Underground Photography

Photographer Daniel Pilar works as a staff photographer for Frankfurt General Newspaper (FAZ) since 2006. For this interview he sits down with FotoTV to discuss his photographic background and education and how he ended up working for the critically acclaimed FAZ newspaper. He also talks about an ongoing photography project about the German Coal Industry, primarily a intimate look at the workers who brave their lives daily working many hundreds of meters underground in very hazardous, humid and hot conditions.

Pilar decided to photograph the miners of the coal industry after realizing he had a personal interest in the story, which was wanting to learn more than what the media and press could tell him. He then decided he had a unique story to tell with his pictures. Not like the images he was used to seeing in the press of mineworkers, even though they were very informative. Most always the images were depicted with the same general mood, a grubby worker illuminated by flash, looking into the camera and almost always smiling.

Pilar chose B/W film and a 35mm camera to document his experience and show his perspective. He felt it was the best way to convey the realness and historicalness of the people. He also had to work without a flash underground because any electrical spark could ignite with gasses or fumes and that could mean an explosion in the mineshaft.

One obstacle that Pilar faced underground was not being able to wear his contact lenses because of the immense amount of dust in the air. Since he would be blind without them he had to wear glasses, and on top of that a helmet and a flashlight attached to his helmet. With all that get-up on and the camera viewfinder and glasses to constantly clean, he still could barely see anything, so he relied on his intuition when taking photos, which he took an incredible amount of. Out of 5 or 6 rolls of film, one or two shots would be useable, a very high ratio, but Pilar was not worried about deadlines or delivering his film to an editor on time because he is working for himself on this project. Something he describes as stress free, and a great advantage.

In the beginning, having never given any serious thought if photography would feed him, Pilar always went after his subjects and topics because it fascinated him and because photography is his passion. Photography showed him things and opened doors for him, and it also allowed him to show and share things with other people.