Schlapp
Well-known
Yes, many thanks. Wonderfully evocative images and lovely to have a thread about images rather than toys.
You did better than me in Cuba,. I took too much gear and missed many good images as a result. Wonderful place and fantastic people tho.
You did better than me in Cuba,. I took too much gear and missed many good images as a result. Wonderful place and fantastic people tho.
stefan_dinu
Established
@schlapp, even though I like theese toys a lot (the picture above show this), when I am shooting I go with a single camera and a single lens. Even though I pack two bodies and 2 or 3 lens for a trip, when I am out shooting, I prefer one body/one lens. This way I concentrate only on what is important.
amoz
Established
Very strong images!
Gadge
Established
Very nice work Stefan.
Much of it wouldnt look out of place on Magnum's website!
Gadge
Much of it wouldnt look out of place on Magnum's website!
Gadge
noah b
Established
What lenses do you use?
stefan_dinu
Established
Nice comment Gadge. For me is the supreme compliment. It just happens to attent a masterclass with three Magnum photographers starting Monday, in Brighton UK. I am very anxious, and therefor I gave it a shot with Cibachrome printing as well. I got some very nice results with CIbachrome printing. It has an unbelievable quality and look. Never seen something similar in terms of color printing.
Later edit: @ noah. I had with me only Zeiss Biogon 35mm and a Hexanon 50mm. But I think all of the images from CUba are shot with the Biogon. Hexar was on an M2 with BW film. As I remember.
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peter_n
Veteran
Stefan thanks for sharing and I found the images very interesting. Were the urban pictures taken in Havana? One of my kids might be going to Cuba to live and so I may go there myself next year. I shoot only B&W and I'm already thinking about this trip and whether to take any color film or not. It seems to me that the country is quite suited to B&W but I'd be very interested in your opinion.
Sisyphus
Sisyphus
Stefan,
Super website, very clean design and easy navigation.
It is difficult to offer a critique without knowing a little bit of what your purpose is and your intent; meaning are taking photos for fun and as a hobby, is there something more that you want to communicate portraying soical injustices.
Despite your intent, it seems as though you are photogaphing in one area, Central Havana, and the Promenade. I would venture out more to other neighborhoods. I feel that there is an emotional distance between you and your subject, but maybe this is not your intent? I think you should edit your images to make the overall presentation more intense and visually unified. I would select the images that have more intense light, and saturated color. These images appeal to me the most, and they are lost between the images where they seem to be more pedestrian in nature--Where it seems that you are just walking by and snapping pictures, and in some of the images there does not seem to be any major focal point that catches my eye. I would edit it down to maybe 20 of the strongest images--ess is more sometimes--and maybe just one image with a car.
Do you have any up close portraits of people? Cubans are some of the most inviting souls, yet I don't see any interpersonal connections of with the people through your camera lens. Do you have any images of the Malecon? I didn't see any, but you were right there, usually you might have one or two.
My comments are meant to be positive in nature, and without knowing your intent or the context of the this project it is difficult to assess what it is you want to accomplish. If you wanted to go there to just take pictures for run, I think you are successful. If you are trying to expose some aspect of the culture or street life, you might need to go back a few more times.
Best . . . "S"
Super website, very clean design and easy navigation.
It is difficult to offer a critique without knowing a little bit of what your purpose is and your intent; meaning are taking photos for fun and as a hobby, is there something more that you want to communicate portraying soical injustices.
Despite your intent, it seems as though you are photogaphing in one area, Central Havana, and the Promenade. I would venture out more to other neighborhoods. I feel that there is an emotional distance between you and your subject, but maybe this is not your intent? I think you should edit your images to make the overall presentation more intense and visually unified. I would select the images that have more intense light, and saturated color. These images appeal to me the most, and they are lost between the images where they seem to be more pedestrian in nature--Where it seems that you are just walking by and snapping pictures, and in some of the images there does not seem to be any major focal point that catches my eye. I would edit it down to maybe 20 of the strongest images--ess is more sometimes--and maybe just one image with a car.
