1- Are you a professional photographer? That depends upon one’s definition - I have for years been paid to photograph - for publications, individuals, institutions, families, and by couples being married. I also was paid to teach documentary photography for 17 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT. All of that said, my primary income came from my work as a writer.
2- Why street photography? I am drawn to photographing people living their lives, whether on the street, or in restaurants, etc., or in private homes, probably because I am interested in people. I’m sad to have to say that I think the term “street photography” has lost it’s real meaning, and has largely been taken over by hipsters who treat it like big game hunters on safari, Street photography, as it developed as a form of documentary photography practiced by the greats such as Helen Levitt, Bruce Davidson, Robert Frank, Cartier-Bresson, Weegee, Saul Leiter, and, of course, Gary Winogrand, was the documenting of life lived on the street, largely in the days before air conditioning, when the stifling heat of city buildings in the summer would force everyone outside.
3- How would you describe your photography style? I often say, only partly facetiously, that I am a photographer of the mundane, of everyday life lived. I strive to be unobtrusive, and am not interested in engaging with the strangers I photograph because if I do engage with them, the photographs I would then make are no longer representations of observed reality.
4- What makes a good picture from your point of view? What do you look for in an image? I look for those situations, people, expressions, events, that capture my interest and hopefully will capture the interest of those who see my images. A “good” photograph is one that tells us something about the human condition, and perhaps even tells us something about ourselves.
5- How do you educate yourself to take better photos? Just as one learns to be a better writer by reading great writing, one becomes a better photographer by spending time with the work of great photographers. To that end I have a collection of about 300 books of photography by outstanding photographers.
6- Where in the world would you most like to photograph? I’ll have to say in Cuba. But I would not make images of 1950s American cars or old ladies smoking enormous cigars. Rather than producing photographic cliches, I’d like to document the lives of average Cubans as they are living lives that will be radically altered when the US finally ends its insane embargo and the island becomes a kind of off-shore Disney World.
7- Who would you most like to photograph and what kind of pictures do you avoid to shoot? If I may, I’ll quote the great Saul Leiter, who said that rain drops on a window interest him more than a photo of a famous person. There is no one individual I especially want to photograph. As to the kind of pictures I avoid…I try to avoid making images that are hurtful. When I was teaching my MIT class I used to have what I called - before we all cleaned up our language, the “no bums rule.” That is, I told the students I did not want to see a bunch of photos of homeless people lying on the sidewalk, UNLESS there was something about the image - perhaps a juxtaposition with something, that actually told us something about the fact that there are people living on the street. I also told students that the most important thing for them always to strive for is honesty in their photography. For example, we should never attempt to make someone who is unattractive, or in an unattractive situation, look better than they look, nor should we ever attempt to make someone look worse. It all comes down, I suppose, to photographically doing unto others…
8- Have you been confronted by someone whose photo you took on the street? What would be your advices how to avoid confrontation when doing Street Photography? In the 13 years I photographed on and around the subway cars of the Boston metro subway system, working on my project, “Alone, Together,” I was only confronted by individuals on two occasions. The possibility of confrontation when photographing in public is blown way out of proportion, and I actually think that some young male photographers actually seek it out. If one is unobtrusive in the way one conducts oneself, confrontation is rarely a problem. And it isn’t an issue for me because if someone sees me and objects to being photographed I have no interest in photographing them - the moment I wanted to photograph is gone the instant they see me. And I have no interest in images of people objecting to being photographed, or respect for those who make those kinds of images. (I freely admit I loathe Bruce Gilden, whose behavior and images give all of us a bad name. He is the classic example of a bully with a camera.)
9- Your favourite street image of your own to date and why? See attached. I made this image on June 24, 1968, in Washington, D.C., for my college newspaper, using a meterless Honeywell Pentax and Vivitar lens. And it is, and always will be, the best image I have ever made. It tells a story, it is beautifully framed, and it contains within the frame everything that should be there, and nothing that shouldn’t.
10- Your favourite piece of equipment? Whatever camera and lens I have with me when a good image presents itself. I literally never leave the house without some kind of camera with me.
11- What are your favorite settings (Aperture. Shutter Speed, ISO, White Balance, Focus, Manual/Auto, Image Format – RAW/JPEG) for Street Photography and why? I favor normal to wide angle lenses over long lenses because I believe in working close. And I almost never make images as jpegs - RAW images are the negatives of digital photography. Why would I want to ‘throw away’ negatives, and why would I want some camera company engineer to decide what my images should look like. (The obvious exception to my prejudice against shooting jpegs is that for a photo journalist covering breaking news, shooting jpegs becomes a necessity in order to get photos to editors in a timely manner.)
12- Is photography art? What is art?
13- Black And White or Colour? Both, If the image is about color, it should be a color image. Otherwise it should be black and white. To quote the late, great, Ted Grant, who is known as the “father of Canadian photojournalism,” when you photograph people in color you see their clothes; when you photograph them in black and white you see their souls.” I’m not much of a believer in souls, but I do believe that when you photograph people in black and white - or convert images of them to black and white, you really see the person.
14-What are your thoughts on editing? I limit my editing to making those sorts of changes I used to make in the black and white darkroom - I adjust contrast, sharpness, dodge and burn, and, when necessary, crop - although I try to do all my cropping in the viewfinder. I never add anything to, or remove anything from, a photographic image, and want my finished image to mirror what I saw when I made the exposure.
15- Why do you share to Progressive Street and who would you like to see showcased from Progressive Street? I share to Progressive Street because it is a community of kindred souls, featuring a lot of work I admire, and people who I think will appreciate my work. I also am taken by it because it is such an international community of photographers.