Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023 i Lens Magazine

I HAVE KNOWN WHAT IT IS TO BE AN OUTSIDER. A CHILD OF HUNGARY RAISED IN A KIBBUTZ IN ISRAEL, AND LATER AN ISRAELI IMMIGRANT IN NEW YORK. TRAVERSING THESE CULTURES AS A NEWCOMER WAS MADE MORE TENUOUS BY MY COMMITMENT TO LIVING UNAPOLOGETICALLY AS A QUEER PERSON. THERE IS A PROFOUND INJUSTICE IN BEING OTHERED BECAUSE OF A TRUTHFUL LIFE, BUT THROUGH MY ART, I HAVE FOUND BEAUTY IN IT."-MATI GELMAN Mati Gelman is a self-taught commercial and fine art photographer. Born in Hungary and raised in Israel, he first pursued an education in Science, receiving a degree in Biochemistry from the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) and a Master’s of Science in Organic Chemistry from Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv. He transitioned to full-time photography after moving…

PROJECT: "NAKED &" I AM INSPIRED BY WILD NATURE, WHICH I SEE BOTH IN THE OUTSIDE WORLD AND OUR BODIES. AT THE MOMENT, I AM EXPLORING NUDITY AND THE VARIETY OF DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF IT, VULNERABILITY, SEXUALITY, AND ACCEPTANCE. I AM ALSO THRILLED BY THE TRANSFORMATIVE EFFECT OF ACCEPTING AND OBSERVING YOUR BODY AND EXPOSING IT OPENLY TO OTHER HUMAN BEINGS. In this project, I aim to explore the relationship between us in society, the human body from all aspects, and the relationship between Humans and Nature. I like to place models in harmony with the natural background. I play with the lines of the landscape and with location respecting it and adapting to it without interruption. I want all humans to observe and accept their bodies and be able…

MY WORK IS NOT JUST ABOUT CREATING BEAUTIFUL IMAGES BUT ALSO AIMS TO SPARK CONVERSATIONS AND PROVOKE THOUGHT. I WANT MY VIEWERS TO BE CAPTIVATED BY MY ART, TO FEEL TRANSPORTED TO ANOTHER WORLD, AND TO COME AWAY WITH A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE COMPLEX ISSUES WE FACE AS A SOCIETY. - FOTEINI ZAGLARA Foteini Zaglara (b.1955) is a self-portrait artist from Athens, Greece. She graduated from the University of Ioannina in the Department of Early Childhood Education. Through the years, she developed a profound passion for photography. Her work explores concepts of fantasy and surrealism, and photography has allowed her to tell personal stories and dive deep into the world of emotions. Her unique artistic style is distinguished in many international photography competitions and has been exhibited in Europe…

"WHILE IT MAY SOUND CLICHÉ, I GENUINELY BELIEVE THAT IT IS ESSENTIAL TO FOLLOW YOUR INNER INSTINCTS. ABOVE ALL, I THINK IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONSTANTLY QUESTION YOURSELF AND REFLECT ON YOUR VISUAL DECISIONS." LENS MAGAZINE: Dear Viktoria, Thank you for this interview, and congratulations on winning first place in the international competition. This is not the first time we have presented your magnificent work; we had the privilege of publishing several articles already in our magazines in the past years, so we are also very familiar with your progress during recent years. But still, let’s start with the beginning. What drew you to the fine art photography field in the first place? Were you influenced by the surrounding artistic atmosphere since childhood? VIKTORIA ANDREEVA: Firstly, I would like to thank…

Elena Paraskeva is an international Conceptual Photographer and Art Director and, most recently, an official ADOBE instructor. As a Marketing Executive for Nestle Waters USA, she worked on the client side with Ogilvy&Mather to produce advertising campaigns for her premium brands and was featured in the New York Times for her work. Elena loves to create surrealistic conceptual work bathed in rich color palettes and solid graphic lines. Her stylized world is full of fashion images and conceptual portraits permeated with a high aesthetic, beauty, and elegance. Always playing along the lines of the unordinary and almost bizarre, her work is impactful, lucid, and memorable. She has exhibited her work in Barcelona, NYC, London, and Paris, among other cities, and has been published on the pages and covers of a…

I started this ongoing project of self-portraits over ten years ago to discover myself as a person. Now I see photography as a means to understand my existence. Photography helped me to be kinder to myself, and I am grateful for the improvement of my self-esteem, my body, and what it allows me to do. Through a mix of techniques, from digital manipulation to purely natural light and composition of the body in nature, the images of this project aim to find an answer to the question of what our place in this world is. The "Seeking" project started in 2020. I was struggling with the concept of my own identity during isolation. I felt so detached from the things that defined me, which gave me a bittersweet feeling of…