Ali Taptık (1983, Istanbul) is an artist, architect and publisher. They quit their position as a Ph.D. candidate at I.T.U. after 7 years due to ideological reasons continuing his research on the relationship between textile production and urban transformation of Istanbul on their own. Representation of urban landscape and architecture, the relationship between the individual and the city, psychogeography and interaction of literature and visuality are some of the themes that they explore. In addition to working with institutions to document and research the ever changing Istanbul, Taptık has authored several artist’s books including Kaza ve Kader (Filigranes Editions, 2009); Depicting Istanbul (Akin Nalca, 2010), There are no failed experiments. (Atelier de Visu, 2012) and Nothing Surprising (Marraine Ginette, 2015). Their works have been exhibited in various institutions including SALT (Istanbul), MAXXI (Rome), Ashkal Alwan (Beirut), Venice Biennial for Architecture and Istanbul Biennial. Taptık is one of the founders of Bandrolsüz collective for the distribution of independent artists’ books and they are also leading Onagöre, a design, research and publishing agency.

Marga Rotteveel is the co-founder and director of the photography organization Docking Station, a visual storytelling platform based in Amsterdam. She studied photography at AKV|St.Joost in Breda. After graduating she got involved in the fields of curation, advising, and project initiation. In 2010 Rotteveel started her own independent business, Photorevolt, where she curated and organized shows in the Netherlands and abroad. She has been a member of the supervisory board of the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam for several years.
Rotteveel currently teaches at Bachelor’s and Master’s photography programs at AKV|St.Joost and the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) for many years.Since September 2021, she has also been involved as a researcher in the lectureship New Economy, Centre of Applied Research, Avans University of Applied Science, (NL).
Alongside her work at the academy, she is a jury member and portfolio reviewer at several photography events and an advisor to photographers. She guides many (young) photographers on their way to the best form of presentation for their work and searches for new paths to reach audiences through targeted platforms.

Erik Vroons (b. 1976, The Netherlands) is a freelance writer, editor and curator. He’s been involved with GUP Magazine for long as Editor in Chief and he also collaborates with individual photographers in the realm of creative visual storytelling - both as a coach and a contributor/researcher. Besides GUP and its associated European talent platform (Fresh Eyes) he occasionally delivers reviews to the British Journal of Photography (United Kingdom) and EIKON Photography (Austrialia), among other photography related organizations, both in The Netherlands and abroad.

Fiona Shields is based in London, UK and head of photography for the Guardian News and Media Group. She has over twenty years‘ picture editing experience across a range of newspaper titles, including ten years as a picture editor of the Guardian. Shields has been involved in the coverage of some of the most historic news stories of our time including the events surrounding 9/11, global conflicts, natural disasters, the humanitarian crises resulting from the growing refugee numbers across the world and the global pandemic. She has joined the jury for World Press Photo, the Sony World Photography Awards, The Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize and is a regular nominator for the prestigious Prix Pictet Prize.