Kasper Nybo

Entangled – new project from the streets of Paris

For a French/Danish art exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark, I was invited to create an exhibition showcasing a few corners in Paris, seen through my eyes as a humanitarian photographer. It was a project of many twists and turns along the way – and fantastic people both in the research phase and on the streets in Paris. The exhibition has just ended and more than 2500 people came out to see it – for those who couldn’t be there, I’m very happy to share it with you here. As this was not a direct photojournalistic project I had the artistic freedom to work on and develop the rough, dirty feeling of the streets more than my normal projects allow me, this was a great experience. A big thank you goes out to the people behind www.frenchartday.com for the organization of some great days. This is the story I created for them.

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“Do you want some food?” a wrinkled woman asks me. I kindly turn down her offer and tell her I am fine. “Are you sure?” she insists “It’s for everybody!”.

This is not an offer of politeness, she has spotted me from across the square, and she genuinely cares.

It’s Wednesday night, I’m sitting on a cold stone in Place de Budapest, Paris. Resto Du Coeur has rolled out their tables and food is being served to a line of around 150 waiting people. Simultaneously this scene is being repeated in several other locations across town, tonight and all other days of the week.

I’ve been on the streets for a couple of days, and have blended into the crowd enough for the wrinkled social worker to take me as someone in need. Most strikingly is indeed the number of “normal looking” people in the line. People looking like they are on their way home from the office – and in fact they might very well be. On the back of increasing rents and cost of everyday items in the shops, there’s a growing number of people that simply cannot make ends meet, and so the soup kitchens take on a new roll of not only providing for the homeless, but reaching out to a much larger and diverse group.

The European middle class is under attack, and having a job is no longer a guarantee for food on the table or a roof over your head. Social and economic challenges are no longer distant subjects in the news. Individuals, families and children are falling over the edge daily, becoming members of the “new-poor” class. It’s a hard definable group, breaking classic descriptions of someone to be standing in line for food or shelter at night.

These images are produced over the course of 8 days in November 2012, during a long series of walks through the streets of Paris. Shooting was done day and night, under and above ground, on the boulevards and in the gutter. The subjects are isolated, captured on the distressed stage of the streets, one fate unaware of the next, one path crossing another. In a maze of entangled journeys each subject is frozen in its own frame.

The series is a preview of a planned project focussed on documenting the current social challenges in Europe, resulting in the rapid growth of the “new-poor” class. Further funding will determine the longer term future of this project.

All images are sold framed and benefits will go directly into the support of my continued humanitarian work. Pictures from the exhibition will be online soon in the Exhibitions section

Join me in Copenhagen this weekend

For a French/Danish art festival I’ve created a series of images highlighting the current social and economic challenges sweeping over Europe, affecting the everyday lives of many. The images are produced over the course of 8 days in November 2012, during a long series of walks through the streets of Paris. Shooting was done day and night, under and above ground, on the boulevards and in the gutter. The subjects are isolated, captured on the distressed stage of the streets, one fate unaware of the next, one path crossing another. In a maze of entangled journeys each subject is frozen in its own frame.

The series is a preview of a planned project focussed on documenting the current social challenges in Europe, resulting in the rapid growth of the “new-poor” class.

More than 1000 people came by yesterday, and you can still catch the show today January 20 in Øksnehallen in Copenhagen. I’ll be there all day today and would love to see you there.

In Paris

For the last week I’ve been on the streets in Paris, researching and building a new project on social issues in the heart of Europe. A bigger preview should launch in January, and further funding will determine the longer term future of this project. The current economic situation is rapidly evolving into very practical everyday challenges for many people throughout Europe. It’s sometimes easy to overlook the problems in our own backyard, but the issues at hand demands and deserves an equal amount of attention.

New articles

I’m still catching up with updating you on everything that’s going on, some of it made it to my Facebook page, and the rest I’m really happy to share with you now.

In mid-October a longer interview, featuring some of my thought processes when I’m shooting, was published on the blog of 500px.com. If you don’t know the site – and have an interest in photography – you definitely owe to yourself to go there and explore. They feature some of the best photography in the world, from so many talented people – and I’m proud to tell some of my story through their blog, recently voted one of the 25 most important blogs in the world by TIME Magazine.

