I have just returned from Fargo, North Dakota, a place that initially seemed rather difficult to photograph, but ended up teaching me something important about photography.

Before I tell you more, just a quick note about PHOTOSNACK: my travels over the past week caused our somewhat irregular publishing schedule. I appreciate your patience. Starting next Monday, everything will be back to normal.

I was in Fargo for our latest FRAMES Rendezvous, bringing together a wonderful group of photographers to spend time photographing, talking about photography, and sharing ideas.

Fargo was an interesting experience for me, particularly from a photographic perspective.

When I first arrived, I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the place. It’s a relatively small city, and at first glance, it didn’t seem to offer an enormous amount of photographic possibilities. I remember wondering how much there would actually be to photograph over several days.

But something interesting happened.

With every passing hour, Fargo seemed to reveal a little more of itself. Streets that initially looked rather ordinary began to offer interesting compositions. Small details started catching my attention. The light changed, familiar corners became interesting for entirely different reasons, and places I had already walked past several times suddenly deserved a photograph.

I think there is an important lesson here.

We often arrive somewhere with certain expectations about what makes a place photographically interesting. We look for something distinctive, unusual, perhaps even spectacular. And when we don’t find it immediately, we might conclude that there isn’t much to photograph.

But perhaps the problem isn’t the place. Perhaps we haven’t spent enough time with it.

What I particularly enjoyed about Fargo was that it didn’t give everything away immediately. I had to walk, return, reconsider, and gradually become more familiar with my surroundings. The longer I stayed, the more possibilities I discovered.

And I suspect that if I had stayed another week, I would have found even more.

It reminded me (yet once again) that photography doesn’t always require exciting destinations. Sometimes it requires nothing more than curiosity, patience, and a willingness to look at the same ordinary things again.

Fargo was a wonderful reminder of that. And I returned home with a renewed appreciation for places that take a little longer to reveal themselves.

Until next time,
Tomasz

Surfers are usually photographed in motion, but these portraits gain their strength from standing still. Joni Sternbach uses an old photographic process to give contemporary people a timeless, slightly weathered presence.

I especially like how the medium's imperfections become part of each photograph's character.

Until next time,
Tomasz

Based in Bahia, Brazil, Luisa Dörr creates portraits full of life, beautiful colors, and wonderful human stories.

There is much warmth and honesty in her portraits. The way she captures people from different cultures has a strong sense of connection and curiosity.

Thank you, Lars Öberg, for recommending her work.

Until next time,
Tomasz

I find the portraits by Frances F. Denny fascinating, especially the way she explores identity, femininity, and the stories behind the people she photographs. Her images are carefully composed but still feel natural and personal, making me want to know more about the people in them.

Thank you, John Adair, for recommending her work.

Until next time,
Tomasz

Daniel Gordon builds elaborate arrangements from cut-out images, combining objects, patterns and colours into compositions that are both beautiful and slightly absurd.

There is something wonderfully playful about these photographs. They refuse to behave like conventional still lifes.

Until next time,
Tomasz

These photographs sit somewhere between reality and carefully constructed fiction. Gohar Dashti uses landscapes, domestic objects and staged situations to explore displacement, memory and the meaning of home.

She creates visually beautiful images that also carry a sense of uncertainty and tension.

Until next time,
Tomasz

The Arctic feels strangely intimate in these photographs, despite the enormous distances and extreme conditions.

Evgenia Arbugaeva uses extraordinary light and colour to photograph people living in some of the world's most remote places. I love the almost cinematic atmosphere of her work and the genuine human warmth that runs through it.

Until next time,
Tomasz

Namsa Leuba moves between portraiture, fashion and cultural traditions, creating bold images that feel both contemporary and rooted in something much older.

I especially like her confidence in building a photograph where every detail contributes to its visual energy.

Until next time,
Tomasz

Juno Calypso creates carefully staged self-portraits in artificial, often intensely pink environments, exploring loneliness, beauty and the expectations placed on women. These photographs are funny, strange and sometimes a little disturbing.

