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LANDSCAPES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA South Australian photographer Alex Frayne's new book is a comprehensive photographic homage to his big and beautiful backyard. LANDSCAPES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA December 7, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Alex Frayne INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE With a 8mm camera in hand, Alex Frayne has been capturing the beauty and resilience of South Australia's landscapes for over 20 years. He has documented his travels through short films, a feature film and still photography, earning much acclaim for his Adelaide Noir and Theatre of Life series and books. Now, Alex is embarking on a new journey to document the timeless and daunting beauty of his home state in his upcoming book, 'Landscapes of South Australia'. Through his honest and artistic approach, Frayne hopes to capture the rugged beauty and strength of the landscapes, as well as the marginal farming opportunities and a kind of rusted beauty that speaks of resilience and the triumph of human spirit. In this interview for The Pictorial List, Alex takes us on a journey to explore South Australia's vast and stunning terrain, giving us an insight into what it can mean to capture such beauty through his powerful images and narrative. “The idea for a series dedicated to landscapes has its genesis in my early career in filmmaking. One of the assets of South Australia is the plethora of wide open landscapes of incredible diversity we have here. I had always intended to shoot the landscapes either as part of a film or as part of a photographic series. Having a rural upbringing also played a part; I saw the world around me and wanted to depict that world in a way that was artistic.” IN CONVERSATION WITH ALEX FRAYNE THE PICTORIAL LIST: Alex, please tell us about yourself. How did you become interested in photography? ALEX FRAYNE: I think from the age of ten, I have had cameras around me. My mother bought me an 8mm movie camera in the early 90's and from there I moved into 35mm while studying filmmaking at Flinders University. Indeed my pedigree in film-making looms large in my photographic work, despite photography being my primary 'form'. Though born in the United Kingdom, (my Australian parents were studying there in the 70's) I have lived the majority of my life in South Australia and currently reside there. TPL: Tell us more about your project LANDSCAPES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA. What was your motivation to make it a book? AF: The idea for a series dedicated to landscapes has its genesis in my early career in filmmaking. One of the assets of South Australia is the plethora of wide open landscapes of incredible diversity we have here. I had always intended to shoot the landscapes either as part of a film or as part of a photographic series. Having a rural upbringing also played a part; I saw the world around me and wanted to depict that world in a way that was artistic. To achieve that, I needed to suffuse the work in honesty and integrity. It meant that I needed to eschew all the notions and stereotypes that existed about landscape photography and South Australia. I needed to create a 'tabula rasa' so that the work could not be linked to pre-conceived notions of South Australia, or movies, or tourism or tropes that float about in my visual memory. This process of "erasure" is key to starting a new project, I feel. The new book LANDSCAPES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA is a large, hardcover 216 page art tome which will be in shops for Christmas. I've been working on it this year with the designer Nick Phillips. Wakefield Press are publishing it, they've been very patient and loyal across this and my previous two books, 'Adelaide Noir' and 'Theatre of Life'. Michael Bollen is the boss at Wakefield Press, he works tirelessly at the helm. TPL: Your photographs tell a story and they have this special quality of light and richness of colour...all the quality of cinematography. Is storytelling actually a big part of your photography? AF: Yes colour and light and composition. These are the tools I use. Composition, specifically comes from my cinema heritage, as in the French phrase "mise-en-scene" which means "the arrangement within the frame" or the spatial geometry that exists within a frame. In terms of storytelling, yes, there is an element of that in photography, but I think it's not front-of-mind for me when shooting. For me, more important are notions of mood, tone, dreams, sadness, joy and revelation. People may ascribe a story to a photo, but that's their business. It will inevitably be different to my notion of the story. TPL: Where do you find your inspiration? And do you have a favourite place to photograph? AF: I love to photograph ghost towns or rust-belt places. I think Woomera and Tarcoola top the list here, because of the decay that is imbedded in the beautiful and remote areas where they are located. The juxtaposition of these 20th Century places set against the wilderness that eventually saw their demise is fascinating, photographically speaking. These places were all part of various "industries." Woomera was once a Space-Race outpost with cutting-edge technology and a rocket range. It was the place for the Anglo Australian cold-war rocket testing site. Tarcoola was a gold-rush town on the Trans-Continental Railway Line. Tarcoola is actually a proper ghost town - nobody lives there, as in NOBODY. It's difficult to reach, but rewarding, photographically because you are seeing how things are, how things were, and you're enveloped by an outback landscape that has existed forever. To the south, you're in the Gawler Ranges, on Barngala land, inhabited for 60,000 years, with trees like this one, standing there against time and space. TPL: Describe your style? Do you mainly focus on landscapes although I love your series "The Overseers of Street" where you shoot street portraiture. As a photographer sometimes you can get pigeonholed into a certain genre...what are your thoughts on this. What are some elements you always try to include in your photographs? AF: I think my style is free-flowing and improvised, a bit like jazz...It's unrestrained and unencumbered and low-tech. I shoot only analogue formats, my camera gear is probably worth less than 2 grand...but of course there are expenses in film stock and processing (but I develop my own black and whites.) I shoot 120 film and 35mm. So I create my own 'music' through my art, I really don't think too hard about genres and such...if my heart desires to shoot a street portrait series, I'll go and do it. My second book was a portrait book, 'Theatre of Life'. What I don't do is ask permission from anybody to do what I do. I don't sit around wondering what friends and colleagues or powers-that-be might think. That's not jazz, that's art by committee. Elements I include in my work are whatever elements are required to yield an emotional response; and that response is more important that format, sharpness, camera brand or film emulsion. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? AF: My favourite artists are the ones you've probably never heard of. The grass roots artists. The community artists, the rural artists, the art teachers in public schools, the amateurs and the older artists who've had to work in a factory their whole life and who have kept doing their hobby art. These people often they write to me asking if they can paint an image of mine to improve their technique. As far as major artists of influence I'd include Steinbeck, Miles Davis, the guitarist Allan Holdsworth and the noir-fiction writer James Ellroy. Frayne's eerily still urban landscapes have been likened in their classical framing and pervasive sense of strangeness in the familiar, to the work of Stanley Kubrick and Jeffrey Smart. - Simon Caterson, The Australian TPL: Do you have a favourite quote or saying that especially resonates with you? AF: Being a jazz nut I can't help but quote the great Miles Davis, who once wrote: "The real music is the silence and all the notes are only framing this silence." I think this applies to photography. It relates to using space, negative space and keeping the frame uncluttered. TPL: What motivates you to take photographs? Do you ever have any struggles in photography? AF: It's the same struggle that confronts most artists and that is the struggle of perpetually having to create new work that gives voice to the ideas that are always percolating away underneath the surface. The motivator can be variety of things. It can be artistic, commercial or in the best case, both. The motivator can also be boredom. If that is the case, taking photos is a sure-fire remedy. TPL: Describe what you love or hate about the camera you use? Does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? AF: I only shoot film, though have used digital for some night work. I shoot with three cameras: a Yashica 6x6 124g medium format camera; a 6x9 Fuji camera also in medium format; and I shoot a Nikon FE 35mm camera for everything else. I love all these cameras in different ways, they're all film cameras, and if handled properly yield images that produce sparkling, element images that digital can never reach. Film has an emotional undercurrent in the image, it just looks better to me. For monochrome I usually shoot Kodak Tri-x, and I develop at home in a HC110 developer. My favorite lens is the 4 element Tessar 80mm lens in my Yashica. Film can also have challenges. In a story that I've told many times, I once took my rangefinder Fuji 6x9 camera up to the Riverland. I shot what I considered to be my some of my best work. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to take the lens cap off - a mistake that can easily happen with rangefinder systems. A day later the lab called to tell me the developed slide film had "no density." That's a mistake you only make once. TPL: Have you ever been involved in the artistic world before photography? AF: Yes I've been around art since forever. I had great teachers all through school and Uni, and I am surrounded by great people in Adelaide in all the allied arts. Adelaide is the arts capital of Australia - my old Latin teacher would say..."quod erat demonstrandum," Adelaide is the Athens of the South. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist? Are there any special future projects that you would like to let everyone know about? Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself in five years? AF: I think a goal is to continue being curious about the world! Without that, there is no anchor. I'd like to continue collaborating with other artists as I do from time to time and to continue working on my aesthetics. I think the notion of aesthetics is really wound up in how you view the world, which is really about how you understand your own place in the universe. This could take five years or fifty! Apart from the immediate project and book LANDSCAPES OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA, I am also working on a project with theatre director Catherine Fitzgerald, it's called called DRY, and it recently received major Commission Funding. It's a play, and features some of my images as projections. It's slated to tour in October 2021...definitely worth a look, Catherine's a top notch director. TPL: "When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… AF: I'm usually on a sand-belt golf course somewhere! I play golf off a handicap of 8...and if you think photography is a tough caper, try playing golf...it's an impossible sport." 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.

