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Germán Rodriguez Laverde
Germán Rodriguez Laverde
Germán Rodriguez Laverde

Germán Rodriguez Laverde

Country: Colombia

Colombian cinematographer, thanks to his work he has managed to develop a particular style in his projects, managing to project emotions and feelings by becoming one with the camera. He also works as an assistant director, director, and cinematographer and has had the experience of working for large production houses and projects that have been mentioned worldwide.

Throughout his career, Germán has been the winner twice consecutively in the categories (best photography and best short film) for Canon Colombia. He has also been recognized worldwide by Sony International Photography in the category "moving image", has won several awards as Cannes with an advertising campaign in which he worked; He was a finalist in a Vans USA contest for the best short film.

He studied in Los Angeles California thanks to a stimulus scholarship that he won at the school (Global Cinematography Institute) of the member of the American Film Association (ASC) Yuri Neyman ASC.

Websites

www.germanrlaverde.com

@german.rlaverde

 

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More Great Photographers To Discover

Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
United Kingdom
1966
British b.1966, in Wokingham, Berkshire. Jackson trained as a painter at West Dean College, England. After moving to Wales In 2007 he started work on an extensive study of a single remote beach, Poppit Sands, which lasted for eight years until 2015. Jackson won the Chris Beetles Award in 2013 and became a Hasselblad Masters Award finalist three times in 2008, 2009 and 2012. Now regarded as a leading exponent of the luminogram process, he works with uniquely developed techniques and response mirroring using silver gelatin paper in the darkroom. In 2017 his luminogram work was paired with theologian Edwin A.Abbott in a book published by 21st Editions, titled after Abbott's famous work 'FLATLAND' and premiered at the Grand Palais in Paris. His work is held at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the collection of the University of Minnesota. Artist Statement "I am a British photographer based in rural Wales, UK. Born 1966. Studied art at West Dean College then apprenticed under the landscape painter Christopher W. Baker. Since moving to Wales in 2007 I have been photographing a single beach - Poppit Sands. This seems to be something that I am compelled to do as I have not yet tired of it. My goal is to keep on looking harder and hope that through studying a single subject I can find something new. The images have toured with the Hasselblad Masters On Tour twice and have been exhibited in Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Beijing, Berlin, New York, Cardiff, London & Los Angeles as well being featured in magazines such as LENSWORK, SILVERSHOTZ and SHOTS as well as blogs such as LENSCRATCH, CNN & FEATURESHOOT. The images have also reached the Hasselblad Masters Finals three times."Source: www.mgjackson.co.uk
Christopher Anderson
Christopher Anderson
Canada
1970
Christopher Anderson (b.1970, Canada), a member of Magnum Photos for over ten years, has covered an innumerable list of political and social issues around the world. Whilst he is widely known for his moving photographs of fleeing Haitian immigrants aboard a sinking handmade boat named 'Believe in God', Anderson has also made pictures of Barack Obama, Al Gore and David Letterman amongst countless other people and places. Contrary to the often-unforgiving frontiers Anderson places himself in, his photographs are always imbued with palpable emotion. In a society in which a torrent of photographs from the mass media drive an apathetic view of such narratives, Anderson instead offers an alternative, poetic and intimate practice that that speaks of his own experience, whilst constructing a frame for us to experience it with him. In 2000, Christopher Anderson received the Robert Capa Gold Medal for his series on the crossing made by boat by Haitian refugees to the United States. He has also been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Anderson has worked for Newsweek Magazine and National Geographic Magazine and in 2011 he became the first Photographer in Residence at New York Magazine. Numerous books have been published on his work: Nonfiction (2003), Capitolio (2009), Son (2013), Stump (2014) and his latest book Approximate Joy (2018). Anderson lives and works in both New York and Barcelona.Source: The Ravestijn Gallery Christopher Anderson is known for his emotionally charged, artfully drawn images that explore themes of truth and subjectivity. He is one of today’s most influential photographers, whose origins began in war reporting and later transformed into something more intimate, blending the worlds of commercial, art and fashion work, but always with a foundation in documentary. Anderson was born in 1970 in Canada and grew up in west Texas. His photographic career began working for local newspapers. In 2000, on assignment for the New York Times Magazine , he boarded a small wooden boat with 44 Haitians trying to sail to America. The boat sank in the Caribbean. The photographs received the Robert Capa Gold Medal and marked the beginning of a ten-year period as a contract photographer for Newsweek Magazine and National Geographic Magazine. In 2011 he became New York Magazine’s first ever Photographer in Residence; a notable collaboration that would also mark Anderson’s shift into portraiture and fashion, making images of significant figures including Barack Obama, Spike Lee and Debby Harry. In 2008, after the birth of his first child, Anderson moved further away from journalistic magazine work to subjects more immediate to his personal experience. In 2012, his book, SON, was published, defining a visual direction that has come characterize to his work. Other projects created within this intensely intimate approach include Capitolio, Stump and Approximate JOY.
