light
I have always been fascinated by the way light can
change the mood and meaning of a situation.
As a boy, I remember my mother lighting a candle
after sunset and the excitement that I felt when
the mood of the room suddenly changed, bathing
her in the warm, gentle light. I would venture to
say the success of an image is based on the harmony
between the idea and the lighting. There is a
right light for everything. I do more lighting in the
twilight of waking up than when I’m taking
pictures. A rose, freshly observed, is sure to change
the face of photography
Ideas are not digital.
Melvin Sokolsky
worlds
Next to my bed I keep a notebook that I write in
sometimes while I’m half-awake, early in the
morning, when a dream has insinuated a place or
world I have never visited or seen. With my eyes
closed, I scribble into the notebook and then go
back to sleep.
chemistry
I have always been attracted to everything
nature has to offer. I cannot think of any plant,
animal, or creature that inhabits this planet
that has not fascinated me. I have never thought
of any being in the universe as superior to
another. There is no living thing on earth that I
have seen that is more or less beautiful than
another, though it is true that I am attracted to
some of the inhabitants on Earth more than
others. As a photographer, I indulge my affinities
until I am ready to move on and explore new
challenges because I have visually exhausted my
vision on a given subject. I believe personal
affinities are genetic idiosyncrasies that are unique
to each individual. In my life, indulging my vision
has brought many surprises that I would have
never thought of consciously. It is this chemistry
that I believe is the creative force in all of us
palette
When we look at an image that has a unique
presence, the usual question is ‘How was it made?’
I am less interested in the how and much more
interested in the what that inspired the image.
Many of the turn-of-the-century masters went into
the darkroom and coated their own glass plates
in order to create a personal palette. Today, most
photographers are limited to various manufactured
films that I characterize as the emulsion of
the day. When photographers gave up making
their own film emulsions and embraced commercially
manufactured films, the palette of some of
the greatest image makers had become somewhat
standardized at best. Even Steichen no longer
looked like Steichen. I have always been interested
in the palette of my images and have experimented
with many filmstocks and techniques to
create a personal palette. I have recently embraced
many of the productive tools that have evolved
with the computer and in the print-making arts.
I have no doubt these new tools will aid photographers
in the creation of personal images. Now
I do not have to accept the emulsions of the day
such as Velvia or Provia, when I can create Melvia
on the computer.
portraits
I believe taking someone’s portrait is an unspoken
conversation in a shared space where the sitter
and the maker reveal their being in a kind of silent
dance of escalating expectation. When
the fascination of the maker and the sitter inspires
empathy or antipathy, the portrait may be enlightening.
It is the mission of the viewer to decide
if the resulting image is transcendent.
We look at each other and dream about each
other, and those dreams never ever meet except
in the photograph.
narrative
I have always loved telling stories. Early in my
career, I found myself compelled to tell stories with
my pictures. Stories about people who breathe
and feel and suffer and dream. Stories that explore
and create different worlds within the world we
all live in.
paris 1965 : gesture
Reflecting on the past five years at the Bazaar,
I came to the conclusion that I wanted to spend
more time exploring simple themes. I wanted
a break from the complex collaboration it took to
shoot ideas that demanded complicated communication
with many crew members. I wanted to
explore how gesture influenced the psychological
being of a model on a simple background and could
be interpreted as a personal signature just as interesting
as any of my more elaborate ideas. I have
never been able to escape the allure of a new tool
or idea that could enhance or change the look of an
image. I came up with an idea that I called the
slowdown strobe. I developed a condenser unit that
connected between the light and the strobe pack
and slowed the lights down to 1/15 of a second. The
result was that hand gestures and movement
were blurred, leaving the rest of the image quite
sharp. The look was quite different than shooting
at a slow shutter speed in daylight. I was pleased
with the result; the gesture revealed the spirit of
both the performers and the fashion designers of
the clothes. The first half of 1965 Paris Collections
was shot in the studio and the second part on location
with Dorothea flying above the rooftops of Paris.