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Alexandro Pelaez
Alexandro Pelaez
Alexandro Pelaez

Alexandro Pelaez

Country: Venezuela
Birth: 1977

Alexandro Pelaez is a Caracas-born analogue photographer based in London with a BA in Communication (Advertising) at Jacksonville University in Florida and was headhunted as an art director in the advertising agency BVK Meka in Miami. Having moved to London in 2001, where he completed his second BA (Hons) in Graphic at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, Alexandro has worked over the years on various photography projects with different clients in the UK, Latvia, Germany, Italy, France, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Shanghai and USA.

In 2014 Alexandro received the Highly Commended Award by the London Photographic Association for his "HEROES & VILLAINS". In 2017 Alexandro was the finalist with the "Londoners" series at the ACCI "Art of Living" Photography Competition in California, and won two Honourable Mentions by International Photographer of the Year for both categories of Fine Art: Conceptual and People: Portrait; and by Density Neutral Photography Awards for the category Fine Art: Conceptual.

Recently, Alexandro received three Honourable Mention Awards by the IPA International Photography Awards in New York (2019) with the OneShot Street Photography competition New York (single image) Category: Specials; also received the Finalist Award by the Fine Art Photography Awards (2019) Category: Cityscape (series).

Alexandro received the 2nd place award by the IPA International Photography Award 2019 in New York in the category of: Analogue/ Film, Other.

Artist Statement

"When I am shooting in double exposure with my 35mm film camera, in my way and style, I am trying to capture the true essence of a city or an area. What I want to convey is my perspective of “what you see is what you get" by capturing those unique moments when I catch an image. The double exposure allows me to capture all that but can take my images to a different level where I can be more creative by holding double layered scenarios that will give the viewer a magical, almost surreal perspective and sense of unnatural futurism."

