in the car with R.

Rafał Milach, photo from the book "In the car with R."

It’s freezing outside for several days in Poland, -15C at the moment, few days ago there was -35C…cold. It seems most inappropriate time for taking to hands book about Island. Just the first view into the book makes it sure – unsaturated, slightly overexposed photos prove that Island is land of cold. The text between the pictures doesn’t improve the reception – it illustrates coldly relation between two, at first view bit casual travellers crossing Island together – the photographer (Rafał Milach) and the writer (Huldar Breiðfjörð).

Rafał Milach, photo from the book "In the car with R."

But, this book warmed my heart – don’t remember when I had so well thought, edited and printed book in my hands. It almost like hand made notebook with very original covers, all joint together with two red rubber bands – delightful form in total. What’s inside the book, warms me even more – great and greatly selected photos of R. mixed with rough, excellent texts with observations of H. Those two great artists, from different countries, with different backgrounds and representing different branches of art met to register and show us Island today. We receive bit chaotic story about this severe land and its people, but also about pain of art creation and pain of human relations start-up, H. and R. relation. The story seems chaotic, but those puzzles create coherent global image.

Both of the artists are frank with us and with themselves, they don’t want to please us, show the things as they are at the moment. We may feel the irritation, boredom, lack of patience, lack of understanding, but finally also fascination…

Rafał Milach, photo from the book "In the car with R."

This book is in a way continuation, o rather supplement to book IS(not) published by Sputnik Photos. Material created during preparatory of former book, in case of relation of R. and H. allowed to prepare new project. Photos of this project were awarded by the Jury of New York Photo Awards 2011 and the project of the book received Blurb award.

Finally, what makes me really happy, the book found editor in Gliwice – birth-place of Rafał Milach, in Czytelnia Sztuki.

The project manager and curator of exhibition associated to promotion of the book was one of F-ers – Maga Sokalska.

Rafał Milach, born in Gliwice in 1978 photographer, studied at Fine Art Academy in Katowice and ITF in Opava. Author of several important esseys about Central and Eastern Europe transformation. His works were awarded many times in most prestigious contests, let me just mention World Press Photo or Picture of the Year International.

Huldar Breiðfjörð is born 1972 and lives in Reykjavík. He studied literature at University of Iceland and film at New York University. He has published three books: Góðir Íslendingar (1998), Múrinn í Kína (2004) and Færeyskur dansur (2004). Huldar has also written for the screen and sometimes makes documentaries.

book review: On being a photographer

On being a photographer

David Hurn/Magnum in conversation with Bill Jay

Published by Lenswork Publishing

3^rd edition, 2008
ISBN: 971-1-888803-06-8

When this tiny little blue book arrived, I had a quick glance on the contents and I really wondered what I would learn from Davin Hurn, Magnum photographer. I was quickly absorbed by Bill Jay’s way of writing: spot on, a straight forward language that made me read page after page.

Starting with a background of David Hurn, Bill Jay shares some memories when they met the first time and covers the photographic David has done in a few pages before the actual conversation starts.

When reading the book, it feels like I’m sitting in a corner and listening to them both. The interview material with David is carefully handled and the red line is evident.

“A photographer may not just walk the streets but he/she do a lot of walking, with a purpose, so the most important piece of equipment after the camera is a good pair of shoes. A writer can do a lot of work from a hotel room but a photographer has to be there, so he/she is in for a hell of a lot hiking.” says Hurn, and I start to think of all the shoes he must have worn out.

Then he continues: “Photographers should not put pictures in a box under their beds and be the only ones that see them. If they put film in their cameras it presupposes that they want to record what they see and show somebody else. Photography is about communication.” – couldn’t agree more, David! After a couple of chapters covering how to select a subject, shooting a single picture, creating contacts, I find myself almost being a part of the conversation, I agree and I disagree and my mind is challenged by their discussion. It’s very refreshing and increases my appetite for photography. I’m also delighted to read about the dedication and passion that Hurn show for his profession.

“As a general guide I would guess that for a seven-picture essay I would shoot 20 – 30 cassettes of 36-exposure 35mm film. A single, exhibition-quality image probably occurs every say, 100 films. For what it is worth”- Hurn.

It’s notable that his success is based on hard work, lots of talent, and a critical attitude. Hurn shares his thoughts about simple things such clothes, how to be dressed smart and be able to take pictures whether you’re in a slum or attending wealthy party and how polite manner opens up new doors.

It’s a book about photography but without photographs – sadly enough. Some photographs by David Hurn would have been appreciated, especially in the first part of the book that covers his career. Still this is a great book that I’ll go back to more than once. If you get your hands on it, grab it and read it!

book review: Thousands

Thousands.
Photo: Kyungwoo Chun.
Text: Nils Ohlsen, Wulf Herzogenrath, Jiyoon Lee & Urs Stahel.
Published by Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2008.
ISBN: ISBN 978-3-7757-2167-7.

