SPECTACULAR VISIONS Karin Svadlenak combines her love of art and culture with her passion for photography. SPECTACULAR VISIONS February 20, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Karin Svadlenak INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Karin Svadlenak is far more than just a public relations manager for a university department in Vienna, Austria. She is a world traveler, an avid photographer, an art lover, and a passionate magazine editor and blogger. Her photography captures the essence of various genres, from landscapes to documentaries, and her appreciation for the arts has led her to explore different performances and exhibitions around the world. She is the Editor for The Pictorial List and the Founder and Editor in Chief of Spectaculum Magazine, and through her Viennacultgram blog, Karin shares her personal experiences and insights with the world. From her vibrant career to her creative endeavors, she is sure to inspire all with her journey. “I started getting into photography as a teenager, before digital photography came along, but it was mostly just travel and family photography. I knew nothing about cameras or composition. But I loved capturing beautiful landscapes. It stayed like that for many years. Only for the last three years or so photography has become a major passion and occupies my mind fairly constantly. Now it can happen that I am watching a theatre performance, and suddenly there is a moment where my mind goes, “I wish I could photograph that!”. The odd thing about it is that this passion actually originated with Instagram. In my home town Vienna, we have an active community of photographers on Instagram (@IgersAustria and @IgersVienna) who regularly get together for events. And one day a friend asked me to join one of these ‘Instawalks’ - well, the rest is history, as they say.” IN CONVERSATION WITH KARIN SVADLENAK GOMEZ THE PICTORIAL LIST: What is your source of inspiration, Karin? KARIN SVADLENAK: The discovery of different cultures gets me really excited. And nature provides constant inspiration. But these days I am also inspired by everyday scenes and by the architecture and culture of my own city. TPL: Do you think your style of photography has evolved since you started taking pictures? KARIN: Yes, it has changed a lot. When I started out, I knew nothing about composition or even how to use aperture or speed. A year ago or so I took a few basic photo workshops and also learned by trial and error. It is a process that is ongoing, and I do not think what I do now is necessarily what I will be doing in photography in a year's time. For me diversity has always been the spice of life, and I do not want to be limited to one particular style, or topic. But I would say I have moved from a point where I tried to exclude people from photos (focusing mostly on empty landscapes) to an approach that tries to include human life. At the moment, what most excites me is street photography, capturing people in their environment, moments of life or, as the case may be, still-life. So now when I travel to a new place, the types of pictures I take are quite different from before, although of course I still take your average tourist picture too. I am also quite attracted to documentary photography, but have not yet got seriously into it. But maybe that is what I will be exploring next. Telling stories. TPL: Where is your favourite place to photograph? KARIN: Anywhere. Although I would say, the more different from my own culture zone, the more exciting. I also really like shooting performances, like at the circus or other performances, where you have wonderful light situations and great colours. TPL: Do you think equipment is important in achieving your vision in your photography? Do you have any tips for someone just starting out? KARIN: I am definitely not an expert on equipment. I photograph with a small mirrorless system camera, for which I have several different lenses. I think it is more important to have an eye for composition and for beauty, if that is the goal. These days you can even do a lot with mobile cams, although I still find that the camera gives me more/different options. If you're just starting out, I think it is definitely more important to get some background on composition and understand the basic settings of the camera rather than going out and buying super-duper expensive equipment. The discovery of different cultures gets me really excited. And nature provides constant inspiration. TPL: What characteristics do you think you need to become a 'great' photographer? KARIN: A good eye. The ability to observe your environment and decide on what is worth capturing, and how. Storytelling is an important aspect. Ask yourself...What do I want to communicate about or with a picture? TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? KARIN: That is difficult to say. I find quite a lot of good photography on Instagram (and quite a lot of bad too, of course). When I first started out, I was mainly keen on landscape photography, and there are a few of the well-known photographers in that genre whose books I acquired. There was Galen Rowell, a wilderness photographer whose mountain photos I loved. And of course Ansel Adams, whose black and white landscape photography I have always loved. If we're talking big names, I also quite like the portraits by Annie Leibovitz. In the last couple of years or so I have become very interested in street photography, and in that genre I adore the work of Henri Cartier Bresson and Elliott Erwitt. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? KARIN: Generally, I like to produce series about a place or a topic, rather than just putting out individual pictures on Instagram. It forces me to think more clearly and curate my pictures so that I can tell a story or document something. I also write a blog, about cultural and travel activities in my city and elsewhere. So this also is a project where I am putting my photos in series to document a particular event or theme, together with background information. And perhaps I do want to mention something we recently started at The Pictorial List: "Pictorial Stories", in-depth photo reportages about different topics. I really enjoy the process of putting such stories together with the photographers who contribute their work and ideas to the stories. TPL: “When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… KARIN: Read or walk out in nature with my dog.” VIEW KARIN'S PORTFOLIO Read Karin's blog >>> Karin'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.

BEAUTIFUL COINCIDENCES What started as a beautiful coincidence, Adrian Whear then started to see and create an understanding, vision and style for his photography. BEAUTIFUL COINCIDENCES April 29, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Adrian Whear INTERVIEW Bill Lacey Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Adrian Whear is an autodidact from Melbourne who is renowned for his captivating street photography. He had a burning curiosity and passion for photography, but it wasn't until his travels to Ethiopia and Morocco that Adrian developed a deep understanding of the medium and its potential. His ever-evolving style has earned him the admiration of critics around the world. But there is another side to this story. In 2016, Adrian's life took a dramatic turn when he was involved in a serious accident while commuting home from work. Fortunately, three years after the accident, Adrian still found it within himself to seek out adventure and inspiration. He began a journey to Hoi An, Vietnam, where he met Etienne Bosset, a travel photographer who taught Adrian valuable lessons about travel and documentary photography. With newfound insight and understanding, Adrian returned to his beloved hometown of Melbourne, determined to capture life through his lens. Through his intimate exploration of the streets and alleyways, Adrian has crafted a unique vision that transcends traditional boundaries. In this article, we will explore Adrian's journey - from his accident to his photographic endeavors in Melbourne - and how this unlikely autodidact has become an inspiration to photographers around the world. “My journey from happy snapper to more serious photography probably started in 2015 when I travelled through Ethiopia and Morocco. I took a snap in Casablanca of a woman walking past a mural that looked exactly like her, at that at the time I thought it was just an incredible coincidence that I captured. I have since learnt that these 'coincidences' are all around us, we just have to be attuned to our surroundings.” IN CONVERSATION WITH ADRIAN WHEAR THE PICTORIAL LIST: Adrian, please tell us something about yourself and how it influenced you finding your way into street photography? ADRIAN WHEAR: Life often takes unexpected turns. For me, that was 2016, when I went through every cyclists worst nightmare. On my commute home from work I was hit by a car. I suffered some quite severe facial and dental injuries. It took three years, three surgeries and a team of dental professionals (oral and maxillofacial surgeons, endodontists, prosthodontists and my trusted dentist) to repair my mouth. It was after my second surgery in 2017, that I decided I just needed a break from it all, so I decided that 10 days in Hoi An would be good for my mental and physical well being. In Hoi An, I joined a local travel photographer, Etienne Bosset on one of his photo walks. A lot of what Etienne said about travel and documentary photography resonated with me. Upon returning to Melbourne I started to make the effort to go out and walk the streets and alleys of my hometown Melbourne and its inner suburbs, and in the process I started to discover my home cities true soul. From there I just photographed whatever captured my attention, slowly forming an understanding, vision and style for my photography. Where do you find your inspiration? From the world around me, documentary photography has taught me to be much more attuned to my surroundings. I want to capture and show this world that I see, that is right there in front of people yet it is in their blind spot. Also I enjoy following the work of some amazingly talented photographers on Instagram. TPL: Has your style of photographing changed since you first started? AW: Most definitely, I would say my street photography has matured more towards minimalism and artistic street photography whilst I have a growing interest for documentary photography. TPL: Who are your favourite artists/photographers and the reason for their significance? AW: I am not a street photographer that has followed the works of the renown artists of the genre, nor have I completed any photography qualification. I am a mostly a self-taught amateur photographer. TPL: Where is your favourite place to photograph? AW: Well Melbourne is where I live and I so love its many small grungy alleys, they have so much character. When travelling, anywhere in Asia for its mix of culture, people and food what more could you want! In 2019, I spent an incredible three weeks in Bangladesh but that story is for another time. From the world around me, photography has taught me to be much more attuned to my surroundings. I want to capture and show this world that I see, that is right there in front of people yet it is in their blind spot. TPL: Do you think equipment is important in achieving your vision in your photography? What would you say to someone just starting out? AW: So my photography being of the street and documentary genre. Of course the equipment is important, a SLR camera, and knowing how to use it in full manual mode, gives you full control to achieve your creative vision. But it is the creative vision that is what makes you a photographer not the equipment. I'll use a cycling analogy here, Chris Froome is a four times Tour de France winner. Now put me on Froome's bike and Froome on a cheap department store bike. Who would win this race? Obviously Froome, as the best cycling equipment in the world would not give me the talent of Chris Froome. You must work hard at your craft, trying to develop your skill and knowledge each and every time you go out to shoot. So if someone were starting, I would say to to concentrate on your observation skills (sort of like active listening but from a visual sense) and to let go of technical perfection, story is more important. TPL: What important skills do you think you need to become a good street photographer? What’s your tips or advice for someone in your genre? AW: For me, the most important skills of the street photographer would be: Observation - already discussed Interpretation -Take the scene and find the story then compose to tell your story. Try to predict how people will interact within your scene (do they create long shadows, can you use the shadows to create a silhouette?). Visualisation - Imagine what you want the final image to look like. Will it be black and white, high key, low key etc. Then photograph with that image in mind. Patience - I often head out so excited to shoot and spend the first half an hour to an hour snapping pics just for the sake of snapping pics. Slow down, be patient, take your time and concentrate of being an observer. Once you have your scene then wait and wait and wait...for the right subject to complete your story to enter the scene (maybe someone in a hat or with an umbrella). You might need to revisit a location on a number of occasions to capture that shot. My tip for a street photographer get a good pair of walking shoes. You've just gotta walk and walk and walk. Get out and about to see the light at different times of the day, and to find locations that you might want to revisit. Also remember to enjoy the walk. You will not always capture interesting photos but you can always have a great walk! TPL: Have you ever been involved in the artistic world before photography? AW: Nope my background is in Science. Before photography I would have argued that I did not have one creative bone in my body. As a kid I even failed in drawing stick figures! TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? AW: Well actually yes, I recently collaborated with a Singaporean photographer on an urban dance project. He travels to different cities to photograph dancers in urban scenes. He asked me to collaborate on his Melbourne shoots. I always have shot candid so it was interesting to observe him structure and build a scene. We photographed a range of dance styles including ballet, jazz, contemporary, break dance and even krumping (which I had not heard of until this project). TPL: "If I wasn't photographing what would I be doing?... AW: Easy one, cycling and watching my beloved Western Bulldogs." VIEW ADRIAN'S PORTFOLIO Read THE INVISIBLE WORKERS Read PRAYING FOR PEACE 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.

