SHOOT NEW YORK CITY Leanne Staples is a passionate and driven street photographer whose honest perspective of city life captures both its simplicity and complexity. SHOOT NEW YORK CITY September 27, 2023 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Leanne Staples INTERVIEW Bill Lacey Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Successful photographers shooting on the streets of New York City possess a keen eye, an awareness of space, and instincts that put them in the right place and time to click the shutter. Not all have the passion and drive to stick with it in the way that Leanne Staples does. Her intuitive feel for the city results in a perspective of what real life truly looks and feels like. Her choices are not driven by a need for ‘likes and follows’ on social media. Rather, it is the honesty of the moment that imprints her framing of city life, both the simplicity and complexity of it. Originally from Detroit, Leanne has an attitude and approach that make her a perfect fit for the city - one could easily mistake her for a native New Yorker. A photographer, a writer, and a mentor, Leanne doesn’t limit herself to purely street photography. She also explores the world of abstract photography, in both black and white and color. She embraces both film and digital, using whatever tools suit the moment in order to realize her vision. She moves slowly, always observant, always ready to bring the camera to her eye and frame the moment. When walking the streets of midtown Manhattan, Chinatown, Coney Island, or less touristy destinations, you just might run into Leanne running a private or group workshop. Her rich understanding of the medium and her easy-going demeanor makes Leanne an in-demand educator of both novice and experienced photo enthusiasts. Glancing at her work, it’s easy to understand why. “Photography is a broad subject. I shoot street, abstract street, and abstract photography. For me, street photography is an activity. It’s about forgetting about the camera and being in the moment. Capturing what I see. It is a method of participating in life. I attempt to achieve images that match my feelings and thoughts. I do this on an intuitive or emotional level. I try to leave the intellect and the technology out of the process.” IN CONVERSATION WITH LEANNE STAPLES THE PICTORIAL LIST: Hi Leanne, please tell us about yourself. What would you say first drew you to photography? LEANNE STAPLES: I was born in Detroit, and I left there in 1978. My father gave me a camera when I was 12, and I’ve been shooting ever since then. I had no idea how important photography would become for me, but it has always been a form of communication in my life. Sometimes an image can say more than words. I am also a writer, and I started writing at the same time as photography. For the past 13+ years, I have been providing group street photography workshops, private tours, and mentoring to people of all ages and backgrounds in New York City. It is a very fulfilling experience, and it is a joy to assist people in their photographic journeys. TPL: You shoot primarily in New York City. What special qualities unique to the city influence your street photography and how you portray the community? LS: I have the great fortune to shoot in New York City. It is a dream. That said, if I had to travel to shoot, I’d either move or quit photography. I’d like to think that people can shoot wherever they live. Part of what makes New York City unique is the sheer diversity and number of people. I am a thoroughly urban person so it is ideal for my personality. That said, the title of many of my group street photography workshops is Seeing With New Eyes. I shoot the same neighborhoods over and over again, and I never tire of it. There is much more to see if you take the time to look, to actually observe your environment. Most people who live here or visit here merely skim the surface of the city. TPL: What do you want your photographs to inspire in other people? What is their “takeaway”? How do you hope people feel when viewing your work? LS: I hope that people are inspired by my photography. It’s not a given. But I shoot because it’s what I love to do. Sharing my work with others and having them like it is the icing on the cake. That is something that wasn’t possible in the days before all thing's internet and digital. I was born to create, and photography is an addictive pursuit. NOT for the technology and the consumer aspect. Street and other forms of photography are about self-expression. It is how I see the world. It is communication without words. I am happy when people can connect with my work. But I don’t try to be all things to all people. I try to please myself with my work first. I hope that my photography leaves enough space in it for people to interpret in their own way. I am not trying to convey a particular message. TPL: What is the most rewarding part of being a photographer for you? LS: The biggest inspiration is when people are shooting with me in my workshops, and they find their inspiration, and they feel comfortable shooting street and finding new methods of doing it. I’d like to think that there’s reason to hope in humanity. I often find it on the streets. To be in the middle of a melting pot surrounded by people I will never meet and are beyond the six degrees of separation. TPL: When do you feel most inspired? LS: Great question. I wish I could give you a good answer to that. A good night’s sleep. Strong coffee. Forgetting about a million things going on in the world and just observing my environment. TPL: What are some challenges that you have faced as a photographer? Sometimes I get bored of the same routine, and then I switch up how I shoot. Lately, I’ve been shooting in Auto mode and really liking it. I don’t have many challenges in photography. I think that social media is a double-edged sword. It can be helpful and harmful at the same time. I try not to take it too seriously. Some of my favorite photos get very few likes. At the same time, those that I don’t like so much get lots of likes. So now I just post and what will be will be. I have met some amazing people both virtually and in person through social media, and it’s wonderful to be featured by The Pictorial List and others. Thank you! My photography is like a journal of my life in images. It is how I participate in life. TPL: When you take pictures, do you usually have a concept in mind of what you want to shoot, or do you let the images just "come to you", or is it both? Please describe your process. LS: When it comes to street photography I am careful to not have preconceived ideas about what I would like to capture. I like to be surprised by the light, the weather, and the people that I will encounter. I intentionally walk slowly. Street photography is the art of observation. If you are moving quickly you will miss the subtleties. I look for things that attract my eye. For that reason, I set my camera up and forget about it and previewing images. I want to be in the moment and ready to shoot. TPL: Do you have any favorite artists or photographers you would like to share with us and the reason for their significance? LS: I have so many favorite artists and photographers. Saul Leiter is at the top of the list. I especially like how many of his photos almost look like paintings. I also really like Gerhard Richter and how many of his paintings look like photos. When you no longer know which medium it is. Blurring the lines as it were. TPL: If you could just choose one photographer to shoot alongside for a day..., who would you choose? And why? LS: Robert Rauschenberg. He was a great artist and photographer, and he continues to inspire me on a regular basis. TPL: What was the first camera you ever held in your hand, brought to your 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 achieve your vision in your photography? LS: The Nikkormat was my first camera back in 1966. That said, I think I had an Instamatic before that. But, the Nikon FE was the camera that I used for many decades before my entry into digital photography. I now use a combination of cameras. Fuji X100 V, Fuji X Pro 3, Nikon FE 2, Polaroid 600, and a number of other film and toy cameras. They are all tools that provide different possibilities. These are the cameras that I am able to bond with, and they allow me to pursue my vision. TPL: Tell us about your workshops, your books, your online blogs, and any events you want us to know about. LS: I provide group street photography workshops in different areas of New York City on most weekends throughout the year. I welcome photographers of all levels of experience, and I limit my workshops to 5 people so that everyone receives individual attention. I also provide private workshops and mentoring, and in both private and group workshops I help people find their own style and see photography in new ways. Street photography is an art. There is no paint-by-number recipe for it. You just have to get out there and do it. I have a newsletter for Shoot New York City, which is the name of my one-person independent business. I have self-published 2 photo zines of my street photography, and I hope to make more if I can learn how to use the technology to make books. TPL: “When I am not out photographing, I (like to) … LS: I write, read, exercise, meditate, listen to music, spend time with art and photography books, and watch cinema.” PORTFOLIO WEBSITE INSTAGRAM read more interviews >>> THE VILLAGE A workers’ neighbourhood becomes a living archive as Virginia Cassano photographs the people, streets, and memories that continue to shape Villaggio Piaggio. MUTABLE MORPHOGENESIS By merging scientific methodologies with photographic experimentation, Emma Varga creates images that challenge fixed distinctions between human and non-human, visible and invisible. THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. 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.

