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Enter AAP Magazine 54 Nature: Landscape, Wildlife, Flora & Fauna
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Stephen Albair
Stephen Albair
Stephen Albair

Stephen Albair

Country: United States
Birth: 1942

Stephen Albair was born in Massachusetts and raised in New Hampshire. He currently lives and works in San Francisco. Educated at Illinois State University in Design, he is a self-taught photographer, lecturer and a college teacher, for over 40 years. His work in tableau photography began in 1974 with the purchase of a 35mm Nikkormat, which has remained the only camera for his work. Numerous exhibitions and installations have been staged in the US and Thailand. He has authored three books with a fourth book currently in progress. The images are mostly rooted in memoir built on found objects with Art Historical references. The focus is not so much on a series of images but rather a board range of subject matter, from early memories, to the current political landscape. His photos represent intuitive responses to ideas through self-reflection. By mastering the techniques of tableaux photography he has created a significant body of work that have enhanced his skill as an artist and storyteller.

Statement

Photography is a unique way of seeing the world. Life's ambiguities, love, loss, and longing, are my subject matter. These ideas evolve through a meaningful search for content, with no specific audience in mind. Ultimately, an audience perceives all content based on their own personal experiences. Familiar objects trigger our memory, reminding us of how we understand the world. I constantly search for unique objects that speak to me. My set-ups are arranged to illustrate an intention, an action that something has just happened -or is about to. Tableau photography provides the stage, much like actors in a play. The procedure of building a photograph creates an air of playfulness that allows for a different way of thinking about common human experiences. The audience is delivered thought-provoking ideas tinged with humor in a fabricated world. This process playfully exposing the surreal nature of reality and questions what is real or simply realistic—leaving the viewer to decide.

Articles:

Hidden Gardens - Secret Views
SPECTACLES: A Memoir of Jewelry and Photography
Miss Nude World
For the Love of DOGS
Selected Books on Available on Amazon
Stephen Albair: Dogs
Stephen Albair: Dogs
Spectacles: A Memoir of Jewelry and Photography
Spectacles: A Memoir of Jewelry and Photography
False Bloom
False Bloom

Websites

www.stephenalbair.com

@stephen_albair

 

Selected Books

Stephen Albair: Dogs
Stephen Albair: Dogs
Stephen Albair
Spectacles: A Memoir of Jewelry and Photography
Spectacles: A Memoir of Jewelry and Photography
Stephen Albair
False Bloom
False Bloom
Stephen Albair

Inspiring Portfolios

Thomas Vijayan
© Thomas Vijayan
Julie Wang
© Julie Wang
Pedro Jarque Krebs
© Pedro Jarque Krebs
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More Great Photographers To Discover

