Relational Reflection From Quarantine

Larry Sultan was an American Jewish photographer who was born July 13, 1946 in Brooklyn, New York and passed away in December 2009. He explores the all-American family as both a construct and reality in his photo book, Pictures From Home, published in 1992. The pictures are taken over an extended period of time from different home movies that were recorded from his childhood as well as his parents living in his childhood home in Los Angeles. There are also some later pictures taken from their retirement home near Palm Springs, California. Sultan believed that during the Reagan presidency, family was an important part of the rising conservative beliefs. He wanted to explore the family as he had his own complex family situation that also was similar to the American dream craze. His father was originally a lower-class orphan who later worked his way up to becoming the vice president of a company. Sultan’s father was a tough man that did not support his son’s work. He would constantly look down at his son because of his untraditional career path and other personal self-confidence issues relating to his own career that unravel throughout this piece. 

“Dad on Bed,” 1984

While Sultan would take photographs of his family for this project, he was able to collaborate with them and resolve most of the conflict they had. I am choosing to explore the connection photography brings to groups of people and how Sultan was able to mend his long, broken relationship with his father by spending time taking pictures of him. Sultan was able to take pictures from his past as well as posed pictures of his parents at the time to create his own version of his family dynamic, which changed the reality.  

“Los Angeles, Early Evening,” 1986

“My Mother Posing for Me,” 1984

Please watch this video to hear from Sultan about some of his inspiration and personal discoveries from Pictures From Home:

Larry Sultan, Pictures From Home, Video Interview Source

Gavin,

This is an excellent beginning statement of your final project. Just a couple of pointers going forward:

Identify the photographs (Sultan usually gives them titles, or descriptions)

Give Sultan’s birth and death dates.

Indicate your sources when you have a quote, usually through a hyperlink.

I will be interested to see how you develop your final project.

One other point, most of the photographs, which were taken over an extended period, are of his parents’ house in L.A., not the retirement community they moved to in Palm Springs (although there are some of them taken there). His parents’ house was also the one in which Sultan grew up.

DDM

This project was quite challenging for Sultan as he had to try to take the most natural photos of his parents without fully capturing the emotional tension he had with them which could have altered their actions in the pictures. Sultan would constantly sneak up on his family to try to take the most candid pictures possible. A prime example of this is when he photographed his father sleeping. He was so careful in waking him that he breathed in the same rhythm as him when taking the image.

My Father Sleeping,” 1984

With all of his family tension and his desire to capture the mythology of the family, there were a lot of unknowns. One distinct attribute of Sultan’s methodology was that he did not really know where he was going to go with this work. He was not certain about the outcome and just captured whatever he saw in the moment. This transparent and raw approach is clear in his work and allows the viewers to discover the photographs’ meanings at the same time as Sultan. Although Sultan appears to capture his parents naturally, his father critiques that photographs did not represent him, rather they were how his son wanted him to be represented. Sultan’s methodology was raw, but he did subconsciously mask some of the emotional pain in his family with photographs that could be deceiving to his family’s reality. This is also shown in the uplifting photographs he collected from his childhood.

“Untitled Home Movie Still,” 1985

 

“My Father’s Dresser,” 1985

When taking my own photographs, I plan to use a similar approach in not having a specific plan of what pictures I will take of my family, but try to make them as authentic as possible. To do this, I will not make it very obvious if I am taking a photograph. Other than telling my parents what I am doing, I will try to be more discreet when taking the pictures. Although my family tensions are not similar to Sultan’s, every family has some issues, and I will try to not make that a disturbance when trying to expose my families normal activities. However, I will also take into account how I wish my family was as Sultan captured his father in a slightly more ideal way then the reality of their relationship. 

Gavin,

I think that your methodology is thoughtful. You will need to have your camera with you all the time and also consider, as Sultan did, whether you want to ask your parents to pose. If you do, remember that Sultan posed them, which is one of the reasons why his father contested his son’s photographs.

DDM

Photos & Analysis: Presentation of your own photographs inspired by that point of view. Text articulating what taking your own pictures taught you about the photographer’s point of view and its relevance. What is liberating about the point of view you’ve chosen to explore? How does it challenge you to look at the world differently?

