Home Front cover PHOTO ESSAYS About Letters Contact Products Shop LIFE FORCE
The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay “A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine.  Fabulous!” Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
Feb 2014 back issue
Ami Vitale To commission Ami or to request prints of her work: www.amivitale.com Ami Vitale's journey as a photographer and filmmaker has taken her to more than 85 countries where she has witnessed civil unrest and violence, but also surreal beauty and the enduring power of the human spirit. Her photographs have been commissioned by nearly every important international publication including National Geographic Magazine and her images have been exhibited around the world in museums, galleries and are part of numerous private collections.She has been working with Ripple Effect Images, an organization of well-known scientists, writers, photographers and filmmakers with a mission of creating powerful films and stories illustrating the very specific problems women in developing countries face and theprograms that can help them. She is also a member of the Executive Advisory Committee of the Alexia Foundation's Photojournalism Advisory Board.Most recently, she has been the subject of the documentary series "Over the Islands of Africa" and hosted of a 10 part photography series for National Geographic
Back to photo-essays Back to photo-essays Back to photo-essays Back to photo-essays Back to photo-essays Back to photo-essays Back to photo-essays
Catherine Karnow To commission Catherine or to request prints of her work: www.thephotosociety.org Born and raised in Hong Kong, the daughter of an American journalist, San Francisco- based photographer Catherine Karnow shoots for National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, Smithsonian, French & German GEO and other international publications.  She has also participated in several Day in the Life series, Passage to Vietnam, and Women in the Material World.  Catherine has covered Australian Aborigines; Bombay film stars; victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam; Russian "Old Believers" in Alaska; Greenwich, Connecticut high society; and an Albanian farm family.  In 1994, she was the only non-Vietnamese photo-journalist to accompany General Giap on his  historic first return to the forest encampment in the northern Vietnam highlands from which he plotted the battle of Dien Bien Phu. She also gained unprecedented access to Prince Charles for her 2006 National Geographic feature, "Not Your Typical Radical."
Dougie Wallace To commission Dougie or to request prints of his work: www.dougiewallace.com London-based photographer Dougie Wallace, "Glasweegee" grew up in Glasgow. He is known for his expressive social documentary and street photography.  See his full biography here: www.dougiewallace.com 
Javier Galeano To commission Javier or to request prints of his work: javiergaleanophotography.com Javier Galeano is a multi-published Colombian photojournalist based in Miami, Florida. He is a graduate of the Externado of Colombia University with a bachelor in Social Communication and Journalism. He has worked with the International News Agency The Associated Press for more than 13 years, and collaborated with other media during his work in Latin American and the Caribbean where he photographed the civil conflict and drug war in Colombia, Elections, earthquakes and hurricanes in Central America. In Cuba covered for more than six years all type the stories around the island, including cultural, sports, hurricanes, government activities, Fidel Castro's illness, daily life, presidential visits, to dissident groups and Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Cuba. He served a month in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
Jassi Oberai To commission Jassi or to request prints of his work: www.500px.com/JassiOberai I am a self-taught photographer and though I virtually grew up amongst passionate photographers (my Dad and Uncle were serious hobbyist photographers), I developed serious interest very late. But the moment I picked up my camera I never looked back. Well as a photographer I do not restrict myself to any particular genre of photography. I like to shoot mostly anything. I like the challenge of going from shooting landscape one day to close up the next and dabbling in portraiture the day after. I love nature, and great use of color. So in lot of my photographs you’ll see very vibrant colors. A lot of times this can give a whole new look to something that’s rather mundane or something we’re used to. To me that’s what I love most about photography – looking at the world in new ways. Today I have started my venture Light Chasers where I have associated with Canon India where I organize and conduct photography workshops and photo tours. Am evolving more as a workshop and photo tour specialist and am trying to set new standards in this unexplored field. In my view there is nothing better than sharing the knowledge and engage the youth in a more meaningful way. As for future, I would like to dedicate my life towards imparting quality education to all the budding photographers.
Back to photo-essays
Chiabella James To commission Chiabella or to request prints of her work: chiabella.james@gmail Raised between England and the United States, Chiabella lives and works in both countries, pursuing dual careers in photography and film production. As the daughter of a photographer, she grew up learning the craft under his guidance. While studying film at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she began to pursue photography as a career by assisting her father on feature film productions including Memoirs of a Geisha and Dreamgirls. Since then, Chiabella has covered a broad spectrum of photography styles and genres from film to live performance, fashion to photo journalism, portraits and events to sports and fine art. She spent 5 years as the company photographer for a Los Angeles dance company,
Mario Marino To commission Mario or to request prints of his work: www.mariomarino.com Born in Austria in 1967, Mario Marino is based in Germany.  
