Rising Up Magazine Issue 1

I S S U E 1

Every story has a first chapter, and for Rising Up Studios, this is 

certainly not it. It is though for our magazine, the very first issue you’re 

not holding in your hands but rather reading it, born out of pixels, as 

usual in this day and age. 

Artists, as everyone else out there, need love, attention and most of all, 

a connection to people. This is the reason Rising Up Magazine was born, 

and while still flawed, ambitious and honest. 

Send us your remarks, thoughts, critiques to magazine@rising-up-studios. 

com. We’ll be happy to read them! Enjoy the magazine! 

Mate ' ' Varga

Contents 

4 

8 

4 

08 

4 

0828 

Who we are 

Concert Photography of Stephen Jackson 

1 

2 

2 

3 

4 

Street Elements by mate varga 

Interview with Rinzi Ruiz 

Interview with Dario Torre 

Interview with Peter Kool 

Interview with Jung Eul Sun 

4 

55 

Interview with Charalampos Kydonakis 

Interview with Noisy Paradise 

How to reach us + Free coupon

Who we are 

I originally started Rising Up Studios to honor one of my best 

friends that passed away way too soon, Rodger Swan. After meeting 

other artists, of all mediums, around the world, I decided to form 

it as a safe haven for artists that practice different mediums. I want 

to help all artists around the world get the spotlight they deserve 

for sacrificing so much. Rising Up Studios represents the desire 

that all artists have; to achieve their goal of simply doing what they 

love, learning that anything imaginable is possible, and to enhance 

their style for an international audience. Myself, Stephen Jackson, 

and Hungarian photographer, Máté Varga, want all artists to know 

that they’ll always have a home at Rising Up Studios that’ll nurture 

their style and open their minds to the reality that there is no glass 

ceiling when it comes to any medium of art. 

Stephen Jackson 

4

我々は誰なのか 

Rising Up Studiosを結成したのは、若くして亡くなった私の友人 

Rodger Swanのメモリアルです。 

世の中の色んなアーティスト、色んな形式に出会い、その様な方々 

の秘密基地にしようと決めました。世界の隅々で努力をし続けてい 

るアーティストに、ふさわしい脚光を浴びさせたいのです。 

Rising Up Studiosは、全てのアーティストの望みを表現します: 

自分の好きなことが出来て、不可能はないと気づくこと、そして新 

しい知識を得て、世界中の読者に届けられること。 

私、スティーブン·ジャクソンとハンガリーの写真家、ヴァルガ・ 

マーテーは、全てのアーティストに、このRising Up Studiosには 

常に居場所が用意されている事を知って頂きたい。 

自分のスタイルを刺激し心を開けば、どの芸術部門においても無限 

大であるのだから。 


5

Beli 

evei 

nyou 

rself

Concert Photography of 


8

Taking photos of musicians is a natural high for me simply because you 

get to see whomever is performing on stage in their natural habitat. It’s 

their pain, struggle, happiness, love, and desire that make fans sway 

like pedal in the wind. A foot stomping rocker, a swaying pedal, or a fist 

pumping mindless being... all of these different types of fans give all the 

energy to the band to then turn in to a force of nature that has no rules. 

Capturing this in a camera is one of the most magical experiences I’ve 

ever had, and I’ll continue to do this till the day I die. 

9

STREET 

EMENTSMÁTÉ 

by 

VARGA

Rinzi

Ruiz

portfolio rinziruizphotography.com 

Do you plan your photos more or are you 

improvising usually? 

I suppose there’s a bit of both but a bigger 

part of it is improvising. I can plan what 

camera and lens i might use, how I might 

frame a shot or what time of day I want 

to be at a location but, yes, mostly I’m 

improvising. The more I shoot a certain area 

the more I get to know the light, the way 

people move around or interact and maybe 

where I would place myself to get the best 

possible framing for a shot. I really enjoy 

the improvising part of the process while I’m 

out on the streets but also with when I’m 

shooting events or weddings. Improvising 

helps me keep being in a creative state so 

I can experiment and try new angles or 

framing and see things maybe like I hadn’t 

before and then work on it until I get 

something I like. I can’t predict everything 

that happens so the most I can be is ready 

and sometimes anticipate what could 

happen. 

