GFX Challenge Grant Program 2021

The GFX Challenge Grant Program, sponsored by FUJIFILM, is a grant program that awards 5 Global Grant Award and 10 Regional Grant Award to help aspiring creatives bring their imaging projects to life. Since the start in November last year, there were roughly 3,000 applications from all around the world. The number of applications as well as the creative quality of the projects exceeded our expectations. The submisssions gave us assurance that so many people are intereted in the GFX system and the project. We want to say a big thank you to all applicants.

The selection was extremely difficult, but we were encouraged each time we read the project proposal, and were excited each time we saw the presentation.

In March 2022, the 15 award recipients were announced, and after 5 months of production, the 15 works were finally completed in August 2022. Now we will present you the works of the 15 Grant Award recipients. We hope you will enjoy these original photographic and video works from around the world.

Now Accepting Entries

We are now accepting entries for GFX Challenge Grant Program 2023 until October 15, 2023

The application period has ended as of October 15, 2023.
Thank you for all your submissions.

Global Grant
Awards

Regional Grant
Awards

Rodrigo Illescas

Argentina

Rodrigo Illescas was born in Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires in 1983. Nowdays he is a professor at the University of Buenos Aires. He has published two books: "Also everything" and "Razia”.

He has exposed in (selection): Museum d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Italy; Museum of Fine Arts “Emilio Pettoruti”, Argentina; CCK, National Salon of Visual Art Award; Museum of Cultural History in Osnabrück, Germany; PhotoDays Festival, Croacia; Pilar Riberaygua Galery, Andorra; Festival Promenades of Vendome, France; Tatent Latent, International Festival of Tarragona, Spain; Contemporary Art Museum of Mar del Plata, Arg; Museo Provincial of Fine Arts “Timoteo Navarro”, Tucumán, Arg.; Museum of Fine Arts "Quinquela", Arg.

Awards (selection): 1st Prize, Best Portfolio, Transversalidades Award, 2021; Honorable mention, Salón Nacional of Visual Art Award, 2021; 2d Prize, Xposure International Photography Awards, Arab Emirates, 2021; 1st Prize Felix Schoeller Photo Award, 2017; Finalista Leica, Oskar Barnack, 2015; Grand Prix, PhotoDays Festival, Rovinj, Croacia, 2015; 1st Prize, Portraiture, PoyLatam, México, 2015; Shortlist, portraiture, professional, Sony World Photography Awards, 2015; 1st Prize Mark Grosset, Promenades Festival of Vendome, France, 2014; Audience Award, Festival Promenades, 2014; 1st Prize IILA, Rome; Grant Macro - IILA, Rome, 2014; 1st Prize Photography, University of Belgrano Awards for Artistic Creation, Arg, 2014.

Works in collection: Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb; National University of Villa Maria, Cordoba; Private Collections London; Private Collections Madrid, Spain; Andorra Private Collections. About "The Cathedrals of Nostalgia" As cities grow they also leave behind- in the midst of desolation- pieces of their selves. That forgetfulness, that neglect is also part of their history. In spite of this side effects as society we keep on turning our backs on this situation. In Argentina, a single decision ended up with entire towns being thrown into oblivion. This decision had to do with the lack of financing and the subsequent closure of some train lines that connected the cities with the surrounding towns. The remains of this measure are entire towns in which their few remaining inhabitants fight for their memory, for their history as they embrace to an impossible hope. Each one of these inhabitants are like cathedrals of nostalgia that are erected in the middle of loneliness. They are immersed in the silence of their own fragments. Inhabiting incomplete, suppressed stories. But they are still there.

András Dobi

Germany

András Dobi, is a Germany based fine art photographer, born in Hungary. András comes from the field of performing arts as he was educated as a professional ballet dancer. As part of his art education he studied contemporary dance, fine arts, art history, philosophy and film aesthetics among other art related subjects. After his professional dance career, he applied his artistic experience to fine art photography. Since he participated as a performer in various forms of performing arts and installations, he strongly believes in mixed media art format. The process of András' creative work is always starts with the concept creation. He uses different methods to develop the right foundation for the individual images or series. In the last two years, the main focus of his artistic work was around one theme, creating imagery that is not visible for the naked eye. He studied and developed unique photographic methods to achieve a singular aesthetics. Often using a combination of moving subjects, remote flash and even camera movements during one single shot. All these elements make his images look abstract and formalist at the same time.

