BEAUTY issue
aRUDE comment
ONLINE content
ARBITERS
Questions for Stephen Knoll
A Girl's Best Friend
BON APPÉTIT
Questions for Nobu Matsuhisa
Questions for Tony Esnault
the new Le Cirque interview Iké Udé
BUSINESS OFF THE WALL
Questions for Nicholas Callaway
Questions for John Hunt
FASHION
Chinatown photography Norman Watson
Passions of Rihanna photography Iké Udé
KULTURE & ART CINEMA
Dominique Swain Lolita Has A Tattoo interview Brandon Judell
Jared Leto My Bashed-up Life On Screen interview Brandon Judell
Zoe Saldana No Regrets interview Brandon Judell
KULTURE & ART PHOTOGRAPHY
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders portraits backstage at Olympus Fashion Week interview Valerie Steele
Francesco Clemente Impermanence of The Self interview Johan Falkman
Roger Szmulewicz Looking at Pictures interview Parker Stephenson
aRUDE comment
beauty_issue_tgreenfield.php
ONLINE content
ARBITERS
Questions for Stephen Knoll
A Girl's Best Friend
BON APPÉTIT
Questions for Nobu Matsuhisa
Questions for Tony Esnault
the new Le Cirque interview Iké Udé
BUSINESS OFF THE WALL
Questions for Nicholas Callaway
Questions for John Hunt
FASHION
Chinatown photography Norman Watson
Passions of Rihanna photography Iké Udé
KULTURE & ART CINEMA
Dominique Swain Lolita Has A Tattoo interview Brandon Judell
Jared Leto My Bashed-up Life On Screen interview Brandon Judell
Zoe Saldana No Regrets interview Brandon Judell
KULTURE & ART PHOTOGRAPHY
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders portraits backstage at Olympus Fashion Week interview Valerie Steele
Francesco Clemente Impermanence of The Self interview Johan Falkman
Roger Szmulewicz Looking at Pictures interview Parker Stephenson
TIMOTHY GREENFIELD-SANDERS
portraits backstage at olympus fashion week
interview Valerie Steele
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders self portrait click image to enlarge Valerie Steele: Are fashion people different as subjects than, say, art people, porn stars, or music celebrities?
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders: Fashion people are, of course, much more conscious in a photo of clothes. When I started out, I wasn't aware of what clothes meant to a picture. For me it was always about the face and the person. But clothes are integral, and as I started to work with stylists, I became very conscious of how clothes hang on the body or how badly someone dresses or how well he or she dresses. In this particular project, it was very easy, because most fashion people really do know how to dress; they came dressed to kill, dressed for the event. Yes, they are different in that sense.
VS: Hamish Bowles always looks very elegant, but I was particularly struck by the posture he took in his photograph, like an elegant crane. I wonder if you can talk about how you pose people, or how they pose themselves.
TMS: At first, I try to let people pose themselves. Subjects tend to gravitate towards a comfortable pose; for example, some tend to hold their arms a certain way that makes them feel at ease. I encourage that as much as possible. Hamish, he’s a pro. He really is a fashion model and subsequently very easy to shoot. But if one looks at Look, there are a lot of people, like Venus and Serena Williams for example, who are not professional posers but are still great in front of the camera.
VS: The Williams Sisters are very aware of their bodies, being athletes, so in that way they have physical poise.
TMS: Absolutely. I really enjoyed working with them. They are "model" tall, but really quite big girls. A number of people in the book were professionals, but I find that models tend to over pose. With fashion portraits, it's always a balance between making the image about the clothing and the person. I always push it towards the person and let the rest of it just happen.
VS: Zac Posen's portrait in Look is very stylized. I have never seen Zac do anything quite like that, but it was totally him.
TMS: I think Zac is a very glamorous and handsome guy. I immediately felt his portrait should have a bit of a Hollywood-star look to it. Zac has natural glamour, something he has in common with great actors actually. They all just have "it" and tend to be very aware of how to project "it". I can immediately sense this in people. I'm very open about discussing the best pose. The first thing I ask is "what's your best angle?" And that always sets the stage for a trusting photo shoot.