In photo books the images usually stand in the center; the focus is the result of a project. Rarely is anything said about the process, the way to the results. With the Korean photographer Kyungwoo Chun's new book, the situation is different. Here the process itself is as interesting as the photographic works. Thousands consists of a well-told history, a thought-out project, which goes beyond the ordinary.

In 1592 General Ri Chun Man emigrated from China, left his family and began a new life in Korea. Over 400 years and sixteen generations later, the photographer, Kyungwoo, became interested in his unusual surname Chun (“thousand" in English) and fascinated by his ancestor, the famous general, his life and living. Following the general’s tracks led to three remote villages in the Chinese Henan-district. Almost every resident in and around the villages bore the family name Chun, which was also the name of one of the villages.

Together with the villagers Kyungwoo Chun organized and carried out the project Thousands. He portrayed one thousand people with the name Chun. Exposure times were long, and referred again to the family name: sixty seconds per portrait, a total of one thousand minutes. After developing the prints in Germany, where Kyungwoo now lives, he returned to China with the pictures. On each and every one of the photographs, the portrayed wrote their name, age and place of birth.

© Kyungwoo Chun.
One of the families, who bore the name Chun, was instructed to follow the road, by which general Ri Chun Man in the 1500s traveled from China to Korea. The family carried Kyungwoo’s one thousand photographs, packaged in red silk. Arriving in Seoul, stamps were put on the pictures and, one by one, they were posted to Kyungwoo Chun’s studio in Germany. Once in Germany, the now often damaged photographs, were assembled and exhibited.

The thousand portrayed Chun’s are all looking into the camera. Their faces are blurred, because of the long exposure time. The tone of the images is red, in China considered to be a lucky color, which reinforces their timeless feeling. Together, the photographs are a kind of archive of General Chun’s contemporary relatives. When all are exhibited at one time, as in Thousands, they remind me of an army, a sort of modern parallel to the old and famous Chinese terracotta army. In addition to the one thousand portraits, Kyungwoo Chun also reconstructed a general's uniform from the 1500s. He made a number of larger portraits, of male Chun’s wearing the uniform. The exposure times were now even longer. 49 minutes, reflecting the number of years General Ri Chun Man lived.

© Kyungwoo Chun.
Kyungwoo Chun's poetic photographs are fascinating. The long shutter times give the portraits a sense of closeness and distance. By their nature, they are on the borderline between photography and painting. At the same time, their unique character is reminiscent of the childhood of photography, to daguerreotyper and wet plates, Thousands are, as I have stated, a photo book beyond the ordinary. It’s a book about the meeting of cultures, about history and the present. A book that addresses the tradition and meanings of kinship, in the past as well as in contemporary societies. A book which indirectly raises the question whether the results are always the most important. A book to think about. And not least, a book filled with beautiful and fascinating photographs.

- Fredrik Skott

Kyungwoo Chun was born in 1969 in Seoul and now operates in Germany. He has studied photography in both countries and has, since the mid-1990s, carried out numerous exhibitions throughout Europe and Asia. During 2009 it´s possible to see his work in Denmark (Åarhus kunstbygning, Aarhus), South Korea (Total museum of contemporary Art, Seoul) and Germany (Galleri DNA, Berlin).

Thanks to Rhonda Prince for help with the translation of this review.

book review: En blues från Landskrona

En blues från Landskrona.
Photo: Thomas H Johnsson.
Text: Jonas Bergh.
Published by Kulturföreningen JB23, 2007.
Out of stock.
ISBN: 978-91-85629-12-1.


A few days ago I received En blues från Landskrona [A blues from Landskrona] by Thomas H Johnsson (photos) and Jonas Bergh (text). Subsequently, I have read the text and looked at the photographs not once, but several times. The book touches me deeply.

The photos are close, intense and often dark portraits of people in Landskrona, often of individuals on the fringe of society. "Immigrants" and "Swedes" include: an old man secretly drinking behind a fence, a young boy with his gun, someone using his stiletto to turn his hamburgers when having a barbecue on his doorstep, a man showing his knocked-out teeth, another man with needle marks in his arm, an elderly woman on her way to an anonymous residential quarter, a burned-out car.

Engelbrektsgatan © Thomas H Johnsson.

Timmermansgatan © Thomas H Johnsson.
People who, in one way or another, stand outside society are an important theme in Thomas H Johnssons's photographs, as well as the difference between the inhabitants of Landskrona. But the joy, freedom and, above all, the pride of the people portrayed aren't missing but are an important element in his portraits. The photographs breath punk; a movement that has obviously inspired Johnsson and Bergh.

