Face-to-Face: Alec Soth portrait
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[[clapping]]
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Alec Soth: I know it's a terrible day outside, so that's why you're all here.
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[[laughter]]
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I mean - one of the really cool things about being a photographer, as opposed to, say, a painter or a sculptor, is that
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you're involved in all these different worlds.
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I mean, photography is a commercial medium — so people do advertising and magazine photography, as well as fine art photography — and I'm lucky enough to do all of those things.
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And one other thing that I do is stuff like this, occasionally. And what I've learned is that it's best not to prepare at all, because, uh,
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then you just get nervous about what you're supposed to remember to say.
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So, this is sort of fresh, what you're getting here.
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What's cool about this size group is that you can just blurt out questions as we go, and, and,
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don't feel bad about it at all. And you can also sneak out the doors.
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[[laughter]]
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My feelings won't be hurt.
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This is a, you know, a peculiar show because it's not— this is not a body of work.
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But it's not the traditional group show where you just have one or two pictures.
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So it's - and because it's contained in a room, I was able to play around with, "what do I want to do with that room?" And
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this "Portaiture Now" series — I mean, this particular exhibition, as I understand it — you know, is dealing with editorial photography, magazine photography slash fine art photography. It's sort of the crossover.
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So, how to approach that? I mean, I could have just picked editorial work that I've done.
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But I had something else on my mind at that time, which is—
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if you'll notice, all these portraits are of women. And for the last few years, I've been doing a project that's exclusively of men.
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And often, sort of lonely bearded men [[laughter]], that
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you know. And it's going to be a big seller, I can really tell.
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Alec Soth: But I've had this, you know - because I've been working on this
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I've had just a real desire to do, you know, to explore the opposite.
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and um, and it's also something that's just on my mind - as the wall text, kind of, might allude to, I think
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uhh, a little bit, but it doesn't--
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Uh, when I was in— I went to Sarah Lawrence College, uh, which is you know, a real, uh,
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you know, uh, how do I say it? - you know, sort of artsy-fartsy, you know,
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East Coast - but we're on the East Coast, so I won't say that - school. Uh,
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but, and we had a copy of this book by Garry Winogrand called 'Women are Beautiful' and,
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and I couldn't believe that this book hadn't been burned, you know, it was, 'cause it's really, uh, not politically correct.
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And over the years I've thought about that book - and I hadn't seen it - and, uh,
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and I thought - well maybe, you know, he was on to something,
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uh, maybe he's just being honest.
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And I recently got my hands on this book, and it's, it is that, it is honest, but it also
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not the greatest book in the world, at all.
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uh, but I thought can I put together an exhibition just of portraits of women, that
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acceptable as a theme, it seems stupid, somehow, but I gave it a shot
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and and this is what I came up with, and it really represents
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um, all these different lives of photography that I get to lead
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um, probably the earliest picture in here is this one,
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uh, which is from 2000, so I, the first body of work that I did that got exposure
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was something called "Sleeping by the Mississippi"
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and this is a series of photographs made along the Mississippi River over the course of several years
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a number of trips. Incidentally I'm on a road trip right now as we speak
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uh, and we just started in Minneapolis, drove to Philadelphia where I gave a lecture, I'm here, I'm going down to Savannah, and I'm working my way around
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and this is my absolute favorite time of year to travel.
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'Cause I just love the kind of cold in the North and blossoming in the South
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and I, with sleeping by the Mississippi, I always tried to travel at that time of year
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um, and a side effect of that was that - all this sort of you know, Easter/Lenten kind of material was coming up in the South
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so, this picture is in, uh, Ash Wednesday, you know, the day after Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
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The funny little story behind the picture is that, um,
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so, you know it's the next day, and everyone is tired and hung over, and I asked if could take her picture
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and she says, "yeah, will you buy me a beer?" and I, well, that doesn't really go with the whole Ash Wednesday thing
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[[laughter]] and, oh she said "oh, cigarette ashes, they're not, it's not real, they're not real ashes"
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so, [[laughter]] um, and another funny story about her is that on this, "crazy bearded guy in the woods" project
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I, I was at a commune in outside of Austin, Texas, and she had just been there, cause I, sometimes I bring along copies of my books to show people
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and they, "we know her, she was just here" it was just crazy, cause her name is Adelyn, she didn't have an address, so I never could send her a picture
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but it's, her last name is like Shockadelicka [[laughter]]
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um,
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So that's one of the earliest, and that was done entirely when I was in my own world of just making my own pictures.
