86 / lookingglasszinelookingglasszine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/duggan.pdfAnsel Adams, Minor White, Frederick Sommer, Robert Heinecken, Judy Dater and Jack Welpott. Sobering that

86 / lookingglasszine.com

Ansel Adams Workshop, Tucson, 1975 by Michael DugganAll photographs courtesy © the artist

no. 10 looking glass / 87

TALES FROM THE LENS

by Michael Duggan

The Center for Creative Photography organised a week-long workshop in Tucson, Arizona that ran the gamut from inspiration, to anguish, to devilment and everything in between. The players in this drama included those at

the pinnacle of the profession; Ansel Adams, Minor White and Frederick Sommer. There were lectures and seminars with Robert Heinecken, Judy Dater, Jack Welpott and Tom Barrow along with the great author and advocate Peter Bunnell. There were also those who just gaining traction in the fine-art field; Richard Misrach and Alan Ross. Attendees were mostly very serious about their calling in the field and all were looking toward the possibility of a career in fine-art photography – although most still had their ‘day job’.

Michael Duggan takes us on a journey back in time to 1975 to a workshop that included some of the most significant photographic icons of the 20th century. His story shares insights and historical nuggets and also reminds us of important truths. We step into the same photographic stream as those who went before us and yet that very stream is ever-changing.


Gardener in TeePee, Tucson, 1975 by Michael Duggan


The students mostly spent the week in private homes around town. Most of us were pushing the limits every day for what we could learn and the limits of social stamina every evening – and we immediately found ourselves in a

photographic family. No need to specify that it was film based. And we were young!

The first day started with a lecture by Ansel Adams and ended with a lecture by Minor White. Ansel elaborated on his concept that a negative is like a musical score with highs and lows, and nuanced moods – and that one skilled enough in performance could print a negative in a way that would do the ‘composer’ justice.

TALES FROM THE LENS

Minor did portfolio critiques by special arrangement during the week – if you dared.


#1. Ansel Adams, Norman Locks (then Director of the Ansel Adams Gallery Workshops) and Minor White#2 and 3. Minor White and Judy Dater

by Alan Ross


Minor’s workshop dealt with the connection of body movements to seeing. Certainly Minor approached his work from many different spiritual and con-ceptual directions over the decades. He taught how to take the energy

from the rest of the body and put it into the eyes – to enhance one’s vision beyond ordinary reality.

Minor did portfolio critiques by special arrangement during the week – if you dared. At the beginning he’d ask if your desire was to have him point out the quali-ties in your work that made it strong, or if you wanted to hear where there was deficiency, weakness or ‘lies’. Minor made this offer with little concern for your ego getting fat or keeling over dead from starvation. He spoke to the truth of each image. That was his way.

TALES FROM THE LENS

Dater still remembers “a kind of electricity in the air...”


Bamboo Fence, Nogales, 1975 by Michael Duggan


At the end of the third day Frederick Sommer gave a stunning lecture. He talked extemporaneously about his perspectives on photography in rela-

tion to the world of art. One of his rather thought-provoking statements was that art is the difference between the camera-recorded image and reality.

TALES FROM THE LENS

I still remember Ansel’s hands waving magically in the enlarger light.


Mission and Wired Window, Tucson, 1975 by Michael Duggan


The “dream-team” of all panel discussions took place on Thanksgiving day: Ansel Adams, Minor White, Frederick Sommer, Robert Heinecken, Judy Dater and Jack Welpott. Sobering that Dater is the only survivor of this panel today!

Dater still remembers “a kind of electricity in the air – with everyone being fully charged.”

While we had all been able to develop negatives from our photo shoots, it was not until Friday that we got to see them printed. Ansel did darkroom demonstrations

where he selected a negative from the attendees. I was lucky enough to have him print mine – ‘Mission and Wired Window’. He dodged and burned and worked with the contrast for this chal-lenging negative for hours. I still remem-ber Ansel’s hands waving magically in the enlarger light. Two of his trial prints

are still in my possession, and it is clear that the performance of this score required more practice. The digital control I have over that image now was never possible before and I can finally show it.

TALES FROM THE LENS

The artistic greats at our work-shop represented everything it took to contribute to the art of the 20th century up to that point.


Minor White and Dog by Michael Duggan


Dater filmed various scenes from the workshop, including Minor boarding his plane for home – recalling a rather foreboding feeling at the time. It was a short time later that Minor died. This film is still in the Archives at the Center

for Creative Photography but has not been transferred to DVD yet.

TALES FROM THE LENS


Richard Misrach, 1975 by Judy_Dater


In 1975 there weren’t that many serious photographers and it took a really serious photographer for anyone to see their work. Dare I ask the question as to whether Minor White’s work would be diluted beyond discovery today? It seemed then

that if we took the time to explore the creative process, enjoyed the source of what was created from within and dedicated ourselves to that creative thing necessary to our being, our work would be seen. The artistic greats at our workshop represented everything it took to contribute to the art of the 20th century up to that point.

The true meaning of creativity was discovered, more or less, by all – and the chal-lenge of constantly renewing the creative process in new directions was realized. There is always the need to go where others have not gone and do things that have not been done before.

TALES FROM THE LENS

Maybe the impact of our vision will make a difference when a difference is needed.


Bob Heineken, Tucson, Nov., 1975 by Alan Ross


It seems that the changing landscape over the last forty years might cast an in-formative light on earlier times. What is everyone doing today? What about an experience 40 years ago still stays with us and still influences us on a daily basis?

Could such an experience ever be reproduced today?

Our job as artists is to speculate on what is needed in this world and provide it. Maybe the impact of our vision will make a difference when a difference is needed. Maybe we will always be the needle, co-mingling with hay, maybe we will be found

and have our say on the broad stage - the stage has never been broader.

TALES FROM THE LENS

As artists, we need to bring to our viewers something that will find resonance deep within their souls...


Ansel Adams and Alan Ross, San Xavier del Bac, Tucson, November 1975 Photograph by Minor White, 1975, courtesy Princeton University Archives


As artists, we need to bring to our viewers something that will find resonance deep within their souls – to make a statement that they will not forget in an object with which they will live. These things I have learned to under-

stand better through decades of stewing over what first grabbed my attention at this workshop. Where does that fresh idea come from and how passionately have I tried to discover what I really wanted to say with my work? I think the more aware we all are of this process within ourselves, the more we have a chance to find a voice that will be heard!

“I explore the unnoticed graphic nature of places and things – taking the mundane and making it heroic – to elicit curiosity in the world around us by interpreting man’s and na-ture’s activity on this planet.” - Michael Duggan

TALES FROM THE LENS

Documents

86 / lookingglasszinelookingglasszine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/duggan.pdfAnsel Adams, Minor White, Frederick Sommer, Robert Heinecken, Judy Dater and Jack Welpott. Sobering that