Smieglitz@aol.com
Date: 06/26/01-05:37:46 PM Z
In a message dated 06/26/2001 8:11:12, you wrote:
<<Joe, at what point do you begin to have a sense of the image you want to
create?
>>
Hello again Ernestine,
Wow. This is going to take some time to answer 'cause I'm pretty schizo
sometimes. I'm also kind of a gearhead and with that comes the
photo-equipment geek stuff. But, it is a good question to contemplate.
I'll start by saying I haven't taken a photograph since January and I wasn't
happy with the result. I just acquired a new soft-focus portrait lens in a
studio shutter and was trying it out. Technically I discovered for the first
time, focus shift as you stop the lens down. The shutter had two speeds
(~1/25 sec. or B) and the light low with long exposures. I blew off 7 sheets
and several polaroids before my final sheet of the 4 holders had nearly
caught what I was after. The model blinked, shifted her gaze, chuckled, etc.
on the first 7. The 8th was close and most would say OK, but the framing is
off a bit for me (seems she straightened up a bit and I didn't catch it til
the negative was developed). I'm so much of a perfectionist which can be a
fault or virtue. But, to get back to the question, the image had been in my
mind for years and probably arose after seeing George Seeley's "Firefly".
That image and a few Steichen's led me to the space I'm in today. Plus,
there's probably some deep-seated fetishist imprint for long, dark-haired
Cleopatra-pageboy-hairstyles gathered from my distant childhood in there as
well. Real dark and moody femme fatale stuff inside me for some reason.
(Lots of bright angelic stuff too.)
I've pretty much abandoned anything but figurative work and portraits. I
used to be a pretty good nature photographer and did a lot of color.
Interests in botany, geology and other natural sciences made the whole
environmental photo gig appealing for several years. But then I abruptly
lost interest in it. Never did any grand landscapes but fiddled with street
photography for awhile and gave that up as well. I always kept coming back
to the thought that people were the primary reason to photograph. I suppose
that interest is echoed in my study of Psychology during the undergrad years.
Anyways, psychological portraits and pictorial figurative work is where I'm
at today.
This can be problematic because I only photograph people I really know very
well and are of interest to me for one reason or another. It takes some time
to decide if and what I'll photograph about them. I try to get inside their
head and to let some of what is inside me out at the same time.
Now the source of the idea can be many things: a gesture, dream, look,
reaction, something I read or saw, etc. But whatever it is, it usually rolls
around and gets more refined inside the old noggin for a few months (or
years) before I do anything about it. And all this is complicated by
schedules, etc. I have a whole file of ideas archived and images ripped from
magazines that have something that caught my eye and might be the germ for
another image. Gotta find the right person for the idea. And, I'm not going
to sell a lot of these since they seem to be mainly of interest to myself and
the subject. But we are usually mutually pleased or amazed and that's the
important thing.
To ramble a bit more, I've also abandoned 35mm, 2 1/4, 4x5, formats 'cause I
really like the alternative contact printing processes. I don't want to be
enlarging prints or duplicating negatives. But I picked up a Zeiss 120
folder to use as sort of a point and shoot "sketch" camera for ideas when I'm
out and about. I'm on to 5x7 and 11x14 formats now but must admit I'm very
frustrated since I haven't used them much so far. But, the discipline is
going to be fruitful for me. I can tell. The physical and technical aspects
are challenging me. (A mundane example: ever try loading several 11x14
holders in a small darkroom? It's a giant hassle compared to 4x5. Gave me a
whole bunch more respect for the mammoth plate photographers.)
It's a weird contrast, but most of my favorite images have come out of a
Diana. It really restricts me in the technical aspects, but is very
liberating since it forces me to just see and record those visions. The
images are very surreal and contain a lot of what I call "visual echoes". I
see this overwhelming array of patterns or a tapestry of incongruities when
I'm out with only a toy camera. I see things differently when I'm packing a
Diana.
The other confession I'll make is that I now often photograph things to
ultimately paint. (As an aside, one instructor called my watercolors
"sinister". Definitely not saving the white of the paper. Most of the
photos and paintings are dark.) I'm hoping a new megapixel digital camera
will let me merge this activity with making images for polychrome gum
printing. The original question I posed alluded to the day's equipment
influencing how one sees or knowing what your going after and taking specific
equipment along to record it. I don't want to be hauling a bunch of color
slide film in those big sheet film holders (of which I have a limited number)
just in case I see something in color. I think the digital camera in
combination with the recently acquired Epson 1160 and Piezography inkset is
going to solve this problem for me. I can toss the camera in my pocket and
get a decent size image file from it to color separate in photoshop for gum
printing. So now I'll have the sketch, point-and-shoot, and color camera all
in a very small package and can just throw it in the case with the large
format stuff.
So the bottom line for me is that the image ferments for months or years and
then I figure out how to do it. Hopefully I'm able to enlist the right
person in the collaboration. I wish I was more active, but I get a few
things I like every year (last one was in October, but several came that
day). And here's a favorite quote from one of the Peterson field guides that
helps me through the drought periods. In "Edible Wild Plants" the author
stated: "Finding a dozen morels in one season is rewarding." I try to keep
that thought in mind when I'm out foraging or photographing.
Joe
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