Photographers on Photographers: Linda Jarrett in Dialog with Michael Flomen

© Michael Flomen, Montauk X, 2024

Every August we ask the earlier Top 25 Lenscratch Student Prize Winners to interview a hero or a mentor, providing a chance for dialog and connection. Today we share the dialog with Linda Jarrett and Michael Flomen. Thank you to each of the artists.

When we consider collaboration in pictures, it’s typically understood as a shared effort between individuals – by means of capturing, enhancing, or exhibiting works. But for Michael Flomen, collaboration expands far past human partnerships. His apply engages with the non-human: the fundamental, the fabric, and the pure world itself. Working exterior the standard confines of the darkroom, Flomen creates cameraless pictures instantly in nature, capturing ephemeral phenomena such because the bioluminescent trails of bugs on photographic movie. The outcomes are each ethereal and deeply linked to the world round us.

I first encountered Michael’s work after I started exploring cameraless pictures myself. While writing a paper on collaboration throughout my MA in Photography, his method profoundly resonated with me. Though Michael relies in Montreal and I’m in New Zealand, talking with him felt like reconnecting with a kindred spirit – one additionally engaged in a quiet, reverent dialogue with nature by means of photographic apply.

© Michael Flomen, Montauk, 2025

Michael Flomen was born in Montreal in 1952. He started taking images within the late Sixties and has been displaying his work on a number of continents since 1972. He has been a darkroom printer and collaborator for a lot of artists together with for Jacques Henri Lartigue’s touring exhibition in Canada and the United States within the mid ’70s. Flomen’s first ebook of “street photographs,” which adopted the Cartier-Bresson formalism of photographic image making, was revealed in 1980, adopted by Still Life Draped Stone in 1985. Flomen switched digicam codecs within the early ’90s, photographing snow and producing works beneath the title RISING. For the final 25 years, this self-taught artist has used camera-less strategies to collaborate with nature. Various types of water, firefly mild, wind, and different pure phenomena are the inspiration for his image making. Michael Flomen’s work is within the collections of George Eastman House, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Musée nationwide des beaux-arts du Québec, the Norton Museum of Fine Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, amongst others.

LJ: I’m actually keen on your journey as an artist Michael, specifically what drew you away from utilizing a digicam and towards collaborating so instantly with nature by means of photograms?  Was there a particular second?

MF: After spending roughly 25 years making road images within the spirit of  Henri Cartier Bresson with a 35mm movie digicam, I  moved to bigger movie codecs and ultimately began making different worldly panorama images with an 8 x10 inch digicam and movie.  On a specific early summer time night, I witnessed the fireflies rising out of the tall grasses in a subject in Vermont the place I used to be  residing. I knew that I didn’t need to  {photograph} the occasion with a digicam, and thought what if the bioluminescent mild would expose a movie and make marks?  I shortly obtained a sheet of black-and-white movie, went all the way down to the fireflies, caught one and positioned it on the movie for some time. I  took the uncovered movie again into my darkroom for processing and to my amazement the sunshine had uncovered the movie.  That is the second in 1999 that I began to collaborate with nature.

© Michael Flomen, Fire within the Sky, 2020

LJ: Thank you, Michael, for sharing your fascinating journey.  From our dialog I believe that your pivotal second of transition from digicam to cameraless occurred once you determined to {photograph} fireflies. I additionally discover that you simply seem to work lots throughout night-time, and your work feels fairly scientific and deeply tied to time. Would you agree?

MF: Yes. Normally, if there’s a cloudless moon or a vibrant moon, possibly 4 or 5 days earlier than a full moon, I’ll go into the woods and make a photogram from a mixture of moonlight and a small flash. I name them ‘moon burns’, because the moonlight make little darkish spots on the paper.  I’m additionally keen on geographic landscapes which have plenty of power.  I work in a littoral zone, the place land meets water, the place we supposedly got here out of. I’m within the principle of evolution, so I consider we’re from the thermals and cells we created, and issues that occurred beneath the ocean. If you take a look at my pictures known as, Pharmed and Big Sur, they’re form of otherworldly creatures, there are a couple of of them in my ebook (Photograms and Photographs, 2020-1970). The sequence is about creating new life. I fantasize to make a brand new life type that’s means higher than us, on a sure stage. So that’s what that sequence is about.  I’m not  proving something, I’m not a scientist. Nothing I’m doing is for actual, nevertheless it’s actual. I work in extremely energized landscapes beneath the duvet of darkness.

