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“DOCUMENTED”
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Joshua Simon
Josh Simon is a photographic artist and chef from Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a self-taught photographer. He is interested in documenting the complex, changing landscape of the Rainbow Nation in its new normal day-to-day life.
“Louis Botha Avenue is a historic road in Johannesburg originally named after the first Prime Minister of South Africa, the general Louis Botha. The road originally connected the mining city of Johannesburg to the central city, Pretoria. The road allowed the two cities to trade, grow and become the financial and economic centers of Africa.”
Josh Simon is a photographic artist and chef from Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a self-taught photographer. He is interested in documenting the complex, changing landscape of the Rainbow Nation in its new normal day-to-day life.
“Louis Botha Avenue is a historic road in Johannesburg originally named after the first Prime Minister of South Africa, the general Louis Botha. The road originally connected the mining city of Johannesburg to the central city, Pretoria. The road allowed the two cities to trade, grow and become the financial and economic centers of Africa.”
Joshua Simon
“In the 60s, 70s, and 80s parts of Louis Botha Avenue was a high street connecting the city center to the affluent suburbs surrounding, the high street was popular for shopping, restaurants and designer shops and apartments as South Africa had changed government and policy. Since 1994, a new and free Rainbow nation South Africa has emerged, and of course, Louis Botha Avenue has also Changed. The iconic main road has always acted like a vein allowing lifeblood to flow and enrich the areas around the two great cities, today this main vein brings the life blood of a new nation, the re-urbanisation of once segregated suburban areas has created a unique living space where contrasting groups of people are forced to look past their differences and live together. With all the potential social justice flowing down the river of Louis Botha avenue, there are also the troubled waters of the new government’s failure to deliver on its promises. The flooding of this socio-economic crisis is stark and confronting. Hard lives are lived next to soft ones. My pictures show Louis Botha Avenue in its truest self at present.”
“In the 60s, 70s, and 80s parts of Louis Botha Avenue was a high street connecting the city center to the affluent suburbs surrounding, the high street was popular for shopping, restaurants and designer shops and apartments as South Africa had changed government and policy. Since 1994, a new and free Rainbow nation South Africa has emerged, and of course, Louis Botha Avenue has also Changed. The iconic main road has always acted like a vein allowing lifeblood to flow and enrich the areas around the two great cities, today this main vein brings the life blood of a new nation, the re-urbanisation of once segregated suburban areas has created a unique living space where contrasting groups of people are forced to look past their differences and live together. With all the potential social justice flowing down the river of Louis Botha avenue, there are also the troubled waters of the new government’s failure to deliver on its promises. The flooding of this socio-economic crisis is stark and confronting. Hard lives are lived next to soft ones. My pictures show Louis Botha Avenue in its truest self at present.”
Brigitte B Burckhardt
Brigitte currently lives in Switzerland. She is a self-taught photographer, started shooting as a child inspired by her grandfather whose name she chose to bear as her artist’s name to honour him.
She shot with a film camera for years be it color or black and white, spent hours developing her films in a dark room. In her twenties she travelled around the globe taking her camera along and thus gained great experience especially in landscape and street life photography.
Being reasonable instead of listening to her passion she studied medicine and is still partly working as a medic. Though after a life changing event she had more time for herself and the passion for photography came back stronger than ever. Still taken mostly by landscape and street life photography but also starting to experiment with other approaches.
“For some time now, I have started shooting during golden hour every day, weather permitting. I am taking photographs of this period of time before sunset, when the light is infused with red and gold tones. This is the golden hour “documented” or my golden hour diary. With the focus on the sun, the beach blurred in the foreground, reflecting the light beautifully, allowing the viewer to discover the texture of the pebbles, the waves. This adds a lifelike or realistic quality to the image. Its title is “Lakeshore.”
Brigitte currently lives in Switzerland. She is a self-taught photographer, started shooting as a child inspired by her grandfather whose name she chose to bear as her artist’s name to honour him.
She shot with a film camera for years be it color or black and white, spent hours developing her films in a dark room. In her twenties she travelled around the globe taking her camera along and thus gained great experience especially in landscape and street life photography.
Being reasonable instead of listening to her passion she studied medicine and is still partly working as a medic. Though after a life changing event she had more time for herself and the passion for photography came back stronger than ever. Still taken mostly by landscape and street life photography but also starting to experiment with other approaches.