PICTORIAL STORY TAKING THE PLUNGE Carol Dronsfield brings us face to face with the fearless members of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club — those who plunge into icy waters not just for the thrill, but for the spirit of it all. Her photographs reveal the heart, humor, and humanity behind this winter ritual. June 2, 2023 PICTORIAL STORY photography CAROL DRONSFIELD story KAREN GHOSTLAW POMARICO SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link While we all put our toes in the sand as the sun kisses our face at beaches by the sea in summer, some regulars at Coney Island swim all year around. There are these amazing individuals who are part of an integral part of the Coney Island community called the Coney Island Polar Bears, famous for their outrageous New Year's Day Plunge. The Coney Island Polar Bear Club’s official season meets every Sunday from mid-November through mid-April on the cold shores of Coney Island. They share their inspiration and drive with us through the eyes of Carol Dronsfield, capturing the spirit of the Bears through her lens. Carol is a familiar and inspirational part of The Pictorial List community of photographers. Carol was born in Hartford, Connecticut and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her career began as an advertising art director on Madison Avenue, where she developed a particular passion for photography. Drawn to her unique and emotionally engaging style, clients began asking Carol to step behind the camera to shoot their ads. She has been shooting commercially ever since. Her recent personal work centers on street photography, seeking out the humanity of her subjects against the often-harsh background of their urban surroundings. Carol says, “Living and working in NYC for over 30 years, I realized that I never had really seen the city. Shooting the streets of NYC is like my own personal theater. There are many acts, never quite the same. I walk around with my eyes wide open; my mind open to what is happening before my eyes. The city and especially its people are my inspiration.” Carol has committed herself to the inspiration the Coney Island Polar Bears bring from November through April. Many of Carol’s Sundays are spent not only photographing but making honest connections. She shares her time with a community she thrives in and inspires her visual storytelling. Carol shares her commitment and dedication to the community she is inspired by. “I photographed the Bears, an eclectic tribe of dedicated winter swimmers, on 17 different Sundays during the 2022/2023 season. A typical day at the height of the Bears’ season: Water temp 38 degrees. Air temp 32 degrees. Wind chill, brutal. The Polar Bears arrive at their clubhouse which is owned by the NY Aquarium in Coney Island at around 12:00. Some hang out on the boardwalk. Some like to chat with the photographers. Sometimes there’s a photo op there. Close to 1:00, I head down to the shoreline, usually with a few other photographers. The Bears arrive and form a circle for jumping jacks, then head into the frigid water. Some enter the water as if they are tackling it, some form a line holding hands, supporting one another as they wade into the water. However they go in, they are now all together, frolicking, submerging themselves in the water, creating a conga line moving through the surf. So much fun to watch, I’m tempted to join them. Once the Bears are in the water, some stay for 15 minutes, others almost an hour. They never complain about the cold, though at temperatures much above 40 degrees, they’ll complain it’s not cold enough. I stand on the beach with a long puffer coat, hat and gloves, shivering as I watch these Bears plunge in the water in just a bathing suit. I observe this community of swimmers through my lens and with my heart. I see firsthand the bond they share, the respect and care they have for one another. The joy they extract from the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean is contagious. As much as I go to photograph the Bears, I go to be elevated by their smiles, warm hellos or waves, silly outfits and chants, and fellowship, which always bring me such joy. Thanks to all Bears who’ve let me share their beach for this project.” Carol Dronsfield has shared the inspirational community of the Coney Island Polar Bears with The Pictorial List last year. There were so many Bears that had rewarding experiences, we felt we needed to share a few more heartwarming positive stories from more members of the CIPB family. © Carol Dronsfield MEET ELLEN BEAR: Ellen has made her career in Corporate Facilities and Real Estate Management, spending her day taking care of everyone's needs. She puts out fires, fixes things that are broken, repairs things before anyone notices they are broken, ensuring everyone has what they need for their work life. Being such an ardent caretaker, Ellen finds her swims with the Bears to recharge and vitalize her personal being, taking time to care for herself. Ellen shared her story with us. “I’m an open water marathon swimmer, a long time member of Coney Island Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers (CIBBOWS) and a long time member of Chelsea Piers Masters Swim Team. The Pandemic closed the pool and my office. I was too afraid to ride the subway to go to the beach in fear of getting Covid. I wondered if I’d ever be able to swim again. I also took on the leader role at my company for the Covid team and had to research health advisories across the states for our offices which put more fear in me. For months and months I watched, read and listened to the news. Food became my go to and a whirlwind of negativity got in my head. That coupled with spending hours at my desk instead of being in the office walking around…I stopped putting my health first. But 2023 is the year for me to focus on my physical and mental health again. I’ve got the best support systems every which way I turn. On a few occasions I mustered up the courage to get on the train and head to the beach. I felt out of the loop from being gone so long: a missed day feels like a month…and I saw the Coney Island Polar Bear Club members in the summer, at Brighton Beach and loved the support they gave each other and they were a unified group. The compassion they displayed for each other was so comforting after all the hardships that Covid brought to so many. The bond was lovely. I’ve known many of the Polar Bears personally for many years. And thought they were nuts. Could not fathom how or why they did it. But after seeing them during Covid I decided that was a group I wanted to be a part of. I knew there was a spiritual nature to being a bear. I needed that and wanted to be a part of that support. I also wanted to extend my open water season. Since I disliked cold water, my open water season was limited to events mostly in July/August, and I was very hesitant to spend money for a June or September event that might be too cold for me. One summer day I told my friend Janete Scobie that I was thinking about becoming a bear and she offered to be my Sponsor, I hesitantly said yes!” Ellen enjoys the Polar Bear Club and her fellow members and bears, finding them to be like minded, coming together supporting each other's individual journeys and mental health. “Each Sunday we (I can say that now) support each other getting into and staying in the water, feeling the same thing, the magic of the healing ocean, doing what many of us thought was impossible and maybe even a little crazy. Together. Getting it. And having as much fun as possible while we are there. It’s an experience of smiling that lasts the entire day and beyond. It does linger.” Ellen is not only a Polar Bear, but is a sponsor of two Polar Bear Cubs, helping to support them in their swims and guide them to becoming a full fledged Polar Bear. Ellen finds much reward giving back to her community of Bears. “I am proud to now be the sponsor of 2 Cubs! Ellen Sexton just became a full fledged Bear, completing 12 dips and being voted in and earning her patch on 2/12. Laurel Christie’s 12th dip will be 12/19 - earning her patch the 26th! Seeing them go through this experience has been wonderful. So not only have I joined the Bear Family, I’m part of another branch on the family tree: Jozef Kopelman sponsored Janete, who sponsored me, who sponsored Ellen and Laurel.” Ellen’s personal goals for this year are to go out farther than everyone else, to take photographs from the outside of the group, keeping Ellen deeper in the water. Participating in the ‘3 on 3’ full dunks for as long into the season as possible is another goal she hopes to achieve, while her most important goal is working on getting her health back in order. Ellen’s favorite swims are high tide, big wave days, she shares why. “Coney doesn’t typically get big waves but when it does it’s so much fun to jump them! They seem to be bigger in the winter than the summer. There is no escaping being fully submerged in the waves with an awesome group of people experiencing it together. I’ve realized what I thought would be intolerable really isn’t! Another thing that I’ve always wanted to experience was a snow swim. It doesn’t get much more magical than that! I’ve been fortunate to participate in one last year and I look forward to many more to come. All of the swims are meaningful but two that stand out the most: the day I became a Bear and my family was there for the first and only time! And the other was a dip on a foggy Friday night with a few fellow Bears to celebrate James Hart and Lane Spigner’s recent marriage. I am so blessed to have been welcomed into this community. Just for being me.” What keeps Ellen coming back is the unique phenomenon that happens every time her bear family comes together. She remembers her sponsor, when she first started her swims. “I could not understand why she would spend about two hours commuting each way on the subway for a 20 minute or so dip. In the cold. And now I love it and look forward to it and the commute is also a part of the ritual and has become an added bonus.” Ellen has fundraised for the community and volunteered at the New Year’s Day Plunge, helping others enjoy this experience. Ellen Wienberg Bear and Ellen Sexton Bear. MEET ELLEN BEAR: We have the pleasure of sharing Ellen Weinberg’s sponsored bear, Ellen Sexton. Time and time again, the familiar link that ties the Coney Island Polar Bears together, is their true connection and devotion to their Polar Bear family. That means bringing new cubs into their den. Ellen shares her special connection and how she became a Coney Island Polar Bear. “Across the bay from Coney Island was my birthplace, Belle Harbor Queens. My mother had a rule that whenever I was in the ocean, I always needed to be able to stand. I could not go ‘over my head’. That habit stuck with me. I became a pool lap swimmer. About 20 years ago, a friend insisted that I come to Coney Island for the day. I felt like a fish out of water. Where were the waves? A few years later another friend invited me to Brighton 4th Street in Brighton Beach for the day. He told me we were going to swim past the jetties. I had the jitters but followed his lead. I had a great experience. I never looked back. After that day, I would go out to Brighton Beach from time to time. I loved the diversity and free environment. When the pandemic hit, Brighton Beach became a lifeline. I had a job in the social work area that had just ended and the entertainment world that I am also involved in came to a halt. I needed the ocean’s healing, peaceful and restorative energy. As August approached, a few beachgoers would comment about how the ocean water was getting too warm. They couldn’t wait for the temperature to drop. I thought they were crazy! I heard the Polar Bears passionately talk about their “dips” in their beloved ocean. I managed the temperature drop in the ocean until October 2020. With everyone’s encouragement, the following year I made it to November 2021. In 2022, encouraged by the Polar Bear community, I decided to approach going from a cub to a bear one dip at a time. I couldn’t embrace the whole idea of 12 dips, it seemed unattainable.” Ellen Weinberg became Ellen Sexton’s Polar Bear Sponsor. The mentorship and role models of the other bears inspire the new cubs. Laurel Christy, Ellen Weinberg’s other cub, was an inspiration for