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There was no audience. There was never an expectation that it was gonna be at the national portrait gallery or any of that.
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Things really changed after this body of work, cause it made it out into the world,
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and all of a sudden I had all sorts of new opportunities.
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And I, you know, I worked at an art museum for seven years as part of the in-house photography staff.
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And I had to leave that job and figure out what I was gonna do.
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And, you know, there was the option of teaching.
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And- But somehow, you know, I wanted to keep travelling, keep moving
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And so doing- being a working photographer seemed like a good, you know, option.
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I could use this attention from the art world to try and do that.
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So I started taking, kinda, every assignment that came along, in the beginning.
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And one of the assignments was for Entertainment Weekly.
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Okay, and it was, you know I was, the author of the newest version of The Godfather. Okay?
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So this is not a real high level assignment.
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So I went to Tallahassee to take his picture.
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And the picture's terrible, I mean it's really, really bad.
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But when I was in Tallahassee, my assistant and I went to this diner
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And this picture was made. And a big change happened photographically for me, sort of between this time and this time,
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which is that, I reall-, you don't see it here but a lot of the pictures in Sleeping by the Mississippi were quite complicated,
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lots of things happening in them.
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And I really got tired of that, and I started simplifying pictures around this time
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So, you know, I had a-, We had time to kill. I had a couple hours til my shoot, I'm having lunch.
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She walks in with her father,
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and he's wearing fatigues. She's got this red hair.
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And they're eating here and they have just piles of like, you know, fried chickens, you know, and Southern cooking.
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And- So I set up my camera. I use often a large format camera, sort of a dark cloth over the head
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So it becomes quite a scene in a restaurant.
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Everyone's very aware of me.
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And then eventually I realize the father is kind of a distraction. Take him out.
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I thought the food was good, but then I realized it wasn't. I take the food out.
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And what's happening here is that, you know, ten minutes have passed,
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and she's as bored as could be, you know.
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But she has to stay still, because the other thing about this camera is that it's a very limited focus area,
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so you'll notice that, you know, her eye is in focus, her shoulder is not.
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Even her mouth is out of focus, so it's just a-
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there's a little plane of focus that's between her eye and this tablecloth,
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and so she has to stay there
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And- So she's, you know, probably falling asleep.
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But hopefully that's not how you read the picture.
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You read it as this sort of dreamy picture.
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{SPEAKER NAME="Alec Soth"} This was a big step for me simplifying the moment but it's also, for me its part of my theory of portraiture
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which is that umm well, I had a show, a big show of lots of bodies of work in Paris a year or something ago
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That was called "The Space Between Us" and and I came up with that name because I always say that I'm not photographing the other person
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I'm photographing - the space that exists between myself and that other person.
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Uhm and when it takes its time and they move into their own little world and I'm under the cover
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I'm dark cloth and I'm thinking. Uhm I'm in my space and I - and I like to feel and that's in
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playing with this focus, I like to feel how they're over there and I'm over here.
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if that makes sense. Uh, any questions so far?
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{illegible question from the audience}
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yeah, I mean I'm setting up the camera, and uh, and the subject is moving around a little bit, and then you'll see something happen
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and then you say, "hold that" you know, or she just rests on her arm like that.. "hold that"
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um, you know, I'm not a purist photographer at all, so I would, you know ,if the flower's under her arm a little bit, I'll pop it, you know whatever
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I'm happy to move, and i'm happy to move all the food out and do all these things
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um, it's more a matter of stopping things when I see it
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um, I really don't like too much sort of banter back and forth
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and, I don't go crazy with direction, you know,
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I mean, it's a slow process too, so it's not "boosh, boosh, boosh." You know one of the funny things about fashion photography
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of which there's no true example, I mean this was done for this fashion magazine project, but when I was in Paris I worked with a lot of fashion models
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and it's uh, it's really a fascinating thing as a photographer, 'cause you, the second you take a picture
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they give you another look. It's like built in
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you do this, then they give you another one. And it's, it's great because you get all these different things, but they're all fake
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you know, and um, it doesn't work with eight by ten photography at all because they blow the focus every time,
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so I would have to, you know, yell at them like "do not move after I click the shutter"
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um, and also and this really relates to this whole exhibition, um just quickly moving on to that
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I really don't like photographing people that their profession is to be photographed, so um
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you know, I, as I advance and I did more and more magazine work
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I developed my "no-CEO policy", um because
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the number one thing you get asked to do as a portrait photographer is the CEO of, you know
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I live in Minnesota, we have 3M in Minnesota, or you know we have Best Buy,
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I'm constantly asked to photograph whoever that is
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and it's just not my, because they you know, they give you this, and then for eight seconds and they're gone, and that's not why I got involved
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that's not the "Space between Us" and all that stuff. And I've learned that celebrity photography, model photography, it's, it tends to be the same thing and they're not bad people or anything,they're just, it's just what they do
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um, so I'll jump way ahead for a second since we're over here, but, eventually I did all this magazine work, I eventually applied to become a member of Magnum Photos
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which is this organ.. you know, it's an international organization of professional photographers, working photographers
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and, I, and I started getting better and better jobs
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and, and Magnum has this thing called "Fashion Magazine" that they do,
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uh, They did it, one with Martin Parr, they did another one with a guy named Bruce Gildan, and the idea is that you produce an entire magazine
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of one photographer';s pictures including the ads
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so, and I was up for this challenge, so I suggest that I do it and they asked me to do it
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and um, and then what am I going to do?