PICTORIAL STORY GHOSTS OF THE ANDES December 11, 2020 PICTORIAL STORY Photography and story by Federico Quintana Introduction by Karin Svadlenak Gomez SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Photojournalist Federico Quintana focuses on editorial, wildlife, documentary and human-interest work. Now working on personal projects, Federico travelled to the Bolivian Andes, documenting the lives of people from salt and tin miners to remote indigenous tribes. In this fascinating story for The Pictorial List, Federico tells us about his time getting to know the culture of the elusive and mysterious Chipaya people, who live high up on the Bolivian salt plains. In the year 2000, I was working in Northern Argentina’s Salta and Jujuy provinces, covering a story on one of the highest railways in the world, “El Tren de las Nubes” a unique railroad system, covering the three frontiers of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, which are all at an altitude between 4000 and 6000 metres on the Andean plateau. On the Argentinian frontier to Bolivia in the Jujuy region lies the first of the three greatest salt flats in the Andes, “Salinas Grandes”. I became very interested in this mysterious train that travels in this high altitude region, serving mostly indigenous people across these frontiers. I wondered at the time about how difficult the conditions of life could be in this area, as there is almost no natural drinking water available, crops are out of the question, and very few animals other than Llamas, Vicuñas and Guanacos can muster the altitude and climatic conditions, which can go from extreme heat and burning sun during the day to well below freezing conditions at night. It was here that while I was investigating, I heard rumours of a very particular indigenous tribe that lived in the middle of one of the largest and least known salt flats in the Andes. Coipasa, has a 70 km circumference and is second only to the much better known “Uyuni”, considered to be the largest in the world with its 100 km circumference at over 4000 metres altitude. These salt flats were created by the very quick rise (in a geological time frame) of the Andes, the second highest range in the world after the Himalayas. As the mountains were formed by the tectonic plate friction on the pacific side of the south American continent, these enormous salt water lakes rose to the clouds, and later simply evaporated, leaving a cape of salt several meters deep as the Andes rose. I started researching the possibility of reaching this remote tribe, but little information was available and no guide would dare venture in the Coipasa salt flats, as it was uncharted territory surrounded by the river Lauca, which often cannot be crossed. Bolivia is an ethnically very unique country in South America. Its population is ninety percent indigenous and directly descended from the great Inca empire, which extended across all the Andean regions. There are two main blood lines in the country, the Quechua and the Aymara, descended from Lake Titicaca and from Machu Picchu. In fact, Spanish is only the third language in Bolivia. The Chipaya are, however, a unique tribe in many ways. Most interestingly they don’t belong to either of the other groups and speak a unique language only known to them. The Chipaya say they descend from the Uros or Uru, a pre-Inca people of which most traces have been lost. What is known about the Uru is that they lived in conical shaped homes called “Chulpas”, made of earth and Lama remains, and were customarily not burying their dead, but leaving them sitting or lying in there Chulpa with no door and the possibility to be visited and offered coca leaves and alcohol by passers-by. The Uros were apparently chased away and decimated by the Incas, so they took refuge in the most inaccessible place they could think of to maintain their people and culture alive. The Coipasa salt flat, which was still flooded, had these requirements. The Chipaya call themselves “Qnas Soñi” or people of the water for this reason, and say they were here before the sun was born. To this day the Chipaya do not get along with the other tribes of ethnic Aymara or Quechua descendance and keep to themselves. I made a first attempt in 2001 to reach this elusive tribe. I had hired a guide from a geology mineral and mining company that had a lot of experience exploring the region for big international mining firms. The Andes are extremely rich in precious minerals, such as silver, carbon, copper, tin, selenium (nowadays fundamental for batteries) and even uranium. Even my guide though, had never seen a Chipaya and had only heard about them. We spent two weeks circumnavigating Coipasa in a desperate effort to reach the centre of the salt flats, but all attempts had failed, and extraordinary rains had rendered travelling with our vehicle extremely dangerous. The salt can form a thin layer, kind of like ice, and hide some very deep holes with water running underneath. They are called “Ojos del Salar” (eyes of the salt flat). If the vehicle should fall into one it would become unrecoverable. The rivers around were also too high to cross. So I returned home with my hands in my pocket and a curiosity level that was now worse than ever, and I decided to plan a second attempt in a drier season. On the second attempt to visit the Chipaya three month later, we finally managed, but still, it took us two weeks of trial and error to reach the centre of the salt flat, and once there, we weren’t exactly sure that we would manage to leave so easily. The main village, a few huts, two dirt roads, one north to south and one east to west seemed abandoned, only an occasional silhouette would appear in the distance but would quickly disappear after noticing our presence. We eventually encountered an elderly man who, despite a great language barrier (he spoke almost no Spanish, Aymara or Quechua), managed to explain that the village only served for school and village meetings once a month and that the Chipaya were going about their business scattered around the salt flats. After setting up camp near a crossing point on the Lauca river, we began to see a little traffic, and little by little the Chipaya started developing a little curiosity towards us. At first I would spend days walking great distances on the salt looking for distant Chulpas, but when I would reach the location I would find nothing. On occasion I would find scattered bones and skulls in their interior, mixed with fruits, cigarettes, empty bottles of sugar cane alcohol, and so forth. Silhouettes in the distance would still disappear very quickly after noticing me. It was only my persistence of not leaving that eventually led to an encounter. At dawn outside my frosty tent I heard a woman speaking to Manuel in very bad Spanish. This woman came just to find out what was our business in her territory. We had a lot of coca leaves with us — “ Pacha mama ” ( Mother Earth ). Across the Andes coca leaves are of incredible economic and spiritual importance, as they establish a connection to the spiritual world and are a means of exchange and monetary form, in addition to being a hunger and fatigue suppressant and to help with altitude sickness considerably. So after showing our good intentions, this woman slowly, day by day, introduced me to the Chipaya way of life and eventually introduced me to her family as well as the very special braids and clothing adopted by the tribe. Their way of life is still a mystery today, as the entire form of subsistence of the Chipaya is still unclear. The salt flat ground cannot grow any crops, and drinking water is just not available, except for the salty murky river waters that surround the flats. The Chipaya, like most Andean people, can walk incredible distances at high altitude and across very rough terrains, the women can easily walk 30 kilometres a day with a child on their backs, and I would see them disappear into nothingness ever so often. Very few animals also lived in the flats, mostly Lamas but it was also a mystery to me how they survive. A group of the strongest men in the community worked by mining the salt in unbearable conditions. The one and only vehicle in the village served that purpose and was a 1960’s old diesel truck. The miners would set up the truck in the wet season when the salt was softer, and spend a full day loading the truck in an eight man effort. At the end of the day, two of the men would set out for a 20 hour drive to sell the full truck’s load for the equivalent of 50 US Dollars, only to drive back and start over. But many men were missing, and I came to find out that several worked in abandoned tin mines further east and decided to follow up on that upon my return. I spent several more days with my acquainted Chipaya woman who little by little introduced me to her family and introduced me to community members in the village during a school-day. She had two little girls and one teenage boy who spent his days hunting for ducks or flamingos. As the flocks would fly over their Chulpa, he would cast out a “boleadora” consisting of three strings attached in the centre with three stones at the extremities. By rotating it fast enough he would send it flying as strongly as he could, hoping to intercept the flock of birds, eventually being successful for dinner. The woman's husband was at the mines. Miners in Bolivia have a history and tradition that dates back to colonial times when the Spaniards enslaved and forced indigenous populations to extract gold and silver for them and made Spain one of the richest and most powerful nations in the world. After their departure and the depletion of all their mines, thousands of kilometres of uncharted underground pathways were left abandoned, and Bolivian indigenous people claimed their ownership, threatening a great rebellion should there be any attempt to expropriate the mines. Because the indigenous population percentage is so high the government allows this, as indigenous rebellions would be stronger than governmental control. Miners in Bolivia hold some form of syndicate with its own rules and it is a great honour to become a miner. Nonetheless, being a miner, especially in tin mines, is not without a very high cost. Miners need to be chosen and accepted by other miners to start with. They come in very young, around the age of 15 or so but seldom make it very far beyond their thirties. The work in the mines consists of exploring uncharted galleries, without maps of any source and without any geological knowledge. It is about trial and error, but with dynamite sticks and rudimentary pump drills. The altitude is almost always around 6000 meters, and the underground exploration can go down sometimes to 500 meters. Tin gas is extremely toxic, causing profound emphysema and eventually killing the miners from lung disease. Furthermore, the passages and corridors are full of vertical ventilation shafts where a false step might send a man three levels down, and the use of dynamite in this environment leads to terrible accidents more often than not. Miners are strong in Bolivia, they can overthrow a government if they wish. Their lives are short, but they live proudly and are highly spiritual in