Ben Trovato Blog is now over one year of age, and ever since the launch it has been a pleasure to promote the great work of the many aspiring fashion photographers in the industry! And hopefully there’s many to come. A big thanks to all the photographers, the readers, and all the people that are promoting the blog around the web, this couldn’t have been done without any of you. For the 200th post I will focus on the best of the work featured within the 199 posts published, not necessarily personal favorites, but the work that has gotten most attention and visitors after being published. In other words: The most popular work. However, some of the work has been picked because I felt it didn’t get the attention it deserved.

The “best of” collection consists of 40 images, one image per photographer. Click on the title or image to get to the actual post where the image was featured. Enjoy the amazing work collected through 199 posts over 1 year, in chronological order.

Nikita Gale is a 26-year-old self-taught photographer based in Atlanta, Georgia, that shoot 35mm film whenever she can. She’s been photographing for about a year now: “- I started to get more serious about becoming a photographer when, about a year or so after my grandfather died, I found an old suitcase of his that was literally packed with over 200 photographs that he had taken. I had no idea how passionate he was about photography, so I took it as the universe’s way of telling me that I wasn’t just indulging some arbitrary hobby.”

Nikita recently provided me with an intriguing test editorial with Sam from HOP Models, these are her thoughts on the subject of the story: “As of late I’ve been finding inspiration in how grotesque (first world) society’s obsession with beauty and perfection has become. A former South American beauty queen dies during a ‘butt implant’ procedure; 21-year-olds are getting botox injections as a ‘preventative measure’? Where does it all end? We’re practically (and in some cases, actually) killing ourselves by using permanent and mostly unnecessary solutions for superficial and temporary discomforts, and that is really the message I wanted to get across with this editorial. I shot many of the photos through a pane of glass to convey a feeling of overt voyeurism and constraint (from the model’s perspective).”

Her work has been featured in publications such as Pop Matters, OnSMASH, Art & Seek, and many more. At the moment she’s preparing for her first solo gallery show in November, and she’s going to have some work published in two music magazines, Ozone Magazine and Paste Magazine this summer.

Here’s “Sam” by Nikita Gale:

New York based model and photographer Dylan Forsberg has been shooting ever since he got his camera at the age of sixteen. Seven years later he’s still using the same camera when taking pictures, and beautiful ones at that. “The first person I took a picture of was my girlfriend around that same time. For a while I only took landscapes but I got back into shooting people after I shot my Mom for a Christmas present. I couldn’t afford to get her anything else and she had just moved to Florida so she was having trouble meeting people. When I got back to New York, I told my friend Hanne and she said I should take some pictures of her. I did and everyone liked them so I shot my girlfriend Kasia next.”

Dyaln claims he doesn’t take in that much inspiration from outside: “- I have a terrible memory and no imagination so I just get a few people in a beautiful place and mess around with my camera settings. I try not to force an idea I have in my head on the people I’m shooting because I don’t want them to act or look posed. I just want to catch them as themselves doing whatever feels right with the atmosphere we’re in. David Armstrong’s work did show me that things don’t always have to be in focus though.”

His work hasn’t been published anywhere yet, but it’s not at a thing he worries about. “With what I’m doing it isn’t really necessary to shoot for magazines anymore. I throw my stuff on a blog, other blogs mention it and it spreads. As long as I do a good job people will like it and tell others. Then when I try to sell prints, t-shirts or a book I have a wide audience of people who actually know who I am and like my work. They’re not buying a magazine for the magazine and seeing my work, they’re coming to buy my work personally from me. I have shot for one magazine coming out in September though, The Last Magazine. The format is amazing and the people working for the magazine told me to do whatever I want and they liked how it came out.”

At the moment Dylan is working on a small t-shirt company called “Where I want to be,” where he takes his landscape photography and throw them on high quality t-shirts, then destroy and dye or tie-dye them. “- Once they’re in stores and online, I’m hitchhiking to the west coast for a book / gallery and more material for my t-shirts.”

Here’s some of his work:

Originally from Milan, Frankie Nazardo just moved to New York after having lived in London for a while. He started taking photography seriously a couple of years ago, when he went to New York and worked for photographer Boogie for a couple of months, and now his work has been featured in publications such as Dazed and Confused, I Love Fake, The New Tough, S Magazine, and Loud and Quiet.

He says this about his inspirations: “I’m inspired by a lot of things and people. Today, Giasco Bertoli, Alan Grillo Spina’s FFF series and Ray Tintori’s short film Death To The Tinman.”

