Hot Glass...
Makes hot work
A couple of years into a full-time freelance career as a photographer saw me in London, pacing the streets, knocking on doors, passing the portfolio around to anyone who had the time to look at it for a minute or two maximum... and I kid you not about editor's attention span .
I have a very uncomfortable feeling about one interview with the Editor of a national newspaper. Probably because of the instant reception, and only a tad slower dismissal I received, I've successfully managed to block from my mind who, when, with and where the interview was... but the illustrious name of Harold Evans still lurks in the grey matter. What I do remember was carrying my heavy, zippered portfolio into a cramped office, announcing my name, shaking a hand, being pointed to a flat space where I could unwrap my wares and describe what I had taken, how I had printed them, why I had included such and such, what type of work I was looking for, what I hoped to achieve in the long term... but within two - and I mean two - minutes I was out of the office and heading back towards reception, past a couple of other photographers who suddenly looked as shocked as I had become since chatting with them a few minutes before... and I'd not had the opportunity to utter a word beyond my name since
I later learnt that the Editor, and I use a capital "E" because he was a "Big Fish," dealt with all photographers in much the same way... he whipped through the pages of photographer's portfolios with such speed that only the most exceptional image would have caused him pause for thought. I never heard from that particular Editor's secretary again, thankfully, as I doubt I could have taken the heat.
It must be my temperament and my way of working... because I did have success with most picture editors who didn't have such short deadlines... or fuses. So I was able to work largely at my own pace, researching locations, choosing subjects, finding key points of interest, selecting backgrounds, adjusting lighting... and then be able to process and print my own films with whatever presentation tricks were necessary to enhance my contribution to the overall creative process.
Many of my assignments in the 1970s were with craft workers and artisans... and having regular work with the Crafts Council brought me into contact with potters, weavers, cabinet makers, leather workers, jewellers, calligraphers, knitters, and glass blowers to name a few. Often, the craft or project to photograph took a year or longer... the "Craft of the Potter" and "Craft of the Weaver" heavily illustrated text books for BBC Publications being two examples. Sometimes it was because of having to work around TV filming schedules... at other times because it took a long time to complete an individual project being featured.
Then there were jobs which, like the failed newspaper interview, were over in a couple of minutes... working with "hot glass" artisans being typical. Whereas with painting you could ask the artist to pose again for a retaken shot... if you didn't get it first time with glass workers you'd missed it. You can fall asleep watching paint dry, but with hot glass - if you blink you miss it!
Even with a tricky craft to photograph you can retake shots from another item being made in the same batch... but when I photographed a hot glass symposium at the Royal College of Art in London I soon realised that it would be very difficult to retake shots to make up sequences. For most of the weekend there were around twenty glass workers and an audience approaching 200 who were milling around as close as they could get to the action. They were entitled to because they were the delegates... but with so many people in small studios the best place for me was in the clear space between furnace and centre stage... where the extremely hot, molten materials were being transferred every few minutes or so.
A few of the images I still have from that assignment are reproduced here... the negatives were all retained by the client (part of the overall deal I regret agreeing to... but the laws and ethics have been tightened up in recent years in favour of photographers) so I have to scan from prints made 30 years ago.
Also, I can't remember who the (American?) artisan is in this sequence... I know he isn't Dale Chihuly whom I photographed at this same symposium only a year after his serious car crash which left him badly scarred and wearing a patch because of the loss of one eye... but if any viewer knows the above man's name please let me know. The (unknown) artist cast a magical piece of decorative glass using a model head, a few pieces of piping, some wooden shapes, a box of damp sand, a ladle of molten glass... and his creative skill.
The entire weekend was a buzz and a real pleasure to photograph - it usually is with craft work assignments. Afterwards a friend said, "Nice work when you can get it." More like, "Hot work when you can get it!" Rewardingly, many of the photos from this assignment were used around the world for editorial and publicity uses. It[base ']s always a challenge when working with, and in front of, an audience, but their interests were as important as mine. I find that delegates attending practical demonstrations such as these have a number of shared interests.
9:30:31 PM 
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