Alexandra Silverthorne - An Interview with a D.C. Photographer

"Ivy City #8 (ice cream)" by Alexandra Silverthorne
"Dupont Circle #5 (girl in fountain)" by Alexandra Silverthorne
Fletcher's Boat House #7 (fishing)" by Alexandra Silverthorne
"Barry Farm #1 (football)" by Alexandra Silverthorne

---

Alexandra Silverthorne - An Interview with a D.C. Photographer

Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to visit with Alexandra Silverthorne during the close of her show, WDC: 8" x 10". Alexandra's compelling imagery pushes the envelope on the definition of documentary/fine art photography.

In addition to being a photographer, Alexandra also edits and publishes the terrific art blog, Solerize This.

I'm pleased to present the following interview with Alexandra on Black Cat Bone.

---

Your show last year at the Warehouse Theatre & Gallery explored the random imagery of life that can be found on any day in the public parks scattered throughout the eight wards of Washington, D.C. What is the background on how this project came together?

I’m from D.C. and knew that I wanted to focus on the communities of D.C. While I was designing the project I was also in the midst of applying for a grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities. The whole grant process really forced me to specifically focus the project. It was during this time that I chose parks. I was attracted to them primarily because of how accessible the parks are- they are open to all and rooted directly in communities. I wanted to give equal representation to all of D.C., so choosing one park in each ward served as a good structure.

Your photographs in the show seemed firmly tied to the classic elements of street photography. But what really impressed me with your work was how you were able to escape many of the so-called "traps" of street photography – one being the need to “represent” a vision or a preferred sensitive stereotype of people who are obviously from a different race, culture or background than that of the photographer. You photographs are immediate, real and without condescension or pretensions. How did you, or did you in fact, have to make adjustments to your “normal” photographic style to capture these images? And I guess that begs the question: what is your normal photographic “style” with respect to shooting this type of project?

It’s hard to compare this project to anything else I’ve done. This is by far my largest body of work for one project. Some of the street photography that I’ve done before has been shot from the waist- so I don’t directly see what is in my viewfinder. It’s a frustrating technique, because you shot a lot of film and end up with only a few images that work. But when you find one that works, it usually works really well. But that’s not my normal style.

Much of my street photography has been shot with a 70-210 mm lens, allowing me to have distance but get close up when need be. Using a Holga for this project, I had a fixed lens, so I had to get close up. This was definitely an adjustment from my normal style. I haven’t shot enough since the project has finished to know whether or not I’ll continue shooting with a fixed lens or go back to my usual lens. I initially learned with a 50 mm lens and then later a 200mm. Overall, I think learning on a fixed lens is priceless, but then moving on to the flexibility of a zoom lens is wonderful.

As we discussed in person when I visited your show, I’ve long been fascinated by the “beautiful accidents” that can occur with a photographic project like WDC: 8” x 10” – the idea that an unexpected discovery in the process of shooting the project can lay claim to a whole new direction. What were the “beautiful accidents” that occurred during the project? How did they impact your vision? What did you see that you least expected to see?

The most important “beautiful accident” was when I was walking through Dupont Circle before I really started the project. I had recently seen a photograph online by local photographer Robert Walton (www.teamwetdog.com). He had shot a photograph of a reflection in a puddle. It had rained earlier that day and as I was walking through the circle, I couldn’t help but notice the reflections in the rainwater. The only camera I had with me was a Holga (a plastic toy camera that uses medium format film) and shot a few frames. While I ended up not using any of the photographs from that day, I was sold on using the Holga. I had shot a few rolls on it before in Boston, but overall my experience with the Holga was pretty limited.

I didn’t want to use expensive equipment for the project- I wanted to use a camera that was more affordable- something that was affordable to most people. The other attraction to the Holga was the size of the negatives. The height/width ratio let me print practically full frame on 8x10 inch paper.