Liliroze
Liliroze
Switzerland/France
1972
Liliroze was born in Geneva in 1972. Her passion for photography began when she was young whilst discovering the images of her father. Only after having obtained a degree in econometry did she decide to consecrate her life to the art. She moved to Paris and became a diplomee of the ENS Louis Lumière school in 1997. She assisted famous photographers at the beginning. Liliroze nourished her work in her travels, with the colors, shadows and people that happened into view or crossed her path in unexpected encounters. In the changing light, in the heart of her apparatus, in total confidence, she transcends intimacy as a tableau which surges forth from the time of centuries. First public Leica Prize of Les Indépendances laureate in the 2006, she now works as an independent photographer and follows her personal research.
Dilla Djalil-Daniel
Dilla Djalil-Daniel
Indonesia
1966
Dilla Djalil-Daniel is a Jakarta based documentary photographer who was born in 1966. Her first introduction to the camera was when her father gave her a boxy Kodak camera as her 9th birthday present. Ever since then she has been something of a shutterbug. Dilla obtained her bachelor degree from The University of Indonesia, majoring in English Literature. Dilla's first photography mentor was her late father, and for many years she shot her objects intuitively, relying on her feelings, sensitivity and a good eye. In 2010 she decided to join a photojournalism workshop in Bangkok. She had finally found the genre that suited her the most, which is story telling using her camera. One workshop inevitably leads to another, and she found herself attending more and more documentary and photojournalism workshops. Dilla is an alumnus of the Foundry Photojournalism workshop, the Momenta Documentary workshop and the Obscura Workshop. These overseas workshops also suited her well since she loves adventurous travelling. In the course of these workshops she has been fortunate to have had an impressive list of various award-winning photojournalists as her mentors. For Dilla photography is the medium that enables her to express her feelings. It is an art form that sees the camera as a brush and light as paint and the intent is always to narrate a story. It is her wish to carry on telling stories through her pictures, the stories she feels like telling, for as long as she can. Orphans of the Forest As a documentary photographer who also happens to be an animal lover, my main motivation has been to explore the different facets of the relationship between mankind and the animal kingdom. What speaks to me most is trying to capture the mysterious forms of communication that can and do exist between us. I tend to spend a considerable amount of time portraying domestic and wild animals in the form of a photographic narrative. It is most certainly not just a matter of trying to capture images of animals looking cute. The relationship between animals and humans is complex even if there is a dependency with domesticated animals, let alone with animals in the wild, whose existence is threatened by human presence or activities. What I find particularly poignant is where the relationship between animals and humans involves both abuse and dependency. Domestic and increasingly animals in the wild can and do benefit from compassionate intervention by humans. Much of my work attempts to depict this in action. The people involved are often rather under appreciated but it does not affect their devotion and passion in helping their charges by trying to improve their welfare and health. My intention is to try and speak on behalf of the animals and those who care for them.
Cristina de Middel
Cristina de Middel
Spain
1975
Cristina de Middel (born 1975) is a Spanish documentary photographer and artist living and working in Uruapan, Mexico. De Middel self-published The Afronauts in 2012, a photobook about the short-lived Zambian space program in Southern Africa. The book quickly sold out and the work was met with critical acclaim. She was nominated for the 2013 Deutsche Börse Photography Prize for The Afronauts. In 2013, de Middel received the Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography. In 2017 she became a nominee member of Magnum Photos and in 2019 an associate member. Source: Wikipedia Cristina de Middel investigates photography’s ambiguous relationship to truth. Blending documentary and conceptual photographic practices, she plays with reconstructions and archetypes in order to build a more layered understanding of the subjects she approaches. Working from the premise that mass media is reducing our real understanding of the world we live in, De Middel responds to an urgency to re-imagine tired aesthetic tropes and insert opinion in place of facts. Her impulse for an unconventional angle developed after a 10-year career as a photojournalist when De Middel stepped outside of straight documentary and produced the acclaimed series The Afronauts (2012). It explored the history of a failed space program in Zambia in the 1960s through staged reenactments of obscure narratives, challenging the traditional depiction of the African continent. De Middel’s ongoing project Gentleman’s Club (which began in Rio de Janeiro in 2015 and has now expanded to every continent around the globe bar Australasia) focuses on prostitution’s less documented side: the male clients. Her intimate portraits of these men subvert the paradigms of the status quo to provide new sources of insight and understanding. As well as her acclaimed personal projects, De Middel has worked on commission for clients including The Nobel Peace Foundation, Christian Dior, Vanity Fair USA, Vogue USA and FC Barcelona. De Middel was born in Spain and is based between Mexico and Brazil. She became a Magnum nominee in 2017.Source: Magnum Photos
Arne Strømme
Arne Strømme
Norway
1954