What was the point in your life when you 

realized the importance of photography for 

you? 

I wish it was earlier but it really didn’t 

happen until about 2010 when it hit me 

that I really enjoyed it and became very 

passionate about photography. I’m a bit 

obsessive too so when that happened I put 

a lot of energy into learning and practicing. 

Fairly recently I went through almost all 

22

the family photos we had and in doing that 

I realized or reconnected with the fact that 

photography has been a part of my life all 

along. I always enjoyed taking pictures but 

just didn’t know much about the camera. 

So, I suppose it wasn’t until about a month 

ago that I realized just how important 

photography is to me after going through 

all of basically my family’s history through 

photographs. 

Who inspires you the most to take pictures? 

It’s a long list of people but each has done 

something to constantly inspire me. From 

people I only know from photographs and 

also close personal friends of mine, each 

person has either said something that 

connected with me or taken a photograph 

that keeps me wanting to keep going out to 

shoot so I can take something as memorable 

or as meaningful as they did. 

How do you feel when you’re taking a 

photograph? 

Mostly happy but sometimes too excited and 

then mess up. All in all taking pictures is a 

positive experience for me and I enjoy doing 

it so, yea, happy. 

Imagine for some reason you’re unable 

to use a camera for 1 year from now on. 

Would you be depressed and in pain or 

you’d just get on with your life, forget 

about photography and find something else 

meaningful to do? 

23

It would suck. It really would. If it’s just one 

year I guess I’d be in like an after a break 

up stage at first and then get on with my 

life trying something else to express myself. 

I’ve always done creative things since I was 

young so I could get back into drawing, 

painting or on the computer working 

on graphic designs. The reason I enjoy 

photography more now than graphic design 

is that photography gets me out and about 

and not in front of a computer all the time. 

I’m pretty adaptable so I’d figure something 

out to get me outside. 

these days it can get expensive so I think 

at least for saving money on thousands or 

millions of awful pictures it worked out fine. 

As far as things visually, I really do really 

love the photos from 50 years ago. Something 

about the style in the 60’s just appeals to 

me, from the cars, architecture, music and 

clothing. There’s something about the 60’s 

from photographs I’ve seen that feels like it 

had soul and originality. So for those reason’s 

I’d be happy being a photographer during 

that time. As fast as technology goes, I’m also 

happy to be living in an age that fit a camera 

into a small phone. 

Do you think you fit our digital age 

of photography or you’d rather be a 

photographer, let’s say, 50 years ago? 

I suppose I do fit in today’s digital age but it’s 

all I really know. I learned the camera with 

a digital camera so it offered me an instant 

view of what I was doing bad and what I 

was doing good. With getting film developed 

What is photography to you? Selfexpression? 

A tool to make yourself 

recognised? Your way to invoke feelings in 

the viewer or to change people? 

Mostly it’s a way to keep sane and keeps 

me busy with something creative to do and 

to work at. I do think from time to time I’m 

26

able to express something in a photograph 

and if someone is touched or feels it then 

all good. I can’t predict how someone would 

feel or think so I just focus on what I have 

to do to get a photograph that I like and 

that speaks to me. Being recognized for my 

photography actually wasn’t part of the plan 

when I started learning and I didn’t expect 

that I would be but I’m grateful to be but 

also wouldn’t have been if not for some good 

people who helped me along the way. I think 

if I’m focused on what I’m trying to say or 

how to get recognized or what I can do to 

change people it distracts me from just being 

me, being true to who I am and being able to 

take photos that I really like. Photography 

to me is a fun, relaxing, creative and 

sometimes rewarding activity and I’m happy 

Smartphone camera: Something you loathe, 

something you have mixed feelings for or 

just another tool with new possibilities? 