Betsy Johnson photography Timothy Greenfield-Sanders click image to enlarge VS: We have been talking about how your images express the subjects. But how would you say your images express you as a photographer? What's the unifying thread the ties together naked porn stars and Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Bush?
TMS: I've always enjoyed photographing creative people and driven people, be they politicians, movie stars, artists or, lately, porn stars. Most of my subjects are very accomplished people and I think that's what unifies my body of work. I have been shooting the fashion world for years, in an informal way. My series on designers is probably over 100 images at this point. Years ago I thought designers would be an interesting group to chronicle. This was also a first for me to work digitally, something I have never done before in a formal way. Of course, I have been shooting digital snapshots for fun for years now, but I'd never conceived of a fully digital portrait project. Olympus was really a godsend.
VS: Had you already shot some of the people in the Olympus book?
TMS: Every portrait in the book was taken at Olympus Fashion Week and is unique to this project. A number of the subjects are old friends, like Alec Baldwin, Diane von Furstenberg, Kenneth Cole and Betsey Johnson to name a few. It's always nice to see them again and the sessions were very comfortable because we know each other. But, others, like Lindsay Lohan, I had never met and of course like everyone else, I am a huge fan of "Mean Girls." But nowadays, everyone comes together for Olympus Fashion Week. It's a worldwide pop culture staple these days. Fashion shows are an astounding combination of Hollywood, Las Vegas and Broadway—15 minutes of over-the-top production values.
TMS: Julia Margaret Cameron, August Sander, Atget, Irving Penn, Avedon, Nadar and Andy Warhol.
VS: Do you think you have any of that cataloguing impulse that was typical of August Sander?
TMS: Certainly, but I am very much in line with Warhol in that sense. Warhol's early historic "Screen Test" series had a huge impact on me as a teenager. His grand undertakings made the idea of shooting a series of people in the same field seem important and worthwhile to me. When I started out as a photographer I quickly envisioned a long-term series on the art world. Starting in 1979, I photographed artists, art critics, art collectors, art curators, art dealers, etc., and by 1999 I had taken 700 portraits. This entire series, all 700 images, called "Art World" was exhibited at the Mary Boone Gallery in New York in 1999. Full sets of the work are owned by The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
VS: You started out as a film maker. Can you talk about how you came to photograph Alfred Hitchcock and Bettie Davis?
TMS: I got my Master's degree from the American Film Institute. At AFI, we'd watch every film by Hitchcock for 2 weeks and then Hitchcock would join us for a seminar, just 25 students and Hitchcock. AFI needed someone to photograph the visiting directors and stars and I put up my hand to do it. Hitchcock literally said to me "Why is your light there? It's in the wrong place." When I explained that I didn't know any better, he invited me to visit him at Universal and meet their lighting director. That's how I leaned. When I tried to photograph Bette Davis from a low angle, she yelled, "What the fuck are you doing shooting from below? Don't you know we never shoot from there?" And, I said "no, I didn't know that." She offered to teach me a few lighting tricks if I would drive her around town for a couple of days. Soon I became much interested in portraiture and after getting my degree, I dropped filmmaking entirely. Years later I picked it up again to make my film on Lou Reed for American Masters and on porn stars for HBO.
Oscar De La Renta photography Timothy Greenfield-Sanders click image to enlarge VS: Do you think there is anything in your work that is like the still photos that were taken in Hollywood to publicize films?
TMS: Not really. I think the hardest thing for any photographer is to create a look that is his or her own. My portraits are very identifiable as mine. They are direct, simply lit and against a plain backdrop with no gimmicks, no jazz, always very straightforward. And I've taken a hell of a lot of them by now, probably 5000. I have a simple style that's out there and quite clearly mine. Recently, with the XXX project, I worked with diptychs, clothed and nude, like Goya's legendary painting. But even these images are quite clearly mine in the sense that the subject is respected and the images are uncomplicated.
VS: I read that the first porn star you photographed asked when you were going to do the nude shot? I loved the way you came back and said let’s try to do it in the same pose.
