Several months ago I exchanged emails and a very nice phone call with a reader that was interested in my thoughts concerning the work of her late husband. While he was an accomplished photographer, she was finding it difficult for anyone to review and talk to about his life work. She told me that he spent endless hours in his darkroom to produce his black and white images, but was rarely interested in exhibiting, let alone selling his work. When he died suddenly and unexpectedly she was in a quandary about what to do. Now she was grappling with the intrinsic value of her late husband’s work.
This is a difficult issue if there was one! And as I have been thinking more and more about scheduling my visit to New York City to see the Vivien Maier exhibit before it closes I also began to think about my dialog with my reader. As photographers we all at some time think about the value of our work, be it monetary or intrinsic. For many this issue becomes consuming, especially as we get older.
The fact is that few of us will ever sell very much or get meaningful exhibits of our work. There are many reasons for this that go beyond the quality of the work. Most are oblivious to the realities of the art world and what’s necessary to overcome them, or simply refuse to try to do what is takes to overcome them. Many soldier on, frustrated and seeking affirmation of their work in some manner. Yet some do not seem to require this affirmation and Vivien Maier appears to be an example. During her life she made over 100,000 negatives and yet few knew she existed, that is until she passed away and her life’s work was discovered almost by accident.
I have met and known many photographers that require affirmation of their work through, sales, exhibition and other means. I also know many fine photographers that just don’t worry about it. Maybe they did before, but not now. This is where I am in my photographic life now, and to tell you the truth I feel so much better. I’m even starting to come to grips with what will or will not come of my negatives once I’m gone. What I care about, and what my reader was trying to deal with is the intrinsic value of the work … to us. And that is what really matters isn’t it? For others, trying to determine the intrinsic value of our photography is a difficult thing. Not going to happen, and yet again, no affirmation. But good work is good work, and good work that his personally meaningful is even better work! And that my friends can be very self-affirming.
Stay well,
Michael
Good post, Michael. I feel similarly.
But then I have perhaps three or four collections that I would like to get out there, as they were made in times and places now gone (or much changed) and History was definitely on my mind, at least for one group.
Did Maier conceive her work in project terms? As A.D. Coleman (photo critic) has written, since Maier never “redacted” her work, he can not write about her. This I can understand. Further, is all the hoopla surrounding her and her work somewhat warranted?
Perhaps, Maier’s work, as you, Michael, suggest, is like that of other photographers who never publish their work.
The messages she received found a big audience. While other photographers who don’t publish still have have their viewers
Is it intrinsic to Photography that the camera receives what we don’t actually see. This idea seems to be quite important in Kaja Silverman’s The Miracle of Analogy: Or The History of Photography Vol. 1, in which she elucidates what many 19th Century photographers thought: That through the new medium the World disclosed its messages (surprises?)
I know in my own work what I find most interesting is what I never saw. And since I made one group with an eye to posterity, I don’t want to go completely un-redacted.
Paul,
Thanks for your thoughtful response. I think everyone needs to do what works for them and provides meaning. The key is the work itself. I just spent an afternoon in my darkroom making prints that I like a lot and had a great time making. They mean a lot to me. Eventually they may show up in my gallery or be part of a project I’m working on but it really doesn’t matter to me.
Best,
Michael
Oh, and just to sort of justify the text above. For me the way to get some essential ideas, quotes, etc, together to keep going with photography by teaching it. Sticking perhaps to some traditional aesthetics in straight photography but not being bound by those. Although for me the documentary seems pretty strong and I am thinking of some young photographers who’ve carried this on well.
Paul,
I know how dedicated you are to teaching and hope your plans come to fruition!
Best,
Michael