN PARR FOUNDATION SUPPORTS EMERGING, ESTABLISHED AND OVERLOOKED PHOTOGRAPHERS, WHO HAVE MADE AND CONTINUE TO MAKE WORK FOCUSED ON BRITAIN AND IRELAND. WE PRESERVE A GROWING COLLECTION OF SIGNIFICANT PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKS AND STRIVE TO MAKE PHOTOGRAPHY ENGAGING AND ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL. WE ARE COMMITTED TO MAKING THE MARTIN PARR FOUNDATION A PLACE FOR EVERYONE AND TO REFLECT THE DIVERSITY OF BRITISH AND IRISH CULTURE. Speaking with Martin, he shared more about their collection and what the Foundation specializes in. “We specialize in post war British and Irish photography, and photographers that have worked here from abroad. I feel British documentary photography is very good, it's underrated, so I feel it is my job in a sense to build a collection of this, I am not the only one that has a good collection, James Hyman Gallery in London has a good collection, the V&A has a good collection, the Tate has come into photography of course much later, but are sort of making good progress, so I am not unique in this. I think we have every book of interest post war about British photography that has been published.” Martin put together a heavy hitting select group of driven individuals, with the same goals in helping him and the foundation achieve their short-term and long-term goals. The Martin Parr Foundation is a family foundation with nine present board members including Martin, his wife and their daughter. They all have specific focus and talents that combined are the engines that drive the foundation to achieve their short-term goals. They are committed to providing their combined resources to successfully realize their long-term goals for the future. When I asked Martin what were some of the challenges he faced along the way and how did he overcome them. Remarkably Martin has not had any challenges really. The team works seamlessly with diligence to create a valuable resource of sustainability for British and Irish photography. It is what drives and inspires them. “We have over 500 members, a terrific response from the public, we do a book fair. Everything else is looking pretty good actually, so the challenge of finding an audience has been met very successfully. We do a bit of social media organizing, we have a very good social media person, most of the outcome is done for free. We are aiming of course to find other photographers, people interested in photography, and I think we have done that all pretty successfully.” In 2021, the Martin Parr Foundation launched a photographic bursary to support Black, Asian and minority ethnic photographers in the United Kingdom, extending their outreach embracing even more unrecognized talented visual storytellers, helping to diversify, support, and represent a broader range of brilliant photography. I asked Martin what was the inspiration for the commitment of the foundation to support emerging and unrecognized photographers. How do you find them, how do they find you? “As I mentioned before, I think British photographers are underrated, and some of the more established names have not received the recognition they deserve, and young new emerging photographers need to have shows in public spaces. We are very happy to give a photographer their first show, it's always a great thrill to do that, and to see the show very well received, and to see them go on and take part in the whole business of being a British photographer. People write to us and send us books all the time, and I'm always on the lookout for emerging photographers. We are in social media and magazines, constantly looking for new people who are interesting to get in touch with.” When the Martin Parr Foundation supports an artist, it is a process of enabling the artist to grow by giving them the support they need. It is a long-term relationship they nurture, and it is rewarding to the photographer as well and to the trustees and members of the foundation. “We help them make a selection, we help them print it out, we have a very good PR person who is getting very good publicity for all our shows. So, we basically apply all the skills we have here, especially when they are emerging photographers, so they can benefit from having a very professional, very interesting, good solid show, with a good response.” I wondered if all the work for the foundation over the years and all the photographers Martin has encountered have had any impact on the way he engages his own photography. “Not really, no it's an add on, which I'm very happy to have, you know I’ve been a photographer for all these years, and I have all this energy so I can invest it in other things as well. And also trying things for new, trying things that are a challenge, that is always fun. Getting the foundation up and running, getting the membership, getting the audiences for our talks, our book festival, etcetera.” As photographers it is a daunting task to organize a system to archive our work. Can you imagine this task being left to our children, or our siblings. I inquired about why the foundation has taken the responsibility of some photographers' archives. Food for thought for all photographers as we collect vast libraries of photographic information and materials. “This is a big problem that all the photographers of my generation, have to face, what are they going to do with their archives, so yeah, there is no x, y or z here, not like in America, so you just have to do it, organize it for yourself. It often falls on the children of the photographer, so that is one thing I wanted to avoid, when you have one daughter, I didn't want to lumber her with the task of sorting it all out.” I asked Martin what have been some of the Martin Parr Foundation's high points as well as any low points over the years. “We just had our book festival which had thousands of people through, we had nine talks. We had another joint photobook festival with BOP, Books on Photography. More people than ever before attended, there were more talks than ever before, and all talks were full. Then we had a quiz on Saturday night at a local bar that was very well attended, so everything has been great. That's one of the high points really, just to see all these people come here. No low points really at all.” When I asked Martin what some of the long-term and short-term goals of the Foundation are, he told me, “More of the same, both to both.” They will continue to secure the photographic legacy of British and Irish photographers, while inspiring and supporting new visual storytellers that will create a new dialogue for the future of photography. “Being a collector of many things, especially photo books. I asked what was the first book in his collection, and Martin immediately replied, “‘The Americans’ by Robert Frank. It is one of the great books of the 21st century. And ‘A Day Of’, by Tony Ray-Jones.” Daido Moriyama would also be in the top ten authors and books in his collection. Martin explained how it is not just the photographs that inspire him, but it is the whole package, the way the artists developed the concept of the book, the paper, layout, binding, all play a role in what makes a book special and rare. Straightforward and simple like Robert Frank ‘The Americans’ as well as the more complex works by Daido Moriyama, all bring inspiration through the combination of how they feel, how they work as a complete thought process, because the photographs are just brilliant.” I asked Martin Parr what he does with the moments he is not out helping to change and support the world of photography, and what gives him personal pleasure in his time off. “Well, I like to go out to eat, I like having walks, which is somewhat limited due to my having Myeloma. I can't walk as far as before, but on nice breaks, I go with my wife. We've been together for 48 years I think now, which is a long time.” Martin is as committed to his family as he is to his work. He relies on their valued contributions to the foundation and enjoys the life they have made together and shared. The Pictorial List would like to thank Martin Parr for his time and candor answering our questions and enlightening us about what the Martin Parr Foundation is diligently working to achieve. Photography is a process driven form of expression. From learning the process of capturing light through apertures for different lengths of time, to the process of turning a negative into a positive. As photographers we process our critical and creative thoughts focusing through the lens for our definition of that expression. We are grateful for organizations like the Martin Parr Foundation, that help support photography and photographers of the past as well as genuinely mentor and create new opportunities for photographers of the future. VIEW WEBSITE CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author/s, and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List and the team.

