Photo District News' 30 New and Emerging Photographers To Watch In 2012.

above photo by Lauren Hermele, one of PDN's 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch

Each year, the respected photography publication, Photo District News, chooses 30 up and coming photographers to showcase.

We chose to profile these 30 “photographers to watch” based largely on the photographs they submitted to us way back in October 2011. As we learn each year, though, the striking, intriguing and delightful images these women and men produce are the end product of a ton of effort.

It may seem vulgar to some to talk about business while celebrating creative work, but it’s useful to consider that each of these photographers is also an entrepreneur. And as entrepreneurs do, they produce their work by taking substantial risks—personal, financial, creative and otherwise. Chloe Dewe Mathews hitchhiked from China to England in search of ideas. Markel Redondo traveled with migrant workers from Honduras to the U.S. Peter DiCampo worked by flashlight for three years in Ghana and elsewhere. Ryan Pfluger and AnaStasia Rudenko challenged themselves to photograph difficult family relationships. Peter Ash Lee published a magazine. Mark Fisher regularly hangs out of a helicopter.

In addition to taking risks, these photographer-entrepreneurs find the funding they need to act on ideas. They are disciplined in their approaches. They create markets for their work through persistence, rather than letting the market dictate what they do. They seek out advice, take criticism on-board, and learn all they can from teachers, mentors and peers, with whom they collaborate openly. They value their relationships with their clients, and they are a delight to work with.

While you look at, take in and enjoy the photography in the following pages and read about these intrepid entrepreneurs, keep in mind what it takes to open a successful small business in today’s economy. As Mustafah Abdulaziz notes: “Talent only gets you so far.” —Conor Risch

Below are their picks for The 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2012 (shown alphabetically by first name) and one example of each of their work:

AnaStasia Rudenko:

Andrea Gjestvang:

Chloe Dewe Mathews:

Christopher Testani:

Daniel Shea:

Dominic Bracco II:

Eliot Dudik:

Ilvy Njiokiktjien:

Ingalls Photography:

Jake Stange:

Jenn Ackerman:

Juco:

Kyle Alexander:

LaToya Ruby Frazie:

Lauren Hermele:

Mark Fisher:

Mark Hartman:

Mark Mahaney:

Markel Redondo:

Meiko Takechi Arquillos:

Michele Borzoni:

Misha Friedman:

Mustafah Abdulaziz:

Peter Ash Lee:

Peter DiCampo:

Ryan Pfluger:

Sam Kaplan:

Sarah Elliott:

Sebastian Liste:

Yasu + Junko:



PDN thanks Sony, Adobe and Canson for their support of the PDN's 30 issue and educational programs. American Society of Media Photographers has given a one-year merit membership to each of this year’s 30. The editors would also like to thank all the people who nominated photographers for the 2012 PDN's 30.

To see complete bios and contact information for the 30 photographers shown here, check out the gallery here.

From Guinness Consumption to Irish Ancestry. Eight Awesome St. Patrick's Day Infographics.

Below are Saint Patrick's Day related infographics from eight different sources summing up everything from Guinness Beer consumption to the luck of the Irish. Enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The New American Haggadah with Design and Art by Israeli Typographer Oded Ezer.

above: a sample interior spread from the New American Haggadah featuring Hebrew typography by Oded Ezer

The Jewish holiday, Passover, is soon upon us. Starting Friday night, April 6th, Jewish families and friends all over the world will gather around the Seder table, each with their Haggadah. The Haggadah recounts through prayer and song the extraordinary story of Exodus, when Moses led the ancient Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to wander the desert for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land.



One of my favorite posts of all time is my round up of 20 modern, beautifully designed and illustrated Haggadot. This year, there's a new one to add to the list.




Now, Jonathan Safran Foer (who wrote Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close) has orchestrated a new way of experiencing and understanding one of our oldest, most timeless, and sacred stories, with a new translation of the traditional text by Nanathan Englander and provocative commentary by a collection of major Jewish writers and thinkers.



The book's interiors are beautifully designed and illustrated by the acclaimed Israeli artist and calligrapher Oded Ezer:



As Alex Williams reports for The New York Times "The book’s minimalist design, by Oded Ezer, looks like a catalog for a MoMA typography exhibition, and the text is rendered both vertically (for the Exodus story) and horizontally (for commentary and a timeline). In place of storybook illustrations of Moses are abstract watercolor illustrations based on Hebrew typography. "









above: typographer and artist Oded Ezer is well known throughout the global design community for his work

Oded Ezer's site

Below is a video of Jonathan Safran Foer explaining his new Haggadah to Stephen Colbert:



About the Authors:
Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of Everything Is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Eating Animals. His books have been translated into thirty-six languages. Everything Is Illuminated received a National Jewish Book Award and a Guardian First Book Award, and was made into a film by Liev Schreiber. Foer lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the novelist Nicole Krauss, and their children.


above: Nathan Englander, left, translated the liturgical text for the “New American Haggadah,” which Jonathan Safran Foer edited. Four writers contributed commentary. (Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times)
Nanathan Englander is the author of The Ministry of Special Cases and For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, which earned him a PEN/Malamud Award and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Sue Kauffman Prize. His short fiction has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, and numerous anthologies including The Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Anthology, and The Pushcart Prize. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2003 and a Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library in 2004. He lives in Manhattan.

Some reviews:
"A touching and scholarly Haggadah that offers fresh insights....what makes this Haggadah shine is the combination of commentary, design, and illustration....[it makes] us think, laugh, cry, and ask questions." (Financial Times, Julia Neuberger )

"This Haggadah sings to more than one generation; it is glorious and rich, funny and affirming. And it reminds us of why we do Passover in the first place. This is what we've been waiting for." (Writer's Bloc Presents Andrea Grossman )

Product Details
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; Bilingual edition (March 5, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316069868
• ISBN-13: 978-0316069861
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 0.8 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Thanks to the NY Daily News, Little, Brown & Company, Oded Ezer and the New York Times for some of the images and information.



The Best 20 Modern Art Passover Haggadahs:

above: a few of the Modern Passover Haggadahs (or Haggadot) I featured in this past post.