MINI DOCUMENTARIES Photography helped Callie Eh to change her view of the world and to see more clearly. Each photo to her is like a mini documentary. MINI DOCUMENTARIES August 28, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Callie Eh INTERVIEW Karin Svadlenak Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE For Callie Eh photography was a lifesaver. It picked her up at a difficult time in her life and has not let her go ever since. Originally from Malaysia, Callie has lived in various countries and is now based in Switzerland. Photography has changed her view of the world and made her see things differently. Although she likes to mix genres, her greatest photographic passion right now is documentary photography, inspired by her travels, the people she meets, different cultures and different ways of life. “I love to photograph people in their daily life and tell their stories through my lens. My photos are pretty much mixed, travel, street and documentary. I hope to bring the feeling I had during each moment to the audience and hopefully warm their hearts. I love to connect with different people from various cultural backgrounds. For me, each photo is like a tiny documentary on different lifestyles and situations my subjects experienced and the feeling I had in each moment. I see different expressions from the face of each individual. Although some people lead a difficult life, for me it is important to express their happiness in my pictures. It is interesting to see that often the people who have the least are the kindest and happiest.” IN CONVERSATION WITH CALLIE EH THE PICTORIAL LIST: Callie please tell us about yourself. Can you tell us when you first became interested in photography? CALLIE EH: I am originally from Yong Peng, Malaysia. I come from a big family, I worked as a sales representative in Kuala Lumpur (the capital city of Malaysia) for over 10 years. I have been away from my home country living abroad since 2007, in the USA, Singapore, Poland, and now Switzerland. I'm blessed to have a chance to live in a different country learning different languages and cultures, increasing my knowledge and skills through different life experiences. My life wasn't easy, I managed many ups and downs and I worked very hard to get through life. At my darkest point I went through a divorce, had a depression...I was completely lost in my life, at that time I was not sure if I wanted to continue to live, that was when photography picked me up...and gave me strength and confidence. My first DSLR camera was a Nikon D3000, and I started taking photos during my travels. While I always enjoyed capturing special moments, for me becoming a photographer was not something I planned. At least not until 2015 when I moved to Poland and by coincidence I met a cafe owner, Gaston Sitbon, and he loved my photos and wanted to present my work at his cafe...he became my mentor. My passion for photography has been growing ever since. I developed my photography knowledge and skills by attending different workshops, online photography classes, and photography books. What really helped improve my work was a documentary workshop in Krakow in 2016, which was extremely intense and I learned more than I expected. It really impacted me, and it also changed my photography point of view, how to make a better picture. TPL: Where do you find your inspiration? CE: I find inspiration through my travels, the people I meet, and different cultures and different ways of life. They always inspire and enthuse me. TPL: Do you have a favourite place to photograph? CE: Anywhere. Although I would say, the more different from the city I live in now, the better. I love rural places like in Mongolia and Vietnam, or vibrant places like Cuba and Morocco. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? CE: I love Alex Webb and Henri Cartier-Bresson, I think they both really inspired my style. I learned from them to prioritise the action and the subject over the technique and composition, I am still in the learning process and try to improve constantly. TPL: Has your style of photographing changed since you first started? CE: Yes, very much so, my style absolutely changed a lot over the year. When I started out I knew nothing about composition, I used to love a Zoom lens like 24-70mm to photograph people, and I love to photograph close up portraits with the shallow depth of field. But now I photograph more with the large depth of field and focusing on telling the whole story. To me, it is important to constantly grow and evolve as a person, and that brings me to new perspectives and new knowledge. Since I found photography it really helps me to change my view of the world: I see more clearly and detailed through my lens. TPL: How does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? Do you have a preferred camera/lens/ focal length? CE: Since I got the Leica Q, I am more concentrated on how to take a better picture instead of focusing on constantly buying new equipment for my camera and changing lenses while I shoot. The good thing about the Q, which has a fixed lens of 28mm, is that it forces me to get out of my comfort zone (a zoom) and makes me get closer to the subject. The Leica Q is the only camera I have now. TPL: What would you say to someone wanting to start out in your genre of photography? CE: Be patient but at the same time passionate. Enjoy the ups and downs you face by going out and taking photos. Follow different photographers' work and attend different kinds of workshops to get inspired. TPL: What are some of your goals as a photographer? Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself in five years? CE: I hope my photography will be recognised internationally and hope that I can show my work to a broader audience, and that people are enjoying and appreciating my work. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on? CE: I would like to restart the "Happiness Project" I created in 2016. I encountered a lot of projects that document the sacrifices and suffering of people, which made me feel quite sad. So the idea of this project is to show what happiness means to different people, what makes them happy? This is still a great part driving the way I take photos. The project also gave me the opportunity to get close to various people and understand more about their dreams and interests. TPL: "When I am not out photographing, I (like to)... CE: Cook! I love food and wine 😊" PORTFOLIO WEBSITE INSTAGRAM read more interviews >>> THE VILLAGE A workers’ neighbourhood becomes a living archive as Virginia Cassano photographs the people, streets, and memories that continue to shape Villaggio Piaggio. MUTABLE MORPHOGENESIS By merging scientific methodologies with photographic experimentation, Emma Varga creates images that challenge fixed distinctions between human and non-human, visible and invisible. THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. 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.

I am a London-based documentary, street and travel photographer, and graphic designer. I divide my time between commercial work and personal projects. Most of my photography work is concerned with observations of people in public spaces. JAN ENKELMANN I am a London-based documentary, street and travel photographer, and graphic designer. I divide my time between commercial work and personal projects. Most of my photography work is concerned with observations of people in public spaces. LOCATION London UNITED KINGDOM CAMERA/S Nikon D800 and D850 WEBSITE https://www.enkelmann.co.uk/ @JANENKELMANN FEATURES // Smoking Chefs

WHAT LIES BENEATH Working in his family's mask-making atelier, a curiosity developed within Bastian Peter, surrounding what lies beneath someone's facade. WHAT LIES BENEATH March 10, 2021 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Bastian Peter INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE With an eye for creativity and a passion for storytelling, Bastian Peter is a street photographer based in Basel, Switzerland. Born and raised in the city, Bastian has been fascinated by the idea of uncovering the hidden stories behind the people and places he encounters. Growing up within his family's mask-making atelier, Bastian developed an early curiosity for understanding what lies beneath someone's façade. After picking up a camera for the first time and venturing out into the streets of Basel, Bastian’s passion for photography began to take off. He was intrigued by the potential of composition, colour and perspective to convey emotion and tell stories. Bastian is the co-founder of The Swiss Street Collective, an exclusive group of photographers who capture the visual identity of Switzerland. Bastian continues to be inspired by his hometown of Basel and strives to explore a different side to its unique culture through his work. His aim is to create images that evoke emotion, allowing viewers to get a glimpse into the lives of those he photographs in order to discover the hidden stories behind them. By tastefully combining colour, perspective and light, he succeeds in uncovering the beauty of everyday life. “I have always been interested in photography. It's just that I never pursued it the way I have in recent years. I never had the confidence to do it. My mother was a professional photographer and I vividly remember her studio, the darkroom and the smell of freshly developed film and the chemicals needed for the process. She and my father were always involved in art and photography and so it was always a part of my own life growing up. My personal interest was piqued when I got my first Sony point and shoot camera in the mid 90's. My interest came and went and in the last few years I got into street photography without knowing it was a real genre. Since the beginning of 2019, I've been shooting regularly on the streets and loving it. It has become a big part of my life.” IN CONVERSATION WITH BASTIAN PETER THE PICTORIAL LIST: Bastian, where do you find your inspiration to photograph? BASTIAN PETER: Great question. My inspiration comes from many places, to be honest. First of all, there is my childhood and like everyone, I have dreams and subtle memories. Often feelings as well. Emotions associated with places, sounds, images or even the smell of a place. All of this is connected to nostalgia and a kind of brooding sense of stories and romance. It sounds a bit pretentious and pompous, but that's because it's hard to find the right words. It's very abstract. Another answer to this question is cinema. Ever since I can remember, I've always been a fan of cinema. In my country, we don't have the rich