photography: from blurs to business

Alfred Stieglitz, The 'Flat Iron', 1902.

Alfred Stieglitz, Sun Rays-Paula-Berlin, 1889.

When he returned to the U.S. at theage of 26, he was delighted to findthat photography was extremely pop-ular. But he was also dismayed by thelack of publications and galleries pro-moting it as an art. For the next 56years, he devoted himself to correct-ing this situation. Along the way, heproduced some of the finest photo-graphs in history.

FOCAL POINT: James Van Der Zee, 1886-1983

James Van Der Zee, Couple in Raccoon Coats, 1932. Courtesy Donna Van Der Zee.

20 The Photographic Eye

James Van Der Zee was unique inmany ways. First and foremost, hewas perhaps the most accomplishedblack photographer in history, and iscertainly the best known today. Hisrecord of Harlem in the 1920s is un-surpassed, in both quantity andquality. But he was unique in otherways as well.

Stylistically, he employed bothstark realism and dreamy roman-ticism. Technically, he produced

v.

"straight" prints in the style of thePhoto Secessionists (Stieglitz ,Weston, Steichen, etc.) as well asheavily manipulated images, whichthe Photo Secessionists had rejected.Moreover, he used both approachesinterchangeably, according to his in-terpretation of a particular scene.One day he might do a straight out-door portrait of someone on thestreet. And the next day he mightpose a newly-wed couple in his

studio, and produce a double-exposed print showing their yet-to-be-born child as a ghost beside them.

Van Der Zee's photographic careerwas far from easy. Though hebecame interested in photography atthe age of 14 (when he purchased amail-order camera and darkroomkit), he was 30 before he was able toearn a living at it. In between, heworked as a waiter, elevator operatorand even as a violinist in a dance or-

chestra. His first photographic job,in 1914, was as a darkroom assistantin a department store in New YorkCity. Two years later, he opened hisown studio in Harlem. Though heoften had to change its location, VanDer Zee kept his studio in businessuntil 1969.

In addition to skill and creativity,he was blessed with good timing.Black culture was flourishing inHarlem during the 1920s. Duke Ell-ington and others were redefiningAmerican music. Adam ClaytonPowell, Langston Hughes, CounteeCullen and Marcus Garvey were help-ing to build a new black identity. AndJames Van Der Zee was the officialand unofficial photographer for allof it. He photographed proud blackcouples in the streets of Harlem andin elegant clubs. Celebrities and "or-dinary people" posed in his studio.He photographed weddings andfunerals. All together, he compiledsome 75,000 glass plates, negativesand prints. All of it revealing a worldthat was all but ignored by the better-known photographers of that time.

Van Der Zee received virtually norecognition outside of Harlem until1967. At that time, he was featuredin an exhibit, entitled "Harlem on MyMind," at New York's MetropolitanMuseum of Art. For the last 14 yearsof his life, his photography waswidely exhibited, published andpraised. He died at the age of 97,while in Washington, D.C. to receivean honorary degree from HowardUniversity.

proaches to photography.In Europe, Andre Kertesz, Eugene

Atget, Brassai, and Henri Carder-Bresson were among the most not-able of the new wave of artistphotographers. They each devotedthemselves to capturing life as itreally was, in the boulevards andback alleys and country lanes ofEurope. Yet each did so with adistinct and original style, a unique"way of seeing." They saw thatphotography was a new and indepen-

A New BreedPhotography was coming into itsown, both as an art and as a business.Alfred Steiglitz united photographyand painting by opening "Gallery291," which exhibited new work ineither medium. In his own photog-raphy and in his critical judgmentSteiglitz promoted a lively realismthat eventually became the standardfor art photography. From 1902 to1917, he published Camera Work, thefirst magazine devoted to artistic ap-

Eugene Atget, L'Escalier de L'Hotel Charron, 7900.

From Blurs to Big Business 21

Edward Steichen, Gloria Swanson,1924.

dent art, not merely a cheap imitationof painting. Because of this, they along with Steiglitz and otherAmerican peers may be thought ofas the first modern photographers.

More practical applications ofphotography also continued. One ofthe most notable examples was aphotographic survey, begun in 1935,of conditions during the GreatDepression. Dorothea Lange, Walk-er Evans and other first-rate pho-tographers were hired by this pro-ject by the U.S. government's FarmSecurity Administration and com-piled hundreds of photographs thatrank among the best ever produced.