In 2020, András Dobi was a finalist for the Siena Creative Photo award. He is the recipient of international photo awards such as Fine Art Photography Awards, International Photo Awards, ND Awards, among others. In 2021, within an artistic collaboration, he was a co- author of the performance book titled Variation on the represented. About "Photoreographia" This art project, titled Photoreographia, is the realization of a photographic concept that is based on the act of resolving the contradiction: dance being a movement through time and photography being the imprint of a moment.
To make this possible, fine art photographer András Dobi asked several professional choreographers around Germany to choreograph pieces of dance dedicated to this particular occasion. The two most significant differences between choreographing in the traditional stage- orientated method and the way that Photoreographia is done are linearity in time and orientation in space. Since the main aspect of this art project is to depict an entire choreography in one single image, the end result is a visual imprint of the choreographer’s decision of where and how the dancer was going to move. In this case, linearity in time as one of the most important factors in choreography loses its importance. When a viewer looks at the final result of Photoreographia, it is clear that the usual starting and ending of choreography in terms of time are not significant anymore. This gives the images a singular nature. Viewers can decide their own way of experience and understanding of the images, and through them, the choreographic work as well.
Photoreographia is an art project that allows two art forms to observe, experience, and implement each other’s innovations, and make a new conclusion of how dance and photography can be merged into one.

Krittanun Tantraporn

Thailand

Since young, Krittanun has always been curious about the things–especially the strange ones. He was born in 1994 and studied in science schools, but believes in fiction. Perhaps, photography is a perfect medium for him to seek out the balance, the elusive bond between fact and wonder.

He once pursued postgraduate in UK, living in the moment where he can fully immersed himself with what called 'photography for science'. It has introduced him into the realm unable to perceive with human normal eyes. For him, it was such a delicate and fascinate scene of nature. Since then, he decided to explore this path for a while. With a high hope, they may give the answer he was looking for.

With his craving for expanding boundary of visuals, Krittanun currently carry on the creative path as commercial, documentary and scientific photographer and videographer to keep on sharpening skills and perspectives. He is in search for new photographic possibilities to explore new boundary of the visuals. About "The Great Little Life" Boundary beyond human's eyes is elusive yet fascinating. In the nature, there are countless beauties we unfortunately cannot afford to perceive. I started getting captivated by the concept of super-detailed macro photography since I pursued postgrad course in Biological Photography and Imaging.

Insects are representatives of nature herself hidden charms. Glory and scars of innumerable years evolution have been inscribed on their unique structures. The project wish to capture all the delicate details of tiny lifeforms and reflect the concept of 'the great little life’ and depict the beauty of evolution via insects’ structural builds to the audiences.

Naturalistic 3D model is another dream we are ambitious to pursue. In the thought of science, it would virtually conserve naturally aging specimens forever. With the less possible risks of harming the invaluable real, we can study the virtual. In the touch of art, it's simply feel really good to rebuild the beauty and complexity of nature.

The project's greatest wish is to see the unseen beauty of nature.

Jin Li

Chinese Mainland

Painter, photographer, explorer- Since 1999, cave exploration photography has been published in more than 50 magazines such as China National Geography, outdoor exploration, China tourism, mass photography, digital photography and photography tourism. His works have been compiled into various published albums and published personal photography albums. He won the German "Friedrich great art Knight Award" and the best outdoor photography award of China's outdoor "golden rhinoceros Award". He is the judge of China's first cave photography competition- He is now a contracted photographer of China National Geographic, a member of the cave Professional Committee of the Chinese Geological Society, a director of Guangxi Photographers Association, a member of Guangxi Artists Association, a member of the flying cat exploration team of Leye County, and the director of the outdoor sports management center of Leye County. About "Magical Huge Underground Space" The project plan is to shoot China's world-class underground hall. The scene on the surface is as high as Mount Everest, as far as the South Pole and the north pole, and the pole of the underground dark space is, of course, the underground cave hall. After scientific exploration, the underground cave hall ranked among the top in the world is the uncanny workmanship of nature, a secret geological wonder on the planet, a place that ordinary people can't reach, an extraordinary extreme scenery, and has unique visual highlights and mysterious charm. Deep underground cave shooting is quite difficult, dangerous and challenging, but it is in line with the theme of FUJIFILM GFX Challenge project. What kind of visual impact and aesthetic photos will be brought by completing this shooting project with FUJIFILM GFX medium frame camera? Let's wait and see!

