photographer JOHN LIPKOWITZ

JOHN LIPKOWITZ BRAIDS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN LIPKOWITZ

Interview by Harryet Candee

“Farther Reaches, Musings on a Wildlife Portfolio” is the title of your exhibition of photography the month of February at 510 Warren Street. How long have you been focused on this particular subject matter? John Lipkowitz: In 1997 when Nina and I still lived in Manhattan and she was a docent at The American Museum of Natural History we had an opportunity to travel with a group of Museum volunteers on safari to Kenya and Tanzania. In those days, I still had a Minolta automatic film camera which I bought in 1986 as soon as they were available in the US because visual issues made it difficult for me to focus accurately using a single lens reflex camera. The Minolta, which we had seen used by Japanese photographers while we were visiting China in 1985, seemed the answer to my often

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out of focus images and I was still using it when we went to Africa. Exposure to the vast numbers and variety of free wildlife in East Africa (now reduced substantially by loss of habitat, poaching and human encroachment) was truly overwhelming. My telephoto mirror lens captured some amazing images, but left me looking towards even more serious equipment for the future.

What has captured your interest the most out of all your adventures, and connections you have made with the animal kingdom and that of your adventures travelling? Lipkowitz: It’s really hard to pick a favorite, which often changes depending on where I am on any particular wildlife based trip. We have been fortunate that we have had the time,

money and health to do quite a bit of travel, often to wildlife destinations.

I think that the area which has most fascinated me and captured my heart is the Arctic, that area around the top of the world above 66 2/3 latitude. The Arctic covers many countries, but the majority falls within Canadian and Russian territory. The US has some in Alaska and Norway has some in the Svalbard archipelago and I have been to various parts ten or eleven times. For me, the triple draw is the combination of near twenty-four hour daylight in the summer, massive volumes of ice, now steadily receding, but still plentiful, and polar bears, the Arctic’s defining wildlife species. Except for the light, the other elements continue receding these days. Nearly every day, we read more about sea ice melting causing shrink-

ing of bear habitat. There are few things more depressing than seeing polar bears stuck on small islands scrounging for seabird eggs and chicks rather than hunting out on the sea ice for fat rich seals. How many eggs and chicks does it take to replace a seal? One can’t even imagine. In terms of actual connection with a particular species on a more personal level, I would have to say the day and a half Nina and I, and the group, were with Japanese macaques (snow monkeys) in the hot springs of Monkey Park in Nagano Prefecture in the mountains of Honshu in Japan, February 2005— a truly a magical experience.

You are on a tireless journey! How exactly would you describe your mission as a photographer? Lipkowitz: I don’t have any particular mission except to enjoy myself, see as much as I can, and photograph whatever draws my interest at the time. These days much of our travel is not wildlife based so I have to be an opportunist and go for anything that intrigues me. People, markets, doors, locks, anything – and there are trips where very little attracts me photographically. Then I just have to relax and enjoy the experience. When you do group travel, others are in charge of your itinerary so opportunism really is the key. If I’m on a beach, sand and water patterns, shell and debris compositions – these little landscapes or waterscapes draw me. The mission perhaps is “whatever” or nothing at all at that time in that place.

What were some of the trials and tribulations of going from a Leica Camera around your neck, to digital equipment? Lipkowitz: That Leica which I got sometime around 1958, when I was fifteen, was my second 35mm camera, the first having been an Argus C-3. The Leica, which I used for nearly thirty years was a great camera, and with my visual issues the fact that it was a split image rangefinder (you brought the top and bottom halves of an image together to focus) meant that I could get sharp images always – and Leica lenses were incredible even then, only thirteen years after the war ended. Over the years I bought a reflex housing for it and a 200mm lens to go with my original 50mm one and I thought I could reach anything with that outfit. I didn’t know about taking care of it so that camera was never cleaned and eventually the grommets which held the strap just wore through. In the early 1980’s Nina’s father died and I inherited his Pentax single lens reflex camera that came to China, where I saw those very first auto focus Minoltas.

Is digital as reliable as your experience with the Leica camera? How so? Lipkowitz: The digital revolution really began in the very late 90s with enormously expensive small megapixel cameras. By 2000 a couple of manufacturers offered reasonably priced 3 megapixel ones Continued on next page...