BOOK TRAVELLERS & THE APPLEBY HORSE FAIR January 27, 2023 BOOK PHOTOGRAPHY David Gilbert Wright TEXT David Gilbert Wright SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Deep in the heart of the County once called Westmorland, near to the Lake District lies the small town of Appleby, nestled on the side of a valley straddling the River Eden. The Settle to Carlisle railway runs through this town, being one of the stops on it on what is known as the most scenic railway journey in England. Appleby has become known for the horse fair that first came into being in 1685. It is the biggest horse fair of its kind attracting thousands of people. So what actually happens at the fair? Travellers, Gipsy and Roma come from across the British Isles in the week preceding, a fair that is usually held in June. They travelled to Appleby using both motorised and horse drawn vehicles. Horses and ponies of all kinds, sizes and breeds arrive at the town to be exhibited, shown off and sold. The traveller community pitch up there bow-tops, motorhomes and mobile caravans in up to severn fields outside of the town boundary. They have been doing this now for centuries and as such, it has become a time when they meet and renew friendships, acquaintances and business bonds. I first became aware of the Appleby horse fair in the early 1980s quite by chance and in a totally different context. I was travelling India engaged in a different photographic project. I arrived in the desert town Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. It was the home of the Pushchair Camel Fair. It was here that a local told me of the horse fair in England. Many years passed before I got around to photographing it. I had seen other photographers’ pictures of the fair. They concentrated on the show parts like ‘The flash’, which is where those selling their horses ride them at speed up and down the hill into the town. Another well photographed scene is the horses being ridden around the River Eden. I realised that one aspect of the fair seemed to be relatively under photographed. It was the actual trading aspect. This involved getting the horses ready by washing and grooming and then doing the deal. It all takes place way out of town in the quiet roads and farm tracks near Gallows Hill and the Long Marton crossroads. Here you can find, if you are lucky, groups of mainly men sizing up the horses, haggling and eventually sealing the deals. Listening in to one deal, I heard the man suggest a horse was past it in order to keep the price down, while the other argued that it was capable of pulling a trap at speed. Each tried to position the price until a compromise was reached. Bluff and bravado were key and eventually they would spit on their palms and seal the deal with a handshake. (I was witnessing something that had not changed for centuries). Traveller, Gypsy and Romany people have for a long time been heavily involved with horses. They take them seriously and care for them greatly. However, these people have traditionally been regarded with suspicion when they arrive in a town or village. Why is that? Humanity has moved through a number of phases from its origins as hunter-gatherers. The advent of arable farming brought a need to settle and enclose the land to protect the crops. As production increased so did the need to trade surpluses. Settlements grew into market towns and the enclosure of more and more land put pressure on those still moving their livestock to give up that lifestyle. It is easy to see how the communities would regard such people as 'other' or outsiders. To protect their own way of life, settled people started to invent stories about the travellers as untrustworthy. Crimes were attributed wrongly to them. Even in recent times, we were told "Don't trust a tinker!" My grandparents were collectively grouping anyone who seemed to fit the bill of living in a caravan and moving around the country. The business of buying and selling horses was the province of men. Caring for the horses, exercising them and learning the ropes are what the young boys do prior to their rite of passage. Becoming a man to these families involves many things but one thing that is apparent is that horsemanship is in the blood. This can be seen during the fair as boys and girls come and go along the country lanes, riding the horses. Look closer and you realise that most ride 'bareback' with just a pair of reins. And the speed! What is it about the young? They seem to love speed. Galloping along with the wind in their faces, they are natural riders. Another thing you cannot help noticing is the boys sport very smart, hairstyles. Shaved around the back and sides and long on top, neatly combed and greased back. As they ride past or stand holding their horses they chat to each other, unaware of the way girls are looking at them. The fair is not just a place where people renew friendships and trade horses. It is where the emerging adolescents begin their journey into relationships and adulthood. Teenager boys would brag about how fast their horses were in the way that teenagers in our wider society talked about their cars. Teenage girls, who were just coming of age would be dressed so glamorously you might be mistaken thinking that you were at a prestigious fashion show. Their aim, I was told was “to get the attention of the of the lads” and they certainly did that! Pressure has been on the Authorities to curtail or even end the Horse Fair. However, the reasons put forward are dubious. The Police have stated that given the size of the fair with up to 10,000 visitors, the level of crime is extremely low with only 7 arrests in 2021, mostly for drunkenness. Only 29 tonnes of litter was left in 2021, much from the small businesses and all was cleared at no expense the ratepayers. Indeed, many local businesses benefit from the fair. It would be wrong to stop the Appleby Horse Fair for unsubstantiated reasons. It seems to be more a case of prejudice than actually evidence. PORTFOLIO CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List and the team.