Do you have any up close portraits of people? Cubans are some of the most inviting souls, yet I don't see any interpersonal connections of with the people through your camera lens. Do you have any images of the Malecon? I didn't see any, but you were right there, usually you might have one or two.
My comments are meant to be positive in nature, and without knowing your intent or the context of the this project it is difficult to assess what it is you want to accomplish. If you wanted to go there to just take pictures for run, I think you are successful. If you are trying to expose some aspect of the culture or street life, you might need to go back a few more times.
Best . . . "S"
jky
Well-known
Great site!
Vin Vermier
Member
Thanks for posting the link to your pics of Cuba, Stefan. I have had the pleasure of visiting this fine country several times over the past few years and your photos are a reminder of the reason why I return. You have captured the soul of a country that is special in my heart. I am not planning a trip in 2009, but you have reminded me of why I can't stay away for long. Thanks. And my wife will thank you, too, as she longs to escape our long, cold winter to enjoy the beaches and hospitality of Cuba! Great job. Don't let anyone convince you your photos are lacking in any way. You have it right.
stefan_dinu
Established
Thank you all for comments. In the meantime, I decided that 70 pics from Cuba is far too much, as sisyphus said before. Initially there where 15, but I got confused by the template design. Now I put all the images (different projects and some singles) on the first gallery, and then, the same images will be in different galleries as well. I did that in order to avoid having empty slots in the first page.
@sisyphus, beside the advice regarding the editing, I didn't understand much of your critique. First, you say that you don't know the purpose and intent (there is a info on each project, including Cuba which is the key to the images), and then you say: "despite your intent...". Which one? You didn't know the intent, remember?
Then, you said that I photographed only in Central Havana. Far from true. I visited all the major cities in Cuba, and less than a third from the images are from all Havana, including suburbs. There are pictures from Bayamo, Baracoa, Holguin, Sancti Spiritus, Trinidad, Remedios, and others.
There where no portraits on this project. Again, read the description. That does not mean I did not related with the people. Is just that in most of my photographs, people are anonymous. For me, this means the universality of the emotions and contexts. It is more easy for me to relate to a situation or context if I can't identify the character. It is just my thing. I use to do a lot of portraits, like those from India. But the whole idea in Cuba is the ghost like atmosphere.
Thank you all for stoping by and for all the critiques.
Sisyphus
Sisyphus
Stefan,
I was a bit schizophrenic yesterday or the day before, so hopefully I can be a little bit more clear with this critique.
First, sometimes it is difficult to interpret or deliver a critique even if you are in the room with the person. Keep in my mind my comments are meant to be positive NOT negative, and hopefully more helpful in nature.
My initial thought was I am wondering what your overall intent is with your photography? Is your photography just meant as hobby for you to experiment with the medium? Or is it something more serious and you are really trying to pursue a higher level career, like getting books published, exhibiting your work at major museums or galleries, working for a photo agency, receiving assignments? Or somewhere in between? Depending what your intent is my critique would be different.
For example if you tell me your intent is to just enjoy traveling, photograph a little, and put together a photo album for myself to serve as a memory or travel diary, then I would say the images are quite successful, and leave it at that. However, if your intent is something more serious in nature, and searching for something more profound, then about the daily life of Cuba, my critique would be a lot different.
I will offer a more in depth critique and hopefully one that will make better sense:
Editing:
I would edit your images down to 20 or less. Sometimes less is more. I feel that you have too many of the same images being represented too much, which makes the entire body of work redundant. You have some GREAT images, yet they are lost in the monotony of cars and murals. I would limit the number of cars that you show to one or two, and maybe one or two murals.
