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Alec Soth |
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Photo by Donna Kelly
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Q: Congratulations on your recent election as a nominee to Magnum.
Why did you decide to join this agency?
A: I love the history of Magnum. I particularly respond to the
famous advice that Capa gave to Cartier-Bresson: 'Don't keep the label
of a surrealist photographer. Be a photojournalist. If not, you will
fall into mannerism. Keep surrealism in your little heart, my dear.
Don't fidget. Get moving!'
I am more than capable of falling into self-indulgent mannerism.
Assignment photography keeps me going out into the world and looking
at new things. It keeps me honest. And yet I still feel this pullback
toward art. I thrive on this duality. And it seems to me that Magnum
thrives on this duality.
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Photo by Alec Soth |
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Charles, Vasa, MN, from Sleeping by the Mississippi |
Q: How would you describe your work? Is it documentary
photojournalism or art?
A: I guess it depends on what work you are talking about. My
project, 'Sleeping by the Mississippi,' was self-assigned and has been
mostly seen in the art context of galleries and museums. So I guess it
is going to be called art. But alongside that project, I'm regularly
doing assignments for magazines. If I were going to label this work, I
would just use the broad brush of 'editorial.' A term like
'documentary photojournalism' is a bit too loaded.
Q: Your camera of choice is an 8x10 view camera. Why use
large-format?
A: Years ago, I made a list of my favorite photographers. An
extraordinary number of them used the 8x10. I figured I might as well
give it a try. And I fell in love. I don't think the camera is better
than any other; it certainly is less practical than even a 4x5. But
there is something magical about it for me. What I particularly like
is the viewing experience under the dark cloth. The ground glass is
big. Instead of jamming your face into the camera, you stand back. It
is like looking at a painting on an easel.
Q: How did the 'Sleeping by the Mississippi' project come to be?
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Photo by Alec Soth |
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Houseboat, from Sleeping by the Mississippi
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A: At the beginning, this project had nothing to do with the
Mississippi. The project was originally called 'From Here to There.'
The idea was that one picture would lead to the next. If in one
picture I photographed a chicken, I might then go on to photograph a
short-order cook frying eggs. I considered the process to be like
Web-surfing in the real world. I went as far as Iceland in my hunt for
pictures. Along the way, I made a partial trip down the Mississippi. I
began to think of the river as a metaphor for this kind of wandering.
After awhile I got tired of the gimmick of one picture leading to the
next. I decided to make the river the explicit subject, or link, but
still have this kind of wandering spirit behind the pictures.
Q: Can you describe your work process?
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Photo by Alec Soth |
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Herman's Bed, Kenner, LA, from Sleeping by the Mississippi
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A: For the personal work, it is everything I just described:
wandering, linking, serendipity. Assignment work is usually much
different. A magazine usually hires a photographer to photograph
something very specific. So I go and try to make the best picture I
can. One of the reasons I joined Magnum is in hopes of getting richer
assignments ? assignments that allow for wandering and discovery.
Q: Are there any photographers whose work has inspired you? If yes,
can you say how and why?
A: The person I've been enamored with lately is Eugene
Richards. He is one of the reasons I wanted to join Magnum. His latest
book, 'The Fat Baby,' is a masterpiece. He is one of the few
photographers who really figured out how to tell stories.
Q: Since joining Magnum, has your life been changed, and if yes,
how so?
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Photo by Alec Soth |
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Ste. Genevieve, from Sleeping by the Mississippi
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A: Magnum is helping me get better assignments. This has
nothing to do with quantity (assignments or money) but quality.
Quality is everything.
Q: What are you currently working on?
A: I recently finished an assignment photographing on a Hopi
reservation for the Natural Resources Defense Council. I'm working on
a long-term personal project called 'Love and Niagara.' And I've got a
commission from Granta to photograph factories in the Midwest. A full
plate ? I'm a very happy photographer.
View more of Alec Soth's work at
http://alecsoth.com.
Roger Richards is the Editor and Publisher of The Digital
Filmmaker, and Multimedia Editor/Producer at The Virginian-Pilot in
Norfolk, Virginia. Richards now produces video essays and digital
short films for the Web, as well as working on documentary photography
projects. He began his photojournalism career
in 1979, focusing on political and social themes in the Caribbean, the
civil wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua and then joining the Gamma
Liaison photo agency in 1988. Based in Miami and then Europe, his work
with the agency included the US invasion of Panama, political upheaval
in Haiti, civil war in Croatia and the siege of Sarajevo. He is a
former Associated Press photo bureau chief in Bogotá, Colombia, and a
staff photographer at the Washington Times in Washington, DC, from
1997-2000. He is the recipient of numerous awards from the National
Press Photographers' Association, the White House News Photographers'
Association, Pictures of the Year International, the Society of
Newspaper Design, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Virginia
News Photographers Association. He became a digital filmmaker in 1998,
focusing on projects about war in the Balkans. He was awarded the
first White House News Photographers' Association sabbatical grant for videojournalism in 2000 and was one of the first graduates of the
famous Platypus Workshop that trains photojournalists how to become
digital filmmakers and videojournalists. He is now a member of the
workshop faculty.
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