Intimacy Under the Wires
I love PhotoShelter on line guides. In fact, I keep following and downloading them on my computer to learn more from this great on line photography community.
I was honored to be mentioned in the recent guide ‘Creating a Successful Photography Portfolio’ with the mailer I send out to Photo Editors. You can read all about it under the section; 5 Tips for Going Beyond the Portfolio Review, by Frank Meo, from the Photo Closer.
Tip no. 4: Follow up, send targeted, exceptional mailer, Frank mentions my mailer and says:
“Sivan Askayo did a photo essay of people hanging their laundry around the world, and you can imagine what they look like; a young girl’s ballerina outfit hanging on a beautiful pink wall etc. To set herself apart, she focused on the packaging of her photos themselves. She printed postcard-sized images, boxed them and wrapped the box with rope, swatches of clothes and tiny clothespins. What a beautiful mailer. It cost her $15-$20 a piece with the prints, clips and the box, so she sent them only to select people.
You have to really target; Don’t send mailers to everybody. This shows that you peeled back the onion and you know who deserves it. It’s all about whether or not you connected on that first date”
‘You have to go to Naples’
This is what every body who saw or heard about my on-going photography project ‘Intimacy Under the Wires‘ kept telling me.
So I did.
I did go to Naples. And it didn’t disappoint. On the contrary. It was a heavenly place for my shoot and a tremendous landmark for my project.
Walking in the narrow streets under the crumbling balconies of old colorful buildings, keeping my head up and my camera always ‘on’, was an amazing visual experience. I couldn’t keep my head down, not for a minute, not to miss any shooting opportunity but to keep following the cloth- lines as they ran from one balcony to another.
I booked a private tour guide in advance, to make sure I visit the tiniest streets and the more dangerous areas so I could be free to shoot Laundry. Marina, who was born and raised in Naples and is very proud to be called a native Neapolitan, took me to Via Forcella in the Forcella district, where the Camorra (Naples’ Mafia) clans rule. And so, a sense of urgency and danger accompanied my shooting experience. (I loved it!)
When we got to the entrance of Via Forcella, Marina stopped and said; ‘This is where GOD is’. She looked at me to make sure I understood what she meant and continued: ‘I find GOD in human beings. and this is where we hang our clothes…This is where the hanging clothes and the hanging stories of the Neapolitans exist’
She urged me to be quick with my shoot (‘because it is not a safe place’, she said) and I took a deep breath to overcome of my sense of apprehension and got my camera ready.
This is just a hint of what I have found.
Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans….
This sentence basically sums up what led me to become a photographer.
I got quite excited today to find an interview I did for Resource Magazine few months ago, published in today’s blog, under the category of Image Makers. I met with Janet Alexander one rainy morning over a cup of coffee when she wanted to hear how I became a photographer and how my laundry project ‘Intimacy Under the Wires‘ started.
To see more of my Laundry project, please check my ‘Intimacy Under the Wires’ category
To read my article about Tel Aviv; Production of the World in Resource Magazine Summer 2012, please check here.
There is nothing more rewarding for a photographer than to be mentioned in one of the most prestigious photography blogs, Pro Photo Daily, part of AI-AP organization.
Pro Photo Daily is run and managed by David Schonauer, and it is all about ‘Inspirational work and insightful news and opinions’ regarding photography.
I met David on July 3rd. While half the New Yorkers were fleeting the city to go for a holiday, I found David working quite around the clock in his midtown office. The initial meeting was actually to show him some of my work from Buenos Aires, but while I was showing him my portfolio, he got curious about my laundry images I took. I found myself telling him more about my on going project ‘Intimacy under the Wires’ and David got intrigued. One thing led to another and David suggested to write about it in the blog.
To read the full article, please check this link.
Thanks David for this great opportunity.
I spent only 48 hours in Lisbon and yet, I managed to do, see and shoot so many things.
Especially Laundry!
I’m really excited and honored my on going photography project ‘Intimacy under the Wires’ grabbed the attention of the Editor of Le Cool Lisboa that he has decided to feature one of my laundry images on the cover of the magazine (issue *348) and also interview me about it. If you know Portuguese, here is the interview.
