Crossing Kabul by Daniel Pilar (August 11, 2010) 
(24 votes, average: 3.63 out of 5)
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Introduction by Sophia Greiff
From June 16th to June 20th 2010 the second Lumix Festival for Young Photojournalism took place in the city of Hannover. Along with lectures of renowned photographers, panel discussions and portfolio reviews, more than 1400 images were presented in sixty exhibitions. The majority of the displayed work impressed with its high photographic and narrative quality – and opened the eyes for individual tragedies and stories that would have been left unseen without the curiosity and sensitivity of these emerging photojournalists. An important and impressive story was Daniel Pilar’s work Crossing Kabul. Documenting the capital of a country that has suffered from occupation and war for thirty years, the German photographer depicts a city between hope and desolation, between violence and normality. A car parked in a run-down area is covered by a bright pink tarpaulin; a man is playing soccer in an empty swimming pool in the mountains; veiled women are sitting on the street, begging. With these, sometimes absurd, scenes of the everyday life in today’s Kabul, Daniel Pilar visualizes the search for identity of a war-torn nation and sets the eye on the individuals behind the media attention.
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Our poll "A photo essay always needs a great written story" closed. 267 people voted, 28% agrees, 72% disagrees. 233 people answered our follow-up question "Are you a photographer?" 82% indicated they are, 18% said no. Initially, negative answers to question #1 were almost 100% as was the pecentage of photographers among respondants. Then, when the level of non-photographers started to rise, the percentage of people indicating good text is always essential started to rise too. This seems to indicate that non-photographers think that adding good text to your photo essays is essential. In my opinion: if you want non-photographers to dig your work, you know what to do...
It hasn’t been so long since Kabul was considered an open-minded metropolis. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Afghan capital was a popular stop on the hippie trail to southern Asia. Driven by the need to find themselves, wanderlust and the wish for friendship between peoples as well as by the desire for opium and hashish, thousands of backpackers travelled to Kabul.
Now, after thirty years of occupation and war, Afghanistan is struggling to reestablish its identity.
Residents are pessimistic about the future. Rebuilding the city drags on, and the constant fear of new attacks has shaken people’s trust in NATO forces.
People in Kabul have many stories to tell.
Crossing Kabul is a portrait of today’s Kabul where, far from the fighting, normality is slow to return. German photographer Daniel Pilar focuses on everyday situations caught between tradition, Western influence and social progress.
Daniel Pilar grew up as the child of Czech immigrants to the Hanover region.
After graduating from high school and completing his civilian service, Pilar travelled and discovered a love for photography. He started studying earth sciences, but switched to the communications program at University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hanover in 1999 in order to focus on photojournalism.
He graduated in 2006. After a six-month internship at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (F.A.Z.) in 2005, Pilar worked for three years as an editorial photographer.
Today he works as a freelance photographer for several magazines and is a regular contributor of F.A.Z., based in Hanover.
Daniel Pilar (1976) lives and works in Hannover, Germany.
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