Floridian in Paris
My photo technique comes from inspiration of Robert Frank. (1924-2019)
In 1984, I became knowledgeable of him during my 3-week artist residency at Atlantic Center for the Arts, in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
I was accepted into this study with Drummer/Master Musician-Elvin Jones. Allen Ginsberg was the third artist in this residency. I knew who Allen Ginsberg was from seeing him in the Bob Dylan music video, Subterranean Homesick Blues. This was filmed by D.A. Pennebaker during Dylan’s first 1965 tour in England.
I knew zero about Robert Frank during the residency. My first introduction to Robert Frank was seeing him walking around the campus with a 1980s VHS video camera on his shoulder.
During the residency, I heard about his 1972 Rolling Stones documentary, Cocksucker Blues. This documentary came under a court order, which forbade it from being shown unless the director was present. There was a private showing of the film.
Frank’s photography also appears on the cover of the Rolling Stones’ album, Exile On Main Street.
I purchased my first 35-millimeter film camera in 1984, before the residency. I still have a few images of Elvin and myself. During the residency, there were Frank and student photo images exhibited in different rooms, shared by the three genre of artist. The concept of three artist is to collaborate in and out of their genre.
It would be years later before I became aware of Robert Frank’s book, The Americans. In 1955, Robert Frank secured a Guggenheim Fellowship to travel across the United States and photograph the American society.
83 of those images were used for his book. His road trip lasted 2 years. He took 28,000 photographs.
In 1957, Frank met Jack Kerouac and showed him the photographs of his travels. Kerouac contributed to the introduction of The Americans in the U.S. edition.
When his book and photos were published and reviewed they were criticized to be blurry, grainy, muddy exposures, drunken horizons and generally sloppy. That’s what attracted me to his images.
My concept and technique for my images in Floridian in Paris are improvised and spontaneous. I usually shoot without looking through the lens. I shoot incognito and under the radar. Unless it’s a object or landscape, only then, will I hand hold and look through the lens. Posed images are avoided at all cost.
In 1959, Frank had moved away from photography to filmmaking. He is the cinematographer for the 1959 Kerouac film, Pull My Daisy. That film includes Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and my friend, musician-composer- author David Amram. David Amram is also the composer for the film score.
In 2022, David is 91 years old. I recently saw him in a Youtube video with Willie Nelson for the Farm Aid Concert. He is probably the last from the documented Beat Generation, a term or movement they rejected.
I post these images to share. It’s also available as a pay what you like on my web site.
www.MichaelWelchPublications.com