Check out Inspired Eye: Issue 13 – Developing the eyes, hearts and minds of photographers

Inspired Eye is an online magazine written by photographers for photographers. Unlike most other photography magazines, Don Springer and Olivier Duong’s creation focuses, not on the famous masters of an era long gone, but on working photographers today, the unsung heroes who are shooting, developing, creating, imagining and living out their photographic dreams as we speak. As they state, Inspired Eye is the “photography magazine that [they] wished [they’d] had” back in the day.

The magazine has been designed for photographers of various levels, from beginners looking for inspiration to professional photographers, curious to learn about the techniques of others in their field. Packed with a series of beautiful and very diverse images taken mostly in the street or documentary style, Inspired Eye and the photographers interviewed within its pages will teach you that there is no right way to approach photography. Rather, it shows us that each and every one of us has a unique path to follow in the hunt for personal photographic satisfaction and a distinctive style.

A Summary of Inspired Eye: Issue 13

Though every issue of Inspired Eye features a travel section, this month the curators decided to include two interviews with photographers who documented life in Tibet, a part of the world that many photography enthusiasts have only ever dreamed of visiting.

The first interview features Shirren Lim whose black and white images depict the rugged landscape of Tibet, and the equally rough-hewn faces of the people who work the land. The first thing you’ll notice is the amount of contrast Lim applies to his images, as a way of bringing out the wrinkles and smile lines, the light and shadow, and the twinkle in the eyes of his subjects. He states that many of his portraits and candid shots were taken with the Ricoh GR to remain as discreet as possible, whereas the Nikon D700 was his choice for landscapes.

In contrast with the first set of Tibetian images, the second set, taken by Olaf Willoughbury and his Leica M240, is bursting with vivid colour. His aim was to search out and photograph culturally significant images that epitomise the differences between Tibet and Nepal. I must say that I enjoyed the punchy colours of his images just as much as Lim’s stark black and white set–it was like seeing the same place through two completely different visual filters.

Another series I thoroughly enjoyed was by Aaron Paustian, who shoots with a variety of cameras, from the Contax G2 and T2 and Fujifilm X-E2 to the Minolta XD-11 and X-700. Like many street photographers, he has a keen interest in depicting social divides and isolation in his work. A recurring theme is children who are being ignored or appear unhappy, as he feels that “adults ruin the world for kids” and take the fun out of living. Encounters between the police and the socially disadvantaged is also present in his work.

To download the latest edition of Inspired Eye, just click on the link below! If you’re an avid street shooter or travel photographer, you’ll definitely feel “at home” while reading this magazine.