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8 questions [english version]

Some time ago I was grumbling about Mike Johnston’s Ten Best Living Photographers List.
No, I do not plan to make competitive list. But it inspired me to do something you may like – I decided to ask well-known and respected by me photographers eight questions, and compile the results into one article.

Questions and answers are various and odd. Not necessary related to photography, but for sure very interesting – you can gain a lot of information abut our Masters.
Enjoy your reading!

1. How do you seek for ideas, inspirations?

David Fokos: My parents live on an island so I have spent quite a lot of time by the sea. I love the way being near the ocean makes me feel, and it is these feelings which led me to make my images. I have used my camera as a tool to explore and understand how the ocean instills these feelings within me, and to help me reconcile my objective and subjective views of the world.

Michael Kenna: It’s more a matter of editing from the options. I wish there were more hours in the day and more days in the year. Too many places to visit and wonderful things to see, and maybe even photograph. Life is inspiration. What an idea? Who came up with it. God must be a very creative being!

Andrzej Jerzy Lech: Ideas for my photographs come, in a sense, natural to me. I don’t look for them. Actually, they are always with me. What I can see depends on me, and above all – how I can see. I am inspired by “the world of things in themselves”, the world of things which surround me.

Photography is an art of seeing – how savagely pompous this statement is, how banal, how true at the same time.

To see is one thing, the other is to perceive. Photography is an art of form, it emerges from the form, it comes into being from the form. The form is the photography’s language. To see well…

How I can see is a quite complex matter and depends on many factors. Mood, books that I’ve read, scenes from movies, music I love, light that surrounds me, wine I like, and smells probably too. “Photographic sight” is some kind of result of many things which are inside us, which found shelter in our consciousness and simultaneously in our subconsciousness.

I am happy that I can see. And if I stop one day, I will start playing beautiful and long ballads on a Hammond organ…

Michael Levin: I’ve always been attracted to the use of negative space in design. Some of Uta Bart’s photographs have that minimalist quality that appeals to me on an unconscious level. It wasn’t until recently that I started understanding it and applying this „palette” to my own images in a similar way. Her soft focus images are suggestive rather than descriptive. A lot of my photographs have cloudless skies and smooth, blurred water and this appeals to me for the backdrop of my images. The isolation of a singular object in my photographs allow the viewer to engage with the details without being distracted. By presenting them in this way, it allows you to see the beauty of what would typically go unobserved.

Gerard Rancinan: From the news, events or just looking around me…

Bill Schwab: Hardly a minute passes out in the world in which I don’t find some inspiration. The ideas are so numerous that it is hard not to follow them all. Although I work from the land, my inspiration comes from life in general. It has always been hard for me to describe. My images to me are so personal, so attached to me that not even I can make sense of where they come from at times.

William Scott: I am visually stimulated by „exploring” or „wandering”. That is to say, that I don’t really seek ideas so much as I know that if I escape from my daily routine and wander out in to the world with my camera a visually compelling subject will present itself to me. For me it is a process of letting my natural curiosity take over.

Tomek Sikora: From life.

2. When taking pictures – you rather do experiments, or stick to developed rules?

David Fokos: I am a self-taught photographer, so everything I have done has been experimental for me at one time. I have a strong technical knowledge so I feel very comfortable developing new techniques when useful.

Michael Kenna: Both. It’s easier to stick to formulas that work, but also a bit boring. Experimentation is important, even critical. Every day offers something new and exciting.

Andrzej Jerzy Lech: No, I don’t experiment. I have no time to do it. I have never had. I am not interested in the notion of chance, of the so-called “proper moment”. My photography is a static one, carefully thought up, precisely “constructed”. Experiments are good for scientists. Artists have to create, photographers too, if they can…

“Worked out techniques” are only a tool which I treat instrumentally. It’s a beginning of a long process, and its end is in the form of the photograph on the wall or in portfolio.

Michael Levin: I’m self taught, so I never really knew the rules. I have a very definitive aesthetic that I’ve developed over the past three years and I tend to stick to that formula, but of course I try to push the boundaries .I explore with an open mind and end up taking many photographs that might not fit my current aesthetic but none the less resonate with me. I have boxes of negatives that might have a purpose down the road in a different context.

Gerard Rancinan: No experiments , I am so classic… I just try to be right…

Bill Schwab: I have been working so long at this that technical matters are no longer an issue in my thought process. There are no rules so to speak and all is experimentation. Not so much with the normal trappings of photography such as angles, process, etc. The photographs are more a reflection of my soul I believe and my challenge is to continue to express this in ever more refined ways.

