Looking through the lens of the camera is the latest aspect of Sigal Bar-el’s artistic view of the world. Bar-el has a studio in the north of Israel, and some of her work can be seen on her Instagram account (@Sigalbe). After working many years as a carpenter, making unique childrens’ rooms, her artistic soul and her passion for colors and space drove her to interior design and to become a color-matching expert. Not being able to lay the carpenter tools down, she turned to vintage furniture refurbishing and recycled furniture, now a major part in her design.

Two of Bar-el’s images were used in this issue (on the home page and within Kevin Haworth’s “Two Minutes”). The image of siren horns was taken in July 2014 in the middle of the last war in the south of Israel. “It was taken near my home at the north of Israel,” she explains, “to express sharing the same destiny with the people in the south that were under heavy bombing.” The second image, taken in August 2014 on a family trip to the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem, shows her 7-year-old daughter running on the ancient pavement stones.

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Raised on a farm in eastern Washington, photographer Scott Hall (@scottchanning) yearned for a view not always obstructed by wheat. His Grandfathers worked hard—one a farmer the other a park ranger while his Father drove long haul truck—and so, it only seemed natural that he would learn to utilize the earth as a means for growth, admire and celebrate the grandeur of our landscape, and love the open road. Curiosity leaves the hometown abandoned. He now calls base camp Salt Lake City, Utah, and works as an Ambassador for Western Rise and Asana Climbing.

Hall’s image, first posted on Instagram, was a major contender for this issue’s cover image. That said, we loved it so much that we’re using Scott’s image, like a digital poster, to help promote issue four around the web. He described the scene of his photograph as follows, “Putting up camp in the wilderness should have intent, finality occurring with a long gaze of admiration. The site feels less as a place to sleep and more an involvement with nature—a scene you dreamt of before leaving home now framed by nature’s hands. This—our 4th camp of a 5-day September trip through the Frank Church—River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho—was my favorite. Facing a sand beach along the Salmon River, and held tight by the guard of large Ponderosa Pines, morning light funneled down the canyon walls and slowly woke us with warm light. That warmth of morning light, filtered by smoke of distant wildfires, set the scene. Little work was left to do as a photographer, and I was left with ample time to sip coffee from a thermos, grab my rod and catch morning risers.”

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Daantje Jacobs—known as Daniëlle Jacobs (@daantjejacobs) on Instagram—lives in the town of Maastricht, where the Jeker River joins the Meuse, in southeastern Netherlands. Jacobs started taking pictures of street art in her hometown to help others understand that art can be found everywhere. In doing so, she met more and more people attracted to and working on street art around the country, and she’s now organizing expositions for local artists in Maastricht. The goal is to create a book of their work. “Let’s spread love,” she encourages, “and create more street art!”

The image used inside this issue (homepage photo for Alex ten Napel’s “Lost in Time and Space”) captures street art by Christian Guemy, know under the name C215, and was taken in Amsterdam-Noord.

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Geoff Lawrence (@glawrencephotography) is a photographer based in Baltimore, Maryland. He specializes in landscape photography, but he also enjoys urbex, street photography, and (more recently) portraiture. Lawrence is mostly self-taught, studying only at the University of YouTube. He was first inspired to engage in photography seriously while urban exploring and snapping photos along the way. A recovering addict, sober for 17 years, Lawrence believes this part of his story greatly influences his work. He is married with two children who can’t seem to stop making faces while he photographs them.

Two of Lawrence’s images were used in this issue (on the homepage and inside Sheri J. Booker’s “The Hunt”). They were take in Baltimore Cemetery last winter. A third image was used as our cover image for this issue. The tree image was taken at Cylburn Arboretum in Baltimore. Lawrence simply loves that particular tree and, although has seen many images of it, he’s never seen any in black and white—until his.

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Bradley Marlow (@MFlyShop) owns a fly fishing shop in Dubois, Wyoming, population (less than) 998, “where there are more deer than people.” In addition to fly fishing, he enjoys nature photography, organic gardening, and his dog named Beans. Surrounded by the Wind River Mountain range, with clear lakes, hidden streams, and sweet rivers, there is no shortage of fishing in Fremont County. Bradley also blogs (podcasts and makes videos) about fly fishing and Wyoming on the Marlow’s Fly Shop site.

One of Marlow’s Instagram images was used for this issue (homepage photo for Matthew Werner’s “Stinson’s Trout”). Taken in late summer, this photograph is of a yellowstone cutthroat trout caught by a Dennis Kidd, a local fly fisherman. Since cuthroat are catch-and-release, Marlow helped Kidd capture the memory.

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Living in Montreal, Élise Melagne (@miammaango) is a University Student. Daughter of a French (France) mother and a Ivorian (Ivory Coast) father, she discovered a real interest in cultures, especially in music and languages. For her, pictures are about memories, she’s pleased to look at them and remember the souvenir being it. She’s always been like that—even in high school—taking pictures all the time, whether of friends, flowers, even her cats. Her walls have always been full of the pictures she’d captured. For her, every little thing is worth being photographed: The people and their culture, the landscape and the wildlife … the world is beautiful.

Melagne’s image used in this issue is part of the map of the Ivory Coast (homepage image for Michael Zumstein’s “Abidjan Zoo: A War Story”). She captured it in early September—just a week before this issue’s publication day—because she’s wanted to share it with others who might not know of this place, her father’s home. “The map shows two cities,” she explains, “Dabou and Abidjan.” And, in seeing those names, Melagne is reminded of a place and culture that is a part of her family and history.

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As a southwest Colorado native living her dream life, Chrissy Murrah’s happy places are on rivers, in mountains, at home with her family—dogs, not children—and at her great job managing a restaurant that she loves. Murrah’s instagram account (@Chrissydgo) is full of adventures. “Never stop exploring!” she instructs.

Murrah’s image for this issue (home page photo for Kelly Sundberg’s “Goodbye, Sweet Girl”) was taken this past summer during a recent Salmon River rafting trip.

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More instagram photographer bios to come…