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THE STREET FILES John St's passion for street photography has opened up a door and taken him down a path that he never thought was possible. THE STREET FILES February 27, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY John St. INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Meet John, an incredibly talented photographer from South Australia who fell in love with the art of capturing moments through his lens. John was born in South Shields, a town in the north-east of England. He migrated with his family to Australia and now resides with his wife in Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. He considers himself fortunate to live in such a wonderful country. John's passion for photography started with his love for good coffee, which he would capture with his mobile phone. This passion quickly grew, and John found himself exploring the beauty of architecture in and around Adelaide before discovering his true passion for street photography. John's work has been exhibited in a solo exhibition and several group shows, and he has been recognized for his talent with multiple photography awards. His dedication to street photography has opened up new doors and opportunities that he never thought possible. Living in such a wonderful country, John considers himself fortunate to be able to capture and share the beauty of Australia through his lens. "I’ve finally figured out what’s wrong with photography. It’s a one-eyed man looking through a little ‘ole. Now, how much reality can there be in that?" – David Hockney IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHN ST. THE PICTORIAL LIST: Hello John, when did you first become interested in photography? JOHN ST.: I’ve always been interested in taking pictures but it was only whenever we went on holiday or for that 'special occasion'. But June 2018 is when the interest became a passion. TPL: Where do you find your inspiration? JS: My inspiration comes from a number of sources. Mainly from the beauty of everyday things, light and shadow, other famous photographers and many not so famous photographers that I follow on Instagram and Facebook. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? JS: Fan Ho, Garry Winogrand, Saul Leiter, Trent Parke, Elliott Erwitt, and Sean Tucker Some because of how I see the world and others because of their immense ability to see it differently. TPL: Has your style of photographing changed since you first started? JS: Yes, I started by taking pictures of coffee with my phone and images of buildings with no human elements in the frame! So I would certainly say that my style has changed and developed since I first started. TPL: Where is your favourite place to shoot? JS: Anywhere and everywhere and at any given time of the day or night. If I have my camera with me then that’s the time to shoot. So pretty much all of the time as I have my camera with me a lot! Photography has taken me down a road that I never knew was there, and for that I’m truly grateful. TPL: What characteristics do you think you need to become a better photographer? What’s your tips ? JS: Passion/Patience/Tenacity/Eye/Creativity/Belief in yourself...but most of all have your camera with you all of the time. All the technical skills will come from taking shots or be learned…YouTube is your friend! TPL: Have you ever been involved in the artistic world before photography? JS: No. If you were to ask me 20 months ago if I was artistic or creative then I would have said No Way Jose! It’s not that I didn’t want to be but more to do with not knowing where to look. Thankfully photography has taken me down a road that I never knew was there and for that I’m truly grateful. TPL: Do you think equipment is important in achieving your vision in your photography? What would you say to someone just starting out? JS: They say the best camera to use is the one you have on you! That might even be the one on your phone. Mark Fearnley is a street photographer from London. He’s taken some amazing images on the streets of Japan. I just watched a recent interview where he said some of his best shots that he’s ever taken were using his phone as that was all he had on him at the time. I had no idea that the shots he was referring to were taken using a phone! I bought a cheapish Nikon D3400 when I decided to take the plunge June 2018 and buy my first ever DSLR camera. I had no idea how to use it so I just twiddled the knobs until I got a half decent image and watched a lot of YouTube for hints and tips. I then bought a 35mm prime lens which was difficult to master at first as I was forced to learn how to frame my shots instead of just zooming in with my 18-55 kit lens. The quality was far better too but that’s because I was forced to get closer to my subjects. No matter the camera the principles are the same. If you can master those principles first before shopping for a more expensive camera then you’re onto a winner. In saying that I did end up buying an Fujifilm XT3 which I just love! Love! Love! But I don’t use it too anywhere near it’s full capabilities! But I do love the feel of it, the manner in which the exposure triangle (SS/ISO/A) are set out etc. The Fuji colour science is also stunning in my honest opinion too. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? JS: 1. I was honoured to have been asked to become a member of the Pictorial List 2. I’ve just been accepted to be the South Australian Rep for Fuji X Aus + Admin for their FB page 3. I’m currently one of the Admin’s for the Henri Cartier Bresson FB group 4. I started a small group for Adelaide creatives to come together to initially give street photography a go but this has now grown so that other photographers can share their skills with participating members within the group should they wish to learn. 5. Was just asked to become a member of the Street Avengers Collective 6. Co-founder of Streetlife Podcast TPL: "When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… JS: Drink coffee and write reviews 😉" PORTFOLIO INSTAGRAM STREETLIFE PODCAST 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.

