Biographies
SARAH HOSKINS www.sarahhoskins.com
GRAEME WILLIAMS www.graemewilliams.co.za
Please note: Life Force magazine is greatly supported by you looking at our advertising which is free to view.
DENIS SINYAKOV www.denissinyakov.com
Sinyakov has been a professional photographer since 2001.
He was born in 1977 in Obninsk, the small town 100 km south Moscow that is famous for
having the world’s first nuclear power station.
In 2000, he graduated from the State Technical University n.a. Bauman in 2000 - three years
after realising that his life couldn't be full without photography.
During high school Sinyakov tried his hand at fashion but later decided to focus on documentary
photography.
He worked as news photographer for the local newspaper 'Vremya Novostey', then for
France-Presse Agency where he also became a photo-editor.
Of course he wasn't satisfied with his position as photo-editor and in 2006 became a staff
photographer based in Moscow.
Since 2007 Sinyakov has worked as a Reuters staff photographer.
He has worked in many conflict zones, such as Afghanistan, Israel, Turkey, Uzbekistan,
Kyrgyzstan, etc.
Although he adores travelling, a short time ago Sinyakov took the decision to concentrate on life in his own country.
AGNES DHERBEYS www.agnesdherbeys.com
Sarah Hoskins is a Midwest based documentary photographer, currently her time is split between
Chicago and Lexington.
Hoskins has been published in national and international publications, including AARP Bulletin,
Chicago Magazine, Chicago Tribune, Doubletruck, Enjeux Les Echos (France), Family Circle,
Ladies Home Journal, NewScientist, Newsweek, National Geographic Traveler, Open Society
Institute Annual Report, Rides, Preservation, Focus (Germany), Fortune, NZZ Folio (Switzerland),
BBC Television and Public Television.
Hoskins is also an educator. She was a guest lecturer in 2010, 2007 and 2004 at the prestigious
Women In Photography Workshops at Empire State College in New York City. She has introduced
documentary photography to teens and adults who have never had the opportunity to express
themselves with a camera before. She is on the Illinois Arts Council Arts In-Education Roster to
teach documentary photography in the state of Illinois, she has received two Illinois Arts Council
Short-Term Residency grants to teach photography to homeless men, women, and children.
She received her BA from Columbia College Chicago.
Dherbeys is a Bangkok based 34 year old French photographer. She graduated with honours from
the Master of Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Politics) of Lyon and from master 2 of Sciences
of Information and Communication from Celsa, Sorbonne IV. She learned photography when she
moved to Bangkok in 2001, and has since mainly focused her work in Nepal, East Timor, Indonesia,
Cambodia and Thailand, with some parentheses in the Palestinian Territories/Israel.
After covering the devastation caused by the Tsunami in Thailand, she returned over the year to
follow the tale of the life of the survivors, and the reconstruction in Phang Nga, North of Phuket.
With this body of work, she was finalist for the 'Bourse du Talent 2005 and her essay has also been
published in the book 'Tsunami', along with other photographers who covered the catastrophe.
In November 2005, she won the Foundation Lagardere grant for photography, which allowed her to
work on her project in East Timor?. This essay, "East Timor, the crushed dreams of independency"
was exhibited in Visa pour l'Image, France 2007 and in April 2008 in FotoFreo, WA, Australia.
She won Second Prize Spot News story in World Press Photo 2007 Contest with her story on the
popular uprising against King Gyanendra in Nepal, which was exhibited in "Les Rencontres de Siem Rep", Cambodia in 2007.
In 2008, Agnes was finalist for the CARE award and finalist for the Visa d'Or Magazine, with her project on AIDS temple in
Thailand in Visa pour l'Image. Also, she was one of the 12 participants to the Joop Swart Masterclass 2008 of the World
Press Photo (Balance).
Her 2010 coverage of the Red Shirts unrest in Thailand last April and May 2010, was exhibited at the Bangkok Art Cultural
Center in RUPTURE exhibition, curated by Olivier Pin. With this body of work, published in the New York Times, she recently
was awarded THE ROBERT CAPA GOLD MEDAL AWARD of the OPC, for "Best published photographic reporting from
abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise".
She works for international Press, such as the New York Times, Le Monde, GQ France, Geo, Newsweek, Time magazine
Sunday Time Magazine, ... among others.
