I Like to Let People Create Their Own Narratives
Featuring Todd Fisher Words by Nastasia Khmelnitski
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An eye of a street photographer needs to be sharp and always be searching for an interesting topic to cover. Streets offer a wide variety of characters with an enormous amount of stories to tell and perspectives to show. Once one finds a particular interest and develops a vision, the next step is to get out there, letting the action happen, choosing what to capture, while providing an angle and a perspective on the reality at hand.
Todd is fully aware of the life that takes place on the streets of NY, he focuses on certain points in time of the people he sees bringing us narratives of the young love, an accident taking place, leisure, or a fight, a happy moment, or a second from the routine. His camera masterfully catches a bizarre angle, cutting a part of the story to focus on the least significant piece or the opposite choosing the main character who watches an occurrence unfold. We are provided an opportunity to learn something ephemeral about humans, an anthropology-like observation that brings in more depth to understanding our moments in life.
Todd Fisher is a photographer from NY. He has released several books, Winter is the latest, he also was part of several solo and group exhibitions in the US, Italy, and the Netherlands. We speak with Todd about cinematography and cinematographers, about the development of street photography throughout the years. Todd walks us through the most important milestones in his career and opens up on his approach to photography, books, and zines he has worked on, and shares an emotional story about the test with his Contax camera back in the days.
‘Cinematography is obviously such an integral part of filmmaking. Besides aesthetic values, it has so much to do with how the story is conveyed. It's kind of a shame that cinematographers are not given more credit for their contribution to a film’
Hi Todd, thanks for this opportunity to chat with you! What are your plans for this evening?
Thank you. Listening to some music and probably watch a movie later.
Any recent good series or films you have watched? What do you like about cinematography?
I think PEN15 is insanely funny. It sounds weird on paper, but there's some real talent involved in the making of that, and they've managed to pull it off brilliantly. I've also discovered a bunch of artist documentaries lately that I never knew existed. I just saw one on Joseph Beuys. It's fascinating for me to hear from the artist and people who knew them and to actually see them at work. Cinematography is obviously such an integral part of filmmaking. Besides aesthetic values, it has so much to do with how the story is conveyed. It's kind of a shame that cinematographers are not given more credit for their contribution to a film. We all know the directors, writers, and actors, but I don't think the average person (myself included) can, off the top of their head, name the cinematographer of all their favorite films. Obviously, it's important, directors tend to collaborate with the same ones over and over. Imagine Persona, Breaking the Waves, or A Woman Under the Influence shot by someone else. The list is endless, but those are a few examples that immediately come to mind.
‘I'm sure I was aware that there was this thing called street photography when I started, but to me, it was something from the past. Any book or exhibition of that subject was from work that was at least 30 or 40 years old.’
Street photography is a genre that is constantly changing its aesthetics, and different themes can be highlighted and focused on. What interests you the most in street photography? What are you discovering for yourself?
It's something that I never really set out to do. I'm sure I was aware that there was this thing called street photography when I started, but to me, it was something from the past. Any book or exhibition of that subject was from work that was at least 30 or 40 years old, and I think that's still true, for the most part. For me, it's more about grabbing moments or situations that inspire me. I think it's pretty much the same thing whether shooting people on the street, portraits, events, or inanimate objects. A few years back, a publisher approached me about doing a street photography book. That's really the first time that I worked on that kind of specific edit.
That book never came about, but I did produce a couple of dummies from that process, so maybe a version of that will happen someday. Last year I self-published a zine of some of that work, called Stroll. Instagram has really awakened me to what's out there as far as contemporary street photography goes. I had no idea there was so much incredible work happening. People like @arnold_daniel, @troyholden, and @todd__gross, to name a few. To me, these guys are every bit as valid as a Winogrand or Meyerowitz, but I don't see their work at MoMA or published by Steidl. Hopefully, Instagram is not the end of the road for this kind of great work. If you google street photographers, you'll see a long list pop up at the top of the page. Not many of those people are still alive, and most of the ones that are, aren't really still active. It's hard to understand how the same genre could be simultaneously celebrated and ignored based on what decade it was produced in.
Being a photographer, one tries to follow a certain path to widen the reach like commercial projects, selling prints, networking, publishing a book, working on editorials (in the fashion industry), being present on social media, exhibitions. What are the main milestones you think had a big weight in your professional development?