Thomas's photographs are presented with the personal and brilliantly written texts by Jonas Bergh. In a sense, therefore, the reader gets two stories about the life in Landskrona. The combination of the text and the photographs is exceptionally successful.

Rådmansgatan © Thomas H Johnsson.

Rönnebergsgatan © Thomas H Johnsson.
The images, usually just named after the street they are photographed in, are captured in Landskrona, but they could be taken anywhere. The same applies to Bergh's text. The book could have been titled A blues from Säffle, A blues from Jönköping or a blues from any Swedish city. In many respects, through Landskrona, they give personal, political and very important portraits of Sweden of today. At least that is how I see it.

- Fredrik Skott

The review is also published in Swedish, here.

book review: Lennart Nilsson Stockholm

Lennart Nilsson Stockholm.
Photo: Lennart Nilsson.
Text: Johan Erséus.
Photographic editor: Anne Fjellström.
Published by Bokförlaget Max Ström, 2008.
ISBN: 978-91-7126-083-3.


Stockholm, Sweden. Although I do not live there, I am fascinated by the many excellent photographic depictions of the city. Henry B Goodwin’s Vårt vackra Stockholm (1920), Gunnar Smolianskys fotografier från Slussen i Stockholm 1952 (2002) and Micke Berg's Stockholm Blues (1994) are photo books that I repeatedly return to. Now there is another excellent portrait of Stockholm and its inhabitants, with photographs by Lennart Nilsson.

Spring in Stockholm © Lennart Nilsson, 1956.
Lennart Nilsson (born 1922) doesn’t need to be presented to a Swedish audience. He is, without doubt, Sweden's most famous photographer. At the very least his photographs of the inside of the human body and the beginning of life have fascinated hundreds of thousands of people. Nilsson’s famous book, A Child Is Born, is published in four editions and translated into 20 languages. For his work he has received many awards and prizes, among them The Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation's Photography Award in 1980. British Museum and Tokyo Fuji Art Museum are two of the many places where his work can be found. His new book, however, is made up of lesser-known images from his time as a photojournalist in the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s.

In addition to Swedish newspapers Vecko-Journalen and Se, Nilsson also worked for international magazines, Life Magazine and Look. From his extensive records, Anne Fjellström has selected and gathered a large number of photographs taken in Stockholm to create the magnificent volume Lennart Nilsson Stockholm. In addition to the photographs, Nilsson, with the aid of Johan Erséus, tells about the photographs and their history.

The staff at Sweden's Riksbank practice shooting © Lennart Nilsson, 1955.
Lobotomy operation of a criminal © Lennart Nilsson, 1950's.
The photographs of Lennart Nilsson Stockholm reflect not only the official polished façade. The book is far from a nostalgic recap. Keen-eyed Nilsson, instead, depicts both the front and rear faces of society at that time. The pictures show the unexpected, as well as the everyday - people in Stockholm, their life and living. Homeless, cleaners and postmen are portrayed as well as film stars, politicians and princes; both the working and upper class. Lennart Nilsson shows a Stockholm in celebration but also in work. The 1953 masquerade at the Royal Opera is intermingled with reports from the daily lives of contemporary postmen. The city's poor and homeless are included, as well as the officials of the Bank of Sweden and unique images from the salvage of regal Wasa.

The Salvation Army is the theme for one of the most interesting series of pictures. In the late 1950s Nilsson spent three months together with the Salvationists to document their lives and work. From the extensive material of 4,500 photos, 13 have been selected for the book. "Strangely enough people in the Salvation Army accepted my presence and my cameras," said Nilsson. It shows. The proximity to the Salvationists is striking, the pictures incredibly strong. At the same time, the pictures are artistic in the highest degree. The question is whether I have seen a better-illustrated reportage.

Salvation © Lennart Nilsson, 1950's.

"I came with a Slumsyster to a compromise wooden building at Södersjukhuset. When we came in we saw four small feet stand out under the sofa. The children were afraid that it was the father who had come". © Lennart Nilsson, 1950's.
Lennart Nilsson Stockholm is a personal portrait of Sweden’s capital and its inhabitants. But not only of Stockholm. At the same time many of the photographs give an overall picture of a departed Sweden. And in some ways, also of today’s Sweden; although it has been half a century since most of the photographs were taken, much in the book is recognizable from contemporary Sweden. This is a book out of the ordinary, a book to study again and again. I strongly recommend it to everybody that is interested in Photography as Art and/or in Stockholm and it's history.

© Lennart Nilsson.
Links: Ulf Fågelhammar, author of the F blog, met Lennart Nilsson in May 2008. Check out his reports. If you have the possibility, I also recommend you to visit Kulturhuset in Stockholm and see Lennart Nilsson's large photo exhibition "Somewhere in Stockholm". The exhibition ends September 7. And do not miss Lennart Nilsson’s official homepage.

- Fredrik Skott