Silvered man

Silvered Man

Though I knew him very well, after 37 years I cannot, for the life of me, remember his name.

I first met him as the boyfriend of a woman who came to me for photos. He was very young, needed work, and seemed a very dependable young man, so I introduced him to Ralph Eden, owner of the world-famous Eden Saloon, where I had a standing exhibit of my photos. Eden gave him a job and he quickly became the head bouncer at that club. He is not in my address book, because I usually stopped in at the Eden Saloon to meet friends after work most evenings, before going out further cruising or whatever. So I saw him regularly.

Every year I gave a huge Fasching party at my studio, where everyone came with costumes and stepped before the camera. This young man always was my bouncer at the party, together with a few other colleagues from the Eden Saloon, and he often accompanied me on difficult photo assignments, like the Kennedy visit, to keep me safe and make sure I got better views, etc.

He had a magnificently sculpted face, with amazing cheek bones and everything to make someone photogenic.....except that he was completely wooden and uncomfortable in front of the camera. When that
became clear, I decided to eliminate all expression and reduce his face to pure form. These fabulous, silvered photos were the result.

This photo was done in 8 x 9 cm format with a large format Ilko camera and a Messraster.

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