subject echo: that pensive gaze

when i saw the top image (taken by Jocelyn Lee) of Dr. Rachael Phelps in a New York Times Magazine article on "The New Abortion Providers" it brought to mind Hellen van Meene's photograph of another gazing lady.

the photo pair gives me the uncanny thought of van Meene's teenage subject—with her blond curls, set mouth, baroque hand gestures, and her expressive and introspective gaze—growing out of her awkward adolescence (van Meene's specialty) and into the visual role of the calm and caring doctor.

in the Times article, Dr. Phelps speaks about how chronic pain she experienced as an adolescent girl is what led her to her path as a doctor at Planned Parenthood.

i think you can see the deep feeling we associate with adolescence transform into empathy—on the part of both the subject and the viewer—in the images above.

subject echo: hair in branches

lately i have noticed a lot of ladies with their hair tied up in branches. it makes for pretty, romantic images. and perhaps it makes for thinking about girls, gender and long hair, nature, ties, and other metaphorical tangles. but what is it all about?

Julia Fuller-Batten's work (above, middle) is all about adolescent girls, so it would make sense to me if Hellen van Meene (top) were an influence. and Steffanie Halley, recently featured on Conscientious, is a recent SCAD grad whose project places women in the natural landscape... another theme we've seen a lot of lately.

my personal instinct would be that the bottom two are echoes—conscious or subconscious—that serve as aftershocks to the power of van Meene's image.

however, one commenter on Shoot! said that the second image above is a "direct reference" to Harry Callahan. is this true? if so, he would have set the trend off then, maybe even 50 years ago. but i am skeptical. i've seen Eleanor's hair, spreading out wet and stringlike. i've seen Eleanor's face, superimposed over grasses and branches. but i don't know an image of Eleanor's hair tied up into branches.

anyone care to school me? (or the commenter?) or share any other thoughts on this theme?


p.s. reader Suzanne's comment (below) is so right on—i definitely think that Sally Mann's "Yard Eggs" is another major influence here. the composition (and symbolism) is a little more complex than the three above, but the hair getting caught in the branches is definitely a punctum. it made me realize i've seen this image online, but not sure i have seen a print of it. the resolution of the jpeg is a bit soft, and i would love to see the detail better, especially in how the hair is caught (and not just blowing). thanks Suzanne!

subject echo: pink sweats

a progression of melancholy ladies in pink sweats, from Amy Stein to Hellen van Meene to Alec Soth...

out of print

i was surprised to read that Hellen van Meene has called the adolescents she photographs "objects to direct and guide," and "simply material for me." i like the juxtaposition of her nonchalant-sounding attitude and the care, trust, and exactness that comes across in the relationship between the photographer and the subjects in her images.

i saw a single, damaged copy of Portraits by Hellen van Meene at Aperture, and asked if they had any undamaged books in stock. they checked and said no, but I that could order one online. oops—their website says "Temporarily Out of Stock," but Photo-Eye and others say "Out of Print." i hope they are reprinting. i don't know too much about the photography book publishing business, but it is always disheartening to realize that great monographs often have initial print runs of 2,500 - 5,000 copies. photographs and images seem so universal to our lives today, but obviously the market for art photography in book or print form is infinitesimally small.

it reminds me of poetry (which i think might have more in common with photography than photography has with other visual arts, but that's another topic). poetry is a familiar form to most folks, we read it in school, but most contemporary poets would be happy to sell 1,000 copies of their book.

still, when i see books like Hellen van Meene's and Alec Soth's Sleeping by the Mississippi drift out of print, i do hope that second printings or paperback editions are on the horizon.

(update: a very nice person found me a copy of van Meene's monograph. :-)