Exercise 3

After an exceptionally difficult journey through the Bolivian desert, where I ended up in a truck accident, I finally arrived in La Paz. At this point, I was in a state of shock, I was dehydrated, and I was suffering from altitude sickness and sunstroke. A physician prescribed coca leaves for me to chew to help improve my breathing and to speed up my recovery. That is how I came to wander about La Paz chewing coca leaves in a sorry mental and physical state. Despite easing my breathing, the coca leaves only accentuated my feelings of paranoia and anxiety. That evening, La Paz seemed like the most unsettling and inhospitable place I had ever visited. There were effigies hanging from trees inscribed with the words “Thieves will be hung”. Women in traditional costume pointed at me and treated me like a “gringa”, or at least that is the way it seemed to me at the time. And the merchants refused to give me directions, adding to my sense of disorientation.

Even though my camera’s focus had been damaged during the voyage, I decided to photograph La Paz that night and again set the ISO to maximum. Several images are almost abstract due to the high level of graininess and because of my technical difficulties with the focus. The resulting photographs seemed a success in that they really expressed the confusion I felt that evening. Some photos remind me of the work of Francisco de Goya in his series “Black Paintings”…

At the moment I am in the Amazonian region of Colombia, living in the jungle near a native reserve. I have been invited by these natives to a shamanic ceremony taking place next Saturday evening. I’m not quite sure what to expect, but I intend to continue my research for the “Rethink Photography” Project during this ceremony.

Exercise 2

While exploring Chile on a shoestring budget, I often had to sleep in deplorable conditions in brothels simply because they were by far the cheapest accommodation that I could find. One night, as I lay in bed in one of these bawdy houses, I looked at my surroundings while imagining that I myself was a prostitute. I wondered what such women felt and thought as they work in these places. I repeated Peter Fraser’s exercise by first using the artificial light in the room. Mostly, I took photographs of decorative objects placed there by someone in the poignant hope of creating beauty in these destitute surroundings. I felt that these objects – an embellished picture frame, flowered toilet covers, a rug with childish figures – were imbued with memories and poetic feeling. Knowing that these women often work in obscure light, I then repeated the same exercise in darkness (Maximum ISO).

Even though the results were not impressive in an esthetic sense, I felt that they were nonetheless relevant and were well-founded in the spirit of the “Rethink Photography” Project. In this situation, I wanted to use the subjective camera to photograph what a woman sees while
working and to suggest what she feels, rather than to take photographs while she is working as a prostitute. The subjective camera used in cinema has always fascinated me. I am a great fan of Dogma 95 and the films of Robert Morin, and I have always wanted to explore this concept in photography. Furthermore, while working in photojournalism, I am often confronted with moral questions about my work: for example, how can I explore themes such as prostitution while avoiding sensationalizing it and respecting the anonymity and dignity of my subjects? I think that my use of the subjective camera in this case was justified by a certain code of ethics .

Research for the Rethink Photography Project

Exercise 1

I was alone in my apartment in Buenos Aires when the lights went out during a thunder storm and the ensuing appearance of the old colonial house by candle light was making me feel uneasy. A sinister atmosphere was created by the shifting shadows, the altered appearance of objects and the creaking walls. I experienced the familiar childhood fears of storms, darkness and solitude mixed with the feeling of calm that I have always feel when listening to the sound of rain falling on the rooftop. I decided then to carry out the exercise that Peter Fraser had recommended to us: I closed my eyes and emptied my mind for twenty minutes and then revisited my surroundings, camera and lantern in hand.

I photographed various elements in the house, trying not to favor elements for their symbolic or esthetic value, but instead letting myself be guided by my feelings. For example, I took photographs of the cat’s bowl, postcards on the walls, the contents of the refrigerator, the medicine cabinet and the clothes closet.

I found the outcome of this exercise to be intriguing, in particular because of the very granular texture (Maximum ISO) of the photos which created an impressionist effect; and because of the stark contrast of dark and light which produced a dramatic result. In his tutorial, Peter Fraser was very enthusiastic about the results and strongly recommended conducting my research in the same vein for the Rethink project.