“For some time now, I have started shooting during golden hour every day, weather permitting. I am taking photographs of this period of time before sunset, when the light is infused with red and gold tones. This is the golden hour “documented” or my golden hour diary. With the focus on the sun, the beach blurred in the foreground, reflecting the light beautifully, allowing the viewer to discover the texture of the pebbles, the waves. This adds a lifelike or realistic quality to the image. Its title is “Lakeshore.”
Émilie Teresina Caracciolo
Émilie Teresina Caracciolo discovered early on that photography was her means of making sense of the world. For Émilie, capturing moments through her lens became an essential way to understand and document the complexities and beauty of life around her.
Émilie spent 15 years as a social worker. Her career included supporting asylum seekers, working as a street-worker, and serving the Juvenile Judge.
She has a unique talent for capturing the essence of moments that might otherwise go unnoticed, revealing the inherent beauty in simplicity and hardship.
Émilie Teresina Caracciolo discovered early on that photography was her means of making sense of the world. For Émilie, capturing moments through her lens became an essential way to understand and document the complexities and beauty of life around her.
Émilie spent 15 years as a social worker. Her career included supporting asylum seekers, working as a street-worker, and serving the Juvenile Judge.
She has a unique talent for capturing the essence of moments that might otherwise go unnoticed, revealing the inherent beauty in simplicity and hardship.
Émilie Teresina Caracciolo
“Exile issues always mattered to me, maybe because of my own story, of all that I know about it and all that is left unsaid. With Ghazal, we explored connections between the country of origin and the host country. There was no dress code, but I truly appreciated that she chose to wear what is such a precious dress to her family, her mother’s wedding dress. One of the only things her family could bring when they fled Afghanistan a couple of years ago. I tried to capture the ambivalence between a heart-rending but life-saving departure.”
The title is “Tisser des liens” because in French it means “to connect with somebody” and at first, tisser is a word meaning “to weave” like “to weave threads into a beautiful piece of cloth.” I use her dress and the flowers of the ephemeral city garden to highlight the temporary nature of everything. This Protestant temple is, to me, symbolic of the city; it appears so “fairytale”, while it’s a memory of a time when the city of Metz was annexed by the Germans/Prussians (1870-1918).
Ghazal kindly agreed to write a few lines about these pictures:
“Too foreign for home, too foreign for here… never enough for both. In all the chaos that led her here, somehow she was searching for her roots in old patterns of her culture. She felt the warmth of her home, a home that she didn’t really know, a home she longed for.”
“Exile issues always mattered to me, maybe because of my own story, of all that I know about it and all that is left unsaid. With Ghazal, we explored connections between the country of origin and the host country. There was no dress code, but I truly appreciated that she chose to wear what is such a precious dress to her family, her mother’s wedding dress. One of the only things her family could bring when they fled Afghanistan a couple of years ago. I tried to capture the ambivalence between a heart-rending but life-saving departure.”
The title is “Tisser des liens” because in French it means “to connect with somebody” and at first, tisser is a word meaning “to weave” like “to weave threads into a beautiful piece of cloth.” I use her dress and the flowers of the ephemeral city garden to highlight the temporary nature of everything. This Protestant temple is, to me, symbolic of the city; it appears so “fairytale”, while it’s a memory of a time when the city of Metz was annexed by the Germans/Prussians (1870-1918).
Ghazal kindly agreed to write a few lines about these pictures:
“Too foreign for home, too foreign for here… never enough for both. In all the chaos that led her here, somehow she was searching for her roots in old patterns of her culture. She felt the warmth of her home, a home that she didn’t really know, a home she longed for.”
Émilie Teresina Caracciolo
Francisco Gaspar
Francisco, a 27-year-old photographer, began his professional journey in 2018, specialising in real estate and architecture.
His sharp eye for shapes, contrasting light, and intricate details has since drawn him into the realms of product, fashion, and art photography, where he now focuses much of his work.
“My work explores the fragile balance between human infrastructure and the unstoppable forces of nature. Through the photographic documentation of trees outgrowing and disrupting urban pavements in Braga, I reflect on the clash between the rigid, short-term mindset of urban planning and the enduring adaptability of organic growth. My artistic process combines meticulous framing and flash to highlight the textures and tensions where human control meets natural persistence. This body of work seeks to evoke a dialogue about resilience, adaptability, and the need for cities to coexist harmoniously with their natural surroundings.”
