People: Travel (AMATEUR) - HONORABLE MENTION
Journey through Serbia
Photo © Robert Varga
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Serbia is a small country with a vibrant and very diverse peoples, culture and landscape. It is still recovering from decades of Communism, along with the devastating war of the late 1990s and its after effects. There is a great deal of poverty and hardship but there is also optimism, change and even beauty. The last time I had visited Serbia was 20 years ago. Since then the country has greatly transformed with a dramatic meshing of the old and the new, the poor and the wealthy.
The capital Belgrade is a pulsing metropolis that has embraced Western consumerism and capitalism ready to take the stage as the next much sought after tourist destination with its cafes, restaurants and nightlife. On the other side of the coin in the countryside entire villages have had their populations decimated as young people flock to the larger centres or to Western Europe seeking opportunity and jobs. Many of these villages are now living museums with the old folk and crumbling, abandoned houses as reminders of a way of life that is rapidly being left behind and forgotten.
This series of images is a representation of this unique landscape.
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Serbia is a small country with a vibrant and very diverse peoples, culture and landscape. It is still recovering from decades of Communism, along with the devastating war of the late 1990s and its after effects. There is a great deal of poverty and hardship but there is also optimism, change and even beauty. The last time I had visited Serbia was 20 years ago. Since then the country has greatly transformed with a dramatic meshing of the old and the new, the poor and the wealthy.
The capital Belgrade is a pulsing metropolis that has embraced Western consumerism and capitalism ready to take the stage as the next much sought after tourist destination with its cafes, restaurants and nightlife. On the other side of the coin in the countryside entire villages have had their populations decimated as young people flock to the larger centres or to Western Europe seeking opportunity and jobs. Many of these villages are now living museums with the old folk and crumbling, abandoned houses as reminders of a way of life that is rapidly being left behind and forgotten.
This series of images is a representation of this unique landscape.
About author:
Photography, and art in general, for me is about capturing the fleeting instant. Photography allows us to arrest moments, slices of time trapped like an insect in amber, moments that will never happen again. This is the miracle of photography. I have an old Polaroid photo of me when I was about six years old. I was in the small inner city backyard of my parent's house playing cowboy. If it were not for this photograph I would probably not even remember this moment, or even think back to that time except perhaps rarely, and in a very hazy recollection where all the major events run together like water colours in the rain. However that one photograph brings back that moment and with it other elements which aren't presented or even hinted at in the image. What's even better is that it is an instant image captured with a Polaroid camera and developed on the spot. As with that photograph I am always looking for the unexpected in my work as that is what often results in the best and most satisfying images. Whether I'm shooting on the street, out in nature or working in other mediums in the studio the accidental and serendipitous often lead to the most interesting ideas and outcomes in capturing the dimension of the present moment.BACK TO GALLERY