For me it’s a tool with new possibilities, 

or similar possibilities but in a small 

package depending on what you shoot. I 

think it’s a good thing to have. Being able 

to take a picture and then process it in 

the same device is great. Then the apps 

allows for creative and different ways to 

process a photo so I could try something 

totally different and learn something from 

that and then maybe take that idea into 

a bigger format. I’ve seen fantastic work 

from smartphones and some of these people 

would have never even started taking 

pictures if not for their smartphone so new 

possibilities for sure. 

and grateful if positive things happen along 

the way. 

27

DARIO

TORRE

portfolio flickr.com/photos/pandams 



Usually I am improvising. It happened that 

something was planned in the past (and I do 

believe it will happen again in the future) 

but mostly I am just going somewhere with 

a model friend and we shoot regardless of 

everything. 

What was the point in your life when 

you realized the importance of photography 

for you? 

As most people who take photos or doing 

some other kind of art, I realized it during 

a hard moment of my life. In that very 

moment it was a way to feel better, to send 

messages, then little by little it became 

something positive: from something useful 

to survive to something useful to grow as a 

person. 

How do you feel when you’re taking 

a photograph? 

Free. I love when, like an avalanche, 

everything goes faster and faster and I feel 

like I can do everything. Then I obviously 

crash with my technical and location/tools 

limits, but it’s anyway wonderful! 

feel and what I could do with it. Isn’t it nice 

when, while reading a book, you read about 

a concept or thought that you thought it was 

only yours? It is like finally not feeling alone 

for a moment, saying “yes, somebody else 

had to face this, I can go on!”. It is exactly 

the same with photographs! 


People around me and people who take 

beautiful photographs. Sometimes I need 

somebody else to help me understand what I 





30



This is hard to answer. I have come across 

some periods in which I was not taking 

part in, let’s call them this way, “serious 

shootings”, but I anyway had the chance to 

take photographs almost everyday with the 

smartphone or similar: the daily dose never 

missed… I think I would be heavily wounded 

by that, but that I would surely find some 




I like the possibilities that digital 

photography give us all, but to some extent 

I would have really loved living in the 50’s, 

60’s or even before as a photographer. I 

believe that in those periods there was a 

different bond between the tool and the 

person, something deeper and stronger. 

other meaningful thing to do. 





Everything and nothing. I enjoy taking 

pictures, I enjoy seeing the final results 

(those rare cases in which I am fully 

satisfied of them are great). It’s a way to 

scream to myself that I exist. 




A different tool with different possibilities. 

I like hanging around and be sure I have 

the possibility, anywhere and at anytime, to 

shoot something I like. Regardless of that, 

I always have the feeling that my point of 

view changes depending on the camera I 

use: it would be a pity to lose the “shade” of 

point of view that smartphones can give. 

31

peter

kool

portfolio peterkool.be 



I don’t plan photos in advance; I loaf about 

the streets and take photos of the things I 

encounter. I sometimes did plan to go to the 

same place the next day and try to take a 

better shot; but that never worked. It’s always 

a different situation, the moments you had 

never come back. Also having some good 

photos in mind and want to do something 

similar, doesn’t work either. 

So for street photography I don’t think it’s 

wise to make plans; I just clear the mind and 

let things come my way. 


realized the importance of photography for 

you? 

I really caught the bug when I went to 

the academy in 1980 and discovered the 

photography of the well known’s like Cartier- 

Bresson, Winogrand etc. That’s what I wanted 

to do and of course I needed a Leica, like 

the above-mentioned. As they were very 

expensive I searched for a second-hand one; I 

was lucky and I felt connected.


There are so many good photographers from 

whom I have found inspiration; it’s hard to 

mention names. Looking at photos in general 


photograph? 

The moment I take a photo I feel a little 

often inspires me and also wondering with 

some photos in which way they would have 

been better. 

adrenaline flowing and I’m not aware of 

anything else anymore; I wouldn’t even feel 

a toothache. I’m only focused on what’s in 

the viewfinder. Photographing often is called 

shooting; I more experience it as sucking up 

a little part of the world; the opposite so to 

speak. 

