Comments on: carl bower – chica barbie

By: jbnightingale

jbnightingale — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:54:19 +0000

This is what photojournalism is all about! I’m blown away, utterly blown away!

I never knew this little slice of the world existed till now, and now I feel like I’ve been there and witnessed it first hand. This essay is easily one of the best I’ve seen in a long time, thanks for sharing this with us!

By: marikinski

marikinski — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:52:11 +0000

I like the essey very much, congratulations. Images with soul !

By: jenny lynn walker

jenny lynn walker — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:53:57 +0000

Wow! Images that take your breath away! Some i will never forget, packed with atmosphere and so brilliantly composed and framed. But, I have to agree with Herve that I cannot see that the selection reflects the brilliant context in which they are portrayed in the accompanying text. I think the angles highlighted in the intro – the objectification of women within a specific culture and socio-political context – have not been addressed. Absolutely awesome, awesome essay, none the less! Congratulations!!!

Jenny

ps There was a time when the objectification of women, along much the same lines, was commonplace in many countries around the world. I am grateful that we have moved on in some countries in our times. May the fall of patriarchial systems that continue to dominate and objectify women continue. And may the documentation of it not simply an excuse to partake in it!!! ; )

By: alexblackwelder

alexblackwelder — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:00:18 +0000

I don’t think a project has provoked such a response from the depth of my soul in a long time.

These images make me angry. I want to bust in , fists in the air, viva las chicas, we are more than THIS.

But how can I? The issue is so complex, how can I possibly know what it feels like to be these girls, growing up in these times?

The world is just too much sometimes,

Thanks Carl

By: kathleen fonseca

kathleen fonseca — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:07:46 +0000

Rafal

I replied to you in Time Out.

Best
Kathleen

By: bodo

bodo — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:13:18 +0000

Fabulous work no doubt. BRAVO for that. But I find the circumstances for the girls quite disturbing. Nobody is complaining doesn’t always mean that everything is fine.

By: Rafal Pruszynski

Rafal Pruszynski — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:42:20 +0000

Is there exploitation? Of course men exploit women, women also exploit men, and let’s not pretend the women here don’t do this by choice. You can say that women may have fewer opportunities but Id argue that they have more. What opportunities does the average Colombian male have to make any real mark in the world? He is born poor, he will die poor, overworked and ultimately disappointed by his life. Yes you can talk about exploitation but in many cases women are born with a ticket to success that men are not born with and they do leverage it to get what they want. Not just in Colombia, either. So for me, this essay is good photography but the thinking is very inside the box, cliche. We have seen victim photography, and this is very one sided. Women as sex objects handled by bad men. C’mon. It does nobody any good, not the women, not the men, its not a very realistic portrayal of the realities in my opinion as it totally misses the fundamental motivations of the women in these photos. The people are very flat, one dimensional, shallow and caricatures. This is the danger of going in with an agenda, you are blind to things that don’t fit your mental models and the baggage you brought along. As Herve said, PJ is about camera pointing, not finger pointing.

By: Gui Galembeck

Gui Galembeck — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:43:12 +0000

Superb! Number 3 tells all the story for me. Thanks Carl ! A masterpiece for sure.

By: Lung Liu

Lung Liu — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:56:24 +0000

Remarkable piece of work. Great storytelling, composition and timing.

By: Mark W

Mark W — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:12:20 +0000

… what everyone else said. This is compelling stuff.

Interesting how different commenters are hitting on different shots – you must be pressing a lot of different buttons. 12 is the best for me – the queen’s smile in what could be kind of a tense situation, and the way her trophy rhymes with the batons…

By: fotocubas

fotocubas — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:33:06 +0000

Thanks for the clarification Carl. You put it very well: “It’s possible that she’s leveraging a situation to her advantage while perpetuating a mindset that may ultimately limit her opportunities”. I think that’s the key to the story, and the lack of options.

By quoting the tale I wasn’t judging the girls, but the situation. Of course I know that any misunderstanding is my fault for mixing literature with photojournalism. I know I shouldn’t look at this kind of photographs as symbols or metaphors (even if the pass of time could make them so), but as facts, real people with their very real circumstances. Yet sometimes is hard for me to refrain.

The more I watch this pictures and think about them the more I believe that this is not just a colombian, or latinamerican, but an universal story, since the exploitation of women by their beauty is everywhere, in different ways, even in the so call “developed world”, and maybe we all have our little part in that. I don’t know any answer for it, but your essay has gave me many good questions (and that’s what journalism is about, isn’t?).

Thanks again for a great job, I’ll love to see it in his final form.

All the best
Francisco

By: gaetano belverde

gaetano belverde — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:52:14 +0000

Very nice and complete work. well done

By: Carl Bower

Carl Bower — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:57:56 +0000

Fotocubas,
The young woman on the steps you mention was in the People’s Pageant of Cartagena, a contest that runs concurrently with the lavish and media-frenzied National Beauty Contest each November. Each neighborhood gets to nominate a candidate, and all the costs are donated or covered by the local government. The winner gets a scholarship and a house. As a candidate, she’s drilled in how to move in social circles to which she’s never been exposed, and the process may bestow a degree of self confidence she didn’t have before. If she can stand in front of 30,000 people in the Plaza de Toros in a bikini, a simple job interview may not be as intimidating. By the same token, most resumés must be accompanied by a photo and she may be screened out by her appearance before she has the chance to interview. I don’t know if she’s the woman in García Márquez’s story or if she’s empowered. It’s possible that she’s leveraging a situation to her advantage while perpetuating a mindset that may ultimately limit her opportunities. She may not have a lot of options. I don’t know what she should do.

By: Dominik Dunsch

Dominik Dunsch — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:18:53 +0000

Carl,
I totally agree with Kathleen Fonseca: you had me at #1…
Fantastic essay!!! What moved me even more were those rivals’ derogatory looks, full of envy…
Very moving work, indeed!
All the best,
Dominik.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:44:50 +0000

Carl – I really like this essay.

It’s admirable and the style is welcoming. #4 for me. Great imagery.

Well done on burn, Good luck, and thanks for sharing.

By: hookstrapped

hookstrapped — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:25:31 +0000

Beautiful work.

By: Reimar

Reimar — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:33:21 +0000

Journalistic photoghraphy at it’s best. Superb images! Great composition! My favourite image would be #13. Like that one a lot! Nice to see that you use both long and wide lenses. The very first image is amazing with all these people in the background and not an inch of open space between.
Good light and I hope you will create more of this awesome work!
Best
Reimar

By: Herve

Herve — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:55:48 +0000

Well, Carl, just now I just read your last entry, and glad to see you are “not so sure”.

I think the one potent thought that can guide photo-journalism at times, is “I am not sure”, and the reason why the job is not about text-editorializing the subjects. As much as possible.

By: Herve

Herve — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:40:21 +0000

In my opinion, this is an example of the best use of text imaginable.
——————————-

Totally disagree. One of the most patronizing examples of telling/directing us how we should see the photos, next the world too I suppose, and be judges too as wonderfully sensitive, educated elites (hence, the many accolades), of the poor, exploited, 3rd world masses. So hackneyed argumentation too. I think PJ is about camera-pointing, not finger-pointing. Moreover, you knew exactly what you wanted to say and what was your opinion before you delved into thus world.

I usually refrain when I feel uninspired by an essay, but I feel a bit personal about these issues (not beauty pageants).

By: The 37th Frame – Celebrating the Best of Photojournalism » Chica Barbie by Carl Bower (BURN Magazine)

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:01:40 +0000

[...] View Carl Bower’s essay on BURNmagazine.org. [...]