Saturday, October 14, 2006

first impressions of the project. i was shooting portraits of power plant workers last week. it was a project of the academy and the austrian hydro power (verbund). people did not know that someone will come to take photos of them, so it was all a very complicated situation sometimes. we (robert and i) had 3 days time to realize our ideas. we had to share our time, because we "only" had one scout, who was a great help. he had access to all power plant stations and any little door.. had the knowledge how to get to the best views etc. so in short, i had not much time to shoot and realize my ideas. i have had planned to visit the workers homes too, what turned out to be impossible in about 3 days of shooting. so i focused on portraits at work. i took photos of people in their natural invoronment at work or with a symbolic element that represents their area of responsibility. for an exhibition it will be important to add name and function to the photographs to let the "concept" work.

i have other sub-series , like photos of certain human details i found there or just documentation of the effort that got investigated to take some of the photos but first will show the portraits, since i'm still scanning the recent b/w material.

photos taken with kodak plusX125, kodak trix400 and kodak trix+3, leica m6 summicron 35/2













21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, that first guy? What the hell? Is that an anal probe?

Seriously though, I'm sure all of these guys would be proud to show these portraits to their families. That's my compliment to you, sir!

Anonymous said...

Hello.

I'd like to formulate this comment as constructive criticism, although if this was done as a project for an academic "exibition" I am sure you will recieve in-depth feed-back probably to a similar extent if not from peers, than from faculty members. Given that these few scans are just a preliminary insight into all of the material you have been able to shoot within the tight time frame of 72 hours, I shouldn't be too harsh but I do suspect the remaining material as I notice that you have a very good sense of self editorial and you always put your best work forth. You announce some 2 or 3 themes, or approaches to this project and in that I see the solution to why these images, although beautifully exposed for available light conditions,properly framed and all of that text book stuff which has become a second nature to you considering the quantity of negative yardage you have behind you... but they are not strong images. In fact, I know of a similar body of work done also by a student in the states, not sure if it has ever been made available on the web but should i find a link i will point you to it, and it was the very same premise: a student (in fact a collaboration between a photo student and a journalism student) going into a sub-urban industrial area and documenting the evolution of a factory segment, how certain positins have become obsolete as robots and mechanisation take over, and how this has affected the workers. The emphasis was on workers, and the photo student had an entire semester of access, always going back, and even interviewng the workers. Shot medium format hasselblad and color. Photographs were all done indoors, artificial lighting as one can imagine, and they all had several dedicated shots for each worker from different angles, and u can guess the formula.. portrait, work environment, personal detail , machinery detail, at work portrait etc etc. The square format of the images made for a very logical display assembly in the format of grids and the exibition was to say the least a very exhaustive documentation.. but regardless of the number and colorfulness and detail orientation of all of the worker grids.. was this project any more thorough or in-depth or moving? Personally I didn't think so.. and even with the entire semester at hand, and the ability to chit chat with the workers on topics relevant to them such as their background how they got the job and how long they have worked, the student didn;t seem to be able to get those kind of kandid shots that really move the viewer..the entire assembly seemed just very... formulaic.

now sorry if the previous description was too long.. but i do have a point at hand and an analogy to make. And my impression is that if a project which had the sufficient time and a very suscinct approach wasn't dead on, then I can only conclude that in a 3 day period going with a 2 fold or 3 fold approach can not lead to a strong and cohesive conceptual result (if these images are meant as more than just a documentation).

Perhaps the meat of the constructive feedback starts here: The inconsistency that I see is the following.. the portraits do have one thing in common.. and that is the workers "posing" I know it's pretty much the most difficult thing to achieve to have people open up to you beyond the point of posing, but to me it's very much needed here, because right now i am just seeing John Doe amidst a lot of plumbing, and John Doe #2 on Hoover Dam, and John Doe #3 the Trucking company Manager..and yeah I can sort of make myself read beyond that and guess what their actual jobs are.. but it doesn't really keep me engaged,, and certainly not if the images were hung in a gallery like space.

