INSPIRATION
My Favorite Shot
HUMANS OF THE WORLD
What’s your favorite photo?
Could you pick a favorite image you’ve taken? Not easy we know, but to coincide with our November 2021 HUMANS OF THE WORLD call for entries, we asked some of the photographers in our community to do just that. Or at least to pick a shot related to the topic that they hold dearly, were happy to have taken recently, or that resonates with them right now. Here they tell us why…
(Banner image: Karoliina Kase)
SARAH MEI HERMAN
www.sarahmeiherman.nl / @sarahmeiherman
Linli & Naomi, Xiamen, January 2015, from the series Touch.
“I took this photograph of the young Chinese couple Linli and Naomi, during a four month artist in residence in the Chinese Southeastern coastal city Xiamen. This photograph is one my favorites because for me personally there is so much love and sensuality in it. I had photographed Linli several times before this (she also became an important subject in my ongoing series) and this was taken just after she started dating Naomi. They were very much in love at the time, and although they were quite shy together, it was extremely tangible when photographing them. For the shoot we met at this abandoned house. I love how the colors of Linli’s wool jumper work together with the black and white of Naomi’s outfit and the gray wall in the background. And how Naomi (right) very subtly stretches out towards Linli, who seems a little bit more hesitant.”
JOËLLE JANSSENS
www.joellejanssens.com / @eentweedriepiano
Wolf & Pikachu from the series *x*, about identity and play.
“This picture was taken during a recent lockdown period. My kid and I were really bored and he asked me to put all of his fake transfer tattoos on his chest and arms. I told him it would make a nice picture which he immediately confirmed and so we started playing: he pulled out a box full of masks and started to mess around with Pikachu on my bed. In that burst of color I took a few shots, with a flash to make the palette even more vivid and surreal.
The most beautiful thing is that, through the years, my kid has taught me to play again and photography for us is a big part of that. It opens up our perception into a world of imagination that feels more comfortable for us than the ‘real’ world where I often feel that people put too much value on behaving a certain way. I think we have to play more, dream more and be more gentle in our judgement of each other. Playing is a beautiful way of connecting with yourself and the world around you and it certainly opens up a lot of possibilities.”
MONÍK MOLINET
www.lapistolademonik.com / @lapistolademonik
“Yanisleidys is 20 years old, lives in the countryside in Pinar del Rio (Cuba), is a college student and works breeding a few pigs with her family. When she was about 3 years old she suffered an accident, her father dropped a knife accidentally while he was cooking and it ended up into her eye. She has evaluated to undergo surgery to replace her eye with a prosthetic that would improve her appearance but the quality of prostheses that the Cuban health system has access to is far from the best due to the economic blockade imposed by the United States on the island.
So she has decided not to undergo surgery due to the discomfort of having a prosthesis of this type. She told me that she doesn’t remember what it is to see with both eyes and therefore, she doesn’t miss it, is completely adapted to it despite the unpleasant reactions other people may have when they see her.
This portrait is part of the series “Cubans, within the revolution everything” that began in 2019, before the pandemic and is still in progress. It is a series of portraits and video art of dozens of Cubans. The project identifies the Cuban revolutionary process as an unavoidable mark in each of us Cubans, for or against, near or far, its presence is inescapable. I want to amplify on their faces the traces, the consequences of a journey through the complexity of a political and social system like ours. I am trying to define this “everything” to which Fidel Castro referred in 1961.”
VIKRAM KUSHWAH
www.vikramkushwah.com / @vikramkushwah
“The Veil. Rama and her children are part of my mother’s local community in India. She pulled the veil in front of her face as soon as her husband’s older brother came into view. It reminded me of my mother doing the same around Tauji (my father’s older brother). She has done it all her married life, despite the two having such love and respect for each other. They don’t even speak to each other directly. Often, I’m the mediator between them. I’ve always seen the whole thing as a bit of a faff. As a child, I’d sometimes lift the veil, exposing her deeply embarrassed face. I’m still at odds with it, and without really pushing it (because I don’t take most things seriously anymore), one day I’d love to see the two of them talk – just talk and hang out without any boundaries, without inhibitions, and with an openness that transcends cultural traditions.”
