Vilnius : Photographs of Old Town

I have chosen to discuss the work of photographer Kestutis Stoskus following a visit to his exhibition "Photographs of Old Town,". Stoskus's particular style of photography, which focuses on the more architectural side of photography, greatly appealed to me as a viewer. Kestutis Stoskus is a Lithuanian architectural photographer and a museum curator. He was born in Jurbarkas, Lithuania, on March 13 1951. In 1973 he graduated from Vilnius University, the Faculty of Economic. Stoskus has been a professional photographer since 1985. He has also worked for the National Museum of Lithuania since 1994.

Stoskus works mostly with medium and large format cameras to create detailed black and white photographs. I found that Stoskus likes to focus on the unspoiled parts of the old town area of central Vilnius, blurring the presence of cars, signs of tourism and even pedestrians. Unlike the "Unfixed" exhibit which are portrait photos mainly depicting people, Stoskus's works are all landscape- and hardly acknowledge the presence of people.

The Hill of Three Crosses-by Kestutis Stoskus, 1995

The photograph from Stoskus's exhibition that interested me the most was the "Hill of Three Crosses," which was photographed in the year 1995. For me this photograph is all about the natural beauty of an area. It portrays a forest landscape with a building, most likely to be a church, seen in the back- ground. Stoskus does not use colour in his exhibition at all which I found fascinating because even without the use of bright colours the photographs stand out well. The lack of colour may also be used to signify that Vilnius is an ancient city, and is unaffected by the bright colours we   associate with modern photography.

"Vilnius: Photographs of Old Town," is being held from October 3rd  2013 to October 15th 2013 at the Gallery of Photography in Dublin.