Atsushi Fukushima

Japan

Born in Kanawagawa, Japan in 1981. Graduated from Osaka University of Arts, Department of Photography in 2004 and completed the Graduate Course at Tokyo College of Photography in 2006.
From 2004 to 2014: He worked as a delivery person at a bento box shop for the elderly while taking the photos of the elders.
He traveled from Hokkaido to Okinawa twice on foot in 2009 and 2010.
From 2018 to 2021, he became a farmer and documented the intensity of the summer farming.

Awards
Grand Prix at KYOTOGRAPHIE Satellite Category KG+, 2019

Exhibitions
2004 "SCOPE" Shinjuku Nikon Salon
2008 "Taking Food" Shinjuku Nikon Salon
2013 "A Taste of Bento" KOBE819 Gallery
2018 "Journey to Plant a Tree" KOBE819 Gallery
2020 "Bento is Ready" KYOTOGRAPHIE2020 Tasuku Ito Machiya, Kyoto
2021 "I Deliver Bento Boxes to the House of Old People Living Alone" IG Photo Gallery

Publication
2021 "I Deliver Bento Boxes to the House of Old People Living Alone" About "ZIPANGU -Exploring for Native Humanity" This project is a five-month journey on foot across Japan from Okinawa to Hokkaido, photographing the way of life of the people I meet.

It is never easy to survive no matter what era or place one lives in.
Covid, natural disasters, economic downturns, wars, and other dark news have enveloped the Japanese archipelago for years now, and we live in a suffocating situation where we cannot imagine the future and try our best to suppress our feelings of anxiety.

However, we still work, study, brush our teeth, eat, and breathe.
I would like to reiterate to all of Japan that this in itself is actually a very powerful thing.
I believe that the gold in today's chaotic world is "the power of the human instinct to survive.

I will move forward step by step while carrying a heay backpack and sleeping beneath the open sky for many nights.
This activity is the exact opposite of today's world, which is increasingly subeded and efficient, but that is why I can see the world, and that is why I will document the powerful and beautiful radiance of the people I meet, with photographs and send them throughout Japan.

Jessica Vandenbush

USA

Jessica Vandenbush Jessica Vandenbush is a first time filmmaker, Founder & Editor In-Chief of Eat Clean Run Dirty Magazine, Podcast Host, writer, photographer, award winning aid station captain and trail and ultra running athlete known for her passion for the sport. Jess started her running career in 2014 with her first 5k and soon after found trail running and with it an amazing community. Jess learned about 100 mile trail races while attending The Trail Running Film Festival. She saw Matt Cecill’s film featuring Rainshadow Running’s 100 mile trail race on Orcas Island and it set a blaze in her heart to one day to be a 100 mile mountain runner herself.

Today Jessica gets most of her miles in the foothills of Boise, Idaho. Jess loves to be in service of others and volunteers at numerous races across the country. Jess is passionate about traveling and exploring new places and actively seeks the struggle and the lessons learned when you reach far beyond your comfort zone.

Levi Watson When I started out in photography, I didn’t know where it would take me. I didn’t know it would take me to different countries, capturing incredible moments in people’s lives, experiencing them first-hand. I didn’t know I would get to be a part, even just a small part, of so many different stories. I didn’t know it would connect me to so many different people in a way that I didn't understand. I didn’t know I would have the opportunity to impact people around me in a way that other things couldn’t; I was just a kid who liked using his dad’s camera, and spent all of his free time taking pictures. Over the years my passion for photography has changed in many ways, and it’s something that’s always growing and developing as I find my voice in the vast, ever-changing digital world. Recently, I've taken it back to where my passion began; video. Video has the power to communicate, inspire, and kindle a passion unlike any other. For me, that's where my creative journey started, and it's where I'm headed. This is just the start.

Nick Danielson Seattle born and raised, Nick Danielson spends much of his time adventuring in the mountains of the Cascade range, documenting outdoor athletes and wilderness locations with his camera. With a background in photojournalism and visual design, Nick is always pursuing visually engaging stories in his films and works full-time as a freelance photographer, filmmaker, and designer.

