Anna is a Swedish born restless globetrotter. A big part of her life was spent living abroad, in the US, Brazil, South Africa, Tanzania, Chile and Portugal. During those years there was no big interest for photography and the only pictures from that time are of safaris, beaches, friends and family.

The first contact with street photography was at an exhibition by the Street Collective in Borås. The pictures were fascinating; moments from life, filled of colors, chaos, people, joy and seriousness. The same year, 2016, she back-packed in SE Asia with a newly bought compact camera. The first careful attempts on street photography were made, mixed with temples, beaches and markets.

Two years later she got her mirror-less camera which is the one she uses today.
She still struggles with lifting the camera, getting the settings right, finding her own style and photografic philosohy.

In the meanwhile, she tries to enjoy every moment.

The lecture “It is all about the moments” deals with her development as a street photographer and travels to a number of exciting cities in Europe, the USA and Cuba. Anna is totally fearless as a street photographer and she will take us into dark alleys and neighborhoods that most of us avoid. Not least in London. Her camera has made her open up sides of herself that she had no idea existed.
Anna’s profile picture was taken by Anna Merell

The lecture will be held in English.

Joakim Möller (Born 1999) is a Stockholm based photographer who specializes in Fine art Street photography. His images are often minimalistic, experimental and mysterious.

“The idea of ​​capturing real moments of life on the street and thus making them live on, is what got me hooked on street photography. It is truly magical to me that just by pressing a button, I can preserve the things I observe forever. What I love most is how unpredictable it is. Every day when I go out on my photowalk, I have no idea what I’m going to get, and it’s the surprises that keep me coming back.

For me, it is important not to have a clear idea of ​​what I want to say with my photographs in advance. Photography for me is just a visual diary. I usually photograph a lot, every day. I try not to think too much, I just shoot what my impulse tells me. My favorite photography quotes are: “There is only you and your camera. The limitations of your photography are within yourself, because what we see is what we are”
– Ernst Haas.

I have photographer Richard Koci Hernandez to thank for inspiring me to get into street photography in the first place. His photographs moved me in a way that no other images ever had. His work made me see the world around me in a whole new way. He is still one of my biggest sources of inspiration.”

The lecture will be held in English.

How it all started:
“I grew up in a home filled with art, paintings for the most part, but my parents
introduced me and my two brothers to all kinds of art from a young age. Taking us to
different galleries, both locally and internationally. This gave me a drive to be creative, but I
was never really good or had the patience for drawing or painting, unlike my mother, so I
started experimenting with the camera. Trying to create that same artistic expression as
paintings, but through the lens. In that way I could find my own artistic identity.

In the start of my twenties, I got my first job in a small photo shop in the city of Oslo, and
during that first year I got more inspired to evolve as a photographer. So I traveled to Firenze
in Italy to be part of a three month photography course. And my love for the craft grew from
there. After that I applied for a two year education at Norwegian School of Photography in
Trondheim, Norway. Here I could learn from some of the best in the industry, but my
sensible self also started to realize how highly competitive and tough the industry was. Fresh
out of school I started struggling with finding my place as a photographer and how to make
a living out of this profession. That’s when the passion for the craft started to slip away. So I
put the camera away, for several years, and started focusing on other plans for my career.
But I was always reminded by friends, family and acquaintances of how they missed seeing
my work, so I slowly started producing new pieces for exhibitions at a local gallery in my
hometown. And from there I found my passion again, and could focus on doing work and
pieces that I loved.”

Why Street photography:
“After I started to focus more on Fine Art photography, I think my exhibition in 2016 was when I started finding my voice and identity, and started experimenting with a technique by using multiple layers of the same frame. Although I mostly work with one frame expression today, I love trying out new ways a photograph can be presented. With this technique I wanted to make the frame move and come to life, in an otherwise still frame.
To me though this is street, but with that extra layer of expression. It was with this series I was truly introduced to the art of street photography, and was also the gateway to how I work with street photography today.”

What will I be talking about at the GSPF:
“With the title Identity, my main focus with the talk will be on my journey as a street photographer, who I am and how my work speaks today. I will present 3 categories, Multilayer – Shapes and shadows – Stories, and show how my work has evolved and how my photography both relate and differ from each other. “

The presentation will be held in english.

In daily life, Giedo van der Zwan is a writer and creative consultant. As a photographer Giedo frequently roams the streets and beach of his hometown – The Hague in The Netherlands. He has received international recognition for his work through publications, awards, and exhibitions.

After Giedo started a long-term project ‘Pier to Pier’ about the local beach culture in Scheveningen, he published a book and organized a 6-month solo exhibition on the Pier of Scheveningen under the same title. Pier to Pier is why most people know Giedo from his beach work. 

Giedo prefers to photograph candid scenes and works very close to people with a wide lens and often with a flash. His images are bright, sharp, and colorful showing ‘real people and real emotions’.

In his presentation, Giedo will share his inspiration, the challenges he faces and the personal development as a photographer he has experienced while taking us on a tour through his work.

The presentation will be held in English

I am a 59-year-old man from Umeå. Married to Anna-Lena and we have two adult children, both of whom have moved out of home. When I was young I competed in athletics, mostly running 200-400 meters. At 19 I started as a trainer and at 27 it became my job. It still is, even though in the 2010s I devoted myself more to administrative tasks at Umeå Elite Sports Gymnasium, which is my workplace. But now I’m fully back as a coach again!

