Camera Night At The Ivar

The Ivar in the 1980s

I was in LA for 4 days last week. Most of my time there was spent shooting the streets (more on that in a future post) but I did manage to squeeze in a visit to a single photo exhibit. And boy was it worthwhile.

Camera Night At The Ivar at Drkrm Gallery documents a period during the early 80s when The Ivar Theatre in Hollywood opened its doors to photographers Sundays and Tuesdays. This was back in the heyday of strip clubs before dance poles or shaving, and public genital displays still bore the tint of hidden mystery. No TVs or T-bone steaks for distraction, just a woman on a bare stage with 5 minutes to undress and spread em.

Since most strip clubs expressly prohibit candid photography, Camera Night was a unique opportunity. The scene drew photographers from all over, many with national reputations. Collected in this show alone are Norman Breslow, Bill Dane, David Fahey, Anthony Friedkin, Michael Gurske, Ryan Herz, and Paul McDonough. Judging by the number of shooters visible in the photos (Winogrand can be seen lurking in the background of several) that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Ryan Herz, The Ivar Theatre, 1982

I suppose one could get similar photographs paying a studio model to expose herself, but the resulting photos wouldn't be much different from common porn. What separates the Camera Night photos from such pictures is that they depict not only the strippers but the crazy voyeuristic scene surrounding it, a sort of sociological study of shared sexual experience, ritual observation, and male fantasy. Photographers cluster around the vaginas like paparazzi around celebrities, some mere inches from the origin of the world. Many in background also peer through cameras. Some men in the audience stare bug-eyed. Some masturbate. A few look bored. Some manage to do all at once. 

Regardless of activity all attention is unified. Everyone watches the stripper. But alas, even the center cannot hold. After looking at photo after photo in Drkrm the strippers fade in importance and the real subject becomes clear: voyeurism. These photos depict the act of photographing as an animal instinct. Observation, patience, stalking that delirious moment of proper shutter release, and then exposure.

The scene feels real. The photographs feel real. It's an authentic look inside a fleeting moment in history. Then as now, nothing was as mysterious as a fact clearly described.

The prints in the show are excellent. Most are vintage black and white silver gelatins. Using a flash 12 inches from someone's crotch one might expect flesh tones to lose shadow detail, but instead they disport a rich tonality. These guys were pros at printing as well as shooting. Some of the close shots depict a pubic form as intricate and convoluted as an abstract painting. They resemble ariel photos of a verdant jungle, or perhaps graffiti drawn by a very fine hand.

A few of the images --by Paul McDonough and Bill Dane for example-- have appeared in various books over the years. But the vast bulk of these have never been shown. They were curated by Drkrm for this single exhibition which is unlikely to travel or be repeated due to its graphic nature. Even Los Angeles has turned a prudish eye, with no local press willing to review it. The show ends on November 25th. If you live in the LA area, I'd highly recommend seeing it this week. An exhibition catalog (cover left) is available here in both print and digital form.  

Camera Night At The Ivar is at Drkrm Gallery, 727 Spring St., Los Angeles, CA through 11/25/12

Eye On PDX: Clarke Galusha

Clarke Galusha is a photographer based in Portland. His most recent body of work featuring tintype portraits of children is on display through November at Newspace Center for Photography in Portland. I've sprinkled some jpgs from the show throughout the interview below, but they are merely facsimiles of the real thing. I encourage readers to see them in person at Newspace if possible. (See past Eye On PDX profiles here and here)

Why do you shoot tintypes?

I’ve always enjoyed working with alternative photographic processes. When I was in college, I worked for a photographer who was making images on a modern version of the tintype that used a liquid emulsion. Because of this experience, I was already quite proficient at pouring various liquids onto metal plates. When I learned to create tintypes this summer, I picked up the process quite easily. But, to answer your question, I shoot tintypes because I love the immediacy and unpredictability of the process. I love that the tintypes are one-of-a-kind objects that cannot be infinitely reproduced. But throughout the project, my favorite part has become how amazing portraits of people, especially children, can look with this process.    

Quetzal

Aside from headshots I'm curious what other subjects you've photographed using tintype.  

The wet-plate collodion process is relatively new to me. Although I’ve been a photographer for years, I just learned to make tintypes this past summer. Other than the numerous tintypes I’ve made of my wife and my son and the huge amount I made of the 49 kiddos I shot for the show, I’ve also made a few plates of my garden and my boston terriers.  

