One of things I love about my part-time job, working for Denmarks smallest daily newspaper (circulation: 2000, readers per copy: 8,6. One weekly with a circulation of 18.000), is that I get to go out and take pictures of people who would usually never make it to the headlines - and wouldn4t want to. An important part of the job is to make them comfortable with the idea of appearing in print. This farmer has been picking archaeological artifacts out of his fields for decades, and his father before him. Recently the local museum took an interest in his collection, started excavating his property and made some interesting discoveries. I asked if I could take a picture of him with some of his favourite stone-axes and arrow-heads.

I like way he4s obviously posing, but not seeming the least self-conscious or uncomfortable. And just look at that hand

...as full of history as the stuff he4s holding. Now that4s a real person :)

-- Christel Green (look.no@film.dk), October 05, 2000

Answers

not only is the "hand" image an excellent photograph, absolutely brimming with information about the individual to whom it is attatched, it also provides a telling example of my position concerning the relative value of "real people" as opposed to all people who might be considered "unreal": for instance, consider placing side by side with the image above a shot of well, let's say *madonna's* hand; smooth, unblemished, nails sharp and gleaming. doesn't that marked difference in appearance tell us just as much about her as the former image? isn't she, in short, just as "real" as our doughty danish farmer? of course she is. you can come to whatever conclusion you like concerning the relative worth or nobility of the two subjects, but the fact is that the showgirl is just as real as the yeoman, and neither of their stories are fantasies; they're just different.

-- wayne harrison (wayno@netmcr.com), October 05, 2000.

Point taken. It4s just that nobody is presenting this farmer as an ideal for you to pursue and imitate, whereas the polished ever-young Madonna/showgirl look has been made a standard which many human beings try, but fail, to meet - in which case it becomes unreal. I am aware that it is reality for a chosen few though, and they are extremely fascinating.

-- Christel Green (look.no@film.dk), October 05, 2000.

The people who made these tools- this must be what their hands looked like-

-- Chris Yeager (cyeager@ix.netcom.com), October 05, 2000.

an extremely perceptive cognition, chris; that connection is why this image is "art" rather than documentation. the image spoke of something other than its own existence.

-- wayne harrison (wayno@netmcr.com), October 05, 2000.

...that4s also why it didn4t get printed :) In the editors office there4s a messageboard with the words: "It doesn4t have to be art, it has to be ready."

-- Christel Green (look.no@film.dk), October 05, 2000.

These are beautiful photographs...both technically and enotionally. Thank you for sharing them.

-- Todd Frederick (fredrick@hotcity.com), October 05, 2000.

For some reason, and I can't figure out what, I don't get too excited about the first shot. It might be his awkward pose, it might be something else. The color analogy between his shirt and the door is mighty interesting.

The second photo is amazing. The hand alone would tell a million stories, the objects in the hand add a dimension and contrast that makes it all the more effective. Not only is he a real person, he's someone with a story.

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), October 06, 2000.

I'm also a big fan of the second photo. It succeeds on every level. The textures and contrasts are beautiful, and the story and feeling it conveys are powerful.

-- Mike Dixon (burmashave@compuserve.com), October 06, 2000.