[pure-silver] Re: What is a "project"?
- From: Lloyd Erlick <lloyd@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 23:08:24 -0500
jan3005 from Lloyd Erlick,
At 03:16 PM 1/30/2005 , >-Peter wrote:
... having a theme or project suggests sustained attention,
...
For some reason I've always kept my negatives; maybe it's a form of
sustanined attention? They stretch back to 1968, and since the digital
revolution I've been able to scan them. I haven't actually done every one
all the way back, but I do have a very large fraction of my work available
for my examination on-screen.
I'm not trying to get onto a digital discourse. My point is that the
ability to examine one's own work over a long period is very interesting,
and essential to one's development as a photographer.
The reason I say this is that themes become apparent in retrospect. Themes
I never knew existed in my work have become apparent over time. I don't
like the word projects, though. It suggests too much self-awareness at the
time of doing the work. I only know I'm making portraits. If you like, my
project is to photograph people. But that's too broad, there's no real
information in it. The subtle themes were not apparent to me when I
'worked' on them.
The kinds of things I'm talking about, in terms of portraiture: several
times I've photographed couples that split up some time afterward. Some of
the male partners in particular showed it, and I have two 'men in pain'
pictures, each one a pair of images. Occasionally I get a portrait that
seems to connote the deep desire of a parent or parents for their
offspring, sometimes before birth. I title them 'this picture is for ... '.
These pictures seem to be for a purpose, as if the child were to need
evidence later in life that he or she was wanted. There are also some more
obvious themes, like 'sisters' or 'so-and-so is pregnant', but even these
categories are interesting.
I would never have been able to dream these themes up in advance, and they
only came to my mind after going over my old work many times.
I don't have anything against picking a theme and working on it. The ones
that just seem to come my way strike me as much more powerful. I'd say a
photographer should expose lots of frames, use up lots of film all the
time, file it carefully, and look at it over the years.
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