As an independent documentary photographer, I have a strong passion for capturing real-life stories. Originally from Krasnodar, a city in the south of Russia, I made the move to St. Petersburg at the age of 20 to pursue a higher education in journalism. My interest in photography was sparked through my work as a photojournalist on various social projects. Additionally, I contributed to the cultural magazine Most and received my degree from the Docdocdoc School of Contemporary Photography. My focus is on capturing the social issues within our society, and I particularly enjoy the challenge of portrait photography. Currently, I am based in the beautiful city of St. Petersburg. SASHA IVANOV As an independent documentary photographer, I have a strong passion for capturing real-life stories. Originally from Krasnodar, a city in the south of Russia, I made the move to St. Petersburg at the age of 20 to pursue a higher education in journalism. My interest in photography was sparked through my work as a photojournalist on various social projects. Additionally, I contributed to the cultural magazine Most and received my degree from the Docdocdoc School of Contemporary Photography. My focus is on capturing the social issues within our society, and I particularly enjoy the challenge of portrait photography. Currently, I am based in the beautiful city of St. Petersburg. LOCATION St. Petersburg RUSSIA CAMERA/S Canon R WEBSITE http://www.sashadoc.com @SASHAIVANOV_DOC FEATURES // On the Trail of Love Lost

PICTORIAL STORY SOLITUDE UNDER A TECHNIFIED SUN Tracing the space between movement and stillness, Héctor Morón reveals a city that persists as human presence slips by. February 15, 2026 PICTORIAL STORY PHOTOGRAPHY Héctor Morón STORY Melanie Meggs SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link In Urban Solitude Under a Technified Sun , Héctor Morón interrogates the contemporary city as an engineered system in which human presence is increasingly subordinate to the infrastructures that regulate space, movement, and visibility. The urban environment is framed not as a site of lived experience, but as an operational field, structured by circulation, illumination, and technological continuity. Héctor’s images resist documentary function, instead positioning photography as a critical apparatus through which urban conditions are translated into symbolic form. He does this through the symbiosis of abstract and allegorical conceptual photography, which he calls Allegorical Abstractionism. Based in southern Spain, Héctor Morón is a self-taught fine-art photographer, whose work originates from an optically captured scene, subsequently transformed through long exposure and in-camera motion. This process destabilizes architectural coherence and spatial legibility, allowing built environments to compress, blur, and accumulate. Light assumes material density, geometry functions as a structuring constraint, and movement is rendered as regulated flow rather than expressive gesture. The city is thus reconstituted as an affective and conceptual terrain rather than a descriptive one. Héctor situates this approach within his self-defined framework of Allegorical Abstractionism , a practice that reframes photography as a mode of visual translation rather than representation. Drawing on expressionist strategies and a Mediterranean sensitivity to luminosity, his work articulates a dialogue between perceptual experience and technological mediation. Within this series, urban space becomes a site where abstraction operates not as aesthetic withdrawal, but as analytic method. The recurring presence of the sun functions as a destabilized symbolic anchor. Traditionally associated with origin, continuity, and illumination, it appears here refracted, displaced, or reproduced through artificial means. Pressed against architectural surfaces or fragmented into neon surrogates, the sun signals a collapse between natural and synthetic orders. Even images that suggest retreat or distance remain chromatically bound to the city’s visual regime, reinforcing the impossibility of exteriority. Urban Solitude Under a Technified Sun avoids critique in favor of sustained observation. Isolation is not staged as emotional disruption but understood as a structural condition embedded within contemporary urban design. Héctor Morón’s photographs neither accuse nor resolve. Instead, they render visible the quiet persistence of systems in which human presence becomes momentary, peripheral, and increasingly optional. © Héctor Morón, Hiker in the Surroundings theme: the search for self, outside the system | allegorical reading: the wanderer, an archetypal figure of freedom, appears blurred within the same chromatic veil as the surroundings. Not even in nature can he escape the internalized urban noise | symbol: the impossibility of return © Héctor Morón, Specters Chasing Lights theme: energy and disorientation in the crowd | allegorical reading: the figures dissolve into a current of neon lights. The nocturnal city is the new ocean: vibrant, yet dehumanized. Men turned into specters seek meaning in the electric flow | symbol: chaotic movement as a substitute for vitality © Héctor Morón, A Child and a Penguin theme: childhood versus artificiality | allegorical reading: the child bows before a light-up doll - an inanimate figure that replaces the natural myth. It represents the beginning of alienation: wonder no longer belongs to nature but to artifice | symbol: the “neon sun” replaces the real sun/innocence lost © Héctor Morón, The Road theme: transit and dispossession - the road as a system of passage where life becomes movement without arrival | allegorical reading: a lone trajectory cuts through a landscape that is all sensation and color yet offers no place to settle. The world dissolves into chromatic drift (blue sky, green mass, ochre field), while the highway remains the only “hard” structure | symbol: the road as a misplaced symbol © Héctor Morón, Just Cars Series (variant - “car-vision/machine perspective”) theme: machine vision and dehumanized perception | allegorical reading: the city seen as a vehicle sees it, not as a person inhabits it. It is filtered through the logic of traffic. The street becomes a corridor for circulation, and the world around is reduced to blur, signal, and lane-direction. Even the buildings feel secondary - softened into color blocks - while the roadway remains the organizing axis | symbol: the road as a command line; blur as the erasure of human-scale attention; “car-vision” as the triumph of automation over lived experience © Héctor Morón, Hospital City theme: the technologization of care | allegorical reading: the city becomes clinical: cold, aseptic, dominated by bluish tones. Humanity survives anesthetized within its own apparatus | symbol: The medicalized social body © Héctor Morón, Two Lovers Watching the Alhambra theme: memory versus dissolution | allegorical reading: The Alhambra, a symbol of history and permanence, becomes a fluid vision. The lovers are now shadows contemplating a vanishing past | symbol: cultural heritage dematerialized by modernity © Héctor Morón, Alone on the Highway under the Sun theme: absolute isolation | allegorical reading: a solitary being walks in a straight line, surrounded by void of human structure (highways). The sun's horizon is the only promise. Image of the journey without a destination of the contemporary individual | symbol: transit as a mode of existence © Héctor Morón, Just Cars Series theme: the complete replacement of the human being | allegorical reading: there are no more figures, only vehicles. The machine has absorbed mobility, desire, and life force | logical conclusion: the system continues without humanity | symbol: the automation of destiny © Héctor Morón, Urban Alignment theme: social order and obedience | allegorical reading: the figures are aligned between vertical buildings - a metaphor for the invisible discipline of modern life. Everyone is present, yet no one communicates. Incapable of traversing that white path that would imprison them within the urban structure | symbol: geometry as a prison. © Héctor Morón, Sun Against the Human Walls theme: the conflict between vital energy and human architecture | allegorical reading: the sun, symbol of the divine and of origin, crashes (“breaks”, The sun melts human structures) against the wall. Light, instead of liberating, is confined | symbol: the boundary between the human and the transcendent Urban Solitude Under a Technified Sun concludes without closure, allowing its observations to remain open and unresolved. Héctor Morón does not propose an alternative to the conditions he records, nor does he frame the city as a site of loss or failure. Instead, Héctor's work holds attention on the mechanisms that quietly organize contemporary life. Héctor positions photography as a reflective instrument capable of revealing how urban environments operate at a systemic level. The city that emerges is functional, luminous, and self-sustaining. Human figures persist within it, but only intermittently, absorbed into the larger choreography of infrastructure and design. Under this technified sun, solitude is no longer hidden or exceptional. It is structural — built into the systems that shape how we move, see, and exist within the contemporary urban landscape. view Héctor Morón's portfolio website >>> instagram >>> The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author/s and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List. read more stories >>> 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.

