{"id":2187,"date":"2010-11-12T17:52:17","date_gmt":"2010-11-13T01:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/?p=2187"},"modified":"2012-11-20T14:22:28","modified_gmt":"2012-11-20T22:22:28","slug":"not-so-black-and-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/12\/not-so-black-and-white-2187\/","title":{"rendered":"Not So Black and White"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on November 12, 2010 in The Island. Michele Ellson, editor. Reprinted with an additional image.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Collectors of photography know they want an Ansel Adams, Cartier-Bresson, or an Arbus. They might not know yet that they want a Watten. That\u2019s where B&W: Black & White Magazine for Collectors of Fine Photography<\/em> comes in. The December 2010 issue includes a six-page spread featuring Alameda photographer Jan Watten, who will be speaking about this piece at Books, Inc. on Saturday, November 13.<\/p>\n

Watten and I are friends and colleagues, having exhibited together at three different venues, and I bought one of her photos at Autobody Fine Art\u2019s \u201cBeautiful Dreamers\u201d exhibit earlier this year. We sat down to talk about the article and upcoming event.<\/p>\n

You know I\u2019m a fan of your work, and I\u2019m not at all surprised to see you in there, but how did you end up being profiled in Black & White Magazine?<\/strong><\/div>\n
\"\"

"Emelie" (2009)<\/p><\/div>\n

I invited the editor to Open Studios and he came last December and we had a great conversation. And that was that. And then in late July or early August I got an e-mail from the writer, David Best, a really nice guy. He wrote, \u201cI\u2019ve been assigned to interview you. Are you free this week?\u201d I was actually really shocked.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been doing photography for a really long time, and sometimes you\u2019re like in this void and you do it and you do it and you work, and you plug away at it and suddenly when something comes of it, it\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s also scary.<\/p>\n

Usually Books, Inc. has authors talk about their books. I think it\u2019s unique that they\u2019re inviting someone who was profiled in a magazine to come and speak about that experience. How did that happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We love Books, Inc. We like going to the smaller stores, and supporting them, the dying bookstores. I started talking with Jerry (Thompson), who I didn\u2019t know was the event manager or planner, and I asked, \u201cDo you carry Black & White Magazine? I\u2019m in the next issue. I\u2019m just a little thrilled about it.\u201d And he said, \u201cYou\u2019re kidding! Oh my God, we\u2019ve got to do something!\u201d His enthusiasm just made me feel great. I was kind of shocked because they just do book events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many times I\u2019ve compared you to Sally Mann, not only for your portraits of children but your landscapes as well. Now you\u2019re working on a new series, \u201cThirteen.\u201d Were you specifically inspired by Sally Mann\u2019s \u201cAt Twelve: Portraits of Young Women\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

To be honest with you, I\u2019m not that familiar with the series. I\u2019ve seen some of the images. This work came from photographing my stepsons over time when they were around 13. It\u2019s not exactly 13. \u201cThirteen\u201d really means that experience, what happens around that time. The changes. I find it just fascinating. And I\u2019ve been photographing Emilie (Watten\u2019s daughter) since she was young, and her friends. They\u2019re all 12 and 13 so I\u2019ve been starting to photograph them now for this series.<\/p>\n

But I respect Sally Mann. I respect her work. And I know that a lot of people have issues with her work. I\u2019m not interested in being voyeuristic. Some of the kids don\u2019t have tops on and things like that. But it\u2019s more about capturing that innocence and their young bodies and that\u2019s what I\u2019m more interested in. And the voyeuristic aspect is not what it\u2019s about. It really isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re fond of the plastic \u201ctoy\u201d cameras. Was most of your work shot with a Holga?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"

"Torso" (2005)<\/p><\/div>\n

No, all of my photos in the magazine were photographed with a Hasselblad. Sharpness is key. I\u2019m really interested in capturing the really sharp detail. Like in the one of the boy with the pants [\u201cTorso\u201d (2005)], you\u2019re able to see every little thread in the boxers. Where everything falls and what\u2019s showing is so important. He pulls his pants down a little bit and I love the fact that you can see the indentation on his stomach. And you would never get that in a Holga. So for this \u201cThirteen\u201d series I photographed them all with my Hasselblad.<\/p>\n

