The Activists Fridge

Today is my last day in Ramallah; some things worked out as i imagined, some didnt quite work so well. I think i learned alot over the last few weeks.

Especially when it comes to subject matter i might have been too strongly influenced by the wrong persons (those who deem themselves artists), and not by these who are producing the best documentary photography currently available (Rob Hornstra for example - check him out at Borotov.com) I will write more on this soon, for now i want to stay with an image of a fridge (which i find to be good subject matter)


I found it at an activist base. The white paper informs people that it is not allowed to put Israeli products inside, and there is a megaphone (is this the Engish word?) in the corner (not to mention these beautifully done ship - hats in red and blue ;-)

I am not sure what to think about the "Boycott Israel" thing; it certainly reminds me on the "Kauft nicht bei Juden" slogan of the Nazi years; then again, the distinction has to be made between Critique on Israel (which this belongs to), Anti - Zionism and Antisemitism (which is a strange term anyway, because it refers to a group of languages, Arabic is a part of, too)

I will spend the last days of this trip in Tel Aviv, maybe visit the beach. I'd love to have a surfboard here (you would not believe how expensive rent is - 20 Euros p/h.

Have fun,

flo.

Bil ' In

The people from Bil'in organize a demonstration against the wall every friday. They are especially hit by it's erection, because it cuts their farmland in two parts, which makes much of it unaccessible for them.

Due to their nonviolent resistance many of the villagers are on the wanted - list of the Israely military. They pick them up in the middle of the night and take them away for interrogation. Very often, violent meassures are taken against the villagers, too.

Today i went to the demonstration: villagers, foreigners and activists gather after the friday prayer, march up to the wall. There they shout for peace and against the wall, try to drag some of the razorblade fences away. After that the military throws teargas, sound bombs or foul water at the demonstrators. Some run, some, who have masks, stay a little longer.



The image shows parts of a running boy, without a mask, attendants of the press, with masks, and some demonstrators. For one more image of the demo visit my page and go to the documentary/events section.

For a video of a demonstration go to you tube, search "Bil'In"

Tonight i will take images of shopping in Ramallah; ramadan comes to an end, and people buy presents for their loved ones. So at nights the streets are full of shoppers. I'll see how that goes. Off to Tel Aviv tomorrow.

on bad view and black white

After coming back from Hebron today i decided that it was time to leave the West Bank. Although there were a few candid images amongst the ones i took there, i had the feeling there could be more to get, but i just couldnt because of "bad view" ( i hereby declare these words my expression of the state, where one is not able to cope with the visual surrounding in a meaningfull way any longer). Bad view expresses itself in pictorial exotism, uninspired portraitism, and, the most central thing, not being involved with your subject matter. Being not close enough to your subjects will certainly result in mediocre images at best. And mediocre images are what i mainly produced today. Except for the attached image (and then some)



The image above shows a man waiting or his haircut, and Canadian mountains. It certainly would give a nice print, because it is full of details (like, what the barber smokes, the kind of cups he uses; also there is a little romance going on)

I think this is a thing that might befall one after awhile in rather unfamiliar environments; a similar thing happened to me a year ago in Bulgaria. In the West Bank the ever shouting boys do the rest ("no, i will not take your image now; ahh ok, i will, for the sake of getting rid of you....)

However, in Israel you have the chance to change laces within an hour; the contrast between the official territory of Israel and the West Bank is most striking. Therefore i hope that changing places will help me to get focussed again, and will bring me back into the game. I am certainly looking forward to take good images (whatever that is) of Palestinians and Life in Palestine again.

Second, i was browsing through some picture essays made in Palestine over the past 10 years. Andreas and i decided, that there is too much b/w work to be found in documentary photography. I mean i see times when using b/w is nearly necessary: e.g. when the color distracts from the things shown in the image and make it nearly unreadable. But i have the feeling that, more often than not, it is used to achieve a visual cliche that our seeing habits are used to already. The following image would never gain any attention if it was in color, but due to the tonal range i find it a decent b/w.

The image shows a girl starring out of the car, while a Truck is overtaking. Shot near the checkpoint which name i will hopefully remember at some point.


Thanks for your attention. Have a nice time ,

flo.

Nablus - one image

The image above shows a boy in Nablus, standing in front of a wall scattered with bullet holes. After the whole conflict seems to be a never ending story, i like the writing on the wall; thus i find this image worth showing.

Ramallah

Hi there. I spent my first six days in Ramallah, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and Bethlehem and i think impressions are far too numerous to really get into detail here. So far everything went fine, but it surely could be slightly better: more action would be appreciated. But it is about to come. So, just two images:

the first showing the owner of the local Snow bar, swimming in his pool in the hills of Ramallah: quite a decent place, it comes with reaggea music, couches, and well, the pool:


The second shows a lonely beetle at the parking lot of a christian school.


See you soon,

flo.