EXHIBITION QUIRKYVISION June 8, 2022 EXHIBITION PHOTOGRAPHY Meryl Meisler TEXT Karen Ghostlaw Pomarico SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link When you talk about influential women in the field of photography, Meryl Meisler certainly comes to mind. Her lifetime achievements radiate the energy and dedication she has devoted to her practice through her passion found in photography. The Norita camera fits Meryl like a glove, it has become the tool for her intuitive, spontaneous, and authentic look at the world she engages. “Being a photographer, I have gained a sense of purpose and the importance of being open-minded to familiar and previously unknown. It reinforces my sense of personal perception and meaning through experiences, places, people, meetings, and emotions. I am here for a reason.” - Meryl Meryl remembers growing up seeing a camera in her grandfather's and father's hands always documenting their lives. Neither of them were photographers but the camera was an integral part of their very existence, and Meryl became very familiar with it at an early age. Meryl was seven when she got her first camera, and it was the beginning of her journey as a photographer. She describes her biggest influence as photography being just a part of her life. It wasn't until her visit to MoMA in the Fall of ‘73, when she saw a Diane Arbus Exhibit and described it as a, “moving experience, like witnessing photography for the very first time.” Meryl was enrolled in her first photography class in 1973 at the University of Wisconsin, where the professor Cavalliere Ketchum introduced Meryl to the ‘French Connection’, the work of Jacques Henri Lartigue, Brassaï, and Lisette Model. Meryl shares their influences, “Lartigue’s decades-long visual diary of playful family and friends, Brassai’s effervescent and daring Paris by Night, and Model’s upfront street and performers inspired my visual diary of family, friends, work, and nightlife celebrating with the snapshot aesthetic. Wanting to study with Model was reason enough to move to NYC in 1975.” After receiving her degree from the University of Wisconsin, Meryl returned to New York and studied with renowned photographer Lisette Model. Meryl shares a pivotal moment, “I think the main thing I learned from her was that it was the image, the story; it wasn’t the technique. It wasn’t specifically the lighting, but it was the genuine gut feeling of a photograph. And I thought the most important thing that she gave me was just to go forth, go forth and keep doing what you’re doing because it’s real. She only gave positive comments. I only took one class with her, I did other ones, but it was very pivotal.” The ‘French Connection’ does not stop there, as Meryl explains, “Flash forward to 2012; Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, a French filmmaker, living in Bushwick and owner of BIZARRE, a drag/burlesque club, discovered my work while researching his new neighborhood. BIZARRE published “A Tale of Two Cities Disco Era Bushwick” (2014) and “Purgatory & Paradise SASSY ‘70s Suburbia & The City” (2015). Sauvaire helped me edit “New York PARADISE LOST Bushwick Era Disco” (Parallel Pictures Press 2021) from concept to finish. French director and journalist Sophie Peyrard, did the first review of my books in a French magazine, Lui. After that, she made a film about my work for ARTE. You can view the film on YouTube. Sophie Peyrard introduced my work to Fany Dupêche, Project Director, who invited me to participate in Festival Portrait(s). Merci beaucoup!" Meryl adores live theater, and like Shakespeare believes “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely the players”. These are the sets Meryl lives in, how she experiences life, this is her inspiration to create the unique portraits with truth and authenticity. Meryl did not walk onto her sets as a photographer, but as a player in the same game, that just brought their camera along. She was not always photographing but simply participating and having fun. Her fellow players opened up to her, and this is when the magic happened. She engages subjects that some are uncomfortable with, and with open arms, an artful eye, and contagious smile, her enthusiasm and humor instantly makes for a genuine connection, allowing for the magic to take place. I know this for a fact. I have been fortunate to experience this connectivity and magic. We met one evening at a NYC Women Street Photographers get together hosted by Gulnara Samoilova. I was walking across the room of very impressive women photographers when I walked to get some wine, our paths crossed. “Meryl Meisler” as her hand extended, I stumbled for my words, who am I? I mumbled Karen Ghostlaw Pomarico. “Karen Ghostlaw Pomarico” Meryl repeated with such enthusiasm, “With a name like Ghostlaw, you need no other name! Just Ghostlaw!”, and in that moment I stepped into my skin. Meryl embraces people for who they really are, perhaps inspiring them to be everything they could be. Meryl captures the “joie de vivre”, a sense of the excitement of the moment, accepting and admiring the uniqueness in all of us. She does not try to change anybody she photographs, but falls in love with who they truly are. Meryl describes her work, in retrospect, “I have come to realize that for me, photography is a form of visual memoir. I photograph the people, places, things, and things that call my attention and usually lift my spirits. My work traverses documentary, performative and street photography.” Meryl spends much of her time in her new darkroom in her home making beautiful silver gelatin prints from negatives when not out shooting with her three Noritas, a Japanese medium format camera and optics. Her babies are near and dear to her and are a unique attribute to the way she shoots, and very much indicative of her personality. Meryl has grown from her dedication