The Irony of Nils Jorgensen

Nils Jorgensen is one of the most ironic photographers I have ever met. His photographs do not need to be commented. In each there is something that bites, that attracts you to go nearer. Here he told about his life. [Source: iN PUBLIC]

"Both my Mother and Father have influenced my choice to be a Street Photographer. My Mother is an artist and throughout my childhood I was introduced to the real inner struggles that is the life of creativity. It was the norm for me to see her paintings in progress, and my constant childhood memory was one where her painting and my life were intertwined. My Father is a doctor, but has been a keen photographer all his life and encouraged me when I showed an interest. He originally studied to be an architect, and his keen sense of design is one which I hope I have inherited. In 1976 he gave me his old Leica IIIg which I still have today. Although at the time there were cheaper, simpler, more automated cameras to choose from, he told me I should learn to master technique first. And this I did. Balanced with this wise technical advice was his love of photography books and magazines. One book above all others was my favourite. He had the Time Life Photography Year 1973 Edition book. This remarkable edition has outstanding images by the world’s greatest photographers, but it was the portfolios of Paul Strand, Diane Arbus, Andre Kertesz, Elliott Erwitt and Tony Ray-Jones which hit me more than any of the others. And still today thirty years later, as I re-open this treasured book, these images have lost none of their power to inspire. All these photogaphers practiced what is now termed as ‘Street Photography’. Little did I know then, at the age of 14, that I was to dedicate the rest of my life to this great art".

Photo by Nils Jorgensen

Photo by Nils Jorgensen

Photo by Nils Jorgensen

Photo by Nils Jorgensen

Photo by Nils Jorgensen

Photo by Nils Jorgensen

Photo by Nils Jorgensen

Vivian Maier - Photographer by nature

Many Italian blogs have already written about her. As often happens, I discovered his work in the portfolio section of Internazionale.it a few months ago and since then her reputation has continued to grow day by day. About three years after his death, his photographs are not yet all been developed.

Photo by Vivian Maier

But first things first. Vivian Maier (1 February 1926 - 21 April 2009) was born in New York, grew up in France before returning to the USA. In his self-portraits, she is a serious-looking girl, pensive, concentrated and appears as a solitary creature that inhabits her inner world. She lives in Chicago for most of her life. She works as a nanny, babysitter, in middle-class American families of the '60s and '70s. In this context Vivian has to find space and time to make her genious breathe. Every day, unconsciously, Vivian uses photography to reconstruct her inner world and to put it in communication with her sorroundings. She uses a Rolleiflex, black and white films, medium format and rarely a tripod for self-portraits when she's alone in her room. Vivian photographs the children with whom she spends her days, thanks to her work as a nanny and she captures the city's daily life that flows around her: women in fur coats who walk the streets, men at work, the life of the streets of Chicago and New York. 

She's also fascinated by people who live on the margins and in solitude, by whom was forgotten by others. Her photographs show a strong empathy and sensitivity. She plays with the reflections and city lights. She appreciate those 'timeless moments', hard to wait and to be recognized. Although she  appears as a sad and serious, 'Vivian photographer' knows how to be ironic and spiteful.

Photo by Vivian Maier

Nobody knew the photographic production of Vivian Maier until a few months ago when a young investor in real estate, John Maloof, bought at auction an apartment in the North West of Chicago, containing a huge amount of undeveloped rolls of film and related material as photographic papers and machines belonging to Vivian.

Now Vivian Maier's photographs are worth a fortune and are exhibited in the most famous museums of the globe. On the internet it says that Vivian has "fallen into poverty" and that she died sick and alone. From her photo archive, which continues to be developed day by day by John Maloof and his collaborators, have not yet appeared photographs that depict a lover of the author, no boyfriend or girlfriend.

Photo by Vivian Maier

Every picture of Vivian tells a story that is worth to be known, the history of Chicago in the '50s and '60s filtered from the history of her life.

VIVIAN MAIER OFFICIAL SITE - BLOG

Photo by Vivian Maier

The thin thread of every story - 6Mois magazine

During the last festival in Perpignan, the international event on photojournalism, there was a queue in front of her desk: photographers from all aver the world with their book or their MacBook Air in their hands to show their portfolios. Marie-Pierre Subtil realized at that moment that 6 Mois, the magazine she founded and directs, << has become a landmark for the world of photojournalism>>.

