He Called This His “Blue Steel”
Pose, 2012
I’m in New York this
week taking a photography workshop on the topic of “Photographing People.”
There are people in my
photographs. But generally speaking, I seem to work hard to keep people out of my photographs. So my goal in
participating in this workshop is the break down the wall between me and
people.
It’s not that I don’t like
people. It’s just that years ago I got into the habit of leaving people out of
my photographs because 1) they “got in the way” and 2) I had this naïve sense
that my lack of model releases would make the photos unsellable; no people, no
model release worries.
This was also when I also
had the naïve belief that my photography would some day be worth something
commercially. And while it has generated
a wee bit of income for the Bonney economy—enough to support a few camera
supply purchases, but not enough to qualify as a business in the eyes of the
Internal Revenue Service—it’s not like the lack of people has been holding my
brilliant photographic career back.
There are seventeen
people in our workshop. I’m pretty sure I’m the oldest member by a good twenty years.
But rather than treating me like some arcane relic—I’ve been taking pictures
longer than the workshop instructor—some of the younger kids have taken me on
as something of a genial grandfather.
My classmates are a
diverse group. I thought I was going to be the outsider because I come from
Virginia Beach. But it turns out only five of us are from the United States.
The rest come from as far away as Milan, Buenos Aires, Guatemala City, Beirut,
Mexico City, Caracas, Rio de Janeiro, Taiwan, and even Yekaterinburg,
which if you didn’t know—and I didn’t—is the fourth largest city in the former
Soviet Union.
Some of my classmates are, or are hoping, to become professional
photographers. Others, like me, merely want to advance their skills, but have
day jobs doing things like working as a librarian, chemistry teacher, newspaper
and magazine journalist, hotel manager, hairdresser, psychologist and human
resources manager. Some live in places where you can stand on any street corner
and photograph people. Others live in places where this could get you shot or “disappeared.”
The first day of class the instructor talked for a while and then
threw us out into Bryant Park and then Rockefeller Center to photograph interesting
looking strangers. I’m pretty sure I asked more strangers if I could photograph
them on that one day than I’ve asked in my whole lifetime. Most of the people
said “Yes,” and even of those who said “No” weren’t hostile.
Well, except for a man who was playing chess and kept insisting that
I photograph his partner, but who instead became quite hostile when I did just
that. (We were advised to wear comfortable shoes and run away quickly when that
happens.) Or classmate Joe, who was verbally and nearly physically assaulted by
a mentally unhinged lady. But don’t feel sorry for Joe. He made up for it later
by getting the e-mail address and phone number for the cute lady running the
Mr. Softee stand.
As for me, needing something to focus my efforts on so that I
wouldn’t just accost innocent civilians, I decided to concentrate my efforts on
making friends with some of the people who work in Bryant Park. Oh, and this
girl with the cool tattoos.
“Give me a dolphin,” she said, 2012
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