and commitment to the field of photography. “Being a photographer, I have gained a sense of purpose and the importance of being open-minded to familiar and previously unknown. It reinforces my sense of personal perception and meaning through experiences, places, people, meetings, and emotions. I am here for a reason.” We are grateful to Meryl for her candor and authenticity not only in her photography, but in the way she embraces the world around her. We look forward to the next ‘French Connection’. For more inspiration, have a look at their website, and follow them on instagram. Be inspired and get their books, and if you have a chance to see their work in person, it is a must! There is a good chance you will see Meryl there, say hello and experience the magic for yourself. This is the perfect time to share with you the latest addition to Meryl’s ‘French Connection’, her Press release from her up and coming exhibition at the tenth Portrait Festival in Vichy France. Meryl Meisler: QUIRKYVISION PORTRAIT(S) Festival A Photography Encounter in Vichy, France June 24 to September 4, 2022 Every day, 10:00 to 19:00 Saturdays 10:00 to 22:00 from July 14 – August 15th Meryl Meisler's QUIRKYVISION will be installed at Le Palais des Congrès de Vichy during the PORTRAIT(S) Tenth Annual Festival in Vichy, France, from June 24 through September 4, 2022. Impertinent and humorous, Meryl Meisler plunges us into a captivating city and time, 1970s and 1980s New York. Her shots celebrate disco evenings and strip-tease clubs, her Jewish family and Long Island suburb, or life in a public school in one of the roughest Brooklyn neighborhoods. Inspired by Diane Arbus and Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Meryl Meisler, who was born in 1951, studied with legendary photographer Lisette Model while documenting her own life, with her camera screwed to her quirky eye. It was only when she retired from being a teacher in 2010 that she began releasing her archives, which led to the creation of this event. As a time capsule of New York in the seventies and eighties, her shots are a simultaneous celebration of discos and strip clubs, her Jewish family and Long Island suburb, or NYC public school life in one of Brooklyn’s toughest neighborhoods. Impertinent and comical, Meryl Meisler captures in black and white or color moments of pure joy at the center of daily hardships, plunging us into a fascinating time and city. This tenth Portrait(s) Festival in Vichy will celebrate the arts in the plural and have a lot of surprises. The Grand Casino will be transformed into a temple of photography, with exhibitions, conferences, and projections before moving into the public space, in this spa city by the Allier River. The thirteen exhibitions feature work by Christophe Acker, Charlotte Boudon, Omar Victor Diop, Henrike Stahl, Marie Magnier, Meryl Meisler, Éric Poupy, Kourtney Roy, Komath Studio. Brigitte Patient. Christian Tagliavini. Alain Willaume, and photography by ninth-grade students at the Collège des Célestins. Come on a delightful photographic wander through Vichy, virtually or in person! Note: Meryl Meisler will be present at Portrait(s) Vichy on June 24th and June 25th. PORTFOLIO CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

BOOK OLD CUSTOMS October 9, 2020 BOOK PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Suspect TEXT Melanie Meggs SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link A whimsical take on street photography, Chris Suspect’s new book OLD CUSTOMS combines visual references to Romanian fairy tales, turn of the century embroidery patterns and scenes from a remote fishing village. Chris is a street and documentary photographer from the Washington DC area in the United States. His street work specialises in capturing absurd and profound moments in the quotidian and his documentary work deep dives into various subcultures. His exploration of sub-cultures have resulted in images that are raw and intimate, making us think or evoke a reaction. They contain something unexpected. Chris’s latest book OLD CUSTOMS gathers images that were photographed over a period of three years in Vama Veche, a seaside town in Romania. Originally visiting as a guest of a photography and visual arts festival called VSLO in 2017, he was curious about the first generation of Romanians who did not have the personal experience of what it was like to live under the rule of Nicolae Ceausescu’s dictatorial state. His curiosity stemmed from his own personal experience growing up in Moscow in the seventies during the reign of Leonid Brezhnev. He recalls how dark, bleak and miserable it was for him as a young person during that time. To be separated from this political ideology by the sliver of one generation was interesting to Chris, and he wanted to explore these ideas photographically. He returned to Vama Veche in August 2018 and 2019 to work on his project. Vama Veche became known as a bastion of freedom from the prying eyes of Ceausescu in the late 1960s through the 1980s, which really intrigued Chris. To him it seemed the polar opposite of what he had experienced. The challenge for Chris was to express the experience of his youth in Communist Russia and juxtapose that with what he was seeing in the young people he met in Vama Veche in photographs. “The goal for me photographically was how to express not having known this type of oppression in my imagery. To be free from it in a sense, while acknowledging its presence without showing it’s presence, if that makes any sense,” he explains. Vama Veche is a remote village off the shore of the Black Sea in Romania´s far southeast, on the border of Romania and Bulgaria. The literal translation of “Vama Veche” to English is “old customs”. The perfect title for this project and book. The settlement of Vama Veche was founded in 1811 by Turkic people. With the rise