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| Composite of images from the exchange - click to enlarge |
During the last three months, seven fototazo microgrant recipients worked on an image exchange project with students of Matt Johnston from Coventry University in Coventry, England. They carried out the exchanges on Tumblr, with one side of the pairing posting three new images approximately once a week, and the other side of the pairing then having one week to respond with three more new images. The project aimed to connect photographers from two locations through visual conversations that provided an opportunity for them to share, interweave and react to their respective photographic visions.
The results can be viewed by clicking on the "Exchange" links below:
Exchange 1
Kat Ullman and Natalia Lopera
Exchange 2
Lucy Bartlett and Margarita Valdivieso
Exchange 3
Imogen Wall and Andrés Sanchez
Exchange 4
Stephen Ma and Edwin Ochoa
Exchange 5
Tom Tierney and Juliana Henao Alcaraz
Exchange 6
Jonny Bark and Mónica Lorenza Taborda
Exchange 7
Jess Bell and Alba Bran
An online page with all images in the project can be found
here.
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Matt has curated a selection of images on his site
here. Below I have done the same, but in my case I have selected exactly one image from each photographer involved in the project from the exchange. We also asked those involved for comments about their experience in this project; comments from three involved from Medellín follow the images.
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| Natalia Lopera |
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| Kat Ullman |
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| Alba Bran |
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| Stephen Ma |
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| Mónica Lorenza Taborda |
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| Margarita Valdivieso |
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| Andrés Sánchez |
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| Jess Bell |
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| Imogen Wall |
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| Jonny Bark |
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| Lucy Bartlett |
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| Juliana Henao Alcaraz |
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| Tom Tierney |
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| Edwin Ochoa |
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Comments from participants
This project has been very interesting because through it we all achieved a form of visual communication, a cultural exchange through images in which we have shared visions of the city, of moments, of people and of spaces. These are experiences framed in the context of two different locations that communicate and interweave stories from two worlds.
In my particular case, I focused my interest in the portrayal of people in everyday environments in order to document and share situations I encountered with my family, friends or strangers that I found in Medellín and its surroundings. In that sense, I have felt very satisfied with the responses of my partner because his photographs also shared his local context. Our images communicate and expose the differences of two places separated by geography, but united in the lens of two photographers that without meeting each other manage to tell a single visual history of portraits and culture.
Thank you.
- Mónica
The experience we have had with the photographic conversation was quite rewarding, we have enhanced our visual and technical vocabulary. The interpretation and the answer to your photos is always something unexpected, like a verbal conversation that brings up secrets that few know and in the same way we can start a whole new topic with a single trigger that changes the conversation. We can see images made far from our own country that are stored in our mental library for future photographs, future trips or future conversations.
- Andrés
My experience as part of the Coventry/Medellín exchange has been very interesting, because it's a very loose and open exercise and we have had the freedom to choose what we want to post, but at the same time it has also required us to be very concrete as we have only three images each time to say something, to respond to what your partner has proposed and in turn to propose something new. This game allows you to react differently each time, to think of different possibilities to approach photography and to learn to be agile in your visual thinking.
I like the idea of keeping a photographic conversation with a person on the other side of the world and seeing what could be built in this way very much. I think it would be good to continue this type of project for further improvement as photographers and to be able to build increasingly interesting and strong projects.
- Edwin Ochoa
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Comments in the original Spanish
Este ejercicio ha sido bien interesante, porque todos a través de este proyecto logramos una comunicación visual, un intercambio cultural en donde por medio de imágenes, compartimos visiones de ciudad, de momentos, de personajes y de espacios. Experiencias enmarcadas en el contexto de dos lugares distintos que se comunican y entretejen historias de dos mundos.
En mi caso particular, centré mi interés en el retrato de personajes en ambientes cotidianos, con el objetivo de documentar y dar a conocer situaciones alrededor de mi familia, amigos o de personajes que encuentro en Medellín y sus alrededores. En ese sentido me he sentido satisfecha con las respuestas de mi pareja, ya que con sus fotografías expuso también su contexto local. Nuestras imágenes se comunican y exponen lo diverso de dos lugares separados por la geografía pero que se unen en el lente de dos fotógrafos que sin conocerse, consiguen contar una historia visual de retratos y de cultura.
Gracias.
- Monica
La experiencia que hemos vivido con las conversaciones fotográficas ha sido bastante gratificante, hemos podido enriquecer nuestro vocabulario visual y técnico. Pues la interpretación y la respuesta siempre es inesperada, al igual que con una conversación verbal van saliendo a colación secretos que pocos conocen y de la misma manera podemos empezar un tema completamente nuevo con un solo detonante de cambio. Podemos ver imágenes que son ajenas a nuestro propio territorio y que se van almacenando en nuestra propia biblioteca mental para futuras fotografías, futuros viajes o futuras conversaciones.
- Andrés
Mi experiencia con el intercambio Coventry/Medellín, ha sido muy interesante, porque es un ejercicio muy suelto y se tiene la libertad de elegir qué es lo que quieres postear, pero al mismo tiempo te exige ser concreto ya que solo se tienen tres imágenes cada vez para decir algo, para responder a lo que tu partner ha propuesto y proponerle algo nuevo y ese juego permite reaccionar diferente cada vez, pensar en diferentes posibilidades de acercarte a la fotografía y aprender a pensar visualmente de forma ágil.
Me gustó mucho la idea de mantener una conversación fotográfica con una persona que está al otro lado del mundo y ver que se podia construir de esta forma y creo que seria bueno continuar con este tipo de propuestas para seguir mejorando como fotógrafos y poder construir proyectos cada vez mas interesantes y fuertes.
- Edwin Ochoa
