He writes: “Photographers feel comfortable photographing what they see. The imaginative challenge for Michals is about using visual images to convey abstract ideas: how to photograph the ephemeral, that which is imaginative, intangible, invisible, or subconscious. In Empty New York: Subway Interior (1964) from his monograph Empty New York, he captured the demimonde of sidewalks at dawn or dusk along with deserted subway stations, diners, storefronts, and vacant theaters (also hauntingly photographed in the 1970s by Peter Hujar and published in 2005 as Night). It is all accomplished within the vernacular of nocturnal cityscapes. The photographs are deeply affective, whether extracted from an autobiographical core about early childhood at the precipice of trauma or drawn from the psychological realities of modern life, including queer genealogies and experience, such as the iconography of gay-male cruising in Chance Meeting (1970). I can do the whole thing in about an hour.” However, his work derives from lifelong personal explorations into memory, mortality, temporality, sexual orientation, and spirituality. So when it comes to the actual shooting time, it’s very easy. Michals scoffs at the necessity for extensive preparation for his sequences.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |