A Few of the Legends
Yesterday I went to see Peter Adam’s exhibition ‘A Few of the Legends’ at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre. It’s on until the 17th of January. Quiet a short run for such a special exhibition.
Peter tells me he wants the works to confront you. To challenge you. The quotes by each of the photographers pull many punches. Sometimes taking over from the photographs. He asked me which was my favourite photograph and I couldn’t answer. I went back and looked again and I still couldn’t answer him. I think the show deserves a second look. Perhaps I still won’t be able to answer him.
Perhaps I could find my favourite quote?
Unfortunately Covid messed up his plans of launching the book and exhibition together. The exhibition is really an enticement to his book. It’s a small selection of a much greater body of work that has taken most of his life to create.
Yesterday we talked for hours. It was lovely. We covered so much ground together. So many of the things are worth sharing with you. But for the moment I’ll just take one.
Peter said that going to a shoot with a preconceived idea or image didn’t work for him. That showing up and being present bought the best work.
Now, just isn’t that the truth. It may not be for you but unequivocally it is true for me. I just need to show up and be present and better work flows than when I have a preconceived idea of what I want to do. Simple. Let go. Relax and let the photograph come to you. It’s all about acceptance.
Peter lent forward at one moment about to tell me about how he’d love to or how he’d approach photographing me again. Then stopped himself. He knew he’d done exactly this with my portrait for this book. He’d preconceived it and ultimately he was disappointed in it with himself. There was that moment, I could see it in his eyes, of wanting to photograph me again. Or at least tell me.
I made a special effort to remind him, that despite that, it was still the best portrait anyone’s ever taken of me. I find myself engaging with myself on such an intense level that other photographs of me doesn’t capture. I can remember the moment he got this photograph. I wasn’t relaxing, so he had me think about someone or something I loved. I couldn’t at first and he kept shooting and it wasn’t right. I closed my eyes and really did stop and bring someone into my mind that I loved. Opened my eyes and click, Peter caught that very moment. He knew too and our session stopped.
The preconceived idea involved my students standing around in the background photographing the nude model. The photograph above has them cropped out. I hope they aren’t disappointed as they were great willing props in the shoot.
Years later he still feels it isn’t right.
I feel for him. And know what it’s like to feel dissatisfied with something I have created, despite others loving it. Actually I deal with this all the time and way too often.
It’s a good lesson for me today as I am about to wander into the Katoomba mist to photograph. Let go of preconceived ideas and be present.
I’d love to be photographed by him again, perhaps I should offer? I have been thinking to ask him as part of a documentary to accompany my planned interview with him. So many ideas.
Peter has to raise some money to get this book printed. So he’s preselling it cheaper for the duration of this exhibition. A surprisingly large discount too I might add. So I ask you to consider buying this amazing work of art. You will find your favourite photographers in there, four pages of words from his interviews with each one is a stunning lesson in photography. I can’t wait to read Peter Dombrovskis’s one. OMG.
There are around 300 photographers in the book. From throughout the world, the list reads like a who’s who of photography.
The day Peter asked me I was over the moon to be included. To be with with so many photography legends is a dream come true.
I have already bought my copy.
Peter is selling off his print collection to fund the book too. So you may be interested in buying one of the original prints from the worlds best photographers that he collected whilst working on this colossal project.
Len, photograph copyright © Peter Adams
Text copyright © Len Metcalf 2020