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FINAL CALL TO ENTER AAP MAGAZINE SHAPES: PUBLICATION AND $1,000 CASH PRIZES
FINAL CALL TO ENTER AAP MAGAZINE SHAPES: PUBLICATION AND $1,000 CASH PRIZES
Thomas Hofmann
Thomas Hofmann
Thomas Hofmann

Thomas Hofmann

Country: Germany
Birth: 1974

I was born in 1974 in East Germany and studied tax law. For job-related reasons, I live in Berlin, Germany, and Brussels, Belgium. Photography attracted me at an early age. When I was a child, I made my first photographic steps with the camera of my parents. Later, photography became more than just a pastime as it helps me to release all of my creativity, from which I also benefit in my main job. Architectural photography finally became my passion as I found out for myself that in this field you can create little works of art that people can remember. I still find it incredibly exciting to explore that one point of view from which shapes, lines and structures join together to create something truly extraordinary.

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More Great Photographers To Discover

Lisa Thomas
United States
1974
Lisa Thomas is a self-taught Atlanta-based photographer with a passion for creating unique, abstract images. Born in Virginia in 1974, she holds a degree in physical therapy from the University of Oklahoma and has spent over 20 years in the healthcare industry. She began studying photography in 2020 as a creative outlet to cope with stress and to connect with others during a time of social isolation. Initially drawn to representational imagery, her journey as an artist has been an evolution, leading her to embrace the enchanting realm of abstract photography. Thomas’s current work, Studies in Oil and Water, is a macro view of the interplay between oil and water set against a variety of backdrops. Thomas’s distinctive style combines vibrant colors, playful compositions, and the use of light to create images that are emotionally uplifting and encourage viewers to embark on a visual journey. Studies in Oil and Water My photographic work is an exploration of two seemingly incompatible elements, oil and water. Through my lens, I capture their intricate interactions giving rise to mesmerizing abstract compositions allowing viewers to immerse themselves in a realm of color and fluidity. In this chaos, I find harmony in the hues and patterns that emerge and an appreciation for the beauty in the everyday. From bold and intense to tranquil and serene, my photographs mirror the kaleidoscope of emotions that define our lives. My aim is not only to captivate the eye but also to inspire curiosity and contemplation in the viewer.
Anna Atkins
United Kingdom
1799 | † 1871
Anna Atkins (1799-1871) was an English botanist and photographer best known for her early work in photography. She is widely regarded as the first female photographer and one of the art form's pioneers. Anna Atkins was born on March 16, 1799, in Tonbridge, Kent, England, into a family with a strong interest in science and botany. Her father, John George Children, was a well-known chemist and mineralogist, which may have influenced her early interest in science. Anna was educated in science, art, and natural history, which was unusual for a woman of her time. She developed a particular interest in botany and was well-versed in plant classification and study. Anna Atkins worked with her father's close friend, Sir John Herschel, an astronomer and mathematician who had also made significant contributions to the early development of photography, in 1841. She adopted the cyanotype process, an early photographic technique that produces blue-toned images, after being inspired by Herschel's work. Botanical specimens, such as ferns and seaweeds, were placed on light-sensitized paper and then exposed to sunlight as part of the cyanotype process. The areas that were not covered by the specimens turned blue, while the areas that were covered by the plants remained white. Anna Atkins used this technique to create a series of stunning and scientifically accurate photograms. In October 1843, Anna released her most famous work, "Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions." This three-volume collaboration with Anne Dixon featured over 400 cyanotype images of various algae species found along the British coast. It was the first book to be entirely illustrated with photographs. Only a few copies of the book are known to exist today, as each copy was hand-assembled. Anna Atkins' work was not only artistic; it was also scientifically significant. The cyanotype images were a valuable resource for botanical documentation and classification, as well as an early example of photographic scientific illustration. Despite her contributions to photography and botany, Anna Atkins received little recognition during her lifetime. Photography was still a new medium at the time, and her work was relatively unknown until recently. Anna Atkins died on June 9, 1871, in Halstead, Kent, leaving behind a legacy as a pioneering female photographer and a prominent figure in photography and botany history. Her innovative use of the cyanotype process, as well as her dedication to scientific documentation through photography, are still admired and recognized by the art and science communities.
Julien Coomans
