Issue No. 168

MICHAEL KENNA’S JAPAN: A LOVE STORY

What can one say that hasn’t been said already about the Englishman who is perhaps the most famous landscape photographer since Ansel Adams? Well, rather than try to compete with the tsunami of words devoted to Michael Kenna’s trademark imagery, we asked him to speak up for himself about his decades of work, particularly his lifelong love of Japan.

MICHAEL GARLINGTON: REDIFINING THE FAMILY PORTRAIT

One of the most interesting of contemporary artists is the triple threat photographer, sculptor and installation artist Michael Garlington. Utilizing a large-format film camera, he stages individuals and groups from decidedly non-mainstream walks of life into surreal tableaux of his devising and makes portraits unlike any you’re likely to see—at once carnivalesque, darkly humorous and provoking in all the best ways. Contributor David Best walks us through Garlington’s garden of oddities and delights.

STEPHEN WHITE: A PASSION FOR VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

Gallery owner, collector, dealer, curator, writer and historian Stephen White has worn many hats during a long, multivarious career in photography. Driving his fervor for the medium over five decades has been an unquenchable interest in the stories and contexts of the countless photographic images that have crossed his path.

RICHARD EVANS SCHULTES: EXPLORING INDIGENOUS WORLDS

The American biologist is acknowledged as the father of modern ethnobotany and one of the 20th century’s most important plant explorers. Known for his studies and discoveries of hallucinogenic plants used by indigenous populations of the Americas for medicinal, practical and ritual purposes, Schultes was also an accomplished photographer, whose images of tribespeople in the Amazon are extraordinary for their insight, beauty and sensitivity.

BETINA LA PLANTE: ICONIC IMAGES

Actively pursuing portrait photography since 2009, Betina La Plante has built an enviable body of work focused on the outsize charisma of celebrities and ordinary folks alike. Her elegantly staged and superbly lit photographs seem to channel the classical gravitas of Alfred Stieglitz, the challenging directness of Irving Penn, and a playful surrealism that Lee Miller would doubtless have approved.

SPOTLIGHT: PAUL ITALIANO: PORTFOLIO CONTEST WINNER

MORE SPOTLIGHTS

DAVID BENCE
ROBERT STEFFEN
ALAN HANS
MIKAEL CARSTANJEN
JERRY WIESE

SINGLE IMAGE SPOTLIGHTS

BARBARA SOCOR
CHRIS TRUHE
CENK BAYIRLI
LOUIS MONTROSE

CONTEST: LOOKING BACK–LOOKING FORWARD

WINNERS OF OUR DIGITAL MANIPULATION CONTEST

OPENING SHOT

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EXPOSURE SECTION