The world in an aperture

Thirteen international photographers including Pulitzer Prize-winner Vincent Laforet, lifestyle specialist Chase Jarvis, people photographer Carol Dragon, photo journalist Joe McNally, Adobe Photoshop expert David Nightingale, portrait specialist Zack Arias and wedding photographer Cliff Mautner are going to be displaying their works and discussing photography at the Gulf Photo Plus 2009. The event will be held at the Dubai Knowledge Village from March 30 to April 4.

This year's event boasts several workshops on different aspects of photography for beginners and experts.

According to the chief organiser of this event, Mohammad Somji, an accomplished UAE-based digital photographer, the response from participants and photographers has been phenomenal: “We are very pleased with the response in terms of ticket sales this year.''

Friday conducted e-mail interviews with five leading photographers to find out more about their art.

Chase Jarvis

A lifestyle and commercial photographer, Chase Jarvis is known for his innovative style and 'surprise' element that he captures in his photographs. This Seattle-based photographer who attended last year's Gulf Photo Plus returns with more pizzazz to his already unique cutting edge-style of photography. At 35, he is the youngest photographer to be named a Hasselblad Master and Nikon Master. He will be offering photography tips to amateurs at his workshops.

This is your second visit to Dubai and second time at Gulf Photo Plus. What are your recollections of the place and what are you looking forward to?

I have great memories of my time in Dubai last year – connecting with wonderful photographers from all over the globe. The course we created for last year's exhibition was the first of its kind using a real creative brief from some of my previous gigs, as well as real models and real locations. I'm looking forward to building on that curriculum this year. I've expanded the course to offer something not just to still photographers, but to those with interests in video as well. As those technologies continue to converge, a fluency – or at least an understanding of their interrelation – is an important part of preparing photographers for the future.

Last time you captured the fluid movements of three dancers, one of them apparently suspended in air over a dune. What can we expect this year?

You should expect some new stuff this year for certain. For starters, the coursework I outlined above will again challenge the creativity of the students and the application of photography to real-world situations. Beyond the coursework, I'm looking forward to the gallery opening featuring my work and the work of some of my peers at the DIFC, as well as an opportunity to shoot an ad campaign for a major brand while I'm there. Lastly, I'll be focusing on some personal portfolio work that's currently in the concept phase. It'll try to be both elegant and quite raw. Fingers crossed.

You have done a lot of commercial photography and personal journey projects as well. How do you strike a balance between the two and how does your approach differ?
One of my primary goals is to be constantly creating. As such, I don't look at the two worlds – the commercial work and the personal work – as being at odds with each other. In fact they help me achieve balance, even complement one another. Commercial works give me the opportunity to collaborate with other creative professionals on intriguing campaigns, often with very specific objectives. On the other hand, my personal work underscores the more whimsical and indulgent side without restrictions. They feed each other.

Asim Rafiqui

Thst always remain true Violence and its impact on the lives of the people going through it is a major recurring theme of this Stockholm-based photographer who turned professional in 2003. This is Rafiqui's first visit to the Gulf Photo Plus exhibition and he has a lot to offer in terms of stark images from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gaza, Kurdistan and Haiti. His works have been published in several magazines such as National Geographic, Stern, Newsweek and Time. He has also been awarded a grant of $25,000 by the Aftermath Project that he intends to use to fund a project on religious culture in India.

What is it about war that you try to depict in your pictures?

I am frequently asked this question, but the fact is that I am not a war photographer.I have worked in the regions of conflict, but primarily to document the aftermath situations when life has to start again, and people must find a way through their loss and pain. It is then that I find the more interesting and challenging stories, and also the freedom to work as I like. By the time I arrive most of the major war photographers and news photographers have moved on and I can find interesting and untold situations to document.

Is photography a journey of self-discovery?

Photography for me is very closely tied to my beliefs, values and view of the world.

I think [if] photographers don't bring something of themselves to each piece of work, [their pictures] remain rather uninteresting and conventional.

What is shown in my personal work are points of view of me as an individual and a human being. One can't always bring these perspectives to assignment work, and one should not even try. There, the responsibilities are different.

Personal work however, can be a source of self-discovery or simply self-expression, but I don't use photography as therapy, ie, as a way to calm my demons or resolve my issues. For me, it [photography] is a form of expression, the means by which I speak of the world around me and the way I see that world.

Your last assignment was in the Gaza Strip. Would you care to share your photography experiences with our readers?

I was in Gaza thanks to a grant from the Pulitzer Centre On Crisis Reporting (www.pulitzercenter.org). I think that your readers know well the situation inside Gaza. I will simply add that it is rather difficult to work as a photographer in Gaza because of how well and how extensively the place has been documented. However, what this documentation achieves in numbers it fails in breadth. A lot of local and international photojournalists have worked in Gaza over the decades, but have consistently photographed it the same way, and by concentrating on the same things. There are exceptions of course, e.g., Alessandra Sanguinetti and Laura Junka are two that come to mind.

