WouldKillForAGoodName!~

The only way to survive last night was to use my camera.

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:41:58 +0100

The only way to survive last night was to use my camera.

Clitche Roma photographs from Belgrade

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:13:00 +0100

In the strict centre of serbian capital, under the biggest Belgrade bridge Gazela there is a huge slum settelment called Cardboard city (ser. Karton siti). Nearly one thousand Roma people, refugees from south Serbia and Kosovo live here in the houses built from cardboard or some other non-building materials, like plywood or nylon bags. They don’t have running water, sewage and electricity. Among them there is about 300 children which don’t have any perspectives and chances for better future.

Michal Kowalski / Babel Images

click to see original feature at Babel Images

In fact they do have electricity (if you ever went inside of their houses you’d know), only it’s illegal – not officially registered or payed in any way. The first thing they do when they make a new “house” is to bring in a cable.

Second, saying that they don’t have any perspectives and chances for better future is highly pessimistic and not really true. Many of them have social security, a lot of them go to schools. It’s not like they will have a glamorous life, but there certanly is, at least some perspective.

I strongly believe that we, as photographers, can have some influence into their future. If we’d try to see beyond the cliche naratives of poor, dirty Roma who lack any perspectives or hope for a better future, maybe those who look at our photographs would think the same. And maybe that, in a strong conjuction with other (non-)governmental aid, could create a better environment for Roma to grow and develop in. But representing them like this equals to taking that hope and perspective away from them.

Speaking of Mr. Michal’s photographs, I can just say they’re awful. No offense, but they totally miss the atmosphere of Gazela camp, which was a real community. Maybe it’s just me, but I find them to completely lack contrast (bad b&w conversion?) which is nothing compared to vignette. I thought nobody uses that anymore.

If you’d like to see some photographs of Roma from Belgrade, I’d recommend Sanja Knežević and Matt Lutton.

UPDATE:

Seems like Mr. Michal Kowalski “reached the final of Amnesty International competition Human Rights in Lens and will be shown on post-competition exhibition.” Incredible. Well done.

http://www.babelimages.com/?p=325

Though I’m a bit confused, the image shown at the link above is a night-shot of the camp, in color. Is it a part of the same series? (and why did yellow color turn blue?)

New short video from Roma settlement in Belgrade.

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:10:39 +0100

New short video from Roma settlement in Belgrade.

Thumbs Up! (photo: sonjalekovic)

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:12:28 +0100

Thumbs Up!

(photo: sonjalekovic)

(original @ sonjalekovic)

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:18:15 +0100

(original @ sonjalekovic)

Couple of months ago I photographed Dirk-Jan Visser, news and...

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:09:00 +0200

Couple of months ago I photographed Dirk-Jan Visser, news and documentary photographer from Netherlands. He was in Belgrade, leading the World Press Photo workshop.

This year he was selected to be one of 12 photographers (chosen from 179 pre-selected nominees) participating in Joop Swart Masterclass, held each year by the World Press Photo. The aim of the Masterclass is to “bring together some of the most experienced individuals in photojournalism with 12 young, promising photographers so that they can share and pass on their knowledge and experience.”

You can see all photographers here, and Dirk-Jan’s page here.

It’s interesting that, due to very short time we had to produce the picture, we ended up retouching it in a bar at main square in Belgrade! Cool!

mardzy: I said, ‘Do you know where the wild bulkas grow So...

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:15:47 +0200

mardzy:

I said, ‘Do you know where the wild bulkas grow
So sweet and scarlet and free?’

Me taking a portrait of a kid, in the ex-Roma settlement under...

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:55:00 +0200

Me taking a portrait of a kid, in the ex-Roma settlement under Gazela bridge in Belgrade. It was a couple of days before the whole camp was relocated, in an operation prepared for over two years by the local government.

I already feel nostalgia for this place, it’s people. It was really a tiny world in itself. Yes, dirty and all, but full of very very interesting people! I also feel guilt for not starting my Roma youngsters story earlier, for not just taking much more photos of the place.

Ahh…

7 days, 7 rolls of film, 7 really good photos

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:32:05 +0200

I’ve just realised these are all real numbers! Exactly one week after I started my “Roma kids” portrait project, I ended up with 7 rolls of film and 7 “best photos”. Not to mention that 7 rolls makes 70 frames! :)

Anyway, this has been a tough week! Being there, at Roma settlements under Gazela bridge, almost every day… not an easy thing to do! Physically, mentally, financially! Matt and Sanja can tell you even better—sometimes they’ve been there a couple of times a day!

