Photographer: Simon Hoegsberg
We’re All Gonna Die — 100 meters of Existence by Simon Hoegsberg is a series of work contains 178 people in a 100 meters long portraits.
In order to produce this 100-meter photograph (100m x 78cm), Simon Hoegsberg went to a railway bridge and spent two hours of shooting a day over 20 days. He did it for only two hours on a day is because he considered on the consistency of the lighting which falls onto the people, he wanted to make sure that he captured the same angle so that it would look as if every person copy/pasted into the final picture was actually present in the moment. The whole image is very sharp, white balance, contrast, and brightness in the image balanced are all very well, there is no flaw that makes the audience know that it is a combined image.
Below is a paragraph from an interview with Simon Hoegsberg. He explained why he created this photograph and the message behind the project.
‘The title of the photograph: “We’re All Gonna Die — 100 meters of existence” is not meant to spread fear as some people may believe — on the contrary, it’s meant to point out that life is beautiful, and unless we open up to each other instead of keeping our longings, hopes and experiences to ourselves we’ll fall into the grave with a lot of valuable information and love that we never got around to sharing with the people we’re in touch with. I believe that it is meaningful to let the thought that we’re going to die into our heads once in a while because it brings into perspective what we’re actually doing with the life we’ve been given.’ (Simon.H, 2009)
When I first look at the name “We’re All Gonna Die — 100 meters of existence” , I thought it is a scary piece of work and it makes me think of the movie ‘Final Destination’. But after I knew what is the meaning behind the photo, I love the message very much.
Nowadays, technology has been developed so well that everyone is a part of the social media, the physical connection (face to face conversation) become less and many people only focus on the technology device. In my opinion, the interaction among family and friends in reality between people is way more important than the one in virtual. If there is no communication and sharing among people, many misunderstanding will happen in the world and also estrangement. In order to avoid unnecessary disputes between people, like Simon Hoegsberg said, we all need to open up to each other, show care with warmth and respect in the communication.
The objective of my project is very similar to Simon Hoegsberg’s work, which uses the power of the photograph to raise awareness among people.
Reference
Darren, R. (2009). Interview with Simon Hoegsberg. Available: http://digital-photography-school.com/interview-with-simon-hoegsberg/. Last accessed 26th Oct 2016.
Simon Hoegsberg (2016) Screenshot (We’re All Gonna Die — 100 meters of Existence,2009) [Photograph] http://www.simonhoegsberg.com/we_are_all_gonna_die/slider.html