Do You See What I See?

A Journey Through Life via Still Photography

The art of still photography is an interesting subject. There is nothing to tell us what we feel, there is no audio to accompany these moments of life frozen on a piece of paper. The plus side to all of this is we get to become creative and we get to let our emotions run free. We get to see what we want to see. No emotion or thought can ever be interpreted as incorrect. Still photography is the art of capturing life in its most truthful moment. If taken at the right time, that one moment can be very effective. This is the case for my favorite still photographer Roy DeCarava. Roy was able to capture life’s most artistic moments;  positive and negative.

            Roy DeCarava was born December 9, 1919 in Harlem, New York, in a poor and predominately African American neighborhood. In the year 1946 Roy decides to pick up a camera to photograph ideas that he would use to create sketchings for his paintings. In the year 1947, not only was it the year that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and entered into Major League Baseball, it is also the year that Roy DeCarava, nearly 30 years old, decides to stop creating art with painting to become a photographer.

            Roy once said, “My photograph’s are subjective and personal-they’re intended to be accessible, to relate to people’s lives…People –their well-being and survival-are the crux of what’s important to me.” The pictures Roy captured on film are very symbolic in my life. There are many parallels with some of Roy’s work and parts of my life. I am able to relate to much of his work primarily because of the setting and the surroundings of his photos. Roy chose to take pictures of events and moments in life that he knew about. “I try to photograph things that are near to me because I work best among things I know. I’m not concerned with startling anyone or discovering new forms, formal qualities are only tools to help state my message.” He grew up in Harlem, a poor ghetto city in New York. I grew up in South Central Los Angeles, a poor ghetto city in the heart of Los Angeles. A city where life is not that easy, money is scarce and so is a positive future. A life in which the photos taken by Roy DeCarava illustrate.

            Let me introduce you to some of Roy DeCarava’s work as I take a journey through my life using photos taken by DeCarava to show my meaning and my understating of how life can sometimes be.

In the picture titled Exit Only, I see how life gives us signs. We may see signs in our dreams, in something that we ironically read in the daily newspaper, seeing an old friend that we have not seen in years, or even as vaguely as a fortune in a fortune cookie. The bad thing with all of those examples is they tell us something without telling us anything. It can all be so confusing. We are bombarded with so many different types of signs. One sign tells up to go left, then the next says you cannot enter at all. Once you think you have that all figured out we are told to go up and all back around. Then some other force tells us we cannot because we are not the right type or color. There is a constant duality in the brain. Leaving us in a state endless pondering and lost emotion.

            Once we choose which path to take, we become nervous, because we do not know the end result to our action. So we look at our choice with resistance and timid ness, much like the boy in the photo entitled Boy Looking In Doorway. The boy is ready to enter, but stands there, like a deer trapped in a car’s headlights. He is not sure as to how it will look once he has walked through the pillars of fate. A black hole with nothing to offer may be awaiting inside. It may be better to just continue on until he comes across an opening that is transparent. This opaque space may just cause too many risks. A risk that many are not willing to take and those that do take it are not capable of handling what may happen.

Deciding to go in, we can expect one of two things to occur. One, we are happy with what we see and two, we are very much devastated.

Hallway taken by Roy DeCarava can be viewed as the devastating outcome. We open the door and are left to face and endless doorway with no light. Only prolonging our pain and struggle. It may seem to be “light at the end of the tunnel” but perhaps that light is just a flicker on its last spur of hope. Enclosed in a space that is barley wide enough for us to stand erect but long enough to see our entire life that we have not yet lived. The length of this endless doorway is a representation of a looped song that is torture to our ears. We want it to end, but for some reason, no matter how hard we try to end the pain and the hurt, it does not go away. We may fight, crawl, limp, and even pull, but no matter how much effort and energy we exert we are never able to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.

On the upside to our decision we may enter the door and find ourselves in a world of freedom and opportunities. The girl in the picture Graduation is a diamond in the ruff. She comes from a city that is filled with negativity; broken homes, lack of jobs, no hope and no future. Going against all of the negativity she is able to survive and turn her once “coal life” into a beautiful diamond. She looks at a “sign” with the hope of one day to be able to have that for herself. No matter the litter, garbage and the grout, she is able to look past all of that and stay focused on what she is able to see at the end. It may seem far away from where she is standing, but given the right chance and guidance she will be able to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.

Life is too short to dwell on the past and the negativity. No matter how dark and gloomy life can get there is always something good that can come out of our actions. In a photo entitled Sam Laughing I am able to see that life is still good as long as we are alive and breathing. Sam probably lives a hard working life. He wears a dingy, once white, now more gray and black t-shirt, the paint on the walls behind him are different colors and worn out. His hair is not the best kept and his teeth are not perfect, but in all of this, in all of his imperfectness and hardships Sam is able to laugh. He is able to see the goodness and richness that life has to offer. He recognizes life as very pleasing and too short to waste.

I hope you enjoyed this journey in the way I see life and the way it can sometimes be. Through these few artistic photos taken by the great Roy DeCarava I am able to relate them to my personal life. Everyday I recognize signs that may be helpful to my future. I see signs that may disrupt me from attaining my goals. I am able to look at life with many questions. At times I do hesitate, because I am not sure what the other side has to offer. I do not know if the grass is greener on the other side. There have been many times in which I enter the pillars of fate and I am left with a empty room, one that will only lead to more pain and distress, but on the flip side there have been many more times where I opened the door, walked through and was not only able to see my goals but I was able to see they are tangible goals. Through the good times, bad times, and even the questionable times, at the end of the day I am able to sit back and just laugh like our good friend Sam. I recognize that far too many times I worry about situations that I am in no control of. I need to just be who I am and live my life, the way I see fit. Now, do you see what I see?

Sources:

Alinder, James, ed. Roy DeCarava: Photographs. The Friends of Photography: 1981.

DeCarava, Roy. Boy Looking in Doorway. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

DeCarava,  Roy. Exit Only.  The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

DeCarava, Roy. Graduation. The Museum of Modern Art, New York

DeCarava, Roy. Hallway. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

DeCarava, Roy, and Langston Hughes. The Sweet Flypaper of Life. Washington D.C.:   Howard University Press, 1984

Galassi, Peter. Roy DeCarava: A Retrospective. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1996.

Gates, Dr. Henry Louis, Jr., ed. African Americans Voices of Triumph: Creative Fire. Time Life Books: 1994.

Commentary: I knew nothing about this photographer before I took a photo class in college I was interested in his work I really like that fact that his art is in black and white It ads a different dimension to a photo than color I would suggest that you read up on Roy DeCarava

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