Stefan Czurda is an abstract street photographer from Vienna, Austria.
In an urban environment, Stefan experiments with motion blur to create atmospheric street portraits which he calls „Urban Ghosts“.
In addition to his main “ghost protagonists,” other crucial elements in Stefans photography include contrast, tonality, color selection, and the use of non-distracting backgrounds.
Alexey Titarenkos “City of Shadows” series has greatly influenced Stefans artistic work. Additionally, he has been impacted by the creative contributions of Saul Leiter and contemporary photographer Olga Karlovac.
In 2023, Stefans Urban Ghosts received an honorable mention in the “urban/speed” category at the Paris International Street Photo Award (PISPA 2023).
In early 2024 in his first exhibition in his home town Vienna, Stefan unveiled his new series titled “Street Melancholy“, focusing on the fleeting nature of emotions captured on the streets.
His new series was also awarded a honorable mention in the category “abstract vision” in the Black and White Photo Award 2024.
References
2024
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- Stefan was a guest on Benedikt Brecht’s German-language photography podcast “Momente deiner Geschichte“.
- An article on Stefans work “Street Melancholy” was published online in the Spectaculum Magazine.
- Stefans series “Street Melancholy” was awarded a honorable mention in the Black and White Photo Award 2024.
- In March 2024, Stefan presented his series “Street Melancholy” in his first solo exhibition.
- Stefan was a guest on Michel Birnbacher’s Leica Enthusiast Podcast to talk about his photographic journey and his “Urban Ghosts”.
- Stefan’s work has been selected to be shown at the „Xposure International Photography Festival“.
2023
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- Stefans work “monochrome ghosts” was chosen for the selected photographers in the course of the Urban Photo Awards 2023.
- Article about Stefans work (in German) in the German online photo magazine kwerfeldein.de.
- Exhibition of Stefans photos as part of the 21st Vienna Salonparcour.
- Exhibition of Stefans photos as part of the 1st Art Flaneur in Hietzing, Vienna.
- Honorable mention in the category “urban / speed” in the course of the Paris International Street Photography Award 2023.
Photos © Stefan Czurda