NAU NUA: GREG GORMAN

Symbiosis

Self portrait © Greg Gorman

Greg Gorman was born in Kansas City in 1949. He studied photojournalism and graduated with a Master in Fine Arts degree in cinematography. He always was a passionate of rock music and once he had the chance to portray Jimi Hendrix, he started a long career as a portrait photographer of celebrities being published in some of the most important magazines in the world: Esquire, GQ, Interview, Life, Vogue, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Time, Vanity Fair, and the London Sunday Times. His artistic work includes music videos direction, television advertisements, and graphic design layouts for advertisers, and his vast portfolio has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world. He is currently presenting the exhibition Color Works at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin.

Photography, music videos, television advertisements, and graphic design, all visual contemporary arts. Why this preference for working with light?

Everything about my career began the moment I borrowed a friend’s camera in 1968 to photograph Jimi Hendrix in concert in Kansas City, Missouri. I was so enthralled with the entire process that I enrolled in the only photography course offered at the University of Kansas, which was a course in Photojournalism. From there, I ultimately continued my studies at the University of Southern California majoring in Cinematography where I began my affiliation with Motion Picture Lighting and my love of photographing people. My fascination with light was an evolutionary process developing alongside my own personal style.

Could you give me a definition of art?

I think art is difficult to specifically define. One could say it is in the eyes of the beholder as well as those of the artist-that which is created on an interpretive level as a means of communication.

You started studying photojournalism, where is the boundary between it and a more artistic work and which one gives you more satisfaction?

I feel Photojournalism is every bit as artistic when handled in the appropriate way as with any part of life's work. To deny that Photojournalism is art is to deny one’s own profession and that is not correct. Take photographers, James Nachtwey, Steve McCurry, David Alan Harvey to name but a mere few, and I would dare you to tell me that their celebrated works in the field of Photojournalism is not art. For myself personally, I have found my niche in a different arena. My most recent work, “Outside the Studio” is a foray into the world of Photojournalism once again and quite frankly (although very rewarding), I found it to be quite difficult. Let’s say something that I had become unfamiliar with over the years. I have found my personal work in the arena of the figure study as well as the connected portrait to be not only what I am comfortable and familiar with but an area that gives me great pleasure.

Where is the main difficulty in capturing the portrayed personality?

Breaking through the facade of personalities is always a challenge! They are most often more comfortable playing a character other than themselves and when it comes time to strip them bare of their alter egos, it becomes more of a task. They no longer have those superficial characters to mask their true persona. Spending my time primarily as a psychologist to come up or down to their level and win their trust and confidence is the real test to getting a connected portrait.

In your portraits, is there more from you or from the portrayed?

Shooting portraits is definitely a symbiotic process. Both parties need to be open and honest and willing to put their cards on the table. Most often this happens over the course of the shoot but there are times when no matter how much goes into trying to connect, the talent remains guarded. And as in human nature, I am not always able to reach inside and grab what I am looking for no matter how hard I try with all my tricks. Those are unfortunate moments but they are rare and few and far between.

You present the exhibition Color Works at the Helmut Newton Foundation. Was he one of your influences? What inspires you from his photography?

Helmut was always a great influence from the very beginning of my studies in Film at USC. I remember in the early seventies, going to Nicolas Wilder’s Gallery on Santa Monica Blvd. In West Hollywood to view the opening for his show, ‘White Women’. I met Helmut there and was totally awestruck by his mastery and command of the Photographic Image. The images as art left a strong impact on me as a young photographer and the fact that they illicit such a strong emotional response in me is one of the reasons I knew I had chosen the right path in my life’s journey.

Although the exhibition is a selection of your color works, it is obvious that you prefer to work in black and white. Why?

Throughout my career, the more commercial assignments were always, it seemed, to be in color. The more artistic endeavors in terms of campaigns for me were however created in Black and White such as the one for l.a. Eyeworks. I have personally always favored Black and White because it strips one bare of all the superfluous elements and forces one to look at the mere graphics at hand. I love the bold contrast between the two opposing tones-B&W!

Is there anybody you really love or would love to portray?

I have always wanted to photograph Brigitte Bardot. As a young boy I snuck into the movie theatre to see Roger Vadim’s, “And God Created Woman”. For me, she was the greatest of the female sex symbols and I have been fascinated by her ever since. Even to this day as she lives out her life without the artifice of plastic surgery but growing old in her own way, I find her to be an arresting subject.

Any bad experience?

Bad experiences are always best forgotten and not worthy of the time and energy it takes to express the regret.

Apart of portraits, which other fields do you prefer to explore?

My personal work has been more in the field of the figure study. Incorporating my strong style in terms of the relationship between my highlights and shadows with the silhouette of the human form gives me great pleasure.

Could you tell us a dream you’ve had while sleeping?

I often dream of being on various fishing trips as that is something I immensely enjoy. The catch and release, but the intrigue has held me captive since i was a very young boy.

Greg Gorman Color works
Exhibition at the Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin
From December 4th to May 22nd 2016

An interview by Juan Carlos Romero
Photo by and courtesy of Greg Gorman
www.gormanphotography.com
All rights reserved