“The point of photography is a kind of democracy in the subjects,” said Frank Kalero, creator of OjodePez, a documentary photography website that accompanies an annual magazine of the same name.
The bilingual website promotes the work of photojournalists online, offering documentary photographers the chance to exhibit their work to the public. On the site, photographers present series of still photographs, occasionally in conjunction with text, concerning a broad array of social and cultural issues.
Kalero, who is based in Berlin and Barcelona, noted that “any photographer can promote his own work, or the work that he likes” on the Internet, thus creating a more democratic array of subjects and information.
OjodePez and sites like it fill an increasingly important role in online media, Kalero said. Whereas fifty years ago mainstream magazines like “Life” stressed the importance of photo essays, documentary photographers today find their print outlets much more limited.
OjodePez features photo essays by photographers from around the world. The essays tackle a variety of subjects, from opinions on American culture in Mathis Braschler’s “About Americans,” to the unique inner workings of a Swiss retirement home in Andreas Reeo’s “Old People’s Home for Farmhands”.
Nine photo essays are currently featured on the site. Articles accompany five of the photo essays, allowing for an informative as well as visual experience. OjodePez exhibits images selected by a different photo editor every year. Andrea Gothe of the German magazine Stern selected this year’s images.
About Elizabeth Waugh
