From VOICES: Folk Photography by Martha Cooper

Volume 26
Fall-Winter
2000

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Martha Cooper is a documentary photographer specializing in the art and folk culture of New York City. She is the director of photography at City Lore, and over the past twenty years she has worked on numerous projects with folklore organizations throughout New York and New England. Her work appears regularly in museum exhibitions, books, and magazines.

New York Folklore Society
P.O. Box 764
Schenectady, NY 12301
518/346-7008
Fax 518/346-6617
nyfs@nyfolklore.org

Folklore Photography
By MARTHA COOPER

What makes an ideal folklore photograph? The best ones are a combination of science, art, and journalism. The subject matter is beautifully composed, enhanced by elegant and interesting light, and yet significant details are visible. The photo is not only compelling but also chock full of important information. These photos are extremely rare — and difficult to shoot. It helps to know what you are after, and that taking folklore pictures can be different from other kinds of photography.

Professional photographers often shoot numerous rolls of films in different settings and under varying light to obtain a single publishable shot. Art photographers, on the other hand, who exhibit and sell their work in galleries, try to develop a recognizable style. Artists want their photos to express themselves; their work is usually more about them than about the subject matter. Scientists — medical photographers, for example — seek photos that show the subject clearly under carefully controlled conditions.

Photojournalists are interested in telling a story. Their editors like dramatic photographs to grab the reader’s attention. To this end the photographer may manipulate the picture away from the "natural" by using extreme angles, telephoto lenses, slow shutter speeds, or unusual lighting. Such photographers pride themselves on being able to make even the most mundane subject look interesting. Many of them like to say that they "make" not "take" photos, implying that their eye and mastery of photographic technique are what produced the shot.

The folklorist can learn from those photographers, but because our goals differ, we can set our own standards. The folklore photographer (usually a folklorist with a camera) may be working with only one medium-length, 50 mm lens, which can pretty much record what the eye sees. We can’t shoot ten rolls of film to obtain one perfect shot. Our needs are better served by taking one or two shots each of different examples of the same subject — say one photo each of twenty carvings or seven stages of a sacred ceremony, rather than twenty shots of one carving or the climax of the ceremony.

From the cover of Voices

One of the major differences is that the folklorist has worked for years to establish rapport with the subject. In exchange for exhibiting a sincere interest and promising to be accurate, folklorists gain permission to photograph unusual people and events. It’s therefore important for the folklore photographer to make sure the photos are accurately exposed, in focus, and framed so that the subject (wide-angle or detail) is clearly visible. Knowing what to shoot is more important than artistic expression or dramatic angles. It’s often helpful to make a list of photos to look for, such as "intergenerational," so as to make the most of any situation. The folklorist is also obliged not be intrusive and alter the event. Journalists often don’t feel the same responsibility.

For many reasons, the still camera is a wonderful instrument through which to record what’s in the world. Still photos are easy to duplicate, scan, file, or mail. No special equipment is necessary to view them. Often any photograph at all, no matter how poor, is useful in determining how things formerly looked. Even though literal documentation has fallen out of favor in photography circles, folklore photographers should first and foremost concentrate on "taking" photos. Straightforward images of interesting people and subject matter will survive as important documents for succeeding generations.

Martha Cooper:
The Chinese New Year’s photos on this page were taken with the help of Madeline Slovenz, who wrote her dissertation on Chinese lion dancing.

I have hundreds of slides of the Chinese New Year’s celebrations in New York City, and yet very few exemplify great photography as well as good folklore. It’s difficult to cover events over which one has no control, and it may take many rolls of film to get one really great photo. The photos here contain a lot of interesting and unusual information presented against a contextual background that enhances rather than detracts from the subject

In the cover photo, a figure wearing a rare unicorn head is dancing on exploding firecrackers. The strong diagonal of cloth held by the dancer, the burst of light and smoke at the dancer’s feet, and the slight blur of movement (1/60 sec. shutter speed) all heighten the dramatic effect. The background of Chinese shop signs clearly sets the image in Chinatown. Unfortunately, there are two distractions, the white car and the spectator.

The second photo also captures a rare moment — a lion balanced on inverted soup bowls in the process of "picking greens." The lion looks up as it heads for the stool to retrieve an envelope of money from a shopkeeper in return for a good-luck New Year’s dance. In the many years that we followed the lion dance, we saw bowls used as stepping stones only this once.

Aesthetically, the photo works because the white bowls lead one’s eye to the lion poised with its mouth open, and all eyes of the surrounding crowd are focused on the lion. As in the cover photo, primary colors are important — the red sweatshirts of the team members, the orange and red of the lion’s head.

Many photographers have taken equally dramatic photos of lion dancing during New Year’s celebrations, but Madeline helped me recognize the players and reach the places where the action was happening. These photos represent a true collaboration between photographer and folklorist.

Madeline Slovenz:
Studying an event that cycles only once a year presents many challenges, but collaborating with a visual anthropologist like Martha made my research and later analysis possible. To study these New Year’s processions, which simultaneously follow different paths through crowded streets, one needs a wide visual perspective. Martha’s immense collection of photographic records spanning many years helped me reconstruct the multisite event and also have first-rate photographs to illustrate my dissertation, conference presentations, and journal articles.
For more photos and text, go to http://photoarts.com/cooper/index2.html.

This column was published in Voices Vol. 26, Fall-Winter, 2000. Voices is the membership magazine of the New York Folklore Society. To become a charter subscriber, join the New York Folklore Society now.