City in surreal monochromes

Buenos Aires, the land of bright skies and joyous sun, is an elegant and hectic metropolis full of contradictions, challenges, and parallel, worlds were people are always on the move. Capturing many of these nuances and characteristics of the city, that photographer Gerardo Korn explored and discovered on his photographic adventure in 2011, is now being exhibited in a series Behind the Scenes ~ Buenos Aires at Cosmic Heart Gallery.

A black and white series comprising 100 photographs, Korn’s approach is old school as each frame is captured with a classic Kodak Tri-X black and white film. He presents a city that is devoid of people but is delicately illuminated by a diffused light, either during early morning hours or in the cloudy skies. However, only 20 photos from the entire collection are on display.

“My pictures invite one to immerse themselves into the image and rest for a while as they contemplate the view. It also shows familiar places in a completely unfamiliar way, like the dreamy-looking long time exposures that I have captured; pictures of a sleeping city in a timeless state. They allow me to show to the world the beauty of the city turned into art,” shares the 57-year-old.

However, keeping his pictures vacant of the human element was the biggest challenge for the Buenos Aires-based street photographer. “It is a beautiful city, not only because of its architecture but also the restlessness, a constant frenzy, and noise. I wanted to distill and portray its beauty and be the only witness to it,” reveals Korn.

Highlighting Buenos Aires’ architectural curves in monochromes is the artist's attempting to give his work a timeless and classic style. And by using the classic Tri-X reel, Korn wanted to break out of the world of digital photography. “I don't dislike colour photography but it can distract, so I needed to go another way. Also, the need was to get out of the frenetic pace imposed by digital, the need to have a limited resource (the roll of 36 photos), contrary to the limitless shots in digital photography. I wanted to feel the importance of each photo that I was making,” he shares.

But, it was the pace of slow photography — a phenomenon of using manual techniques and work slowly — that allowed Korn to immerse into the work and feel the importance of what he was doing. While sometimes he wanders the streets with an open mind, other times he steps out with a specific purpose open for surprises. “Sometimes I go out to take a certain photo because the necessary conditions are given for it. In those cases, the focus has often been so strong, almost an obsession, that I couldn’t do anything else but concentrate on the task. Many photos from the series were taken in this manner. Although I previously made several expeditions into the city until I came across the scene that I was going to portray,” he explains.

When asked about the elements that he keeps in mind while capturing a moment, the photographer reveals that once he ‘sees’ a photo or that it sees him, his mind goes into an automatic mode. “All the time I see images that for one reason or another I can’t capture, those untaken photos get stored in the archives of my mind that help me be better prepared for some next occasion,” he says.

As for advice for budding photographers, Korn advises to be diverse and faithful to the style but emphasises on breaking the pattern as that enables one to see things that escape the sight but are ready to be discovered.  

“Depending on the situation and the place, you also need to be discreet. Sometimes even behave like a thief or hunter. Moreover, it's practice and habit as thousands of photographs over time generate discipline, approach and modus operandi that becomes part of oneself,” he smiles.

Until August 31, 11am – 7pm at Cosmic Heart Gallery, Marine Lines