DAILY Italian visual artist Giorgio Gerardi wanted to represent everyday objects and decontextualise them, giving them their own assumed identity. DAILY April 1, 2022 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Giorgio Gerardi INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Life can be a little like autopilot at times. We get so used to the same objects being around us that it almost becomes background noise. There's no denying that it can be easy to feel like we're missing out on the little details that make life special. Italian visual artist Giorgio Gerardi was determined to change this. He wanted to take notice of the banality in his surroundings and to bring it into focus. What he ended up creating is something truly remarkable. Giorgio was born in Mestre, not far from Venice, and eventually moved with his family to Favaro Veneto. A lover of art, he set out on a personal journey using a camera as his guide. With a fascination for clouds, leaves, earth, sand, and everyday objects, Giorgio began his project 'Daily'. Through this project he wanted to decontextualise these everyday objects and give them an individual identity and a new creative life. Weaving together shapes and colours in an unexpected way, Giorgio has created something visually stunning - something that will transport you away from the autopilot of daily life and into a world of creativity and beauty. Keep reading to find out more about Giorgio's journey and the fascinating results of his 'Daily' project. “Every day we repeatedly use objects that we constantly have under our eyes. How many times do we open the refrigerator? How many times do we take the water bottle? On a daily basis, we are always surrounded by the same things; we are so used to their presence that we no longer notice them, we no longer see them; even if our eyes rest on them, we do not notice them and it is as if we do not see them.” IN CONVERSATION WITH GIORGIO GERARDI THE PICTORIAL LIST: Giorgio please tell us about yourself. GIORGIO GERARDI: I was born in Mestre in 1953, few kilometers away from Venice, and I lived there for many years, until I recently moved to Favaro Veneto with my whole family. When I was younger, I tried to enter the professional world of photography, which has always been one of my biggest passions, but the journey would have been too long and I wanted to be independent straight away and have a family. I have worked most of my life in the credit sector, and I had to limit the amount of time for cultivating my interests, given that my spare time was mostly dedicated to my wife and raising my kids. A couple of years ago I retired and I am now finally able to fully devote myself to what I did when I was 20/27 years old, taking back the old projects of mine. TPL: How did you get involved in photography? What is it that is so special to you? GG: When I was a child, I received a camera as a present, which to me at the beginning represented a way to close reality within a frame. Around the age of twenty I started my own research; I was struck by the avant-garde of the 19th and first half of the 20th century, and by the research of photographers such as Man Ray, László Moholy-Nagy, Ugo Mulas, Franco Fontana, Luigi Ghirri. Moreover, I was interested in the artistic currents of Minimalism and Conceptualism. All of these experiences interested me mostly because they focused on the analysis of the photographic medium, its language and on the search for new forms of expression, new compared to the tradition. As typical in the spirit of the avant-garde, they were much closer to a discourse relative to the analysis of the visual instrument rather than to the staging of reality, to its representation, as the history of photography had instead accustomed us. It is not for nothing that Man Ray was part of Dadaism and Surrealism, and László Moholy-Nagy of the Bauhaus. TPL: What is the story behind your project DAILY? What inspired it and when did it begin? What do you want the viewer to experience and take away with them? GG: The project was created precisely to stage everyday objects; I photographed ordinary items, an unmade bed, the inside of a refrigerator, a dishwasher, trying to highlight certain details by extracting them from their context, to make them almost take on a life of their own, their own identity. I drew heavily from the Hyperrealist current, born after Pop Art in the second half of the past century, and in which detail assumes great importance. But I was also influenced by the concept of "ready made", where an object of common use is isolated from its context to be perceived as a work of art, in Duchamp's style. I wanted and I want the viewer who looks at these images to be able to “see” the represented subject, to perceive it in a different way than how he experiences it every day. I hope I have succeeded, at least in part. TPL: Can you explain your post-processing work to get to your final image. When do you know you have finished an image? GG: In the DAILY project, the important thing for me was trying to obtain images that were as neutral and aseptic as possible, which would highlight the details of the photographed subjects. In working these series, I pushed the contrast to the maximum by playing on curves and colors. I finish my work when I feel satisfied with what I have done, when the image has shapes and colors that satisfy me and in these series I was interested in highlighting details of everyday objects, as well as trying to treat them with a technique that came as close as possible to the style of Hyperrealism. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? GG: In regards to photography, I believe that in a previous answer I already gave a broad idea of the artists who interests me, and these are Man Ray, László Moholy-Nagy, Ugo Mulas, Franco Fontana, and Luigi Ghirri. But the beauty of art of course is not limited to what we see, but it also extends to what we can hear and listen to. I do love music and I would say that among my favorite musicians there are Philip Glass and Terry Riley. I may even add that their music influenced my artistic formation; repetition is a constant in their works, repetition alternating with continuous and slight diversities, which make repetition itself mutate, change, while remaining "repetition". I wanted and I want the viewer who looks at these images to be able to “see” the represented subject, to perceive it in a different way than how he experiences it every day. TPL: If you could just choose one photographer to shoot alongside for a day...who would you choose? And why? GG: I would spend a day with the Italian photographer Franco Fontana, to talk and not to take pictures, so that he could tell me about his experience and how he lived the photographic medium and the images he managed to take. I've always liked the way he portrays the landscape, which is both classic and abstract and minimal at the same time. I think that his images, taken from the Seventies, marked an important step in the history of photography. 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? GG: I don't use any particular equipment; I have a Canon Eos 550D with a focal length of 18-55 mm, with which I take 90% of the images, and I also use my Xiaomi Mi T9 mobile phone. The main part of my work is focused in post-production, and therefore in the use of digital graphics programs, especially Photoshop and Gimp. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist or photographer? Where do you hope to see yourself in five years? GG: My main goal is to make my work known to an ever-growing audience, and slowly I manage to get published more and more often in magazines and on web pages. I hope to be able to continue on this path for other five years from now and even more. I also hope to be able to reach the world of galleries and interior designing, so that I could hang some of my images in private and public spaces. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? GG: Lately I've been working on the 'Details' project; one of the first series was 'Fireplace'. In these last series it is hard to even recognise the original subject, as the detail takes a life of its own. What interests me is not a mere representation of the real object; I want the result to be a set of shapes and colors that I like. TPL: When I am not out photographing, I (like to)... GG: I like to take long walks, I like to read, especially art history books; I also love listening to music as you might have guessed from a previous answer of mine. Giorgio uses his camera for his own personal research. 'Daily' is an inspiring example of how creativity can help us to escape the autopilot of daily life and unlock a world of beauty. To view more of Giorgio's photography use the links below. VIEW GIORGIO'S PORTFOLIO Website >>> Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition. AN ODE TO SPONTANEITY AND SERENDIPITY Meera Nerurkar captures not just what is seen but also what is felt, turning the everyday into something worth a second glance. THAT’S HOW IT IS Luisa Montagna explores the fluid nature of reality - how it shifts depending on the observer, emphasizing that subjective perception takes precedence over objective truth.

HOW DOES MY BODY HOLD ME IN THIS MOMENT AND TIME? With significant changes happening in her life, MG Vander Elst's sustained attention to examine her body led her to examine herself. HOW DOES MY BODY HOLD ME IN THIS MOMENT AND TIME? March 8, 2022 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY MG Vander Elst INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE On International Women's Day, it's time to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of remarkable women like MG Vander Elst. Originally hailing from Belgium, MG's impressive career path has taken her to the United States, where she attended Atlanta's Portfolio Center and earned a degree in Advertising Photography with Honors. She then moved to New York City, where she has spent the last three decades as a professional photographer. MG is particularly renowned for her portraiture, which captures the subtle nuances and intimate moments of her subjects. She emphasizes vulnerability and authenticity in her work, and her poetic self-exploration project “How does my body hold me in this moment and time?” is a powerful testimony to this ethos. Through her sustained attention to herself, MG has rekindled the lost friendship she once had with her body and is now accepting it in all its glory. Today, we're honored to feature MG Vander Elst as part of our International Women's Day celebration. Her inspiring story and remarkable talent inspire us to strive for a world free of gender bias, and her words remind us to appreciate all that we have achieved and all that lies ahead. Join us in celebrating this incredible woman on International Women's Day. “With significant changes happening in my life I am returning to myself to find answers. How am I shifting and grappling with the change? What is the language of my body? What does this stillness mean? How does my body hold me? How do I make peace with myself? This sustained attention to examine my body leads me to examine myself. By this steady attention to my myself I am rekindling the lost friendship I once had and I am accepting how my body holds me in this moment in time.” IN CONVERSATION WITH MG VANDER ELST THE PICTORIAL LIST: MG please tell us what the story is behind your project HOW DOES MY BODY HOLD ME IN THIS MOMENT AND TIME? What inspired it and when did it begin? MG VANDER ELST: I started this project late last fall in a self portrait class with Samantha Box which led me down this path, in this work; the light, the simplicity of the image and the feeling it evokes are all elements that I try to infuse in the the work I make. TPL: As you stated, "with significant changes happening in my life, I am returning to myself to find answers." Did you find the answers? What did you learn and take from this project? What do you want the viewer to experience and take with them? MG: As a mother of a teenage boys one heading to college and another one heading to high school, a lot of my time and focus was spend on them, turning the camera on me is a way to rekindle a friendship with myself, appreciating and loving who I am today. This project is teaching me how important it is to take the time for myself, love the person I am today. I hope this is something the viewer can also take away. TPL: MG please tell us about yourself. MG: I grew up in Antwerp in Belgium. My parents loved and collected art and took us on numerous trips to museums. During school outings we often went to visit the Dutch Masters. I feel that all this exposure is imprinted in me and guides me every day when I am photographing. Currently I live in Brooklyn, New York with my family and I am working on my fine art work every day. TPL: What draws you to photography and art? How did your journey into photography begin? MG: I was unsure which direction to take in college, I ended up taking a gap year and became an au pair for a family of four girls which led me to take an evening photography class and the rest is history. TPL: What have been some of your favorite memories or moments in your photography journey? MG: I think this is because I have been photographing for a while but taking pictures for me is like having my cup of coffee every morning I must have it! With my self portrait project, each week I put some time aside to photograph this project sometimes with an idea or sometimes I am not sure of which part of me I will photograph but the end result is always one of learning or with a great result and leaving me wanting to push further. This project is teaching me how important it is to take the time for myself, love the person I am today. I hope this is something the viewer can also take away. TPL: Do you have any favorite artists and photographers? MG: There are lots of artist that inspire me and I often go to museums and galleries, here in New York we are spoiled. But to name a few, Irving Penn, JoAnn Verburg, Saul Leiter, Josef Albers, Georgia O’Keeffe, Laura Letinsky, Paul Klee, David Hockney and Morandi. TPL: If you could just choose one photographer to shoot alongside for a day...who would you choose? MG: Irving Penn, for his mastery but also a photographer Jennifer Pritchard whom I recently discovered, a lot of her work speaks to me, the emotions she evokes in her images how she puts her images together and her practice, I would love to be alongside her for a day. 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? How much post-processing do you do? MG: I photograph most of my work with a Nikon Z7 and a 50mm lens, I also photograph with a Bronica 645 for other projects. In the future I see myself shooting with an analog Large Format Camera like a 4x5, this thought keeps popping in my mind as I l love the quality of black and white grain which I cannot attain with digital. I do very little post processing, just the basics. I started photography 30 years ago when everything was analog, I guess I have kept my editing choices as they were back then. TPL: Is there any advice that you would give yourself if you started photography all over again? MG: Keep shooting what comes naturally to you. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist or photographer? Where do you hope to see yourself in five years? What do you think is your next chapter in your exploration for future projects? MG: Continue to learn more, I am an avid learner and want to continue to learn more I think there is no end to what you can learn in photography, I currently am photographing a couple of different projects alongside this self portrait one, they both are still life one mainly with flowers the other one is more of table-top setting but in a minimalistic genre. I am curious to see where those two projects are heading. TPL: When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… MG: My family comes first and you will find me cooking and baking for my hungry teenagers or escaping the city for a hike with them. Nature inspires me a lot! MG Vander Elst has rekindled her lost friendship with her body and has created beautiful art in the process. Her story is a beautiful reminder of what we can achieve when we live authentically and unapologetically. Let us take this moment to thank and appreciate women everywhere for their stories, their strength, and their courage. Together, let us commit to creating a more equitable future for all. VIEW MG'S PORTFOLIO Website >>> Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition. AN ODE TO SPONTANEITY AND SERENDIPITY Meera Nerurkar captures not just what is seen but also what is felt, turning the everyday into something worth a second glance. THAT’S HOW IT IS Luisa Montagna explores the fluid nature of reality - how it shifts depending on the observer, emphasizing that subjective perception takes precedence over objective truth.

