Interview to John Hames alias Chinese Johnny

JH : My name is actually John Hames.  I go by chinese johnny because i lived and taught in Beijing during 2007, and a few of my friends back here started calling me by that nickname.  Now, i use it for certain occasions, such as my flickr ID.

 

Currently, i am 58 years old (born 1950).  I bought my first camera in 1970, but i did not seriously become involved with photography until 1979.

 

At that time, i was living in London for a few months, and i saw a retrospective exhibit of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work at the Tate Gallery in London, in January of 1979.  i am sure you know his work well.  after seeing his work, i would never think of photogrpahy in the same way again.  it changed my entire perception of photography, and as i traveled throughout Europe and North Africa over the following 4 months, i began to see and to photograph the world in a different way.

 

When i returned home to Rhode Island (do you know this state in the US?) in April of 1979, i married, i built my first darkroom, and my first son was born in September 1979.  (He was conceived while i was living in London with my then-girlfriend, whom i married that year). Having a family meant that i spent most of my spare time at home, i worked days, my wife worked nights, and i would put the baby to bed and go down into my darkroom and work for hours. I studied the history of photography, and my early influences included Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Edward Weston, Harry Callahan, and W Eugene Smith.  i began photographing anything that interested me, but my main source of subject matter was my family, my son Seamus, and my wife.  We would also travel, which has always been my passion, but my work has always remained of a personal nature, and not commercial.

 

My second son, Sean, was born in 1986.  he soon became my newest subject.   »Two Sons » is a body of work that features images of the boys, along with their mother, and often some friends.  There are self-portraits included in the work.  It is my longest project, with over 28 years of photographs.
 
Along the way, i began to photograph other subjects, all of which have become separate bodies of work.  You may see some of these at my website (which is not finished, but shows much of what i have done over the years).  www.johnhames.com

 

I bought my first Holga camera in 1992.  i also bought a Leica M6 that year (28mm f/2.8 lens).
Before that, i used Kodak Tri-X with a Minolta X-700 and a 28mm f/2 lens.  a very nice lens it was. In 1994 i bought a Fuji GSW690III medium format camera (kodak tri-w 200 film) with a lens that was similar to the 28mm focal length. i shot primarily in b&w, always using Kodak Tri-X film in all of my cameras – i value consistency, and this film is very reliable.

 

I decided, after teaching myself photography, and studying with a few masters, such as Mary Ellen Mark, Eugene Richards, and Costa Manos, that perhaps i could teach others something of what i had learned.  I went back to school to study for a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Savannah College of Art & Design, in Savannah, Georgia, in 1998, which was a wonderful experience, and I was lucky enough to study with some educators whom I admire greatly.  I also became interested in film and studied to receive a second degree, but did not finish that one. My MFA in photography was completed in 2002.  During the time in Savannah, my life changed completely, with a divorce that had a great affect on me and my work. This is when i began the Striped Sheet Series.  It began as a self-portrait project using the Holga camera, which I worked on for three months in the winter of 1998. After that was finished, I never went back to photographing myself, but instead, I used the technique that I had perfected on myself, and began to photograph others. I photographed about 60 or 70 subjects for that project, between 1998 and 2001. This work was the basis for my MFA Thesis exhibit in April of 2000.

Striped Sheet Series China 2007 #6002 / John Hames © All Rights Reserved

Then, after coming back to Rhode Island (where my ex-wife came with my youngest son after our separation) I began teaching photography at several universities, and have continued to teach until the present.

I continued with other photographic projects after returning to RI, but not with the Striped Sheet Series. In 2006 I began to shoot with a Canon 20D digital SLR which was a gift from my new girlfriend.

 

I did not work on the Striped Sheet Series again until i went to China (where i taught photography at the Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology), and photographed only 8 subjects there before developing some health issues, for which i was hospitalized, and eventually forced to return to the US to recover.

 

Since then, i have shot mostly digital, but i have worked on scanning many of my older negatives and slides.
 
I have only recently begun to get back to this Holga project.

Since i began the project in 1998, the work has been exhibited numerous times,and published in a national photographer’s magazine in China in 2007.

Interview to Chinese Johnny

 

I : Photographer, is this the way you make your living ?

JH: Yes, what living I do make.  Most of my income is made through teaching contracts.  I have been teaching photography for the past 6 years. I also derive a bit of income from freelance work, print sales, and miscellaneous applications of my time.

 

I : Photography is a pretext to..

JH: Hmmm.  To discover the world.  To meet interesting people.  To satisfy my curiosity.  To express my feelings and thoughts.  To understand who I am, and what I am capable of doing, and to leave behind a legacy of sorts for my children.

 

I : Why do you shoot with a Holga? If you had to keep one camera with one lens only which one would you use ?

JH:This is a difficult question to answer, because I use different cameras for different reasons, and for different bodies of work.  For nearly 40 years, I used only analog cameras – my favorites being a Minolta X-700 with a 28mm f/2 lens.  I find that I ‘see’ photographically in wide angle, and the 28mm has always been my favorite, no matter what subject I’ve photographed.  My close second is my Leica M6 with a 28mm f/2.8 lens, but I only used that for about 14 years.

Next would be my Holga, which is a medium format camera.  I have owned and used Holga cameras since 1994.  I use it in both the 6×6 square format, and the 6×4.5 vertical format.  The format depends on the subject: for instance, the Striped Sheet Series in all square format, whereas other subjects, such as Savannah Streetscapes, and Provence Holga, are in the vertical format.

I have used a Fuji GSW690II fixed-lens medium format camera since 1995.  This shoots negatives that are 6x9cm, and I have used this for several bodies of work, including Substance & Memory – Historical Landscapes of England & Wales, as well as other bodies of work.

In 2006 I began to shoot digitally, and presently I shoot almost entirely in digital, and I use the Holga only sporadically, for certain projects.

My time these days are spent scanning my old negatives and slides to digital, where I am able to manipulate the image in Photoshop.  This manipulation is varied in its effect, depending on the subject matter and the format of the original image.

 

Striped Sheet Series Savannah, 1998 / John Hames © All Rights Reserved

I : Can you tell us more about your set « China Holga Striped Sheet Series, 2007 » ?

Please watch the entire series HERE

JH: There is not much more to say about this series, but an interesting note is that because I had been working on this series in Savannah, while at graduate school, I attracted the attention of a fellow grad student, who was from Beijing. He asked me in 2000 if I would come to China and work with him, but it wasn’t until 2007 that he was able to find a teaching job for me. When I went to China, it was with the understanding that I would continue this project over there, which I did, but for health reasons, my visit to China was cut short, and I returned the US later that year.
The work has always been about intimacy, about relationships, and about how we view those that we are attracted to. For me, it has been female subjects, but it’s not really about the individual subject. My aim has always been to keep the same “feeling” from subject to subject, and session to session, no matter if it was Savannah, Dallas, Los Angeles, or Beijing. That’s why I’ve chosen the consistent setting, and light, and even the clothing (or lack thereof) remains similar. Rather, it’s about the connection, the intimacy of the situation, and about how we bring so much of our own perception to the viewing of the work. For some, it becomes uncomfortable, for others it is beautiful and alluring, even arousing. I find that the discrepancy in our view of the world, in our personalities, and in our feelings toward others, has a lot to do with how the work is viewed and accepted. It can be challenging to some, but I would never shy away from creating work that is challenging. I think the best art is both a challenge and a wonderment. The opposite sex has always been both to me. Like it or not, art must affect us in ways that are new and intense, in very real ways, if it is to be remembered.

 

I : What’s the nicest thing someone has said about your photos?

JH :An interesting question.  Eugene Richards once told me that I had a surprisingly good eye.  Mary Ellen Mark described my work as “always personal, always interpretive,” and urged me to continue in the direction that I was going, rather than try to find commercial work.  She felt that commercial work would dull my edge, and prevent the type of experimentation and personal interpretation that I brought to my photographs.

 

I had a fellow student once tell me that my work was the most powerful, and challenging, of any student at SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design), and it was satisfying to think that it would have this effect..

 

And another student told me, when she was describing my Striped Sheet Series, that someday, there would be a book about the history of portraiture, and my Striped Sheet Series would be used as an example of how portraits should work.

 

Perhaps the best compliment came from my youngest son, who once asked me, “Why are your photographs always so sad?” I think about this still, and yet it does not make me sad to hear this. Rather, it was a confirmation to me, that the photographs actually have an emotional impact on the viewer, which is exactly the reason behind their existence. If my son thought they were sad (he was only 12 when he said this), then I knew that I had succeeded in communicating certain ideas with the work.

 

I : Where do you look for inspiration ? Do you have any special theme to focus on ?

JH: I think my inspiration comes from an undeniable curiosity in the world, and in certain subjects that I see as being essential to an appreciation and understanding of our place in the world.  I have an appreciation of history and historical landscapes and cultures, of the natural world and of traditional societies.  I have an appreciation of the opposite sex, and of the history of photography.  But I also realize that I am just one man, and I don’t have any pretense about the effect of my images on the world. There is much more for me to learn, many more places to visit, and many more people that I would like to meet, and perhaps even photograph. The world inspires me. And the other artists, both photographic, musical, painters and filmmakers, all inspire me.

 

I : Where do you see your work going in the next year and in the future in general?

JH: I have no idea.  I am planning on publishing some books, and I plan to continue to explore my older analog work via Photoshop, with digital output.  I would like to continue teaching, but that has been a frustrating endeavor for a middle-aged white male in today’s politically correct culture.  After 7 years of trying, I still have not been able to find a full-time teaching position (for photography) anywhere in this country.  I would like to travel more, to continue making photographs, and perhaps I may try to combine these two passions with another line of work, in another country.  Someday, I hope my work will exist without me, but for now, I still have a long and winding road to follow, and I’m not finished with it.

 

I : Your favourite movie ?

JH: There have been several “favorite” movies in my life.  At one time, I think I would have said Zorba the Greek, or Doctor Zhivago, or 2001: A Space Odyssey, or Local Hero.  Perhaps today, I would say The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  Most of them have something to do with a journey through life, with choices to be made, and all are beautiful to watch.

I am very influenced by music, and listen to everything from Hank Williams to Jimi Hendrix, from the Beatles to Beethoven, Indian and Chinese classical music, Sigur Ros to the Who, Brian Eno to Bob Dylan, and Ali Farka Toure and King Sunny Ade to Arcade Fire.

Before traveling to new places, I usually immerse myself in the music and writing of that place, to get a sense of history and culture. It helps to form images in my mind, and it’s always interesting to see if the images that I make are anything like those that I imagined. Usually, they aren’t. But that’s the fun and challenge of travel, the inspiration and the discovery add up to new images.

 

I : The last time you dreamt about photography ? What happened ?

JH: I don’t think I have ever dreamt about photography.  Isn’t that interesting?  I dream about travel, about searching, and about failing to find certain things, but never about photography.

 

I : One quotation?

JH: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

 

I : Can you present one picture that really tells you something.. ? (or one photographer)

JH: One of my own pictures?  Or one of someone else?  If my own, I would probably choose this picture (you can see it right below), called “In the Temple of Apollo.”  It was taken in Corinth, Greece, in 1989, and is of my two sons.  It says most everything I could say about them!

John Hames © All Rights Reserved

If someone else’s image, there are many that I find significant and wondrously satisfying, but perhaps today I might choose the image by Harry Callahan of his wife Eleanor.  It is simple, it is beautiful, it is mysterious, it is evocative, and it is real.  It accomplishes all the goals that a great photograph aspires to.  It is one image that, once you have seen it, you will never forget.

Harry Callahan © All Rights Reserved
 

I : Anything special to add ?

JH: Yes, I want to thank all of my friends and family that have allowed me to continue being who I am, that have supported my endeavors, and have allowed me to photograph them over the years, and around the world.

Also, I think it would be pertinent to tell you what aspect of photography attracted me to this visual art in the first place. Of all the visual arts, photography is the one that deals exquisitely and finally with the ‘moment.’ Its dependence on that fraction of a second, and the ability to freeze for eternity that split second when the photograph ‘exists’, is what separates photography from all of the other visual arts. It does what painting and drawing and sculpture cannot. It is forever tied to the present, without regard to the past or future, and the resulting image reflects not only the specific moment, but, if it is truly successful as a form of communication, it references (through symbolism and suggestion) a more universal message, the ultimate experience of what it is like to be alive in this world.

 

Thank you!

 

Sincerely,

 

John Hames

Rhode Island

July 28, 2009