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Ragnar Axelsson
Ragnar Axelsson
Ragnar Axelsson

Ragnar Axelsson

Country: Iceland
Birth: 1958

For over 40 years, Ragnar Axelsson, Rax, has been photographing the people, animals, and landscape of the most remote regions of the Arctic, including Iceland, Siberia, and Greenland. In stark black-and-white images, he captures the elemental, human experience of nature at the edge of the liveable world, making visible the extraordinary relationships between the people of the Arctic and their extreme environment – relationships now being altered in profound and complex ways by the unprecedented changes in climate.

A photojournalist at Morgunbladid since 1976, Ragnar has also worked on free-lance assignment in Latvia, Lithuania, Mozambique, South Africa, China, and Ukraine. His photographs have been featured in LIFE, Newsweek, Stern, GEO, National Geographic, Time, and Polka, and have been exhibited widely.

Ragnar has published 7 books in various international editions. His most recent, Jökull (Glacier) was published in 2018, with a foreword by Olafur Eliasson. Andlit Nordursins (Faces of The North), was published in 2016, with a foreword by Mary Ellen Mark, and won the 2016 Icelandic Literary Prize for non-fiction.

Other awards for Ragnar's work include numerous Icelandic Photojournalist Awards; The Leica Oskar Barnack Award (Honorable Mention); The Grand Prize, Photo de Mer, Vannes; and Iceland's highest honor, the Order of the Falcon, Knight's Cross.

Ragnar is currently working on a 3-year project documenting people's lives in all 8 countries of the Arctic. At this pivotal time, as climate change irrevocably disrupts the physical and traditional realities of their world, Ragnar is bearing witness to the immediate and direct threat global warming poses to their survival.

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More Great Photographers To Discover