Ellen. “The ‘dip’ is part of a great process. From preparing my knapsack for the trip until I walked back into my apartment from Coney Island, the ‘dip’. is the peak experience. For me, the process is transformative. On Sunday mornings, we communicate about which Q subway we are taking. Which subway car we’re meeting in. Once on the subway, we catch up with the events of the week and talk about any new tips we’ve thought of for getting dressed after the ‘dip’. Then when we are in the New York Aquarium's Education Hall, we visit with others. The energy and unity build. At 1pm when we start to walk to the ocean, conditions - wind and temperature vary each Sunday but, we just know that we are getting into the ocean. It is almost like we coalesce as we enter the water. Then, we have fun and dunk and just be with the ocean. It’s a beautiful experience. I carry my Polar Bear patch that I received from President Dennis Thomas on February 12th, 2023 signifying my passage from cub to bear in my purse. I am so happy to be a member of Coney Island Polar Bear Club.” The Coney Island Polar bears create connections and bonds that span lifetimes. © Carol Dronsfield MEET ELLIOT BEAR: Elliot Reed was born in Odesa, a city on the Black Sea in the Ukraine. Elliot spent his childhood growing up in New York City, but finds himself now residing in Massachusetts. Elliot considers himself a “Straight Edge Vegan Musician” creating new work committed to a project called ‘SUPERCOMPOSURE’. Elliot is known for his Boom Box that he brings to the swims, sharing his inspiration with his Bear family. Elliot shares his Polar Bear experience, “I have been a member of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club for nearly fifteen years. Every January my resolution is the same and carries me through the year: to stay fit physically, mentally and spiritually. The Coney Island Polar Bear Club community is dear to my heart. I have made a lot of kind friends, and also brought friends and family to the Coney Island Polar Bear Club for a plunge. The incredibly resilient Polar Bear Club people can be counted on to be there every winter season, no matter what is going on in the world. The amazing organizational work done by the club President Dennis Thomas and Vice President Suzanne Tomatore, along with the elected club officials cannot be underestimated. Aside from raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for a local nonprofit during the January 1st, New Year's Day Plunge, the club submerges into the Atlantic Ocean every Sunday from November to April like clockwork. We all meet on the Boardwalk, behind the Legendary Cyclone Roller Coaster for that one of a kind, ‘only in New York’ experience.” © Carol Dronsfield MEET DOUG BEAR: Doug grew up with his toes in the sand, sea breezes, sun kissed skin, bobbing in the salt water and riding the waves in Long Island, New York. The sand and the surf are a part of him, and Doug still finds the same excitement when he puts his toes in the sand. Doug shares his connections and goals as a bear. “Hello! My name is Doug! And I’ve been told by many that I am LOUD! I love life, and never take myself too seriously. I’ve been a Coney Island Polar Bear for 3 years now. I swam many new years jumps before then, but in the late fall of 2019, I decided it was time that I make the plunge and make my case to become a full member. I am a union Ironworker, building the greatest city in the world (politics aside), I am very fortunate that I love my trade. I grew up on Long Island, and as far back as I can remember, we spent long days on the beach all summer long. The sand and surf are in my blood and if I could spend the rest of my days on the sandy shores, I would. I moved to the city right after high school and fell in pretty hard with the punks on the LES, spending many a night at CBGB’s and Tompkins sq park. These days, I’m lucky to get a couple of shows in a year! But that’s life. I have a ten year old autistic son, and most of my weekends are spent with him. He was swimming with us for a bit, but decided it wasn’t his time yet. Summers we spend camping and generally going on adventures. I love the great outdoors and spend as much time away from society as possible. I find great peace in the mountains and beaches. It would feel incomplete for me not to mention that many years ago I entered into recovery, and now spend a great deal of my time with other sober fellows and helping others on their journeys. I find this extremely rewarding and hope to be able to be there for those I love and admire for a very long time. What brought me to the bears? To be completely honest, seeing the members wear the CIBP jackets and thinking to myself, I WILL HAVE ONE OF THOSE! That was one of the initial reasons I was drawn to the bears. Of course it has morphed into so many other reasons over the years. Being a member of the world famous Coney Island Polar Bears has been a lifelong dream come true. I love my bears and think about them all week. I love the Sunday ritual of packing the bag, getting in the car, hitting the highway, Sunday acoustic blues on the radio. I love it when I drive along the belt parkway and I see the ocean for the first time. I get filled with excitement and anticipation, and on the rare occasion, a swift, cold kick of absolute dread. On those terrifically cold and blustery days, where any sane person wouldn’t be caught dead outside, let alone be insane enough to so swimming, there we go, merrily singing, polar bear chanting and yelling, willingly step (though some might not believe it) towards the icy and medicinal waters of the Atlantic. At this point it has become so ingrained in my psyche I don’t believe I’ll ever stop.” © Carol Dronsfield MEET NICOLE BEAR: Nicole Beckford travels to Coney Island on Sundays to swim all the way from Orange county New York. Being a married mother of four amazing boys, this can be challenging. Nicole has made the commitment to stay the course to become a Bear. “Hi, I’m Nicole! I’m not a bear yet, I’m what’s known as a ‘Cub’ for now. This group is very special to me because of how I was introduced. I have a friend named Robert who is also my sponsor towards full grown bear status. Robert has a very long history with the bears and when he was being made an official part of the group, he invited friends to witness the event. I just had to attend. This is a guy who gives so much and I think he’s blissfully unaware of the wisdom he imparts to all he encounters. Well, not only did I witness but I jumped into the icy water with him to celebrate this milestone and give him my full support. I fell in love immediately with the entire experience. There is such a diverse and welcoming group of people surrounding you and pouring love and warmth into you. What the week at work and at homes takes from you, on Sundays, the bears make you whole again. My goal this year is to become a WORLD FAMOUS CONEY ISLAND POLAR BEAR!!! Swim number 10 was very special to me because my goal actually seemed attainable. Two swims to go and I only hope that I have as much to give them as they have given me.” The Pictorial List has heard that since our last conversation with Nicole, she has finished her required swims as a Polar Bear Cub and has officially become a Coney Island Polar Bear. We congratulate Nicole on her determination and success in achieving her goals. © Carol Dronsfield © Carol Dronsfield MEET JOSHUA BEAR: Joshua Gold is originally from Brooklyn, New York, now currently living in Staten Island. Joshua loves nothing more than hanging out with his extended family, the Coney Island Polar Bears. He has been a member of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club for three years and plans on being part of his Polar Bear family for years to come. Joshua’s first swim with the Polar Bears was the infamous New Year’s Day plunge, in the year 2020. The unfortunate events of the pandemic made becoming an official Polar Bear a bit challenging. Joshua continued with his required swims when he could, achieving his goal and becoming an official Bear on November 14, 2021. This was an achievement to be proud of even without the threat of a global pandemic. When Joshua is not a Polar Bear, he is an essential part of the crew and operators at the Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, contributing to the fun that fuels the fever Coney is known for. Little did Joshua know what the Coney Polar Bears community would bring to them, and how they would drive them in a positive way into the future. “Hey I’m Joshua Gold and I've been in the Polar Bear Club for three fantastic years now. My first swim was New Year’s Day 2020. Unfortunately with the pandemic I was unable to finish the required swims. I was then allowed to have my swims rolled over to the next season. So on November 14, 2021 I was voted in as a Polar Bear! I started working in Coney Island 8 years ago as a game operator blowing up balloons and running a basketball ball game. The year after that I started working in Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, and with that I got to know more of the Coney Island regulars. I always thought the polar bears were crazy and I never thought I’d get into the cold ocean with them but it was the best decision I've ever made. To me the Polar Bear Club is my family and I will forever love them all! The energy from the group is so powerful and the joy it brings me every Sunday keeps me coming back. Every time I go jump in the ocean with the Coney Island Polar Bears, any stress or worries that I might have, stay on land. No matter if I’m in for 10 minutes or even 30 minutes I’m having the time of my life. What makes it even better is if the weather is calling for snow. Snow swims are the best! But even around summertime when the water is warmer it’s great to see the bears and swim with them before work and then later put them on the Phoenix Roller Coasters.” © Carol Dronsfield © Carol Dronsfield © Carol Dronsfield © Carol Dronsfield © Carol Dronsfield © Carol Dronsfield © Carol Dronsfield © Carol Dronsfield Carol is currently using two cameras, she explains which she has chosen and for what reasons. “When I photograph the Bears primarily a Leica Q2 with a 28mm lens. A perfect camera and lens for portraits and street scenes. The wide-angle lens forces me to get close to my subject, making a more intimate portrait. I also started using a Nikon Z7ii with a 24-70mm lens. I generally prefer the Leica, it’s small, lightweight and easy to maneuver. With the Bears you have to be quick and ready for anything.” Carol finds inspiration in a quote from Gertrude Caroline Ederle, (born October 23, 1905, New York, New York, U.S. — died November 30, 2003, Wyckoff, New Jersey), American swimmer who was the first woman to swim the English Channel in 1926 and is one of the best-known American sports personalities of the 1920s. Quote: “To me, the sea is like a person – like a child that I’ve known a long time. It sounds crazy, I know, but when I swim in the sea, I talk to it. I never feel alone when I’m out there.” – Gertrude Ederle The Pictorial List is enthused with Carol's connection to the Coney Island Polar Bears and are pleased to present some more of the Bear’s personal stories to coincide with Carol’s unique way of visual storytelling seeing her subjects come to life through the lens of her camera. Thank you, Carol, for sharing your inspiration with our photography community. Carol’s work has been exhibited at the International Center Of Photography, the Annual Women Street Photographers exhibit in NYC 2020, Art On The Ave NYC 2020, the Women Street Photographers Inaugural Virtual Exhibition 2021, the 2nd Women Street Photographers Virtual Exhibition 2021, Women Street Photographers Exhibition in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico at the National Museum of Anthropology, More Art of Coney Island BWAC Gallery Red Hook, Brooklyn and currently is in the Women Street Photographers Exhibition in NYC 2023. In December of 2021, Carol’s interview, On the Boardwalk , and in April 2022, part one of the Coney Island Polar Bears series, Making a Splash was featured on The Pictorial List website. view Carol's portfolio Read Part One of this story - "Making a Splash: with the Coney Island Polar Bears" >>> Read an interview with Carol >>> 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.

