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FINAL DAYS TO WIN A SOLO EXHIBITION IN MAY 2026
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Matthew Steaffens
Matthew Steaffens
Matthew Steaffens

Matthew Steaffens

Country: United States
Birth: 1985

Matthew Steaffens is a photographer based in Denver & Washington DC , whose contemporary practice explores themes of connection, relationship, and moments. His images are rooted in the tradition of street photography and photojournalistic projects.

As a graphic designer, Steaffens navigates the intersection of creativity and authenticity in both urban landscapes. This dual role allows him to bridge the worlds of dynamic compositions and genuine moments, creating a visual narrative that reflects the pulse of everyday life. Through his lens, Steaffens invites viewers to engage with the subtle poetry found in the ordinary, highlighting the beauty inherent in the ebb and flow of human connections. Accolades include a Communication Arts 2018 Photo Annual Award of Excellence. His work as been featured in Leica UK, and Leica Fotographie International. His work has been selected best in show in the Exposed DC Exhibition Summer 2023.
 

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Mike Brodie
United States
1985
Claiming inspiration from “old-school American values mixed with a little punk-rock idealism,” Mike Brodie, aka The Polaroid Kidd, hopped trains across the U.S. for seven years, documenting his friends, lovers, and travels with a Polaroid and a 35-millimeter camera and amassing a critically acclaimed body of images. Like a 21st-century Jack Kerouac, replacing pen with pictures, Brodie rode the railways with a motley crew. In 2004, two years into his journeying, he acquired a camera and began photographing this gritty youth subculture. His intimate portraits, saturated with color and often set against moving backgrounds, capture the reality of this life in raw detail—its dirt-encrusted bodies, sickness and exhilaration, dangers and comforts. After traveling more than 50,000 miles through 46 states, Brodie has since become an itinerant mechanic. He says he has abandoned photography—at least for now. Source: Artsy Mike Brodie, best known by his pseudonym "Polaroid Kidd", is a self-trained American photographer from Pensacola, Florida. In 2003 Brodie left home at 18 to travel the rails across America. A friend gave him a camera and he found himself spending three years photographing the friends and companions he encountered with the Polaroid SX-70. Polaroid discontinued SX-70 film, so now he shoots on 35mm on a Nikon F3. His photographs have been featured in exhibits in Milwaukee, at Get This! Gallery in Atlanta and in Los Angeles at M+B Gallery. His work was also selected to appear in the 2006 edition of the Paris International Photo Fair at the Louvre. In November 2007 he collaborated with Swoon and Chris Stain to mount an installation at Gallery LJ Beaubourg in Paris. He also has had collaborative shows with artist Monica Canilao. His photographs largely depict what he refers to as "travel culture", train-hoppers, vagabonds, squatters and hobos. Critic Vince Aletti of artsandantiques.net says of Brodie's work: "Even if you're not intrigued by Brodie’s ragtag bohemian cohort—a band of outsiders with an unerring sense of post-punk style—the intimate size and warm, slightly faded color of his prints are seductive. His portraits... have a tender incisiveness that is rare at any age." Source: Wikipedia Born in 1985, Mike Brodie began photographing when he was given a Polaroid camera in 2004. Working under the moniker 'The Polaroid Kidd,' Brodie spent the next four years circumambulating the United States, amassing an archive of photographs that make up one of the few, true collections of American travel photography. Brodie made work in the tradition of photographers like Robert Frank, William Eggleston and Stephen Shore, but due to never having undergone any formal training he always remained untethered to the pressures and expectations of art market. Brodie compulsively documented his exploration of the tumultuous world of transient subcultures without regard to how the photographs would exist beyond him. After feeling as though he documented all that he could of his subject, his insatiable wanderlust found a new passion, and as quickly as he began making photographs, he has left the medium to continue in his constant pursuit of new adventures. In 2008, Brodie received the Baum Award for American Emerging Artists and has a forthcoming book to be published by Steidl, as well as numerous international shows. Brodie recently graduated from the Nashville Auto Diesel College (NADC) and is now working as a diesel mechanic. Although Brodie has stopped making photographs, the body of work he made in only four short years has left a huge impact on the photo world, and is now being made available to the public. Source: M+B
Stéphan Gladieu
Stéphan Gladieu was born in 1969 and lives in Boulogne-Billancourt. He is represented by Olivier Castaing of the School Gallery in Paris and Artco Gallery in Germany, Cape Town and Joshua Tree. He began his career in 1989, covering war & social issues, travelling across Europe,Central Asia, the Middle East (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan) and Asia (India, Nepal, Vietnam, China, etc). Going back to his beginnings, he very quickly enriched his photographic writing by using portraiture to bear witness to the human condition in the world. His main focus is on his personal and artistic work through series of portraits in which DNA is colour and the play of contrast between subject and background in natural settings. Stéphan Gladieu plays on the iconic character of the frontal image and on the frontier between the real and the unreal. His portraiture has included covering the Saudi Princes, Princesses in Nepal, actors & directors behind the scenes at Cannes Film Festival, politicians, intellectuals, but also everyday people the world over. Stephan still realize international features and portraits series, for international magazines but he is mainly focused on is personal work: human story through colorful portrait collection. On the side of his journalist activity, Stephan is working with private company (LVMH, Danone, TOTAL…) and International institutions (World Bank, UNICEF) to work on their visual identity. Nowadays, Stephan Gladieu’s work is published in leading publications in France and internationally.Source: www.stephangladieu.fr Exclusive Interview with Stephan Gladieu