Francisco, a 27-year-old photographer, began his professional journey in 2018, specialising in real estate and architecture.
His sharp eye for shapes, contrasting light, and intricate details has since drawn him into the realms of product, fashion, and art photography, where he now focuses much of his work.
“My work explores the fragile balance between human infrastructure and the unstoppable forces of nature. Through the photographic documentation of trees outgrowing and disrupting urban pavements in Braga, I reflect on the clash between the rigid, short-term mindset of urban planning and the enduring adaptability of organic growth. My artistic process combines meticulous framing and flash to highlight the textures and tensions where human control meets natural persistence. This body of work seeks to evoke a dialogue about resilience, adaptability, and the need for cities to coexist harmoniously with their natural surroundings.”
Jack Nelson
“Having grown up as an expat child in Oman and Mozambique, I have a fond interest in other cultures and people’s lives. Since graduating university in 2023 I have been fortunate enough to find work in travel leading me mostly to places in the Middle East. A place I find a deep connection to. The deep seeded culture of respect and beauty lies there. I have worked on a small Yemeni island for extended periods of time leading me to use my camera to explain what I see and feel. My method examines the space between my headspace and what I witness. I use photo collage to stretch the boundaries of what an image can tell alluding to not only the truth but also something unexplainable. I have just come back from a month-long road trip in the United States where I saw a country internalised and whose value system seems warped. There is great injustice within the country and ways of falling through the cracks. It was a fascinating time to see the country on the brink of a decision that will ripple through the world to the far distances of hearts in war torn countries. I study the value system of financial wealth as well as spiritual and the natural. I am in the process of writing and producing a zine of the work.”
“Having grown up as an expat child in Oman and Mozambique, I have a fond interest in other cultures and people’s lives. Since graduating university in 2023 I have been fortunate enough to find work in travel leading me mostly to places in the Middle East. A place I find a deep connection to. The deep seeded culture of respect and beauty lies there. I have worked on a small Yemeni island for extended periods of time leading me to use my camera to explain what I see and feel. My method examines the space between my headspace and what I witness. I use photo collage to stretch the boundaries of what an image can tell alluding to not only the truth but also something unexplainable. I have just come back from a month-long road trip in the United States where I saw a country internalised and whose value system seems warped. There is great injustice within the country and ways of falling through the cracks. It was a fascinating time to see the country on the brink of a decision that will ripple through the world to the far distances of hearts in war torn countries. I study the value system of financial wealth as well as spiritual and the natural. I am in the process of writing and producing a zine of the work.”
Jack Nelson
Alexander Bath
Alexander Bath is a photographer from Manchester, in the United Kingdom. His photos are taken in varied locations and often reflect his interest in capturing a moment that tells a story.
“Photos are a single moment in time with everything before and after possible. A documentary image captures a single frame that can tell every chapter of someone’s story, or none of it. In that moment though, that is the subject’s entire reality.”
Alexander Bath is a photographer from Manchester, in the United Kingdom. His photos are taken in varied locations and often reflect his interest in capturing a moment that tells a story.
“Photos are a single moment in time with everything before and after possible. A documentary image captures a single frame that can tell every chapter of someone’s story, or none of it. In that moment though, that is the subject’s entire reality.”
Holly Hann
Holly Hann is a British photographer specialising in conceptual photography, known for her artistic approach and eye for detail. Holding a Master’s in Photography from Arts University Bournemouth, she integrates symbolic elements and staged scenes to engage viewers. Her work often confronts the male gaze by using the female gaze to empower women and challenge inequality.
More recently, she has explored themes of identity, memory, and the passage of time, employing techniques like Infrared and UV photography to create an uncanny effect. Hann has exhibited at multiple galleries.
Holly Hann is a British photographer specialising in conceptual photography, known for her artistic approach and eye for detail. Holding a Master’s in Photography from Arts University Bournemouth, she integrates symbolic elements and staged scenes to engage viewers. Her work often confronts the male gaze by using the female gaze to empower women and challenge inequality.
More recently, she has explored themes of identity, memory, and the passage of time, employing techniques like Infrared and UV photography to create an uncanny effect. Hann has exhibited at multiple galleries.