The use of photographs in publica-tions, a novelty as recently as 1900,was expanding rapidly. Life magazinestarted in 1936 and began a wholenew kind of publishing: photo-jou rna l i sm. Alfred Eisenstat ,Margaret Bourke-White and otherphotographers on Life's staff quicklybecame famous as they recorded theworld's events with their cameras.

By the end of the 1930s, all thebasic ingredients that continue todefine photography were in place:Photography was increasingly ac-

1937The SLR

(single lensreflex)camera

introduced tothe U.S. by

Exacta.

1938Automaticexposure

initiated byKodak with

its 6-20camera.

1939Electronic

flashdeveloped byDr. HaroldEdgerton.

1947First

Polaroidcamera

developed byEdwin Land.

1954First

high-speedfilm, Tri-X,comes onto

market.


Yousef Karsh, Ethiopian Bride,1963. Courtesy Woodfin Campand Associates.

cepted as an art in its own right.Photojournalists were a major sourceof information and insight for thegeneral public (a role that has sincebeen largely taken over by televisionreporters). Advertising had begunusing photography to catch attentionor communicate a message. Portablecameras had made snapshots a na-tional hobby.

Where Now?The list of technical advances inphotography continues to get longerand longer (see the photographic timeline), and the ranks of greatphotographers has expanded steadilyas well. Edward Steichen, MinorWhite, Sebastiao Salgado, EdwardWeston, Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus,Ernst Haas, Eugene Richards...the listis long and subject to fierce debate.

Photography is still a young art.Painting, sculpture, writing, dance,acting and music have all beenaround for thousands of years. Eventhey continue to change at an oftenalarming rate. This is all the moretrue of photography, which has

1959Development

of firstzoom lens,

the Zoomar36-82.

1966Konica

introducesfirst

professionalquality

automaticexposurecamera.

1972Polaroid

addscolortoils

instantcameras.

1985Minolta

introducesthe first

professionalquality

automaticfocus camera,the Maxxum.

1987Canon

debuts first"CommercialStill Video"

system.

1991Kodak

launchesPhoto CDsystem and

digitalcamera.


FOCAL POINT: Manuel Alvarez Bravo, 1902-

Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Retrato de lo Eterno (Portrait of the Eternal),1935. Courtesy The Witkin Gallery, New York.

Throughout the world, photog-raphers have used the camera toobserve, interpret and record theirown cultures and environments. Inthe process, some have also achiev-ed unique styles that are particularlyappropriate to specific times andplaces. Manuel Alvarez Bravo isamong a select group of photog-raphers who have gone a stepfurther discovering a way of seeingthat seems to express the spirit of anentire culture.

Great works of art are rarelycreated in a vacuum. Instead, eventhe most gifted artist draws on alifetime of experiences and impres-sions. The work of other artists isalmost always an important in-fluence. Additional influences mayinclude one's level of wealth orpoverty; the personalities and valuesof friends and family; the climate,colors, sounds and rituals that arepart of daily life. By combining avariety of local and international in-fluences, some artists are able tocreate art tha t breaks th roughcultural barriers without losing asense of cultural roots. Bravo is onephotographer who has done th is .

In his case, the culture is that ofMexico. He was born in Mexico City,and has continued to be based therethroughout his life. His father andgrandfather were both artists, one apainter and the other a photographer.Before becoming interested in pho-tography, Bravo studied literature,music and painting, beginning in1917. In 1922, he began experimen-ting with photography. By 1926, hewas using a camera to produceabstract images of folded paper. Bythe early 1930's he was among the

leaders of a creative surge in Mexicanart.

His first solo exhibit was held inMexico City in 1932. Soon after, hebecame acquainted with Paul Strand,Henri Carder-Bresson, Walker Evansand other photographers who weregaining internat ional attention.Bravo also met Andre Breton, whois credited with creating the Surrealiststyle of painting. Surrealism, whichemploys the symbols and imagery ofdreams, became a major influence onBravo's photographic style.