TMS: I did that because I really didn't know how to pose someone nude. So I thought the same pose might be interesting. I majored in Art History at Columbia, so I was very familiar with Goya's nude and clothed Maya paintings. It wasn’t until the next day when I actually saw the film that I thought, "God, this is really interesting. "1+1 equals 3. It was much more complex.
VS: The porn stars are obviously so comfortable being naked, just like fashion people are comfortable with the clothes.
TMS: That's a very good analogy. I think I was very lucky with XXX series to shoot porn stars as my first nudes. I couldn't have picked a better group of people. They already knew how to pose. And, they were stars. The hardest part was getting them to NOT pose too much. I didn't want that pinup look.
VS: What was this tension of 1 +1 =3? You can see how showing themselves naked would be very revealing. But what are they showing when they are like an ordinary person in clothes?
TMS: Originally I thought it would be much more transgressive to shoot porn stars clothed. After all, we know what they look like naked. It would be more interesting to see them as people. But when I saw the diptych, it was so clearly the way to go, so much more complex, interesting and nuanced. How you present yourself as a porn star and who you are as a real person.
VS: I remember a girl in a big sweater and a big bulky jacket, completely body concealing.
TMS: Many porn stars wear a lot of clothes to cover themselves up because they can't really walk around as themselves. They are far too well-known, too seductive. I remember standing in front of my East Village studio one day with Heather Hunter after her portrait. Every guy walking by turned his head and immediately mouthed, "oh my God that's Heather Hunter." That's when I realized how truly famous these people are.
VS: Tell me about your transition to digital.
TMS: In 1978, in LA, I bought a giant 11x14 view camera. In those days hardly anyone shot large format. 35mm was in vogue. But I fell in love with it and that was that. I learned to shoot quickly and concentrate on the person using just a few sheets of film. And years later, with this digital series I used the same skills. I didn’t have a lot of time at the Olympus tents and I literally took half a dozen pictures of each person. It was with a small digital SLR camera this time, but I was able to make each shot count.
VS: I think that's probably one of the most unusual things about you from the point of view of someone on the other side of the camera.
TMS: I think it's boring and painful for a subject to pose for too long a time. I try to get the subject involved and the faster the shoot, the better. We both need to be in sync. With the Olympus digital camera one can show the image to the subject right away. That builds a very quick bond and a certain comfort level. I find that very important to do. Most of my time is spent making the subject feel confident about him or her self. That was unusually difficult at the tents as there was so much noise and hoopla.
VS: How did the book come about?
TMS: It all happened quite organically. I started to shoot the portraits hoping for the best. We ended up with such an amazing collection of photographs that eventually I, along with Olympus, felt we should produce a book. Whatever one might think of the fashion world, there simply is no denying that the people in it are extraordinary, talented, serious, obsessive, crazy, determined, rude, funny, complicated, phony, brilliant, stupid, ugly and of course, beautiful. What more could a photographer want?
portraits backstage at olympus fashion week
interview Valerie Steele
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders self portrait click image to enlarge Valerie Steele: Are fashion people different as subjects than, say, art people, porn stars, or music celebrities?
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders: Fashion people are, of course, much more conscious in a photo of clothes. When I started out, I wasn't aware of what clothes meant to a picture. For me it was always about the face and the person. But clothes are integral, and as I started to work with stylists, I became very conscious of how clothes hang on the body or how badly someone dresses or how well he or she dresses. In this particular project, it was very easy, because most fashion people really do know how to dress; they came dressed to kill, dressed for the event. Yes, they are different in that sense.
VS: Hamish Bowles always looks very elegant, but I was particularly struck by the posture he took in his photograph, like an elegant crane. I wonder if you can talk about how you pose people, or how they pose themselves.
TMS: At first, I try to let people pose themselves. Subjects tend to gravitate towards a comfortable pose; for example, some tend to hold their arms a certain way that makes them feel at ease. I encourage that as much as possible. Hamish, he’s a pro. He really is a fashion model and subsequently very easy to shoot. But if one looks at Look, there are a lot of people, like Venus and Serena Williams for example, who are not professional posers but are still great in front of the camera.