Jonathan Chritchley
United Kingdom
Jonathan Chritchley is one of the foremost fine art photographers in the world today. His instantly recognizable work is seen around the world in exhibitions, galleries, magazines and books, and form part of many fine art collections internationally. His regular clients include Ralph Lauren, Hilton International, Fortuny and P&O Luxury Cruises. Jonathan also speaks and presents his work at photography and sailing events worldwide, and is the founder and owner of Capture Earth and Ocean Capture, two companies specializing in luxury photography workshops & tours. Born in London, England, Jonathan became infatuated with the sea after moving to the famous sailing town of Lymington on the country's south coast at the age of 14. Years later, having moved to the South of France, he gave up a successful career as a marketing and brand director in order to return to his true passion; a combination of the sea and fine art photography. He has now worked in over 35 countries, including Mozambique, Japan, China, Cambodia, Chile, Greenland and South Africa. Jonathan was named one of the 'Top 100 Photographers of All Time' by the Sunday Times. His first book, SILVER, a 136 page fine art art edition, was published in 2014, and in 2016 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS). An active supporter of ocean conservation, Jonathan currently resides in the South of France with his wife and young family. Source: www.jonathanchritchley.com Jonathan Chritchley is a detail-obsessed perfectionist of black-and-white photography. Sections and details of his work allow us to delve into landscapes of the soul and are both relaxing and contemplative. Natural beauty does not mean perfection: to him it means uniqueness. And accordingly his photographs look like visions of the unknown and new. The atmosphere of his landscapes is not loud or spectacular but rather teases out a picturesque silence while playing with the power of nature, which he encounters in clearings in the forest, in the middle of the sea, or the panorama of a seascape. He explores the scene with his camera like a hiker and captures forces of nature – a stormy collection of clouds and treetops bent by the winds, or the tautly pulled and suddenly billowing sails – in impressive images. We can truly inhale the landscape in Chritchley’s works – sense the wind, the cold, the distance, the resistance – because he has confronted them confidently and persistently with his camera. Chritchley learned to sail as a boy on the south coast of England. He still preserves his excitement for the sport as well as sailing’s creativity and his inherent love of discovery, and he lives these actively in his photos. He abstractly choreographs the play of the wind in the sails. Billowing, cleverly cropped, sometimes full-bodied like a sculpture and momentarily rising to formidable heights, they can then in a split second give way in a windless sky. This creates an exciting scenario and offers aesthetic moments that fascinate more than just passionate sailors. He does not necessarily see himself as the “master of images” but rather as a curious observer of the canvas’s unpredictable moods. As a globetrotter, Chritchley has been a guest not only on all continents but also on the pages of many magazines and in many galleries. His singular sailing portraits are known and loved internationally. The landscapes and sailing scenes specially selected for LUMAS attest to the photographer’s creative diversity, above all in the realm of abstraction. Source: LUMAS
Sebastián Machado
Steve McCurry
United States
1950
Steve McCurry has been one of the most iconic voices in contemporary photography for more than 30 years, with scores of magazine and book covers, over a dozen books, and countless exhibitions around the world to his name. Born in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; McCurry studied film at Pennsylvania State University, before going on to work for a local newspaper. After several years of freelance work, McCurry made his first of what would become many trips to India. Traveling with little more than a bag of clothes and another of film, he made his way across the subcontinent, exploring the country with his camera. It was after several months of travel that he found himself crossing the border into Pakistan. There, he met a group of refugees from Afghanistan, who smuggled him across the border into their country, just as the Russian Invasion was closing the country to all western journalists. Emerging in traditional dress, with full beard and weather-worn features after weeks embedded with the Mujahedeen, McCurry brought the world the first images of the conflict in Afghanistan, putting a human face to the issue on every masthead. Since then, McCurry has gone on to create stunning images on all seven continents and countless countries. His work spans conflicts, vanishing cultures, ancient traditions and contemporary culture alike - yet always retains the human element that made his celebrated image of the Afghan Girl such a powerful image. McCurry has been recognized with some of the most prestigious awards in the industry, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, National Press Photographers Award, and an unprecedented four first prize awards from the World Press Photo contest. The Minister of French Culture has also appointed McCurry a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters and most recently, the Royal Photographic Society in London awarded McCurry the Centenary Medal for Lifetime Achievement. McCurry has published books including The Imperial Way (1985), Monsoon (1988), Portraits (1999 | 2013), South Southeast (2000), Sanctuary (2002), The Path to Buddha: A Tibetan Pilgrimage (2003), Steve McCurry (2005), Looking East (2006), In the Shadow of Mountains (2007), The Unguarded Moment, (2009), The Iconic Photographs (2011), Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs (2013), From These Hands: A Journey Along the Coffee Trail (2015), India (2015), On Reading (2016), Afghanistan (2017), A Life in Pictures (2018), Animals (2019), In Search of Elsewhere: Unseen Images (2020). @stevemccurryofficial "What is important to my work is the individual picture. I photograph stories on assignment, and of course they have to be put together coherently. But what matters most is that each picture stands on its own, with its own place and feeling" -- Steve McCurry If the photographer's images have made the rounds of newspapers around the world, like the portrait of the young Afghan woman with piercing eyes, it is also due to their aesthetic impact. Steve McCurry spoke of the importance of colour in his photographs, the importance of post-production and retouching, and their ability to touch the viewer: "each single picture has its single story, and we put ours in it" (Steve McCurry). "Sometimes with pictures and photography, what is interesting is that the imagination can go off in different directions. Everything should not be explained" (Steve McCurry): the photographer stresses the importance of leaving their share of mystery to the photographs. Steve McCurry was confronted with the horror of war; his images bear witness to this. If Susan Sontag suggests in Regarding the Pain of Others that photography “beautifies” and “bleaches out a moral response to what is shown”, the photographer brings an entirely different perspective to the issue. He refers to the mission of war reporters to fight against the blindness and ineptitude of public opinion: "Should we be informed about what's happening in our world? Should we let our governments tell us ? I think that would be a very bad idea. [...] Somebody has to go and give us their impression. We need some person to go there and find the truth" (Steve McCurry).Source: www.sciencespo.fr
