honorable mention
Andrei Iliescu romania
title
Barbershop
The barbershop is a unique place for men to socialize. It’s a great place to hang out for a bit and find out what’s going on in the area. The barbershop is a masculine place. The barbershop is the man’s home away from home. Barbers have a sense of human solidarity that goes beyond daily matters and into the essence of life.
Any day is as good as any other to go to the barber. However, there are a few moments when everyone goes to the barber: before Christmas, Easter, Ramadan or Hanukah, before getting married, before graduation or even before burial.
Anywhere the roads have taken me, between the walls of Jerusalem or in the crowded markets of Bangkok, in small stalls or just at the edge of the road, the barbershop is there like a genuine establishment that is never missing and cannot be absent. Whether it is rich or poor, the man has had the same unquenchable need to be proud and groomed - this is part of human nature itself.
Wherever you are, in Stockholm or Havana, in Athens or Sharjah, the bell that rings when you enter the barbershop has the same universal effect: you leave your worries and burdens at the doorstep and suddenly the wide-smiling man in the white gown becomes the best friend you’ve ever had. And then the ritual begins.
back to gallery
entry description
I feel like a little boy in a toy store when I’m sitting in front of a barber shop. I’ve been in many barbershops on many streets around the world and each time I had the same strange feeling of stepping into another dimension. The world takes a break and you feel at peace with yourself and with your fellows. It’s more than a social habit. It’s a kind of ritual.The barbershop is a unique place for men to socialize. It’s a great place to hang out for a bit and find out what’s going on in the area. The barbershop is a masculine place. The barbershop is the man’s home away from home. Barbers have a sense of human solidarity that goes beyond daily matters and into the essence of life.
Any day is as good as any other to go to the barber. However, there are a few moments when everyone goes to the barber: before Christmas, Easter, Ramadan or Hanukah, before getting married, before graduation or even before burial.
Anywhere the roads have taken me, between the walls of Jerusalem or in the crowded markets of Bangkok, in small stalls or just at the edge of the road, the barbershop is there like a genuine establishment that is never missing and cannot be absent. Whether it is rich or poor, the man has had the same unquenchable need to be proud and groomed - this is part of human nature itself.
Wherever you are, in Stockholm or Havana, in Athens or Sharjah, the bell that rings when you enter the barbershop has the same universal effect: you leave your worries and burdens at the doorstep and suddenly the wide-smiling man in the white gown becomes the best friend you’ve ever had. And then the ritual begins.
about the photographer
I was born in 1956, in Bucharest, Romania, to a family of artists, so I think that my passion for all things creative was in many ways predestined. My parents thought I would become a sculptor, or a painter, like them. Instead, I set up to conquer the world with a fully manual Russian photo camera. Art in the communist era was a dead end so I decided to study at the Polytechnic. During the revolution in December 1989 I wandered the streets with my camera and took advantage of the chance I had been waiting for all my life. Romanians were free again and I couldn’t be less - resigning my job as engineer, I pursued the long expected career as a photographer. I spent eight years working for press agencies such as AFP, EPA, Sygma-Corbis or AP and then moved towards commercial photography. A different world with different rules. Working in my own studio was a huge challenge. Whether I’m working with an art director or the owner of a small business, my focus is always the same: solve the problem and make the client happy. All this time, photojournalism kept whispering in my ear, beckoning me. So I started to travel, just to photograph. More and more. Farther and farther away. The overwhelming scent of real life. And this very vivid image appeared to me. A schoolboy, 40 ago, skipping classes, wondering through his town, with his Praktica photo camera and some Orwo films in his pockets. And that’s who I will always be.back to gallery
