GUP Magazine
GUP Magazine (Guide to Unique Photography) is an international quarterly print publication and online platform, dedicated to conceptual fine art photography. It is considered the photographers' photography publication, an avant garde guide to the changing landscape of photography, and a source of inspiration for the visually informed.
About GUP Magazine
GUP Magazine was started in October 2005. GUP is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and is distributed worldwide with a reach of 17,000.
My Role as Chief Editor
I became the Chief Editor of GUP Magazine in 2014 (I started writing for GUP in 2011, then became the Online Editor in 2012). As Chief Editor, I'm responsible for the production of the quarterly print publication as well as the online platform, gupmagazine.com.
Below are the issues that I created as Chief Editor, from GUP#44 (Feb 2015) till GUP#56 (Feb 2018).
GUP#44 - The Raw Issue
Feb 2015
In GUP#44, we open our own investigation into the meaning of "raw" photography, one of those words that we all throw around assuming the meaning is clear, until we realise we've been talking about different things. Seemingly one of the highest compliments to be bestowed on a photographic series, "raw" starts at some notion of being uncompromised by manipulation -- whether digital or human.
This issue features an interview with the elusive photographer Mike Brodie, who has a new monograph out in Jan 2015, Tones of Dirt and Bone, an extensive article by Editor-at-Large Erik Vroons and an article by Jim Reed.
Additional photographers highlighted in the magazine include: Nadine Blanke, Asger Carlsen, Cyril Costilhes, Linelle Deunk, Jens Juul, Sofie Amalie Klougart, Stacy Kranitz, Brian Merriam, Klaus Pichler, Gary Schneider, and Eva Stenram, among others.
Cover art by: Gary Schneider
GUP#45 - The Evolution Issue
May 2015
“Change alone is unchanging,” spoke the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus. And so it goes. Nearly 2500 years after his death, our world is incomprehensibly changed but the truth of his statement holds steady. In GUP#45, we look at the way things change over time: evolution. Whether the evolution of mankind, or ideas or photography, we observe the constant element of change.
This issue features an interview with Magnum photographer Alec Soth, who first achieved success through a self-published book but has gone on to produce many books through renowned publishing houses as well as his own company Little Brown Mushroom, a long-read article by Editor-at-Large Erik Vroons and articles by Lorne Darnell and Chief Editor Katherine Oktober Matthews.
Additional photographers highlighted in the magazine include: Christian Berthelot, Regula Bochsler, Natan Dvir, Joan Fontcuberta, Dave Imms, IOCOSE, Brandon Juhasz, Yann Mingard, Fernando Moleres, Swen Renault, Jan Rosseel, Matthew Swarts, Danila Tkachenko, among others.
Cover art by: Joan Fontcuberta
GUP#46 - The Community Issue
August 2015
We’re in this together, you and I. And what a wonderful word: we. Suddenly we’re connected, we’re part of something bigger. But before we get swept away with ourselves, here’s some salt with that sugar. As soon as there’s a we, there’s a them, too.
GUP#46 takes a look at community, featuring an interview with photographer Sofia Valiente, a long-read article by Editor-at-Large Erik Vroons accompanied by imagery from Raimond Wouda and Owen Harvey, and an article by Ruben Jacobs.
Additional photographers highlighted in the magazine include: Ruven Afanador, Carlos Ayesta & Guillaume Bression, Naomi Harris, Rune Guneriussen, Álvaro Laiz, Oliver Kruger, Ashley Middleton, Polly Tootal, Noah Rabinowitz, Maija Tammi, among others.
Cover art by: Ruven Afanador
GUP#47 - The Big Ten Issue
November 2015
This issue of GUP marks ten years of our print publication. Ten years of publishing photo projects from established and emerging artists, ten years of promoting photobooks and events, ten years of articles and interviews about photo-focused artistry and industry. Ten years of love for the medium of photography.
That’s a bit of all right.
GUP#47, The Big Ten, is filled with portfolios from our readers because, for the first time ever, GUP announced an Open Call for submissions. And what a treat to have our readers talking back to us, showing us what they’re making. We received nearly a thousand submissions from around the world, and included here in this issue are portfolios from – you guessed it – ten of those artists. The issue also features an interview with Doug Rickard by our Chief Editor Katherine Oktober Matthews and a long-read article by Editor-at-Large Erik Vroons on the state of publishing in photography.
Photographers highlighted in the magazine include: Michel Le Belhomme, Sebastian Palmer, Jewgeni Roppel, Guilherme Gerais, Mahesh Shantaram, Nikolas Ventourakis, Patrick Willocq, Jacob Burge, Anna Yeroshenko, Paul Thulin, among others.
