James Baturin says, "In my life I try to find a home in paradox. We are never given easy answers, and we must often find a way to rest in the tension of questions that don’t resolve. But this doesn’t mean that answers aren’t worth searching for, or that they aren’t to be found. My artist tag, “Still and still moving”, taken from a poem by T. S. Eliot, speaks to this tension, and influences the simple, minimal aesthetic of my photographs.

For me this paradox of rest and tension finds a particularly profound expression in my draw to long exposure photography. By introducing the element of passing time into a still image, a long exposure photograph creates at once a sense of stillness and dynamic motion.  Without the aid of a camera they are images that are invisible to our eyes, as we experience time as a succession of moments, one after another. In a long exposure image, we glimpse an answer to the question of how the world would look if we could see all moments at once. The resulting photos to me contain a sense of mystery that is profound and wonderful.

In a world that is saturated with noise and distraction, it’s my hope that my photography provides a thoughtful space both to wrestle and to rest. 

I’m an amateur film photographer from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. My degree is in psychology, and when I’m not taking photos or in the darkroom I’m a support worker for men with developmental disabilities.  

I only became interested in photography a few years ago, when I bought my first DSLR. While it helped me become familiar with the concepts of aperture, shutter speed and ISO, digital photography never took root in me as an artistic outlet, and eventually my camera was collecting dust on the bedroom shelf. It wasn’t until a friend gave me an old Pentax 35mm camera that photography became a love and a passion. Something in the process and aesthetic of film resonated with me deeply, and I’ve been absolutely obsessed since I developed my first roll of black and white. I now shoot mostly medium format film on my old Hasselblad.

Shortly after being given the Pentax I discovered the work of Michael Kenna. There’s something in the minimalist style of art that has always spoken to me, whether it’s photography, painting or music. In Kenna’s work I found someone who embodied the minimalist style, while remaining authentic to the analog process and technique, from negative to print. His work has been and continues to be a great inspiration for me. I also find inspiration in poetry (my favourite being T. S. Eliot) and the group of Canadian landscape painters known as the Group of Seven. 

Career Highlights-

In June of 2018, my image “Solitudes” was published in issue 11 of B&W Minimalism Magazine. In the Fall of 2018 I joined the team of regular contributors of articles and tutorials on the "Shoot it With Film" website, a community of film shooters dedicated to helping others learn and grow in the art of film photography."

James Niven says, "Since having had burnout from my last business a few years ago and needing to sell, I have re evaluated my life and begun what was a necessary slow but steady change.  
Now with a better work/play life balance and renewed energy and passion, I bought a 4WD Landcruiser Vehicle and within the last two years, have taken off on many a long journey through the interior as well as the coastline of Australia photographing Landscapes with Colour and B&W film. In the process I have acquired new gear and a new way of seeing for me which has been the panoramic format, ideal for the wide open spaces I have traveled through. These three images are a selection of my latest work to date."

James Niven is a self-taught film photographer born in Christchurch New Zealand and having lived in Los Angeles USA, Suva Fiji, Melbourne Australia, now calls Sydney home.

With over 45 Countries visited, street photography has become his favored genre of photography which best expresses his own unique personal and emotional response to his many years of observing and capturing subjects in everyday situations around the globe.

To date his work has been exhibited in Milan and Trieste ITALY, Toronto CANADA, Athens GREECE, Berlin GERMANY, Krakow POLAND, Auckland NEW ZEALAND, Essex Junction VT /Minneapolis MN/ Los Angeles CA/Lexington VA, USA , Sydney and Ballarat Australia.

Career Highlights ( including just the last few years)

EXHIBITIONS 
2019
Group
Blank Wall Gallery, Athens, Greece
Black and White Exhibition

2018
Group
NY Photo Curator
“The Figure in the Landscape”

Group
The World Through My Eyes Exhibition, Barcelona, Spain

Group
#Photography#Cities, Milan, Italy

2017
Solo
CONTACT Photography Festival, Toronto, Canada
“Enchanted Encounters”

Group
Vermont Center for Photography, Vermont, USA
Open Juried Exhibition 

Group
Blank Wall Gallery, Athens, Greece
“Street Photography"
    .  
AWARDS 
2018
Australian Photography Awards
Portrait Category, Honorable Mention

ipa int’l PhotographyAwards. 
Panoramic Category, Honorable Mention 

2017
Finalist in Charles Dodgson Black and White Award

Finalist in Street category dotART Urban Awards
Image published in book “Urban Unveils the City and It’s Secrets”

Prix De la Photographie Paris (PX3), Honorable Mention

slc_lawncare@hotmail.com
 

Nils Karlson says, "My name is Nils Karlson. Sometimes I live in a camper van, but most of the time I live in a house with my wife, a dog and four cats. When I leave the house or the camper van, I like to be by myself with a camera or take along my dog. Though I do not remember the incident, reliable resources confirm I was born 1975 in Düsseldorf / Germany. Now residing in Bochum / Germany, which is awfully far away from the Atlantic Ocean, whose expanse feels like my true soul place.

Recent career highlights include a body of work created during the six weeks of the Listhus Artist Residency program in Iceland, November and December 2018, being represented Thurmanovich Gallery, and having my works exhibited in Germany, Spain, UK and Wales, Hungary, USA, and Mexico. Also, I am excited about being shortlisted for Espy Photo Awards. Making two books so far – Earth Stands Still and Eyes Like Slumber – is on my list when it comes to career highlights, too.

This selection for Lost At Sea is part of an ongoing series titled Earth Stands Still. The concept behind Earth Stands Still is based on the term Bardo, as mentioned in The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Bardo can be translated as an intermediate state, originally describing the transition of existence between two earthly lives: The state after physical death and before rebirth. But isn’t the Bardo is omnipresent? Aren’t we always in a state of transcendence, an existence without beginning or end?

These questions found an answer in my love for the vastness of the ocean: The horizon is in constant motion – no matter how far we sail, we never reach the end. In many cultures, the horizon used to mark the end of the (known) world, a natural border. But…there is no border, no abyss, no end. Maybe a human needs the chance to get lost in such space once in a lifetime to gain some perspective. As we are part of the expanse, and the expanse is part of us – when we find us in the expanse and the expanse in us, we may find equilibrium."

www.nils-karlson.com

www.instagram.com/nils.karlson/

Thurmanovich Gallery: www.thurmanovich.com/nils-karlson
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