|  |  |  | | | | | ::: The Travel Photographer ::: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | Photo © Stephen Dupont-All Rights Reserved |
I really liked these two photographic essays of Polaroids made in the Mumbai slum Dharavi and the Senen slum of Jakarta by Stephen Dupont, an Australian photographer. Dharavi is one of the world's largest slum and lies on prime real estate in the middle of India's financial capital, Mumbai and has a population estimated to be 1 million. Many businesses flourish in this slum, such as traditional pottery and textiles, a recycling industry, which generate an estimated $650 million turnover a year. As for the Senen slum, it's a trackside slum in central Jakarta. It's also a center for recycling, and its inhabitants live cheek to jowl with the thundering trains.
Stephen Dupont has produced a photographs of fragile cultures and marginalized peoples, which capture the human dignity of his subjects, and do so with great intimacy and often in some of the world's most dangerous regions. His work has earned him prestigious prizes, including a Robert Capa Gold Medal citation from the Overseas Press Club of America; a Bayeux War Correspondent's Prize; and first places in the World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International, the Australian Walkleys, and Leica/CCP Documentary Award. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, Aperture, Newsweek, Time, GQ, Esquire, French and German GEO, Le Figaro, Liberation, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Independent, The Guardian, The New York Times Magazine, Stern, The Australian Financial Review Magazine, and Vanity Fair. He has held major exhibitions in London, Paris, New York, Sydney, Canberra, Tokyo, and Shanghai, and at Perpignan's Visa Pour L'Image, China's Ping Yao and Holland's Noorderlicht festivals. Subscribe to The Travel Photographer  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Stanley Greene, in my view one of the best photojournalists in the business, just recently said "I honestly believe photography is 75 percent chance, and 25 percent skill. In accidents, we really discover the magic of photography" during the LOOK3 festival in Charlottesville .
I agree wholeheartedly. All of us will agree. We might differ as to the percentages (I'm more in the 85% in favor of serendipity camp), but the concept is right on the money. Whether in photography, photojournalism, medicine, chemistry, technology, biology, etc....accidents have led to fresh discoveries, new approaches and life changing products. No question about that. But does this really qualify as "magic of photography"? If so, I have a lot of the same in a filing cabinet somewhere...so I must be a magician...and I bet you are too. There's no question the photographer involved is talented and has produced a lot of laudable work, but is this even remotely serious?! I agree that serendipitous accidents can produce remarkable results in photography. For example, unintentional double or triple exposures often give us wonderful images...but not everything unintentional works...and ought not to be palmed off as such. Are our aesthetic values so impaired by Instagram, Hipstamatic, etc filters that accidental so-called " half photos" are raved about? Are we expected to genuflect in agreement to the sacred cows of photography who applaud stuff like that? And imitate other influenceable photographers who inexplicably oooh and aaah about it? I know I won't. Show me the full frames that follow these half photos, and I'll applaud if they're good. I realize some won't agree with me. That's fine. They might be right. I may be right. I guess it's a matter of different personal perspectives...but let's keep our feet firmly planted on level ground for a change, and call a spade for what it is...a spade. Subscribe to The Travel Photographer  | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | | Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved |
I'm taking the weekend off from blogging, and enjoying the Hudson Valley. By Sunday afternoon, I'll be hankering for New York City...and I'll be back. No, I don't drink that stuff....it's just for show. Subscribe to The Travel Photographer  | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
Posts