Photo by Alessandra Sanguinetti

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6 Mois is an idea that was born and grew quickly. The editors are all in two bright rooms of the palace of the publishing house Les Arènes, in the Rue Jacob in Paris. Three young journalists and Marie-Pierre Subtil (Editor in Chief) edit every issue alone.

Cover of the III number of  6Mois in bookstores by March 13, 2012 

Even for this << 6Mois is a biannual magazine. We need time to get things done with great care >> says the chief editor. The first issue came out a year ago and the sales have already exploded in France and abroad. A number every six months, 350 pages, 100 photographs, no advertising (unbelievable, I repeat: no advertising!), an average of 40 000 copies sold and a growing number of subscribers around the world, including Italy. 6 Mois was born in the spring of 2011, among the laughters of the experts who repeated: photojournalism is dead ... you are crazy .. The first run went out immediately and was quickly reprinted. Since March 13 there's the third number in the libraries. Africa is the theme of the cover issue. The texts are still only in French [even if publishers are working on co-publishing agreements with publishers in major local languages], however, nothing of the journal talks about France and the mix of photographers is truly international, if you look at the names of the authors of the second number: a Dane, a Frenchman, an Englishman, a Swede, an American, a Chinese, an Argentine and two Italian photographers [Alessandra Sanguinetti and Roberta Valerio.

Marie-Pierre Subtil 

Marie explains the idea behind the magazine: << We are in the post-globalization. Right in the post-Internet. On internet there are billions of new images every day of every kind and shape. The magazine takes the time to make a selection from the thousands of photographs produced of order and to organize them in a form that tells a story. Readers have learned that this is usefull>>. Marie explains that she chooses the photographs and the 'stories' to be published under a very subjective criterion: << If you strike me, if you touch me, it wiould touch the other >>. Each photo is mounted in a story as long and accompanied by captions that are written as a result of an intensive dialogue with the photographer who took the pictures. << I prefere photographs that come from a personal project of one author and that take time and passion. We are not interested in isolated scoop photos >>. For questions that arise about the subject of the photographic reportage, there is the article that follows each report.Then there is the formula of The World FotoBio or The World of dedicated to the imagery of a photographer. 6 Mois released in March and in October, costs 25 euros. For me it's worth it. Information and excerpts from the article whether the March issue of Elle. 

Photo by Vivian Maier

The view that PARR has about PERESS

Leafing through a high and heavy volume of Magnum, I hit the review that the renowned photographer Martin Parr gave his colleague Gilles Peress (France, 1946). Both professional photographers, connoisseurs of film and light, Parr is the photojournalist of the grotesques trends of the dominant culture in the society; instead of Peress that is a war photojournalist.

Belfast, 1984, on the morning of the death of Bobby Sands  - Photo by GIlles Peress

Here's the comment from Martin Parr to Gilles Peress:

<< Gilles Peress gave two main contributions to the brief and turbulent history of the representation of conflict. First, has tried to understand what problems meets a photographer who is witness of the events. This happened in the book Telex Iran, published in 1984. The term "telex" refers to the means by which Peress communicated with the Paris offices of Magnum, when followed for five intense weeks, the hostage crisis in Iran. 

The problems related to being a witness, the choice to accept or decline appointments as they are or find the correct captions, are also the subject of the text that makes its way through a photo and the next. Apparently it does not seem a very radical stance but do not forget that the photojournalist should be the one who tells the truth. Confessing the subjective character of his work, Peress focuses on an important issue.

The second contribution comes from the way in which Peress frames his subjects.We always feel we are faced with a fragment, with people and things that are partly inside and partly outside the image. One gets the feeling that what we see is a small part of a larger and more chaotic scene. Since Peress often worked on war fronts, this is probably true in most cases. However, few photographers were able to evoke a feeling of energy and confusion with his own eloquence. His visual language draws its origins even for political reasons. Peress has tried to move away from the traditional style, common to many reporters, which tends to soften, with the symmetry and sharpness of the shot, even the stronger despair.

