The current glamour boom in Ukraine means that many unappealing aspects of our life are literally off the radar. But photographer Oleksandr Chekmeniov, who is well known to the readers of The Day through his participation in our photography competitions, has always said that people who end up on the streets because of circumstances deserve respect and compassion no less than other people. This photographer uses expensive film to capture them.
His series “Photography without Dubbing: Street People Shot by a Street Photographer” was taken in Luhansk between 1994 and 1997, when the C-41 color print film developing process first appeared. The quality of prints developed by this process differs significantly from what has been available until now in the post- Soviet space. “We developed the films 150 kilometers from Luhansk. We had to go to Kyiv because we didn’t have any equipment to print photos. We had to get film on the black market or spend a lot of money,” Chekmeniov said, explaining that this ended up defining his approach to taking pictures. The people in his unique photos are not simply looking into the lens, they often pose.
“I learned to take photographs on the street, because at one time I lived practically on the streets. I started to earn money, and learned how to take photographs and survive. The people in my photos are street people.” Chekmeniov needs to know why they ended up homeless yet still have joy in their lives. “Being a tramp is a whole story,” he told this reporter. Many critics and fellow photographers say that his photos portray entire destinies because many of the people featured in them have since died.
At the Kyiv-based Ya Gallery the photographer launched his photo album entitled Oleksandr Chekmeniov: Black-and-White Photography, which received support from Pavlo Hudymov, the head of the Hudymov Art Project. After the two became acquainted, they got the idea not only to hold a photography exhibit, but also release an album of Chekmeniov’s photographs. “This is the man who is predicting a future for my pictures. The album features my collection of photographs taken since 1992. It includes about nine series and individual photos. They are all united by black-and white photographs manually developed from negatives taken with a photo camera that cost only 100 dollars. I am still shooting with film, and I use a digital camera only for work. Nearly all the people featured in my photographs are smiling. This means that I established contact with the person. I would come up close, and for this I needed a single lens that does not allow shooting from far away. According to this principle, the quality of the shot depends on how much you open yourself up to a person and vice versa. These people attract attention and give away their last possessions. They are not politicians who have everything and won’t give you a cent,” Chekmeniov explained.
OPINIONS
Pavlo HUDYMOV, head of the Hudymov Art Project:
“One time Oleksandr Liapin and Oleksandr Radchukov came to my place and acquainted me with Chekmeniov and his works. I immediately said that I wanted to show his work. We held our first photo exhibit called “Black-and-White Photography,” which took place last year. Today a photo album with the same title has been released.
“Photography without Dubbing: Street People Shot by a Street Photographer’ is a kind of psychological experiment. Bums simply attract attention. Chekmeniov shows real street people. The viewer cannot say that they are bad or good; you can’t laugh at them. Each one has his/her own world outlook. If you look closer at them, you will see that these people are in no way different from us.”
Oleksandr LIAPIN, photographer:
“Some 10 years ago we organized the Ukrpresfoto Photo Competition, and Chekmeniov won the Young Photographer Prize. He submitted the photos that we are seeing now. I am simply moved. Chekmeniov chooses that sphere of life where everyone is afraid of peeping into or is simply living in a different world. This may be sad for some people, but I personally like it. These people are very interesting. Chekmeniov is able to show these people, like in a theater. He turns them into actors and full-fledged personalities.”
