photographing black people
Out of context: Reply #43
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- exador10
in abstrakts defense, i got what he was after pretty much from reading the title of this thread..could his approach been a bit different?..
uh, yeah, i guess..but in the end, he was just looking for some advice on a photoshoot..don't think he was looking to offend anyone in the slightest...in Carty's defense, i've had the good fortune of living in toronto, and getting to meet Carty a few times at NT gatherings, and Piperboy and I got invited to the launch of Lounge a while back, courtesy of Carty...
he's a wicked cool guy, and one of the nicest folk you'd ever want to meet..colour is just one of those things that can really piss ya off, even when it's totally unintentional..
---true story..
back in highschool, i was in a graphic design class in the mornings..only class of it's kind in ontario at the time...so kids from all over the area were bussed in, (such as myself) to this school to take design...
one of those kids was a guy by the name of Gary Russel..who happened to be black..on the first day of this class we were all sitting around, and the teacher ( a befuddled 60+yr old that was wayyyyyy more than just 'slightly' loopy....dude was practically senile) started talking about photography....colour, black and white, processing...shit like that....about how we'd be doing it all in class...
dude turns around and looks square at Gary and asks..
now, tell me son....do you and your family have any trouble taking pictures of each other?
no shit...
i just about fell off my fucking chair...
took every ounce of will power and biting my cheek not to laugh my freaking ass off...
can you fucking believe asking a question like that in that sort of context...in the middle of classroom in front of everybody?Gary, being the gentleman he was, and allready starting to get a sense of just how old and senile this guy was just smiled and said, no....we've got plenty of photo albums, and we all look just fine, thanks...
and in the teachers defense (he really was a nice guy after all, and new more about design and typography than any living person has a right to) he was actually curious..
understanding how light, shade and colour effect a photograph, he thought..hey...what an interesting question!!...and how lucky i am to have a young black guy to ask it too!!...the social aspect of centering out poor gary was sort of lost on him, you'll just have to take my word that he was a decent old designer guy that didn't mean anything by it...
wow...
long story folks..
sorry about that....cheers
ex