Back to photo-essays
Alejandro Cartagena To commission Alejandro or to request prints of his work: alejandrocartagena.com Alejandro lives and works in Monterrey, Mexico. His projects employ landscape and portraiture as a means to examine social, urban and environmental issues in the Latin- American region. His work has been exhibited internationally in festivals like CONTACT in Toronto Canada, The FIF in Belo Horizonte Brazil, GuatePhoto festival in Guatemala City, FOTOFEST in Houston Texas, the PHOTOIMAGEN festival in Dominican Republic and UNSEEN by FOAM in Amsterdam among others. Alejandro’s work has been published internationally in magazines and newspapers such as Newsweek, Le Monde, The Guardian, The Independent, the New York Times Lens blog, Nowness, Domus, Domus Mexico, the Financial Times, View, the Guardian, Stern, PDN, the New Yorker, Monocle and Wallpaper among others. His book Suburbia Mexicana was published by Photolucida and Daylight books in 2011. He has received the Photolucida Critical Mass book award, the Lente Latino award in Chile, the Premio Salon de la Fotografia from the Fototeca de Nuevo Leon in Mexico, the Premio IILA-Fotografia 2012 award in Rome, the Street Photography Award in Londres and a POYi reportage award of excellence among other awards. He has been named a FOAM magazine Talent and one of PDN´s magazine 30 emerging photographers. He has
Back to photo-essays
Damian Bird To commission him or to request prints of his work: www.damianbirdphotography.com Damian Bird, is a photographer and photojournalist with many years of experience, working in war zones and trouble spots around the globe.  He was educated in Photography at the Surrey College of Art and Design and at the London College of Printing where he studied for a post graduate degree in Photojournalism.  In 2011 he founded Life Force magazine with his business partner and wife of ten years, Alice.  As well as Editing Life Force magazine, he is currently engaged in photographing a series of photo-essays on English culture and has recently returned to Afghanistan (Aug 2013). He continues to have his work published in national and international newspapers and magazines  including The Times, the Telegraph, the Express, the Observer, GQ, Esquire, Dazed & Confused,The Face, Country Life and Geographical magazine.  
Eric Kruszewski To commission Eric or to request prints of his work: www.erickruszewski.com Eric Kruszewski is a self-taught photographer based in Baltimore, Maryland. Eric’s initial education was through engineering school, thus leading to employment dismantling chemical weaponry, securing biological agents and processing nuclear waste. But business trips to sensory-overloaded Central Asia rattled his tech foundation and uncovered a passion for photography. After a 10-year stint in engineering, Eric resigned (March 2012) to practice his photography full-time. Now having traveled to over 40 countries, Eric documents social, economic and cultural issues both abroad and in his backyard. His work has been published by organizations such as National Geographic (online), The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and ABC News.  Eric is an executive board member with the Young Photographer’s Alliance. His work is represented by National Geographic Creative.
Back to photo-essays
Guillaume Gilbert To commission Guillaume or to request prints of his work: www,guillaumegilbert.com Guillaume Gilbert was born in Versailles, France in 1982 and attended Sciences Po in Bordeaux, where he received his BA in political science and a MA in international affairs. He started shooting color films during a series of trips in Asia between 2004 and 2006, but this was when he moved back to Paris and then lived in New York for 2 years that he focused on 35mm black and white films, inspired by the work of Daido Moriyama, Robert Frank and Bruce Davidson. He developed an imagery which deals with social alienation while revealing the gritty poetry of existence. His latest project, "A Transcontinental Journey", led him to travel last winter from Paris to Beijing by train. He has shown his work in Brooklyn, Paris and London. He currently lives and works in Montreal.
Phillip Jenkins To commission Phillip or to request prints of his work: phillipjenkins.foliosites.co.uk Phillip Jenkins is a Suzhou-based photographer who mostly works in street photography, capturing the other side of Suzhou's technology gloss and Shanghai's unabashed glitz to document the everyday lives of these cities' working class members. Born in Wales, UK, Phillip Jenkins began his photographic journey taking black and white landscape pictures of the Gower peninsular and later colour landscape pictures of the East Neuk area in Fife Scotland. After moving to China in 2011 Phillip decided to document the people of China in various cities, from Suzhou and Shanghai in the South East to Jinzhou in the far North. Phillip has currently finished working on three Chinese projects, ‘Rock and a Hard Place’, ‘Jinzhou – The Dark City’ and ‘Urban Desires’. Work in progress projects include ‘Park Life' documenting the social life that happens in and around Chinese parks, 'The Consumerist' documenting the shopping habits of    
Back to photo-essays
Channel in Asia. Now based in Montana, Vitale is a  contract photographer with National Geographic magazine and frequently gives lectures and workshops throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. Ami is very honored to have been named Nikon Ambassador .
Catherine also teaches Photography Workshops. Visit: catherinekarnowphotoworkshop.com
He lives with his wife and three children in Devon, England.
covered live performances at the Academy Awards, and her fine art work was displayed on the screens of New York's Times Square as part of the first Art Takes Times Square exhibition in 2012. Chiabella's varied portfolio has been published online, in coffee table books and in national print publications in the US and UK.
people in China and “Urban Banality” documenting the banality that sometimes occurs with excessive urbanization.
also been a finalist for the Aperture Portfolio award, the Photoespaña Descubrimientos award, the FOAM Paul Huff award and has been nominated for the CENTER Santa Fe photography prize. His work is in many private and public collections including the San Francisco MOMA, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Portland Museum of Art, the Museo de Arte Moderno in Rio, Brazil, the Fototeca de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey Mexico, The University of Maine collection and the Fototeca Nacional in Pachuca, Mexico. He is currently represented by Circuit Gallery in Toronto Canadá, Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles and Galería Patricia Conde in México City.
Back to current issue