37








I think it would be very hard every time I 

see a nice situation and not be able to take a 

photo. 

When one’s passionate by something it’s 

difficult to do without it; so I think to survive 

the year I would do a lot of sports to keep my 

mind of it. Also maybe some more sex, drugs 

and rock & roll should help. 



I feel very comfortable in these digital times. 

Not only the photographing itself but to be 

able to share the photos with people all over 

the world is fantastic. Back then you could 

only have a local exhibition, which costed 

a lot of money; the prints, the frames, the 

booze. 

The darkroom is something that doesn’t make 

me nostalgic, but some things were better 50 

years ago. For example, the fuss these days 

about privacy in the streets; not much of a 

problem back then. Now some people think 

they own the light they reflect; in the privacy 

of your home yes, but in the streets?





My only goal is to make a nice image and to 

get the creative satisfaction that results from 

it. 

Like most of us I like to show my work to 

the outside world and when people like the 

photos and respond to them, it of course 

flatters my ego. 




I don’t loathe it; If the outcome is good, I it 

doesn’t matter much what to use for taking 

pictures then maybe some technical aspects 

like printing quality. 

But I need a viewfinder and I don’t want to 

carry the world in my pocket all the time, so I 

have no need for a smartphone myself. I still 

have an old cell phone which is switched off 

most of the time. 

39

Jung Eul Su



I don‘t like photos thoroughly planned. 

I think photographers need more 


Rather than the technical details of the 

picture, see a picture that reveals the inner 

booked for inspiration. 

improvisation. Of course, I think that 

improvisation should be excluded from a 

portfolio. 

Imagine for some reason you’re unable to 

use a camera for 1 year from now on. What 

would you do? How would you feel? 


photograph? 

Individual works are always fun. However, 

I imagine just painful. Maybe if I coudn’t 

use the camera for a year, I’d think about 

what kind of pictures to take after it. 

commercial shooting is not. 

portfolio flickr.com/photos/graphosdr 

42

Do you think you fit our digital age of photography or you’d rather be a 


Perhaps it would be difficult to work as a photographer then. 

What is photography to you? Self-expression? A tool to make yourself 

recognised? Your way to invoke feelings in the viewer or to change people? 

Photography is everything for me including self-expression, leaving a mark, 

seeking beauty, etc. It’s Everything.

Smartphone camera: Something you loathe, something you have mixed feelings for or just 

another tool with new possibilities? 

I currently don’t work with a smart phone camera. However, when in the future technology 

will be more advanced, it could be possible to work with a smartphone camera. 

45

Charal 

Kydon

ampos 

akis* 

*aka Dirtyharry

portfolio dirtyharrry.com 



I have some things in the back of my mind, 

but I‘m improvising and shooting whatever 

and try to think about where all this mess 

leads to. 

… 


realized the importance of photography 

for you? 

I‘m shooting photos since 1997. Probably I 

got more close to the whole thing when I got 

my first digital camera in 2008, it was easier 

to shoot after that. 

… 


photograph? 

The time that the click lasts is too short to 

feel something, sometimes maybe something 

comes to me before the click or after it, 

many times nothing. 

… 


Anything that might seem worthy of 2-3 

seconds to take out the camera and shoot it. 

Most times it wasn’t worthy, so this goes on 

until I keep few frames that I‘d like to see 

again in the future.







I can’t find any reason for this to happen, 

except if I was in prison for example? 

I don’t know, I must get imprisoned first and 

then I‘ll tell you. 

… 





Maybe photography is just a way to write 

down some thoughts, I prefer images to 

words. 

… 




I‘m not a puritan or a taliban, so I don’t 

condemn smartphones or any other media. 

It‘s more difficult to shoot with a 

smartphone exactly the way I‘d like, for 

example my phone has a slow flash. But all 

that matters to me is what you see in an 

image at the end, personally I don’t care at 

all about the conditions it was shot.