Arne Strømme is a Norwegian photographer, born and raised in Trondheim, now living in Molde. He was early attracted to photography, but when it came to choosing a profession, he trained as a landscape architect. About his photography Arne writes: ''My first pictures with a camera struck like lightning, half a century ago. Photography as a creative expression manifested itself immediately, and has been an important part of my life ever since. I wanted to keep photography as a passion and trained as a landscape architect. The combination of architect and photographer is rewarding, with different approaches to my creative urge. Now I can photograph whatever I want, whenever I want, wherever I want. As a photographer, I have a passion for people and the presence of people, despite my great interest in nature. For three decades I have traveled all over the world in search of adventure and magical moments. The process of photography, and the encounters with foreign people and cultures, are as important, perhaps more important, than the result itself. Still, if a decisive moment turns into a successful photograph, I will be happy.'' Strømme's photos have been presented in a number of exhibitions and decorations - and have won many awards. Among other things, Strømme has been named "Photographer of the Year" a total of 15 times in Norway and Sweden.
Maren Elize Klemp
Maren Elize Klemp
Norway
"I grew up in a small town outside of Oslo, and started photography when I was a teenager. My father bought me my first camera when I was seventeen, and I immediately knew that I wanted to become a photographer. Writing was one of my passions in this period of my life, but I also was searching for a way to express myself visually. I had no talent for either painting and drawing, so photography naturally became the right medium for me. Unfortunately I dropped out of high school, but was lucky enough to be offered an internship as a photographer in the local newspaper. I learned a lot during this period, but I quickly discovered that I was most drawn to the field of fine art photography rather than photo journalism. After about six moths in the newspaper I started to study fine art photography under professor Robert Meyer at Robert Meyer Kunsthøgskole in Oslo, and I have been a fine art photographer ever since. In 2014 I traveled to Charleston, South Carolina to work on my first book together with photographer and professor, Jose' Escobar. He discovered my work on Flickr, and asked if I wanted to collaborate on a book project. The book is called 'Between Intervals' and is a visual representation of conditions people suffering from mental illness can experience. My work has also been shown both in solo and group exhibitions in Oslo, Norway."
Jesús Umbría Brito
Jesús Umbría Brito
Spain
1971
Jesús Umbría Brito is a photographer whose gaze not only observes, but also engages in dialogue with both the world and the passage of time. He has completed PHotoESPAÑA’s Master of Photographic Projects Program, as well as training in narrative and in the photobook discipline with Ricardo Cases. His work has been exhibited in major galleries, including the Bondi Pavilion in Sydney, House of Lucie in Athens, the Lúcio Craveiro da Silva Library in Braga, and the Royal Botanical Gardens of Madrid. He has been a finalist in awards, such as the Gomma Grant, Head On, ReFocus, Analog Sparks, and the Enaire Foundation Photography Awards. He was recently invited to participate in 2025 Chico Review. STATEMENT: The photographer's gaze often deals with the legacy of the past, constantly returning us to the present as the only place from which we can examine history and relive it. Some of the most powerful images of the 20th and 21st centuries emerged from the clash between gaze and otherness, in that interstitial space of encounter between the photographer and the communities that inhabit the margins. Retaguardia is part of that more underground tradition, establishing a stylistic bridge with the work of other photographers such as Bruce Davidson, Larry Clark and Mary Ellen Mark. Like them, the author asks himself: What does it mean to inhabit a subculture? How are identities forged on the edges of the norm? What is the role of photography in representing those who live outside the spotlight? Retaguardia is a photographic project that dwells in the edges of mass society, in the periphery of the normative, in its penumbra. Far removed from dogma and convention, it unfolds a portrait of post-pandemic youth identified with the counterculture surrounding punk music and aesthetics: a mosaic of faces and expressions that seek each other in the mirror of the past to shape their present. From there, the author weaves a dialogue between times and generations. This exercise in memory and exploration becomes a testimony, an act of resistance against oblivion. On the one hand, the author revisits his own memory, three decades ago, when he went through these very spaces of transgression and belonging. On the other, he immerses himself in the present, where new generations rewrite history, adopting yesterday's dilemmas and facing their own. Young people who wear nostalgia like a second skin, who dance to the rhythm of inherited sounds, reconstructing with their own pulse the aesthetics and ideals of times that still resonate in their bodies. In this back-and-forth, the images emerge as witnesses to an immutable life cycle: that of youth seeking its mark on the margins, in the rearguard of dogma and norms. Through portraiture, the artist not only documents, but also questions. He explores identity as a constellation of signs and gestures, the need for belonging as an unbreakable drive, and social transversality as a contested territory. His camera is not a mere observer, but an active accomplice of those who find their place in what is different. The gaze —of the artist, the subject, and the spectator—unfolds as a narrative resource, a temporal bridge connecting generations. It acts as that contact zone that calls us from the past and seeks answers in the present. In this way, the exchange of gazes activates the dialogue between the observer and the observed, engaging us emotionally, blurring the boundaries between time and space, subject and spectator.
