So, my life is entirely revolving around photography in one way or another – work and pleasure, night and day. When I’m not working on my own pictures, I’m looking at photographer’s blogs and web galleries, reading monographs and biographies, and lately watching photography DVDs – about which a few words: -“Keith Carter”, the first in a new series of DVDs about photographers from Anthropy Arts. A really nice, straightforward overview of Carter’s work, mostly told via an interview with the photographer and his own pictures. There are a few sections showing him working, both in his studio and on location in Texas, which I found interesting – largely because I always work alone and don’t really know any local photogs, so it was quite a novelty to observe how someone else goes about these things. The DVD is made, though, by Carter himself, who is consistently personable and very open about his methods and motivations – without any self-aggrandisement or conceptual bullshit.
-In contrast the next two films are defined by complexity and what isn’t being said. “William Eggleston in the Real World” by Michael Almereyda is an intensely strange documentary – apparently intentionally mundane and verging on the tedious, with the slight same Lynchian edge that Eggleston’s photos have. Long (long!) sections of the film show Eggleston wandering around anonymous American streets and alleys, in silence, occasionally stopping for a second to snap some signage or storefronts or everything else he has consistently photographed for the past several decades. After a while of this any mystery or excitement about the creative process has totally evaporated, if it had gone on much longer the desire to start chewing on the furniture would likely become irresistible. When Eggleston – who look and sounds like a cross between Williams Faulkner and Burroughs – finally does speak it’s in such a low volume drawl that he’s consistently subtitled, and worse, he has absolutely nothing to say. Towards the end of the film, in what feels like the filmmakers attempt to force some sort of conclusion to proceedings, Eggleston in questioned from behind the camera about his methods and intentions – rejecting any of the proffered philosophies or explanations, all he can say is that pictures and words don’t have anything much to do with one another.
A DVD extra is footage of Eggleston waiting in silence for the start of a BBC radio interview which then doesn’t happen due to technical problems. It seems fitting.
-Finally, Christian Frei’s film “War Photographer” about James Nachtwey. Given his apocalyptic subject matter – war, famine, disease – this was never going to be light viewing, but what becomes most interesting about it is the character of Nachtwey himself. After all, here is a man who not only photographs the most brutal warfare and appalling suffering, but usually produces frankly gorgeous pictures of them. He comes across as taciturn, stoic, focused and somewhat distant – a man with few friends or close attachments – and the polar opposite of the stereotypical thrill-seeking gung-ho war photog. Disturbing, enigmatic, and highly recommended.
(Picture is from White Sands, New Mexico – a totally surreal place. You can’t really tell from the photo, but I was there on the worst possible day – high winds meant a few seconds out in the open left skin feeling sand-blasted, eyes and camera full of fine gypsum…)