Self-publishing has been something that I've done since very early on, albeit there were some extremely crude experiments at first. Social media came along pretty soon too. Before Flickr, there was something called Fotolog. That was in the early 2000s. There was even a sort of ''best of'', coffee table book, published by them. I'm sure that was the first actual book that my work was featured in. I was asked to contribute to a bunch of that kind of multiple artist book projects that were happening in that period. The Vice photo book was probably the most well known of those. They also had a big group show at a Chelsea photo gallery for the contributing artists. So, that was the first real exhibition, at a real gallery that my work was in, not too long after that Capricious Magazine featured a selection of my work in their 3rd issue. To me, that was kind of a big deal to be included in that because it was my favorite photography publication. I guess these things can work off each other, either directly or indirectly. My first solo show was in 2006 in Brooklyn. Somehow a Korean fashion brand found out about the show and sent a rep to the opening who bought some work and commissioned me to do a shoot for them. The first time having a monograph published was with JSBJ as part of their Blue Zine series. So basically, that's a list of my milestones or "firsts", you could say. That kind of stuff pretty much just kept me motivated to keep working and continuing to collaborate with curators, publishers, and brands.
‘I don't go out for the sole purpose of shooting, but when something inspires me while I'm out in the world, I pull the camera out’
When you walk down the street and see a person, an occurrence, or just a part of the architectural background, what is it that stops you to raise the camera point and shoot?
There's definitely the obvious stuff, but a lot of the time, it's not so easy to explain. I usually have a camera with me. Most of the time, I don't go out for the sole purpose of shooting, but when something inspires me while I'm out in the world, I’ll pull the camera out. That could be on the street, in a store, in the car, at an event, etc. After the first shot, I'm sort of switched on to photographer mode, and I'll keep the camera out and be ready to shoot for a while.
What are some of your favorite places in New York? Where can one see you during the weekends?
My favorite places change over time. In my Brooklyn neighborhood, I used to really like to take walks and photograph near the east river. Up until about 4 or 5 years ago, it was a sort of an industrial no man's land with old factory buildings and random stuff people would leave behind. I always found something interesting there, but it's since been developed or in the process of and no longer inspiring to me. My photos are from everywhere I go, but I think Manhattan has more of a street photography vibe. I'm sure it has something to do with the density of it, with a lot more people out on the streets at all times. That said, I'm not sure I necessarily have more of that kind of work from there. I'm not even there much these days except for going to get my film developed. So most of my Manhattan street photography happens while I'm dropping off or picking up film.
‘I sometimes find that after working on something for a while, you can get stuck or burnt out on it, in those cases, it helps to put it down for a few days and go back to it with a sort of refreshed perspective’
When working on a book publication, what was the process of choosing a theme that will hold the story together and editing the right photos?
I've done various types of book and zine projects. Several were of photo series, so the theme was obvious with those. It really depends on what it is though, sometimes it requires more thought and other times more intuition. It can be pretty easy, or it could be a lot of work. I sometimes find that after working on something for a while, you can get stuck or burnt out on it, in those cases, it helps to put it down for a few days and go back to it with a sort of refreshed perspective. There's a kind of back and forth, trial and error process involved. I've also worked with photo editors on book projects.
What’s your favorite camera which you always turn back to?
I've always used point and shoot 35mm cameras. The Contax T3 has been a favorite for well over 15 years. It's not perfect, but I like it because it's tiny and has a great lens.
When shooting people and capturing certain moments in their lives, do you ever had instances when someone asked you to delete the photo? If so, what happened?
Every situation is different. The most memorable instance to me is when I first got my Contax. I think I may have been on my way home from the camera store with my first roll of film in it. There was a street performer in the subway station, juggling I think, not necessarily the sort of thing I'm interested in shooting, but ok for testing my new camera. I snapped a shot as I passed by. The performer stopped his act and charged after me, screaming that he's going to smash my camera. The guy was obviously out of his mind. He was enraged, screaming and throwing karate kicks in the air. That was a tough situation. Under normal circumstances, I'm pretty sure that the situation would have gotten physical, but for the sake of my new Contax, I was able to keep cool and talk the guy down. It's funny to think how much verbal abuse I'd have to take to protect that very same camera today, now that's worth 3 to 4 times what it was new. Recently I was shooting at a Halloween party and was surprised by how much shade I caught from people for photographing them. It was a strange vibe. That was one situation that I feel I should have had free rein.
‘I like to let people create their own narratives. Often their interpretations are much more interesting than what was really going on.’
Do you retouch the photos, or do you develop those yourself?
I get the negatives developed and scan them myself. I'll then color correct, adjust levels, clean up dust and scratches just basic stuff, as needed.
A lot of photographers build a narrative and a scene to deliver a certain message or aesthetics. What is a good story for you in street-photography? Does it have to have a mystery or include a middle of the narrative, a conflict?
There's always going to be some mystery or unanswered questions. I have never been one to title, date, or caption photos. I like to let people create their own narratives. Often their interpretations are much more interesting than what was really going on.
What’s next? Any New Year’s Resolution goals?
Looking ahead, I'd like to do more portrait collaborations. It's something that I really like to do but never do enough of.
