| "It's
amazing the things people will tell you, especially when one is a writer. I feel I'm
constantly swimming through this maze of stories." - John Guare
playwright |
|
What does it take to make it in today’s operatic world?
What are the rewards – and the perils – of surviving and excelling?What's it really all about?
The tenors I've talked to discuss
inspirations, teachers, worries, auditions, traveling, fans, colleagues, critics,
recording... and a love of the music. Other singers talk about similar concerns, and a
picture starts to emerge of singers being more alike than they are different.
Sometimes a conversation yields a single thought or
paragraph that I want to use - to support, or counter something said by another. Other
times, I'll wish I could use an entire hour's worth of talk!
Most often, I would make the photographic portraits at
the end of the session - that's given us a time to get to know each other, my subject and
I. And that tends to make for better communication through the camera lens. I call it
"guerilla photography" as it took place in about 3 minutes or less, on the spot,
using whatever backgrounds or light was present at the time and place. The sense of place
started to be important to the portraits, to literally "place" the person in a
specific location.
Though this makes them all quite different, they are
still clearly by the same photographer - that's not surprising, since everything I shoot
has a bit of me in it. In its own way, a kind of self-portrait. |
