Artdoc Photography Magazine - Issue 03/2020

In this issue

We have the honour to bring in Issue #3 of Artdoc Photo Magazine three protagonists in modern photography: Stephen Shore, John Riddy and Roger Ballen. Stephen shore was the forerunner of the movement that changed landscape photography's history, the New Topographics. No longer did photographers look to the sublime in nature, as did Ansel Adams. Instead, they directed their big field cameras to the vernacular world, including billboards and lampposts. British photographer John Riddy took a step further. He photographs buildings, but his central theme is the abstract quality of the place and space. His photographs have archetypical qualities. He states in the interview: "I hope my photographs resonate with other images and shared experience." This statement could also be true for South African photographer Roger Ballen. He photographs dark and enigmatic scenes of which he says are, in fact, all mirrors of the mind. For Roger Ballen, there is no difference between the reality of the photographic image and the mind's fantasy. "The goal is to challenge my own mind." He wants to let his mind talk to itself, resulting in a quest for universal and archetypical images of our deepest fears. In our section of Photo Culture, we bring "The eidos of photography.” This article analyses the book Camera Lucida of philosopher Roland Barthes.