VS: The Williams Sisters are very aware of their bodies, being athletes, so in that way they have physical poise.
TMS: Absolutely. I really enjoyed working with them. They are "model" tall, but really quite big girls. A number of people in the book were professionals, but I find that models tend to over pose. With fashion portraits, it's always a balance between making the image about the clothing and the person. I always push it towards the person and let the rest of it just happen.
VS: Zac Posen's portrait in Look is very stylized. I have never seen Zac do anything quite like that, but it was totally him.
TMS: I think Zac is a very glamorous and handsome guy. I immediately felt his portrait should have a bit of a Hollywood-star look to it. Zac has natural glamour, something he has in common with great actors actually. They all just have "it" and tend to be very aware of how to project "it". I can immediately sense this in people. I'm very open about discussing the best pose. The first thing I ask is "what's your best angle?" And that always sets the stage for a trusting photo shoot.
Betsy Johnson photography Timothy Greenfield-Sanders click image to enlarge VS: We have been talking about how your images express the subjects. But how would you say your images express you as a photographer? What's the unifying thread the ties together naked porn stars and Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Bush?
TMS: I've always enjoyed photographing creative people and driven people, be they politicians, movie stars, artists or, lately, porn stars. Most of my subjects are very accomplished people and I think that's what unifies my body of work. I have been shooting the fashion world for years, in an informal way. My series on designers is probably over 100 images at this point. Years ago I thought designers would be an interesting group to chronicle. This was also a first for me to work digitally, something I have never done before in a formal way. Of course, I have been shooting digital snapshots for fun for years now, but I'd never conceived of a fully digital portrait project. Olympus was really a godsend.
VS: Had you already shot some of the people in the Olympus book?
TMS: Every portrait in the book was taken at Olympus Fashion Week and is unique to this project. A number of the subjects are old friends, like Alec Baldwin, Diane von Furstenberg, Kenneth Cole and Betsey Johnson to name a few. It's always nice to see them again and the sessions were very comfortable because we know each other. But, others, like Lindsay Lohan, I had never met and of course like everyone else, I am a huge fan of "Mean Girls." But nowadays, everyone comes together for Olympus Fashion Week. It's a worldwide pop culture staple these days. Fashion shows are an astounding combination of Hollywood, Las Vegas and Broadway—15 minutes of over-the-top production values.
With fashion portraits, it's always a balance between
making the image about the clothing and the person.
VS: What photographers have influenced you?TMS: Julia Margaret Cameron, August Sander, Atget, Irving Penn, Avedon, Nadar and Andy Warhol.
VS: Do you think you have any of that cataloguing impulse that was typical of August Sander?
TMS: Certainly, but I am very much in line with Warhol in that sense. Warhol's early historic "Screen Test" series had a huge impact on me as a teenager. His grand undertakings made the idea of shooting a series of people in the same field seem important and worthwhile to me. When I started out as a photographer I quickly envisioned a long-term series on the art world. Starting in 1979, I photographed artists, art critics, art collectors, art curators, art dealers, etc., and by 1999 I had taken 700 portraits. This entire series, all 700 images, called "Art World" was exhibited at the Mary Boone Gallery in New York in 1999. Full sets of the work are owned by The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
VS: You started out as a film maker. Can you talk about how you came to photograph Alfred Hitchcock and Bettie Davis?
TMS: I got my Master's degree from the American Film Institute. At AFI, we'd watch every film by Hitchcock for 2 weeks and then Hitchcock would join us for a seminar, just 25 students and Hitchcock. AFI needed someone to photograph the visiting directors and stars and I put up my hand to do it. Hitchcock literally said to me "Why is your light there? It's in the wrong place." When I explained that I didn't know any better, he invited me to visit him at Universal and meet their lighting director. That's how I leaned. When I tried to photograph Bette Davis from a low angle, she yelled, "What the fuck are you doing shooting from below? Don't you know we never shoot from there?" And, I said "no, I didn't know that." She offered to teach me a few lighting tricks if I would drive her around town for a couple of days. Soon I became much interested in portraiture and after getting my degree, I dropped filmmaking entirely. Years later I picked it up again to make my film on Lou Reed for American Masters and on porn stars for HBO.
