WHO? My name is Vee Morgana. I was born in Poland, escaped to Spain with mum at the age of ten, and after a couple of years emigrated to Sydney, where I’ve lived ever since. Whilst in Spain I was a week away from emigrating to the US, but Australia became an unexpected option, and the decision was made to go there instead. This alternate reality plays on my mind constantly. I’ve always been a very independent person, preferring my own company to that of others. Acerbic, with a short-to-medium fuse and a moody temperament, fiercely loyal, very critical, cynical, but ironically, the life of the party. I’ve never been in a fight, but I reckon I’d really go to town for the right reason.
Interviews
Interview with Manu Thomas
WHO? I am from Kerala, India. I work as a game programmer. I’d been drawing and painting from a very young age. Did it close to 15 years before dropping it completely one day when engineering appeared to be more lucrative than the prospects of pursuing art. A few years later, the guilt of abandoning painting started gnawing at me and every attempt at picking it back up failed miserably. During this period, around 2008, I got curious about photography, street photography in particular.
Interview with Gisele Duprez
WHO? My name is Gisele Duprez, and I am a native New Yorker, currently splitting time between Brooklyn and upstate New York. I started teaching myself photography ten years ago, when recovering from an injury. When my body forced me to slow down, I started looking for creative ways to pass my time while recovering. I did a 365-day photo challenge and surprised myself by making it all the way through.
Interview with Sara Messinger
WHO? My name is Sara Messinger (b. 1998), and I was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia. In the beginning of 2019, after years of playing soccer, I gave it all up and moved to New York City to attend school. Up until this point, I knew nothing about myself–all I had ever done since my childhood was play soccer. I had an obsession with the streets of New York, and I wanted to be part of it… although I wasn’t sure in what way.
Interview with Sebastian Wells
WHO? My Name is Sebastian Wells. I’m born and raised in Berlin, Germany. I work for newspapers, magazines, commercial clients but most preferably for myself. Since 2019, I am part of OSTKREUZ photographer’s agency, an intergenerational, Berlin based collective of documentary photographers that was founded in 1990.
Interview with Orna Naor
WHO? My name is Orna Naor, I am from Israel. I was born in Jerusalem and for the last 40 years have lived in Tel Aviv. I used to travel a lot before Covid, and was teaching street photography in Alon Kira’s Photography school. These days I focus much more on documentary projects.
Interview with Birgül Koç
WHO? I’m from Istanbul Turkey. I am a medical doctor, specialising in gynecology. I also studied photography and videography at university. My interest in photography started 9 years ago. But since 2019 l take only candid street photographs.
Interview with Gerry Orkin
WHO? I’m Gerry Orkin. I live in a small coastal town south of Sydney, Australia. I started making photographs again only a few years ago but my involvement with photography goes back decades. Before settling permanently in Australia in the early 1980s I studied documentary photography in the UK and worked in commercial darkrooms and studios in London and Sydney.
Interview with Max Sturgeon
WHO? My name is Max Sturgeon, US born and raised. I now call Austin, Texas and Warsaw, Poland home, although I spend most of my time on the road either for my job or shooting photos. As a profession I work in film/TV production in the US. This job enables me plenty of time off to travel and work on my photography projects.
Interview with Gabi Ben Avraham
WHO? I am an Israeli photographer (61), I was born and live in Tel Aviv and work in a software company. After flirting with an initial fascination with photography and film cameras in the 1980’s, I went on to pursue a career as an IT manager and put my love for the still image aside. Fortunately, my interest never disappeared. While the passion lay dormant for decades, all it took was the gift of a camera from my wife to awaken my inclination towards photography again.