Ming Smith
Audio
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Ming Smith, Onlookers, Isle de Gorée, Senegal, c. 1972
Stop 811 from Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop
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Ming Smith, Onlookers, Isle de Gorée, Senegal, c. 1972
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Narrator: Ming Smith was in Senegal when she took this photograph of a group of boys.
Ming Smith: The onlookers are not looking into the camera, they’re looking at the action. So it’s more pure. And it’s just the way they move. It’s beautiful. It’s like sculpture. And they didn’t even know they were being photographed—that was their natural pose even if I wasn't there.
With art it’s cerebral, but there has to be a time to let go. In any craft, you learn the basics. And then you just go. An opera singer or jazz musician run scales all day and when it comes to performing they just sing or play. So photography was like that, you learn about lighting. You have the rudiments of the craft within you and then you just you just let it flow.
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Ming Smith, Sun Ra space I, New York City, NY, 1978
Stop 802 from Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop
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Ming Smith, Sun Ra space I, New York City, NY, 1978
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Ming Smith: Sun Ra was a visionary as well, a musician, he did some films. And he was an original.
Narrator: Sun Ra was also a kind of cosmic philosopher, always imagining his art in an intergalactic context. In this photograph, Ming Smith expresses his ideas as much as his music.
Ming Smith: And I just think this is pure energy, when we’re all energy. And moving constantly, the earth rotates around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour, nothing is staying the same. The world, constellations, everything is constantly moving even when we sleep. So, the shimmering light and movement in this photo represent “space is the place.”
You know there’s no flash when people are performing. That was a no-no then, and the cameras are a lot different now. I mean, it wasn’t digital. So you didn’t even know until you processed the film if your image was going to come out or not because it might have been too blurry, you can’t make out what it is. So in order to capture the image that you see, you use circular breathing.
Narrator: Circular breathing is a technique used to sustain a single note on a brass or woodwind instrument.
Ming Smith: It’s like holding your breath without movement to keep the camera still. Sometimes it could be up to a minute.