Neşe Arı
Turkey
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Neşe Arı is an independent artist based in Istanbul, who has transformed photography into a powerful means of personal expression. Immersed in the world of photography for over fifteen years, Arı focuses on capturing the simple yet profound moments of everyday life. Working primarily in documentary, travel, and street photography, she draws attention to human stories, emotions, and the often unseen details of life. Her photographs invite the viewer to witness small but meaningful fragments of time. Her artistic approach is built on sincerity, simplicity, and a strong narrative voice. Particularly passionate about social responsibility projects, she gained recognition through her long-term project "Yaşamda Kal" ("Stay Alive"), which sheds light on the life journeys of individuals overcoming physical disabilities. Through this project, she aims to highlight the strength and resilience of people who reclaim life through sports. Neşe Arı’s work has been exhibited in numerous shows across Turkey and internationally, and has been published in renowned outlets such as The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Guardian. In 2016, she was awarded the EFIAP distinction by the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP). Her photographs have also been featured in major international projects such as "Women's Cry", "Changes", and "Open Doors", and her work has been showcased in exhibitions in the Vatican and many other countries. For Neşe Arı, every journey and every new face represents a story waiting to be told. She continues to use her camera as a tool to create photographs that touch lives, provoke thought, and evoke deep emotions. Artistic Vision: As Neşe Arı, I aim to make the simple yet profound moments of life visible. I use photography as a language to touch human stories, reveal emotions, and uncover the hidden beauty of everyday life. With each frame, I strive to create an impact that invites the viewer to reflect, feel, and connect with the essence of existence. By emphasizing sincerity, simplicity, and the strength of the human spirit, I seek to preserve and celebrate the diverse faces and stories of life.
William Gottlieb
United States
1917 | † 2006
William Paul Gottlieb was an American photographer and newspaper columnist who is best known for his classic photographs of the leading performers of the Golden Age of American jazz in the 1930s and 1940s. Gottlieb's photographs are among the best-known and widely reproduced images of this era of jazz. Gottlieb made portraits of hundreds of prominent jazz musicians and personalities, typically while they were playing or singing at well-known New York City jazz clubs. William Gottlieb's subjects included Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Hines, Jo Stafford, Thelonious Monk, Stan Kenton, Ray McKinley, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Louis Jordan, Ella Fitzgerald, Toots Thielemans, and Benny Carter. Gottlieb was born on January 28, 1917, in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn, and grew up in Bound Brook, New Jersey, where his father was in the building and lumber business. He graduated from Lehigh University in 1938 with a degree in economics. While at Lehigh, Gottlieb wrote for the weekly campus newspaper and became editor-in-chief of The Lehigh Review. In his last year of college, he began writing a weekly jazz column for the Washington Post. While writing for the Post, Gottlieb taught economics at the University of Maryland. After the Post determined that it would not pay a photographer to accompany Gottlieb's visits to jazz clubs, Gottlieb borrowed a press camera and began taking pictures for his column. William P. Gottlieb was drafted into the Army Air Corps in 1943 and served as a photography and classifications officer. After World War II, Gottlieb moved to New York City to pursue a career in journalism. He worked as a writer-photographer for Down Beat magazine, and his work also appeared frequently in Record Changer, the Saturday Review, and Collier's. In 1948, Gottlieb retired from jazz journalism in order to spend more time with his wife, Delia, and children. After Gottlieb left Down Beat, he began working at Curriculum Films, an educational filmstrip company. He founded his own filmstrip company, which was later bought by McGraw Hill. Many of his filmstrips won awards from the Canadian Film Board and the Educational Film Librarians Association. Gottlieb also wrote and illustrated children's books, including several Golden Books such as The Four Seasons, Tigers Adventure, and Laddie the Superdog. He also wrote educational books such as Science Facts You Won't Believe and Space Flight. Apart from his photography career, William Gottlieb also played amateur tennis. Gottlieb and his son Steven were often ranked the number one father-and-son ream on the East Coast and were twice ranked among the top ten teams in the US. Gottlieb married the former Delia Potofsky, daughter of Jacob Potofsky. They had four children, Barbara, Steven, Richard, and Edward. Gottlieb died of complications of a stroke on April 23, 2006, in Great Neck, New York. In accord with Gottlieb's wishes, his photographs were placed in the public domain. Many of his pictures are used in Wikipedia and other public domain or freely licensed venues.Source: Wikipedia It was the love of music that brought the superlative photography of William P. Gottlieb to the world’s attention. Originally a writer and jazz columnist, William figured that columns accompanied with photographs might give him a better chance to be published. During the late 30’s he began photographing jazz musicians to illustrate articles he wrote for the Washington Post. His weekly feature “Swing Sessions” was probably the first jazz column in a major newspaper. He simultaneously had radio programs on WRC/NBC and on a local station WINX. At the age of 22 he was Washington’s “Mr.Jazz”. After WWII, he became the assistant editor of “Downbeat” where, again, he took photos to augment his writing. At both The Post and Downbeat he was only paid just for writing, not for pictures. In 1948, he left the jazz field for a career in publishing with Britannica and McGraw Hill and it wasn’t until his retirement that he resurrected his old jazz photos and in 1979, published The Golden Age of Jazz, now in its 12th edition of printing. In a review of the book, The New Yorker wrote, “Gottlieb stopped photographing jazz musicians in 1948… No one has surpassed him yet.” Today he is still regarded as one of the top jazz photographers of all time. Although he never resumed taking jazz photos, his photographs have become our most widely reproduced jazz illustrations, having four US postage stamps, 250 record album covers, and having appeared in over 160 exhibitions around the world. He is represented in the National Portrait Gallery, and his photos were an essential part of the PBS Jazz series by Ken Burns. In 1995, The Library of Congress purchased 1,600 of his jazz photos “for posterity” and in 1997 he became the first and only photographer to receive the Downbeat Lifetime Achievement award.Source: Gallery 270
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