Search this site

BOOK TÜRKIYE June 28, 2026 BOOK PHOTOGRAPHY Rpnunyez TEXT Rpnunyez INTRODUCTION Melanie Meggs SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link When I first encountered the work of Rpnunyez in 2022, I knew instinctively that his vision was different. It was not only the strength of his photographs that moved me but also his words: “We can differentiate ourselves by race, color, language, wealth and politics, but consider what we have in common...we all bleed red.” In those last four words I understood the heart of his practice. His photography is never about categories or divisions. It has always been about the shared pulse of human life. Through our close dialogue over the years on The Pictorial List, my admiration for his work has deepened, as has my respect for the photographer he is. Rpnunyez is a photographer who approaches his subjects with honesty and integrity. What stays with me is not only the photographs themselves, but the values that make them possible. They encourage us to look closely, to think critically, and to recognise ourselves in the lives of others. He is guided by the conviction that a photograph should not extract or reduce, but allow another’s presence to be seen. In this way, his work reveals not only the face of a person, but something of their inner life, something of the country they inhabit. For me, these books Volume 1 and 2, are a gift. To read them, to reflect upon them, and to share in dialogue with Rpnunyez about their making has been an honor. They are works I will always carry with me, not only for what they reveal of Türkiye, but for what they reveal of the photographer who has given so much of himself to see it clearly. Usually, when a new project comes up, people often ask me how the idea for that new project came about. When they ask that question, I always sense that they are asking about the precise moment when the idea arose or what event triggered it. There is never a single, original idea behind my projects, except for the need to convey through them a simple but powerful sentence: “We may differentiate ourselves by race, colour, language, wealth and politics; but consider what we have in common: dreams, laughter, tears, pride, the comfort of a home and the desire to love. If I could photograph those universal truths...” This masterful reflection by Wayne Miller has always been with me, serving as my personal and professional compass. And, for better or worse, I have always held the deep conviction that I need nothing else. There is no original idea, but there is evolution, both personal and professional. The ABYSSINIAN DIARIES project took me to modern-day Ethiopia and to Kapuscinski’s book The Emperor; this masterful book led me to The Shah or the Excess of Power by the same author, and that led me to PERSIAN DIARIES; during the development of this long-term project, I discovered the poetry of Mevlana, and this led me directly to the mysticism of the whirling dervishes of Konya, where, while developing the project, I discovered contemporary Turkish society and the immeasurable figure of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, whose legacy remains in the current republic. Suddenly everything fell into place and the current project took shape as a book. From a strictly professional point of view, I have always tried — whether rightly or wrongly — to keep a certain distance from trends or other photographers, with the clear aim of keeping my instinct intact. So, there are relatively few masters to whom I owe my way of living photography, but their influence is evident every time I pick up the camera or begin a new project. From Ansel Adams I learnt what I know about analogue photography, and his teachings guided me in my first darkroom. Wayne Miller inspires me with the professed humanist dimension of his work, the undeniable emotional power conveyed by his shots, and the impeccable tonal range of his greys. Marc Riboud never ceases to amaze me with the impeccable, austere and seemingly simple composition of his images. Leonard Freed inspires me with most of his work, whose photographs are masterfully composed. What inspires me most about Larry Towell is his handling of perspective and volume within each frame and, of course, the humanistic dimension of his work. To all of the above, I can only add one more thing: after tens of thousands of shots, I am guided purely by this idea: knowing where not to look and where not to point my lens. So simple, so complicated. TÜRKIYE: a secular republic under the shadow of the minaret (Vol I & II) is not only a portrait of a country but also a reflection on how societies live with complexity, negotiating between past and present, belief and secularism, continuity and change. In these pages, Türkiye appears both singular in its particulars and universal in its questions, reminding us that the truths of a nation are inseparable from the lives of its people. Visit Rpnunyez's website to buy his books. WEBSITE CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author/s, and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List and the team.

PICTORIAL STORY FLOATING GARBAGE Emy Maike returned to the Philippines to confront a growing crisis: plastic pollution. Her work explores how this environmental threat has become embedded in everyday life, revealing its impact on both communities and the landscape they call home. August 26, 2022 PICTORIAL STORY photography EMY MAIKE story EMY MAIKE & MELANIE MEGGS SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Floating garbage. Where does it come from? For centuries, our planet has been polluted and marred by human activity. But in recent times, we have become more aware of the devastating effects that plastic pollution can have on our environment. And while it may seem like a distant problem, we are now seeing the effects of plastic pollution everywhere. From the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to our own backyards, plastic pollution is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a massive collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Not only is it full of plastic waste, but it is also full of larger pieces of plastic that has been broken down into smaller pieces known as microplastics. This soup of microplastics has been a problem for some time and it's steadily increasing. It's estimated that our oceans are now 90% full of plastics. What's worse, plastic is non-biodegradable, meaning it does not degrade or decompose. This means that over time, more and more plastic waste accumulates in our oceans and landfills. The majority of this plastic waste can be traced back to land-based activities in North America and Asia, while ships navigating the oceans also dump large amounts of plastic into the water. The issue of plastic pollution is a global one and it's time for us to take action. If we don't make a change soon, the consequences for our environment could be dire. So, let's learn more about plastic pollution and its effects on our planet. In a world where more than 8 million metric tons of plastic are discarded into oceans every year, Indonesia is among the top contributors to plastic pollution. Scientists have predicted there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by the year 2050. Proper management of plastic waste is lacking in coastal communities in Indonesia. Researchers from Indonesia and Australia found that waste management and infrastructure capacity in coastal communities in Indonesia did not effectively prevent plastic debris from entering the marine ecosystem. This plastic waste in the ocean negatively affects the marine ecosystem as sea creatures like whales, turtles and fish mistake floating plastic waste for food, swallowing material they can’t digest. The plastic accumulates in their bodies over their lifetime, killing them or working their way up the food chain and eventually circling back to humans. I travelled to the Philippines in 2019. For more than a year I sat at my computer and researched information and also bought books about the world's pollution and how the people manage their living life within it. It is a subject that seems to be overlooked. It actually wasn't my intention for me to deal with this information, but there was a change within myself, so I dared myself to do this documentary project. As I travelled around places such as Davao, Mindanao and Navotas City, Manila, there were many surprising moments. The pictures speak more than words and you can try to understand how they live. A few local women were watching me and were curious to what I was photographing. I spoke to them. Josie from Davao City, Mindanao, described what it was like living there. “I am living in this area for so many years that there is now a lot of garbage under the house. Back when my children were little, they fell down but they are still alive and grown up." At the other side of the beauty at