and diverse and old film culture as in other countries, so maybe I've always been fascinated by foreign cinema like French or German cinema, from which I'm still trying to learn visual storytelling. TPL: Do you have a favourite quote, lyric or saying that especially resonates with you? BP: Of course I know a lot of quotes or sayings of a number of legendary photographers. And like I think they all are true and have their place, I think it's also true to find your own inspiration and your own way. Don't get me wrong, I love reading about all those great photographers and I own a number of their books of course. A quote I read a few weeks ago, did stick with me. I never heard it before and it was by Alfred Stieglitz. It goes like this: “In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.” TPL: Your photography has this beautiful abstract narrative about it...full of light, colours and textures. What do you want to express through your photography? And what are some of the elements you always try to include in your photographs? BP: That's a very interesting question. First of all, thank you so much, your compliment means a lot to me. I really mean it. I experienced a lot of days and nights, where I really tried to focus on certain elements like texture, color or a certain scenery. Or where I tried to stake out a certain place and really was planning to work on a specific corner and wait - however long it takes - so that I have that one background to a scene that I like. But it never worked out. I am not the guy for that I think. I have absolutely no patience to wait somewhere. I learned that I am most comfortable in walking around. Sure, I can stay on a corner for a few minutes just to get a feel of it, but never long and I never am able to plan something. It just happens. Sometimes I don't even think the shots on a certain scene are working and when I get home I am surprised that it did work. The same happens in reverse. Sometimes I get really excited because I feel like I've taken a good picture. And then when I'm at home on the laptop, I realise that it's totally meaningless and boring, or that it just doesn't work. But what I can say is that I'm totally into storytelling and atmosphere. And I try to use everything available. Be it textures of different surfaces, natural elements like rain, light or the time of day. Colour also plays a role, of course, but I look more at what I don't want to have in the picture. There are some hues that I try to avoid. But even there I have no rules. TPL: What is it that you enjoy about street photography. What happens when you walk the streets with your camera? Explain your technique? Have you ever had a negative encounter? BP: I've become quite introverted over the last few years. So when I walk the streets with my camera, it's a great feeling of freedom. It's a completely different look at the streets, the people, and maybe society itself. At least while I'm taking pictures. In Switzerland, street photography is not really a thing yet. At least not in the sense that it is for me and for you. I haven't had any really negative encounters. There was once a security guard who walked up to me and gruffly asked me not to take a picture of any of the buildings I walked past. That still makes me laugh because first, he had no right to ask that and second, he totally pointed out this particular building that I personally didn't even notice. I never did figure out what was special about it or why he didn't want me to photograph it. Maybe he was just bored. Then a few people asked me what I was doing with my camera. I tried to explain, but there's pretty much no understanding of street photography. And when I mention that I'm a street photographer, they look confused and don't know what I'm talking about. Often employees or store owners leave their building to see if I am doing anything illegal. Obviously, I look suspicious. It makes me smile in the moment, but in the past it has often lowered my confidence or killed my mood. I'm trying to work on it and prepare myself. So I made business cards with my website address on them so suspicious people can see for themselves. Waving your smartphone around and showing people your social media doesn't always work out so well. But I haven't had any really bad encounters yet. Fortunately. TPL: What is it like photographing on the streets of Switzerland? Why do you think street photography in Switzerland is not viewed as an art form? BP: It is mostly peaceful. Of course, that also depends on the photographer. If I were to send angry signals to people, for example, that would change, of course. But if I'm not in the mood, I'm not on the street to shoot. People are mostly busy with their schedule. They're in their own head, obviously thinking about their day and their own stuff. It's the unusual perspectives or the unusual places that often get the attention. When I started doing this, and it wasn't too long ago, I didn't know street photography as a genre. And when I started sharing my photos on social media, I was so surprised how big the "online scene" is and how many people are there taking photos on the streets. It was so great and motivating to learn that I'm not alone. After a while I met other people online from my country, even from my city, and most of them - like me - had no idea that they are not alone in this. Find your own inspiration and your own way. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us, and the reason for their significance? BP: I love French cinema. Filmmakers like Godard or Melville, but also American cinema and Asian cinema. Wong Kar-Wai, Kim Ki-Duk, Sergio Leone, Takeshi Kitano or Nicolas Winding Refn. The list is endless. Also in terms of photographers, Vivian Maier, Saul Leiter, Robert Frank and Nan Goldin, for example. 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? BP: I mostly use a 50mm prime lens, but I try to use also a zoom lens and a 35mm lens. I own two Sony alpha cameras. The reason I chose them was my budget. It isn't high. The two cameras I own are not very new and therefore not very expensive. So are the lenses. They are small and for me very intuitive to use. I don't have time to change the settings that much. Especially at night every corner in the city has different lighting and I screw up my settings on a regular basis. I try to learn that it isn't that important. But it is a process. We see so much flawless stuff on social media. We have to try ignore that and don't let it pressure us. TPL: When you go out photographing, do you have a concept in mind of what you want to shoot, or do you let the images just "come to you", or is it both? BP: I had that in the past. But it never worked out. Since then, I just try to see what comes my way. That's something about street photography that is very exciting and special. Spontaneity on my part and of course the natural course of the streets and the people. TPL: You have a family business that has been creating masks for The Carnival of Basal. Could you tell us more about this family tradition and how the pandemic has affected the business and you personally? BP: In Basel, in my city, the Carnival, here called Fasnacht, is very important. It is one of the things that has always accompanied us. It is very important for our morale and also for the economy and tourism. Our atelier, the Larven Atelier Charivari in Basel City, has been around since 1976 and we have been making masks by hand since then, in accordance with tradition and traditional methods. There is still a part of the Basel population that prefers these methods to plastic. Our customers visit us every year to commission new masks or to have older ones repaired. Now that the Carnival of Basel 2020 has been cancelled, they are of course sitting on unused masks and have no reason to order new ones. It gets worse now that the 2021 Carnival has also been cancelled. But I don't give up hope and we try to keep our heads above water as long as we can. Personally, all this worries me a lot and causes headaches, fears for the future and sleepless nights. But it also allowed and forced me to focus more on photography. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist? Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself in five years? You mentioned that you are one of the founding members of The Swiss Street Collective. Talk to us about this project, how it came about and what are the collective's goals? Are there any other special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? BP: I am looking forward to the new year, among other things, because a gallerist from Basel let me know that he is interested in exhibiting my work. Yes, the Swiss Street Collective is the first Swiss collective for street photography. We got together last year and planned the project since summer 2020. It started with sharing experiences and chatting about our work. Mutual exchange of opinions and criticisms. We soon realised that our small group, as individual as we are, had very similar experiences on the streets. And we all realized that we were not the only ones. Of course we found each other, but also there were other street photographers from or in Switzerland. Most of us are rather private people and our opinions and views are sometimes very different. This presented us with some difficult decisions. But I am very happy to say that we all pull together and try to do our part to establish street photography as an art form in Switzerland. We want to shine light on it and show its artists, as well as simply show our work. We are working on different things like creating a directory where Swiss Street photographers can register. We are open to all kinds of projects and look forward to the future. We are also open to accept new members. There is a lot to do and we can use all the help we can get. Therefore I am very grateful to be able to introduce and explain the collective here. TPL: When I am not out photographing, I (like to)... BP: Spend time with my family. Thank you so much for this interview and the opportunity. I feel very honored and I am so glad I could talk to you. PORTFOLIO WEBSITE INSTAGRAM read more interviews >>> THE VILLAGE A workers’ neighbourhood becomes a living archive as Virginia Cassano photographs the people, streets, and memories that continue to shape Villaggio Piaggio. MUTABLE MORPHOGENESIS By merging scientific methodologies with photographic experimentation, Emma Varga creates images that challenge fixed distinctions between human and non-human, visible and invisible. THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. 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.

