Objective Reality

By now you should have a good selection of photographs, covering a range of "types" (see the different assignments). Of course, you will continue shooting, but to wrap up the workshop, the last task at hand is to create an edit that tells the story that you wanted to tell (as outlined in your project proposal).

Since your proposals are all a bit different, the mix of images from the different "types" will depend on your actual topic. Some topics might require more portraits, some more landscapes, etc. Your task now is to figure out how to combine which images and how to create text around it (depending on your proposal text might be optional, but you will need a short statement about the work in any case).

So look through all the photographs you have and create an edit of around 20 images. Create a short statement (which you can probably extract from your project proposal, but it also could be very different, based on what you learned while you shot the images), and present things here. If a sequence is important, figure out a way to sequence images (why does one image have to come before another one etc.).

If you plan to continue work on your project after the workshop you can treat this edit as a first, preliminary edit. You will change it later, when you have more images. It might also teach you something about images you might be missing etc.

Julia Vishnevets

Critique

Masha Kortunova

In the Soviet Union when Lenin monuments were in every small and big city, profession of a miner was respected and highly paid. Then, in the end of 1980s the crisis stroke the Soviet mining industry and it became clear, that the state of this industry could not be preserved as it was. Most of mines were incorporated, others were closed. Mining industry faced a new problem - unemployment, which had lead to poverty, migration, drug addiction and criminality of the region. In some villages miners are living in barracks with only electricity and cold water without gas and sewerage. There is no sign that situation is going to be changed. The government prefers to develop gas programs but not coal. Mines are closing. Functioning mines practically not fulfill mine working plans due to outdated and often not working equipment and scanty investments in the industry.
I visited Gukovo, a typical miners’ town in Rostov region. There are several mines near it. So people live in the town and go to their work places by special miner’s buses. Miner’s working day lasts for 6 hours but it takes about two or even more extra hours to get to the place of mining and back. I had and opportunity to visit two mines, to get under the ground with a shift of miners, to see how people work in different sectors of the mine. About 1000 people work in a mine. Miners are about 200 people, others - men and women - are securing functioning and safety of the mine and miners under the ground. Their monthly salary is 3400-3700 rubles.
Before going down to the place of mining the shift of miners gets an order, listen to special instructions and then gets lamps, equipment and a 1,5 liter bottle of tea or water. Then miners go to the building where they lift down under the ground.
The depth of the shaft is about 200 m. Down there miners get into the small carriages of the train, which takes them deeper to the mining place for about 700 to 1000 m where the temperature rises to 30-50C. I talk to several miners, they said, that the work there is very hard. In the hot air with the lack of oxygen, the coal dust is so heavy that one can hardly sees the fingers of his arm. Miners' professional disease is lung silicosis and their life interval – 60-65 years. Often miners have to move and work in the small corridors with little space. And monthly salary for this hellish labor in the “Russian coal” mines is 10-12 000 rubles. If miners overfilled the output they received about 20-25 000 rubles. But due to the economic crisis and the lack of modern equipment the output is very low. At 12 000 rubles they had to leave with their families, to grow up kids, to by food and medicine, to warm their houses.
After retirement miners and people who worked in the mine get 4000 rubles a month. One of the problem for those who live in their own houses, especially for old people, is to warm them in the cold Russian winters. In 2010/2011 a tone of coal was at the price of 7 000 rubles. To warm a small house in cold season one needs 3 tones. It is a very simple arithmetic.
One could hardly imagine how people can survive. But they do.

Natalya Reznik

Ekaterina Vasilyeva

Dear Joerg,

I organised the picture related to the charity shop story in the following manner.
I my opinion combination of the picture in clusters allows to show the story in a better way.
Additionally I supplied all the pictures by a text helping to understand the picture content.
I am not sure I >>covered the topic completely and hope to come back to it in the future.

This is the story about the first city charity shop opened in Saint Petersburg in March last year. Charity shop means that some people bring there unnecessary things, other people buy there whatever they like as well. The money obtained go to the charity purpose including the people having no particular accommodation throw the "Kip" organisation.
Once a month a free distribution of various things among those who needs them as well.

- Charity shop is a very actual enterprise in Russia.
- In my country there is the problem of thing utilization.
- All you can buy in the Second-hand shops in Russia are the stuff from Europe.
- According to statistics in Russia among unnecessary things 5% are distributed between friends, 5% among poor people and the rest 90% go to trash or stored at home without any sense.
- In the "Spasibo" shop : you can buy cheap things (often even for 50 rubles each piece). So you can get rid of useless things and make a good deal simultaneously. It gives a real help to those for whom the charity shop was organized.
- An important point that this store does not call for people to donate money directly (in fact it is often a difficult psychological problem), and offers the possibility to get rid of unnecessary things or buy the right things for small money.

Hence the thrift store is an opportunity to create a convenient channel for donation and realize the potential of unnecessary things as a recourse.

At my page all pictures have been supplied by some text for your convenience.
http://edu.objectivereality.org/ru/users/participants/?l=VasKatia

Photo:

1. Enter to the charity shop.
Inside view of the shop.

2. You may bring or buy most surprising things here.

3. The rich and sometimes funny assortment of goods donated by people.

4. The time stopped here and goods are waiting for their host.

5. Sometimes people donate even a furniture like a chair in the picture.

6. Young people buy oldfashioned dress for themself and unusual presents for their relatives.

7. Old people: some of them donate shoes, other buy discs they needed.

8. Petersburg homeless people getting clothes in the charity shop.

9. A St.Petersburg doss-house. Part of the donated clothes and money goes from the shop to that organisation.

10. The doss-house inhabitants. At the lower picture the teddy bear and its host waiting for the place in a special hospital for 5 years already.

11. Distribution of the charity shop things among homeless in the doss-house.

12. Selling of goods brought by students of a city university for the charity purposes.

Kirk Ellingham

Can only post one image at a time, whilst the website is being fixed. So please check the work on my profile:
http://edu.objectivereality.org/en/users/participants/?l=KGE
and post any comments about the work here or via email.
Thank you

luis díaz díaz

Hi Joerg,

I show you a first edit of my work.

As youll see there are no portraits. Its being very difficult to find people to photograph but thats surely my fault. I will keep them in mind for the future as they can add an important dimension to the project. If one day I add some, Id like them to be together with some text, where the viewer can find out something about these people thoughts or about these houses.

During my night trips I realized theres a very deep culture of building in Spain (particularly in this region) and many of theese unfinished houses are not a direct consequence of the last crisis. People dream with building a house for them, for their sons, to make some business... and they start doing it without knowing or caring if theyre going to be able to finish it or not. Sometimes they just dont. So I was thinking of changing the name of the project to "Dreams to build"

Im working on the final text. Ill appreciate to know your opinion.

Many thanks Joerg