of Ceausescu in 1965, it became known as an oasis of freedom, a rebel town where poets and writers commingled with the local fishermen. The village grew into a colony of intellectuals living in tents or renting rooms from the locals. Since those times, Vama Veche has become known as a nontraditional tourist destination. According to Chris, it has “this Woodstock hippie vibe” to it that retains the original spirit of the village, although over the course of the three years working on his project, Chris did start to notice Vama Veche changing. His main goal was to capture the sense of freedom he was experiencing through the people he met. He focused on the ideas of freedom and youth tethered to history by referencing Romanian mythology and Soviet-era propaganda, capturing the evidence of Western culture and commercialisation through his street photography, conceptual ideas, and some nude portraiture. Instead of taking a literal or documentarian approach to the layout of the book, Chris sequenced all the images together in the style of a modern fairy tale filled with beauty, magic, myth and mystery. A lot of the photographs in the book are straight street photography observations that Chris shot spontaneously, mixed with a few traditional portraits and nudes. He also shot several conceptual photographs using a mirror as a prop. This was an interesting development to his process and was something completely new for Chris. After hearing the song “I’ll Be Your Mirror” by The Velvet Underground on the radio whilst in his kitchen, he pondered the popular idea of a photograph being the mirror of the photographer and he wondered how he could turn that idea around by placing a mirror on people’s heads. In Romania, Chris created a mirror mask consisting of a round mirror mounted on a pair of protective goggles, to incorporate this idea into his project. Mirrors can connote many different interpretations and they have historically been used in art and literature to symbolise ideas of truth, discovery, wisdom, awareness, the conscious and the unconscious. When Chris discovered that he could create a sunburst with the mirror, he became enthralled with the idea that he could conceptually elevate the people he photographed into gods or goddesses. The resulting photographs reminded him of some of the iconography in old Communist propaganda posters. When showing his work to one of his Romanian friends, she told Chris that they reminded her of the legend of the Sanzienale, beautiful mythological nymphs often seen with bright yellow flowers on the crowns of their heads. During the editing process this new information opened Chris’s eyes to a potentially deeper connection with the framework of the book. The idea of incorporating this mythological interpretation of the story of the Sanzienale tied in nicely to his photographs' theme of youth and freedom tethered to the history of Romania. As Chris was creating the book he came up with the ideas of using old Romanian embroidery patterns to delineate the sequences of different segments instead of the customary blank page that is commonly used in photographic narratives. After researching such patterns on the internet, Chris found some from around the turn of the 20th century and recreated them using Adobe Illustrator. What he learned by doing this is that many of the patterns formed a secret code or language that was synonymous to that specific region in Romania. They reinforced the idea of history throughout his book. In essence, “Old Customs” is a mix of different approaches that work well together within the context of Chris’s body of work. Reflective and whimsical, this book opens up other possibilities for street photography, taking us on a journey to discover traditions, customs, folk stories and mythology, and revealing the incredible richness of ordinary human life experiences in Vama Veche. Old Customs is the third of four photo books that Chris is publishing this year. The first was Gratuity Included and the second was Leather Boyz. You can buy Chris' books through his website. PORTFOLIO CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List and the team.

BOOK GROUNDED May 3, 2021 BOOK PHOTOGRAPHY Samantha Brown TEXT Samantha Brown INTRODUCTION Melanie Meggs SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Samantha Brown is a British-Canadian photographer, and a digital nomad. Over the last year Samantha has documented the pandemic, mostly from the back of her campervan named Juno, whilst travelling safely in line with local lockdown restrictions. GROUNDED is her first book. How does a pandemic affect a physical place, and our sense of self within it? That's the question that Samantha pondered on a ten month, socially distanced journey in 2020. Departing India prior to the grounding of flights in March, Samantha documented the empty streets of Bristol during the first lockdown, before venturing to Europe via a deserted ferry as restrictions eased. Along the way, she encountered an out-of-season, out-of-time atmosphere that haunted every landscape, allowing her to explore themes such as alienation, loneliness and the isolation of travel. GROUNDED is a photo book of visible beauty towards a deeper well of immersive, indefinable emotion filled with promise and hope. Every page is a joy to look at by itself. The book can be understood as a travel memoir, too, inspiring those who are wanting to begin a similar journey. Grounded is presented as a special boxed book with a signed 10x8" print. Available exclusively from www.artdecomagpie.com (ADM Publishing). First edition run of 150 copies. Published: April 2021 by ADM Publishing Book - 70pp softback book on 170gsm paper. 350gsm cover with matt laminate. Perfect bound. Digitally printed. 253mmx203mm. ISBN: 978-1-9997596-3-6 READ INTERVIEW CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List and the team.

