This year’s Fotomässan (Photo Fair) was this weekend, and I popped over there, beneath a sky the colour of a gray card, to see the sights.
I went alone, my companion from last year having renounced photography entirely, so I didn’t have anyone to chat with regarding the prints that were exhibited.
Of the exhibits, some stood out. I enjoyed the way-out-there watch photography of Thomas Monka, and a reportage about four women with cancer. There was also some humorous and unusual wedding photography by Mark & Marianne. The portraits by Thron Ullberg were also very good technically, but they drew most of their attraction from their subjects, well-known Swedish artists and filmmakers.
Marcus Bleasdale had a large number of prints from the depths of war-torn Congo. Unfortunately, like so much else warporn photography the people in the pictures were just presented as savages with AK-47s, or as silently suffering objects. I do know that the Congo is in a very bad shape, but these people have names, and histories, and simply presenting these images without them removes some humanity from the subjects.
There was a lot of gear, of course. I fondled the Leica M9 — too large and smooth to be easily hand-holdable in my hands. The m4/3 brigade was out in force, with Panasonic and Olympus showing their new models. Of the existing cameras, I think I was most intrigued by the Ricoh GR-D III with the external viewfinder, a very well-built and compact package.
All in all, it was fun, but not as compelling as last year when I had more gearlust than money. Now I have some money for gear buying, but I know it won’t make my photos any better.