ON THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO As the fog rolls in off the bay, photographer Stephen Laszlo may be found walking the streets in his beloved San Francisco with Leica in hand and a sharp eye out for slices of life. ON THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO January 13, 2023 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Stephen Laszlo NTERVIEW Bill Lacey Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE As the fog rolls in off the bay, muting the sunlight and dampening the contrast, photographer Stephen Laszlo may be found walking the streets in his beloved San Francisco with Leica in hand and a sharp eye out for slices of life. His photography is at once recognizable, setting itself apart from the many who embrace street photography but don’t quite match style with vision. There is thought in what’s visible in the frame - and what isn’t. There is story in what is exposed - and what is underexposed. His photographs pull you in, and you find yourself asking questions, waiting for answers, and wanting more. Be it an expression, a doorway, a pair of hands, a pass-by, or a lone reader… the street and its subjects are elevated to fine art in the work of this master photographer. Stephen’s passion is the black and white image, captured by the rangefinder-style digital camera and cultivated in the software darkroom. Schooled in the use of traditional film and darkroom techniques, his approach has evolved as developments in both digital sensors and darkroom techniques within Lightroom allow him to capture and adjust tonalities to match his vision. As a dedicated Leica Monochrom and Q2 Monochrom user, he explores the potential of the familiar, finding stories in the place he calls home. His eyes see what the tourists miss. With his more than twenty years of experience shooting in the city where Tony Bennett left his heart, Stephen Laszlo’s fine art photography beautifully captures the dark and grittiness of the street and the people who live and work in San Francisco “above the blue and windy sea”. “A lot of my work is local to where I live. You may have to walk around to find a good backdrop for a few hours, but because you’re forced to look beyond the weeds, you find incredible opportunities. When you look at my work, you cannot tell it’s been shot on a residential street, surrounded by row houses painted in pastel colors and occupied by families. I’ve been able to take what most tourists would say are the most beautiful areas of San Francisco and transitioned it into a dark and gritty place. Full of emotion.” IN CONVERSATION WITH STEPHEN LASZLO THE PICTORIAL LIST: Hello Stephen...welcome to The List! Please tell us about yourself. What would you say first drew you to photography? STEPHEN LASZLO: I was born in Washington D.C. in the 70s, my mother worked in the White House and my father owned an art store. They were both graduates of The Art Institute of Philadelphia but neither pursued careers in art. My grandparents were also artists, but they pursued careers as business owners. I grew up around pragmatic thinkers who were also artists in their private lives. I was literally surrounded by art growing up. My parents had their art around the house and so did my grandparents, they were also art collectors, there was art everywhere. They even had a large studio in their home filled with so many art supplies. If you wanted to learn clay modeling, you could. If you want to learn how to paint, grab some canvas and oil paint. There was always artistic freedom around me, and it was impossible not to be influenced by it. Around 3 years old, I started drawing on everything, and I mean everything. Including the piano, all 88 keys. My father wasn’t too happy about it. I eventually formed control over what I was drawing, and I got heavily into automobiles. Which led into a passion for automotive design. My goal was to go to Rhode Island School of Design, but right before graduating high school, I changed my mind and ended up going to film school in New York City at the School of Visual Arts where I majored in screenwriting. Even so I was always immersing myself in all art mediums, going to film school led into a decent career working in the motion picture industry in Los Angeles. After a decade and a bit exhausted, I was looking for a change, and that led into a tech career here in San Francisco. Today I’m a product leader in the eCommerce space. And I absolutely love what I do. The products and experiences I create touch millions of people around the world. And that’s very rewarding. But much like my parents and grandparents, I’m an artist in my private life. And photography is my beloved art medium. TPL: How would you describe your photography, and what would you say you are always trying to achieve artistically? SL: I’d like to describe my street photograph as fine art street photography. And I honestly didn’t make this transition until a few years ago. Prior to the transition I did a lot of traditional street work that was more on the lines of reportage. I didn’t do a ton of post processing either. Today, there are really powerful post processing applications, and it wasn’t until I delved into Lightroom where I found an output that feels like what I want to portray as a B&W photographer. And that’s a purified emotion that’s propped by the symmetry of the backdrop. The subject’s trapped in a box, a frame that won’t allow it to escape the edges. A deep despondency that’s driven by the light that casts upon the subject. I want those who look at my photos to feel a convincing emotion that primes questioning the image itself. I’ve never seen one of my photos for the first time, so I have no idea how they may emotionally engage a viewer or what they think when they look at my work. I want my work to be emotional. And I hope it is in one form or another. TPL: Most of your street photography takes place in the city of San Francisco. What is it about that city that separates it from others? SL: San Francisco can be a tough place for street work. A city like New York, provides a huge amount of street coverage and diversity. You can shoot a million different ways. A treasure-trove of subject matter too. There’s absolutely no shortage of anything in New York City. Here, in San Francisco, it’s more challenging to find locations. There’s plenty of diversity and interesting things happening on the street to capture, but downtown is small, and you can exhaust it quickly. This forces you to find locations in the neighborhoods surrounding downtown and they are generally uninteresting. Because of this though, it has serendipitously forced me to be cleverer. I didn’t really have any other choice, I needed to make it work. I live in the Richmond District, just a few blocks from the ocean in a neighborhood called Sutro Heights. A lot of my work is local to where I live. You may have to walk around to find a good backdrop for a few hours, but because you’re forced to look beyond the weeds, you find incredible opportunities. When you look at my work, you cannot tell it’s been shot on a residential street, surrounded by row houses painted in pastel colors and occupied by families. I’ve been able to take what most tourists would say are the most beautiful areas of San Francisco and transitioned it into a dark and gritty place. Full of emotion. TPL: What elements are you looking for on the street that make you click the shutter? SL: It’s all about the light and time of day. I only shoot on foggy, overcast days. It’s why most of my work is done over the summer. Because that’s when it is foggiest. It’s a natural diffuser for B&W photography. And if you put all the ingredients together, I can translate what I’m trying to emotionally convey in my work overall. TPL: Do you have a philosophy about street photography? In other words, do you shoot on the move, or do you find a location and wait for a choice moment? SL: It wasn’t until the past few years that I felt I reached the point of knowing exactly how I want to express myself artistically through my photography. I will always love shooting street, but instead of how I used to approach it, which was more on the lines of reportage, it’s now shifted into a fine art form, and I consider my work as fine art street photography. In the past, I wouldn’t plan my day, I would get hooked on the ‘could happen’ frame-of-mind instead of a ‘what could I make happen’ frame-of-mind. Shooting from the hip per se. Today I plan it more than I fall into it. Prior to going out, I have an idea of location and light. And what type of backdrop I’d like to lean on. What makes this ‘what could I make happen’ challenging, is that once you find that backdrop, you must wait and wait to create the controlled moment. And sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn’t. But the better you get at predicting human behavior and movement, and how the subject will meander the street, you can then control it, and you can get your shot. Nothing makes me happier when I invest in that approach and get my shot. TPL: How do you approach post-processing? SL: I use Lightroom for almost all my post processing. For a portion of my work that doesn’t have enough of the elements I’ve mentioned earlier, I usually approach those in a more traditional darkroom way. But for the work where all the elements come together, I remove 90% of the exposure. Since I’m already capturing with a lower exposure, reducing it more allows me to work from the inside out. After mapping out in my head what I want to expose and what I’d like to keep unexposed, I begin a very painstaking process of dodging the subject forward and then burning in areas that I’d like to stand back. This process allows me to control how the subject becomes center stage. And with this approach I can also control the original lighting and push it where it counts. I’m developing them to look like they were done on a set. With lights and a stage. Turning off all the lights and using stage lights to cast upon the subject. Isolating the subject onto the stage, to tell the story. And this is how I approach my work today, and it somewhat helps fulfill all that passion around filmmaking which I don’t do a lot anymore. The subject’s trapped in a box, a frame that won’t allow it to escape the edges. A deep despondency that’s driven by the light that casts upon the subject. TPL: Most of your Instagram work is in B&W, but your website also features color work. What influences your choice to shoot in either? SL: A B&W photographer is what I want to be known as. And B&W is a passion. I cannot really see the world in color when I’m trying to express myself as an artist. Although color is a great medium, I only do color when I don’t have much to do or I’m just not feeling the B&W work I might be doing at the time. It’s much like writer’s block. When that happens, you become dry. Sometimes I go out and I’m just not communicating through B&W. And it can get very frustrating. When this happens, and I’m in a dry spell, I shoot color. Unfortunately, I sold all my cameras that could produce color so now if things aren’t working out in B&W, I just simply take a break from photography and focus on other projects I have going on. TPL: You still shoot film occasionally. What motivates you to do so? SL: I was doing both film and digital for a while, but film is very hard to do now. Getting film stock is difficult, they discontinued my beloved Neopan, and renting a darkroom is a thing of the past. The reason why I was still shooting film was because digital just wasn’t there yet. I could never accept early digital as anything near what film could do. It was around 2012 when digital really started looking like film, and I sold off all my film equipment. I was really into portrait work at that time and had a wonderful Hasselblad CM 500 with an 80mm lens. Absolutely loved that camera before selling it to an art student. I remember the day I sold it, and when I met the buyer and placed the camera in his hands, he looked at me with such sincerity and said, “What a beautiful thing this is.” That’s when I knew that the same passion I had about that camera, was now passed onto him. I haven’t used film since that day. TPL: What was the first camera you ever held in your hand, brought to eye, and released a shutter on? What is the camera you use now and your preferred focal length? Does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? Is there anything on your wishlist? The very first camera was a Nikon FM2 with a 50mm lens. I remember looking through the viewfinder and finding an isolation that belonged to me. It was profound. It was very different from the other types of art mediums I would embroil myself in. Canvas, paper, clay, all these mediums were worked on in an open space. Although you could control what was in front of you, you could not control what was around you. With a camera, looking through that viewfinder, it belongs to you and only you. And you get to control everything inside that frame. Although I’ve owned all sorts of cameras over the years, from peel-apart instant film to medium format, from custom made kits to Hasselblad’s, my favorite camera to use is the rangefinder. In the digital world they’re rangefinder-style cameras, but nonetheless, the compactness and feel of a rangefinder is my go-to. When I was shooting film, I used a Leica M6 and an R6.2. But when digital came about Leica really struggled to compete and output a good digital image. When I made my initial transition to digital, it was all Nikon. And I really appreciated how Nikon and Canon led that transition and drove the technology. It wasn’t until the Leica M10 that I picked up a Leica again. Leica finally got it right. And I haven’t looked back since. Although I went through a few M10s, I ended up getting a Monochrom and that also includes a Q2 Monochrom. My favorite focal lengths are 35mm and 28mm on full frame. I find these 2 lengths ideal for street work and 35mm is what you’d typically use for street in general. The 28mm, fixed on the Leica Q2M, allows for error in street work. A 35mm lens on a full frame sensor can restrict a little bit especially if you don’t have enough room to frame, it’s just not enough space to work with sometimes. The 28mm as my back up, helps me get around some of those tight challenges especially on the street and how I frame my work. TPL: Do you have any favorite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? SL: Paul Strand was without a doubt the most influential photographer that still influences my work today. It wasn’t so much for the subject matter as it was his framing and tonality. I absolutely love the tonality and emotion in his work. It always feels like it’s raining and that’s how I feel as an artist. My artistic side is very different from my pragmatic side. My favorite Paul Strand photo is Wall Street, 1915. That photo was the first Paul Strand photo I saw when I was younger and it’s what influenced my initial desire to shoot B&W and how I wanted my images to look and be processed. It’s the symmetry and dark verticals that promote my work and you’ll find this element as a backbone in most of my work. TPL: Are there any special projects that you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? Are there any plans for an exhibition? Book? What are some of your photography goals? SL: I’ve been doing a series on San Francisco, Chinatown for some time now. I’d like to publish that work when it’s ready. It’s been a side project that I’ve been doing for the past 10-years. My goal with that work is to capture the transition that’s been happening in Chinatown but through my lens, this includes how gentrification is slowly eroding the most important cultural foundations we have here in our American cities today, especially San Francisco, but doing it with my signature. The old ways are dying and the young ways are leaving Chinatown. And the developers are moving in. It’s shameful and I want to make sure I preserve it and one day my work there can be a part of a collection which reminds everyone what Chinatown is and was. I would love to have an exhibition or book one day. I feel I’m getting closer, but I will need to work a little harder to get there. It’s not always about the subject or the impact of the emotion either. It’s also the technical approach and mastering each aspect of photography from the camera itself to the darkroom techniques used through modern digital applications. It needs to be the entire package for me, and I want to feel confident enough around all aspects of the medium, not just the final output. I want to be a true master at what I do in photography. And be remembered. TPL:“When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… SL: I have a lot of hobbies and so many that at times I stress myself out for no reason at all. I cannot get enough of everything around me. I love life more than life loves me. And if I’m not doing photography, then I’m tackling a new script. If writing isn’t something I feel like doing, then I’m drawing future automobiles. I also have a 13-year-old son who’s everything and making him proud is my overall goal. I want to leave him something meaningful." Stephen Laszlo's mastery of street photography is undeniable. His ability to capture the beauty, mystery, and stories of urban life in San Francisco is remarkable. Through dedication to the craft and a careful eye for detail, Stephen has created a portfolio of captivating photographs that transport us to the city by the bay. We invite you to explore the work of Stephen and find yourself in the streets of San Francisco. VIEW STEPHEN'S PORTFOLIO Website >>> Instagram >>> I Left My Heart in San Francisco by Tony Bennett read more interviews >>> GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition. AN ODE TO SPONTANEITY AND SERENDIPITY Meera Nerurkar captures not just what is seen but also what is felt, turning the everyday into something worth a second glance. THAT’S HOW IT IS Luisa Montagna explores the fluid nature of reality - how it shifts depending on the observer, emphasizing that subjective perception takes precedence over objective truth.

PICTORIAL STORY A TALE OF NATURE AND HERITAGE With words and images intertwined, Ana-Maria Alb leads us through the frosty winters of the Carpathians — where every turn reveals a story carved in mountain and mist. February 9, 2024 PICTORIAL STORY photography ANA-MARIA ALB story ANA-MARIA ALB introduction MELANIE MEGGS SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link The land of Bukovina, located in North Romania, is a region rich in history and teeming with natural beauty. For Ana-Maria Alb, it is a place that holds a special connection to her heritage and a deep love for nature. Her journey in Bukovina is one woven with a passion for exploration and a dedication to preserving its hidden gems. After living immersed in the lively cultures of Germany and Austria for a decade, Ana-Maria’s return to her grandparents’ hometown of Gura Humorului proved to be a transformative experience. It was there, surrounded by the majestic landscapes and vibrant forests, that she made the decision to relocate and dedicate herself to discovering and promoting the wonders of Bukovina. With her certification as a tourism guide, Ana-Maria was granted the opportunity to serve as a local guide, sharing the magic of Bukovina with others. Her days were spent exploring the valleys of the Moldova and Humor rivers, carefully documenting the nuances of the local flora and fauna. The forest paths became her canvas, each step revealing the breathtaking seasonal changes of the landscape. Through her keen observations, Ana-Maria has identified an impressive 70 species of birds and 50 species of butterflies in Bukovina. Her love for the region only grew stronger, and in 2021 she poured her passion and experiences into a book that captured the spirit of Bukovina. Ana-Maria’s book not only delves into the rich history of the region but also presents its geographical wonders, maps out hiking trails, and celebrates the diverse flora and fauna that grace the area. It is a true reflection to her love and dedication for this special place. The book caught the attention of local authorities, and with their support, Ana-Maria’s collaborative efforts resulted in the creation of four hiking flyers. What had started as a personal passion for nature and outdoor walks organically evolved into a deeply satisfying profession. Today, Ana-Maria takes great pride in her role as a guide for Humor Valley’s natural wonders. She shares the region’s history, leads fellow nature enthusiasts through its breathtaking landscapes, and promotes its unique charm. This transition from a wanderer to an authorized local guide not only reflects a professional evolution but also a heartfelt commitment to preserving and celebrating the timeless beauty of Bukovina. Ana-Maria’s journey in Bukovina has not only enriched her own life but also inspired others to explore this captivating region. Through her various experiences in the Danube Delta, Transylvanian villages, and hiking through the Carpathians, she has collected countless stories and photographs that can captivate readers’ interest and serve as inspiration for them to travel to these places. Ana-Maria shares one of her many captivating stories - The Frosty Winters of the Carpathians . With her words and photographs, she invites readers to join her on a journey through the breathtaking Carpathians. Snow and freezing temperatures persist for weeks during the harsh winter in the Carpathians. I write these words thinking of all the wonderful people I met in Bukovina. They taught me how to fully appreciate as well as understand the charm of this place. Come with me on a peaceful journey to enjoy the pastoral settings of northern Romania, in the regions of Bukovina and Maramureş. (Pictures 1-3) After a week of heavy snow and blizzards, the sun lit up the entire Rodna National Park. Starting by car early in the morning from Gura Humorului, we arrived at the Prislop Mountain Pass, which ensures the connection between the historical provinces of Bukovina and Maramureș. Located at an elevation of 1416 m, the natural setting of the mountain pass takes your breath away. Majestic peaks frame the spot, the Rodna and Maramureș Mountains, the latter being the natural border of Romania with Ukraine. Our hiking trail to Gârgalău Peak is splendid; the first part is a walk on a mountain plateau, then a climb on the path made in the snow. From here followed the steeper climb, with several short breaks. Groups of hikers could be seen on the ridge, others behind us. The sun was sending its rays to our frozen faces. There is a little more and a little more. Steamy breaths could be heard with every step. (Pictures 4-6) At the top, at last! With a height of 2158 m, Gârgalău is the fourth-highest peak in the Rodna Mountains ridge. Everyone experiences joy in their own way. The wind's whispers reached even under the hood and cap that covered my head. I turned north-east, my back to the sun, and couldn't stop marveling at the magnificent setting that unfolded in front of my eyes. A warm shiver took over my whole body. Everything around me was so sublime: the ice embroidery, the shine of the snow, the white peaks of the mountain