Jeroen Hofman

Dutch photographer Jeroen Hofman is a commercial photographer whose primary focus is on portraiture. He is known for photographing firefighters, Baring Sea Fisherman, and coalminers. This series from 2005 is called Coalminers. It shows the tired, and dirty coal mining men of America. Hofman uses two strobes to brightly light the coalminers upper torso and face.This creates a vignetting effect that leaves a darkened circle shadow around the picture frame. Although the lighting is harsh, Hofman is able to capture the grittiness of the miners face. No details were spared in this series. You can see every smudge of coal, unsightly chest hair and rib shadow their is in this photo. It's a lovely way to show the wear and tear of this mans body by using a simple and easy portrait shot. 

 

Angela Strassheim

Angela Strassheim is no stranger to an intense and strange past. Born on the bible belt, and raised by a strict Christian family, Angela got her first photography gig by snapping shots of forensic evidence. She is known for her beautiful but unsettling photos of hardened family memories. This photo happens to be from a series she did called Left Behind, which spotlights her strict religious family memories.

This somewhat creepy photo shows a father grooming his young son. The dad bares an odd "American Psycho," grin while his son looks too scared to move. Although the subject matter is intense, its the lighting that makes it even more foreboding. Its easy to see that a strobe is positioned to the left, which highlights the majority of the father and foreground. By doing so the shadow of the dad then falls onto the shoulders of the son. Coincidence...I think not. The poor little boy also has shadow from the dads body on his face as well. One shadow is jetting from the fathers comb hand which gives the illusion that the little boy has a black eye.

 

Mariel Clayton

Clayton isn't an ordinary portrait photographer. She specializes in miniature toy photography which is virtually unheard of. Known for her dark sense of humor, Clayton recreates the dark side of western society through use of barbie dolls and Tokyo toys. Her images often reflect crimes of passion,sex, and violent fighting. Not exactly what you would expect Barbie to be doing.

The above photo shows Barbie and Ken after a domestic dispute. I'm going to go out on a limb here and make up my own story as to what happen. It looks like Ken got a bit too drunk off of his bottle of jack and beat the hell out of Barbie with a rolling pin. Barbie was too busy baking muffins to notice the stumbling Ken to be prepared to the attack. instead she now sits around her spilled muffins, bleeding from the knee and crying while Ken looks through the fridge for some "after abuse" munchies. 

All joking aside, this is a pretty intense sense. Replace the dolls with actual human and you have one hell of a dramatic scene. Clayton also uses a direct spotlight on her Barbie scene which makes it even more dramatic and somewhat sad. Her attention to detail ans storytelling is what makes this photo work.

Julia Fullerton-Batten

 

A seven year project consisting of three parts is what brought Julia Fullerton Batten into the photographic spotlight. Her project named "Teenage Girls," shows an eerie modern day spin of young adolescent girls.  The first is Teenage Stories, where the girls are placed in settings where they dwarf their surroundings. The second is School Play, where Julia compares Asian and Caucasian schoolgirls. The third is In Between, where the girls are floating in their surroundings.It is easy to see that this articular photo is from the third part of her series.

To be honest, the lighting in this baffles me. Julia is able to keep the background low lit. It has certain hot areas like on the bed and patches on the carpet. Not only is the background nicely lit but the floating girl is as well. She is completely highlighted in light. Every detail in her dress and composed face is evenly lit. What is even more odd is the subject matter. How in the world did that girl get that high enough to jump backwards? Their is no apparent mat behind her to break her fall as well. She is bound to severly hurt herself on that landing. These are all things that Julia has mastered. Mixing mysterious settings with awesome lighting. She has managed to create the most eerie and questionable portraits of female teenagers today.

 

We Love Pictures: Maike and Travis

Cape Town based wedding photographers Maike and Travis bring a fun new attitude towards wedding photography. This lovely couple adds fun group shots and theatrical props in order to create their signature photo look. This particular photo of the Bride and Bridesmaids is amazing. They substitute in the Groom and Groomsmen as the seamless background. Maike and Travis also choose to have their subjects jumping in mid air. This causes the women in the photo to make funny faces. Its a beautiful shot of what is normally a very boring staged photo.

Maike and Travis also choose to use strobe lights in order to illuminate their objects. Its easy to see that the light is being directed from the right causing shadows of the jumping women to reflect on the linen seamless. This is also a nice way to keep detail in a evening sky yet still get details in the foreground. By doing so the We Love Pictures team manages to capture a lovely African sunset while still highlighting the funny wedding party.

Sarah Stolfa

My sister in-law Liz is an excellent gift-giver. Somehow she manages to stay on track with every one's interest; which in return pays off during holidays.Liz ended up buying me this lovely little photo book called "The Regulars." It was written and photographed by a feisty Philadelphia student named Sarah Stolfa. Stolfa was a Drexel photo major by day and a grungy McGlinchey's bartender by night.

Stolfa's "The Regulars," is an honest book depicting by photograph Philadelphia's finest. In it she explains that she managed to set up a single strobe light in the center of the bar. She then would wait for one of her regulars to come in and enjoy their choice of libation.  Unknowingly Stolfa would snap off a few quick shots before they had a chance to pose or make themselves seem...well less drunk.

This particular photo is on the cover of the book and for good reason. It shows a red headed girl sitting in a dark barroom yet is only illuminated from the front. This shadowy figure emerging from the background isnt staring directly at the camera with a model like demeanor. She has her eyes closed,  smoking a cig and drinking a pint. What more could you ask for when taking a photo of a bar regular. The other beautiful thing about this shot is that the colors are gorgeous. Somehow Stolfa lucked out with having both the background and her regulars sweater to have a rich ruby red color. This clashes amazingly with the nice forest green shirt and brown bar table. This photo is exactly what you would expect to see in a book based on bar regulars.