Mary Ellen Mark...

Profoto on Set with Iconic Mary Ellen Mark from Profoto USA on Vimeo.

Mary Ellen Mark, another one of my favourite photographers has gained worldwide visibility through her numerous books and exhibitions where she has addressed such difficult social issues as homelessness, loneliness, drug addiction and prostitution.

Working primarily with analogue camera's using black and white film, she has travelled the world extensively taking pictures that clearly demonstrate a high level of commitment and humanism. It is exactly what you will see from the above video, where Mary passes on some sage advice and you really get to appreciate her persona and begin to understand why she achieves such stunning and touching imagery.

It would not be time wasted, investigating further the work of this master photographer.

Scott Soens...

Scott Soens is a surf/lifestyle photographer with a strong character and a wonderful outlook on life. Having assisted various professional photographers, including Bruce Webber, he set out on his own and has along the way added cinematography to his skills set.

From the video above I see that he is very driven, although maintaining a level of authenticity which is quite rare these days in a world where a big ego normally win hands down.

Take sometime to go through the images on his website and the wonderful video above does give a good look into the world of Scott Soens, it may also leave you feeling a bit envious of his lifestyle (don't say I didn't warn you)  ;-)

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is Maxi, who I assume is from the north of Spain.

To be honest I couldn't find out anything more than the obvious fact that he is a very good surf photographer.

Enjoy...!

Previous featured photographers:
October '10 - Gary Newman
September '10 - Martin Stranka
July '10 - m_i_n_o_r's
June '10 - AndersonImages'
May '10 - Siprico
April '10 - Lucie Debelkova
March '10 - Kent Mercurio
February '10 - Midnight-Digital
January '10 - Art Libre
December '09 - Ray maï
November '09 - *6261
October '09 - Vladimir Longauer
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is Gary Newman, who is from Bristol in the UK. Most of the photo's on his Flickr stream have been taken in the Bristol and West Country area.

As you can see he dedicates his time to landscape and cityscape imagery and there really is a great collection of inspiring photographs.

Enjoy...!

Previous featured photographers:
September '10 - Martin Stranka
July '10 - m_i_n_o_r's
June '10 - AndersonImages'
May '10 - Siprico
April '10 - Lucie Debelkova
March '10 - Kent Mercurio
February '10 - Midnight-Digital
January '10 - Art Libre
December '09 - Ray maï
November '09 - *6261
October '09 - Vladimir Longauer
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is Martin Stranka from Prague and to be honest I can't describe his photography any better than is written in his Flickr bio: 

"The work of Martin Stranka exists in that space between dreams and waking, those split seconds when a person has a foot in both worlds. Light like the first rays of twilight filtering through a curtain when even the dust seems to glitter with some sort of hidden purpose or meaning.

The language of stillness.

The solitary sound of your own footsteps echoing down the streets of a deserted city. And on every building the flickering image of a silent film like faded memories.

Martin's images.

So personal yet somehow universal they seem like your own memories. Your moments.

And maybe they are..."

If you would like to see more than his Flickr stream, you can find his website here.

Previous featured photographers:
July '10 - m_i_n_o_r's
June '10 - AndersonImages'
May '10 - Siprico
April '10 - Lucie Debelkova
March '10 - Kent Mercurio
February '10 - Midnight-Digital
January '10 - Art Libre
December '09 - Ray maï
November '09 - *6261
October '09 - Vladimir Longauer
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is Xavi Fuentes from Barcelona, Spain. In his biography he explains that he discovered photography a 'bit late', which doesn't seemed to have stopped him from creating such beautiful imagery.

You will see that he mainly concentrates on black and white photography with his wonderfully composed seascapes.

He is also winning awards for his photography having recently collected two 1st places at the PX3 Awards in Paris for 'Book Proposal' and 'Nature'.

If you would like to see more than his Flickr stream, you can find his website here and his blog here.

Previous featured photographers:
June '10 - AndersonImages'
May '10 - Siprico
April '10 - Lucie Debelkova
March '10 - Kent Mercurio
February '10 - Midnight-Digital
January '10 - Art Libre
December '09 - Ray maï
November '09 - *6261
October '09 - Vladimir Longauer
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

For this months featured photographer, I've looked for some landscape photography that will impress anyone.

Michael who hails from Colorado, USA, travels a lot and has accumulated a top quality portfolio. Apart from his Flickr photostream you can find out more about him and his work on his website.

Previous featured photographers:
May '10 - Siprico
April '10 - Lucie Debelkova
March '10 - Kent Mercurio
February '10 - Midnight-Digital
January '10 - Art Libre
December '09 - Ray maï
November '09 - *6261
October '09 - Vladimir Longauer
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

For this months featured photographer, I had a hunt around for someone whose main work was in the field of macro photography, to try and provide some possible inspiration for next months theme.

The one that impressed me the most was Siprico, and judging by the number of comments he receives on his images on Flickr, I'm not the only one to think so.

Previous featured photographers:
April '10 - Lucie Debelkova
March '10 - Kent Mercurio
February '10 - Midnight-Digital
January '10 - Art Libre
December '09 - Ray maï
November '09 - *6261
October '09 - Vladimir Longauer
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer originally from Prague, but now living in Kuwait, is Lucie Debelkova. Her travel imagery is absolutely wonderful and she has now visited 78 countries, so there is plenty of variety in her photo's too.

