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"Challeur" January 11, 2011
Thank you all for coming. First things first. Special thanks to Eric Luden and Sybylla Smith for honoring me with this show. Sybylla did an amazing job culling and curating this exhibition and Eric both refined our selections and he and his staff did an incredible job printing these images. I will talk a bit about this process, as this is the first time I have let anyone print my photographs, as all my work is film based and my prints are silver gelatin prints that I carefully create in my darkroom. I would also like to thank the Griffin Museum and Paula Tongarelli for their support and work on this show and for her and the museums consistent support of the art of photography.
I want to divide this talk into three parts:
1. My love of France and specifically my love of photographing in France.
2. A bit of discussion on the individual images in this show and how/why they captivate me including how I go about getting and selecting images.
3. Why film and darkroom photography is key to the continuation and development of photography as an art, and not just an evolvement into a refined aesthetic craft.
1. Why I love to photograph in France.
It is sometimes hard to analyze why a particular place, person, or object appeals to one from an artistic and photographic perspective. In a way art is a parallel to romantic and sexual attraction. However, as you have graciously come to hear me talk, I thoughtI had better try and figure it out, at least well enough to communicate a sense of my perspective to you.
It seems to come down to three distinct but convergent stimuli. There is also a fourth less definable component that I will call:
Resonance.
The three more definable components are:
Timelessness.
Aesthetics.
Respect.
Let me start with Resonance. When Sybylla and Paula asked me for a title for the show I was in the middle of selling my house and buying an artist’s loft. It was the day of the closings and I was a bit preoccupied. In a way this was good because I wasn’t obsessed with the exhibition’s title. I told Paula that I wasn’t sure what to call it but that I would love if the title reflected a feeling I have always gotten since 1994 when I made my first professional journey to France, photographing for a educational publisher. They had hired me to spend a month, essentially in Paris and the suburbs, building a database of images for their books,. I arrived at Charles DeGaulle Airport happy to be there but a bit sad from a relationship that had recently ended against my wishes, I actually called from the Boston airport as I was leaving to say I had gotten my act together and perhaps when I got back from Paris we could get together. She said: “No thanks” and hung up on me. So much for that! And, at DeGaulle I learned that the airline had lost my luggage, (sending it to Paris, Texas), and to make things a little more difficult did I mention that I didn’t speak a word of French.
I took a cab to my small hotel on Rue de Faubourg St. Antoine, obsessively picked out a room I thought would work for me for the month, met my assistant who took me to buy some clothes, and then got a Carte Orange metro pass so I could ride the Paris metro for the month, and with my camera in tow started to explore the city.
And this I can’t explain but I immediately EXHALED! I didn’t worry about the luggage, the girl, the language. I had what I needed to photograph and as I started to explore the city with my list of photographs I felt that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. There was a harmony and Resonance that I felt and nothing else seemed to matter. To this day I get that feeling when I approach Paris and the city has never failed to make me exhale and be able to stay in the day, photographing, walking, eating, living, breathing.
And so, back to my show’s title. I said to Paula, let’s call the show “EXHALE”, and she agreed. We would use the French, “EXPIRER”. We were all set until she had a conversation with someone who actually speaks French who told her that roughly, or specifically, translated, this means “TO DIE”. So much for that title! And so, we searched and I thought of the warmth I feel for Paris and the warmth it gives to me and we settled on “Chaluer”. But for those of you here the real title for the show is “EXPIRER”, as in “To die…. and go to heaven”.
Speaking of heaven, I got married this past November and we get to go on our honeymoon, this spring. Yes, to Paris.
Actually we need a different word for it as I will be walking the streets photographing and Jen who is a fashion designer will be looking both on the streets and in the shops for inspiration. Hmm. I think if I do good work and am lucky enough to exhibit it I will call the next show “INSPIRATION”, but will check with the experts on the translation.
So now let me get back to the more tangible influences in terms of why I love to photograph in Paris and in France in general.
TIMELESSNESS:
When I look this photograph I took of a man waiting to take his turn at Petanque, I love it as a form. But not an abstract form but as a pure form, based in a gentle moment in time. It is timeless in itself, and in fact, placeless, in itself but it is also timeless and placeless in terms of where and when it might be in France. This photo, which I took just a few years ago on Place des Invalides in Paris I might have taken 40 years ago in St. Remy. (Actually the image next to it “La measure de boule” was taken in St. Remy.)
