Alejandro Chaskielberg: The High Tide (6 Photos)

All Photos © Alejandro Chaskielberg. Above: Dark Passage, 2010.

Alejandro Chaskielberg’s project, The High Tide, depicts life in the remote community of the Paraná River Delta region in Argentina, where the river tides determine the activities and movements of its inhabitants. Chaskielberg, a 2009 PDN 30 Emerging Photographer, breaks with the tradition of documentary photography by casting real people in imagined situations based on their own lives. In his photographs, everyday reality is transformed into a dreamlike world where perceptions of color, light and space are challenged.

Drawing from his background in film, the artist carefully recreates scenes from his observations of the locals and photographs them at night. The light sources used to illuminate the images include moonlight, flashlights, strobes and lanterns, casting the scenes in an eerie, surreal light of unnatural colors. Chaskielberg was named this year’s Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year. A book of The High Tide series was released this week by Nazraeli Press with an essay by Martin Parr.
An exhibition of photographs from The High Tide opens this evening at Yossi Milo Gallery. It will be on view through July 29, 2011.

-courtesy of Yossi Milo Gallery.Mr.Bigotes, 2010.