PICTORIAL STORY LONDON CALLING SHOOTING STREET IN 1964 June 5, 2020 PICTORIAL STORY Photography by Carl Lindhe Story by Karin Svadlenak Gomez SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link London in the 1960s was undergoing a lot of social changes, there was economic growth, the Beatles, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones topped the music charts. Carl Lindhe was a young Swedish man, fresh out of vocational school, ready to embark on his photographic career. Some months ago, I stumbled upon his wonderful street photography from London in 1964. Those photos have a vibrant classic documentary character, they transport the viewer back in time to a London that is still somewhat recognisable, while telling stories of days gone by. I wanted to find out more, and Carl graciously agreed to let me interview him for a Pictorial Story. OFF ON A JOURNEYMAN'S ADVENTURE After spending two years training as a photographer in Stockholm, Carl and his friend Leif decided to broaden their horizon - to gain experience and improve their craft. They decided to apply for internships abroad. Since both liked what they had seen of England in books and movies, and with the assistance of the Swedish Association of Professional Photographers they managed to contact some photo studios in England. And they got lucky. Leif ended up in Birmingham, while Carl got a job as assistant at a very large photo studio, Woburn Studios in Brewery Road, London. There were seven staff photographers, each in a separate studio with two assistants, shooting commercial pictures, anything from perfume bottles to specially built interiors. “The seven studios were named after Greek gods. The biggest one, which was called Palatine, could have swallowed fifty London Double Decker buses,” Carl recalls. Carl feels lucky to have been assigned to a very good photographer at the Aurora studio, Dennis Anthony, who later became chief photographer at Ilford Photo. The 1960s were a great time for magazines such as Life, Paris Match, German Twen, Zoom, Camera, and many more, not to forget all the fashion magazines. Carl thought working as a freelance photographer for one of them would be his ultimate dream job. “These magazines inspired me a lot,” he says. "David Bailey was on top, and Norman Parkinson, the fashion photographer whose house we (me and my guru Dennis Anthony) bowed to, was still kicking." Woburn Studios Ltd no longer exists, but on the same location there now seems to be a rental studio for commercial photography and video making, something called Big Sky Studios. HITTING THE STREETS ON FOOT On weekends, Carl had time off, time that he used to walk the streets and take pictures. He could not get enough of it. “I shot some of my best pictures in Petticoat Lane,” he says. “Again - hustle and bustle, atmosphere, vibrant life in the streets.” “I didn’t earn much (with no money left at the end of the week I lived on Limmits Slimming Biscuits until payday), so when the rent was paid I had little money left, which I did not want to spend on bus tickets. Walking, taking pictures. Walking, taking pictures,” says Carl. Everything seemed interesting and sometimes amusing. The Speaker's Corner, for example, provided an odd assortment of one of a kind characters. “Listening to them was fun and most of them willingly let me photograph them. Not only let me, but encouraged me! There were many serious speakers as well of course.” Before digital cameras arrived, and before social media platforms such as Instagram made it globally popular, street photography was less common. Carl thinks that those who did it took it more seriously. For him it is not enough to be taking a picture of somebody just standing there on the pavement doing nothing, or photographing someone with a pretty face. The picture has to tell a story, preferably trigger the viewer's mind to see something beyond the image itself. Carl's photos certainly do that for me. I asked him how people reacted to being photographed. “Well, if they noticed me and my camera, I don't think they disliked it. Nobody told me to piss off. But many of my pictures are shot from the hip, so people often didn't realise what was happening. It was a bit tricky though, aiming the camera right. Lots of could-have-been-a-smashing-picture got lost, but a few turned out very good.” Nowadays, Carl uses only digital cameras for his street photography. Although he was reticent about it at first, he now loves the amenities of the digital era. “No darkroom necessary, no more shirts destroyed by chemicals, no more stained fingers. And sitting by the computer I can easily find my cup of coffee,” he says. He admits to once ruining a very good timer device in the lab by accidentally pouring a cup of coffee over it in the pitch dark. Carl also did not enjoy retouching pictures with ink and small brushes. “Inside me I am certainly still full of ink from licking the brush to get a fine tip,” he jokes. “Working on a computer you can just click all the spots away as if by magic.” For actual shooting though, things have pretty much stayed the same for Carl. Watching, aiming, pressing the shutter button, the process does not change. Except that back in 1964 you had to set exposure and focus manually. Using separate exposure meters slowed things down too. Today all cameras can at least take care of focus and exposure, which is good when you have to be quick. “You can fire off immediately. I do remember a few times when I missed a good picture because I had to set the camera manually.” What he also prefers now are the geotagging possibilities of modern cameras - the photographer no longer has to remember where a picture was shot. “Now, after all these years, I curse myself for not having written down where I shot my pics in 1964. For a few of them I know where they were taken, and I have amused myself with Google Earth to track the places down to see what they look like today. Many places have changed shape today, not always to their advantage.” Another problem was that when shooting on film, you were limited by the number of rolls you had with you. A 35mm film roll contained 36 frames (or 24), a 120 roll only 12 frames. Memory cards today can hold thousands of photos. That is good, but can also be a drawback, as many people tend to shoot without reflection of the message they actually want to convey. COAL, CINEMA AND PUBS Life in London was different from life in Sweden, but also in many ways similar. I asked Carl how London compared to his home country at that time. When Carl and his friend arrived in England by boat (at Tilbury), their first impression was the heavy smell of coal. Carl got used to it later, as coal fired heaters were very common in England at the time. Some of what appears to be fog (and London is indeed naturally foggy because of the River Thames) in old photographs may actually be smog. The famous coal burning induced “Great Smog”, a four day event in 1952, killed some 4000 Londoners and made 100,000 seriously ill. By the time Carl came to London, the situation had improved, after the 1956 Clean Air Act restricted the areas where coal could be burned in UK cities - but there was still a lot of coal burning going on. “London is cleaner nowadays and the burning of coal has stopped. We did have the yellow thick fog a couple of times in 1964. Dennis, my mentor, used to wear a military gas mask those days and I know the fog took many lives among people with lung and heart diseases.” (It has only been announced recently though that the sales of the two most polluting fuels, wet wood and coal for home stoves will be phased out in England to help cut air pollution by 2023). Be that as it may, Carl thought London was great, lots of people, hustle and bustle everywhere. It was his first trip abroad, and everything seemed new and fascinating. He rented a room in Orleans Road. Thinking back on his old neighbourhood, Carl says, “I thought 'Orleans Road' sounded so exotic. Not to mention the 'Black Lion Yard' where one of my English friends had a flat.” In some ways London was not that different from Stockholm. “Well, it was the sixties in Sweden too, of course. A time when youths created a new era never seen before. A clean cut from our parents generation. Many had revolutionary ideas. The sexual revolution. A new lifestyle emerged, and I think we all felt free,” he remembers. So in that sense Sweden was similar to London, but on a much smaller scale. “But, and that is essential,” he continues, “we had no pubs in Sweden. Instead we had lots of bakeries and confectioneries almost in every street corner and we sat there eating cake and drinking coffee. I very soon learned to appreciate the London pubs with not only beer but steak and kidney pies and cheese plates.” Despite his limited finances, Carl managed to see some films at London cinemas, which was quite a different experience from his frequent cinema visits in Stockholm. “I remember West Side Story was on show, and you could enter the theatre at any time. I happened to take my seat twenty minutes before the end of the movie. Had to close my eyes and ears until the movie started all over again. They ran it more or less nonstop.” You could buy sweets and cigarettes from girls walking around in the cinema auditorium. You were even allowed to smoke the cigarettes while watching the movie. Very different from the cinemas in Sweden. To look cool, I smoked Gauloise - the most dangerous cigarette of them all. Also, Rothmans without filters. Nearly as bad. Stupid me. Stopped smoking twenty years ago.” He also thought it rather odd that, after the last show in the evening, everybody stood up and waited, motionless, while the speakers played God Save the Queen . The young Swede ended up spending a full year in London. “Minus one day, I should add, which allowed me to get all my paid tax money back.” He returned for visits with his wife Marscha in 1965 and 1969, and then again in 2013 and 2017. His former mentor Dennis Anthony is now over ninety years old. Seeing the old familiar places was nice, though many of the places he used to see no longer exist. “What I don't like is that the house I lived in, 13 Orleans Road, was knocked down. Not only the building but the whole street was just gone, which was a disappointment to me when I was going to show my wife where I had lived. Those things are unforgivable and I hope the culprits rotate in their graves!” He also notes that there were a lot fewer homeless people in London's streets in 1964 than he noticed in 2017. LESS IS MORE: ANALOG LESSONS FOR THE DIGITAL AGE In analog times, when you found your motif, you just had to wait for the right moment to press the button. “With the Hasselblad I got only twelve frames. I had to use them with care. No unnecessary shots.” Unlike with digital cameras, firing away like a machine gun could get extremely expensive. Most often it is one single moment alone that makes the picture. And, Carl thinks, it is worth selecting carefully what you want to show. In his view, false “creativity”, such as simply turning a bad or meaningless photo upside down or turning it into black and white in an attempt to make it more interesting, something he sees quite a lot on Instagram, is absurd. Nor does it help to publish your pic in both b/w and color. Instead, Carl thinks, photographers should make up their mind and decide which version they prefer and just show that one to the public. Less is more. “You should not be afraid of throwing away the not so good pictures. Better to show a few good ones than hundreds of bad ones. On Instagram I have seen people publishing thousands of pictures and it can still be impossible to find even one worth looking at for a bit longer.” On board Britannia sailing from Gothenberg to Tilbury, 1964. © Carl Lindhe Dennis in the Aurora Studio © Carl Lindhe Dennis in the Palatine Studio © Carl Lindhe A Woburn Studios shoot for an advertisement of the Hillman car. © Carl Lindhe Speaker's Corner, 1964 © Carl Lindhe The End is at Hand © Carl Lindhe © Carl Lindhe © Carl Lindhe © Carl Lindhe © Carl Lindhe © Carl Lindhe © Carl Lindhe © Carl Lindhe © Carl Lindhe © Carl Lindhe © Carl Lindhe © Carl Lindhe © Carl Lindhe Carl London's street photos to me are truly special in their authenticity. True to his credo, there is nothing staged or manipulated about them. He now regularly publishes old London pictures on his Instagram gallery. Thank you for telling us your story, Carl. view Carl's portfolio Instagram >>> The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List and the team. read more stories >>> 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.