I was born in The Netherlands but grew up in Australia and apparently the city of Brisbane is now home. I have travelled extensively since a young age and travel and photography go hand-in-hand (not always in the best sense) so I guess this is where my interest originated, particularly combining cultural and “artistic” elements in a photograph. I am very inquisitive and like to explore, observing and wondering how things work; photography gives me the chance to capture what I am thinking/ seeing. I’m also fascinated by this ridiculously diverse planet we live on, which means I like too many types of photography, from insect macro to sweeping landscapes and of course, my favourite, street photography. My street photography process is usually just walking and looking for moments to unfold, but often I’ll find a composition and wait for a particular character…if I really want the shot, this wait can be up to an hour. I’m a sucker for black-and-white because of the way it simplifies an image, and also images with a single or matching colour tones (e.g. hot and cold). In mid-2019 I started a one year ‘mid-career’ break with the intention to focus on travel and photography. This trip has covered quite a few places, seasons and cultures so the photographs submitted are diverse, but they all reflect my current mood and focus. A few are from an earlier trip in 2015 but again they fit this theme. PEPIJN THIJSSE I was born in The Netherlands but grew up in Australia and apparently the city of Brisbane is now home. I have travelled extensively since a young age and travel and photography go hand-in-hand (not always in the best sense) so I guess this is where my interest originated, particularly combining cultural and “artistic” elements in a photograph. I am very inquisitive and like to explore, observing and wondering how things work; photography gives me the chance to capture what I am thinking/ seeing. I’m also fascinated by this ridiculously diverse planet we live on, which means I like too many types of photography, from insect macro to sweeping landscapes and of course, my favourite, street photography. My street photography process is usually just walking and looking for moments to unfold, but often I’ll find a composition and wait for a particular character…if I really want the shot, this wait can be up to an hour. I’m a sucker for black-and-white because of the way it simplifies an image, and also images with a single or matching colour tones (e.g. hot and cold). In mid-2019 I started a one year ‘mid-career’ break with the intention to focus on travel and photography. This trip has covered quite a few places, seasons and cultures so the photographs submitted are diverse, but they all reflect my current mood and focus. A few are from an earlier trip in 2015 but again they fit this theme. LOCATION Brisbane AUSTRALIA CAMERA/S Olympus EM10, Fuji XT2, Sony A7iii WEBSITE http://www.pepijnthijsse.com @PTHYSSE @P_THYSSE FEATURES // Observing Life Unfolding

Ever since I remember myself I loved photography. In school I was the class photographer. Later on my subjects were my family and the countries where I lived or travelled to. I have a Masters Degree in psychology and I later studied photography. My Aesthetics of Photography professor, Laura Dodson @lauradodsonphoto, always professed, ‘don’t photograph babies, pretty young girls or sunsets, as these subjects are beautiful in themselves and you don’t need to make any effort or put any thought into capturing them. Also, Laura encouraged me to exhibit during my studies and I never stopped since. I usually make a book to complement my exhibition. From the eight books that I have published, three were published for special events and the rest accompanied my exhibitions. My last book, ‘Casablanca’, was published for the exhibition of the same name at Benaki Museum of Islamic Art in Athens. I contributed my photos for the book ‘Quartier Réservé’ or ‘Red light District’ under the direction of Jean-Francois Stazsak and Raphaël Pieroni, which was done for an exhibition scheduled for April 2019 in Casablanca and later in Geneva but was postponed indefinitely because of the pandemic. In Casablanca I belong to an association called Casamemoire, which was created to safeguard of Casablanca’s heritage. In 2015 I photographed Casablanca as our goal was to include Casablanca’s twentieth century architecture among the World Heritage Sites. I also photographed the interior of the buildings, which gave me the opportunity to talk to people, to get acquainted with their everyday lives and understand the reasons why they effected changes in the buildings. This experience was beneficial in helping me overcome my apprehension and shyness when asking people on the street if I could take a picture of them. I am a people photographer and I tried to include pictures of people in the architectural photos as much as possible, which was what the UNESCO committee really liked. A couple of years ago I started posting pictures on Instagram. I enjoy it but find it involves much more effort than I expected, and leaves little time for my other photographic activities. I am grateful to Sean Tucker who through his YouTube channel, helped me put Instagram into perspective. MELITA VANGELATOU Ever since I remember myself I loved photography. In school I was the class photographer. Later on my subjects were my family and the countries where I lived or travelled to. I have a Masters Degree in psychology and I later studied photography. My Aesthetics of Photography professor, Laura Dodson @lauradodsonphoto, always professed, ‘don’t photograph babies, pretty young girls or sunsets, as these subjects are beautiful in themselves and you don’t need to make any effort or put any thought into capturing them. Also, Laura encouraged me to exhibit during my studies and I never stopped since. I usually make a book to complement my exhibition. From the eight books that I have published, three were published for special events and the rest accompanied my exhibitions. My last book, ‘Casablanca’, was published for the exhibition