EDITORS’ PICK
Images, Atmospheres, Universes
OPEN CALL
Open Call Editors’ Pick
“When do I see a photograph, when a reflection?” – Philip K. Dick
Banner image and text courtesy of Sue Bailey from her series ‘Red Laser’.
“For years, I’ve only been interested in shooting at night. For someone who began as a painter, the laser light is a substitution for paint. In this series I take painting with light literally, employing playful techniques to create incongruously dramatic, even disturbing scenes. Where’s the play? It’s in the joy of creation, though these creations are contradictory. Is it divine illumination or damnation? Is it a fire that can get out of control – or a fairyland? Overall, there is a complexity of feeling brought up by this group of images: scary and alluring, both a warning and an invitation; sometimes expressing fear and danger and sometimes expressing joy and wonder. I encourage the contradictions”.
Following Katerina Stathopoulou’s selection of winning images for our theme ‘OPEN CALL’, this compilation of 20 images, selected by the Life Framer editors represents some of the other talented photographers whose work struck us and left a mark. Some are more literal representations of the theme, and others are more abstract, but each one is a stunning image worthy of exposure and attention.
These are intended to be a conversation starter… so feel free to join the discussion on our social networks.
Image courtesy of Pinelopi Gerasimou from her series ‘New Earth’.
www.gerasimoupinelopi.com and Instagram: @gerasimoupinelopi
Image courtesy of Gabrielle Hall-Lomax from her series ‘Transformed Surfaces’ (ongoing).
“By adding sculptural pieces into natural settings, I create a new reality – a hybrid environment. My intention is to reflect on human interaction and the introduction of cultural materials into nature. I seek to capture a sense of the sublime that transcends the great divide between nature and culture. I utilise plastic as it represents contemporary society’s quest to conquer and separate from the wild. It permeates almost everything about our daily existence and affects our sensorial experience of the world. The shiny surface of plastic is seductive and the material is wrongly treated as if it were ephemeral.”
www.gabriellehall-lomax.com and Instagram: @gabriellehall_lomax
Image courtesy of Samir Tlatli.
“This photographic project was born between the walls of a rehabilitated building which itself became a working medium for me. I scrutinize the abyss of a stranger. Between space and emptiness, an atmosphere where movement and inertia meet and between the visible and the hidden where resistance and fragility coexist”.
www.samirtlatli.com and Instagram: @samtlatli
Image courtesy of Hon Hoang.
“Idle bus drivers pass the time by playing poker in each others buses”.
www.honhoang.com and Instagram: @honnnhoang
Image courtesy of Israel Riqueros.
www.enigmaticphotography.com and Instagram: @mr._iozo
Image courtesy of Etienne Perrone.
“I like to create images, atmospheres, universes. For this reason I went from a film director who sometimes takes pictures to a photographer who sometimes makes films. I like to create a sensation of strangeness, of a suspended moment. As if one is observing a place just before or just after something has happened. I like to be able to transport the viewer to another universe, thus provoking a form of secondary state – a slightly hypnotic sensation of being simply elsewhere or being something else”.
www.etienneperrone.com and Instagram: @etienneperrone
Image courtesy of Felipe Fittipaldi.
www.felipefittipaldi.com and Instagram: @felipe.fittipaldi
Image courtesy of Gowun Lee from her series ‘I am Here with You’.
“A majority of LGBTQ people in South Korea are hiding their true identities from their colleagues, friends and familie.s It is extremely difficult for them to come out because they can be disowned by family or dismissed from their employers, and unfortunately Korea does not have legislation to ensure their human rights. Despite a recent surge in LGBTQ activism in Korea, many still choose to conceal their true identity in fear of the repercussions.
This project represents the sexual minorities living in Korea who are keeping their sexual identity hidden from society. The individuals showing their backs to the camera and hiding their faces portray how Korean society neglect and refuse to accept them. I want Koreans to realize that LGBTQ people should be able to coexist happily, and that denying them is not the right thing to do.“
www.gowunlee.com and Instagram: @littleblue_g
Image courtesy of Misha Pipercic from his series ‘The Bosnian Dream’ (ongoing).
“More then 20 years after the war in Bosnia, and the war is still in me. During the war I lost my brother. Like many others, I lost almost everything I had. Working on this project created a pain in my soul but it also worked as a medicine. I want to give attention to a country and people who are completely forgotten. While working on this story I was also looking for my roots and asking myself: “How would things be if there hadn’t been a war? What would have happened to me had I stayed there? Would I even be alive?””
www.mpipera.wix.com/misha and Instagram: @misha_pipercic
Image courtesy of Shellye Tow from her series ‘Exposed’.
“My series focuses on exposing mental illness through art. Each image features a person who suffers from mental illness. The images are printed on metal and when viewed in person, the viewer can also see a reflection of themselves”.
www.shellyetow.com and Instagram: @shellyetow
Image courtesy of Miyoung Kim.
“Daboh Tower one of the most famous towers in Korea, containing small crystals sometimes found amongst cremated remains of monks and installed as a memorial to their spirits. I found old photographs in my grandmother’s bag after her death and folded them, with the Daboh Tower as inspiration. Works within my grey installation can be read paradoxically – representations of memories shadow have been constructed whilst at the same time they are carefully deconstructed, unfolding in time”.
Image courtesy of Silvija Prokopaite from her series ‘ Commonplace’.
“I depict ordinary people in banal scenes in order to reflect on their social experiences and their relationship with the places in which they ”perform” their daily tasks. Many people would seemingly gravitate towards individual ways of expressing themselves, but nonetheless end up following the exact same routine like everyone else. Trying to follow the ”rules” of everyday life in order to make a connection with the world can cause the loss of personal identity. People may begin to feel purposeless and out of place.
The subjects in the photographs are captured in moments of disconnect from their activities and surroundings. What they were or will be doing after the moment ends holds no profound significance. What matters right now is figuring out who they are; what got them to this condition; why and who are they living for.”
www.silvijaprokopaite.com and Instagram: @silvijapro
Image courtesy of Jesse Lee Vargas.
“Comprised almost entirely of Mexican immigrants, undocumented dreamers and first generation Americans, some with no hopes of gaining legal status in the US, this is the neighborhood where my family lives – Shalimar. Wedged between the affluent cities of Corona del Mar and Newport Beach in Orange County CA, this isolated community in Costa Mesas West Side is slowly being gobbled up by the three story town homes being built seemingly overnight and sold for 800K to eager young families with the means to do so. Meanwhile the tenants of the apartments on Shalimar live in the slowly decomposing shells that will soon be raised to make way for the gentrification looming in every direction”.
www.jesseleephotography.com and Instagram: @coochie_colucci
Image courtesy of Claudio Ahlers from his series ‘Colours’.
“I use colour and form to play with our perception of ethnicity. Creating a series of portraits with sitters from a great variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds placed in a great variety of colour settings, I aim to distract the viewers initial response from the visible signs of ethnicity and to establish a tableaux of humanity that is – at least to some extent – viewed without prejudice”.
www.stills-in-time.co.uk and Instagram: @claudioahlers