Content:
So, I read your response about my post. I did not search through your entire website or read anything that you wrote about your work in Cuba. I also did not look at any of your other work to see what you did prior to this. You posted about Cuba, I am just interested, at this moment, in your Cuba work. I will go back to search through your website as I do have an interest in your work. With that being said, I will start with what you wrote:
"There were no portraits on this project. Again, read the description. That does not mean I did not relate with the people. IS just that in most of my photographs, people are anonymous. For me, this means the universality for the emotions and contexts. It is more easy for me to relate to a situation or context if I can't identify the character. It is just my thing. I use to do a lot of portraits, like those in India. But the whole idea in Cuba is the ghost like atmosphere."
When I view your work from Cuba, I feel that there is a disconnect between you and the people. A lot of your images the people are not aware that you are photographing them, and the images feel a bit distant and indifferent; they are walking away from you, or you are photographing them as they walked passed you. I see a lot of side profiles, people in the deep shadow, or just you just photographing people where you cannot be seen.
I think your rhetoric about how it is easier to relate to a situation where you cannot identify the character is a cope out, and somewhat of an insult to the people of Cuba, or any person you are photographing. I really do. It sounds like you do not want to deal with them on more intimate or personal level, and instead, you are use them as a prop in your photographs. I am not saying that you are using people, but this is how I interpret when I read what you wrote. Maybe your work in India is different, but I only have the work from Cuba to see how you relate to people.
My other comment is that I am not sure what you mean when you say, "the universality of the emotions and contexts. Is just that in most of my photographs, people are anonymous." I tend to feel that you did not want the people to be anonymous, more like you wanted to be anonymous, or that you did not want people to know that you were photographing them, in hopes of capturing interesting moments, gestures, or interactions, but I don't see this in your images. I see interesting moments with light, saturation of color, a few graphic elements where the people make the scene more rich with the moment, but I do not see interesting interactions or gestures, up close, with just the people themselves, which makes me feel like you were not emotionally invested in this trip.
Also, I think you changed your Cuba site because I do not remember some of the other images that are now there. , the images that I think are successful are numbers 1, 4, 12, 14, 17, 22, 24, 32, 33, 34, and 35.
I would edit out numbers 7, 13, 20, 23, 26, 27.
The man slumped over wearing the hat and the man sleeping on the bench, I feel these images you sort of took advantage of them or their circumstances of them being unaware of you. The other images that I think, for me, just are not as strong either with the light, the formal elements, or how the images were framed, meaning that in a few of the images there are more distracting elements.
The cuban people are so sensual, where are these moments in your photographs, where the rich gestures, or the intense interactions?
This is a response to qualify my statements and what I meant in my earlier post. My comments are only meant to be positive and constructive in nature, NOT to be negative or de-constructive.
Just to qualify where I am coming from, photography is my passion, a serious, severe passion. I sacrifice almost everything for my photography and my photographic projects. My lifestyle is centered around my photography, and it is something that is apart of my core. Stating this may help in understanding where I am coming from when critiquing your work or anyone else's work. I have high standards for photography; with that being said I have far more failures than successes, but the successes have been amazing. In case you are wondering, yes I drive people around me crazy, yes I have lost a good relationship or two because I chose my photography over them, and yes i am my harshest critic. On the bright side, I have learned to keep the majority of comments to myself, not to say what I really think, which I do not think is always helpful, but realize some people do not really care about there work other than what it is, therefore, I am more selective when I do offer a critique.
Please do not take any of my comments personally, decide what you think is useful to you, leave behind what isn't, which may be everything. I am not the supreme authority on anything, not even my life, I am just passionate about a few things . . .
All my best . . . "S"
PS I did go back and look at the Cuba portfolio, I believe you changed it around a little, and your other work does have an emotional intensity like frame #55 among a few others . . .
I was a bit schizophrenic yesterday or the day before, so hopefully I can be a little bit more clear with this critique.
First, sometimes it is difficult to interpret or deliver a critique even if you are in the room with the person. Keep in my mind my comments are meant to be positive NOT negative, and hopefully more helpful in nature.
My initial thought was I am wondering what your overall intent is with your photography? Is your photography just meant as hobby for you to experiment with the medium? Or is it something more serious and you are really trying to pursue a higher level career, like getting books published, exhibiting your work at major museums or galleries, working for a photo agency, receiving assignments? Or somewhere in between? Depending what your intent is my critique would be different.
