Join the discussion / Doe mee met de discussie
What do you think of the photo project ‘Surveillance and Enforcement’? How do you feel about the use of modern technology in our everyday lives? Feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
Voel je overigens vrij om in het Nederlands te reageren.
Contact
Maurice Timmermans
e-mail: fotografie@mauricetimmermans.studio
phone: +31 (0) 6 15086222.
www.mauricetimmermans.studio
Graphic design: Ontwerpstudio Spanjaard >
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In its review of ‘Surveillance and Enforcement’ LensCulture writes: the use of an infrared camera has given the pictures a cold bluish color palette which transforms the place into a futuristic environment and the people to non-human creatures (like robots)
The infrared camera gives an estranging effect to the portraits. Colours come out differently than we are used to. Dark eyes for example surprisingly turn out very light-blue. I have also chosen the bluish colour palette to echo the blue uniforms the enforcement officers wear.
In the photographs the machines have human-like features and the people look like robots, suggesting they have merged.
Nice site Maurice and an interesting subject!
Modern technology is everywhere and very useful.
But we have to watch over our privacy!
Fascinating stuff Maurice and beautifully presented. I looked at the appeals work too and smiled at the guy starting his appeal with the words, ‘I had to get to the pub quick’.
The images are very successful in conveying the idea of robotic enforcement and hint at inhumanity. For example the pensioner, who had several fines and mobility issues – he could not afford to pay. Seems an unthinkingly cruel way to treat the elderly; robotic and incompassionate. Perhaps he was one of the 50% excused. I was left wondering about some human questions that I don’t think would necessarily come across without looking at the separate work. Is there space in work to raise social questions that can be neglected in the technological / information age?
You are perhaps invested in the perspective of the state through your work – does it then become a celebration of state surveillance and control over citizens?
You are in the position of a privileged insider to gain the access you had and I wonder whether you have doubts or questions about surveillance?
Thank you Andrew for your feedback and remarks. About the perspective of the state: the people who work in parking enforcement are proud of their work. It is quite an accomplishment to produce these amounts of checks. In The Netherlands we have strict privacy laws in place, this is why the people who work in parking enforcement don’t have ‘moral objections’ or a feeling that something wrong is done.
About my own opinions, doubts, questions: I guess this is the reason why I took up these photo projects. To investigate my own feelings about the subject. On the one hand it is a high-tech achievement doing parking enforcement in this very effective way. On the other hand the work maybe gets unpersonal, tech and ICT oriented. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Maybe this is the general direction our society is going. I don’t have a final or fixed opinion about it. This means I still have the inspiration and the need to continue working with this theme beyond the OCA.