says q. sakamaki, whose book "tompkins square park" recently hit the stands. an award-winning documentarian, sakamaki's photographic coverage has taken him from the brothels of south asia to war-torn areas of africa. however, it's this photog's set of images from this manhattan neighborhood that has romanced the new york times. the streets of new york city have provided inspiration to many an artist, from joel meyerowitz to weegee to andy warhol. i feel that all have, in some way, tried to portray the reality of this city, but it's difficult avoid its seduction. its this seduction, the obvious awe and love that is felt through images of the city, that makes it hard for me to believe sakamaki's quote, as beautiful as it sounds.
it's hard not to be pulled in by the 'plight' of the situation and it most often starts as awe and disbelief. i felt this in honduras; i was in shock by the living (or lack of) conditions that people in the two mountain villages we visited lived in. in a nutshell i sincerely felt that i needed to be the visual conduit between their lives and potential financial donors back in dc. i shot my ass off, and everyone was so gracious about having their photo taken, even the man who was writhing from a bullet being pulled out by the doctor. i admit that i totally fell in love with the project, i was so compelled by everything i saw and committed to producing the most poignant images i could. this is the'romance' that sakamaki refers to in his statement; there is absolutely no romance in poverty, but there is a period where the photographer falls in love with the subject/project; otherwise, there would be little personal motivation to shoot at all.
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