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ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT
Filip Przewozny
Distances
“Distances” is an ongoing project in which I try to depict not only the physical distance between the photographed objects, but also the personal distance created both by myself and the people I have met. These photographs represent a private space which I feel everyone is surrounded by, and a feeling of closeness (or distance) that one has towards others.
Personal space is rooted in the exploration of Proxemics – a study researching the mutual influence of space relations between people, and space relations between people and their material surroundings. It deals with psychological relations and ways of communicating. It also investigates the reverse influence and the difference between these relations in various cultures. It is a study considered to be on the border between psychology and anthropology.
Bio
Filip Przewozny, born 1985 in Wloclawek (Poland), works with monochromatic, analog photography. He graduated from the European Academy of Photography in Warsaw. He arranged his debut exhibition himself, adapting an empty space in one of many old tenements located in Warsaw which he has been living in since then. Currently he is working on a new series of photographs taken in the Nazi German concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau. He works as a photographers’ assistant, and runs darkroom services. In the near future he plans to open a small portrait studio.
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Oh, I do love it! Every single image is wonderful. It captures the intangible, wonderful and sorrowful nature of this life and reminds me that every moment had already passed at the moment we become aware of it, that truly we pass through life as in a dream.
I am a terrible critic. I can seldom ever point out a flaw in any burn essay. I think its because I love photography too much – I just love it, everybody’s vision of it, and I almost never seen anything to criticise, but only to love.
I was amused by this description of how you shoot black and white film:
“works with monochromatic, analog photography.”
Hey! It looks like I might be making the first comment on this essay! Of course, I have thought this before, only to click on “submit” and find that someone had beat me by a second or two.
Will it happen again? Or will I truly be first?
I don’t know. I will click and see…
Yeah! Hurray! I did it! I was first!
So as not to get sidetracked and put the focus on me and my meagre accomplishment rather than where it belongs… again:
Exquisite vision, Filip!
The boy in the car image is just perfect, to my eyes and heart.
Yummy. Inexplicably makes me crave thick espresso coffee and dark, bitter chocolate. Can anyone explain that?
Great, awesome, very “bob black-ish” and thats a good thing..
monochromatic analog? is that a setting in Photoshop?
Very groovy, Filip.
,,ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT” – that is so interesting…
First of all, I would like to thank to burn. for sharing their space with me.
It is a honor to me that my photographs are being shown here,
especially they`re not creating an ,,essay” in my understanding of this word.
I am very grateful to all of You for taking Your time at watching my photographs.
Regards from Warsaw (under snow it looks like elsewhere),
Filip.
Filip :)
deeply beautiful….and it is lovely to see the lyrical bound with the broken dreams of the world around…..it is also great to see the beautiful influence (i assume) of Michael Ackerman’s lyrical work….i love that you have worked around the precision of cameras to depict and instead have born it with the magic of poetry….
like Erica, I too love the boy in the car…a picture that is, to me, your own…the expression in his eyes, the folds of his body….the moment between childhood longing and grown up determination…
i’m wondering if you’ve seen Michael’s new book Half-life yet…it is indeed beautiful and also would be a great navigation point too….
i so long to write a poetic bob-black comment here, but i’ve just burned myself by writing on another post, so I will leave you with one of my favorite poems…
your work: deeply lyrical and bound to the evocation of the life within that defines the disappearing life around…..
biggest compliment: your essay brought warmth and a big smile to my very tired head :))
so, for your essay, this poem
big congrats on publishing here and sharing your work with us :)))
cheers
bob
Encounter
We were riding through frozen fields in a wagon at dawn.
A red wing rose in the darkness.
And suddenly a hare ran across the road.
One of us pointed to it with his hand.
That was long ago.Today neither of them is alive,
Not the hare, nor the man who made the gesture.
O my love, where are they, where are they going
The flash of a hand, streak of movement, rustle of pebbles.
I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder.
Czeslaw Milosz
Filip –
I’ve already commented but after reading this statement of yours:
“especially they`re not creating an ‘essay’ in my understanding of this word.”
I disagree with your understanding of the word. I think that understanding is far too narrow, as are the definition that many seem to want to apply what constitutes an essay and what does not.
An essay can go anywhere that the author takes it – from the literal to surreal. An essay is a statement about something and your piece does make a statement.