While depicting situations extremely confused, these images have a great appeal. 

Try to get seated and to decipher these complex, exciting photographs. I have never been in a country at war and, honestly, I hope I never have to have this experience. Yet I have the impression that the photographs by Gilles Peress  made me understand clearly what it means >>. 

Photo by Gilles Peress - In 1979, when Islamic fundamentalists occupied the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took  fifty-two  persons as hostage, Peress leaves for Iran. He spent five weeks in the heart of the revolution. His famous book, Telex Iran, in the name of Revolution, describes the fragile relationship that develops between American culture and that of Iran during the hostage crisis.

Photo by Gilles Peress  

Photo by Gilles Peress  

Photojournalists are too many

Don't miss the work of the young italian photographer Ruben Salvadori, which developed the project Photojournalism behind the scenes, a documentary about the world of photojournalism seen from inside. 

Photo by Ruben Salvadori

Salvadori has observed the dynamics that develop between photographers working in war zones, talked about the exaggerated number of photographers in the areas of crisis, and noted that the work of the photojournalist may be deliberately misleading, as he may decide to tell a fictitious reality, a drama that does not exist, and a conflict far more bloody than it actually is.
Today, in fact, the information industry requires drama, even when there is none. It is a law which will not escape the photographers, who often transform the conflict into a spectacle.
Ruben Salvadori chose to photograph the backstage of a scene that is repeated every Friday in Silwan, a suburb of Jerusalem. Here the young Palestinians improvised roadblocks and dozens of photographers are ready to take pictures of them: they are depicted with covered faces and surrounded by smoke, and seem to be involved in violent clashes with Israeli soldiers. But often the reality is quite different.

Photo by Ruben Salvadori 

Salvadori said in the video presentation of his project that his goal is to ensure that the public develops a critical sense with regard to the hundreds of images which are fed every day, but also to reflect on the massive presence of photojournalists in places of conflict.

Ruben Salvadori is an Italian photographer of 23 years old. He studied international relationships and anthropology at Jerusalem. These photos were taken in May 2011 and are part of the project Photojournalism behind the scenes. 

The contents of this post have been freely taken from www.Internazionale.it

Photo by Ruben Salvadori 

Photo by Ruben Salvadori 

Photo by Ruben Salvadori 

Photo by Ruben Salvadori 

Photo by Ruben Salvadori 

When less is more - Pascal Felloneau

Before 2011 ended, on Boooooom, a blog of art and photography, has appeared a gallery containing images of the 75 best photographers found by the authors of the site last year. I wanted to examine the author of the photograph of six swans, all with their heads plunged into the dark water. I wanted to know if that picture was a "lucky moment" or if all the pictures of Pascal Fellonneau were so beautiful.

Photo by Pascal Fellonneau 

Through his photographs, the French artist, makes us see the world through his eyes: the compositions are minimal, simple, bold colors. In a world made of ordinary objects and places, he always retrieve and display the extraordinary, the wonderful and seductive.

I discover a great blog that I didn't know. Nopefun is a large collection of short interviews with photographers, artists and "geniuses"cured only by the (perhaps) Chinese Lee Chang Ming. Here I found a page dedicated to Pascal Fellonneau and a brief interview with the photographer:

Photo by Pascal Fellonneau 

nopefun: How long have you been shooting and how did you start?

Pascal: I started shooting when I was sixteen but made several pauses with photography and really re-started in 2003 when I was living in Iceland.

nopefun: What is your series “The Farm” about? What does it mean to you?

Pascal: “The Farm” is an attempt to document the house where I spent most of my boyhood, my grandparents’ farm. As I saw that along the years things were slowly changing there I wanted to keep traces of how it was when I was a child but without nostalgia.

nopefun: Favorite fruit?

Pascal: Cherries

nopefun: Any new music to recommend?

Pascal: I listen mostly to old tunes and classical music, so it would be very hard to recommend new music, sorry for that.

Photo by Pascal Fellonneau 

Photo by Pascal Fellonneau from "The Farm" serie

Photo by Pascal Fellonneau 

Photo by Pascal Fellonneau 

Photo by Pascal Fellonneau 

Photo by Pascal Fellonneau