I am a Turkish street photographer. I started taking photographs in 2011 during my university years whilst I studied in the Cinema/TV department. In the beginning, I was shooting more architectural, landscape, portrait style photographs. Later I discovered street photography. The spirit of street photography drew me in. I saw that I express myself best by taking street photographs. I feel very lucky that I live in Istanbul, because Istanbul is one of the most beautiful cities in the world where street photos can be taken. EMIR SEVIM I am a Turkish street photographer. I started taking photographs in 2011 during my university years whilst I studied in the Cinema/TV department. In the beginning, I was shooting more architectural, landscape, portrait style photographs. Later I discovered street photography. The spirit of street photography drew me in. I saw that I express myself best by taking street photographs. I feel very lucky that I live in Istanbul, because Istanbul is one of the most beautiful cities in the world where street photos can be taken. LOCATION Istanbul TURKEY CAMERA/S Fujifilm X-T30 WEBSITE http://www.emirsevim.com @EMIRSEVIM @EMIR.SEVIM.96558 FEATURES // Finding The Magic Of Istanbul

My mental health is something I've struggled with since I was teenager and as soon as I started getting acquainted with my first digital camera a few years ago, I quickly discovered it to be a useful tool in sorting myself out. Since then I've explored different genres and enjoy them all however it has been in self portraiture that I have really found myself. Photography has become a healing creative outlet for me and has saved me in many ways. ABBIE BRIGGS My mental health is something I've struggled with since I was teenager and as soon as I started getting acquainted with my first digital camera a few years ago, I quickly discovered it to be a useful tool in sorting myself out. Since then I've explored different genres and enjoy them all however it has been in self portraiture that I have really found myself. Photography has become a healing creative outlet for me and has saved me in many ways. LOCATION Wisconsin USA CAMERA/S Canon 6D Mark II @_ABBIEBRIGGS FEATURES // Out of the Darkness

A year and a half ago I decided to buy a camera to film my trip to South Africa. After the trip I felt like my camera was collecting dust on the shelf. So last year June 2019 I decided to take my camera to work on a daily basis and explore the city during my one hour lunch break. This was the start of the one hour lunch break sessions and later would expand to photographing in the weekends. First it started with taking pictures of architecture and later it expanded to street photography. I like shooting architecture, because buildings never move and I find it really relaxing to do. Just walking around alone in an unknown city, taking pictures of some beautiful buildings. As a motion designer I am always fascinated by pattern, close-ups and repetition of the buildings. GINO RICARDO A year and a half ago I decided to buy a camera to film my trip to South Africa. After the trip I felt like my camera was collecting dust on the shelf. So last year June 2019 I decided to take my camera to work on a daily basis and explore the city during my one hour lunch break. This was the start of the one hour lunch break sessions and later would expand to photographing in the weekends. First it started with taking pictures of architecture and later it expanded to street photography. I like shooting architecture, because buildings never move and I find it really relaxing to do. Just walking around alone in an unknown city, taking pictures of some beautiful buildings. As a motion designer I am always fascinated by pattern, close-ups and repetition of the buildings. LOCATION NETHERLANDS CAMERA/S Panasonic GH5 & G9 WEBSITE https://fleeting.pictures/ @FLEETING_PICTURES FEATURES // Architecturally Composed

LIFE THROUGH MY LENS British documentary photographer Jason Shipley finds inspiration in the people he meets and their life struggles. LIFE THROUGH MY LENS August 7, 2020 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Jason Shipley INTERVIEW Karin Svadlenak Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE Jason Shipley is a passionate British documentary photographer from Kingston upon Hull. He finds inspiration in the people he meets and their struggles, which he often documents in long-term series. Jason shared a story with us in the Magazine about British miners and how the miner strikes of the 1980s have affected their lives. His photographs have been featured in such renowned places as the British Museum. Jason's life is filled with photography - full time. We took this opportunity to ask him about it. “I was born in Kingston upon Hull. I grew up here and I’m still living here. It's a working class city built from the deep sea fishing industry. I have been interested in photography since I was 17 (that was in 1987). We had an old 35mm camera that nobody used, I used it the most. My mother had a lot of photos, family portraits mainly. It just appealed to me, catching and saving a moment forever.” IN CONVERSATION WITH JASON SHIPLEY THE PICTORIAL LIST: Jason, where do you find your inspiration to photograph? JASON SHIPLEY: I find it on the street with the people I meet and the struggles people have, it sends me in different directions. TPL: Do you have a favorite genre of photography, and if so, what about it appeals to you? JS: My favourite genre of photography is documentary, mostly social. It’s the gritty essence, but street is my sidekick. TPL: Has your style of photographing changed since you first started? JS: My style has changed a lot, I started in portraiture and flash photography, studio and street. TPL: Do you have a favorite place(s) to photograph? JS: My favourite place to photograph has to be anywhere outdoors. As long as it has humans involved. TPL: Who are your favorite artists? JS: John Bulmer, Don McCullin, Jane Bown, and Raymond Depardon Photography for me is not looking, it's feeling. If you can't feel what you're looking at, then you're never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures. - Don McCullin TPL: How did you think of your long-term documentary project about the miners? JS: I’ve always backed the underdog. I feel the miners deserve recognition for the work and struggles they endured down the mines. Pit life was extremely difficult, as a boy I remember the strikes, on TV, I always would cheer the miners on. After 30 years the miners still check up regularly on each other for health and social related issues, I have never seen such comradeship from any bunch of workers. During the UK lockdown they even called me to see if I was in good health! I'm totally amazed and proud that they thought of me in some ways as part of the team. Editor's note - Read the story 'Comrades Forever' using the links at the end of the interview. TPL: What camera/s do you use? Do you have a preferred lens/focal length? JS: My preference in cameras is Nikon for portraits, street photography Fuji xt3 and 35 mm Nikon F5, for landscape Hasselblad 500cm 120mm. TPL: What characteristics do you think you need to become a good photographer? Any tips or advice for someone just starting out? JS: My honest answer - In photography if you are willing to learn and are a little crazy, and you have an artistic eye, you can learn as much as you want. I believe you constantly learn new techniques throughout your career. I experiment a lot. TPL: Are there any special projects, other than the long-term documentary on British miners, that you are currently working on? JS: I am currently working on a vulnerable youth project, it’s a commission from the youth service. I´m also working on the council estate project in Hull, also a commission. TPL: “When I am not out photographing, I am… JS: When I’m not out doing documentary work I’m usually doing street photography. I’m prolific - I’m out shooting now, I shoot every day, when I’m not out shooting I’m sleeping or in my dark room.” PORTFOLIO INSTAGRAM read more interviews >>> THE VILLAGE A workers’ neighbourhood becomes a living archive as Virginia Cassano photographs the people, streets, and memories that continue to shape Villaggio Piaggio. MUTABLE MORPHOGENESIS By merging scientific methodologies with photographic experimentation, Emma Varga creates images that challenge fixed distinctions between human and non-human, visible and invisible. THE ARCHITECTURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS Chad Coombs’ Polaroids are small psychological scenes where identity, memory, culture, and belief push against each other. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. 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.