their beliefs. Religion in these regions of the world is often Pagan, as there tends to be a mixture of the ancient ways and the Catholicism that was forced upon the population. What generally remains is a mixture of the two. A working day in the mines always starts with a reunion on the outside. The miners gather and discuss their daily plan as they equip themselves with the necessary tools. Among those, there is a substantial quantity of coca leaves and sugar cane alcohol in small plastic nylon pouches. The miners will later descend to their areas in small groups and gather in small cave-like rooms deep inside the mine. A process of drinking and praying to Pacha mama then begins and lasts for hours before the miners will start their exploration in wild physical conditions. They will ask mother earth to be forgiving, they know they are in the territory of demons and are afraid. They say that the Virgin Mary guards them outside, but inside they need to be friends with the demons “ Tíos ”. In fact, there are several statues throughout the mine, about life-size, completely painted in red with green blazing eyes and very obvious phallic conditions. Miners will enter these demon dens and offer them alcohol, coca leaves and lit cigarettes in order to be permitted to work in their turf with no harm to their person. The population size of the Chipaya was never very clear, as the community and tribe is never all together, but an estimate is of around 2000 people. The tribe had a lot of problems at the time from a lack of resources, mainly drinking water, and the government not acknowledging their existence. © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana © Federico Quintana Although this reportage is not very recent, I am quite sure the conditions of the Chipaya and miners across Bolivia remain the same to this day. view Federico's portfolio Read an interview with Federico >>> Instagram >>> 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. read more stories >>> 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. COLORS OF HÜZÜN 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. SOLITUDE UNDER A TECHNIFIED SUN Tracing the space between movement and stillness, Héctor Morón reveals a city that persists as human presence slips by. 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. THE PAINTED VILLAGE OF LABANDHAR Anjan Ghosh’s photographs carry us to Labandhar, where painting becomes language, tradition stays present, and art grows through shared ground. ORDINARY GRIEF What endures when everything else is uncertain? Through photography, Parisa Azadi asks us to see Iran not as story, but as feeling. THE EVERYMAN Eva Mallis uncovers the quiet strength of overlooked lives, capturing everyday encounters in Mumbai’s industrial districts as intimate portraits of labor and resilience. IN BETWEEN LIFE AND AFTER In Cairo’s City of the Dead, families carve out ordinary lives among centuries of tombs — Paola Ferrarotti traces the fragile line between memory and survival. UNFIGURED Nasos Karabelas transforms the human body into a site of emotional flux — where perception fractures and inner states become visible form. VISIONS OF ICELAND FROM ABOVE Massimo Lupidi takes flight above Iceland — capturing nature’s abstract brushstrokes where land, water, and sky blur into poetic visions beyond the ordinary eye. UNDER THE CLOUDS Giordano Simoncini presents a visual ethnography of the interconnectedness of indigenous cosmology, material life, and the ecological balance within the Quechua communities of the Peruvian Andes. NYC SUBWAY RIDERS BEFORE THE INVASION OF SMARTPHONES Hiroyuki Ito’s subway photographs reveal a vanished intimacy — strangers lost in thought in a world before digital distractions took hold. THE GHOST SELF Buku Sarkar stages her refusal to vanish. Her photographs are unflinching, lyrical acts of documentation, mapping a body in flux and a mind grappling with the epistemic dissonance of chronic illness. WHISPERS On Mother’s Day, Regina Melo's story asks us to pause. To remember. To feel. It honors the profound, often quiet sacrifices that mothers make, and the invisible threads that bind us to them. BEYOND THE MASK By stepping beyond the scripted world of professional wrestling and into the raw terrain of mental health, Matteo Bergami and Fabio Giarratano challenge long-held myths about masculinity, endurance, and heroism. FRAGMENTS OF TIME Each of jfk's diptychs functions as a microcosm of the city, allowing viewers to experience urban life as constant fragmented glimpses, mirroring the unpredictable nature of human interactions.

PURSUIT OF STILLNESS Maarten Rot's photographs reveal abstract qualities that can be found in everyday life, often with architecture as a prominent ingredient. PURSUIT OF STILLNESS October 2, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Maarten Rots INTERVIEW Karin Svadlenak Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Maarten Rots is a Dutch visual artist working with photography as a medium. His photographs reveal abstract qualities that can be found in everyday life, often with architecture as a prominent ingredient and a strong focus on composition, texture and colour. He started out with the production of short videos, many of which were screened at film festivals around the world, but by 2015 still photography had become his preferred medium. Maarten travels around Europe in his camper van in search of abstract images in daily surroundings. His work has been exhibited in numerous publications and platforms, and now we are honored to bring you this interview with Maarten, in which we explore his motivations, inspirations, and creative process. Join us as we discover the captivating world of Maarten Rots. “Many of my photographs are composed of a rather rigid set of ingredients; I like to play with a limited colour palette, the effects of light and shadow and I have an interest in textures. I enjoy it when a situation isn’t too clean, a weathered surface indicates the wear and tear through time, adding a hint of history to the overall picture.” IN CONVERSATION WITH MAARTEN ROTS THE PICTORIAL LIST: Maarten please tell us about yourself. You have a degree in Fine Arts and started out as a film producer, quite successfully. Your films have won awards and have been screened at many film festivals. What made you decide to move your primary focus to photography? What is it that drives you? MAARTEN ROTS: I’m originally from a relatively small town in the countryside in the East of the Netherlands called Aalten. When it comes to art there wasn’t a lot around, but I always enjoyed creating things. I used to make flyers for concerts in the area and was the vocalist in a punk band for about 10 years. After going to graphic design school I eventually ended up in Amsterdam where I attended the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. Technically I still live in Amsterdam, but for the past 5 years my wife Anne and I have been travelling with our campervan through Europe a lot so it doesn’t really feel like I still live in Amsterdam. I have always had an interest in still photography and used photography in my work, but I never had the intention to have a photograph become the final work. When my video camera broke I decided to replace it with a DSLR to be able to film and also take photographs and from that point on I quickly transitioned into photography. It wasn’t a choice at that moment, it just happened. But I was always serious about it. I still really had to develop my photographic skills and wanted to become more deliberate about what I photograph. To speed up that process I came up with a project called ‘Siting’ which had a set of rules. For one week I had arranged a gallery in Amsterdam to be my temporary workspace and restricted myself to photograph in a one-kilometre radius around that space only. Each day I chose one photo that would be printed on a large size and exhibited at the gallery after those seven days of photographing. Quite a bit of pressure, a lot of fun and it worked out really well, I definitely had a better understanding of what I wanted with my photography after this project. I developed a better comprehension of my own fascination which allowed me to focus better. TPL: Your photographs are abstracted images of surfaces, textures, colours, shadow shapes. They are sometimes reminiscent of works by the painter Mark Rothko. Tell us what particularly interests you when you think of a composition. MR: When I walk around to take photos I’m always fascinated how changing your standpoint and framing of a situation can lead to completely different interpretations of the same situation. For me the more a subject transforms through this process, the more interesting it becomes. The transformative power of the camera – translating a three dimensional setting into a two dimensional plane – is endlessly intriguing to me, all the more because the resulting picture can become ambiguous and it’s not immediately obvious what you are looking at, a reason to take a second look and change your perception. TPL: Do you plan your photographs conceptually, or do you walk about and photograph what jumps to your eyes and put them together as series later? Where do you particularly like to photograph? MR: I don’t plan my photographs, but I do have a clear idea of the conditions that can lead to the photographs I aim to take. Possibly one of the most important realisations I have had over the years is to recognise when not to take a photo. When I started out I had a much broader scope of the kinds of things I would photograph and that margin has really narrowed down. When I walk around with my camera I have a part conscious and part subconscious list of the qualities that have to be in a photograph in the back of my head. This list changes over time as my interest slowly shifts, but I try to have it as clear as possible in my head. When I encounter a situation that potentially contains an interesting photograph I always surprise myself with the eventual outcome, that is definitely something that keeps me going. I’m attracted to situations with a lot of natural light and although I like to travel to countries like Italy, Spain and Portugal where there are many more sun hours on average than in the Netherlands, I have found that I can also find these situations closer to home, or even at home. The advantage of being abroad to photograph however adds to the focus I have on my work, I have more hours to work and simply have less on my mind when I am on the road. In this perspective the location is not only important when it comes to aesthetics, but also helps me aim my attention. Untitled (Scenes From Home 2020) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Scenes From Home 2020) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Scenes From Home 2020) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Projections 2020) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Projections 2020) © Maarten Rots Stain Glass Window - Triptych (Kunsthaus Bocholt 2019) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Cologne 2018) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Cologne 2018) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Cascais 