Meet The Photographer :: Leah Frances

Self-portrait © Leah Frances

LEAH FRANCES INTERVIEW

MF : What sparked your interest in photography?

LF : I pretty randomly took a photography class during high school and ended up loving it so much that I spent every lunch hour in the darkroom and every day after school and on weekends making pictures. I even set up a darkroom in my basement and a second one in my boyfriend’s bathroom — before that he complained he never saw me anymore! My teacher encouraged me to pursue photography in university but, coming from a small town in Canada, I couldn’t imagine how that could lead to any kind of career. Then, later on, I moved to NYC, where I worked in magazines. One of my jobs was to “look at color” in a light booth twice daily, to make sure images would print well on press. I got to examine some incredible photography up close, such as that of William Eggleston, Mark Steinmetz and Stephen Shore, among many others. It was when the Shore pictures came in that I was really blown away. The light was so incredible I felt compelled to buy my first camera as an adult. I took my next vacation to Los Angeles and blissfully made photos, walking down Sunset Boulevard from Silver Lake to Beverly Hills (completely unaware of Ed Ruscha’s series, “Every Building on the Sunset Strip”). I ended up at the Fountain Coffee Room in the Beverly Hills Hotel. I haven’t turned back.

MF : How do you overcome creative blocks?

LF : I once read, and I wish I could remember where, that there are two types of photographers: sculptors and collectors. The sculptor type starts from scratch and builds or sets something up, and then takes a picture of it. The collector type wanders and finds things. I’m definitely the collector type. Sometimes I think I bring pictures home, so to speak, that I’ve sensed might be meaningful and then I find the meaning later, and some other times I go out collecting, looking for particular images to fill in gaps in a story. During and after grad school (2019-2021) my approach became somewhat stifled as I had filled my brain with so many readings, I almost felt paralyzed by the thought of simply making a picture without referring in my mind to academic jargon. A lot of these readings were fantastic, and in hindsight, they’ve influenced my work for the better, but that was certainly a time of struggle.

One immensely helpful tool that I discovered is the book, Photo Work: Forty Photographers on Process and Practice, edited by Sasha Wolf. It basically goes through the artistic processes of 40 different photographers. It helped me to remember that there is no “right” way to approach photography. In the book, Siân Davey says, “The thinking mind can stop us from seeing and responding to unconscious material out there.” Robert Adams advises, “Thinking up a project and then making pictures that fit does not, in my experience, usually result in the best pictures.” Eventually, I found my way back to photographing more intuitively. I thought about this when I recently went to see “Life Dances On: Robert Frank in Dialogue” at MoMA. He said, “I think that the people that influenced me most were the abstractionist painters I met; and what influenced me strongly was the way these painters lived. They were people who really believed in what they did. So it reinforced my belief that you could really follow your intuition... You could photograph what you felt like.”

MF : Do you prefer digital or film & why?

LF : I prefer film, although I don’t use it often anymore due to financial constraints. I prefer it partially because of my method of taking pictures with film, with a Rolleiflex. I brought that camera to Newfoundland last year and I made what I think are some pretty good portraits. I find my ability to look at my subject while pressing the shutter can be really helpful in making a connection that comes through in the finished work. Film is also simply more forgiving of exposure errors. I was making pictures in fog 99% of the time and I was really grateful for the flexibility that film provides. Last, people look at a camera like a Rollei and they’re not generally worrying as much about their picture ending up on social media. They are more relaxed. Most people don’t even believe an actual picture is going to come out of that little black box!

MF : Name 3 of your favorite books on photography.

LF : Off the top of my head, two obvious ones, and one maybe not quite so obvious: I adore Stephen Shore’s Uncommon Places and Robert Frank’s The Americans. A book that I think is incredibly smart, brave, and unique is Tarrah Krajnak’s El Jardín de Senderos Que Se Bifurcan.

Worcester, Massachusetts, 2016 © Leah Frances

MF : How did American Squares start?

LF : I started working at The New York Times in the spring of 2013, at which time I had only been photographing for a short time and was using Tumblr; I did not have an Instagram account. That fall, Kathy Ryan, the Director of Photography for The New York Times Magazine, first photographed me for her “Office Romance” series. I think because I had a habit of working late — when the light was often streaming beautifully through the Renzo Piano designed building — she continued to do so, here and there, for the next six years.

