Photographer Profiles

Without a camera in his hand, Josiah Launstein looks like any other 13-year-old. But while boys his age are watching video games, cruising around on skateboards, or trying to impress girls, this talented kid is out in the field shooting truly epic wildlife photos.

If you want to make photographs with impact, it’s important that they tell a story, and “speak” to the viewer. No matter how beautiful an image appears, if it doesn’t provoke an emotional response, you haven’t quite finished the job.

Arthur Tress is a master storyteller who first gained recognition with his hauntingly beautiful book of images: The Dream Collector (Richmond, Westover 1972). The book was a challenge to the photographic ethos of its time.

Of course sports photographer Eric Bakke can capture the peak action moments. He’s team photographer for the Denver Broncos, shoots X Games for ESPN, and contributes sports images to newspapers, magazines, and organizations. Here, though, we want to talk about his pursuit of a different kind of sports image, one that most often pictures a single athlete and aims for art over action.

The iPhone changed everything, including street photography.

In 2006, Michael Crouser took the first photograph in his mountain ranch project. Ten years later he took the last image to complete Mountain Ranch, the book that grew from the project. He calls the book “an exploration of the disappearing world of cattle ranching in the mountains of Colorado,” but it’s more than that: it’s a story of the ties and traditions of families, and a story of an America that was, struggling to still be.

Max Vadukul has come a long way since growing up in Africa. Known for his creative black-and-white portraits and innovative fashion photography, he was born in Nairobi, Kenya, to Indian parents in 1961. “The Sixties were the golden years for the National Geographic,” Vadukul recalls. “They were spending a lot of money to educate the public and the photographers were the best of the lot.”