be there now / cartier-bresson at MOMA

Now is the time to get your analog self over to the Museum of Modern Art to see the new Cartier-Bresson exhibition. Henri Cartier -Bresson is the master of what he called "the decisive moment". The only decisive moment you're going to encounter is determining when to stop looking at this picture and moving on to the next one.

This is the perfect time of year for a Cartier-Bresson exhibition. The streets of New York are alive in spring and summer. For Henri Cartier-Bresson all streets everywhere were alive, and his eyes were always open, his fingers on the shutter always ready to capture what his eyes might see. There really is no collection of photographs like this - where one stands in front of every picture wondering "how did he get that?"

I can remember being introduced to the work of Cartier-Bresson around 1972, looking at the catalog for a 1968 exhibition at this very same MOMA. I spent hours with that book, I spent a whole weekend with that book, and I spent a year or two with that book. Looking through page after page, at the incomprehensible beauty of how a camera can translate life into art. I might as well have been a little kid gaping at a magician. I was literally shaken to the core.

This is an enormous show. Too enormous to take in with only one viewing. Perhaps you want to start with the tremendously engaging online version of the exhibition on MOMA's website here:

Cartier-Bresson MOMA

Online, you can view and read about the photos in the comfort of your own home. This will prepare you for being in a room with the actual artifacts - the prints made from the negative that was in the camera that was in the photographers hand, out there in the real world.

How do you comprehend how someone could conceive of taking the picture above - made in Cordoba, Spain in 1933? I don't know, but I offer what John Szarkowski wrote about it in his essential MOMA book "Looking At Photographs"  "This photograph concerns gesture, line, shape, scale, the flatness of the picture plane, and the difference between art and life. To say that the picture concerns these things does not, of course, mean that it explains them." 

All the monumental shots are here. The exhibition starts with an informative introduction to the various printing styles you'll see in the exhibition. But from there you're on your own, moving from room to room and various locations around the globe. The pleasure is in discovering the rare finds among the gems. 

I had never seen this picture taken in Mexico in 1963. This is one you really have to see in the gallery to appreciate - like viewing a movie in a theater instead of on your television screen. I stood starting at this one for about ten minutes, and it called out to me every time I passed through the room. You won't see everything on your first visit, but you will find your own new favorites - I guarantee that. 

Like this one from Shanghai in 1949. Startling. Wong Kar-wai anyone?

Here are a few from his journeys across America in the 50's and 60's. 

I must say that the layout of the exhibition is it's only drawback. The layout is a little too carefully arrayed for my taste.  The organization by themes tends to inhibit the pleasure of appreciating individual photographs, if you let it. Don't let it. Just keep your mind on each and every picture, much like they were taken - one by one.  Here is a quote from the master himself. It's from the introduction to that same 1968 Cartier-Bresson MOMA catalog:

"Sometimes one remains motionless, waiting for something to happen; sometimes the situation is resolved and there is nothing to photograph. If something should happen, you remain alert, wait a bit, then shoot and go off with the sensation of having got something. Later you can amuse yourself by tracing out on the photo the geometrical pattern, or spatial relationships, realizing that, by releasing the shutter at that precise instant, you had instinctively selected an exact geometrical harmony, and that without this the photographs would have been lifeless. But to apply a golden rule, a photographer's compass can be nowhere but in his eye." - Henri Cartier-Bresson 

I suggest that you hold on to this advice while walking through the MOMA galleries.  But however you go there - virtually or digitally - be there now.  And be prepared, for when you exit the museum, and step out onto the New York streets, everything will look like a Cartier-Bresson picture. You might want to carry your camera and your "photographer's compass". Oh, and btw Friday evenings at MOMA are free.

Where I Was At: January 1980 / Specials Press Conference

The Specials, NYC 1980

The Specials are in New York City this week for two highly anticipated shows at Terminal 5, so I thought I'd dig into the archives and pull out some pix from their Press conference at Hurrah's on January 25, 1980.

It was a mid afternoon affair, primitive by today's PR standards, that's for sure. I was in the midst of my Garry Winogrand "Public Relations" obsession - that was his show at MOMA of pictures at various press conferences. So I relished shooting this press conference with my flash. Jerry Damners  - who is in fact not on this current tour - is seen here alongside  the most excellent frontman Terry Hall, making for a "once upon a time" quality to these 30 year old photos - eeek. 