PETER DENCH www.peterdench.com
FIFA sponsored project, documented 26 stories in 20 different countries, highlighting the positive impact that football has had
at grass-root level on individuals and communities across the planet.
In 2010, he placed second in Advertising at the Sony World Photography Awards. England Uncensored – A Decade of
Photographing the English, was exhibited at the 2011 Visa pour L’image festival of photojournalism. With hindsight, it was
perhaps inevitable that one day, the world would see, The Dench Diary, a laugh out loud account of his life as a sometime
working pro, in print, video and online for Hungry Eye Magazine.
Dench is also Creative Director at White Cloth Gallery, launching in the Spring, the Leeds based venues aim, is to encourage
artists, primarily in the photography and film industry, to exhibit and elevate projects of particular importance to them whilst
also providing a platform for emerging artists to showcase their work.
Peter Dench weighed into the world a sizable 10lb 8oz’s. He was born on the feast of Saint
George, the patron saint of England and shares a birthday with William Shakespeare, arguably the
greatest Englishman that has ever lived. From Dench’s first breath, the salty air of the English
Channel permeated his nostrils, the sounds of seagulls crashed into the eardrum, saturated colors
startled the retina; bumper boats, Punch & Judy, arcades, striped deck-chairs. This was his
introduction to England and Dench was hooked.
While looking through the books of Martin Parr, Greg Leach, Paul Reas and Elliot Erwitt, the
teenage Dench decided to take photography as a career seriously. If you could travel the world,
make people laugh and think, that was a fine way to live. If you could do it with a drink in your hand,
that was the life for Dench.
His project Drinking of England, documenting the imbibing habits of his countrymen picked up a
World Press Photo Award for the People in the News Stories category. Football’s Hidden Story, a
CEDRIC FAIMALI www.collectifargos.com
Cédric Faimali has focused his work on exile, either territorial or social.
He is a founding member of the Argos Collective, whose associate writers and photographers
produce documentary reports. The Climate Refugees project implemented by the Argos Collective
took him from the shores of the Chad Lake to the coast of Louisiana. Between 2005 and 2009,
Faimali documented the difficult rebuilding of New Orleans, in the aftermath of Katrina.
Since 2010 he has documented the life of the of the illegal small-scale miners around the world for
the Argos Collective project: A Life Like Mine. This assignment took him to a cooperative gold
mine in Peru and the highest gold mine of La Rinconada where as many as 40,000 people work at
a height of 5500 meters under a glacier. He will continue this report in 2012 in the illegal coal
mines of the Ukraine.
Faimali has produced a web documentary for the French TV channel France 5 about the story of the cooperative gold mine
in Peru. This web documentary was selected for the shortlist for the 3rd FRANCE 24-RFI Web Documentary Award, 2011.
He is planning to publish an e-book for the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in 2015.
Faimali's work is frequently published and exhibited in international magazines and festivals. His photographs are distributed
worldwide by Picturetank agency.
Myrto Papadopoulos (b. 1978, Athens) finished her studies in 2003 after completing a five-year
Fine Arts degree in painting and photography. In 2006, she applied for a photojournalism degree at
the ICP (International Centre of Photography) in N.Y where she was granted a scholarship and in
2007 she participated at the Eddie Adams workshop in NY.
She has won various awards and nominations and has taken part in several exhibitions including
the Mois off de la photo 08 in Paris, the PHOTOQUAI 2em biennal du monde 09 at the Museé Quai
Branly in Paris the New York photo Festival 09, the Biennale of young artists of Europe XIV bjcem
09, the LOOK Between Festival 2010, the DUMBO Arts Festival 2011 in Brooklyn NY, the Athens
Photo Festival 2011 and more.
Today she works as a freelance photographer and a filmmaker.
MYRTO PAPADOPOULOS www.myrtopapadopoulos.com
Her clients include GEO, Corriere della sera (Io Donna), EL Mundo (Yo Dona), La Stampa, Diario magazine, Gioia, National
Geographic Magazine (Greece), K magazine (Kathimerini) among others. She is represented by POSSE photo agency in
Milan, Italy.