the remote place just a few steps into eternity there is an abandoned place the Cemetery and this place is the garbage dump of humanity. Uncollected waste contributes more to plastic waste discharges than leakages from final disposal sites, and very little plastic is recycled. Rural areas generate the largest amounts of mismanaged plastic waste due to very limited waste collection rates. Limited collection services and access to disposal infrastructure hinders improvement in waste handling behaviors. Direct disposal in water is the main pathway of plastic waste reaching rivers then dispersing into the ocean, often resulting from populations not having access to waste collection services. The inhabitants have no other way to dispose of their garbage. For the people living in this kind of area, this is how they live their life and they are happy, just the way they are, unknowingly having an impact on the world. However, they might live the life in this kind of situation there are always smiling faces. You must reach out and you are going to smile too as they do! In regions where proper waste management systems are not in place, the most effective way to help bring plastic waste levels down is to encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle. Governments must also take steps to ban single-use plastics and invest in waste management infrastructure in order to prevent plastic from entering the ocean. Fortunately, some of these steps are already being taken in Indonesia. For example, the island of Bali has banned all single-use plastics, while Jakarta has banned plastic bags in shopping centres and street markets. This is an important step forward, but more must be done to ensure that plastic waste is properly managed and does not end up in our oceans. In addition to government initiatives, individuals can also play an important role in reducing plastic waste. People can choose to purchase less single-use plastic items and opt for reusable items such as metal straws and water bottles. Another way to help reduce plastic waste in the environment is by properly disposing of discarded items instead of leaving them to end up in the ocean. By taking these steps, we can help reduce plastic pollution in our oceans and create a cleaner, healthier environment for not just us, but for future generations as well. Proper management of waste can have a positive effect on both the local and global environment, and it is up to us to make the changes necessary to ensure that our planet is able to thrive. © Emy Maike © Emy Maike © Emy Maike © Emy Maike © Emy Maike © Emy Maike © Emy Maike At the other side of the beauty at the remote place just a few steps into eternity there is an abandoned place the Cemetery and this place is the garbage dump of humanity. © Emy Maike © Emy Maike © Emy Maike Emy Maike’s photography is more than documentation — it is a deeply personal act of witnessing. Born and raised in Manila and now living between Germany and Switzerland, Emy brings a unique perspective to her work, shaped by both distance and deep connection. In capturing the realities of plastic pollution in the Philippines, Emy doesn’t just show the problem, she reveals the humanity within it. Her images honor the dignity of communities living among waste, not as victims, but as people navigating difficult circumstances with resilience and grace. Emy Maike's work is a call to attention, and a call to care — a visual testimony that challenges us all to do better. view Emy's portfolio Read an interview with Emy >>> Website >>> Instagram >>> Facebook >>> Twitter >>> Sources for story - National Geographic | Great Pacific Garbage Patch Washington Post | Indonesia Plastic Waste Museum World Bank 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 >>> THE LIFE WITHIN THE MOUNTAIN Ten years after first seeing Larung Gar, Jing Wei returns to a changed mountain, finding continuity in faith, memory and the lives held within it. PROSCENIUM GHOSTS Said Manseur honors these young actors, their courage, and the unseen work they give to keep theatre alive against the odds. REGINA: BOARDING SCHOOL LIFE AND DREAMS A boarding school room becomes the frame for Cleopatra Joint’s portrait of ambition, instability, and a young woman’s search for freedom. LIFE ALONG THE RIVER Along the Hooghly, Shubhodeep Roy photographs Kolkata through faith, labour and memory, revealing a city shaped by water, inheritance and shared life. A HOME OF MEMORIES AND THE PRESENT Davide Santangelo returns to his family home by moonlight, tracing how absence, memory, and love continue to live within place, objects, and atmosphere after loss. THE PULL OF THE EARTH This is more than a record of rural Bengal. It looks at the bond between Sayan Biswas and the place that shaped him, even after distance has changed that relationship. 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.

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

RUHR PERSPECTIVES Sarah Luhse presents a series of photos wanting to show the beauty of the region, the Ruhr Area, where she lives. RUHR PERSPECTIVES May 27, 2021 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Sarah Luhse INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Sarah Luhse is an inspiring and passionate primary school teacher who channels her creativity through her art and photography. Growing up in the often overlooked Ruhr Area in Germany, Sarah is determined to show the beauty of her home region through her work. Using her Leica Camera and creative editing in black and white, Sarah has created a series of photographs that capture the industrial history of this area while highlighting contrasts, shapes and textures. Join us as we explore the photographs of Sarah Luhse and uncover the beauty of the Ruhr Area. “I was born and raised in the Lower Rhine Region in Germany, but I'm living and working as a teacher in the Ruhr Area in Germany now. It was my boyfriend, a professional photographer, who evoked my deep interest in photography. Nevertheless, I have always had a passion for arts in general. Besides photography, my favorite leisure activity is visiting exhibitions or going to the theatre.” IN CONVERSATION WITH SARAH LUHSE THE PICTORIAL LIST: Sarah, please tell us where do you find your inspiration? SARAH LUHSE: I am able find beauty in everything. That's why I find inspiration in the supposedly boring objects and places. TPL: What do you want to express through your photography? What are some of the elements you always try to include in your photographs? SL: My main interest is to express my aesthetic perception with the recipient. I always try to focus on a classically perfect or a unique composition (golden cut, rule of thirds, lines, …). TPL: Do you have a favourite place to go photograph? SL: All those beautiful capitals and cities around Europe. TPL: When you take pictures, do you usually have a concept in mind of what you want to shoot, or do you let the images just "come to you", or is it both? Describe your process. SL: It is both. Sometimes the images come to me automatically and sometimes I already know exactly what to photograph in advance. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? SL: My heart beats for modern art. Kahlo, Chagall and Picasso are my all time favorite artists. Concerning photography I adore the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher, Berenice Abbott and Maria Svarbova. I am able find beauty in everything. That's why I find inspiration in the supposedly boring objects and places. 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? SL: I am using a Leica Q2 most of the time. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist or photographer? Where do you hope to see yourself in five years? SL: I don't see myself as an artist or a photographer. I am an amateur and taking and editing photos is what I like. TPL: "When I am not out photographing, I like to... SL: Draw, to visit exhibitions, to go to the theatre, to sing and to swim.” PORTFOLIO read more interviews >>> CONTOURS OF ABSENCE Where concealment unsettles recognition and ordinary spaces turn psychological, the photographs of Serhii Fett suspend identity between presence and absence. THE ART OF ATTENTION Curiosity turns portraits, objects, and places into discoveries as Len Irish reflects on a life shaped by the camera’s attention. WHERE EMOTIONS BREATHE Simple encounters Irina Sedletskaya almost missed become photographs shaped by silence, distance, uncertainty, memory, hope, and resilience. THE VILLAGE A workers’ neighbourhood becomes a living archive as Virginia Cassano photographs the people, streets, and memories that continue to shape Villaggio Piaggio. MUTABLE MORPHOGENESIS By merging scientific methodologies with photographic experimentation, Emma Varga creates images that challenge fixed distinctions between human and non-human, visible and invisible. 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.

