‘IN THE HERE AND NOW’ and has been published on emerge magazine as their 100th story.

http://www.emerge-mag.com/en/2014/03/in-the-here-and-now/

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/eine-frau-will-ein-mann-sein-wie-eine-ehe-das-aushaelt-a-944749.html

Beginning of December I went to the Philippines to document the delivery of relief goods for typhoon victims, which were funded by the Germany based NGO Kaibigan and to make first enquiries which help people need in order to start a living again. Relief goods were brought to Talinhugon, a small village around 50km from Tacloban and to Cambalading which is near Ormoc at the west coast of Leyte.

The area left destroyed by typhoon Haiyan is so huge that it seems almost surreal to drive around for hours, without seeing any house which would not at least be partly damaged. What is not surreal at all but very real instead, is to meet the people who face their situation with incredible courage and who are thankful for any help provided. What astonishes me each time again when coming to the Philippines is the kindness, with which people welcome foreigners, even if their situation would fully justify their concentration only on own concerns.

The following images show the situation beginning of December as well as the help provided. Further down I also put up images from other areas and projects in which Kaibigan is involved.

Approaching Tacloban the destruction left behind by typhoon Haiyan gets worse and worse.

Ten year old Richie walks through the ruins of his district at the coast of Tacloban.

According to eyewitnesses the wave which overrun Tacloban was as high as the third storey of the building in the back of Richie.

In Cambalading Albin rests on a door in a ruin of one of the houses of his village.

A boy plays in a ruin in his village Cambalading.

Helpers pack relief goods for distribution.

Gunel (l.) and Win-Win eat lunch from the feeding program.

Sandy is one of the first starting to rebuild his house in the midst of the destroyed coconut palms.

Most men living in Cambalading are fishermen, who lost their boats in the storm. Providing them with new boats is the first step to enable them to start working again.

View from the plane on the way from Manila to Cebu.

At night time Brother Paul drives around offering psychological help to sex workers or simply being receptive to their concerns.

One of the singers of a children’s choir rides a jeepney on her way to a performance.

A boy attends a ‘child rights and protection’ event funded by the European Union in Cebu.

An old clock lies on the path leading up the Smokey Mountain. The Smokey Mountain is the former dumpsite of Manila.

At the foot of the Smokey Mountain children work separating metal from plastic for recycling purposes.

Mary-Rose (m.) is working in the charcoal production which is now located on the top of the Smokey Mountain.

People on the Smokey Mountain work days, months and years breathing the smoke from the burned wood which is extremely harmful to their health.

Denis

Kolot

Children from the district of Smokey Mountain sing in a choir.

A girl from Smokey Mountain takes part in an evening class.

Two boys showing the camera their almost supernatural strength

A boy flies through the air as he is thrown by some of his friends for an acrobatic performance.

Clear-Cut, featured on the website of the open Welch photography collective ‘A Fine Beginning‘. Thanks Gawain Barnard!

http://www.afinebeginning.com/clear-cut/

My portrait project ‘Clear-Cut’ shows customers at the ‘Atlantic’ barbershop in Newport/Wales.  ‘Clear-Cut’ will be self-published as a limited edition of 35 copies in an accordion book (leporello). I would like to use this as an opportunity to introduce the book and briefly talk about the project.

Raheem, Newport/Wales,  2013 © Christoph Soeder

The project can be characterized by its banality on one hand – most people go to a barbershop or a hairdresser at some point, where they get wrapped into a barber’s cape – and on the other hand by the distinctiveness of each photographed individual.

The accordion binding of the book allows to flick through the pages like in a normal book or to unfold it completely so that all photographs stand as a series besides each other.

‘Clear-Cut’, © Christoph Soeder

Unfolded example of ‘Clear-Cut’, © Christoph Soeder

The serial display of the images underlines an important aspect of the work: the contrast between commonality and individuality.