JOHN LIPKOWITZ KING PENGUINS

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JOHN LIPKOWITZCATTLE EGLET IN BREEDING PLUMAGE

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JOHN LIPKOWITZ WATCH ME PLAY

to ordinary consumers. Nina and I had made a deal with our son, then twenty-five, that we would take him on an Antarctica trip with us if he paid half his way, and as a gift, I bought him one of those “amazing” digital point and shoot cameras, either a Sony or an Olympus, I think. There were a number of professional photographers on this trip, still shooting film of course, and Daniel, our son, a computer savvy person, used Nina’s computer, that she brought to study her Museum learning materials, to link to his camera. Daniel managed to set up slide shows for some of the older people who had not made Zodiac landings at the penguin sites so they could view the day’s images. That wowed everyone, especially the pros, who literally knew nothing about the power and potential of digital. These images were pretty low resolution, but they were there, immediately, for all to see. This technology was certainly something

to think about, though no comparison to film at the time.

I was still into film and after that trip, when Canon started introducing its Image Stabilized lenses, I bought my final film camera, Canon’s very best, and a considerable collection of those lenses. That was the camera I used until a trip to Alaska in the summer of 2004 when I had bought my first Canon Rebel six megapixel camera in the fall of 2003, and had been using it along with my film camera, and both outfits went on that Alaska trip. Thirty rolls of film went to Alaska – three exposed rolls returned, together with thousands of digital images. I was hooked – but good. And that was it with film.

Do you print your photographs from your studio? It must give you a sense of freedom! Modern technology can be amazing, do you agree?

Lipkowitz: Obviously, the digital versus film debate continues to rage, with ardent proponents on either side, but is not one in which I engage. My first digital experience began with some early software, Picassa as I remember, and the best Nikon scanner I could buy at the time. I would scan my slides and negatives and work on them in Picassa and shortly in early versions of Photoshop, so I could print them rather small on an early Epson photo printer as I began the self teaching process. One simple course in Photoshop that Nina and I took together (she as an artist essentially inquiring about digital possibilities) helped a lot, but was geared towards photographers more advanced than I at the time, and I was pretty much lost. I had always been self taught so I just added photography software to the mix. I have a closet full of digital cameras evidencing my equipment evolution during Continued on next page...

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JOHN LIPKOWITZ HANGING OUT

these 15 years, and today I use Sony and Olympus mirrorless cameras and associated lenses because they are so much lighter. The Sony is a very high megapixel camera, the Olympus much less so, but they all allow me to print as large as I can on my 24 inch Canon printer. I love printing, so the entire process all the way through framing is under my control and this enables me to fully participate in our gallery at 510 Warren Street in Hudson, and to mount a substantial show as I have done this month.

What were your most memorable moments on safari and photographing wild animals? Did you ever find yourself a tad too close for comfort? Lipkowitz: I’ve been to Africa five times now and each has been notable in its own way, and there are still places there I wish to visit. I would suggest to any readers who may be contemplating

an African safari trip that they do it soon because things are changing rapidly. Wildlife is disappearing and species we may be taking for granted could very well disappear under heavy pressure from habitat loss and poaching. When we first went to Africa in 1997 there were perhaps 100,000 lions in the wild, today best estimates are around 20,000. There may be only 5,000 cheetahs left, and their gene pool is so thin that they could be gone in twenty years. It is like that across a broad spectrum of species.

In terms of danger, it always amazes me that we can be traveling in open vehicles and come across a pride of lions lying in or near the road, or hunting right alongside us. The guide’s response is always that the animals see us as part of the vehicles rather than as prey and that we are safe as long as we remain there. Although it’s never happened to me, others have had cheetahs

jump on their vehicles for a higher perspective on possible prey. However I have been in vehicles nearly surrounded by several elephants and charged by some as our driver furiously backed out of a stream. A couple of times drivers have been scared and then you know you are in serious trouble. It’s all part of the experience.

I see your photographs very alive and overwhelmingly beautiful. Do you prefer black and white, or color? How do you know which it will be? Lipkowitz: I shoot in the RAW format which means that all digital data is captured in the image. While these images create large files (and for me require a number of external hard drives on which to store them in multiple copies) the fact that all data is preserved allows me to convert an image to black and white and work on that without destroying the original

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image. I primarily use Lightroom which is a Photoshop derivative specifically for photographers (without all the graphic arts features) and which is available to photographers along with Photoshop on a monthly subscription basis. They are constantly updated by Adobe, their publisher. I never even think about conversion to black and white until I see an image on my computer, and for me, most won’t really work. But with some images, mostly intimate portraits, I just know a black and white image will be more powerful, eliminating distractions and directing one’s attention to the power of the subject itself. In these cases I generally prefer high contrast with abrupt shadows and highlights to really set the subject apart.