Aneta Zeppettella Aneta "Nettie" Zeppettella grew up in Poland, but has been calling Ohio home for two decades. Nettie wrote simulation software in her previous life, but now she splits her time between substitute teaching, co-directing ultrarunning events with her friend, being a taxi for her teenage swimmer daughter, and training for her next 100-miler.
Nettie has completed several 100 mile or longer events, including HURT 100, Bear 100, Badwater 135, and Potawatomi 200. Growing up, Nettie never showed any significant athletic talent and was often one of the last kids to be picked for a team in gym class. She often says that her talent is that she just doesn't quit. Nettie is a chapter leader for the Dayton Trail Sisters group and is very passionate about encouraging other women to run trails, especially the 100 mile distances. She truly believes that the growth of female participation in the sport will come from seeing other women with work and family obligations finding a way to fit some training miles in between various commitments.
Nettie thinks that dry shampoo is the greatest invention of all time, and she can often be found running in circles around the pool complex during her daughter's swim practices. Besides running, she loves reading, eating authentic Polish bread, and learning foreign languages. Nettie speaks Polish, English, Russian, and far from perfect French. About "The Twenty Percent" The Twenty Percent will be a short documentary film aimed at celebrating women in the ultrarunning community and inspiring more to join. An ultra-running event is any footrace longer than the distance of a marathon (26.2 miles); some common ultra-distances include the 50k, 100k, and 100mi race. Women are grossly underrepresented in the ultra-running and trail running community. The backdrop of this film will be a day in the life of ultra-runner Aneta Zeppettella (Centerville, OH). Aneta began running ultras in her early-forties; she is a mother, immigrant, and entrepreneur. Aneta is now set to compete in the 2022 Western States Endurance Run, which is essentially the Super Bowl of American ultra-running. This film is not meant to glorify incredible athletic feats; it is meant to inspire women of all backgrounds, body types, and identities to pursue the personal growth, comradery, and joy of running. Our team is set to partner with Trail Sisters—an organization dedicated to increasing women's opportunity in trail-running through inspiration, education and empowerment—for the making of this film. Aneta is an ambassador and guide for Trail Sisters community runs in Ohio.

Alejandra Rajal

Mexico

Alejandra Rajal is a freelance photographer based in Mexico. Her work seeks to expand the understanding of different realities that coexist in the same world, why we think or act as we do, through themes such as the environment, culture, gender, religion, among others. She is a member of Women Photograph, a fellow of IWMF, and a grantee of National Geographic Society and Fundacion Gabo. Her work has been featured in The Guardian, National Geographic, El Pais, Vice, FT, among others.
About "The Changing Wave" In the coastal line of Quintana Roo, Mexico, a natural phenomenon has mutated into something unnatural since 2014, when a seaweed known as sargassum started to arrive in massive amounts to the beaches becoming a problem for the ecosystem. The project looks to tell the personal stories of people living in the village of Mahahual, exploring questions about the past, future and present, but most importantly the bond between humans and nature sharing a common space.

Giulio Di Sturco

Italy

Giulio Di Sturco (b.1979) is an award-winning photographer based between London, Paris and Milan. He studied at the European Institute of Design in Rome before moving to Canada and then to India, where he spent five years refining his visual language.
Di Sturco began his career as a photojournalist before dedicating himself to long-term projects which explore the society of the future in the face of environmental and technological changes. Experimenting with visual storytelling, new and old media, his practice expands traditions of documentary photography conjuring a poetics of the future where the boundaries between reality and fiction are blurred.
His awards include three World Press Photo prizes, the Sony Photography Awards, the British Journal of Photography International Awards, and two Getty Grants. In 2019, his project Aerotropolis was shortlisted for the Aesthetica Prize and nominated for the Prix Pictet.
He is a regular contributor to many international publications including The Financial Times, Vanity Fair, National Geographic, Wired and The New York Times. His work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions and festivals worldwide at York Art Gallery, Photaumnales Festival, Photo London, Getxophoto Festival, and Cortona On The Move Festival, among others.
He has recently published his first monograph, Ganga Ma (GOST, 2019) with essays by environmental activist Vandana Shiva and curator Eimear Martin.

About "A New Era of Salt Extraction" Salt has been exploited for thousand years and has contributed to shape many aspects of human life beyond nutrition, in the economic, symbolic and religious spheres.The Mediterranean Sea and Europe have played a pivotal role at the centre of the salt trade and salt extraction industry and now they are undergoing strong salinification due to climate change.This project seeks to further explore the link between salt extraction, climate change and salination of land in the era of the Anthropocene as well as the environmental issues which the current salt production techniques are generating.

Maria Lax

Finland

Maria Lax (b. 1987 in Oulu, Finland) is a London based photographer originally from Northern Finland. She is known for her use of colour and experimental camera techniques. Her work often explores nocturnal landscapes.

