Photography of Philip Perkis

Photography of Philip Perkis: 'The magic is in looking'
By Allison Hersh
Source

Philip Perkis discovered photography from the back seat of a B-36 bomber while serving in the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s.

"I was on a bomber crew, and it was very visual looking out of the window of the plane for hour after hour after hour," he recalled. "I met a fellow who was a photographer and he started me out in 1957. That's how I got started, and I haven't done anything else since."

"Philip Perkis: Fifty Years of Photographs," an exhibit on display at the Telfair's Jepson Center for the Arts through Sept. 19, 2010, celebrates five centuries of photography by this New York-based documentarian. Underwritten by Kathy Levitt, this retrospective exhibition offers a window into one photographer's ever-evolving world view and a glimpse into the magic of everyday life as seen through the lens.

"This show offers the public an opportunity to appreciate the collected works of an accomplished master of photography," said Holly Koons McCullough, the Telfair Museum of Art's director of collections and exhibitions. "His subject is everyday life as it unfolds before him, whether in his native New York City or in points around the globe, including Mexico, Israel and Korea."

Working in the tradition of 20th-century photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Helen Levitt - a close friend of Perkis - this talented artist captures the magic and mystery of the world around him, revealing his mastery of what Cartier-Bresson termed the "decisive moment."

From the cinematic splendor of "Police Checkpoint, Durango, Mexico" to the voyeuristic romance of "New York City," Perkis excels at translating the richness and spontaneity of the world at large into intimate gelatin silver prints. A purist at heart, he eschews artificial lighting, tripods and digital photography, instead choosing to develop his work by hand in an old-fashioned darkroom.

"In this age of large scale, often highly-staged digital photographs, Perkis remains devoted to black-and-white film and natural light, and processes his own prints," McCullough said. "Many of his works explore the poetry and mystery inherent in daily life, in particular within the natural world. These photos are more contemplative than graphic or bold. They speak in hushed tones."

Perkis recently spoke with the Savannah Morning News about photography, inspiration and the magic of looking.

SMN: You seem to have a very open mind, photographing a wide range of subjects. Where do you tend to find inspiration?

Perkis: I'm not attached to any particular subject, which is unusual for a photographer. What holds my work together is the way I see and the fact that I use very simple equipment. I still photograph the same way, technically, that I started with in 1957, with a small camera and black-and-white film. I carry my camera with me all the time. When I see something that moves me or interests me, I take a picture. I don't care what it's a picture of.

SMN: You've described photography as being like "this puzzle that is never going to be solved." How so?

Perkis: It's an endless process where I keep the technical crafting very simple and always the same. What keeps changing is my vision and how I see the world and how my inner life is reflected in the way I see things. That's constantly changing and it will never be over. There's no end point to photography. It's like life in that way.

SMN: I understand you lost most of the sight in your left eye in 2007. How did that experience affect your work?

Perkis: That was the eye I took pictures with for 50 years. It just went - in one day - due to a retinal occlusion. It took about six months before I could take pictures again. It was kind of traumatic, but I think my work has gotten more interesting as a result. It's a little deeper, a little sadder and a little closer to the bone. Emotionally, it's darker, and people have told me they think it has more emotional depth.

SMN: What advice do you have for people seeing your work at the Jepson Center in Savannah?

Perkis: I hope they can appreciate the quality of the prints as drawings and as graphic art. That's something I'm very attached to and interested in. If they can see the prints as having a quality of tones and darks and lights and grays, and to look at them as though they were drawings or lithographs, that would be interesting.

SMN: What ideas are you ultimately interested in sharing through your photography?

Perkis: I'm really interested in the fact that looking can be magic. If my pictures convey that at all, then I'm really successful. My process is so incredibly simple. I really do almost nothing. I just put a camera between me and what I'm looking at and I click it. There's no technology involved in what I'm doing at all. The magic is in looking. Looking really is a miracle.