CLIENTS :
City and Town
Country
Work
Events
Play and Leisure
Sky and Water
+ more
Who, What When, Where, Why and How?
Who? James Vaseff (JRV) learned darkroom technique at age 8 from his father.
What? These photographs are the record of an itinerant photojournalist; taken for clients or himself. Each time he walked out the door with a camera he had an “assignment.” After 46 years of employment in various fields these photos are now assembled for viewing.
When? They range from the 1960s – ‘70s and some later. Earlier photos have been lost. Some of these period photos were rescued from a 1969 apartment fire.
Where? The US; Boston; the southeast and western states. Europe; Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Scandinavia.
Why? In retirement after 46 years of work JRV got back to his photos. At that time, the deceased Vivian Maier was being discovered as a recluse who took thousands of street pictures when she was a nanny in New York and Chicago, but the pictures were never seen. They were discovered when a man bought a pile of negatives from a storage facility. There were 16,000 B/W negatives, 225 rolls of film,1,100 prints and 30 movies. He is now dedicated to getting Ms. Maier’s work out, writing about her, and has made a movie.
JRV had some good conversations with a long-time photographer friend. They share a common photo genre, The Magnum School. He started his career in 1975 and shared his current frustrations, i.e., being a photographer all that time and seeing what he liked about it fading away.
It then occurred to JRV to look at some other photographers he knew of who may have been obscure to the public.
Garry Winogrand came to mind. He was a notable street photographer known for his portrayal of the United States in the mid-20th century. At the time of his death in 1984 there was discovered about 2,500 rolls of undeveloped film, 6,500 rolls of developed but not proofed exposures, and contact sheets made from about 3,000 rolls.
Then it hit him; these were “catch and release” folks. The days of walking, observing, and capturing images while studying human nature were reward enough. The pictures are there but the photographer may never have seen most of them. Photographs may not have been the primary reason they went for a walk that day. For many it may be like a diary that may be read by friends or relatives much later.
JRV has photos framed under glass in the home. He attributes his children’s pursuits in photography to these “Russian Icons in an Eastern Orthodox Church” as a possible inspiration for them, much like his father teaching him how to develop and print pictures 65 years ago.
How? Notes on captions. For half a century JRV assumed that the Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, David Seymour, Eve Arnold, Ernst Hass, et. al. photos in books celebrating their work, mostly Magnum, had terse captions of place and date for aesthetic reasons; the picture was powerful enough to tell the story without words. However, after reading a new book, “The Decisive Network: Magnum Photos and the Postwar Image Market” (2020) he discovered that the photographers drove Magnum editors nuts because most of the time film (usually undeveloped) was sent to New York or Paris with no notes or comments at all. Imagine a photo journal agency trying to sell stories to all the big magazines and other clients without any writing.
Notes on composition. Everything has a grammar, writing, architecture, design, etc. It is either conscious, intuitive, or could be thoughtless and poor grammar.
For example, Frank Lloyd Wright talked about his architectural “grammar” and it had, for him, firm components. Most call this style, but the discipline and rules of grammar have much more force than style that may simply be duplicated by another.
JRV’s photography grammar is simple: shoot and use the full frame. Compose in an instant within that full frame and print it whole, without cropping. For the viewer, it is important to scan across the image, there will most likely be an important part of that photo at the edges.
JRV pursued his grammar to a fault. If he could not have a good composition, the picture was not taken. He only learned to take “snap shots” when he had children. He also made these pictures believing that they were for viewing some years later. In this case mostly 50 years later, timeless.
One last note. Michael Caine noted in his book “Acting in Film” the difference between stage acting and film was that film was “all about the eyes.” Alec Guinness also recounted a drama teacher putting his face through a picture frame and saying, “This is the cinema.” Many of these photos are of people, so look for the eyes.
Bookmark this site. JRV plans to make this a living gallery. Initially it will frequently be added to, or otherwise different. A Banner will show the edition number. So,keep an eye out for it.
Questions?, Comments, requests for images in listed topics? Use the CONTACT box below (US Country code is “1”.).
Enjoy the walk with JRV.