Maria's first monograph, Some Kind of Heavenly Fire was published in February 2020 by Setanta Books and is currently on its second print run. It was chosen as one of the photobooks of the year by Photobookstore and was one of the 5 finalists for the Finnish Photobook of the Year 2020.

Maria’s work has been exhibited all over the world, including in solo shows in France, Italy and Indonesia in 2021. She was selected as one of the ‘Best New Talent of Photo London 2020’ by the Guardian and was the recipient of the Finnish Art Promotion Centre’s One Year Grant for 2021.
About "Night Rising" ‘Night Rising’ uncovers the secrets of the night and explores how adding different colours can alter our perception of the nocturnal landscape. The project shows the undeniable beauty of the night and draws focus on how we need darkness as part of our lives.

Rob Annesley

Australia

For the past 45 years, Rob has been involved in the creative arts working for many years as a classically trained musician playing professionally across Australia. Pursuing an interest in commerce Rob spent fifteen years working in sales and product management roles. Over the ensuing two decades Rob ran his own successful businesses before following a long held desire to work full time as a photographer.

In addition to his personal photographic client work and personal projects Rob works for the Australian Racing Drivers Club at Sydney Motorsport Park photographing their regular motorsport events held at their Sydney complex. His work also encompasses corporate and other sporting events, including major festivals. Rob has also created commercial image portfolios for some of Australia’s premier tourism providers. As a regular media accredited photographer, Rob has worked on many premier events including the 100th Anniversary Naval Fleet Review, Australian International Air Show’s, V8 SuperCars, World Time Attack Challenge (International), and Top Gear Festivals (Australia).

Over the past 10 years Rob’s passion for nature has seen him create strong visual imagery that can best be described as “life in motion”. Rob says about his passion….” if it moves, I want to photograph it.” This has led to his strong interest in wildlife photography. This obsession has taken Rob across the world photographing large game including Grizzly and Black bears, Moose, Elk and Bighorn sheep and trekking through North America’s vast forests photographing everything from Bald Eagles to Alligators. When not travelling overseas Rob regularly spends his spare time roaming through Australia’s Outback documenting the vast landscape and wildlife opportunities which has resulted in three books and a public gallery exhibition.

Rob has won awards at prominent Australian photographic competitions including the Australian Centre for Photography artists exhibition winning the 2019 Seven Wentworth Selborne prize for Best Image and was a Finalist at the prestigious Sydney Art & About Competition.

About "The UnderWorld" “The UnderWorld” is an exposition of the tiny world we seldom see. I intend to capture a series of macro and closeup images of some of the nearly five million insect varieties found in the miniature universe of tiny flying and crawling insects, dragonflies, beetles, spiders, beetles and bugs. Because this subterranean world is largely invisible to most people I hope to produce dramatic visual images in order to provide a fascinating insight into this beautiful and incredibly diverse microcosm that unfortunately faces a disasterous environmental threat from excessive land clearing, pesticides and climate change. I am attempting to bring attention to the plight of our base pollinators for whom our very survival relies on and to alert people to the decline in the population of the worlds smallest beings. Small in stature however huge in importance to humanity.
The images I create will be finally presented in a book with photographs captured from within four of Australia’s eight major ecoregions, those covering the entire east coast of the continent. These ecoregions range from the alpine region of the High County in North-eastern Victoria in the south all the way up as far north as Cape Tribulation in Far North Queensland. The distance that I propose to travel and photograph in, over the period from March to the end of July 2022, in order to acquire this diverse range of images, will be in excess of 10,000 kilometres.

Joseph Mathew Daniel

India

Born In Calicut, in the south western province Kerala India. Joseph M Daniel’s early years were spent in very close proximity with nature. Joseph’s first brush with photography came early. His Ornithologist father , would often go on research trips to the Silent valley in the western ghats, a range of mountains on the western side of peninsular India. On his return he would allow Joseph to click the remaining unexposed frames on the camera. Joseph remembers this moment very fondly. He says , “The sound of my first click on a Mechanical SLR Camera was magical, and something I remember even now.” Joseph excelled in art at school and decided to pursue Visual communication at the prestigious Loyola college in Chennai. Joseph specialised in Photography as his major and apprenticed under G. Venket Ram a well known Indian commercial Photographer. He started his on Photography business in 2004. he says he considers himself very fortunate to have started his career in the Bromide/ Film era. by 2006 Joseph transitioned from film to Digital. over the last 17 years joseph has worked extensively in the advertising and film promotion industry and has operated at the highest level. His clients include Royal Enfield, Ford, Toyota , Ajinomoto. Grt Hotels, Rocca, Paryware, heromoto corp, TVS. Joseph Is married to Art Photographer Nandini Valli. They have a son Mathew and seven Dogs and Live in Chennai.