PICTORIAL STORY CLAY AND ASHES A story of resilience — where hands shape heritage, and Abdulla Shinose CK captures the quiet tension between past and present. February 9, 2025 PICTORIAL STORY photography ABDULLA SHINOSE CK story ABDULLA SHINOSE CK introduction MELANIE MEGGS SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Abdulla Shinose CK, an emerging documentary filmmaker and photographer with an academic background in history and political science from the University of Delhi, explores the evolving relationship between tradition and modernity in his work. His practice is grounded in cultural heritage, focusing on communities whose way of life is being reshaped by economic and social change. In Clay and Ashes , Abdulla offers a rare look into a craft at an instable position, where survival depends on both adaptation and the preservation of a fragile but enduring cultural legacy. He focuses on Kumhar Gram, a potters’ colony in West Delhi where artisans have shaped clay for generations. This series captures the daily rhythms of a community navigating the pressures of industrialization, environmental regulations, and shifting consumer habits. Each photograph offers a window into the potters’ world revealing both the beauty of their craft and the precarity of its survival. This is Abdulla's story. Tucked away in the busy lanes of West Delhi, Kumhar Gram, or the Potter's Colony, is a living testament to the endurance of tradition in an ever-evolving city. Founded in the 1960s by families migrating from Alwar, this community of over 700 families has maintained its age-old craft of pottery-making, which remains central to their identity and livelihood. As one meanders through the dust-laden paths of Uttam Nagar, the air hums with the rhythmic spinning of potter’s wheels. The colony's narrow lanes are lined with workshops, where every house is both a home and a production site. Piles of clay sit drying in the open, while artisans carefully craft everything from kulhars to decorative idols. The quiet tapping of fired clay resonates from every corner, each beat echoing the legacy of a craft passed down through generations. Yet, despite the labor-intensive art being central to their lives, the potters’ future is uncertain. The rise of mass-produced plastic and metal items has diminished demand for traditional clay products. Moreover, the colony faces scrutiny from environmental authorities for the pollution created by the kiln operations. These challenges, compounded by caste-based marginalization, paint a picture of a community struggling to preserve its cultural heritage while confronting the harsh realities of modern urbanization. However, amidst these challenges, the spirit of the potters endures. Known as Prajapatis, after the Vedic god of creation, their craft is not merely a livelihood but a vital connection to their roots. In their hands, clay becomes more than just material - it becomes a symbol of survival, resistance, and identity. As the community continues to craft their wares, their struggle to preserve both their art and their place in a rapidly changing world carries on, generation after generation. © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK © Abdulla Shinose CK Abdulla Shinose CK’s Clay and Ashes serves as more than just a visual record of Kumhar Gram’s potters — it is a powerful reflection on the delicate balance between tradition and progress. The community stands at a crossroads, fighting to sustain its craft against industrialization, environmental restrictions, and shifting consumer preferences. Their struggle is not just about pottery; it represents a broader metaphor for cultural heritage in an era of relentless modernization. As the wheels continue to spin and hands mold clay into art, the question remains: Can tradition endure in the face of an uncertain future? view Abdulla Shinose CK's portfolio Instagram >>> The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author/s, and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List and the team. read more stories >>> ARE THOSE WINDS Along Istanbul’s northern edge, Ci Demi photographs the last water buffalo herders as they keep working, remembering, and staying put while the city closes in. COLORS OF HÜZÜN Through fragments and gestures, Pedro Vidal traces Istanbul as shared melancholy lingers in everyday life, the city unfolding slowly and refusing to settle into a single, definitive understanding. OUT OF PLAY An exploration of abandoned interiors in which Marco Lugli examines how objects, light, and space carry memory beyond human presence, establishing absence as a condition of material continuity rather than loss. REIMAGINING TALIESIN Form gives way to flux in Amy Newton-McConnel’s photographs, where architecture unfolds as a field of shifting relations and perception moves with light, geometry, and time. WHERE THE MUSIC BEGINS Before the strings, Jeevan Akash Jayavarthanan leaves the movement of the street for the rhythm of the workshop, where time holds, hands work, and each moment forms what will later be heard. LAND, LABOR, AND THE GOLDEN FIBER In West Bengal’s jute fields, Rajesh Dhar examines the systems of land and labor, tracing how a single material sustains communities and informs a changing ecological future. WITH GRATITUDE AND DEVOTION A quiet and intimate account of devotion in Zaraza, Venezuela, Rafael Ayala Páez reflects on faith, memory, and community through photographs and words that honor the enduring power of small gestures. SILVER AND BREATH Within this fragile space between looking and being seen, Eva Christina Nielsen has developed a practice that is both restrained and deeply attentive. RUPTURE REPAIR REMNANT In this reflection on rupture, Donna Bassin invites us to consider how grief settles into the body and the image, and how the slow work of witnessing becomes a form of repair. DELTA DUSK John Agather weaves image and text into a single current, tracing how music, memory, and daily life continue to move through the Mississippi Delta. SILENT BEAUTY Tamara Quadrelli photographs the world by slowing down inside it. There is no rush to explain what we are seeing. The pleasure comes from staying with it. SOLITUDE UNDER A TECHNIFIED SUN Tracing the space between movement and stillness, Héctor Morón reveals a city that persists as human presence slips by. 4320 MINUTES WITHOUT COLOR Moving between photography and narration, Mohammed Nahi traces a period in which sight could no longer be assumed as reliable, and attention shifted toward memory and duration. THE PAINTED VILLAGE OF LABANDHAR Anjan Ghosh’s photographs carry us to Labandhar, where painting becomes language, tradition stays present, and art grows through shared ground. ORDINARY GRIEF What endures when everything else is uncertain? Through photography, Parisa Azadi asks us to see Iran not as story, but as feeling. THE EVERYMAN Eva Mallis uncovers the quiet strength of overlooked lives, capturing everyday encounters in Mumbai’s industrial districts as intimate portraits of labor and resilience. IN BETWEEN LIFE AND AFTER In Cairo’s City of the Dead, families carve out ordinary lives among centuries of tombs — Paola Ferrarotti traces the fragile line between memory and survival. UNFIGURED Nasos Karabelas transforms the human body into a site of emotional flux — where perception fractures and inner states become visible form. VISIONS OF ICELAND FROM ABOVE Massimo Lupidi takes flight above Iceland — capturing nature’s abstract brushstrokes where land, water, and sky blur into poetic visions beyond the ordinary eye. UNDER THE CLOUDS Giordano Simoncini presents a visual ethnography of the interconnectedness of indigenous cosmology, material life, and the ecological balance within the Quechua communities of the Peruvian Andes. NYC SUBWAY RIDERS BEFORE THE INVASION OF SMARTPHONES Hiroyuki Ito’s subway photographs reveal a vanished intimacy — strangers lost in thought in a world before digital distractions took hold. THE GHOST SELF Buku Sarkar stages her refusal to vanish. Her photographs are unflinching, lyrical acts of documentation, mapping a body in flux and a mind grappling with the epistemic dissonance of chronic illness. WHISPERS On Mother’s Day, Regina Melo's story asks us to pause. To remember. To feel. It honors the profound, often quiet sacrifices that mothers make, and the invisible threads that bind us to them. BEYOND THE MASK By stepping beyond the scripted world of professional wrestling and into the raw terrain of mental health, Matteo Bergami and Fabio Giarratano challenge long-held myths about masculinity, endurance, and heroism. FRAGMENTS OF TIME Each of jfk's diptychs functions as a microcosm of the city, allowing viewers to experience urban life as constant fragmented glimpses, mirroring the unpredictable nature of human interactions.