AWAKENING INSTINCTS Marilena Filaiti is living proof of the importance that photography can make in your life. An enlightening experience that gave her more understanding of herself and the world she exists in. AWAKENING INSTINCTS November 11, 2022 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Marilena Filaiti INTERVIEW Karen Ghostlaw Pomarico Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Marilena Filaiti is living proof of the importance that photography can make in your life. It was an enlightening experience for Marilena, giving her more understanding of herself and the world she exists in. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Marilena's father worked for the United Nations and was appointed to work in Africa where he lived with his wife for eleven years and where Marilena was born. They returned to Greece when Marilena was four years old, and her mother was pregnant with her brother, who was born in Athens. Both of their parents had a cosmopolitan upbringing. Marilena’s father, a descendant from the Egyptian Greeks and her mother from Istanbul, with a lineage of Greek descent, felt it important to pass their culture and heritage to their children. Marilena fell in love with the man she then married at a very young age and they soon started their family, a value important to Marilena, a legacy from her Mother. Caring and parenting three children created a demanding life that challenged Marilena, taking on many different jobs along the way to help make a good home for her family. Marilena ultimately took a job that gave her exposure and a chance to learn about marketing utilizing specialized multimedia tools that related to photography. These tools and their applications gave Marilena the inspiration to take up and explore the “Art of Photography”. Fascinated by Photography, she bought her first camera and started experimenting with her new tool, it wasn't long before she entered her first photography contest and was hooked. She decided to penetrate the world of photography and learn as much as she could. Her first teacher, Tolis Chatzignatiou, inspired her first steps and for three years he supported Marilena's development as a photographer. Tolis Chatzignatiou taught Marilena the principles of photography and how to clearly choose for herself what she wishes to include in her frame. She made many educational trips with the photographic group “Routes”, even getting close to her father's birthplace, an experience powerful for Marilena. Marilena was thirsty to learn more and more about photography, to go deeper and deeper, to be able to create meaningful photographs of her own. Marilena wanted to expand her knowledge and understanding of photography and immersed herself in photography workshops led by Lukas Vasilikos in October 2021. He has been an excellent teacher and mentor to Marilena, guiding her in her search within herself to find what she wants to express, while exposing her to new ideologies, working with his direction to create powerful sensational images that have much meaning. This motivating and influential experience gave birth to Marilena's first solo project, AWAKENING INSTINCTS, through which Marilena shares her insightful presentation of her project and her photography. We wish her much inspiration in her quest to create powerful intimate images that speak from the heart. “For the first time I saw my work complete. I continue today to grow personally and as a photographer by studying with Lukas. He keeps pushing me to work on new projects that allow me to express myself. Less need for words, more opportunities for visual inspiration.” IN CONVERSATION WITH MARILENA FILAITI THE PICTORIAL LIST: Marilena, tell us about Athens and what life in Greece has brought to your work AWAKENING INSTINCTS. We see how important your family members are to your work, tell us what inspiration they bring to this collection MARILENA FILIATI: Greece is a unique country worth visiting. Athens is a city with its beauties and its difficulties. Like all over the world, the pandemic touched us here, where photography became an excellent outlet for me. The pandemic directly connected the project with my inner world. Many photographs were taken in different parts of Greece during this period. There is nothing more important to me than my family and my home. My friends are also family. My teacher Lukas Vasilikos urged me to dig deeper and express photographically how important my family members are to me. TPL: Tell us about this project, Marilena; how it came about, what you were looking for, what you finally discovered. What surprised you? MF: When the workshop started, I had no idea what the outcome would be. Step by step we started to build this project gradually through the course of the study cycle. When I saw my photos on the wall I was impressed. I didn't know this side of myself. The most important reason besides my love for photography is that I don't have to talk too much with my images. That's how I've wanted to express myself for the last few years. I was surprised by the result because I finally managed to have a meaningful conversation through this project. TPL: You told us how important your teacher here was to you for this project, how you worked side by side. What were his influences on you, what were the gifts he gave you. What was his role as you created this project? MF: Master Lukas Vasilikos is an experienced and inspiring photographer himself, quite strict with himself but with unlimited patience and acceptance for his students. This characteristic of his allowed me to be inspired by him and many world photographers. Lukas also dared me to express myself freely and personally during our classes. He led me through the photographic process accepting and correcting any technical difficulties I had, while supporting me to move forward to my personal artistic identity through paths I admit, I didn't know I could take. TPL: There is depth in your shadows, creating intimate spaces for your subjects. Tell us about these shadows, darkness and what they represent in your photographs. MF: Within those shadows are important gifts of awareness. I like to create new worlds; escaping from reality. I like after instinctively creating them, to revisit my works as a viewer and have them transform into new stories. I listen to my silence and find the peace of mind I seek. TPL: Your colors are deep and saturated, adding to the depth of space and creating thought provoking connections to your subject matter. Tell us about the role color plays in these images. MF: I originally worked mostly in black and white and through my work with Lukas, I discovered color. I saw color as a tool for individual expression. It transformed the world around me into something else, something colorful, something much more dreamy, lyrical, focusing inward, allowing me to express my deeper self. Saturation is a medium that transports me to these other worlds. The bright color seems fake to me and does not represent my own reality. TPL: When you began this journey of self discovery, where did you start? Why? MF: I started this journey of self exploration with themes familiar to me, close to me, subjects accessible to me, so that I could venture deeper to see them in another dimension. an imaginary transformation of them. Thus my one son was transformed into a creature of my imagination, he effortlessly played this role since he trustingly allowed me to create another reality by "rebirthing" him through my photograph. My daughter, seen through another gaze that perhaps she herself did not initially accept, as the unconventional realistic image that she was, but she quickly realized how redemptive the freedom of a different gaze is. My little son, who grew up through our collaboration, agrees that the result has rewarded us both. My friends showed me the same trust by posing and allowing me to play freely with the lens. I like to create new worlds; escaping from reality. I listen to my silence and find the peace of mind I seek. TPL: What new discoveries have you made while doing this project? Has this project been completed? MF: Expression itself is a great discovery for me who doesn't like words much and is more of a sensory person. That is to speak through a medium that I share with so many people, even globally, and to “say it all” through the common language of the Image. My work has now become synonymous with my existence and as I evolve, it will evolve too. Each new experience I experience motivates me to 'lock in' the moment. Our lives are made up of moments. TPL: Can you recall that defining moment when you understood how to use photography to create what you wanted to say or see with your eyes, heart and soul? When you photograph, how much is instinct and spontaneity programmed? Do you pose your subjects? MF: When I realized that photography was a love for me and that I could express through it whatever I was hiding inside, I decided to leave my job to follow it in whatever path it took me. Because of my love for photography, I decided to only work in the field professionally. There is absolutely no programming in the way I photograph, I work on impulse and instinct, I ‘shoot’ non-stop even if I don't have a camera at that moment. Of course this requires one to have acquired a solid technical base and to have incorporated it. I would say my impulsiveness has gotten me into trouble at times. However, when I work as a professional, I try to listen to the needs of the subject matter but always through the freedom of my personal view. TPL: What are the lasting impressions you want to leave on the viewer, what is their 'Take Away'? What was yours? MF: I have no intention of leaving a lasting impression on the viewer. Everyone is free to make whatever impression they wish based on their reading. I wish to converse and evoke emotions. My takeaway is to have a photograph I see speak to me. TPL: Does the equipment you use help you achieve your vision in your photography? What camera do you use? Do you have a preferred lens/focal distance? MF: So far it has been adequate. Currently I have developed a need to try even more sophisticated gear. I am on a quest. Initially I was shooting with my mobile phone. Then I was accompanied on my journey by a Nikon D3400, a Panasonic Lumix DC Vario with which I also shoot with in water, a Canon EOS R, and I have a collection of analogs, mostly old pieces. I've been trying different lenses and haven't settled on a recommended one yet. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist or photographer? Where do you hope to see yourself in five years? MF: This journey is a journey of freedom for me. It's a journey that matters, the destination of which I myself will know in five years. MF: “When I don't go out to photograph, I like to... I like to travel, drive, walk with my friends, read and often enjoy my ‘solitude’.” 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.

