More Emotional than Physical

I find myself drawn to illustrate the emotional side of situations using photography. Reportage for me is a constant process of refining and editing and simplification. Telling a story has so many variables depending on your standpoint on the issues and themes. Allowing oneself the luxury to dream a little with the everyday, to walk and wait and feel. Then one gets a little closer to harmony.

Flowers

Family

Dogs at Easter

Dobra Voda Easter 2007



Bratislava Easter 2007

Andrej

Andrej talks in complex riddles, his subjects range from vitamin and mineral compounds to oral sex. He stares at you unblinking with intense dark brown eyes. The kind of eyes you instantly associate with trauma.
Andrej has an easy warm smile and a quick memory for each new English word I tell him.
He invites us to his home to see his paintings and listen to his music.

The walls and ceiling of his room are covered with painted symbols, Mayan, Egyptian and Chinese amongst them. As his computer starts up he tells us in his own unique way about the paintings and what some of them mean to him. The musical selection is of the ethnic trance variety in a few different themes. We settle on an Arabian style and Andrej Accompanies the weaving melody with his own interpretation on a plactic recorder.

Maybe fifteen years ago Andrej was just another young guy with a few problems. He was diagnosed with depression and I guess prescribed various pharmaceuticals. The place he went to during this period of his life, It seems he never came back from.
Even with his relentless stream of words, elemental abreviations, repeating questions and sexual innuendo there is such innocence about him. I am happy to have met him.

From Above

Remember what you have seen,
because everything forgotten
returns to the circling winds

Navajo wind chant

Four from Neighborhoods

"Rear Window" Bratislava 2006


"Rain" Bratislava 2006




"Winter" Bratislava 2004


"Storm" Bratislava 2004

Easter in Dobrá Voda Part 1

Easter has a combination of rituals in a Slovak village. From the male population of the village chasing the female population with whips made from plaited willow or dowsing them in cold water and being paid for it in return to eating smoked ham with horseradish and drinking copious amounts of very strong homemade plum brandy.

We arrived to take photographs; part of my ongoing reportage about the contrasts between city and village life. I hadn’t been to the village in two years so I was anticipating seeing people I'd met before and being able to converse with them freely as I could hardly say ten words of Slovak two years ago.

The first person I recognised was Ervin in his early seventies looking a lot like Charles Bukowski with a constitution to match the late novelist. Ervin introduced me to all his friends as “Ingleesh” and then turned to me on each occasion and said
“ All ist gut?” Ervin in a pale grey suit with blue shirt would hours later re appear wearing a black t shirt with a silver skull motif in another bar where I would find myself a few drinks down the line playing old sixties classics on a twangy guitar to a bar full of singing locals.

They accepted me in the village with open arms, bottles and kitchens.

Love on a side street

As the River project has been temporarily put on hold (till I locate a replacement medium format camera) I'm back walking the dusty city streets. Soaking it all up. Still adding to my at times sprawling Neighborhoods project. Symbols, portraits, emotions, stories. Finding the strongest images when I'm not looking just feeling my way through the day. I found love on a side street under a dirty balcony. Another thing that I wasn't looking for.