James Van Der Zee
James Van Der Zee
United States
1886 | † 1983
James Van Der Zee was an American photographer best known for his portraits of black New Yorkers. He was a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Aside from the artistic merits of his work, Van Der Zee produced the most comprehensive documentation of the period. Among his most famous subjects during this time were Marcus Garvey, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Countee Cullen. Born in Lenox, Massachusetts, Van Der Zee demonstrated an early gift for music and was initially aspired to a career as a professional violinist. Van Der Zee's second interest was in photography. He bought his first camera when he was a teenager, and improvised a darkroom in his parents' home. He took hundreds of photographs of his family as well as his hometown of Lenox. Van Der Zee was one of the first people to provide early documentation of his community life in small-town New England. In 1906, he moved with his father and brother to Harlem in New York City, where he worked as a waiter and elevator operator. By now Van Der Zee was a skilled pianist and aspiring professional violinist. He would become the primary creator and one of the five performers in a group known as the Harlem Orchestra. In March 1907, Van Der Zee married Kate L. Brown and they moved back to Lenox to have their daughter, Rachel, born in September. Soon after, they moved to Phoebus, Virginia. In 1908, their son, Emile, was born but died within a year from pneumonia. In 1915, he moved to Newark, New Jersey, where he took a job in a portrait studio, first as a darkroom assistant and then as a portraitist. That same year, he converted to Catholicism and began taking assignments from the Church. He returned to Harlem the following year, just as large numbers of Black immigrants and migrants were arriving in that part of the city. He set up a studio at the Toussaint Conservatory of Art and Music with his sister, Jennie Louise Van de Zee, also known as Madame E Toussaint, who had founded the conservatory in 1911. In 1916, Van Der Zee and Gaynella Greenlee launched the Guarantee Photo Studio on West 125th Street in Harlem. They married in 1918. His business boomed during World War I, and the portraits he shot from this period until 1945 have demanded the majority of critical attention. In 1919, he photographed the victory parade of the returning 369th Infantry Regiment, a predominantly African American unit sometimes called the "Harlem Hellfighters." During the 1920s and 1930s, he produced hundreds of photographs recording Harlem's growing middle class. Its residents entrusted the visual documentation of their weddings, funerals, celebrities and sports stars, and social life to his carefully composed images. Quickly Van Der Zee became the most successful photographer in Harlem. Among his many renowned subjects were poet Countee Cullen, dancer Bill ("Bojangles") Robinson, Charles M. "Daddy" Grace, Joe Louis, Florence Mills, and black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. By the early 1930s, Van Der Zee found it harder to make an income from his work in photography, partly because of the strained economic circumstances of many of his customers and partly because the growing popularity of personal cameras reduced the need for professional photography. Van Der Zee worked predominantly in the studio and used a variety of props, including architectural elements, backdrops, and costumes, to achieve stylized tableaux vivant in keeping with late Victorian and Edwardian visual traditions. Sitters often copied celebrities of the 1920s and 1930s in their poses and expressions, and he retouched negatives and prints heavily to achieve an aura of glamour. He also created funeral photographs between the wars. These works were later collected in The Harlem Book of the Dead (1978), with a foreword by Toni Morrison. In 1982, at age 96, Van Der Zee photographed 21-year-old painter Jean-Michel Basquiat for the January 1983 issue of Interview magazine. Van Der Zee died in Washington, D.C. on May 15, 1983. Ten years later the National Portrait Gallery exhibited his work as a posthumous tribute. In 1984 Van Der Zee was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum. It’s a hard job to get the camera to see it like you see it. Sometimes you have it just the way you want it, and then you look in the camera and you don’t have the balance. The main thing is to get the camera to see it the way you see it. -- James Van Der Zee Works by Van Der Zee are artistic as well as technically proficient. His work was in high demand, in part due to his experimentation and skill in double exposures and in retouching negatives of children. One theme that recurs in his photographs was the emergent black middle class, which he captured using traditional techniques in often idealistic images. Negatives were retouched to show glamor and an aura of perfection. This affected the likeness of the person photographed, but he felt each photo should transcend the subject. His carefully posed family portraits reveal that the family unit was an important aspect of Van Der Zee's life. "I tried to see that every picture was better-looking than the person ... I had one woman come to me and say 'Mr. VanDerZee my friends tell that's a nice picture, but it doesn't look like you.' That was my style", said VanDerZee. Van Der Zee sometimes combined several photos in one image, for example by adding a ghostly child to an image of a wedding to suggest the couple's future, or by superimposing a funeral image upon a photograph of a dead woman to give the feeling of her eerie presence. Van Der Zee said, "I wanted to make the camera take what I thought should be there." Van Der Zee was a working photographer who supported himself through portraiture, and he devoted time to his professional work before his more artistic compositions. Many famous residents of Harlem were among his subjects. In addition to portraits, Van Der Zee photographed organizations, events, and other businesses.Source: Wikipedia