Carol Dragon

People are her muse. A teacher of digital imaging at the International Center of Photography in New York, Dragon has enjoyed several highs in her career including working on two very interesting projects. The first titled the Red Hook Project began in April 2007 and documents the evolution of a Brooklyn neighbourhood.

The second, which Dragon began six months ago, is called Anomalies and challenges the traditional perceptions of beauty. It is a medium format still-life project.

At the Gulf Photo Plus exhibition, Dragon will take classes for beginners and as a certified Adobe training provider will train people in the use of Photoshop.

Everyday faces and people going about their business seem to be your subject. What did you look to capture in the faces of the Brooklyn people?

When I began the Red Hook Project two years ago, it seemed inevitable that the neighbourhood would soon be gentrified and disappear. I wanted to capture and document everything I could while it was thriving in its present form. I began to photograph the streets, visit businesses and get to know some of the residents. The people were amazingly open and friendly. I read everything I could about the neighbourhood, including H. P. Lovecraft's gothic short story, The Horror at Red Hook.

Of course many things have changed since I began this project, but Red Hook has resisted demise and over-gentrification. There is an illusive, often humorous and invulnerable quality to the people who live there, and I think it's that which protects the core of the neighbourhood. Red Hook is like a small town in the middle of the vast expanse of New York City.

I continue to photograph the neighbourhood, but now I am focusing on environmental portraits of Red Hookers. I am also recording their stories for a multimedia project. I listen to their various stories and conflicting points of view. I use these voices as my guides.

Your Red Hook project is focused on a Brooklyn neighbourhood while Anomalies is focused on fruits and vegetables. Do these two polarised projects say something about your technique and style?

The two projects may seem polarised, but they have a strong unifying principle.

The photographer, Platon, who is one of my favourite portrait photographers, remarked that our culture is “anaesthetised by perfection''. I am bored by this perfection.

People avoid Red Hook because it is industrial and gritty. Affluent New Yorkers are repelled by the neighbourhood.

Nature has infinite variety. Our expectation that this is otherwise, that tomatoes or people must conform to specific standards of perfection, is absurd. To exemplify this, I decided that I would search out and photograph fruit and vegetable anomalies. It is much harder to find an interesting vegetable than it is to find an interesting person

Vincent Laforet

A Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist from New York, Vincent Laforet has been recognised as one of the 100 most influential people in photography. His work includes fine art, advertising, corporate and editorial photography. A master of aerial photography, Laforet, 33, has worked for leading journals and magazines including Life.

What do you think is the essential difference between fine art and photography?

Ultimately there should be none when a photograph reaches a certain level of excellence.

You have done advertising, news and art photography. How do the three work and which is the most satisfying?

All are satisfying at different levels. Fine art photography is generally the most beautiful to look at. News [photography] is incredibly challenging and fast paced – and often very gratifying when the photographs [end up] helping others. Commercial work is a much more orchestrated process – with much less left to chance – but you are often given the budgets to truly push the envelope.

An important point amateur photographers should keep in mind.

To put the camera down and look around and think prior to making an image.

Is it difficult to reconcile the images outside and the perspectives within the mind?

Ah – well that's the most challenging, frustrating, invigorating, thrilling and amazing part of photography - all at once.

Cliff Mautner

Windswept roads, exquisite chapels and graceful couples taking their vows are the main theme of wedding photographer Mautner's photography. But what sets him apart is his unique perspective and the statement he makes through fearless compositions that may seem unconventional but are almost ethereal in their beauty. After having done 15 years of commercial photography for clients ranging from Comcast to Subaru, Mautner turned to marriage as an inspiration. After 600 weddings, he hasn't looked back.

You have taken a seemingly predictable and conventional trade of marriage photography and given it a surrealistic edge. How do you do it?

I believe it's all about how you look at it. One can surely approach a wedding day in the formulaic manner in which it's been viewed in the past. I do my best to enter the wedding day with no pre-conceived notions about what may occur. There is no recipe that I follow. If you keep an open mind to what's about to come, you'll create images you've never made before.

Marriage pictures are a challenge always – low light in chapels, crowds, etc. How do you counter that or come to terms with them? Any special effects or choice of lens that works?

Fortunately, over the past 18 months or so, I've had the tools that enable me to create images in low lighting conditions that were impossible to deal with in the past. My Nikon D3 has changed the way I think about capturing moments during all parts of the day, not just during ceremonies. I choose the right lens to achieve the right look, and I do it without really thinking about the technical elements.

By allowing these technical elements to become innate, you can focus your attention on composition and creativity. I'm grateful to have the technology to create these images like never before.

You rarely do close-ups and concentrate more on silhouettes and the paraphernalia around marriage, giving the pictures a fairy-tale effect. What are you trying to capture in these photographs?

To me, it's all about light. I'm trying to create texture, dimension, and mood with the light I have. These images may look like paintings because the light is being used in a way that creates the same drama as a painting.

While you may not see the emotion on the faces when certain images are in silhouette, these images certainly have a gesture that evokes a mood.

I think that's what art is about. Since light is the common denominator between photography and painting, that makes so much sense!

For more information on the exhibition log on to www.gulfphotoplus.com