Photograher 13 | Bronek Kozka

'For me, right now, photography is all about telling stories. The work I make is about telling stories, and about making people connect with their own histories and stories.' Bronek Kozka.

Kozka's work reminds me of Gregory Crewdson. Their work share some similarities such as the cinematic qualities portrayed in the frames, reflection of personal experience and memory. Kozka is a great observant for rooms with sufficient ambient light which are potential to tell a story that comes from his memory.

'I'm not trying to make a really... what I'm trying to do is to create an illustration of my idea, and of memory.' explained Kozka. As such, Kozka feels more affinity with writers than documentary photography because a writer usually 'creates a scene'.

Photographer 12 | Francesca Woodman

Though Woodman committed suicide in her 22, her work continues to be the subject of attention in the world of contemporary art. She was best known for her black and white photographs featuring herself and some nude female models. She likes to use long exposure to have blurred effects and softness of focus in her work. She incorporates some surrealist motifs such as mirrors, gloves, birds and bowls. Some of the her photographs with disappearing figures were said to have reflected her desire to disappear in the world.

 

Photographer 11 | Kyle Thompson

Thompson is a young American photographer, best known for his surrealist self portraits. During college, he was interested in photography but he did not go through a formal eduction in photography. However, photography has became some sort of therapy to him at the age of nineteen when he was suffering from anxiety of life.

Thompson specializes in self-portraitures. He usually spends hours, even days to explore new locations for shooting, such as forests, mountain, abandoned houses and etc. His portraits are usually conceptual, depicting his personal traits and emotions. By applying water, smoke and lighting effects, Thompson enhances his photos with surreal feel.

His work are often well planned. He usually draws out all of the concepts in his mind before deciding on location and time, costumes, poses and etc.

Photographer 10 | Chien-Chi Chang

Reading biographies has become my way to seek for inspirations. People around you, people you found in the history, is an easy source of great stories. 

Chien-Chi is the first Chinese member of the Magnum Photos. He was known for photographing the life of illegal immigrants in New York which he started on 1992. This series of work were published in at least five different languages for the National Geographic. In 1998, Time invited  Chien-Chi to explore further on the topic of illegal immigrant in New York. This has lead to a rising global concern about the immigrant issues.

One of the later topic which Chien-Chi has explored is about the life of the psychiatric patients. It was happened in Taiwan that these psychiatric patients were chained under the name of religion. Chien-Chi took these patients into his frames as the silent protest for human rights.

Photography has became a special means for Chien-Chi to interpret social issues. He usually pick sensitive and rare topics to present them in a critical and enthusiastic perspective. 

To me, it is not purely about beauty but photography serves to record history, reflect the pasts and raise social concerns.

Photographer 9 | Raghu Rai

When I go to a situation, I see something interesting, and I see the enormity and the size of it, and the complexity of it, and I say “Yes God, you’ve shown me this but it’s not enough for me.” So he says “Alright.” Then I keep walking, then he shows me something more complex and bigger. I say “Yes God, It’s nice. But it’s still not enough for me.” So I go on and on and I don’t accept it, and then he knows this child of his is very demanding and restless. And then he opens up and shows me something I have never experienced before. Then I take a picture and say “Thank you God.”

In 1971, Henri Cartier Bresson visited Rai's exhibition at Gallery Delpire, in Paris. He was impressed by his work and later appointed him as the member of Magnum Photos. This has made Rai the first ever Indian being nominated in Magnum Photos.

Rai's motherland, India, has always been the subject of his photography work. He has documented over 4 decades of history and changing socialdscape of India. India is a very interesting country with beautiful variety of cultural and religious aspects. His work best described the people, their livings and the cultures of India.

Photographer 8 | Alexander J.E. Bradley

Bradley, an Australian contemporary street photographer, living in Paris has irrational fear of being at street level which takes him to the heights and depths of the city.

Bradley has an eye catching series called The Great Spectacle of Milking. This series was done by pouring buckets of milk towards his model and he would capture the immediate response of the model. The backdrops that he has chosen include roadside, railway, theme park grass field and etc. The images in this series has demonstrated some decent use of the ambient light to enhance the subjects. 

The clown is likely to be one of the most interesting subjects that favours me in this series. I like that most of the reaction being captured in the frames are natural and interesting. The shape and the texture of milk poured look like some freezing sculptures that are impossible to be seen in our daily occurrences.

  

Bradley's work has inspired me to look for some interesting moments and to create crazy scenes for my future photography work. Photography should be as fun as the viewer can feel it from the frames being captured.