All posts filed under: Community

How Caroline captures the unseen: A photographer’s secrets to emotional storytelling

Meet Caroline Grzelak, a Warsaw-based photographer and art director whose imagery blurs the lines between reality, memory, and emotion. With a background in graphic design from the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Fine Arts, Caroline has crafted a style she calls “Emotional. Unavailable. Frozen.” She’s passionate about sparking the imagination and inviting viewers to interpret each image in their way. We asked her to share a bit about her inspiration, her style, and what it’s like to create pictures reflecting her story. We’ll move from family photos with a plastic camera to developing her unique imaging approach. Let’s get into it.  What’s your first photo memory? My first memory related to photography dates to the 90s in Poland, with the sun, my family home, and a small plastic film camera. It was always magical and astonishing to me how photographs were created. Back then, the camera accompanied my family everywhere; it was a part of us. At that time, it never crossed my mind that I would be using those same cameras to create my own …

Discovering photography with Jess Brohier

Meet Jess Brohier – a South-Asian-Australian fashion, commercial, and editorial photographer and creative director based in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. Her work explores themes of identity and surrealism, re-imagining Western beauty concepts through a BIPOC lens. She is known for her versatility in digital and analog mediums, unique color palette, and nuanced use of light. Jess has attracted premier Australian and global fashion, lifestyle, and music clients, showcasing her talent as a lead photographer and creative director/producer. We talked to her about her style, inspirations, and what the future holds.  What’s your first photo memory? I remember taking photos on a film point-and-shoot at high school events. At 18, in my senior year, I always brought a little disposable 35mm camera to our swimming and sports carnivals and documented our friends. I loved capturing candid moments of togetherness and youth. Why did you choose photography? I didn’t. From a young age, I’d always been delving into various kinds of art: painting, illustration, tattooing, and taking pictures. I would oscillate between drawing and photographs for a long time, and then, one day, …

Blurring realities with Carlijn Jacobs

Carlijn Jacobs is a renowned photographer and director based in Paris, known for her distinctive flair and vibrant style. She tells unique stories through her sharp visual imagery, blending observations of mass culture with her artistic influences ranging from Surrealism to Camp. Carlijn’s creative journey began at 14, taking pictures of flowers in her garden. Over the past decade, she has worked for several magazines, including AnOther, i-D, and Dazed, and had her exhibition Sleeping Beauty shown at Foam in 2023. On top of countless fashion campaigns, Carlijn has also released an eponymous photobook. And notably photographed Beyoncé’s Renaissance album artwork. The voice in her work feels intuitive and unusually real despite touching upon the absurd. A face peeking through a wine glass filled with goldfish and an eyeball superimposed on glossy red lips—the visual paradox in her compositions plays with the viewer’s sense of reality. Her work’s blurred lines, geometric shapes, and playful textures sit in the mind as she transforms the ordinary into something extraordinary. During our conversation, we discussed her creative process, …

Unmasking the stigma of autism spectrum disorder

We recently attended the postgraduate photography show at LCC to present our RAW Talent Award to three creatives. During the event, we met Benjimen Green and presented him with one of the awards. His photography mainly focuses on people, telling stories that are often overlooked. He believes everyone has a unique story to tell, even if it is not the most prominent one in the room. With his project, he shared his personal story of being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Benjimen’s portrayal of masks in his images aims to break mainstream autism stereotypes and encourages individuals to embrace their unique identities without fear or shame. How did you first get into photography? In my early years, I stumbled upon my dad’s hidden film camera, which I wasn’t supposed to play with. Spending hours absorbed in its dials and buttons, I found it the coolest thing. However, my serious plunge into photography only happened later. In 2018, I purchased a small Fujifilm camera before relocating to Southeast Asia for work. Initially, it was about …