(with ALL THOSE LETTERS AFTER HER NAME)
..... The conversation continued.
I hope Joe won’t mind if I continue with the “four-way conversation” that was started last night. I know I have this inability to keep quiet (a cleaned-up form of Tourette’s syndrome I suppose) so I hope Joe forgives me. I’ll blame Tom if he doesn’t!
Unlike many of the DPS membership I have only known Mavis for a short time. Does this make me an inappropriate commentator on her “Conversation” with us? I think not, for I came to her evening with what I hope are fresh eyes. The shock of seeing her work in such a narrative way was, and still is, awe-inspiring. From the initial work with the old Pentax Spotmatic F to her Contax/Zeiss-made images culminating in the later digital prints, everything was pristine and clean and precise. Every image we saw was a mini master class in the both the art of “seeing” and then producing.
Mavis’s work has remained contemporary chronicling the range of skills that she has garnered. During the evening it seemed as if she was unable to help herself and constantly let slip advice: the colour of the card placed behind the final print to either lighten or darken the image; the liberation of NOT conforming to expectations and the constant quest for wrinkled stockings. Now a mistress of the digital technique with which she feels comfortable Mavis is restless, searching for the next step forward.
If anyone is to be held up as a beacon of good photographic practice it is Mavis: with a solid grounding in technique; the constant experimentation; being in possession of what Joe rightly calls a “photographer’s eye” (one that explains all those serendipitous captures when she “just turned round”); the warmth of her relationship with the subject and her disregard for the camera thereby not allowing it to interpose itself and interfere with the final image. Above all it is her infinite generosity that shines through, especially to beginners like me.
The last word should go to Mavis herself and here I paraphrase: Do your own thing; keep trying; experiment; be revolutionary.... it’s the way to go!
For someone like me these are words that inspire... Thanks Mavis.
John Cogan 18.5.12
Pictured: “In the Corner” by Mavis Ord
No comments:
Post a Comment