All posts filed under: Community

RAW Talent with Wika Wójcikiewicz

Despite moving to the UK at 19, Wika Wójcikiewicz has not left her Eastern European roots behind. Allowing for curated “mistakes” in her work, the Polish photographer is inspired by the natural, raw, and sometimes gritty side of life and often brings elements from her own upbringing into her photos through the colors, motifs, and subjects she captures. The soon-to-be London College of Communication graduate shares her thoughts on the in-between moments that create true beauty, mixing media and genres, and how to understand your own aesthetic. What was your first experience in photography like? I recall one of my first endeavors with photography occurring when I was gifted a small, plastic, pink-colored Nikon camera at eight years old. I got it for my first communion and started having fun by taking my first images and filming with my friends where we would even partake in styling, set design, and putting together childish scripts. At twelve years old, the idea of becoming a documentary photographer came into my mind. My interests in other subjects, such …

Authority Collective shares their guide for more thoughtful photography practices

Authority Collective’s guide to inclusive photography

With a mission to empower marginalized visual artists, Authority Collective is working to end systemic and individual abuse in editorial, documentary, and commercial photography. In their Photographer’s Guide to Inclusive Photography, the group is challenging photographers to think about their responsibility when telling visual stories. “The guide definitely came out of the recognition that photography, since its inception, has been an extremely extractive space,” explains Tara Pixley about the Photographer’s Guide to Inclusive Photography, which addresses the specific things photographers should consider when shooting stories related to race, gender, sexuality and more. Tara is a visual journalist, professor, and one of the founding members of Authority Collective, a community for women, non-binary, and gender expansive people of color working with photography, film, and VR/AR to connect and share resources. It was at a conference in 2017 that Tara and nine other photographers of color got together to create the collective after noticing they had all had similar experiences in the photography industry – many of them experiencing microaggressions from usually male and white photo editors, …

Hands peeling a tangerine against a blue background. Photo by Manyi Chan, edited in Capture One Pro

RAW Talent with Manyi Chan

Having a tendency for introversion and quiet observing, Hong Kong-born photography student Manyi Chan leans into these personality traits with her work. This has resulted in a unique, quiet personal expression in her images, in which she explores topics like her own relationship with food, sexual fantasy, and violence within her specific cultural context as an East Asian woman. We had a talk with Manyi about how she is finding her voice as a photographer, who she looks up to, and what advice she has for others just entering the world of photography. Tell us, how did you first get interested in photography as a form of artistic expression? Since middle school, I’ve been an extremely introverted person, spending much of my time alone and in silence, observing the surroundings and researching material, texture, functionality, and composition of things around me. My interest in photography appeared to come naturally. When I first got a smartphone in high school, I began to take pictures everywhere and intend to record all the intricacies of life that I …

Images by Recently graduated photographer Ville Makarainen

RAW Talent with Ville Mäkäräinen

Once on the verge of giving up on his dream of becoming a photographer after a particularly disheartening experience at a photoshoot, recent photography graduate Ville Mäkäräinen is now more determined than ever to carve out a space for himself in the world of photography. We spoke to Ville about how his love for skateboarding and run on Finland’s Next Top Model led him to where he is today and the anxiety and excitement of taking the leap into a new profession. I’d like to start by asking you about your origin story. How did you get into photography? It all started when I was a kid and skateboarding a lot. Me and my friends wanted to get new tricks on tape and as the creative child, I was often the one picking up the camera. It was my dad’s camera, which was probably one of the first digital cameras that could record video. Fisheye lens is a big deal in skateboarding, and I remember taping up a peephole right on the lens, probably leaving …