Kallypso, my dear self, you know that usually I start my everyday street hunt with great enthusiasm. But gradually becoming tired, struggling forward and finding nothing interesting to shoot, frozen, hungry, I feel misery. Shoulder with camera bag aches. It is not so easy to find original face in the street at all. After so many months of search, perhaps nobody knows that better than me. People tend to hide their peculiarities. But not only. Often they do not hide anything. They have standard appearance that reflects standard attitude, by other words, I dare say, people prefer not to burden themselves to be original. Therefore they look alike. They move from underground station till shop and back and have fewer differences in their looks than ants or autumn leaves. Only sometimes I am lucky to spot somebody standing aside from crowd, even if they have criminal aura like these two young gypsies. Woman is looking at me aggressively. I know that in criminal world women often are more ruthless and bold than men. The woman was afraid I am from press or police.

Galina Toktalieva for Die Wiener Nachrichten
Photo by author
Audacious I am presenting here collection of photos depicting small beggars in Vienna streets. Very often they are accompanied by adults who hide themselves somewhere and then take away collected rewards. I photographed already so often the beggars, that knew all of them in the face. Some time after the begging in the streets with children will be prohibited. I associated myself with these downtrodden people, as it was very hard time for me in Austrian capital, when I lived on nobody knows what and didn’t see any improvement for myself in the future. It is difficult to photograph homeless children, they are afraid of everybody, and many a time I asked myself, do I have moral right to do that. (more…)

When-I-still had permanent residence in Graz two months ago, somebody told me that cafe Aida has cheapest espresso in Vienna. When I visited capital last winter I saw many elderly dames sitting over there behind big windows of this old fashioned place of communication. I was not in love with Vienna then yet. What does it mean to be in love with city? To love its air, people going along the streets, or may be somebody who is especially close to you and who was born here?

All my street photos were made in situation when there is no time for reflection and often no time for second shot, my DSLR camera is too visible and too big, and though I don’t want to intrude into or change somehow the material of reality around me, the only available way is alertness and quick reaction. This is one of my first blog entries! It sounds strange.