The simple thought of the human aspiration to belong to a community but to be individual and unique at the same time, illustrates very well, how both commonality and individuality go hand in hand, and, even though being contradictions, are not mutually exclusive to each other. This phenomena actually occurs visually when the images are being considered all along side each other: The common aspects of the subjects seem more apparent while at the same time the individuality of each subject stands out more clearly in comparison to the other photographed people. This phenomena of the individual becoming more apparent through the common and vice versa is quite fascinating because, as described before, both are actually opposed to each other. The reason being might be that one is defined through the other and that as a result of this, both inevitably go hand in hand.  This is like the colour black which becomes apparent only through its negative white and vice versa.

The two covers of the book are held in black and white and coated with a part of the cape the subjects wore as they got their hair cut and were photographed. This makes the viewer actually touch a part of the subjects, when he or she holds the book.

Front and back cover of ‘Clear-Cut’ are held together by press buttons. © Christoph Soeder

Back and front of ‘Clear-Cut’, © Christoph Soeder

The book is hand made and the number of copies is limited to 35. The price is 35 £/ 42 €. If you are interested in buying a copy, please contact me.

A few portraits from Halloween in Newport/Wales:

“Guess what? … I love you!” is one of Rhydian’s favorite sentences, which he addresses for example to one of his carers sitting at the other side of the room at lunchtime. Rhydian, who has a brain tumor is one of the children who comes to Ty Hafan. Ty Hafan is the Welsh for ‘haven house’ and it is a children’s hospice, the only one in Wales. ’In the Here and Now’ is the title of the project which I’ve been photographing at Ty Hafan over the past few months and which will soon be up on my website.

Rhydian flying through the room on the arms of his carer Paul while ‘Super Hero Day’ is celebrated in the hospice. South Wales/UK  © 2013 Christoph Soeder

“Oh, that’s sad” or phrases similar to this would often be the reaction when people hear where I’ve been photographing. Indeed loosing a child is a stroke of fate which is so tragic that there  are hardly any words for it. But before this all the children who come to Ty Hafan have a life which is full of emotions very many of which are also very light-hearted. I think Rhydian’s quote in the first paragraph illustrates this very well. For many children the future is unpredictable, as it is not known how their condition is going to deteriorate and thus how long they have left with us. This perspective often leaves them only with the present to focus on and emphases on the importance of each moment.  The predominant feeling one gets staying at this place is the value of the here and now, of each lived moment.

Pablo, who you see on the image below, was one of the very first children I met coming Ty Hafan. Sadly Pablo passed away shortly after I met him. I’m very glad having been in time to meet this beaming young man and his parents. The image below shows him being hugged and kindly shaken by his father Paul, which is what he enjoyed most when I met him. When he was younger, in earlier stages of his condition, so his father told me, Pablo used to react to a whisper into his ear, .

Father Paul and his 13 year old son Pablo on the couch at Ty Hafan. South Wales/UK South Wales/UK © 2013 Christoph Soeder

The courage with which children and family members and also carers who often build a close bond to the children face their situation is incredible and makes them to heroes. Thank you to all of them having shared a part of their life with me. More impressions from this place will be up on my website soon.

The surroundings of the hospice reflect in one of the windows looking onto the garden which leads to the seashore. South Wales/UK © 2013 Christoph Soeder

Welcome to my blog! I would like to start with a quote by André Breton, which I first heard the other week at the inaugural lecture of Professor Ian Walker at my Uni in Newport, and which I think hits the nail on the head generally but also with regard what I often feel about photography.

“Everything tends to make us believe that there exists a certain point of the mind at which life and death, the real and the imagined, past and future, the communicable and the incommunicable, high and low, cease to be perceived as contradictions. It would be vain to see in the surrealist activity any other motive than the hope of determining this point “

André Breton (1896–1966), French surrealist. repr. In Manifestos of Surrealism (1969). “Second Manifesto of Surrealism,” (1930).

A contrast which André Breton does not mention in his quote is female and male. I would like to show you this picture I took of a couple living in Germany for the next printed issue of TONIC Magazine which will be published at the end of this year. For the moment I don’t want to say anything more about the story of Hannes and Claudia but that the contrast of female and male plays an important role.

Hannes and Claudia, Dresden/Germany,  © 2013 Christoph Soeder