About "Iqbal in Harmony with Nature" A poetic documentary set in the Nilgiris in the western ghats located in peninsular India and Island of Andaman located east of peninsular India in the Bay of Bengal. A film told through the eyes of Iqbal Mohamed essaying with his deep rooted emotional connection with nature.The documentary will be in participatory format with Iqbal Mohammed narrating his journey, retracing his evolution as an artist, photographer, teacher and author.

It will explore the delicate and pure relationship Iqbal shares with nature and how nature has, in a very magical way, reciprocated Iqbal’s love for her and revealed to him her most beautiful side.Iqbal's timeless masterpieces have inspired a generation of photography enthusiasts in India. In the course of the film, Iqbal will reveal lesser known but critical facets which will be invaluable information for aspiring photographers for generations to come.

In that sense, it will also be an exploration into the mind of an iconic photographer as he carefully plans his way, with nature being his co-conspirator.Iqbal Mohamed is beyond money or anything materialistic. His passion is to bring the beauty and innocence of nature to the world. Through his eyes... Through his photography.

At the peak of his career as a commercial photographer, Iqbal left it all to set up the 'Light and Life Academy', a first of it’s kind in India, with his wife Anuradha Iqbal. Today it is the most successful photography academy in India, located in the beautiful hills of the Nilgiris, where Iqbal is most at home in the heart of nature.The film will showcase the nature of Nilgiris like never before, captured in a sensational way through Iqbal’s unique photography technique. A native spider in its habitat, a bee humming over a flower in close-up, a group of ponies crossing a river...

It will be narrated by Iqbal himself, exploring his inspirations, adventures and his journey as a visual communicator, told in a very poetic and cinematic way. We will capture the sound of nature and the original music will be scored to make the documentary memorable.

Pan Wang

Chinese Mainland

Wang Pan, 42 years old, Resident in Beijing.
He is an independent photographer and curator.
He has worked in media as a photo director and photo editor.
He has published the book Chinese Contemporary Photography Catalogue: Wang Pan.
His works focus on the "extraordinary" in daily life in the development of China
He participated in many photographic exhibitions in China and abroad.
His main awards are:
TIFA 2021 Portfolio/Tokyo International FOTO Award
2021 Barturphoto Award
2020 ZEISS Photography Award
2021、2020 PX3 PRIX DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE PARIS
2018年The Invisible Photographer Asia Awards
2018 JUAN I-Jong HUMANITU AWARD OF PHOTOGRAPHY
2017 TAIPEI PHOTO
2017 The United States National Geographic world photography contest
2017 Three Shadows Photography Awards
2016 China National Arts Fund

About "The Ballad of the Yellow River" "The ballad of the Yellow River" is a "Ballad" expressed by static images that I dedicate to the river in my hometown.

When I decided to take the Yellow River as the shooting project and chose the "Shanxi Shaanxi Grand Canyon" as the starting point, it was no longer just a river. The Yellow River, which flows through the blood of the Chinese people, carries a heavy meaning.

I will rely on emotion and aim at narration. Use but not limited to various types of photography such as humanistic documentary to complete this image investigation project.

While showing the magnificent scenery and natural features of the Yellow River, we should pay more attention to the relationship between people and rivers and the relationship between people and the environment, observe the transformation and impact of the diversion of the Yellow River and soil erosion on urban changes and personal destiny, explore the embodiment of the Yellow River Civilization on the value of the times, and present the history and culture of the Yellow River Basin. So as to arouse social thinking and attention.

Justin Hui

Hong Kong

Justin started photographing back in 2014 when he took a one-way flight to East Africa to document Chinese development for a year. Since then, he has drawn on his background in architecture and urbanism to explore themes that engender land development, absence, and memory. Besides photography, he also uses mediums such as archival research, writing, mapping, and found material. He is a registered architect who received his B.Arch from Cornell University and works between visual art, research, and architecture.
About "Searching for Poon" Poon, my grandmother, cannot remember her past.

I can only infer based on early memories of her and the stories which my relatives and parents have told me.

Old family photos and documents left behind become objective clues of her life. I use them to search and trace her past, creating an imagined narrative formed around the fragments of her life. The objective reality of her life and my remembrance converge into a single narrative that intertwine with personal memories and broader histories of Hong Kong.

These series of images become doorways to remembering and imagining the forgotten past where the boundaries between memory, fiction, and reality are blurred.

Shinwoo Park

Korea

Since 2019, he has been teaching in the Multimedia Imaging Department of the Korean University of Arts and Sciences.

He studied photography at university and video at graduate school.

It takes very slow observation to discover hidden majesty and sublimity. Photographers usually want to definitively capture photogenic heroism or something at its peak. But I've been trying to take a shot of my time as a slow and sustained way.
About "Active Volcano Trip to Find Sublime and Beauty" The order of inner world and the growth of soul are essential to protect themselves from the sarcastic impulses in the city. From about the 18th century, people living in cities began to go to nature. In Mother Nature, perhaps tangled and sarcastic impulses have found themselves in place or have the harmony of an orderly inner world. So what about active volcanoes? Do you still think of active volcanoes as gods of destruction? In fact, the active volcano felt like a deep anxiety in the deep inner world that had not been solved, as if it had to burst one day.

Barbara Minishi

Kenya

The depth, power and magic of visual storytelling has been an intrinsic part of Barbara Minishi's life and purpose since childhood. In 2004, she connected to the camera as her first true voice of empowerment, expression & freedom.
Themes of intimacy, identity and belonging are important elements that continue to permeate the how & why that drives her creative journey. Barbara values legacy, personal responsibility and growth and even after 15 years she still feels fresh and ever learning about the world and art and craft of photography.
She recognizes the power, impact and privilege of African women owning their voices and images and leading their narratives of navigating their own female gaze. This project, Utawala, is an extension of that ethos. She was recently internationally listed as one of the Black women photographers to watch in 2022 and welcomes an impactful year of new horizons and co-creation.
About "UTAWALA -The Kenya Traveling Dress Legacy Project" An environmental portrait series of 30 Kenyan women from different backgrounds, navigating change, purpose and agency, wearing a single beaded outfit. The outfit is to be made from beads sourced from different Kenyan tribes and put together by women skilled in the art of traditional beading.

The colour red is a statement of power, presence and amplification. ‘UTAWALA’ is a Kiswahili word that means ‘to reign’, and refers to the change that starts within self and then permeates to affect society.

Representation, Unity, and Power are the core foundational themes. The featured women (including LGBTQIA & Special Needs) are between the ages of 18 to 99, in both rural and urban areas.
What legacies are they embodying? What social, cultural, climate, technology and economic shifts are they navigating? What do we learn from their environment and the stories they share with us?

I did definitely enjoy working on the project, not only with the results themselves, but also the wider boundaries the project did extent my visions. I am certainly happy with the results as they have met expected standards.

Dealing with macro subjects, technical challenges are the main enemy. For completion of focus stacking, we need around 70 - 200 photos with overlapping DoF for one stacked result. Too small numbers of photos would result in some blurred areas of final images while too many photos would take up huge memory capacity and would unnecessarily extend time for processing stacking result. It was a matter of finding balance. Another major challenge is environmental controls. These included how to move the camera vertically and horizontally along the specimens with as little discrepant as possible and how to lighten the insects with distinct shapes and textures.

However, along the project way, I have learned and found even precise details and technique that can elevate the results to the even higher levels. And I am happy with this overall processes of development.

My own 22-year cave adventure shooting has gone through a 135 film camera, DSC camera, APS-C format, full-frame. And this time I used the GFX medium format camera, which gave my cave adventure photography career a complete shooting experience.

Some of the underground halls shot in this project required hundreds of meters up and down, and some needed to use rubber boats through the underground river. I have been to three, but I have never been to the other two locations before. Therefore, I had to do some homework and consultation beforehand to know the location. For a few months, it can be described as hardworking and full of hardships. The success was strongly supported by teammates and friends from various places.

Though the project is complete, I still think that the world on the surface is not short of me to shoot records. My studio is still on the dark cave. There are many rare wonderful hidden in it waiting for me to explore and discover and present it. I will continue to shoot in the form of a special topic.

After seeing the final photos I am very happy with the result and I am looking forward to people seeing them too, hopefully, this can bring a better understanding of the impact climate change is having on this part of the world.

