Touch, 2009 Joop Swart Masterclass

Participants in the 16th Joop Swart Masterclass each produced a photo essay on the 2009 theme, Touch. An edit of these essays has been published in a hardcover photo book, entitled Touch, which shares the context of each story and the photographer's ideas and approach.

The theme stimulated an extraordinary array of reactions and interpretations, from gritty stories on challenging issues, to introspective confessionals of an inner journey. At times, Touch is physical. At times, it is imaginative or deeply emotional. The photographer's message is at times huge and public, sometimes intimate and private.

The result was a rich range of images. From hand-printed black-and-white photos to digital color, from abstract, intriguingly subjective collage to hard-edged documentary narrative, Touch presents a variety of styles, interpretation and insight.

The following twelve photographers are included in the book with these stories:

• Kathryn Cook (USA), Tracing Circles
• Matt Eich (USA), Sleepwalking
• Simona Ghizzoni (Italy), Odd Days
• Don McNeill Healy (Ireland), May's Hospice
• Sohrab Hura (India), A Tragic Smile
• Bénédicte Kurzen (France), Amaqabane
• Mads Nissen (Denmark), Fever, Gold Fever
• Kosuke Okahara (Japan), Chance
• Ali Akbar Shirjian (Iran), My Life is My Message
• Gihan Tubbeh (Peru), Nights of Grace
• Dirk-Jan Visser (the Netherlands), Indefinite Farewell

Available in English.