I love just wandering around with my camera - generally I follow my nose, look up and around and see what catches my eye. I'm always drawn to buildings - especially tall ones - which I photograph in a way that makes them seem very abstract and graphical. Talking of graphical, I would say my photography is very much led by grids - I think about lines and edges within compositions before anything else. Especially when it comes to editing my photos. I nearly always shoot for black and white - that's generally all I share on my Instagram, anyway. There's something about the removal of colour that seems to heighten lines, grids and patterns within images. So it suits my style perfectly. BEN ALLAN I love just wandering around with my camera - generally I follow my nose, look up and around and see what catches my eye. I'm always drawn to buildings - especially tall ones - which I photograph in a way that makes them seem very abstract and graphical. Talking of graphical, I would say my photography is very much led by grids - I think about lines and edges within compositions before anything else. Especially when it comes to editing my photos. I nearly always shoot for black and white - that's generally all I share on my Instagram, anyway. There's something about the removal of colour that seems to heighten lines, grids and patterns within images. So it suits my style perfectly. LOCATION London UNITED KINGDOM CAMERA/S Canon 80D @BALLONANDON FEATURES // Gridlines

CREATIVE FOCUS Inspired to see the world through a different lens by the greats. We find out from Jasper Tejano how it changed his creative focus. CREATIVE FOCUS August 3, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Jasper Tejano INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE For those who appreciate the art of street photography, Jasper Tejano is a name they would be familiar with. This calm and collected photographer has managed to capture the attention of both local and international audiences, with his works being featured in various print and online publications. His journey into the world of street photography began out of a need to explore and grow creatively, leading him to discover the works of Magnum photographers who inspired him to start seeing the world through a different lens. Since then, Jasper has become renowned for his vibrant and expressive style of photography. He is able to capture powerful emotions and intense energy through his use of strong colours, light and multiple planes of focus. Even in his moments of rest, Jasper is never far from his camera, as he enjoys spending time with his wife and creative partner, with whom he can share his love of photography, or doting on his son giving the little tyke basics on photography. This interview takes a closer look at the life, works and motivations of Jasper Tejano; an incredible street photographer whose passion for his craft is evident in every frame. “When I see an interesting traffic of people and light pockets, I would go on a state of 'creative restlessness' (that’s how I describe it) and before I know it my camera is turned on and ready to shoot almost instinctively. I go to urban places where there is a busy flow of people traffic and decent lighting. When I find a good spot, I will exhaust that spot until I feel I have a good photograph.” IN CONVERSATION WITH JASPER TEJANO THE PICTORIAL LIST: Jasper, when did you start getting interested in photography? JASPER TEJANO: I started exploring photography when I was in my pre-teens. I used to borrow my mom's Minolta Pocket Autopak 450E and would use it to photograph school and family events. I was always the designated photographer during family events. However, photography took a backseat when I was in high school and college. It was actually my wife, who was then my girlfriend, who rekindled my interest in photography. My first serious camera was a Pentax Auto 110 which I borrowed from her. She was also the one who taught me the fundamentals of photography. When we got our first DSLRs, this was also the time when my wife discovered the joy of travelling. Since then we never stopped photographing our journeys together. When I became really serious in photography in 2008, I started experimenting on various lenses and researching on settings that can bring out the best in my photos. I started to appreciate the importance of light in creating drama in my images when I attended a workshop on portraiture and creative lighting. However, there was at some point between 2010 and 2011 that I felt that my photography was on a plateau and needed a 'creative jolt'. Most of my photographs were in the category of travel photography – which for me were too manicured, too clean and technical. Nothing wrong with that but I guess I was looking for something else. For a while I explored portraiture, still photography and even fashion photography but none of these were giving me fulfillment. I wanted something different something raw and edgy that somehow defies convention that could bring out my style. It was perfect timing that I started to get interested with the works of Magnum Photographers. The photographs of Henri Cartier Bresson, Alex Webb, David Alan Harvey and Harry Gruyaert blew me away. In 2012, I started seeing the world through a different lens. Street photography has become my genre of choice. TPL: Since you have begun your street photography journey since 2012, how would you describe the way you photograph now compared to then? And what are the characteristics that make a photographer a street photographer? JT: Before, I interpreted street photography as photojournalism (telling it as it is with objectivity) or documentary photography. In the recent years, my street photography has become really subjective. What matters to me now is how my subject interact with the scene considering light quality, how the colors would compliment my subject, how the other details would strengthen my subject and lastly, what fantasy would my finished frame reveal to me. Though I admire many street photographers who present their work in black and white, color street photography has its way of presenting life with much more realism and dynamism. Especially with my work on silhouettes, the blackness of my subjects will just drown in the different shades of gray. I need color to make my subjects emerge from the frame. As a street photographer, what will make me go out and hit the streets and capture moments is the thought that there will always be a new opportunity to experience 'magical moments'. You anticipate with excitement what you will be capturing. Sometimes, you will go home with nothing – not even a single image worth keeping; but there will also days that you have an SD card full of beautiful photographs. Having patience and diligence play an important role in your development as a street photographer. The reward of your patience and diligence is joy. Joy in street photography is when out of randomness in making multiple frames in a scene, I was able to capture a meaningful moment that has a story to tell. I know that, that moment will not happen again and I was very fortunate that I was there in the right place at the right time to witness and record that magical moment. Awareness of your surrounding is crucial as you will need to be comfortable in the scene that you are photographing, making sure that you stay focused and be less distracted when doing your studies. Street photography will always be a reflection of yourself. It reveals who you are, your imagination, your hopes and even your fears. By presenting your work to the world, you are also opening a window for people to see who you really are. Question is, are you ready to reveal yourself to your audience? That window will reveal to everyone that you are either authentic with your vision or a mere copy cat just trying to get 'likes' from photography communities. I learned that to define your vision, you need to build a solid body of work that your audience can say is your signature work. You can only achieve this if you are consistent with your outputs. Being serious about practicing street photography is studying the works of Magnum photographers, going out often and making lots of photographs by exhausting your street scene. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? JT: When it comes to learning and appreciating photography, I would go straight to studying the photographic works of my favorite Magnum Photographers. My curiosity would always be about what made photographers like Alex Webb, David Alan Harvey and Harry Gruyaert stay in a particular street or public scene and decide to press the shutter button. What was it that they saw? What was in their minds? What emotion was prevailing during that moment? What personal battles do they need to set aside for them to focus on their work? So many questions to ask. I don’t have their published hard copy books but I do have their photographs indexed in my hard drive and several of their works are in my mobile as my 'quick inspiration recovery tool'. TPL: Do you think equipment is important in achieving your vision in your photography? What would you say to someone just starting out? JT: At some point, you need to look for your equipment or gear that will work seamlessly in translating your creative vision. Of course budget is considered highly as I don’t really believe in the idea that expensive gear is the best gear when it comes to bringing to life your photography. Always go for what you can afford based on your budget but this purchase should be backed up by good research of the system and positive consumer and expert reviews. For me, photography is never about the gear and how massively it is endorsed, but about your creative vision and output. It’s all about making the most of whatever camera you are using. Photography is never about how cool or updated your gear is, but about your creative vision and the commitment and dedication that you put in your work to develop that vision. Lastly, it is also about being consistent with your outputs because from these will eventually emerge your style that will define your work and provide identity to your brand of photography. Street photography will always be a reflection of yourself. It reveals who you are, your imagination, your hopes and even your fears. TPL: Have you ever been involved in the artistic world before photography? JT: When I was a kid, I did a lot of sketching and painting of animals and sceneries. I was also into playing the acoustic guitar that led me to do performances back in my college years. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on? JT: I’ll be launching a regular scheduled live broadcast via Facebook Live called Street Talk. This is a program with Street Photography in mind which will feature guest interviews, critique and feedback, portfolio review and insights sharing. TPL: “If I wasn't photographing what would I (like to) be... JT: I can only think of one wild thing and that is making my own house or trance music and playing it live in front of a packed crowd!” 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.