Julien Coomans is a Brussels based amateur photographer with a passion for photographing the natural world. He is a highly artistic individual which led him to pursue a career as an Architect. In his free time he loves to explore his artistic side through the medium of photography and has been commended for his images in several photographic publications. ​ Through experimenting with his camera settings and techniques, Julien seeks to capture scenes of tranquillity and minimalism in a bid to counter the hustle and bustle of his daily city life. ​ He travels widely in Europe, whether it be to the expansive northern beaches of Flanders or the rugged mountains of northern Italy, Julien is happiest when at one with nature. His camera is simply an excuse to get out there, discover beautiful places and capture stunning images. Fishing Huts, Fouras, France I traveled to Fouras on the west coast of France to photograph some unusual but picturesque fishing huts that are dotted along the coast line. Central to my vision was to take a series of long exposures in order to set a tranquil scene and emphasise the elegant wooden structures. The first day was miserable - windy and a lot of rain - yet despite this I was amazed by the beauty of the huts. Undeterred, I used my time to study the scene and find my compositions, ready to pounce when conditions were just right. The hardest part about finding the right compositions was avoiding stretches of land on the horizon as the bay curves quite dramatically. I had to find the perfect balance between fishing hut, weather conditions and the horizon line beyond. After finding my compositions my next challenge was to watch out for the tide times. I had to shoot as the tide was going out not only to physically be able to take the shot but to be sure I was safe. On the second day the conditions improved and I had my window between outgoing and incoming tides. The wind had died down making the water much calmer which was better as I could keep the exposure down to a few minutes to try and improve my chance of avoiding any tripod wobble. After shooting my pre-scouted compositions and checking the LCD screen for sharpness I packed up and went for a well earned beer!
Pol Viladoms
Spain
1981
As an artist, his work is based on the documentation of the territory in its broadest sense. Showing a special interest in the representation of landscape and architecture as symbols of territorial and cultural identity, his photographs show a delicate attention to the desolate and inhospitable space. Peripheries, forgotten and obsolete places, ruins... all of them testimony and memory of human activity. His work, halfway between the past and the present, tries to reformulate the intentions of the documentary image, trying to balance form and content. Through a personal approach, he shows the relationship between human beings and nature in a world with a disturbing and uncertain future. In 2010 he self-published the book of photographs “Home” exhibited at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, and which is currently part of its Library. The government of the Canary Islands awarded him the first prize in the Septenio International photographic competition “El suelo” (2012). Between 2014 and 2024 he has been awarded 6 LUX prizes from the AFP (Association of Professional Photographers of Spain). His work on Casa Bloc was exhibited at the Fundació Miró (2016) and he participated in the group exhibition “El Gran Tour” (Finalist at Joan Casablancas Award 2017). In 2018 he received the second prize in the photographic contest “Paisajes cuotidianos” of the Urban Landscape Institute of Catalonia. Among others, he has participated in the art fairs Art Fair Cologne and Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam (2019). In 2020 he was a finalist for the Vila Casas Photography Award. In 2021 he was awarded in the Photography Exhibition of the XV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism as well as finalist of the ENAIRE Foundation Award. In 2022 he was finalist of the International Photography Award ECA Espai d’Art Contemporani in Riba-Roja de Túria. He has participated in several collective and individual art exhibitions in Spain as well as in France and the USA (New York and Detroit).
Steve Schapiro
United States
1934 | † 2022
Steve Schapiro discovered photography at the age of nine at summer camp. Excited by the camera's potential, Schapiro spent the next decades prowling the streets of his native New York City trying to emulate the work of French photographer Henri Cartier Bresson, whom he greatly admired. His first formal education in photography came when he studied under the photojournalist W. Eugene Smith. Smith's influence on Schapiro was far-reaching. He taught him the technical skills he need to succeed as a photographer, but also informed his personal outlook and world-view. Schapiro's lifelong interest in social documentary, and his consistently empathetic portrayal of his subjects, is an outgrowth of his days spent with Smith and the development of a concerned humanistic approach to photography. Beginning in 1961, Schapiro worked as a freelance photojournalist. His photographs have appeared internationally in the pages and on the covers of magazines, including Life, Look, Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, People and Paris Match. During the decade of the 1960s in America, called the "golden age in photojournalism," Schapiro produced photo-essays on subjects as varied as narcotics addition, Easter in Harlem, the Apollo Theater, Haight-Ashbury, political protest, the presidential campaign of Robert Kennedy, poodles and presidents. A particularly poignant story about the lives of migrant workers in Arkansas, produced in 1961 for Jubilee and picked up by the New York Times Magazine, both informed readers about the migrant workers' difficult living conditions and brought about tangible change-the installation of electricity in their camps. An activist as well as documentarian, Schapiro covered many stories related the Civil Rights movement, including the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the push for voter registration and the Selma to Montgomery march. Called by Life to Memphis after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Schapiro produced some of the most iconic images of that tragic event. In the 1970s, as picture magazines like Life folded, Schapiro shifted attention to film. With major motion picture companies as his clients, Schapiro produced advertising materials, publicity stills and posters for films as varied as the Godfather, the Way We Were, Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy, Rambo, Risky Business and Billy Madison. He also collaborated on projects with musicians, such as Barbra Streisand and David Bowie, for record covers and related art. Schapiro's photographs have been widely reproduced in magazines and books related to American cultural history