2020) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Cascais 2020) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Berlin 2019) Untitled (Berlin 2019) TPL: Your latest series is called KONVERGENZ (Convergence). Can you explain what you mean by this title? MR: In my photographs there are always multiple elements coming together and by choosing a certain standpoint and framing I control how this translates into a photograph. So in a sense the resulting photograph is the convergence of me being in a specific place at a specific time. When I made the photos that make up this series I was doing an artist residency at Sommergalerie Zöbing in Austria, hence a German title rather than its English translation. Konvergenz also functions as a title on a more personal level, referring to how things sometimes just come together at the right moment. The aforementioned residency was the result of participating in an artist’s fair in the Netherlands in 2017. I used to visit this fair every year, already before I started studying arts. When I finally took part myself I met Franz Mrkvicka, the initiator of the residency and also one of the participating artists, who later invited me to come over to Austria. TPL: Some of your work has even been turned into stained glass objects. How did that idea come about? MR: To celebrate the Bauhaus year (2019 was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus), the German city of Bocholt organized a project and exhibition where they invited several artists to collaborate with craftsmen. I had always wanted to work with stained glass, but never got around to it so this was the perfect opportunity to finally make it happen. Much of my photography is based on a strong division of fields of color and lines, and light is very important in my work, both are elements that are also of great importance in stained glass making. I had been experimenting with printing on transparent material and really wanted to take this a step further. It was an interesting experience in which I came across the limitations of the material which led to a different outcome than I initially expected - in a positive way: I’m very pleased with the resulting pieces. TPL: One technique that is often used in abstract and experimental photography is multiple exposure. The photos in your series Fraction could be taken by the casual viewer as multiple exposures. But they are not, are they? What was your approach in taking these images? MR: They are indeed all single exposures. The photographs in this series came about by using reflecting and transparent objects that can be found in public space. Experimenting with these conditions marked my first steps towards a more abstract direction. In my photographs there are always multiple elements coming together and by choosing a certain standpoint and framing I control how this translates into a photograph. So in a sense the resulting photograph is the convergence of me being in a specific place at a specific time. TPL: How would you say your photography has evolved? When one looks at your earlier work, it seems that you moved from the more concrete into the more abstract? Where do you see yourself going in the future? MR: My photography has become more abstract indeed. It has been a gradual process without the intention to end up where I am now. I think my development has a lot to do with the amount of time I spend looking at my own work, trying to uncover visual patterns that subconsciously influence me while I am out taking photographs. When you know these things, you can be more deliberate and conscious about what you photograph, which creates space for you to subconsciously allow new elements into your photography. And so the cycle continues, you try to uncover those new patterns, etcetera. I don’t know where I’ll end up in the future, but I’m currently very fascinated by the effects of light and shadow, so that will likely be an underlying theme for the years to come. When I am taking a photo I’m not thinking about what it is that I am trying to communicate. I’m simply trying to bring the different elements around me into the frame, to organise it on a visual level and transform the everyday situation I’m in into something miraculous. I am very aware of the influence of the elements you mention, but I try to remain open to any situation when I am out to take photos. Once I start selecting and sequencing photographs for an edition of March & Rock or for an exhibition, the underlying themes that were mostly subconscious become more apparent. Adding or removing one photograph as well as changing the order in which they are presented has a significant influence on what a group of photos communicates. Sometimes this can be based on a feeling that I’d like to recreate by presenting a group of photos, sometimes it is the outcome of a specific visual fascination that becomes the criterion to which I measure what photos will form a series. TPL: Do you have any favourite photographers or artists and the reason for their significance? MR: This is always a hard question to answer, in the end it is a culmination of so many things, also the stuff you don’t like has a big influence on how you develop. And it’s not just visual art, music is also an important influence. There isn’t really one artist that stands out in that respect, but in retrospect I think seeing Saul Leiter’s work has made me realize the camera can also be used to capture and show the world in a less straightforward way. A painter I’ve long admired is Matthias Weischer, I love his use of texture and the way he depicts spaces. Growing up I often took an MC Escher book out of the bookcase, amazed by the visual complexities in his work, and I recently discovered the sculptures of Charles Ginnever that play with a similar effect but in three dimensional space. TPL: The Corona pandemic has affected everyone's ability to travel around as much as we would like. Has it affected your work? How are you dealing with it? MR: Unfortunately I am currently not travelling. However, I am doing a lot of new things that I wouldn’t have done otherwise. This pandemic is horrible on so many levels, but it also allows for us to try new things. After the pandemic had us return earlier than planned, I have found myself working differently. Before this situation I was out on the streets a lot of the time, searching for potential photographs, I only photographed what I found while walking around. Back in the Netherlands I started photographing inside the house with the same outlook, searching for compositions similar to those I find outside. The resulting photographs showed me it’s rewarding to revisit the same place at different times of the day when the light and shadows are different. The latest chapter in these Corona-related endeavours has me photographing compositions that I create by projecting light on the wall by using coloured pieces of glass and several old projectors. A lot of the conditions that I search for when I’m photographing outside on the streets also apply to this way of working and there is still the important element of surprising myself. These photographs are more abstract - shape and colour are the main ingredients. Where my street work often still provides an opportunity for the viewer to figure out what they are actually looking at, these projection works don’t give that kind of information. There is still a lot to explore in this new approach, I’m excited to see where it will take me. Parallel to this I have also been working on some non-photographic projects, making mixed-media collages and works with spray paint on panels, something I had wanted to do for a while, but never got around to. I’ve been enjoying this process very much. It’s a very different way of working in terms of materials and technique but my fascination for composition, textures, colour and the effects of light and shadow are still at the core of the work. Untitled (Zöbing Am Kamp 2019) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Torremolinos 2020) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Torremolinos 2020) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Stein An Der Donau 2019) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Rovereto 2018) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Ptuj 2019) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Maribor 2019) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Lisbon 2020) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Krems An Der Donau 2019) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Krems An Der Donau 2019) © Maarten Rots Untitled (Júzcar 2018) © Maarten Rots TPL: You have this super-cool customised camper/work van...we are a bit jealous of that! So, apart from being a great photographer, you seem to be quite crafty as well? Do you enjoy working with crafts? MR: Thanks! It’s been quite a project and I’m very pleased how it turned out. I enjoy making stuff that has a practical function, but I’m not the kind of guy that has a shed full of tools, spending all of his free time making things. Although I definitely enjoy the process of making, being able to use the thing I made is the end goal. It’s usually quite a bit of trial and error, figuring stuff out as I go, that’s how all of my creative processes work. There is a lot of information about anything you want to make on the internet, YouTube can be very helpful. And in the case of the van there were certain technical aspects where the help of friends was very welcome. TPL: Are there any new projects you are currently working on that you would like to share with us? MR: I am in the process of compiling the 20th edition of my magazine March & Rock, which is definitely a milestone. I started making a quarterly zine with my photography a little over five years ago and learned a lot along the way, it definitely pushed me through some harder times when I wasn’t sure where I was going with my photography. I initially started making this magazine with the intention of making a photobook at some point, and I’m really excited to share that I am currently working to self-publish my very first monograph! It will be a compilation of my photography from the past 3 to 4 years and I’m hoping to release it in the beginning of 2021. If you’d like to be among the first to know when it becomes available, sign up for my newsletter. Next to that I have several exhibitions coming up in the coming months: a duo exhibition in Austria and several group shows here in the Netherlands and Germany. TPL: “When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… MR: I really enjoy being outside, walking in nature with my wife Anne and our dog Laika. It’s a great way to let go of some of the daily stuff and I always come back recharged with a clearer idea about how I can deal with things that are on my mind. Another activity that makes me happy is cooking. It’s nice to improvise and experiment, I don’t really use recipes, usually I take a look at what I have and come up with an idea. I always keep a good variety of herbs and spices around and usually cook with whatever is available.” VIEW MAARTEN'S PORTFOLIO Maarten'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.