Bob Black,
discovering how to use medium of photography in one of many ways,
thanks to Michael Ackerman works, run up a soft distortion in my mind.
I would like to see his new, printed book. I have seen it at the stage of planning,
while it was made of copy machine prints (Poles call it xero) and a glue tape.
It seemed to me indeed beautiful.
a boy in a car.
Picture shows me something I do not know, I do like this.
I started to wonder what is it and I found out, that I remember that day quite well.
Among others, I took that day picture of M. (nr. 17)
I can not have idea what You, and Erica can think or fell after watching it.
Encounter / Spotkanie
I did not know this poem before, but after reading it here, found a original version,
and noticed once more, that understanding of the meaning of the words is subjective.
Goodnight.
Very, very nice. Moody, sensitive, dark. Congrats!
#12 and #13 stopped the flow in the essay, somehow. That might be good or bad… just be aware.
#18 is the most intense thing I’ve seen the whole week. A fire?
#15 is epic.
Try to keep in mind, if you want to work more on the artist statement, that distances are always a part of photography. So what makes your essay truly unique compared to photography in general? The text doesn’t quite connect with me… I think some stories from your life would be interesting to include in the text. Maybe a conversation you remember and which meant a lot to you.
Good luck with more work!
Very strong, personal, work Filip, I love it. My favourite photography shows me reality, but somehow goes beyond that so that the photograph becomes an “other” – it has become an object in its own right. very difficult to put into words but this work illustrates my meaning.
Congratulations Filip, I look forward to seeing more from you in the future!
Mike.
I used to title this series ,,Conversation with K.” some time ago
and the text I wrote was a confession of my egocentric nature.
Believe me, It would not connect with You neither Bjarte Edvardsen,
although this conversation meant a lot to me.
Frostfrog, I watched Your pictures while I was drinking morning cofee,
thought it would be beautiful to see those scenes alive for a short moment.
Have You ever thought about making animations?
By the way, I aways wanted to visit Alaska.
First we´re deeply connected to Mom in the womb, then we´re jettisoned to make our way as best we can, engaging and dis-engaging with others in the lifelong pursuit of intimate connections, and then we die. Well oh well.
Your work is aesthetically jaw-dropping to me, as i do so enjoy controlled chaos. I believe in the camera´s role in the creative process. Let the photographer steer as he/she pushes whatever button and twirls whatever dial that permits the camera to dance and sing with the light as opposed to forcing it to do its dog and pony tricks on auto. That camera in our hands is our voice. It´s ALL we have to get to the heart of the matter. And for me the heart of the matter is rarely crystal clear or cut-glass sharp. Ambiguity is everywhere. All our efforts to decisively state a fact, any fact, is clouded by contradiction, doubt and uncertainty. Meanwhile, as we´re trying to make sense of it all, life speeds by faster than shit. It´s all a blur, both metaphorically and literally. This essay, for me is way more honest than 99.9% of what i see in the media. Just because a photograph is sharp and well-focused does not make it honest. Chaos comes far closer to the truth for me. I see an essay like this and i can relax completely knowing this is exactly the way it was. This is exactly what was in Filip´s mind and heart. This is EXACTLY what Filip was trying to say. This is real.
Thank you, Filip, this is the first essay i have seen on Burn in many months and what a ¨welcome back¨!!
Best
Kathleen
I am deeply tongue-tied. Thank You for Your trust Kathleen.
‘controlled chaos’,
‘let the camera dance and sing with the light….’
yes
yes
yes…..
After reading Ks words,
I’m at a loss….
great body of work,
your images reflect how my 2011 has started :)
**
Filip…
You are one hell of a poet with a camera…absolutely brilliant and I especially love n7. I could hang that image on my lounge wall…what the hell! All of them!
Dear Wendy,
have a good 2011. I have never paid attention on dates.
Mostly I do not even know what day is today, but must admit
that my sense of gravity has changed together with calendars this time.
Coincidence. Could be different If I had some new year resolution,
to stimulate myself, but I did not assumed any.
Paul, I am planing to spend few days in darkroom soon,
so if You want I can go back to older negative and make a print for You.
#7 shows the farthest place I have ever been to,
few meters into Mediterranean sea from the coast of Turkey.
I wish I could go further… but You pay shipping costs!
Filip…
I would feel honoured to have one of your prints, I own many photography books but not one single original print from any photographer besides my own. Of course I will pay very happily all shipping costs.
