Inbox: Susanne Willuhn

A while ago we got a mail from Susanne Willuhn with a link to her page with some wonderful photos. We're now proud to be able to show them to you. Enjoy!

"I am an autodidacte and began to take pictures a few years ago as way to express and explore myself.
When asked what my photography is about I usually don't know what to answer. Maybe it is because I don't have any special motives or themes.
For me my pictures are all about my personal daydreams, longings, the memories i like to hold or regain, reminiscences and so on.
My photographic approach is mostly intuitive. It's about the secrets of everyday life as it is in its authentic form, without arrangements or other alterations made for the pictures. I seek to show the potential ambiguity of everyday settings and the spirit of the people involved. Imaginary worlds and shifting moods are meant to become visible."

happy B'day Lina!

can't wait for some grrrrrrrrrrreen...

early spring in Darmstadt/xpro

about the Spring

There will be Spring

Invited guest: Chris Zedano

Chris Zedano: STAPLE STREET
It's a bit cliché, I suppose, to talk about New York City's "characters," but arriving here from South America years ago, I couldn't help but be struck by them -- and drawn to them, performers in particular.
I was also, of course, seduced by the city's landscape, especially a small, quiet, sliver in the heart of TriBeCa called Staple Street, which I came across quite by chance one day.

There’s something about Staple Street that I can’t explain with words. Maybe it’s the narrowness of the street, which makes me feel protected, cut off from the rest of the city; or maybe it’s the arched bridge between the buildings, a sort of monument to urban connection; or maybe it’s the dilapidated sidewalk that always seems on the verge of repair but never quite makes it, a little like some of the performers I met.

The street still has a grimy, industrial, and to me, romantic feel to it despite its proximity to the trendy, high-end real estate that has spread throughout lower Manhattan like an oil slick. The people I met and photographed have maintained a similar integrity, and thus for me, provided a similar romance.
I met artists and eccentrics of all stripes -- dancers, jugglers, actors, magicians, body painters, mimes, card sharks, singers, clowns. They were vibrant, defiant, shy, sad, sly, witty, odd, exuberant, angry, giving -- a perfect representation of the city itself, and of this tiny street that dates back to at least the early 19th century.

Chris Zedano

Images from the project are being exhibited in Fraser Gallery part of the 9th Annual International Photography Competition from March 12th through April 3rd. Pictures from "Staple Street" will also be exhibited at the National Art Club in New York as part of an event that will be held on June 1st 2010.
In Europe: at the Group Exhibition at AFF Berlin - Part of the European Month of Photography Biennial in November 2010.

invited by joanna

Stepan Rudik on World Press Photo

In the last few years we've seen many manipulations on photography that have appeard in the main newspapers in the world, in contests, in exhibitions, albums, etc... it is though the story of political propaganda in past. But now it's even more "common", because it's so much easier to manipulate - just few clicks in the computer.
This year in the World Press Photo Contest was revealed the manipulation. Stepan Rudik, the winner of the third prize in essay in Sport category was disqualified for removing a little object from one of the photos awarded.
Michiel Munneke, managing director of World Press Photo said: "After careful consideration, we found it imperative to disqualify the photographer from the contest. The principle of World Press Photo is to promote high standards in photojournalism. Therefore, we must maintain the integrity of our organization even when the outcome is regrettable."
More official info here.
Whole story with an interesting discussion and original picture: here.

Stepan Rudik, from the series "Antisport"

I’ve asked Stepan Rudik few questions about WPP and here are his answers:

j: How you feel about your disqualification? Does this little foot of your stands the level of copy and paste some items, or erasing whole figure we know from the history?

Stepan Rudik: I believe what I did can be equated to retouching, as if it were a defect of a film.

j: I'd like to know your attitude and the way you work. When does the final form (to have it in narrow frames, black and white, grainy, dark and dramatic) of an essay start? While working, while inventing the subject, after all pictures are done - as the final touch?

Stepan Rudik: I understood that I wanted to process the pictures in the way I did when the series was ready and I looked at it as a whole.

j: Which one submission of yours was "Antisport" to WPP contest?

Stepan Rudik: It was for the second time that I submitted to the contest this year.

j: Who are your heros in photography?

Stepan Rudik: Josef Koudelka and James Nachtwey

j: To make "Antisport" was your idea or was it the assignment from some newspaper ? How you find your topics?

Stepan Rudik: The idea was mine. I photograph life, different aspects of life, and I am interested in all subjects except the boring ones.

Stepan Rudik, from the series "Antisport"

invited by joanna

how come we are always late to the party?

Congrats Markus!

 all the best Markus!

Sunflowers for the birthdaychild

Happy birthday Markus!