William Scott: I don’t have any rules that I follow, I simply respond to the subject that interests me. I try to look at it in as many ways as I can, sometimes this means that I „try” a lot of different things with one subject and sometimes that is not possible. Although, I wouldn’t characterize my work as „highly experimental” It is important to me that each image has a quality that is either illusive, intangible or fleeting. In other words it has to be unique and unrepeatable to keep my interest — that leads to taking chances while ph
otographing which I suppose is a form of experimentation.

Tomek Sikora: I always do experiments; that’s the way you make photography real fun.

3. How do you rate your old pictures?

David Fokos: I have been working with the view camera for 25 years. For the first 15 years I made images which I think were not very successful. However, it was through this process that I came to make the work you see on my website. With regard to the work I include in my portfolio I am just as happy with my older images now as when I made them.

Michael Kenna: Like old friendships. Warm memories. Some have matured, some are frozen in the past. No regrets.

Andrzej Jerzy Lech: I look at them with emotion. I have a weakness for them. I’m very often amused by them, because they are really funny. I like them. I have a great deal of them. Mostly, in my archive of negatives. Little ducks on the lake, birch wood, beautiful and breathtaking clouds above the sea, some little worms on the fern fronds in the old graveyard in Księginice near Lubin. Portraits of close relatives, “serious” pretentious nude photographs of Magda in the attic near the window, hysterical serious “compositions” with apples, bread and a glass of water, some reports from the Solidarity times from Opole, romantic autumnal leaves strewn alleys in the Szczytnicki Park in Wrocław. Light and shadows…

These were my beginnings, my photographs done to myself, my laborious, everyday exercises, training of looking.

And then, there was a dark darkroom in the tight, small bathroom and cracked cucumber jars from the hot developer. And of course running over with emulsion film. Learning of the darkroom. Old, beautiful times full of surprises , discoveries, ups and downs, torments and ecstasies, and beer with small flies at the bottom of the bottle…

Michael Levin: Tough question. In my older images I never felt that I captured the emotive quality of what I was seeing, however they were instrumental in helping me shape my photographic vision that I have today. My older photographs were all in color and I assure you there were no award winning images!

Gerard Rancinan:

Bill Schwab: I feel as if all of my work is and has been important in my growth and development as an artist. I don’t particularly have a scale for which I can compare. I can accomplish what it is I want more easily now than before, that is for certain, but I feel as if my older work is just as much me. I sometimes rediscover things from many years ago that fit better into my body of work now than they did at the time they were made. I look at the whole body of work rather than individual prints. I’m still going…

William Scott: I think I have old images that stand the test of time while the importance of others seems to fade as the years pass.

Tomek Sikora: Old pictures reflects old times. Now is always different.

4. We are talking over the Internet – does this medium affect your creativity? Do you look at pictures in online galleries?

David Fokos: I do not think that the internet has had much affect on my creativity, though I very much appreciate that many more people around the world can now view my work. As for online galleries, I do not look at them very often. When I do it is usually because it is the website of a friend, or someone has asked me to look at it.

Michael Kenna: People keep sending me links to images that seem to be almost direct copies.
This is a very weird phenomena to me. Not sure why any supposedly creative photographer would want to track down the same tripod marks as another photographer, unless it is to learn…. Anyway, I don’t spend much time looking at picture galleries either on the internet or in real life. I prefer to be out photographing.

Andrzej Jerzy Lech: I don’t think that the Internet influences me artistically. But very often I find information in the net about the places where I would like to go to take a photograph.

I am a photographer “from that age”, from the before-Internet time. I have been taking photographs for almost forty years now, so the Internet is too young to change me…

The Internet is a power, so is art…

Being in touch via the Internet is fantastic. Fast, cheap, easy, convenient and pleasant. Once, for instance, in “ the dim and distant past”, we sent photos to be printed in catalogs via the “normal” mail, letters with stamps on the envelopes. It was quite inconvenient. My photos from New York to Europe reached their destination after three weeks! I remember my first fax. What a joy it was to send my CV to Los Angeles or Jelenia Góra. I can’t imagine life without the Internet, now, without a computer, scanner, printer. And a few years ago I despised, in a sense, computers, I detested them.

The Internet is a wonderful invention…

Do I look at the photographs on the net? Yes, I do, but only those old ones, those from the museum and gallery collections. The Library of Congress has beautiful photos in its collection. Another interesting web page is www.carletonwatkins.com. I look at those photos for hours.