PICTORIAL STORY SAHARA Enter a place where nothing is still, and everything speaks — Lorenzo Vitali’s Sahara captures the ever-changing dance of light, shadow, and sand in a landscape shaped by silence and movement. July 14, 2023 PICTORIAL STORY photography LORENZO VITALI story MELANIE MEGGS SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link On the remote border between Libya and Niger, where the silence of the desert hums with unseen forces, Italian artist Lorenzo Vitali found a landscape shaped not by human hands, but by wind and time. His latest photographic series, Sahara: The Shape and The Shadow , captures the elusive dialogue between form and light, revealing the desert not as a void, but as a living canvas of constant transformation. Each photograph documents a fleeting moment: a dune sculpted by air, a ridge etched by shifting light. But beyond the aesthetic lies a deeper exploration. Lorenzo uses the desert’s transience to question the very nature of perception. “The shape of the sand is born from the wind, changes with the wind, changes its skin with the wind. The wind makes it abstract and variable. But the visibility of the shape is given by the shadow that rises and falls at various times of the day, creating a changing game of shapes.” Through this interplay of shadow and structure, Lorenzo constructs a poetic conversation between the visible and the invisible, the permanent and the ephemeral. His work resists narrative and embraces suggestion, inviting viewers to contemplate the intangible — not just of the desert, but of their own emotional landscapes. © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali © Lorenzo Vitali With Sahara: The Shape and The Shadow , Lorenzo Vitali continues his career-long pursuit of reimagining the relationship between art and environment. In capturing the desert’s ever-changing contours, he offers not just images, but meditations — on time, nature, and the quiet power of transformation. It’s a body of work that asks us to slow down, look closer, and find shape in shadow. view Lorenzo's portfolio Read an interview with Lorenzo >>> View Lorenzo's project An Arrhythmic Succession of Interrupted Pauses >>> 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 and the team. read more stories >>> THE LIFE WITHIN THE MOUNTAIN Ten years after first seeing Larung Gar, Jing Wei returns to a changed mountain, finding continuity in faith, memory and the lives held within it. PROSCENIUM GHOSTS Said Manseur honors these young actors, their courage, and the unseen work they give to keep theatre alive against the odds. REGINA: BOARDING SCHOOL LIFE AND DREAMS A boarding school room becomes the frame for Cleopatra Joint’s portrait of ambition, instability, and a young woman’s search for freedom. LIFE ALONG THE RIVER Along the Hooghly, Shubhodeep Roy photographs Kolkata through faith, labour and memory, revealing a city shaped by water, inheritance and shared life. A HOME OF MEMORIES AND THE PRESENT Davide Santangelo returns to his family home by moonlight, tracing how absence, memory, and love continue to live within place, objects, and atmosphere after loss. THE PULL OF THE EARTH This is more than a record of rural Bengal. It looks at the bond between Sayan Biswas and the place that shaped him, even after distance has changed that relationship. 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.

MARLON RAMOS I was born in Honduras and raised in Newburgh. I spent my early years with my grandparents, who instilled in me the importance of a person’s character and their word. After coming to America, I learned quickly what responsibility meant and what it was to grow up fast. Questions of identity and belonging have stayed with me ever since. During college, while studying Business Administration and Accounting, I found myself drawn to the world around me, often thinking about photography. After graduating, I used my graduation money to buy my first camera. Years later, stepping away from a corporate career gave me the space to fully commit to that instinct and to begin looking more closely at my surroundings. I am self-taught, and the work of W. Eugene Smith and Daido Moriyama shaped my understanding of long-term commitment and visual language. I work primarily in black and white to reduce distraction and focus on what is essential. My practice is grounded in observation and return. I revisit the same places, watching how people move through them and how meaning develops over time. Through this, I explore ideas of home, routine, culture, and the ongoing question of where I belong. LOCATION New York UNITED STATES CAMERA/S Fujifilm X-E2, Fujifilm XT3 @MARLON_LIGHT_SENSITIVE FEATURES // Where We Belong

QUARANTINE IN QUEENS Neil Kramer tells stories with his photos, writing, and films. Simultaneously humorous and compassionate, his lockdown diary has gone viral. QUARANTINE IN QUEENS August 30, 2021 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Neil Kramer INTERVIEW Karin Svadlenak Gomez Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Neil Kramer tells stories - with his photos, writing, and films. Humorous and compassionate at the same time, he tackles themes taken directly from human life - including his own. When he found himself locked into a small apartment in Queens, New York, with his mother and ex-wife during the still ongoing Covid-19 pandemic he ended up making the best of the situation: he turned it into a quirky and humorous photo project. His posts of portraits showing the family in often strange situations went viral on social media platforms and have been widely featured on television and in newspapers, and won many awards. We are honoured that Neil agreed to an interview for The Pictorial List, in which he talks to our editor Karin Svadlenak Gomez, about his project QUARANTINE IN QUEENS and how he and his family have been dealing with the pandemic. “During the early days of the pandemic, it became impossible to do street photography, so it seemed natural to start taking photos of our lives inside the apartment. At the time, Queens, NY was the epicenter of the pandemic in America, and it was scary. Taking the photos became a collaborative way of using art as self-therapy, much in the same way that others started baking bread or knitting sweaters. And because I had some experience in comedy writing in California, I tended to gravitate towards the humor of the situation, at least at first.” IN CONVERSATION WITH NEIL KRAMER THE PICTORIAL LIST: Neil please tell us about yourself. When and how did you become interested in photography? NEIL KRAMER: I’ve always loved photography, but I’ve had more of a career as a writer. I lived in Los Angeles for several years, writing and developing scripts for TV and movies. I also attended film school at USC where I studied film production. I began to fully immerse myself in still photography when I moved back to New York and got hooked on street photography. TPL: How did it happen that you ended up in quarantine with your ex-wife and mother? NK: It’s a complicated story, but let’s just say that I was living in my apartment while my mother was in Boca Raton, Florida, but she decided to come back after her lease expired. At the same time, my ex-wife had a plumbing disaster in Los Angeles and she had to move, so she asked if she could stay with me for a few weeks. And then the pandemic happened, and we all got stuck together. And we are still together in this rather tiny apartment with only one bathroom, trying to figure out our next step. TPL: What triggered the idea for this photo project? And what did your ex-wife and mother think when you presented them with this project idea? NK: During the early days of the pandemic, it became impossible to do street photography, so it seemed natural to start taking photos of our lives inside the apartment. At the time, Queens, NY was the epicenter of the pandemic in America, and it was scary. Taking the photos became a collaborative way of using art as self-therapy, much in the same way that others started baking bread or knitting sweaters. And because I had some experience in comedy writing in California, I tended to gravitate towards the humor of the situation, at least at first. My ex-wife and mother already knew that I always had wacky creative ideas, so they were comfortable in playing along. But as the project got more followers on Instagram and we got some media attention, such as in the Washington Post and the Today Show, it became a little more difficult in dealing with the attention. The series was never intended as a project. It just happened, without a plan. I never expected this pandemic to go on for over 500 