The Specials, NYC Press conference - January 25, 1980

photos © GODLIS

a little more Alex Chilton

Alex Chlton, onstage cbgb's 1977

Good to see Alex Chilton getting his due in the press this week. And honored to see my photo of him making the rounds. Been digging back through the archives, and so will share a few more pix I uncovered today, while listening to the delicious Man Called Destruction cd (Devil Girl, What's Your Sign, New Girl In School!!!). The color stuff is from the early 90's up near Grand Central Station. The b&w shots from cbgb's 77 days. 

Alex Chilton with Chris Stamey, CBGB 1977

ALL PHOTOS © GODLIS

Alex Chilton R.I.P.

Alex Chilton, Bowery 1977

I was just about to go to sleep early last night, when my 17 year old daughter came in to tell me the bad news. Sadie knew Alex Chilton & Big Star through the opening song on her fave That Seventies Show. She had met him about ten years ago (was she 7?) when I introduced her to Alex at a show he played under the Twin Towers doing a Box Tops set.  I met Alex in 1976-77 at CBGB's when he was living in the East Village. We were about the same age, which put me in high school while he was the lead singer on "The Letter." Maybe we met at the Ocean Club before CBGB's - I'm not sure. The picture I took there was definitely shot before the more famous one in the rain out on the Bowery. I don't remember whose idea it was to go out to the median strip on the Bowery to do that shot - mine or Alex's. Most certainly it was on a whim or a dare while talking over beers at the CBGB's bar. Definitely not planned too far in advance. Just run out in the rain, and try an idea out, then go back for another beer. We'd tried other shots indoors and out, but neither of was satisfied. So when I developed the film and saw that strange drop of rain that had landed on the lens in what couldn't have been a more perfect spot, I was ecstatic. That was it - and we both knew it. Soon it got used as the cover for his independent single "Bangkok" (with a great version of the Seeds' "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" on the flip side). Maybe Alex had that in mind all the time we were shooting. I don't know. 

We didn't talk a lot about music on most nights. We talked a lot about photography. His friend William Eggleston's  color show at MOMA had just shaken up the photography world. Alex, who was working with the Cramps was well aware of my low-light photography style, and made me do a shot of him and the Cramps by candlelight - a nearly impossible task that amused him to no end. He was playing around town that summer with Chris Stamey, who with Peter Holsapple would go on to form the DB's. He was producing the Cramps first album. He certainly fit right in with the burgeoning NY punk scene. Years later, I did some shots of him at Grand Central Station, when he was passing through town. He looked the same - an eternal teenager, his mind always with you and on something else both at the same time.

This morning, I spent my subway ride listening to Big Star.  Lost in the beauty of 'Thirteen' - "Won't you tell your Dad get off my back / Tell him what we said about Paint It Black...Won't you tell me what you're thinking of /would you be an outlaw for my love".  Avoiding the gaze of other passengers, I found myself teary eyed at the loss of another friend. Never to be seen again sucks.  And then on came 'September Gurls', and I was a kid again. "September gurls do so much / December boys got it bad".  We were all kids again.  I smiled and walked off the fast train.

Alex Chilton, The Ocean Club, 1976-77

Alex Chilton with the Cramps 1977

Eternal Sunshine of the Godless Mind

     Michele Gondry , NYC - March 15, 2010

Michele Gondry, director of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', came to town last night for an in depth talk at the Walter Reade Theater (NYC's best screen & projection system).  I shot some pix, listened to stories about Bjork, Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, and the Green Hornet, and got to see his black & white Levi's commercial (with a nod to Walker Evans & O. Winston Link, I believe) on the big screen.

For your viewing pleasure, I present it here...

