My latest reportage: Murmansk region (Russian Arctic)

[Andrea Taurisano]

Hello folk

I just came back from a fantastic journey to the Russian region of Murmansk, at 70 degrees north. I travelled alone with my Leica M9-P. If you fancy to see the results, see here

http://ilcimento.wordpress.com/murmansk-oblast-russia-part-i/

(By clicking the link at the bottom of part I, you go to part II)

I'd love to hear feedback from you, as I value the experience this blog is full of.

Cheers!

 

[BobYIL]

Andrea, thank you for sharing your photos and impressions with us.

You visited one of the very few large communities north of the polar circle; layout, comments and prose all are interesting. The subjects for photos too... I liked them.

Now the part I did not like much: I will not criticize the way you use your M9P, however I will with the way you present your photographs. What's that vignetting on almost each and every frame? With the post processing you probably have aimed for a gloomy effect however this made the pictures look rather colorless, consequently somewhat lifeless... Was that really you intended them as to be?

IMHO, in any community there should be some color and vibrance to reflect no matter how desperate they may look like from outside (otherwise shoot them b&w..) ".... like the poorly maintained, the stinky and the noisy Murmansk. But there is also a young, a lively, a trendy Murmansk. I hope my photos and the accompanying stories portray a bit of this Murmansk too." I could not see "this Murmansk"... That's why the panoramic shot of the town taken at late afternoon comes like a fresh breeze to the onlooker, by contrasting to the other monotonous frames in the sequence, as if shot by someone else.

Once again a nice picture story but needing rework IMHO to become more interesting. BTW, I loved the "Aurora Borealis" and "Please Take a Seat" photos more than "Svalbard" ones because your artificial vignetting there again harming their looks.

Kind regards,

Bob

 

[filmfan]

I agree. I think you need to cut down on the repetitiveness. Almost every thumbnail looked like the same photo over and over.

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

Thank you. Interesting critique. It's not something I didn't think about, it was in fact a choice. Actually I got quite a lot of positive feedback on the photos from Svalbard, Antarctica, and now these ones with that kind of artificial vignettig and color processing. Many feel that it adds "drama" or at least contrast, while still retaining color (as an alternative to going high contrast b/w). It seems to me that a strong vignettig is a good way of drawing attention to what I want, when there is much distracting within the frame (as it's often the case in urban context). Others may crop heavily or use DSLR with zoom... but neither of them I really want to consider.

You say that color and vibrance are missing. In fact, vibrance was increased by a great deal in most shots of buildings: many of those building are indeed almost colorless (= their original color is now very much faded away). I may post here a few unprocessed shots when I'm home. But as said, I value your opinions and am going to think about that.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

i love the muted colors, like a lot of run-down communities found in the eastern bloc thanks!

 

[randomm]

I have to agree with the comment about vignetting. I, too, found it excessive - to the point that I could not finish the series ... of photos that I otherwise found rather interesting. I like the colour tones, but the vignetting makes them look like you're looking at things through a dark tube.

... I have always wanted to visit Murmansk area, this was a very welcome reminder of that thought.

 

[Jamie Pillers]

I like the images a LOT! I took some time to look at every image, and I don't do that very often here on RFF. I think I understand that you plan to do more travel/photography like this. I very much hope you do and that you post more images here.

Regarding the way(s) you present the images: first, I like the vignetting. It adds a bit of gloominess that I think is necessary with this subject matter. Keep up this work, please. And thank you for posting these here on RFF.

 

[Range Loser]

This is somewhere I would like to visit too, can you explain a bit about how you got hold of a driver etc, and is it expensive?

I like your photography, it takes courage to photograph people when you are the outsider. There is a little repetition, but I love the colours of the city, especially the ones taken looking over the city from the hills showing the harbour. Thanks for sharing.

 

[wojtek]

I didn't like it. Too many photos - WAY too many - and, mostly because of that, I have struggled with finding any particularly good ones.

Plus the processing, which invokes the memory of teenage Nikon users forum, fascinated with the raw converter and new Photoshop Elements.

Dude, this is a documentary, a reflection of reality. No reality there, just gimmicks and overload. Sorry 🙂

The text is interesting, however.

And on Leica... You are mentioning it in the second sentence of your intro here. Cannot stop thinking, that you were more attracted to the coolness of your gear than to the people and situations... Which shows.

Sorry 🙂

All the best in the future!

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

Dude, this is a documentary, a reflection of reality. No reality there, just gimmicks and overload. Sorry 🙂

The text is interesting, however.

And on Leica... You are mentioning it in the second sentence of your intro here. Cannot stop thinking, that you were more attracted to the coolness of your gear than to the people and situations... Which shows.

Dude, I do appreciate and respect your sharp critique to the aesthetics and quality of the series, but as to "no reality there" and me being more attracted to the coolness om my gear than to the people and situations, you don't know what you're talking about, as you know neither the place the series is about nor me as a person. Plase, take this as nicely and friendly as I take your feedback 🙂

 

[karlori]

I was in Murmansk twice, once as a tourist and once on a cargo ship... I must say the pictures do not really transmit the feeling I had when I was there.
Lose the vignette and/or the processing, the city is a bit more cheerful than that 🙂.