INNER ANCESTRAL TRAVEL Maurizio Pichi digs into things and situations photographing the archetypes of the original forms and emotions from which everything starts. INNER ANCESTRAL TRAVEL February 1, 2021 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Maurizio Pichi INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Since childhood, Maurizio Pichi has been passionate about photography and has explored many techniques, striving to capture the beauty of small forgotten moments and facial expressions in his images. With his latest project, INNER ANCESTRAL TRAVEL, Maurizio seeks to combine his physical journey through the woods with a journey inward, merging the two into one single narrative. Through his collection of photographs, Maurizio hopes to document the 'archetypes', the original emotions and forms from which all things originate. By taking this journey of exploration and discovery, Maurizio seeks to create a deeply meaningful and powerful photographic series. “I consider 'Inner Ancestral Travel' as a mature project, intended as an important step in a personal journey. Digging inside and digging into things and situations, I realized that basically there are the "archetypes", the original forms and emotions, from which everything starts. I tried to combine my sensations and the search for forms, merging the physical journey into the woods and the journey within myself, trying to obtain a single narrative through images.” IN CONVERSATION WITH MAURIZIO PICHI THE PICTORIAL LIST: Maurizio please tell us about yourself. How did you become interested in photography? MAURIZIO PICHI: I was born in Arezzo in Tuscany, where I currently live. I owe the “responsibility” of my passion for photography to my grandmother. She was a curious and brilliant woman, she loved to photograph with her Voigtlander 6x6 and later with a 35mm fixed lens camera, a Petri 7sII. When he taught me how to use them, it seemed to me that I was holding something magical in my hand. I always tried to keep a bit of that magic of wonder that you feel when you “see” an image to be captured. TPL: Talk to us more about you building a large format camera and wanting to explore antique techniques. MP: This is a project that intrigues me a lot and that is part of the desire to make "portraits" that is growing up more and more. With street photography I have explored and I explore people in action in their environment. With “posed” portraits I would like to be able to “capture” the soul of the subjects and fix it in an image. TPL: Where do you find your inspiration? MP: In my opinion, the seed of inspiration is born within us and must be cultivated. When I was teaching photography courses, many times I happened to answer the question of what is useful for taking good photos that can excite. I have always replied that it is necessary to read, visit exhibitions and museums, listen to music and travel. It is necessary to cultivate oneself, to be able to marvel and be sensitive to beauty. This helps a lot in the construction of a narrative thread that can link the images of the same project. Very important is the composition caring, which must be born at the time of shooting. For this reason, an education in vision is very important. TPL: Do you have a favourite place to photograph? MP: It depends on the mood. It can be extremely stimulating to go along the course of a river, to be truly guided by the noises of nature, to try to tell those sensations or vice versa to mix with people in places with a lot of movement. Railway stations are an ideal place to gather faces, situations and emotions, in stations you wait, you look. The two situations, natural places and crowded places, have one thing in common: they both have their own music, their own rhythm. We just have to follow him. For example, when I hear the wind and see a flock of birds flying high, I associate it with the sound of a Japanese flute. TPL: You also do a lot of street photography. What happens when you walk the streets with your camera? Explain your technique? MP: Street photography is a passion of mine. It's a hunt: situations are sniffed and we try to predict how they will evolve. For this kind of photography you need to be in tune with your equipment to shoot very quickly. As an optic in these situations, I prefer wide-angle lenses that allow me to come into almost physical contact with the subject by shooting at a very short distance. Live each day as if it were your last. - For me it means not taking anything for granted or achieved definitively. Live, breathe as deeply as possible. Listen and see with all the senses you have. Every day is a new project. TPL: What do you want to express through your photography? And what are some of the elements you always try to include in your photographs? MP: I want to show that beauty and harmony can be around us, you just need to open your eyes and soul. I have a series of images which is called "Used". They are photos of abandoned, used objects. With my images I wanted to show that even those who are forgotten or no longer considered useful have their dignity and can have beauty. much depends on how we place ourselves in front of things or people. I can say that in my images there is always an immediately perceptible element. A protagonist. Then, if you look carefully, you can find other elements and points of interest. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? MP: Many times I have been told that some of my images, especially nocturnes, recall Edward Hopper, whom I greatly appreciate for his portrayal of repressed and heartbreaking melancholy and loneliness of human beings. I consider his way of seeing very current and contemporary. Edward Weston is a constant source of inspiration for his religious attention to the plasticity of forms (my photographic avatar, a ball of paper, is unworthily inspired by his Pepper # 30) I can't help but mention Henri Cartier-Bresson, WeeGee, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Lucio Fontana for his colors, Maurizio Galimberti for his strength as an experimenter. 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? MP: Preferring a very dynamic photography, I use the APS-C format. Lightweight and compact equipment. I use my faithful Sony A6000 that I am about to change, with some fixed lenses from 16mm to 60mm, and zoom 16-55mm, 55-200mm. My favorite focal length is 16mm. TPL: When you go out photographing, do you have a concept in mind of what you want to shoot, or do you let the images just "come to you", or is it both? MP: I am attracted to both situations. 'Inner Ancestral Travel' is a project that comes from a precise idea around a theme that involves the photographed subjects and post production. So everything is turned in a precise direction from the first moment. The direction in a project must not be felt as a constraint, as a forcing, but as a very strong intent towards the completion of the project which also passes through a selection of images. But I am also attracted to impromptu photography. Being struck by a small detail or by a person's gesture excites me and invites me to take a photo. One thing I complain to myself about is how many photos I've seen and couldn't take because I was driving the car or didn't have a camera with me. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about?What are some of your goals as an artist? Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself in five years? MP: I am growing my equipment, in particular lights equipment, because I would like to dedicate myself to portraiture by going to people to have them pose in their environment or even on the street. The commitment will be to bring out a story from a single image. A great challenge. The forbidden dream is to be able to devote oneself to ancient techniques such as wet collodion. The goal is to be able to keep the fire always lit and the desire to "see" and to show beauty. I do not deny that seeing the emotion of people in front of their images is always an extremely touching and engaging experience. It is as if there is something that unites even if we have never met. Perhaps this is precisely the function of art. So I hope to see myself still walking with my eyes looking for images to collect. TPL: When I am not out photographing, I (like to)... MP: I like to read essays on history, particularly medieval. I am interested in the symbols that were used at that time. I love sports, basketball mostly, and movement in general, traveling, hearing music and playing it, even if I'm not very capable. 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.

WHIMSICAL HAPPENINGS Li Mullen is a universal photographer who likes to see the whimsy and humour in photography that tells a good story. WHIMSICAL HAPPENINGS January 11, 2021 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Li Mullen INTERVIEW Karin Svadlenak Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Li Mullen is an artful photographer whose remarkable eye has led her on a captivating journey into the depths of creativity. With an impressive portfolio spanning multiple genres, Li captures the beauty of fashion, travel, and the natural world with an enchanting, whimsical perspective. Her bold and imaginative images evoke a sense of wonder, telling stories full of emotion and intrigue. Whether she is exploring the winding streets of an exciting city or trekking through the wild beauty of nature, Li finds inspiration in her surroundings and tells stories that will captivate any viewer. The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud. - Coco Chanel “As a woman and a female artist – it is important that our voices, thoughts, feelings and opinions are heard and not suppressed or demonised.” IN CONVERSATION WITH LI MULLEN THE PICTORIAL LIST: Li, please tell us about yourself. How did you become interested in photography? LI MULLEN: I was born in Dublin though I never grew up there. My family moved to London a few months after I was born. London is my home but Ireland is always in my heart. When I was little I had a Fisher Price toy camera that never left my side. I’d pretend I was an intrepid photojournalist. I suppose that’s how my love affair with photography started. All thanks to a toy camera. TPL: Do you have any particular stories or any interesting experiences or memorable moments of connection with people you have met? LM: Engagement with people depends on the situation. I have met and photographed some interesting characters at protest rallies, special events and festivals in the past. The most memorable experience was documenting the Donald Trump protest in London (March 2019). The public really did not want President Trump on British soil. The atmosphere at the protest was electric. I had a great time documenting it. TPL: Where do you find your inspiration? And do you have a favourite place to photograph? LM: Mainly from fashion and the arts. One of my favourite places to photograph is in an art gallery. Galleries are difficult places to shoot…I like the challenge of shooting in artificial low light conditions. I like to observe people observing art. Art evokes different emotions in people. TPL: In general, describe your style? What are some elements you always try to include in your photographs? LM: My style is whimsical. Sometimes I look for the funny in photography. My aim is to create some intrigue and tell a good story. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? LM: Vivian Maier, Diane Arbus, Helen Levitt, Dorothea Lange, Margaret Bourke-White, Sally Mann, Francesca Woodman, and Cindy Sherman. These female artists are my source of inspiration. Storytelling is integral to my work. The story is the soul of a photograph and is what brings a photograph to life. TPL: What motivates you to take photographs? Do you ever have any struggles in photography? LM: Photography is what I am good at and I’d be lost without it. Do I ever struggle? Yes, all the time. Everyone has self-doubt. Without a bit of struggle – one would never grow as an artist. It’s healthy to keep expectations realistic and go with the flow. TPL: Does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? LM: I dabble in different genres so for me having the right equipment is essential. My preferred lens is a 24mm f/1.4 prime lens. The 24mm gives a nice scope. TPL: Have you ever been involved in the arts before photography? LM: I’ve been involved in the artistic world since 2003. I’ve worked in television/film and fashion doing PR/editorial photography and retouching. Presently, I do a bit of freelancing for the arts and culture industry. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist? Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself in five years? LM: To never stop learning and create content that I enjoy and can relate too. I don’t like to plan too far ahead into the future. I take each day as it comes. We’ll see what happens. TPL: Are there any special future projects that you would like to let everyone know about? LM: Currently, working on a few self-portrait projects inspired by fashion and popular television characters. Silly fun. Keeps my creative juices flowing when I’m not working. TPL: When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… LM: Spend time with the special people in my life. Visit the theatre and watch a play. Go to the cinema and watch a film. 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.