I am a Londoner living in Sydney. I arrived in Sydney in 2002 on a 'round the world' trip, and never left. Although my heart remains in London, Sydney has become my home. And before Covid times, I enjoyed travelling as often as I could to new and interesting places - I'm definitely more of an explorer and adventurer than relaxer! I have always loved photography and was that annoying person who had to capture everything, taking a particular interest in architecture and intriguing street scenes. In 2016, I decided to take my photography to the next level by investing in my first Canon DSLR and enrolling in a beginners course at the Australian Centre for Photography. It was during this time that I realised how much photography helped with mindfulness. When I was out on assignments, I thought of nothing except getting the shot, finding good light, a nice composition, a good subject. I also realised how much I loved street photography - there is always so much to look at like interesting people, shadows, scenes. And so with that, Simply Prithi was born. I created a Instagram account solely focused on my street photography and was amazed to find a community of like minded photographers across the world who were supportive and appreciative of my work. Now I've recently upgraded to a Canon EOS R, which has changed my life! I make time to hit the streets as much as I can, not just to capture beautiful images, but also for the therapeutic value of just being in the moment. Through my images, I hope to reach more like-minded lovers of street photography and light. PRITHI DEY I am a Londoner living in Sydney. I arrived in Sydney in 2002 on a 'round the world' trip, and never left. Although my heart remains in London, Sydney has become my home. And before Covid times, I enjoyed travelling as often as I could to new and interesting places - I'm definitely more of an explorer and adventurer than relaxer! I have always loved photography and was that annoying person who had to capture everything, taking a particular interest in architecture and intriguing street scenes. In 2016, I decided to take my photography to the next level by investing in my first Canon DSLR and enrolling in a beginners course at the Australian Centre for Photography. It was during this time that I realised how much photography helped with mindfulness. When I was out on assignments, I thought of nothing except getting the shot, finding good light, a nice composition, a good subject. I also realised how much I loved street photography - there is always so much to look at like interesting people, shadows, scenes. And so with that, Simply Prithi was born. I created a Instagram account solely focused on my street photography and was amazed to find a community of like minded photographers across the world who were supportive and appreciative of my work. Now I've recently upgraded to a Canon EOS R, which has changed my life! I make time to hit the streets as much as I can, not just to capture beautiful images, but also for the therapeutic value of just being in the moment. Through my images, I hope to reach more like-minded lovers of street photography and light. LOCATION Sydney AUSTRALIA CAMERA/S Canon EOS R WEBSITE https://www.simplyprithi.com/ @SIMPLY.PRITHI FEATURES // Seeing the Light

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RESONANCE OF HER REALISM Lana Eileen's images fuses abstract elements with fine details, combining seemingly disparate fragments to evoke a sense of magic realism. RESONANCE OF HER REALISM July 5, 2021 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Lana Eileen INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE The power of art lies in its ability to evoke emotion and transcend rational thought. Lana Eileen is an artist who embraces this mystery and uses her art to create an ethereal world of beauty and enchantment, drawing inspiration from her own experiences to create unique works of art. Currently a student of the School of Creative Arts and Media in Tasmania, Eileen has explored far and wide in search of creative inspiration, from artist residencies in remote Iceland and the island of Hrísy near the Arctic Circle, to New Zealand. Her works combine abstract elements with fine details to create a sense of surrealism, often employing self-portraiture as a means of expressing her inner thoughts and feelings. Through her photography, Eileen invites us to explore the intangible realm of our own minds, inspiring us to look beyond the obvious and discover something new about ourselves and our world. “There’s a physicality to self-portraiture that I love. It feels performative, almost like dancing, and there is a lot of movement involved. I love self-portraiture because it has an intimacy to it, and it is inherently personal.” IN CONVERSATION WITH LANA EILEEN THE PICTORIAL LIST: Lana please tell us about yourself. You are also a musician, tell us a bit about that. What was your journey into photography? LANA EILEEN: I was born in Australia, and I have just moved back here after having lived in New Zealand for a long time. I am now based in Tasmania, which is where I lived when I was very young. Working as a musician is what I have been doing for the majority of my life. When I started modelling for professional photographers on press shots for my music, I became interested in being a photographer myself. In the years since then, I’ve been continually experimenting, but it’s only recently that I’ve become very passionate about photography and started to take it seriously. TPL: Much of your work is self-portraiture. Is the process of photographing yourself different to that of photographing other people? Do you have a process of preparation? LE: It’s different in the sense that photographing other people allows for more technical control, whereas self-portraiture can sometimes be a gamble. But there’s a physicality to self-portraiture that I love. It feels performative, almost like dancing, and there is a lot of movement involved. I love self-portraiture because it has an intimacy to it, and it is inherently personal. TPL: Your photographs have a romantic aesthetic mixed with a tangible darkness that has a strong presence to nature. How would you describe your work and how do you choose your themes and communicate this to the viewer? LE: I am interested in moments that capture a sense of intimacy, focusing on gestures, movement, physical form. I love photographing hands, or faces partially obscured. Diane Arbus said a photograph is a secret about a secret — the more it tells you, the less you know — and that quote reflects how I feel about my work. I appreciate the connection between the human body and the natural landscape, investigating our place in the world and how we are inextricably tied to the earth, and I am always seeking to explore that concept. TPL: In 2019, you undertook an artist residency in remote Iceland. Tell us more about how this came about, what was it like, and what did you take away from this experience? LE: I had been wanting to complete a residency in Iceland for many years, as I was aware of several programs operating there, and in 2019 I finally applied and was accepted. I spent a month living in a tiny village in a remote corner of east Iceland, covered in snow, working at the studio each day. It was sometimes difficult, as the environment was quite raw and isolating, but I also loved it and found it to be life changing. There were artists from all over the world working there at the same time. I would love to return one day. TPL: Where has been your most favourite place to photograph? LE: I recently took a series of photographs in a lake in rural Australia just before sunset for my series ‘The Language of Water’, where I walked out into the water, and it was one of those special shoots when everything is just right in terms of lighting and atmosphere. That was definitely one of my favourite moments. I also love experimenting, taking self-portraits underwater or under glass. I appreciate the connection between the human body and the natural landscape, investigating our place in the world and how we are inextricably tied to the earth, and I am always seeking to explore that concept. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us? LE: Julia Margaret Cameron, Diane Arbus, Francesca Woodman. Polish photographer Laura Makabresku is also a very big influence on my work. 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? LE: As someone who is more creatively driven than technically minded, the equipment I use feels secondary to things like concept and atmosphere, but it’s also undeniable that the type of camera I shoot with has a big impact on the result. Currently I am using a Canon 600D, a Canon 5D MK III, and a Nikon F80. I am very excited by the possibilities associated with using film, and that’s my focus at the moment. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist or photographer? Where do you hope to see yourself in five years? LE: I want to keep exhibiting my work, publish a photo book, and learn as much as possible. I plan to move to Europe when I graduate, and exhibit and work over there. I can see photography gaining more prominence in my work as an artist in the years to come. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? LE: I am busy creating work for an exhibition at Black Cat Gallery in Melbourne in early 2022 that expands on my series ‘The Language of Water’, as well as a smaller exhibition of my photography at Parlour Gallery in Hobart this September, and I am also directing a lot of my focus towards shooting on film. TPL: When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… LE: Write music for my upcoming album, sing, play the piano and other instruments, perform at shows, make handmade jewellery and herbal skincare, read, cook, try to write a novel, go on road trips, or simply enjoy being out in nature." VIEW LANA'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.

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. April 2, 2026 PICTORIAL STORY PHOTOGRAPHY Rafael Ayala Páez STORY Rafael Ayala Páez INTRODUCTION Melanie Meggs SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Rafael Ayala Páez photographs from a place of respect and closeness. The Christ of Health: Gratitude and Devotion remain with people as they move together, attentive to the quiet strength that emerges through shared belief and collective action. Rafael does not approach faith as something to be explained or translated. He treats it as something lived — steady, familiar, and deeply human. The story moves the way the day moves. Slowly. Purposefully. People gather. They wait together. They walk together. Rafael allows gestures to speak for themselves: a pause, a touch, the weight of time passing. His writing carries a gentle confidence, grounded in observation and shaped by trust in the resilience of communal life. The photographs echo this sensibility. Rendered in black and white, Rafael’s photographs remain closely framed around faces, hands, and bodies in motion, foregrounding movement, intimacy, and embodied expression. His camera does not interrupt; it listens. The images honor participation, presenting faith not as display but as presence, something held, shared and borne together. Together, the writing and photographs offer a portrait of belief shaped by care and continuity. Rafael Ayala Páez invites the reader to witness the quiet grace of a community sustained by devotion. In the procession of the Christ of Health, we breathe gratitude and devotion — intrinsic realities that are part of my hometown, Zaraza, Guárico, Venezuela. Every January 1st, the faithful wake at dawn with a sacred restlessness. The aromatic steam of coffee permeates the house, awakening our senses as we prepare for the Dawn Rosary: a moment of deep introspection that anticipates what is to come. At six o’clock, the Christ emerges from the Church of Saint Gabriel the Archangel. The bells toll. One, two, three fireworks thunder in the air, and from the loudspeakers, a voice rises — a soft voice, laced with plea; the voice of a woman praying and singing to guide the way. Transformed into an offering, the Crucified walks the streets of Zaraza accompanied by a multitude. Entire families — men and women alike — wait for Him from their doorways, windows, or balconies. The bearers, weary yet joyful, take turns over the course of eight hours to ensure the procession moves forward seamlessly. The people thirst for transcendence, for healing. The atmosphere is heavy with reverence and shared memory. But where does this desire, this longing for the divine, spring from? According to local historians, a young girl named Carmen Díaz, shortly before succumbing to yellow fever, told her parents of a dream: she saw frail people carrying an image of Christ, who were healed after drinking lemon juice. Sometime later, a man walking down Liberty Street fell face-first, overwhelmed by the first symptoms of the plague. Remembering the child’s premonition, he drank the citrus juice and prayed to God that, if He healed him, he would make that dream a reality. After a miraculous recovery, he kept his word, inaugurating the tradition of the procession on January 1, 1857. Over the decades, this expression of faith became so deeply rooted in the community that when anyone tried to stop it, the town’s response was etched into living history. A testament to this occurred a century later, when chronicler Francisco Gustavo Chacín reflected on the possibility of suspending it. His conclusion was clear: “Think not of it! It has already been proven that such a thing will not happen. Years ago, the author of these lines witnessed it. A Capuchin friar, an old man with a hard face and a long beard as black as a raven, tenaciously opposed the procession...On the first day of the year, the procession was nowhere to be seen. People gathered in Bolivar Square; the town smelled of tragedy. Finally, a group of men ready for anything arrived at the temple…’Father’; they said firmly, ‘we know how to keep our promises. We have come to take the Crucified out, whether you like it or not.’; The procession went out without a priest, yet it was more solemn than in previous years.” © Rafael Ayala Páez © Rafael Ayala Páez © Rafael Ayala Páez © Rafael Ayala Páez © Rafael Ayala Páez © Rafael Ayala Páez © Rafael Ayala Páez © Rafael Ayala Páez © Rafael Ayala Páez © Rafael Ayala Páez © Rafael Ayala Páez Rafael Ayala Paez concludes with a personal reflection, turning inward to consider his own place within the procession. “Just as the storytellers recorded this fervor, I seek for my photographs to be evidence of that same permanence: An elderly hand clinging to the robe. A woman cradling a single white rose in her hands. A man leaning against a wall, like someone waiting for an old friend. The strain on the shoulders and the glint of sweat on the faces of the bearers. And, at the center, the Christ amidst His people. In every image, I have sought to document the poetry of the procession. The Christ of Health reminds us that hope and love live in small gestures, and not in the grandiosity of the world.” view Rafael Ayala Páez's portfolio Website >>> Instagram >>> The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author/s and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List. read more stories >>> 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. COLORS OF HÜZÜN 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. SOLITUDE UNDER A TECHNIFIED SUN Tracing the space between movement and stillness, Héctor Morón reveals a city that persists as human presence slips by. 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. THE PAINTED VILLAGE OF LABANDHAR Anjan Ghosh’s photographs carry us to Labandhar, where painting becomes language, tradition stays present, and art grows through shared ground. ORDINARY GRIEF What endures when everything else is uncertain? Through photography, Parisa Azadi asks us to see Iran not as story, but as feeling. THE EVERYMAN Eva Mallis uncovers the quiet strength of overlooked lives, capturing everyday encounters in Mumbai’s industrial districts as intimate portraits of labor and resilience. IN BETWEEN LIFE AND AFTER In Cairo’s City of the Dead, families carve out ordinary lives among centuries of tombs — Paola Ferrarotti traces the fragile line between memory and survival. UNFIGURED Nasos Karabelas transforms the human body into a site of emotional flux — where perception fractures and inner states become visible form. VISIONS OF ICELAND FROM ABOVE Massimo Lupidi takes flight above Iceland — capturing nature’s abstract brushstrokes where land, water, and sky blur into poetic visions beyond the ordinary eye. UNDER THE CLOUDS Giordano Simoncini presents a visual ethnography of the interconnectedness of indigenous cosmology, material life, and the ecological balance within the Quechua communities of the Peruvian Andes. NYC SUBWAY RIDERS BEFORE THE INVASION OF SMARTPHONES Hiroyuki Ito’s subway photographs reveal a vanished intimacy — strangers lost in thought in a world before digital distractions took hold. THE GHOST SELF Buku Sarkar stages her refusal to vanish. Her photographs are unflinching, lyrical acts of documentation, mapping a body in flux and a mind grappling with the epistemic dissonance of chronic illness. WHISPERS On Mother’s Day, Regina Melo's story asks us to pause. To remember. To feel. It honors the profound, often quiet sacrifices that mothers make, and the invisible threads that bind us to them. BEYOND THE MASK By stepping beyond the scripted world of professional wrestling and into the raw terrain of mental health, Matteo Bergami and Fabio Giarratano challenge long-held myths about masculinity, endurance, and heroism. FRAGMENTS OF TIME Each of jfk's diptychs functions as a microcosm of the city, allowing viewers to experience urban life as constant fragmented glimpses, mirroring the unpredictable nature of human interactions.

