RECREATING MASTERWORKS

SAM HASKINS

UPDATE: I showed this image to the estate of Sam Haskins and was given a thumbs up of approval in its intentions. Thank you Ludwig Haskins for your glowing feedback!

I’ve wanted to recreate 'Figgins (1961, Johannesburg)' by Sam Haskins, since I first laid eyes on it many years ago. I’ve never attempted to shoot it, mainly because trying to do a single, in-camera photo like this would require an immense amount of energy and time - both of which have been in short supply for several years. Having moved into more heavy image compositing work, however, a new approach had presented itself.

It seems fitting that this ended up being the last creative in my studio: it was a long term goal project, a model shoot, and a self portrait. A vanity project, of which I seldom gravitate toward.

The way the fixtures sit between myself and my super(rad)model, Sarah, I feel like it also is an appropriate nod to the distance we’re all experiencing in 2020. Look at how many elements sit comfortably between the photographer and model. I love that on closer inspection there is, in fact, nothing blocking their sight lines. Together and segmented at once.

“Whatever he was shooting, his love affair with photography and his ‘lone-artist-in-the-studio’ mind set, was always there.”
-Sam Haskins' Estate Blog

Sam was a broad ranging commercial freelancer with a diverse portfolio that spanned a ton of industries and many decades. His most famous artwork, Cowboy Kate and Other Stories (1964), is a series of black and white nudes that experimented with form, purposeful film grain, and overexposure. He was also heavily influenced by the imagination and whimsy of the circus. The more I’ve read about Sam the more his art-life feels familiar.

Same, my guy, same. I have always romanticized the idea of the “artist and muse in studio” dynamic. The connection between photographer and subject that allows art to be discovered rather than forced.

WHY I LOVE THE ORIGINAL IMAGE

I always said that if I didn’t enjoy photographing people so much that I would have shot architecture.

All of the arranging of positive and negative space. Right angles. The interweaving of light and shadow. Every line overlap intentional. Its fully my jam. The spacing between each light, stand and window frame is meticulous. It must have taken hours to get just right. Huge blocks of light and dark space perfectly interspersed.

I tried to pay homage to as many elements of the photo as possible while making it my own, beginning with using the stage tops from my Lumination set as the ‘windows’. I don’t have a big, bright loft to shoot in, so I had to make my own! Replace the tea with whiskey. Replace the large format camera with my PhaseOne and a MacBook. A fancy stool for step ladder (I definitely stand like this in studio!) My lights are smaller, and my stands fill space quite differently, which presented opportunities to rearrange elements a little further…

I widened the canvas out and added a hint of a soft box on the far left edge. The chains, sandbag and wood floor on the far right are exactly as-is from my studio. A torn up front edge of the paper reveals more hardwood.

I could write an entire essay about this kind of compositional arrangement and why it speaks to me. Really, there are only two things that I don’t like about the original: 1) the cord above the model’s head is needlessly messy, yet all the other cables in the photo are meticulously placed. I made mine only a little bit messy… and 2) there’s a light stand right behind Haskins' shoulder. Its the only part of the photo with elements overlapping like that and it breaks the flow of the spacing for me. I wanted to get a round shape over my head similarly, but couldn’t stand the idea of overlapping with stuff behind me when it happens nowhere else... when I stop over-analyzing, I realize that he was probably doing exactly the same thing that I was: using what was on hand.

WHY MAKE THIS IMAGE?

I don’t really do “recreations,” and have avoiding making a cliched photographer-in-the-mirror-with-his-camera self portrait. I’ve only dabbled in self portraits a few times, and typically in times of great anguish… being on camera feels like I’m acting. Emoting. Putting it on. I have a harder time being genuine on camera than I ever realized. A holdover from being on stage and always 'on,' perhaps.

This project represents as many layers of my creative heart and mind that I could fit: intimate work model, connecting with artists that inspire me, control of light, compositing, portraiture, art direction and, most importantly, is a tribute to the past seven years that I’ve had a studio space to call my own.