The next thing that bothers me is that some of them are shot as kandids (smiling dude looking away= loose, spontaneous, uncontrolled, the two guys hanging out=may as well be your your two uncles for all i know) and some of them very formal even corporate ("hoover dam" manager, the guy proudlyshowing off his "thingamajigger" - formal in terms of composition and spacing) and then some have a glimpse of artistic liberty (perhaps last one in the dark, because his work environment is interpretative, I can not see it but u are conveying to me a sense of lack of light and the generalatmosphere and i enjoy that and his eyes as well).

do not want to discourage u, i surely want to see the rest of them and i sort of think that you probably thought of some of these issues yourself. but hey my computer comes equipped with keys.. so i try to keep the dust off.

sev said...

to anonym (3rd comment)

i don't know what kind of photos you expect from a short trip to an austrian power plant in the year 2006. i haven't seen the work you were talking about of the american students but it sounds like good work, even if you did not praise but still made me get intrested in it.

well. i can only say, that i took photos of people i haven't seen before, complete foreigners that didn't know a thing about me either and also didn't know of someone going to shoot them. all i know is that i had about 5min for everyone to shoot. that means 50minutes for 10 different portraits. it was all very spontan and not planed, it's more documentation than a portrait, but still staged. i have not seen a thing of the power plant itself except a few small photos. haven't been there before so to say.. so all ideas were created during my short stay there.

so, well, i can only ask again, what kind of photos you expect ? magnum issues ? i beg your pardon, that's not a fair comprehension, you know that i'm sure.

if they'd pay me a stay of a few months instead of a few days, i'd come back with much deeper material. i'd get to know people and will try to get through to them.. but that's not possible in the first 5min you get to know a foreigner.

my aim was about 4-5 good, for my standards useful portraits that carry my concept. i've shown more than that already but i doubt that i will exhibit all of them.

due to the circumstances i'm quite satisfied with the "off the top of one's head" portraits i took. it's not that it was easy to coordinate it either with these people.

more sub-series coming soon.

sev said...

ps: calling these people John Doe and "uncles" is not a critique about my work but more a harsh useage of words towards the persons on the photos.

how would you take photos of them authenticaly ? i'm really wondering if you are able to reflect and imagine my situation at all. this is not a sponsored magnum trip. this is not a series shot in months, where i'd be able to get deeper than that.

these people got captured the way they presented themselfs towards me.

what kind of characters do you want to see ? it's not a model cast, but the way it is, criticising me by calling these people john does, is just incorrect in my eyes.

did you expect some worn out faces and near death zombies ? look we live in the 21th century and this is austria, not sibiria. i can't make people look like that on my photos. this is reality, the way it is. what's my fault here ? i really don't get it.

Anonymous said...

http://woomp.com/media_library/medias/sevwoomp/thumbs/XL01_b1232139d7893.jpg


ist mit abstand am besten. aber auch ich muss zugeben dass ich mehr von dir erwartet hätte. das foto mit dem mann der seine hand vors gesicht hält wegen der sonne ist auch noch gut aber die anderen, ziemlich durchschnittlich. ich denke dass 3 tage wirklich eine lange zeit sind. ich hatte für meine cardiff fotos 3 stunden...

anyway, viel spass in paris.

micha

Anonymous said...

btw. wieso hasten nicht die hasselblad benutzt? ich glaub dass das um einiges besser gepasst/gewirkt haette.

micha

sev said...

das klingt ein wenig überheblich für jemanden der noch in den kinderschuhen steckt micha. was soll ich mit einer hasselblad. da wären die portraits unabhängig von der umgebung gewesen, was total den kontext nimmt der die ganze arbeit ist.

Anonymous said...

seltsame kommentare hier. wir hatten in den letzten zwei monaten nen relativ ähnlichen job, nur in aluhütten statt kraftwerken, und ich denke, dass 5 minuten pro portrait _extrem_ wenig ist, und die fotos dafür echt gelungen sind.

micha: ich halte das nicht für vergleichbar. es ist ein _riesen_ unterschied ob du auf der straße leute fotografierst die als händler eh viel mit menschen zu tun haben, oder ob du in nen kraftwerk kommst. für letzteres brauchts ne menge mehr fingerspitzengefühl.
nicht missverstehen, ich find die cardiffsachen echt gut, aber es ist halt einfach was anderes.