© Michael Flomen, Big Sur, 2012

LJ: Thank you, Michael, for sharing your fascinating journey.  From our dialog I believe that your pivotal second of transition from digicam to cameraless occurred once you determined to {photograph} fireflies. I additionally discover that you simply seem to work lots throughout night-time, and your work feels fairly scientific and deeply tied to time. Would you agree?

MF: Yes. Normally, if there’s a cloudless moon or a vibrant moon, possibly 4 or 5 days earlier than a full moon, I’ll go into the woods and make a photogram from a mixture of moonlight and a small flash. I name them ‘moon burns’, because the moonlight make little darkish spots on the paper.  I’m additionally keen on geographic landscapes which have plenty of power.  I work in a littoral zone, the place land meets water, the place we supposedly got here out of. I’m within the principle of evolution, so I consider we’re from the thermals and cells we created, and issues that occurred beneath the ocean. If you take a look at my pictures known as, Pharmed and Big Sur, they’re form of otherworldly creatures, there are a couple of of them in my ebook (Photograms and Photographs, 2020-1970). The sequence is about creating new life. I fantasize to make a brand new life type that’s means higher than us, on a sure stage. So that’s what that sequence is about.  I’m not  proving something, I’m not a scientist. Nothing I’m doing is for actual, nevertheless it’s actual. I work in extremely energized landscapes beneath the duvet of darkness.

© Michael Flomen, Wishing Wind, 2024

MF: Once I obtained off these massive sheets (about 144cm by 244cm) of paper I might crush them into my stomach, into huge balls of paper and it takes power to do this. I do know the place I’m going to place that piece of paper, whether or not it’s in a stream, over rocks, I’ve an thought of what I’m going to do. I’ve an thought of what I would like. I don’t know precisely the way it’s going to end up. I’m recording that accident and I’m asking the weather and the energies which can be out in nature to collaborate with me in a sure sense.  I unroll that piece of paper within the panorama.  If you have been to take a bit of paper at your desk and crush it right into a ball after which open it up, you may see all of the ridges in it. If you mild that piece of paper at an angle, then clearly the ridges which can be within the mild can be uncovered, will grow to be darker, and the bottom of that ridge will grow to be much less uncovered. That is a part of my course of. I’m celebrating the supplies. The identical factor is going on in a sure sense to my negatives, the place I’m mainly deconstructing the supplies to make one thing. I’m pushing the supplies to the very fringe of their being, so to talk, of their existence.

© Michael Flomen, Fall Out, 2011

LJ: Any different surprises?

MF: A whole lot of my footage are made horizontally, and so, in some unspecified time in the future, I assumed, why don’t I attempt to make footage with the photographic paper vertical within the panorama.  There are one or two examples within the ebook, the Water World footage, through which I made a decision to place photographic paper vertically right into a lake, at evening. I had wrapped my flash in a small Ziploc bag, and I jumped into the lake and dove beneath the paper, beneath the water, and I flashed the piece of paper from within the lake, and naturally, I’m thrashing about, and the water is transferring, so the sunshine of the flash is refracting off the water and the motion. I’ve obtained some nice fascinating surprises from that course of.  Also, all water in nature is acidic from air pollution, and I don’t know when you have observed this in your work, however water bleaches photographic paper and it bleaches movie and does all types of issues. If you have been to depart these photographic supplies moist for  a few days, your pictures will disappear. I take advantage of the water like paint and in order that by flicking drips of water or moist snow onto the paper after which letting it run, it makes marks. It makes dripping marks that translate by way of black-and-white right into a lighter color. If you look fastidiously in a few examples within the ebook, you may see that, you may see these drippy traces in among the footage, and that’s created by utilizing the acidity of the water, the polluted water, and it’s rising over time, I’ve observed, the planet isn’t getting any cleaner. It  doesn’t damage us if we stroll by means of rain or go within the lake or swimming, nevertheless it impacts our supplies. I take advantage of that for sure visible results now.

