Paying Attention Anyway

Who better to take to a photography gallery talk than a photographer?

When I picked him up off the street (don't ask), he had his newest camera with him, although he was still trying to figure out where he could find film for it.

Admittedly, that's a bit tougher than it was for the photographers of the '30s and '40s.

VMFA's Jeffrey Allison was leading a gallery talk called "A Singular Gesture: Dorothea Lange" about the practitioners of social documentary photograph currently on view at UR.

More specifically the incredible stable of photographers in the employ of the Farm.Security Administration.

You know, back in the day when our government helped support struggling artists during hard economic times.

Allison began by explaining the difference between photojournalism and photo documentation.

"Photo documentarians end up living the life they were shooting," he explained.

Speaking of photographer Lewis Hine's work, which always pushed for social change through imagery of the modern workplace and technology, Allison reminded us that this was during a time when viewers didn't question the veracity of a photo.

Also known as pre-Photoshop.

He spent some time on Mike Disfarmer who'd changed his last name from Meyers to Disfarmer the better to disassociate himself from his agrarian roots.

Unlike Hines, his work wasn't about social causes; he was just a workaday guy shooting heartland folks.

What I found most interesting was that there's currently a "Disfarmer Project" going on in the same area of the country with two photographers seeking to document descendants of Disfarmer's original subjects.

We saw some of uber-photographer Walker Evans' work, all tightly controlled and brilliantly composed "like a visual tone poem," according to Allison.

His pictures were works of art first and social documents second.

I was surprised to learn that Evans had worked in Fredericksburg, making him the only one with a Virginia connection in the show.

Looking at a photo of a sign advertising the movie "Grapes of Wrath," Allison asked of the largely student crowd, "How many of you have seen "Grapes of Wrath?"

More hands than you'd expect went up.

"The rest of you should watch it. You can see it on Netflix, for goodness' sake!" Allison instructed.

I'd love to know if any of them follow his advice.

When we moved to the gallery with Lange's photos, Allison asked of us, "Anyone come for the lecture at the opening of this exhibit?"

I raised my hand but didn't see any others raised.

Looking right at me, he instructed self-deprecatingly, "Don't pay attention to anything I say."

It was pretty funny, but I did anyway.

In fact, a lot of Allison's talk was approachable funny, not to mention wildly enthusiastic about photography in general.

I noticed that my photography friend seemed to be enjoying himself.

He may have left his camera in the car, but I've no doubt he was inspired to find some film for it real soon.

Today's lesson: It's never too soon to start documenting.

He may even end up with a work of art.