A Czech and American photographer named Antonin Kratochvil was born in 1947 in Czechoslovakia. Kratochvil founded what is known as the VII photo agency. This international photo agency was created to show and report on the major issues in the world. VII challenges small photography businesses to step out into the world and produce photos to overcome big businesses that are taking over. Kratochvil mainly captures images of war and conflict in different countries. Some of the countries he has taken photos in have been Haiti, Iraq, Romania, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. During his time of taking these photos he produced a book called "Broken Dreams". This book shows the photos of the crumbling countries around the area where Chernobyl occurred. He is also very famously known for his work with portraits of himself and other famous people like David Bowie.
This photo that Kratochvil captured is one that stood out to me the most. Usually in photography photos that are blurred out are usually a mistake or a bad photo that was shot. In this photo it is different. I think Kratchvil meant to blur the man. The blurriness of this photo really captivates a ominous feeling to it. The background is completely destroyed and the man who is blurred is almost screaming it looks like. The blur of the man screaming makes it feel like there is no escape out of the mess behind him. The blur was a perfect touch to this photo and I think if it was not blurred the photo would be boring and would not have a deep meaning as it does while being blurred.
Another photo that captured my eye from his work was this one. This photo is a portrait of a man. I like the way Kratochvil captured his face within the glass. The glass almost acts like a magnifying glass and un-evens the face. The way he used the glass Is very creative and is something I would look about doing If I was doing a portrait. With being behind the glass and the post he chose for this man brings upon some questions. Why that pose and why behind the glass? I think if he chose to model the man in front of the glass it would lose its meaning of the photo and portrait. I also believe the pose he chose and the face he made really brings the photo together.
All together I really enjoyed looking at Kratochvil's work.
Bronwen Lewis
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