of the same name at Benaki Museum of Islamic Art in Athens. I contributed my photos for the book ‘Quartier Réservé’ or ‘Red light District’ under the direction of Jean-Francois Stazsak and Raphaël Pieroni, which was done for an exhibition scheduled for April 2019 in Casablanca and later in Geneva but was postponed indefinitely because of the pandemic. In Casablanca I belong to an association called Casamemoire, which was created to safeguard of Casablanca’s heritage. In 2015 I photographed Casablanca as our goal was to include Casablanca’s twentieth century architecture among the World Heritage Sites. I also photographed the interior of the buildings, which gave me the opportunity to talk to people, to get acquainted with their everyday lives and understand the reasons why they effected changes in the buildings. This experience was beneficial in helping me overcome my apprehension and shyness when asking people on the street if I could take a picture of them. I am a people photographer and I tried to include pictures of people in the architectural photos as much as possible, which was what the UNESCO committee really liked. A couple of years ago I started posting pictures on Instagram. I enjoy it but find it involves much more effort than I expected, and leaves little time for my other photographic activities. I am grateful to Sean Tucker who through his YouTube channel, helped me put Instagram into perspective. LOCATION Casablanca MOROCCO CAMERA/S Leica @MELITAVANGELATOS FEATURES // Casablanca Now Telling Stories

Barbara Peacock is an awarded and published photographer that has contributed to helping define and explore the fabric of American society in a tender, genuine way. She has given us the unique opportunity to see more clearly and embrace our triumphs, as well as our fears, helping us understand and grow as people. You can share Barbara’s personal journey through a series from her book Hometown. Visit her website and make the connections to “community”, the people that she has so vividly and eloquently defined through her photography for over 30 years. BARBARA PEACOCK Barbara Peacock is an awarded and published photographer that has contributed to helping define and explore the fabric of American society in a tender, genuine way. She has given us the unique opportunity to see more clearly and embrace our triumphs, as well as our fears, helping us understand and grow as people. You can share Barbara’s personal journey through a series from her book Hometown. Visit her website and make the connections to “community”, the people that she has so vividly and eloquently defined through her photography for over 30 years. LOCATION Portland UNITED STATES CAMERA/S Canon WEBSITE https://www.americanbedroomseries.com/ @BARBARA.PEACOCK_ABEDROOM @BARBARA.PEACOCK.12 FEATURES // Under The Covers With American Bedroom

I have been doing street photography for approximately one year. I try to communicate to the world the beauty as I see it and show it in my photos. I am hoping to promote my photography by getting it out to a wider audience via your website. YOEL GRACIA I have been doing street photography for approximately one year. I try to communicate to the world the beauty as I see it and show it in my photos. I am hoping to promote my photography by getting it out to a wider audience via your website. LOCATION Zaragoza SPAIN CAMERA/S Olympus OMD-EM10ii @_MESYEUX_ @_MESYEUX_ FEATURES // How I See The World

NUANCES OF LIGHT From the rolling hills of vineyards to the quaint old towns and the rustic feel of traditional craftsmanship, Tuscany is an area of unique beauty that has been captured and immortalised by the Italian photographer Simone Batini. NUANCES OF LIGHT October 22, 2021 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Simone Batini INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE As the sun casts its golden light in the valleys of Tuscany, we are reminded of the beauty that can be found in this region of Italy. From the rolling hills of vineyards to the quaint old towns and the rustic feel of traditional craftsmanship, Tuscany is an area of unique beauty that has been captured and immortalised by the Italian photographer Simone Batini. Since a young age, Simone has been inspired by the light and atmosphere of the Tuscan countryside, and his passion for photography has only grown over the years. His photographs tell a unique story of ancient crafts being practiced in modern times, along with capturing the beauty of the region's landscapes. With a signature style that emphasises realism, yet often includes a special light and mood, Simone's work is breathtakingly beautiful. Join us as we take a journey through Tuscany's history and culture, as told through the stunning photography of Simone Batini. “I find inspiration through the research of what I prefer to photograph, from nature that changes with the seasons, to the life of people who through work and crafts have evolved over the years, but also in the present continue to maintain ancient traditions. I love to tell all this through my photographs, with the search for the light and atmosphere that strikes me most to best convey my photographic vision. In recent years, I have been dedicating myself to enhancing my areas with both landscape shots and reportage, always with the great passion for photography that I have since childhood.” IN CONVERSATION WITH SIMONE BATINI THE PICTORIAL LIST: Simone please tell us about yourself. How did you become interested in photography? SIMONE BATINI: I live in Italy in the Tuscany region. I have been passionate about photography for years, since I was a child. I have always tried to immortalize through images what struck me the most. Growing up and with the arrival of digital photography, I have tried to learn more and more, and to date, I think I have achieved a good skill level, through the study of light, composition and the search for specific projects. TPL: Do you have a favourite type of photography? In this instance, we present your stunning landscape photographs and, separately, a documentary