honorable mention
Frank Wiesen germany
title
Switched Of-Switched-Musicians on standby
Every self-employed soloist is prepared to be absent due to illness, to have to financially survive the cancellation of a concert or even an entire tour - but none of us expected the entire musical landscape to come to a standstill.
Only a few had a plan B in their drawer - many got into a kind of paralysis, including me. After waking up, I made contact with my colleagues, heard desperate stories, but also creative solutions. Because we all had one thing in abundance overnight: time to think. I remembered my second great passion: photography. Work of mine had already been published in the New York Times, National Geographic and GEO, but now the time had come to concentrate with all my strength on professionalizing my passion.
The drive
My drive was clear: I wanted to offer a whole industry a new stage with my photos. An industry that is switched off, switched and on standby. A stage from which it echoes towards the viewer: We won't let ourselves get down! We stay creative! And we come back! So I started looking for people who, like me, are temporarily doing something else besides music. I have portrayed 11 of these colleagues.
The realization
The prerequisite for the implementation of this series was to capture the events documentarily and artistically. It's about each individual's story. What has the pandemic done to us and what experience do we gain in a job that simply ensures our financial survival. This is made clear by the chosen representation of the protagonists:
The left half of my pictures shows our side as a musician - the right half shows the activity we are currently doing.
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entry description
The photo projectEvery self-employed soloist is prepared to be absent due to illness, to have to financially survive the cancellation of a concert or even an entire tour - but none of us expected the entire musical landscape to come to a standstill.
Only a few had a plan B in their drawer - many got into a kind of paralysis, including me. After waking up, I made contact with my colleagues, heard desperate stories, but also creative solutions. Because we all had one thing in abundance overnight: time to think. I remembered my second great passion: photography. Work of mine had already been published in the New York Times, National Geographic and GEO, but now the time had come to concentrate with all my strength on professionalizing my passion.
The drive
My drive was clear: I wanted to offer a whole industry a new stage with my photos. An industry that is switched off, switched and on standby. A stage from which it echoes towards the viewer: We won't let ourselves get down! We stay creative! And we come back! So I started looking for people who, like me, are temporarily doing something else besides music. I have portrayed 11 of these colleagues.
The realization
The prerequisite for the implementation of this series was to capture the events documentarily and artistically. It's about each individual's story. What has the pandemic done to us and what experience do we gain in a job that simply ensures our financial survival. This is made clear by the chosen representation of the protagonists:
The left half of my pictures shows our side as a musician - the right half shows the activity we are currently doing.
about the photographer
Since more than 25 years I‘m working as a Professional musician touring around the world sharing the stage with musicians like Anastacia, Dionne Warwick and many more. 2016 I started working like a professional photographer for theatre and concert photography. This was for me the second time bringing a hobby to my profession.back to gallery