BOOK 18 >> 20 October 18, 2023 BOOK PHOTOGRAPHY Elsa Arrais TEXT Paulo Kellerman Excerpt from interview by Karen Ghostlaw Pomarico SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Elsa Arrais is a photographer living and creating impressive work in Leiria, Portugal. Born in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Elsa has become a beautiful thread in the tapestry of Portugal. With a background in Engineering, her attraction to visual arts emerged almost imperceptibly and gradually photography became her means of expression and artistic object. Elsa is married and the mother of two beautiful children, living and being inspired by the intricacies of the city of Leiria. Here Elsa has forged a path for her photography by embracing the artists and writers that bring life and character to Leiria in new and exciting ways. In 2021 began an important journey in photography contributing to the collaborative group Fotographar Palavras, and becoming an integral part of their project. Fotographar Palavras is a group founded by Paulo Kellerman, that combines the talent of writers and photographers, engaging them to collaborate on translating words into photography. Elsa shares her inspiration. “Since 2021, I have contributed to the Fotografar Palavras project, where I often search the self-portrait for the defining elements of meaning. With a predilection for minimalist black and white, my visual exploration is guided by local and temporal ephemera, transforming the peculiarities of the details that I find, in the streets I wander, into brief windows, fragments or reflections of memories and personal essences.” Despite all these years living in Leiria, Elsa never felt a real connection with the city. As a mother of two children, it can be hard to find time to call your own, to focus on what inspires you as an artist, and to commit to making the time to create work. These disconnections became the motivation for the photographic base concept of this project ‘18>>20’, which was conceived to embrace these challenges, and create meaningful work. Elsa shares the creative and critical thinking processes that helped her breathe life into her project and give it a powerful direction. “This project emerged with the intention of connecting me with the city and naturally with myself. The use of a 28mm lens served to reinforce this aim of proximity and intimacy with the city, both metaphorically and technically. From this reflection of my relationship with the city, capturing both details and subtleties as well as the city's identity marks, at the end of this project I came across a series of images that subtly lead to a city-shelter. This theme ended up being as personal as it was universal and will therefore serve as the basis for a cycle of reflective conversations developed in partnership with the municipality of Leiria, publisher of the book.” With critical thoughts and ideologies in place, the creative process becomes the focus. Elsa was driven to make the commitment to create this work in a meaningful way. “During one year, always at the same time of the day (between 18 and 20 o’clock), I wandered around the city and photographed Leiria freely. I created a collection of hundreds of images, composing a subtle and emotional portrait of the city, capturing details and subtleties, permanence and mutations, the subtle identity marks that define the soul of constructions and nature, of spaces, of people. From each weekly selected photograph by Paulo Kellerman, he created a brief text (amalgamation of fiction, philosophical reflection and poetic narrative) that offers new possibilities of reading for those images. The aim of this collaborative work (52 weeks, 52 photos, 52 texts) was to compose a simultaneously artistic, emotional, poetic and imagery portrait of the city in a predetermined period of time, in an intimate relationship between emotion and reflection, urbanism and privacy, collective and individual, space and time, image and word.” One can make a significant statement through their personal work, while sometimes the power can be amplified by combining artistic energy and vision from another artist to create an entity larger than oneself. This was the dynamic and inspiration for both artists to produce this relevant work together. Elsa explains the relationship between her and Paulo Kellerman, and how effective they have become at exchanging artistic concepts and visions through photography and word. “Fascinated by the various readings, interpretations and meanings that are normally attributed to my photographs by observers, already collaborating at the time in a project that combines literature and photography and being an avid supporter of multidisciplinary and interconnection of various artistic expressions, the partnership with the local writer Paulo Kellerman came naturally. Mutual respect and trust in individual works allowed us both to be free in the process of creating images and texts. And it was from this freedom, trust, interconnection of interpretations, individual complicities with the city and complicities between photographer and writer that a new vision as collective as personal was born, created week after week. This process culminated in the publication of a book where growth and discoveries are shared.” Paulo Kellerman shares his experience collaborating with Elsa on this project together. “The project 18 » 20 was an amazing creative experience, based on the complicity between writer and photographer. We had time for this project, and that was very important to us: to have the opportunity to think about and discuss the project, to experiment, to see how it slowly materialized. Elsa is very enthusiastic, very determined, very challenging, very cooperative, very generous; it was an enormous pleasure to work with her and I think it shows in the book. I'm very proud of the work we achieved and also of the way we did it, the process in itself. It was a perfect example of co-creation: sharing and creating together, harmonizing points of views and aesthetics, learning with the other, putting the best of each one in the pursuit of a common goal.” Elsa has created new pathways she follows through the streets of Leiria with her photography. She has embraced a philosophy and vision that inspires her to utilize photography in meaningful ways to create important work. As an artist and photographer, she works with clear vision, and an open mind to learn more and to be influenced in creating new ways of seeing and understanding the world around her. “We exist in a present where photography is as accessible as it is conditioned. Accessible to everyone at the touch of a cell phone but restricted in many contexts to those who want to use it in the shared space as a form of artistic expression. Based on this dichotomy, Elsa Arrais searches in the commonplace of everyday life for a voice that many times echoes beyond the expressiveness of a face; her search for notable physical expressions, as well as places' identity details, seeks to establish words capable of awakening emotions and imaginary (and imagery) interpretations in external observers, usually keeping the identity and intimacy of those portrayed intact. The result of this balance between technique, emotion and delicacy is the creation of an ambivalent language dictionary, as complex as it is simple, which oscillates between light and shadow, geometry and emptiness, being and its outer contour, the concrete and distortion; between what remains immutable and what continues under construction; between freedom and repression. As an existential metaphor, this dictionary continues its quest for permanent growth and mutation, in the hope that one day it will become extinct or transformed into a grammar that, complete in itself, forms part of the universal language of images of the present in which we exist. The present where photography is as accessible as it is conditioned, and therefore needs dictionaries.” Elsa Arrais has presented in national and international exhibitions and magazines, co-author of the book ‘18 >>20’, and currently contributes to several projects that combine literature and photography. Have a look at her portfolio and follow her links for new ways of seeing and thinking about photography. PORTFOLIO CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List and the team.