about artisans in Tuscany. What is your purpose in taking these photos? SB: I like almost all photographic genres, personally I take a very natural and truthful photograph, for my shots I prefer the landscape and reportage genre, however I also practice other genres such as macro and street. The series of photographs entitled TEMPI PASSATI (TIMES PAST)* was born from my idea of telling the artisan working realities still present in my territory. Regarding the landscape series, the first genre that I practiced and to which I am much attached, it is a real thrill to wake up early in the morning and try to capture the nuances of dawn with the mists and above all, with the warm light that follows. It transmits to me positive sensations, through this I try to show the places that are most dear to me, with the same search for light even at nightfall. I love the last hours of the day and I hope to experience these positive sensations for many days of my life. Editor's Note: Read the story by Simone via the link below. TPL: Does the equipment you use help you realize your vision in your photography? What camera do you use? Do you have a favourite lens/focal length? SB: I have been using Nikon cameras for years, currently Nikon D610 and Nikon Z50. My favourite lenses are the 24-120 f4 and the 16-50 f3.5/5.6, and also a prime lens of 20mm and a 90mm, which are both f2.8. It is a real thrill to wake up early in the morning and try to capture the nuances of dawn with the mists and above all, with the warm light that follows. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist or photographer? Where do you hope to see yourself in five years? SB: My goals are to maintain the level I have reached and if possible improve it in small steps. In five years, I hope to be still in the field, always engaged in new photographic projects, the hope and the dream of transforming this passion into a real job never fades, but I am aware that today it is difficult to become noticed among many photographers, and I still have a lot to learn. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? SB: I am currently completing a series of reportages on modern sculptors and the landscapes of my land. TPL: "When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… SB: Observe carefully what surrounds me, be in company and meet creative people. Of course also being with the family and above all with my two children, to whom I try to transmit the main values of life, in respect of nature, people and things." 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.

My work focuses on portraiture and storytelling. I began photographing actors and re-enactors obsessed with history. In broader terms I started documenting various sub-cultures of time travelers, trying to capture people's eccentricities, obsessions and their world of escapism. I observe people from all walks of life who park aside their everyday lives and immerse themselves into an alternate world. I am fascinated by the concept of actors and stage, believing there is an actor in everyone, or perhaps a re-enactor. RUSSELL COBB My work focuses on portraiture and storytelling. I began photographing actors and re-enactors obsessed with history. In broader terms I started documenting various sub-cultures of time travelers, trying to capture people's eccentricities, obsessions and their world of escapism. I observe people from all walks of life who park aside their everyday lives and immerse themselves into an alternate world. I am fascinated by the concept of actors and stage, believing there is an actor in everyone, or perhaps a re-enactor. LOCATION Liphook UNITED KINGDOM CAMERA/S Leica SL2 & Leica M10 WEBSITE http://www.cobbphoto.com @RUSSELLCOBB FEATURES // Transtemporal

PICTORIAL STORY THE INVISIBLE WORKERS May 28, 2020 PICTORIAL STORY Photography by Adrian Whear Story by Melanie Meggs SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link From the crowded streets of Dhaka to the open-air kilns of its richly traditional brick factories, Adrian Whear's experience of Bangladesh was a journey into a world of culture and tradition unlike anything he had ever seen before. As a street photographer based in Melbourne, Adrian eagerly embraced the opportunity to travel to Bangladesh and photograph alongside the members of the Bangladesh Photographic Society. From his encounters with the friendly people of Bangladesh to witnessing their hard-working lives, Adrian's photos speak volumes about the hidden stories of this often-overlooked country. Through his pictures, Adrian beautifully captures the warmth and generosity of the Bengali people, while also highlighting the harsh realities of their struggle for survival in a rapidly expanding urban environment. Join Adrian on his incredible journey as he discovers the unique beauty of Bangladesh and its resilient people. “I would describe my travel experience to Bangladesh as real-world time travel. The Bengali people are economically poor, but so rich and generous in spirit and soul. I felt so connected to them that I wanted my photography to represent them all fairly and honestly. Their stories are mostly hidden from the majority of the Western world, and it is important for all of us to remember that all people are equal and deserve to be treated respectfully. I hope I have achieved this with my photography.” The first couple of days in Bangladesh were spent with Adrian trying to shoot his usual street style in the old part of Dhaka. “Everywhere I went, I would attract attention, people would follow me, and many curious eyes would stare at me. This made it near impossible for me to capture any candid street scenes. I posed for many photos, and I believe that there must be many images of me out there on Facebook in Bangladesh,” says Adrian. Bangladesh is a country with a rapidly growing population of over 160 million people. In the metro area of Dhaka alone there are over 21 million, which has resulted in a rapid urban expansion. This in turn has led to a high demand for cheap building materials, which has led to a thriving brick making