Prague

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

Czech Republic | Friday, July 5, 2013 | flickr photos

When I took a class with the photojournalist Simon Norfolk last spring, he told me to stay somewhere and really get a sense of a place in all its mundanities. I met him in Liverpool and I was on a study abroad program in England, with a limited six-month visa, so time constraints did not allow me to pursue my passion in this way. However, I would like to develop my photography as more than just a habit – of making order out of the chaos I encounter daily in New York, for example – and more of a disciplined practice.
My long familiarity with the cliches here means that in my photography of my home city I have avoided the iconic buildings and places that others employ, but when I got a taste of the "tourist experience" in Prague and the other European cities I briefly visited, I reconsidered this visual snobbery. Living surrounded by landmarks, how did people eke out their own unique experiences and narratives without feeling weighed down by the accomplishments of past generations? This was one theme that interested me in Prague, where I visited a synagogue and cemetery that carried my name (Pincus), and where the past – and death – seemed to continue to be a vital part of life.