Manga, Moonphases and Movies. Daniel Jon, The Backstory

Surreal and sublime, Daniel Jon's photography is an old curiosity shop of grim wonder.

IIn both his still and moving images there seems to be a sense of secrecy illustrated by the techniques he uses to capture his images. There is often a sense of daydream to his work, which draws the viewer into a sense of mystification. Daniel's 'inspirations are dreams or how people react psychologically' to the world around them. This inspiration led him on to a project on alzheimers. In his series Dementia, Daniel's mixture of heavy shadow with diffuse glow helped illustrate his subject's slow descent into madness.

'I was trying to make them look as if they were the moon phases,' playing on the etymology of the word 'lunacy' from the word 'lunar'.  'Different phases of the moon changes the personality'

and these lunar characterisations are striking in the gentle vividness of light used to highlight his elderly subjects. The softened lines of their faces, now representing the lunar landscape, are sharply lit against the darkness that threatens to engulf them.

In correlation with the duality in Dementia, which uses stark contrasts between light and shadow, in his series Women in Future Daniel focuses more on stasis and movement to emphasis his theme. Inspired by Japanese manga, he used a tilt lens to capture an image that shows both stillness and the passage of time. The blurred effect of the image gives a dreamlike quality, which is a central mood in his photography.

'If you use a tilt lens to photograph landscapes, it will become minature, like toys. I tried to make the models look like toys, but I kept taking pictures and it felt like someone really iconic, a holy figure rising from the mist.'

Women are icons in his view of the future, drawing on the manga style of girls carrying big guns Daniel hopes to show an apocalypse where 'in the future women are the lethal weapons, because they have a womb and can give birth to give new life. To give new life is a big thing.' His images, although vague because of the use of blurred effects, are nevertheless dynamic.

Daniel has been involved in a lot of freelance work, especially in fashion. However, it is his interesting take on portraiture that his unique style is most obvious.

'The human form is very interesting and I like to look at its darkside',

and there is some dark humour in his portraits. There is the grim, yet enticing world of the old curiosity shop about his portrait work. Every person transformed into a circus like figure of objet d’art.

The highlight of his career so far is winning Young Photographer of the Year for his work with Design Against Fur, something which Daniel speaks very humbly about. 'There were so many really good photographers alongside me. They were really good, with striking images and I think they chose me because I had sets of photographs that have a story behind them. The other photographers had strong concepts and images, but they didn't have connections.'

Daniel's goal is to move further into the film industry, but he is still very passionate about photography. His film work shares the same intensity of his photography. He is currently working freelance, but look out for more of his movie work soon.

 An exclusive interview with Italian born London Photographer and tutor Cristina Cocullo by poetic 

With a unique perspective on the world, Cristina Cocullo’s photography has both a philosophical and theological world-view. Her eyes see the world, and its basic components, as an extension of artistic form, yet still ask the observer to deconstruct these basic components and evaluate their relevance. With some insightful exploration within her photography, her world image is both thought provoking and intense.

"My photography is a vision I have in my head I’m searching for. It is in my head, but is changing all the time. I am always seeking for something different",

"I do photography for myself, so the fact that I’m showing it is because I want to share it. I want to share my vision of the world and in showing it you come across other people who actually see something in what you do.'

 Religion raises it head as a theme in Cristina’s photography. Modern religion in her eyes is a paradox. "I am not a religious person myself. What I like are all the icons around religion. I’ve always been fascinated by them.’ And this fascination can be seen in her series 11 Commandments.

"I like to capture these iconic religious objects. I don’t see them in the way that everyone sees them. I am always trying to seek something that is going against religion itself. The commercial view of the icon and the way they are used for sale, that bit to me shouldn’t be there, because religion is something that is inside and there is a connection between you and whatever you believe".

Life of a Window is an example of metonymy in her photography, where a simple window represents the nature of the occupant’s life. ‘When I observe a scene there are small things that people don’t see or they don’t pay attention to. If you take a shot of a window and look at it you can figure out the kind of person that is actually living in the house. Then you start thinking, ‘What is he doing in his life?’

Cristina works very closely with Emanuela Franchini, another Italian photographer. Their latest collaboration, Wolfango, which was part of the Telling Tales exhibition at the Mayfair Library, is a modern exploration of the image of wolves in story telling. The work is imaginative, engagingly creepy and reminds you of all the big bad wolf fairy tales you were told as a child.