2009 was my first real year of living and working in Serbia and it was wrought with more questions than answers. I’m still trying to figure out what last year was and what the next will bring, in terms of life and my photos. But I think these pictures may show some of what this was about for me, my relationship to friends and strangers, places and stories. These are not just my “best” pictures but include many more personal. A visual taste of my year. And I’m ecstatic to be back for another take.

Of course, I am a month past due with this in part to recovering from the holidays stateside and setting up everything here for 2010. I’ll have much more to share in the near future on what’s new these days, including projects, collaborations and websites. As always you can see my work at www.mattlutton.com and dig through my archive (and buy pictures!) at archive.mattlutton.com.

Thanks for keeping up with my work and supporting us here at Dvafoto. Happy New Year!

I just came across a new short story by longtime friend of dva Bevis Fusha, who I actually just had the pleasure of meeting in person for the first time a month or two ago in Tirana. There have been many projects about the Albanian phenomenon of the Blood Feud (here is a good background piece from the New York Times) but none that are as affecting and touching to me as Fusha’s vision of it. It is nuanced, delicate and sensitive, far from the easily concocted exoticism and sensationalism. It is great to see an Albanian photographer focused on such an issue, and it provides terrific context for the perspectives we’ve seen before.

Speaking about the work on the site Enter World Press Photo he says:

I also did not want to make the story clichéd. So many photographers had gone down that route. I also did not want any invention, such as putting weapons in young people’s hands, as some foreign photographers had done.
The second problem was that the time was very short, just a few hours, during those four days. That would never be sufficient to achieve the proper visual sensitivity in each visited family.
So I decided to hold on to a naive and childish prospective. A photographic history filled with fences, flowers and other symbols, to point out the essence of the phenomenon.

Click on either of the photos to see more of this project on the website of the Metro Collective. Be sure too to look at Fusha’s website for more of his outstanding work. Lastly, if you are interested in this subject matter you really must find a copy of “Broken April” by Ismail Kadare. Harrowing and deep in thought inside the mind of a young man caught on both sides of his family’s blood feud early in the 20th century. A clash of Albanian cultures, changing times and the horror (and clarity) of knowing when your death will come. Written by one of the foremost contemporary Albanian authors.

Sorry for my lack of posting over the last month or so, I’ve been kept very busy with a roadtrip, an assignment in Albania and work on a personal project or two. But I have a lot of little things saved up to post, and will catch up on a few today.

But first I thought I’d share a couple of things from what I’ve been up to. The first of three stories I shot in Albania for the New York Times / International Herald Tribune with Dan Bilefsky, having to do with Sunday’s elections in Albania, has been published: “Albanians, Cut Off, Get Set to Vote”. We have two more stories to go to print in the coming weeks, and I’ll share those and more pictures when I can.

Last, a little peek at a project I’m working on here in Belgrade about Roma communities who are in danger of losing their homes when the city/state redevelops the land that they are squatting on. A lot of issues going on here, and I’ve been trying to unpack it over the last month or so and there is much more to do, this really is in its beginning stages. A little bit further down the line I’ll be able to share more pictures and more of the story. For now, a couple of frames:

Next up are another couple of short trips back to Kosovo and to Bosnia to continue my stories there. I look forward to having more to show you all soon, thanks for having a look!