If you are really sure this isn´t a burden of any kind and you are OK with making me a print, I´ll send you an E-mail with my address.
Paul
Sorry, But I am not on the bandwagon here. I am sure this will not surprise anyone.
I have never been able to grasp the concept of just how out of focus to make an image to be able to call it art.
One think I love about u Pete is that u know yourself very much..
Most people don’t… Socrates used to say:” γνωθι εαυτόν “…
and u have it brother.. Definitely ..
Maybe u don’t know what you like but u definitely know what you do NOT like..
And that’s big achievement alone..
Big hug
And who cares if this is an essay or not.. or what an essay is.. painting with light.. dream here (to me), and it can become a nightmare.. we’ll see where you’ll go to..
#15…
Paul, my e-mail address is filip@przewozny.com
Pete, I would like to rectify what You said about my photography.
All of my images are in focus. Some of them are motioned.
Eva, You scared me…
When Conductor Andre Previn said to Comedian Eric Morecambe that he was playing the wrong notes on a piano, Eric replied “I’m playing all the right notes, sunshine, but not necessarily in the right order”!
I did not mean to be as pathetic as Mr. Morecambe.
3 and 11 are the killer shots for me. A couple of the others I like also. …and then i read the artists statement. hhhmmmmm?
Filip, Eric was part of the comedy due Morecambe & Wise – both English National Treasures. Just a joke, no real reference to your work.
Thanks for participating in the comments.
Mike.
Mike, I think Morecambe overreacted, he was even violent in this sketch,
but definitely he was more distanced to himself than I am.
John,
good direction in exploring my works. I especially like the three dots between
watching and reading. I would like to here from You something more in the ,,hhhmmmmm” part,
but I guess I should answer this question.
I dont know which I would like more: the photographs without the explanation or the explanation alone and I could imagine what the photographs could be. Together they diminish one another. For me.
It is always interesting to read comments :)))…
and I am so happy, always, when David brings to bare work and styles that most have not familiarity with, acceptance of, or concern about….that, to me, is always the success of burn…
anyway, as I wrote Filip, it is very difficult to know see the influence of Michael Ackerman…Michael has had a huge influence on young photographers, particularly those in Europe…in Poland, where Michael lives part of the year and gives workshops, his influence and teaching have had a substantial influence…and for certain have had an influence on Filip…
for me ‘style’ (as I once from Igor, another young photographer published here and wholly influenced by Michael), there is no ownernship…for style is a kind of psychological bearing…a language…Michael’s own ‘style’ (i loathe this word) comes form a place of forming….Michael’s work very much draws its own life from the work of Jem Cohen and Patti Smith and robert frank and Moriyama and Anders Peterson…etc etc…we all pass down our own love and connection…
Those who are not familiar with Michael, should have a look at his work at Vu, which has represented him (the same agency that once represented antoine and my friend oli pinfat: all three of whom probably best represented this beautiful way of honing personal and psychological reaction to the world as a kind of memory-map)….
http://www.agencevu.com/photographers/photographer.php?id=1
one doesn’t need to know Michael or his 3 books or his ideas to appreciate this essay, but for me, the more interesting discussion is HOW DOES a young photographer make/manage his OWN vision :)))….I struggled this myself when trying to escape the grip of Giacomelli and Moriyama and Fukase….and then, after a gallery saw my work in Miami, he asked me if i’d known Michael (i had not, this was in 2000)….so, some visions/ideas collect, like thermaclines or bandwith, as natural processes….
How does Filip find his own language for the carving up of the world that reflects more his own peculiar sensibility and less the visual vocabulary of Michael’s…that will be a joy to see :))
here is Michael’s new book…
it is gorgeous…just like Fiction and End time city :))
http://www.agencevu.com/stories/index.php?id=1080&p=1
Jamie,
I really don`t want to create the verbal narration, that would be a lie.
I am conscious of space I don`t fill.
This text, that You can read under the pictures, was written only because
I could not write this now if I would not attached it to burn.
Probably, it should be more provoking than dry informative as it is at the moment.
But it is my way to not to manipulate people.
Bob,
I must say I am a little angry to read Your charging with those words.
I would never say Your work is copying,
although I can see inspirations clearly.
I am not a owner of Michael Ackerman complex. Anyone else disagree?
I know You did not use the word ,,copy” Bob.
