Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/01/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]No particular story about those individuals, Ken, but the place is certainly evocative. Firstly, the Market Caf? is only a few metres from the spot in the main market in Sarajevo where a mortar round fell in 1994 killing 68 people. They had been trying to buy food in the besieged city, of which there was very little. I took this picture ten years later, almost a decade after the Dayton agreement ended hostilities, but Sarajevo is still a very depressed place. The unemployment rate is very high, many buildings are still wrecked or covered in shrapnel marks, including the Holiday Inn. The city is still ringed by minefields. The only people who have any money to spend are the "Internationals", the UN contractors and others whose big white 4x4s are everywhere. Add to this the fact that most people in Sarajevo became heartily sick of being photographed like the subjects of a lab experiment while they scuttled through their city trying to avoid sniper fire. Photographed by foreigners interested only in furthering their own careers. So when I walked into this caf?, full of people but no-one with a drink in front of them because they couldn't afford it, with cameras around my neck, obviously a foreigner, I felt pretty uneasy. When I look at this picture I can remember why! I should add that I have never felt unwelcome in Sarajevo at all. Far from it, the people are very friendly, and justly very proud of their city. It is an extraordinary place that I could talk about for hours. P. ******* Paul Hardy Carter www.paulhardycarter.com +44 (0)20 7871 7553 ******* On 11/01/06, Kenneth Frazier <kennybod@mac.com> wrote: > > Paul, this is not about Friesengeist, but about one of the shots on > your site, and I keep forgetting to mention it. > > It's the "Market Cafe, Sarajevo" shot, the one with the three men > sitting at table, looking at the camera. Every time I view that > photo, I become uneasy. > > And, I wonder: Is there a story behind that shot? You can reply > offlist, if you like. > > Ken