I have been doing photography for over 40 years now. In the beginning, I photographed everything possible, with my friends and young athletes in focus. But when I go through old negatives, I realize that I was shooting something that can be called street photography right from the start. I have always liked to travel and always photographed a lot on my travels. Since 2010, I have traveled extensively, combining my desire to discover our world with a growing passion for street photography.

The title of my lecture is taken from a T-shirt worn by a girl I photographed in Bangkok. For me, it symbolizes that pulse you can feel when there is a lot of life and movement in a big city (sometimes also in smaller cities). Therefore, I will focus on just that. Pictures with a lot of intensity, pulse and emotions.

Niklas’ profile picture was taken by Alphan Yilmazmaden.



Born in 1974, Matt Stuart was raised in the leafy suburbs of Harrow, North West London. He admits to a less than distinguished school career, but was called upon aged 11 to play a trumpet solo in front of the Queen Mother. Her Majesty’s reaction is not recorded.

A little later, in 1986, Matt discovered skateboarding after watching the film “Back to the Future”. Skating occupied his every waking moment until 1994, when he looked up from the half-pipe and noticed that girls had got a lot more interesting. He also indulged in a brief, ill-advised affair with Kung Fu.

Matt’s father, keenly aware that his son would never be the next Bruce Lee, introduced him to photography, handing over books by Robert Frank & Henri Cartier-Bresson. Ever since then, photography has been Matt’s overriding passion, although he’s still quite interested in skateboards and girls. (But thankfully not Kung Fu).

Gabi is an Israeli photographer (63), He lives in Tel Aviv and works in a software company. After flirting with an initial fascination with photography and film cameras in the 1980’s, he went on to pursue a career as an IT manager and put his love for the still image aside.
Fortunately, his interest never disappeared. While the passion lay dormant for decades, all it took was the gift of a camera from his wife to awaken his inclination towards photography again.

He has been shooting independently for a few years and teaches Street Photography workshops.
In the beginning of his photography voyage, he was shooting in black and white. After a few years he felt the need for change and took the challenge of color.
He has participated in many exhibitions, solo, groups and Street photography festivals, he was a judge in a number of street photography competitions and won the first place in the Lensculture street photography singles competition for 2020.

Gabi talks about the thoughts behind his lecture:
“Sometimes I stand and wait for things to converge – a cyclist, a dancer, a child – moving along. Street Photography/Documentary is my favorite way of looking at the world.
My camera has become an integral part of me and I cannot imagine myself without it. Everywhere I go I take it with me thinking ‘maybe today will be my lucky day and I will take the photo of my life’. Via the camera lens I am constantly looking around me, searching for that ‘decisive’ moment that will never return, unless I catch it. When pushing the button, I try to make some sense, restore order to the chaotic scheme of things in the composition, tell the story behind the scene and frame a surrealistic moment. The components ‘speak’ with each other in a special dialogue, either by color, shape, or light. Capturing the elusive, special moment after which things will never be the same and making it eternal – that is my goal.
Forgotten, transparent people in urban surroundings are being granted their moment of grace. The shadows, fragile outlines, reflections within daily lives that are not noticed in the busy and thick urban landscape and sometimes are even crushed by it – these are precious to me. Those expressions and compositions are to be treasured before they are lost in time.

Like a fisherman who goes to his daily work without knowing what he will catch, I take my camera and dive into the streets totally, unaware of what will happen five minutes later. It is an adventure. When I click I try to see the surreal and to sort things out of their everyday meaning and their usual context. I have my favorite places and I never come with the same photos. It is always different: the people, the light and shadows, the atmosphere. At a single click, I try to fill the insignificance around me with significance and create a private and intimate hallucination in order to share it with the viewer. Even though the moment fades, it is burnt in the memory of the viewer.”

The presentation will be held in English.

​

Suzanne Stein is a street and documentary photographer currently based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

She is a social realist and her work is sometimes characterized as raw, emotional and hyper realistic. Narrative street photography, reportage, visceral documentary images and fine art photography techniques are visible in her work with people living on the edges of society as well as everyday life visible in public places. She has photographed extensively in New York City, Los Angeles, Paris, Mexico and Philadelphia, creating individual bodies of work that reflect the unique complexities of each place she devotes time to photographing. She is currently photographing and using individual story telling to document Kensington, the epicenter of the opioid crisis in the United States.

I will talk about, not in order:

1) How I approach street photography and what is important to me to photograph as a social realist 
2) skills I have worked on and requirements necessary to photograph in public
 —the importance of following one’s impulses 
—reflexes, linking what’s seen to the ability to compose and react quickly
—not allowing fear to act as a deterrent 
3) independence as an artist, how I’ve learned to follow my own impulses and resist pressure from others to omit harsh aspects of life 
4) non conformity and the necessity for me to follow my own aesthetic….
5) how I question aspects of street photography ethics and expression because of the influences of social media platforms 
6) turning street photography into reportage or documentary in my work 
7) staying safe on the street and my struggle to take pictures during a time when violence is an increasing threat
8) stories detailing people and situations I haven’t discussed on social media, information more sensitive and how I handle this knowledge as I photograph people 
9) how I approach people in crazy places 
10) why street photography is making itself irrelevant by putting style before narrative and content
11) AI related thoughts and how it may affect photographing life honestly 

Föredraget kommer att hållas på engelska.