range…A stinging wind touches every inch of exposed skin. A few minutes facing the sun, a few photos, and we set off for the descent path. How lucky we were that we already had the tracks made by other hikers! Arriving at the Prislop Pass parking lot, we enjoyed a tasty meal at the restaurant. In a short time, the hot and spicy soup soothed our red faces and warmed us up. Late in the evening, I arrived home with the same joy that I have every season when I admire, from the valley and from the top, the greatness of these mountains. (Pictures 7-8) Another cold winter morning. The car was going up the road, freshly cleared of ice and snow. The trees are adorned with rime ice, and smoke rises from the chimneys of the houses towards the blue sky. In the north-western part of the Suceava county, alongside the Romanians, live the Hutsuls, an ethnic group of Slavic origin. Their history is still shrouded in mystery, remaining throughout the centuries a compact community spread over the Carpathian area of northern Romania and Ukraine. Respect for traditions, religious and community holidays, and their own lifestyle are features that make this ethnic group something distinct and unique. This Hutsul ethnic group has always had a close connection with the surrounding environment. The horse was the main form of travel in these mountainous areas where they live. Specific to the community is a small, friendly, hardy horse. Its origin is Carpathian; currently, there are several breeding centers. The use of these horses by the Austro-Hungarian imperial army enabled the Carpathian horse breed to gain widespread recognition. Their toughness was also put to the test during the two World Wars. In Romania, the Carpathian horse (hutsul pony) can be found in Suceava county, Moldova-Sulita locality. The craftsmanship with which they make and decorate household items, clothing, and household objects is representative of the Hutsuls civilization. The Hutsuls culture blends perfectly with the pastoral natural environment of the Carpathians through their wooden farms located in the valleys or on the meadows of the hilly coasts, near the forests. For centuries, the main source of existence for these mountain farmers had been provided by this small Carpathian horse. (Pictures 9-10) We leave the village, and the car goes up the country road through the forest that stretches along the border between Romania and Ukraine. We reached the village of Lupcina, at an elevation of 1000 m above the sea. Once, the forests of Lupcina were the land of wolves, hence the name of the village. At the end of the street, after the last house, right next to the forest, there is a wonderful wild meadow. A multitude of wildflowers grow here in the summer; the freshly cut hay smells divine; and colorful butterflies fly gently, giving you the feeling that you are in heaven. If you look up, you can see far away the hamlets and the vast Carpathian Forest beyond the border. Time stands still. In winter, this peace at the end of the world embraces you. The thick fog is slowly falling over the forest. The trees look like biscuits sprinkled with sugar. The wooden fences are silent, frozen in the snow that covers the whole Carpathian world. A crow makes another sound and flies away quickly. At the entrance to the forest, we stop to devour the last reserves of food. From the village, you can hear a dog barking; otherwise, there is a penetrating silence like the cold mountain air. The way back means crossing the forest and then entering a county road. How strange it is, every time, the return to civilization. (Picture 11) Between the towns of Gura Humorului and Câmpulung Moldovenesc lies the valley of the Suha River, a tributary of the Moldova River. The pastoral landscape of the Stânișoara Mountains is delightful; the villages scattered on the sloping coasts have wooden households, and the plots are marked by rustic fences. The locals are engaged in raising animals, working in the forest, and cultivating plants. Here, life is still archaic; everything is based on the peasant calendar, the change of seasons, and the difference between day and night. Suha Valley preserves the autochthonous lifestyle of the first inhabitants of this area, those who founded small communities in the middle of dense forests. The traditional houses combine wood and stone, the course of life in some villages, still follows an archaic rhythm. The gastronomic segment recalls the influences of all the ethnic groups that lived in Bukovina, the folk costume is a textile jewel or combination of textile, leather, fur and contains elements preserved from generation to generation. (Pictures 12-13) The lowest temperatures are usually recorded in January. In recent years, there have been exceptions. On a day when our resistance to the cold was tested as seriously as possible, we took a short hike in the Humor valley, not too far from my home. The river was completely frozen, and we were moving forward with difficulty through the hardened snow only on the surface. We arrived in the center of the village and met some friends. Their invitation to go for a snack in the old house they had from their great-grandmother could not be refused. The small house had a nice veranda with wooden beams. The fire lit on the old stove quickly warmed the room. For several minutes, I admired the shape of the frozen embroidery on the surface of the small window facing the street. In a short time, two plates of traditional food were placed on the table. Steaming potato slices were brought from the stove. These accompanied home-made sausages, smoked ham, onions and peppers, pickles, and cow's and sheep's cheeses. In the evening, I bravely set off for home. When closing the door, I felt a sting on my hand after touching the doorknob. A frosty night was coming. Until the city, only the eyes could be seen on our faces, everything else was covered. The snow crunched loudly with every step. (Picture 14) A special moment in the winter is when I build a snowman. It's my way of forging a spiritual bond between myself and that location. Finding the necessary materials is not difficult; leaves, branches, seeds, and what is uncovered by the snow all help to bring the character to life. Therefore, when leaving, it's also necessary to say goodbye to someone - in my case, the snowman. (Picture 15) This wooden fence has the same vitality as a deeply rooted tree, in my opinion. These fences charge themselves with solar energy, become one with the earth they stand on, absorb the sap of the plants that grow nearby, and become cleansed by raindrops. How could there not be life on this fence? It appears that winter is nature's napping season, with nothing to rouse it from. A far-off human voice is sometimes the only sign that anything is, in fact, happening, including your own breathing. This snow-covered environment has left a deep mark on me: a sense of familiarity and belonging to everything around me — a place I can definitely call home. About Bukovina and Maramureș - Spread over the territory of seven countries, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia and Romania, the Carpathian Arc is one of the treasures of this continent. Virgin forests, meadows, peaks and mountain plateau are home to a multitude of representatives of flora and fauna, diversity that must be preserved, the balance of the trophic chain being ensured by these species of mammals, birds, insects, plants, fungi. Half of the area of the Carpathians lies on the territory of Romania. Specific to these mountains are vast forested wild areas, mid-altitude peaks, and large valleys. Before 1775, Bukovina belonged to the Principality of Moldavia, after that year it was annexed to the Austrian Monarchy. The interactions between the communities, the exchange of cultures and the patrimonial wealth of each ethnic group, brought Bukovina a plus in its economic, administrative and cultural evolution. After the disintegration of the Habsburg Empire, Bukowina returned to the Romanian sphere, and after the Second World War, the territory in the northern part was taken over by the Soviets. Today, the north of Bukovina belongs to Ukraine and its south to Romania. Before the Second World War, the population of Bucovina consisted of Romanians, Ruthenians, Germans, Jews, Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Lipovian Russians, and Italians. In what follows, the term for Bukovina will refer to its south, Suceava County, Romania. The neighboring county, Maramureș, has a similar past. From its status as a voivodeship, it was integrated into the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy after 1688, and from 1919, its southern part was included in the territorial unit of Romania. Its north belongs to Ukraine today, with the Tisza River being the natural border. Picture 3 © Ana-Maria Alb Picture 4 © Ana-Maria Alb Picture 5 © Ana-Maria Alb Picture 6 © Ana-Maria Alb Picture 7 © Ana-Maria Alb Picture 8 © Ana-Maria Alb Picture 10 © Ana-Maria Alb Picture 11 © Ana-Maria Alb Picture 12 © Ana-Maria Alb Picture 13 © Ana-Maria Alb Picture 14 © Ana-Maria Alb Ana-Maria Alb’s journey is a compelling example of how personal heritage and a deep appreciation for nature can evolve into meaningful cultural and environmental advocacy. Her work as a local guide, author, and documentarian reflects a sincere dedication to preserving and promoting the unique character of Bukovina. By combining storytelling, research, and lived experience, she brings this remote and richly layered region to life for others. Her efforts not only foster a greater understanding of northern Romania’s landscapes and traditions but also inspire a broader appreciation for the quiet beauty found in places where history, community, and nature converge. Take some more steps into the land of Bukovina with Ana-Maria’s photography in her portfolio and let its beauty captivate you. view Ana-Maria's portfolio Website >>> Instagram >>> Facebook >>> 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 >>> 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. 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It honors the profound, often quiet sacrifices that mothers make, and the invisible threads that bind us to them. BEYOND THE MASK By stepping beyond the scripted world of professional wrestling and into the raw terrain of mental health, Matteo Bergami and Fabio Giarratano challenge long-held myths about masculinity, endurance, and heroism. FRAGMENTS OF TIME Each of jfk's diptychs functions as a microcosm of the city, allowing viewers to experience urban life as constant fragmented glimpses, mirroring the unpredictable nature of human interactions. VANISHING VENICE Lorenzo Vitali’s portrayal of Venice is an almost surreal experience — where time dissolves, and the viewer is left with the sensation of stepping into a dreamscape. CLAY AND ASHES Abdulla Shinose CK explores the challenges faced by Kumhar Gram's potters, balancing tradition and adaptation in the face of modern pressures. ISLAND Enzo Crispino’s photographic series, “Nêsos,” invites viewers into an introspective journey that mirrors the artist’s rediscovery of his voice in photography after a prolonged period of creative estrangement. BEYOND THE BRICKS Amid Bangladesh’s dynamic urban growth, Anwar Ehtesham’s photography takes us beyond statistics and headlines, revealing the hidden lives of the laborers working tirelessly in the nation’s brick kilns. OAXACA In Oaxaca, Tommaso Stefanori captures Día de los Muertos, exploring the convergence of life and death, human connections, and enduring cultural rituals through evocative photographs of tradition and emotion.

