I want to tell you a few words about Victoria, a monumet of goodnes! I met her years ago and since then we are really good friends. After all this time, I am still amazed by her kindness and generosity. She is always very happy when we visit her and we can not leave without something from the little that she has.
Kindness and generosity, very valuable human qualities! So Victoria isn't poor, is rich, richer than many of those who possess many material things but in fact are only rich in vanity and indifference. Congratulations to Victoria for being who she is!
RăspundețiȘtergereDear Vlad Dumitrescu, I'd like to ask your opinion about a matter that has much to do with the kind of photography you produce. When I see photographs of people, especially frontal photos where people can be perfectly identified, I always ask myself: «Did they know they were being photographed? Did they allow this photo to be taken and shown? Curiously, when I look at your photos of people I never make these questions. Why? Because it's obvious that they know that they are being photographed and that they love you as much as you love them. Besides, as I've told you before your photos capture the inner light of those gentle souls, you dignify them and give them a human value that is, in fact, invaluable. Your photos are "monuments" to these anonymous people that no one knows but make our world a better world.
My question is about photographs of people in general and street photography in particular. Certainly you know that statement by Susan Sontag who considers that to take a picture of a person is a "predatory" exercise, it's a theft of his / her identity: «(…) there is something predatory in the act of taking a picture. To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed. Just as the camera is a sublimation of the gun, to photograph someone is a sublimated murder – a soft murder, appropriate to a sad, frightened time.»
I agree with her. There are only a few of “street photographers” that don’t make me feel they are “predators” “shooting” people and you are one of them, the one who is able to give more identity to those who you “shoot” instead of robbing their souls. I exclude from this judgment and appreciation the photojournalists who have the mission to reveal the “truth”, the reality that is hidden or far away from us; and if to do that, to help or save people, is necessary to “shoot” someone with a camera, then that act is a little more justified.
I don’t want to bother you. You don’t have to give me a long answer or you may even not want to answer at all. Anyway, I’d like to know your opinion. Thank you for everything.
Hello! Fist af all, please excuse my late answer!
RăspundețiȘtergereI also agree with the statement you sad. For example if you take a photo of a person on the street with a problem on her face. You only show that! OK you talk to her and you find out that she had an accident when she was young and you write that when you publish that image... But that's it! Nothing else. Nothing about the way that she was affected in life from it. Nothing about the experiences that she lived because of it... Only that. It is just a (very good - lets asume) image of an object in fact; an object with a problem.
And I have to admit that I also do that in a way... Although most all of the people I photograph are my friends and I know very much about them, I can not say all "this very much". I only say a very small part. And this very small part can very in one second depends on the expresion of my friend. I can show you three images taken in one minute and they say three totaly different stories because of the expresion... And I see this very often. Someone is saying "Oh, I am so sorry for this man, he is so sad, he must be living a very hard life ". And I know it's not his case. I know he is really a happy man, very healthy and enjoing his life. And I say it... but it's me who is saying it, not the picture...
Sometimes are my stories, just my stories...
I knew from the beginning that this is the risk with people photography, but I took it... What can I do? This is what I really like in photography! :o)
What I am really very hard trying is not to harm/ offend any one!
Thank you!
Would you allow me to post your answer together with my question in one of my blogs? No one better than someone who photographs people to express an opinion about this matter.
RăspundețiȘtergereI'm deeply grateful for your attention and the time you took to answer me. You surely belong to the "tribe" of the good souls!
Sure! No problem! I also thank you for the time spent here! :o)
RăspundețiȘtergereI thank you for your immense generosity and kindness. All the time that I spend here is very well spent. It´s a pleasure to watch your photos by their intrinsic value, because they are valuable human documents and true works of art and because they make me feel a reassuring inner peace... in spite of that little bit of sadness for knowing they represent somehow a goodbye to something extremely beautiful and irreplaceable. But they also show me the beauty in nature and in people. A world where they exist it's a world where hope still lives.
RăspundețiȘtergereYou spoke about their genuine happiness behind a "sad expression" shown in this or that photo... I believe and understand you completely. So many and different emotions can be seen in the same face in just a few seconds; that is a part of the magic of photography... that can lie and show the truth at the same time. But even in the saddest look I can see a sparkle of the happy luminous soul that is behind. The extraordinary game of light and shadow that you achieve in most of your photos is highly responsible for that. Not many photographers are able to achieve the same result without using effects or manipulation of the images.