6.23.2011

f100 Martin Brink, Darcy Padilla, Hannah Smith Allen, Anna Shteynshleyger

© Martin Brink, from the series "Trash in Grass"

fototazo has asked a group of 50 curators, gallery owners, blog writers, photographers, academics and others actively engaged in photography to pick two photographers that deserve (more) recognition - the underknown, the under-respected as well as not-appreciated-enough favorites. A little more information on the project is available in the first post in the series here.

We began the series with responses from Nicholas NixonMatt JohnstonBlake AndrewsJohn Edwin MasonAline SmithsonColin PantallMichael WernerLiza FetissovaLaurence Salzmann, Bryan Formhals, Richard Mosse, Shane Lavalette, Amy Stein and Amani Willett.

Today we continue with responses from Wayne Ford and S. Billie Mandle.

Respondent: Wayne Ford is an award winning designer and art director who has created numerous designs for business, consumer and customer magazines, including The Observer color supplement, along with annual reports, books, exhibition catalogues and corporate branding projects, in both print and digital media. A professional and personal interest in photography has allowed him to travel extensively, and contribute to a number of magazines on the subject, as well as being a collector of photography and photographic books and regularly blogging about the photography that he is viewing. He is an awarded member of D&AD and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Selections: Martin Brink and Darcy Padilla

Martin Brink: "To me, the things that are beautiful and interesting in real life might not be the most interesting to photograph so I’m drawn to subjects that might often be overlooked," remarks Swedish photographer Martin Brink, who documents what many of us take for granted in his various series, including "The Daily Round" and "Walks." These subtle images combine, not to present a dramatic look at modern life, but a memorable look at the everyday that we so often take for granted and barely register in our hectic daily schedules, but which in many ways is more powerful and interesting than the beautiful and picturesque.

© Darcy Padilla, from "The Julie Project"

Darcy Padilla: On the February 28th, 1993, American photojournalist Darcy Padilla first met Julie Baird in the lobby of the Ambassador Hotel in San Francisco. She lived in a neighborhood of soup kitchens and cheap rooms, with Jack the father of her first child, through whom she had contracted AIDS. Several months after Padilla first met Baird, she left Jack in a bid to break away from a life of drug taking. From this initial meeting, Padilla began to document Baird’s "complex story of multiple homes, AIDS, drug abuse, abusive relationships, poverty, births, deaths, loss and reunion,"  following Baird from the backstreets of San Francisco to the backwoods of Alaska, in "The Julie Project," an emotionally powerful and sensitive series spanning 18 years.

Respondent: S. Billie Mandle has a BA in Biology and English from Williams College and an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She was a 2010 NYFA Fellow in photography and teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and the International Center of Photography. She lives in Brooklyn and Boston.

Selections: Hannah Smith Allen and Anna Shteynshleyger

Hannah Smith Allen: She is a photographer I know in Brooklyn whose work explores the intersection of history and representation. She is amazingly thoughtful and creative. Her images are richly layered - describing and transforming the worlds she explores.

© Hannah Smith Allen, Fired Bullets from the series "Battle Grounds" (in progress)

Anna Shteynshleyger: A photographer whose work I greatly admire - especially her two series "City of Destiny" and "Siberia."

© Anna Shteynshleyger, Axe, from the series "City of Destiny"