LAURA CHEN
www.laura-chen.com / @lauramchen
“This picture was taken 3 years ago, when I was on a study trip in Stuttgart, Germany. I was only there for about 3 days, and on the second day everyone was given some free time in the afternoon to go and explore the city. Of course I brought along my camera (35mm film) to document my findings. I saw this elderly couple in the park, fast asleep. It seemed like everyone was taking an afternoon nap there. You can see the legs and feet of another person just entering the left side of the frame, lying down horizontally, taking up the whole bench. I quietly approached the couple to take a snapshot, and just as I pressed the shutter, the woman woke up and took off her hat. This sudden movement was captured in my picture, with her hat covering up her face. The man didn’t notice me at all.”
SEBRINA FASSBENDER
“This photograph is of Yolanda, who sadly has only known relationships that involved violence and control. When I met her she was living in a box on Time Square in New York City with her fiancé. I could relate to Yolanda as I knew what it was to stay with someone just to survive. This is one of the first photographs I took of her. The scar on her face along with the others on her body were made by one of her ex lovers as a way to claim ownership over her. She remained strikingly beautiful in the face of these marks and the scar left under her eye was like a permanent teardrop she shed for herself. It felt symbolic for all the women who find themselves in abusive situations and can’t find a way to leave.”
DONELL GUMIRAN
“People of Haldi. The Haldi festival is celebrated at Pattan Kodoli village in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra attended by thousands of devotees coming from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra in India. They offer prayers to the community deity of the shepherds, Shri Vittal Birdev, an incarnation of Lord Shiva, considering the rituals to bring good fortune. I managed to find a spot above the unfolding scenes, and used a slow shutter speed to give more sense of movement and energy of the people.”
IAN BAGUSKAS
www.ianbaguskasphoto.com / @ianbaguskas
“River Pyramid from the series In Between.
“Located along the shore of the Hudson River in New York state lies a lively and popular beach. The portraits in this series are of the immigrants from South and Central America who gather there in the summer. With all the subjects partially submerged, the river became sort of a metaphor about the intermedial, in-between, experience of immigrants being from one place but living in another.
This image is of a family from Colombia forming a kind of human pyramid. When I encountered this scene, the warm sun sat low behind the standing figures as it streamed through the living sculpture. The overall effect gave me a feeling as if I’m witnessing a ritual being performed. As I look at this photograph, drawing me in is a man in the water gazing at me kindly and a young girl climbing up, perhaps for her first time, being initiated into this familial tradition, looking at her mother as if to say “I’m doing it”. She is taking her place in the world, knowing that her family has her back. In this image the collapse of the union of bodies has not and will not happen, though it did. It encapsulates the importance of having a strong support system as immigrants to a foreign land.
Later on, the family invited me and my friend to eat with them at their fire pit on the beach. They shared their food and music and the frisky grandma even asked me to dance.
Sadly, the following year, the park rangers permanently closed the beach for swimming because the bacteria levels in the river were no longer safe due to the close proximity to a wastewater treatment plant. I’m not sure if or where the people I encountered here relocated their summer swimming spot, but at least I was able to document a part of it while it lasted.”
KAROLIINA KASE
www.karoliinakase.com / @karoliinakase
“Untamed. This image portrays my grandmother in her fruit and vegetable garden on an early morning in late July. She would always tend to her garden and animals early in the morning, still wearing her nightgown—a sight familiar to me since my childhood. Most of the time, her garden is untamed and overgrown, nevertheless the harvest would make up a significant part of our meals until spring. In this image, she is immersed in the greenery, as much of her time and thoughts are consumed by this place.
Most older generations in Estonia grow their own food to be more self sufficient and to continue cultural traditions. Unfortunately, much of this knowledge is disappearing with older people.”
MAX STURGEON
This image was shot in Comănești, Romania as part of my ongoing project around the Black Sea region. When I first came across the New Years Eve bear festival in the mountains of Romania I had to go. The trek through the harsh winter landscape to the small mountain town was well worth the long, cold journey.
The frozen, empty village slowly woke as the sun rose and soon the streets filled with hundreds of men, women, and children dressed in bear skins. They marched and danced through the streets to the music set by the accompanying musicians. I shot all day but as darkness and freezing cold set in and alcohol began to flow more freely the atmosphere became more chaotic and vibrant. The light and ambience were perfect and for me this photo perfectly captured the magical moment and setting.”