I remember that after Kathy made the first photo, she asked if I had an Instagram handle so she could tag me. I didn’t, but you’d better believe I started one immediately afterward! The next time she made my portrait she asked me again, and the name I had chosen was so unmemorable — something like Leah198100 — that she didn’t find the account. After that, I thought of the name “American Squares” and was pretty surprised it wasn’t taken. The third time was a charm and when she asked me for my handle, I finally had something snappy. IRACED back to my desk, deleted a few photos, and made sure “some good ones” were at the top of my profile. Shortly after, little hearts appeared as she went through my feed. Later, when she posted that picture, she gave my Instagram a shout-out to her followers. What a generous thing to do.

MF : What are your strengths and weaknesses as a photographer?

LF : Oof. Weaknesses: I have almost no “technical skills.” I use a prime lens; I don’t know how to use a flash; I never use a tripod. Basically, I wait around for the perfect light and I take my picture. If that light doesn’t show up, I am screwed. I have gotten a few great assignments and frankly, blown them, because it was a fast turnaround situation and the weather was grey or rainy. The patience of hunting for the perfect light is a skill in itself but it can’t do much to save you in crappy weather. Strengths: I think I have a decent eye for color and I’m good at holding my breath and shooting really slow without a tripod! Ha.

MF : What tips do you have for creating a good composition?

LF : I was really lucky in that there was a 5-minute “Short Takes” doc made about me and my photography for PBS a while ago. A lot of people laughed because you’ll see me literally get down in the dirt and lie on my back while photographing a car. When I am making a picture I will circle my subject, get down low, try up high, and look at it from every possible angle. I use a prime lens, not a zoom lens, so I basically zoom with my feet. I don’t usually take more than one or two pictures though. I wait until I am satisfied with what I see through the lens, and then I press the shutter. I guess my tip would be: really look. “Seeing” is something that takes practice and no amount of gear or fancy lenses can approximate it.

Brooklyn, New York, 2016 © Leah Frances

MF : What gear do you use?

LF : For the work you see on Instagram, when I shoot analogue I use a Rolleiflex 3.5F TLR, mainly with Kodak Portra 400 ISO film. I have my color negatives developed for me and then I either scan them myself on an Epson V800 or, if they need to be printed for a show or book, I have them scanned at Bleeker Digital in Manhattan. Lately I started shooting a little bit of 35 mm with a simple Minolta X-370s or a Yashica T3, both with Ilford HP5+ (mostly because it’s what my local camera shop carries.) I also own a Fujica GW690 medium format rangefinder. It produces beautiful negatives but I haven’t found the right use for it yet.

When I shoot digital it is with a Fujifilm GFX 50R. I only own one lens, a 50mm f/3.5. I don’t use a flash or a tripod.

MF : What is your post production process?

LF : I do very little to my files as I process them. In the beginning of my photographing as an adult, I took a class with Palmer Davis at the ICP. He said something so simple that it stuck: “If you don’t have the light, don’t take the picture.” So, I don’t. My pictures generally look, in camera, exactly how I want and expect them to. I then import my RAW files into Capture One and maybe open the shadows a little bit or close down the highlights a touch, if needed. Then, when I plan to print I export them out as Adobe RGB (1998) TIFF files and print from Photoshop using Canon printing software. At home I print with a Canon PRO-300. (I think everyone should try Capture One. It results in better TIFFS which has allowed me to make much nicer, larger, prints.)

MF : Do you have any plans to publish another book? If so, would it be a continuation of American Squares?

LF : There has been some talk of releasing a 2nd edition of “American Squares,” and, aside from that, I probably have enough photographs for a third book. I think it would be fun to make a trilogy — “American Squares,” “Lunch Poems,” and “as yet untitled book three” — that could play nicely together. I was actually planning that in designing my second book, that it would complement and continue on from the first one. For me, I think it takes having a finished book in hand, or at least a box of prints (something that doesn’t just live on a computer screen) for a body of work to feel closer to “finished.” That said, I have been exploring several other projects. I’ve been working closer to my home, making much more personal work.

Jersey City, New Jersey, 2020 © Leah Frances