In his best work, Bravo combinesthe technical skill and confidence ofphotographers like Strand andEvans; the ability to capture a"decisive moment" that is char-acteristic of Carder-Bresson; and theoften disturbing dreamlike qualitiesof Surrealist paintings. To this mix ofartistic influences, he adds a deep andproud understanding of Mexican cul-ture and a keen awareness of lightand mood. The result is a vision thatis both highly private and universallyaccessible.


Minor White, Moon and Wall Encrustations, 1964.

barely passed its first century of wide-spread use.

With most of the traditional arts,change has primarily been a matterof style. Michaelangelo and Picassoused essentially the same materialsand techniques to produce vastly dif-ferent results. Writers may use com-puters now, rather than quill pens, butthe process of writing hasn't reallychanged very much since Shake-speare's day. Writing styles, however,have changed enormously.

In the case of photography, al-most the opposite is now true: Pho-tography's essential nature (what it is

and how it works) is in the midst ofradical transformation a techno-logical revolution. Photography it-self is mutating into something newand strange and unpredictable.Compared to that , stylistic changeshardly seem to matter.

What is actually happening is thatphotography (along with computergraphics, electronic music and othertechnology-based arts) is movingaway from the traditional, "manual"arts (such as painting or classicalmusic). As a result, we are discover-ing entirely new ideas of how art maybe created and experienced.

The old distinctions between oneform of art and another are breakingdown. Words, images and music areall beginning to merge. The musicvideos on MTV are one typical ex-ample of this trend. They aren't sim-ply songs and they aren't quitemovies. They are a new hybrid: mu-sic and film merging into a new formof creative expression. Some of themtell stories. Some are more like mini-documentaries. Some resemble thesong-and-dance numbers of aBroadway musical. Similarly, it is in-creasingly difficult to define the dif-ference between a painting and a


photograph, or even between a pho-tograph and a poem.

In addition, all of the arts are be-coming more participatory. In thevery near future, it may no longer bestandard procedure for an artist tocreate some specific "thing" - aphotograph or a symphony whichothers simply receive by looking orlistening. Instead, each individualviewer or listener will have the powerto edit, combine and transform anenormous array of images andsounds. Your photograph will be rawmaterial which you may manipulatein any way you please, and to whichothers may then add their own inter-pretations and it will all be doneby computer. It is far too early to tellif all of this is actually an improve-ment, but it is certainly a change.

That is what's coming. But it isn'tquite here yet.

We are standing on the bridge be-tween photography's past and its fu-ture. And so we are able to moveback and forth between them. Wecan shoot a roll of f i lm on UncleFrank's old Pentax, make a print in atraditional darkroom and then re-interpret it on a copy machine orscan it into a Mac and make it alllook really weird. There is still a se-cure place for conventional art pho-tography, and a wide open field forexperimentation.

We are at the end of an era andat the start of a new one. This is aprivileged place to be. Enjoy it.

PHOTOGRAPHICCAREERS

The number of people who earn a"living wage" from any art is alwaysrelatively small. Photography is cer-tainly a case in point. Most pho-tographers are hobbyists who take

Wedding photography requires technical accuracy, good social skills and andthe ability to quickly arrange natural poses for individuals and large groups.Photograph by Donald Butler.

pictures for pleasure. Even many ofthe best-known art photographerspay their bills by doing commer-cial photography or other work onthe side.

Unfor tunately , being "good" oreven "the best" won't necessarilymake any difference. Many excellent

photographers have died penniless.At least a few have made good liv-ings without having much skill orcreativity. That's the way of all art timing, luck and who you know areat least as important as masteringyour craft.


Fortunately, however, commercialphotography can be a very rewardingcareer or sideline. Everything fromweddings to wars seems to require aphotographic record. Most commer-cial products rely on photography forpackaging and advertising. And thereis even a steadily growing market forphotographs as pure art though it'snot likely to make you rich.

The basic categories of profes-sional photographic work include:weddings and other social events,portraiture, journalism, productphotography and fashion. Dependingon the work you choose, the time youdevote to it and your luck and skill,you could earn from a few hundredto over a thousand dollars a day.

In each of these categories, thereare two ways of working: staff andfreelance. A staff photographer isjust like any employee, receiving asalary and clocking regular hours. Afreelance photographer is hired forspecific jobs and is generally paid by

the day. Freelancers tend to earnmore than staff photographers foreach day they work, but staff photog-raphers work more steadily. In otherwords, staff photographers are lesslikely either to get rich or to go broke.Freelancers take more risks and havea better chance of making it big.

