Gregory Eddi Jones

Marcus Lyon (b.1965) is a British artist. He studied Political Science at Leeds and Leadership at Harvard Business School. His began his career with Amnesty International, working on commissions concerning street children in Latin America, Africa and Asia. He has an international reputation as a conceptual landscape and portrait artist. His work is collected by many significant private and public institutions and exhibited globally by amongst others the Saatchi Gallery and the MAM Rio.

Adam Panczuk (1978) lives in Warsaw. In his work he travels to wherever he finds an interesting subject. He studied photography at the Multimedia Communication Department of Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan.

With his projects Panczuk seems to be asking questions, both directly and metaphorically, about identity, consciousness and attitude towards the lives of the people he meets along his way. Adam is a member of Sputnik Photos.

Ken Rosenthal received his MFA in photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993. His artwork is represented by Klompching Gallery, New York;  Etherton Gallery, Tucson; Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe; Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco. Rosenthal’s photographs are in many public and private collections internationally including The George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Art Institute of Chicago; National Portrait Gallery, London; Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Wittliff Collections’ Southwest and Mexican Photography Collection, San Marcos, Texas, which recently established a major collection of his work.

Since 2002 his work has been featured in more than 150 solo and group exhibitions internationally. The first publication of Rosenthal’s work, Ken Rosenthal Photographs 2001-2009, was released in 2011, and was included on photo-eye’s Best Books of 2011 list.

Douglas Ljungkvist is a Brooklyn based fine art photographer originally from Sweden. His personal work explores vernacular beauty that is graphic, colorful, and quiet. Mood and atmosphere are important aspects to the work that often have subtexts of time, memory and identity. Formally, he is interested in the study of color, form, and space.

Frank Machalowski is an award-winning German photographer, who lives and work in Berlin. After studying economic studies in Berlin and applying himself to various trades he works today as a freelance photographer and artist.

Edward Ranney has been photographing pre-Columbian sites in Peru for over fifty years. His book Monuments of the Incas was released in 1982, reprinted in paperback in 1990, and re-released in 2010 by Thames and Hudson in an expanded edition, with updated text.

His monograph The Lines, being released in August by Yale University Press, presents pictures of geoglyphs created by the Nazca culture in southern Peru, and other cultures in Chile's Atacama desert.

Mitch Dobrowner is a fine art photographer based in Studio City, California. Born on Long Island (Bethpage) New York he as have a wife (Wendy), 3 kids, a dog... and in his words, a bratty cat.

His work has been published by National Geographic Magazine, ABC News, TIME Magazine, Newsweek, CNN, NPR, Audubon Society, LA Times and LensWork, among others. Google recently produced a 2 minute commercial revolving around his work for their Search Stories campaign.

Bill Yates is based in North Florida and travels extensively shooting personal projects. Primarily known for his stunning aerial photography, Bill recently discovered nearly 400 rolls of old film he shot in the 70's & 80's squirreled away in an old storage locker, which has led to his newest project called "Found Film Recently Developed."

We sat down with Bill to talk about his history in this industry, how he got into aerial photography, and see if he had any advice for the up-and-comers.

Keliy Anderson-Staley is an assistant professor of photography at the University of Houston. Her work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian, the California Museum of Photography and the Portland Museum of Art, and is currently on view at the Houston Center for Photography.

Her book of portraits, On a Wet Bough, is forthcoming from Waltz Books. She is represented by Catherine Edelman Gallery.

Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Michelle Frankfurter is a documentary photographer from Takoma Park, MD. Before settling in the Washington, DC area, Frankfurter spent three years living in Nicaragua where she worked as a stringer for the British news agency, Reuters and with the human rights organization Witness For Peace documenting the effects of the contra war on civilians.

Since 2000, Frankfurter has concentrated on the border region between the United States and Mexico, and on themes of migration.

Brandon Thibodeaux (b.1981) is a photographer based in Dallas, Texas who creates portraits in the documentary tradition. In addition to his assignment work and creative commissions, he explores life in the American south. He is a member of the photography collective MJR, based in New York City.

Monica Denevan’s work has been exhibited internationally -- including solo shows at Scott Nichols Gallery (San Francisco) and Tao Gallery (Hong Kong) -- has been published in LensWork, and was on the cover of Black+White Photography (UK), among others.

She is represented by Scott Nichols Gallery (San Francisco), Duncan Miller Gallery (Santa Monica), Capital Culture Gallery (London) and Reaves Gallery (New York). Monica lives and works in San Francisco.

Gilles Roudiere was born 1976 in France and lives and works in Berlin. He is a self-taught photographer, and in 2005 he decided to give up his job as an executive to concentrate on photography. His work mainly focuses on Central and Eastern European countries.

Bear Kirkpatrick lives and works in Portsmouth, NH. You can visit his website here

PetaPixel: First Bear, tell us about what spurred your initial interest in photography?

Bear Kirkpatrick: Two things happened, and they never fully blended. My father had a 35mm film camera when I was a boy. One day he, my younger brother, our two black dogs and I went into the woods beside our house -- it was winter, we had coats on -- and my father took pictures.

When he developed the film and showed us the beautiful black and white prints, it was like the top of my head came off -- I didn't understand right away, but certainly felt right away the elevating nature that photographs had over life. Or had to life. Everything was better.

Lucas Foglia grew up on a small family farm in New York and graduated from Brown University and the Yale School of Art. Foglia’s photographs are exhibited and collected internationally. Nazraeli Press just published Foglia’s second book, Frontcountry. Frontcountry focuses on people living in the midst of a mining boom in the modern American West.

Birte Kaufmann was born in 1981. She lives and works in Berlin, Germany. She is a visual storyteller focusing on social and society relevant issues. Her work has earned her several Awards and Grants, and has been exhibited worldwide.

Natan Dvir is an Israeli photographer who focuses on the human aspects of political, social and cultural issues. He received his MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts (NY), after which he became a faculty member at the International Center for Photography (ICP). Based in New York City he photographs around the world represented by Polaris Images photo agency and Anastasia photo gallery.

Anne Berry’s photographs have been exhibited and published internationally, and she has received numerous awards, including Critical Mass 2012 and 2013 Top 50. Anne is represented by the Catherine Couturier Gallery in Houston. She attended Sweet Briar College (BA) and the University of Georgia (MA).

Jennifer Greenburg is an Assistant Professor of Photography at Indiana University Northwest. She holds a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from The University of Chicago.

Bob Avakian and his wife Gail visited Martha’s Vineyard for the summer in 1973, and it has been home ever since. Trained in architecture, engineering and building, for years he has worked in the construction field as a custom homebuilder. After finding himself in management, removed from the satisfaction of hands-on involvement, he turned to photography as a means of self-expression.

As his photographic vision has evolved he has been drawn to the natural landscape and an exploration of night photography.

Dave Jordano is an award-winning documentary photographer based in Chicago, IL. Jordano has exhibited widely and his work is in several private, corporate and museum collections, most notably The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

He published his first book titled “Articles of Faith” in April 2009 by The Center for American Places, Columbia College Press. His current project, Detroit: Unbroken Down, documents the cultural and societal identity of his hometown, Detroit.

Richard Tuschman began experimenting with digital imaging in the early 1990’s, developing a style that synthesized his interests in photography, painting and assemblage. His work has since been exhibited and published internationally and recognized by, among others, Photo District News, American Photography, Prix de la Photographie, Paris, and the International Photography Awards. He currently lives and works in New York City.

Born in Washington, D.C., visual artist Lauren Henkin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in architecture from Washington University in St. Louis and now resides in New York City. He primary subject is the American landscape. Her most recent project, The Park, focuses on Central Park, the massive constructed urban space and how people engage it.

Yaakov Israel was born in 1974 in Jerusalem, Israel where he lives and works. He graduated in 2002 (B.F.A) with honors from the Department of Photography at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem. Since 2004 he is has been teaching photography at some of the most prominent art and photography schools and colleges in Israel.

In his work he constantly investigates the Israeli identity as perceived through architecture, landscape and the people living in his country.

His first Monograph, “The Quest for the Man on the White Donkey,” was recently published by Schilt Publishing from Amsterdam.

Born in Vienna and trained as a filmmaker in England, Tina Schula's photography combines cinematic techniques, portraiture, family stories and political history to create staged narratives of complex human drama. In 2009, she received her MFA in Photography from The School of Visual Arts in New York.

She was a finalist at Critical Mass 2013, Photoville 2012, The Print Center 86th International Photography Contest 2011, The Sixth Annual BamArt Silent Auction, Scope Basel 2010 and a winner of the  CCNY Darkroom Residency in 2010.