days! Usually the daily post was based on a real life experience, which we would restage later in the day when we had more perspective and time. April 12, Quarantine in Queens, Day 31. A beautiful friend from Colorado finally mailed us toilet paper and we are celebrating and in tears. November 6, Quarantine in Queens, Day 233. Months ago, when the pandemic started, I gave my bed to Sophia, and I've been mostly sleeping on the old sofabed in the living room. The mattress sucks; it sags and creaks. During the last few weeks, I've been having bad dreams at night about the current President of the United States. Today, Sophia surprised me with a new sofa bed. It's a perfect day for it to arrive seeing how the election results are in. I hope to have fewer bad dreams now for two reasons - a better mattress and the end of a national nightmare. May 20, Quarantine in Queens, Day 70. One of the arguments for not wearing a mask outside is that it is a free country. To many, asking someone to be inconvenienced is an infringement of personal freedom. If someone is at risk to the virus, like seniors or those with medical issues, they should just stay home. ⁣That is easier said than done. After months ago home, it becomes an infringement of personal freedom for seniors and those with medical issues to be stuck at home. ⁣After our trip to the park last week my mother tasted the flavor of freedom, and she liked it. ⁣My mother's friend, Shirley, called. She used to be the same blouse size as my mother, but because of an illness, had lost a lot of weight. She had a bunch of brand new outfits from Bloomingdale's that she never wore that were now too large. Can she drive over and give them to my mother?⁣ At first, Sophia and I nixed the idea. My mother bristled at out helicoptering. We came up with a compromise. I would go downstairs and pick up the blouses from Shirley as she drove by in her car. ⁣When it was time for Shirley's arrival, I found myself on an important zoom conference call. Sophia was about to have a virtual conversation with a doctor at NYU. We were forced into the inevitable - my mother would have to go downstairs ALONE and pick up the blouses. It would be the first time she's left the house alone since March. ⁣"What's the big deal?" some of you might ask. My mother is active and independent, and can go outside by herself. She's not a child. But there are a lot of people out there who don't wear masks, even in our neighborhood with one of the highest Covid-19 infection and death rates in the world. ⁣We told my mother that if she goes out by herself, she has to wear a mask, gloves, and goggles to protect her eyes. ⁣"Why don't you just wrap me in the shower curtain?" my mother asked, sarcastically. June 13, Quarantine in Queens, Day 91. I've now spend three months alone with little outside contact other than these two women. You would think that this femininity would be rubbing off on me. Maybe it has. I mean, in many of my photos, I've been the one either undressed or wearing a dress. But in reality, over the last three months, I've never felt a stronger sense of masculinity and responsibility for these two people, probably the two most important women of my life - my mother and ex-wife. December 28, Quarantine in Queens, Day 286. My mother has always been more of a canned vegetables type of cook. She also makes a great tuna fish sandwich. Sophia is a gourmet cook and has been spoiling us for months with delicious exotic meals and freshly baked bread. My mother also found a new kitchen-related passion -- she has become obsessed with keeping the kitchen clean, even constantly checking the oven to see if anything was left behind. Maybe this pandemic turns everyone OCD. This has created some tension in the house lately between the two women. This kitchen is not big enough for both of them. Luckily, I know how to diffuse any situation. When our old fridge finally died last week, I ordered a new one, not realizing that I bought a model where the door handles were on the wrong side. So now, no one can open the fridge or the oven! Problem solved. November 26, Quarantine in Queens, Day 253. Thanksgiving, 2020. If there is one public event that I love in New York it’s the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. So, we were disappointed when we found out that this year was going to be a TV-only parade because of Covid-19. But then Sophia had an idea. We could buy some big animal balloons on Amazon and then parade around our living room, making our own special Thanksgiving Day event! We received the balloons from Amazon, and this morning, all we had to do was blow them up. We saw online that the Party Store would inflate balloons not bought in the store for a fee, but when we got there, we were told that the new policy was prohibiting them from touching any balloons not bought at the store, because of the pandemic. We called the dollar store, the florist, the stationery store, and the hookah store, but they all refused for the same reason. Our plans were falling apart. Who wants to do a parade with droopy balloons without any helium? Was this another casualty of the pandemic? This is when Sophia remembered the Halal supermarket where she bought "loosies," when no one else would sell us anything but a $20 full pack of cigarettes for a photo shoot we did recently. Would they also be able to blow up our balloons during this parade crisis of ours? Thank you, Halal Supermarket, for making our Thanksgiving Day a special one. You just made America great again! January 31, Quarantine in Queens, Day 320. Every day, my mother is doing physical therapy to heal her hurt shoulder, meaning she is the only one in this household doing any exercise. She's actually quite amazing. In two weeks, she gets her second vaccine. We have even nicknamed her "The Thunderbolt." It is also, according to some sources, the name of her top-secret space laser that she will soon launch to cause more wildfires in California. TPL: The images are quite humorous - does this reflect how the three of you took the entire situation? How much truth is there in these pictures? The humor in the photos was one of the most confusing aspects of the project. The humor is funny, of course, but it was frequently a coping mechanism to express our own anxieties, and even though some of the shots are over-the-top, they were pretty serious. I think the best humor comes from a real place. This is a question I get asked a lot, and the best way to answer it is to say “it is true to me.” I'm not a journalist, and the shots are staged in a theatrical manner, but they are all based on truth. My mother did walk in on me when I was in the bathtub, but the photo is a dramatization of the moment which is better composed and lit by speedlights. TPL: How did it feel for you to become part of the picture? As photographers we are usually behind the camera, most of us are a bit "camera-shy". (Of course there are exceptions, some photographers choose to make a lot of self-portraits.) NK: Over the last seventeen months, I have taken so many self-portraits, including ones where I am naked, and I have no idea where this side of me was before. I rarely took self-portraits before the pandemic. I don’t have much interest in myself visually. Probably the real reason for so many self-portraits is that it is hard to motivate your impatient family for so many months without them getting pissed at you, so I decided to take more self-portraits because I knew I was always available at 3am. TPL: Now that a degree of normalcy seems to have returned to life in New York City, do you have a different appreciation of life? What are some of the things you missed especially during lockdown? NK: It’s funny how things so quickly change. If you asked me these questions two weeks ago, I would have a different answer. Now all of a sudden, the Delta variant is here, and some countries are going back into lockdown. NYC has achieved some level of normalcy, and the greatest gift is seeing friends again. But it's summer now, and we can all meet outside. I’m worried about the fall and winter months, even if we are vaccinated. What we say, what we do, and what we think can all be different, even when confronted with the same situation, and I like to show the contrast between what I show and what I think. TPL: We read somewhere that you are a member of Photographers Under Confinement: Engaging Corona Around the World. What does this association do, and how many members does it have? NK: It’s a Facebook group consisting of hundreds of photographers from around the world, all sharing their pandemic photos on social media. The pandemic has almost become an artistic category nowadays, and there are competitions of Covid-19 related photos. For me, the group was more special - a way to see that this pandemic was truly international. That none of us was alone. This world is so small, and interconnected. It didn’t matter if you were in America, Africa, Asia, or wherever, you had a pandemic story. TPL: In general regarding your photography, where do you find your inspiration to create? NK: I feel that I am a storyteller. I always loved stories. Even reading stories as a child. And photography is a great way to tell stories. At the same time, I do feel that photography can be limited in what it can express. That’s why I usually include text with the photo, which I think are equally as important. I don’t feel that it is “cheating” but a way to tell a fuller picture of myself. What we say, what we do, and what we think can all be different, even when confronted with the same situation, and I like to show the contrast between what I show and what I think. