On Georgia...

I have been thinking about this story for a while… I wanted to go to Georgia and do a photo essay on what life is like for the Georgians with a very dominant, economically important, threatening and increasingly belligerent neighbour… (which incidentally also ties in with my interest in the Ukraine). …I have started to make some contacts in Tbilisi and thought of going to Georgia at the beginning of August for a first research trip… Well, and then the hot war started… As an unaffiliated photojournalist it became very difficult to get there and I could not find any affordable flights (most flights were suspended altogether)… And above all, I also had my doubts whether I was capable of creating meaningful images in a real war like situation… and whether I could cope and find my way around in a real war – after all, I was interested in the “soft” and psychological story, not so much in being a war photographer; the bigger newspapers and CNN are much better at that anyway - …now, with the ceasefire in place I have decided to go… So if Lufthansa does not cancel the flight, I will be flying to Tbilisi this evening… I have no real idea what to expect and whether I will be able to move around (for example get to Gori) and take some meaningful images …but hopefully I will be able to talk to a few people, observe and understand a bit more… and with a bit of luck come back with some images that tell a story…