For example if you tell me your intent is to just enjoy traveling, photograph a little, and put together a photo album for myself to serve as a memory or travel diary, then I would say the images are quite successful, and leave it at that. However, if your intent is something more serious in nature, and searching for something more profound, then about the daily life of Cuba, my critique would be a lot different.
I will offer a more in depth critique and hopefully one that will make better sense:
Editing:
I would edit your images down to 20 or less. Sometimes less is more. I feel that you have too many of the same images being represented too much, which makes the entire body of work redundant. You have some GREAT images, yet they are lost in the monotony of cars and murals. I would limit the number of cars that you show to one or two, and maybe one or two murals.
Content:
So, I read your response about my post. I did not search through your entire website or read anything that you wrote about your work in Cuba. I also did not look at any of your other work to see what you did prior to this. You posted about Cuba, I am just interested, at this moment, in your Cuba work. I will go back to search through your website as I do have an interest in your work. With that being said, I will start with what you wrote:
"There were no portraits on this project. Again, read the description. That does not mean I did not relate with the people. IS just that in most of my photographs, people are anonymous. For me, this means the universality for the emotions and contexts. It is more easy for me to relate to a situation or context if I can't identify the character. It is just my thing. I use to do a lot of portraits, like those in India. But the whole idea in Cuba is the ghost like atmosphere."
When I view your work from Cuba, I feel that there is a disconnect between you and the people. A lot of your images the people are not aware that you are photographing them, and the images feel a bit distant and indifferent; they are walking away from you, or you are photographing them as they walked passed you. I see a lot of side profiles, people in the deep shadow, or just you just photographing people where you cannot be seen.
I think your rhetoric about how it is easier to relate to a situation where you cannot identify the character is a cope out, and somewhat of an insult to the people of Cuba, or any person you are photographing. I really do. It sounds like you do not want to deal with them on more intimate or personal level, and instead, you are use them as a prop in your photographs. I am not saying that you are using people, but this is how I interpret when I read what you wrote. Maybe your work in India is different, but I only have the work from Cuba to see how you relate to people.
My other comment is that I am not sure what you mean when you say, "the universality of the emotions and contexts. Is just that in most of my photographs, people are anonymous." I tend to feel that you did not want the people to be anonymous, more like you wanted to be anonymous, or that you did not want people to know that you were photographing them, in hopes of capturing interesting moments, gestures, or interactions, but I don't see this in your images. I see interesting moments with light, saturation of color, a few graphic elements where the people make the scene more rich with the moment, but I do not see interesting interactions or gestures, up close, with just the people themselves, which makes me feel like you were not emotionally invested in this trip.
Also, I think you changed your Cuba site because I do not remember some of the other images that are now there. , the images that I think are successful are numbers 1, 4, 12, 14, 17, 22, 24, 32, 33, 34, and 35.
I would edit out numbers 7, 13, 20, 23, 26, 27.
The man slumped over wearing the hat and the man sleeping on the bench, I feel these images you sort of took advantage of them or their circumstances of them being unaware of you. The other images that I think, for me, just are not as strong either with the light, the formal elements, or how the images were framed, meaning that in a few of the images there are more distracting elements.
The cuban people are so sensual, where are these moments in your photographs, where the rich gestures, or the intense interactions?
This is a response to qualify my statements and what I meant in my earlier post. My comments are only meant to be positive and constructive in nature, NOT to be negative or de-constructive.
Just to qualify where I am coming from, photography is my passion, a serious, severe passion. I sacrifice almost everything for my photography and my photographic projects. My lifestyle is centered around my photography, and it is something that is apart of my core. Stating this may help in understanding where I am coming from when critiquing your work or anyone else's work. I have high standards for photography; with that being said I have far more failures than successes, but the successes have been amazing. In case you are wondering, yes I drive people around me crazy, yes I have lost a good relationship or two because I chose my photography over them, and yes i am my harshest critic. On the bright side, I have learned to keep the majority of comments to myself, not to say what I really think, which I do not think is always helpful, but realize some people do not really care about there work other than what it is, therefore, I am more selective when I do offer a critique.