BOOK ZOONOSIS December 9, 2022 BOOK PHOTOGRAPHY Adrian Pelegrin TEXT Karen Ghostlaw Pomarico SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Meet Adrian Pelegrin, a photographer originally from Barcelona, Spain, but currently living and working in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. He focuses his work ‘The Hyperreal Archive’ exploring and investigating the post-photographic edit and manipulation of images to create an awareness of fake news or an unreal reality. With the obsession of social media and its integration into our culture, Adrian studies the changes taking place in our society due to the cause of disinformation, and creates images reflecting the effects on society. “My work is about mass media and how it creates new realities. I photograph archive videographic images, working mainly from television broadcasts. I make long-exposure photographic kinescopes that I later edit through digital post production.” Adrian found the events of the pandemic and the biases of the media’s coverage along with their non objective point of view and transmitting of misinformation, to be the new focus for his exploration. His insightful study and research has culminated in his new book ‘Zoonosis’. Adrian shares with us how this book came to fruition. “ZOONOSIS is a book gestated in pandemic times. When the global crisis broke out and the entire world was quarantined, I decided to start the task of documenting all the events that were coming to us through the media and online press. The book is the culmination of two years of tracking all the news about the novel coronavirus and its consequences, photographing television images, and selecting the most shocking headlines. Also, I have supplemented the visual and journalistic content with a concise historic-statistical investigation dedicated to synthesizing what happened as much as possible. At another level, I also contribute with a thesis, in a veiled way, juxtaposing different allegorical moments that the reader-observer will be able to guess when contemplating the book’s structure as a whole.” Two years in the making, a 160-page photobook with 70 pictures and shocking headlines, Adrian's insightful documentation and brilliant visual storytelling of the events of the pandemic brings us the harsh reality we are confronted with everyday, and how it allows for the distorted views of our future. You can pre-order his book via his website - www.adrianpelegrin.net We have the fortunate pleasure of interviewing Adrian, where he articulates in more detail about his extraordinary process in photography, and how it inspired this wonderful project and new book he has created. READ INTERVIEW CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

BOOK THE PROVINCIAL May 21, 2021 BOOK PHOTOGRAPHY Antonis Giakoumakis TEXT Antonis Giakoumakis INTRODUCTION Melanie Meggs SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Photography for Antonis Giakoumakis is creation, communication, and storytelling. It is about not wanting to forget that moment, seeing pictures in spaces...moving, listening and observing. It may not be objective, but it can be a constant reminder that the world is not what we see. What to write about the Province and even more for my own Province, since emotions are often contradictory within me. Conflicting emotions. Good memories and sad memories. So I let my photos "speak" (to the extent that they can), in an attempt to capture an inner need to re-capture past images that often pass through our eyes or appear coincidentally in front of us. We see them walking around the old neighborhoods with low houses, courtyards, trees casting their shadows on the street, my eyes are filled with images. The memories are coming! "In a photo that is nothing more than a presence...of an absence!"(K. Dimoula) From one end of the country to the other. Buildings old and new, which signify the human presence even if it does not exist. The absence around us sometimes becomes intense but redeeming. It seems to be true but also imaginary. The scene is empty but the traces are a lot. They say that..."The only reliable witness we lived, is our Absence!" So contradictory but at the same time so clear. The old one, with the modern one. Roads full of livelihoods, kids to play, a hum but also absolute peace! The shops, the workshops, the meeting places, the taverns and the traditional cafes! Human faces are sometimes cheerful and sometimes gloomy. Carefree? Casually? Inaccessible? Familiar? The upper and lower neighborhoods...I reminisce with some nostalgia what was before and wonder if it was permanently lost. From one end of the country to the other, Greece is the same everywhere and at the same time…so different! The words of poet Dinos Christianopoulos touch my mind and heart. ITHACA I do not know if I was consistent or the need to get away from myself, the narrow and small Ithaca with its Christian associations and its choking ethics. However, it was not a solution; And I've been rolling from street to street ever since having wounds and experiences. The friends I loved are gone and I was alone, trembling that no one saw me that I once talked to him about ideals... Now I'm back with a last-ditch effort to look flawless, whole, come back and I am, my God, like the helpless one who leaves truth, bitter, and turning around to the father the good heart, to live in the bosom of a private apostasy. I bring Neptune inside me, that always keeps me away and even though I can still approach, will Ithaca find the solution for me? PORTFOLIO CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List and the team.

BOOK MELBOURNE UNMASKED March 19, 2021 BOOK PHOTOGRAPHY from the Australian Association of Street Photographers Inc. TEXT Bill Lacey SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Through adversity comes new ideas. And in a small way, the Australian Association of Street Photographers Inc. (AASPI) have found a way to meet the challenge of the moment and produce this stunning alternative to what should have been a live gallery event that was sidelined by Covid. Their new book “Melbourne Unmasked” presents a remarkable array of street photography that features some of Australia’s finest practitioners of the art. Focusing exclusively on one city, the book presents a well rounded and compelling collection of street shots by 67 photographers arranged by various themes and styles who have focused on the eclectic hub that the city of Melbourne is today. If you are a fan of street, then there is something in this for you. The photographs are presented without attribution and require referencing an index. It’s an interesting choice, which at first may put you off but you soon realise they had made the right decision. The most important thing is the shot itself, not who took it. AASPI is a collective voice that promotes street photography in Australia and to provide Australian and Asian Pacific street photographers the opportunities to promote their work. The original idea behind it started in 2010 between Benard Peasley, Ell Pixell and Georgie Hart on Redbubble (an Australian online art marketplace), where they put a call out to all Victorian street photographers to gauge interest. Known then as SITHOM (Shot In The Heart of Melbourne) Benard, Ell and Georgie put together their first exhibition in June 2012 with 27 street photographers at the prestigious Victorian Artists Society in Melbourne. In 2015, the collective registered as the Australian Association of Street Photographers Incorporated (AASPI), and since then they have grown to have two major exhibitions per year, regular photo walks and their monthly Speakers Series on YouTube. SITHOM continues today under the curation of joint efforts of all the association's members. In August, the AASPI will be celebrating their 10 year anniversary with their annual SITHOM exhibition at Victorian Artists Society with a plan to invite previous presidents, past and current committee members to exhibit their work and provide both a contemporary and retrospective exhibition showcasing the 10 years of SITHOM. Future plans for the photography collective are to embrace their identity as Australian Street Photographers, support their interstate members, exhibit their work and provide more opportunities for their members to come together as a community. Currently they have members in New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria, and New Zealand. With approximately 150 members, they are welcoming new members from around Australia and are always on the lookout for innovative ways to showcase members' work and to support those new to street photography. The book Melbourne Unmasked is a candid homage to the people that define this eclectic Australian city everyday. It is a stronger show of SITHOM and the AASPI's talents with members' selected shots, curated as a team effort, which in the book's layout flow together with an intent of each shot complimenting and adding value to the next. If you are interested in buying the book, you can preorder a copy of "Melbourne Unmasked" through AASPI's website. Photos have been provided by AASPI and remain the copyright of their respective photographers - Brent Lukey, Susan Brunialti, Mike Reed, Adrian Whear, Suzanne Phoenix, Andrea Esposito, Joseph Chow, Emma Yench, Russell Mason, Renata Filippi, Frank Cecconi, Ben Rook, Stephen Bowater. VISIT AASPI CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List and the team.