I am a post graduate student with an interest in observing the streets of India. POOJA YADAV I am a post graduate student with an interest in observing the streets of India. LOCATION Haryana INDIA CAMERA/S Resmi Note 6 Pro @_SUNSET_CHASER__ FEATURES // Unnoticed Moments

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 >>> 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. 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CANDID SNAPSHOT Street photographer David snaps it like he sees it. Living in extraordinary times, he feels it's his duty to capture them one day at a time. CANDID SNAPSHOT May 30, 2021 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY David Kugelmas INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE As the hustle and bustle of the city roars outside, one street photographer is determined to capture it in all its beauty and chaos. David Kugelmas is a master at capturing the extraordinary moments of everyday life that often go unnoticed. His eye for detail and ability to find fascinating stories in his everyday surroundings makes him an artist of New York City's vibrant streets. With each photograph, he takes us on a journey of discovery and exploration, revealing a world that is both unexpected and incredibly captivating. From the mundane to the extraordinary, David Kugelmas has the unique ability to capture it like he sees it. Join us as we take a walk with David around the streets of his home city, New York. “I was born in the Bronx, New York and grew up in Marlboro, New Jersey. I have also lived in New York City for many years. I remember always taking the camera (in the house, or car or whenever I saw it!) and snapping pictures from the time I was young and throughout my teenage years. Once cell phones had cameras, I was constantly taking pictures with whatever phone I had; which I still do today! I always have my Canon with me.” IN CONVERSATION WITH DAVID KUGELMAS THE PICTORIAL LIST: David, please tell us where do you find your inspiration? DAVID KUGELMAS: Each day I am able to see beauty in the mundane and also in the faces of people, even when they're wearing masks. TPL: What do you want to express to the viewer? What are some of the elements you always try to include in your photographs? DK: I want people to see what I see, what draws me to the subject and the elements around it. TPL: You live in the city that never sleeps, but where is your most favourite place to go photograph? DK: I love being on the streets...midtown can be a bit boring, but it's convenient to my office and it affords me the ability to shoot on my lunch or before work. I love SoHo and the East Village; really any area in downtown Manhattan is a virtual photographer's playground if they like to shoot street. TPL: When you take pictures, do you usually have a concept in mind of what you want to shoot, or do you let the images just 'come to you', or is it both? DK: So I am a bit of a 'hunter' for shots. Sometimes it's an immediate gut reaction and I shoot, other times I may see a hat that looks stylish and that becomes a shot or it's an outfit that catches my eye. It truly depends on the shot. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us? DK: I enjoy some of the well-known work of people like Bruce Gilden, Saul Leiter, Vivian Maier and Richard Sandler. Each day I am able to see beauty in the mundane and in the faces of people. TPL: Describe your process when you go out with your camera. How do people generally react? Have you ever had a negative encounter? If yes, how did you handle it? DK: I am fearless when shooting out there. A few times people have had a few comments, but I laugh and smile it off. One time a guy came over and said "I told you not to take my picture" to which I replied haha ok man - now I did take his picture, but had never seen this human before - he walked away regardless. I am respectful in certain situations and other times I just snap and move on. TPL: How has the pandemic affected you personally and your photography? DK: The pandemic has added an unexpected layer to everything. People have been creative with their masks and using their eyes to tell a story. I have noticed that there has been more people about lately versus a month ago, so it seems that slowly people are coming back into the city for work and also the tourists have been coming back quietly. 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? DK: When I was using the Sony A7S, it was a lot of fun with a slightly longer 24-104 mm Canon lens. My wife had gotten me the Canon T6 Rebel, which I have been using for the last year or so. I have been using the standard 18-55mm lens. Simple, but not elevated. One day, I would love to buy a new camera. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist or photographer? Where do you hope to see yourself in five years? DK: I would love more people to see my work and be able to sell more of my prints. I am very grateful for the life I have now and work really hard to live my best one. Five years will hopefully yield great things on both a personal and professional level. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? DK: Currently I am not doing any shows, but love doing them during non-pandemic times. Looking forward to resuming showing my work once the opportunity can arise again. TPL: When I am not out photographing, I (like to)… DK: Spend time with my family, dogs, friends...music, art, reading and even relaxing when I can...Family means everything to me (friends are family). David snaps it like he sees it. Living in extraordinary times, he feels it's his duty to capture them one day at a time. Connect with David on Instagram to see more of his candid photography. 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COLOURS SUSPENDED IN TIME. GEOMETRIES OF AN ISLAND Alessandro Giugni shares the secrets behind the colors in his bright and colorful reportage of the Island of Burano. COLORI SOSPESI NEL TEMPO. GEOMETRIE DI UN'ISOLA (COLOURS SUSPENDED IN TIME. GEOMETRIES OF AN ISLAND) February 24, 2023 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Alessandro Giugni INTERVIEW Karen Ghostlaw Pomarico Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Alessandro Giugni is a reportage photographer living and working in Milan, with a strong connection to the culture and traditions that make Italy his home. He believes that one must understand where they come from, and who they are, before they can translate authentic visual stories about others. Alessandro makes real connections by engaging the people around him on a daily basis in many different ways. He balances running his grandfather's coffee business, roasting and distributing one of the finest coffees in Italy, while as a lawyer with a law degree, Alessandro performs legal services for his community. These connections have become the foundation for inspiration for his reportage photography. For Alessandro they are all interconnected, and are the basis for his visual storytelling, finding the extraordinary in the ordinary in everyday life around him. Alessandro has a true respect for the people he engages, finding genuine interest in their traditions, and feeling true joy in sharing them. He shares in his own words: “For over 10 years I have been assiduously engaged in the study and deepening of every single aspect of photography in general. In recent years, I have found my genre of reference in reportage, resulting in some works that have been both published and exhibited in some important museum exhibitions. I love photography as I consider this art form as much a means of expressing myself as the main vehicle through which to narrate our time. If I had to give a definition of my way of photographing, I would answer that I feel the need to tell the story of human beings contextualized in the time in which we live, without hiding their strengths and weaknesses. My photographic works are never children of chance: I love observing society, its evolutions, the behavior and expressions of the people around me.” In December 2022, Alessandro had the honor of being awarded the ‘Fiorino d’Argento’, by the Municipality of Florence, in the presence of the highest Florentine authorities, with prestigious recognition of this international calibre. This recognition was bestowed upon Alessandro, during the renowned award ceremony of the XXXIX Edition of the Florence Prize in the spectacular setting of the Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio. Today we have the pleasure of sharing Alessandro's colorful expressions and visual depictions of Burano with his brilliant series from his project ‘Colori Sospesi nel Tempo. Geometrie di un’Isola’. We are delighted to share his insightful views and process for visual storytelling. “The work ‘Colori Sospesi nel Tempo. Geometrie di un’Isola (Colours suspended in time. Geometries of an Island)’ stems from an intuition I had in July 2020 during a trip I made to the Island of Burano after many years of absence from that place. What had changed in me on that occasion compared to the last time I had visited that place was the critical approach with which, after specializing in reportage, I began to look at the reality around me. Today, I am no longer a mere spectator of the world and the events that take place in it, but a careful observer and curious seeker of the innermost reasons behind all the facets, even the most apparently trivial, of everyday life. This approach allows me not only to discover singular aspects of the lives of the people I frequent and the history of the places I visit, but at the same time ensures that I can create wide-ranging photographic projects. With reference to the Island of Burano, I discovered that the bright colours of the houses that adorn it were the result of the inhabitants' desire to allow those who were engaged in fishing for moeche (small crabs typical of the Venetian lagoon) to find their homes after long night fishing sessions, even in the thick fog that frequently grips these places during the long winter months. Each family, therefore, has been assigned a unique shade of colour.” “Since this is an island that, despite its small size, attracts an average of one and a half million tourists every year, I wanted to essentialise the presence of human beings as much as possible, focusing on the interconnection between natives and their pastel-coloured homes. So, I searched around me for everyday objects (such as bicycles, slippers, chairs, shoes, clotheslines, clothes hanging in the wind, brooms) and, playing on the contrast between the colours of the houses and the presence of the aforementioned objects, I created a story that transcends the boundaries of the physical world and rises to a dimension that I would call metaphysical, in a succession of photographs of places that seem suspended in time.” IN CONVERSATION WITH ALESSANDRO GIUGNI THE PICTORIAL LIST: Hello Alessandro, it is wonderful to share your photography with our community. Please tell us all a little about what first drew you to photography, and what inspired your interest and devotion to reportage photography? ALESSANDRO GIUGNI: Hi Karen, first of all I would like to express my enthusiasm and gratitude to you and the whole team at The Pictorial List for the opportunity you have given me by showing interest in my photography and for the amazing work you do! As for your question, I must confess that I cannot tell you exactly when my interest in photography generally blossomed. As happens with the greatest loves in life, the one for photography grew day after day, experience after experience, it slowly matured until it became disruptive: at that point, it was no longer possible to restrict it to a simple hobby and I felt the need to translate photography into a real job, finally dedicating to it the time I felt it deserved. The predilection for reportage, on the other hand, has a well-defined genesis. I realized that this would become my genre of reference after reading two books specifically: The Americans by Robert Frank and Morire di Classe by Gianni Berengo Gardin. The photographs contained in those works contributed to bringing about very strong changes in society. Just think that Berengo's work was instrumental in bringing to light the condition of the mentally ill detained in real prison facilities and was also fundamental to the promulgation of Law 180/1978, the so-called Basaglia Law, which led to the closure of asylum institutions in Italy. I have always paid particular attention to society, to its evolutions, to understanding the roots of customs and traditions. So how could I have preferred any other genre than reportage? TPL: Could you tell us what living in Milan has inspired in your work? What special qualities unique to Milan influence your street and the way you portray your community? AG: Living in Milan you certainly have endless opportunities in terms of everyday situations that can happen on the streets. What this city has given me most of all, however, is the ability to untangle the thin thread that connects the indifference and mistrust of the people who live there. In a place like Milan, where everything on the surface seems to be so close, human beings actually seem to be very distant from each other, inattentive to the needs of their neighbors and reluctant to open themselves up and share their time with other people. TPL: What importance does storytelling or key themes hold for you? AG: I find that defining a narrative line that acts as a thread between one's photographs is of vital importance. This is the case both when one is working on a specific theme and when one is photographing for pure pleasure. Having a precise awareness of one's archive means that, often and willingly, by going back and looking at photographs that are apparently unconnected, one is able to find a lowest common denominator and thus