Please do not take any of my comments personally, decide what you think is useful to you, leave behind what isn't, which may be everything. I am not the supreme authority on anything, not even my life, I am just passionate about a few things . . .
All my best . . . "S"
PS I did go back and look at the Cuba portfolio, I believe you changed it around a little, and your other work does have an emotional intensity like frame #55 among a few others . . .
stefan_dinu
Established
Don't get me wrong. I wasn't upset about your comment. Not at all. I will be a fool if I post on a forum, and then get upset about critique. What is the point then. It is just that, at first, i didn't understand what was about. Now I do.
And even though I don't agree with you in some cases, this type of critique is the only one that helps me for the future projects.
I will write here a synopsis about this project. When I go someplace to make photographs, I try not to go with any preconception and, therefor, I do not make any research and thinking about what pictures I will make, Instead, I go there, and after a few days, I try to capture the feeling that I have about the place.
In Cuba, I didn't found those festive people that you are talking about. OK, I saw discos, and people hanging around Malecon and rich boys having a ball in Habana Vieja. But most of all, in all Cuba, I found a deep suffering and a unspoken expectation. After Fidel's ruling era eveybody was wondering what will be next. It was a state of transition, but nobody coud tell you where they are heading.
I lived 15 years in a harsh comunist regime, and if you didn't experience this, it is hard to understand what is happening bellow the surface with this people. They feel like in a zoo, with invisibile bars (in my pictures there are many visible bars), and with a lot of turists they have to entertain for some money.
I traveled more than 3 weeks and interact with a lot of people. I had a rented car and it was always full of hichhykers. I speak some spanish, and it is easy to understand them because the romanian language is also a latin language with a lot of simmilar words. Everytime I got this sadness and the sentiment of insecurity and mistery about what tommorow will bring.
After I saw the deep poverty they all strugle with, I was traveling in time to the point where I lived in communism and I didn't have any food, the water and electricity where always interupted, and we didn't have any contact with the outside world. In Cuba, I didn't had a good time because of that. There where some moments when I started crying on the streets. I knew at that time that I will have a baby in the next months, and with the paternal feelings already installed I was thinking about my parents, and what they have been through when they didn't have nothing to feed me and my brother. It was unberable. What was even more sad, is that I wasn't able to comfort them with the thought that capitalism will be better for them. Because it won't be. I saw this in Romania. People are not happier here now. They are different type of slaves.
Anyways, I am getting too personal for a forum. The thing is that I tried (i do not know if I succeeded) to portrait Cuba as I saw it. A phantom like place, within a transition to nowhere. I have a lot of pictures with portraits of my friends that I made there, but those are not saying anything about what I saw there. And yes, ALL the pictures that I make say as much about me as about the subject.
(sorry for my poor english)
And even though I don't agree with you in some cases, this type of critique is the only one that helps me for the future projects.
I will write here a synopsis about this project. When I go someplace to make photographs, I try not to go with any preconception and, therefor, I do not make any research and thinking about what pictures I will make, Instead, I go there, and after a few days, I try to capture the feeling that I have about the place.
In Cuba, I didn't found those festive people that you are talking about. OK, I saw discos, and people hanging around Malecon and rich boys having a ball in Habana Vieja. But most of all, in all Cuba, I found a deep suffering and a unspoken expectation. After Fidel's ruling era eveybody was wondering what will be next. It was a state of transition, but nobody coud tell you where they are heading.
I lived 15 years in a harsh comunist regime, and if you didn't experience this, it is hard to understand what is happening bellow the surface with this people. They feel like in a zoo, with invisibile bars (in my pictures there are many visible bars), and with a lot of turists they have to entertain for some money.