Matthew Steaffens
Matthew Steaffens
United States
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.
Jonas Scheck
Jonas Scheck
Netherlands
1986
Born and raised in France, I’ve lived in the Netherlands, New-Zealand and Berlin before settling in Switzerland. With a background in architecture and furniture manufacturing, I’m now turning my lifelong passion for photography into a profession. I’ve so far acquired my skills through self-learning, online courses, and practical experience. Currently working in photojournalism and really enjoying it!
Arlene Gottfried
Arlene Gottfried
United States
1950 | † 2017
Arlene Harriet Gottfried was a New York City street photographer who was known for recording the candid scenes of ordinary daily life in some of the city's less well-to-do neighborhoods; her work was not widely known until she was in her 50s. Born in Coney Island, she was the daughter of Lillian (Zimmerman), a homemaker, and Max Gottfried, who ran a hardware store with his own father, above which the family lived. Gottfried was the older sister of comedian and actor Gilbert Gottfried (1955–2022). When she was 9, Arlene moved to Crown Heights, where she became heavily influenced by the nearby, fast-growing Puerto Rican community. Later in the 70s, she moved with her Jewish immigrant family to the neighborhoods of Alphabet City and the Lower East Side. When Gottfried was a teenager, her father gave her an old 35 mm camera, which she eventually took to Woodstock, even though she said, "I had no clue what I was doing". She credited her upbringing for giving her the ability to get intimate photographs of strangers: "We lived in Coney Island, and that was always an exposure to all kinds of people, so I never had trouble walking up to people and asking them to take their picture." Gottfried graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology taking photography courses. She worked as a photographer for an advertising agency before freelancing for publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Fortune, Life, the Village Voice, and The Independent (London). She was a habitué of Nuyorican Poets Café, a friend of Miguel Piñero, and on the Lower East Side sang gospel with the Eternal Light Community Singers. In 1991 while on assignment Gottfried photographed the Eternal Light Community Singers, eventually singing with them, as well. Gottfried also sang gospel with the Jerriese Johnson East Village Gospel Choir. In her later years, she published five books of her work: The Eternal Light (Dewi Lewis Publishing, 1999), Midnight (powerHouse 2003), Sometimes Overwhelming (2008), Bacalaitos and Fireworks (powerHouse 2011), and Mommie: Three Generations of Women (powerHouse 2015). Her photographs and archives have been exhibited at the Leica Gallery in New York and Tokyo, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the European House of Photography (MEP), the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the New York Public Library. Gottfried died on August 8, 2017, from complications of breast cancer at her home in Manhattan at the age of 66 surrounded by friends and family.
Valentina Sinis
Valentina Sinis
Italy
Valentina Sinis is a documentary photographer based in London. Her projects gravitate toward the quirky and unusual, portraying offbeat realities and people on the margins with a profound sense of empathy and connection. Her work offers a meticulous yet delicate insight into idiosyncrasies, hidden meanings, and the subtle gestures that are often overlooked or sensationalized, but rarely explored in depth. AAP COMPETITIONS: All About Photo Awards 2025 AAP Magazine 46 Women
Dede Pickering
Dede Pickering
United States
1953
Dede Pickering is a photographer, storyteller and humanitarian who travels the world hoping to build a bridge between cultures with her photography. She is committed to the unshakable dignity of all people, and her photographs express a universal human spirit. Exploring the far corners of the world has been Pickering’s lifelong personal journey. Recording what she sees has given her insight into, and empathy for, other cultures and our shared human condition. Recently, Dede has found a connection with ice and the polar regions. Fueled by a curiosity and concern for our shared planet, she hopes that her work will inspire awareness and positive change.
Susan Burnstine
Susan Burnstine
United States
1966
Susan Burnstine is an award winning fine art and commercial photographer originally from Chicago now based in Los Angeles. Susan is represented in galleries across the world, widely published throughout the globe and has also written for several photography magazines, including a monthly column for Black and White Magazine (UK) Nominated for the 2009 Santa Fe Prize for Photography and winner of B&W Magazine's 2008 Portfolio Spotlight Award. Susan's first monograph, Within Shadows, has been published by CHARTA Editions and was released in Europe at the The Venice Biennale in June 2011. Additionally, Within Shadows, earned the Gold award for PX3 Prix De La Photographie Paris in the Professional Fine Art Books category and a Bronze overall. Source www.vervegallery.com
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