Alexandro Pelaez and the Magical in the Realism
 

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Pierrot Men
Malagasy
1954
At first, I wanted to be a painter, and I pursued this path for 17 years. In my third year of middle school, a painter came to present his profession, and I decided to leave school to follow this path. My father, who was a merchant, would have preferred me to become a grocer like him. He cut oA my financial support, so I left home for the “big city,” Antananarivo, with my childhood friend Léon Fulgence. In a coAee plantation, we made a blood pact, promising each other to become artists—he as a painter and I as a photographer. We experienced poverty and hunger in Antananarivo. After returning to my hometown following the political events of 1972, I worked in the family grocery store. After some time, to show my determination to my father, I drew a counterfeit banknote that he mistook for a real one. He was furious, but he also realized I had artistic potential. After doing various small jobs, I was able to buy an enlarger and, in 1974, opened my first photo lab. I worked on weddings, baptisms, and family portraits to support my family. I used a Soviet Zenit E camera with a 50mm lens, a gift from my sister. My first camera was my father’s old Kodak 6x9, which I used for a long time. I also used contact sheets as models for my paintings, and sometimes even postage stamps, as magazines and books rarely reached the provinces. At the same time, I developed my personal photography, following in the footsteps of my African colleagues Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibé. Today, I have achieved my dream and have been a photographer for nearly 50 years. Statement My name is Pierrot Men, and I'm a Madagascan artist-photographer with a passion for my country, Madagascar, which is rich in human and natural diversity. Photography is not just my job, it's my life. I was born here, I grew up here, and the whole essence of my being is deeply rooted in the culture and landscapes of this fascinating island. My passion for photography finds its purest essence in capturing people in their environment, at the heart of the everyday lives of the people who live in my country. My artistic approach stems from an intimate connection with the people of Madagascar. Every click of my camera is an act of love and a testimony to the Malagasy soul, an immersion in the everyday experiences that shape our lives. By photographing the people of my country, I feel as if I am photographing myself, frozen in situations that I have experienced myself. It's an act of personal exploration as much as it is a visual testimony to the richness of our culture. My favourite tool is a 35mm lens, which allows me to get closer to their intimacy, to feel the warmth of their smiles, the depth of their eyes and the sincerity of their gestures. Each shot becomes a moment frozen in time that reveals the very essence of their existence. When I set out to find my subjects, I don't have any predefined themes in mind. I let my emotions guide me. I photograph everything that evokes a deep feeling in me, whether it's the bright joy of a bustling market, the melancholy of a gaze lost in the horizon or the palpable inspiration of a craftsman creating his art with passion... Each image I capture is imbued with the vital energy of Madagascar, with the love I have for this country and its people. Beyond the lens of my camera, there's communication. I like to immerse myself in the daily lives of the people I photograph. I take the time to get to know them, to listen to their stories, to understand their dreams and struggles. These conversations, often fleeting but always meaningful, allow me to create a bond, a connection that transcends the camera lens. It is in these moments of sharing that I discover the true essence of my subjects, which makes each image even more precious. I admit that writing is not my strong point. My photographic language finds its true expression through my camera. Each image I capture speaks for me, tells a silent story. In conclusion, my images are born of this fusion between my love for Madagascar, my deep connection with its people and my ability to capture the essence of the human being through my lens. Each photograph is the result of a passionate exploration, a total immersion in the daily life of my country. Each one tells a story, not only of those I have photographed, but also of myself, of my own experience as a Malagasy individual. This is how my images come to life, through the prism of my lens, freezing the Malagasy soul in eternal moments.
Meg McKenzie Ryan
United States
Los Angeles resident Meg McKenzie Ryan married young, before graduating from college. Her husband's job involved flying to Hong Kong, so one day Meg surprised him by flying there. Asking friends what she should shop for there, buying a camera was the unanimous suggestion. So that's what happened. She didn't know how to use it, so she enrolled in a not-for-credit class at the University of California, Los Angeles. Jerry McMillan was her instructor there and later at California State University, Northridge where she earned her Bachelor in photography. In the early 70s, McMillan was active in the Los Angeles art scene, and he was particularly interested (it seemed) in helping photography to be recognized as an art form. Non-traditional subjects and alternative presentations were encouraged. I was game. Then, Meg remarried and moved to Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa, and then to neighboring Lome, Togo where her daughter was born. The culture there was incredibly different than her Los Angeles home. Religion, work and working conditions, poverty, homes, clothing, food, etc. were all new. It was a lot to digest, and more than she was prepared to face with her camera. Next, the young family moved to Bloomington, Indiana where Meg was able to study for a Masters degree in photography. Jeff Wolin was her primary instructor, and he was shooting an 8" x 10" field camera, so Meg decided to acquire one. Mostly she shot landscapes at the time. Wolin, on the other hand, was shooting beautiful shots of the rock quarries around Bloomington, and later did a project on Holocaust survivors and later still on homelessness. Moving again to the lower desert of California (city of El Centro), Meg landed a full-time photography job at the local daily newspaper. It was excellent experience for the young and somewhat shy photographer because she learned to shoot pictures of people. And this was the start of her project featured here, The lives of others. Her home was just ten miles north of the Mexicali, Mexico border town and capital of the state of Baja California, Mexico. It was easy (at the time) to cross the border, find the poorer neighborhoods, and ask to shoot their pictures. It's no accident that her photography became more documentary-like at its heart. The newspaper work and living in such a foreign place as West Africa pulled her in that direction. And at some point she realized that photos of people interested her the most. The work was wonderful, rewarding, and rich with experience and learning. Meg hopes you'll take time to look at the photos here.
Debbie Fleming Caffery
United States
1948
Debbie Fleming Caffery grew up along the Bayou Teche in southwest Louisiana and still lives in the area. Early on in her career, she was inspired by the work of Dorothea Lange and many of the artists working within the FSA and Federal Arts Project of the WPA during the Depression. Like these forbears, she is interested in telling stories with her pictures, but unlike those earlier photographers, her work is as much artful as it is documentary. Her rich, and dramatic prints are the result of the deep relationships with the people and places she photographs, a visual corollary to the reverence she has for her subjects. Caffery has photographed the sugarcane industry and its community in Louisiana since the late 1970s. She has also photographed in rural villages in Mexico for many years, creating works that draw connections between those communities and the ones in Louisiana that were so familiar to her from her own upbringing. In 2005, Caffery was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship for the work she made of women working in brothels in Mexico. In 2006, she received the Katrina Media Fellowship from the Open Society Foundations to continue to photograph the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Recently Caffery received a commission from the High Museum in Atlanta for their Picturing the South photography initiative. Her monographs include: Carry Me Home (Smithsonian, 1990), The Shadows (Twin Palms Press, 2002) and Polly (Twin Palms Press, 2004), The Spirit & The Flesh (Radius Books, 2009) and Alphabet (Fall Line Press, 2015). Source: Gitterman Gallery
Bob Willoughby
United States
1927 | † 2009
Bob Willoughby, whose photographs transformed the images of Hollywood’s biggest stars, is a true pioneer of 20th century photography. He was the first “outside” photographer hired by the major studios to create photographs for the magazines, and was the link between the filmmakers and major magazines of the time, such as Life and Look. Born June 30th, 1927 in Los Angeles, his parents were divorced by the time he was born and he was raised by his mother. Bob was given an Argus C-3 camera for his twelfth birthday, providing the catalyst for what would become the key to his future. After high school, he studied cinema at night at the USC Cinema Department and design with Saul Bass at the Kahn Institute of Art. At the same time he apprenticed with a number of Hollywood photographers; Wallace Seawell, Paul Hesse, and Glenn Embree, gleaning technical and business know-how. His first magazine assignments were for Harper's Bazaar in the early ’50s when famed art director Alexey Brodovitch became aware of his work. His career took off in 1954 when Warner Bros. asked him to photograph Judy Garland’s final scene on the set of A Star Is Born. His portrait of the freckle-faced star became his first Life cover. From then on his production was phenomenal. His images were in print literally every week for the next twenty years. As the first “special” he covered the making of over 100 films, including the 1960s movies The Graduate, My Fair Lady, Rosemary’s Baby and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. His body of work, documenting this historic era of filmmaking, is unsurpassed. He captured with wonderful perception the most famous actors and directors of the time on and off the set, in unguarded moments of repose, vulnerability and high drama. He had a unique ability to capture what was essential to each film. Bob also had a remarkable understanding of the needs of each individual magazine; he could be shooting for seven different publications and know exactly what each one needed in terms of editorial content and design layout. While Willoughby is most famous as the great chronicler of Hollywood, before he began covering film production he had already made an astonishing series of images of jazz musicians. Willoughby had a huge appreciation of jazz both in its technical aspects and its ability to raise the roof in performance. He had a masterful feel for the character of the artists, and he was able to convey it even in the difficult lighting conditions of recording studios and stage. He was responsible for a number of technical innovations, including the silent blimp for 35mm still cameras, which became common on film sets. He was the only photographer working on films at the time to use radio-controlled cameras, allowing him unprecedented coverage in otherwise impossible situations, and he had special brackets built to hold his still cameras on or over the Panavision cameras. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood honored Willoughby with a major retrospective exhibition of his work. He was awarded the Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Still Photography in New York in 2004. His photographs are in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the National Portrait Gallery, London; the National Museum of Photography, Bradford, UK; Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris; the Museum of Modern Art, Film Department, New York; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Tate Gallery Collection, London; Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image, Nice; and Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, Belgium. In December 2009, Bob passed away at his home in Vence in the South of France, surrounded by his wife Dorothy and four children.Source: willoughbyphotos.com
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