Cover art by: Christto & Andrew
GUP#48 - The Mixing It Up Issue
February 2016
Let’s not play this too safe. It’s easy to talk about photography like it’s just one thing, but that’s not really an accurate picture. Not anymore. There’s lens-less photography, there’s camera-less photography, there are photographs manipulated far beyond the ‘moment’ they were captured, there are artists who work with photographs without ever taking a single shot themselves. Art is meant to push, and within the field of photography, there’s a lot of heated pushing and shoving.
GUP#48, Mixing It Up, is filled with images and projects from artists that are pushing photography's definition, from lens-less photography to camera-less photography, to artists who work with found imagery. The issue also features an interview with Noémie Goudal by Nora Uitterlinden and a long-read article by Editor-at-Large Erik Vroons on interfering with photographs aesthetically to arrive at a new truth.
Photographers highlighted in the magazine include: Laurence Aëgerter, Alejandro Chaskielberg, Marcus DeSieno, David Fathi, Amy Friend, Kazuto Ishikawa, Sophie Kahn, Seba Kurtis, Louviere + Vanessa, Mark Page, Alison Rossiter, Ksenia Yurkova, among others.
Cover art by: Sophie Kahn
GUP#49 - The Intimacy Issue
May 2016
We need to talk. The more I hear this word ‘intimacy’ being thrown around, the less I feel it.
As living creatures, each of us has a different threshold for experiencing intimacy, the pressure point where we start to feel a connection with such clarity and intensity that the sudden exposure of ourselves almost burns. Like sensitivity to the sun, for some of us, even a grazing of the skin is enough.
GUP #49, Intimacy, highlights photographers that have achieved a higher level of intimacy - one that doesn't just scratch the surface, but gets closer and goes deeper than we as viewers are used to seeing. The issue also features an interview with Pierre Liabaert by Katherine Oktober Matthews a long-read article by Editor-at-Large Erik Vroons on how we perceive intimacy in staged portraiture.
Photographers highlighted in the magazine include: Laia Abril, Hayley Austin, Leon Borensztein, Øistein Sæthren Dahle, Camille Renée Devid, Edith Diederiks, Monika Macdonald, Edgar Martins, among others.
Cover art by: Robin de Puy
GUP#50 - The Hidden Gems Issue
August 2016
You never know when you'll stumble upon a gem, and these days, photographic gems might not have the space and the visibility they deserve, now that we find ourselves in a constant state of image overflow. We don't want to take images for granted and we don't want images to become invisible just because photography has become so ubiquitous and at times mundane.
We're celebrating our 50th issue of the print magazine. And after five years of daily online updates, in our process of selecting, editing and thinking about the projects we want to show and how, there are some projects we truly loved but didn't get the chance to be featured in the magazine, so this time we took the liberty of just revealing the gems we've found on our path, to make sure that these great projects didn't get overlooked.
The Hidden Gems Issue is out now, featuring 32 extra pages of great photography that you now have the chance to take a look at in print. The issue also features an interview with Stephen Shore by Katherine Oktober Matthews and a long-read article by Editor-at-Large Erik Vroons on the globalized representation of photography.
Photographers highlighted in the magazine include Mazaccio & Drowilal, Birgit Krause, Alix Marie, Jordan Tiberio, Alicja Dobrucka, Bastiaan Woudt, Juha Arvid Helminen and Jessica Backhaus, among others.
Cover art by: Juha Arvid Helminen
GUP#51 - The Rituals Issue
November 2016
Each morning we wake up, with countless possibilities of how to spend our conscious hours. And yet, there are some actions which we feel compelled to repeat, intentionally, rather than seeking out the new. Why? What is it that we generate in ourselves, in our existence and in our society that is richer when we perform rituals?
GUP#51 is all about Rituals, from small acts of leisure, to intensely physical experiences of pain or desire, to playful toying that engenders tribalism among equals or spiritual ceremonies that commune with the divine. We've got an interview with Dina Litovsky by Clemency Newman, an article by Nora Uitterlinden on how photographers are able to create new realities through fresh combinations, and a long-read article by Editor-at-Large Erik Vroons on the ritual of holiday pictures.
Photographers highlighted in the magazine include Roger Ballen, Julián Barón, Anaïs Boileau, Gohar Dashti, Arko Datto, Louis De Belle, Elizabeth Heyert, Zanele Muholi, Tomofumi Nakano, Per-Anders Pettersson, Daniel Schumann, and Corinne Vionnet, among others.
Cover art by: Roger Ballen
GUP#52 - The Mirror Issue
February 2017
Photography tends to take one of two forms: a mirror of the interior self, or a window to the external world. And through the looking glass, photographers present to us some version of themselves, hoping we will see what they see. Or, at least, what they want us to see.
