Light fantastic! Eye-opening shots from the Magnum square print sale in pictures | Art and desig

Whats the difference between an AI photograph and one taken by a human? The use of light something mastered by all of these images on sale Tue 17 Oct 2023 02.00EDT Last modified on Thu 19 Oct 2023 16.35EDT

Light fantastic! Eye-opening shots from the Magnum square print sale – in pictures

What’s the difference between an AI photograph and one taken by a human? The use of light – something mastered by all of these images on sale

Main image: Keep on truckin’ … USA, Artesia, New Mexico. 1963 Photograph: Paul Fusco/Magnum Photos

Tue 17 Oct 2023 02.00 EDT Last modified on Thu 19 Oct 2023 16.35 EDT

  • Young men under a reed roof. Torremolinos, Spain, 1951

    Herbert List, writing in 1959’s Illusion and Reality, said: ‘Trends change. What is mannered ages. Only the strong pictures remain, those in which content and form are one. Such pictures radiate an aura that logic or aesthetics alone cannot explain.’ Written By Light, the latest Magnum square print sale, run with the World Press Photo Foundation, ends on 22 October

  • Portrait of Esmaiel and his brother Gholamreza. Bakhtiari Province, Iran, 2018

    ‘Deep in central Iran, where nomads have roamed for millennia, I found these two boys holding baby goats. Their parents sat in a black tent, trekking across the Zagros Mountains looking for pasture for their flock. The likelihood that the boys, with their expressive faces, will follow in the footsteps of their parents is extremely slim as the nomads are rapidly dying out, a testament to the fast-changing times we are living in.’ Newsha Tavakolian

  • Anna swimming during a rain squall on her birthday. Bohuslän coast, Sweden, 2023

    ‘Photography in its simplest form: Anna running past me, the tropic-sized raindrops hammering down on the boat’s cockpit canvas. She throws her clothes off. I grab my camera. She dives in head-first, laughing, floating in a mix of salt water and euphoria – and I get to save this moment that embodies everything I love.’ Jonas Bendiksen

  • Hong Kong. Ocean City. The Age of Aquariums: visitors under an overhead fish tank. 2015

    ‘Floating beneath the water, bathed in light.’ Richard Kalvar

  • A student who left school mid-term waits for her father to pick her up. Istanbul, Turkey, 2018

    ‘This image was taken in 2017 – one of the first photographs I took with my Hasselblad. This student was leaving her Quran school in the middle of the winter and she was waiting for her father to pick her up. All her friends were watching, wondering why she was leaving so suddenly. Photography gave me the pleasure of seeing myself back then: the excuses I came up with, the mistakes I made.’ Sabiha Çimen

  • A dog emerged from the dark, stood still a few seconds under the northern lights, then disappeared again into the tundra. Teriberka, Russia, April 2021

    ‘With the aurora borealis flaming coldly overhead, or the stars leaping in the frost dance, and the land numb and frozen under its pall of snow, this song of the huskies might have been the defiance of life, only it was pitched in minor key, with long-drawn wailings and half-sobs, and was more the pleading of life, the articulate travail of existence.’ From The Call of the Wild by Jack London, 1903; Nanna Heitmann

  • Peterson family, Tokai Forest. From the series Public Encounters. Cape Town, South Africa, 2004

    ‘Tokai Forest is part of the greater Table Mountain National Park in Cape Town and is close to where I grew up. I remember walking in those woods as a toddler and something about the light when I took this shot reminded me of that time. Public Encounters is a project that formed an antidote to the intensive engagement of my first two bodies of work on prisons and ex-prisoners. Each is a portrait of a brief and random encounter, with an individual or a landscape.’ Mikhael Subotzky

  • Marilyn Monroe. Nevada, USA, 1960

    While on location in Nevada, the director John Huston spent long hours at the gambling tables in Reno. Monroe went with him once, toward the end of filming The Misfits. ‘Monroe was suffering with depression during the breakdown of her marriage to Arthur Miller, who is seen in the background. The light falls mainly on Monroe’s face and shows her melancholy state. Meanwhile, Miller fades into the shadows, creating the impression of great distance between them, and highlighting Monroe’s isolation.’ Michael Arnold, Eve Arnold Estate