give rise to unexpected works. TPL: What are you trying to achieve artistically? What do you want your photographs to inspire, what would you like the viewer to take away with them from your work? AG: I will answer this question by allowing myself to slightly twist the initial part of it. More than an 'artistic' purpose, I pursue a 'social' purpose with my photography. Let me explain myself better. People nowadays pay less and less attention to the world around them, crushed as they are by the weight, which I would erroneously define as relative and autonomously often exaggerated, of responsibilities, of commitments that are more often than not superfluous. Most people live by projecting onto objects, onto often superfluous things, a misinterpreted need for inner searching, missing out in the process all that life and the world around them really have to offer. Here, in a context such as the one I have just described, I believe that photography, especially reportage photography, has a duty to operate in order to awaken consciences, unveiling those small, great realities that are often so close to us, but at the same time, because of our lifestyle, so distant. When I think of my country, Italy, I realize how much beauty it contains that is so little known. We have some of the most unique folk festivals, some small municipalities preserve traditional customs, we have beautiful places of worship, and almost forgotten rituals. If reportage photography has a task, I believe it is to shed light on this hidden world. TPL: What was the first camera you ever held in your hand, brought to eye, and released a shutter on? What is the camera you use now and your preferred focal length? Does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? What is on your wishlist? AG: My first camera was given to me by my paternal grandfather, to whom I was very close. I can't tell you the exact model name, it was one of those small Canon cameras from the early 2000s that were offered by petrol stations as a prize following the collection of almost endless loyalty points and that allowed, in addition to recording videos, to take photographs. I distinctly remember that the files had a maximum size of 1 megabyte! Thinking about it today, one can only smile. Today, after years of long experimentation and almost 10 years at Canon, I have found my perfect medium in Leica's M-system. I mainly work with film, although the practicality of digital, especially when traveling abroad, is unavoidable, which is why I always carry both my faithful M3 and an M-P 240 with me. I have chosen to stick with this system for a very simple reason: the intuitiveness of the rangefinder, which often leads me to be faster than the autofocus, the compact size of the M and the practicality of use make these cameras a natural extension of my eye and the most natural medium with which I have ever photographed. In addition, after years of practice, I have learnt never to close my left eye, which helps me to maintain eye contact with my subjects and to eliminate the shyness that people often put between themselves and the photographer, feeling strongly separated from them by the presence of the camera. I recently bought a Leica Q2 because of both the practicality it shares with the M-System and the impressive quality of the 28mm Summilux it carries. Having now defined my photographic vision around a focal length between 28mm and 21mm, I couldn't have made a better choice. I prefer this type of focal length for a very simple reason: thanks to it, I am obliged to immerse myself in the situations I want to tell, I have to establish a dialogue - which comes extremely naturally to me - with my subjects, I have to become part of the story myself in order to make my narrative true. Over the years, I have dedicated myself almost exclusively to black and white and have started to use film more and more frequently, eventually becoming my main medium. This choice depended on several factors: the non-immediate visualization of the shots, the pleasure of confronting chemistry, the desire to master every stage of the creative process, and learning how to also manage the development phase as required. Through film, moreover, I can build a material archive, which is impossible to achieve through the digital medium. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us. If you could just choose one photographer to shoot alongside for a day...who would you choose? And why? AG: As I said at the beginning, two of my absolute favourite photographers are Gianni Berengo Gardin and Robert Frank. My photography, however, has been influenced by the work of many others. The suspended atmospheres of Luigi Ghirri, the harshness of Don McCullin's stories, the aesthetic and content perfection of Sebastiao Salgado, the order of the industrial architecture photographed by Gabriele Basilico, the surrealism of Ikko Narahara, the poignant simplicity of Deanna Dikeman, the indefinable perfection of Fan Ho's photographs, the symbolism of Shomei Tomatsu, the eroticism of Nobuyoshi Araki, the three-dimensionality of Hiroji Kubota's stories. Which one would I choose? I could not have any doubt about that. Definitely Gianni Berengo Gardin. A photographer who has explored the innermost realities of my country, the one who, in my opinion, more than any other compatriot has been able to build, with an immense photographic archive, a true historical memory of Italian tradition and culture. A photographic day with him is certainly worth more than decades of studies on our reality. And, as far as I am concerned, his photographic vision and the power of his photographs are and will be difficult to equal in the future. I have always paid particular attention to society, to its evolutions, to understanding the roots of customs and traditions. So how could I have preferred any other genre than reportage? TPL: What have been some of your most favorite places you find inspiration to explore through your photography, and what draws you there? AG: Without a shadow of a doubt, the two places that have been, and still are, able to inspire me the most are Venice and the entire hinterland of Tuscany. I say Venice, on the one hand, because of the incredible wealth of situations and happenings that take place along the city's narrow streets, and on the other hand because of the inexhaustible compositional opportunities offered by the mixture of canals, bridges, arches and historical monuments. It is no coincidence that one of my absolute favourite photographs was taken on a rainy day in Fondamenta Nove, one of Venice's Sestieri. On the other hand, I say the hinterland of Tuscany because of the unparalleled beauty of the villages and views that adorn the Chianti Valley and the Val d'Orcia. Places that seem suspended in time, constantly waiting to see their beauty and richness captured by the eye of an attentive photographer. TPL: When you photograph, do you usually have a concept in mind of what you want to achieve, or do you let the images just "come to you", or is it both? Please describe your process. AG: Let's say that even in this case, I think there is no universally valid answer. It depends on the situation. I'll give you an example to make it clearer what I mean when I say that it depends on the situation. If the work I am doing is the child of a long and painstaking planning, if it has been preceded by a long study of the subject matter of the reportage, then I certainly start off by moving from a narrative scheme that I have already devised beforehand and to which I want the photographs to conform. Beware, however, because this does not mean that I will remain bound to the aforementioned narrative scheme. For me, it operates as a guideline to steer the project in the right direction and without crossing boundaries that would make the narrative confusing. Since I am aware that reality and the situations one is faced with are almost never predictable, I have developed a strong sense of adaptation to what I am faced with and have learnt to rely on instinct. If, at the moment I go to take a photograph, I feel that something is right, I trust my photographic instinct and follow it without qualms. It is intuition, the child of years of experience, of acquired photographic culture and of all the images of the great masters that have been studied, that gives rise to truly good work. The proof of what I am saying can be found in many of my works, which were born on paper in one way and then evolved in my mind, as a consequence of cogent situations, almost by chance, by instinct precisely, in a totally different way. TPL: What are some challenges that you have faced as a photographer, how did you meet them and overcome them? Do you have any advice you would share from your personal experiences? AG: I believe that the most important challenges I have faced in my photographic journey are basically two. Firstly, the need to create for myself a cultural and technical background so vast that I can face any adversity and, at the same time, so solid that I can develop a real awareness of how to make meaningful work from start to finish. Although many people claim to have enough culture to face any challenge and to live in serenity, I personally believe that one never stops studying. Secondly, I believe that the greatest challenge for a reportage photographer is to overcome people's distrust. When you have to relate to other human beings, you have to take into account that not everyone has the same sensitivity. Not everyone, for instance, might like to be photographed. I often see self-proclaimed photographers in the streets pointing their lens in the faces of people going about their daily lives and photographing them without any respect. That, to my way of seeing things, is the best way to receive a lot of insults and to cause harm even to those who, like me and many other photographers I have met along the way, are aware of what it means to have ethics. The first rule should be one and simple: respect. Respect for privacy, respect for the state of mind of others, respect for the dignity of others, respect for the history, life and experience of those who become the subject of one of our photographs. We cannot know what the people on the other side of the lens are going through or experiencing. Asking permission or even simply smiling, being willing to explain our work, to invest our time in giving something of ourselves in return to those who have given us a moment of their lives, can be a great way to almost never have problems in a reportage or a simple street photography session. TPL: With the diversity in your work, how do you manage a work/photography balance? AG: This is definitely the most difficult question to answer. I must say that it is not at all easy to disentangle myself between running the coffee company originally founded by my grandfather, working in my father's law firm and reporting. I believe there is no universally valid answer other than having learnt to distribute the time of my day in a way that does not negatively affect any of the above activities. I generally dedicate the mornings to running the business and the afternoons to working in the law firm, while the evenings are devoted as much to training and meditation as to developing and filing photographic work. In order to be able to carry out my reportages fully, I set dates well in advance for trips or simple travels and, at that point, I organize my other work commitments so that I can have whole days available for the realization of the photographic work. TPL: Are there any special projects that you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? What are some of your photography goals? Where do you hope to see yourself in five years? AG: I am currently working on what I consider to be my most ambitious project to date. For the past few months, in fact, I have been pursuing a photographic investigation of the esotericism of the Catholic Church, a story I am telling by periodically staying for a few days in ancient monasteries and taking part in the life of the monastic communities there. I have also already found the title for the work, namely In Silentio et In Spe Erit Fortitudo Vestra, a title I have taken from a passage in the Bible, more precisely from the Book of Isaiah (30:15). We will have the opportunity to talk more about this work in the future. I do not, however, make predictions about where I might be in five years' time. I prefer the course of events to set the course. I firmly believe that commitment and dedication always pay off and that results, if you really believe in what you do, will come. TPL: "When I’m not out photographing (I like) to... AG: My time is almost entirely devoted to running my coffee company and working with my father in his law firm. The rest of my time is spent with my family and my partner, components of my life that, although listed last, are always at the top of my priority list." Thank you Alessandro for your bright and colorful reportage of Burano, and for sharing the secrets behind the colors. We are delighted to share his insightful views and process for visual storytelling. Please check out the rest of his work he has shared with us on our website, you will see some of his influences in reportage in black and white, where light and shadow become his visual aids. Follow his links and learn more about our artist, and share his love of Italy. VIEW ALESSANDRO'S PORTFOLIO Website >>> Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition. AN ODE TO SPONTANEITY AND SERENDIPITY Meera Nerurkar captures not just what is seen but also what is felt, turning the everyday into something worth a second glance. THAT’S HOW IT IS Luisa Montagna explores the fluid nature of reality - how it shifts depending on the observer, emphasizing that subjective perception takes precedence over objective truth.