PICTORIAL STORY WILDCATS WINNING WOMEN March 26, 2021 PICTORIAL STORY Photography and story by Neville Newman Introduction by Melanie Meggs SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link When the first whistle blew on the field to mark the start of the Hamilton Wildcats Australian Rules Football match, little did anyone know that it would be the start of an incredible journey for Neville Newman. For over several years, Neville has been the official photographer of the Wildcats, capturing moments of joy and celebration from the passionate female football team in Ontario, Canada. From the highs of wins and the lows of losses, he has been there with his camera, documenting every single moment. Neville's role as photographer has been an essential part of the Wildcats' family. In winter, Neville spends his time in the darkroom, shooting and developing black and white film, while in warmer months, he concentrates on shooting 'footy'. His work brings out the character of each player and the unique spirit of the Wildcats. Neville has an impressive story to tell about his journey with the Wildcats, and we are lucky enough to have him here with us today to share it. So, let's join him on his incredible journey and get to know more about the Hamilton Wildcats Australian Rules Football club in Ontario, Canada. While Canada and ice hockey are synonymous, thanks to the efforts of Australian expats and their Canadian converts, ‘ Footy ’ (Australian Rules Football) has established an enthusiastic following with a thriving league in Ontario, teams all across the country and internationally represented from both men and women. I began shooting the Hamilton Wildcats as the club’s official photographer in 2016. Whilst the men’s team has been in existence for thirty years, the ladies only formed a team for the first time in 2012. For that and the following four years they would win a Grand Final berth, but be denied the flag. In 2017, things altered dramatically. With two influential players overseas in Australia and other team changes, the ladies were the recipients of the ‘wooden spoon’ (an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition). The ignominy was short-lived, however, and the Wildcats came back strong the following season, laying a foundation that would propel them to team history in 2019 when they took home the flag. In 2016, as I began photographing the team, there was no way of knowing that the following year would be a washout, a year that in retrospect only served to instill new determination in the team that would pay off with the 2019 flag. But all that was in the future. The team would make the Grand Final in 2016 but would not take the ultimate prize. 2018 just felt different. The ladies put the disappointment of the previous year firmly in the rubbish, and the team oozed confidence. There was a sense that they were in a rebuilding mode at so many levels. Every win is a celebration, but the renewed energy was shining through as the victories started to follow each other. Determination was the watchword throughout the buildup that began in 2018. It was a matter of contesting, no matter the odds. It was a psychological battle too. Every game was a reminder of defeats they had suffered the previous year. Although the ladies’ season ended with a semi-final loss that year, the disappointment would act as a spur in 2019 when they took home the first flag in the club’s history. Teamwork, having your mate’s back, is what successful footy is all about. It is also about taking advantage of the slenderest opportunities when they become available and making space where none previously existed. The club is a welcoming mob for new players. In 2018, Kendal Wales joined the crew having become smitten with footy when she left Canada to attend university in Australia. She brought her enthusiasm and effervescence to the side as it rebuilt and quickly became a stalwart. In 2019, her perseverance paid off as she was one of the team that lifted the flag. The social side of the club is as much fun as the footy. Awards nights, jumper presentations and alumni evenings are always a bunch of laughs. I like to catch some candid moments, and the combination of good spirits and good tucker gives me some excellent opportunities. The Wildcats’ ladies’ team might only have a nine-year history, but the club has made its influence felt in Australia too. Lia Vansevenant demonstrates typical Catters’ determination as, unfazed by this looming attack from Etobicoke Lady ‘Roos Victoria Baran, she successfully disposes of the footy. After spending the following year in Australia, she came back to be part of the club’s new era where she is the team’s coach. © Neville Newman She’s small but she’s mighty. Michelle Grynberg shows the emotion that infused the team in 2018 as she challenges Selina Amaral of Etobicoke’s Lady Roos for the footy. Nothing was going to stop her getting her hands on it even though she was outnumbered. © Neville Newman Lise Kiefer, with the footy, driving through a gap while Gabriela Arias shepherds away a threat from the opposition exemplifies the way in which the ladies’ team created the conditions in 2019 that resulted in them taking the premiership. © Neville Newman Along with the ecstasy must go the agony. Like any other club, the players have their share of injuries. No one could know at the time though, that this 2018 injury would signal the eventual end of Emily Spicer’s playing career. She came back from this one, but the damage was done. In early 2019 a torn ACL put her on the sidelines again and ruined her chances of being in the winning side. She has decided that her playing days are over, but once a Catter, always a Catter and the club will see lots more of her in different roles. © Neville Newman 2018 saw Lia Vansevenant back in the side after a year in Australia where, among other achievements, she represented The Northern Lights, Canadian women’s team, in the 2017 International cup. Always a fierce competitor, she is an integral part of the team and its leadership. © Neville Newman Don’t argue. Aware of an impending tackle attempt, Wildcats’ Kelli Gruhl performs her own brand of Richmond AFC’s Dustin Martin’s fend off on Etobicoke Lady ‘Roos’ Jenn Minchin. The move attitude symbolises the club’s attitude as they worked their way through 2018 and then stormed up to the 2019 Grand Final. © Neville Newman The club is a welcoming mob for new players. In 2018, Kendal Wales joined the crew having become smitten with footy when she left Canada to attend university in Australia. She brought her enthusiasm and effervescence to the side as it rebuilt and quickly became a stalwart. In 2019, her perseverance paid off as she was one of the team that lifted the flag. © Neville Newman Ainslie Pope’s story is now a club legend. She came to Hamilton from Australia in 2019 as a participant in a teacher exchange having never played footy in her life. She was introduced to the team and decided to give it a go where she played as if she had been born on the oval. From starting from nothing and eventually playing in a Grand Final winning team. How good can that be? Here, Ainslie lays a textbook tackle on Ottawa Swans’ Andrea James. © Neville Newman After playing against each other hard all afternoon in the semi-final, Wildcats’ Lia Vansevenant and Swans’ Kylie Marie advanced on each other for a little extra-curricular activity. Another Swans player acted as peacemaker to keep them apart. © Neville Newman Kendra Heil on the left, one of our former players now living down under, plays for Essendon in the VFLW women’s league and is part of their leadership team. Drafted by Collingwood originally, she suffered two torn ACL’s but her determination is beyond dispute, and her quite frequent return visits to awards' ceremonies here are a continuing source of inspiration to the club. Lia Vansevenant is drinking for both of them here. © Neville Newman Jacqueline Josephine, who spent a year in Australia with Lia Vansevenant, is the subject here, hamming it up a little as she sees me focusing on her. © Neville Newman Acknowledgements: Lia Vansevenant; Victoria Baran; Kelli Gruhl; Hailey Jones; Michelle Grynberg; Selina Amaral; Lise Kiefer; Gabriela Arias; Emily Spicer; Jenn Minchin; Kendal Wales; Jacqueline Josephine; Kendra Heil; Ainslie Pope; Andrea James; Kylie Marie. view Neville's portfolio Read an interview with Neville >>> Instagram >>> 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. read more stories >>> 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. COLORS OF HÜZÜN 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. SOLITUDE UNDER A TECHNIFIED SUN Tracing the space between movement and stillness, Héctor Morón reveals a city that persists as human presence slips by. 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. THE PAINTED VILLAGE OF LABANDHAR Anjan Ghosh’s photographs carry us to Labandhar, where painting becomes language, tradition stays present, and art grows through shared ground. ORDINARY GRIEF What endures when everything else is uncertain? Through photography, Parisa Azadi asks us to see Iran not as story, but as feeling. THE EVERYMAN Eva Mallis uncovers the quiet strength of overlooked lives, capturing everyday encounters in Mumbai’s industrial districts as intimate portraits of labor and resilience. IN BETWEEN LIFE AND AFTER In Cairo’s City of the Dead, families carve out ordinary lives among centuries of tombs — Paola Ferrarotti traces the fragile line between memory and survival. UNFIGURED Nasos Karabelas transforms the human body into a site of emotional flux — where perception fractures and inner states become visible form. VISIONS OF ICELAND FROM ABOVE Massimo Lupidi takes flight above Iceland — capturing nature’s abstract brushstrokes where land, water, and sky blur into poetic visions beyond the ordinary eye. UNDER THE CLOUDS Giordano Simoncini presents a visual ethnography of the interconnectedness of indigenous cosmology, material life, and the ecological balance within the Quechua communities of the Peruvian Andes. NYC SUBWAY RIDERS BEFORE THE INVASION OF SMARTPHONES Hiroyuki Ito’s subway photographs reveal a vanished intimacy — strangers lost in thought in a world before digital distractions took hold. THE GHOST SELF Buku Sarkar stages her refusal to vanish. Her photographs are unflinching, lyrical acts of documentation, mapping a body in flux and a mind grappling with the epistemic dissonance of chronic illness. WHISPERS On Mother’s Day, Regina Melo's story asks us to pause. To remember. To feel. It honors the profound, often quiet sacrifices that mothers make, and the invisible threads that bind us to them. BEYOND THE MASK By stepping beyond the scripted world of professional wrestling and into the raw terrain of mental health, Matteo Bergami and Fabio Giarratano challenge long-held myths about masculinity, endurance, and heroism. FRAGMENTS OF TIME Each of jfk's diptychs functions as a microcosm of the city, allowing viewers to experience urban life as constant fragmented glimpses, mirroring the unpredictable nature of human interactions.

