FINE ART PHOTO - No. 34

Eric van den Elsen

Dutchman Eric van den Elsen is a fashion and portrait photographer and equally known for free projects that can‘t be pigeonholed. He was born in Rotterdam. In the 1970s, he was mainly interested in music and street photography, and later studied photography at the Royal Academy in The Hague. At 28, he got his first fashion job for a Dutch magazine, a shoot in Los Angeles. He lives in Amsterdam.
The stay in many different countries was accompanied by a growing fascination for different cultures.  This is reflected in his photographs. Eric van den Elsen‘s work is characterized by a natural liveliness and a cinematic style that does without poses and mostly does not show the expected, but images of authenticity and natural beauty. His open-mindedness and preference for close collaborations make him a reliable team player. Eric van den Elsen‘s pur-suit of beauty and his enjoyment of working in lavish locations have led to a long line of fashion assignments for JAN Magazine, Marie Claire and fashion labels around the world. To this day, he travels extensively.
One of his free projects is called »Alma Desnuda« – the naked soul. It was created over the course of five years, during which he repeatedly photographed a model on the island of Ibiza and created a story about a woman on an island.

elsenfot@dds.nl
https://ericvandenelsen.com/
 
 
Rania Matar

Rania Matar left her native Lebanon at the age of 20 to escape the tensions of civil war and to study architecture in the United States. The camera helped
her overcome what she perceived as a cultural divide between the Middle East and the United States, especially after the events of September 11. With two daughters approaching puberty, Matar couldn‘t help but draw parallels to her own journey into adulthood, recognizing the universal traits of burgeoning independence in all cultures.
Rania travels frequently between the U.S. and Lebanon and has since photographed hundreds of young women to convey the nuances of personal and collective identity. Her works emphasize universal notions of femininity, adolescence, the difficult transition to adulthood, and the strength of female subjectivity. Political conflicts and the consequences of the pandemic are reflected in her photographs.
Young women find empowerment, self-determination, and hope in Rania Matar‘s photographs. As contributors to her portraits, the subjects choose their background, clothing, pose, and ultimately embrace freedom. The formal elements of the photographs-particularly the bold colors and the strong connection between the central subject and her surroundings-visually underscore these women‘s desire to reclaim and reshape their surroundings. By focusing on a younger generation of women, Matar highlights beauty, resilience, and the spirit of optimism rather than destruction.
In her work and in her life, the artist tries to find what connects people – and not what separates them. Our essence, our physicality, our vulnerability preoccupy her, growing up and growing old. »Commonalities that make us human and emphasize the basic similarities rather than the obvious differences between cultures. So ultimately finding the beauty in our common humanity.«

http://www.raniamatar.com/
rania@raniamatar.com
https://www.radiusbooks.org/all-books/p/rania-matar-she
Instagram: @raniamatar
 
 
Thierry Valencin

Paris, 46 rue Saint Sébastien. Here you can meet Thierry Valencin, admire his pictures, here in the laboratory in the basement new photographs take shape. His photography is classical, using the techniques associated with silver printing: Chiaroscuro, blur, solarization.
In 1962 Thierry was born in the Mâconnais. In the mid-80s, he ran the art gallery »Demi-Lune« in Munich for several years. He bought his first camera, collected negatives, assisted other photographers, came into contact with the world of fashion, publishing, theater, the world of cinema and television.
Sending the eye on a journey and recording what it sees. An image as a moment in our history. Depicting life. Anchoring moments in time. This fascinates him and drives him. Naivety and passion have accompanied him since the first day of his life as a photographer.
Photography for Thierry is not a product of imagination. Everything in it really exists, nothing was thought up, it is simply shown. A photograph is not only a stroke of luck and not only the subject that the photographer knew how to see and frame. It is also the raw material of the negative, exposed in the shadows of the darkroom to a whole series of avatars before it can be exhibited.  It is a prod-uct of many decisions that the photographer must
make in the darkroom to later allow emotions in the viewer.
He uses mainly analog technology for his extraordinary works and creates black and white images. Thierry is a traveler. He has traveled through Europe, India and Russia, has exhibited in Belgium, Germany and Spain. His studio in Paris is the fixed point, has been the meeting place of the photo scene, alchemist‘s den and exhibition venue for 16 years now.