industry. The land around Dhaka is full of high chimneys, spewing out thick smoke from the millions of bricks being burnt. The World Bank estimates that the industry here employs over one million people who churn out approximately 23 million bricks every year. These bricks are produced using an old method of mixing soil with water, which is then formed into bricks using wooden frames, then left to dry in the sun before being fired in traditional coal burning outdoor kilns. This process is almost entirely done by hand. Male and female workers of all ages travel from all over Bangladesh to get a job in these factories, where they earn between 300-800 Taka (US$3.50-$9.50) a day. For the poor, life is unimaginably hard in Bangladesh. Adrian remembers seeing the brick factories for the first time. “I was overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the factories; they were so large in area. I had not imagined them to be so vast. As far as my eyes could see there were bricks and chimneys. The landscape was flat, everything was at ground level except for the large number of chimneys reaching for the sky, spewing out grey smoke. What I immediately noticed was the dust, just so much dust in the air. Initially I did not see many people as they were working down in the open kilns. The first people I saw were the children, who were drawn to the Westerner arriving, whilst their parents were occupied and working.” Adrian virtually had unlimited access to anywhere within the workplace as long as he didn't get in the way. Occupational health and safety are non-existent. The workers are paid by the load, so they really cannot stop to pose for a photograph or stop to talk. Any interruptions to their work could potentially cost them some wages. Adrian prefers to photograph disengaged, as it allows him to enter a mindset where he is fully focused on the environment. He wants to capture the natural essence of the scene. But there were many times when he moved between being disengaged and engaged in Bangladesh, like times when someone would reach out to him. At such times he always tried to respond, whether that was just a knowing glance, a nod of the head or a passing word such as “Hello” or “Where are you from?”. “We would occasionally make eye contact for a short moment to connect, where you would just see and feel their humanity. A couple of workers asked me for some of my water, which I absolutely happily obliged. At the end of the day, it was time to relax. The older men would drink milk tea and smoke, the younger men would start up a game of cricket or soccer, the girls would start a skipping game, and the older women would gather together, talk and watch,” he explains. Seeing all this made Adrian put the camera down to connect with the Bengali people as much as he could, drinking milk tea, complete with six sugars and joining in and talking with the men. English is widely spoken. He joined in nightly games of cricket, and as soon as word got around, more people showed up to join in. “I soon became a combination of Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist! With the young girls I would skip rope and teach them clapping games. I'm sure I missed out on many great photographic opportunities, but I have memories that are priceless from these evenings.” Adrian was often captivated by the vibrant colours of the textiles worn by the women in total contrast to the bland background and brutal reality of the scene. In the West we are conditioned in many ways to still see this type of work as being 'mans' work, so the sheer brutality of this type of manual labor becomes even more obvious when you see the women and children also being exploited. Women workers suffer from a lack of secured employment, low and discriminating wages, and exploitative working conditions. Their way of life is perpetually in a state of continuous change. The women comprise about half of the total workforce of every brick factory. They generally are the wives of the male factory workers and usually take up the employment to improve the standard of living for their families rather than to achieve any independent status for themselves. The children cannot be left home alone and usually the older children will help the parents out in whatever ways they can. Although school is compulsory, parents often do not send their children, because out of the necessity for another meager wage to help support the family. Most of the girls in the age group 10-16 work alongside their mothers and the boys in the age group 10-17 work mostly in the loading and unloading from the truck. According to the United Nations Human Development Index 2019, Bangladesh ranks in place 135 of 189 countries for which report data exist. The mean years of schooling are 6.1. By comparison, Australia ranks in place 6 and has 12.7 mean years of schooling. Singapore ranks in place 9, with 11.5 mean years of schooling. “For me, it was very emotional to see the young girls carrying out this type of manual labor. At that time of travelling to Bangladesh, my daughter in Melbourne was 17, so I would often compare her life to her counterparts in Bangladesh,” says Adrian. © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear © Adrian Whear Whilst this story focuses mostly on Adrian's experience visiting the brick factories in Bangladesh, he also visited one in Kathmandu, Nepal. There are also thousands of brick factories located in India and Pakistan, all with very similar stories. Children everywhere, no safety equipment, illness, withheld wages, pregnant women, and no clean water. Workers are treated like slaves, and it has been going on for many decades. It is time for governments to take responsibility and end this exploitation that rightly should not be happening in the 21st century. view Adrian's portfolio Read an interview with Adrian >>> Instagram >>> Sources used in this story - World Bank Wikipedia | Bangladesh A. Mandal, Women Workers in Brick Factory: Sordid Saga from a District of West Bengal, 2005 United Nations 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.

