Slidefest #16 - 25th May 2015
© Martin Beck
The 16th edition of Slidefest* organised by Gulf Photo Plus will take place on Monday, 25th May at 7pm in the Knowledge Village Auditorium.
Here's the line up of presenters:
Martin Beck is a Scottish / South African photographer based in Dubai, with a passion for fashion and portrait photography.
His series "We Can Be Heroes" is a collection of gritty portraits that follow the day to day grind of a group of not-so-super heroes. The series is a humourous portrayal of characters like Batman and Super Woman going about daily routines, eating, sleeping or working a 9-5.
Henry Hargreaves began his career in front of the camera lens working in the fashion industry for a number of years before pursuing his interest in becoming a photographer.
Based currently out of New York, Henry's work often comes to fruition in the form of a collaborative project, working with fellow creatives to produce a unique perspective.
In his TEDx Manhattan talk he shares three projects of his that all share a common language, using food to create representational portraits of people, offering a unique insight into the lives of others. One project particular titled "No Seconds" has received international attention, where Henry photographed the last meal requested by a variety of inmates on death row in Texas, USA.
Natalie Naccache is a Lebanese-British photojournalist based in Beirut and represented by Reportage by Getty Images.
Having grown up in London to Lebanese parents, Natalie's work aims to challenge the preconceived ideas of the Middle East in modern day society.
Natalie will be presenting a series titled "Our Limbo" which follows a group of young Syrian women who left Syria to study in Lebanon prior to the outbreak of the civil war, focusing on the psychological effects of losing your homeland, and the difficulty of adapting to a new country.
Dubai-based photographer and filmmaker Celia Peterson draws on her experience in visual story-telling to produce work for both editorial and advertising clients.
Celia will be presenting her work titled 'Roof Knocking' which refers to the practice of warning inhabitants of a building before it is destroyed. This ‘warning’ is the firing of ‘a low yield device’ (a bomb) to the roof of a house whereby the occupants have up to five minutes before the house is completely destroyed.
The practice was used by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in the August 2014 war, ‘Operation Protective Edge’. The ‘Roof Knocking’ series was born as a testament to the 17,200 homes destroyed in ‘Operation Protective Edge’.
Katarina Premfors
Katarina Premfors was born in Sweden and raised between Pakistan, Turkey and North America before launching her commercial photography career in the Middle East over twenty years ago.
The series she will be presenting is a project that she shot in collaboration with Photographers for Hope and Greenpeace.
Katarina photographed three communities in Indonesia where the clearing of rainforest and peatland for the production of palm oil, pulp and paper has resulted in serious environmental consequences including ranking Indonesia the third largest green house gas producer in the world.
Canadian-born photographer currently based in the UAE, Donald Weber originally trained as an architect and worked with urban theorist Rem Koolhaas’ Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in The Netherlands.
As an award winning photographer represented by VII Photo, he has since devoted himself to the study of how power deploys an all-encompassing theater for its subjects, what he records is its secret collaboration with both masters and victims.
He will be presenting his project titled War Sands about historic sacrifice, and the meaning of war in our modern world as examined through photographing the beaches of Normandy coast, the backdrop of D-day in the Invasion of Normandy.
* Slidefest is a free community event hosted by Gulf Photo Plus where photographers take the stage to share unique, personal photography projects that run the gamut of genres including landscape and portrait photography, travel and fine art photography and much more. The event also aims to bring photographers (amateurs and pros) and people from the photography community together where people can network, connect and share stories.
www.gulfphotoplus.com/blog/882/GPP-Slidefest-XVI-May-25-Dubai-Knowledge-Village-Auditorium