Four decades of being a photographer inevitably results in the development of both a way of seeing and a way of telling. When I first set out as a photographer, I realised that although a photograph should ‘speak’ for itself, a story always brought it to life. Now, here I am forty years later, writing about my photographs and about photography as one of the most powerful ways of communicating. DAVID GILBERT WRIGHT Four decades of being a photographer inevitably results in the development of both a way of seeing and a way of telling. When I first set out as a photographer, I realised that although a photograph should ‘speak’ for itself, a story always brought it to life. Now, here I am forty years later, writing about my photographs and about photography as one of the most powerful ways of communicating. LOCATION UNITED KINGDOM CAMERA/S Pentax KX, Nikon F2 WEBSITE http://www.davidwright.photography @DAVIDGILBERTWRIGHT FEATURES // Disappearing Ireland Activists For Change The Storyteller The Appleby Horse Fair

PICTORIAL STORY END OF AN ERA Mish Aminoff reflects on the days following the Queen’s passing, opening a quiet, personal aperture onto a nation in mourning. Her photographs trace moments of reflection, ritual, and human connection as the country moved toward the final farewell. September 24, 2022 PICTORIAL STORY photography MISH AMINOFF story MISH AMINOFF introduction KAREN GHOSTLAW POMARICO SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Mish Aminoff is a multifaceted and multidisciplinary artist who engages the arts with passion. Photography becomes her eyes; she paints to express what she sees, sings from the soul, and dances with an open heart. Her photography is intuitive and spontaneous, allowing the moments captured to fill the frame with authenticity. She has had a camera in her hands since she was a child, seeing things in a different way, developing an approach of depicting the world around her in a unique manner. Her multicultural heritage gives her a unique awareness and acceptance of the community she lives in. When The Pictorial List heard the news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, we thought of Mish’s unique eye and awareness she brings to her visual storytelling and asked her if she would fill her frame with the authenticity she sees in the streets of London during this time of loss, depicting the end of an era . In the photographer's own words, I let Mish open the aperture, revealing her impressions on the days following the Queen’s death leading to the funeral procession. These images document, from my visual perspective, the streets of London in the immediate aftermath following the death of Queen Elizabeth ll. She had been queen for 70 years - longer than I have been alive - so I have always known her to be the Queen. Her image has been a constant in the fabric of daily life; her miniature representation appears on coins, banknotes, stamps. Even in the domestic arena, my breakfast marmalade has the symbol of her crown on the label, with the words “By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen” printed in tiny capitals. When I speak, my London accent is definitely more Queen’s English than cockney. The morning after her death was announced I traveled into Central London. For me, it felt momentous, like the end of an era. The streets at that point were quiet, the atmosphere oddly surreal and I intuitively started photographing. During 2022 I had been photographing aspects of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The images tended to contain a lot of nationalist imagery such as Union Jack flags and bunting. Whilst there were photographs of the Queen in shops and people’s home windows they were often humorous; including paper masks and life-size cardboard cutouts; the sort of thing you might see at a funfair. However, immediately after her death the types of representations and the scale of these images changed markedly. On London Underground, illuminated advertising was either darkened and switched off out of respect or the advertising was replaced with the Queen’s portrait. Suddenly, her face was everywhere, projected on walls, monitors, light boxes and screens. She was magnified, sometimes reflected. These images were often much larger than life, filling walls and building facades. Her iconic representation now spanned everything from a tiny postage stamp to large mural projections. One of the things I found interesting was that rather than one official portrait, images have been chosen that encompass many decades. The streets are filled with a variety of her portraits as a young queen, middle aged woman and senior. One such portrait, used for her Silver Jubilee back in 1977, was made even more iconic by American artist Andy Warhol, who created a series of screen prints of Reigning Queens in 1985, in addition to screen idols Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and musician Elvis. At the September London Colour Walk, Artist Sue Kreitzman repurposed her Andy Warhol tea towel, a merchandising spin off of the artwork, sewing it into the back of her multicoloured coat. As well as the tributes as the week progressed, I couldn’t help noticing juxtapositions of the Queen’s representation with street art and signage. Increasingly these became more commercial - her image could be found side by side with adverts for store offers. Sometimes light box signage oscillated between dedications to Queen Elizabeth and completely unrelated merchandise, which had a surreal, almost absurd quality. What made the Queen so recognisable? To me the Queen’s accessories function as metonymy, where a single white glove, seen at the edge of a magazine cover, undoubtedly belongs to Her Majesty. Beyond the obvious crown, her pearls, brooches, hats, handbags and shoes are not just accessories but powerful symbols communicating ideas of identity, stability and sovereignty. What has surprised and bewildered me are the extreme contrasts and polarized opinions in the reactions and emotions to her death, even amongst my friends and colleagues. They range from people feeling utterly bereft to total indifference. There were 250,000 mourners who queued for up to seventeen hours to pay their respects and catch a glimpse of her coffin. There are people who feel censored - that they are not allowed to express any dissenting opinions. There is also deep anger and pain with regards to her role in colonialism. Afua Hirsch’s recent article for The Guardian newspaper headlined This is a Britain that has lost its Queen – and the luxury of denial about its past was an eye opener for me. Whatever your feelings are about the Queen, I hope you find something interesting and visually pleasing in this series of photographs. © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff © Mish Aminoff The Pictorial List would like to thank Mish for her sensitive documentation and pictorial translations of her observations during these mournful and unsettling times in the United Kingdom. She shared with us an authentic look from her own visual perspective depicting the events she witnessed. We commend her respect for the diversity of opinion, reflected and captured through her brilliant photography. We appreciate her honest portrayal of this significant period in history. Please take a look at her portfolio and learn even more about Mish and how photography and the arts have become a thread in her beautiful tapestry of life. Join her mailing list to read her blogs, they will not disappoint! view Mish's portfolio Mish's Blog >>> Instagram >>> Sources included - The Guardian | ‘This is a Britain that has lost its Queen – and the luxury of denial about its past’ >>> Andy Warhol's Queen Elizabeth 2 >>> 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 >>> ARE THOSE WINDS Along Istanbul’s northern edge, Ci Demi photographs the last water buffalo herders as they keep working, remembering, and staying put while the city closes in. COLORS OF HÜZÜN Through fragments and gestures, Pedro Vidal traces Istanbul as shared melancholy lingers in everyday life, the city unfolding slowly and refusing to settle into a single, definitive understanding. OUT OF PLAY An exploration of abandoned interiors in which Marco Lugli examines how objects, light, and space carry memory beyond human presence, establishing absence as a condition of material continuity rather than loss. REIMAGINING TALIESIN Form gives way to flux in Amy Newton-McConnel’s photographs, where architecture unfolds as a field of shifting relations and perception moves with light, geometry, and time. WHERE THE MUSIC BEGINS Before the strings, Jeevan Akash Jayavarthanan leaves the movement of the street for the rhythm of the workshop, where time holds, hands work, and each moment forms what will later be heard. LAND, LABOR, AND THE GOLDEN FIBER In West Bengal’s jute fields, Rajesh Dhar examines the systems of land and labor, tracing how a single material sustains communities and informs a changing ecological future. WITH GRATITUDE AND DEVOTION A quiet and intimate account of devotion in Zaraza, Venezuela, Rafael Ayala Páez reflects on faith, memory, and community through photographs and words that honor the enduring power of small gestures. SILVER AND BREATH Within this fragile space between looking and being seen, Eva Christina Nielsen has developed a practice that is both restrained and deeply attentive. RUPTURE REPAIR REMNANT In this reflection on rupture, Donna Bassin invites us to consider how grief settles into the body and the image, and how the slow work of witnessing becomes a form of repair. DELTA DUSK John Agather weaves image and text into a single current, tracing how music, memory, and daily life continue to move through the Mississippi Delta. SILENT BEAUTY Tamara Quadrelli photographs the world by slowing down inside it. There is no rush to explain what we are seeing. The pleasure comes from staying with it. SOLITUDE UNDER A TECHNIFIED SUN Tracing the space between movement and stillness, Héctor Morón reveals a city that persists as human presence slips by. 4320 MINUTES WITHOUT COLOR Moving between photography and narration, Mohammed Nahi traces a period in which sight could no longer be assumed as reliable, and attention shifted toward memory and duration. THE PAINTED VILLAGE OF LABANDHAR Anjan Ghosh’s photographs carry us to Labandhar, where painting becomes language, tradition stays present, and art grows through shared ground. ORDINARY GRIEF What endures when everything else is uncertain? Through photography, Parisa Azadi asks us to see Iran not as story, but as feeling. THE EVERYMAN Eva Mallis uncovers the quiet strength of overlooked lives, capturing everyday encounters in Mumbai’s industrial districts as intimate portraits of labor and resilience. IN BETWEEN LIFE AND AFTER In Cairo’s City of the Dead, families carve out ordinary lives among centuries of tombs — Paola Ferrarotti traces the fragile line between memory and survival. UNFIGURED Nasos Karabelas transforms the human body into a site of emotional flux — where perception fractures and inner states become visible form. VISIONS OF ICELAND FROM ABOVE Massimo Lupidi takes flight above Iceland — capturing nature’s abstract brushstrokes where land, water, and sky blur into poetic visions beyond the ordinary eye. UNDER THE CLOUDS Giordano Simoncini presents a visual ethnography of the interconnectedness of indigenous cosmology, material life, and the ecological balance within the Quechua communities of the Peruvian Andes. NYC SUBWAY RIDERS BEFORE THE INVASION OF SMARTPHONES Hiroyuki Ito’s subway photographs reveal a vanished intimacy — strangers lost in thought in a world before digital distractions took hold. THE GHOST SELF Buku Sarkar stages her refusal to vanish. Her photographs are unflinching, lyrical acts of documentation, mapping a body in flux and a mind grappling with the epistemic dissonance of chronic illness. WHISPERS On Mother’s Day, Regina Melo's story asks us to pause. To remember. To feel. It honors the profound, often quiet sacrifices that mothers make, and the invisible threads that bind us to them. BEYOND THE MASK By stepping beyond the scripted world of professional wrestling and into the raw terrain of mental health, Matteo Bergami and Fabio Giarratano challenge long-held myths about masculinity, endurance, and heroism. FRAGMENTS OF TIME Each of jfk's diptychs functions as a microcosm of the city, allowing viewers to experience urban life as constant fragmented glimpses, mirroring the unpredictable nature of human interactions.