I am a physicist, an amateur film photographer and a mixed media artist. IVAN DOMARATSKIY I am a physicist, an amateur film photographer and a mixed media artist. LOCATION Moscow RUSSIA CAMERA/S Pentax SF7, Pentax ME, Mamiya RB67, Agat 18K @VANADIUM_DIOXIDE FEATURES // Pictorialistic Reality

THE CREATIVE CIRCLE John Lillie likes photography, it gives him the chance to be creative and to make images that combine design, information and emotion. THE CREATIVE CIRCLE February 22, 2021 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY John Lillie INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE John Lillie is a man of many talents. From his years as a triathlete to his lifelong passion for photography, his story is one of profound transformation and artistic discovery. John found himself inspired by the world of triathlon, captivated by its challenge and energy. As he immersed himself in the sport, he quickly developed an entrepreneurial spirit and launched his own triathlon magazine. However, it was not until he bought a camera to capture images for the magazine that his passion for photography truly blossomed. Since then, John has dedicated himself to the craft, taking summer courses at St Martins Art College and immersing himself in street and portrait photography. Now retired and living in Spain, he has been able to bring his creative vision to life through his work. His focus is to make images that combine design, information and emotion. John’s dedication has paid off; in 2020, he had six exhibitions of his work in galleries and exhibition spaces. His passion for capturing the beauty of everyday life has only grown and he continues to explore creativity and experimentation as he further develops his craft. “From my days of producing a print magazine each photo I took back then would involve some forward planning; how I would use the picture, where it would go, landscape, portrait or double page spread, all these options would be considered. Also, using film and paying for every frame, plus the processing fees, kept my shot rate low. I continue with this same mindset.” IN CONVERSATION WITH JOHN LILLIE TPL: John please tell us about yourself. How did you become interested in photography? JL: I am an Englishman, born in 1945. In my youth my passion was cycle racing. After racing I had various businesses - I have always been self employed. While working I still rode my bike and also played squash which led me into triathlon. I was a triathlete for a few years (a four times Ironman finisher). One day I was so disgruntled with the existing triathlon media that on a whim I started my own triathlon magazine (it still exists). I did not have a budget to pay for pictures so I bought a camera. This is how I became interest in photography. I stopped being the editor after 7 years but kept my Canon EOS1s and said goodbye to Fujifilm Velvia and gave up taking snaps. Twenty years later (2015) I bought a used Fujifil XT1 with pancake lens and walked around taking pictures of my locale. By now I was retired and living in Spain. Since then I have immersed myself in photography. To get some education, I have taken various summer courses at St Martins Art College in London, specialising in street and portrait photography. A little while ago I started printing and framing my best pictures, I liked seeing them in print so much that I put my energies into finding galleries and exhibition spaces. I have had six exhibitions in 2020. TPL: When you go out to photograph, do you have a concept in mind of what you want to photograph, or do you just let the images 'come to you', or is it both? JL: I look at people; not landscapes, not architecture, not animals, just humans. TPL: Do you have a favorite place(s) to photograph? JL: Somewhere new, different from home, a busy place, probably any foreign city, the more foreign the better. In 2019 I visited Kathmandu, a dirty, dusty, poor beleaguered city. But full of wonderful, amazing and beautiful Nepalese people. I made a collection of pictures that I am proud of, I hope to revisit one day. I look at people; not landscapes, not architecture, not animals, just humans. TPL: Do you have any favorite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? JL: I am inspired by many famous photographers and I regularly buy books (mostly second hand) but these four I like a lot: Mary Ellen Mark for her storytelling, André Kertész for his graphic design, Philippe Halsman for being astonishing and Duane Michals for a bit of all of them. Looking at some of these classic photos inspired me to take similar pictures which led me to a series of Homages - It’s fun to make a very similar but not a carbon copy of the original. I had my friends dress as Picasso and emulated the Robert Doisneau photo with bread in place of Picasso’s hands. I was visiting friends in Bali and bread wasn’t easy available so a couple of Picasso's had bananas for hands. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist? Where do you see yourself or do you hope to see yourself in five years? JL: I like to print and hang my pictures in public spaces, it completes the creative circle. TPL: When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… JL: To keep moving; I still do my best to keep fit. 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.