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? NK: Photographers I love: Diane Arbus, Nan Goldin, and Richard Avedon. Currently, I am inspired by the humor of Martin Parr and the intimacy of Elinor Carucci. April 6, Quarantine in Queens, Day 385. "I feel like we're in limbo," said Sophia, as we watched Murder She Wrote with my mother. "We're all vaccinated, but there are still too many variants to travel anywhere. "That gives me an idea for a photo. How about we're all doing the limbo?" "The limbo?" "You know - the "How low can you go?" dance. Like a metaphor of our living situation after vaccination. We're in limbo. We're all dressed up and ready to go, but we're waiting for the rest of the world to get vaccinated. For the bar to go higher." "That doesn't work because when you do the limbo the bar goes lower, not higher." "What does it matter? It's just a metaphor. Being in limbo. Living between heaven and hell." "You know, I'm not sure anyone under 40 even knows what the limbo is." "Of course they do," I said, turning to my mother. "Mom, everyone knows the limbo, right? "Chubby Checker," replied my mother. "You see, Sophia? Everyone knows the limbo." "Everyone who watches Murder She Wrote knows the limbo." June 10, Quarantine in Queens, Day 451. OK, we made it through the first hurdle of meeting friends outside, but what happens when it is ninety degrees outside? It feels like a heatwave in NYC...in June. Climate change, anyone? Should my mother now meet friends inside a restaurant and take the mask off? It might be less healthy for her to sit outside in the heat. Some people can never get a break. March 20, Quarantine in Queens, Day 368. Ever since my mother received her vaccine, she has been acting like a woman released from prison, which in her case, means she can go to the supermarket again, something she was deprived of for over a year. But since there are still Covid variants out there, my mother cut a parole deal with Sophia that she can only go shopping as long as she is at the doors by 7AM when the store first opens. So now, every morning, I hear the clang clang clang of her decades old shopping wagon banging into the front door or the wall, while I'm trying to sleep. There are three supermarkets within walking distance of our apartment building, one of the reasons my parents chose to live here in the first place. Yesterday, my mother came home from Aron’s with a 5-pack of Passover matzoh. The Jewish holiday is in 2 weeks. "Aron’s is trying to get everyone back inside with these incredible deals. Five boxes of matzoh for $2.99!" "That's great," I said and fell back asleep, my ribs still hurting from when I fell off the unopened sofa bed two days earlier. Sophia had taken me to urgent care that day, but the line was so long for Covid tests, I decided to just skip the x-ray. This morning, my mother again banged the door and wheeled her wagon into the kitchen, having just shopped at Key Food. "You're not going to believe this," she said as she pulled out another huge 5-pack of matzoh from her steel chariot. "Key Food gives you a free 5-pack of matzoh if you spent $50! And tomorrow, I'm going to Food Universe for a buy one, get two free sale! "Why do we need so much matzoh?" I asked. We're still in a pandemic. No one is coming over for Passover." "You never know who might show up." Sophia stepped into the room, having been awoken by our conversation. We talk THAT loud in our home. "We do know who will be here for Passover," said Sophia. "Just the three of us. Unless the prophet Elijah shows up." "OK, I'll admit it. This has nothing to do with Passover. I just really missed going shopping." As they say in the Passover Haggadah, "Last year, we were slaves in Egypt. This year, we are slaves to Key Food." June 30, Quarantine in Queens, Day 471. Neil, to Sophia at 7AM in the morning at breakfast: "This has always been our biggest problem. We need to talk more about our inner emotions, to understand each other deeply, to express what's really in our hearts!" Sophia: "zzzz." Actually, Sophia has been having trouble sleeping at night, and I'm a little concerned. She's tried everything from listening to nature sounds to giving up Diet Coke. July 3, Quarantine in Queens, Day 474. I need to be strong. I need to be fit. I need to fight aging. I need to be successful. I need to be smart. I need to be good. I need to be sexual. I need to be respected. I need to admired. I need to be loved. Ok, I think one push-up is a good start for today. September 29, Quarantine in Queens, Day 195. I had a dream last night and I was wearing a mask - in the dream. And even though I was asleep, I was able to question myself, "Why am I wearing a mask in this dream? I don't need to wear one in my inner life, in my private thoughts, or especially, in my dreams? Is the pandemic now inside my head?" TPL: When you take pictures, do you usually have a concept in mind of what you want to shoot, or do you let the images just "come to you", or is it both? Please describe your process. What camera/s do you use? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? NK: For this project, I usually start with something that happened to me personally that day, and the photo and text becomes a visual diary of that day. The image usually comes first, and then the text expands on it. I use a crop sensor Sony 6400. Nothing fancy. And because so many photos have been in my super-dark apartment, I've gotten much more skilled in using my inexpensive Godox speed lights. I've also started to tether my photos to my laptop because it allows me to be in my own photos. And because the interiors are so small, I've tended to use a Sigma 16mm wide angle lens for almost all of the interior shots, a lens I rarely used before. TPL: Where do you hope to see yourself in five years? Are there any special projects you are currently working on other than the quarantine project that you would like to let everyone know about? NK: Oh, boy. It has been such a weird year and a half. It is hard to know what I’m doing next month. I’ve had some offers from publishers to make Quarantine in Queens into a book, but since I’m still working on it, even after 500 days of posts, I’ve been procrastinating. I’ll also be showing some of my work at international festivals during the fall and winter. I’d like to move on to other projects, but this pandemic just won’t end, will it? TPL: "When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… NK: Eat in restaurants, explore the city, go to museums, watch movies, go to the theater, travel. Almost everything that has been hard to do the last year and a half. Hopefully, we’ll all get vaccinated and we can move on to normal life again soon." PORTFOLIO WEBSITE INSTAGRAM read more interviews >>> CONTOURS OF ABSENCE Where concealment unsettles recognition and ordinary spaces turn psychological, the photographs of Serhii Fett suspend identity between presence and absence. THE ART OF ATTENTION Curiosity turns portraits, objects, and places into discoveries as Len Irish reflects on a life shaped by the camera’s attention. WHERE EMOTIONS BREATHE Simple encounters Irina Sedletskaya almost missed become photographs shaped by silence, distance, uncertainty, memory, hope, and resilience. THE VILLAGE A workers’ neighbourhood becomes a living archive as Virginia Cassano photographs the people, streets, and memories that continue to shape Villaggio Piaggio. MUTABLE MORPHOGENESIS By merging scientific methodologies with photographic experimentation, Emma Varga creates images that challenge fixed distinctions between human and non-human, visible and invisible. 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.