Weddings and PortraitsProbably the largest number of pro-fessional photographers are primarilydevoted to photographing socialevents, especially weddings. The paycan be quite good several hundreddollars per day. Many wedding pho-tographers are represented by anagent who sets up photo assignmentsfor them. Many work only a coupleof days each week, generally week-ends (when weddings are most com-monly held). Wedding photographersmust be able to produce consistentlygood results, since there's no chancefor re-shooting if things get messedup. They must be especially good at

Arnold Newman, Igor Stravinsky,1946.

flash photography, since much oftheir work is done indoors on loca-tion. In addition, they must be skilledat interacting well with all sorts ofpeople. By and large, weddingphotography does not demand muchartistry most clients don't want art.It's a good line of work for anyonewho enjoys the technical side ofphotography and who likes tosocialize.

Closely related to weddings andsocial events is po r t r a i t u re -photographing a single person orsmall group. Whether it's for apassport photo or a prom portrait,everyone needs a photographer some-time. Virtually every town in thecountry has at least one studio forjust these kinds of things. Here again,the main requirements are technicalconsistency particularly in terms ofstudio lighting and social grace.


FOCAL POINT: Margaret Bourke-WhitePhotojournalismJournalistic photography rangesfrom covering a fire on Elm Street forthe local newspaper to traveling toTahiti for a major magazine. Photo-journalists must possess good in-stincts above all else. Sensing whena photo opportunity is about to oc-cur and knowing how to handle it areof vital importance. Being a first-ratephoto-technician is helpful . . . butnot strictly essential.

A more commercial field related tophotojournalism is freelance locationphotography. Corporate annualreports, slide presentations, promo-tional brochures, in-house publica-tions, trade magazines (Plumbers'Digest or New England BeverageRetailer, for example) all requireprofessional-quality photography.Being able to handle any lighting orcomposition challenge quickly andaccurately is the critical factor here.An ability to blend into the corporateenvironment is also essential.Razzle DazzleAt the top of the career heap finan-cially are illustration, product, foodand fashion photography. This iswhere knowing the right people andbeing in the right place at the righttime are of critical importance. Aflair for style helps too. You alsohave to be very good if you expect tohave more than a brief career. Thecompetition is s t iff because therewards are high. A top-notch pro-duct, food or fashion photographerwill charge $2,000 or more per day.A comparable illustration photog-rapher might earn the same amountfor a single photograph. Nice workif you can get it.

Today we take photojournalism forgranted. We expect our magazine ar-ticles to be illustrated with photo-graphs that add insights and impactof their own. But, like photographyitself, photojournalism had to be in-vented. One of the people who playeda major role in inventing it wasMargaret Bourke-White.

While in college, Bourke-Whitediscovered that she excelled at pho-tography. After graduating fromCornell, she began working as a pro-fessional photographer. She wasespecially intrigued by the surge oftechnological developments at thattime and used her camera to conveythe power and beauty she saw ineverything from clock parts to steelmills. From 1929 to 1933, she was anindustrial photographer for Fortunemagazine. Her work there was notlimited to machine parts and con-struction projects, however. In 1934,she covered the drought known as the"Dust Bowl" that swept through theGreat Plains, showing how that trag-edy affected the lives of farmers andtheir families. This article was a mile-stone in photojournalism. Thoughother photographers, such as LewisHine, had done similar reporting onsocial issues, none had done so for amajor magazine.

After becoming a staff photog-rapher for Life magazine in 1936,Bourke-White continued to coverboth technological progress andhuman suffering. The very first issueof Life featured one of her photo-graphs on the cover: a dramaticimage of a massive dam constructionproject. She provided extensivecoverage of World War II, mostnotably the horrors discovered whenthe Allies liberated the concentrationcamps. She photographed the gran-deur and starvation of India in thelate 1940s, black South AfricanMiners in 1950, and the Korean Warin 1952.

By the mid-1950s, Bourke-Whitewas suffering from Parkinson'sDisease, which progressively reducesthe body's ability to control its move-ments. She left the staff of Life in1969 and died two years later.