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So, because they like to start with a concept, an overall concept for the magazine, and I didn't know what the concept should be
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so they had some, something about fairy tales or something like that
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and, uh, this is developed out of Paris, so I went to Paris to start it
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and quickly this fairy tale thing wasn't working at all.
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Another thing they had lined up is, you know, first day I went to a Dior fashion show I got kicked out, like within, within five minutes
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Um, and they set up a bunch of shoots with these models. And it just didn't work, uh that, it's just not my thing
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Alec Soth: So one of the, one of the peep-creative people that I was working with, I, you know, I said, this thing with the models is not doing it
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we need something else, and uh, I need real
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and, So we decided to photograph his wife, this is his wife. And what's cool about this picture is, I;d never met her, so.
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and, we set it up so that I go to her house, bring in the camera and everything. She's sleeping. And we, we take the picture right when she wakes up,
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you know, like, okay, I'm set up. Wake up. Boom. Take the picture.
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There's another picture. So then the stylists all come in. And they do the hair and the make up and everything, they get her all dressed up, and that's whatever the dress we're showing off, we show off.
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And that's the other picture, and I don't really care about the other picture. But I love making this right when she wakes up.
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And what a cool, I mean, this is why I love being a photographer, is you know, that kind of intimacy too.
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Cause I was able to kick people out of the, I was able to be in the room, you know, maybe there was one other person with me in there,
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but to be in the room when a stranger wakes up. That's pretty great. Any takers here? Okay I got the segue.
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So I was in Paris, and I, and I was doing the shooting, but, you know for me,
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and I was trying to figure out what is this project about? And, very quickly I realize, you know, I live in Minnesota, I'm not as fashion savvy as maybe some of the Parisians.
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And, You know, and going, and dealing with these fashion people, I just, was really aware of what an outsider I was.
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And I was also thinking about what is fashion? I mean fashion is the way you present yourself to the world.
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And yes, you know "couture" is one way of presenting yourself to the world, but I mean actually, this is fashion, what you were wearing is fashion.
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And so I wanted to juxtapose it to something else, and I wanted to sort of show myself in this.
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so I decided to do fashion on the other side, in Minnesota, where I live. And so the final project is called Paris, Minnesota. So we have this and we then have this. And
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Alec Soth: I mean, in fact there is, I mean, there, in the Minnesota side, um, most of it, there were no stylists, you know, no creative people, I did it on my own
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so, I went to this ice skating rink, and you know, just asked her if I could take her picture
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um, and it's as simple as that, so we're not selling anything, or whatnot,
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um, however a section of the, of the Minnesota side was done for W Magazine
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and, and actually that was quite funny, cause that, W Magazine is a big fashion magazine and, lots of money behind it
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so they came, and we did it all in the winter, that which was important me, uh, so
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we actually went a few hours north of where I live in Minnesota in February, and you know, you know the the stylist had two tailors
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two assistants, you know this is just the stylist
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you know, so we had trucks, we had everything, but we photographed real people, I didn't photograph models
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so, we found you know, uh local students to do it, and did this whole crazy shoot and I love it. And what it really got at was this other kind of beauty.
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um, the representative image here isn't quite fair, because this is a young woman, but most of the Paris pictures
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toward the end of the project I realized that that the Paris pictures should be about older women
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like, this really elegant, sophisticated older women, and the Minnesota pictures would be young, awkward, but also beautiful
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um, and it became about that. This whole project was done in six months, which is just incredibly fast to do
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like you know, hundreds of pictures. But I love these challenges
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and again, this is kind of what I like about being a photographer, these crazy experiences.