I love how she uses color, lighting and humor to make pictures that are immediately memorable but not always easy to explain.

Until next time,
Tomasz

These photographs have an almost weightless quality, as if time has slowed down. Sarker Protick uses soft light, delicate colors, and carefully observed details to turn ordinary places and moments into something quietly poetic.

I find his work particularly moving because it suggests so much without trying to explain everything.

Until next time,
Tomasz

Sometimes the most interesting part of a public event is everything happening around it. George Georgiou has a wonderful ability to find small human stories within busy streets and crowds, often creating photographs that contain several little narratives at once.

I love how much there is to discover in his frames without them ever feeling chaotic.

Until next time,
Tomasz

There is a wonderful stillness in these black-and-white photographs, where mist, water, trees, and mountains are reduced almost to pure tone and shape.

Hengki Koentjoro uses light and shadow with remarkable restraint, often turning the Indonesian landscape into something quiet, mysterious, and almost meditative.

Thank you, James M. Johnston, for recommending his work.

Until next time,
Tomasz

These photographs have a gentleness that immediately pulls me in. Lithuanian photographer Tadas Kazakevičius works in a humanistic documentary tradition, photographing people and disappearing ways of life with warmth but without sentimentality.

His portraits, in particular, have a wonderful sense of dignity and stillness.

Until next time,
Tomasz

Great street photography often comes from noticing the tiny absurdities everyone else walks past. Matt Stuart is exceptionally good at this—his pictures are funny, beautifully timed, and full of visual connections, but they never feel like clever tricks.

I especially like the sheer pleasure of looking that runs through his work.

Until next time,
Tomasz

Christina Z. Anderson’s work has a quiet, handmade quality, with a strong interest in alternative photographic processes and the physical nature of the print.

She is also a professor of photography, and that mix of artist, teacher and experimenter comes through clearly in the care and curiosity behind her images.

Until next time,
Tomasz

Once considered a niche or historically bound practice, alternative photographic processes are now part of a growing and evolving field shaped by both traditional methods and contemporary digital-based photographic workflows.

In this live online webinar produced by Santa Fe Workshops, Christina Z. Anderson reflects on the development of alternative process photography from the 1990s to today. Drawing from her experience as an artist, educator, and author, she shares insights into materials, techniques, and the expanding global community of practitioners working in these methods.

Cotton Miller engages with Christina throughout the program as they both consider how artists are learning and working today, how digital tools intersect with historical processes, and what it means to build a sustained, process-driven practice.

Join Christina and Cotton in exploring how alternative processes can influence and shape your creative decision-making, personal vision, and the final image.

View Webinar Details

Andre D. Wagner photographs people and everyday life with a strong sense of rhythm, closeness and instinct.

Born in Omaha and now based in Brooklyn, he brings a personal, documentary eye to Black life, family, community and the changing world around him.

Thank you, Clay Arnold, for recommending his work.

Until next time,
Tomasz

JP Terlizzi makes thoughtful photographs about memory, family and personal history. His work is quiet and carefully made, often using simple objects and scenes to suggest something much bigger.

Thank you, Jo Ann Chaus, for recommending his work.

Until next time,
Tomasz

Pablo Ortiz-Monasterio photographs Mexico with a sharp eye for tension, history and everyday life. His images often feel direct and raw, but they also leave space for mystery, emotion and contradiction.

You will find his work on his Instagram account and on the website of the Almanaque Fotográfica gallery in Mexico City.

Thank you, Ted, for recommending his work.

Until next time,
Tomasz

Christos J. Palios photographs places, buildings and everyday details with a quiet, thoughtful eye. His images are simple and carefully composed, but they often carry a strong feeling of time and human presence.

Thank you, JP Terlizzi, for recommending his work.

Until next time,
Tomasz

Danielle Form’s photographs feel very direct and personal to me. I like the way she uses movement, blur and small imperfections to make the images feel alive and open to interpretation.

Thank you, Paul Batchelor, for recommending her work.

Until next time,
Tomasz