Michael Hepworth
Jimmy Steinfeldt Interviews Photographer Anthony Friedkin
Leica Gallery L.A.(Perfect Music Today)5/24/16/–Jimmy Steinfeldt: How often do you clean your lens?
Anthony Friedkin: (Laughter) Wow, well I care a lot about technique so it’s important that all my equipment is in good condition. When the lens needs to be cleaned, I clean it.
J.S. What was your first camera?
A.F. A Brownie Starlet. It was a gift on my 8th birthday given to me by my mother’s friend. I started shooting everything around me. My brother playing with his friends, my cat giving birth to kittens at the end of my bed. I believe that my destiny was to be a photographer. When I was a little kid I would get the negatives and prints back from the developer, and I recognized that the print I was looking at came from the negative. Then at age eleven I got a beginner darkroom kit that allowed me to develop and print on my own.
I turned a closet in my house into a mini darkroom. I was enthralled with the magic of it all. I loved that first look at the wet negatives. I still do today. Next week I’ll be 67, and I wonder where the time went? However, I have evidence of my whole life in the photographs I shot.
J.S. You say you have evidence of your life. Evidence is the title of a book by my favorite photographer Richard Avedon.
A.F. I photographed Avedon. I got an assignment to do portraits of him. It was one of the highlights of my career. I had been a fan of Avedon my whole life and respected him enormously. I spent 3 days documenting him installing his big show at a Melrose gallery. I only asked him once to pose for me. I thought how will I go about photographing Richard Avedon?
I decided to photograph him in front of the photos he had taken of his dying father. When Avedon’s father was dying of cancer, Avedon documented it in photographs. I always admired Avedon’s courage to do this. My dad also died of cancer, and I couldn’t do such a documentary even though my dad would have allowed it. It just would have been too painful to have those photos around.
J.S. Who are some of your other influences?
A.F. I’m a black and white street photographer. I was influenced by Andre Kertesz, Bresson, all the Magnum guys, Garry Winogrand, Danny Lyon, Bruce Davidson, and especially Robert Frank. I’m part of that evolution of doing black and white street work.
J.S. Is L.A. home?
A.F. Yes, I was born here. Both my parents were very creative. My father was a writer for radio programs, including creating Gunsmoke. He then became one of the early pioneers of television, both writing and directing. So when it came to the Arts my dad was very interested in painters, performers, dancers, etc. He believed that you had to be dedicated and had to have a good work ethic.
J.S. Tell me something about your education.
A.F. I went to the Art Center School back in the late 60s early 70s. I started out doing editorial journalism, doing photography for magazines and record companies. Also I was a stringer for Magnum photos. Eventually I worked as a Hollywood still photographer for over 40 years
J.S. You must know Steven Poster President of the International Cinematographers Guild Local 600.
A.F. I do. I worked on the Mel Brooks picture Life Stinks with Steven many years ago.
J.S. What’s your main camera today?
A.F. Probably my Leica, My father bought me my first Leica as a high school graduation gift.
J.S. Do you keep your Leica in a safe like Jim Marshall?
A.F. Marshall was such a character but also a friend. I don’t keep it in a safe but I do own over 100 cameras. I’m obsessed with cameras: 35mm, 8x10s, many medium format cameras, 6×9, 2 ¼. I love them all. They are like visual instruments as compared to musical instruments. It’s like Jimmy Page plays an acoustic guitar on some songs and an electric guitar on other songs. I used the Fuji G617on the whole series of street art I shot. It’s a fantastic camera that produces a beautiful negative. I’ve even built some of my own custom cameras.
J.S. Did you know the man who invented the blimp for the camera?
A.F. Jacobson. Yes, I knew him. We are lucky to have blimps. He was never able to get them completely silent though. Like in a scene where there is absolutely no ambient noise on the set and the actors are close together perhaps in a love scene. The sound would come out of the camera lens and then out through the glass. I’ve worked on TV shows, documentaries, commercials, but mostly feature films.
J.F. Do you know Steve Schapiro?
A.F. Yes, I worked on a few projects where he would come and visit the set. He’s a wonderful photographer.
J.S. What’s coming up next for you ?
A.F. I’m really involved in the L.A. Street Art series. Visually it has a unique identity. It honors street artists. A lot of people take these artists for granted. Many of the gang tags are beautiful. The murals of today are what frescoes were during the Renaissance. Some of the art makes a political statement such as the amazing piece featuring the Black Panther Party. Some are an aesthetic piece, simply a beautiful piece of art on a wall, alley, side of a building, or train car.
Many people don’t know that a lot of these street artists go to jail. LAPD has a division that chases these taggers down. These artists are risking their freedom so that we can drive through L.A. and see street art. I’d like to have a big show of these photographs at one of the museums. I’d also like to do a book, but it would have to be designed just right to communicate panoramic photographs.
J.S. Where can our readers see your photography?
A.F. My work is currently here at the Leica Gallery L.A. and in many museums including The Getty, LACMA, MOMA, and the San Francisco Museum of Arts. Of course you can see my work on my website too.
http://www.anthonyfriedkinphotography.com/index
http://www.leicagalleryla.com/
Michael Hepworth
287 S.Robertson Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
http://twitter.com/MrSpiritsman
http://alquimie.com.au/publicatio
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