Do you see that all the time and activity involved over the years has given way to a great education in art? What are some insights can you share with us about being an artist and a photographer that you have learned over the years? Lipkowitz: I do photography because I love it – but not in any particular academic way. As I said, I am self taught. I subscribe to magazines about photography (too many to adequately keep up with these days), which are primarily outdoor or wildlife based, but while I may pick up some technical help I am mainly looking for others’ experiences. In the end, I’m going to do it my way, and often, my way seems to work pretty well. I’m certainly not an expert in any particular part of the process, but I seem to have a good eye, am making compositions in my mind and editing images there, and am a pretty good printer. Most importantly, I have fun. So, does anything in my photographic experience give me a great education in art? I don’t really know. I do know that Nina, to whom I will have been married for fifty years in March, has definitely helped me collect great art experiences over a half century. What I have learned and how I may have or have not applied it to my photography probably will never be revealed in any overt fashion. Perhaps composition wise and probably in teaching a fair amount about how I look at a subject and how I may wish to attempt to interpret it.

For sure, the more art one sees the more one is likely to absorb, and that must apply to me as well. In my mind, I do revisit particular images in terms of possibly reinterpreting them and often that leads me to revisit files from years ago. The show now at 510 Warren Street Gallery is a retrospective and many of the images are such reinterpretations and/or presented in a different fashion from those of earlier times. In this sense, there are growth opportunities everywhere.

After all you’re travelling, and you are home, at long last… Do you happen to enjoy the very uncomplicated moments and just want Continued on next page...

JOHN LIPKOWITZ

GROOMIN’, STEAMIN’

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JOHN LIPKOWITZ ON WATCH

JOHN LIPKOWITZMEERKATS ON LOOKOUT

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JOHN LIPKOWITZ TOO CLOSE

to take a photograph of a coffee mug, your cat, a tree, anything like that? After all, you do live in the Berkshires, the most beautiful place on earth! Lipkowitz: OMG – my plan is to keep traveling as long as I am physically and financially able, hopefully for many more years, although the physicality challenges me more these days. I may live in the Berkshires, but I don’t consider myself a Berkshire photographer. Almost all of my photography is done while traveling and I look forward to each new adventure. This doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy this area, but I have to admit that I don’t go hunting for local venues. Presently I have enough to do and since newer is not always better, revisiting older images has a lot to offer. I do love the iPhone and for special projects or just for the hell of it, I use it quite a bit both while traveling and around and about. But my cat or a coffee mug as subject, not very often.

What is coming up for you after the February show? Any plans for a new project? Lipkowitz: Well, 510 Warren Street Gallery is

an artist owned gallery, and those of us who are full share members are hanging something every month. Sometimes the same images remain for an extra month or two, but often new or different ones are rotated in. During the summers of 2014 through 2016 I worked on an iPhone project at Hancock Shaker Village using apps which mimic antique photo processes. I had a hope of getting these images actually on exhibit at the Village and I still harbor that desire, but in the meantime many of them were displayed at The Berkshire School two winters ago and others were shown at the Stockbridge Library, Kinderhook Realty in Pittsfield and at No. Six Depot this past summer and fall. A number of them were up in 510 last month as well.

As far as future plans, our travel schedule remains active with trips to Portugal and Spain later in February, Alaska and the Russian Far East in June, and Ireland in October – I only hope I am up to it physically, but the challenge is part of the deal. We have also put a deposit down on our biggest trip yet, scheduled in December of 2020 and I’m going to have to get in better shape for that one. We’ll see how that

works out.

How can we get in touch with you for a studio visit or more in-depth chat on your sellable photographs you have in your archives? Lipkowitz: I do have a website at JohnLipkowitzImaging.com which I really don’t keep current, and a couple of defunct ones that are probably no longer accessible. This site includes several hundred images in numerous galleries and is certainly worth looking at just to see some of the amazing places we have been, including many non-wildlife subjects. My email is Jlipkowitz1@aol.com and I would certainly be interested in exploring any potential purchases. In the meantime I would like to advise readers that 510 Warren Street Gallery in Hudson is open Fridays and Saturdays from 12- 6 and Sundays from 12-5. Perhaps I’ll see some of you there.

Thank you, John!

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