I loved your essay, congratulations on making the finals. I hope you manage to continue this project and really get somewhere with it.

I love blurred shots. I know some people don’t, that’s fine, comme ci comme ca. I suppose I am a romantic at heart and I love it when something stirs my sense of mystery. Part of this project seems to be about boundaries and the sense of nothing being clear works on that level certainly. A camera or photographer can never tell the whole truth, no matter how earnestly they try, so to acknowledge that limitation and use it in your work to create a more subjective piece is a considered and mature approach that I think deserves rather more respect than has perhaps been shown.

Your presence is undeniable in the images but for whatever reason some commentors have come to the conclusion that this makes your essay less valid. I don’t agree with that at all.

I would also like to say that I don’t understand the constant Goldin comparisons. Fair enough, she photographed couples, and explored ideas of intimacy, but that doesn’t mean no-one else can without being continually referred back to her. Would anyone tell Don McCullin that Robert Capa has already photographed a war?

I have been inspired by this essay and take solace in the fact that there are people out there who do their own thing. All of the finalists have made me feel this way and I give them all hearty congratulations and good wishes. I am about to embark on my first project and am eager to learn about my own style of photography (which I have sadly neglected during my college years, to my eternal regret) and this community has been a source of great inspiration for me. So thanks to Cristina, all the other finalists and all the contributors.

Good luck

David

Well, the point of saying all that is that I did not see love here. The narrative I got from the pictures alone was something far darker, more sinister and exploitative than love and relationships. I almost thought it was about a brothel. I’m not trying to say that to show love, the artist needs to show cliches, but seriously, if the main aim of the work is to portray a particular feeling, then I feel it totally failed.

B-V what you say is hard but it is true, you could also mentioned that if you want make love with your wife the day before the final judgement, and if she refused…your choice will be different, also if the wine you drink during the jury…can make your decision changing…

Come On! This is not serious!! It’s why contest and grants are a joke in photography… Why also that kind of exposure is false at the end…

Or announce it like that, like Christion Caujolle (if you know him in america…): ” Yesterday I cannot make love and the wine was real vinegar…so the winner is….”

I never participate to any kind of contest. The search of honor and luxury is a barrier for freedom but when I rode the statement of Burn grant, I immediatly decided to participate (even I am not exactly “emerging”… I remember when Antoine D’Agata was discoverd and introduce as a young photographer at the age of 38 years old…Emerging doesn’t mean young, and running after young make “jeunisme”…it bring the fashion spirit in Human Beeing photography…and this is really bad for the futur.

Last time I made a grant it was with Yann Arthus Bertrand in france, it was self paied by the sell of the prints photographers give for free… At the end I sold my prints to collectors and bring a good value in Euros to the fundation… my project had not been selected… I accept it for sure, but it jump in my heart when I met the one who made the pre-selection….and ask him how he found my book…

He was so surprised that I got a book with the most famous french editor…But the problem was that my book was on the top of my grant folder…. it was a joke I told him, something absolutely amazing that he was judge and even doesn’t open a third of the folders….You made pre-selection, sold my prints but don’t open my box… and know you make politics with this contest… come on please…stop poluting the planet with that kind of comportments… it’s not honnest at all, even you will pledge that you are human, you have compassion, etc etc, like photographers and cannot be objectiv at all…come on…to be a judge, a good one you have to be objectiv and that’s all…

I have some great and known friends that are often asked to judge some real important contest, and they told me this kind of comportments happen, but not from all of them…and this is the point…not everybody is like that…

When I see what and who are selected as finalist it make me laugh and pass my way…not because it’s not good work…but only because it sound that it is not objectiv…

I don’t run after honor, I don’t run after money since I decided to stop photojournalism and start making advertising to pay my personnal projects…I got with one day of shooting what this grant offer but this is not the matter… The matter is that this grant is like all the other…and it is sad…

I just pass my way.

This series is wonderful but I’m not a fan of the black and white photos. The color ones seem to have so much more life and love…I love the forms of 8,9, and 10 but I’d love to see them with the warm beige/peach tones like most of the others.

Congratulations, Cristina, and good luck!

There are a lot of different responses to Cristina’s work here and some people say all press is good press. We always prefer positive comments but even constructive negative comments help us learn. Non constructive comments are a waste of everyone’s time. It is impossible for everyone to like everything. Photography is about many things and especially to intrigue people to think, feel, communicate and inspire people to respond in any way that they feel.

I have judged contests, I have judged grants and it is never easy to make the final decisions. Judges frequently know the photographers and they have to focus on not being biased. It’s like trying to make an unbiased photo which I believe is impossible because of the angle you choose, the light you choose, the subject you choose is always your decision on how to portray something visually. One can make less biased photos but not fully unbiased. One can be more biased than another but unfortunately there is always a bias in everything in life. David and the Burn team has chosen the finalists but he has said that a jury will choose the winner – this seems very fair.

The subject of passion and love is different for everyone and therefore a very difficult subject to photograph.

