Topic: Some great work...

[Skorj]

... well I think so anyway. Kinda what I would like to achieve one day (with a million days of effort perhaps):

http://bertteunissen.com/category.php?catId=9

Skj.

[bennyC]

I'm not asking this to be insolent but because I'm basically a dolt. What is it about these photographs that, and I understand this may be slightly subjective, makes them good? They seem to be more an anthropological study than a photo arts study. Again, allow me to stress I would understand you starting any reply you made with... Dear moron. Thanks very much.

bennyC

[moominsean]

i like yer (skorj) stuff better.

[LT]

i must admit to being a little bemused by this Skorj .... not really my cup of tea.  Like sean, I thinks your stuff is better.

[FrankB]

I'm going to have to go with the majority on this one, Skorj.

I think you're seeing something in these images that we're not (which doesn't mean it isn't there, just that people see things differently). I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on why these speak to you.

[LT]

ok - I just spent a much longer time looking at these, and I'm going to withdraw what I said before.  The whole thing as really very good and, I understand the artist was trying to recapture feeligns of his youth, and I'm really getting that - all the 1930's style kitchens and people who seem to live in their dining rooms/ kitchens really reminds me of my grandparents and their houses. and the warmth of many of the pictures is really nice.  I think they need looking at for a long time and you need to have some kind of connection to the way of life that is portrayed.  But you're right Mark - really nice stuff.

And some of the spanish pics are quite amazing - that people still live in almost medieval type coniditions cooking on open fires in the middile of the room with no chimney and houses that look like caves.  really amazing.  there are some very scary looking women in the French gallery though.

I especially like this one from the British gallery (for obvious reasons)

[db]

Great.

These simple cultural vignettes, these understated, 'normal' domestic scenes say so much. I think the strength of them builds with the breadth of the project. The fact that there are so many ordinary people regarding the camera, sitting in their own environment builds a very real picture of a community, as opposed to how that country's media or advertising may show it.

We are so used to seeing dramatic celebrity portraits, that it's easy to overlook these. But the strength of photography is the way it can turn the mundane into the surreal. Taking such normal people and treating them to the scrutiny that is normally reserved for celebrity seems odd; we search the frame in vain for something odd or quirky that may answer the 'why them?' question. We can't help but compare these subjects with our own homes and our own lives, and wonder how we would look to others if the photographer had visited us.

Quietly compelling social documentation.

[Skorj]

Back from a few days away – happy to see some comment on this thread, particularly too as it challenged me to as why I thought this was `great work`.

I started my viewing with the Japan page, as this is familiar to me and where I start with my work. As a few noted, I too make a study of similar people in similar situations with my Polaroids. In establishing this type of observational work with my subjects in Japan, it was a conscious rebellion against the stuff that makes me want to toss my cookies; yukata-clad girls using their keitai, maiko trawling for tourists in Kyoto, cosplay Goths in Harajuku, shinkansen speeding past Fuji-san… You’ve all seen it 1000 times before, and it is not Japan. Though you see these regurgitated images constantly, and I see a stream of photographers and TV camera crews filming the same stuff over-and-over again, there is so much more, and so much more to life than mass consumable pap.

I imagine his results from France, Nederland, Belgium et al to be the same; normal, with not a whiff of the Eiffel Tower, windmills, tulips, and such…

For every tulip, or speeding shinkansen, there are 1000 individuals sitting in their homes and shops going about their normal lives. This is the stuff that should not be forgotten, and this is the stuff that is the hardest to capture accurately with any scale to it. I try and take the normal, and while it does indeed look normal; to me it is special.

So, having undertaken similar work to the URL above, I know the barriers, I know the difficulties, and because of this, I can appreciate while the photographs all look just so normal, it is this that appeals to me. The photographer here has captured the utter normalness of these scenes, without intrusion, without false lighting, and in each photograph I look at, I see the people and imagine their lives.

I know this type of work is not appreciated widely, as I get comments on my work constantly about why the heck I bother to waste film on such mundane stuff, the people I stop in the street often tell me the same thing, and I have to explain to them the reason:
http://www.filmwasters.com/grabs/v/13/skorj/

More information than necessary perhaps, and I am not quite sure it makes too much sense either… Skj.

[FrankB]

Many thanks for the post, Skorj. It's a different way of looking at things for me, and I think I'm starting to get what you mean.

Part of my problem is that I'm used to classifying my own work in one of three ways -

• Personal shots - of interest only to myself and close friends / family
• "So what" shots - It didn't work (I'm good at these!)
• "Wow" shots - Very, very few and far between

I try to find an arresting quality (no police gags, please!) that will stop a viewer and make them look again. If the image doesn't have that 'grab' factor it tends to go on the discard pile. Joining it are any that don't reward the viewer for taking the time to take that second look.

However, as the only person that actually sees most of my prints is me, maybe I need a new system of classifcation...

Work like this is new to me and it's a new kind of thought process behind it.

Many thanks for the introduction.

[moominsean]

while i appreciate the concept, the photographs in the link remind of the millions of photos i looked at while laying out trade magazines. i see a realtor/builder/doctor and his/her family. certainly not bad photography by any means, but a bit lifeless or cold, considering that they are supposed to chronicle life. while i see you (skorj) using a similar ideal in photo taking, yours have much more personality. maybe it's just the specific film medium, but the linked photos really do seem to be a dime a dozen for me...even the wide angle was commonly used for cover shots of people in their homes. and while you ascertain that what draws you in is the fact that what you see is familiar and, maybe, behind the scenes in these peoples lives, i'm more drawn to the different cultures in the photos, and certainly the japanese in particular. i just don't think the photos themselves are all that exciting. oddly enough, though, i'm fascinated by the book filled with inside shots of japanese apartments.
anyway, time for school!
sean

i have to append: these photos will probably become more interesting with time, as they become snapshots of an era. if they were taken in the '50s or '60s, i'm sure i would find them very cool, with the artifacts and styles of the times.

[CarlRadford]

is it because the images are based upon and theme - this being people - people more often than not relate to people images, being able to do this across a number of different cultures/countries adds to the fascination. I enjoyed them!

[Skorj]

even the wide angle was commonly used for cover shots of people in their homes.

Yeah, this kinda kitchified them to me as well. Cheapened the concept a little. Or rather the pano, not the wide.

• "Wow" shots - Very, very few and far between

The first two categories I get too, but the third is where we come undone. The `wow` factor is what I used to seek as well... Like db suggested, the celebrity bit, the 3sec TV grab, the attractiveness of immediacy, digital chimping & HDR.

This stuff slows me down.

Thanks everyone. Skj.

[akikana]

May be of interest - Bert is writing currently for the Aperture blog:

http://aperturefoundation.blogspot.com/

[cpierce]

I like them, the lighting is impressive and there are stories in each photo, look close for the hidden info.  Reminds me of many historic painters telling a story of the time.

[Ed Wenn]

I'm a fan. I liked the UK stuff a lot. Excellent series as a whole and some truly beautiful images to boot.

[tread]

I love this stuff. Not so much about one good frame, but a real mission and real mission accomplished with most of it. Building a thought-provoking series of images is truly a difficult endeavor.