PICTORIAL STORY CYCLING CUBA Georg Reiter’s two bicycle journeys through Cuba offer a compelling, ground-level view of a country shaped by contrast and endurance. His story captures candid encounters and daily realities, revealing Cuba’s culture, communities, and their spirit. July 19, 2021 PICTORIAL STORY photography GEORG REITER story GEORG REITER introduction KARIN SVADLENAK SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link In 2018 and again in 2019, photographer Georg Reiter pedaled through Cuba with a camera and a curiosity for everyday life. His travels took him far beyond tourist routes — into side streets, village squares, and open landscapes where life unfolds at its own pace. Now based in Vienna, Georg shares a compelling visual account of a country caught between past and present, offering a rare and unfiltered glimpse into the heart of Cuban life. Havana: Engine noise from outside, half past six in the evening and starting to get dark. Here we were, in Cuba, more precisely in Centro Habana. Havana, morbid, abandoned to decay, fascinating, loud. The Malecon, located directly on the sea, the living room of the Habaneros, only a block away, is full of life and probably one of the most beautiful places in the world. By contrast, Habana Vieja, the restored old town is touristy, spruced up and boring. Havana is a city full of contrasts. We got an internet card to be able to send e-mails home at the hotspots. Only very few families have private internet in Cuba. And we exchanged euros for CUC, the "peso convertible" (convertible currency). The two-currency system also divides society into two classes. There is the local CUP, which can only be used in state stores and markets, and the CUC, which is one-to-one pegged to the dollar. Only those self-employed in the tourism industry, owners of casa particulares , restaurants, etc. and tourists can get CUC. As a tourist you only get the CUC, and the CUP only in exceptional cases at markets. After 3 days in Havana, we rode our bikes to the west of Cuba: we wanted to go to Vinales. We didn't book any accommodation, we just rode off and looked for casas particulares , private accommodation. Usually you get breakfast there, but often also a home-cooked dinner. This saves you having to search for a restaurant and you also have family connections. Rural Cuba shows a completely different face of the island. Simple dirt roads lead to small huts covered with palm fronds. A farmer tills his field with an archaic ox plow. Tobacco plants thrive in the fertile fields. 80% of Cuban tobacco comes from the west of Cuba. We overtake cyclists on rickety steel horses alongside horse-drawn carriages with real horses. The twittering of birds came in from the garden, the nocturnal thunderstorms had cleared, including the thunderstorms in my stomach. We were in Mariel, only 50 km west of Havana. A small town with a large port and a modern container terminal. We spent four days there with incredibly friendly, helpful people. I had caught a violent gastrointestinal virus that put me out of action for a few days. But with the medication we had brought with us and a little "magic" from the neighbor, I soon felt better. Here we felt real socialism again. In the state shops there is little available: a bit of food, hardly any hygiene articles and the pharmacies have few medicines. But the Cubans have learned to deal with it, they swap, help each other out and are world champions in recycling. In addition, a lot of assistance comes from the Cubans living in exile in the USA. We rode to Vinales via Las Terrazas, and Soroa, through primeval forests, through national parks, over lonely roads where we couldn't buy anything to eat, on motorways on which mostly horse-drawn vehicles were traveling, and through beautiful little places. We had many encounters with friendly people and we drove through incredible landscapes that were completely foreign to us. It is a journey back in time, to long past, almost archaic times. Moving on towards central Cuba, we rode from Vinales by bus about 300 km to Jagüe Grande and from there went on by bike, first along the coast to Playa Giron. In central Cuba we found turquoise seas, invasions of crabs on the streets, fishermen and a tranquil way of life in its calm cities. We also visited the notorious Bay of Pigs. Cubans in exile, equipped and supported by the USA, landed near Playa Girón in April 1961 during their Bay of Pigs invasion. Some pieces of equipment and extensive information about the fight are on display in the Playa Girón Museum. We then went directly to the coast, with a few stays in small towns by the sea, on to Castillo de Jagua and from there took a ferry to Cienfuegos. Cienfuegos is a very contemplative small town with the wonderful, old theater Teatro Terry of the former sugar baron Tomas Terry. Trinidad was noisy, uncomfortably touristy, and there were a lot of very intrusive Jineteros who wanted to bring us to the "best and cheapest" accommodation. We rode through the incredible Valle de Los Ingenios, or Valley of the Sugarmills, where, while visiting a cemetery, we chatted with the gravedigger, who told us that although he is 68 years old, he still has to work to survive as he receives almost no pension. So he tends the graves and gets a little money or something to eat from the bereaved. In Santa Clara we visited the monument and tomb of Che Guevara. During the Cuban Revolution against the Batista regime, the city was attacked and captured in December 1958 by troops of the July 26th Movement under the command of Che Guevara. After Che Guevara's long-lost bones were found in Bolivia, his remains were transferred to Cuba in 1997 and buried in a specially created mausoleum in Santa Clara. From Santa Clara we drove through a very varied landscape with many small towns, to Colon and on to Matanzas. In Mantanzas, 210 km from Santa Clara, directly by the sea, we spent another 2 days before our return to Vienna. In 2019 we came back to Cuba for the second time, starting with Holguin, on our bikes again. This time we wanted to travel to the east. In the Cuban east we found lonely gravel roads, hardly any tourists, but hospitable, friendly people. It was hot and humid as we strolled through the streets. Familiar smells, familiar noises, we had the feeling that we already knew this place for longer than just a few days. From Holguin we rode to Gibara, a small, rather tranquil town right on the Atlantic coast. We took a fishing boat through the large bay to Potrerillo, from where we mostly go on gravel roads in the direction of Guardalavaca. Guardalavaca has been developed into a tourist center since the 1990s. On the coast there are large, sometimes very expensive and classy all-inclusive resorts for tourists. Cubans are not allowed there except to work. The place itself is pretty gloomy, some desolate prefabricated buildings from the 60s and 70s. The contrast is unimaginable. After a nocturnal tropical thunderstorm with heavy rain and storms, we left early in the morning. We wanted to go to Mayari. The road there is only partially paved. We rode through small towns; there was no possibility to buy anything to eat or drink. On occasion a few farmers stood by the roadside and sold a few tomatoes, or, if we were lucky, a few bananas. The plantations had been harvested and then there was hardly anything left to buy. It is not delivered from one province to another like here in Europe. When it's over, it's over, we were told. So, in every small town or at every opportunity where we could get something we would provide ourselves with the bare essentials, even in the casas particulares we were given food and, above all, water. The supply here in eastern Cuba is significantly worse than in the west or in the more touristy central Cuba. In Mayari we stayed with a doctor couple with 2 children and learned a lot about life in the east, about the work in the nearby hospital and the education system. A doctor earns around €30 a month, a worker around €15. It's a meagre wage. After Mayari we came to the dirtiest city in Cuba, Moa. Nickel is mined here on a large scale and there do not seem to be any environmental regulations. We rode on quickly. 