DOUGLAS DUBLER III: as slow as light
This Issue’s Special Feature is Time. We have the great honor to publish the work of an American Legend Photographer who has shaped the way photography has to be interpreted and actualized: Douglas Dubler III. I had the pleasure and the privilege to spend some time with him (we share a passionate love for Italy and everything Italian) and have an informal conversation about this project.
Q: What did inspire you to take the two series of pictures we present in this issue of our magazine, and can you explain to us a little bit of the technique you used?
A: First of all, initially, this wasn’t intended to be a project; it wasn’t planned, and at that time, I wasn’t focusing on any particular topic or theme. It was entirely accidental. It’s actually an interesting story. It was the year 1999, on the verge of the New Millennium, and I was at friends’ house in California. One day I was walking in my room, and, all of a sudden, I noticed these patterns on the wall, caused by the refraction of the light through the window. It was majestic, a complex, random geometry, almost solid-looking blocks but generated by sunlight. I had to crystalize that moment. I had to. I got even more thrilled when I realized that day we were on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, a day with deep meanings and ancient symbolism. At that point, I had to continue. So, to turn everything to blue, as you see in the series you published, to make pictures look more surreal, I calibrated the camera's setting. I placed myself in that room for six days until the refraction angle changed, and the patterns disappeared. But what you see, believe it or not, it’s natural light. None of the photos have been photoshopped. At that point, that accident turned into a project. I made my friend swear not to clean that window until the next year, and so on for a total of four years. After that, the angle of Earth’s ax changed, and the patterns were lost.
In the second year, I brought a prism with me. I was curious to see what would have happened if I refracted that ray of light through a prism and what kind of patterns would have come out. The results are the second series you are publishing as Solstice Prism.
That’s when the project shifted to a new level. On one side, I felt a lot of pressure because I knew I had a slot of few hours a day to get that refraction, and only for few days; on the other side, I had to do everything by myself, holding the prism crystal with one hand and calibrating and shooting with the other hand. I felt I was a contortionist.
So, I was aware I had to do everything correctly; otherwise, I had to wait for another year. And in time, I learned to regulate shadow speed at a particular rate to get the color-mark you see in the pictures.
For this project, I also stuck to my basic rule to always think about how the picture will look after printing, and each shot and experience have bettered me.
Do you want to listen to something strange? Some of my best pictures of a series came from the first early ones; afterward, I tried to replicate the perfection I got in the first place. I guess we think our brain is better than our instinct or that it gets better, but sometimes intuition is better. That’s my personal experience. And that’s what I think being an artist means. To live in touch with your inner side. And bring out, to express in the outside what you feel and perceive in the inside.
Q: What should be the purpose of photography, according to you?
A: Getting in touch with your creative/spiritual part through the light. Which I think is the common thread of all the arts.
Q: You have achieved incredible success and maintain it over more than forty years: what do you feel to say to Millennials who dream of a career like yours?
A: Nowadays it is very, very difficult to get noticed. Social media are indeed a way to get that, but you cannot rely entirely on them to achieve your purposes. To succeed in this career, or even to just make a living out of it, other than talent and skills, you also need commercial understanding for sure. But, the way I see it, I always approached it as fine art, not a business. You can't last that long if you do it for money only, your goal must be to do a good job. Success is related to expertise; it can take decades to get good, but not necessarily rich!
Another suggestion from my personal experience. Always look for technology that serves your purpose, that not make it just different, but better.
Q: What is the best improvement technology has brought to photography over the last forty years, and what do you miss the most from the time of old fashioned analogic gears?
Well, I do not nostalgically look at the past, but still….. I have been in this business for over forty years, and I was part of the transition from the analogical/film era to the digital one. I have worked many times as a consultant for camera manufacturers, and I have experimented a lot throughout my career, but I have always thought that photography is enclosed in a circle of three elements: Inspiration, execution, and observation. They are circular, and if you keep yourself in that routine, you get better and better and better.
You see, the analogical gears missed the observation part. The digital camera allows you to observe and check the outcome of your effort immediately. And this automatically improves the speed and the chances of your improvements.
Also, I always start with the vision of the pic I want, and then I go backward, regulating the camera and the set up to get what I have already pictured in my mind. Moreover, when I take a picture, I always think about how the final print will look like, again tuning and adjusting gears and equipment until I get to that final print.
That’s also why I am not interested in smart-phones pictures. It takes more than just a sunset and a phone to take an actual image.
Q: Over your career, you have worked with the most prestigious magazines, for the top luxury brands, and with the most famous top models in the world: has Time changed the way you approach a project or the criteria by which you choose to work on a project instead of another?
A: It hasn't changed me at all. Ever since my career, I focus on getting all the best out of a situation and being in a good mood. I have always used the same paradigm.
Q: What did bring you into the world of photography? When did you realize that you wanted to become a professional photographer?
A: I always say that I never worked a day in my life; I started very young and had no intention to make a living out of this, but I always looked for an occupation that allowed me to do what I like and live the lifestyle I enjoyed the most. And I have no regrets, no matter the money sometimes I didn’t make because I declined some lucrative assignments, because I felt not comfortable working for specifically somebody or on a specific topic.
Article by Joseph Ralph Fraia - IG @jrfstudio
PH: Douglas Dubler III