A SENSE OF TIME AND PLACE West Yorkshire photographer Peter Bartlett has a long standing interest in capturing the sense of time and place dating back to the 1970s. A SENSE OF TIME AND PLACE October 30, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Peter Bartlett INTERVIEW Karin Svadlenak Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE West Yorkshire photographer Peter Bartlett has a long standing interest in documentary photography dating back to the 1970s. This has evolved into a portfolio that documents everyday life against a backdrop of the ordinary urban landscapes of northern England over the last fifty years. Since his retirement in 2006, Peter has immersed himself in photography, undertaking many different projects, exhibiting his work internationally, gaining several hundred acceptances and receiving numerous awards. In 2010 he was awarded a Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society (LRPS). A long term project photographing Manchester’s Northern Quarter included a body of work that gained Peter an Associateship of the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS) in 2018. Peter has self-published several books of his work including the titles ‘Shards of West Yorkshire’ volumes one & two, ‘The Northern Quarter’, ‘Various Covered Vehicles’ and ‘Empty Premises’. October 2020 saw the publication of Peter’s 2019 project ‘A Day at the Races’ through ADM Publications. “I was born in Stockport in Greater Manchester and have lived in different parts of the North of England all my life. I now live near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. My first experience of photography dates back to the age of around ten when I was given a Halina 35x for Christmas. With this camera I learned about exposure and how to process and print black and white films with the help of my father who was a keen amateur photographer.” IN CONVERSATION WITH PETER BARTLETT THE PICTORIAL LIST: Peter, you told us that your interest in documentary photography dates back to the 1970s. Could you tell us more about that? PETER BARTLETT: As a hobby photographer, most of my images were ‘one-offs’ as opposed to parts of themed sets, but throughout the 70s and 80s I was always fascinated by the work of leading photojournalists and looking back at old prints and images I can see the influence these photographers had on my work. After a break from photography in the 90s I bought my first DSLR in 2003 - initially my images were fairly eclectic but I was drawn to street photography, making a conscious commitment to that genre around 2010. In recent years this has evolved into themed projects, many of which have become self-published books on the Blurb platform. TPL: Where do you find your inspiration to photograph? PB: I'm an inveterate people watcher, so wherever I go, whether I have a camera with me or not I watch, observe and see potential images - not only people but also the urban landscape around them. I guess my inspiration is everyday life. TPL: You did not grow up in an Internet-based age. (None of our team did either.) How do you feel about the various social media photo platforms that have made sharing photography with a large audience so easy? What advantages and disadvantages do you see in this? PB: I have used Flickr for many years and more recently Facebook and Instagram. Each platform provides a means of sharing my images and perhaps more importantly viewing the work of others. Sadly Flickr is a shadow of what it was and I have never really been comfortable with Facebook. When I signed up to Instagram just over two years ago, I was sceptical, but the platform won me over quickly and opened up a number of wider opportunities including contribution to an online exhibition during lockdown, the publication of ‘A Day at the Races’ and of course, this feature. So, mainly positive although I do have concerns about some of my images being lifted and used by others without permission. But, I guess that’s one of the risks of online life. TPL: In general, what do you want to express through your photography? And what are some of the elements you always try to include in your photographs? PB: Now, most of my photography is project based, each image is part of a larger piece of work. Depending on the project, I guess my principal objective is to capture a sense of time and place. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? PB: My serious interest in photography evolved during the 1970s and I recall enjoying the early work of Martin Parr along with Chris Killip, Chris Steele-Perkins, Tony Ray-Jones and Homer Sykes. In the late 1970s I was hugely impressed by a major Cartier Bresson exhibition at the V&A Museum in London. Shortly after that I bought a copy of Ian Berry’s book ‘The English’, which I browse now. I’m sure much of this will have stayed with me. I'm an inveterate people watcher, so wherever I go, whether I have a camera with me or not I watch, observe and see potential images - not only people but also the urban landscape around them. 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? PB: Initially I used a DSLR for street photography, usually with a prime lens. Ten years ago, I moved to the micro four thirds system. I’ve had several Olympus bodies and currently use a Pen F with small prime lenses (usually 28mm, 34mm, and 50mm full frame equivalent). I do have other lenses including zooms but use these much less. I also use the Ricoh GR range (currently a GRiii) with its fixed 28mm equivalent focal length. The move to a more compact kit enabled me to capture images that would have been impossible with a larger camera. TPL: Your photos show people in your home country, the UK. Do you have a favourite place to photograph in? PB: As a student I studied the Industrial Revolution and have always been fascinated by the remnants of those times in the Northern post-industrial communities, where I have lived all my life. So, I love to make images against the backdrop of post-industrial landscapes in the communities across the North of England. TPL: When you go out on the streets, 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? PB: Yes and no. I usually work on several projects at a time. Typically, I’ll have a specific project in mind when I go out to photograph, but I’m constantly on the lookout for images that will fit within other projects, as well as subjects that may be the inspiration for a new project. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist? Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself in five years? PB: When I moved to a project based approach I hoped that I might create a body of work that captures something of the lives, times and activities of ordinary people in the part of the UK where I live. It will, perhaps, be for others to decide whether I achieve that objective. Five years seems a long time! The impact of Covid-19 has been significant for me. I’m over 70 years of age and during the spring lockdown I took stock and recognised that the world has changed and things are not likely to return to the way they were. I have no desire to shoot images of people in masks, nor do I think that at my age it will be wise to spend time in busy places shooting street images with a wide angle lens. So I anticipate that my work will focus on urban and post-industrial landscape along with images of quirky subjects that catch my eye. That said, I’m sure that a fair number of images will continue to include people! TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? PB: The images that illustrate this interview are from my project 'Shards of West Yorkshire'. In 2016 I embarked upon this long term street photography project hoping to capture something of the essence of the post-industrial communities of West Yorkshire. My plan had been to continue shooting until the end of 2020 and self-publish five books, each of around 65 images. The intervention of Covid-19 in March brought an early conclusion to the planned shoots. Two books have been published (Vol.1 & Vol.2). I am currently working on Vol.3 and expect to publish this in the New Year. I do have sufficient images for a fourth book, whether there is enough material for a fifth book is something I’ll consider after Vol.4 is published in late 2021. TPL: "When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… PB: Listen to music (jazz and classical) and spend time with my family." VIEW PETER'S PORTFOLIO Read "A DAY AT THE RACES" by Peter Peter's 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.

