Thirty years passed in a flash and here we are again before the camera; the old sitters of thirty years ago. We will photograph in exactly the same settings: we will use the same camera and the same analog technique. What a splendid idea! But thirty years have passed and not all of the sitters are here for the action. Some may have passed away, some just disappeared. Truly, in most instances it is the photographer himself who either cannot be reached or who has changed his mind, not willing to retrace his steps or citing any old other reasons. But not this one. And now we ponder over two sets of photographs: will the recent ones meet our expectations? Here the run of thirty years of our lives is spread before us. Surely, some events must have left their mark, were they reflected in the new images?
I am one of the present models. My personal impressions of what I see certainly differ from those of the others. I wonder how will they react confronting their alter egos from so many years ago? Will the new photographs confirm their own ideas of events, as frozen in their memories? Could we really realistically asses the lessons we have learned. We tend to believe that life’s experiences come through and show in our appearances. But is it really so? Of course, some portraitists can project in their work the patina of age, of their subjects. But here, in the photographs that we are facing no one could honestly admit perceiving such a statement. We could see, perhaps, the advanced age of the sitters, but do the images show that we are any wiser? And do the sitters appear any older rather than what they have undergone change? Is there a deeper meaning in their expressions or do the pictures merely inform that we were here thirty years ago and that we are here now! For this we really don’t need to present images, it would suffice if the photographer just confirmed our presence and verified our identities as the sitters of thirty years earlier. Just that and nothing more. So what was the photographer’s objective? Would it be to register the passage of time? That life advanced in its natural course and this can be proved? In this he succeeded and this is his accomplishment, and a remarkable accomplishment it really is! The photographer also proved that changes occurred in the passed thirty years but not necessarily accompanied by a loss of allure.
The remarkable photographer’s name is Wieslaw A. Zdaniewski, and most of his subjects were fellow students at the fine photography academy of Goteborg. Not so myself. A long time ago, I have reviewed Wieslaw’s work, imaging desolate corners of rural american scenery.* The images were stunning, but I have also expressed my hope to see, sometime in the future, his perception of humans. For this I have waited thirty years.
© Henryk Rubinstein 2010