Phew (for fatigue, not disgust)! That was definitely a challenge. Now it’s time for something totally different. We decided to calm down for a while, drink something warm and look at the old pictures. This is the first part of these “let’s look at the family album and tell stories” posts. So let’s go: In a way a photograph quides us to believe that it is objective and shows reality “as it is”, because the objects and persons appearing in the picture were in front of the camera at the time of pressing the shutter. What it doesn’t show (at least without shouting it out loud) is everything that’s hidden outside the frame, in the shadows and outside the focus area. We don’t view the world in black and white or see it as two-dimensional, flat thing where focusing to interesting objects is not possible. These are all choices made by the photographer and many of them affect the “reality” much more than the usual tools of Photoshop. We are so used to the idea that a photograph is a realistic tool that it’s easy to forget how many myths, ideas, intentional messages and hidden agendas can be included in a single frame. And there’s more. The meanings behind the messages are not constructed only by the photographer, but also by the audience looking at the picture. Before reading further, look at the photo above and think about it for a while. Okay, now you can go on.

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This is a photograph of an old man. It, or actually he, has a great story, but let’s talk about the meanings first. The light coming in from a nearby window paints the picture with a calm atmosphere that goes well with the calm look at the man’s face. What you don’t see so clearly is that he’s missing his left eye. He’s also missing his both legs, and the white object in the front of him is a handle of a wheelchair. It’s not in focus just like the eye and the legs are not either. Why these choices? Well, the photo was taken in eastern Estonia, in a complex that’s run by a charity organization. It houses people like Pjotr Ivanovich Savos here, who can’t take care of themselves anymore. Mr. Savos was a Soviet citizen and worked in Estonia for the most of his life, but after the Soviet Union collapsed (and Estonia gained its independence), he was left without a nationality. Yes, as he can’t prove he’s been living in Estonia for years, he can’t get any state support. The story he told me and journalist Tuomo Björksten was almost unbelievable. He told us he had lived in the same room for six years, never leaving it, and that the people working in the place got angry when his friend tried to smuggle some spirits for him through the window. He had that old calendar page hanging on the wall and a small, black and white photo of a beautiful young woman working in the field attached to the door of his closet. -”Is that your wife?” we asked in russian with the help of a translator. -”No no”, he said smiling. -”The photo probably belonged to the previous resident, but I decided to leave it there because she’s so beautiful!”. After some short questions he started telling us about cosmic beings who would come and take him away very soon. After we had chatted for a while (which was not easy as neither of us, Tuomo or me, spoke any russian) I asked him if I could take a photo. He calmly nodded, took a better position and raised his chin, looking very confident and beautiful. I just couldn’t take a photo where all his physical flaws would have probably been in the center of the viewers’ attention. No, the story in the newspaper and the gaze in his eye were enough or even more than a deliberately gritty picture. Okay, I understand the story is more powerful when he tells it, but I still stop every time I scroll through the pictures and his face pops up. For me, this frame has become the single most important photo I’ve ever taken. It would take a lot better photographer than I am now to produce images that would move this one away from my portfolio. Like it or not.

Posted by Tatu
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