spotlight
john waters, director of pink flamingos, polyester, hairspray, pecker, serial mom Baltimore kate clinton, comedian and actress from the “l” word new york
their guard down as a result. It allows me to get more natural moments and expressions. How and when did you decide to put this collection together? You’ve been working on this for many, many years, correct? Yes, fifteen years between the two books
(Kings In Their Castles was published first), this current book took about ten or eleven years. People hear that and think it’s such huge amount, but it’s very time-consuming to find subjects, schedule them and often I have cancellations and rescheduling. Finding people who not only had interesting environments, but who were willing to be photographed in their different locations was challenging. Then in between all of it, I have to make a living and pay my rent. (Laughs) Then too, time to pack equipment and get
there. I went to 30 different states, so planning all those trips in and of itself was very arduous. Each shoot can easily take up to a half a day, but it can take just as long to go through the photos and select the images. Then, there is all the retouching and work that has to take place in Photoshop, so it’s a very lengthy process. Finding a publisher and shopping that is another whole process and then the print production process takes a great deal of time, as well. Most don’t really realize what kind of time and energy it takes to pull together a book or magazine, or any creative process for that matter. If I had not been someone who has done two
books, I couldn’t even imagine how much goes into it. I sometimes look at people who do a two-hour movie, with multiple people, sound, props, lighting and then writing a script and acting it out on top of that, I can’t fathom how much work that would be. It’s one thing when you have a large, film produc-
tion company with a staff of hundreds, but when it’s one person, it’s very time-consuming. It has given me a whole new appreciation for what it takes to put any creative project together, especially if you want to do it well. There were some shoots where I personally didn’t
like any of the shots, so I didn’t use them. I was kind of a perfectionist when choosing the photos and would go back through them several times, before choosing one. Color, hue, brightness and darkness is very important to me as well, so all of that took a lot of time. I’d simply call that being a great photographer, it’s a creative art form and that takes time. Even though the tools we have now make it easier to adjust the medium, it’s still a process. Capturing
the essence of a subject is a skill though, not everyone can do it. There are several images that stand out for me and one in particular— is the photo of Meredith Baxter—there is something so intense and emotional about the shot. We don’t often see big celebrities like her in a moment of vulnerability or rawness; this was an example of that. There were health supplements and things on her counter, mail and junk and she didn’t mind any of it being photographed. I was talking with her while shooting and she started to pour her soul out to me. Her daughter was going off to college and all these very personal stories about her family…I got the shot in that moment. It’s hard to do, because there is so much going on as you’re shooting. You must think about the composition, the lighting, is my camera on the right setting and then to also keep up conversation with them is a challenge. I don’t use an assistant by choice, because if I did, they would end up talking to them. I think it would make it more uncomfortable for the subject and less of a personal experience. Being one on one with them allows me to capture the expressions I am able to. What was the most surprising thing for you about the process of doing this book? One of the wonderful things, I kind of knew already, but had reinforced, was just how many interesting people and interesting gay people there are all across the U.S. And, how many thriving gay communities there are in small, rural areas. In some of the more remote areas, many of the gay people knew the other LGBT people in their areas and were connected to them. In Vermont, I shot several farmers, and
they all knew each other, even though they were in different corners of the state. Then, in deep Republican territory like Texas and Utah, there is a thriving gay community. I knew this on some level having grown up in Vermont in a small town in the woods, you might drive through and think that there isn’t a lot there, but I knew that dotted throughout the woods and down all the long driveways, were interesting people and things. I kind of learned that the whole country is like that and that there are interesting people everywhere.
For more information aboutTom Atwoodand his work, or to purchase his most recent book,Kings & Queens in Their Castles go
totomatwood.com.
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RAGE monthly | MARCH 2017
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