evi lemberger: being there...

kids 1, village, near fulbaria, 26th feb. 2012

General photos

The best pictures are clear, uncluttered shots ble.

The pictures we are able to use most are very crisp, clear shots of just one or two people with uncluttered backgrounds. We try to make sure there is eye contact with the camera in many of the shots.

People should be portrayed as active and self-reliant.

Try to capture action and movement when it is appropriate. Take unposed shots as well as the more ‘self-conscious’ portraits and ‘action’ photos.

(extract from a ngo brief)

kid getting water, village, near fulbaria, 26th feb. 2012

But the truth is that when I take a picture of a person I am ‘using’ that person. They are becoming material for my work and I’m turning them into an object, a piece of paper, that is a commodity. It is all troubling.

(alec soth in August 2006: Interview with Jörg Colberg: Conscientious)

school, village near fulbaria, 25th feb. 2012

i was not the photographer. not the main, just an intern who supposed to watch the NGO shoot done by another photographer.

Suppose. Children around me, staring first, shy, quiet, curious. They look at my camera; they want me to take picture of them. I know that. I was already at the other villages, where the children were following me. Through the tiny ways in between the houses, to the nearby lake, back to the rice fields into the main spot in the little village. They were shouting “one picture more” “What’s your name?”. They were looking at the little images at the screen in the back. Were laughing. They were happy what they saw.

The NGO said there was never a photographer in the village. But they get the idea. They speak English- at least better than my Bangla. Standing in front of it, looking into the camera, looking at the screen. Makes them happy. Back in New York people ran away when I asked them for a photograph. Or they asked for money. Or they asked for a contract.

Do they know what can be done with those photographs?

I was not supposed to deliver a product for the NGO. I had not a shooting list, except from mine.

schoolgirl, village near fulbaria, 25th feb. 2012

water, village near fulbaria, 26th feb. 2012

girl, village near fulbaria, 26th feb. 2012

NGO work is about creating a better world by using photography at last. Documentary is about trying to communicate the truth or at least the presenter’s truth. Photography is about representation, about communication, but also pleasing yourself, seeing something.

And for them it is fun, at least. They would like to be photographed. Why? I don’t know. How? I don’t know.

Reality is depending on the audience, the photographed person and the photographer. The portrait a contract between the representative, the presenter and the audience. The result is a dialogue, the picture the space in between the photographer and the subject.

I am looking at them. I am here in their world. I get something, I give something. They would like to see their image, I would like to see them. And I do not wanna create. that's my idea.