I so don’t care.. I come back and look at the images.. and nr. 3, 4, 17, 11.. ehm.. I just hope you’ll keep taking those pictures when they find you and you them.. and put a book together..
.. and I have all three of Ackerman’s books.. and seen his prints in an exhibition too.. and I still come back here.. like I go back to Igor Posner.. and I wish I could take ’em this way.. but my brain gets in the way, most of the times.. only sometimes it is as free as here.. oh, and Jamie Maxtone-Graham as well I go back too.. and others.. AHHHHHHHH.. so much great photographs out there..
I also like Igor Posner photographs. I wish I could see the prints, not scans only.
filip. The words are an afterthought and in the case of this work redundant.
Much of this work can speak for itself well enough. So in this case ‘hhmmm?’ means WHY?
I would like to see actual prints of the two shots I mentioned( I would certainly consider buying them if they are for sale)
Think i answered Your question while I was responding to Jamie. I am Sorry it was not directed to You.
First picture You mentioned comes from period I was working with small dimensions of prints
(up to 20 cm. at longer side). I used than a paper developer to develop negatives
so You can imagine how low the resolution was. It is a photograph, which print
is very difficult to be done and I can`t promise that actual print would be perfectly identical
as the scan You can see here. But I can do my best.
Second photograph (poem to K.) could be much bigger but it also looks better when is small.
What I can propose to You is: I can make a prints, send them to You and than You can decide
to keep them or not.
filip. You mean this part? “This text, that You can read under the pictures, was written only because
I could not write this now if I would not attached it to burn.” Okay I think I get it now.
35mm in paper dev? Neat! I thought it might be a 12800 push. Gives the same kind of vibe.
Send me an email to john_gladdy@yahoo.co.uk and we can talk offline.
Yes.
13 followed by 14, Mind jolt. Yes.
4 unreal and beautiful.
17 curious endeavour.
nice work there.
I love it. Feels like real and fantasy at the same time. I think that #5 is my favorite. And #17. Lovely, lovely. Whimsy. Yay!
FILIP
apologies for the explicit content warning…that is not US…that is the hosting provider rule..i do not know where the line is actually, but we feel safer from being shut down by our hosting provider if we just have this so called warning up for any essay having nude content..yes, seems prudish to me as well, but i do hope you understand why it is there…many thanks for bringing this fine set of photographs to us…
cheers, david
bardzo dobre zdjęcia filip / great work
What ever it is or from where it comes, what you show and say touch me…: “I try to depict not only the physical distance between the photographed objects, but also the personal distance created both by myself and the people I have met”, very much…because I feel “those distances” as close moments printed in a very beautifull language. What I like also is the way you mixed the sequence. We all miss You here in Niort.
Filip – Thank you. Actually, as of late I have given some thought to animation, just because of the way it looks when I flip through images on my computer monitor. I will make the leap sometime, but probably not for awhile.
When you come to Alaska, and if you make it to Wasilla and I am here and you need a free place to overnight and to talk and show photography, you’ve got one.
“computer monitor” should have read “camera lcd”
Carrie, Tommy and Przemek – thank You / dziękuję.
David, I red the Parental Advisory history. It is confusing,
how does parents try to hide some… don`t know how to call it…degeneration from their children.
Anyway, I still think about the order of photographs in my ,,distances” essay. Did You put them together?
I always enjoy to see someone else doing it for me. I also enjoy putting together someone else pictures,
It is not burdened any way and brings joy. My essay here, gave me a new look for what I do. Thank You.
Idalina…
so glad to read Your words here. I miss You. I promise to applicate this Year for the residence.
( If any of You don`t know this great one: http://www.pourlinstant.com )
I got so much to tell You, and hear from You… in a very special space and time.
Did You show to Emma a picture of her here? Please give her a hug I have always wanted to give.
Frostfrog, what I mean about animating is to press the button of camera (on serial shot mode)
and keep it for a while. Perhaps it is movie, not the animation.
Thank You very much for Your hospitality. I would love to be able to use it one day!
My doors are open as well.
Idalina, I am listening to Arvo Part Symphony no.4 and I wish You could hear the first movement.
…and I really like someones intuitive connecting picture 9 and 10.
thank you for the suggestion, filip. I will see if I can find a “serial shot mode” on my camera, aside from the movie mode, which I have yet to use.
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