Instagram @ateliervalencin
https://www.thierryvalencin.com
thierry.valencin@orange.fr

 
Didier Gillis

Didier Gillis was born in Liège in 1976 and graduated in photography from the Institut des BeauxArts Saint Luc in Liège, Belgium.
After working with the classical photographic tech-niques, he turned to the old and alternative processes. Through various exhibitions and thanks to internships with well-known photographers, he discovered the technique of bichromate rubber, this process became his preferred technique. Now he divides his time between his visions as an author
and the commissioned works. He regularly conducts workshops.
For several years his work has been constantly evolving. His photographs, initially an aestheticizing reflection of the personalities he photographed, over time became realistic and imperfect images of the same human nature.
In the women he photographs, he searches for the traces of time and the complexity of this relationship between body and soul.
The technique of dichromate rubber gives his images a materiality and a depth that correspond to his photographic vision. For about 15 years, Didier Gillis has specialized in large prints. He now has exhibitions in various countries. Every year he travels to Arles for the Recontres to exhibit and meet lovers of his photographs and gallery owners.

https://www.didiergillis.be
didiergillis@gmail.com
Instagram  @didier_gillis
 

Eamonn Doyle
 
Born in Dublin in 1969, Eamonn studied painting and photography at Dun Laoghaire Institute Of Art,
graduating in 1991. He spent much of the next two decades producing and publishing music, during which he also founded the Dublin Electronic Arts Festival alongside the record labels D1 Recordings and Dead Elvis. He returned to photography in 2008.
His debut photo book »i«, 2014, was described by Martin Parr as »the best street photo book in a decade«. This was followed by »ON«, 2015, and the
award-winning »End.«, 2016, which together with »i«, became known as his Dublin trilogy, culmi
nating in a ground-breaking immersive exhibition at Rencontres d’Arles 2016.
Though most of this work was produced in and around the Dublin city centre location where he has lived for over twenty years, Eamonn’s most recent bodies of work have taken him to the wild Atlantic coast of Ireland and to the volcanic land
scapes of Extremadura in Spain [»K«, 2018], and back to his surburban home in south Dublin [»O«, 2020]. Recent collaborative moving-image work in
cludes the short-film »EX«, and the multi-screen installation »Made In Dublin«, currently touring
internationally.

d1@d1.ie
https://www.eamonndoyle.com/
 
 
Leysis Quesada Vera
 
Since her childhood, Leysis Quesada Vera from Cuba had an inclination towards art, dance and acting. But she had no chance to study art, growing up in poor circumstances in the village. Her father was a truck driver who transported sugar cane, her mother a housewife.
At 23, Leysis went to Havana. There she discovered photography through her cousin, the documentary photographer Lázaro Miranda. Later, she participated in workshops, studied the work of photographers from the Magnum agency and other photographers. In the first years she took analog photographs, developed and printed her images herself, and spent a lot of time in laboratories. Her first major work was called »My City«, a tribute to her native region and her origins. Later, her daughter Avril, her family, friends, life worlds, everything that surrounded her became motifs – and her works became more personal. Showing more emotion than perfection while being impulsive and approachable was important to
her. When their second daughter Mia was born eleven years ago, it brought further inspiration. Avril and Mia appear in many of her works.
Looking at the photos of Leysis reveals work of passion. She photographs in the contrast of lights and shadows, of beautiful things that cheer up the sadness. She shows conflicts, feelings and loneliness.  She sees photography as a documentary tool. »Each photo is part of my history, my tradition, my past«, she says, showing life as a struggle to be ourselves. The editorial team congratulates Leysis on the Michael Horbach Foundation Photography Award, which she will receive together with Daylene Rodriguez Moreno in October. Sebastiao Salgado, whom she admires, was also a prize winner of the foundation several years ago.

https://www.leysisquesada.com
leysisqv@gmail.com
 
 
Étienne Racine
 
Étienne Racine was born in Montreal in 1971, he has spent most of his life in Paris. The special spirit of this city is in many of his photographs. An ethnologist, he published an essay on the French rave scene
more than 20 years ago, then worked as a marketing researcher and journalist for major companies. A former DJ and graffiti writer, he enjoys urban atmospheres, street life, parties and eroticism, adding meditation and Buddhism.
Étienne sees photography as his personal diary, a visual notebook that collects fragments of a chaotic search for peace.
For him, an ideal photo is one that stands for itself and is understandable at first glance. Yet it should ask questions and let people share. And make people want to have the picture at home. It also works when pasted on the street. It doesn‘t need a pedestal to shine. It speaks to people from different walks of life and radiates a harmony that the photographer is very grateful for.
 