Some of my thoughts and with some mention to other comments here:

Style of these photos: Passion to me is never clear, and absolutely never still so the use of motion, blur gives the images a feeling of mystery, questions, confusion, emotion which to me is the right selection of style for these pictures. However I agree with some of you that it might be better not have every image in the project with this blur style…mix it up a bit more but the over all style works for me. Passion to me is very mysterious, always changing, sometimes in your face. I can tell from Cristina’s personal site that she doesn’t always use this style and therefore seems to have chosen it for this project. Her Time in Prison story has been published as referenced in her bio and it is a strong documentary story with a different style. I think she needs to get even closer to her subjects and have some images from very far away – most all of these photos are from about the same distance…i want to be closer and taste the sweat when they are making love, I want to feel the passion more under my skin and I want to feel more a sense of place from distant – overview images, such as looking in from the outside window. This is definitely voyeurism like most all photography. I want to see more images of these people during quite/lonely moments, I want to see images of people passionately angry, crying…..

Stage of project: I agree with several people here – it seems like this project is in the early stages and she is brave to share with all of you – including all of you non constructive critical people. I too look forward to seeing her project evolve and trust in DAH to have selected someone with potential. Finding mentors who believe in us is hard but fantastic when we find them. These finalists are submitting images to a grant for emerging photographers who wish to continue evolving special projects and therefore her work seems like a perfect selection. Up and coming photographer/student who wants to win a grant to help her explore and evolve her style.

Mood: I bet many people were in the mood for love after viewing these images like I was….if so then she succeeded. If you thought about your lives with/without passion during or after looking at these images then she succeeded. I bet most of you did.

Relevance to Nan Goldin: It is interesting that several people are trying to put Cristina in the Goldin box and wondering whether she fits. As a comparison this conversation makes sense but I believe Cristina is trying to find her own different style. She has not placed herself in these pictures and therefore doesn’t seem to be photographing her life specifically. However, by the nature of selecting this project – the subject must be important to her and something she wants to explore. Others above have mentioned this and I agree that it doesn’t seem like she is photographing her life like Nan Goldin but trying to visually explore a difficult subject which is close to all of our lives. It takes years to evolve a style and I look forward to seeing her style evolve. We don’t need another Nan Goldin – we need a different point of view who inspires us in new ways…keep evolving your own personal style Cristina!

Selection of the finalists: I am sure David will comment about this at some point. Additionally, I am sure that David has mentored many photographers over the years and many of them were not selected here. What Burn and DAH are doing here is fantastic – giving any emerging photographer a chance in the world – even if he knows 10 of the 11 and selects 1 person from somewhere with unique potential who he doesn’t know – then this Grant is a success and gives new opportunity in my mind. Every grant and contest around the world brings criticism for the winners – and this one is no different. Everyone has different point of views. I have experienced some jurors for grants yell and scream about who should win and sometimes the discussions evolve into how the photographers are as people. Are they constructive to others, are they good people, are they someone who would continue the spirit of the grant such as the Eugene Smith Grant or others… I would bet that this is something that David thinks about – some people who seem always bitter in these comment forums, in this Burn community, who are always bitter, who write negative criticism without suggestions for improvement might not have been selected in part because of that. Be careful not to burn your bridges before or after they are built. Photography and contests are about the photos and the people behind the photos – not one without the other. This is also true when you are working for clients and/or trying to get jobs from clients – they may choose those that they know over someone that the do not know.

Text: I agree that the text should be shorter for Cristina’s project to allow the images to speak more for themselves.

I have been following Burn for a long time but never liked the bitterness and non constructive criticism in many comments by this community. However, there are also a ton of fantastic people here who take the time to offer constructive criticism and I comment you people. The one comment rule works better and all comments not relating to each individual image/photographer should be moved somewhere else for discussion.

I wish to congratulate all of the finalists including Cristina for being selected this year and David along with the Burn team for creating this opportunity for emerging photographers. Every grant and contest around the world brings criticism for the finalists – and this one is no different. Everyone has different point of views, people frequently think their work is better than the other and this will not change ever – hopefully it will inspire people to make better images.

Good luck to all of the finalists and I look forward to seeing how the winner evolves with the grant.

-BV

Given what you say, I then wonder then how Harvey obviously has a very different opinion? Harvey has worked at the highest levels for decades and sees great ability in these 11 finalist entries. They represent some of the of the best young photographers working today apparently according to him. I just wonder why there is such a differing of opinion between unknown photographers chiming in here and Harvey, a Magnum and National Geographic heavyweight? I would love for Harvey to explain his reasoning as so many others are so critical. I, too, am amazed at this grant. I’d love to see the other 1200 entries. There just had to be many at the finalists level or better. Where is Bendiksen, Sobol level?!

This is a very opening statement….

10,000 entries plus?

Very disappointed with the finalists work in general.

David, would you mind addressing the issue raised by a few here about the fact you know quite a few of the finalists? Perhaps in a new dialogue?

This essay could have wandered into offensive territory, but it did not. That sort of critical discipline needs to be commended.

Well done, and congratulations.

Why, so far, it’s not for me. This is very early days for this essay. Christina has photographed about four couples and I wonder just how far she can take this concept. Love and intimacy are such private feelings.

Nan Goldin has been mentioned in regard to this essay but I beg to differ. Nan photographed her life, which happened to include sex, drugs, trans-gender etc. and yes, which made her work compelling but; she photographed her world: I’m not sure that this is the case for Christina.

Mixed feelings here Christina. Congratulations for being selected.

Best wishes,

Mike.

for that comment! Some words that say few things…that probably the lightsalkers gallery was absolutely not annonymous…:

” I met Cristina in last year’s Look3 for couple of minutes…….
next to Anton and David”

!!!!

Seriously…..