Mexican cantina women

[j_sevigny]

I know I've been plugging myself a lot here but I want to invite all of you to

look at a major project I've just completed.

 

You can find the link on my blog here.

 

http://gonecity.blogspot.com/2007/10/ladies-bar-exhibition-now-online.html

 

Best to everyone.

 

John Sevigny

[iamkatia]

Interesting..

<br>

 

I would've liked to see a few photos of the women interacting with men since that is their work, yes?

[ellis_vener_photography]

strong work! please re-post them with your name and copyright symbol to in the image tosu that edirors who want to know who made these fine photographs will know without having to remember where they found them in the first place.

[david j.lee]

i think the flash is terrible in some of the images.

[asher]

John- I only see one photo. I clicked on a few links to no avail. I bet I could find your other

photos if I kept looking, but to be honest, with so many superb photo websites out there, I

don't feel compelled to look so hard... Perhaps you could do some slight re-design of your

site to improve the "human factors" component?<p>

 

When it comes to web design, I love the book "Don't Make Me Think".

[j_sevigny]

Asher,

 

go here -- http://www.luminous-lint.com/__sw.php?action=ACT_SING_PH&p1=John__Sevigny&p2=A

 

David -- thanks for the constructive criticism

 

Everyone else, thanks for looking.

[roger_smith4]

I wonder if the flash David mentions doesn't hint at the monsters John refers to in the introduction. As I see it, the shadows lurk over the subjects.

[john_elder1]

Katia has a good point. Take a look at Falkland Road by Mary Ellen Mark shot in India. It might be easier for a woman to get the access Mark got in India.

[asher]

Thanks John- I did find it eventually, but 3 clicks to the photos is too many, plus having to

find the tab that says "photographs" is not smooth, I think... Just my 2 cents.

[Spearhead]

John, I don't think it's a "woman" thing. Check out Reagan Louie's photos from the exhibition and book "Sex in Asia." Or much of what Araki has done...

[luis triguez]

Fantastic! Well done, J

[allan_l.]

good stuff john,

 

i think the one thing that i'm really missing with the series are some captions. the photos are good on their own, the goya inspiration really comes accross. but i think they would be much more powerful with captions telling us who these individuals are, and providing a little bit of their stories of how they ended up working in such a place.

 

your statement is excellent, but without the captions i don't know if you accomplish your aims to "to capture the complexity of these women, their strengths, their weaknesses, their cruelties and their generosity, their excesses and their vulnerabilities." you do mention that many of these women work there "because of economic and social realities", so your message would come accross better if you could share some of their stories to show us some of these economic and social realities in action.

 

without this information the photos on their own lean more towards being 'just' portraits. nothing wrong with that, but in your statement it sounds like you are trying to do more than that, it sounds more like you want to tell their stories, perhapse its just your statement that needs to be revised?

 

you also say that you use photography "to develop a close relationship with the world around me," so based on that i would assume that you have in fact interacted with these ladies, and probably know a little bit about what they've been through. so in my opinion, the series could be even more powerful if you shared that as well. maybe you do have detailed captions but couldn't display them on that site?

 

good work!

 

-allan

[Alex_Es]

This is outstanding work. The selection is very well done. You see the young and the old.

This is obviously a job you cannot get out of and retire from.

 

I think that enough is explained in this series. After you know where it is and are given the

background to the photos in John's introduction nothing more is needed. The photos speak

for themselves. The story they tell is a sad one. It is one of the saddest commentaries I have

seen on prostitution.

[j_sevigny]

Thanks again to all of you for your generous and critical comments. Wonderful to receive such thoughtful responses.

 

The "frankenstein flash" was pretty much intentional. I didn't want a bunch of smoothly lit photos of women who in some cases were very rough looking. I wanted a little bit of shock in there and I think the hard flash enhances that.

 

Regarding captions, you may be right. I probably could have offered more information about the particular women I photographed. But I wanted the faces and the pictures to tell the stories. My choice, right or wrong.

 

Again, thanks to everyone for looking and commenting.

[john_macpherson]

John - phew, another arresting set of images.

 

I particularly appreciated the arrangement of the images- the leading-in with the 'empty' rooms - just details of the surroundings, I found those really powerful, helped by having an understanding of what the subject matter is from reading the statement, and whats likely to be presented in the next click.

 

Yes the captions might have helped me to understand more about individuals, but the lack simply allows my imagination to fill in the details and thats more powerful than any of your words could be. As it stands it's the 'everywoman' aspect that gives this set its real power.

 

Inclusion of men? I disagree. This is not about men, its about what has happened to women, it may be a man's fault that some are there, it may not be, but does it matter, I dont think so. It's about what individual people choose to do and how that choice shapes them.

 

The straight-on flash is in-your-face and harsh, but it does what it does for these images, puts people in a spotlight, but it's the relationship YOU have developed that I can see in their faces. You've recorded a response to YOU, a man, and that they offer the warmth towards you that they do tells me a lot about your motives and the fact these savvy women have welcomed you. Doing work like this can so easily be about 'taking', and thats not what you've done imho, I see evidence of a lot of sharing on your part, and thats the reason why these women are responding to you so well. Too many people trying to do work like this hide behind the camera. I dont think you do that.

 

The importance in work like this is as much about what you leave behind with the subjects, as you 'take' with your images.

 

You do good work John, and dont apologize for plugging yourself here - your work is worth seeing and considering. Well done once again.

[petemillis]

John, I love this series of portraits. I think you have done the right thing by NOT showing the women interacting with the men. Their occupation is clear from the title and introduction - I like the way that by missing the interaction part out from the pictures then you are showing the women as themselves. Good work, and fantastic portraits.

Pete

[j_sevigny]

Thanks, Pete. You have some beautiful and interesting pictures in your portfolio as well.

 

Best,

 

John