The week after I was also surprised to find another image on the cover of the magazine (issue *349) in which I am talking about the Love signs on the walls of Lisbon.
Le Cool Magazine is a free weekly magazine distributed every Thursday that features a selection of cultural events and leisure activities, revealing the things you really shouldn’t miss. The magazine filters out, among other things, the best art, film, music, and club nights, as well as a careful selection of extraordinary bars, restaurants and other fine places. Le Cool is featured in Barcelona, Budapest, Dublin, Istanbul, London, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Rome and Vienna.
I knew it was going to be a LUST Summer, when the Editor in Chief at Sanoma Media magazines in Antwerp, Belgium emailed me one day on May and asked me about my ‘Intimacy under the Wires’ project. Apparently, he saw my project featured in Feature Shoot and loved it. One thing led to another and I’ve been offered to be featured in a 5-double spread story in the Lust, Summer edition, July 2012. LUST is a new Belgian (Flemish) ‘Summer Magazine’ with reportage, literature, photography, fashion, lifestyle, and a lot of travel. In case you read the language or visiting the Nordic part of Europe, LUST is the perfect guide for a Hot Summer.
I am already getting used to all the suspicious looks from people, when they see me standing under laundry wires, pointing my camera up or kneeling down to get a better angle. Deep down I keep telling myself that if they had known what I was looking for or what I was working on, they wouldn’t have given me these looks or maybe they would have understood me. But on the other hand, I can’t blame them; A photographer who is standing under laundry wires waiting for the breeze, is not a common view. I was visiting Lisbon for two days for a shoot, and during my free time, I was looking for laundry, so I could add and expand my ‘Intimacy under the Wires’ collection. It wasn’t hard to find. I was walking in the narrow streets and alleys of Alfama and Bairro Alto, and could easily spot laundry on wires. It really made me smile. And as for the suspicious looks I kept getting from the locals? I guess I have to get used to it, or just smile back.
My on going photography-travel- project ‘Intimacy Under the Wires’ is now featured in May issue of Shamenet Magazine in Israel. This project has been quite popular and been featured on some Travel and Photography blogs for the last couple of months, but this is actually the second time it is on print and the first time it is featured in Hebrew.
My Israeli friends already know how to spot laundry-hanging-out-on-wires for me. They already know which path and road to choose so I can have a great visibility of hanging clothes. They are patient enough to stop when I’m stopping all of a sudden, pulling my camera out of my bag and standing under the wires, waiting for a breeze and a windy wave to come by and animate the clothes. Some of them even pull out their iPhone cameras and take pictures of me taking pictures of laundry. (one day I should have a post only with those pictures). Some of them parting from me, giving me my time, my space and make plans to meet me later. In all occasions, there is always a picture to take.
Tel Aviv is filled with opportunities to take pictures of laundry. The warm weather makes it easier on those who want their laundry to get dry faster. Lots of old crumbling terraces that serve as a great background, air conditioners backs peeping out of the windows and electricity wires sliding down. Here are some images from my recent visit in Tel Aviv.
My Laundry project started with one image. (above) I was walking in the quiet alleys of Jaffa on a Friday afternoon. It was two years ago, when I came for a Holiday visit on April. I love Fridays in Tel Aviv. It has a special atmosphere you don’t have anywhere in the World. The city slows down bit by bit, getting ready for the Shabat (Saturday, a day of relaxation). There is less traffic on the roads, public transportation disappears, people drink their coffees in the neighborhood cafes, gathering the Weekend’s newspapers under their arms, getting ready to have a nap after a long week of work. Tel Aviv’s beach is slowly getting empty from visitors and the sun has its own rhythm.
I was in Jaffa, waiting for a friend to join me for a shoot when I’ve heard a woman’s voice over my head. I lifted my head up and saw her hanging laundry. I waited for her to finish and then a breeze came and gave life and animated the laundry. Someone once told me that these images look like color marks in water. I couldn’t agree more.
Since then, ‘Intimacy under the Wires‘ project has become very popular. And in every visit to Israel, I keep coming back to these quiet alleys of Jaffa, the mixed city of Arabs and Jews, looking up the crumbling balconies to find laundry.