Anonymous said...

anonymous - in all your slew of insulting words you fail to say why these images are "not strong."

i think your issue is in the assignment rather than the photography. you disagree with a documentary assignment which includes permitted and on-the-spot 'posed' photography. but without this style of photography and his permission to be there with the subjects knowledge, these shots would simply have not been possible.

it is clearly obvious that he has chosen to share here mere previews of the image and out of context as they are without any editorial context which he even mentions will eventually be a part of their presentation and yet you persist that they are meaningless john doe shots. well, obviously! they are merely drafts! sneak peaks!

you even go on to contradict yourself and state that in contrast to the posed shots, you didn't like the spontaneous ones either. huh??

and last - can we please see a sample of your work experience in a comparible arena before you so pathetically attempt to belittle his efforts?

Anonymous said...

erstens: überheblich ist das richtige wort in bezug auf deine antwort. aber hab nicht wirklich was anderes erwartet wenn man nicht nieder kniet vor deinen fotografischen erguessen. erwartest du überhaupt kritik von leuten die hier kommentieren oder sollen sie dir nur in den arsch kriechen?

ich finde ganz einfach dass du bessere fotos haettest machen koennen wenn man vorherige fotos von dir kennt. punkt.

und mit nem weitwinkel haettest mit der hassi auch die umgebung einbeziehen koennen, gibt genuegend beispiele wo das hervorragend funktioniert hat.

gewitterkind: klar, ist das was ganz anderes. ich wollte auch nicht meine fotos in irgendeiner weise mit den hier dargestellten vergleichen sondern einfach nur den fakt klarstellen dass man meiner meinung nach ausreichend zeit hat wenn man 3 tage lang an ein und dem gleichen ort ist um in die materie einzutauchen, die leute kennenzulernen und einfach mit besseren fotos nach hause zu kommen. :)

micha

Anonymous said...

the 5 last ones are actualy prety good.

travis: "anonymous" did not insult anything. he just sayd what he thought of all those portraits... it's good when people tell you what they think!
I don't agree with him because severin didn't have enough time to actualy get to know those people, to have a personal view or anything to actualy do a "better job" than that (even though, it's already good enough).

But look at the other series... and you'll see that in no time severin did almost a magnum-like job.
(magnum photographers sometimes have only 3 days to do the job.)

Henri

Anonymous said...

micha,
es tut mir leid, wenn ich mich einschalte.
aber dein "ziemlich durchschnittlich" war auch recht überheblich.
das vorweg.
zu den fotos:
er hat kein weitwinkel für die hasselblad. er hatte nicht drei volle tage zeit sondern für die ganzen portraits nur wenige stunden.
und die portraits sind nicht alle am gleichen ort entstanden, wie man wohl sieht. und er hat auch den kunden im kopf, nicht nur eyecandy für sich. und er war nicht alleine. und es gab keine möglichkeit, mit den leuten ins gespräch zu kommen. das war kein stadtspaziergang in cardiff, sondern die haben gearbeitet und ihre arbeit nur kurz für ihn unterbrochen.
das ganze gelände ist riesig, es ist nicht so, dasse er stundenlang am selben ort rumhängen und die lage orten konnte. das kraftwerk ist das größte österreichs. wenn er den arbeitern mit mf kommt, zeigen die ihm den vogel. außerdem hat sein freund der dabei war großformat gemacht. und alleine konnten sie dort nicht rumlaufen. da dezimieren sich die drei tage zu recht wenig.

ich weiß nicht... du hast noch nie etwas ähnliches gemacht, ich auch nicht, da sollte man ihm glauben schenken dass gewisse dinge nicht gehen.
und überheblich ist er.. das wissen wir beide, dass es so rüberkommt. aber du hast ihn kennen gelernt, du solltest es besser wissen. und dann immer dieses teamwork mit ailine, ihr habt immer die selbe meinung etc.. das geht mir auf den senkel. ihr müsst gar nicht beide schreiben. ich merk dann ihr habt drüber geredet, seid euch einig, schreibt dann beide.. das find ich blöd.

du sagst jetzt, sie kann ihre meinung sagen und schreiben wo sie will, und du auch. klar könnt ihr das. nur ich kann auch sagen, dass es etwas bescheuert rüberkommt.
manche sachen die ich hier erwähne könnte severin auch selbst zu seinen fotos schreiben aber er ist beschäftigt und wir müssen bald weg und dann kein internet, so..

ok.. wünsch euch auch noch eine schöne zeit in swansea. ich mein es nicht persönlich. egal wie hart kritik ist oder die antwort darauf, zwischen privat und dem muss man differenzieren. dass ich das tue, wisst ihr hoffentlich beide :)

miriam

Anonymous said...