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Um, can't help but mention John Gossage, photographer right here, sorry, uh, is only here today because
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[laughing] yeah, I made him, but he and I, this last January uh were in New Zealand. Got invited to New Zealand
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and, uh, spent a couple weeks photographing there, and I love you know, I didn't know anything about New Zealand
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I mean, nor did I read anything in advance
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I mean, it was like totally uh, and you just get dropped into a situation
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um, that's the way magazine photography is sometimes, and it can be horrific, you know and sometimes it's magical.
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Um, just you know a month or so ago I was in the republic of Georgia, and this was not planned far in advance at all, I just got dropped into this place
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and, um, it followed up on this by photographing women only. In a very different way, and um, and it was a fantastic experience.
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so, so then I'll do something like that, and then I'll do, you know, tomorrow we're driving to Nashville
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I have a, I'm doing, for a quickie assignment, on tent cities, so there's a big tent city in Nashville,
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and then I'll go back to the personal project that I've been working on for years, so it's, its' always something new, uh...
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This is uh, it's one of my favorite stories behind a picture and it shows yet another kind of photography. So, this woman, Stacy Backer, uh, I never met before. And She called me, she's from Texas, and she called me and said-asked if I could photograph her parents in Texas, and y'know, I saw dollar signs, y'know, it was like wealthy-Texas-like-oil family, y'know i'm gonna do this commission portrait, and um- I fly down and she picks me up, and she's not wealthy at all. I mean, she's fairly, y'know she's uh, uh, uh, she's a lawyer, but a lawyer for low-income people and what-not she just loves, y'know was falling in love with photography, loves her parents. Brought me down, we're driving in the car and I'm quickly realizing this and, and it's very foggy which is quite unusual for Texas, and I'm a sucker for fog, whenever I see it, and she's kinda incredibly looking, and, uh, I gotta take your picture, and I took a picture of her quickly, I-I was afraid the fog was going to burn off. Took one by the side of the road and then we went to her parents farm, and they have a sheep farm, um, I photographed, y'know her there, like that was my mission and of course I took the picture of her parents and all of that, and we had this great experience, but it's the rest of the story which I love. she- y'know I think it was a kind of magical experience for her too. i mean I love this picture, it's been exhibited a ton, and she really got interested in photography then, she left her job as a lawyer and went to to the main photographic workshops took classes and what not, eventually not only becomes a photographer but becomes a photo editor at the New York Times Magazine [gasp], which is probably the highest level photo editing job you can have. Um, and I was just told, y'know Brandon told me, she was here, I mean she was in D.C. she saw the picture here because she was doing the uh- Obama's people shoot for the New York Times Magazine and uh y'know she has this whole other life in photography which is just incredible and it's this kind of serendipity that I love.
00:24:27.000 --> 00:26:44.520
UHHH- yeah, Is this the full view, or did you crop-or-try- I'm genuinely in awe, of these, do you- when you show the image is it the full view or-? Um-yeah-I'm not- I'm willing to crop but the pictures are so slowly made, that I just do all the cropping in the camera for the most part. Um- so that's it, but it doesn't mean there's not a building right here and-y'know- and something ugly right over here, I crop that out while making the picture. I mean, I always say that photography for me is an art of editing, it's uh-like it's just as much about what you leave out about what you put in. And-um that's been the lesson of pulling out the chicken and uh- leaving things out, leaving things for the imagination. And so that-uh- I don't know what this is but normally I don't tell the whole story behind a picture, this is this- sort of ongoing battle for me is how much information to give people, how much to tell. and it's something I'm constantly struggling with [smacking lips] What- are you having, a hard time hearing. uh- feel free to tell me to talk louder, any questions so far? I'm moving quickly here. uh- How many shots do you take? I-mean how many shots [undecipherable] Question is how many pictures do I take? it's- uh- Early on, very few, so with Adeline over there on Ashwin's Day, I took two, uh- because it's quite expensive um- it's like twenty dollars each click, so now it sorta comes down to funding y'know in a lot cases, so in fashion work I'm like crazy with it and it got to be very fast, so I can take a lot, or- or not, all these pictures were made in that way with a large format camera. But I've done other projects with other cameras, and it's not just this, necessarily.
