Photographer's Note
About Poland. Page Eleven: About Weakning Pride
There used to be a coal mine in the neighbourhood. They shut it down few years ago.
These two fellows used to work there. They dont any longer. Instead they meet here and have few cheap beers.
But they still proudly talk about their employer, about their past. But this pride is weakening.
In the background we see a tenement house ready for disasembling. "PKP" snatnds for the Polish National Railways, and old school workshop of PKP is right in front of these fellows.
brevbrev14, humanist, sebcz, m_s_s, Davidh34, Vato_Law, John_F_Kennedy, luisafonso, KevRyan, keribar, marknunnerley, eleparc heeft deze opmerking als nuttig gemarkeerd
Critiques | Translate
jasmis
(58653) 2006-10-22 3:35
Dotykasz delikatnej materii. Fakt, ze zamknięto w ostatnich latach ponad 20 kopaln, bo węgla wydobywaliśmy za dużo, ale prawdą jest też to, że tym ludziom nie dano niczego w zamian.... Trudny temat. Pozdrawiam.
brevbrev14
(140) 2006-10-22 3:54
Hi JErzy, i like a lot the tones of this shot and the natural position of the men.Great your compo and POV. Very intersting.
Ciao!
Valeria
xavshot
(69835) 2006-10-22 3:56
Bonjour Jerzy
trčs belle photo avec une trčs belle utilisation du grand angle. J'aime beaucoup ce cadrage et ces teintes. Beau travail
amicalement
Xavier
humanist
(695) 2006-10-22 3:56
Fascinting story that your photo + note tell. I like the effect you have achieved in your PP. Did you use "clarify" in PSP?
entrelec
(8328) 2006-10-22 4:09
Excellent daily life shot;usually I don't like strong pp , but here I am wandering if it is not a good choice...
Good sunday
Joel
Furachan
(0) 2006-10-22 4:17
Interesting how you're really working those extreme wides right into the corners, and for portraits too. I must say in your caable hands it serves a purose: namely to anchor these men deeply in their environment - NO ESCAPE. Not many could handle those mm's as well.
Fascinating brickwrk for me as always...
best,
-F
RGatward
(20108) 2006-10-22 4:35
A sad scene and story, and probably one more common in Poland than other new member EU states, not just because of its size, but through employing the most extreme monetarist policies in order to realign it's economy in the '90s. Well, something has to be about PKP I suppose, but a pity those well built buildings can't be refurbished for new use, rather than demolished.
Classic fine portrait to illustrate your continuing story.
m_s_s
(1691) 2006-10-22 5:54
Witaj Jerzy,
ponownie fajna kompozycja, jednak cos sie mi nie podoba. chyba za duzo kontrastu. nie wiem, czy to bylo zamierzone, zeby ta czerwona sciana z 'pkp' bila po oczach, czy tak przerobiles w ps. twarze i rece ludzi tez sa jakies za ciemne - sugerowalbym, ze uzyles 'highlights' za mocno. fajne ruiny w tle. super klimat zdjecia. znowu nie widze, ze patrza Ci w obiektyw, jakby strzal z biodra. dobra robota.
pozdrawiam
Davidh34
(838) 2006-10-22 6:48
Hi Jerzy
A familiar sight in much of the 'former' industrial countries, including here in the UK. The full use of the frame has been mentioned before, and is something I wouldn't have thought of in a portrait shot. Thought provoking again, TFS
Vato_Law
(12732) 2006-10-22 10:28
Hello Jerzy,
Nice shot with this 2 guys expressions well captured and kind of showing their concern about the future, In Poland it were the mines in Portugal the big iron industries and shipyards like in Setubal district wher two of the main companies also closed throwing thousands of employees back home, many of them in even worse situation as entire families worked there.
Anyway, and back to your photo I like the way you used the wide angle to enhance the mans and then giving us a wider view of this place. I like the colours and patterns of the walls, so typical from your country, and the high contrasts of your photo.
Cheers.
Paulo
coco
(30439) 2006-10-22 11:15
Witaj Jerzy.
Black and white or colour. Good question. Anyway the scene is good by itself.
Also is true that I don't like the distorsion that we can see in the left part of the picture.
Anyway, a very good daily life picture.
Well done.
Polonaise
(5802) 2006-10-22 13:25
Technical gem.
Rough technical gem.
Rough and grainy technical gem.
Rough, grainy and distorted technical gem.
Those lens distortions...What a treasure it is!
Two things are making a photography very photographic... Grain and the wide lens distortions !
That's why they built a fisheye curiosity.
--------------------------
Your usual stuff.
Excellent approach spiced with a social comment to provoke, to discuss, to stay for a while longer on your one of a kind site.
Thanks, buddy.
You've forced them to think a bit more..