Gallery:

Selected Photos:

Slideshow 1:

Slideshow 2:

                   1                                             2                                            3                                           4                                           5        

Larry Sultan’s Work:

1. “My Father’s Dresser,” 1985

2. “Dad on Bed,” 1984

3. “Nightstand,” 1984

4. “Fixing the Vacuum,” 1991

5. “Reading at the Kitchen Table,” 1988

Gavin,

You need to write up your understanding of what taking your photos taught you. Let me suggest, however, that you consider commenting upon the pictures of your father and mother reading (book and tablet), and the photo with the red balls (flowers?) in front of the picture. I will be interested to read your analysis.

DDM

 

By taking my own photographs with what I thought Sultan’s techniques and motives were, I realized that his process was a lot harder than I anticipated. It was hard taking natural photographs of my family, some of which without them even noticing. However, due to many distractions such as books, tablets, and phones, I realized that my parents are often distracted and not present when my brother and I are home. My brother just started his first year in college, making my parents empty nesters. As we have distanced ourselves geographically, I have also noticed a slight relational distance while we are all home together. What I noticed from photographing my parents is that they are a lot more dependent on each other as they are on their technology.   

This is particularly evident when comparing my parents current behaviors to the old family photographs around my household. The picture of my brother, mother, and I perfectly represents this. Looking back at my childhood I would take a bunch of pictures with just my mother or just my father. Around the house there are similar pictures of just my brother, mother, and I. I also think that the picture of my brother and I in front of that stacked together just shows how many pictures of my brother and I are around the household. Growing up, my parents were the “helicopter parents” that knew every single thing we were doing. These habits have definitely seemed to change and are evident through these pictures. My parents more rarely come to us for companionship rather than each other and their devices. This is particularly noticeable by 8pm after dinner as most of the lights are off in my household and they are in their rooms occupied with their various distractions for the night. 

Although technology was not as popular when I was younger, it is easy to see how this has affected our connection. When I looked back at the photographs of my mother and I taking a hike and my dad and I riding bikes for a Fourth of July parade, times were much different. There is no technology in any of these earlier pictures. We spent quality time together outdoors. Although our relationship has changed, my parents still do make an effort to bond with us. This is particularly evident in the photograph I took of my brother playing basketball with my father. This was some great father-son bonding time, but this is not a common scene. Most of the time my parents spend bonding with us is when we are outside playing basketball and they are sitting on the occupied porch chairs. I was able to capture this photograph of my father and mother on these chairs occupied. This picture was just taken shortly after I stopped taking pictures of my brother and father playing a basketball game that did not last more than 5 minutes. 

At first I thought I was going to have to be extra discrete about taking the pictures so I did not alter their natural behaviors, but by discovering how occupied they are from their devices, I realized that it was a lot less harder to just go in and take a picture. What was hard about each picture was working with the lighting. As I would constantly refer back to Sultan’s photographs while I took my pictures, I realized almost halfway through that most of his pictures were taken with the sunlight as the only source of light. Even the pictures taken in the house normally had the lights off and was near the window. This was harder for me to do, because I really wanted to capture my parents at night when they would isolate themselves from my brother and I. I first tried to take the photographs at night with the lights off, but could not make them appear visible enough with my camera. 

I envisioned this project to be focused around my mother’s job once she became an empty nester. When my brother and I both left, she started a challah baking company. She always would talk to us about how that took up a majority of her time, and I thought those would be most of the pictures she took of her. However, what I noticed is she did that for a few hours, and in between the kneading and the braiding and the baking she would go back to her room and sit on her phone, read a book, or go on her tablet. Although challah has occupied her a little more when we are not home, she still spends a lot of time scrolling through facebook or on speaker phone talking to a friend. 