This was my first time using the GFX system and also my first time shooting in medium format. I usually shoot with a full-frame DSLR and after years of using the same camera, it becomes like an extension of you. Once I switched and started to use the GFX50S II (the camera I chose), I loved how it felt on my hands. It is very ergonomic and the camera does adapt to the user’s necessities so rapidly that I felt really comfortable using it. The RAWs are top quality and give you room to be as creative as you want without compromising the final image, it is really a dream camera for any photographer.

Looking into the future I wish to keep working on stories about climate change through local and collaborative narratives while incorporating a mix of technologies that can help with it. However, I'd love to keep adding the atemporal beauty of medium format to them.

The project went well and is still ongoing - and I suspect it will be for some time. For now, I am happy where things currently are.

The way I work takes time to plan, but also I have to allow things to flow organically, that’s a big part of the creative process. You have to accept that some things you planned won’t work like you want, some happy accidents will also occur and so any project will inevitably change as it goes on.

Weather is a huge part of this and of course cannot be controlled. During my shoot I encountered huge wild fires making it impossible to shoot locations I had wanted to, but there was nothing to be done to change the fact. I ended up choosing different locations but also documenting some of the consequences of the fire too, and perhaps that will become another project in the future. During something like that you understand how small you are and how tragic and huge the current climate situation is, and you just can’t help but put things into perspective.

The project will go on for a while longer in different locations. I am hoping to bring it out in installation and printed form once I feel it is ready

From the seas to the mountains I trekked in my quest to capture beautiful portrait images of some of the worlds’ most precious insects. Not precious in monetary terms however in global ecological circumstances they are worth their weight in gold. Insects are the base pollinators of all our food sources and their populations have been found to be in sharp decline worldwide. This is a disastrous situation and I have chosen this as my project, entitled ‘The Underworld’. The format of my project is images taken in a macro style showing close up detail of this tiny world of insects. Travelling over 13,000 kms in the allocated period of the GFX Challenge I photographed insects in four different ecoregions around Australia. From elevations of as high as 1800m, I collected images of vastly different subjects across the alpine montaine through to the sandy dunes of the ocean. This project has been a passion project for me and it was through the generosity of Fujifilm (Japan) via the Fujifilm Challenge Grant that gave me the impetus to complete my project and resulting book.

It has been a wonderful experience working with the GFX platform. The camera body is built like a tank and the optical quality of the lenses are unmatched. The quallity of the footage shot while filming of the project has exceeded all my expectations. The Project had some external factors delaying it. 1. The delayed arrival of the South West Monsoon rendered the Nilgiris unsuitable for the look we were trying to achieve. 2. Mr. Iqbal had a fall which required him to take rest. Following which he tested positive for Covid-19. This set us back by 67 days.

Going forward, we intend to enter this project in film festivals. My writing partner and I are also developing a script for a children's feature film and intend to use the GFX body with primista lenses for filming.

In the three ten-day periods of the hot season which in old sayings described as "Pure sun in June and fluid fire in July", I wandered through the Qin Jin Grand Canyon of the Yellow River, from west to east, with GFX100S. It was a 28 days’ road trip from Tuoketuo County in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to Yumenkou in Shanxi. This camera has withstood the trial of extreme hot weather. When the camera was continuously exposed under the strong sunshine, under the alternation of "high temperature warning" and torrential rain, it has excellently completed this project.
Especially while shooting Hukou waterfall of the Yellow River in the rainstorm, besides the downpour, there were also yellow mud spots splashing around due to the water drop, mist in the canyon, and water dripping from the rocks above, which soaked my clothes. But the camera was still capable of shooting normally when switching lenses back and forth, which made me felt a lot at ease in my later creation, and no need to feel uneasy about not carrying a spare camera.

The images of active volcanoes we have seen up until today are those that have been photographed through timely dispatch of a shooting team upon eruption, those obtained from nearby residents, or those of visible light captured with satellites. I wanted to see an active volcano as a photographer through the eyes of temperature - not through the eyes of a scientist or a geologist. I expected to see things that I had not been able to up until now if I could see an active volcano whose eruption one cannot predict through the eyes of temperature. I had faith that it would help me comprehend the underlying 'anxiety' in life in the time of Corona even in the slightest bit after seeing the volcano. There are many responses to the question of why I was visiting an active volcano but I had been answering that it's because there are things that can only be observed and felt at an active volcano to achieve order in one's inner world and growth of one's soul.

Exhibition

About the Program