The screen of computer reveals only “a poor substitute” of the original, a trace of it. Undoubtedly it is not enough, but it is helpful, educative, informative…

Michael Levin: The internet has exposed me to many different artists that have inspired me on different levels. My photograph „Steel Pier” was clearly influenced by Hiroshi Sugimoto’s photographs of movie theatre interiors. I recently discovered the work of Ion Zupcu and his photographs of folded paper really made me think about the art of composition. I’m always trying to deconstruct my images and elevate them to a level of minimalism that is thoughtful and powerful.

Gerard Rancinan: Sometimes I am researching some idea in XV century net gallery… It’s just looking at the net like a big book.

Bill Schwab: Yes, it does. It allows me to connect and interact with other kindred souls in a way that was not available to me in my early development. This cannot help but affect my development and ideas.
Yes, I do look at pictures in online galleries from time to time, but not to any great extent. Even though we are all bombarded with images each and every day, I am careful to protect myself from much of what I see being done by other photographers. It important to develop your own vision and I find it best to not draw inspiration from other’s work. There are so many look-alikes out there which I believe is also a direct result of the internet. I think too many look to others to see what is popula
r and base their vision on that and not on their core. I think too many are looking at the business of being well-known than they are at being true to themselves.

William Scott: I think the internet is a practical tool for me — it doesn’t affect my creativity, but I will look at images any where that I come across them.

Tomek Sikora: I look at pictures quite rarely; not at all in the net. I prefer exhibitions or movies.

5. Do you take pictures on family meetings (I mean family portraits, etc.)?*
Do you ever take photographs at “Aunties Birthday Party”?

David Fokos: I don’t usually photograph people — they are much less patient than my usual subjects. :) However, I do on occasion take pictures of friends, family, or when I see tourists taking turns photographing each other I will offer to make a group photo of them with their camera.

Michael Kenna: Not very often.

Andrzej Jerzy Lech: Sometimes. It depends on auntie. If auntie asks nicely…

Actually, I take them only for myself, for pleasure, for a keepsake. Lately, I use a digital camera. Then, in the evening, we look at these pictures with wine, with tea and lemon, while music plays…

Michael Levin: No. I’m embarrassingly bad at it.

Gerard Rancinan: It’s so rare… All my work is professional; I have to be concentrated.

Bill Schwab: I do, but unfortunately it is rare. I have a young son that I photograph quite often, but these are snaps more than „photographs”.

William Scott: Rarely.

Tomek Sikora: Aunties birthday parties are pure life, so why not.

6. How often do you take your pictures?

David Fokos: Not as often as I would like! Working with the galleries representing my work, giving talks, and so on, keeps me so busy that I am only able to photograph about 10-15 days per year.

Michael Kenna: Not often enough but as much as I can.

Andrzej Jerzy Lech: You won’t believe – everyday. There is no day without a photograph. My neighborhood is extremely photogenic. I have enough topics, inspirations and incentives. I travel a lot, too. Canada, Mexico, Poland, Italy. The state of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Alabama, Maryland, Vermont, Florida, Alaska. I call my trips “photographic expeditions” and I believe it is a good name for them. I don’t have a car. I use the so-called means of public transportation for my traveling. I like it. I see more, more intensely. I look at the world through the window and at the people near me. For over ten years I have been taking photos for my project by the name of Travel Journal.

Michael Levin: I usually go on 2 week trips every couple of months. During this time I’m scouting locations and shooting all day long and into the night.
I use a couple of cameras, a 4×5 and a 8×10 so these types of cameras dictate the pace at which I can shoot. I’m extremely particular about the editing process of my work and although I do end up taking hundreds of shots I typically end up with three or four that I will actually print. Last year on a 2 week trip to Italy I shot about 300 photographs and ended up only printing two images, one of which was „Zebrato”.

Gerard Rancinan: More or less each week.

Bill Schwab: This is my life and living and I am at it about 12 hours a day be it printing, photographing, packaging, dealing with galleries and collectors, etc. A better question might be when am I not working!

William Scott: It varies. The honest answer is as often as I can — which usually isn’t often enough. Sometimes I will just grab an hour here or there, but I get the majority of my work done on trips, when I can really concentrate on image making day after day.

Tomek Sikora: Almost every day.

7. What books do you read?

David Fokos: I like to read travel essays, books on food, architecture, design, and science, and I also have interest in Japanese culture.

Michael Kenna: Fiction, drama, spirituality.