00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:14.000
00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:19.000
Right. Mhm-I mean I did go to art school so-
00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:32.000
And I never in a million years saw myself as...as a professional photographer, making money doing photography uhm cause I started- you know, I wanted to be a painter early on and then
00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:40.000
a sculptor and uh- and it just turned out to be photography. And when I left college uhm-
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:54.000
you know I had to get a job and I worked first at a photo lab and then later I got a job at a suburban newspaper chain [laughs]. And- so I did do some working in photography and then I- and I also assisted some photographers.
00:27:54.000 --> 00:28:08.000
And in each case it was uh-... not satisfying, you know, because it's very repetitive and actually sucks the creativity a little bit dry. And I eventually got this job in an art museum but-
00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:19.000
it's important- I wasn't actually a staff photographer because I was initially in a thing called the dark room [laughs] which is where they used to make pictures [audience laughs].
00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:39.000
And- and I worked in there and then they- we got rid of the dark room and I became a digital imaging technician [audience laughs]. But I like- this I really liked because... I mean I- because I worked in a lot of dark rooms, I hated the dark room, so you know, so I- it killed that.
00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:53.000
But-but I decided okay I'm never going to be a professional photographer that way, I'm not- I don't wanna be and the job came up to be the photographer and I didn't apply for it because I didn't wanna kill it.
00:28:53.000 --> 00:29:07.000
So... for me, it was just- it was a low paying- unlike here, where everyone gets[audience laughs] a lot of money- uh, it was a low paying job, but I was done at five o'clock, I didn't have to think about, you know, this...
00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:19.000
and that was a good way to, to do it, um... so the leap to being a professional photographer was risky for me, but it-
00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:37.610
I had a lot of freedom to say no to things, so it's...um... but it- even to this day it's still risky, because sometimes I'll be doing an assignment, I'm in the middle of it and I hate it, why am I doing this, and I'm killing my creativity and all of that, so... it's not all dreamy.
00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:40.000
[Alex Soth] Yeah.
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.000
[Audience Member #1]: Um I was just ... do you set up the lighting in pictures like this and that? [Alec Soth]: Right, the question is, do I ...
00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:45.000
[Audience Member#1]: and I have another question.
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:46.000
[Alec Soth]: ok
00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:48.000
[Audience Member #1]: [[laugh]]
00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:56.000
[Alec Soth]: First question is: Do I set up the lighting? And, uh, not One of these pictures is lit.
00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:07.000
So, uh, with Sleeping By The Mississippi, I did some lighting. Uh, just to get enough light for the large-format camera.
00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:13.000
More and more, I-I don't like lighting things 'cause, uh, it's just another something else artificial.
00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:23.000
So this lighting is actually the like, you know, dance floor lighting that they had. It's incredibly difficult [[laughs]] with this big camera, to do it.
00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:31.000
[Alex Soth] I mean, if you get in here, I mean I try to focus on the eyes. Hopefully, every eyeball is sharp in this show. [Audience]: [[laughs]]
00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:40.000
[Alex Soth] Uh, her - there's some movement because it's like, you know, maybe a two-second exposure or something like that.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:51.000
And uh, and you'll notice that that's the only - you know - this is wildly out of focus out here... you know maybe her toes aren't focused - I did a pretty good job on this one.
00:30:51.000 --> 00:31:06.000
Um, but it's always close, um, but I don't like lighting things, no. I mean, the thing that I - every time I photograph, I have a revelation, which is that photography is not the subject.
00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:14.000
[Alec Soth] It's the subject in the light - it's the subject reflecting light. [Chuckle] You know, so it's - you know.
00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:18.000
I could take her, you know, and move her somewhere else and it's completely boring.
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:29.000
[Alex Soth] It's because she's there and for me to have the intelligence to fabricate the light that's interesting, that's going to bounce - I'm just not that smart. So, question two?
00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:35.000
[Audience Member #1]: Yeah, how did you decide to use large formatand did you do that when you do the fashion photography as well?
00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:38.000
[Alec Soth]: Yeah, question is: How did I choose large format?
00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:45.000
[Alex Soth] Um, and it came from - You know, I-I didn't start with it...
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:54.000
when I was out of college I was shooting smaller cameras, and I- and then I shot 4 x 5, but I didn't like that, uh, which is a small...
00:31:54.000 --> 00:32:04.000
it's like this [unknown gesture] big. And I just - I-I looked at a number of the photographers that I really loved just happened to use this 8 x 10 camera,
00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:06.000
so the film was this [unknown gesture] big versus this [unknown gesture] big.
00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:11.000
And i thought, well, It's working for so many of them... there must be something to it.
00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:17.000
And there is. And it - and in fact, I think it has nothing to with resolution.
