Roger Ballen Puts Seven Questions Back

I asked Roger to put seven questions that were on his mind and he was kind enough to oblige. Here they are. Roger Ballen asks the following:

1. What do we mean by staging in photography? If most photographs depend on capturing a fleeting moment that is unrepeatable; can such an image be thought of as staged?

2. What is the difference, if there is one, between photographic reality and reality?

3. When does an image become a work of art?

4. What is the difference between the way people view photographs in comparison to paintings?

5. What is the difference between color photography and black and white in the way that they convey pictorial reality?

6. What is the ultimate purpose of photography?

7. Has digital photography advanced the way we view the world?

Roger Ballen: Seven Questions (7)

Q: As you've increased your personal inputs of drawing, sculpture, and theatre in your photographs has it ever occurred to you that you might leave the film and camera behind someday?

And if not, why not?

A: I do not believe that I will ever leave the camera behind. It has taken nearly forty years of hard work to find a visual style that has allowed me to integrate these other art forms. The aspects of painting, sculpture and theatre in my images are transformed and intensified through the photographic process, alone they would not have the same impact. I am a photographer first, what I produced are photographs, and the meaning that I express in my images is fundamentally photographic.

[Top photograph from Ballen's "Platteland", 1994. Lower photograph from "The Boarding House"].

Roger Ballen: Seven Questions (6)

Q: The large silver gelatin prints I've seen from "The Boarding House" are very attractive physically and formally. Please speak about the importance of square format, camera, film and the technical and formal decisions that are involved in your practice. How do you go about making such beautiful prints?

A: I am the last generation to have grown up developing film and printing in a darkroom. It takes not years to master black and white printing, but decades and as a consequence we will see less and less people produce silver prints. All my photographs that I sell are silver gelatin selenium toned prints insuring that they will be archival in nature.

For the last twenty years nearly all my photographs have been with a square format camera. I am obsessed with formal composition in an image and the square being a perfect form is an ideal format for me to compose my images.

It is quite crucial that all the elements of my images are sharp and in focus. Consequently I use a 400 ASA film with a flash which generally guarantees this result.

[Above photograph from "The Boarding House].

Roger Ballen: Seven Questions (5)

Q: You have said that you feel the "The Boarding House" was "a major step in the development of your photographic career," why do you feel this way?

A: During the period I worked on "The Boarding House" from 2004 to 2008 my style as a photographer/artist evolved to the point where I believe my images represent a unique photographic vision. "The Boarding House" ultimately reflects my aesthetic of a place transformed by my imagination. It is very difficult for a viewer to find links in these images to other photographers.

[Above photograph from "The Boarding House"].

Roger Ballen: Seven Questions (4)

Q: The cover photo for your first photobook in 1979, "Boyhood", is an image a boy looking intently at a large frog that he is holding. He has his fingers around the animal's soft belly and is squeezing as the frog's legs dangle. It is an image that is tender, witty and carries a current of vulnerability. Many images in your more recent work, "Shadow Chamber" and "The Boarding House", include interaction or at least a sharing of space and composition by humans and animals (or their totems -- dolls, stuffed animals, toys and drawings) I'm struck by how central and long lasting that exchange of human\animal energy is to so many of the photographs.

How do you think the human and animal element is rooted in your work?

A: The relationship between the people I photograph and the animals is multi-dimensional and complex. In some of my images there is a very close and deep bond between the animals in the photograph and the human subjects. In other cases the relationship is hostile in which humans dominate every aspect. I believe that the relationship between man and animals is fundamentally antagonistic. In summary, it is fundamental to human nature to perceive animals as threatening and subservient to humanities needs.

[Top photograph from "The Boarding House" and the lower photograph from "Boyhood"].

Roger Ballen: Seven Questions (3)

Q: What was a typical day shooting at the Boarding House like?

A: During the period 2004 to 2008 I usually spent three or four afternoons a week at the Boarding House. Most of the time, I enter the Boarding House

with no particular ideas and with an open mind. Once inside I am usually
greeted by a host of people all wanting to speak with me and invite me into their cubicle like space. As much as possible, I walk around the building looking for ideas to start the process of image making. Sometimes my eye catches a new drawing, something strange on the floor, an animal in a place that it does not belong...

A photograph never twice appears in the same way; one only sees what one is ready to see.

[Photograph from "The Boarding House"].

Roger Ballen: Seven Questions (2)

Q: There is an element of theater in much of your recent work. Apparent improvisation and chance unfolds as individuals seem to pose and play inside and against the set-like environments. How has your interaction and relationship with your subjects changed since working on "Shadow Chamber" and "The Boarding House"?

A: Up to the mid nineties my photographs contained a documentary aesthetic to them. I attempted to place the subjects in an environment that was created by the subject and take a photograph within the confines of that person. Beginning in the mid nineteen ninties, I began to interact with the subjects in almost theatrical way. Whilst the environment that I was working played a role in defining the environments I felt free to alter it according to the demands of the situation. The corresponding result of this complex interaction between myself and the subjects enabled me to expand my vision and create a style that has become quite identifiable.

[Above photograph from "The Boarding House"].