Though she was neither a masterstylist nor an exceptional technician,Bourke-White was among the first toclearly understand the camera'spower to record "history in the mak-ing." She helped establish standardsfor commitment, concern and sheerenergy that photojournalists havestruggled to live up to ever since.


1904-71

Margaret Bourke-White, Airship Akron, Winner Goodyear Zeppelin Race, 1931.


A flair for the exotic and a sophisticated sense of humor are important assets in fashion photography. Photograph byBane Kapsu.


VariationsMixed in with these general categoriesare numerous photographic special-ties: scientific, sports, underwater,travel, architectural, art reproduc-tion, etc. Matching your skills and in-terests to one of these niches may bethe most satisfying career path of all.By specializing in one particularaspect of photography, rather thancompeting in a broader category, youhave a good chance of establishing aclear identity and of focusing in ona steady market. Word-of-mouth rec-ommendation is always a photog-rapher's best advertising. You standto benefit most from it if you earn agood reputation for a specific set ofskills.

If you enjoy photographing build-ings, for example, you can make acareer of it, hiring yourself out to ar-chitectural and construction firms orto design magazines. If you're veryprecise and detail oriented, you mightget into photographing art formuseums. If you like flying, youmight consider aerial photography. Ifyou prefer swimming, considerunderwater photography.

There are career opportunities inphotographic processing as well.Here again, developing a specific setof skills is recommended. Some pho-tographers specialize in a photo-graphic style that requires certainprocesses, such as antique style sepia-toned or hand-tinted prints. Whensomeone needs that particular stylefor a magazine illustration or cor-porate annual report, a specialist willgenerally be selected. The same ruleapplies to those who offer processing

services to other photographers.Retouchers, for example, are paidhandsomely to fix mistakes or other-wise alter a photo's appearance.Skilled darkroom techicians, special-izing in black and white or color, arehighly regarded and well paid.

Finally, there are many other jobsthat don't require regular use of acamera or darkroom but can, none-theless, keep a photographer "intouch." These include selling andrepairing cameras, mainta iningphotographic libraries or stock-agency files, curating in photographygalleries or museums, or even help-ing to develop new designs, formulasand processes for cameras or film.

Looking AheadIn virtually any photography-relatedfield, the key to getting started is toput together a winning portfolio an elegant, professional collection ofyour best work. Your portfolio willtell a prospective employer or clientwhat you can do, so it should be of aconsistently high standard rightdown to the details of excellent printquality, good mounting techniqueand slick presentation. If you arefortunate enough to have some ofyour photographs published (by a lo-cal newspaper, for example, or evenin a school publication) these -called tear sheets (as in a torn-outpage) should be included as well:Cut out the full page on which yourphotograph appears and mount it asyou would a standard print, or slip itinto a plastic sheet. (Use part of apage if the whole thing is too big tofit the size mat you're using for your

prints, but be sure to include the run-ning head or foot that indicates thename and date of the publication.)

Your portfolio should also be tai-lored to the kind of work you'reseeking. If you hope to be hired as alab technician, emphasize printquality. If you want to cover localnews events, include some goodaction shots. If advertising interestsyou, try to create some still-life pho-tographs that have the "look-and-feel" of studio composition andlighting. If you'd like to pursue fash-ion photography, you might team upwith a friend who aspires to a careerin modeling working together toproduce some fashion shots that youboth can use. And, of course, if youhope to sell your work as art, thenyour portfolio must show that you'veattained a high level of skill and crea-tivity.

As you progress through thiscourse, it is a good idea to keep yourlong-range goals in mind. It's nevertoo early to begin preparing forthem. Even if you have no interest ina photographic career, your portfo-lio is your own record of achieve-ment. And you never know when itmay come in handy, so you may aswell do it right.

Effective presentation (and atten-tion to detail) is vitally important inany line of work. Mastering photo-graphic technique and preparing agood portfolio will teach you valu-able skills which will serve you well,no matter what career you ultimatelychoose.


part 2 Elements of Composition

Student photograph by Michael Grassia.

33

photography: from blurs to business

Documents

vander zee

andjames van

photographic eyejames

courtesy donna van

hisrecord of harlem

harlem until1967

alfred stieglitz

findthat photography