Michele Gondry, Walter Reade Theater

waterloo sunset revisited

Terence Stamp, NYC 2009

"Changed my life"

Excuse my absence - I have been watching way too many films lately.  Gazing, like Ray Davies, on my very own Waterloo Sunset.  It's spring preview film season - the projectionist keeps throwing them up there and I keep watching. For me this happens twice a year. In the fall, it's the New York Film Festival rollout. And in the spring, it's New Directors / New Films. At a pitch of between 2 and 5 films a day - "as long as I gaze on Waterloo Sunset I am in paradise." This week alone I've been transported to the Russian Arctic, Iran in 1953, Warhol's New York and the world of Candy Darling, Costa Rica and Argentina.

This morning I spent my subway ride giving my eyes a rest, while listening - over and over and over - to Waterloo Sunset -  an astounding single that just gets better with each listening. Riding the subway, I felt as one with the lines -  "millions of people, swarming like flies round Waterloo underground." Then I recalled that the line "Terry meets Julie, Waterloo Station, every Friday night", is reportedly based on Terence Stamp and Julie Christie, stars of the then current film 'Far From the Madding Crowd.' Not the theme song of the movie - just inspired by the whole notion that these two stars were in the film.  God save Ray Davies. His songs belong in films - i.e.  Wes Anderson made excellent use of "This Time Tomorrow" in his recent 'The Darjeeling Limited', and I heard he checked around with film buffs to make sure it was never used in any films before.

So last fall, when the NY Film Fest was showing 'Red Riding',  the British TV version of the very popular serial killer books by David Pearce 'Red Riding Quartet',  those in the know showed up for the one-off 6 hour screening. And one of those spotted at the theater was Terence Stamp. My job was to ask him if I could shoot a picture of him. He seems tough, but was very gracious. And though I could not get myself to ask about the Kinks song, I had to tell him that my favorite film of his was Toby Dammit, directed by Federico Fellini, based very loosely on an Edgar Allen Poe tale 'Never Bet the Devil Your Head', in which he plays a burnt out British star accepting a meaningless award in Italy in order to pick up a free Ferrari. Mr Stamps' response to my praise was - he looked me right in the eye and said "Thank you - That film changed my life". He was so sincere, I was taken aback.

And so what does all this add up to? Nothing except that Terence Stamp is way cool and Waterlloo Sunset is an amazing song.

"As long as I gaze on Waterloo Sunset I am in paradise."

Positively Fourth Street - Snow Dazed in NYC - February 1963

Watching the snow - gently falling as they say - after trudging around in it on this winter afternoon. Navigating all the icy slush on the NYC corner crossings, got me to thinking about one of my favorite album cover shots, the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan picture taken by Don Hunstein back on that snowy day in another February in another century - the year 1963.

photo by Don Hunstein

Things don't look all that different around that part of the neighborhood nowadays. Jones Street betweeen Bleecker and West 4th, where the picture was shot is still a pretty quiet block. Just around the corner at 161 West 4th Street is the apartment where Dylan and girlfriend Suze Rotolo were living. So it wasn't much of a hike in the cold slushy weather to do the iconic photo session - ain't that always the way.

161 W. 4th St.

Last summer, when I got a free giveaway photo by Don Hunstein with my purchase of Dylan's recent 'Together Through Life' album, I immediately recognized the location to be 161 West 4th. The little stairway stoop in front of the building hasn't changed that much - as you can see. This photo was probably taken at the beginning or end of the session - leaving or returning to Dylan's apartment. Even the railing is still painted the same color. To see how little has changed in that little spot, while looking down those steps through the viewfinder was to look time in the eye.  

1963 photo by Don Hunstein

2009 photo by Godlis

But wait  one more thing! At the 2007 NY Film Festival screening of Todd Haynes' Dylan film "I'm Not There", I noticed Suze Rotolo herself - looking like, uh Suze Rotolo, quietly hanging around waiting to say hello to the director. I hesitantly asked if I could step into their moment, and do a photo. They said yes and here it is. Don't think twice, just shoot.

Suze Rotolo & Todd Haynes, NYC 2007

It's alright Ma..."Mother: She'll Stop At Nothing"

Just that tagline alone should be enough to convince you to buy a ticket to Korean director Bong Joon-ho's new film, 'Mother'.  Look at that boy in the poster, that only a mother could love. He's accused of murder, and he's - I'm sorry Sarah Palin - somewhat retarded. So his mother is the only one going to bat for him. And she spends most of the film relentlessly tracking down the real killer - with an intensity that only a mother can muster. Established Korean actress Hye-ja Kim keeps the whole train rolling from the opening shot. Don't miss the begining!

