When I witnessed how people were living out the final years of their lives, it made a very strong impression on me. I remember a blind woman. I did not know that she was blind, so I asked her to look into the camera, but she said that she could not see. I thought why would a blind person need a passport? She did not have too much time left anyway.
In 1994-1995, the social services of Luhansk, a town in southeast of Ukraine, started offering photographers a job of shooting passport photos in the homes of elderly citizens who could not pay a photographer on their own. Alexandr Chekmenev was one of those photographers. He was commissioned to document people for their new Ukrainian passport in place of the old Soviet ones. There was a rush to accomplish this in the shortest possible time. All Ukrainians had to get a new passport within a year.
This story is from the March - April 2017 edition of Creative Image.
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This story is from the March - April 2017 edition of Creative Image.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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Passport Alexandr Chekmenev
When I witnessed how people were living out the final years of their lives, it made a very strong impression on me. I remember a blind woman. I did not know that she was blind, so I asked her to look into the camera, but she said that she could not see. I thought why would a blind person need a passport? She did not have too much time left anyway.
Female Portraiture In Iran Parisa Damandan
Parisa Damandan remembers her portraits taken as a young girl at a local studio in Isfahan. They were snapshots of a small, shorthaired schoolgirl in uniform turning into a young girl with long straight hair and finally into one on the threshold of womanhood. Later in 1978, Iran’s new political regime swept away existing institutions and put in place harsh laws.
Matheran Green Festival
A community of people geared towards revolutionising the way we live, work, play, and learn came together to organise a festival dedicated to leading greener lives. The festival aimed to encourage an eco-friendly way of living and conservation of nature and hoped to promote a healthy and self-sustainable lifestyle.
Russian Religious Pilgrimage Early 1900s
Throughout revolutions that made history and the ones that continue to shape today’s world, photography has provided understanding of the dynamic nuances that make a nation. Similarly, to the transmutation of the political, industrial, and religious scenario in 19th century Russia, photography acted as an important medium in documenting the unrest.
Altaf Qadri Kashmir The Bleeding Paradise
Being an insider, Altaf Qadri’s photographs of the Kashmir conflict are hard hitting, evocative and unapologetic. Yet they are personal, flawed and have an air of intimacy to them. It is this alienated sense of intimacy that makes his photographs transcend the violence depicted in them, into a space where empathy resides. Through his documentation, Altaf seeks to create a channel for an open and fair dialogue that lies beyond accusations and finger pointing. From his photographs, it is clear that violence can only ever beget violence; hate can only ever beget hate. It does not matter which side you are on, his photographs will move you enough to reflect, question the mindless violence at various levels, especially the infiltration from other side of Kashmir and the support of Pakistan’s ISI for the conflict to go on and for inflicting more deaths to isolate the local people who have populated the valley since 1989.
Rumoured in Branches
Artist and art critic Rollie Mukherjee is a non-muslim, non-Kashmiri based in Baroda, Gujarat. Her concern and urge to communicate the sufferings and pain of the Kashmiris were ignited by the stories shared by the few Kashmiris who used to come to her house frequently in the 90s to sell warm dresses and carpets. The memories of these stories stuck with her and would revisit whenever she read or watched something related to Kashmir. Unfortunately, events of the last one month have taken the situation to its painful limits in Kashmir. Here is what she shares with Creative Image.
In the Heart of the Dark Night
A conservationist and keen observer of the animal world, George Shiras III was a pioneer in the field of wildlife photography. His astonishing flash photographs revealed for the first time the mysterious world of the forest at night. For more than 60 consecutive years he probed the forested shores of the same wilderness lake in upper Michigan in search of images unlike any ever seen before.
A Dialogue Between Animals and Humans
MANJIT BAWA Born in Dhurie, Punjab, Manjit Bawa(1941-2008) studied at the College of Art and did his diploma at the London School of Printing. He was acknowledged as one of the most significantartists of his time and the recepient of prestigious awards. Much sought after by collectors and museums worldwide, his works are in important collections in the country and abroad. Bawa held succesful exhibitions of his work across the world throughout his artistic career. A man of variedinterests, Manjit Bawa was passionate about travelling, music, cinema and photography.
The Serengeti Lion
Michael ‘Nick’ Nichols began as a staff photographer for National Geographic magazine in 1996, later rising to the editor at large for photography in 2008. Nichols’ beginning in photography date back to a time when he was part of the US Army’s photography wing back in the ‘70s. Starting 1982, he was a member of the prestigious Magnum Photos for thirteen years. In 2014, he received the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award for his infrared image of a pride of resting lions.
Photo 'Ok' Please
If there has been one major shift in photography over the past few years, it is the advent of the cellphone camera. Even the cheapest of smartphones today pay extra attention to the quality of images that their devices can produce. Never has a camera been so portable and so affordable. Never has an entire generation been so vocal. In every sense of the term, photography has never been so democratic in its entire history. More photographs are made today on a daily basis than ever before.
