NOT KNOWING: USER RESUMES

USER is an ongoing, open-ended project, one I
intend to be working on for at least 2 more years.

I remember going back to the corner last summer,
knowing I wanted to shoot tight heads. Sounds
simple enough but, let me tell you…..it wasn’t.

I went through 3 or 4 permutations of how I
could light the subjects, what backgrounds I
wanted to use and how I felt the photos should
look and feel before I came across a method that
worked for me, felt right.

I ended up shooting only women, using a certain
kind of light, framing and approach.

(I’ll be exhibiting these portraits at Gallery La
Petite Mort this spring. Show opens May 1st.
Mark your calenders. If you’re going to be in
Montreal in June, you can see the work there,
at IPS Gallery.)

There were a few reasons I decided to just photo-
graph women. One being that that was a simple
way of crowd control. You can’t tell from the
photographs but, every time we go down to the
corner to shoot, it’s bedlam. Lots of craaaaazy
energy, demands, situations and personalities to
deal with. By limiting the subjects to just women
I only had to deal with half the craziness.

The other main reason I only shot women was
because I thought that the images of the men,
photographed the way I was working on the
corner last year, were just kind of boring; or,
maybe not boring, but certainly the shots of
the men left me feeling like I wasn’t getting
them right, if you know what I mean. Not
doing them justice. I decided that I would
photograph the men later and in a different
way.

preliminary portrait of crack addict. last year. rejected

preliminary portrait of crack addict. last year. rejected

And, since I’m throwing up rejects….here’s
one from the first year of shooting. Just
doesn’t feel right:

So, you might ask…..what’s the point, Tony,
in going on about this?

Let me tell you.

The time has come to go back to the corner
and photograph the men. And I don’t really
have a clue how I’m going to do that. That’s
the point.

Sure, I’ve thought about it, on and off,
thru the winter. I realize that the way
I’ve gone about this project, having one
series of photos look so different from
the next, is a weird and not-usually-done
approach. But what that approach has done
is, it’s allowed me to shoot each year in a
way that I think suits the subject I’m depicting.
And in the case of USER, the subject is only
nominally crack addicts. The real subject there,
as always, is people.

Not knowing what I’m going to do, yet being
committed to doing SOMETHING, is a very
exciting prospect. I’m looking forward to
being lost, to figuring shit out, to trial and
error and to finding answers.

I’ll keep you posted as things progress.

WORK

In the mean time, work goes on. Gotta
pay for all the production costs for the
personal projects somehow, right?

screen grab from today’s shoot

Out take, not what we were shooting, just a shot…..

COURSE

I’m teaching a 6 week workshop at SPAO this
summer. Runs from May 12th to June 16th.
Street Portraiture.

Here’s the blurb/outline from the SPAO calender:

I’m hoping to provide and provoke an
intense and interesting experience for
the people who decide to sign up. If
you live in the area and want to live a
little, contact the school and sign up.