Sergio Larrain was born in 1931 in Santiago de Chile. He studied music before taking up photography in 1949, from which year until 1953 he studied forestry at the University of California at Berkeley. He then attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor before setting off to travel throughout Europe and the Middle East. Thus began Larrain's work as a freelance photographer. He became a staff photographer for the Brazilian magazine O Cruzeiro and in 1956, the Museum of Modern Art in New York bought two of his pictures.
In 1958, Larrain was given a grant from the British Council that allowed him to produce a series of photographs of London. The same year Henri Cartier-Bresson saw his photographs of street children and suggested that he work for Magnum. Larrain spent two years in Paris, where he worked for international press titles.
Larrain became a Magnum associate in 1959 and a full member in 1961. He returned to Chile in 1961 when the poet Pablo Neruda invited him to photograph his house.
In 1968, he came into contact with Bolivian guru Óscar Ichazo and virtually gave up photography to pursue his study of Eastern culture and mysticism, adopting a lifestyle in keeping with his ideals. He has devoted himself to spreading knowledge of yoga, writing, painting in oils and occasionally taking the odd photograph.
Sergio Larrain: Valparaíso invites readers to wander the winding hills and salted air of a city that breathes paradox — a place at once crumbling and magical, melancholic and alive. This first English-language edition brings together a deeply personal photographic journey by Larrain, the celebrated Chilean photographer, whose devotion to Valparaíso stretches from his early years to the final decades of his life. Across 120 images — far more than the original book — he retraces alleys, stairways, shuttered ports and faint glimmers of human presence, casting a poetic light on a city in quiet decline.
Returning in the early 1960s after working around the world as a member of Magnum, Larrain found in Valparaíso a city steeped in contradictions. Once a bustling hub, its harbors had lost importance; the roaring ships were replaced by whispered rumors of what once was. Yet in decay he perceived something profound — the crumbling facades, the steep stairs, the sweeping Pacific horizon and distant Andes mountains offered a melancholic grandeur, reminiscent of ancient coastal towns at the end of an era.
This new volume blends Larrain’s images with personal touches: handwritten notes, reflections, annotations — traces of his gaze and memory beside the photographs. A text by the great poet Pablo Neruda, originally written for the first edition, deepens the emotional resonance, offering words that echo with salt wind and longing, while an essay by scholar and curator Agnès Sire sheds light on Larrain’s method, his obsessions, his love for chiaroscuro and atmosphere.
Beyond simple documentation, the book becomes a meditation on impermanence and identity, on how places — like people — age, shift and survive on memory and imagination. Valparaíso as seen by Larrain is haunted, intimate, alive — a collage of stairs, windows, light and shadow that speaks of beauty in decline and dignity in neglect. In these pages, the seaport is not just captured, but remembered, mourned and loved.
Sergio Larrain: Valparaíso stands not only as a tribute to a city, but as one of photography’s most sensitive portraits of place — a love letter to a world caught between waters, hills, history and dream, suspended in light and time.
In this new edition of London, including previously unpublished photographs and visual references, Sergio Larrain presents a powerful portrait of a city on the brink of a new era.
In the winter of 1958, Sergio Larrain traveled to London. He spent just a few months there, photographing subjects that interested him and embracing the shadows of the city. In the cold and damp, his images captured a tangible darkness in which he could 'materialize that world of phantoms.' A few years later, he joined Magnum Photos and set off around the world, before retiring to the Chilean countryside and leaving photography behind.
The book also features a text by the late Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño - written in 1999 specifically to accompany these images - as well as a new essay by Agnès Sire, artistic director of Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, detailing Larrain's stay in London.
A notoriously reclusive artist, Sergio Larrain had a photographic career that was relatively short before he retreated to the Chilean countryside in the late 1960s to study meditation. Nevertheless, he is widely celebrated for his experimental process and the raw imagery he produced throughout Europe and Latin America.
His most well-known project, Valparaiso, began in 1957 while he was traveling with poet Pablo Neruda for Du magazine. When the photographs were first published in 1991, Larrain informed the publishers that he had made his own facsimile of the book, reflecting how he would have constructed the layout, and now this facsimile is beautifully produced for the first time in book form. Including text by the celebrated Pablo Neruda as well as correspondence between Larrain and Henri Cartier-Bresson, Valparaíso presents the long-awaited return of this rare and renowned body of work.
A notoriously reclusive artist, Sergio Larrain (1931-2012) has nonetheless become a touchstone for those who have come to know and love his work, including authors Roberto Bolaño and Julio Cortázar.
Celebrated by Henri Cartier-Bresson, his contemporary and a co-founder of Magnum, Larrain's experimental process yielded images that transformed the fixed nature of the medium. His images have left generations of viewers in awe of the simultaneous serenity and spontaneity that a camera can capture--when placed, that is, in the hands of an artist with such rare meditative passion. "A good image is born from a state of grace," the artist once explained.
