from “Evidence”, pp. 15-16, 1977
© Mike Mandel and Larry Sultan

Mike Mandel tought class today, filled in for broken Bill Burke.

Mandel discussed the making of Evidence, working with Larry Sultan, and the process of collecting images — plus a little about what things were like in the 70’s. As he showed slides from Evidence (with two slide projectors set up to show the images side-by-side, as the book also displays them), he talked about the tension between the two images, the psychological implication of one versus the reality of the other, and how he hoped this would be understood by viewers. Hearing him talk about specific pairings of photographs and describe what was actually happening in some of the images was especially wonderful.

Mandel also showed some pre and post-Evidence projects such as his Edward Weston book where he searched far and wide for anyone going by the name ‘Edward Weston’ and asked them to fill out a short survey and provide a picture of themselves for his project. Sometimes he recieved more than one would expect; photography by some of the E.W.s, letters from their wives, etc. At first the collection of not-really-Edward-Weston Edward Westons was about poking fun at the photographic icon, but very quickly Mandel “realized it was more than that,” as he put it, that the surveys were often filled out so genuinely or carefully that it really became about what aspects of peoples lives they were willing to share with curious stranger. I loved this.

In addition, Mandel showed an early book that he self published, work from when he was an undergraduate in Calfornia. The book included self portraits taken with his camera set on a timer so he could run into the frame and interact with people, study his environment and, essentially, let an intriguing photograph be made by chance. It was appropriately titled Myself. Many of the photos were humourous, and some just consisted of Mandel standing in the center of the frame looking awkward. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love this, too.

Baseball-Photographer Trading Cards: Larry Sultan, 1975
© Mike Mandel

Lastly, I’ll note that Mandel had a lot of fun discussing his love of baseball and his creation of a series baseball trading cards of photographer friends and acquaintances (including such names as Ansel Adams, Elliott Erwitt, Imogen Cunningham, Harry Callahan, and so on). The cards became quite a hit and were even traded at gallery openings — and are now sometimes sold on eBay.

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