Most photographs in the show are not for sale. Is that a conscious decision to avoid the art market? Or is it just because these photos are one of a kind and belong to various parents?  

Through an email that started out going to just the parents of the kids at my son’s playschool, I offered all of them first dibs on the purchase of their kid’s tintype that I’d be using in the show. For all of the kids I shot, I offered the parents at least one free tintype just for participating in the project. I ended up giving the parents all of the outtakes. I was somewhat surprised that the majority of the parents ended up getting three or four outtakes and purchasing the tintype in the show. This was not the wisest choice for me from a financial standpoint and has made it impossible to have a future show using the actual tintypes. However, I kept the promise that I’d made to myself and to the parents in the email that, “I am not looking to make a profit with this venture. My goal is to make an amazing gallery show.” 

Davy

Tell me about the process of photographing small children. I know they have a mind of their own, and don't always cooperate with the photographer. Does it take a lot of energy and/or shots to get the right one? Do you try to translate some of a shoot's uncertainty into your photos?

I did my best to not direct or suggest any poses to the kids, other than asking them to look at the lens. Also, I absolutely did not ask them to smile. Because of the amount of time it takes to prepare and develop the tintypes, the majority of the time the kids were at my house for the session, they were running around and playing. In a hour long session, I’d only be able to make 3 or 4 tintypes, meaning that they’d only have to sit in front of the camera 3 or 4 times. I really wanted to try and capture the kids being themselves. However, sitting a kid on a stool in front of a huge 8x10 view camera, a massive softbox and a gigantic umbrella in the garage of a stranger’s house, hardly leads to a natural expression. Despite all of that, I think that the quick exposure times, the limited amount of shots over the session and the excitement and participation of the parent(s) helped in making some great images.  

Why kids?

Being a younger sibling, the youngest of 17 cousins, and one of the youngest on the block, I didn’t have much exposure to little kids until my son was born 2.5 years ago. I have been totally amazed and overwhelmed by the depth, knowledge and complexity of young children. My son and his little friends amaze me every day.  

Alder

What's the most profound thing a kid has said to you during a portrait session?

Maybe not so profound, but the most memorable response was from a little boy after seeing the first tintype of himself, “Oh, that is the other me!”

Do you think a portrait can describe what's in a person? Or does it just show someone's surface at a given time?  

I think that most formal portraits of people are incredibly telling. For many of the subjects in this project, this might have been the first picture-taking experience where they were not asked to smile. Usually, it worked out that the first exposure was the one that I chose to use in the show. After getting the kid(s) to stand still or sit on the stool, it would take me a few minutes to get the image mostly composed and focused. The kids seemed to get over their initial jitters and didn’t know what to expect. I think the first shot best captured the kid’s natural expression and depth at that moment in time.

Thor

Name one favorite portrait photographer.  

Sorry, I don’t want to say just one, but I’ll limit myself to five:  Sally Mann, Larry Clark, Bruce Davidson, Nicholas Nixon, and Harry Callahan

What are you working on next?  

I’m going to continue to explore the wet-plate collodion process.   For this show, I shot 49 kids in 36 days. I just haven’t had the time to play around with the process, push the limits and make big mistakes. I’m really looking forward it. I hope to have the opportunity to show at more galleries.

How do you characterize the Portland photo scene?

The “scene” seems to be alive and thriving. The city is full of amazing photographers, and there is constantly new work being shown in the local galleries. In my experience, I’ve mostly just met other photographers and artists through The Newspace Center for Photography. One artist I met there, whom I’d like to mention is photographer Ray Bidegain. He taught me how to make tintypes last summer and has been a great friend and mentor ever since.   

For the Bloggers

Doonesbury 11-8-12, Garry Trudeau

This one is for the other bloggers out there. You know who you are. Sometimes you just gotta laugh at the whole enterprise.

Tour of Babble

My review of Mikhael Subotzky's Retinal Shift was posted on Photo Eye yesterday. If you're curious about the book I encourage you to read it, but if you just want a good chuckle I think the version below is much more entertaining. I've sent my original review around the world through Google Translate, from English to Swahili to German to Vietnamese back to English. I think the general ideas still come through, sort of. But in a way which refreshing is academic similar photograph schooling.