RAFAEL AYALA PAEZ My work explores faith as a metaphor for a country facing a challenging reality. Through these images, I seek to capture the spiritual strength and the hope that persists in our society. I aim to document how this devotion becomes a vital anchor, revealing the persistence of the human spirit even in the most difficult times. LOCATION Zaraza VENEZUELA CAMERA/S Nikon D70 WEBSITE https://rafaelayalapaez.wordpress.com/ @RAFAELAYALAPAEZ0 FEATURES // In Gratitude and Devotion

LAST LIGHT IN BOLOGNA Gregorio Paone is a photographer from Southern Italy who spent twelve years in Bologna, photographing its scenography in its "last light". LAST LIGHT IN BOLOGNA November 23, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Gregorio Paone INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Amid the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it is easy to forget the beauty and charm of our cities and the people who inhabit them. However, Gregorio Paone provides us with an engaging visual narrative that captures the essence of his home: the city of Bologna in northern Italy. Having lived there for twelve years, his photographs are a testament to his journey of self-discovery, and his attempt to understand his place in the world. Through a series of stunning images, Gregorio invites us on an introspective journey of nostalgia and exploration. From the characteristic arcades that define Bologna's city centre, to the warm tones of the “cotto emiliano” and the people who inhabit its streets; this is a story of light and shadow, of colour and emotion, that will draw you in and mesmerise you. Join Gregorio as he takes you through the captivating world of his beloved Bologna, where he discovers a suffused languor that captures the beauty and mystery of this Italian gem. “The name of this series is 'Last Light in Bologna'. It was conceived as a farewell to the city that has been my home for 12 years. The idea started while getting lost in my contemplative walks during my last year in the city. I wanted to capture the spirit of the place and hold on to it. So I focused on what I feel are the main features of Bologna: the lights and shadows created by the characteristic arcades and the colour games played out there, the warm yellow, red and orange tones, all of which blend everything together. To capture this atmosphere I would only go out and photograph during the last light of the day.” IN CONVERSATION WITH GREGORIO PAONE THE PICTORIAL LIST: Gregorio please tell us about yourself. When did you start getting interested in photography? GREGORIO PAONE: I was still just a little kid when I started playing around with my father's Minolta. I later got my very first camera by the time I was ten. I only thought of photography as a simple recording tool for memories. I only realized and got interested in the true expressive potential of photography while studying at the University of Economics and Marketing. I received a book about composition in photography (The Photographer's Eye by Michael Freeman) and it was like entering a totally new world. For seven years I studied on my own. In 2017 I decided to take a Master in Photography Storytelling with two World Press winners, the photographers Fulvio Bugani and Giulio Di Sturco. TPL: Where do you find your inspiration to keep creating? GP: I like to find inspiration in books, both novels and essays. Reading guides my vision towards new directions, new stories, new questions. TPL: Is there anything particular you want to express through your photography? And what are some of the elements you always try to include in your photographs? GP: Something never missing in my photographs is some form of human presence. I try to express how people feel, move and live within their environment, and how modern society makes reality look like. I believe that behind simple daily life scenes hides the secret of life. TPL: Do you prefer to photographing alone or with friends? GP: I think that photographing is a very personal and intimate moment for self introspection. But sometimes, when I'm out with friends, I like to use them as cover shields. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us? GP: Henri Cartier Bresson, Robert Frank, Koudelka, Anders Petersen, David Alan Harvey, Marco Pesaresi, Cristina Garcia Rodero, Martin Parr, and Nan Goldin. I believe that behind simple daily life scenes hides the secret of life. TPL: Has your style of photographing changed since you first started? GP: When I started using a reflex I was shooting mostly black and white, the photos looked quite classic, since I was influenced by the photographers from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. The way I photograph has been evolving ever since. The more I studied the history of photography, the more my style became much more personal. Now I look for specific light moments and colours and the frames have became wider. TPL: Where is your favourite place to photograph? GP: Wherever there is life going on. TPL: How does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? GP: In 2010 I started with a SLR, but I always thought it was too heavy, and mostly I felt it was too intrusive. In 2014 I bought a 35mm mirrorless and it was love at first sight. Very light and easy to carry, it doesn't scare people away, it really helps me to become invisible. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? GP: I moved back to my home town in the South of Italy three years ago. I felt the need to get to know my region much better. My next project is to follow the same routes of travellers from '800 who have explored Calabria. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist? Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself in five years? GP: In five years I will probably be building up a forest. TPL: “When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… GP: Hang out with friends, read books, plant trees and plants.” 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.

PORTRAITS OF AFRICA Anwar Sadat is a Kenyan photographer growing up in Kibera in Nairobi. He now documents people and their stories in his community and surrounding areas. PORTRAITS OF AFRICA July 10, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Anwar Sadat INTERVIEW Karin Svadlenak Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Anwar Sadat is a Kenyan photographer based in Nairobi. He grew up in the Kibera area of Nairobi and among his photographic projects are strong documentary photographs about a resilient strong community with a lot of challenges. He first picked up photography as head of the journalism club of his secondary school. His photographs focus on real life, and portraits of people around him. “My focus is on documentary work, photojournalism, street scenes, and portraiture. A lot of what I do is about capturing the life around me — especially the energy of Nairobi’s streets and the everyday stories within my community that people don’t usually see. I got interested in photography back in high school, but I didn’t start taking it seriously until 2018. Photography is a tool to communicate to the world things that we may not understand or experience ourselves.” IN CONVERSATION WITH ANWAR SADAT THE PICTORIAL LIST: Anwar please tell us where do you find your inspiration to photograph? ANWAR SADAT: I find inspiration in the daily lives of people and their enthusiasm to make a better tomorrow. TPL: Often you focus really closely on people in your photography. How do you go about it? AS: Most people I have met are very accommodating. I believe if you approach people and tell them what you are doing and why you are doing it, they wouldn’t have a reason to object. I try as much as possible to make friends with the people I photograph, just to avoid suspicions. TPL: Has your style of shooting changed since you first started? AS: Yes. Starting out I used to shoot everything. Most of the time I photographed models and fashion. With time I found purpose. I wanted to see beyond my images. TPL: Where is your favourite place to photograph? AS: Kibera is good and there is always a story worth to be told each day. However, there are so many good and talented photographers here. I’ve been to Mombasa before. I loved shooting there. There are also not enough photographers shooting documentaries. Shooting there was awesome. But after having said all that, it's not really the places that matter, it’s a story worth telling that matters and I’d go anywhere that a story takes me. It’s a story worth telling that matters and I’d go anywhere that a story takes me. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us? AS: Mostly I do have favorite things and people because I usually feel like I am limiting myself but among other photographers, I closely look up to people like Steve McCurry, Luis Tato, and Yagazie Emezi. There are many. Mostly I am inspired by everyday African photographers. TPL: What camera/s do you use? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? AS: My preferred camera is the Canon 6d mark ii, but I do not have it. I mostly shoot on a Canon 5d mark ii or a Canon 700d. I shoot with a wide angle 24-70mm f4 or 50mm f1.2. TPL: What characteristics do you think you need to become a better photographer? Any tips or advice for someone just starting out? AS: First one needs to choose their path, decide on what genre one wants to pursue. Doing this is hard but it helps one do more research on how to be better in the same field. One should be patient, friendly, observing, trustworthy, flexible and self-driven. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on? AS: Currently I am focusing on the lives of people under quarantine. I am also trying to work with as few people as possible to tell a love story between two young people with different backgrounds. These are not serious projects, but I am trying to be active and creative during this time when most of our movements are restricted. TPL: “When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… AS: I am either spending time with friends playing video games, or watching documentary materials, learning something new.” 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.

PICTORIAL STORY 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. July 19, 2026 PICTORIAL STORY PHOTOGRAPHY Shubhodeep Roy TEXT Shubhodeep Roy INTRODUCTION Melanie Meggs SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Shubhodeep Roy photographs Kolkata from the edge of the Hooghly, a distributary of the Ganges that has shaped the city’s history, labour, faith, and daily life. Shubhodeep photographs a place he knows well, placing us close to its banks. His attention moves between atmosphere and social life, seeing the river as a living space rather than a symbol removed from those who depend on it. The project unfolds around the ghats, ferries, bridges, and open stretches of water that form Kolkata’s relationship with the river. This is a story about contact. Between bodies and water. Between infrastructure and ritual. Between the demands of the present and the weight of what has been carried forward. Along the river, ordinary actions take on another scale. Bathing, crossing, waiting, playing, and praying become part of a larger conversation between people and place. Nothing here feels staged. The images are attentive to the way life gathers at the edge of the water and continues through habit, need, and devotion. Born in Kolkata in 2001, Shubhodeep belongs to a generation of photographers looking again at inherited places under changing conditions. His broader practice engages human dignity, migration, labour, faith, and climate vulnerability. At the age of 24, his work has already been exhibited internationally, including at United Nations conferences, the European Union, photo festivals, and global events. Life Along the River remains grounded in the close act of looking at home. This closeness gives the work its strength. Shubhodeep is not photographing Kolkata as an outsider searching for an image of the city. He is looking at a place that has shaped him, while also asking what it means for such places to survive into the present. The project carries his affection for the ghats and the river, but it also carries responsibility. Shubhodeep’s journal entry offers a first-person account of the conditions from which Life Along the River emerged. It positions the project not only as an act of photographic observation, but as a response to place, memory, and cultural responsibility. Through his reflections on the ghats, the Hooghly River, the Howrah Bridge, and the ferries that move across the water, the work becomes connected to a broader concern with preservation and the fragile inheritance of riverside life. Today, I find myself reflecting on my journey as a photographer and the incredible moments I have experienced along the banks of the Hooghly River in Kolkata. Over the past years, I have dedicated my lens to capturing the essence of the city's Ghats, those enchanting staircases leading down to the water that has stood the test of time. These Ghats have witnessed the ebb and flow of life for centuries, and it is remarkable how little they have changed. As I perched on the steps, camera in hand, I felt a deep sense of nostalgia sweep over me. These moments felt like whispers from the past, reminding me of the timeless beauty that lies within the heart of Kolkata. In my photographic exploration, I sought to document the Ghats in their purest form, preserving the authenticity of these cultural treasures. I meticulously composed each frame, capturing the serene beauty of the river and the Ghats' architectural splendor. I wanted to transport viewers to a time when pollution did not mar the surface of the water, and the river flowed with pristine clarity. One of the most captivating elements I encountered was the presence of the iconic Howrah Bridge, standing tall and proud, connecting the bustling city to its riverside heritage. The bridge has become a symbol of Kolkata's identity, an architectural marvel that has become an integral part of the Ghats' nostalgic allure. I made sure to include the bridge in my compositions, emphasizing its timeless presence and its reflection on the calm waters below. As I delved deeper into my photographic journey, I couldn't help but be drawn to the old ferries gracefully crossing the Ganges. These vessels, carrying passengers and stories from one bank to the other, seemed to exist in a world of their own. In my images, I aimed to capture the tranquility of these moments, showcasing the unbreakable bond between the river and its inhabitants. Today's journal entry serves as a reminder of the importance of preserving these cultural treasures and raising awareness about the need to protect our rivers. Each photograph carries the weight of history and nostalgia, urging us to cherish and safeguard the heritage that lies along the banks of the Hooghly River. © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy © Shubhodeep Roy In Life Along the River , Kolkata is seen through the river that has carried its past, absorbed its present, and continues to shape the lives moving beside it. Shubhodeep Roy gives us a city understood through dependence, continuity, and change. view Shubhodeep's portfolio Instagram The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author/s and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List. read more stories >>> 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. 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