Nice job!

Anonymous said...

miriam, ich verstehe das sehr gut, das aendert aber nichts dran, dass die bilder haetten praegnanter sein koennnen. ich hab extra nichts hierzu mehr gross geschrieben, sondern versucht, auf die stills einzugehen. micha und ich sind bei weitem nicht immer einer meinung und dass er die auftraglage berucksichtigen soll hab ich ihm auch gesagt.

ich schreibe eigentlich zu fast jedem von severins bildern was und manchmal kommt es eben vor, dass micha ebenso was schreibt, aber das nicht, weil wir uns absprechen, sondern weil wir eben beide was sagen wollen. ist klar, dass das dann immer komisch rueberkommt, aber es ist sicher nicht immer der fall und das zu generalisieren ist nicht fair. ja wie auch immer, ich fuer meinen teil werd versuchen, dann in zukunft nur noch micha zu ergaenzen, wenn wir halt beide was sagen und einer meinung sind. im uebrigen sind wir so selten zusammen, da kannst du sicher sein, dass es da keine absprache gibt, das sind wirklich ausnahmen.

ich kann verstehen, dass es nervt, aber so ists nunmal. ich sag was ich denke, micha sagt was er denkt, severin tut es und du tust es auch. :)

wegen der hasselblad. ich find die nicht wesentlich aufwendiger als ne leica und analog ist analog. schneller gehts nur mit der digi. dass noch jemand mit grossformat unterwegs war find ich gut, nur dass kann ja niemand wissen, daher muss es doch erlaubt sein, so eine kritik zu geben. ich haette halt nur gern mehr stimmung in den stills und portraets gesehen, da finde ich das quadrat einfach geeigneter, sogar wenns nur mit dem 80er ist. den raum bekommt man da auch mit drauf.

ich wuensch euch viel spass in frankreich.

lg ailine

Anonymous said...

Hello Travis,

Really glad to add "slew of insults" as a new idiomatic expression to my vocabulary. Thanks for that. : )

Even more glad to now have been lucidly informed by you as to what I actually thought.

I contradicted myself much more syntactically, too bad you didn't highlight some of those fine examples of my fallen intellect.

My work? Oh but you are surely too bussy vicariously living through this blog, I couldn't possibly intice you with anything to compare. But it's interesting to learn that I should only voice my opinion if I am indeed a photographer as well, otherwise my perception should not count. A medium should only be disscussed by it's very practitioners?

Kind Regards.

Anonymous said...

bernhard: blabla blala. leica. gggoettlich. orgasmus. alles andere. blabla. fake. und so weiter.

ich hab extra noch gesagt dass ich die bilder nicht vergleichen will. aber bla und blubb? ist ja irrelevant, hm? weil leica, ne. hab ich nicht. sorry.


und deine meinung zur hasselblad sache: mann kann ja auch keine mf filme pushen. ist ja technisch gar nichgtg moeglich. von daher braucht man ja ne leica. stimmt. das hab ich ja ganz ausser betracht gelassen.

son bullshit.

und klar, bin ich der macker. weisst doch eh. also schnauze, gell?


son witz das ganze. da sagt man was man denkt und wird von allen seiten angeschissen. oder nein. nur von wiener seite. weil wien = elite. stimmt ja.



siehst, ich kann genauso schlecht gelaunt sein wenn ich so n scheiss lese.

werd jetzt mein maul halten. koennts ungestoert weiter leicanieren.

micha

Anonymous said...

Hi anonymous,

It is clear to me that I have a very different opinion of insulting than most people. If you'd bear with me, perhaps we can actually have a reasonable discussion of the topic. And yes, I will refrain from further exaggeration, although it was sort of fun.

Vicarious living... I'm not so sure. But I do empathize with individuals who are engaged in similar directions in terms of life-sized efforts.

Unless my initial comment regarding the concept of a photo assignment is correct, my issue with your review of what he has shared is that while you wrote a very significant amount, I think you failed to express just exactly what it was that made you feel that the work was weak.

I've read this paragraph several times now and I'm unable to determine what you consider constructive about telling severin that the portraits are 'posed.' That is simply an obvious statement of fact. So is that what you are claiming is wrong with the shots? In other words, the documentary should not have even occured because it is flawed from the beginning.