SOHO SMALL HOURS Laine Mullally placed herself in the midst of moments rich in emotion as she wandered around in Soho at night. SOHO SMALL HOURS December 16, 2022 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Laine Mullally INTERVIEW Karin Svadlenak Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Laine Mullally is, one might say, a small town girl, having been born in rural Sweden, who has taken to exploring big city streets. She has lived and worked both in London and Stockholm and has travelled extensively. Her wandering streak is accompanied by a keen eye for storytelling - both in words and in her photography. It is well worth reading the amusing stories Laine often writes below her images, which tell imagined stories about her photographic subjects. Having been drawn to the arts from a young age, thanks to hours spent with her artistic grandmother, Laine eventually transitioned from drawing to photography. In her professional life, Laine is both a fashion model and a teacher, and her experience of being the photographer's subject has had an impact on how she approaches her candid portraiture, something she has become fascinated by more recently – she does not want to make her subjects feel in any way uncomfortable or to depict them in artificial poses the way fashion models often are. And so prefers to remain at a distance, even as she immerses herself in the emotions of the street life that she observes, and capture the beauty of everyday situations and emotions from a little further away. As diverse as Laine’s photography is, it all has a recognisable aesthetic, a focus on lines and shapes and colours, sometimes a predilection for partial abstraction, and a clear sense of beauty, which is evident in her careful compositions. We have the pleasure of interviewing Laine for The Pictorial List, making new connections to her photography and here she shares with you her passion and inspiration. “Ever since I lived in London during my modelling years when I was young I've loved wandering around in Soho at night. It was not about just snapping people out on the razzle dazzle though, it was about placing myself in the midst of moments rich in emotion, taking in the flow passing by, catching a sound, a motion, a look, a gesture, and capture what mid sentence, mid thought, mid laughter, mid stride, mid whatever looks like and feels like, the everyday - or rather every night - beauty in that.” IN CONVERSATION WITH LAINE MULLALLY THE PICTORIAL LIST: Welcome to The List Laine! Tell us a bit about yourself? LAINE MULLALLY: I was born in a small town in the middle, rural part of Sweden, grew up partly there and partly in Stockholm and moved to London after graduating at the age of 18, then back to Stockholm where I've lived since then. Travelling has been a big part of my life, Europe, Africa, Asia and America, and I spend a lot of time in London where my husband is from, but Stockholm remains my home. TPL: What was it that sparked your initial interest in photography? LM: My grandmother was very artistic, somehow finding the time, while working full time and raising two children, for her various creative outlets, like painting, designing and making clothes and furnishings, and she was probably my first artistic inspiration. I early on had an interest in drawing, mostly portraits, I took art classes at school, and my dad had a Canon AE-1 that I started using when I was in my 20's. Sadly I no longer draw but transitioning into photography has felt a natural development. When I got my first DSLR a few years ago I mainly focused on architecture, then added abstract and ICM, then ventured into street photography and now it seems I have come full circle, having a renewed interest in portraits, albeit candid ones. TPL: You are a woman of many talents. We happen to know that among other occupations, you are also a fashion model yourself. How do you think this experience of being the subject of photography has influenced you as a photographer? LM: I have empathy for my subjects and I don't want to make them feel uncomfortable by taking their photo; that held me back from street photography for a long while but since venturing into this genre I've developed a code for my street photography, for example, I keep a distance (using my 85mm lens on my crop sensor camera I get pretty close from afar), I don't photograph people in vulnerable states or situations and if anybody would say or show that they don't want me to take their photo I would respect that and if they would ask me to delete their image I would instantly do so. A while ago I did a project shooting mannequins, the aim being giving life and a context to that inanimate object, making them a subject, with emotions, dreams, fears and hopes, with a past and a future, not just this thing that you see in the moment, and that is connected to my modelling background. Since I started taking street photos it has been on my mind as to what extent my modelling background influences my aesthetic; what I find beautiful, what draws me in, and recently I went to see an exhibition by a photographer, who, like me, also started out as a fashion model - and she ponders the very same question! One thing we have in common is that we both tend to photograph women more often than men and neither of us have any clear answers as to why. I do think that for me it partly has to do with, like in my mannequin project, wanting to depict women as subjects, not objects, and to add to this I like writing accompanying stories to make the viewer/reader see the photo - and the subject - in a very different way than they would be culturally conditioned to do. I have considered whether I'm not just conforming to the norm, in the sense of adopting the male gaze, detecting female beauty and depicting it, that being the aim of the photo, but, I don't feel that I am. Although, at times it may be interpreted that way; I recall an amusing example where I was photographing a woman standing quite close by and a young man standing behind me suddenly cried out "Legs, legs, I see legs!" and was, if not upset but certainly felt it necessary to question what I was doing! I explained to him that I had noticed this woman, all dressed up but wearing flat sandals, carrying her super high heels in her hand, and I liked the scene, I found this woman's strategy, of conforming to the norm of 'looking good' in excruciatingly uncomfortable heels yet ensuring a comfortable walk home interesting, but the young man just assumed that I was a 'leg woman'! Another way my modelling background has influenced me is that I want to depict beauty that is not posed and edited, like in a fashion or beauty editorial, and not a perfected social media selfie, filters and all; I want to show the everyday beauty in everyday moments; people thinking, talking, laughing, daydreaming, reading, discussing, flirting, hurrying; multi facetted people, leading their everyday lives; this to me is real beauty and I would love for people to see themselves that way too. TPL: Would you like to tell us a bit about your experience of posing for the camera? How do you feel when you are the subject? And how different is that from being ‘the’ photographer? LM: As a model you of course learn about poses, (and let me tell you it HURTS, being all contorted, holding your pose, maybe in heels, maybe baking in the sun or freezing in the wind or snow for hours on end!) finding the light and interpreting the brief. I like to work out back stories for the character that wears the clothes and make-up that I'm wearing for the day so that I can have fun and also convey something real. At best you get to be a part of telling a story, creating images that engage and inspire; that's important as people consume so much media and the images they see affect them deeply. The obvious difference between being the subject and the photographer is that as a model you're not in control, and as a photographer you are, but of course you try to establish a rapport with the photographer and when they're open to your input it becomes more of a collaborative process. You can also adopt poses and expressions between shots that you think will convey something meaningful to you and just maybe the photographer will go - 'Ooh, hold that!' - and maybe think it just 'happened', that it was their idea! ;-) Most of all, I always strive to find ways to be a subject in the photo, not a mere object; I'm a living, breathing, thinking, feeling woman, not a mannequin. TPL: Although you often do some artistic compositions, you also seem quite interested in portraying people candidly, or at least they feature prominently in the series you have shared with us. How do you go about making the candid portraits you have shared? LM: Yes, I do seem to have come full circle and just like when I would draw portraits I look for expressions and scenes that engage; like I mentioned earlier, I want to capture that everyday beauty. People in motion in a city are constantly telling their own story; this fascinates me and I try to capture it. I'm predominantly a fisher, not a hunter, so I find locations that give the vibe I'm looking for and move around spots where the light and framing feel right and then I wait for subjects and scenes. For the portraits I shared with you I used an 85mm lens (which corresponds to 136mm on a full frame camera) so I do get quite up close and personal and when the moments I catch really pique my curiosity or move me then I know that I've got something. Having said all this, I'm still not entirely comfortable with taking strangers' photos so I have started doing little exercises to feel more at ease, more confident in the process, like taking a deep breath, amping up my positivity and bounding up to strangers and striking up a conversation, maybe complimenting them on their outfits; this I've found makes me so much more comfortable with photographing people and I also get comfortable with the area, feel I can move around with ease and snap away with gay