© Michael Flomen, Waterworld #9, 2017

LJ: It is sort of serendipitous, actually, isn’t it, nature form of providing you with one thing.

MF: Sure, I believe a part of a inventive course of, it doesn’t matter what we do, you understand, you’re taking part in piano or no matter, portray, generally a splash of purple drips onto your white floor and also you form of have this, ‘Oh, the red looks so beautiful there’ and so you place extra of them. What I inform younger artists and myself, however you understand, it’s inherent in me at this level, is that when the going will get troublesome in your course of, don’t abandon it. Keep pushing by means of. If you’re making one thing, and also you assume, that’s not good. I counsel you simply maintain going ahead. Even although you assume it’s not going to be a profitable picture, go forward, as a result of that accident, that screw up, as we are saying, that you’ve, that you simply’ve seen, may lead to one thing that you simply’ve by no means seen and that’s stimulates you to have your ‘a ha’ second and push you additional in your inventive course of. You should think about your self and in your course of. 

© Michael Flomen, Acid Rain, 2015

LJ: Thinking about working with out a digicam, how do you assume the materiality of your course of impacts the ultimate picture in comparison with conventional pictures?

MF: It took me many a long time of working with movie and photographic paper to know how they react to mild and chemistry. I adopted the principles about dealing with these supplies. I noticed, by means of pushing the processes, how the supplies reacted to my dealing with. Overtime I developed a extra intimate relationship to my movies and papers by my palms on manipulations. It’s like touching the fabric as some say, I would like my power to even be a part of the image making course of. The variations are profound, my photograms and movies are close to bodily collapse, simply on the sting of disintegration due to my presence in making {a photograph}. Direct contact of the supplies with me and the pure parts is how I make footage.

© Michael Flomen, Montauk XI, 2024

LJ: Nature performs an enormous half in your work, subsequently do you see your self as a co-creator or extra of facilitator?

 MF: I believe somewhat little bit of each. I liken my photographic paper, these huge white sheets of paper that I roll out into the panorama, like a tablecloth, like I’m making dinner for 12. I inform this story, the place let’s say it’s vacation time and I’m going to make an enormous dinner. But I haven’t invited anyone. I do the entire thing, I set the desk up, I’ve obtained dinner for 12, cooking, and, after which the cellphone rings and any individual says, ‘Hey, it’s George, it’s Sally, what are you doing? ‘Oh’, I mentioned, ‘I’m simply making dinner’. ‘Oh, we’re coming over then’, and immediately, you’ve obtained one thing cooking, and so I liken this to me being within the panorama. Having an thought of what I’m as much as as a result of I have to put together myself bodily and the supplies, whether or not I’m stepping into water, snow or river, lake, or fireflies, no matter pure parts I’m chasing. Then I’m asking these energies and people pure parts to make footage with me. It’s somewhat little bit of each in that regard.  I’m calling on the ‘Hocus Pocus’ world, the invisible world to be there with me, and issues occur and I’m recording the occasion. It’s like on a white piece of paper, in a panorama of snow, within the darkness of evening, I’m placing some snowflakes on the paper, however I don’t know the place every snowflake goes in the dead of night, however I’ve an thought. I do know what I’m in search of. Sometimes I see as soon as the flash goes off, as a result of I’m trying on the paper, after I’m doing that, I can nearly see the image, typically, not the minute particulars -that at all times occurs in the dead of night.

© Michael Flomen, Trop Tard, 2019

LJ: Some of my work has been impressed and influenced by the best way you might be collaborating with nature. Are there any writers, or thinkers, or artists which have influenced your work with nature?

MF: I’m largely influenced by painters at this level, by the abstractionists. People like Yves Klein, a French conceptual painter. The Italian, Alberto Burri. Painters like Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler and Jackson Pollock. Photographers, not a lot at this level.  The nice sculptors are of curiosity to me. The  poets, musicians….

LJ: You have talked about among the pictures in your ebook Photograms and Photographs 2020-1970, and I need to speak extra about this. I really feel privileged to have a duplicate and discover it fascinating. It is fascinating that you’ve introduced the work in reverse, having your newer work first, what’s your reasoning behind this?