I also was surprised by my father’s lack of cooperation in the project. He normally is very invested in my artistic and academic projects, and I thought he would love to help me out. He was willing to work with me, but I could sense his hesitation and did not want to disturb him. He works really hard during the day and this is the time where he gets to relax and have some personal time which I noticed is him scrolling through his phone or in his office on his computer. Contastly, my mother found this project as a way to bond with me. Right when I told her about this project late one night, she quickly propped up and was ready to start taking pictures. One thing I noticed when we were taking the pictures is that she wanted to go do things like go on a run or make challah, but I told her that instead of doing things I thought she would do, just do everything you plan on doing naturally, and I will take the pictures. I appreciated her eagerness to help, but I did not want her to change her behavior in a way that did not truly reflect what she did on a day-to-day basis.

Gavin,

Your reflections on the process of taking photographs at home of your parents is fascinating. The issues you encountered with your father and with your mother echo the concerns that Sultan had as he tried to gain his parents’ cooperation in the project. His father was far from sympathetic in contrast to his mother. It turned out to be much more complicated than he envisioned.

I think that you took some excellent photographs, especially when you are able to convey a whole scene (e.g. your mother in her bedroom or your parents on the porch). What you write to contextualize these scenes is excellent and works well as a dialogue with Sultan and his book. When you refer to older photos of yourself, it would be good if you could include them (as Sultan did) since it is otherwise hard for me to imagine what you’re referencing.

Also, please give your final project a title.

DDM

My final project, Relational Reflection From Quarantine, developed differently than I anticipated from the start. At first my thesis was about exploring the role photography has in relationships, specifically within families. Although I was still looking to answer this, I found myself very interested in comparing photographs from my past and present life at home, and how the relationships have evolved. What I learned is that it is not just that one second of time captured in a photograph that gives you an understanding of one’s relationship to the subject, rather it is the whole process and technique that went into taking the picture. Similar to Sultan, how my mother and father reacted to me taking pictures and their varying level of participation was equally as important as the final images to my realizations. 

Through this project, I discovered just how impactful my brother and I’s move to college was on our relationship with our parents. Throughout high school my parents knew everything about our personal lives and did everything with us. As they became “empty nesters” this past year, it is apparent that they have distanced from us while coming closer together and with their technology. When I would catch my parents during their leisure time either during the day or at night, most of that time they would be occupied by their phone, tablet, or book. Similarly, I realized that most of the time I would go take pictures of them without planning it, they would be in private places such as their offices, bedroom, or personal lounging room. The places they choose to spend their time is just as telling to this relational shift between us. 

     

Spending time looking at pictures from old scrapbooks highlighted this relationship shift to the present. None of the pictures included any technology, and almost all of the pictures were either of me and my brother with just my mother or just my father, but rarely both of them together. After taking my own photographs, I came to really understand and appreciate the courage and self-discovery Sultan went through. Before I started taking photographs, admittingly, I was skeptical that I would not find any real meaning or better understanding of my relationship with my family. However, it takes a lot of strength to look at your past and compare it to the present reality. Honestly, the realizations I gained from photographing my parents were not pleasant, but they were very insightful and essential for growth. Since the photographs were taken, I have led a family game night and have been working out with my father. This could not have been more of a fitting time to do this project, as I have time in quarantine to mend these relationships right now. 

Gavin,

Excellent conclusion that echoes in important ways the type of trajectory that Sultan himself discovered through his project. Of course, you are a lot younger than Sultan was when he began his project but you certainly have learned a great deal about yourself and your parents in the process of doing the project. I appreciate your attention not only to the activities of your parents but also to the physical spaces in which they did these activities. I like your title for the final project.

In the process of cleaning up the final project before its due date, please be sure to identify all of Sultan’s photographs to give him credit. Also, in your conclusion, you write “pictures were either of my brother and I . . . ” when it should be “of me and my brother”. Finally, don’t forget to list your sources.

You might want to consider adding a video to the opening section of an interview with Larry Sultan.

DDM

Sources: List of all your sources with hyperlinks. Be sure to separate photo sources from written research sources.

Written Sources:

http://larrysultan.com/bio/

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/02/larry-sultan-pictures-from-home-review

Photo Sources:

http://larrysultan.com/gallery/pictures-from-home/ 

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/how-larry-sultan-made-his-father-a-metaphor-for-dashed-american-dreams