At first I had a bit of trouble working with Pentax 6x7 cm camera (borrowed from Luka), but not because it’s complicated. The whole way of seeing pictures with medium format camera and film is just different. I realized I became too spoiled with digital. Take a bunch of photos, variations of the same scene, even the identical frame (for no reason), don’t pay attention to details, contrasts—that’s not the way it works with medium format/film.

So, in a sense, this week has been all about film “rectifying” my way of working. But, it payed off, a lot! Thank you film! xoxo

Flatten

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:11:11 +0200

Flatten

D-day for Roma from under the Gazela bridge

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:45:07 +0200

D-day for Roma from under the Gazela bridge:

This was really *the* D-day for about 114 roma families who lived at both sides of the river. It’s actually quite sad when you think you actually had a couple of friends over there. Now they’re scattered all over Belgrade and Serbia.

Sanja’s photos might give you a clue of what the atmosphere was like.

Roma kids project about to begin…

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:56:53 +0200

Last couple of days I was trying to figure out exactly how to start that Roma-kids project I mentioned a while ago. Some conceptual issues are still bugging me, while I try to collect all the equipment I need. Not to mention their settlement under the Gazella bridge will be dislocated (read: buldozed) in next few days! I must react quickly.

I have definitely decided to go for slide film, medium format—6x7 cm (bye-bye money savings!). Apart from the kids dressed in their best outfits, I’ll try to portrait their parents too, and possibly get that “displacement” context with the different backgrounds. At first there’s bridge in the back, and all the hand-made carton “houses” (their current living space), then stuff being moved / crushed in the back (possibly with their angry/sad faces), and then the new metal containers (new, “sterile” homes).

I hope this will all work out.
Or maybe I shouldn’t tell you all this stuff? :-)

Unusual noir photo-story from Belgrade. Black and white,...

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:00:07 +0200

Unusual noir photo-story from Belgrade. Black and white, romantic, glamorous, frightening…

Sex over Twitter [comic]

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:17:27 +0200

Sex over Twitter [comic]:

eniac:

Posted via web from Nebojsa’s posterous | Comment »

After taking this photo, I thought “this is it, the photo...

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:40:21 +0200

After taking this photo, I thought “this is it, the photo which shows the festival” [Belgrade Beer Festival 2009] Later I realised it was something else—an image of what I wanted the Festival to be. Couples holding each other, blessed by the music and whole atmosphere around them. But as I think of it, the festival is only blessed by a bunch of different brands of beer and not so good music [personal taste]. Everyone being (almost) drunk for no fuc-ing reason apart from the fact it’s a “beer festival”. I wonder what would it look like if it was a water or milk festival, but with much better music program. Would it come even close?

Anyway, something was missing, and I actually think I photographed that something. Which definitely sounds imposible, if you were to constrain yourself to traditional “we capture the visible” idea. :)

Bumper car ride @ Beer Fest in Belgrade, 2009

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:39:58 +0200

Bumper car ride @ Beer Fest in Belgrade, 2009

Bumper (or dodgem) car ride at Beer Fest in Belgrade, 2009. You...

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:36:57 +0200

Bumper (or dodgem) car ride at Beer Fest in Belgrade, 2009. You just have to take your camera with you, to at least try to bring those moments back! Woooo-hooooo!

"Aside from the atrocities they depict, as photographs, the images from Abu Ghraib contradict the..."

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:22:10 +0200

“Aside from the atrocities they depict, as photographs,
the images from Abu Ghraib contradict
the studied heroics of twentieth-century
war photography that have been updated to
the current conflict. Away from the photojournalistic
flourishes designed to make war palatable—the
heroic flag-raisings, the dogged foot
soldiers close to the action, the sense of shared
humanity among combatants, and the search
for visual evidence that war is universal and inevitable—the
often-banal JPEGs from Iraq proffer
a very, different picture: war is systematic
cruelty enforced at the level of everyday torture.”

- How p&s photos from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (taken in 2005) redefine war photography. [see the original]

ikebana started tumblring! :)

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 01:28:32 +0200

ikebana started tumblring! :):

I just love her photos! If you haven’t seen them already, click that link. And follow.
(and hurray, more people from Serbia on Tumblr!)

Marija of Abonos band, portrait with a guitar. I think I should...

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:10:32 +0200

Marija of Abonos band, portrait with a guitar. I think I should forward this to the guitar manufecturer, they might like it. Oh, who wouldn’t? *innocent*