5 A Day #7 - Singular Images #1

There are times where random photos some how work together. Today my intention was to do 5 single images. The images that I shoot as I see them. They don't particularly go with any one series that I may be working on but they are good images. Images that are worthy of being seen. Some may one day end up as part of a series others will forever maintain the title "Singular Image".

It's interesting that this particular set of images was taken in two of my favorite cities, Krakow and San Francisco. These are examples of seeing the texture and patterns in things. The barber chair struck me as part of a bygone era of the mens barber shop. Simple, a gathering place which somehow seemed out of place amongst the high rises of downtown San Francisco.  The other four images are all examples of the study of patterns and texture. I love repeating patterns that lead you into or out of an image. Images when presented to the viewer, allow them to manifest their own story and stimulate their imaginations as to where the image is taking them.   The Manhole Cover is the perfect example of that. When I see that image it could be representing any era, it lets the imagination wander back in time. It was taken in Krakow in the Jewish quarter and I can't help but think how many thousands of jews walked these streets, the carriages and horses that went before. The colored patina of a metal door built between the great wars as part of a lookout post now stands in all its colorful glory that nature bestowed upon it over the years.  Then there are the repeating lines against the marble stair landing, which almost seem to transport people around the corner to the next set of stairs. These are some of the things that I sometimes think of sub-consciously while I am looking around to find an image or as I am creating a particular image.

It's interesting that all the color shots were taken in San Francisco and the Black & whites were taken in Krakow. Two vibrant cities where the old is part of the new and there is a rich history to both.

All images are for sale. They are printed to archival standards using 100% rag papers and archival pigment inks. Images are limited to editions of 25 for 13 x 19 and 15 for 17 x 22.

You can see more of my work on my website - www.ricomandel.com

	The Chair 13 x 19 $250.00 17 x 22 $400.00
Click Image to Enlarge
	Mailboxes 13 x 19 $250.00 17 x 22 $400.00
Click Image to Enlarge
	Landing Stair 13 x 19 $250.00 17 x 22 $400.00
Click Image to Enlarge
	Manhole Cover 13 x 19 $250.00 17 x 22 $400.00
Click Image to Enlarge
	Colored Patina 13 x 19 $250.00 17 x 22 $400.00
Click Image to Enlarge

5 A Day #6 - The Windows of Auschwitz

My first trip to Auschwitz was in 1977. I was 16. I had been ingrained with stories of the holocaust since both my brother and I were fascinated and slightly frightened by the subject. I looked at books and saw films about it. Much of my family was exterminated during the war. My mother got out with her parents, from Vienna Austria, with one of last exit visas, on one of the last boats, in February 1940. And in 1977 on a trip to Poland to see where my grandmother came from my parents took myself, my brother and sister to Auschwitz.  At that time I was fascinated. I finally got to see the most infamous of the concentration camps. I didn't know that there were 2 camps one a converted army training camp, Auschwitz I" was the original and the other "Auschwitz II - Birkenau" was built about 3 km down the road by the Nazi's as a manufacturing facility for the final solution. It's raw material was people and it's final product incineration. It was built as an efficient killing machine with volume throughput capacities of over 20,000 bodies per day. It was efficient. There were plans drawn up, architectural models built and the final solution was constructed. From the main guard tower, in Birkenau, as far as the eye can see to the left and the right were barracks that housed the prisoners.

On my first visit I took photos of everything I could. There was also an anger that welled up inside of me against the atrocities and Nazis. In 1999 I went back and it was a more somber experience. I could hardly take a photo. On my last trip in 2008 I went with my family and my parents to show my children the camp. This time as I went around in the barracks I noticed the windows looking out onto a scene juxtaposed by electrified fences, barbed wire and beyond trees, blue skies and freedom. I put myself in the tattered shoes of the prisoners. How it must have felt to see this sight. What it was like to know that just a few short feet away was freedom, yet the obstacles to overcome were enormous and compounded by a weakened body. What was it like to look out and see this scene?  I can only imagine and that will never even begin to live up to the reality.

One image is through the peep hole of a solitary confinement cell with a small window looking out and a toilet in the corner. Who knows how many people were packed into it at one time. The last image is the only one from Auschwitz II Birkenau, it's from the guards perspective, the view from the main tower which each train passed under. I imagine the guards peering out, overseeing the trains as they brought in the days cargo for slaughter.

The perspective changes each time I go. We'll see what comes up for me on the next trip.

All images are for sale. They are printed to archival standards using 100% rag papers and archival pigment inks. Images are limited to editions of 25 for 13 x 19 and 15 for 17 x 22.

You can see more of my work on my website - www.ricomandel.com

	Freedom is Just Over the Fence
Click Image to Enlarge
	The Obstacle Course
Click Image to Enlarge
	Looking Up From Solitary
Click Image to Enlarge
	Obstacle Course II
Click Image to Enlarge
	Tracks of Death
Click Image to Enlarge