My passion in photography lies in the street. Street photography for me is the exciting form of photography where I can capture the spontaneous moments of everyday life on the street. It is challenging because it often involves observing and looking for something interesting in an ordinary place. JAN PONNET My passion in photography lies in the street. Street photography for me is the exciting form of photography where I can capture the spontaneous moments of everyday life on the street. It is challenging because it often involves observing and looking for something interesting in an ordinary place. LOCATION Antwerp BELGIUM CAMERA/S Leica M10 Monochrom WEBSITE https://japocladek.myportfolio.com/ @JAPO.CLADEK FEATURES // Human Contact

PICTORIAL STORY THE FRANKINCENSE BOY In the village of Poshina, France Leclerc met Sahib — a young boy whose quiet curiosity and calm presence created a moment of shared connection. January 19, 2024 PICTORIAL STORY photography FRANCE LECLERC story FRANCE LECLERC introduction KAREN GHOSTLAW POMARICO SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Originally from Quebec, Canada, France Leclerc is a photographer who has developed a sincere passion for visual storytelling. Being Canadian is an integral part of who France is; she embraces her French heritage, language, and culture. France spent much of her adult life in Montreal until attending graduate school at Cornell University receiving her PhD in management. After receiving her degree, France became part of the faculty at MIT School of Management, as well the University of Chicago Business School, where she was a professor of global marketing. While residing in Chicago it became apparent to France that the path of academia was not the right direction for her, she lacked the passion and commitment that her colleagues who were fully devoted to their work. She decided to change her direction and took a series of classes in a small photography school in Chicago. France found comfort in her steps forward on her new path, continuing to take workshops to feed her new passion, and inspire new ways of critical thinking through the use of her camera. Taking time off gave France a new start, a chance to rediscover the world in new ways. She started traveling to remote areas in Ethiopia, Tibet, Myanmar, each time returning from her excursions with a fever to tell her stories. This is when life changed for France, she had found her passion. Her love for traveling to other places around the world has provided ample opportunity for her to immerse herself in many different cultures. France finds authentic connections in the communities she engages, giving her a clear voice that speaks for the people she photographs. “As a child, being part of the French minority in English Canada, I learned that one may have to fight to preserve a culture. Maybe this is where my interest in cultures originated, I don’t know. I have always been fascinated by the 'world' and curious about its diversity, challenges, and the resilience of human beings, particularly women. I have spent time in over 100 countries, and I have visited many of them multiple times.” Now residing in Chicago, France has spent many years traveling while searching for clues and answers to better understand human behavior, why people behave the way they do. This search has fueled France’s curiosity throughout the years, inspiring what she has defined as 'Life Photography'. Her focus has allowed her to capture the beauty in the moment, making visual and emotional connections inherent to different cultures in society. “I am interested in portraying the way people live, play, eat, dress, interact, celebrate, pray and love. My interest in photography is closely related to my interest in storytelling. Coming back from a trip, I have so many stories to tell, and what better way to tell them than with images.” France’s documentary exploration often brings her to obscure out of the way places around the world, where she embraces the community finding captivating stories for her visual translations. Recently she has turned the focus of her camera to streets, where contemporary life and issues inspire her frames. “I aim to document what I see and share it with the world. When I return from a trip, I write stories around my images and post them on my website. I have over 100 of them now. I hope that the more people know about other cultures and ways of life, the less threatened they will feel by them, and who knows, maybe they will get inspired by them as I often do. It is probably a naïve view, but I feel so privileged when I learn something new I have to assume others, at least some, feel the same way.” France has shared one of her captivating short stories with us, it is a beautiful example of exploring with open eyes and with a clear mind discovering endearing connections to community, respectfully sharing their stories with genuine interest and care for her subjects. This intriguing story takes place in the village of Poshina, Gujarat. I met Sahib in Poshina, a village in the northern state of Gujarat, close to the border with Rajasthan. At dawn, I started walking in the town. I first noticed that a few people were sleeping on the streets, some on a platform in front of an array of small shops. A young boy was awake among them, standing next to a pile of blankets. I waved at him, took a quick photo, and continued to explore further. A couple of hours later, as I retraced my steps to return for what I felt was a well-deserved breakfast, I saw this young boy again. He was sitting on what I assume was his mother’s lap, next to an older boy and a much older lady. The older boy was Sahib, ten years old, looking serious and responsible. I sat with them for a while and learned that the younger boy was his little brother, and the older lady was his grandmother. His father meandered toward us at a later point. Sahib is not from Poshina; he is a wanderer or an itinerant. His family does not have a home. To earn a little money for the family, he burns frankincense in the top tier of a three-tier vessel. Sahib goes around the village, stopping at houses and shops to offer them the smoke and smell of his frankincense that he shares using a small piece of cardboard as a fan in exchange for a few coins. This is his life: he does not go to school; he walks around offering to “purify” people’s lives through a little sniff of his frankincense. After chatting briefly, Sahib announced that it was time for him to start his round, and I decided to follow along. And so, Sahib spent the next few hours in the streets of this small village, chatting with the shop owners, knocking at doors of family homes in narrow streets, and meeting people, some of whom he knew but also new ones. All are welcoming Sahib and his frankincense. At the end of his route, Sahib announced that he was done and was now going to another village for the afternoon. I asked him whether his family would sleep at the same place as last night and if I could return to say goodbye the next day. He said yes. So, at dawn the next day, I went down to the platform where I had seen the little boy the previous morning, ready for another adventure with Sahib. Sadly, nobody was on the platform. I will never have the answers to the million questions I had come up with the previous day, and I will probably never see Sahib’s smile again except in my images of him. But I will never forget our brief time together. © France Leclerc © France Leclerc © France Leclerc © France Leclerc © France Leclerc © France Leclerc © France Leclerc © France Leclerc © France Leclerc © France Leclerc © France Leclerc © France Leclerc France Leclerc is an observer, listening with her ears and her eyes. She brings her stories to life, allowing the viewer and reader to step into the frames, helping them to make the same valuable connections to the cultures and communities she portrays. As a traveler and visitor to global remote communities, France has found a way to assimilate herself into the cultures she visits, as an observer. Her observations have given her purpose to help expose some of the constraints, misguided views, and blind assumptions made towards individuals or groups in communities globally. Photographing her subjects, France portrays them illuminated in the light of their own being, revealing intimate details through her investigations. She is humbled by her surroundings and shares a true respect and admiration for the people she engages and is mindful and has much admiration for their traditions and daily practices. France’s visual storytelling has been embraced by the photographic community and has been exhibited in numerous curated exhibitions winning prestigious awards. Most recently, her images won third place at the Miami Street Photography Festival in 2022 and third place at the Lens Culture Street Photography Award in 2023. One of her series was a gold medal winner in the Culture and Daily Life category of the Julia Margaret Cameron Award in 2023 and two of her series were included in the Curated Selection State of the World at the Prix de la Photographie, Paris, also in 2023. Her work was featured in Geo Magazine, Dodho Magazine, Lens Magazine and All About Photo. The Pictorial List is grateful for France’s commitment to humanity, and for sharing the inspiration that has provided her with the brilliant ambition to explore and understand the world through her photography. We look forward to the next chapter in France’s novel about humanity and how different cultures navigate sociological constraints as well as celebrate their freedoms. view France's portfolio Website >>> Instagram >>> Twitter >>> 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 >>> LAND, LABOR, AND THE GOLDEN FIBER In West Bengal’s jute fields, Rajesh Dhar examines the systems of land and labor, tracing how a single material sustains communities and informs a changing ecological future. WITH GRATITUDE AND DEVOTION A quiet and intimate account of devotion in Zaraza, Venezuela, Rafael Ayala Páez reflects on faith, memory, and community through photographs and words that honor the enduring power of small gestures. SILVER AND BREATH Within this fragile space between looking and being seen, Eva Christina Nielsen has developed a practice that is both restrained and deeply attentive. RUPTURE REPAIR REMNANT In this reflection on rupture, Donna Bassin invites us to consider how grief settles into the body and the image, and how the slow work of witnessing becomes a form of repair. DELTA DUSK John Agather weaves image and text into a single current, tracing how music, memory, and daily life continue to move through the Mississippi Delta. SILENT BEAUTY Tamara Quadrelli photographs the world by slowing down inside it. There is no rush to explain what we are seeing. The pleasure comes from staying with it. SOLITUDE UNDER A TECHNIFIED SUN Tracing the space between movement and stillness, Héctor Morón reveals a city that persists as human presence slips by. 4320 MINUTES WITHOUT COLOR Moving between photography and narration, Mohammed Nahi traces a period in which sight could no longer be assumed as reliable, and attention shifted toward memory and duration. THE PAINTED VILLAGE OF LABANDHAR Anjan Ghosh’s photographs carry us to Labandhar, where painting becomes language, tradition stays present, and art grows through shared ground. ORDINARY GRIEF What endures when everything else is uncertain? Through photography, Parisa Azadi asks us to see Iran not as story, but as feeling. THE EVERYMAN Eva Mallis uncovers the quiet strength of overlooked lives, capturing everyday encounters in Mumbai’s industrial districts as intimate portraits of labor and resilience. IN BETWEEN LIFE AND AFTER In Cairo’s City of the Dead, families carve out ordinary lives among centuries of tombs — Paola Ferrarotti traces the fragile line between memory and survival. UNFIGURED Nasos Karabelas transforms the human body into a site of emotional flux — where perception fractures and inner states become visible form. VISIONS OF ICELAND FROM ABOVE Massimo Lupidi takes flight above Iceland — capturing nature’s abstract brushstrokes where land, water, and sky blur into poetic visions beyond the ordinary eye. UNDER THE CLOUDS Giordano Simoncini presents a visual ethnography of the interconnectedness of indigenous cosmology, material life, and the ecological balance within the Quechua communities of the Peruvian Andes. NYC SUBWAY RIDERS BEFORE THE INVASION OF SMARTPHONES Hiroyuki Ito’s subway photographs reveal a vanished intimacy — strangers lost in thought in a world before digital distractions took hold. THE GHOST SELF Buku Sarkar stages her refusal to vanish. Her photographs are unflinching, lyrical acts of documentation, mapping a body in flux and a mind grappling with the epistemic dissonance of chronic illness. WHISPERS On Mother’s Day, Regina Melo's story asks us to pause. To remember. To feel. It honors the profound, often quiet sacrifices that mothers make, and the invisible threads that bind us to them. BEYOND THE MASK By stepping beyond the scripted world of professional wrestling and into the raw terrain of mental health, Matteo Bergami and Fabio Giarratano challenge long-held myths about masculinity, endurance, and heroism. FRAGMENTS OF TIME Each of jfk's diptychs functions as a microcosm of the city, allowing viewers to experience urban life as constant fragmented glimpses, mirroring the unpredictable nature of human interactions. VANISHING VENICE Lorenzo Vitali’s portrayal of Venice is an almost surreal experience — where time dissolves, and the viewer is left with the sensation of stepping into a dreamscape. CLAY AND ASHES Abdulla Shinose CK explores the challenges faced by Kumhar Gram's potters, balancing tradition and adaptation in the face of modern pressures. ISLAND Enzo Crispino’s photographic series, “Nêsos,” invites viewers into an introspective journey that mirrors the artist’s rediscovery of his voice in photography after a prolonged period of creative estrangement. BEYOND THE BRICKS Amid Bangladesh’s dynamic urban growth, Anwar Ehtesham’s photography takes us beyond statistics and headlines, revealing the hidden lives of the laborers working tirelessly in the nation’s brick kilns. OAXACA In Oaxaca, Tommaso Stefanori captures Día de los Muertos, exploring the convergence of life and death, human connections, and enduring cultural rituals through evocative photographs of tradition and emotion.

