CHRISTOPH KLAUKE | DOUBLE PORTRAITS

 Double Portraits  

Photograph (c) Christoph Klauke

Double Portraits  

Photograph (c) Christoph Klauke

Double Portraits  

Photograph (c) Christoph Klauke

Double Portraits  

Photograph (c) Christoph Klauke

German born Photographer Christoph Klauke, based in London, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brooks Institute of Photography in California. Over the years Klauke has gone on to work for many publications, including The New York Times Magazine, French Vogue and Vanity Fair, as well as solo exhibitions in London, Paris, Tokyo, Basel and Lugano.

His first book, The 28 Faces of Corinne Dolle, was published in 2011. I spoke with him recently about the upcoming launch in London of his second book, Double Portraits.

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EA: How long have you been working on your series, Double Portraits?

CK: I started Double Portraits with the intention of making a portrait photo book in early 2000. I had my own photo studio then, in an up-and-coming area of London called Spitalfields. After relocating to New York in the summer of 2001, I continued with the portraits in New York until 2004 and finally finished a third chapter on the West Coast in 2005. On returning to  London I thought I would be able to place the project with one of the specialist publishers but it proved impossible. I self-published my first photo book two years ago, as a form of trial run for the "Double Portraits" book.  I would recommend to other photographers to do the same. Although painful at times, it is incredibly rewarding to stay in control of the book production process.

EA: Are these portraits identical?

CK: No, the portraits are similar but not identical. There is a time lag of several seconds between the first exposure, the left photograph and the second exposure, the right photograph. All these portraits were taken with an 8x10" Deardorff camera, which requires using a heavy tripod. The left frame is focused and composed, the second is uncontrolled. The sitter knows that I am taking two pictures and is attempting to sit still. Since the depth of field in this close up setting is so shallow, there is inevitably some movement or at least a different expression in the second photograph. Combined together, the viewer's eye scans for differences and sometimes feels or imagines the moment in between.

EA: How did you arrive at this idea?

CK: Back in Spitalfields, in 1999, I was asked to exhibit in a small space, a former tailor's shop called "Made to Measure" in a Georgian house in Princelet Street.  I did a series of sittings with a local beauty and neighbor, and the first double portraits evolved. The images had to be printed large scale since the work could only be viewed from the street through the shop front window. Today, I am much happier working with small prints, closer to life size. 

EA: How large are the actual prints?

CK: The image size is 8 1/2 x 11" on 9 x12" Agfa paper, so just a minimal enlargement from the 8 x 10" size of the camera negative. The hand prints were made by Brian Dowling in London, close to the time of the sittings. Our intention was to produce a master set of reproduction prints for this book. Other than this set, I have a couple of spare prints of each image and that's it. We had no idea at the time of printing that the paper would disappear soon after. Agfa went bust and Kodak, which made the second most suitable paper stock, also stopped making the paper. It's worth mentioning that the photographs are reproduced 8x10" in size in "Double Portraits"; this is a homage to the 8x10" negative format.

EA: Who was involved with the making of this book?

CK: Stephen Male did the edit and sequencing of "Double Portraits", so when I met with Leon Krempel, I had a dummy with blind text in hand. It was suggested that I approach him with a view to writing the introduction because Krempel had curated and put together a very interesting exhibition and book called "Marlene Dumas: Tronies," where he contrasted historical paintings by the Dutch Masters with contemporary paintings by Marlene Dumas. Tronies are small, isolated paintings of heads. While a rigorous art historian interested in portraiture, Krempel was able to convey what the photographs feel like, as opposed to what they look like.

EA: The book has beautiful design details. Can you tell me a little about the printing, paper and binding?

CK: Lena Mahr is responsible for many of these details. She finished the book design based on the initial design direction by Stephen Male with great diligence. The book was printed by Optimal, one of the top printers in Europe. The paper we used is 115g/m2 Phoenix Motion by Xantur. In Germany the binding we used is called "Japanese binding", but I believe in English it is either known as pouch binding or French binding. Another term for the binding is Japanese fore-edge fold. Besides the obvious advantage of printing only on one side of the paper and having no 'show through', the pages lie almost perfectly flat when opened and don't close on themselves. I have to give the printer credit for this suggestion. It made a big difference for this project.

EA: Your book launch will be September 4th (at Claire de Rouen Books) in London. Any other future plans for this series?

CK: The "Double Portraits" book is really the finished work. There are only 750 books printed and all are numbered.  I would like to produce a sequel, which would involve spending a year or so in Africa, Asia and India, but this would require external funding. And who knows if Kodak survives. One day soon there may not be any film left to take these kinds of photographs.

ChristophKlauke.com

"The first portrait of each pair results from a carefully-established relationship between photographer and sitter. The second shot is taken a moment after the first, capturing the consequences, in the sitter, of becoming a ‘subject’. Sometimes these second portraits show us what León Krempel calls ‘sundered egos'. All of them describe the passing of time and, as such, allude to the way in which portraiture aspires to posterity."
  