Holly Hann
“This series, Explorations of a Voyeuristic Nature and the Undoings of the Internalised Male Gaze, examines themes of observation, perception, and the dynamics of seeing and being seen. It investigates the male gaze and its internalisation within society, prompting viewers to confront the often unnoticed impact of observation on how we perceive and consume visual media. Set within intimate bedroom spaces, the work transforms viewers into voyeurs, challenging them to grapple with their role in observing such private moments. By situating the images in a personal environment, the series evokes discomfort, a reflection of the daily unease experienced by many women under societal scrutiny. The interplay between public and private is emphasised through visual cues-such as open curtains juxtaposed against the darkness outside-blurring boundaries and creating tension between invitation and intrusion.”
“This series, Explorations of a Voyeuristic Nature and the Undoings of the Internalised Male Gaze, examines themes of observation, perception, and the dynamics of seeing and being seen. It investigates the male gaze and its internalisation within society, prompting viewers to confront the often unnoticed impact of observation on how we perceive and consume visual media. Set within intimate bedroom spaces, the work transforms viewers into voyeurs, challenging them to grapple with their role in observing such private moments. By situating the images in a personal environment, the series evokes discomfort, a reflection of the daily unease experienced by many women under societal scrutiny. The interplay between public and private is emphasised through visual cues-such as open curtains juxtaposed against the darkness outside-blurring boundaries and creating tension between invitation and intrusion.”
Holly Hann
“The photographs aim to provoke a reconsideration of the subtle yet profound ways observation influences both our realities and our feelings, aligning closely with Documented's exploration of the contrast between what is captured and what is felt. Inspired by Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride (1993), the series delves into the internalisation of the male gaze, turning the lens inward to question how women may view themselves as objects within this dynamic. This work seeks to highlight the power of photography to reveal deeper truths about observation and perception, challenging viewers to confront their roles as spectators and reflect on how what is seen can shape what is felt.”
“The photographs aim to provoke a reconsideration of the subtle yet profound ways observation influences both our realities and our feelings, aligning closely with Documented's exploration of the contrast between what is captured and what is felt. Inspired by Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride (1993), the series delves into the internalisation of the male gaze, turning the lens inward to question how women may view themselves as objects within this dynamic. This work seeks to highlight the power of photography to reveal deeper truths about observation and perception, challenging viewers to confront their roles as spectators and reflect on how what is seen can shape what is felt.”
Karen Safer
Karen Safer is an international, award-winning California photographic artist, writer and poet. As a native Angelino, she was given a camera and crayons at 3 and exposed to dominant California motifs: light, palm trees, the ocean, music and vernacular architecture that helped define and influence her left-handed aesthetic.
Fortunate to begin a life of travel as a pre-teen, it shaped her love of the exotic, accidental and unusual that jiggled the lens/frame of her eye; subsequently she has traveled and photographed in over 230 countries and territories. She was influenced by her dad who developed black & white photos in their back washroom/turned darkroom and by her mother’s thirst for knowledge and travel.
She has a master’s degree in art, a career in design and architecture and is principle of ArtFocus International. She's been in 12 solo shows, exhibited in over 480+ international/national venues, received over 400+ awards.
Karen Safer is an international, award-winning California photographic artist, writer and poet. As a native Angelino, she was given a camera and crayons at 3 and exposed to dominant California motifs: light, palm trees, the ocean, music and vernacular architecture that helped define and influence her left-handed aesthetic.
Fortunate to begin a life of travel as a pre-teen, it shaped her love of the exotic, accidental and unusual that jiggled the lens/frame of her eye; subsequently she has traveled and photographed in over 230 countries and territories. She was influenced by her dad who developed black & white photos in their back washroom/turned darkroom and by her mother’s thirst for knowledge and travel.
She has a master’s degree in art, a career in design and architecture and is principle of ArtFocus International. She's been in 12 solo shows, exhibited in over 480+ international/national venues, received over 400+ awards.
Karen Safer
“I got a camera and some crayons as a kid, journeyed along a path in life. far from what I'd expected, moved from youth to middle age, did some work, had some fun, got high, got low, and just continue doing it. never tiring of the next visual surprise. Life is still a mystery, after all.”
“I got a camera and some crayons as a kid, journeyed along a path in life. far from what I'd expected, moved from youth to middle age, did some work, had some fun, got high, got low, and just continue doing it. never tiring of the next visual surprise. Life is still a mystery, after all.”
Karen Safer
Motos:
“A photographer has the whole world big or small to capture.”
“Wherever I am in the world, is my favorite place.”
Motos:
“A photographer has the whole world big or small to capture.”
“Wherever I am in the world, is my favorite place.”
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