Vienna




East bound train. Bratislava, Slovakia 2009

To see more images from Slovakia please visit the photo department.

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

Vienna


Student protester. Vienna 2009

Do real leftists wear Che shirts?

In order to know where we are going it is important to think about where we have been. Twenty years ago the wall between east and west Germany began to fall and a new chapter began. Now all we have are the remnants and our memories, not to mention our history, which follows us around like a shadow. Sometimes it’s good to stop and look at the shadow…


The end of the wall. Berlin 2006. © Damaso Reyes

Vienna



A Schengen Treaty supporter.

Vienna

Well it’s snowing right now in Vienna which should give you an idea that I am no longer in the warm embrace of the Mediterranean coast. It just can’t all be beach days and sunshine, can it? Vienna is much as I remember it from my trip last year. The smell of wood burning in fireplaces is a welcome sensation. These first few days have been slow; acclimatizing to the city again and figuring out what I want to try to accomplish while I am here. Just walking the streets in this city is a real pleasure and I am having a good time shooting. Don’t worry, there will be some organized photography as well, in fact last Sunday I returned to the Jewish cemetery here where a volunteer day had been arranged to help clear some of the creeping vegetation. Here are a few images from the past five days…


Local produce.



The carnivore option



The past in the present.


The Wild West.

Barcelona

It’s been an interesting month here in Barcelona. I have certainly gotten to know the city much better, which was one of my strategic aims. Often photography is not actually about taking photos; it is about laying the groundwork so you can take pictures. That having been said I did shoot a whole lot of film, mostly street photography but I managed some organized shoots as well.


Shadow and light. Barcelona 2009

I do feel like this is the city for me and I look forward to returning next spring to set up a base of operations. The town has a wonderful energy which is difficult to describe but I found the people warm and open, just the kind of place I want to live. Now it is upwards and eastwards towards Vienna!

Barcelona

It’s been an interesting two weeks here in Barcelona. The city is as lovely as I remember it from four years ago. Here are a few images…

Well after a few months back in the States I am off to Barcelona for a month and then Vienna! Stay tuned for more info and maybe even some photos if you’re lucky!



Watching and waiting in Barcelona…

The Europeans Inc. has a new home! Please visit http://www.europeandebate.org/ when you have a chance. Here anyone interested in what is happening in Europe can engage and share their thoughts. The website is very new but over time it will develop into a multi-media, interactive playground fro those interested in Europe.

For those interested in the photographic documentation of the changes Europe is experiencing you can stay right here!

The British have a term for intrusive, heavy handed government: the Nanny State. It seems like the government is taking the term to a whole new level as we learn from the Daily Express.


We’ve got our eye on you…

“The Children’s Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes. They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals. Private security guards will also be sent round to carry out home checks, while parents will be given help to combat drug and alcohol addiction.”

It is hard not to be in favor of government helping families, especially those facing challenges. But what the British government is proposing, they’ve been dubbed “sin bins,” goes too far. The country that produced Orwell should be more sensitive to Big Brother like programs and it is doubtful that all this monitoring will actually have the intended effect. If anything it will most likely make people feel resentful. And of course watching someone on a video monitor does not actually help them become better parents. It is the easy way out for government officials who want results but don’t want to put the time and resources in to change the underlying circumstances…

What happens when a country has to change its perception about what it does best? In America that did happen in many ways as the economy shifted from manufacturing to a more service oriented economy. Right now it looks like Germany, long known for its precision manufacturing, is starting to have the same conversation.


I’d rather build it…

“In recent months, two big computer chip makers slipped through Dresden’s fingers, challenging the notion that an area that likes to think of itself as “Silicon Saxony” can continue to churn out high-technology devices by the millions. But not every inhabitant of this picturesque city considers that a bad thing.

“The loss has fired a debate over whether the future of Dresden, in what was once East Germany, should lie more in research and design, rather than manufacturing, and few are more passionate about the intellectual side of the chip-making business than the young entrepreneurs at Blue Wonder Communications. Barely four months old, the company is angling for a piece of the lucrative business in designing chips for the next generation of wireless technology.”

It is very healthy that Germany, along with much of the rest of Western Europe is spending an increasing amount of time looking forward towards the future. It is all too easy to simply keep doing what one is good it, it takes far more effort and risk to begin to transform what is at the heart of your identity. Of course this same conversation should be happening in many other areas of German and European society, namely immigration. But the talking has to start somewhere….

The British have a term for intrusive, heavy handed government: the Nanny State. It seems like the government is taking the term to a whole new level as we learn from the Daily Express.


We’ve got our eye on you…

“The Children’s Secretary set out £400million plans to put 20,000 problem families under 24-hour CCTV super-vision in their own homes. They will be monitored to ensure that children attend school, go to bed on time and eat proper meals. Private security guards will also be sent round to carry out home checks, while parents will be given help to combat drug and alcohol addiction.”

It is hard not to be in favor of government helping families, especially those facing challenges. But what the British government is proposing, they’ve been dubbed “sin bins,” goes too far. The country that produced Orwell should be more sensitive to Big Brother like programs and it is doubtful that all this monitoring will actually have the intended effect. If anything it will most likely make people feel resentful. And of course watching someone on a video monitor does not actually help them become better parents. It is the easy way out for government officials who want results but don’t want to put the time and resources in to change the underlying circumstances…

The class barriers that many Europeans, especially the British, face is nothing new. But just how pervasive a roadblock is class in the U.K.? Marketplace.com explores this issue in an excellent report.


What chance do I have?

“The government there is out with a new report on social mobility in the UK. It says lower-class Brits are routinely excluded from the top jobs. And professions like medicine and law are increasingly closed to all but the most affluent families.”

It is a startling report that is well worth listening to. The real question becomes what will British society do to reverse this trend? Do ordinary people see this as a problem or do they simply accept this as the way things are?