Nowadays, he’s working on a small publication called Turtle which he’s going to release soon, on some installation works, and some editorials for various magazines. Exciting!

Here’s some of his work:

Belarusian photographer Yulia Gorodonski has an incredible collection of self-portraits. She gets inspired by her surroundings, films, music, props, and of course the way she’s feeling. She’s been working professionally for about a year, and her work has been featured in Chaos Magazine.

Yulia is currently based in Israel, and at the moment she’s finishing up a book of her fantastic self-portaits.

Here are some of them:

British fashion photographer Sacha Maric divides his time between London and Copenhagen. He has been working professionally for about 4 years, and says this about his inspirations: “I’m inspired by unconventional approaches to art. be that photography, film or music. Nothing is more exciting than having your eyes open to a new perspective or take on things. Also, my surroundings, the mundane things that cross my path in everyday life. Friends, family and my daughter. The dark and cold Scandinavian winter and the rejuvenation that I feel when spring arrives.”

His editorial work has been published in publications such as ArtReview, Cover, Dansk, Dazed & Confused, Kilimanjaro, Pig, Style & The Family Tunes, WAD and Wallpaper, and his commercial clients include Danish Fashion Institute, Diesel, Fritz Hansen, Levi’s, Libertine-Libertine, Mads Nørgaard, Norse Projects, Won Hundred and Wood Wood.

At the moment Sacha is developing some ideas for some fashion stories he will be shooting coming months, plus his first book will be back from the printers next week. Exciting times (I’ll keep you posted on facebook and twitter)!

Here’s some of his work:

Brooklyn based fashion photographer Erica Shires has been working professionally for about 5 years, and her main sources of inspiration are melancholy moments, small details, serendipity, old books, ghosts stories, other creepy things, and the Swedish film Let The Right One In. Her inspirations seems to influence her work, which often is a bit mystical and dark, but playful. She has been shooting lookbooks for Erica Tanov and Cloack + Dagger, and her work has been featured in Foto8, New York Magazine, and Bust.

About the future, she says: “I recently finished Erica Tanov’s SS10 campaign and I’m about to shoot a story for Vevant. I just mixed up chemicals for a new wet plate series. And I’ve been shooting a lot of video and learning final cut pro.”

Here’s some of her work:

Montreal based graphic design student Sofia Ajram expresses her dreams, thoughts and fascinations through photography. When I ask her about her inspirations, she explains: “A great deal of things inspire my work. History, for the most part, sums it up rather well. What has happened, within and without, universally, and what has yet to happen but will be documented by time. That being said, I have never experienced this history firsthand, so the visual aesthetic of my work is due to my lucid dreams and vivid nightmares. I feel as though I need to document them in some way that others may experience what I have seen. [....]That aside, women influence my photos. Women are sexy. Women are seductive, powerful from the core in a wild way that’s virtually inexplicable. I like to document that sexuality.”

She has been shooting ever since she was hired by Truth Explosion Magazine in 2007 as a concert photographer. Her work has been featured in publications such as EnRoute Magazine, Poetic Terrorism, Carpaccio Magazine, C-O-M-A Magazine, Vellum Online, Mossless Magazine, and Antler Magazine, but most of her work is personal work not commissioned at all.

At the moment Sofia’s finishing up her final semester in Graphic Design at Dawson College in Montreal, and going to professionally be in the field in less than a month. Lets hope she doesn’t forget about photography, because her work/art is amazing.

Here’s some of it:

New York City based Michael Casker has been working professionally for about 2 years, after having attended Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA. His inspiration comes mostly from his own childhood. “I grew up in a small town in middle America, and I try to to incorporate something from my youth in every story I shoot to achieve a good balance of style and substance.”

His work ranges from being dreamy and playful, to crisp and sexy, and I think his creativity and versatile style makes him a photographer to keep an eye on in the future.

Here’s some of his work:

Paris based Cécile Bortoletti has a love for experimenting with all sorts of techniques, using several different cameras and films, and even mixing analog and digital. She has been working professionally as a fashion photographer for about 10 years, and her work has been published in magazines such as Elle, Dazed & Confused, Self Service, Purple, Jalouse, Above, Crash, Studio Voice, and Nikkei among others.

At the moment Cécile is working on a new story with stylist Claire Sibille and Romanian-Canadian model Irina Lazareanu, for Please Magazine: “Irina is one of my favorite models, we share the same vision, which happens to be very important to me.”

Here’s some of her work, including a preview of her latest story “Jeunes Filles” for Sleek Magazine: