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Photo: Larry Fink

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Tony Ward

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LARRY FINK INTERVIEW

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TW: Taking pictures for Conde Nast titles such as Vanity Fair and W is an aspiration for many photographers around the world. What is your advice to those photographers that share similar goals and aspirations?

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LF: Watch out for what you ask for….. it might ask more from your soul than you would be comfortable with giving up…

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TW: Are you specifically referring to contractual agreements with the publishing house? Work for hire agreements and the like? When a photographer shoots for Conde Nast, who owns the rights to the picture?

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LF: Never have i given my copy write to anyone…….. but some other more desperate types have sold the apple with the tree…

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Photo: Larry Fink

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TW: You’ve photographed a large variety of people from all walks of life over the course of your career; where do you draw your inspiration from these days?

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LF: …….Inspiration comes with breakfast….. and an obsessive need to merge within the soul of each who I am attracted to.. the shape of the pictures is constructed within the moment of impulse…

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Photo: Larry Fink

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TW: What was the most fun assignment you’ve ever worked on? What was the worst?

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LF: Over the course of 56 years there have been many assignments which were fun but the deeper truth is that each and any job I have ever taken and done has been vital to my life and craft…working under contract with Vanity Fair was a very good time…

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TW: Which photographers did you look up to when you were in your teens and first learning the craft? Who do you admire today?

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LF: Henri Cartier Bresson… Simpson Kalisher… Bruce Davidson, Lisette Model, Brassai… Today’s workers could be Gilles Peress…. Mitch Epstein, and Debbie Flemming Caffery.

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Photo: Larry Fink

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TW: How did your growing up influence the way you frame a shot? Were your parents artistic and teach you to interpret the world through composition and structure, via the lens of a camera?

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LF: I was reared by leftist parents with a deep rigid appreciation of art and music ……. It was of great inspiration to be cuddled within culture…

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Photo: Larry Fink

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TW: Henri Cartier Bresson was known for the “decisive moment”. In your picture making, the “indecisive moment” seems to be your hallmark. Which visual standards must be met before you decide to make a print for the world to see?

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LF: Indecisive is not something that I am known for and if the images are such then they fail… visual standards are fleeting and fixed…. The answer to the question is a dissertation which I will not write here.

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Photo: Larry Fink

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TW: During your recent talk at the University of Pennsylvania you mentioned you were beginning to explore the use of the digital camera? How will the new medium transform your interpretations of new ideas, concepts or assignments?

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LF: Creative visual promiscuity……. Is not a sin……… it opens up my photographic eyes by its ease of experimental rendering ..

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Photo: Larry Fink

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TW: You’ve been teaching at Bard for decades: what do you find most rewarding or challenging with regards to the instructor/student classroom experience?

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LF:………………………………………….i love kids and fear for the future of culture amongst other things….. I teach in order to contribute to the richness of life experience… I teach in order to learn .. each student is a lesson…

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Photo: Larry Fink

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TW: You’ve accomplished so much in your storied career, from one man shows at the Museum of Modern art, to the glossy editorial pages of W and Vanity Fair: what is the next big goal or desire for Larry Fink in 2013?

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LF: I have no goals. In the beginning we wished for Revolution, a new spirit for man… but we have not gone there in fact. We here in the USA are the bastion of reaction and Art is dominated by commerce not Soul…… so the essential goals have been squelched. However each picture has the possibility of being a miracle even if it is not often received as such…. Of course I have projects and books in mind. One thing which is interesting, as well as I have been respected I have not had a retrospective show in a major venue in my country the USA….. I would Love to do that before I die. That said my health is sound so we have time.

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Photo: Larry Fink

Photographs by Larry Fink, Copyright 2013

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Editor’s Note: Larry Fink is a professional photographer of 45 years. He has had one man shows at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Musee de la Lausanne Photographie in Belgium, and the Musee de l’Elysee in Switzerland, amongst others. He shows in galleries regularly in New York, Los Angeles, and Paris, France. Along with two John Simon Guggenheim Fellowships in 1976 and 1979, and two National Endowment for the Arts, Individual Photography Fellowships in 1978 and 1986, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the College for Creative Studies, College of Art and Design, Detroit, 2002.

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Larry Fink’s photographs are currently on display in 9 Perspectives on a Photography Collection, Arthur Ross Gallery, the University of Pennsylvania from November 10, 2012 to January 27, 2013. To learn more about Larry Fink’s Photography log on: www.LarryFinkPhotography.com.