Flash & Fuse, Issue #02: The Mentor/Student Edition

Flash & Fuse Magazine

Issue #02

Curated by The Brothers Riff & Co.

www.thebrothersriff.com

Conway, SC

Mission Statement:

Flash and Fuse is dedicated to empowering artists through publication. Each

month, Flash & Fuse will showcase a handful of talented visual artists currently

in an undergraduate or graduate program whose work we find inspiring, unique

and innovative. Flash & Fuse aims to inspire young, creative minds to take on

their craft and follow their passion. A majority of the monthly proceeds will be

given directly back to the contributors to help fund their creative processes.

Harnessing the power of community and crowd funding, Flash & Fuse will act as

an incubator for creative visionaries and watch as they spread their wings and

soar.

Melanie Costanzo

Cuyahoga Community College

Website: melaniecostanzophotography.com

Instagram: @mel_costanzo

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (440) 623-3555

Literacy Comes To Life

"Literacy Comes To Life originally started as an assignment for my photography

class. I needed to depict a movie still-scene based off a piece of literary work. 13

Reasons Why, a book written by Jay Asher, tells the tale of a young girl’s tragic

demise which results in suicide. There was a specific image (the girl in the

bathtub) that needed to translate from my camera to the prints and, once my first

idea was developed, an explosion of new creations followed as seen in the series.

Natural light played a rather big role as well. The viewer should sense the

subjects quiet pain. The light on the body and the monochromatic color and

texture help the image come to life. The deep red of her quiet lips draw the eyes

of the on-looker into focus, leaving the question open; 'Could she still be alive?'"

- Melanie Costanzo

Sarah E. Borst

Savannah College of Art and Design

Website: www.sarahelizabethborst.com

Instagram: @sarahelizabethborst


Phone: (704) 995-1008

410 East Gaston

"410 East Gaston shows my dear friend, Diana Rogers, within the environment

of her Victorian Mansion. Fifteen years ago, Diana moved to Savannah and

nested in on East Gaston Street, working as a performer at Vicks on the River

and The Ol’ Pink House. I met Diana through a local health food store, where I

have worked part-time for the past three years while completing my

undergraduate degree.

Working in the community has been an essential part of my photographic

practice because it has given me the ability to instill trust in and build

relationships with my subjects. Arguably, the most intriguing thing about Diana

is not only her home, lovingly littered with vintage dresses, fur coats, feathered

hats and perfectly curved martini glasses, but also, the stories she has shoved

into her closet, nestled between fur coats and white gloves. Through a

documentary series involving visits over the course of ten weeks and countless

jalapeno martinis, Diana began to reveal herself to me by sharing her life story,

and eventually, the current low country gossip of Savannah, in which she has

become a main fixture."

Artist Statement

Sarah Elizabeth Borst is a senior at Savannah College of Art and Design studying

to get her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Photography. A recent finalist in the

2014 Lucie Awards, Sarah is an internationally exhibited photographer, having

had work shown in Budapest, New York, Colorado and Savannah, Georgia.

Finding brilliance in seemingly banal, everyday occurrences, she is intimately and

obsessively drawn to situations that stimulate the documentary portrait. Sarah’s

mother will tell you that she does not know a stranger. With adoration for

humankind, people become characters and characters become her subjects. She

thirsts to understand and relate to their condition through making their picture.

Sarah believes it is the event of the Americana tradition that sparks the

unveiling of the human condition. Interested in exposing the every day for how

wildly exotic it actually is, Sarah seeks subjects that are strikingly honest in their

vulnerability. For Sarah, photographing is an approach to process, understand

and explore questions about America and the social gallery we have oh, so

carefully and comfortably constructed for ourselves.

Amanda Davies

Maryland Institute College of Art

Website: behance.net/ajdavies


Phone: (978) 844-2992

Elements of Visual Thinking

"Some people will classify taking portrait photos as the act of trying to capture the

person or subject’s essence. I am trying to capture the person in that moment;

who they are in the fraction of a second it takes for my finger to hit the button.

No one acts the same in front of a camera as they do walking down the street.

