11/23/24
December 01, 2006
EUROPEAN FIELDS The landscape of Lower League Football.: by Hans Van Der Meer. 85 photographs in colour of amateur-football in twenty-two different European countries. From Amazon: "At the beginning of the 1995 soccer season, Hans van der Meer set out to take photographs of the game that dodged the cliched traditions of modern sports photography. In an attempt to record the sport in its original form--a field, two goals and 22 players--he sought matches at the bottom end of the amateur leagues. He avoided tight telescopic details and the hyperbole of action photography, pulled back from the central subject of the pitch, and set the playing field and its unfolding action in the context of local elements. Over the last 10 years, Van der Meer has continued this project across the playing fields of Europe, traveling to every country with a significant history of the game. ... Van der Meer's understated observations of the poetry and absurdity of human behavior on the field use soccer to consider--and provoke a laugh at--the human condition." Published in hardcover and paperback. (via kottke)
posted by worldcup2002 to soccer at 12:48 AM - 12 comments
Is it just me or is the site itself badly designed and slow? Still the photos make up for that, some great images there
posted by Fence at 03:29 AM on December 01, 2006
I find it slightly ironic that the first Italian shot (Prato, Italy) has a player laying on the floor clutching his ankle. But some beautiful photos there, and consistently terrible pitches! Real football, in other words. justgary: I'd love to see the same thing done with baseball, but the locations probably wouldn't be as varied, or exotic. I guess that depends partly where you live. I think most Europeans would find a baseball version more "exotic" than a bunch of football pitches, the kind of which you find in every single town on the entire continent. I bet a collection of grass-roots baseball diamonds would be just as varied and interesting.
posted by afx237vi at 07:40 AM on December 01, 2006
Yeah, you could certainly find some Colorado or Alaska fields with wonderful mountain backdrops, and I bet some of the various latin american baseball-playing countries have some fields on beaches and in forests that would photograph well. American football is probably SOL, though.
posted by tieguy at 10:04 AM on December 01, 2006
This is the best thing I've ever seen posted on SpoFi. WC2k2, thank you!
posted by psmealey at 12:25 PM on December 01, 2006
yeah these are some wonderful photos, though the interface is a bit clunky...
posted by JohnSFO at 01:41 PM on December 01, 2006
Great pics. Zebra striped unis are COOL!
posted by THX-1138 at 03:48 PM on December 01, 2006
Once again, a wc2k2 gem....thanks for the link!
posted by smithers at 03:49 PM on December 01, 2006
Brilliant. Thanks, wc2K2, for showing me what to ask from Santa.
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 05:48 PM on December 01, 2006
Cheers, fellas. Your kind words are like Christmas gifts to me. :)
posted by worldcup2002 at 01:49 AM on December 02, 2006
Great photos. As noted by afx237vi, it is funny that the first Italian photo has a guy on the ground clutching his ankle -- there's another Italian photo later where two guys are down. I also liked the photo from the Czech Republic where two pretty serious looking guys look like they're about to come to blows.
posted by holden at 09:58 AM on December 02, 2006
I also liked the photo from the Czech Republic where two pretty serious looking guys look like they're about to come to blows. And the ref nowhere to be seen. Great find wc2k2.
posted by squealy at 07:51 PM on December 03, 2006
Wow, those are gorgeous pictures. I'd love to see the same thing done with baseball, but the locations probably wouldn't be as varied, or exotic.