The first thing that is a stain on retinal Shift Mikhael Subotzky its size. 490 pages, two inches thick and weighing more than 5 kg, the retina to change the giant picture book I have ever experienced. There is a sense of Magnum Degrees size or landscape view. Or simply Magnum, Subotzky think his tome. Publisher Steidl has not held again.

Change the number of the retina is due to the fact that they are actually from a smaller number of essays (relatively long) images, some of which. Interspersed throughout the book, some blocks are interwoven into their own, and some are a little of both types explaining Help other readers out important book starts with the most power mobile phone. If you give more help essay interprets by Anthea buy and Shawn O'Toole. This book can be used as book reviews she has a Shift retina self-reference is read. We also see portraits Subotzky, images from other images, image image image, and of course, include the title, refers to the very act of seeing.

"This book can be used as book reviews she has a Shift retina self-reference is read. We also see portraits Subotzky, images from other images, image image image, and of course, include the title, refers to the very act of seeing."

If it looks a little like this type of show is why. Shift retina is a physical manifestation of the Standard Bank Young Artist exhibition Subotzky Bank, access, major museums in nature Subotzky travel from South Africa, this year and next. Show offers a wide range of materials, from your photos to headshots get surveillance footage and more. This involves a series of 1911 and on the walls in the form of museum design, including videos, slideshows, and traditional print is not displayed.

I'm not sure any book can really experience the museum so vast and the fact that he intends to Subotzky. "My aim," he explained, "is to produce two lines of different but relevant work is not an example of a book exhibition, but a discrete form that take the work with a different way. "

Nevertheless comparisons between the book and the exhibition are inevitable. Flip through the pages of character wandering through an art museum. There is no strict order is very important. You can see in this position, then this. There are some guidelines to explain the way. If the museum experience is probably different for everyone, depending on the time you spend in each position and the tool.

It is only gradually after visiting many rooms that you get a feel for what is Subotzky by: saw action. Not. It is up to the photographer. But you see, this can be done by any blunt object. If it is the cctv or headshot optometrist or or tour guide or if the material is Subotzky themselves behind the camera is relatively important. And in fact, much work not Subotzky. Acquired from external sources. And to drive home the point that the engine cover is left. Photos show front and rear of retinal Subtozky. Screening optometrist your left and right if the subject of the image, Subotzky is the right time of the contract blindly.

But it's not so bad, if he can see, or if it is "writer" these images, however, that time can be explained. Go to the era of the single photographer is to hunt with a camera for the remaining images. Rather it is a photographer choice, the person in charge and managed through a huge selection of accessories from all possible sources, each presents a unique way of looking. The company has never before have so many recording techniques and experimental retinal image Shift keys together as much as possible.

"But it's not so bad, if he can see, or if it is writer these images, however, that time can be explained. Go to the era of the single photographer is to hunt with a camera for the remaining images."

For me, this book is the middle part of Who's Who. This is a range headshots running full page in the book, gray portrait show for ten years from the Who's Who of South Africa. The first group is from 1911, and from the point of view that the portrait step decentralized and loose threads and tone. Not only is a great way to explore the critical value changes, but they have the quality artwork that is interesting. As in any book of all images not lftones. However, the original image itself is not the lftones Subotzky added particle dominated. If from a very narrow image blur in the total reminder that each image is considered to be a clumsy presentation. In the last camp of 2011 tons in a pixelated jpgs 1/2 brand are turned up a large proportion of modern photography. Historical research in a variety of ways.

How many names Steidl, spent time in Göttingen Subotzky and Gerhard Steidl in the production of the book, and in collaboration with other designers in the United States. Although the resulting book feels a bit complicated and also very private. If we look at and between the retina, an important lesson is clear. It contains gray matter behind them.

The Map

Photo book lovers in San Francisco are in luck. Wayne Bremser has created a custom Google Map of city locations selling new and used photo books. I think it would be great if every major city had one of these. Agree? Create a local photo book map, send it to me, and I'll post here.

Also on the subject of maps, Jen Bekman's 20 x 200 today released a new watercolor map of Portland by Stamen Designs. Unlike Wayne's map above it's not very good as a practical tool. But it sure is purty to look at. And it does work in a roundabout way. Place a finger anywhere on it at random. You'll probably be near a used bookstore, at least a coffee house showing photos.