© Jill Waterman.  Eva as Kukeri, New Year 2012 in Razlog, Bulgaria.

For the past 30 years, Jill Waterman has traveled annually to a different location to photograph traditional celebrations of the New Year. A year ago, she photographed in the mountain village of Razlog, Bulgaria, where goat-skin clad creatures called Kukeri and exuberant villagers in ceremonial Turkish attire parade through the streets on January 1 in a vigorous dance to ward off evil spirits.

Waterman, author of the 2008 book Night & Low Light Photography and editor for PDN Custom Media, is now in the mountains near Salzburg, Austria, to document the ominous masked figures called Perchten that visit small local villages in “the raw nights” between Christmas and Epiphany on January 6.

For more of Waterman’s New Year’s images from around the world, visit www.NewYearPhotos.com. (more…)

© Nick Hannes

For a work-in-progress called ‘Projet Méditerranée,’ Belgian photographer Nick Hannes has been traveling through the  20 nations that border the Mediterranean Sea. “The idea is to document the vast area that once was the Roman Empire,” he explains. “Within this historical framework I focus on different contemporary issues, such as migration and cultural exchange between the three continents (Europe, Africa, Asia), the impact of mass tourism on the natural landscapes, urbanization, conflicts and territorial disputes.”

While photographing petrol stations in Greece that have been abandoned in the wake of the European financial crisis, Hannes came upon a Shell station that had been set up for the owner’s wedding party. The owner invited him to return that evening to take photos. Hannes intended to spend half an hour. “But you know how good parties evolve,” he says. “It was 3 am when I left.”

He recounts, “A family member said to me, ‘This is how we respond to a crisis. Please show these pictures to [German chancellor Angela] Merkel. A Greek keeps on laughing and celebrating, even when his money is being taken away.’ ” www.nickhannes.be

 Fruit on the Beach

Ellen Jong‘s The Invisible Line uses photography, video and poetry to document how Jong remembers falling in love over a four-year period leading up to her wedding day. The work is intimate and echoes the bold and provocative sentiment of Nan Goldin and Tracey Emin, but with the snapshot aesthetic of William Eggelston. Highly adept at interjecting private moments into a public space, Jong’s work provides a window into realized and uninhibited displays of passion. Where most people fail at being able to completely let go, Jong travels deep into the nether lands of love where her heart acts as a compass.

“There is an invisible line,” say Jong, “that lies between my body and my mind. It withholds my deepest beliefs, fears, curiosities and desires. It is there to protect me. It is there to tell others where I stand, what is mine and why I am. In falling in love, I lost sight of my invisible line and I let it go. Love breaks down walls and sets you free.”

The Invisible Line is on view at Allegra LaViola Gallery in New York from June 5 – July 6, 2012

(more…)

© Hilde Lillejord. Above: Vegard and Birgit make their way to their winter wedding outside Oslo, Norway, with a little help from their friends.

Hilde Lillejord is a Norwegian photojournalist and portraiture photographer whose winter wedding procession snap shot earned a win in the Candids category of the 2011 Top Knots the New School of Wedding Photography Contest. The early deadline for the 2012 Top Knots Contest is TODAY at midnight PST.

All photos © Jesse Rieser.

“Beyond the glowing green and red lights, past the shimmering silvery tinsel, around the fragrant pine boughs, another Christmas lingers, a Christmas of contradictions. This Christmas is complex and at times, uncomfortable. It’s awkward and sometimes bleak. But it is also sincere and celebratory, colorful and creative.

This is the Christmas I capture in this first chapter of a photographic exploration of the biggest event on the American calendar. I grew up in a secular home and at times felt like a Christmas outsider, never connected to the holiday’s religious importance, or its more extreme cultural trappings. But in these photos, I become a Christmas insider, working to discover and reveal what holiday magic, or mania, compels so many to devote thousands of hours to hanging lights, to carving and painting figurines, to building miniature villages, to converting their homes, yards, garages and cars into monuments to merriness.

Initially inspired by the absurdity of a five story inflatable Santa who appeared to be guarding a tree lot, I have launched this survey of uniquely American Christmas traditions. “Christmas in America” is an unvarnished examination of the ways people mark the holiday’s meaning.”  – Jesse Rieser.

(more…)