Sergio Larrain, a selection of more than 200 images, rectifies Larrain's omission from the canon of significant twentieth-century photographers, and combines his work in Latin America with photographs taken in Europe.
For this interview, we wanted to focus specifically on The Face of the Mundari and the wider Pastoral Peoples and Practices series. We spoke with Trevor about his long-term work among the Mundari, what continues to draw him back to their cattle camps, and the experience of documenting a culture whose identity remains deeply connected to livestock, tradition, and the natural environment.
In our latest exclusive feature for All About Photo, I speak with veteran photography representative Frank Meo about what it truly takes to build a sustainable creative career today. Frank brings decades of experience working with Fortune 500 companies, major agencies, and documentary photographers to the table. We dive into the critical business skills often left out of art school curriculums, the power of mentorship, and the inspiring evolution of PROJECTIONS—his international salon platform for visual storytellers. It’s an essential read for anyone navigating the commercial or editorial photography landscape today.
American photographer Carolyn Moore explores the inner landscape of emotion, memory, and personal transformation through a deeply intuitive photographic practice. Her work unfolds as a quiet dialogue between artist and viewer, where images become a space for reflection, vulnerability, and connection.
For over seven years, Of Lilies and Remains has explored the depths of the goth and darkwave underground, unfolding in Leipzig—a city long associated with a vibrant and enduring subcultural scene. Moving between iconic gatherings such as Wave-Gotik-Treffen and more intimate moments on the fringes, the project offers a rare and immersive glimpse into a world often misunderstood, yet rich in expression and community.
Created by Luca in collaboration with Laura Estelle Barmwoldt, the work embraces a cinematic and deeply personal approach. Rather than documenting from a distance, it moves within the scene itself, capturing its atmosphere, its codes, and its quiet contradictions. The title Of Lilies and Remains hints at this duality—where beauty and darkness, fragility and strength coexist.
As the book prepares for its release, we spoke with both artists about the origins of the project, their process, and what it means to document a subculture that continues to evolve while remaining true to its spirit.
American photographer Matthew Finley turns inward, using photography as a way to explore identity, memory, and emotional truth. Based in Los Angeles, his practice moves between performance, gesture, and found imagery, creating a visual language that is both intimate and deeply personal
Dutch photographer Jan Janssen explores universal human experiences through his long-term project It Matters, winner of the May 2025 Solo Exhibition. Begun in 2016, the series captures intimate moments of everyday life—love, loss, connection, and belonging—across Central and Eastern Europe.
Working in countries such as Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia, Janssen spends extended time within communities, building relationships based on trust and respect. His approach allows him to move beyond observation, revealing deeply human and authentic moments.
Rooted in travel and personal discovery, It Matters reflects Janssen’s search for what connects us all in an increasingly divided world. The project is ongoing and will culminate in a photobook scheduled for publication in 2026.
German photographer Henk Kosche turns his lens toward the streets of Halle an der Saale, capturing everyday life in the late years of the former German Democratic Republic. At the time, Kosche was studying design and exploring the city with his camera, drawn to the atmosphere of its industrial landscape and the quiet rhythms of daily life.
His series Street Photography at the End of the 80s, selected as the Solo Exhibition for July 2025, revisits a body of work created just before a period of profound change. Rediscovered decades later in a small box of 35mm negatives, these photographs offer glimpses of a city and its people at a moment suspended between the familiar and the unknown.
Anastasia Samoylova is an American artist whose photographic practice is shaped by close observation and a deep attentiveness to place. Working between documentary and formal exploration, she photographs landscapes, architecture, and everyday scenes with a sensitivity to light, structure, and atmosphere. Since relocating to Miami in 2016, her work has increasingly focused on how environments—both natural and built—carry social, cultural, and emotional traces. We asked her a few questions about her practice and her way of seeing, to better understand the thoughts and experiences that shape her work—while allowing the images themselves to remain open and speak in their own time.
Marijn Fidder is a Dutch documentary photographer whose work powerfully engages with current affairs and contemporary social issues. Driven by a deep sense of social justice, she uses photography to speak on behalf of the voiceless and to advocate for the rights of those who are most vulnerable. Her images have been widely published in major international outlets including National Geographic, CNN Style, NRC Handelsblad, Volkskrant, GUP New Talent, and ZEIT Magazin.
Her long-term commitment to disability rights—particularly through years of work in Uganda—culminated in her acclaimed project Inclusive Nation, which earned her the title of Photographer of the Year 2025 at the All About Photo Awards. She is also the recipient of multiple prestigious honors, including awards from World Press Photo and the Global Peace Photo Award.
We asked her a few questions about her life and work.
