Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i Lens Magazine

Magnificent Raven’s town! Oh, sorry, it’s actually Kraków I'm going to tell you about. I was lucky to visit this city two weeks ago, and it still keeps vibrating with its colors, hidden in the streets, tiny cafes and bars, and unexpectedly beautiful graffitis. The place where history is reframed and converted into art objects, which you can literally see everywhere you go. The place where traditions meet the modern world and create something original. Kraków (originally from the ancient Slavic word Krak – Raven) is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century and was the official capital of Poland until 1596 and has traditionally been one of the leading…

Several days after I returned from a visit to Costa Rica, the city of Philadelphia was transformed. In response to the spread of coronavirus, the mayor ordered all nonessential businesses to close by 5 p.m. Monday, March 16, 2020. Stay-at-home orders were in place by March 27. By late June, facial covering had become mandatory. The day-to-day pleasures of urban life receded as we were primarily confined to our homes, in my case, an apartment overlooking the shuttered Philadelphia Museum of Art. While intended to safeguard public health, the phrase social distancing has darker connotations of isolation and fractured human bonds. Moreover, I find it uncomfortably similar to anomie when applied to a densely populated city, with its invocation of apathy and detachment. The photographs in this series are merely…

Uzbekistan, a country with a rich history and diverse cultural heritage, boasts a charming series of bustling bazaars at the heart of its trading tradition for centuries. These lively marketplaces, called "Bazaars" by locals, are places to buy and sell goods and vibrant social centers that offer locals and visitors a captivating experience for the senses. When you enter a bazaar in Uzbekistan, you are immersed in a world of vibrant colors, tantalizing aromas, and the melodic sound of haggling. These markets are a melting pot of cultures, where people from different regions and backgrounds come together to trade a fantastic variety of goods. One of the most famous bazaars in Uzbekistan is the Chorsu Bazaar in the capital city of Tashkent. This historical market is located at the foot…

SVEN DELAYE AIMS TO CAPTURE MOMENTS OF EVERYDAY LIFE WHILE TRAVELING. THROUGH HIS LENS, HE SEEKS TO REDISCOVER THE BEAUTY IN THE MUNDANE AND AVOID THE ARTIFICIAL CLICHÉS OFTEN PORTRAYED ON SOCIAL MEDIA. HIS SOURCE OF INSPIRATION IS EVERYDAY LIFE, BANAL SITUATIONS, A STRANGER CROSSED IN THE STREET, A LOOK, OR THE CURVE OF A SMILE. Sven Delaye is a digital nomad (videogames translator). He had been traveling around the globe for eight years and always enjoyed capturing moments of life, but everything changed in early 2020. He used to keep the street pictures to himself, thinking they wouldn't interest anyone. In early 2020, he sent some landscape photos for the cover of a Guatemalan magazine. Unfortunately, or not, the photos were declined. However, the publisher checked his Instagram and…

The co-founder of Working Pictures, Bobby Sheehan, is an established director, writer, producer, and cinematographer with over 100 hours of film, television, and digital content credits. These include veteran documentary projects Quest, The Mad Man, Mercy, Love & Grace, and feature documentary projects Seed and Mortal. Bobby’s television credits include The Talent Collector (AMC), Repo Men (Discovery/TLC), Jeff Koons: Beyond Heaven (Ovation TV), Mr. Prince (Ovation TV), and others. Bobby also directed Arias With a Twist: The Docufantasy, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival. In addition, he is a co-founder of The Backbone Network, a free streaming platform for veterans to share their stories and bridge the gap between veterans and civilians. It is a great pleasure to speak with…

Hong Kong Lines and Patterns" is a street photography series depicting my creative vision of my hometown. It comes with a fine art aesthetic and the compositional approach of isolating urban subjects, geometric elements, and forms from the chaotic urban environment of Hong Kong. This series portrays the way of life of different urban characters in the context of their surrounding geometric environment, which were all culled from mundane everyday scenes, with fleeting moments seized from near and distant. Nevertheless, those subjects look trapped and lost inside an artificial geometric labyrinth without realizing it. The sense of confinement in which the urban structure crashes the person, enclosing them into small boxes with no way out, is suggestive of the modern condition of how we succumb to the glory of the…

“THROUGH THIS PROJECT, I AIM TO CAPTURE NOT THE ART ITSELF BUT THE CAMARADERIE AND DYNAMIC BETWEEN THE ARTISTS: HOW THEY INTERACT, JOKE AROUND, AND ADMIRE EACH OTHER’S WORK AND TECHNIQUE.”-KYLE MCCORQUODALE The project 'Spray Can' was shot over three hours while following a group of graffiti artists as they tagged an abandoned maintenance tunnel in my home city of Glasgow, Scotland. Through this project, I aim to capture not the art itself but the camaraderie and dynamic between the artists: How they interact, joke around, and admire each other’s work and technique. I think it’s essential to feature this side of Graffiti art, to focus on the humanity and the artistic mentality behind the act itself, and to present it to some people who, unfortunately, still see this field…

It’s been 80 years since the signing of the armistice that stopped - but did not officially end - the Korean War. The Korean Peninsula is divided by a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a 154-mile long and 2.5-mile wide zone along the 38th Parallel. To better understand North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), one must travel back at least two centuries. For it is in the history of the Korean Peninsula, not just the land above the mid-20th century division, where an integral part of the bigger picture reveals itself. The 19th-century Opium Wars in China had an isolating effect on Korea, helping to create what became known as the Hermit Kingdom. While now often used as a synonym for the DPRK, this label was initially given…

My name is Rachid Amer, and I live in Annecy, France. Annecy is a magnificent city located in the heart of the Alps, not far from Mont Blanc and Geneva. I am passionate about photography, and as an amateur, I am particularly drawn to black-and-white photos. I love capturing trees and birds and landscapes photography but thrive in bustling cities like NYC. Here is a small series of photos taken in NYC just before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a week before the lockdowns and borders' closure. These photos represent a significant shift in the world and its atmosphere. INSTAGRAM: @AMER _ RACHID _ CITIES | @RACHID _ AMER…

ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF SABZEVAR IN IRAN, THERE ARE LANDS WITH SUITABLE SOIL FOR MAKING BRICKS. AS A RESULT, SEVERAL KILNS HAVE BEEN BUILT ON THE CITY’S OUTSKIRTS, AND MANY WORKERS ARE WORKING IN THESE KILNS. THE WORKERS IN THESE KILNS WORK WITH THE MINIMUM WAGE AND UNDER CHALLENGING CONDITIONS; SOME OF THEM, WHO ARE HOMELESS, LIVE IN THESE KILNS PERMANENTLY. I am Hadi Dehghanpour, 42 years old, having a Bachelor’s Degree in photography and 18 years of professional experience in this field. My acquaintance and interest in photography dates back to 18 years ago when I worked in the Public Relations Department of Islamic Azad University. So far, I have participated in 40 workshops and exhibitions and obtained achievements in more than 260 national and international festivals. So far,…