Well I'm off for NYC once again. While my time here is done you will be seeing more images from Vienna over the coming weeks. In the meantime don't forget to visit my other blog at damaso.com/blog which I update every weekday. Until I see you again, take care!

Thanks to everyone who came out to my exhibition opening in Vienna last night!

The work for my upcoming show, Vienna From The Shadows, was featured this week on the official Leica Camera blog. Take a look if you have a chance...

If you are in Vienna stop by my exhibition which opens on November 2nd, 2010!

The Europeans is featured in the current issue of Europe & Me Magazine! If you want to learn more about my project and how I go about making pictures, this is a good read. Enjoy!

Vienna


Art opening. Vienna, September 2010

So I'm back in Wien! It's been a few weeks and I'm slowly getting back into the groove. I got a grant from the Ford Foundation to complete a project about asylum seekers here in Austria. As usual things are going slowly but that's why I will be here for three months. I'll keep you posted when something of interest pops up. In the meantime don't forget you can always visit me at www.damaso.com/blog as well.

I really am a post modern kind of guy! I was in Tallinn shooting away but also editing images that I shot in Barcelona last year. Now I am back in New York writing about it all. Cool don’t you think?


The strong arms of the law.

Well I have a few new galleries of images up and you should check out what you might find backstage at a burlesque show; what office life is like or just what you discover when you wander around Barcelona.


Look but don't touch.

Next up will be images from Vienna, which is my next stop! I will be there for about three months finishing up working on my project documenting the lives of asylum seekers. It should be riveting!

Tallinn

Greetings from sunny Estonia! For a little over a week I’ve been an artist in residence at the Polymer Culture Factory here in Tallinn and I will be here until the end of June. Housed in a old toy factory Polymer is the last word in post-industrial. The people are friendly and the international group of artists, as well as the Estonians, have been very warm.


Flowers via a pinhole digital camera.

This is my first time in the former Soviet Republics so I’m still gathering my impressions. As small as the country is the level of technological development is high (apparently this is where Skype was invented). I hope in the coming weeks to spend more time wandering the streets and working on a few documentary projects. Time will tell!

The Postcard Project is Back, Again!



There is a lovely postcard with an image from Brittany, yours for the taking. The Postcard Project is my attempt to create tangible works of art in this digital age. Each series is limited to 100 pieces and has a personal message from me to you! All you need to do is send me your mailing address and a short time later you will get a Damaso original! Sorry, one per customer.. Enjoy!

I have several photographs from The Europeans in a group show that is up right now in Ohio and in celebration I’ve created a limited edition postcard!

Supplies are limited (duh) so send me a message with your mailing address and you too can be part of the magic, not to mention own a Damaso Reyes original!



“This exhibition focuses on the visual appearance of, the manifestations of, or the individual explorations of God. Works should address what is the visage of God? How do we search for God? What do we find? And what do these findings reveal? This exhibition is open to traditional and non-traditional systems of belief and also seek those beliefs that challenge the notion of God and religion.”

February 15 – March 18

The Kuhn Fine Arts Gallery is located off the main lobby at the east entrance of Ohio State Morrill Hall.
1465 Mount Vernon Avenue, Marion, Ohio 43302

The gallery is free and open to the public Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Long time no speak!


Singing the song. Brittany 2008.

So what have I been up to you ask? Well this and that is the real answer. Teaching, thinking and of course constantly applying for grants and fellowships not to mention plotting my return to Europe. I’m aiming for mid April, if not sooner. My goal is to make the transition as stable as possible and of course that takes resources so like a bear getting ready for winter I’m working hard and stocking up. Stay tuned…

Recently one of my images from The Europeans was featured on the leicashots.com website. Please check it out when you have a moment!



East bound train. Bratislava, Slovakia 2009.

Vienna



Family moment. Hungary 2009

To see more images of Hungary, follow the link!

Vienna

My time in Hungary and Slovakia earlier this year was short, but sweet. I made some new friends and had the chance to spend more time in eastern Europe, something that is essential in telling the story of how Europe is changing. Here are links to some galleries. In just ten weeks I photographed in small towns and well as in the countryside; in a car factory and at a wine festival. I look forward to going back soon. In the meantime please have a look…


Pharmacist. Štúrovo, Slovakia.


Remembering the revolution. Esztergom, Hungary.



Spring festival. Chlaba, Slovakia.

Vienna

But where are the photos? That is what people always ask. Working in film and in black and white means that I can’t just show someone the photo I’ve taken five seconds later. It takes time. Days, weeks even months later I produce the “results.” While I certainly do enjoy the end product as an artist it’s actually the action of taking the photograph, the experience of being in a place at a certain time that is even more interesting. The film will be there if I develop it the next day or the next year; it is the experience of living and working in a place that really makes this craft interesting, at least to me.


Foreign influences. © Damaso Reyes

The photograph is a document, a reminder of what has been but it is nothing but a shadow of what was, even if it is a lovely shadow. I would never trade the experience of making the photo for the actual photo itself because for me the act of creation is what is interesting. Walking down a city street, waiting in an office, simply being in a place or meeting a person you otherwise would never encounter is what appeals to me as a photographer. The camera imparts a freedom that as a young poor child in Brooklyn I could have scarcely imagined. Today the only limits I have are those I place upon myself, thanks to my camera cum passport.


Generations of song. © Damaso Reyes


To that end I make my images available (both to myself and others) when I damn well feel like it. The nice thing about not having a deadline is that you don’t have to rush; you can reflect, relax and actually think. But eventually you do want to see what you’ve done so here are links to images from Brittany that I took last year. While I rather like many of the images, of course I’d like to go back and do more work; such is life. But there are some real stars in these galleries so take a look…


Circus performer. © Damaso Reyes