This month’s most fascinating photo stories

MYLA DALBESIO ON HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH REAL WOMEN

Myla Dalbesio made headlines last year when she became Calvin Klein’s first-ever ‘plus size’ model (at a size 10, go figure). But the photographer/artist is way more than just a pretty face, as she proved with her series “Some Girls”. Shooting ‘real’ women – aka all body shapes, sizes, backgrounds – in a series of personal portraits, Dalbesio told us, “What I am aiming to show is something very real. It’s a snapshot of current femininity, of beauty that other women can connect with, that has no artifice or pretension.

THIS ARTIST IS PUSHING FOR RECOGNITION OF VAGINA DIVERSITY

Sick of the carbon copy expectations that women look the same, activist and photographer Nicola Canavan’s “Raising the Skirt” project is empowering women through photography, and a little skirt lifting, to prove that no one is the same. She told us: “A women’s cunt continues to be incorrectly named, shamed and erased, and that really motivated me to create this project”.

DOCUMENTING A RISING NEW RAVE SCENE IN MOSCOW

Do we ever get sick of seeing how well Russian teens do rave culture? Photographer Sasha Mademuaselle captured a new movement rising up in the warehouses of Moscow called ‘Skotoboinya’ (translated to ‘Slaughterhouse’). A style inspired by gabber, a 90s techno genre that originated in Rotterdam, with an essential dress code of 80-90s tracksuits and trainers.

THESE IMAGES SHOW THE IN-BETWEEN MOMENTS OF PORN

Sophie Ebrard starts shooting when the cameras stop rolling on the sets of porn. After following a director for four years, she presents “It’s Just Love”, an intimate look at the in-between moments. Intimate shots include actors reading scripts and painting their toenails.

WHAT TO SEE AT THE UNSEEN PHOTO FAIR, WHILE YOU STILL CAN

Sorry to say but the Unseen Photo Fair is over for another year. Before it closed, we sent the Dazed photography department down to check out the best that Amsterdam had on offer.

THIS PHOTOGRAPHER PERFECTLY CAPTURES OUR YOUTH OBSESSION

American photographer Chad Moore fuels our obsession with youth by capturing dreamy portraits of his friends in New York. Handing over a bunch of shots from his latest book June, alongside some never-seen-before-until-now images, he explained, “I think a lot of people’s obsession with youth has to do with the lack of responsibility that comes along with being young. As we get older we lose a lot of freedoms.”

THESE PHOTOS PROVE YOU SHOULD HAVE SPENT YOUR SUMMER IN BERLIN

When we reached out to Dazed photographer Fumi Nagasaka to bring us back some snaps from her summer holiday, she knew she couldn’t beat a summer spent in Berlin back in 2013. And so, she shared these black and white shots from her series “Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed”, telling us, “People in Berlin have their own world and really enjoy it in they own way. They don’t really care about what other people think and that inspires me.”

NUDES AND NATURE COLLIDE IN RYAN MCGINLEY’S NEW PHOTO BOOK

A no-brainer here. Ryan McGinley’s shots blur the line between painting and photography, and through his stunning use of colour, location, the body and a gang of cool mates he gave us this peek into his next book Way Far, out November.

DO THESE PHOTOGRAPHERS FULFIL YOUR FANTASY?

Fetish has been well-documented by some of photography’s greats over the past few decades, from Robert Mapplethorpe’s underground sex in New York to Elmer Batters and the art of the foot fetish. Sex sells and these photogs do it so damn well, so we decided to shortlist some of the most provocative visionaries capturing kink.

THIS IS HOW YOU WISH YOU SPENT YOUR SUMMER

When fellow Dazed photographer Peter Kaaden blessed us with his summer series we knew – from following him on Instagram for the past few months – that he was going to take us on one helluva trip. Hightailing it through Thailand with his now-fiancee in tow, Kaaden shared these blissed out shots of summer at its finest.