We also had a chance to talk about similar photographic projects I’ve engaged in as a photographer in New Orleans. As I mentioned to you, I’ve shot many projects in the poorer areas of the city that are predominately African-American and way off the beaten tourist path of the French Quarter. As a white male photographer shooting in such neighborhoods, I was always conscious of the fact that I stood out, that I wasn’t really part of the neighborhood, that I was a visitor. As a street photographer who embraces as much as possible the concept of “el hombre invisible” (being as invisible as possible to the surroundings and environment) standing out becomes problematic – it forces attention to the photographer and raises awareness of the fact that the “outsider” photographer is taking photographs. I’m wondering if you can share your thoughts, as a white female photographer, about this subject? How aware were you as a photographer that you “stood out” in some of the parks? How did you adjust to this reality? How did your subjects react to your presence?

This is something I was pretty much always aware of. Some of the parks were places where I had spent a good amount of time during either my childhood or my young adulthood. I felt very comfortable and at home there. Others, I had never been to. I tried to get involved as much as possible. I had conversations with both kids and adults. I wanted to hear what they had to say about the neighborhood and communities and let their thoughts influence how I saw. The truth of the matter is that I “stand out” in a lot of places in this city. Only time outside of the places where you don’t stand out will help you adjust to that. As for how subjects reacted to my presence, I got mixed reactions. I think that was especially true since I almost always had a camera in my hand. For the most part, the more involved in the activities I got, the more positive the reactions. I earned some trust.

What kind of equipment do you use for this project? What brand of film do you use and how many rolls did you shoot for the project? And what was your printing process?

I shot completely on the Holga and used Agfa APX400 speed 120 film. I shot about 50-60 rolls of films. I printed the photographs myself in my darkroom. Since the series was 64 photographs and I like to print entire editions at once, I decided to print an edition of 1, plus one Artist Proof.

I know you love to shoot in black and white, but are very comfortable with color? Why did you choose black and white for this specific project?

I’m not uncomfortable with color, but my experience with it is definitely limited. I don’t have the space or the resources to print my own color photographs and being in the darkroom is very important to me. I actually prefer black and white. I love deep blacks and the all the shades between it and white. I find black and white focuses you more on composition and idea. Gordon Parks is one photographer whose color work I’ve really admired- but still, for me, it doesn’t come near to his black and white photographs. I think if I ever work seriously in color, the better question would be “Why did you choose color for this specific project?”

I’m very curious about your editorial process for selecting the images that appeared in the show. Can you share with me some of the choices you faced and how you resolved them?

I shot in large chunks before developing the film. Sometimes, I would have as many as ten rolls waiting to be developed. So when I started printing, I had a good sense of what I had already. One of the toughest choices was to change parks for one ward very late in the game. I wasn’t satisfied with the park I had chosen and although I had 8 photographs that I could show from it, they just didn’t do much for me. I switched to another park and found the photos I was looking for almost immediately. As for choosing the actual photographs for each park, that pretty much came together nicely on its own. After multiple visits to the parks, I had certain images already stuck in my mind. I knew I wanted to print those negatives. Others I discovered while reviewing contact sheets. I also looked for common themes throughout the parks- what did something look like in one park versus another?

Who are your influences? And, of course, photographers have long had a reputation of being very hard on other photographers, so I have to ask you this hard-ball question: what famous photographer do you believe is highly over-rated?! I’ll go out on a limb and say Diane Arbus – mainly because I’ve always been more interested in the photographs that bracket her famous images. The images from her contact sheet for Boy With a Grenade are far more compelling to me than the celebrated image. I see a lot of compelling dissolution of truth in those images that are missing from her more famous imagery. What famous photographer do you refuse to bow down to?

I already mentioned Gordon Parks. In 1998, I saw his work on exhibit at the Corcoran. It just blew me away. I graduated from high school in 1998 and while I had started taking photography classes in 1994, my work was still so immature- I hadn’t quite realized the power of the camera yet.

Ken Light edited a book on social documentary photography titled “Witness in Our Time.” Each essay is by a social documentary photographer and each one has influenced me. Another book that greatly influenced me is “On Call” by June Jordan. While she doesn’t speak on photography, there is so much in there. Likewise, there are many musicians whose lyrics provide strong influence for my work.