Hsuan Chung
Hsuan Chung
Taiwan
1985
Hsuan Chung is a passionate photographer who started his interest in photography when he was seventeen. During his college years in Taiwan, he taught himself all the skills and techniques of photography and became a professional newspaper journalist before graduation. He wasn't satisfied with his works and wanted improvement. That is when he decided to relocate to Atlanta to work on his M.F.A degree in Photography at Savannah College of Art and Design. During his time working on his degree, he participates in many events and works hard to promote his photography works. With less than a year from graduation, he plans to participate in fundraisers, exhibitions, and other artwork presentation platforms in order to show his works to the public and spread his messages. Edge Since ancient times, human beings have continuously given life to the land and civilization. We constantly create stories and memories in each land which has its own temperature and culture. Everything on the land experiences a cycle of weathering, squeezing, and accumulating, then they disintegrate, and reconstruct to irregular solids. The project is based on my thoughts about the boundary between sea and land. The gravel in the soil is cracked by hitting each other under the lap of the waves, thus forming a new state. The minerals and gravel are brought back to the sea by the waves and become nutrients for microorganisms. The boundary between the sea and the land, that surges at all times but exists forever, is the birthplace of land and life. For me, that is also the end of human civilization. I used the square composition of a medium format camera to metaphorically refer to the concept of 'time' in nature that only humans have. I pressed the shutter after a series of precise calculations, and each square perfectly framed the time and scenery of the moment. In order to let the negative and the seawater fully interact, I soaked the negative in the seawater took from the shooting location. So that the salt and minerals in the seawater are able to remain on the negative. During the development, sea salt and minerals that stay on the negative produce chemical reactions with chemistry and silver halides. Human intervention and uncertain chemistry allow the whole process to create a memory journey between the earth and the sea, human beings and nature. The final images fulfill the purpose of recreating memories of different times and spaces and making them eternal. They not only record the memory of the ocean for 4500 million years but also witness the vitality of everything and the inseparable connection between human beings and the earth.
Robi Chakraborty
Robi Chakraborty
United States/India
1959
Originally from India, Robi Chakraborty studied photography under the prestigious O.P. Sharma at Triveni Kala Sangam Photography in New Delhi. He began his career doing both commercial and press photography in the early 1980s, but through wanderlust and with a spirit to explore, Robi became drawn to photographing the people in the cities and villages of his native India. Taking roads less traveled, Robi sought out cultures and ways of life that were quickly becoming lost in the contemporary, more homogenized world of today. With his knack for finding people and places where tradition survives in the face of modernity, Robi delves below the surface and succinctly and eloquently captures moments in time that wonderfully illustrate the connection forged with the peoples and cultures that he encounters on his journeys. His work tells his subjects' stories in a way that is relatable and invites the viewer directly into their worlds. Having lived in India, Nepal, Africa and the US, Robi portrays his global view of the world through his photography by celebrating both the diversity of his subjects yet beautifully revealing the striking similarities and capturing the humanity that we can all relate to. Discover Robi Chakraborty's Interview
Vincent Peal
Vincent Peal
Belgium
1976
Vincent PEAL was born in 1976 in Brussels - Belgium. After a music career with the band EMMA PEAL, signed to the international PIAS - label, Vincent Peal now essentially dedicates his energies to the visual realm. He produced a number of super 8 video clips in NY, Londo n, Berlin...and made a documentary about the outcast living in Brussels. Some of his pictures of the Bombay slums and the problems surrounding the pollution on West Africa's beaches were selected for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai in the "World Water Pavilion". In 2015 he released a book "Brussels Open City" a portrait of the inhabitants of the capital of Belgium. In 2018, with the same publisher "Les Editions de Juillet" based in France he realized his second photography book "World News" about people he met during his different journey around the world. Today on the street I saw dozens of faces, each one telling a story, amazing stories, rugged, beautiful, funny and sometimes complicated, but always in those faces there is another universe to discover.
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Latest Interviews

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Exclusive Interview with Julie Wang
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Read the full interview
Exclusive Interview with Ghawam Kouchaki
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Exclusive Interview with Guillaume Bonn
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Exclusive Interview with Guillaume Bonn
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Call for Entries
AAP Magazine #54 Nature
Publish your work in AAP Magazine and win $1,000 Cash Prizes
© Anup Shah
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