I use my plastic camera and I love my plastic camera, but even though I use this alternative kind of camera, I am a formalist. I use black-and-white film, I print in the darkroom, I like my prints a certain way, and it\u2019s how I see. I\u2019m not really into digital manipulation or scratching on negatives or all the various things. And those are all fine things but I guess I\u2019m just pure in the way I photograph, and that\u2019s the way it is.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re also a formalist in that, as you said in the article, you don\u2019t want to provide the narratives behind the photos. You want the art to be completely contained in the work. Are you ever tempted to break your own rule when there\u2019s a particularly interesting story?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am tempted when there\u2019s a really interesting story. In my \u201cAspects of Identity\u201d diptychs, many of them have really interesting stories. I\u2019ve really gone back and forth between, do I write a little narrative, or have the person write a narrative, or do I just let the viewer interpret it? And I think that the interesting part is letting the viewer look at it and say, \u201cGee, it looks like that guy is holding Edvard Munch\u2019s \u2018The Scream.\u2019\u201d But there are some really cool stories behind the rat, or the skull, or the paintbrush, or the chair. I don\u2019t mind sharing them, but I think when people are viewing them, let them look at it and decide.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"

"Carol II" (1991)<\/p><\/div>\n

You mentioned working with the Hasselblad versus working with the Holga. Lately you\u2019ve been shooting a lot with your iPhone.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

(Laughs) Yes.<\/p>\n

I teased you once about \u201cphoning in your work\u201d for a show. Is it just fun, or do you see a role for mobile phone cameras in Fine Art photography?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I see a role in using a mobile phone for art. There are a lot of people doing \u201ciPhoneography.\u201d I think it\u2019s a completely interesting medium. It\u2019s very immediate, and I\u2019ve been in a couple of shows where I literally, from my phone, sent (the image) to the show. I compose, I take a lot of time, but it\u2019s very playful. And it\u2019s where I can play with color. I find it really creative. I like the very low-techness of it.<\/p>\n

The low-techness of the iPhone?<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Laughs) The low-techness of the very sophisticated iPhone. It\u2019s kind of ironic. But it\u2019s lo-fi photography.<\/p>\n

With the range of equipment you use, what do you feel is your relationship to your equipment, and the relationship between the equipment and your Art? As an artist with a vision, how do you find yourself using all these different technologies?<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the Hasselblad it\u2019s very controlled. Typically I shoot in my studio, and I have strobes, and it\u2019s very professional, and so I have a lot of control over it. And I like shooting with that camera. It gives really great results. I capture things in great detail, and I enjoy that process.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m shooting with my Holga it\u2019s a very, very different way of shooting. I almost equate it to Zen photography, because you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re going to get until you get your film back from the developer. I love the fact that it\u2019s chance. When I\u2019m out shooting nature, it almost becomes a sort of meditative thing for me.<\/p>\n

The iPhone photography is just pure fun. Recently I downloaded all of my images and it was like 2,000 images. And some of it is nothing I would do anything with, but some of the images are really quite interesting.<\/p>\n

So they are three different ways of shooting, and three different ways of responding to photography. And each one I enjoy in a different way.<\/p>\n

Books, Inc. is located at 1344 Park Street. The event begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, November 13. Jan Watten\u2019s website is http:\/\/www.JanWatten.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Michael Singman-Aste
\nPostdiluvian Photo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on November 12, 2010 in The Island. Michele Ellson, editor. Reprinted with an additional image. Collectors of photography know they want an Ansel Adams, Cartier-Bresson, or an Arbus. They might not know yet that they want a Watten. That\u2019s where B&W: Black & White Magazine for Collectors of Fine Photography comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23,6],"tags":[73,27,63,72],"class_list":["post-2187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artists","category-events","tag-alameda","tag-jan-watten","tag-jingletown","tag-the-island"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pPxQO-zh","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2187"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3880,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187\/revisions\/3880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}