Meeting the Masters at the
6th Annual Lucie Awards, part I Through its track record in presenting a world-class event, and the ability to form wide-ranging international collaborations, the Lucie Awards have become an eagerly-anticipated New York City attraction. In fact, visitors are planning their schedules around their activities, this year evidenced by a week-long photography workshop out of Portland, Oregon. Like the Lucies, “Escape to New York,” led by Guy Swanson and well-known photographer Cherie Hiser, founder of the legendary Center of the Eye in Aspen, is setting out to become an annual event. Whether we look to organizations, or a successful book, or lifetime achievement in photography, the core of a vital undertaking is ultimately the individual. The Lucies allows the public access to meet, and hear, the person behind the work. For the press, the intimacy afforded by in-person interviews is even greater. In a brief yet intense few minutes together, experiences are shared, truths are spoken, values and ideals are revealed, and emotions surface. Sometimes palpably. Hank Willis Thomas, in his artist’s talk, said, “Change doesn’t happen through government. It happens through people. It’s important for photographers to understand we can’t do it all – to help expose other work is a very gracious, giving thing to do.” And in the same session, Sara Terry said, with great passion, “What we cast light on is what grows.” Terry has established a non-profit organization to help those involved in projects that focus on the aftermath of war. The Lucies deserve our thanks for casting light widely on good works and for helping to expose them to a broader audience. Here are selected takes from my one-on-one time with three remarkable Lucie honorees, from three different generations and three distinctive backgrounds and personal and professional paths: Leonard Herman (Achievement in Portraiture); John Iacono (Achievement in Sports) and Erwin Olaf (Achievement in Advertising). Background on each of them, their work, and the Lucies is available at www.Lucieawards2008.com or www.photoawards.com. More on these three masters of photography will follow in the next issue of Red Dog Journal. Stay Tuned. Herman Leonard, Achievement in Portraiture. Born 1923, Allentown, Pa. Leonard is most well-known for his portraits of the New York City jazz world. He calls his life a “convoluted” one, charted “by circumstance, not design.”
“Now that I have enough years to look back, I’m amazed that everything happened to me by
circumstance, not by design. First in New York City, I started I started photographing young actresses and actors for their portfolios. One girl said you should take your pictures and go up to the Plaza Hotel and ask for Marlon Brando. He’s looking for a photographer to go the Far East with him. This was prior to his shooting Teahouse of the August Moon. I took some portraits with me – one of Lena Horne and a bunch of other jazz portraits. Based on just that he said you’re hired. That was Wednesday. We left Friday. That was a life-changing experience for me, to be able to travel with him like that. Brando was intensely interested in other cultures. Because of that experience I got the wanderlust and I continued to travel around the world. One thing follows another you see.” John Iacono, Achievement in Sports. Born 1941, NYC. Of Italian/Irish descent, John Iacono is a happy product of the Lower East Side. That’s where he learned photography, at the Henry Street Settlement, starting at the age of thirteen, along with other boys who would also grow up to have distinguished careers. Among them was Neil Leifer, 2006 Lucie Honoree for Achievement in Sports. Iacono is a good-hearted natural storyteller. One after another. As for the photographs, they’re pretty much all eye-popping captures of the height of achievement. Be prepared for the heart-stoppers.
Erwin Olaf, Achievement in Advertising. Born 1959, the Netherlands.
When he speaks of his work, Olaf acknowledges that in the age of Photoshop, the role of the photographer has changed, in his case, to that of director. He works with a regular crew including a set designer and hair, makeup, and post-production staff. But no matter how elaborate or complex or fantastical his creations may be, informing them all are Olaf’s values and outlook. Though he swims in the world of advertising, his heart is rooted in a community spirit. “The world is changing and we have to be aware. I’m not living in a bubble. Some tell me that I choose to shoot the unusual types, the abnormal people. Well no, the freaks are the beautiful people. Though on the streets you may see a beautiful person only every quarter hour or less, in the advertising world, you see them all the time. But the world is a cross section — you have short boys, mentally disabled, elderly women, and old women. I can integrate a little of that real mixture in my work and turn around who the hero is, show a mixture of society. You can push your casting — ask, for example, ‘Can we choose a firmer body instead of a very thin one?“ Coming next: A closer look at the images of each of these masters. ©2008, Mary Ann Lynch.
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© Red Dog Journal, 2008 |