I traveled more than 3 weeks and interact with a lot of people. I had a rented car and it was always full of hichhykers. I speak some spanish, and it is easy to understand them because the romanian language is also a latin language with a lot of simmilar words. Everytime I got this sadness and the sentiment of insecurity and mistery about what tommorow will bring.
After I saw the deep poverty they all strugle with, I was traveling in time to the point where I lived in communism and I didn't have any food, the water and electricity where always interupted, and we didn't have any contact with the outside world. In Cuba, I didn't had a good time because of that. There where some moments when I started crying on the streets. I knew at that time that I will have a baby in the next months, and with the paternal feelings already installed I was thinking about my parents, and what they have been through when they didn't have nothing to feed me and my brother. It was unberable. What was even more sad, is that I wasn't able to comfort them with the thought that capitalism will be better for them. Because it won't be. I saw this in Romania. People are not happier here now. They are different type of slaves.
Anyways, I am getting too personal for a forum. The thing is that I tried (i do not know if I succeeded) to portrait Cuba as I saw it. A phantom like place, within a transition to nowhere. I have a lot of pictures with portraits of my friends that I made there, but those are not saying anything about what I saw there. And yes, ALL the pictures that I make say as much about me as about the subject.
(sorry for my poor english)
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Sisyphus
Sisyphus
Stefan,
My apologies for a delay in a response.
First, congradulations for becoming a father. This is very exciting and I am very happy for you. I became a father two years ago, and although she can be very stubborn and difficult, she is the absolute joy of my life, and the only person who seems to be able to pull me away from photography.
Second, your english is fantastic. I am not sure why you think your english is poor? It is perfect. And I am quite envious that you speak another language fluently, in addition to spanish. I have been trying to learn two other languages (French and Spanish), with no success, for the past 20 years or so. All I can say, with a horrible accent, where is the nearest bar? It comes in handy sometimes, but not much for anything else.
Finally, your project:
I think what you wrote in your last post, is what you should state on your website about your work on Cuba. This statement I think better flows with the images, and makes perfect sense. I did not grow up in communist goverment, but I did grow up during the tail end of the cold war. Although this does not compare what you have endured, and coupled with traveling to a few communist countries, I have a sense of the harsh reality that you might have had to face.
I am not sure if you are interested in this aspect, but I think it would be fascinating to photogrpah Romania today as a free society, jusxtaposed to Cuba. I think you have a welath of experience and knowledge that most people may not, and to bring this forth into visual, tangible evidence and feeling would be incredible.
Thanks for your response . . .
:S:
PS I am glad you do not agree with everything I mentioned. Also, there is a few images you took out which I liked a lot. One of them was the intense light on a building with all these people outside. I hope you put that one back in.
My apologies for a delay in a response.
First, congradulations for becoming a father. This is very exciting and I am very happy for you. I became a father two years ago, and although she can be very stubborn and difficult, she is the absolute joy of my life, and the only person who seems to be able to pull me away from photography.
Second, your english is fantastic. I am not sure why you think your english is poor? It is perfect. And I am quite envious that you speak another language fluently, in addition to spanish. I have been trying to learn two other languages (French and Spanish), with no success, for the past 20 years or so. All I can say, with a horrible accent, where is the nearest bar? It comes in handy sometimes, but not much for anything else.
Finally, your project:
I think what you wrote in your last post, is what you should state on your website about your work on Cuba. This statement I think better flows with the images, and makes perfect sense. I did not grow up in communist goverment, but I did grow up during the tail end of the cold war. Although this does not compare what you have endured, and coupled with traveling to a few communist countries, I have a sense of the harsh reality that you might have had to face.
I am not sure if you are interested in this aspect, but I think it would be fascinating to photogrpah Romania today as a free society, jusxtaposed to Cuba. I think you have a welath of experience and knowledge that most people may not, and to bring this forth into visual, tangible evidence and feeling would be incredible.
Thanks for your response . . .
:S:
PS I am glad you do not agree with everything I mentioned. Also, there is a few images you took out which I liked a lot. One of them was the intense light on a building with all these people outside. I hope you put that one back in.