talking a bit...

wall, pathsala, pantha path, dhaka, feb 2012

pathsala is a school. it is a photography school. and famous. a lot of important photographers come from there. people say. munem wasif came from there. he still is theer teacher. he is the only one i know.

it is a small school, quite central in dhaka in a kind of backyard, reachable through a gate, next to a pizza place, next to the tea house.

every year has to batches, spring and winter, 30 students each. also some workshops, daily, weekly, monthly. they are doing well. as i heard.

i am giving a lecture today. in front of the first year students.

window, pathsala, pantha path, dhaka, feb 2012

i talked to yan. that was were it started. yan said i should teach. or i think she said this. u never know, your mind plays sometimes tricks on you and you wanan hear things more than they are there.

than i wrote to hasib, the director, or vice principle. and tehn we met, one time, two times, talked and then i got my lecture, finally, after thinking about workshop an chittagong.

at least a lecture, about contemporary ideas. about seeing and not seeing, about possibilities and no possibilities.

 hasib: why are european photographers are always taking images from middles class?
me: hwy is there always a fashion around photojournalist to take images from poorer or upperclass?

within photojournalism and documentary depending on the area etc. there are certain fashion statements of topics.

in my last school it was: poverty, drugs, crazy people, refugees, prison
in pj world: hospitals, insanity, poverty, war, demonstrations
in art world: middle class, love, dreams, identity

so that's perfect. everybody is doing there little bit. isn't it.

cigarettes, pathsala, pantha path, dhaka, feb 2012

after the lecture we are talking, about photography, work, being a photographer, thinking abut work. again not trying to impose ideas on somebody else, but coming from a different background and never aware how bad that would be.

not being used to that, to be honest. was no issue in america. but here it is again. i am white, with a white opinion and of course implying with my white opinion something on them. i never thought about that. that it would be an issue. such an issue.

but maybe became just for me an issue, cause i made an issue out of it. mind plays tricks on you, isn't it.