So if you want to come with me behind the lens, read this article: Humanitarian Photographer Kasper Nybo interviewed by 500px

As some might know I’m a great supporter of the Crowdfunding concept, as it made some of my exhibitions last year possible. I’ve already talked about it in previous interviews, and was very happy to do it again for the Danish Actors’ Association. They want to promote the use of crowdfunding for artists to realize their own projects. I couldn’t agree more with this and shared my story and what I believe are good keys to success with crowdfunding. The article is in Danish, but let me know if you have any specific questions, and I’ll answer them the best I can.

You’ll find the article right here
and you can find the full magazine here

New workshop

Last week was such a beautiful experience! I always enjoy sharing my passion for photojournalism with other people, and this was no exception, as I was teaching a full workshop on visual storytelling to a great editorial team in Red Cross. In a matter of days a group of truly motivated people went from hardly having used anything but a camera phone, to discussing shutter times and best use of light to tell a story. It was astounding to see their progress and continuous attention, as we worked through some long days of talking, discussing, testing, failing and learning. I’m so happy to have met each and everyone of the attendants, and that they set the time aside in their busy publishing schedule. I greatly look forward to see their progress and continued work in creating visual stories.

Inspiration was a big part of this workshop, and one of my favorite subjects, talking about the importance of developing your visual language is so close to my heart, and always inspiring to me to see people starting to explore this language for themselves. After that, technique becomes a natural tool you’ll want to master to be able to speak your voice, and that approach is so fundamentally different than first falling in love with big cameras and many buttons. We did of course cover a lot of technical ground, and in the end saw the first results of visual stories being made. Great experience – great people!

Kasper Nybo with a few of the workshop students from the Red Cross editorial team.

Quick update

Life is moving extremely fast these days, and I haven’t been able to keep up to date online. My bad! I’m busy developing new projects and finding contacts and funding for them. It’s a lot of long processes but many seem to be coming together now – and I’m really excited about it. After the latest exhibition in January, a bit of press coverage have helped with new contacts. About a month ago I was contacted by a great Canadian art and culture magazine “Georgie”, for an interview about my humanitarian work. They are great people and I was of course honored to work with them. They’ve just published the issue where my work – and a few thoughts – are featured, and they’ve done an amazing job! Thanks guys! Read the full article, and help me spread the word here: http://bit.ly/POkR5G

More to come..

Gratitude is Universal

UPDATE 2: On December 22. Museum of Modern Art of Naples opened its doors to a fantastic evening of charity, (more about the concept in the original post below). More than 300 people filled the halls enjoying great food, live music, origami art and the exhibition of 14 of my images from Japan. A last, but heartfelt, Thank You to my great sponsors for making this exhibition possible. The images are now in transit to Denmark, where they will be on display on January 22 in Øksnehallen… Continue reading…

Japan tsunami eyewitness stories #4

Having lost almost everything, the strangest experience for the two sisters Ryoko and Kaori, is to walk in the remains of their house – wearing shoes inside what used to be their living room.

In the gym hall, Ryoko is racing across the floor. She sees nothing, except the springboard in front of her. 1, 2, 3, her feet are synced in perfect rhythm, setting off and being catapulted into the air. She’s weightlessly flying, in a long split second. But as she makes a perfect landing on both feet, the ground is giving away under her. Everything is shaking and squeaking. Something is wrong. The tremors become stronger and stronger. Ryoko knows it’s an earthquake. She has experienced it many times before, but never this strong. She can’t get up and run, as it continues to shake.

Kaori, 9, and her sister Ryoko, 12, Ishinomaki, Japan.

The girls around her are screaming and crying. Ryoko tries to crawl to the others, helping to get everyone to sit together and hold on to each other. The ground is rocking under them in what feels like an eternity. And then, finally, it stops. The following silence is deafening, as if they’re all holding their breath thinking “Is it really over?”, without really daring to believe it.
Continue reading…