To believe!
Posted on September 18, 2007 at 11:55 pm by Galina
I miss Graz, where I had spent more than five years of my - hard and unforgettable life. I miss Graz beggars. It is difficult to count how many beggary-marginality-homeless-alcoholics shots I made there. Thanks to Styria and its inhabitants, I opened totally new world for myself. But…There were also many incidents with chauvinistic approach.
Galina tried to attract attention of authorities, but without success, to this subject, she tried to attract attention not only to phenomenon, but also to myself, who was busy with beggars. After sending numerous emails to organizations and local newspapers, I received only one warm and friendly reply from editor of “Megaphon” dealing with emigration issues. How many hours of work over beggary collections were lost, I could not not only organize publication of photos but I were often to pay small sums of money to beggars to get there permission to shoot. And I existed in conditions of being without work permit myself!
All this about question of being amateur or professional. Whenever I expressed desire to promote photo or sell it, I met skepticism and resistance of people who were convinced that photography is not serious activity at all and can be handled by anybody with cellphone. They advised me to give camera a break and go washing floor in surrounding restaurants, or also make envelopes at home to earn some money and enjoy myself. Nobody including closest friends gave me at least one short infusion of inspiration.
It is why I continued.
Our beliefs create our reality.