abandon! I've found that most people I approach are delighted to have their photo taken and also people I haven't approached approach me and ask me to photograph them. It may not be the kind of photography I'm after but it brings such a positive vibe, which really aids my photography process! TPL: In general regarding your photography, where do you find your inspiration to create? When you take pictures, do you usually have a concept in mind of what you want to shoot, or do you let the images just "come to you", or is it both? Please describe your process. LM: As I am interested in several genres of photography, just about everything I see inspires me to take photos and I usually don't know what I will photograph at any given time. I have a little point and shoot compact with me at all times but if I decide to go for a photo walk and bring my DSLR I generally pick a location as a starting point, see what the light is like and take it from there. Sometimes I use a sun position map app before I go to a location so that I know what light and shadow to expect. I'm a slow starter that needs a bit of a warm up so I look around and see if anything instantly draws my attention, if not I might just take some shots of some pigeons or a reflection or random shots of people or just about anything. If there are a lot of people and I feel awkward about taking portraits I might start playing around with ICM shots and either I'll stick to that, let that guide what other locations I go to or I might start approaching people, like I described above, interact with them to start to get shots and find a flow, move onto candid portraits and scenes. In general I let the images come to me, it doesn't work for me to go out with a mission, I'd most likely go home empty handed. If I'm in London I do mostly focus on candid portraits and street scenes though as there is such an abundance of subjects and scenes at any time of the day; at home in Stockholm I have to work harder, be prepared to switch genres several times during a photo walk so as not to go home empty handed. I also have a 'go to' place there if no other location has worked for me; a large square with a geometrical pattern and interesting lines and always people passing by and so I know that I can get shots of any genre there. I want to show the everyday beauty in everyday moments; people thinking, talking, laughing, daydreaming...multi-facetted people, leading their everyday lives; this to me is real beauty and I would love for people to see themselves that way too. TPL: Some people say a picture is worth more than a thousand words, others prefer to have context to images, and yet others enjoy matching photos with made-up stories. We noticed that you often include amusing little stories as captions under your photos. How do these come to mind? LM: I always wonder who my subjects are and what is really taking place before me and as I don't know, I make it up! I feel responsibility towards my subjects; even if they don't know that they're in a photo I would like them to feel good about it and so I like to make them heroes in my stories; also it is in a way a thank you of sorts for me capturing them without their knowledge or consent. The stories are often silly, jokey in some way, at times surreal, sometimes a bit dark perhaps, but I don't wish a subject to be the brunt of a joke, unless the subject is me, in the modelling shots I post; it's amusing to challenge the stereotype of models as conceited. Besides being silly with my stories I have an ulterior motive; most of the time we don't know what we see when we look at a random person or scene, but we may casually assume, even judge, or, maybe we just don't think anything at all, it's just a passing glance, and I like to play around with our preconceived notions and offer the viewer the opportunity to see something extraordinary, dramatic, heroic, unexpected. I look at the shot, set my mind to blank and go with the first thought or feeling I get and see where it goes. I also have a 'concept bank' where I jot down ideas, thoughts, themes and interesting words and phrases that may come of use in stories and I enjoy the process of reading up on any subjects that I use as part of the stories, delightfully nerdy! TPL: Do you think a picture can ever tell its own story, without being contextualised? For that to be the case, what would the picture have to be like? LM: Oh definitely, but maybe sometimes I can feel that mine may not stand on their own.. That self doubt aside, any picture can stand on its own merit; the photographer takes a photo, offers it to the viewer who then creates the context, could be the context the photographer had in mind or something completely different. I just have a different approach, I choose to contextualise with stories to take the viewer on a journey and expose them to the unexpected. I'm delighted that I often get that kind of feedback, that people say that they see the photo and think one thing and then read the story and think something completely different! TPL: Do you have any favourite artists/photographers? LM: Ooh, I love Vivian Maier's fascinating exploration of the everyday, Martin Parr's quirkiness and social commentary, Cindy Sherman's use of herself to explore identities and Elizaveta Porodina's exquisite, painterly, otherworldly tsunami of the senses. They don't necessarily inspire my photography in the sense of me striving to emulate their style, that's impossible, but I admire their work immensely. There are also a great many photographers on Instagram and Vero whose work I love. TPL: Does gear matter? Is there any particular equipment you need or wish you had to help you achieve your photographic vision? LM: Gear doesn't matter for the story telling aspect of photography; if you have the eye you see a scene, you compose and you capture it, but, I do feel a bit limited by my gear, I would love to be able to achieve better quality images technically. I have a little point and shoot compact, a Canon PowerShot g7 x Mark II, which I like as I can keep it with me at all times but I mostly use my Canon 200D and my favourite lens at the moment, the one I used for this series, is a 85mm Samyang f/1,4 and getting that lens has helped me develop my photography in a new direction, it being very suitable for candid portraits. I recently got a Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens, to get the equivalent of 50mm on my crop sensor camera, and I'll see how that will suit me. I think I'll hold off on upgrading my camera though, until I'm more technically savvy with what I've got and also know more about what kinds of photography I want to be doing. Also, when you don't have great gear or aren't very tech savvy or haven't chosen a particular genre or haven't established a very specific style it's quite liberating; there are no rules, no boundaries, no wrongs, no pressure, you just do whatever you feel like and that's quite a lovely place to be! TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? Are there areas of photography you feel like exploring? Tell us what rocks your photographic boat. LM: I have no exciting news; I've just started taking candid portraits and I feel I want to keep exploring that for a while, alongside street and abstract, before starting any new projects. One challenge I have is to calibrate my eye to the subtleness of Sweden and the Swedish; there are fewer people here, which for one thing makes it very tricky to blend in when you take street photographs as you really stick out, standing there with your camera; I just raise my camera and my potential subject instantly clocks me! It's also more homogeneous, the pace is slower and it's more quiet; even on a Friday night all you might come across is a man and his dog! Alright, I may exaggerate a little but I am so enamoured with London and its vibrancy and the diversity and flair of the people that I have a hard time adjusting to and getting fired up about my everyday back home and that's not OK. I recognise that it's me, not Stockholm, that is at fault here though, so I am working on it. I hope for a very snowy winter as I would love to explore that, and really make good use of this long, dark, cold season! Snow is exotic to others but everyday (or at least it used to be) to me but an everyday that I find wonderful; the brightness it brings, the softness, how it muffles everything - and the scenes; a mother of three cursing as she digs out her car, four middle aged men in a spontaneous snowball fight, a gaggle of teenage boys in inappropriate shoes gingerly manoeuvring on the pavement, an old lady sticking her tongue out to catch snowflakes, I just love it and I hope to be able to capture it aplenty this winter! TPL: “When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… LM: Be out in nature, read, write, do weights at the gym, go to the ballet, a gallery, a concert, the cinema, have a curry, sit on the couch with my husband, open the balcony door and give a squirrel a hazelnut; you know, be an all rounded human being.” PORTFOLIO INSTAGRAM read more interviews >>> CONTOURS OF ABSENCE Where concealment unsettles recognition and ordinary spaces turn psychological, the photographs of Serhii Fett suspend identity between presence and absence. THE ART OF ATTENTION Curiosity turns portraits, objects, and places into discoveries as Len Irish reflects on a life shaped by the camera’s attention. WHERE EMOTIONS BREATHE Simple encounters Irina Sedletskaya almost missed become photographs shaped by silence, distance, uncertainty, memory, hope, and resilience. THE VILLAGE A workers’ neighbourhood becomes a living archive as Virginia Cassano photographs the people, streets, and memories that continue to shape Villaggio Piaggio. MUTABLE MORPHOGENESIS By merging scientific methodologies with photographic experimentation, Emma Varga creates images that challenge fixed distinctions between human and non-human, visible and invisible. 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.

