Friday, October 2, 2015

Voyages

The New York Times

The New York Times


The Voyages Issue: Six Photographers on Their Dream Journeys

Photo essays from around the world by Bieke Depoorter, George Georgiou, Glenna Gordon, Alec Soth, George Steinmetz and Hiroshi Sugimoto. SEPT. 23, 2015


Video by George Steinmetz
Visual journeys by six photographers




http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/09/23/magazine/the-voyages-issue.html






"Travelers tend to go where other travelers have gone, and perhaps this is part of the reason travel photography remains in thrall to the typical. When you do visit Zurich or Cape Town or Bangkok, they are very much alike: The amusement parks have striking similarities, the cafes all play the same Brazilian music, the malls are interchangeable, kids on the school buses resemble one another and the interiors of middle-class homes conform to the same parameters.This doesn’t mean the world is uninteresting. It only means that the world is more uniform than most photo essays acknowledge, and that a lot of travel photography relies on an easy essentialism. I like Italo Calvino’s idea of ‘continuous cities,’ as described in the novel ‘Invisible Cities.’ He suggests that there is actually just one big, continuous city that does not begin or end: ‘Only the name of the airport changes.’ What is then interesting is to find, in that continuity, the less-obvious differences of texture: the signs, the markings, the assemblages, the things hiding in plain sight in each cityscape or landscape. This is what outstanding photographers are able to do, and it is the target the rest of us chase.’’
—TEJU COLE, from the introduction to The Voyages Issue



(...)






A man selling locks as passengers board the train and prepare for the journey north. Many passengers take a lot of luggage and other goods that are easier to carry by train than by road, but the train is not without risks, especially theft. Glenna Gordon for The New York Times






A man stretching across the second-class compartment. Glenna Gordon for The New York Times





Luzanivka, a working-class beach near Arcadia. George Georgiou for The New York Times





In Vulcanesti, a Soviet-era war memorial: “The Living Are Grateful to You Forever.” George Georgiou for The New York Times






Constanta, Romania. Completed before World War I, the Constanta Casino fell into ruin when the Soviet Union collapsed. Now the European Union is funding a restoration. George Georgiou for The New York Times





Mud and salt ponds in Burgas, Bulgaria. George Georgiou for The New York Times





The Buzludzha Monument, in the remote Central Balkan Mountains, has been closed since the fall of the Soviet Union. It was completed in 1981 to commemorate the founding of what would become the Bulgarian Communist Party. George Georgiou for The New York Times





Inside the Buzludzha Monument. George Georgiou for The New York Times







Sari, a D.J., dancer and singer. ‘‘She walked through the hotel dressed like this, and it created a bit of a sensation. There’s a scene in ‘Lost in Translation’ where Scarlett Johansson wears a pink wig, so I wanted someone to wear a pink wig I bought. But Sari had this blue wig and a bob that somehow achieved the same quality.’’ Alec Soth/Magnum, for The New York Times






Singers from the Ganguro Cafe, part of the Ganguro fashion revival. ‘‘I asked them to sing, but they ended up dancing. I liked the idea of bringing in entertainment, though they caused a problem by being flamboyant in a hotel that’s not flamboyant. They seemed bored. They were just on their phones all the time.’’ Alec Soth/Magnum, for The New York Times






Hiroko Inomata, an assistant to the private chef. ‘‘She was just in heaven with these bugs. She was so enthusiastic. Later, this bug landed on the window outside. (We were really high up, not an area where there are many bugs — I hadn’t seen a bug my whole time there.) And she went over to the window and was kind of petting the glass and talking affectionately to this bug. But she talked about how she wanted to eat it. I thought it was weird after she was simulating petting it.’’ Alec Soth/Magnum, for The New York Times






The photographer’s son, 13-year-old John Steinmetz, exploring one of the many small summits in the rain-eroded labyrinth of Roraima, which is composed of Precambrian sandstone, some of the oldest rock on earth. George Steinmetz for The New York Times





Wet, windy weather has carved pagodalike formations into the top of the Kukenán tepui. George Steinmetz for The New York Times






Longboats at Puerto Ucaima on the Carrao River waiting to carry tourists to sites below Angel Falls. George Steinmetz for The New York Times





A small plane is the only way to reach Uruyen, a roadless Pemón Indian village near Auyán tepui. George Steinmetz for The New York Times






A girl named Selma in Ayvansaray, Istanbul. Bieke Depoorter/Magnum Photos






Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza. It was here that Sugimoto realized he had been retracing some of the steps of the teenage Japanese emissaries he had been reading about. A mural in the theater commemorates the night in 1585 that a musical performance was given in their honor. Hiroshi Sugimoto






Teatro Villa Aldrovandi-Mazzacorrati, Bologna (stage side). As with this “teatrino,” or “little theater,” built as part of a private villa in Bologna, Sugimoto often supplied his own screen system. Here, he projected “Le Notti Bianche” (“White Nights’'), a 1957 film by Luchino Visconti. Hiroshi Sugimoto






Teatro Villa Aldrovandi-Mazzacorati, Bologna (seating side). Although this theater was built long after the Japanese Christians traveled through Italy, Sugimoto visited many of the places they had been in Bologna. Hiroshi Sugimoto






The Pantheon, Rome. In Rome, the Japanese travelers put on kimonos and samurai swords for their presentation to Pope Gregory XIII. After Gregory died a few days later, they attended the coronation of his successor, Sixtus V, before embarking on what became a four-year trip home. At the end of his trips to Italy, Sugimoto returned to New York, where he has been living, for the most part, since 1974. “That wasn’t my plan,” he says. “I was just a traveler, but I got comfortable, and I stayed.” Hiroshi Sugimoto





Correction: An earlier version of a picture caption with this photo essay misidentified the assistant to Uchiyama Shoichi, a private chef and ecologist. She is Hiroko Inomata, not Asami Tonai.

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