Underdogs issue 5

UNDERDOGS

photography magazine / issue_5

Drew AmyotBruno BernardiWarren DawsonAsrul DwiOliver LiriaJeffrey McKeeMatsuki NarishigeMichael RoggemannAsimina Stefanidou

Curator/Editor/Designer: Isa Gelb

Cover & back cover: Matsuki Narishige

All images and text published in Underdogs are the sole property of the featured photographers.NO image can be reproduced, edited, copied or distributed without the express written permission of its legal owner.NO part of the publication may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the publisher.

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John Kochhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/orphotographer/

Isa Gelbhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/91262356@N06/http://punkroyaltiger.tumblr.com/

This fifth issue of Underdogs marks the first anniversary of the zine. This occasion is special to me. I’m happy to have made real something I once only thought about for a long time, and that I wasn’t sure

I was capable to do. I thank all of the photographers and loyal readers who have made this anniversary possible.For a change, I won’t write the editorial. I have invited a former contributor, John Koch, to share his views

on photography and the Underdogs project.

While we're on the subject of anniversaries, I'd also like to celebrate the length of my friendship with Isa.She is a positive influence on me, as well as on many others. Although her good work extends in manydirections, I wish to use this editorial to focus on the qualities I believe are most pertinent to her work

on Underdogs—her desire, and ability, to build a tradition within amateur photography.

Some readers might be surprised by my focus on those aspects. Yet the harsh counterexample to them,and Underdogs, is Erik Kessels' installation artwork “24 Hrs In Photos” (see http://www.kesselskramer.com/exhibitions/24-hrs-of-photos).

In “24 Hrs,” Kessels made 3” x 4” prints of purportedly every photo uploaded to Flickr during a single day,and dumped the contents into a gallery space in a manner resembling trash piled in a landfill.

(For reference, Flickr users publicly uploaded an average of 1.83 million photos per day in 2014.)

Although the meaning of “24 Hrs” is debatable, it is worth noting Kessels himself is a curator of amateurphotography. It does not seem his intention was to devalue photography in comparison to other arts.

I would argue that the power of “24 Hrs” lies in its critique of various forms of naivete held byphotographers and the viewing public. From the photographer's perspective—the belief that a photograph

publicly uploaded to Flickr is an intrinsic work of art. From the public's perspective—the belief that such uploads are a flurry of meaningless activity.

Could it be self-serving for Kessels to imply that the curator is the necessary link to bridge such vast gapsin perception? Of course it's possible. However, consider a quote that the cultural critic Walter Benjamin

reflected on in the 1930s: “The illiteracy of the future will be ignorance not of reading or writing, but of photography.” Then compare the effect of “24 Hrs” with an imaginary exhibit—one which piles up,

in a similar manner, every piece of written material produced in a 24-hour period, as a commentary on the state of poetry.

If the imaginary exhibit seems more ridiculous than “24 Hrs,” it's because poetry, as fluid of an art form as it is, has thousands of years of literate tradition to help define it. Photography—and especially amateur

photography—largely lacks such a literate tradition.

Curators like Isa, and Kessels, are working to build this tradition by thoughtful engagement with photographers who do not shoot for identified professional reasons, and with their works.

The title of the zine is a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment of amateur photographers' place not just in the tradition of art, but of photography itself. The progress that the magazine has made, within just one

year and 5 issues, gives me hope of something like the David and Goliath story—a version in which disregard of amateur photography per se is revealed as illiteracy.

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DREW AMyOt

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HIS CAMERASMain camera: Nikon F4sSub cams: Minolta Hi-Matic AF2, Canon AV-1, Pentax k1000, Polaroid 330 (very new)

Born and raised in Canada, I love shooting alone and capturingeveryday beauty. Photography for me is about being aware andpresent in my surroundings. When I’m shooting I feel like anobserver of life rather than a participant. This feeling helps meenjoy the crazy, misplaced, and chaotic beauty that exists in ourworld. One luxury of growing up in Canada that has influenced mywork as a photographer is empty space. Being accustomed to vastand vacant landscapes, I have grown very attached to shootingthem. My greatest pleasure is cruising back roads on mymotorbike while stopping to enjoy and capture the breathtakinglandscapes of the countryside. I am very passionate about filmphotography and look forward shooting it over my lifetime.