BEHROUZ MEHRI www.behrouzmehri.com
Behrouz Mehri was born in Tehran in February 1971
He started photography in 1988, after which he attended the Faculty of Fine Arts of Tehran
University (1991-1997) to study the subject.
Mehri embarked on his career as a photojournalist with Iranian newspapers then started working
for France Press Agency (AFP) during 1998. He contrinues to work for AFP.
He was a board member and Deputy Director of Iranian Photojournalists Association (IPA)
during 2008-09 and his pictures have appeared worldwide through AFP in newspapers, websites
and magazines including: Time, Newsweek, New York Times, Washington Post, Stern, Spiegel,
Focus, View, Paris Match, l’Express, Le Figaro, Le Point and other.
Mehri has covered some of the most important events of the Middle East and Asia as well as
Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.
Awards:
2011 - 7th China International Press Photo Contest; Gold Medal - Daily Life Category
2010 - 1st Sheed Award; Best Iranian Documentary Photographer of 2010
2010 - Pictures of The Year International (POY) - USA; Award of Excellence - Civil Defiance
He is based in Tehran, Iran.
In 1989 Graeme Williams was contracted by Reuters to cover South Africa's transition to ANC
rule. In 1991 he began to contribute his photographs to the Southern African documentary
collective, Afrapix and later went on to become a founder member and manager of South
Photographs Agency.
Since the late 80s Williams worked on his own photographic projects, at times exhibiting and
publishing the completed works.
His work is housed in the permanent collections of The Smithsonian (USA), The South African
National Gallery, The Rotterdam Museum of Ethnology, Duke University (USA), The Apartheid
Museum in Johannesburg, The Finnish School of Photography, Oxfam and Anti-Apartheid
Movement in Belgium, Cape Town University, as well as the BHP Billiton Collection and the
AngloGold Ashanti Collection.
Williams has staged solo exhibitions in Johannesburg, New York and Paris and has contributed to many combined
exhibitions including the 2011 Figures and Fictions exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. He has also
contributed to a number of publications showcasing photography in South Africa and around the world. One of the more
recent publications is the Then and Now project (book, film and exhibition), which focuses on eight South African
photographers who have contributed to South Africa's photographic heritage, both before and after the 1994 transition
to democracy.
Williams' first book, The Floor, documents the last year of open outcry trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange,
while the second book, The Inner City, is an exploration of isolation captured through images of Johannesburg as it
struggled to adjust to the changing social and political climate. Most recently, Editions de L'Ceil (Paris) has published a
monograph of his work.
Photographic assignments have taken Wiliams to over forty countries and his photographs have been
published in major publications worldwide, including National Geographic Magazine, Time, Newsweek,
The New York Times Magazine and Photography magazine (UK).
Saad Shahriar is a photojournalist born in Chawkbazar, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
In college he majored in Journalism & Media Studies and also took a course in Photography.
He has worked for the DrikNEWS international news photo agency as a photographer. He
currently works for NEW AGE (one of the largest daily Newspapers in Bangladesh) as a staff
photojournalist.
His photographs have been selected for REUTERS weekly showcase "TOP PICTURES" several
times and also reviewed by REUTERS Editor's Blog "OUR take on YOUR take." His work has
also been published in Social Documentary.Net, TRIBAL TRUTH, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Online and CNN. His photos are regularly featured in renowned national daily newspapers in
Bangladesh.
In August 2010 one of his photo selected for GUARDIAN'S Travel Photo Competition as "BEST IMAGE" theme: LOCAL
LIFE. After that he participated in a weeklong Photojournalism workshop which has trained by ZEPPELIN (photo agency
of France) in February, 2011. By completing the workshop and developing a reportage project as a successful participant
he has been contracted with ZEPPELIN and SIPA PRESS as a photojournalist.
His areas of interests are cultural documentation, especially those that involve political crises. He has worked extensively
on tribes in the hill tracks of Bangladesh and on urban problems prevalent in the cities of Bangladesh.
He currently lives in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
SAAD SHAHRIAR Saad’s website is under contruction. He can be emailed via LFM
In June, 2009 one of his pictures titled "ARCHITECTURE OF SCARCITY" became one of the winner of the competition
"SECURITY IN DHAKA" organized by GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit). It was later exhibited
in GTZ conference hall &GOETHE-INSTITUT, Dhaka, Bangladesh.