How to Develop a Project: Alessandra Sanguinetti

© Alessandra Sanguinetti, from "The Adventures of Guille & Belinda"

In 2012 and 2013 fototazo published thirteen short essays from photographers to the basic question, "What advice do you have for starting a project?"

The series featured replies from Judith Joy Ross, Irina Rozovsky, Alejandro Cartagena, Phil Toledano, Steven Ahlgren, Susan Lipper, Amani Willett, Lisa Kereszi, Eirik Johnson, Richard Renaldi, Brian Ulrich, Mark Steinmetz,  Tim Davis and Nicholas Nixon.

We continue with a follow-up series of advice from photographers on how to develop a project, asking them how they approach the middle ground of their projects after giving basic definition and before taking steps to finish.

The first responses came from Elinor Carucci, Michael Itkoff and Jackie Nickerson. Today we continue with a response from Alessandra Sanguinetti.

Alessandra Sanguinetti was born in New York, 1968, and lived in Argentina from 1970 until 2003. Currently based in San Francisco. She's a recipient of generous grants, fellowships and prizes. She's also a member of Magnum Photos and represented in New York by Yossi Milo Gallery and in Buenos Aires by Galeria Ruth Benzacar.

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© Alessandra Sanguinetti, from "On the Sixth Day"

Midway through a project is when I start making a lot of lists.

When I'm at a loss or think I'm done for the day I take out the crumpled list and it sets me straight again.

Then at night after shooting, I draw small frames with stick figures of the images I made, and the images I plan on making, so I can make a sort of storyboard and do some "invisible" editing to prepare for the next day. This lets me play more than look at the images on a screen or at prints.

The main job is distilling the story line, what I want to know more about, what I want to expand on, identifying what easy routes I tend to take so I avoid them, what I'm missing, where I could play more, what I have enough of, what I have to redo and so on.

That's it. As long as I don't make the mistake of thinking the middle is the end - that I'm done when I've actually just begun (which is the very tempting after the initial novelty and ease are gone), the work will take shape and start having a life of its own.

© Alessandra Sanguinetti, from "The Adventures of Guille & Belinda"

8.21.11 Reading Shortlist

The Reading Shortlist is an occasional post with a listing of recommended readings from other sites.

Joerg Colberg, Conscientious, Conversations About Photo Books: Lesley Martin

Katie Fowley, Electronic Beats, Pieter Hugo - Nollywood

Jim Goldberg and Todd Hido, PDNonline, Heroes & Mentors: Jim Goldberg & Todd Hido On Larry Sultan

Sam Mirlesse, Whitehot Magazine, Interview with Alessandra Sanguinetti

Jerry Saltz, New York Magazine, Generation Blank

Michael Werner, Two Way Lens, Simon Roberts

Susan Worsham on Portraiture

Alessandra Sanguinetti, The Necklace, 1999

fototazo has asked twelve photographers what makes a good portrait. This is the 4th in the series of their responses. The first three came from Steve Davis, Elinor Carucci and Mark Powell.

Susan Worsham (b.1969 Virginia, USA) took her first photography class while studying graphic design at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is a member of the Appalachian Photographer's Project and her work has been featured online at Flak Photo, The Exposure Project, Lenscratch, Ahorn Magazine and Fraction Magazine. In 2009 Susan was nominated for the Santa Fe Prize for Photography and her book Some Fox Trails In Virginia won first runner up in the fine art category of the Blurb Photography Book Now International Competition. In 2010 Susan was awarded the first TMC / Kodak Film Grant and was also an artist in residence at Light Work in Syracuse, New York. Her work is held in private collections and has been exhibited at Dean Jensen Gallery, The Photographic Center Northwest, Silver Eye Center for Photography and the Corcoran Museum of Art during FotoWeek D.C.

She was recently named one of PDN's 30 Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2011.

Susan Worsham: As children, we are taught not to stare. A portrait however gives us permission to spend time gazing at another human being, to discover their nuances, and wonder about their life. When taking, or looking at a portrait I am drawn to a quiet intimacy, a vulnerability that connects me to the subject. The photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti's portraits of two young cousins Guille and Belinda are images that I never grow tired of revisiting. When I was an artist in residence at Light Work her portrait "The Necklace" hung above my bed. The gaze of the young girl greeted me every morning, like she knew a secret that she wanted to share. Like the best images, this portrait holds layers of meaning. Is it one girl coveting another's beauty, like a queen's attendant, or two girls playing at the women that they will become?

Alessandra Sanguinetti, Untitled, 2004

In a similar image taken years later the girls revisit their younger selves, taking up a familiar pose. This image is what I think of when I think of a good portrait, even though neither girl is in a direct exchange with the camera. There is a change in their appearance, but we also feel  a change in their relationship. This portrait captures the distance that is forming between childhood and adulthood, as well as between the two girls.

A good portrait is magic, and has something that words can not express.