info@etienneracine.com
https://www.etienneracine.com/
Instagram @a_quest_for_peace
 
 
Daylene Rodríguez Moreno

Daylene Rodríguez Moreno was born in 1978 in Matanzas, Spain, and lives and works in Havana. She works as a professional photographer while study
ing Fine Arts at the faculty of the Instituto Superior de Arte. For years she has focused on those who are
in the shadows, who have been neglected, on contexts where despair and bewilderment seem to prevent any possibility of progress.
With her photographs she wants to fathom the essence of the time in which we live – with a deeply human gaze. Her images have been and continue to be shown in museums, galleries and many exhibitions in Cuba and abroad, long is the list of her prizes and awards.
Last year she traveled to Spain in search of her roots. She found there the abandoned house of her childhood and conducted a photographic dialogue between space and time, past and present. The black and white allows to give the images the desired drama, to introduce the viewer to the scenarios, to create a certain atmosphere – and to go on an endless journey through the world and into one‘s own interior. Loneliness and the lack of communication
are her themes, everyday situations, but also longings, nostalgia, desires and frustrations. Daylene’s skill and dedication will be recognized in October
with the Michael Horbach Foundation Photography
Award, which seeks to create new opportunities for
promising artists to develop. In November 2023, a exhibition by the photographer will be inaugurated in Madrid.
The editorial team congratulates Daylene on the Michael Horbach Foundation Photography Award, which she will receive together with Leysis Quesada Vera in October. The award ceremony will take place during the vernissage of the exhibition »The New Generation of Cuban Photography« on October 22, 2023 in Cologne.
 
Instagram @daylenerodriguezmoreno
daylenefoto@gmail.com
 
 
Alina Lebedeva
 
Alina started as an amateur photographer 19 years ago and taught herself everything related to photography. She started with still lifes and photographs of everyday life, portraits followed. In the process, she gained experience in communication and understanding people. She earned money with model photos. After that, Alina worked for several years as a photographer for fashion magazines like Harper‘s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan and in advertising. Photography became her profession, it is a part of her life. Communication has remained an impor
tant part of her work, not only verbal between photographer and model, but also emotional and intui
tive.
She develops her recordings herself. »I‘m not sure if another person can feel the same,« she says honestly. Alina is inspired by all sorts of things, personal feelings, everyday life, events, nature, people, the beauty of the surroundings.
To photograph, for her, is to be creative. »It is a way of being. Showing who you are originally.«
She doesn‘t condemn cell phone photography either. Current technologies offer great opportunities for creativity and allow you to express anything you want, she says. If you‘re a creative person, sometimes cell phone photography is enough because you have everything in your head. If you want it and are ready for it, you can create something at any moment. And visual skills can be trained.

alina.lebedeva@gmail.com
Instagram @alinalebedeva_art
http://www.alina-lebedeva.com/

 
Romain Berger
 
Romain is a self-taught photographer. After studying film, he moved to Paris to try his luck in the film industry. Unable to find work, he decided to buy a camera to shoot his own short films. Very quickly he fell in love with photography, he couldn‘t let go of the camera. Besides photography, he is currently working on film projects.
Romain loves being around people. He draws inspiration from his surroundings to create his artistic universe.
He creates artistic works that are quirky, cinematic, colorful and slightly provocative. He takes clichés from gay culture and twists them to illuminate our world in its best and worst aspects such as loneliness, superficiality, overconsumption, violence, addiction, sex, politics. Influenced by the works of photographer David Lachapelle and the color aesthetic of director Gregg Araki, his work is an ode to life, love and freedom of expression.
His exhibition »All you need is love«, which started in Paris, is currently on display in Brighton before being shown in Belgium, Berlin and Amsterdam before ending in France in October.  His works will also be presented in group exhibitions in Berlin in May, in Paris and in Geneva in May and June.
 
https://www.romainberger-photography.com
contact.romainberger@gmail.com
Instagram @romainb_photos