There is a timeless, cultural continuity in some activities that makes photographing in Paris unique for me. Interestingly, and excitedly, this timelessness is juxtaposed with a very future looking society. Even as I took this picture of this incredible Director of a military band in Paris . (which has a feeling of 1930), Smart Cars were speeding by on the surrounding streets. And it is this juxtaposition, modern one moment, 1930 the next, that I find stimulating. Look at my photograph of the Eiffel Tower taken from the Roue de Paris during the millennium.
You look across the Seine and see nothing that says the year 2000. And yet, when I got off the Ferris Wheel, (where I had bribed the attendant to leave me at the top for a bit longer than normal) , the French people on line were using the latest cell phone technology.AESTHETICS:
Now, its not that there are not people who dress well, or cafes with a special ambience, or even streets with a special charm in the US and elsewhere. Its just that in Paris and throughout France there just seems to be a strong consistency of caring about one’s self and one’s environs. Take this gentleman who was at the French tourist spot L'Isle sur la Sorgue. (It is a small town with the river from a gorge creating an incredible ambience both in the town and more rural environs). He is just so very dapper and charming and also proud of it. Not proud in a boastful way, but PROUD in a humble way. Meaning, he feels the importance of presenting himself well in the world. And speaking to this, and another reason I love photographing in France, is that when I asked to take his picture, his response was “Bien Sur”. And he posed gracefully. And across the board, I find that when I take people’s pictures in France. They appear to be honored and yet not surprised that I have asked. A woman in a market, a couple on a bench, a man in a café, etc. Now, with the exceptions, I just haven’t experienced that kind of openness and self-possession anywhere else.
I can’t picture running after someone in an American tourist destination, (say Yellowstone National Park), asking to take their picture and getting anything other than: “No Thank You”. They would probably report me to the park ranger. And call me a judgmental or elitist but I just don’t think I would have run after someone in Yellowstone. As one comedian put it: “Adult Americans dress on vacation like they are eight years old and going to camp”. Khaki shorts, T-Shirts from some sports or corporate event and new sneakers. Usually New Balance N 700s, in white. I personally think that the New Balance sneaker company, makes more money on Americans buying new white sneakers for their vacations than all their other athletic footwear combined.
RESPECT:
I was walking on the Champs-Elysee when I was on assignment for a language instruction academic publisher. And I have a list of “must get” images and one of them is movie marquis advertising American films VO, or version originale. If you want to feel just a little cool in France as an English speaking American go to a film like Die Hard on the Champs-Elysee. Not only do you see the admiration the Frnehc have for this American cinematic export, in the land of cinema, but also you will both laugh out loud at the jokes no one is
getting and laugh at the translation on the screen which is why no French speaker is getting the joke. (The French seem to refuse to really translate American films accurately but instead translate them as they think the dialogue should be!
But I digress. To get the movie marquis and the theatre façade on frame I have to step back on the sidewalk pretty close to the road. (The Champs is a pretty wide sidewalk.) And I knelt on the ground to look up at the marquis and I noticed that people were either stopping or walking behind me in the space between the traffic and me. As someone who had photographed in a lot of countries I can tell you that this is unique. The French seem to have a respect for photography, photographers, and art in general that I have not found elsewhere. People waited till I had gotten my shot and I nodded to them that I was done. (Photography was in part invented and nurtured in France.) On this, my first assignment in France, I spoke no French. I would walk around with my camera and after apologizing for my inability to speak French ask for help either taking a specific photograph or getting to a particular location, or getting access to specific place, I found that because I was a photographer, people bent over backwards to help me. My camera was my grace pardoning my linguistic shortcomings. Even when simply asked what I do for a living, (which is rarely asked in France but that’s a whole different can of cultural worms), when I said: “I am a photographer”, I saw the respect in people’s eyes. Now as we have some French people here I welcome your observation and comments on my observations and comments as maybe I am simply creating what I want to create, or more specifically, the energy that I present when in France creates an acceptance. The truth probably lies somewhere between the two perceptions but I believe that the majority of the grace I experience as a photographer in France is the courtesy of the French and not simply the result of my own joy, i.e. “I smile so you smile” effect.
WHY & HOW
Although I have talked about some of the images in the show I wanted to talk a little more about some of the individual images in this show and how/why they captivate me.
I am not shy. Or more accurately, my desire to take an image overrides any resistance or compunctions I may have about approaching someone. When I see an image or person I want to photograph that hunger pushes me past any social awkwardness that might inhibit my taking that photo or approaching that person. I am not talking about being rude but about approaching people respectfully even if somewhat awkwardly. My work in the States involves a lot of images of naked people and many of them I meet by running after them if I notice someone of interest on the street and very quickly trying to establish myself as an artist and creating enough trust for them to visit my web site and decide if they would like to work with me. More importantly, and related specifically to the respect I receive from people in France, I approach people with an acknowledgment and respect that I believe they feel. This applies to well heeled people in a café and homeless people asking for change on the metro, (By the way, I love the Paris metro and the oversized ads that line the platforms are a source of joy to me.) I rarely, very rarely, snap an image surreptitiously and if I do I often go up to the person after and let them know I found them interesting. And I will say that this approach works for me wherever I am and is in my nature. In other words, at the moment I am interested in an image, I have a love for that person or object. That love is combined with respect and my subjects sense this. I have photographed Orthodox Jews in the Mea-Shearim district in Jerusalem where I was told I would be stoned, and instead I was invited to accompany some Chasidic men as they bought new hats for the Passover Holiday.
As I have hinted, this passion applies to objects in a frame as well as people. I will always make the effort to walk, run or climb that extra distance to create a frame that shows an object or place in a different way. This simple effort can make all the difference between a snapshot, and a photograph. Standing on the island in the middle of the Champs Elysee waiting for the traffic to subside, or as I mentioned bribing an attendant to keep by at the top of the Ferris wheel’s arc for a few extra seconds can make all the difference in an image. That difference between a photograph and what I will call a snapshot is, at times, simply that extra effort.
I belatedly apologize to my friend Andy who I think I terrorized by jumping from side to side on the Ferris Wheel near the Louvre. (It has a low railing and I did actually ask him to hold onto my belt at one point so I didn’t tumble over the edge!). I did this as I was trying to get the best possible frames in my camera and not just sitting in my seat “accepting” what I could see from one vantage point.
I want to make a point about photographing objects or scenes, which applies especially in Paris because there is so much art in parks and elsewhere. This will also perhaps shed a little light on how I select a scene, which I will address as best I can in a minute.
I don’t believe that photographing a sculpture, (say a Rodin in the museum’s courtyard), and then printing and framing it is art. IT may be a good documentation of the sculpture that can appear in a textbook, but I don’t believe it should be shown and sold as a work of art. The sculpture is the work of art. You don’t get credit for taking a picture of it. I believe that as a photographer you must add something unique to the image either by juxtaposing it with something, (e.g with the Rodin sculpture someone sitting nearby in a similar pose), or finding an incredibly unique view of the piece or building, that the artist or architect probably did not foresee. It could be as simple as the sculpture covered in snow during a storm. (This also speaks to that extra effort to get outside during those inclement but rich moments.) For example, my image which I call “L’fait d’amour.” This is a photo of two distinct reliefs and sculptures on the Pont Alexandre III bridge. I think that my view of the sculpture, juxtaposed at this angle with the relief on one of the bridges columns is unique. I saw this perspective after walking across the bridge many times and in this juxtaposition I have combined two artist’s work in a way that neither one of them may have seen. Now I confess, I have not researched this. Maybe both pieces were done by the same sculptor and maybe were intended to have this effect. But I don’t think so. So to me, I can call this my art and display it as such.
I said I would address how I select images. I will confess here that it is probably the most difficult element for me to quantify. I will say that there are probably two parts to this. Seeing an image, (person or scene), that interests me, and then framing it in a way that I feel is strong. Seeing the inherent value in an image and then the framing and subsequent composing and printing of an image I believe are G-D given gifts that I have and I cannot take credit for. I can however take credit for staying true to the aesthetic I have and to the discipline that it demands of me. I have a gift and what I do is work to maintain and grow the integrity of that gift. In mundane terms it’s like through no merit of my own I inherited a successful business but I now have a passion and obligation to grow, nurture, and expand that business.
I can also say is that I see beauty and art in the energy that comes from people and places and that is what I respond to. I see someone walking down the street and I simply am mesmerized and I must photograph him or her. At times this can backfire aesthetically. Sometimes a person projects themselves in a way that I cannot help but photograph. Later, when I enlarge the print in the darkroom, the image just doesn’t work. Their features just don’t play well together. Where did those big ears come from?! This is not a beauty/ugly judgment; It is a composition judgment that would apply if they were a basket of fruit in a market. (The apples are overwhelming the grapes). Looked good to my eye but as I compose the image it just doesn’t work.
