Exploring the Human Puppy fetish community, asking ‘what is love?’, an unflinching look at Brooklyn’s drug addicts and gangsters, and the American road trip you wish you went on
“I am not trying to be shocking, I just shoot what I see,” photographer Boogie told us last week when discussing the ten-year anniversary his first photo book. It’s All Good takes readers on a harrowing trip into the depths of drug and gang culture in New York, where the Serbian-born photographer kept "walking deeper and deeper into Brooklyn’s rough areas”. There, he met gangs and drug addicts who encouraged him to document them. The results are an unflinching look at the city’s underbelly, and set the precedent for his work that followed.
Photographer Zuza Krajewska found herself amongst a place where adolescence and adulthood are in continual flux, a young offenders institution in Poland. Although all convicted of various crimes, Krajewska’s intimate series captures the boyhood – competition and camaraderie – that formed between them. Admittedly, she formed bonds with the boys too.
Mental health is one of the most under-rated threats to humans. Being an invisible illness makes it incredibly difficult to visualise – which is the jump off point for a photo series Steph Wilson created with Dazed Digital, titled The Bell Curve. Informed by her own ten-year period of anxiety and the cure to it, her photography, Wilson captures the symptoms and coping mechanisms associated with those suffering from mental health. Some include blowing up a massive balloon and walking on eggshells in a thought-provoking series and accompanying interview.
"I always wondered how sleep deprivation couldn't kill you."Photography Steph Wilson, fashion Tereza Ortiz
Late photographer, Gerardo Nigenda’s, intimate nudes were published in a book, titled The Blind Photographer, this past month. The tome was a touching celebration that photography isn’t exclusively dependent on sight but instead on other senses like touch, hearing, smell, taste. For Nigenda, it was touch, with his hands stretching into the frames of his black and white images, adding an extra layer of intimacy.
The American road trip – aka the American dream to some – is typically personified by freedom, open roads, seedy motel rooms and adventures. Photographer David Shama tagged along wth actress Rainey Qualley as she navigated her way across California, as well as through a love triangle that involved her boyfriend and best friend, in a series that will give you serious wanderlust.
When people talk about those three words in relation to love, you’re probably thinking of ‘I Love You’. However, photographer Julius High was instead wondering, ‘What Is Love?’ To be honest, at 28, I’m thinking the same thing. Taking to the streets of DC, Los Angeles, and New York, he asked young people that very question. Some were positive, some negative and some had no idea. Read on to find out.
Sage Adams, New York, NY, August 2016Photography Julius High
Photographer Paolo Raeli posed one poignant question this month: “How many times can you fall in and out of love? And, when it’s all over, which it so often is, what next?”. In an attempt to answer it he captured his friends in love and in lust in a series that feels like one long and lucid dream. “I guess I try to pick out the emotional heights in people’s relationships and personalities,” he revealed.
If you’ve been looking for a place to clear your mind, perhaps you’d benefit from exploring the Human Puppy fetish community. While the word ‘fetish’ might illicit images of kink and sex, the Human Puppy community is way more than that – as photographer Zak Krevitt discovered. Not just content in capturing the community, Krevitt immersed himself by becoming a fully fledged member himself. Capturing pups in all their glory, latex suits and all, he also captured an intimacy amongst them and a sense of freedom. “The lifestyle means different things to different pups – for some it’s spiritual, and for others, it’s carnal,” he explained, lifting the lid on an otherwise closed community in an attempt to break down the stigma surrounding it.
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