JG.
rbcy1974
(20758) 2006-10-22 16:50
Hello Jerzy
Beatuiful division of the frame in two halves, I like the way the men are the focus of the first plan and how the destroyed building in the background has som much character and almost life to itself
Well done
Regards
Daniel
maki
(0) 2006-10-22 17:47
No, bardzo mocne, wyraziste i dosadne, tak jak najbardziej u Ciebie lubie. Tematycznie bardzo reportazowo, co oczywiscie tez in plus. Kolory bardzo glebokie a szeroki kat sie spisuje na medal.
pozdrawiam,
maki
faubry
(35447) 2006-10-22 17:56
hello Jerzy, great photo!! men without futur, without work, i don't know if, like wrirte Rafal, this region are growing economically?
thanks fro this shot!
take care
francine
barrufeto_77
(28888) 2006-10-23 1:25
Hi J.
A nice story in this beautiful. Probably is best than the picture itself.
The note is really impressive!
Rgs, Oscar
PS: Whas your son happy with yesterday's Madrid-Barça match? jajajajaja
jinju
(14265) 2006-10-23 3:22
Hey Jerzy,
its a sad fact, but a fact nonetheless that this industry doesnt have a future, and that shutting it down is what needs to be done...yet ofcourse there are serious consequences on the personal and community level. This region is actually a fast grwing one economically, yet a whole sector of society will never see the benefits of that growth.
The treatment is as good as b/w for setting the sad mood..maybe even better as the red brick is the symbol of old Slask, the one getting the boot and being wiped out to make room for the new.
luisafonso
(862) 2006-10-23 7:06
Great wide shot my friend. And this contrasty pp is really up to my taste. Colors are great too. The main subjects attitude is very nice. They seemed a bit unaware of you but we can still feel how implicated they are with you. One of my favorite from the series till now.
Christal (25) 2006-10-23 9:41 [Comment]
KevRyan
(22956) 2006-10-23 10:57
You are so often on the button with these photojournalistic shots - you just get better and better at illustrating these stories and writing to illustrate your photographs - I think there would be many a magazine you could be shooting for in a year or so if you put your mind to it.
great work j
jlynx
(12647) 2006-10-24 8:41
Witaj Jurek,
tak, to prawda, tym ludziom podobnie jak wielu spośród nas nie danoi niczego wzamian za wszystkie ciężary tak zwanych przekształceń. Mimo iż staliśmy się współwłaścicielami tego kraju i jego dóbr z zemsty za okres nacjonalizacji pozbawiono nas nawet złudzeń. no cóż, należy liczyc tylko na to, że hostoria "kołem sie toczy"... Dobry, bardzo dobry kadr, świetny klimat, dobre kolory i jakość.
Pozdrawiam,
J.
keribar
(43841) 2006-10-24 11:48
Hello Jerzy
I am very impressed with this one, because of the beautiful background, and the bright colors, a little bir my style perhaps. I also appreciate pictures which are not my style
but here this one has all chances.. I wonder how the guys did not react they look so natural. Best - Izzet
marknunnerley
(2780) 2006-10-28 10:11
Hi Jerzy,
liked this shot when I first saw it posted the other day. This shot works as it is but I wanted to crop it to show it as an enviromental portrait of the two men. The background wall with its colour and texture are excellent as well as the indifferance of the two men as to your presence.
Indeed we are loosing to many good honest workers nowadays to non productive jobs.
Excellent,
Mark
eleparc
(24063) 2006-11-02 6:48
sorry for not being very active at the moment so I am trying to catch up a bit with my friends' photos... i love the strong and harsh colors in this photo. One can tell these men had a rough life! you are doing a great sociological work on Poland!
Eric
hajle
(1087) 2006-11-16 8:06
no to zdjecie to jest mistrzostwo! uwielbiam takie kompozycje - rozwalona, popisana sciana, PKP, wasy i przepite twarze, tatuaz, blyszczace buty, katana i reklamowka! rewelacja!
Photo Information
-
Copyright: Jerzy Bucki (bantonbuju)
(51815)
- Genre: Mensen
- Medium: Kleur
- Date Taken: 2006-08-28
- Categories: Dagelijks leven, Architectuur
- Belichting: f/4.8, 1/125 Seconden
- More Photo Info: view
- Fotoversie: Originele versie, Workshop
- Thema's: About - a trip around and about Poland [view contributor(s)]
- Date Submitted: 2006-10-22 3:33
Discussions
- To jasmis: temat (1)
by bantonbuju, last updated 2006-10-22 03:41 - To humanist: effect (1)
by bantonbuju, last updated 2006-10-22 03:59 - To m_s_s: dobre uwagi (1)
by bantonbuju, last updated 2006-10-22 08:48 - To barrufeto_77: madrilleńo (1)
by bantonbuju, last updated 2006-10-23 03:02 - To marknunnerley: ws (1)
by bantonbuju, last updated 2006-10-29 01:20