Dial a cliché

On Foto8's revamped website Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin offer some insight into World Press Photo jury sessions (guess you have to register before reading this). Quote: Flicking through the 81,000 images originally submitted a sense of deja vu is inevitable. Again and again similar images are repeated, with only the actors and settings changing. Grieving mothers, charred human remains, sun sets, women giving birth, children playing with toy guns, cock fights, bull fights, Havana street scenes, reflections in puddles, reflections in windows, football posts in unlikely locations, swaddled babies, portraits taken through mosquito nets, needles in junkies’ arms, derelict toilets, Palestinian boys throwing stones, contorted Chinese gymnasts, Karl Lagerfeld, models preparing for fashion shows backstage, painted faces, bodies covered in mud, monks smoking cigarettes, pigeons silhouetted against the sky, Indian Sardus, children leaping into rivers, pigs being slaughtered.
So far I've only shot 10 subjects on that list, still so much to do...

A New Career in a New Town

They say inspiration can be found in your own backyard. In the case of me and Hamburg this did not really work out. One reason for that may be that Hamburg, where I moved to four years ago, is not exactly my backyard (seems as if Vienna is not likely to give up that position). Moreover this city by itself is not the most inspiring place you can think of (further reading for German speakers here). Granted, Hamburg is as beautiful as a German city can get. But beauty is not exactly what I look for in a city. So I pack my bags and move on (those of you who know where I borrowed the title of this post will know about the direction I am heading).