DREW AMyOtEdmonton, Alberta / Canada

https://www.flickr.com/photos/28101984@N07/http://drewamyot.tumblr.com/

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BRuNOBERNARDI

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BRuNO BERNARDIBariloche / Argentina

www.flickr.com/photos/bernardibruno/www.brunobernardi.net/

HIS CAMERACanon 40d, Canon F1 new, Canon Rebel G, Olympus Mju-II (Stylus)

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WARRENDAWSON

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WARREN DAWSONBrisbane, Queensland / Australia

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fasene/http://fasene.tumblr.com/

HIS CAMERASMain cameras are Canon 6D and Canon 60D. I rarely use Canon S100, Fujifilm X10, Nikkormat FT and Nikon F3.

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ASRuL DWI

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ASRuL DWIJakarta / Indonesia

https://www.flickr.com/photos/33092685@N04/http://cargocollective.com/asruldwi

To me, photography is a space to express my self yet a devoted companion to exploreunknown space within me, reality and environment around me. I prefer to expose the unseen into my works. The lens allows me to capture it with its magic to bind the scattered fragmentation of the memory within time, then produce palpable evenambiguous pictures. The most important part of my creative process is to explore and experiment photographs as a document and visual layers in the same time.

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HIS CAMERAS Canon F1Olympus XA2Panasonic Super MiniOlympus Trip 35

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OLIvER LIRIA

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OLIvER LIRIANewport / United Kingdom

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ondaocho/http://ondaocho.tumblr.com/http://oliverliria.wix.com/oliverliria

HIS CAMERAS Olympus Om2n, Pentax Spotmatic,Olympus Mju-II (Stylus)

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JEffREy MCKEE

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JEffREy MCKEELawrence, Kansas / USA

https://www.flickr.com/photos/48537421@N04/http://jeffreymckee.tumblr.com/

HIS CAMERAS I use the Contax G1 and T2 as well as Polaroid SX70 from time to time.

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MAtSuKINARIShIGE

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MAtSuKI NARIShIGE

Tokyo / Japan

https://www.flickr.com/photos/oomateto/http://mtk-ooma.tumblr.com/

HIS CAMERAS Plaubel Makina 670, Leica M4-P,Leica Flex SL, TACHIBANA 4x5, and some point-and-shoots.

I am taking photographs because I want to be kind to the world.

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MIChAELROGGEMANN

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MIChAEL ROGGEMANNBerlin / Germany

https://www.flickr.com/photos/typo030/http://mr0303.tumblr.com/

HIS CAMERASThe camera I use most is theSony RX100 III and the iphone6

Nothing is more astounding than the simple truth,nothing is more exotic than our surroundings,nothing is more imaginative than objectiveness,and there is nothing more sensational in the worldthan the time you are living in!

Egon Erwin Kisch

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ASIMINA StEfANIDOu

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ASIMINA StEfANIDOu

Athens / Greece

https://www.flickr.com/photos/92443352@N03/

HER CAMERASNikon FE2, Nikkormat FT3,Nikon L35AF,Nikon AF600,Olympus Mju-II (Stylus)

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MANy thANKS tO

DREW AMYOThttps://www.flickr.com/photos/28101984@N07/

http://drewamyot.tumblr.com/

BRUNO BERNARDIwww.flickr.com/photos/bernardibruno/

www.brunobernardi.net/

WARREN DAWSONhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/fasene/

http://fasene.tumblr.com/

ASRUL DWIhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/33092685@N04/

http://cargocollective.com/asruldwi

OLIVER LIRIAhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/ondaocho/

http://ondaocho.tumblr.com/http://oliverliria.wix.com/oliverliria

JEFFREY MCKEEhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/48537421@N04/

http://jeffreymckee.tumblr.com/

MATSUKI NARISHIGE https://www.flickr.com/photos/oomateto/

http://mtk-ooma.tumblr.com/

MICHAEL ROGGEMANNhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/typo030/

http://mr0303.tumblr.com/

ASIMINA STEFANIDOUhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/92443352@N03/

Next issueoctober 2015

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