Carla Kogelman
Carla Kogelman (NL, 1961) has worked in the theatre industry for 25 years. In December 2011 she graduated at the Foto Academie Amsterdam. She has always been interested in stories back stage, in her own words the ‘true’ stories behind the actors instead of the stories performed on stage.
She won 1st Prize at the Zilveren Camera 2011 with a series of portraits of actors back stage. She won the SO (Selection Of dutch photography) Awards 2013, the national photography portfolio contest. With her series ICH BIN WALDVIERTEL she won first prize Observed Stories at World Press Photo 2014, first prize at World Press Photo 2018 - long term projects, and the Cortona on the Move 2014 Happiness Award as well as the PF Portfolio Award and was shortlisted for the Sony World Awards 2014 and twice one of the five winners of the Alfred Fried Award. In 2017 she got two prizes at Zilveren Camera.
In her work she captures the daily life of people, especially children. Being around the same people for a long time, she becomes invisible. This gives her the opportunity to get a good insight into the lives of her subjects and reach the real story behind what is observed superficially.
Another fascination is the back stage life of theatre, film and sport.
In 2012, she was commissioned by Szene Bunte Wähne, a youth theater festival in Austria, to make a documentary about the rural Waldviertel region. The region is situated between Vienna and Czech Republic. Carla studied the daily life of Hanna and Alena, two children in a farmers family in a small bio herbal village. Childhood which reminds one of hs/her own childhood. She continued the series in the following summers and is still working on the series.
Most fascinating to her is how the children in different circumstances interact with each other, how their bodies communicate, and how the relationships emerge and evolve. She grew up in a big family herself and suggests that she might be reflecting on herself while capturing the life of these children.
Alongside she gives lectures and workshops to various audiences about personal photography.
