Saturday 10 December 2011

Cole Thompson Photography: The Ghosts of Auschwitz

Cole Thompson Photography:

'via Blog this'
When I first saw these images, before I started out with the OCA, I rather lightly dismissed them as rather mannered use of blur and perhaps double exposure. I revisited them in the light of the current discussion on cliche and realised how far off the mark I was in my initial thoughts. They aren't about the technique, they're about the guys feelings and he's used the kit and techniques he had available to capture those feelings. I'd like to think that this represents some kind of progress in my understanding of how to read a photo.

As a set I find them very difficult to look at - they seem full of lost potential, and yet, knowing how they were taken confirms that life moves on no matter what horrors we commit as a race. We need this sort of work to make sure that memory does not move on.

1 comment:

Cole said...

Nigel, thank you for your thoughts and for featuring my images. Creating the Ghosts of Auschwitz-Birkenau was an incredible experience, only to be seconded by a recent one at the Dallas Holocaust Museum.

These images were on display when a woman in a wheel chair came in the gallery and started viewing them. I introduced my self and said "These are my pictures" to which she explained "these are my pictures!" Her name was Edith Molnar, a survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and she recognized the scenes in my images.

Edith just passed away a couple of weeks ago. It was a privilege to meet her.

Cole Thompson
www.ColeThompsonPhotography.com