Andrzej Jerzy Lech: Cortazar, Marquez, Borges, Umberto Eco, Singer. I love The Name of the Rose, Indian Summer – these are my “hefty tome”, I go back to these books often, too often…

The Book of Tea by Okakuro Kakuzo, Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel, The Pray by Anna Achmatowa.

I “read” photographs by Watkins, Talbot, the gardener Charles Jones, Henry P. Bosse from Mississippi Blue. I read for hours pictures of fat steam locomotives by Darius Kinsey…

Michael Levin: Hmmm… do technical books about the View Camera count? I don’t really have that much time to read as it seems I would rather be out shooting.

Gerard Rancinan: Books of philosophy.

Bill Schwab: Hmmm…. Unfortunately not much time to read these days, but I like a wide variety from science fiction to biographies of historic figures. Favorite authors range from Charles Bukowski to Charles Dickens. Depends on my time and mood. I read a lot while traveling and the book will very often color and influence the trip.

William Scott: I like fiction, I am currently reading „The Heretic” by Miguel Delibes. I also read books on current affair, politics, and international affairs. I like a good comedy too, like „The Confederacy of Dunces” or „Water Method Man”.

Tomek Sikora: About human.

8. What music do you listen to?

David Fokos: I listen to a very wide variety of music — from classical, jazz, new wave, funk and ska, to ambient, chill and downtempo electronica.

Michael Kenna: Lots of British contemporary bands, rock, good vocals…

Andrzej Jerzy Lech: Good music. Music that sounds good to me…

Music is very important to me. I don’t exist without it, such as I don’t exist without photography. Music is the most abstract form of art of all arts. I admire it for this…

Music helps me. Gregorian chants, Gorecki, Knopfler, Buddy Guy, Mark and Almond, Chet Baker, Coltrane, Davis, Tuva Punk, Mahalia Jackson, Jimmy Smith, Astor Piazzola, Van Morrison…

I collect interpretations of Kosma’s composition Autumnal Leaves and My Funny Valentine by Rodgers and Hart. I have hundreds of these interpretations…

Movie music is so closely related to pictures. Pictures are so closely related to music. Ry Cooder from the movie Paris, Texas by Wenders, Neil Young from the movie Dead Man by Jarmush…

Albert Kuvezin and Yat-Kha in Re-Covers and in Yenisei-Punk.

Arvo Pärt – Litany…

Duo John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, Charlie Parker with strings, Springsteen – The Seeger Sessions and Davil and Dust…

Duo Gerry Mulligan and Astor Piazzolla in Tango Nuevo.

Bob Dylan – Gotta Serve Somebody – The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan and his last album Modern Times…

Of course Tom Waits. Everything of Waits, especially, above all, first of all Franks Wild Years and his last record, records I should say, Orphans, Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards. I like all these clangs, beating some pots, plates, harmonium softly resounded, and his “alcoholic” voice…

Yes, Bach too. He is brilliant, cosmic, universal, powerful…

Jerry Garcia and David Grisman – Shady Grove. Duo little known in Poland: Mark And Almond – To the Heart. The sound of the west shore of America from the hippie times. A mixture of rock and jazz.

John Lee Hooker – beautiful and real, sounding deeply, very black blues.

Sleep Safe and Warm – the ballad by Krzysztof Komeda from the Roman Polański movie Rosemary’s Baby.

Sometimes Stańko.

Always Beatles…

Michael Levin: Whenever I land in a foreign country and hop into the rental car U2′s „All that you can’t leave behind” is always the first disc in the player. Of course no experience in life is complete without listening to The Beatles „Abbey Road”, always my favourite.

Gerard Rancinan: Repetitive music, like Gavin Bryard.

Bill Schwab: Music is a huge part of my life and also ranges far and wide. Current favorites on my pod are the Shins, Wilco, Sun Volt, SWIG, Raconteurs… it’s a very large list.

William Scott: I am inclined toward Blues, Rock, and Irish Folk music.

Tomek Sikora: Good one – almost every kind of music. What works for mi is Jazz, Tom Waits and Nick Cave.

(as a bonus, Andrzej J. Lech gave the answer to additional, very important question):
What do you like to eat and drink?

Pierogi with potato and farmer cheese filling, fat pizza, Jack Daniel’s, red wine Chianti, which in the red light of the darkroom looks like white wine.

Many thanks to Ania Binkowska for her help in translation. Many, many thanks also to everyone involved – especially to the authors of answers!

____
* Fifth question has two forms – second one („Aunties Birthday” – early stage of realization) was asked only to polish photographers (A. J. Lech i T. Sikora), first one (without „Aunties Birthday”) asked to the rest.