As an outsider to the powerplant, I feel that the images presented here offer a very telling story perhaps quite similar to what I would see if I were to personally visit - after all is that not the goal of a documentary photograph?

I have asked for what you can offer to share because I would like to understand better what knowledge and experience you bring to this body of work along with your opinion. It serves to offer a little context in the light of a negative review, and perhaps a little substantiation. Surely, you don't trust my medical opinion of whether or not your daughter will survive x or y affliction because I am not a freaking doctor. I have a similar approach to negative opinions people have to say about figurative 'daughters' such as this draft of a body of work.

Gonzale said...

i don't have any criticism here. it looks like good photos to me.
they are visually pleasing, and i can sense the "models" characters.

yeah.

Anonymous said...

The second photo and last shot are the most striking in my eyes. The last one in particular, just b/c of how the light worked in the photo - it has a mystery about it.

I only somewhat agree with anon in the sense that the photos don't necessarily strike a deeper chord, but this isn't really fair if you ask me. Magnum photogs., to use the common example, will get those stunning, emotional images for the very reason that they're sent to the places that have those types of images. Not all nuclear power plants are hellholes of radiation poisoned workers trying to make a meager living - far from it. But, as I remember vividly when you gave the link to that Chernobyl feature, when you're in that kind of environment, no DUH that you are going to get images like that.

But when you have three days, little to no background information, and lack of knowledge about how you will shoot a situation, you're put in a tight spot and, IMO, these images are as good as you could ever get when representing the workers, considering the circumstances.

Someone mentioned that Magnum photogs. sometimes have only three days as well - but I'm pretty sure that they also have very extensive background information beforehand, a deep understanding of the subject they're covering, and a clear idea of what they expect and intend to shoot.

Anywho, I personally found these images pleasing and good documentary photos - they may not be heart-wrenching, challenging photos, but who the hell says every photo j. shot has to do that in order to be good?

Regards,
Andrew

Unknown said...

I like a lot photo nb.6
And pfft all this criticism, i guess you did your best and it's cool!

Anonymous said...

also, jetzt stolper ich grad zum ersten mal über deinen blog hier, über gerade diesen eintrag - und bin begesitert (zwei fotos gefallen mir nicht so sehr, das von dem mann, hinter dem die rohre zulaufen und das von dem, der mit brille in dem raum steht, wo die kabel aus der seite kommen.)

dann hab ich die kritik hier gelesen - und find sie einfach unberechtigt.
"anonym" findet, du hast nichts tiefes über die leute gesagt, hast sie wie john doe aussehen lassen, hast klischees und oberflächen bilder gemacht -
aber, oberflächen bilder - was sollst du sonst machen?
du bist drei tage an einem ort, lernst leute für 5 minuten kennen; wie kann man von dir, von egal welchen fotografen, verlangen, dass er in der zeit hinter die kkullisse schaut, unter die oberfläche vordringt?
kann man gar nicht.
und darum geht es (glaub ich) in letzter instanz auch gar nicht.
worum es geht, ist, zu sprechen, durch seine fotos. zu trnasportieren, was man gedacht, gefühlt, "gesehen" hat - egal ob das origniell oder tief oder eben nicht ist. es geht ums transportieren und sprechen an sich - umso mehr, als das ja eine übung war, und keine wirkliche, frei gewählte, lange aufgabe.
außerdem: wer dem fotografen vorschreiben will, was er zu transportieren hat, was er also gesehen und gedacht haben soll, der ist eingetlich der, der in klischees denkt und arbeitet. der ist nämlich der, der sich die situation nur vorstellt, und dann die bilder bewertet. der kennt die situation gar nicht. der weiss gar nicht, was es da zu sehen und dann zu transportieren gab.
das genau macht "anonym" und deshalb genau hat er sowieso schon unrecht und ist oberflächlich bis zum geht nicht mehr.

von dem allen abgesehen find ich die bilder visuell toll gestaltet, sie gefallen mir - und, wichtiger, sie sprechen zu mir. sie lassen mich fühlen.

ich find auch die bilder die du im nächsten post hast schön, hab jetzt aber schon so viel geschreiben, dass das erstmal reichen musst.

auf jeden fall, mich haben deine bilder erreicht, ich find sie toll - und wenn ich dann noch an die umstände denke, unter denen sie entstanden sind, bin ich einfach begeistert.
punkt.
.

fabian