In her Flickr profile she explains her evolution with respect to her equipment choice, plus you should also visit her website which gives a bit more of an insight into what makes her tick.

As I know there are a lot of travel photography fans in the club, hopefully these images will provide further motivation and inspiration in your own images.

Previous featured photographers:
March '10 - Kent Mercurio
February '10 - Midnight-Digital
January '10 - Art Libre
December '09 - Ray maï
November '09 - *6261
October '09 - Vladimir Longauer
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer originally from Guam, but now living in San Diego, is Kent Mercurio with, amongst many others, his wonderful landscape images very reminiscent of Micheal Kenna and Josef Hoflehner.

A master of the use of film and long exposure with a number of different medium format camera's, spend sometime browsing his Flickr stream or his webpage, it's well worth it.

Previous featured photographers:
February '10 - Midnight-Digital
January '10 - Art Libre
December '09 - Ray maï
November '09 - *6261
October '09 - Vladimir Longauer
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is Chris Dessaigne a.k.a Midnight-digital, he has a very complete profile, a part of which I include below for you to get a feeling about what sort of art he produces :

"Christophe Dessaigne is a French artist who lives in the south of France, in a small town called Perpignan, near Spain on the Mediterranean coast. His creations are open doors to fantastic and dreamy horizons where digital photography serves the fanciful imagery of surrealist photo-montages. His universes are desolate, vast and insubstantial. Gigantic scaled structures rule the landscapes, dwarfing human beings to the size of ants. His post-apocalyptic kingdoms, equally poetic and terrifying, are visions of the end of the world. His work has appeared in cover art book and CD covers in Europe, and has recently been featured in Advanced Creations and PSD Photoshop Magazine. His photographic visions are invitations to remote and chimeric territories. A travel into a mysterious journey."

Previous featured photographers:
January '10 - Art Libre
December '09 - Ray maï
November '09 - *6261
October '09 - Vladimir Longauer
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is one of the more popular groups on Flickr, this 'invite only' group has many fine art images covering the colour, B&W and alternate processes genres.

Happy New Year to all of you and enjoy the images..!

Previous featured photographers:
December '09 - Ray maï
November '09 - *6261
October '09 - Vladimir Longauer
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer, and our last for 2009, is Ray maï or Rémi Tinel and he is from India, he say in his profile that photography makes him go out and meet people, saving him from a selfish life.

As you will see from his photostream his favourite subject is street portraiture and his images are full of emotion and are often heart wrenching to look at.

He was recently featured on Spotlight Seven if you would like to learn a little more about what makes him tick.

Previous featured photographers:
November '09 - *6261
October '09 - Vladimir Longauer
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is 6261 or TEIKO she is from Japan and has a real talent when it comes to creating wonderfully atmospheric images.

She still uses film and from what I can see Rolleiflex, Pentacon and Hasselblad camera's.

Her Flickr stream is well worth a visit...

Enjoy...

Previous featured photographers:
October '09 - Vladimir Longauer
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is Vladimir Longauer a Slovakien who now resides in Dublin, Ireland.

Looking at both his Flickr and DeviantART galleries, you'll see a wonderful mix between landscape and portrait photography, a lot using shallow depth of field effects and something he calls 'tilt' where he deliberately puts the lens on his camera in crooked manner !!

He has also been featured in Issue 14 of Blur e-magazine (previously known as Bulb) and you can find his personal website here.

Enjoy...

Previous featured photographers:
September '09 - LJ
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is Lee Jeffries who goes under the flickr name of LJ.

His specialty, as you will see, is street portraiture that goes from being candid to heart wrenching.

I couldn't find too much out about him, but he has his own web site here and looks like he does a lot of charity work for the homeless as well.

Enjoy...

Previous featured photographers:
August '09 - alex.alexander
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months is another anonymous photographer from Flickr, whose mastery with the Hasselblad 500 I find mesmerising along with his subject selection and shallow depth of field techniques....

Here is what he says in his flickr profile :

'What lenses or cameras do I use? Does it really matter?
Is it all about your creativity, skills, self expression, originality and ART?

It's more than just an idea to please your eye, isn't it?

Should your work reflect your personality and style?

What makes you wonder around in one spot for few hours on some rainy Wednesday with a hope of capturing an extraordinary person or moment?

What is the meaning of my photographic quest?'

Enjoy...

Previous featured photographers:
July '09 - falsalama
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is falsalama, couldn't really find out a lot about him other than that he is an English photographic artist currently living in Tokyo.

However, what you will find in his Flickr stream is some absolutely stunning street and portrait photography...

Enjoy...

Previous featured photographers:
June '09 - micmojo
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is micmojo, aka Jan Scholz. Born in Hamburg, Germany he now lives and works in Maastricht, Holland.

He started portrait and fashion photography in April 2006 as a spare time activity, as a creative counterweight to his job, which he still continues to do up to this day. He uses a wide variety of film camera's of different formats along with digital...

His imagery is beautifully crafted and considering he does this in his spare time, the level of excellence he has reached is extraordinary...

Inspiration for our next theme 'People' maybe...?

Previous featured photographers:
May '09 - orvaratli
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima

This months featured photographer...

This months featured photographer is orvaratli, who is from Iceland and as you can see from his images he has a passion for landscape photography..

Hope you enjoy it...

Previous featured photographers:
April '09 - ArTeTeTra
March '09 - Tom Hoops
February '09 - Strobist Favourites
January '09 - Tommy Oshima