GUP#52 looks at the 'mirror' function of photography. We've got interviews with Christopher Bucklow and Anja Niemi on the practice of portraiture by Chief Editor Katherine Oktober Matthews, an article by Nora Uitterlinden on Jess Richmond's art of self-duplication, an article by Ollo Weguelin on Edson Chagas' protest art, and a long-read article by Editor-at-Large Erik Vroons on new approaches of mixing fact and fiction in artist books.
Photographers highlighted in the magazine include Samantha Geballe, Kajsa Gullberg, KangHee Kim, Maarten Kools, Shuwei Liu, Jehad Nga, Peter Puklus, Charlie Simokaitis, Sage Sohier, Alexandra Soldatova, and Marta Zgierska, among others.
Cover art by: Jehad Nga
GUP#53 - The Infinity Issue
May 2017
Where do we begin, when we talk about infinity? Where do we end? Or, is that looking at it the wrong way entirely, because we’ve already been doing it, and will always continue, forever?
GUP#53 looks towards the infinite, the concept of the immeasurable and the unending. We've got a full-length interview with Katrin Koenning by Chief Editor Katherine Oktober Matthews, as well as two supporting interviews with Klaus Pichler about his new book This Will Change Your Life Forever and Natalia Wiernik about her photographs that blur boundaries between background and foreground. We've also got an article on Maija Tammi's work on immortality by Max van Steen, and an article about eternal love by Matthew Barlow featuring a work by Bryan Huynh. Our Editor-at-Large Erik Vroons presents a visual narrative on the never-ending conversation between images.
Photographers highlighted in the magazine include Francesca Cesari, Xiaoyi Chen, Osheen Harruthoonyan, Benedict Redgrove, Matjaž Tančič, Jessica Thalmann, and Hannes Wiedemann, among others.
Cover art by: Benedict Redgrove
GUP#54 - The Playful Issue
August 2017
We of the photo world often find ourselves existing simultaneously at different points on the spectrum between work and play. Whether speaking of the practice of photo making, or about photos themselves, we can find ourselves asking: Is this playfully serious or seriously playful?
GUP#54 has the theme of Playful, and we seriously toy with the game of art photography. We've got an interview with Bego Antón about New Yorkers who dance with their dogs, and an interview with Yang Yuanyuan on photo studios that place you anywhere in the world. We also speak with Max Pinckers on his collaboration with Dries Depoorter to build a camera that only keeps your award winning photos. The issue features a special edition on the collaborative work of Miles Aldridge & Maurizio Cattelan, an article featuring the work of Martin Kollar, and a creative essay by our Editor-at-Large Erik Vroons featuring the work of four Dutch photographers.
Photographers highlighted in the magazine include Uroš Abram, Zackary Canepari & Jessica Dimmock & Landon Nordeman, Nastia Cloutier-Ignatiev, Bruno Metra & Laurence Jeanson, Tatewaki Nio, Daniel Temkin, and Juuso Westerlund, among others.
Cover art by: Nastia Cloutier-Ignatiev
GUP#55 - The Wonder Issue
November 2017
Life is full of little mysteries. While we often approach photography as something descriptive or explanatory, the truth is that it doesn’t need to be either. Photos can also present to us a scene inexplicable. And isn’t it wonderful, to interact with something that doesn’t reveal itself immediately but holds close its magic?
GUP#55 has the theme of Wonder. We’ve got interviews with Alexandra Lethbridge about trying to see the unknown, and Elsa Leydier on making visible the dirty details that touristic pictures often miss. The issue features a long-read article by Editor-at-Large Erik Vroons featuring the work of Sanne de Wilde and Terje Abusdal, and an article by Chief Editor Katherine Oktober Matthews on the work of Michael Benson.
Included in the issue are : Renata Buziak, Albarrán Cabrera, Francesco Futterer, Rosanna Jones, Sanja Marušić, Jorge Panchoaga, Phoebe Snyder, among others.
Cover art by: Rosanna Jones
GUP#56 - The Transition Issue
February 2018
Let’s not get too curled up and cosy with the status quo. Things change. And while it may be comfortable to romanticise the past, or live in the now, or look forward to the future, each of these perspectives takes for granted that points in time are fixed. A photo likewise gives us this impression: it suspends a moment so that we may better examine or appreciate it.
GUP#56 has the theme of Transition, and features an interview with David LaChapelle about trying to take Jesus back from the Fundamentalists, and Audrey Tautou on the (un)importance of having a famous face as a photographer. The issue includes articles on the work of Maxim Dondyukand Lorenzo Triburgo, as well as a long-read article about contemporary Chinese photography featuring the work of Wang Qingsong, Yang Yonglian and Yao Lu.
Included in the issue are: Jošt Franko, Yingguang Guo, Sarah Mei Herman, Yan Kallen, Margaret Lansink, Catherine Leutenegger, and Tabitha Soren, among others.
Cover art by: David LaChapelle