7a.m., roosters screaming loudly, probably several. Looking down from the balcony of our accommodation in Baracoa, a larger city in eastern Cuba, right on the Atlantic, I spotted them, lined up in a row, tied by one leg with a string. Short neck feathers, bare on scarlet legs. Gamecocks. It's Saturday, there are cockfights. Before the fights, they are exhibited and examined by the other residents. And there is a bet. These fights are officially forbidden and it is not possible to find out where they are taking place. After a few days of relaxation on the Atlantic, we rode on to Santiago de Cuba, Cuba's secret capital, past the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, the American prison camp in Cuba (photography strictly prohibited). It was already dark, we were riding through inanimate streets when suddenly a deafening noise broke out: reggaeton, a form of music popular with young Cubans. A few meters in front of us in the street, young men had set up huge loudspeakers and were obviously filling the whole area with sound. Thankfully, our accommodation was still a long way away. In Santiago we stayed with Luisa, a retired math professor who lives here with her granddaughter and rents out a room. Luisa is a kind, calm woman, in the morning when preparing breakfast she sings classical arias and she gave us tips for the city. From her we learned that once again there is hardly any flour or grain and therefore almost no bread. That would happen again and again, but at least there were fruits and vegetables. The next 200 kilometers would be exciting for us. According to the map, there would be only a few small villages, the road mostly just a gravel road, and it would be very dry and hot. We filled up our supplies as best we could and left early in the morning. Santiago was still sleeping and we were making good progress. After about 30 km the asphalt stopped and it got dusty. But there was almost no traffic, sometimes a team of horses or a truck. Otherwise the road was ours. The road was one of the most beautiful we have ever ridden on our bikes, simply unbelievable. On one side the sea, on the other a narrow strip with small wooden houses, picturesque little towns and behind it the Sierra Maestra towering steeply with its impenetrable primeval forests. We rode through this landscape for three days, were amazed, were often very thirsty and suffered from the heat, but again and again we found hospitable people who offered us fruit or water and invited us into their homes. After three days we were at the end of our trip through Cuba, for this time. But we will definitely come back again, Hasta la Vista Cuba! Havana © Georg Reiter Havana © Georg Reiter Havana © Georg Reiter Havana © Georg Reiter Mariel © Georg Reiter Playa Giron © Georg Reiter Trinidad © Georg Reiter Cienfuegos © Georg Reiter Cienfuegos © Georg Reiter Cienfuegos © Georg Reiter Guardalavaca © Georg Reiter Matanzas © Georg Reiter Matanzas © Georg Reiter Baracoa © Georg Reiter Baracoa © Georg Reiter Colon © Georg Reiter Holguin © Georg Reiter Gibara © Georg Reiter Moa © Georg Reiter Mayari © Georg Reiter South east coast behind Santiago de Cuba © Georg Reiter After two journeys across Cuba by bicycle, Georg Reiter emerged not just with a collection of photographs, but with a deeply personal and richly textured portrait of a nation in transition. From the crumbling grandeur of Havana’s colonial facades to the silent resilience of farmers in the eastern provinces, Georg’s story is one of contrasts. His journey maps more than geography; it traces the patterns of daily life, the quiet dignity of people navigating systemic hardship, and the layered beauty of a country shaped by its past yet pressing forward with its own sense of purpose. In every image and anecdote, Cuba is neither romanticized nor reduced — it is encountered, questioned, and felt. For Georg, and now for us, the road through Cuba is as much an inward reflection as it is an outward exploration. view Georg's portfolio Read an interview with Georg >>> Website >>> Instagram >>> The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List and the team. read more stories >>> ARE THOSE WINDS Along Istanbul’s northern edge, Ci Demi photographs the last water buffalo herders as they keep working, remembering, and staying put while the city closes in. COLORS OF HÜZÜN Through fragments and gestures, Pedro Vidal traces Istanbul as shared melancholy lingers in everyday life, the city unfolding slowly and refusing to settle into a single, definitive understanding. OUT OF PLAY An exploration of abandoned interiors in which Marco Lugli examines how objects, light, and space carry memory beyond human presence, establishing absence as a condition of material continuity rather than loss. REIMAGINING TALIESIN Form gives way to flux in Amy Newton-McConnel’s photographs, where architecture unfolds as a field of shifting relations and perception moves with light, geometry, and time. WHERE THE MUSIC BEGINS Before the strings, Jeevan Akash Jayavarthanan leaves the movement of the street for the rhythm of the workshop, where time holds, hands work, and each moment forms what will later be heard. LAND, LABOR, AND THE GOLDEN FIBER In West Bengal’s jute fields, Rajesh Dhar examines the systems of land and labor, tracing how a single material sustains communities and informs a changing ecological future. WITH GRATITUDE AND DEVOTION A quiet and intimate account of devotion in Zaraza, Venezuela, Rafael Ayala Páez reflects on faith, memory, and community through photographs and words that honor the enduring power of small gestures. SILVER AND BREATH Within this fragile space between looking and being seen, Eva Christina Nielsen has developed a practice that is both restrained and deeply attentive. RUPTURE REPAIR REMNANT In this reflection on rupture, Donna Bassin invites us to consider how grief settles into the body and the image, and how the slow work of witnessing becomes a form of repair. DELTA DUSK John Agather weaves image and text into a single current, tracing how music, memory, and daily life continue to move through the Mississippi Delta. SILENT BEAUTY Tamara Quadrelli photographs the world by slowing down inside it. There is no rush to explain what we are seeing. The pleasure comes from staying with it. SOLITUDE UNDER A TECHNIFIED SUN Tracing the space between movement and stillness, Héctor Morón reveals a city that persists as human presence slips by. 4320 MINUTES WITHOUT COLOR Moving between photography and narration, Mohammed Nahi traces a period in which sight could no longer be assumed as reliable, and attention shifted toward memory and duration. THE PAINTED VILLAGE OF LABANDHAR Anjan Ghosh’s photographs carry us to Labandhar, where painting becomes language, tradition stays present, and art grows through shared ground. ORDINARY GRIEF What endures when everything else is uncertain? Through photography, Parisa Azadi asks us to see Iran not as story, but as feeling. THE EVERYMAN Eva Mallis uncovers the quiet strength of overlooked lives, capturing everyday encounters in Mumbai’s industrial districts as intimate portraits of labor and resilience. IN BETWEEN LIFE AND AFTER In Cairo’s City of the Dead, families carve out ordinary lives among centuries of tombs — Paola Ferrarotti traces the fragile line between memory and survival. UNFIGURED Nasos Karabelas transforms the human body into a site of emotional flux — where perception fractures and inner states become visible form. VISIONS OF ICELAND FROM ABOVE Massimo Lupidi takes flight above Iceland — capturing nature’s abstract brushstrokes where land, water, and sky blur into poetic visions beyond the ordinary eye. UNDER THE CLOUDS Giordano Simoncini presents a visual ethnography of the interconnectedness of indigenous cosmology, material life, and the ecological balance within the Quechua communities of the Peruvian Andes. NYC SUBWAY RIDERS BEFORE THE INVASION OF SMARTPHONES Hiroyuki Ito’s subway photographs reveal a vanished intimacy — strangers lost in thought in a world before digital distractions took hold. THE GHOST SELF Buku Sarkar stages her refusal to vanish. Her photographs are unflinching, lyrical acts of documentation, mapping a body in flux and a mind grappling with the epistemic dissonance of chronic illness. WHISPERS On Mother’s Day, Regina Melo's story asks us to pause. To remember. To feel. It honors the profound, often quiet sacrifices that mothers make, and the invisible threads that bind us to them. BEYOND THE MASK By stepping beyond the scripted world of professional wrestling and into the raw terrain of mental health, Matteo Bergami and Fabio Giarratano challenge long-held myths about masculinity, endurance, and heroism. FRAGMENTS OF TIME Each of jfk's diptychs functions as a microcosm of the city, allowing viewers to experience urban life as constant fragmented glimpses, mirroring the unpredictable nature of human interactions.