Some people think being in front of a camera is more pressure than a set of

human eyes staring at you. The persona of someone in front of a camera is often

not naturalistic. For me, photography is about capturing moments; holding onto

that fraction of a second within a frame. When taking a portrait, you can try and

capture that person’s true form or create an entirely new character. That’s the

allure behind photography that I’ve grown to admire."

- Amanda Davies

John Dionisio

Burlington County College

Instagram: @john.dionisio


Phone: (856) 383-4630

The Decisive Moment

"My work captures the ability to acquire the 'decisive moment' that is both

spontaneous and transitory. This concept is what each and every street

photographer emulates when taking pictures. We need to recognize with

confidence when to click the shutter. Being able to showcase the raw characteristic

of what life can offer is what drew me in to this style of photography."

- John Dionisio

Cameron Hanley


Website: portfolios.mica.edu/cameronhanley

Instagram: @cameroniiii


Phone: (443) 226-2174

Order/Chaos

"This series is called Order/Chaos and it was produced for my Landscape

Photography class. Order can be found within the calm, quiet and almost soft

nature of the clouds as they move counteracted by the chaotic need for humans

to build structures that ultimately block our view from the world around, and the

beauty of the sky. The photos are a way of showing the tension between humans

and the Earth that we feel. The need to develop and destroy so we can

accommodate the growing population is expressed in these photos. The series is

also an investigation of the power of vertical images and the play between

manmade structures and the sky. Vertical images can change the space that you

can capture in an image, giving more room to expand vertically rather then a

conventional horizontal image. Stressing the idea of negative space and what it

can do to change the reading of a photograph, these photos strive to show the

viewer how the eye can be tricked to put oneself in the space to have a better

understanding of how the image was composed. "

- Cameron Hanley

- Cameron Hanley

Artist Statement

My name is Cameron Hanley and I’m photographer from Baltimore, Maryland. I

am currently studying Photography at the Maryland Institute College of Art and

will graduate in the spring of 2017 with a BFA in Photography. I have been

taking pictures for as long as I can remember, always being interested and

connected to the wonders of photography, but never got serious about it until my

junior year of high school. I have four years experience with digital photography,

and three with 35mm film photography.

The photographs I take cover a wide range of photography as a source of

exploration of the physical, mental and emotional. I tend to deal with man made

forms/spaces/architecture, as well as natural forms found in nature.

Zeina Zeitoun


Website: behance.net/ZeinaSZeitoun


Phone: (703) 655-5477

Artist Statement

"As a growing artist, I am constantly learning more about myself and what style

of photography I value. The world is a living, breathing machine. Having a Middle

Eastern background, I feel compelled to bring forth issues that continue to arise

in unknown parts of the world. Society today tends to turn their heads when

they see evil happening, whether it's on the streets or in the news. I want people

to look at my work, stare at my work, talk about my work, and remember my

work because in order to make some sort of difference, the viewer must realize a

difference must be made. "

- Zeina Zeitoun

Mentor Artists

Malik Beser

Ray Ranoa

Maranie Staab

Joanne Jankowska

John Dionisio

Malik Beser

Seminole State College of Florida (Alumni)

Website: malikbeser.com

Instagram: @malikbeser


Phone: 90-532-565-2224

"I realized my interest in photography when I was 19. Without any knowledge of

the logistics, I started to take photographs with my Minolta X-700; the only thing

left from my beloved grandfather after he passed away.

I started doing work for a magazine out of Orlando, Florida in 2008 and soon

realized I had found my calling. Two years later I moved to New York City to

accomplish my goals. I had no idea how to deal with studio set life and produce

professional work. I tried to get in touch with professional photographers in New

York City, but they kindly rejected me since they already had assistants and were

already established. I purchased my own lighting equipment and created a studio

in my own garage at home. I used to take about 1,000 photographs everyday

and played with different lighting setups.

My goal is to be featured in Vogue, Elle, or any other well-known fashion

magazines. No one, even those close to me, thought I could do it. No one

believed in me and then in 2012, one of my works was featured in Vogue. It was

a lot of hard work and a huge accomplishment I admire, but I’m still working

towards a bigger goal. I now work out of Istanbul where fashion is a hot topic.