Other than that, a nice trip through memory lane. Thanks for that ! I'd love to go there around "Summer" once.

 

[Freakscene]

There are several I like very much. I've been up there and know how hard it can be to photograph.

But, as the others suggested, edit, edit, edit, get it down to the best view of each type, and lose the aggressive vignetting.

Marty

 

[OurManInTangier]

Vignetting is very much a matter of personal taste so I won't bother mentioning that, however I will back up those that suggest a further and more rigourous edit. After all the time, hard work and expense invested in such an undertaking it's only human to want to show as much as possible. Less really is more though and editing out those that don't move the narrative along and help to keep the story focused will detract from the overall project.

There are three or four very experienced documentary photographers who use RFF; Damaso, EmraPhoto, Bob Michaels and X-Ray are those that spring to mind. Hopefully for you they will see this and offer their experienced eyes otherwise it may be worth a PM to introduce yourself and seek some help. Those that make their living from this type of work could prove invaluable to you in helping to draw the strengths from the images you've produced.

...and well done on getting out there and doing it.

 

[rxmd]

Overall I don't like it. With the repetitiveness and the heavy postprocessing the series leaves the impression that you had an idea beforehand what Murmansk would be like, and then you went and shot that Murmansk. loseups of people made to look gritty and weird by the postprocessing, most people under 40 in the shots being attractive females, hardly any indoor shots - it's hard to see this reflect life. I appreciate your attempt to avoid "to emphasize the exotic (read ugly) sides of the place, like the poorly maintained, the stinky and the noisy Murmansk", and to show the "young, lively, trendy Murmansk", but for all the attempt to capture something young and beautiful there it turns out just as exotic and superficial as the other one.

I've been to a lot of decrepit Eastern Bloc towns and live and shoot in one now, and I meet a lot of people who come here more with a desire to satisfy their preexisting exoticism than with an interest, and your series reminds me a of that a lot.

 

[mynikonf2]

Just one word kept repeating it's self over, and over, and over again in my mind as I viewed these images, BLEAK! "What an awful location to have to live your life," that is how these images effected me. Your choice to use color is a good one because I do not think B&W could have conveyed the bareness & the mono tone quality of this colorless landscape... it's amazing where & in what conditions we, as human beings, can endure, learn to thrive in and to some, even come to call it their home.
God speed Murmansk...

 

[wojtek]

Plase, take this as nicely and friendly as I take your feedback 🙂

Sorry, mate 🙂 I just cannot take seriously a material like this which - in my view - hasn't been going through much editing. Plus, an author's introduction where the second thing he's mentioning is what camera he had used... What kind of relevance does it have to the cause? As a viewer, I am not concerned about your posessions or skills. I want meat. I want to see Murmansk and to be transported there 🙂

At the minute, there is this gimmicky colouring and vignetting, equipment notes; selection is far too wide... In my opinion, all these things are actually damaging an interesting nature of the place and encounters badly. Just my 2p. No offence.

Great kudos for doint it, dude. I just don't think you've nailed it particularly well. But no worries, as I am as prone to error as anyone and I also make boo-boos very often 🙂

Cheers!
W

 

[gavinlg]

Interesting, I enjoyed looking through them. I would edit them tighter, and I found the vignetting made them a little repetitive. I think a lot of the photos were strong enough to stand on their own without any forced vignetting!

 

[dogbunny]

There are some pretty good shots. I agree with the comments about editing and the vignetting. It is pretty interesting how similar it is to where I am here in Kazakhstan.

cheers,

db

 

[Out to Lunch]

I suppose the series reflects your situation in Murmansk at that time: on the outside and I equally suppose you'd have to live there for a good while to find and capture the city's humanity. I don't particularly like the color treatment -bit over the top but that's a matter of personal taste. Otherwise, I am looking forward to your next contribution!

 

[Andrea Taurisano]

I realise that I was a bit too quick calling this a "reportage", which seems to bring about some requirements as to how a good reportage should be (short, seems to be the a general opinion). What I actually do with few exceptions, and did in this case, is street and travel photography. In this case, being the material published on a blog where you're free to click on the photos you want so see larger, I don't see the problem with having many photos (as long as most aren't crap, which no one dared say up to now).

When it comes to vignetting, I see that it maybe was a bit too much in some photos, but still like the effect and got a lot of positive respose on just that, previously as in this case. The fact that 5 people after seeing this series chose to follow my blog, means something to me.

Anyway, the part 2 of the series is now republished, with less vignetting, some fewer images and (most improtant to me) with a progression that follows the one in the text. Unfortunately, I can't split the gallery into several galleries and include these into the text, so that text and photos speak together: the theme I'm using doesn't seem to allow more than one gallery in each thread.

It would be interesting to hear if those of you who hated the vignetting feel things have become so much better now that the vignettig is moderate.. Part 1 will be republished shortly too.