I am honored that the above print is included in the Storytelling 2023 exhibition which opened this week at the Atlanta Photography Group.
The exhibition celebrates street and documentary photography and was curated by Alyssa Coppelman.
APG shared the following about Coppleman on their website:
Alyssa Ortega Coppelman is an independent photo editor and photobook consultant based in Austin, Texas. She is Art Researcher for the Oxford American magazine; and Archival Researcher on the Emmy-nominated, PBS NewsHour series, Brief But Spectacular. Previously, she was Deputy Art Director at Harper’s Magazine.
About Oxford American
The Oxford American is a nonprofit arts organization and national magazine dedicated to exploring the complexity and vitality of the American South through excellent writing, music, and visual art. Billed as “A Magazine of the South,” it has won four National Magazine Awards and other high honors since it began publication in 1992. The Oxford American is published in partnership with the University of Central Arkansas.
The Image
This is the first time I have exhibited this image which I photographed in June 2022 at the First Annual West Hollywood Pride Parade. I have been concentrating on photographing more aspects of Los Angeles the last few years, partially because I think is important to document where I am from and partially because of the constraints related to the pandemic. I have always found it difficult to photograph in LA, it is not like New York or Chicago or even San Francisco. Los Angeles has so many diverse communities, and is geographically massive, it is really hard to capture everything about this place. People also don’t move around here like in the other big cities, in LA most people drive to where they were going, they don’t walk. Although this is changing some, as a photographer I still find that I have to search for the areas where people are congregating on the street. Hollywood and West Hollywood have always had more foot traffic than other areas and I knew the Pride parade would bring out lots of people for me to photograph so I went to it. I felt it was important to document the LGBTQ+ community because of its population size in Southern California and I was also interested to see how people would interact with each other at one of the first large post pandemic events.
When I saw this person in drag, and the people with them, I knew I was going to have the opportunity to capture a good image. I was first thinking my images would only be of the entourage but as this woman in in the tan hat started to fumble to get her cellphone camera up, I recognized that having her in my frame could take the image to a different level. The woman was so excited by what she saw approaching her that she stepped right in front of me to get her shot. Normally I would say something if someone did this while I was photographing but I wanted her in my frame. I stepped to my left and took my time framing the image. I made a number of exposures and worked to make sure the person in drag was featured, was in focus, and that I could see their image in the woman’s phone. Normally when I photograph on the street I am moving, often photographing from the hip (literally with a Sony RX100 vii), and when I frame an image, it’s quick. The parade setting obviously allowed for a more traditional photographic approach, framing in a viewfinder, but with this image I spent even more time than normal to perfect the frame.
For me, the interaction between the woman and the person in drag is key. The stare down of a dominatrix, the desire of the woman to capture the image and maybe even a desire for other things. The stare was so intense it seemed to single them out from the crowd, like a scene you might see in a movie, where all other noise is silenced and it’s just the two of them alone, albeit in the middle of a crowded parade. The other elements of the image work well too: the laughter of the other woman witnessing the scene, the contrast between the muscular man and other woman crossing the street, and the how the majority of the crowd isn’t even taking notice of their connection. With many of my street photographs I look to document relationships between individuals, and relationships between a person and the whole of a group or society. I love that this image has lots of layers to it, which allows each viewer to have their own experience of seeing it. The image is also a solid document of the event and a segment of the Angelino population.
The Print:
The exhibition print has an image size of 24” x 16” which is the largest sized print I have produced so far in an edition (I have produced some larger prints for commercial clients). This print is on a sheet of 26” x 18” Hahnemȕhle Photo Rag Ultrasmooth paper, framed with a window matt to an external size of approximately 33” x 25”. The print in the exhibition is #4 in an edition of 9 for this image size.
The print was made by Digital Arts Studio in Atlanta who I have been using to produce all my large print editions. Owner Barry Glustoff is fantastic to work with and his lab is one of the top certified printers of Canson and Hahnemȕhle papers in the world. I had Barry produce editions of 19 other images this summer at this size, and he has printed and framed all my photographs for every one of my APG exhibitions. His work is outstanding, and the staff is professional.
The Exhibition:
I have had a chance to see the other images in the exhibition and some early photographs of the installation. The exhibition looks great, some outstanding images, and I am pleased to be showing work with Gwen Julia, Joe Hoyle & Peter Essick again.