ARCHITECTURALLY COMPOSED Gino Ricardo is fascinated by pattern, finding comfort in walking around alone in a city photographing architecture. ARCHITECTURALLY COMPOSED August 12, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Gino Ricardo INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Gino Ricardo is a motion graphic designer with a passion for pattern and a curiosity for exploration. But it wasn't until June 2019 that he decided to take his camera to work with him on a daily basis and explore the city during his lunch breaks. What started as one hour lunch break sessions quickly blossomed into weekend excursions, documenting the architecture and street photography of places unknown to him. As he ventured around the cities he visited, Gino found comfort in being alone and taking pictures of the exquisite buildings he encountered. It was then that he realized that his camera didn't have to just collect dust on the shelf; it could be used to capture the beauty of the world. Thus began Gino's journey of discovering the wonders of the world through his lens. “I started photography about a year ago. In September 2018 I bought a “serious” camera (Panasonic GH5 ) to film my three week trip to South Africa. The camera was bought with the intention to film my South Africa adventure and future trips and on occasion take pictures. After the trip I felt like it was a waste of money that the camera would just sit at home on a shelf collecting dust. At one point in 2019 I started to take my camera to work and use my one hour lunch break to take pictures. Before I knew it photography became a bit of an obsession.” IN CONVERSATION WITH GINO RICARDO THE PICTORIAL LIST: The way you see architecture is not the usual way people would see it - graphic and composed precision. How do you find the composition when you are searching for that shot? What are some of the elements you try to include to make a good architecture image? And what do you do post-process? GINO RICARDO: Thank you very much for the compliment! When shooting architecture I always look for lines, patterns, details, textures, reflections and shadows in a building. Sometimes I see a building and know what I want to shoot and how to get the result I want. Other times it comes down to trial and error. I try different compositions and angles, from long to medium to close ups. Trying to find a way to make the work click. A lot of times I visit the same place multiple times and take the same shot in different circumstances or discover a new vantage point. I like to keep my images simple. I do some post-processing. It begins with setting a building straight and cropping. Usually I bump up the contrast and make the shadows darker. Sometimes I dodge and burn some elements in my images, and on occasion I Photoshop little imperfections out of a frame. For instance a spec of light that is drawing attention in a scene where I don't want the attention to go. But usually I try avoiding this and keeping the image as authentic as possible. TPL: You also shoot street photography and include them among your architecture photos in your Instagram gallery. Do you do anything differently to how you shoot and compose your architecture shots? GR: In street photography I mostly look for light and shadows. The difference between street and architecture is that for street I am solely relying on sunlight. So when it is raining you won't see me taking any street photos - unless you have beautiful reflections. For architecture I photograph all the time, it doesn’t matter if it rains or the sky is grey. I still need to learn a lot about street photography and keep developing this. To be honest, street photography is a side hustle. Mostly I go out to get my architecture shots and then switch to street afterwards or when I see something interesting happening. The difference between street and architecture is the pace. You have to be on your feet and think fast. A moment is gone before you know it. In that moment you have to be able to take the picture or try another time. A lot of times I see good light and wait a bit for something interesting to happen. This can be a minute or ten. Architecture is slower paced. I can walk around a building and observe it and put more thought into what I want or what is interesting. TPL: Where is your favourite place to photograph? GR: For now my favourite place to shoot is in Rotterdam, Netherlands. I am always surprised by the new places that I see and am looking forward to new spots to discover. TPL: Has your style of photographing changed since you first started? GR: Yes definitely, I started with photos from my holiday and then started going to the city to practice my shooting. Shooting street and architecture. During this period I noticed that I like black and white architecture photography more. I also started to shoot more often with zoom lenses to get those detailed shots/close ups. First I used my 45-200mm zoom and after a while my girlfriend's 75-300mm lens. Also my images became a lot darker. The best images aren’t at the end of an expensive flight. They are just around the corner from your house if you are willing to take a walk and really see. - Sean Tucker TPL: Do you think equipment is important for achieving your vision in your photography? What would you say to someone else just starting out? GR: I think that the camera is just a tool, nothing more nothing less. The typewriter never wrote a book, but the writer did. The same applies for a photographer. Having said that I really like the system that I have, the portability of the body and lenses are just great in terms of weight. When hitting the streets I have two lenses with me and that is it. Making it very easy for me to travel with. For someone who is just starting out I would advise them not to look to much at the specs of a camera but just start shooting. These days technology is so advanced that any camera you buy as a beginner will be a good camera. Use the time when you are beginning to discover what you like and develop yourself. Keep in mind that your needs can change over time as you develop as a photographer. If you can’t afford a camera in the beginning start with your phone. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? GR: I definitely look up to photographers like Alan Schaller and Sean Tucker, Sebastiao Salgado, Fan Ho to name a few. I think that I got heavily inspired by Sean and Alan. I really like the philosophical side of Sean’s work and ethics and the super dark moody tones and diversity of Alan's work. I also get inspired a lot by other photographers whom I discovered through Instagram. I also follow artists like Lindsay Adler, Platon, Maarten Rots, and David Yarrow. Their work is so different from my own. I think that it is a must to keep an eye out for other artists who have absolutely nothing to do with your own work. Giving you a fresh perspective. TPL: Have you ever been involved in the artistic world before photography? GR: Yes, I am a 2D animator/motion graphics designer. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on? GR: Yes, I recently created my first book and made a video about it. I would love to go back out and travel to London, Paris and discovering some other countries. But due to COVID-19 this is pretty difficult. Time will tell when this is possible again but in the meantime there is lots to discover in my own town and country. And in the upcoming weeks I am going to create a short film. TPL: If I wasn't photographing what would I be doing?... GR: Animating and designing for animation. VIEW GINO'S PORTFOLIO Gino'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.

LIFE LESSONS Never knowing what he is going to capture is what continually thrills and challenges Hugh Rawson about street photography. LIFE LESSONS April 19, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Hugh Rawson INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Hugh Rawson has been a street photographer for years, a passion that has taken him on an unforgettable journey full of unique and captivating moments. Hugh has explored the streets of London and the south-east of England, unapologetically capturing humanity and its beauty through his lens. But what is the secret to his success? Rawson believes that his experience as a primary school headteacher gives him the tools to understand and anticipate human behaviour, allowing him to capture images that may otherwise have been missed. Yet, Rawson never knows what he is going to capture, and it is this thrill of the unknown that keeps him going. So come with us as we explore the life and work of Hugh Rawson – street photographer and primary school headteacher – to learn why street photography provides equilibrium in his busy and demanding life. “Initially I was just snapping away at things that caught my eye with my iPhone and Hipstamatic - although I did have a brief flirtation with film back in the eighties. I then moved onto a Fuji bridge camera but I didn’t know what I wanted to shoot so I just shot anything and everything. For the last four years the focus has been very much on the street and still with Fuji's.” IN CONVERSATION WITH HUGH RAWSON THE PICTORIAL LIST: Hugh, where do you find your inspiration? HUGH RAWSON: I think the joy of street photography is that inspiration is all around you. However, I also think that it takes some knowledge in order too, to know where to look, and what to look at. The work of other photographers, especially the greats, is always an eye opener. I love time spent with a pile of photo books. TPL: Has your style of photography changed since you first started? HR: I suppose that I have moved away from catching almost random moments on the street to be better at catching specific moments which may be driven by an anticipated movement or by the light in a scene. TPL: Do you have a favourite place(s) to go photograph? HR: The place I keep returning to is Soho, London. It’s a happy hunting ground for me with so much going on and it’s ever changing. The South Bank and the City also have their appeal. I love shooting in France, Paris and the south are wonderful. I’m a big fan of shooting in and around cafes and bars and French culture does that so well. TPL: What is your favourite quote that resonates with you the most? HR: Wow - good question. So many to choose from so I’ll have two. “I put my brain under my pillow when I shoot. I shoot with my heart and my stomach.” - Anders Petersen. And then one from Miles Davis which is about music but can equally be applied to putting in the hours in any art form. “Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself." TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? HR: Sergio Larrain, Fred Herzog, Ernst Haas, Saul Leiter, Alex Webb and, of course, Henri Cartier-Bresson - but that list can change at any moment. I like the abstraction and geometry of photographers like Fan Ho, but also the surrealism of Cartier-Bresson and the humanity of Sergio Larrain. I love the layers in Alex Webb’s work and the use of colour in Herzog, Leiter and Haas. Most of the time it's like fishing in a polluted stream and all I catch is rubbish...every so often I catch a gem. TPL: Do you think equipment is important in achieving your vision in your photography? What would you say to someone just starting out? HR: To an extent. There comes a point where you actually have to get out and shoot, rather than spend time watching reviews of gear. Any modern camera is good enough to shoot street photos. The kit available to the ordinary person today is far better than anything that Cartier-Bresson or any of the legends had yet they were able to catch incredible moments. However, most people shooting street will want to be discreet and disappear into the shadows or the crowd - not in a creepy way but so that they don’t impact upon the scene they are capturing. This means that generally they will want a small camera and lens set up. There are exceptions of course and rules are there to bend, but I’d struggle with a giant DSLR and a 400mm lens in Soho. I often shoot from the hip so a 23mm (35mm equivalent) lens is perfect for most of what I do. TPL: What characteristics do you think you need to become a photographer? What’s your tips or advice for someone in your genre? HR: It varies hugely depending on what you want to shoot. I don’t have the patience to stand for two hours in a cold field for one image of a sunset so landscape is never going to be my thing. For street photography you have to like people, be able to empathise and, perhaps most importantly, be able to anticipate what is going to happen - be it a turn of the head followed by a kiss, or an exhalation of smoke. My advice would be get some comfortable shoes because you are going to rack up the miles; learn from the greats; go with the light; and study the people. TPL: Have you ever been involved in the art world before photography? HR: In the 1980’s I was in a band called SLAB! You can find a few tracks like “Mars on Ice” and Parallax Avenue” on You Tube. I also wrote a few stories for children and had an agent for my writing though never actually succeeded in getting anything published. It’s so important as a human being to have a creative outlet. It’s what sets us above the beasts. It keeps me on the right track. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? HR: I wish I could say there was. I’m not really a project person and in some crazy way I feel that that makes me less of a photographer. I don’t go out looking or anything specific. I just like to explore an area and see what I can catch... TPL: "If I wasn't photographing what would I be doing?... HR: Music; writing; or just out on my bike." VIEW HUGH'S PORTFOLIO Hugh's website >>> Hugh'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.