DoublePortraits.com

  

Double Portraits. Photographs Christoph Klauke

A Limited Edition Hardcover. 156 pages, 56 photographs

First Edition, 750 numbered copies

Contact: Eudora Pascall: 44 (0) 7900 568 745

doubleportraits@gmail.com

DoublePortraits.com

JEFF JACOBSON: The Last Roll [Of Kodachrome]

 Diner, Lone Pine, California, 2009

Photograph © Jeff Jacobson

 Mt. St. Helens, Washington, 2008

 Photograph © Jeff Jacobson

 Motel 6, Kansas City, Kansas 2009

 Photograph © Jeff Jacobson

"For 35 years, photographer Jeff Jacobson has worked exclusively with Kodachrome film to create images of people and landscapes, mostly made in America, that push the boundaries of photojournalism to present a more poetic and subjective view of the world. Jacobson has described his approach to his photography as rooted in the world but having "one foot in the real world, and one foot somewhere else." His photographs, which are sometimes difficult to decipher, can be beautiful, dreamlike, theatrical, artful, meditative, or quirky, reflecting the artist's personal approach to his work."

"The work in The Last Roll was not a pre-planned concept, but rather evolved out of the blue as a result of timing. In December of 2004, Jacobson was diagnosed with cancer. He underwent chemotherapy treatment, and his life temporarily stopped. While recovering at his home in the Catskills, he was at first too weak to leave the house so he started shooting inside (something he would never have imagined doing previously), out the window, and as he regained his strength outside the house in his backyard, on the street, and by the river. After six months he took his first trip on a plane to resume photographing the rest of America."
 
"In 2009, while still working on the The Last Roll, Kodak announced that it was discontinuing the production of Kodachrome film. The last roll of the film that Jacobson had used throughout his career was processed in 2010. While grappling with his own mortality, Jacobson was working in a medium that had already ended."

"In his personal statement Jacobson writes: "A few days before Christmas, 2004, I was diagnosed with lymphoma. Some present. After each chemotherapy session I retreated to our home in the Catskills to recuperate. I began photographing around the house, as I was too sick to go anywhere else. As my strength returned, my photographic universe slowly expanded. Shortly thereafter, Kodak discontinued production of Kodachrome. I loved Kodachrome. It helped shape my photographic vision. I filled my refrigerator and wine cooler with the stuff and kept shooting. I have outlived my film. A few days before Christmas, 2010, I exposed my last roll."

"The Last Roll is Jacobson's attempt to answer his question "what do you do when you are presented with your own physical and creative mortality?" This beautiful and compelling body of photographs provides a nuanced, first person depiction of a cancer patient's changing perspectives on life, death, art and the world at-large. The colors in Jacobson's photographs of deer basked in car headlights, a lake at dusk, cranes in flight, a tree splattered with blue paint, Mt. St. Helen's, his wife looking out the window, a self portrait, are more muted than in his previous work as he moves into a deeper place of self reflection. Jacobson refers to photography as the fulcrum of his life, no matter what else is going on, and this feeling is celebrated in The Last Roll. The photographs are accompanied by a poem written by Jacobson's wife Marnie Andrews." (Courtesy of Daylight Books)

JEFF JACOBSON: THE LAST ROLL

THE CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT WOODSTOCK

Exhibition through June 16, 2013 

The Last Roll  

Daylight Books, 2013. Printed in Iceland by Oddi Press 

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THE CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT WOODSTOCK
is located in upstate New York in the heart of the Catskill Mountains

JEFF JACOBSON: The Last Roll + Melting Point

Photograph (c) Jeff Jacobson

Photograph (c) Jeff Jacobson

Shanghai, China, 2002 from the series Melting Point
Photograph (c) Jeff Jacobson

"In his book, Melting Point (Nazraeli Press, 2006), Jeff Jacobson writes of over 20 years observations of what he describes as “a meltdown period, when old norms of politics, religion and even photography are changing…. In working from the paradox of a curious melding of beauty and fear these photographs emerged.” Of Melting Point, Mark Feeney in the Boston Globe writes: “For all his theatricality, Jacobson is as much realist as expressionist. In strictly visual terms, these images are highly arresting. Seen also in technical terms, they become objects of wonder.”

from the series The Last Roll. Photograph (c) Jeff Jacobson

"In 2004, Jeff Jacobson was diagnosed with lymphoma...As Jeff recovered, “my photographic universe expanded to the yard, the street, the river and into Woodstock.” In 2006, Kodak announced it had discontinued the film, Kodachrome, that Jeff had used throughout his career. He purchased and stored as much film as he could. “Coming to the twin realizations that my time on the planet and my supply of film are both finite had a liberating effect on me.” Since then, Jeff has concentrated on what he holds most dear: his family, home and the earth. The Last Roll is a project that is just about complete and will be the content of his next book. Many of the images from this series will be seen for the first time at the Davis Orton Gallery."

Jac0bson's photographs are in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis MN, George Eastman House, Rochester NY and the Smithsonian Institute, among others. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Fortune, Time, Geo, Stern and Life. Jeff Jacobson Photography

Melting Point and The Last Roll

August 5– September 4
Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson NY