The Waiting Room

In case you didn’t know, The Waiting Room is available as an e-book. For five bucks, you get the version with an English translation of author Victor Martinovich’s wonderful introduction exploring Belarusian identity. The download is here:

http://billcrandall.bigcartel.com/product/the-waiting-room

Thanks Ken Cedeno for the pic. I had a blast presenting The Waiting Room at the venerable National Press Club the other day, at a joint luncheon of the International Correspondents and Photo Committee. I was proud to be invited, and the discussion was incredibly engaged and thoughtful. I think people came away more interested in Belarus, so mission accomplished.

If you’re in NYC, The Waiting Room is now available at the International Center of Photography’s great bookstore!

[from Franak Viachorka via Facebook]

Today - 175th Anniversary of Kastuś Kalinoŭski - National Belarusan Hero, a writer, journalist, lawyer and revolutionary.

He was one of the leaders of Belarusan national revival and the leader of the January Uprising in the lands of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Kalinoŭski promoted the idea of activisation of peasants for the cause of national liberation. Kalinoŭski also referred to the good traditions of democracy, tolerance and freedom as opposed to national oppression of cultures dominated by Imperial Russia. However, after initial successes against the Russian armies, the Russians moved a 120,000-strong army to the area and the revolutionaries started to lose most of the skirmishes. Finally Kalinoŭski was betrayed by one of his soldiers and handed over to the Russians. He was imprisoned in Vilnia (modern Vilnius), where he wrote one of his most notable works - the Letter from Beneath the Gallows (“Ліст з-пад шыбеніцы”), a passionate credo for his compatriots. He was then tried by a court martial for leading the revolt against Russia and sentenced to death. He was publicly executed on Łukiški square in Vilnia on 24 March 1864. (wiki)

Re-posting an interview with Voice of America’s Russian service about my Belarus project and photography in general.

The original in Russian is here, and an English translation is here.

Happy to announce that signed copies of The Waiting Room are now carried by the fabulous Politics and Prose bookstore in NW DC. Of course, you can also buy direct from me here.

Great news! The Waiting Room won 2nd place, photobook category, in the 2012 FotoWeekDC International Photo Awards.

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The people’s choice winner of Sigur Ros’ Valtari film competition, by a Belarusian production team, was judged as “exquisitely executed, deeply atmospheric and ultimately inscrutable”. Interesting directors’ commentary about their experience, check it out on Vimeo:

FILM #11: DAUÐALOGN BY RUSLAN FEDOTOW

Belarusian native Jan Zaprudnik is a historian, professor, writer, and spent more than three decades with Radio Liberty’s Belarusian Service as a correspondent, producer, and editor. He came to the US in the 1950s and holds a doctorate from NYU. His books include Belarus: At a Crossroads In History (1993) and Historical Dictionary of Belarus (1998), as well as numerous published essays.

Mr. Zaprudnik is considered one of the venerable elder statesmen of the Belarus diaspora here. Most of the Belarusians I’ve ever met know and respect him.

So it was very nice to get this short note in my mailbox today:

Congratulations on and many thanks for your wonderful photo album, The Waiting Room. It is beautiful and thought-provoking. Victor Martinovich (in excellent translation) and Valery Kavaleuski are both eloquent and penetrating in their pieces.

You not only know how to shoot, but also how to select verbal framing for your pictures.

Going through the book back and forth, I noticed that images of young people prevail, and it occurred to me that it must be a good omen for Belarus in its “waiting room” situation.

Very best, Jan Zaprudnik

Viber has profited from the engineering know-how that Belarus offers. It’s a success story full of ironies: The Israeli startup operates in a country whose Jewish population is less than 1 percent; its app grants consumers the ability to communicate freely, but is based in a place where it is often challenging to freely communicate.

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I’ll be giving a presentation of The Waiting Room tomorrow for staffers at the International Center for Journalists in Washington. Looking forward to showing some pics and an interesting and lively discussion about Belarus. It should be fairly casual and free-form, but I’ve been organizing my thoughts and keep coming back to:

How do we get beyond the the usual stereotypes (Chernobyl and/or ‘Back in the USSR’)? Why does trying to understand Belarusians’ deeper nuances of identity, culture, and history matter? How does it help to re-shape discussions that are usually centered on politics and policy? Photographically, how to find poetry and symbolism (art) without losing sight of the ‘facts on the ground’ (journalism)?

As you can see, I’m coming up with more questions than answers (and the right questions aren’t so easy either). But I guess that’s true of the pictures themselves as well.

The Waiting Room is now available in Montreal, at Librarie Le Port de Tête. It’s a great indie bookstore in the Plateau neighborhood, near the Mont-Royal metro station. They have a modest but interesting and slightly off-beat assortment of photo books. Worth a visit!

A writeup on The Waiting Room by the Editor-in-Chief at Transitions Online, a great site focused on Eastern/Central European news and features.

billcrandall:

Excited that my book The Waiting Room - Photographs from Belarus is now available in Prague, at Knihkupectvi Ostrov (Ostrov Bookstore). It’s in Nové Město, near Národní Třída metro. So if you’re in the neighborhood…

Great place I’m told, formerly run by Victor Stoilov who publishes the Fototorst series of Czech photo books. Thanks to Karel Cudlin for hooking me up.

The price is 499 Czech Kč, about 25 dollars (same as the US price).

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A good friend of mine just found his grandfather’s Belarusian passport, c.1922. En route to America.

3/22/12. Launch party for Bill Crandall’s photo book The Waiting Room - Photographs from Belarus. Also featuring art by Zoya, music by Shuma. @ Montserrat House, Washington DC.

“At last, somebody (Bill Crandall) who actually spent time and effort trying to get the best photographs of something. Most refreshing. […] Fashions will change and what’s nowtrendy will eventually be passé, and your copy (one of just five hundred) of The Waiting Room may become a “collectible” — but no matter if it doesn’t, because you’ll have enjoyed good photography for a modest outlay.”

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billcrandall:

Nice review of The Waiting Room over on the phot(o)lia blog.

http://photolia.tumblr.com/post/20511639880/the-waiting-room-bill-crandall

Belarus, a post-Soviet country “squeezed between Europe and Russia”. The most common association is probably Chernobyl and current political regime referred to as “the last dictatorship in Europe”. No surprise that those few photographers who get to that part of Europe focus on one of those issues. Bill Crandall did something very different. He came to Belarus to document everyday life and he spent one decade visiting the country: observing, learning, reflecting. [S]ome images are just surreal, others are very intimate, many are captivating but all of them create beautiful and intriguing narratives […].

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Glimpse of The Waiting Room book launch @ Montserrat House, 3/22/12. Photo exhibit plus paintings by Zoya (Minsk) and ethno-electronica music by Shuma (Minsk).