Oscar De La Renta photography Timothy Greenfield-Sanders click image to enlarge VS: Do you think there is anything in your work that is like the still photos that were taken in Hollywood to publicize films?
TMS: Not really. I think the hardest thing for any photographer is to create a look that is his or her own. My portraits are very identifiable as mine. They are direct, simply lit and against a plain backdrop with no gimmicks, no jazz, always very straightforward. And I've taken a hell of a lot of them by now, probably 5000. I have a simple style that's out there and quite clearly mine. Recently, with the XXX project, I worked with diptychs, clothed and nude, like Goya's legendary painting. But even these images are quite clearly mine in the sense that the subject is respected and the images are uncomplicated.
VS: I read that the first porn star you photographed asked when you were going to do the nude shot? I loved the way you came back and said let’s try to do it in the same pose.
TMS: I did that because I really didn't know how to pose someone nude. So I thought the same pose might be interesting. I majored in Art History at Columbia, so I was very familiar with Goya's nude and clothed Maya paintings. It wasn’t until the next day when I actually saw the film that I thought, "God, this is really interesting. "1+1 equals 3. It was much more complex.
VS: The porn stars are obviously so comfortable being naked, just like fashion people are comfortable with the clothes.
TMS: That's a very good analogy. I think I was very lucky with XXX series to shoot porn stars as my first nudes. I couldn't have picked a better group of people. They already knew how to pose. And, they were stars. The hardest part was getting them to NOT pose too much. I didn't want that pinup look.
VS: What was this tension of 1 +1 =3? You can see how showing themselves naked would be very revealing. But what are they showing when they are like an ordinary person in clothes?
TMS: Originally I thought it would be much more transgressive to shoot porn stars clothed. After all, we know what they look like naked. It would be more interesting to see them as people. But when I saw the diptych, it was so clearly the way to go, so much more complex, interesting and nuanced. How you present yourself as a porn star and who you are as a real person.
VS: I remember a girl in a big sweater and a big bulky jacket, completely body concealing.
TMS: Many porn stars wear a lot of clothes to cover themselves up because they can't really walk around as themselves. They are far too well-known, too seductive. I remember standing in front of my East Village studio one day with Heather Hunter after her portrait. Every guy walking by turned his head and immediately mouthed, "oh my God that's Heather Hunter." That's when I realized how truly famous these people are.
VS: Tell me about your transition to digital.
TMS: In 1978, in LA, I bought a giant 11x14 view camera. In those days hardly anyone shot large format. 35mm was in vogue. But I fell in love with it and that was that. I learned to shoot quickly and concentrate on the person using just a few sheets of film. And years later, with this digital series I used the same skills. I didn’t have a lot of time at the Olympus tents and I literally took half a dozen pictures of each person. It was with a small digital SLR camera this time, but I was able to make each shot count.
VS: I think that's probably one of the most unusual things about you from the point of view of someone on the other side of the camera.
TMS: I think it's boring and painful for a subject to pose for too long a time. I try to get the subject involved and the faster the shoot, the better. We both need to be in sync. With the Olympus digital camera one can show the image to the subject right away. That builds a very quick bond and a certain comfort level. I find that very important to do. Most of my time is spent making the subject feel confident about him or her self. That was unusually difficult at the tents as there was so much noise and hoopla.
VS: How did the book come about?
TMS: It all happened quite organically. I started to shoot the portraits hoping for the best. We ended up with such an amazing collection of photographs that eventually I, along with Olympus, felt we should produce a book. Whatever one might think of the fashion world, there simply is no denying that the people in it are extraordinary, talented, serious, obsessive, crazy, determined, rude, funny, complicated, phony, brilliant, stupid, ugly and of course, beautiful. What more could a photographer want?