Dougie Wallace
Dougie Wallace, also known as 'Glasweegee', is a Scottish street photographer, based in east London. He was born and raised in Glasgow, lived in Blackpool for a couple of years in the 1980s before enlisting in the army, and has lived in Shoreditch, east London, for 15 years. For two-and-a-half years beginning in October 2010 Wallace made 30 trips to Blackpool to complete his first book Stags, Hens & Bunnies: A Blackpool Story (2014), photographs of the stag and hen parties that visit the town, "lads and lasses on their worst behaviour, partying away in a bawdy sea of L-plates, handcuffs, blow-up dolls and uniformed fancy dress in various states of undress and drunkenness; revelling in bars, puking in the street, refuelling at chip shops." Wallace spent 15 years photographing in the Shoreditch area of East London, a series published in his second book, Shoreditch Wild Life (2014). He photographed the disappearing Premier Padminis in Mumbai for his series Road Wallah.Source: Wikipedia Scottish photographer Dougie Wallace is internationally recognised for his long-term social documentary projects and a distinct direct style of expressive street photography. He has won prestigious awards, exhibited as a solo artist or in joint exhibits in world-renowned institutions and photographic festivals, authored a number of books, all critically acclaimed. London-based, his assignments and personal work take him around the world. To coincide with BBC Season of Photography, in March 2017, BBC4 broadcast a 30-minute programme about Dougie, as part of the What Artists Do All Day series, providing insights into the lives of outstanding artists. The programme follows Dougie on the streets of Knightsbridge, as he completes the photographs for the book Harrodsburg. Available here to watch. More recently, Dougie was commissioned by Sky Art 50 to create a film, which explored what it means to be British in the light of the EU referendum. It was showcased at The BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the Barbican. It was also broadcast on Sky Arts channel on the night of the original Brexit leaving date (March 29th, 2019). Dougie attributes his unique vision to his Glasgow up-bring and experiences lived or perceptively witnessed over two decades of residing in east London, from the uninhibited party days, when the area was a cultural wasteland through to its on-going urban regeneration, turning this district into a fashionable destination and tourist Mecca. "Living in Shoreditch has helped me develop an eye for the tragi-comic, messy side of uninhibited human behaviour. My Glasgow upbringing has shaped my style, which has been described as 'visually exaggerated' and 'hard-edged'. What motivates my pictures is human behaviour. People’s interactions and emotions fascinate me. My stories are thematic. They have similarities of expressions running through them. My work is informed by societies’ trends and incongruities and translating what I see through the lens into wit, criticism and humorous vignettes. I’d like to think that my photos convey a point of view that believable and absurd." This idiosyncratic point of view comes to life in his books, which have all equally generated critical attention and viral buzz. His books Stags, Hens and Bunnies: A Blackpool Story (Dewi Lewis Media, 2014) and Shoreditch Wild Life (Hoxton Mini Press, 2014), each a distinctive spin on hedonism and excess, turned Dougie into a household name among taste-makers. Road Wallah (Dewi Lewis, 2016), which offers a unique insight into the world of Bombay cab drivers has been exhibited at numerous photo festivals and gallery shows and was shortlisted for 2015 European Book Publisher’s Award. Followed Harrodsburg, which won the inaugural 'Magnum Photography Award 2016'. Well Heeled (Dewi Lewis, 2017) is an observation about the cultural shift among dog owners (Dewi Lewis, 2017). Goan to the Dogs is to be published by Dewi Lewis in 2020. East Ended is a reflection on gentrification and its ambiguous and fraught relationship with street art and local communities. Newly published by Dewi Lewis. Dougie is sought after for opinion, project assignments, editorial features and ad-hoc opportunities. His work has been featured in assignments and publications for magazines and newspapers, including, The Sunday Times Magazine, D Repubblica, The Economist, Le Monde, The New Yorker, Stern, The Guardian, New York Times, The Independent, International New York Times, Observer, GQ, Dazed, Hunger, Vice, BBC, CNN, Itsnicethat, Marie Claire, Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, El País, Der Spiegel, Macleans, NZZ, Die Tageszeitung, Neon, dS Magazine - De Standaard. As well as numerous photography magazines, BJP, GUP, Amateur Photographer, Professional Photographer, F2, Fotografia Magazine, Lens Culture, Leica LFI, L’Oeil, Fotomagazine, European Photography and Photo International. Dougie continues to shoot fashion for the likes of Tatler, Balenciaga and Dazed. Dougie Wallace has conducted workshops both in the UK and overseas. He regularly donates his work to his chosen charities each year.Source: www.dougiewallace.com
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