For me, photography is a form of deep listening to connect with what surrounds me. FRANCESCA TIBONI For me, photography is a form of deep listening to connect with what surrounds me. LOCATION Cagliari ITALY CAMERA/S Leica M10 WEBSITE https://www.francescatiboni.com/ @FRATIBS FEATURES // Something About The Future The Silences Where We See Unveiling Vulnerability

My work focuses on experimental black-and-white photography, particularly the deformation possibilities of the human body. I often use long exposure techniques as a way to see the figure differently — to push beyond what’s immediately visible. By centering my practice on the human form, I’m constantly searching for new ways to transform it, to reimagine its meaning and emotional depth. NASOS KARABELAS My work focuses on experimental black-and-white photography, particularly the deformation possibilities of the human body. I often use long exposure techniques as a way to see the figure differently — to push beyond what’s immediately visible. By centering my practice on the human form, I’m constantly searching for new ways to transform it, to reimagine its meaning and emotional depth. LOCATION Greece ATHENS CAMERA/S Nikon D60, Nikon D7200 WEBSITE https://www.behance.net/Nasos-Karabelas @NASOS_KARABELAS @NASOSSKARABELAS FEATURES // Unfigured

PICTORIAL STORY WOMEN'S GLANCES Wandering through the streets of Greece, Antonis Giakoumakis captures the subtle poetry in women’s glances — fleeting expressions that unfold like scenes from an intimate street theatre. May 27, 2022 PICTORIAL STORY photography ANTONIS GIAKOUMAKIS words ANTONIS GIAKOUMAKIS SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link “ If you bend over to your fellow human beings in their indifferent eyes will be written your loneliness is hopeless, total. ” - Katerina Angelaki-Rook (Loneliness) Wandering around the corners of Greece, I unconsciously captured with my lens mainly women's looks. I'm not looking to find the "folklore", the kerchief, but the look. This is what attracts me, and I want to capture it with my lens. The look of the grandmothers so expressive to give, sometimes, a sweetness to their dug face. Women's looks, glances. From open windows, from half-open doors, there on the street. Observers of life. Faces gloomy, exploratory, indifferent, puzzled. Women's looks tired but also smiling. After the home care, for a walk, for a visit to the neighbour, for weggera at home. The need for extroversion brings them to the fore, as does the need for work from the field to the bazaar. Familiar images that I have relived in the past, where I was born. If possible, I would like to go back in time to meet with human eyes again, in humble places… churches, abandoned villages, deserted streets… They are my experiences and my obsessions! Women's glances. Unexpected scene, in a street theater without spectators and applause. Everyday life. Faces clearly cut off from urban interference. They calm my soul. The journey will continue, and you know, somewhere on the road I might meet the look of a grandmother...one mother!! © Antonis Giakoumakis © Antonis Giakoumakis © Antonis Giakoumakis © Antonis Giakoumakis © Antonis Giakoumakis © Antonis Giakoumakis © Antonis Giakoumakis © Antonis Giakoumakis © Antonis Giakoumakis © Antonis Giakoumakis © Antonis Giakoumakis © Antonis Giakoumakis © Antonis Giakoumakis Antonis Giakoumakis’s photography is an act of remembrance — an intimate chronicle of everyday life in rural Greece, seen through the quiet dignity of women’s gazes. His portraits do not seek drama or spectacle. Instead, they draw power from subtlety: a glance from a window, a furrowed brow in the shade of an old doorway, the weight of time etched in a smile. These are not just images; they are echoes of lives lived in rhythm with the land, shaped by care, work, and quiet resilience. After a long career in IT, Antonis turned to photography as a way of holding on — to places, to faces, to fleeting moments that might otherwise be forgotten. His work is deeply personal, rooted in memory and longing, yet it speaks universally. Through his images, Antonis reminds us of the beauty in the overlooked, and of the profound stories waiting in the simplest of human encounters. view Antonis' portfolio Read an interview with Antonis >>> Read "THE PROVINCIAL" by Antonis >>> 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 and the team. read more stories >>> THE LIFE WITHIN THE MOUNTAIN Ten years after first seeing Larung Gar, Jing Wei returns to a changed mountain, finding continuity in faith, memory and the lives held within it. PROSCENIUM GHOSTS Said Manseur honors these young actors, their courage, and the unseen work they give to keep theatre alive against the odds. REGINA: BOARDING SCHOOL LIFE AND DREAMS A boarding school room becomes the frame for Cleopatra Joint’s portrait of ambition, instability, and a young woman’s search for freedom. LIFE ALONG THE RIVER Along the Hooghly, Shubhodeep Roy photographs Kolkata through faith, labour and memory, revealing a city shaped by water, inheritance and shared life. A HOME OF MEMORIES AND THE PRESENT Davide Santangelo returns to his family home by moonlight, tracing how absence, memory, and love continue to live within place, objects, and atmosphere after loss. THE PULL OF THE EARTH This is more than a record of rural Bengal. It looks at the bond between Sayan Biswas and the place that shaped him, even after distance has changed that relationship. 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.

FRAMING MY ADVENTURE The street for Casper Dam is an open playground for him where he finds a means of expressing himself in a myriad of colour. FRAMING MY ADVENTURE June 18, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Casper Dam INTERVIEW Karinn Svadlenak Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Growing up in the rural part of Denmark, Casper Dam now lives in the Denmark's second largest city, Aarhus. Due to a major shift towards visual user driven communication in his job, Casper needed to learn about practical photography fast. This ignited into a full fledged obsession for him. Whilst he started out photographing minimalist black and white street, he has now shifted towards colour compositions. The street for Casper is an open playground for him where he finds a means of expressing himself. “I love to frame something ordinary in an extraordinary way. It is a way of seeing adventure everywhere and keeps me from ever getting bored. These kinds of snapshots align with something within myself.” IN CONVERSATION WITH CASPER DAM THE PICTORIAL LIST: Casper, when did you start getting interested in photography? CASPER DAM: My dad has been photographing for fifty odd years, but I first surrendered 4-5 years ago. I needed to learn about creative photography for my job in Social Media Communications and bought my very first camera. TPL: Where do you find your inspiration? CD: Movies, listening to music, my photography books. Just carrying a camera everywhere in itself is perhaps my biggest inspiration. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? CD: Alex Webb for all the complicated layers. There is a claustrophobic, cinematic feel to them. Trent Parke for his work with the light, in every subject matter really. And fellow Aarhus resident Jonas Rask for life with a camera. By now, I see him more as a friend, but his drive to always shoot and ability to make almost anything work has been an inspiration for me ever since I started. TPL: Has your style of shooting changed since you first started? CD: I gradually transitioned from minimalist black and white into colour photography. My interest in multiple layers and colour luminance has grown big. This Göethean idea that the mood of the scene is present by the quality of light itself. TPL: Where is your favourite place to photograph? CD: I love the vibrancy of the Raval in Barcelona or the Lavapies in Madrid. But any city by the sea can keep me occupied for days. Just carrying a camera everywhere in itself is perhaps my biggest inspiration. TPL: Do you think equipment is important in achieving your vision in your photography? What would you say to someone just starting out? CD: The simpler the gear, the more it frees me up to see. So, maybe stick with one focal length for a long time. And learn to shoot manual, whenever you feel comfortable. It makes it easier to predict how the camera behaves and use it creatively. TPL: What characteristics do you think you need to become a good photographer? What’s your tips or advice for someone in your genre? CD: Curiosity, perseverance, adventurousness. Advice: Find your inspiration way beyond photographs. Music, paintings, anything that gives you new ideas. TPL: Have you ever been involved in the artistic world before photography? CD: I played a lot of guitar back in high School. Besides that, I have never graduated from drawing anything but stick figures. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? CD: This year, I am doing a 366 project. It is not that original, but I see it as a great exercise. So far, I like how it challenges me to photograph anything, everywhere. TPL: If I wasn't photographing what would I be doing?... CD: Going for a run or maybe taking a swim. I feel very privileged about doing these recreational activities. And probably also I am a much kinder person because of it. PORTFOLIO INSTAGRAM read more interviews >>> CONTOURS OF ABSENCE Where concealment unsettles recognition and ordinary spaces turn psychological, the photographs of Serhii Fett suspend identity between presence and absence. THE ART OF ATTENTION Curiosity turns portraits, objects, and places into discoveries as Len Irish reflects on a life shaped by the camera’s attention. WHERE EMOTIONS BREATHE Simple encounters Irina Sedletskaya almost missed become photographs shaped by silence, distance, uncertainty, memory, hope, and resilience. THE VILLAGE A workers’ neighbourhood becomes a living archive as Virginia Cassano photographs the people, streets, and memories that continue to shape Villaggio Piaggio. MUTABLE MORPHOGENESIS By merging scientific methodologies with photographic experimentation, Emma Varga creates images that challenge fixed distinctions between human and non-human, visible and invisible. 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.