I Own a Camera AND I'm a Photographer, Damn It.
Interview by David Ondrik with David Bram
David Bram’s portfolio at Flash Flood
David Bram began his photography career in high school by “borrowing” his father’s Canon AE-1 camera while dad was at work. Eventually he moved to Albuquerque and studied with Jim Stone and John Mann. Over the next few years he bounced back and forth between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, finally settling in the Duke City in 2006. A few years later he co-founded some photography magazine. Okay, it’s Fraction and it’s spectacular.
For Issue Two of Flash Flood, Mr. Bram selected a body of work titled “The Place in Which I Live.” We sat down the other day to discuss photography and this portfolio.
Why photograph?
I can’t draw or paint. My singing is quite good, but my creative outlet is photography. I like the mechanics of the camera, the idea of what it does. Although it can be taken as a cliché, and I don’t think it is, I want to capture a moment in time, a moment of history.
So you’re interested in the documentary aspect of photography?
A little. In general I don’t see the portraits I take as a document. I guess they could be considered a document of a specific moment in that person’s life, but I’m not especially driven by the desire to document.
What draws you to shooting film?
I like the tangible qualities and the variety of processes that are available when you’ve got a film negative. I make silver prints, but I could make albumen, platinum; really anything now considered an alternative process. You also have to slow down with film. It’s not practical to shoot 40 frames trying to get 1 acceptable photo. Because I have limited shots per roll, I have to spend some time really looking around, composing my shot. It’s about the quality and the experience of making a picture rather than quantity. I also really like the chemical processes and love working in my darkroom. The darkroom is one place I can go, turn up the stereo, and relax in my own space. I don’t want to knock digital photography, it’s just a different way of making photos but I prefer the silver-chemical way. I can buy a 1955 Hasselblad and it’ll shoot film perfectly. If I really want, I can get a digital back for it. I doubt I’ll ever be able to do anything with a 54-year-old digital camera.
Is this also what draws you to shoot black & white?
First and foremost most of the color papers are gone. Aside from that, having a home color darkroom is difficult and toxic. Even if I didn’t have a baby, I wouldn’t want to be around that stuff. Ignoring the technical aspects, I think the old wisdom is that when you shoot in B&W your photo is more about the content and subject rather than the color of the subject.
If Steve McCurry’s “Afghan Girl” had brown eyes would anybody would care?
Exactly. Shooting in black & white can avoid the seductiveness of color. I think that black & white portraits are more about the person, rather whan what they’re wearing, what color their hair, eyes, etc. are. There is a power to monochrome that is, when printed right (Emmet Gowin, Edward Weston) is so beautiful. There’s something about the silver in the paper that is uniquely beautiful.
A lot of people talk about the ease of digital photography. Does photography have to be difficult to be good?
It doesn’t have to be difficult. Just because the history of photography is based on scientific processes and paper and light and various chemicals doesn’t mean that things can’t change, but it doesn’t mean that it has to. The problem is when people look at it as an either-or thing. It shouldn’t be a question of film OR digital, it should be film AND digital. Either is fine.
Alec Soth recently talked about users having uploaded over 2 billion photographs to Flickr. My recollection is that he now questions the value of his own photography, since, with a pool of 2 billion images, there’s got to be a photo of anything that’s better than what he can do. What do you think of that idea?
I agree and disagree that there’s got to be something better there. I don’t think anyone on Flickr has a better photograph of my daughter, for instance. There’s a saying that I heard somewhere that I think relates to people’s mindset about photography: “If you own a piano, you own a piano. If you own a camera you’re a photographer.” Cellphones, keychain holders; everything is now being captured one way or another. Whether it’s street corner security cameras, or a group of tourists, it’s just the way it goes. There is some tremendous work on Flickr. On the other end there is a lot of really awful work. How many photos of cats/kittens does the world need?
In a world that’s gotten used to not printing out their photos (cameras full of images, hard drives, even digital LCD frames for showing your electronic images), is there any value left in a physical print?
I sure as fuck hope so. Having a show, the idea is that you’re trying to sell work. Being a film photographer who doesn’t do editorial or commercial work, you hope that someone still wants to hang your photo on the wall. Determining the value of the photo is a whole other struggle for someone hoping to make some money off it.
Any thoughts on that?
On finding the value? First you’ve got to love it. When I buy work, which is a couple times a year, I try to not to have a budget (within reason); I want to buy something that moves me. Something I have to have. Usually it’s an image that makes me say “I wish I’d made that.” Finding an artist who’s starting, helping one get off the ground is always a plus. I also like to support local artists as much as possible.
What are you trying to tell us about Albuquerque with “The Place in Which I Live.”
It’s based in this quirky place called Albuquerque (Albuquirky), showing some of the oddities of it. There’s sarcasm & humor often found here. These aren’t Route 66 or cactus photos; it’s how people live and work within the city. At the start I was wondering, do I want to do extremely macro work just inside my house or do I want to go as big as the state? I live in such a unique place. A lot of people don’t understand what it’s about (not that I’m trying to explain that). There are street level photos of situations that I encounter almost on a daily basis. For instance, there’s a photo of the swordfish above a would-be seafood restaurant, which is obviously in the middle of the desert, quite a distance from the nearest ocean. I think that Albuquerque is such a unique place with a sly sense of humor. Have you been inside the Frontier? You certainly have to have a sense of humor to live here.