  • Aya waiting for her shooting star on the Aegean coast. Greece, 2022

    ‘The theory of photography and the elements of participating in it can be easily learned. What cannot be learned is the sense of light, the different and combined sources of light. What can be learned even less is the moral understanding of the subject — the instant connection that guides the photographer to a person’s inner being.’ Enri Canaj

  • 18th Arrondissement, Paris, France, 2000

    ‘A dog never lies. When he barks, there is someone out there. It has never happened that a dog barks to make us believe someone is out there without him being there – but man does.’ Alex Majoli

  • Meknès, Morocco, 1981

    ‘When I visited Morocco in the 1970s, it was love at first sight. I felt like I’d stepped into a Bruegel painting. Then I went back to relive my original emotions. The first thing that enchanted me was the orderly nature of things and life in the countryside. Towns and cities were a different, more intimate experience, with their narrow streets, omnipresent walls offering protection from the heat and shelter for people’s secrets and private lives, and the labyrinthine alleyways with covered souks full of exciting and unexpected encounters.’ Harry Gruyaert

  • Shields Strikes Back. Detroit, USA, 2018

    ‘In 2016, I embarked on a meticulous journey to document the illustrious professional boxing career of Claressa Shields. My purpose extended beyond capturing the sport’s power. I aimed to unveil the underlying tenacity. In this fight, Shields’s determination shines brightly, even after a knockdown. Light is no mere coincidence; it orchestrates the scene, emphasising contrasts, drawing attention to the action, and infusing energy.As the central character, light spotlights Hanna Gabriels’ radiant face amid the punches.’ Terrell Groggins

  • The Dying River. Arizona, USA, 2022

    ‘I stumbled upon this while driving to Phoenix. I saw three men in white suits, walking in the desert. Amazed, I took the next exit to find out what was happening. The men were taking care of beehives in the middle of nowhere. In the unforgiving heat of the Arizona Desert, it looked like a scene from a moon expedition. I photographed them during their work, providing water and checking for parasite infestation. I asked them to pose together, to capture my initial impression of a lunar expedition.’ Jonas Kakó

  • Pilgrim. Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, 2000

    ‘Photography is about light. There is nothing artificial about it. The magic of the moment cannot be artificially created because light comes from the sun and magnifies the small details of life. I’d gone to Palestine and Israel for Easter. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where many Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead, a pilgrim lit a candle to pray.’Larry Towell

  • Alina. Oropesa, Peru, 2021

    ‘I had the privilege of accompanying Alina and her family on a transhumance in the Peruvian Andes. The 10-hour journey started from 4,200 metres and rose to 5,200 metres. During the walk, an alpaca gave birth and Alina decided to carry the cria. About halfway, we stopped. Alina was resting on a rock. In an instant, the clouds opened up, letting a wonderful light filter through. Beauty manifested all around me. I just pressed the shutter release.’ Alessandro Cinque

  • Rancher Robert O Anderson (right). Artesia, New Mexico, USA, 1963

    ‘Paul Fusco makes notes on the quality and direction of light in a spot to which he thinks a subject might return, on the colours of the foliage, on features of weather and landscape that might affect the emotional tone of people in a picture. He has often returned over and over to a place at carefully calculated times, waiting for conditions to help him show what he feels about the place and the people in it.’ From Fusco & McBride, The Photo Essay: How to Share Action and Ideals Through Pictures, by Tom Moran

  • Zuzia. From the series White Power. Warsaw, 2012

    ‘Zuzia has albinism, a condition triggered by recessive genes passed to the child by both parents. Albinism occurs in one in every 20,000 people and can affect those of all races and ethnic groups. Due to a lack of pigment in the body, hair and eyes, people with albinism are very sensitive to sunlight. As a result, they stay in the shade. They are often stigmatised, living in the shadows. I wanted to pull them out and put them center stage, proving that real beauty is not what the professionals create or call beauty.’ Anna Bedyńska
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