Larry Sultan

Larry Sultan is an art as well as commercial and editorial photographer. His work has a particular real quality that is seen in his personal as well as commercial work. His images seem as if he just happened along and photographed what was already going on. With this said, there is also an element of a constructed reality to his images. It is this unique combination of a constructed reality appearing or feeling real to the viewer that makes his images for fascinating for me. The emotions that he captures feel very genuine and always draw me to believe that his work in speaking on multiple levels, many below the surface.

Images from Pictures From Home series:

An interesting exceprt from an article I read on this series:

As Larry set about creating his version of the Sultan family experience, his father Irvin struggled with the role his son now gave him, as the following exchange reveals:

Irvin: “I'd get set, I'd get comfortable and he says to me 'Don't smile', which would absolutely irritate me because when he says 'Don't smile' in my own mind I have no idea what he is projecting. What is he trying to tell me to do?" "I remember that picture so distinctly sitting on the bed, shirt and tie dressed up and I looked like a full on lost soul and I look at the picture and I say 'That's not me!'"

Larry: "In fact you went even further you said, 'That's not me sitting on the bed that's you sitting on the bed. That's a self portrait'. And I thought that was right. And you said this too, you said 'Any time you show that picture you tell people that that's not me sitting on the bed looking all dressed up and nowhere to go, depressed. That's you sitting on the bed and I am happy to help you with the project but let's get things straight here!'"

"The daily practice of a photographer is to be distanced, to have a little bit of room between what you're doing and how you see, what you look at. For me the biggest surprise was that the distance I thought I needed as a photographer slipped. It wasn't about 'these' people it was about 'us'."

I find it interesting that his father would say that it was not himself sitting on the bed but his son, the one who was directing his actions. It is again the unique combination of reality versus the constructed.

Images from Bottega Veneta Ad Campaign:

I have loved these images from the moment I saw them and was not surprised to find that they were by Sultan. They definitely have that distinct quality of looking as if they might have been snapshots of reality while still retaining a bit of the constructed feel. There is also a moodiness to them that hints as something deeper. I am exploring within my own images, ways to hint at this deeper emotional meaning, and I think looking to Sultan is a great place to start.

Larry Sultan at Bill Charles Agency:
http://billcharles.com/catalog.php?categ_id=22&page=1