James P. Jones || Photographer

Last Friday, Amie and I played hooky and went to the Yusef Karsh exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and to a second Karsh exhibit at Boston Public Library. If you view his images online, you will discover that if you have any interest in people pre-1980's you have probably seen his work. Karsh was one of the great portrait photographers. I don't recall seeing anyone better, just different.

I was taught years ago by a highschool band teacher the trumpet players handshake - to each other they would say "Hi, I'm [insert name here], I'm better than you." Photographers and guitar players have a certain degree of similar disdain when viewing each others work. The "I can do that" syndrome. Nevertheless, when I look at Karsh's work, I neither think I can match it, nor would I know how. Sure, I can take apart the lighting. But, if you visit the BPL exhibit they have an anecdote for each image. How he got the expression he did. For such a polite man and dignified man, he must have had a sense of humor. He got the best out of his sitters.

Technically he was superior in his shooting, the care is obvious. But when you see these gigantic prints in person, you have to admire every stage of the processing of the images. They are fantastic. For sure, some speak to me more than others, and I prefer his earlier work. But, when I was younger I preferred the earlier Beatles work too. No doubt my taste may evolve with time.

So, at the end of the day being self-taught I haven't played with 4x5 and above (in camera size). Like many I have shot primarily in the 35mm range thought medium format (6cmx6cm) is what really got me excited about photography to begin with. So, this weekend I went back to my roots.

I am only a couple of years deep in this photo journey, and it is largely thanks to the generous support of my uncle Bill (an avid photographer and acquirer of amazing things photographic) that I have been able to learn quickly, keep interested, and fill all my freetime with photography. Using his borrowed Hasselblad this weekend I shot 3 portraits of friends. They were all shot on the same location, Prospect Park, in Providence. I shot using only available light on these cloudy days. Using non-paid models, I felt the pressure of time to move quickly and with little additional light. Just a reflector that saw very little use.

Of course, I shot film in the largest format I had available with the longest lens (120 Makro-Planar). One roll apiece of 120 format B&W. After processing color chrome, B&W seems absurdly lenient and simple. I loved it. The only part that wasn't fun was getting stuck loading the 120 onto the reel. It has been a while since I loaded 120 and it kept slipping off the catch at the beginning of the reel.

As a personal note, I must photograph women more. I know what a strong man looks like; I know how I would wish to be perceived or at least can imagine different scenarios quickly. But, shooting women is a foreign affair. I am already outside the box and so I want to learn the psyche of female beauty. It is a learning process. Apparently I may be shooting a friend of mine, Megumi, this weekend. Perhaps I will learn some more. I want it to be as natural a process as photographing myself.

You will notice that these are not happy portraits, they are portraits of strength. These are three people as I know them to be on the inside (Mark would argue perhaps that he isn't a trendy euro-hippy with sunglasses on the inside - but he does peer over the lenses a lot in life and try to look deeper into you.) Ok, it may be a stretch.

*my thanks to Chris (pilot), Mark (interactive developer), and Jessica (furniture maker) who posed outside on the first chilly weekend of the year.