In staying true to my gift I diligently continue to pursue my second career as a fine art photographer in film. It is why I continue to photograph and why I am here today creating and exhibiting this work and talking with you. It is why I carefully compose an image in the frame or shift an image in my enlarger ever so minutely to create the balance I feel is correct and critical to the presentation of the image. The artist’s I admire do this so well. If you have not yet seen the Avedon exhibit at the MFA, do not miss it. I saw it twice at the Norton in Palm Beach. His framing is impeccable and you can see that in the images he has selected from his contact sheets and how he printed them. If his model’s shoe was not that perfect distance from the puddle and the umbrella not at the perfect distance from the edge of the frame, while the image would be fun, it would not make me stop and embrace the beauty that is there.
THE ART OF B&W Photography and what are you seeing here and why I let Digital Silver Imaging print my images after what I am about to tell you!
Part or all of what I am saying is strictly my opinion and has no basis in science, or it might. But what I am proposing is true to me and hopefully some of it resonates with you.
a. I believe that film is different. Film is a tangible three-dimensional object. When you expose and develop film and paper you can see under a microscope, mountains of silver. THE DEPTH IS THERE. There is no physical dimension to digital images. I believe that this depth creates a richness that cannot be duplicated with non-silver prints. I don’t care if someone tells me that the human eye is only capable of seeing x amount of data and the new Epson printers resolve at 10x. I believe perception is more than pure optics and the when we look at a film print it touches us on a different visual, emotional, and metaphysical level. Think of how it feels when you see real film projected in a theatre versus watching it on a 52” high def screen. Yes, the resolution is there but somehow the projected film hits on a more visceral level.
b. I think the process of shooting with film is different. It involves faith. You learn your craft, your lighting, your exposure and then you concentrate on your subject. This checking the back of the digital camera to see if you “got” your image takes you away from your subject. While valid on commercial shoots and events, to me has no place in my art. You can see from my work that it involves staying in visual and emotional contact with my subjects. I can’t imagine doing this work and not being fully present. It’s part of the respect I talked about. And of course there are the missed opportunities and missed moments when checking the digital LCD display. I remember being in Paris with both film and digital cameras because I was shooting for myself but also shooting for stock. At one point I picked up my film camera to shoot a homeless man and because I had been shooting digitally a few moments before I checked the back! I almost missed an incredible moment!
I believe that darkroom is truly a magical place. The unrushed, isolation, time consuming, unexpected, experimental, tedious, frustrating, rewarding hours give my aesthetic and artistic being time to develop. And when I say “magical” I mean in it the sense that moments, opportunities, and images occur that I never could have foreseen. And it’s not just about the prints I get after many hours in the darkroom. It’s about how that time and care in the darkroom affect what I do not just in the darkroom but when I go out to photograph the next time.
It is so different than pointing and clicking with a mouse on a computer screen, (while checking e-mail every 5 minutes.) And like a New Year’s resolution you say you won’t check mail and you will treat the computer like a darkroom but as they say: “If you go in the bar, your probably gonna drink!”
So with all of that said, I am not sure how many of you know about Eric’s and the Digital Silver Imaging process. (Please contact him directly for a better and more technical explanation at eric@digitalsilver imaging.com)
What you are seeing in the prints here are the result of a Digital Negative, as opposed to a film, continuous tone negative. However, instead of printing this image via digital signals and an Epson printer, Eric is passing a laser light through this digital negative and actually exposing silver based paper and developing it just as I do in the darkroom. So I was intrigued by his process and also thought, for me, that printing on silver paper was maintaining a large part of the art that means so much to me. The prints here, done in Eric’s lab are archival and will look the same as they do tonight 100 years from now. Also, all of the work shown here I have printed in my darkroom so my feeling about the aesthetics and value of the images were worked out for me already. The only exception, is the man at the end here whom I had as color positive, slide film. Because of DSI’s process I was able to watch it transformed into a digital negative and then a B&W silver print and I am happy with the results. And I have compared my prints to those done in this lab and I believe that these prints stand aesthetically on their own.
For me, I will continue to work in my darkroom as it is not just about the final print but also about the process of getting there. And simply, I love working in the darkroom. It is a source of creativity and inspiration. I will however remain open to interesting collaborations and I am thankful and very pleased with my partnership in this show with Digital Silver Imaging and The Griffin Museum.
Thank you so much for your time and patience.
Respectfully,
Jonathan Stark
January 11, 2011
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