NOISY 

PARADISE 

TOKYO’S NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHER

portfolio flickr.com/photos/noisyparadise 

I’m obsessed with night photography, taking Urban Night Shots of 

everything around me. I’m working to capture long-exposure photos 

of a seemingly post-apocalyptic Tokyo, where the entire 13 million 

population has evacuated. I love the shadows and shapes that come 

to life at night in Tokyo. It’s a scene not always perceivable to the 

naked eye, even if it’s awake. 

Do you plan your photos more or are you 写真は計画してから撮りますか?それと 


もその場のノリ( 気分 )で? 

What I take pictures of and where is always 撮る場所も撮る物もその時の感覚や気分 

spontaneous depending on my actual mood 次第ですが、撮る時間帯は夜です。 

but the time is always the night. 

その理由は私は夜を愛しているからです。 

How do you feel when you’re taking 

a photograph? 

写真を撮る時、どんな気分ですか? 

覚醒してる。 

Excitement/vigilance. 

54


I can’t really highlight anyone. I get 

inspiration from every element of the world. 

People, music, city, nature, noise, etc. 

一番インスピレーションを貰えるもの 

(または人物 )は何 ( 誰 )ですか? 

特に一番というものはありません。 

この世界の全てのものからインスピレー 

ションを受けています。( 人々、音楽、 


都市、自然、雑音、etc...) 




about photography and find something 

else meaningful to do? 

I’d be shocked but to be able to do 

photography again after a year I would find 

something to do till then. 

何らかの理由で今から一年間、写真撮影 

が出来なくなる事を想像して下さい。 

そんな時、あなたは絶望しますか?それ 

とも写真を忘れて、他に人生で大切に出 

来るものを探しますか? 

とてもショックですが、1 年後の撮影の為 

に” 何か”をします。 

55


of photography or you’d rather be 

a photographer, let’s say, 50 years ago? 

I believe I fit into our age. I’d like to record 

the present. 

自分は、今の時代に合っていると思いま 

すか?それとも、50 年位前の時代に写真 

を撮っていたいですか? 

今の時代に合っていると思います。私は” 

今 ”を撮りたい。 




I think it’s a really useful tool to record 

our pictures, memories and notes. I keep 

following it’s possibilities with attention. 

スマートフォンで撮る写真について、 

どう思われますか? 嫌い、微妙、それと 

も新しい可能性を秘めた道具ですか? 

気軽に写真 (メモや思い出 )を残せるツール 

としてはとても便利だと思います。 

これからの可能性にも注目はしています。 

56

How to reach us? 

我々の連絡先 

website ウェブサイト 

http://rising-up-studios.com/ 

email Eメール 

info@rising-up-studios.com 

facebook フェイスブック 

facebook.com/RisingUpPhotography 

Mobile (japan) 電話番号 ( 日本 ) 

080-4686-7979 

Mobile (international) 電話番号 ( 国際 ) 

+81-80-4686-7979 

Magazine related 本誌に関する話題 

hello@vam.nu 

Magazine created by Máté Varga 

Japanese translation Viktória Szepesi 

Cover photo and introduction Stephen Jackson 

雑誌の創設者ヴァルガ・マーテー 

和訳セペシ・ヴィクトリア 

カバー写真と自己紹介スティーブン·ジャクソン 

58

Here's a 

Rising Up 

こちらに 

クーポンが 

coupon 

有ります! 

for you! 

Scan the QR code, or just go to: http://rising-up-studios.com/coupon. 

Don’t forget to copy the coupon to your phone or print it and bring it with you. 

Looking forward to photographing you! 

QRコードを読み込んで、サイトをご覧下さい:http://rising-up-studios.com/coupun 

このクーポンを携帯電話に保存するか、印刷した物を持参ください。あなたの写真撮影ができ 

ることを楽しみにしております。 

59

Thanks for reading! 

See you soon and don’t forget to rise up!

Rising Up Magazine Issue 1

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