00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:27.000
So... because the difference is completely minimal. uh, for me, the real thrill is the viewing experience with this camera.
00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:33.000
Because it's like an easel, it's like this painting, you really get to stand back and look at this thing.
00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:40.000
Um, you're not looking through a camera like this [unknown gesture] and even with a 4 x 5, you're not - you're just not in it.
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:48.000
It's like watching TV upside down. Um, so - so I fell in love with that.
00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:57.000
I mean, it drives me crazy too. So - 'cause anything that moves I can't photograph... and also, it's like it's getting attached to me as this thing that I do.
00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:02.490
So, it's an- it gets annoying like... I'm capable of working other ways.
00:33:07.000 --> 00:35:06.770
Um know that you have done editorial work professional work and fine artwork are there sort of like ideas or conventions that you go to and your going to do an editorial picture action picture. Question is are there conventions when I do a fashion or editorial picture. When I was just starting doing magazine work I fell into that big time so I mean I did a this my fist like big celebrity shoot was Maggie Gillion and I lost it like I uh Because I had all the makeup people and all this stuff and people telling me what to do and I wasn't strong enough to say like stop leave me alone. Like I just want to have a encounter here. um know I'm much better about knowing what I want and controlling it however um I mean the big diffrence between magazine work and your own work is as if you know you go to photograpgh someone with your own work and you realize there not interesting you just go away. But you know you have to produce the picture for the magazine and in some ways that makes me a better photographer because you know I have learned all sorts of tricks to getting a good picture. Um when ther's not one there you know when there's but its cheating its like cause its not real its fake you know and sometimes I mean that can be a real little soul killing. If you do to much of it. So I'm really laying off a lot of that now. Yea. You talk a little bit about the process of uh talking to stangers and
00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:23.000
Alec Soth: Right, uh, so the question about how do I photograph strangers. Uh, I mean there's so many different answers now, [Chuckle] you know.
00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:40.000
It used to be, when I was just starting, I was so nervous that they would read the nervousness, know it's not threatening - know I'm not threatening for that reason, and then it was okay, um.
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:54.000
Now, I'm not that nervous, and I've done it enough. Now the problem is I can be too professional. And, uh, I mean it's really case by case, uh.
00:35:54.000 --> 00:36:04.000
It's, it's really amazing how few bad experiences I've had, uh, I mean mostly because I ask permission.
00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:12.000
Although, what I just did in the Republic of Georgia was not asking permission, and uh, you know, we'll see what happens.
00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:24.000
So I'm - the thing is, what I always say is that, um, I am using people. Cause I am. I mean I'm using her for my art work.
00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:34.000
And, she's not, you know, I'll send her a print - you know, I sent her a print, uh, for what it's worth.
00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:44.000
But it's - the morality of it is questionable. Uh, and I'm not proud of that.
00:36:44.000 --> 00:37:01.000
But on the flip side, it's amazing how many people are flattered and honored and happy for the attention, and, and, we have great experiences and everything's okay in the end, and it's really, you know, not that criminal. So -
00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:05.000
[[audience laughter]]
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:13.000
[Audience Member] Could you talk about what it is that appeals to you when you're evaluating a particular subject in terms of whether you're interested in taking their photograph?
00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:26.000
Yeah! Um, like how do I decide - yeah, I mean, it's sort of like the question: I'm looking out at all of you, like, which one of you would I photograph, and why.
00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:35.000
And, I mean, the analogy I make is: Okay, we're in a crowded bar right now, which one am I attracted to.
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:40.000
So, cause you're attracted to some - you know, in the crowded bar you're attracted to someone, why is that?
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:47.000
Well it's cause my mother looked like this - you know, it's very complicated, but you're attracted to certain types of people.
00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:55.000
And, you know, it's not - it's a different kind of attraction, but it's there, and I - so it's not so definable, you know.
00:37:55.000 --> 00:38:11.640
I mean you learn over time it's, I mean it's one of the reasons models are tall [laughs], is because this thing happens, and you realize it photographically, tall skinny people do something in a camera that reacts, it's weird, um.
00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:20.000
Alec Soth: You know, so yeah, really unusually tall people I'll photograph them every time, you know? But that's not my number one
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:22.000
{Audience #1} Specially in the font?
00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:25.000
Alec Soth: Yeah, tall people in the font, that's my next book.
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:28.000
[laughter]
00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:30.000
{Audience #2} Well thank you, Alex.
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:37.344
Alec Soth: Great, thanks a lot [audience claps]
