documentary

Capturing History

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The UEFA Euro 2012 tournament is about to kick off. This time it takes place in Poland and Ukraine. Many squads visit different historic places before or during the tournament. One of the major ones: Auschwitz. One of the concentration camps where many people have lost their lives during World War II. And I think it’s a good thing to educate many people about this horrible chapter in our  history through their national squads.

Roger Cremers, Dutch photographer, made a remarkable photo series about the concentration camp and its visitors. The tourists of today. One might look at the photos and see some kind of joke or mass tourism as a contradiction on what has taken place at that very same location so many years ago. But Cremers doesn’t necessarily take a position on the reason for the visitors to be there. He merely shows the visitors and their way of trying to document and remember this place.

Roger Cremers’ website: www.rogercremers.nl

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Behind the News

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The west and the middle east are driven apart ever since the horrible events that took place at 9/11. What we learn about ‘them’, speaking now from the western point of view, is coming to us through the media. Western media. The news covers every suicide bomber and every attack on a western military base. What we never truly get to see is the people who try to live their normal lives.

Together with journalist Pauline Bakker, photographer Marieke van der Velden traveled to Baghdad Aug/Sept 2011 with a simple question: How are you?  The photographs see took shows us the people behind the news stories. Or behind the cover stories, the truth we never get to really know since a propaganda machine is keeping the humanity out of these conflict zones. A very interesting series called Baghdad Today.

Marieke van der Velden’s website: www.mariekevandervelden.com

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Man’s Best Friend?

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Pieter Hugo photographed hyenas and their owners. Yes, their owners. In Lagos, Nigeria, men seem to keep an hyena as a pet. Using a chain as a leash, they walk around with their pets like you normally would with your dog. I wonder if this animal is a good and smart substitute for what we normally would call men’s best friend. Does a hyena really looks out for the owners best interests. The muzzles indicates otherwise.

Pieter Hugo found out the true relationship between these men and hyenas. He spent eight days with them. The men are called ‘Gadawan Kura’, roughly translated ‘Hyena handlers/guides’. They are a group of itinerant minstrels, performers who used the animals to entertain crowds and sell traditional medicines. For the complete story please visit Hugo’s website or click here.

Pieter Hugo’s website: www.pieterhugo.com

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Different Shades of Black

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Dutch photographer Arjen Zwart, based in Istanbul, Turkey, photographs the back alleys of Istanbul in his series ZIFT. He finds art on the walls of buildings. The walls have been treated with tar to make them waterproof. This practical usage of this black stuff brings about unintended beauty, or pieces of art as he calls it. And it reminds him of the works of great artists like Mark Rothko and Kazimir Malevich. The different shades of black, the structure of the walls and the surroundings make for some beautiful photographs. Arjen makes us look differently at the ordinary structures and buildings surrounding us. And showing us the abstractness and beauty in these ordinary places.

Arjen’s website: www.arjenzwart.com

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On a need to know basis

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Everything we know about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is what they want us to know. And see. People who are visiting the country will get a tour along the various iconic communistic achievements and symbols. Charlie Crane, British photographer, visited North Korea to photograph different places in the capital of Pyongyang. He decided, if he wasn’t allowed to get deeper underneath the surface of this ‘Stalinist Disneyland’, he would just photograph the surface itself. Resulting in a wonderful photo series of places and people of this ever so closed-up country.

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365 days of Femke

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Young and talented photographer Femke van Veen has just started a new project. A photo series that will cover 365 days. She is 5 weeks into her project now. On her blog she will share the photos with us. A 365 photos kind of project has been done by others before, of course, but knowing the kind of photographer she is, it might be a very interesting blog to follow. Beautiful photographs guaranteed.

Click here for her Blog

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Personal Space

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Alec Soth, member of Magnum since 2008, documents people and places. He uses an 8×10 camera. Important for him is to photograph a person when he or she is at ease. He said: “My own awkwardness comforts people, I think. It’s part of the exchange.”

The use of a large format camera brings about a softness that corresponds with the photographed subjects. The softness equals the comfortableness of the person photographed. As if Soth has found a way to reduce his own presence  to that of the comfortable vibe a person has in their own personal space. And looking at his projects (Sleeping by the Mississippi, Broken Manual, The last days of W and others) he manages to truly tell a story by creating a mix of portraits, landscapes and interiors. As if we, the audience, get a look into a world we know not much about. A world that only comes about when a stranger is not present.

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