© Andrew Kovalev for Forbes Russia

Born in 1983, Andrew Kovalev is a Russian freelance photographer specializing in environmental, editorial and corporate portraits. After studying at Spéos, he is currently based in Paris, France. His work has been published in Le Monde, Sunday Times, Forbes, Management, Le Point, Simple Wine News, The Big City. Among his corporate clients: Nike, TELE2, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Andrew Kovalev’s Website

© Christophe Audebert. “Here and there”

“Here and There” is a series of staged photographs showing romantic couples of all ages kissing and loving each other in unlikely and gloomy settings. The couples presented aren’t actors but real lovers, the one positive aspect to the series: they add a touch of hope to these forbidding surroundings, which can be seen as a symbol of the uncertain and unsettling present. Taking its starting point in wedding photography, the series represents the opposite of traditional wedding set-ups: unromantic venues, regular attire, no artificial posing. Just the universal values of love.

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Christophe Audebert, based in Paris, has worked for 20 years in various French companies as a marketing manager. Graduating from Spéos in 2004, he now is a freelance photographer specialized in corporate photography.

Christophe Audebert’s Website

© Magdalena Warda

Magdalena Warda’s series “Un Souffle” (“one breath”) shows trees from different parts of the world, those growing in our own familiar climate, as well as exotic leaves from the tropics. A few trees standing on a rocky ledge might be a metaphor of our solitude in the crowd. A raindrop on a huge leaf a reflection of the artist’s emotional state. We can only guess if the series refers to the fact that all of us – no matter where and who we are – breathe the same air.

“In my work I attempt to move away from the direct representation of the world and its subjects, to illicit deeper, sometimes hidden emotions. Rather than telling, I’m trying to capture the story that is already there. I shoot in black and white because this is how I see things. My photos are also about how I feel and struggle with the inner self. I search for emotional abandonment where isolation is the only inspiration.”

 Magdalena Warda’s Website

Magdalena Warda was born in Warsaw, Poland. She earned her Master’s degree in International Relations at the University of Warsaw and then studied classical music (violin) in New York City. In 2009, she graduated from Spéos Paris earning her Master’s in professional photography.

The exhibition features works by established and emerging photographers: Alexey Blagutin, Thierry Clech, Urasha Jakkachaphol, Franck Juery, Andrew Kovalev, Estelle Lagarde, Fred Lebain and Vincent Rubin.
A result of the ongoing collaboration between Millennium Images and Spéos International Photography School, it aims to enrich and connect the experiences of former Speos students and Millennium contributors.

In addition to putting on exhibitions, Millennium is dedicated to providing clients with some of the world’s best imagery for today’s most exciting publications.

© Fred LEBAIN – Wallpaper2Coneyisland

“All We Know Is The Sound Of Culture”

This exhibition constitutes an exploration of the tension between man and his environment. It comprises work by eight photographers working around this idea, reflecting on themes such as alienation and freedom, constriction and escapism, artifice and instinct. The word ‘culture’ is understood as a device man utilises in order to produce a visible appropriation of the landscape. At the same time, it reminds us of the inherent quality of the photographic gaze.

© Urasha JAKKACHAPHOL -The Horizon #2

From Vincent Rubin’s claustrophobic landscape of dark escalators to Urasha Jakkachaphol’s poetic contemplation of horizons at different times of day, the exhibition proposes a multifaceted perspective around contemporary man and the space he inhabits.

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© Cerise Doucède – Egarement

After obtaining a degree in graphic design, Cerise Doucède launches into photography and graduated from Spéos Photographic Institute in 2010. With her series of photographic installations “Egarements” (“Lost”), Cerise shows a varied panorama of small daily hallucinations, in which we all can be protagonists. Lost in thought, the characters are projected onto the sets and objects around them, showing their fears, fantasies and obsessions.

About the series “Egarements” (Lost):

Cerise Doucède’s Website

Older post on Doucède

Galerie Polka |12 rue Saint-Gilles, 75003 Paris.

Volleyball net, Old Montauk Beach, 10-2008 © Petra Sedlaczek, Courtesy Polka Galerie

 More about the Exhibition

Petra Sedlaczek was born in 1966 in Cologne, Germany. She finished school at 18 and started an apprenticeship to become a cook, graduating in 1988. Before getting the opportunity to become the chef of a restaurant in a small but exclusive hotel in India, she worked in different restaurants all around Europe. Petra left India in the beginning of 2000 to finally accomplish her dream and open her own restaurant in the South of France.

Meeting her photographer husband in 2001, she gave up the restaurant and started working as his assistant, which was her first encounter with photography.
In 2007, she studied photography at Spéos in Paris, discovering her real passion. Since then, she has been working on photography projects of her own.

