2 hours ago
5
I made this image, Man with Windex, in New York City, in 1996. I was, and remain, obsessed with making photographs on the streets of New York. At that time, I was using a Leica Rangefinder with colour negative film because of its malleability and ease. One of the beautiful things about the Leica is its stealth qualities – it is quiet and small, though for me right now the iPhone is my camera.
I am the son of Holocaust survivors and grew up in suburban central New Jersey, moving to New York in 1979 when I was in my early 20s – which was like landing on Mars. This picture is part of my series and book Sidewalk, made between 1987 and 1999. I would walk the streets of Manhattan daily, ready for surprises. Out on the street you need calm alertness. Pictures that remain strongest for me have a sense of ambiguity, maybe that extra-rare quality of mystery, and that would give me a feeling of euphoria.
My wanderings that day took me near 50th Street and Sixth Avenue, a part of midtown that is chock-full of possibilities. There was this man in a suit and tie, with a cigarette in one hand and the other clenching a spray bottle of Windex. It was only when I saw the actual negative on a light box with a loupe magnifier that I felt an immediate jolt, a buzz of wonder. There were the ingredients I hope for: the ambiguity and the mystery. The tension of his grip on the Windex bottle, a poker face expression, the assumption he may be a janitor despite being dressed in a suit. Also, he seems unaware of me. There are wilted daffodil flowers, a boulder that might be a meteor that struck the flowerbed.
Now, after 30 years, looking at it I see the sewer cover for the first time; maybe everything will go down it in the end. This picture has that precious, memorable quality, it has survived and still makes me think. That is a gift.
Memorability is a key ingredient – this was taken a long time ago but survived, which is rare when you take pictures at the rate I do, and I’ve been doing this a long time. That is part of the work as a street photographer. But you also need the state of mind to leave your house first of all, which when you get older is a big step. Something has to be out there in the real world – but it’s the anti-moments I’m interested in. Then I wrap it up with a bow, with the composition and colour. The use of colour is important – I’m not saying colour is harder, but I think it is different to black and white, it’s an additional ball to juggle. My personal interest in colour comes from my interest in realism, it’s not so much about the play of colour – though in this picture the colour interactions are good.
Sidewalk was the result of winning the European Publishers award for Photography in 1999. It was a flattering and exhilarating prize to have won. I’m over-the-top excited about my new book, What if Jeff Were a Butterfly, which includes a great range of material subject-wise, a wild concoction of almost random images, put together in poetic and surprising ways, that has messed up my head in a good way.
In recent years, I have been making lots of videos. I don’t walk around with a particular notion in my mind, but I want to contribute somehow to capturing the human condition in any given moment in time – that’s the challenge. I think it’s a privilege to have found something I love, and I remain as crazy about photography now as I was 50 years ago.
Jeff Mermelstein’s CV
Born: 1957, New Brunswick, New Jersey
High Point: “When the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired 21 prints from my series #nyc for its permanent collection.”
Top tip: “Truly believe that all that matters is the work you create, strive to put your singular self into that work and understand that rejection is meaningless.”
