The "Photographers of the Year" part of this blog has become a bit of a tradition here. Even though it is quite popular to compile lists like this one, I have never thought of them as something that people should take too seriously, because - I'm sure - someone else's list will look quite different. But since this blog is quite biased towards what I like or, at least, find interesting, I think there is nothing wrong with me picking the photographers whose work has impressed me the most over the past year (oh, and that's really it: one juror, you can't submit work, no prize - what kind of lousy competition is this?). So without further ado, here they are, in alphabetical order. As you will see, if you want to find out more about the photographers, there is an interview with each and every one of them (and that tells you something how I look for people to interview and not how I compile the list).
Amy Elkins's portraits of men in un-male environments are not only beautiful, but also contain something else that I still find a bit hard to describe. To find out more about her motivation read the
interview.
Richard Renaldi just had
a big book published, and since the book is my favourite photo book this year, Richard is part of this list. In
the interview, I talked with him about his motivation behind the different series that are condensed into the book.
Just like Amy,
Shen Wei takes close and intimate portraits of people, but there is another approach and result. To find out more about Shen's work, read the
interview.
Curiously enough, each of these photographers takes mostly portraits. Has my interest changed? I don't know. But I've always considered vast, empty landscapes or cityscapes without people to be photos about people - it's just a different way to talk about people when you show the traces they leave.
PS: I re-posted this since just last night, the three of them met and decided to have their photo taken together. So there they are, Amy, Richard, and Shen (from left to right).