from the 1960s forward, civil rights, and motion picture film. Monographs of Schapiro's work include American Edge (2000); a book about the spirit of the turbulent decade of the 1960s in America, and Schapiro's Heroes (2007), which offers long intimate profiles of ten iconic figures: Muhammad Ali, Andy Warhol, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Ray Charles, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, James Baldwin, Samuel Beckett, Barbra Streisand and Truman Capote. Schapiro's Heroes was the winner of an Art Directors Club Cube Award. Taschen released The Godfather Family Album: Photographs by Steve Schapiro in 2008, followed by Taxi Driver (2010), both initially in signed limited editions. This was followed by Then And Now (2012), Bliss, about the changing Hippie Generation (2015), BOWIE (2016), Mercicordia (20126) an amazing facility for people with developmental problems, and in 2017 books about Muhammad Ali and Taschen's The Fire Next Time with James Baldwin's text and Schapiro's Civil Rights photos from 1963 to 1968. Since the Metropolitan Museum of Art's seminal 1969 exhibition, Harlem on my Mind, which included a number of his images, Schapiro's photographs have appeared in museum and gallery exhibitions world-wide. The High Museum of Art's Road to Freedom, which traveled widely in the United States, includes numerous of his photographs from the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr. Recent one-man shows have been mounted in Los Angeles, London, Santa Fe, Amsterdam, Paris. And Berlin. Steve has had large museum retrospective exhibitions in the United States, Spain, Russia, and Germany. Schapiro continues to work in a documentary vein. His recent series' of photographs have been about India, Music Festivals, and Black Lives Matter. Schapiro's work is represented in many private and public collections, including the Smithsonian Museum, the High Museum of Art, the New York Metropolitan Museum and the Getty Museum. He has just Received the James Joyce Award and fellowship to University College in Dublin/ Previous recipients included Bishop Tutu, Jesse Jackson and J.K. Rowling Discover Steve Schapiro's Interview
Vee Speers
Australia
or over two decades, Australian Paris-based artist Vee Speers has established herself in the art world with her unforgettable portraits. Her carefully choreographed images are painterly and ethereal, with a visual and metaphorical ambiguity which challenges established narratives. In her iconic series The Birthday Party, she eternalises the innocence of childhood with timeless portraits that are at once hauntingly beautiful and provocative. She dresses, styles and sometimes masks her characters, creating enigmatic stories to blur the line between reality and fiction and highlighting our need to escape into fantasy. Speers succeeds in choreographing characters that offer allegorical glimpses into life, triggering memories and emotions from our own childhood. From the legend of the Phoenix, Speers draws inspiration for her most recent work Phoenix, an evocative story about passion, love and loss and an homage to the anonymous women. In this series Phoenix, the battles are over and the flames and ashes disappear. Emerging is the emboldening force of liberation as these women of all ages are on the threshold of new beginnings. At once powerful and vulnerable, Speers' portraits are timeless symbols of transformation between life and loss and the renaissance of a new identity. Speers' work has been exhibited in museums, galleries, art fairs and festivals around the world, and published in features and on covers of more than 60 international magazines, with 3 sold-out monographs of her work. Her photographs have been acquired by Sir Elton John Collection, Michael Wilson Collection, Hoffman Collection U.S. , Carter Potash Collection, Morten Viskum Collection, Alan Siegel, Lawrence Schiller, DZ Bank, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Museum 21C, Kentucky, George Eastman House, Beth Rudin Dewoody, Hudson Bay Company Art Fund, CB Collection, Tokyo. More about Vee Speers: AAP: When did you realize you wanted to be a photographer? Vee Speers: I’ve always thought photography was magical as my father had his own darkroom. When I went to art school, I realized that the instant way of capturing an image suited my impatient personality. Where did you study photography?QCA, Brisbane, Australia Do you have a mentor or role model?Not really. I don’t like to follow. What or who inspires you?The cinema is a constant source of inspiration. A story is told, and the way it is filmed can transport you to another time or place. Still images can be the same. How could you describe your style?Playful, beautiful, strange, melancholic, obvious and unexpected. Do you have a favorite photograph or series?The Birthday Party and Bulletproof This is two series photographed 6 years apart using the same children. What kind of gear do you use?Polaroid film and medium format cameras. Do you spend a lot of time editing your images? For what purpose?No, I know right away when I’ve taken a good shot. Or if I haven’t. What advice would you give a young photographer?Know what you want and don’t be distracted from your goal. Don’t listen to what anybody else says. What mistake should a young photographer avoid?Accepting to shoot anything that will compromise his or her personal journey. An idea, a sentence, a project you would like to share?Don’t be afraid.What are your projects?Portraits, portraits and more portraits. Your best memory as a photographer?There are so many. Every time I take a great image, I feel so excited, like everything has lined up perfectly. These are the best memories. The compliment that touched you most?A woman once told me that my work had changed her life. If you were someone else who would it be?Diane Arbus, with all those wonderful and strange people to photograph. Your favorite photo book?Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
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Call for Entries
AAP Magazine #59 Shapes
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