2Fadi BouKaram on How to Shoot Better Street Photography
In this excerpt from The Candid Frame podcast, Lebanese photographer Fadi BouKaram, a founding member of Observe Collective, explains how he trained his eye as a street photographer, and learned to shoot street photographs that have emotional impact. BouKaram also talks about the value of respecting subjects. He was interviewed by Ibarionex Perello, host of The Candid Frame.
Ibarionex Perello: What things have you done that have helped you develop your eye? [How] were able to be a good photographers within a relatively short period of time? Fadi BouKaram: I didn’t go to art school, but I did two workshops. The first one was with David Gibson. It was important because it introduced me to all the great photographers. Much of getting an eye involves studying the history of photography. The other part is forcing yourself to say that I’m not good, over and over again. It’s to say: I want to learn. If I want to learn, that means I have to admit, I have to know what my shortcomings are…I’m not saying you’re putting yourself down to the point where you’re blocking yourself. But a little self-whipping doesn’t harm anyone….
3Recovering Lost Photos of Life Before the Chernobyl Disaster
Chernobyl.
The name evokes the chilling imagery of a ravaged nuclear reactor, tens of thousands of displaced Soviets fleeing radiation-contaminated homes, the ghostly overgrown landscape today. But that is not what the Ukrainian photographer Maxim Dondyuk has sought out during his exhaustive trips to the Chernobyl exclusion zone over the past few years.
Before the nuclear disaster in 1986 made 1,000 square miles of land uninhabitable to humans for thousands of years to come, Ukrainian families lived in cities and villages within the region, some for many generations. They attended school, went sailing, traveled, celebrated Christmases.
Mr. Dondyuk, who was born three years before the nuclear reactor exploded, found decaying pictures in the abandoned homes and buildings that encapsulated the previous era. He wants to ensure it isn’t forgotten.
GRUESOME colourised crime scene snaps from early 20th century New York show bloodied victims snapped by a legendary photographer who could was said to be able to predict murders.
The unnerving shots by Arthur Fellig show the bodies of Robert Green and Jacob Jagendorf after a failed robbery attempt, a bloodied couple lying dead in bed and a murder victim with a chalk outline drawn around him.
Other horrifying pictures show a man in a suit lying dead with his hat beside his head, the body of Antonio Pemear who was murdered in his residence and a close-up of a corpse’s bloodied and battered face.
The original black-and-white crime scene photographs were painstakingly colourised by Frédéric Duriez from Angres, France.
“I think that it’s is a haunting collection of crime scene photographs never meant to be seen by the public in colour,” he said.
“I like how picture was taken. Just above the character. This increases the dramatic side of the scene.