You may have seen director Bong Joon-ho's 2006 film"The Host", in which a slimy undersea creature created by toxic chemical dumping in a Korean river, goes into shark attack mode on the city of Seoul, resulting in Bong Joon-ho being called the Steven Speilberg of Korea. When that movie had it's premiere screening at the 2006 New York Film Festival, Alice Tully Hall was packed with the local Korean community for the midnight screening - they definitely knew what was up.

This Friday February 26, Bam Cinematek in Brooklyn is bringing this very cool director to town for a screening of "Mother" in advance of it's March 12th opening, and a five day retrospective of his films. You better not miss it. Snow or no snow, I'll be going out there tonight to see his great early film  "Memories of Murder". I saw "Mother" this past fall at the 2009 NY Film Festival, where I took these pictures of Bong Joon - ho. I'll be back there tomorrow to hear him talk in person. You be there or be square.

BAM CINEMATEK   BAM INFO

Bong Joon-ho, NY Film Festival 2009 © GODLIS

Where I was at: CBGB's June 2006 / Sonic Youth soundcheck

On June 13, 2006 - 4 months before CBGB's closed - Sonic Youth, set to release their new album 'Rather Ripped', played the club, and filmed the video for the song "Do You Believe in Rapture" that night. I was asked by director Braden King to shoot stills during their set to incorporate into the video along, with super 8mm film footage superbly shot by Jem Cohen.

This photo was taken during the sound check that afternoon, before the fans crowded in down front. 

Where I was at: Tower Records NYC, October 2005

Does anyone remember Tower Records? Does anyone even remember stores?  It was October 2005 when Patti did a live performance at the Tower downtown in NYC for the special 30th (!) anniversary edition of Horses. I was digging through some old digital files - you know how they can accumulate and get buried in the intestines of your computer, no matter how good your filing system is - and this one jumped out at me. Man, that looks like a long time ago already. 

Mystery Train to D.C. / Return to Sender

This is just too good to be true. A whole website dedicated to the classically absurd meeting between Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon on December 21, 1970.  And it is a US Government website - we the people own this URL!  When Nixon Met Elvis

Here is page one of the actual letter handwritten by Elvis on American Airlines stationery, requesting to be made a "Federal Agent at large", explaining that "the drug culture and hippie elements do not consider me their enemy, or as they call it the establishment". There are the notes from Nixon's 'people' advising that it would be "extremely beneficial for the President to build some rapport with Presley". There is the meeting agenda including the absurd suggestion that Presley record an album "Get High On Life". There are photos and outtakes of the "event".  And it is all downloadable. 

But I'm gonna stop. You've got to take the mystery train right now to this terrific website, and have some fun for yourself.

Gun given by Elvis to Nixon as gift

oscar nominations + talking about a potato

'Precious' cast, director, Push author Sapphire, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey  NY Film Fest screening 2009

So I'm watching the Academy Award nominations broadcast on TV yesterday morning - to see which nominees I have pictures of / which films I've seen. Of course there were those that were expected - Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), Lee Daniels and Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), and the Dude Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart). 

And in the Foreign Film category, the odds on winner is - 'The White Ribbon'  by Michael Haneke. This film is a pre-Nazi Germany 'Children of the Damned' Protestants creepy whodunnit. Before the film screened at the NY Film Fest last fall,  director Haneke told the very uptown Lincoln Center audience, with a smile on his face, "I wish you a disturbing screening".  Don't miss seeing this film on the large screen. For me, just the black and white cinematography was worth the price of admission.

But the most unexpected nomination yesterday - and I'll tell you why in  a moment - was also in the Foreign Film category. The Milk of Sorrow was directed by Claudia Llosa. I saw it last spring at the New Directors/New Films Festival here in NYC. I photographed the Peruvian director that same night, and then went in to see the film which was quite good. But I have to tell you that the plot revolves around - and this is a SPOILER ALERT of sorts - a main character who has a potato growing inside her vagina. I'll say that again - she has a potato growing out of her vagina. Really.

Michael Haneke and Claudia Llosa