10 SNAPS FROM PRAGUE

2007

Pigment prints, 110x165 cm

Edition of 3+1

If a beautiful picture is the basic goal of every photographer, another classical concept of photography is capturing the Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moment" - the split-second peak of the action, when all elements of the image are in their most expressive stage of movement and interaction. For generations, the "decisive moment" idea has become a trademark of craftsmanship and a lifetime goal. So, if Prague can offer so many opportunities for a beautiful image, why cannot it be the place where decisive moments come handy wherever you look? How about a place where life is so rich that in every picture you take everybody is at his or her best? Wouldn't that be the ultimate photographer's dream?

And so we tried to imagine what that would look like, to have images that are composed exclusively of those decisive moments. No boring looks, no strangers accidentally stepping in the wrong place at the wrong time - everything should be perfect, and everybody should fit at the right place of the composition. How do you get that?

Well, we have cheated. These images are sort of time-lapse composites - each one covers a time span of about an hour followed by a process of film-like editing of the single elements. Everybody and everything in the picture has been there, indeed - but the individual time of each person is intertwined with the specific moments and the trajectories of the others. Compressing time, generating minute ephemeral stories between passers-by that have actually never met - that was the actually important part in making the picts. There's been some sort of a voyeuristic element in it, too - discovering background looks or situations that you never noticed on set while taking the picture, but strike you when zoomed in in the post. That was somehow similar to viewing film footage frame by frame - the look is going deep inside each single image, finding sometimes unexpected elements and situations that completely change the meaning of the scene.

Does a perfect picture offer a better view of a place? We don't know. Somehow, these images are an idealized, but a bit scary vision of what Prague is and what it might be becoming. As in other fast-growing cities, new relationships are establishing - but as the paths of its inhabitants are crossing closer and closer, people more and more often might prefer to follow their own way without noticing the others. We'll see.