Issue No. 54

1. Creative Journey

   Gifted with exceptional visual talents, Jean-Pascal Imsand rose to prominence in the world of European fine art photography, only to end his life at the age of 34. He left behind a legacy that has continued to grow, making this master photo-grapher—with his oeuvre of poignant documentary work and thought-provoking surrealist montages—a significant contributor to the visual culture of his native Switzerland. On the occasion of the first exhibition of his work in the United States, we offer a special 16-page tribute with essay by Lorraine Anne Davis.

2. David Mayo Spear

   When he quit his job at age 50, he went windsurfing for three years before getting serious about photography. Serendipitously, he found his subject down the road from his home—a farming family of a mother and seven “hellraisin’ sons.”

3. Lee Balterman

   Returning to Chicago from World War Two service as an official army photographer, he signed up with photo agencies like Black Star and Globe, and embarked on a decades-long career as a photojournalist for Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated.

4. Frances Murray

   She was 30 years old before start-ing to photograph in earnest, and when she did she concentrated on subjects close at hand: her twin daughters, her own face, and her sun-drenched Tucson, Arizona backyard.

5. Nathan Anderson

   Giving visual expression to his concern with our culture surrendering to commercialism, he juxtaposes pictures of historic cave dwellings with modern high-rises; ancient stone carvings and inscriptions with neon-bright advertising imagery.

6. Larry Blackwood

   Particularly fascinated by what he calls “re-emerging frontiers,” he finds that “while we usually think of frontiers going from wild to settled, there are places where nature is recreating a frontier. You see it in the decaying houses and the rusting farm equipment found all across the Great Plains.”

7. Richard Blair

   “I’ve always known that my early New York pictures are some of my best,” he says, and credits “my youth, agility, the Nikon FTN and pushed Tri-X.”

8. David Johndrow

   When not holed up in the darkroom, this owner of a commercial lab finds relaxation puttering in his garden—but not without keeping his macro-lens-fitted camera close at hand.

9. Rania Matar

   Her intensely personal documentation of the aftermath of the 2006 Lebanon war, along with her other Middle East–based photo-journalistic projects, have earned her widespread praise and recognition.

10. Galen Schlich

    “Photography should not just elicit feelings of joy, but should create challenges. Without challenges, the mind stagnates. I strive to create images you can’t easily pass over.”

11. Barry Pringle

    Born in South Africa, educated in England, and for the past half-dozen years living in Denmark, this master of the enigmatic has assembled a varied portfolio of work, spanning a wide variety of images—all distinguished by the quirky quality of his personal vision.