Petra Sedlaczek’s website 

Petra Sedlaczek | Polka Magazine.

American photographer living in Italy, L. Mikelle Standbridge presents her very personalized on-going ‘documentary’ series of light-art installations, L.E.D. Lightscapes. The term L.E.D. refers both to the light source used to illuminate the majority of the works and to the name of the event held in Milan from which this photographic work was originally inspired – Light Exhibition Design. Standbridge’s ‘collection’ of evanescent winter night scenes has grown to include Turin, where she continues to apply her fierce romanticism, transforming yet another city into a journey of urban mystification.

L. Mikelle Standbridge (1965, Los Angeles, USA) received her B.A. in French and Photography from San Francisco State University, but more of those university years were spent in France than at home, augmenting her studies in Art History and Photography at the University of Paris and Spéos Photographic Institute. Her photography won her a tuition scholarship to the University of Chicago (M.F.A. 1996) as well as artist grants from the city of Chicago. She taught photography at Columbia College in Chicago until relocating to Milan (2000), where she is now represented by Con-Temporary Art Gallery and where she has exhibited numerous times with the patronage of the city.

Mikelle Standbridge’s website

www.imowebzine.com

ISSUE #1 – Cartography by Kendra Archer – Soins by Eva Maille – Sweet Sea by Aurora Scheftel – Voluptas Arbor by Olimpia Castellini Baldissera

IMO’s team discovers and publishes young photographers from all over the world and looks at photography from various points of view: fashion, fine art, photojournalism, portraiture and still life. The team members met each other at Spéos – Paris Photographic Institute  in 2011. At the end of school they all found the same problems: finding the right platforms to showcase their photo projects. So we decided to gather the six of us and create our place in the web. The aim was, and still is, promoting the work of our fellow photographers, and at the same time spreading our ideas about young and international photography.

Why did we choose a webzine? We desired a finished product such as a magazine, where you can easily flip over the pages. Moreover we wanted this journal to be visually powerful and solid. Our search for emerging talent is global, and we invite the whole world to work with us. Our purpose is to highlight new international photography talents. That is why we write, and that is why IMO exists.  IMO’S TEAM

Chief Editor / IMO Still Life : Damien ALLARD, French still life photographer. IMO Portraits : Iannis GIAKOUMOPOULOS, Greek portraits photographer. IMO Fashion : Julia KOVALJOVA, Estonian fashion photographer. IMO Fine Art : Dario RUGGIERO, Italian fine art and fashion photographer. IMO Photojournalism : Davide WEBER, Italian photojournalist. Press Office and Communication : Gaia TRICARICO, Italian fine art photographer.

IMO is calling for submissions. You are invited to send project to be published on IMO in French or English by email  INMYOPINIONWEB@GMAIL.COM

Born and raised in Mumbai, India, Abheet Gidwani worked on feature films such as Don, Musafir, Rock on and Luck by chance. A self taught photographer with 8 years of work and technical experience, he currently specializes in fashion, portraits and fine art.

“In 2009- 2010 I studied at Speos Photographic Institute in Paris. I enrolled with the intention to hone my craft and get a fresh perspective on my chosen profession. I met inspiring professionals from all over the globe and I rediscovered myself when I realized my personal vision.” Abheet Gidwani

Abheet Gidwani’s website

Click here to view the embedded video.

“I shoot from the sky but always with both feet on the ground: aerial shooting and filming from remote controlled helicopters is my specialty. I design and build my electric multicopters especially for aerial photography and video shooting. They are almost silent, non polluting, fast and compact shooting tools developed after many years of aerial photography experience with radio controlled machines. I work with the latest photo-video equipment to get excellent details in the pictures and full HD video. The copters have very stable flight and are equipped with GPS positioning system. Live video feedback allows perfect framing from the ground. I can capture boom, crane, dolly and of course aerial camera footage indoors and out, even in windy conditions, when raining or during the night. After the flight the copter is folded to get in a small backpack, ready to fly again in a few seconds.

My work consists also of documentary and architecture photography. I studied architecture at the Istituto di Architettura di Venezia then at the Helsinki Institute of Technology (Finland). I studied photography at the Spéos Paris Photographic Institute.
For four years, I’ve been working as a photographer in Patagonia and for an advertisement photo studio in Buenos Aires. I am now based in the Dolomites region of Italy. With a quenchless curiosity I’ve travelled extensively, primarily on foot, bicycle or kayak. I’m a passionate alpinist-skier and have climbed several mountains from the Alps to Scandinavia, Scotland and the Andes.” Ruggero Arena

Ruggero Arena’s Website