Photography is universal; photography is bilingual. Each photographer

approaches photography in a different way. I pioneered a path for myself. I

basically tried anything to see what I liked about photography. At last, I realized

my passion for fashion. I love what I do here as a fashion photographer. My

parting words: follow your dreams till the end. "

- Malik Beser

Ray Ranoa

East Sydney Design Studio (Alumni)

Website: rayranoa.com

Instagram: @rayranoa


Phone: 61-411-069-088

"My desire to create comes from a sense of purpose and joy.

Invest time in the development of your ideas.

Work with like minds, initiate projects, generate opportunities.

Seek inspiration from what fulfills your desire to create."

- Ray Ranoa

Maranie R. Staab

Coastal Carolina Univeristy (Alumni)

Website: maranierae.com

Instagram: @Maranierae


Phone: (412) 979-6187

"My work is an observation of the world as I see and experience it with an

intent to uncover and communicate stories of people and issues that

are seldom covered by popular media. I consider myself a documentary, street

and travel photographer. While photography has always played a role in my life,

it is only within the past several years that it has become my primary and

preferred way to communicate what I see, experience, feel and believe. Images

are a universal language and as such it is my hope that by sharing my work I

can do my part in increasing an awareness of people, issues and places.

Everyone approaches photography differently; I offer these comments as simply

my approach and thoughts on the subject. Whether at home in Pittsburgh or in

a foreign country I am drawn, more than anything, to the people. As someone

more famous than I once said, "human moments” triumph all; to that end, I

strive to pull the humanity out of any situation. Photography is largely about

relationships, about doing your homework, about respecting the people and the

place and to being able to make a person comfortable enough that they are

willing to open up their life to you. I do my best to always keep in mind that I

am privileged to be where I am and fortunate to have access to that situation;

everyone has a story and if you show respect and genuine interest they are

often responsive.

...

Too much can be glossed over and unappreciated when speeding around in a

vehicle. I have found that some of the most compelling scenes and people have

been found in the least expected streets and alleys. Explore, wander, and don’t

let your curiosity fade.

I believe in intuition and investing time in people and situations. Persistence and

hard work pay off. My biggest advice is that if you love photography for what it is

to continue pursuing it with all that you have. Reach out to those who know

more than you. Be open to seek critical feedback and take the type of images

that make you feel alive. Whatever direction you choose to go, I encourage you

all to cling to a passion for the work, a love of the journey and remain relentless,

with camera in hand.

These images are a collection of some of the people that I have been fortunate to

encounter and meet over the past few years. If interested in talking photography

or life don’t hesitate to contact me.

- Maranie Staab

The University of Lower Silesia (Alumni)

Website: invisiblemartyr.tk

Instagram: @invisiblemartyr


Joanna Jankowska

"I am unapologetically in love with art. My journey with photography began over

8 years ago, and in the last 4 years I have realized that taking pictures gives me

a lot of satisfaction and freedom.

In 2011 I graduated from The University of Lower Silesia with a degree in

Journalism and Social Communication, defending the diplomatic ideology of

'Gothic trend in modern versions of creative photography'. In 2014 I completed a

Masters degree of Photography in multimedia.

I want my work to mirror emotion and show my inspiration of various media. My

work focuses on the darker aspects of human life; the topics most are too afraid to

touch on. I value looking into the deeper parts of a persons soul. I try to capture

human emotion as a tangible thing; that’s what interests me the most.

I'm willing to work with anyone who likes my art and my style. I am always

available for commercial work upon request."

- Joanna Jankowski

Who's Next?

Submit your work for a chance to be featured in the

next issue of Flash & Fuse Magazine:

www.thebrothersriff.com/submissions

Curated By - The Brothers Riff & Co.

Founder/Creative Director - Daniel Riff

Head of Design - Drew Smith

Written Content Editor - Eden Halevy

Head of Marketing - Jacob Riff

Maryland Institute College of Art:

Director of Recruiting - Cameron Hanley

Assistant Director of Recruiting - Amanda Davies

Publishing - MagCloud.com

Digital Publishing - ISSUU.com

Special thanks to this issues Mentor Artists:

Joanna Jankowska

Maranie Staab

Malik Beser

Ray Ranoa

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http://www.thebrothersriff.com/booking

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Flash & Fuse Magazine

Issue #02

Flash & Fuse, Issue #02: The Mentor/Student Edition

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