Speaking on Cities, Ecosystems and Climate Change in Dubai @visitdubai @expotradeglobal ‏@expo2020dubai

It is hugely important to engage with new audiences for any author and photographer, especially if the subject is that of the ecosystems. We have recently visited Dubai Smart Landscapes forum and acted as keynote speakers, discussing and connecting the issues of urban sustainability, climate change and ecosystems restoration. Our most recent article on ‘Global…

ECOSYSTEMS @ClubofRome

I have been particularly delighted to be able to present ‘ECOSYSTEMS’ at the most elite gathering of the leading environmentalists and sustainability thinkers in the world, ‘The Club of Rome’. Taking place within a stone’s throw from the Vatican, this year’s meeting is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Club and is revisiting the historic…

SPILL by @BeltraStudio

When we think about the history of iconic events that created a shock in the public mind that influenced the development of environmental ideas several key moments come to mind. The Three Mile Nuclear Accident (1979), Bhopal (1984), Chernobyl (1986), Exxon Valdez oil spill (1989), Kuwait Oil Fires (1991), Fukushima (2011). One of those disasters…

Street life @rencontresarles

What is peculiar about Arles is that you never know what you are going to see. A few meters off course and you are embraced by a lively celebration of an exhibition you have never heard anything about. You meet the artists, curators, the press and relive the experience through their perspectives and explanations. I…

Racism, cultural politics and the environment @NatGeo

It is 2018 and every single tabloid is publishing and republishing a confession of the chief editor of National Geographic that the coverage of the magazine in the past was racist. Right. We know it. Yes, in the United State and many other parts of the world, people of different ethnic groups have been misrepresented…

Photographic gaze @MuseumModernArt ‏

My photographic gaze is searching for three most important elements: the special light, the distinct atmosphere and a significant detail. I am particularly attracted to various manifestations of colour in the real world, and have devoted considerable attention to the colour theories from Chevreul to John Gage. I am inspired by a wealth of tradition…

Constructed Photography @MuseumModernArt

The idea of a constructed photograph is not something that I explored so far because I have been largely focusing on landscape and natural elements.  However, I have practiced the transformed and transposed photography and infrared photography. Thus the photograph presented here depicts the iconic landscape of Colombian highlands with the strong diagonals of the…

Photography as an ‘Environmental Practice’ @MuseumModernArt

Photographs in essence depict the effects of reflected light falling from the fragments of reality. Villem Flusser, considering the images a form of ‘mediations between the world and the human beings’, defends the view that photography is the most important human invention since the introduction of linear writing. Photographs are not real, in the sense…

Where am I now?

In my practice I am using photography to communicate in visual ways the important environmental ideas that benefit from using the photographic approach. I am focusing on environmental landscapes, travel imagery and fine art works that could enhance our understanding of the ecosystems through the use of ‘Goethean science’, i.e. more focused appreciation of the…

‘The Soul of the Camera’ @rocky_nook

‘The Soul of the Camera’ by David duChemin published by Rocky Nook is rare. Not because it is immaculately designed or because it features atmospheric black and white photographs from far away lands. It is all true. I find it unique because of the language duChemin uses to speak about the photographic journey. The author…

Cartagena @Guardian

I am immensely pleased to have my celebrated image from Cartagena, Colombia published in the Guardian newspaper again: Cartagena by Dr Stanislav Shmelev. There is a good chance that it will be seen by some of the 6.97 million Guardian followers on Twitter. Carthagena, a coastal town on the Caribbean coast of Colombia is a…

PARIS PHOTO 2017

This year PARIS PHOTO was even more exciting, full of memories and visual experiences than the previous one. One of the highlights has been a special curated collection by Karl Lagerfeld, which has in many ways been the pinnacle of the whole fair. Selecting some of the strongest photography from all over the world I…