BOOK SMALL HOURS November 13, 2020 BOOK PHOTOGRAPHY Philip Butler TEXT Philip Butler INTRODUCTION Karin Svadlenak SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Worcestershire based photographer Philip Butler harbours a fascination with night-time photography. Philip has long been documenting architecture around the United Kingdom, with a special focus on inter-war architecture. The year 2019 saw the publication of Odeon Relics, a photo book documenting the surviving buildings constructed by the iconic cinema chain in 1930s. His new book the Small Hours brings together a 12 month project capturing artificial light sources after dusk in and around his hometown of Great Malvern. Philip shares his story about documenting nights in his hometown and a sample of photos from the book. I have a long-standing fascination with low-light photography and capturing urban scenes after dark. My usual photographic projects centre on documenting surviving 1930s Art Deco buildings throughout the United Kingdom. These are often dramatic enough structures in their own right, but where possible I’ll aim to shoot at dawn or dusk to create a more alluring shot. This ongoing project requires extensive travel around the country though, so with movement curtailed this year I turned my lens closer to home. The result was 'Small Hours'. Inspired by the 1977 John Martyn song of the same name, a brooding nocturnal soundscape recorded across a lake at 3am. Small Hours is a collection of photographs produced to document the peaceful cinematic atmosphere that isolated points of artificial light create after the sun has set. The images were captured in and around my hometown of Malvern, Worcestershire. Famous for its mineral water, hills, Medieval priory and conservation area of Victorian architecture, this is an area I am intimately familiar with. Wandering around after dark, however, completely changes the appreciation of your surroundings. Night photography in urban areas is nothing new and social media is awash with shots from this genre. Often taking inspiration from the big screen (Blade Runner for example), the photographer can employ a heady mix of neon lights, litter strewn streets and towering structures to create some high impact images. Malvern however, has very few of these things. The feast of nineteenth century villas and quiet residential streets make for pretty vistas during the day, but by night they become, to my eye at least, mundane. Instead I found myself looking primarily at light, shadow, and tone. Rather than objects of architectural or natural beauty, I was being drawn purely to light sources and their immediate vicinity. Streetlights, often sodium based with a strong orange hue, cast a warming ethereal glow over their surroundings. Shadows formed by objects blocking the light create textures and patterns unseen during daylight hours. Other sources of white light from street furniture, phone boxes or illuminated signage become welcome markers in the sea of black, while coloured tones from traffic lights, retail displays or dazzling petrol station canopies enlarge the spectrum of highlights from purely orange, black and white. These simple scenes can be almost cinematic themselves without the need of imposing urban architecture. A cashpoint bleeds green light into the surrounding puddles on the pavement, a bright blue and red sign advertises watch batteries from inside a closed backstreet cobblers, a small beauty salon explodes in a bright pink riot courtesy of some enthusiastic use of coloured rope light. After a rainstorm, tarmac and pavements glisten, gilding the previously unremarkable ground with a seemingly crystalline sheen. Puddles and pools of water reflect anything aimed at them, creating a distorted reverse of reality. Small Hours is deliberately devoid of people, but signs of life are present. The last train heading to Birmingham heads off down an unlit track, its red taillights receding in the gloom. A warm glow emanates from inside the sorting office as work continues through the night. Two takeaways stand open side by side in the dark, awaiting custom from hungry locals. The occasional car is represented by partial light trails acting as arrows showing direction of travel. As dawn arrives the palate changes again as a deep navy blue slowly fills the sky, drawing the unlit shadowy areas out into the exposure. Streetlights start to extinguish one by one well before the sun has hit the horizon, and as a result, the mood alters and the small hours rapidly draw to a close. Having exhausted the photographic options within walking distance of my home I decided to draw the project to a close by publishing a short run photobook on my ADM imprint. Sequenced from blue hour, through the night to dawn the following morning, the series of shots takes you on a tour of Malvern that the tourist board probably wouldn’t sanction. It may not be what this small town is known for, but to my eyes it is far more magical after dark. The photo book SMALL HOURS and other photo books by Philip Butler are available from ADM Publications. PORTFOLIO CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List and the team.