WP KGANADA'S LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHY MAGAZINE. DECEMBER1981. | I liSee ore ee nase ees o pe] cover r) Fea ra PYG) cele ol nar eee ey Reese rer send es ty PHOTOGRAPHER’: rg Terr ah Ce A on eee aD} Saat ores canary Poo MC mee a Scan ‘own family album INSTANT/ Good things come in small packages, See ed Saul eS A Linus Sear, Hecerygaety compen ler yi Coe Eh to 22 eeu acm ete e TECHNIQUE Incamera double exposures are easy to do Ee ener PU Ret ator esérbes the method that helped him win Crorize lire) Rio no erecta |) eer eter eS errr he nea oN kel ee etn 36 ‘comer. If you're stuck on what to give Your favorite photographer check out our fein tcl cea et Foe nT Say PHOTO CONTEST rau ee eed eek toy 40 ree eer ea cece Pn eS aa Pea TECHNIQUE ieee 43 assigning yoursel a heme or project can tera certs Sa aency Waterers een) ry:) Roane neon etarrcl Pecan PHOTO SCHOOL Contact printing and enlarging aren't all that dificult, especially when you follow Docc sermon ecco) Rare et ania ae mn eis () Renn etter Senor Peon ata Laa tt Gest Coen ar aayPHILIP POCOCK GHETTO MURALS ‘grapher living in New York, began photographing the brightly painted wall murals of Manhattan's Lower East Side several years ago. His purpose wasn't to document the activity or pre serve it for posterity although these elements are present in his work. He wanted to respond to and register the {feelings and emotions of the people ving in the ghetto area through the medium of the art they created. He found that in photographing the mural art and taking to the artists an ironic, bittersweet context ‘emerged which gives to his pictures a strong sociological, if not mora, im- perative. Pocock says the murals he photo- ‘graphed often expressed the artist's Yearning for his or her homeland (many area residents are immigrants from Puerto. Rico) as well as their hopes and dreams in the new land. The art comments on the attist's perception and Pocock's photo: ‘graphs extend and enhance that percep tion to a wider audience. Philip Jackson Pocock, the son of photo: ‘grapher Philip John Pocock, is largely self ‘taught in photography, having begun to shoot in 35mm in Japan at the age of 11 Pocock studied in Waterloo, Ontario before: taking a BFA in the Film and Television ‘course at New York University. He has. produced films for the National Film Board ‘and worked for Cornell Capa at the Inter- national Centre of Photography in New York. Currently he is developing a photo ‘essay on the Calabrese people of southern Maly. Pocock believes that itis hard to come up with something original in photography; Cone is constantly reinventing the wheel but color photography had never seriously been used on a theme such as the wall paintings before. In fact, he claims that ‘color i only just now being accepted by art photogrpahers for its own merits. came from the school of black and white, Robert Frank brutalism.”” But the Lower East Side murals cried out for color and Pocock chose to work in that medium, shooting Kodachrome and making his ‘wn Cibachrome prints to control the ‘nuances of the image. Pocock adopts a simple, even austere, ‘approach to his work. He doesn’t believe P2 Pocock, 26, a Canadian photo- 80 Photo Life/December 1981 in buying fancy equipment to make pic- tures. Instead he uses one old Nikon F2 and a 35mm 12 lens. The Ciba Is home processed in a bathroom. Pocock believes fn the adage that doing good work and saving your money comes from thoroughly understanding your medium. And the fewer tools you have, the more chance you have of using them propery. He uses Kodachrome 26 fim for the detail in the shadow areas it gives him and likes working in Cachrome because of a preterence for dark and moody images like the the ones Rembrandt and Caravaggio used to paint. The darker images also make people viewing the pints more closer or “enter into the world of my photography." He suggests. "The more one puts into looking at an image, the more you will reap from it.” Pocock’s exacting standards for his color work apply to his enlarger too. He Uses a black and white Omega D2 Con- denser enlarger with fiters because he feels he gets a richer color than witha dit fusion enlarger. The enlarger was second hand and came with a Schneider 14 lens wich proved perfectly adequate for his needs. He hand roi hs prints ina Sima drum in the kitchen, In printing, Pocock looks for an exposure that allows suficient time to dodge the print adequately and he keeps reciprocity shifis in mind by checking against charts supplied by ltord ‘Asked whether he considers his work to be art Pocock replies, "I'm not about to prove the point of ‘Is photography art?” W's beyond that. Strictly works of art only each a small segment of the population. Photography by nature will reach out to people on many levels, so of course: photography can be art butit doesn't necessarily have to be art.” Pocock’s photographs of the work of Manhattan mural artists show his social consciousness at work but he doesn’t believe in becoming too negative about the worid, "| want a litle ray of hope in my pictures. Art for me is about tension, yin-yang, the Aristotelian contlict. Living in the East Village on the edges of the ghetto, Pocock supports himself with corporate portrait work and an ex panding business of flat copying artwork, something that developed out of his mural work. A book of his Manhattan murals, ‘was published last year by George Braziller. Called The Obvious Illusion, ‘Murals From The Lower East Side, the book includes an introduction by eritic Gregory Battock, interviews Pocock con- ducted with many of the street artists and 36 impressive plates of his work ‘More of the work was displayed recently at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. Many of these 85 photographs placed the murals within the context of their environ: ment and presented ironic juxtapositions. (of derelicts asleep under stirring patriotic flags or images of palm trees surrounded by snow and neglect. Pocock's images offer a moving social, cultural and aesthetic document of the perception of a particular people respond ing to a certain environment. The emo- tional and artistic resonances set up in these photographs as well as thelr techni cal proficiency certainty should qualify them as art in anyone's view. — G.O.