Susan Dobson is best known for her work on suburban culture, architecture, and landscape. Her photographs have been exhibited across Canada, as well as in the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, China, Germany, Spain, and Mexico. Her work was included in the Canadian Biennial titled Builders at the National Gallery of Canada in 2012, and she was a contributing artist to the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. Dobson is Associate Professor at the University of Guelph.

Susan Dobson's series "Sense of an Ending" gives us look at architecture, decay and a literal sense of ending -- reminding us that eventually everything around us will become rubble. Through the use of composite imagery, Dobson crafts scenes frozen in melancholy.

As the overcast skies in each piece forebode cold and rain, and as the architectural styles have begun to weather and collapse, these images, while fiction, portray the inevitable truth of not just homes and buildings, but perhaps cities and civilizations as well.

Kirk Crippens was inspired to take photographs by his grandfather. In 2010 he was Top 50 Photographer in Critical Mass and nominated for the Eureka Fellowship. In 2011 he was Top 50 photographer for the second consecutive year and participated in eighteen exhibitions. In 2012 he was AIR at RayKo. In 2013 he was AIR at Newspace in Portland, Oregon. He is in the MFA, Houston collection and was recently curated into an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Corinne Vionnet is a visual artist based in Switzerland. Her work has been exhibited at Jenisch Museum, Vevey, Switzerland; Arts Santa Monica, Barcelona; Les Rencontres d'Arles; Fotomuseum, Antwerp; La Maison Européenne de la photographie, Paris; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver; Art Museum, Sion, Switzerland; Chelsea Art Museum, New York and the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne.

Corinne Vionnet's series Photo Opportunities explores our fascination with famous landmarks throughout the world. Through the process of combining hundreds of snapshots of popular tourist destinations, she is able to create a collective impression of how these places are represented, and how we imagine them in our own minds.

These images are made by not one single point of view, but many, and they have the ability to open conversation about how images connect us; and about the ways in which we share thoughts and experiences about common subjects.

Camille Lepage, 25, is an independent French photographer living in South Sudan. She works on long term projects about topics that do not make to the mainstream media and looks at the consequences of the politics on the populations.

For over a year now, documentary photographer Camille Lepage has been photographing the struggles of South Sudan. As a new country, sovereign since 2011, South Sudan can be considered a hotbed for social, political, and religious conflicts. These conflicts are laid bare by Lepage through a strong, intuitive eye and a determination to get her shot.

Her two on-going bodies of work, You Will Forget Me and Vanishing Youth (which are on display below) contain stirring imagery that speak of the violence, and the religious and cultural dissonance that permeates this young country and its people.

Elaine Mayes has been a photographic artist for more than fifty years. She also taught photography at The University of Minnesota, Hampshire College (founding faculty), Pratt Institute, Bard College, ICP and retired as Professor Emerita from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts where she was Chair of the Photography and Imaging Department from 1996 until 2001.

Her work has been exhibited and collected widely, and recent exhibitions include The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Steven Kasher Gallery and The National Academy of Arts and Letters in New York.

Andrew Nelles is a 26-year-old freelance photojournalist based in Chicago, Ill. A graduate of Columbia College Chicago, he began freelancing in Chicago in 2009. Andrew was one of the 28 photojournalists laid off from the Chicago Sun-Times in May 2013 after spending 9 months at the paper.

Pony Lott and Brett Seamans are a fashion and editorial photography duo currently stationed in New York City. Their edgy style captures the imagination with a vulgar elegance and hard sexual attitude. Often inspired by historical figures, classic art, and vintage cinema, they play on classical forms while adding their own lavish vision.

Predominantly using an 8x10 view camera, Greg Miller's photography utilizes street photography, found moments and portraiture to capture human relationships and a sense of suspended reality. In 2008, he received a Fellowship in photography from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. His work has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, TIME, People, Fortune and LIFE.

Shane LaVancher lives and works in New York City. The primary focus of his work is fashion and editorial assignments. His work is often compared to paintings, as they represent a collision between the worlds of fashion and art.

Shane Lavalette is an American photographer who currently lives in Upstate New York. He is the founding publisher and editor of the independent publisher Lay Flat, and is the new director of Light Work, an influential non-profit photo organization.

PetaPixel: First, please tell us a bit about yourself and your background in photography.
Shane Lavalette: I’ve been interested in photography since I was a child but I got serious about it as art as a teenager, starting in the black and white darkroom.