CONNECTED DICHOTOMIES Tatyana Mazok's photography transcends art, weaving life's threads into evocative diptychs that reveal interconnected narratives, challenging us to see the beauty and complexity in our shared experiences. CONNECTED DICHOTOMIES July 5, 2024 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Tatyana Mazok INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Emerging from the vibrant urban fabric of Minsk in Belarus, photographer Tatyana Mazok captures the essence of existence through her lens. With a rich academic background at Belarusian State Economic University, Tatyana tempered her mind with discipline, later infusing her artistic work with precision and passion. It was through photography that she discovered her authentic voice, a confluence of her diverse interests and her intrinsic identity. In 2019, under the illuminating mentorship of Elena Sukhoveyeva and Viktor Khmel, Tatyana’s creative flame was kindled, propelling her on a journey of exploration through the author’s school. Subsequent years saw her delve deeper into the nuances of the craft, navigating the realms of visual history at the Fojo: Media Institute Linnaus University and honing her cinematic eye at the esteemed ‘Marusina Masterskaya.’ Tatyana transcends mere technical skill. Her photography embodies the ability to capture the ephemeral, immortalizing the beauty of life’s transient moments. In her own words, “I shoot what I love and what interests me at a particular moment. And I get satisfaction from capturing the moment.” In her series “Connections,” Tatyana presents an introspective journey, using evocative diptychs to explore the complex web of relationships that shape our existence. Her lens thoughtfully transforms everyday moments into timeless reflections of beauty and self-discovery. Authenticity and emotional resonance are the cornerstones of Tatyana’s photographic philosophy. Her intuitive approach fosters a depth of immediacy and honesty, drawing viewers into her experiential narrative. Throughout the series, Tatyana deftly captures the ceaseless flux of the world around her. From the ever-shifting landscape of her urban surroundings to the subtle nuances of human interaction, each image serves as a testament to the ephemeral nature of existence. Yet, amidst the perpetual tide of change, Tatyana finds solace in the unchanging beauty of the natural world. As she eloquently observes, “The photos remain unchanged: family, nature, city and myself.” Central to the thematic fabric of “Connections” is Tatyana’s exploration of the myriad connections that bind us to one another and to the world at large. Tatyana skillfully reveals the hidden patterns of interdependence, sparking contemplation of our profound interconnectedness. Whether capturing the delicate symmetry of a family unit or the symbiotic relationship between humanity and the environment, Tatyana’s images serve as poignant reminders of our shared humanity. Beyond the visual allure, Tatyana’s work invites philosophical contemplation on memory and perception. She captures not just the world around her but also her personal experience within it, offering a unique perspective on the narrative flow of life and the resonance of visual storytelling. Join us in delving into Tatyana Mazok’s heartfelt photographic vision — a vision that extends beyond mere documentation, embodying the profound impact of photography as a conduit for introspection and discovery. “CONNECTIONS is a polysemantic name. On the one hand, there is an external visual connection between the photographs in each diptych: through color, compositional technique, and similarity. On the other hand, it is about the connection between human and nature, human and the city. And, how much they have in common. It’s also about my internal connection with each element in the photograph, because it’s all familiar to me: my beloved children, Belarusian nature, familiar roads and courtyards.” IN CONVERSATION WITH TATYANA MAZOK THE PICTORIAL LIST: Welcome to The Pictorial List Tatyana. What drew you to pursue photography as a form of artistic expression? TATYANA: At the very beginning of my journey, the technical part of photography was very difficult and took a long time for me. I slowed down and didn’t think about artistic language at all. I wanted to reveal all the technical secrets and, by pressing the camera button, produce beautiful masterpieces, filming everything. It was a great practical experience that led me to understand that photography can speak without words, speak for me, broadcast my inner feelings of the world around me. TPL: What role do diptychs play in conveying the interconnectedness of life in your work? How do you approach the composition and presentation of your diptychs to convey the connections you seek to highlight? TATYANA: Life and creativity are inseparable for me. In the diptychs there is an intensification of life. Moments from it. Let's just say, life twice: here it is life from frequent traces of birds on fresh snow and here is how the first rays of the sun covered a young face with freckles. They seem to be static objects, but they are a recording of what is happening in my life. The process of creating diptychs is always a unique event. It happens that one of the parts waits for its other half for two or three years. I don't deliberately shoot a frame in tandem with an existing one. I just take a photo of something, and then I scroll through it in my head and remember that once upon a time I already took a photo that would look incredibly good with it. Sometimes I make mistakes, but most of the time this exercise is successful. Can you imagine how great it is to bring together different years and different places? Of course, I pay attention to the composition of both parts. To enhance the effect, sometimes you have to crop the original frame. TPL: How do you incorporate elements of emotion and storytelling into your photographs to evoke a deeper connection with viewers? What emotions or messages do you hope viewers experience or take away from your photographs? TATYANA: I achieve contact with the viewer by close framing and large details. It turns out to be a kind of presence effect. The project is not difficult to perceive, visually calm in color, and it seems to me that every viewer will find in it something from their everyday life, memories from yesterday or today. I would also like the project to remind everyone of the beauty of every moment, of the value of our everyday life. TPL: How do you select the subjects or scenes that you capture in your photographs? What role does personal reflection play in your photography process, particularly in relation to your own connection to the subjects you photograph? TATYANA: Most often, my attention is attracted by lines, geometry, a fallen shadow, or my internal problem. I can walk and notice a fallen leaf, and now it’s already in the frame. I haven't photographed everything for a long time. And at different periods of my life my focus of attention changes. This gives food for thought - what is most important to me now. My inner experiences are transferred into photography. This changes the topic of research, working through a photograph of one’s feelings. This also affects the choice of color combinations in the frame. TPL: Can you share a memorable experience or moment that significantly influenced your approach to your photography in general? TATYANA: I had the experience of taking an amazing “Film Frame” course, where students watched films of one famous director every week, for example, “Kurosawa.” We analyzed the director’s visual language, his distinctive techniques, for what purposes and emotions they are applicable. And then they filmed their shoot using that language. Afterwards, I always thought about what I wanted to say with my shot, and what color, light, and compositional technique would help me with this. I also began to look at photographs of other authors, analyzing the author’s language. My photography serves as a documentation of my life. TPL: In what ways does your photography serve as a form of documentation or storytelling of your life and experiences? TATYANA: In general, all my photography is a document of my life. Whether I shoot self-portraits or my surroundings, this is all my little story. I show up in my photographs. You could say it's a photo diary. And, if they look back, this woman’s diary will talk about her mood, outlook on life, favorite color, some internal conflicts, joyful moments. And sometimes this diary has blank pages. TPL: Can you share any insights or lessons you've learned about yourself or the world through the process of creating “CONNECTIONS”? TATYANA: In the process of selecting photographs for the “Connections” project, I once again reminded myself of my inspiration and my content. Reviewing several years of archives, I have determined that my eye and my camera focus on what I love. I am filled with my family, the city I live in, trips to nature and myself. TPL: What drew you to study under Elena Sukhoveyeva and Viktor Khmel at the author’s school, and how did that experience influence your photography? And, how has completing courses such as ‘Photo History’ at Fojo: Media Institute Linnaus University shaped your understanding and approach to photography? TATYANA: At a certain point, I felt limited in my knowledge of photography. And how funny it is for me now, it seemed to me that I already knew so much. But I didn't know where to move next. In the direction. I was drawn to art, but there seemed to be a gap between us. I understood that I couldn’t handle self-education on my own; I needed a guide. In my search for a teacher, in reading reviews, in correspondence with graduates of Elena and Victor, I realized that this was what I needed. But I didn’t know that this would be the most difficult training, full of information, lectures, and deep immersion in project photography. A new, different world opened up for me, new names in the world of photography. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, I was never able to complete my graduation project at this school. The knowledge gained here was structured in my head and rethought over the next three years. We can say that they were the basis for my design thinking and are still sprouting. The “Photo History” course, on the contrary, turned out to be easy for me to understand, but also deep in knowledge. A lot of material was filmed. I learned to speak through a series of photographs. My personnel selection process has changed, my view of topics that are of interest to society and other people, but not previously relevant to me, has expanded. But the main takeaway is to always choose what is important to you. Then working on history will be a pleasure. TPL: What other photographers or artists have influenced you, and how? What impact have they made in the way you approach and create your work in photography? TATYANA: I am firmly convinced that everything I saw and heard earlier in one way or another influenced me as a photographer. Something is filtered, something is analyzed and leaves an imprint. But I cannot pinpoint the authors who shaped my approach. I can name who I'm currently inspired by. Among the photographers are Jaume Llorens with poetic images of nature, Saul Leiter with his irregular framing, negative space, amazing color, Ilina Vicktoria - her portraits fascinate with light, contrast and deep emotion. I also really love the visual techniques of director Paolo Sorrentino. TPL: What do you hope to achieve with your photography in terms of personal growth? TATYANA: Great question! And of course I will be honest. I dream that my photograph will become part of the collection of MOMA, the Hermitage, and the European House of Photography in Paris. I dream of becoming one of the hundred most famous female photographers in the world. Loud, but that's how it is! TPL: When you are not creating your art through your photography, what else could we find Tatyana doing? TATYANA: I try to find time for everything that is dear to me. I used to sew a lot, embroider, and make jewelry. Now I read more, go to theaters, museums and of course spend time with my large family. As we reach the culmination of our exploration into the work of Tatyana Mazok, it becomes evident that her photography is not just an art form, but a vibrant tapestry interwoven with threads of life itself. With each photograph, Tatyana invites us into her world, offering a glimpse into the raw and unfiltered essence of being that defines her subject matter. Tatyana’s unique talent lies in her ability to transform life’s chaos into moments of serene clarity. Through “Connections,” Tatyana has not only shared her vision but also challenged us to see life through a different lens — one that recognizes the intertwining narratives and shared experiences that unite us. Her work is a compelling reminder of the beauty and complexity of the world we inhabit, and the endless possibilities that lie in the simple act of pressing a shutter. In closing, Tatyana Mazok's artistic journey is a testament to the enduring power of photography to move, to provoke, and to inspire. Her images remain etched in our minds, echoing the timeless dance of light and shadow, and inviting us to pause, reflect, and connect with the world in profound ways. Let us carry forward the message embodied in her work — that in the fleeting moments of life, there is a depth of connection and beauty waiting to be discovered. Thank you, Tatyana, for opening our eyes to the enduring connections that bind us all. VIEW TATYANA'S PORTFOLIO Website >>> Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition. AN ODE TO SPONTANEITY AND SERENDIPITY Meera Nerurkar captures not just what is seen but also what is felt, turning the everyday into something worth a second glance. THAT’S HOW IT IS Luisa Montagna explores the fluid nature of reality - how it shifts depending on the observer, emphasizing that subjective perception takes precedence over objective truth.

The real is as elusive as the essential is invisible. And yet photography is true, like life. Looking is like seeing, but with feeling; like thinking, but with the eyes; like observing, but with the soul. I make my own the words of Ramón Gómez de la Serna: "I am neither a thinker nor a writer, I am a viewer." GUILLERMO FRANCO The real is as elusive as the essential is invisible. And yet photography is true, like life. Looking is like seeing, but with feeling; like thinking, but with the eyes; like observing, but with the soul. I make my own the words of Ramón Gómez de la Serna: "I am neither a thinker nor a writer, I am a viewer." LOCATION Córdoba ARGENTINA CAMERA/S Nikon FM2 @GFGALERIAFOTOGRAFICA FEATURES // There My Little Eyes