Photographer Alex Harris documents various locations and individuals, all in their natural habitat. In a way, i find this very similar to my own personal style of documentary photography, or at least very similar in the direction in which i am capturing what i see around me in the rodeo world. Harris has a way of moving about his subjects in a way that does not inhibit them in any way, it leaves them free to move, live, walk, eat, sleep, sit, stand. In the scope of rodeo, this is necessary to have freedom of movement, for both photographer and subject, i have found that an incredible dialogue and dance is created in the whole environment of rodeo. Between the livestock and handlers, between the participants and the spectators, and i have even found that my own presence has its own peculiar role in the rodeo. Harris manages to move about his subjects as they are continuing on with their lives, yet there is a comfortable awareness that his subjects contain. I am, and have been working on attaining this in my photographs. Largely, i am trying to place myself in the midst of the action while allowing my subjects to move naturally, capturing the moments before and after...i am working to capture a stillness within the action.
I have found in Harris' work he creates a setting and a habitat for these people, without "othering" them or forcing them to appear one particular way or another. He is capturing these people in their natural habitats, as they have a living dialogue with their environment. In a way, the rodeo is a cowboy's natural habitat, he is in the midst of what he knows, what he has always known, his comforts and fears all brought together in one place. I can see the parallels in how Harris creates an environment in his work with my own. Neither the subject nor the environment completely dominates the other, they work in a harmony to tell stories about each other. In Harris' photograph Lazo de la Vega, October 2002, there is a moment of action, where we see four young men playing a game of soccer in what looks to be a park square. While there is dynamic action in this photograph, the icons in this photo add a sort of stillness, the environment speaks volumes for these subjects in a simple setting, and i find that neither dominates or takes away from the other, the photograph is balanced in harmonious union. Harris himself said that there was a sort of moment of waiting in this series, as though his subjects, the Cubans, are all waiting for something to happen, for something to improve. In my work, i find that there is a similar anticipation in my subjects, an anticipation to witness something grand, to do something grand, to witness a spectacle, and to make a spectacle.
Similarly, i find my composition "style" to be quite similar in some ways to Harris'. A lot of his photographs seem to be dominantly composed with the subject in the center of the photograph. In addition to this, there seems to be a lot of varied perspectives, such as capturing a scene through a window, framing though a doorway or glass. Harris in this series used multiple times a car dashboard/front windshield, creating a narrative of the outside world within a specific environment that helps to narrate or causes the viewer to question the relation between the two. In this manner, i find that i am capturing photographs that are framed by using the environment of the rodeo. Using fences, bars, posts, and ropes have all at once been a hindrance and a help for composing photographs. In a way, all the fences and pens that separate the calves from the riders, the riders from the bulls, the bulls from the audience, can and do very much inhibit some photographs, they create lines that separate the subjects in detrimental ways and interrupt various forms and scenes. In other ways, these lines provide beautiful frames for people, actions, scenes, they isolate or group together various subjects making some images incredibly dynamic and powerful.
Another perspective or focus that Harris seemed to capture in the Cuba series was the idea of "the gaze." With a dominant presence of almost identical looking, mass produced busts of Jose Marti, there is a looming sort of feeling and intrusion of the lives of the Cuban people. There are many varied glances throughout this body of work, we see people looking at others, people gazing directly into the camera, surreptitious glances, even seemingly voyeuristic glances of the viewers themselves. I find a parallel in my work in this manner, there are people constantly eyeing up their competition, whether it be other people, or a raging animal they are about to climb onto. Likewise, there are the often looked-past animals, and their gaze and their own role and outlook that they have on the situation which they have been thrust into. I have found all of these various glances and gazes fascinating, how there is a multitude of complexities within a simple glance.
Overall, i found Harris' work to be interesting and beautiful to look at. There are so many parallels that i find i can draw between his work and mine. From the perspectives, to the capturing of a moment within a unique environment, i found looking at his work extremely useful and helpful while being inspiring and motivating to finish, and even continue my documentation of rodeos.
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