MF: The camera-less work is what individuals attribute to me. The photograms are what individuals know so they arrive first. The earlier work, the pictures, exist, it’s a part of my journey, it’s a part of me and I’m happy with it, so it’s within the ebook.

© Michael Flomen, Book Cover

LJ: The ebook options a mixture of black-and-white images and photograms, however there are additionally a couple of cases the place you’ve gotten experimented with color. I’m curious – do you get pleasure from working with color, or do you end up extra drawn to black-and-white?

MF: Well, I like making issues, so let’s simply begin there. I’m actually completely satisfied after I go into the darkroom, and I’ve been doing that for nearly 60 years. I’ve experimented with color over time, at the same time as a road photographer, however I don’t course of the color movie and I can’t make the print, and I used to be by no means actually motivated to do this or get that form of tools in my darkroom. I used to be at all times on the mercy of the color lab technicians, and I used to be by no means happy discovering the kind of work that might come out of that. The firefly footage which can be simply inexperienced and yellow within the ebook, that’s authentic color from placing a color 8 by 10 movie by means of the scanner. In the early days, I didn’t like the standard of the scans. It was technically very troublesome for the machines to translate, there was plenty of what we name banding. But I did produce some footage in 2001 after which I left it alone for some time. Then right here in Quebec, north of Montreal, I used to be driving dwelling one evening with my spouse, and we noticed the fireflies out within the subject, and I assumed,  possibly I ought to attempt to make color firefly photograms. That’s one other factor, I don’t prefer to repeat myself. I like to maneuver on to one thing else, transfer the method alongside. I did  begin making color firefly footage, of which now I’ve many, and began pushing that course of by including flashes of colored lights and different approaches to my mark making . So as an alternative of getting inexperienced and yellow, I’d have a blueish purple, and I began messing round as I used to be making the photographs by exposing the movie to little bursts of color mild on the identical time, and I actually like these outcomes. Some of my latest black-and-white work you could see out of the Montauk sequence, you’ll see a gold image and, possibly reddish and blue. Those colors, they’re being enhanced within the laptop, however they exist within the black-and-white movie due to the response to chemical substances and the oxidation, letting the negatives prepare dinner and dry with the sand and the salt water and all the opposite particles that mainly will get on these movies. In the black-and-white, I’m getting color, that’s being translated by means of the scanning course of. I’ve discovered that persons are interested in color footage. Black and white is a psychological sport and hues are a visceral sport. Lots of people don’t need to work too arduous at taking a look at issues and a part of my job, in my thoughts, is to make it troublesome so that you can see issues. It’s a visible sport for me.

© Michael Flomen, Dazed and Confused, 2018

LJ: It is fascinating that you simply think about black-and- white a psychological sport, as Vilem Flusser in his writing ‘Towards a Philosophy of Photography’, believes that black-and-white are ideas and may by no means exist on this planet, however they reveal the precise significance of the {photograph}. I too are inclined to work with black-and- white movie however discover that nature typically offers color to these pictures in mysterious methods.

You have already impressed me and lots of others along with your work, so my last query is what recommendation would you give to artists, particularly these beginning out,  trying to work extra responsibly or collaboratively with the pure world?

MF: I at all times point out that one must think about their course of and to not  quit when the artwork making goes sideways. Push forward with what you might be doing, one thing will reveal itself to  you.  Be sincere and attempt to be a greater particular person, you’ll  make higher artwork….

Linda Jarrett is a photographic artist, with a long-standing engagement in experimental pictures. Her present apply explores the idea of destruction – each literal and metaphorical – to boost consciousness of native ecological considerations. Working primarily with analogue and different photographic processes, she collaborates with pure parts such because the surroundings and the solar. She held her debut solo exhibition in 2018 as a part of the Core Exhibitions of the Auckland Festival of Photography and her work has acquired nationwide and worldwide recognition. She holds a BA (Hons) in Photography (First Class) and is at the moment pursuing an MA in Photography.

Instagram: @lindajarrettphotography

© Linda Jarrett, Tides of Change 1F, 2024

© Linda Jarrett, Tides of Change 6E, 2024

© Linda Jarrett, Tides of Change 3G, 2024