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hey muzungu

So far I have been on a plane with a broken engine and had to turn back to Schiphol, traveled to Entebbe the next day, spent the evening and night drinking beer in the garden bar of my hosts, went to the local market where a live chicken was selected, butchered and prepared (I played no part!), and tried to get over a culture shock. It seems you can’t really prepare yourself for Africa.

The people are very kind, both my Dutch hosts, their expat friends and the Ugandans I have so far talked to. The country is exceedingly beautiful, and very very poor. The contrast between the cozy expat life here and the lives of Kampala locals just a few streets away is harsh.

I wrote a very long text in my Finnish blog and am now kind of out of words. So you’ll get some hipshots from the nearby market and a promise for more details later.

Networkweek

It is again the time of the year when we photo students have the opportunity to visit photographers in their studios, homes, and galleries. I have so far been to visit Stefanie Grätz, who was a lovely lovely person and really wanted to give us her time and helpful advise, and Willem Poelstra, who was also very impressive and surprisingly new in photography (he only graduated in 2005, but I thought he was an old star or something).

Will add links later. Am exhausted, a long muggy day in Amsterdam and tomorrow a long workday also in Amsterdam.

Pierre Faure: Japan

I noticed Pierre Faure’s photobook Japan while browsing in the bookstore today. I love the feel of the thing; the juxtaposition of japanscapes and people. I’ve done something similar when I was there. Only much more by chance and not by assignment.

Some of the photos can be seen here, only sadly in a really small size.

I don’t really know what to think of the concept, though. Isn’t it a bit National Geographic to have a book titled only “Japan”? Could you also have “Germany”, or perhaps “Denmark”? Or would that be boring, while Japan for us westerners is exciting and exotic?

For me, almost everything that has to do with Japan is dear, so… I could not buy the book at the bookstore – it was €60 – but managed to order it used via Amazon. €20 with shipping, not bad..

Untitled

Untitled is the title (heh, heh) of our upcoming exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art.

Very nice to finally have an exhibition, although I must admit I am feeling exhausted after the collective evaluations. I did not sleep properly in a long while; am now definitely in need of a vacation… But first the exhibition + helping the fourth year students with their examination exhibition!

Street Art, Street Life

I ordered a new photo book, Street Art, Street Life. It’s supposed to have work from 30 different street oriented photographers from the 1950′s to the present time (and was on sale at the American Book Center).

Carolyn Drake

Carolyn Drake is a Turkish-based American photographer with lots of projects in the ‘stans; Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan etc. But also a very nice suburbia series.

Running Away

A friend of mine sent me a link to a blog called Running from Camera. The idea is to set up the camera onto a tripod and set the self timer to two seconds; then press the button and run away.

Very strange stuff, and at the same time oddly compelling as a concept. The repetition of the images in the blog reminds me of the project I once followed where a guy took a closeup self portrait every morning for a year or so.

Portfolios!

Raoul found a site with many, many portfolios:

Tiny Vices

We noticed an interesting artist there; Susana Raab. Her photos remind me of Martin Parr somehow.

Anders Petersen

We talked about Anders Petersen at Foto Autonoom recently.. seems he used to be connected to the University of Gothenburg photo school (which did not accept me as a student).. Anyway, he’d hang around Cafe Lehmitz & Reeperbahn in Hamburg in the 1960′s. Here’s a good article about him.

Anders Petersen could very well say he was born in Solna, Sweden, but grew up in Hamburg, for it was here that he returned in 1967, after studying with Stromholm. He found himself gravitating toward the Reeperbahn again, only this time his camera gave him a purpose. Of the many drinking establishments in the area, he found his home away from home in the Café Lehmitz, a dingy beerhall open nearly 24 hours a day, serving stokers, off-hours prostitutes, pensioners, sailors, and whoever else happened to come in. While many of the patrons of the Lehmitz had been rejected by society, Petersen found them strangely welcoming and friendly. “The people at the Café Lehmitz had a presence and a sincerity that I myself lacked,” the photographer reminisced years later. “It was okay to be desperate, to be tender, to sit all alone or share the company of others. There was a great warmth and tolerance in this destitute setting.”