As for the actual work of photographers, Harry Callahan is also definitely up there. I first got to know his work in high school when we did the “In the Style of…” project, where you do a series of photographs in the style of an artist. I walked all around my high school campus in suburban Massachusetts looking for the urban feel that Callahan documents so well. I didn’t have much luck, but still fell in love with his work.

In terms of Arbus, I’ve always felt like there was a certain amount of exploitation going on in her work. It wasn’t that she was interested in showing the humanity in her subjects, but rather the oddness of them. At least that was my take. About a year ago, I saw an exhibit of hers with a lot of contact sheets in Portland, Maine. To be honest, I think the contact sheets as a whole were the most interesting. I wasn’t too disappointed about not being able to see the show at the Met last spring, but “Street Credibility” which was out in LA looked really interesting. It included a chunk of her work plus the work of those who came before her and inspired her and those that were later inspired by her.

But to answer your question, what famous photographer do I believe to be highly over-rated…I might have to go with Annie Leibovitz. I always feel like her photographs are just skin deep. I think there could be a lot more to them, but it is important to remember that she is a part of the fashion photography industry. Of course, the great exception to this is her Polaroid of John & Yoko. Still, take someone like Yosuf Karsh- he wasn’t in fashion photographer per say, but his photographs of celebrities are remarkable.

I know you’re a D.C. resident. D.C., like my hometown of New Orleans, frequently seems as though it’s drowning in the excesses of tourist landmark influenced photography. I serve on the board of a local visual arts organization and see more local photographers producing tourist type photos of D.C. than I would have ever imagined possible. What interests you most about the unexplored photographic potential of this city?

Frankly, I’d be curious as to how many of the people who shoot the tourist type photos of D.C. actually live in DC and then I would also be curious as to how many are from D.C. or even the area. I was born in D.C. and lived in the city proper until I was 15 and went to boarding school, but my family was still here. When I graduated from college, I moved back right away. I was lucky enough to go to a fairly progressive school when I was younger where we learned that there was far more to D.C. than the government buildings and the mall. When I went away for high school, I realized that too many people thought that there was nothing else to D.C.. I had too many conversations there that went something like this:

Them: Where are you from?
Me: Washington, DC
Them: So you mean, like, Bethesda or Chevy Chase?
Me: No, DC
Them: Not Maryland…or Virginia?
Me: No, the actual city of Washington
Them: (pause) So, your parents work in Congress?
Me: No.
Them: But they work in the government right?
Me: No. My dad’s a filmmaker and my mom’s an anthropologist.
Them: So why do you live in DC?
Me: Because they like living there.
Them: Aren’t you worried about being shot?

To be all honest, I love this city too much to shortchange it by shooting just the monuments and tourist attractions. If that’s all the respect I could show both the city and the people of D.C. then I might as well move way out to the suburbs.

In all seriousness, D.C.’s a tough city. There’s a lot of injustice going on here, along with an insane lack of democracy. The voice of D.C. is hardly ever heard. I live in a city with about 575,000 other disenfranchised residents and not enough is happening. The people who truly love and work for the city work long, underpaid hours. If I have the opportunity to help give voice to the city, then I’m a fool for not taking advantage of it.

Alexandra, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts just called and has offered you a $1 million dollar grant to shoot any photographic project you want? What would it be and why?

I’ve thought about this and I can’t give you one straight answer- at least not now. I would love to give D.C. the credibility it deserves by doing a million dollar project on it. At the same time, I’m jonesing to get back to Belfast. I was there in 2001 studying The Conflict during a semester abroad for school. I would like to continue learning more there and then take it as a stepping stone to studying other conflicts. What is going on during a conflict? What happens after a conflict is “resolved” and more importantly, is it ever truly resolved? These questions, of course, apply to conflicts all over the world. Look at D.C.- has the city ever fully closed the door on the riots of the late 60s? If so, why is the city still so divided? If not, why not?