Judy Dater – No BS
April 13th, 2013
Yesterday I drove over to the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington to attend a lecture by Judy Dater. There’s not much on her Wiki page and as far as I can tell she doesn’t have a website, so you’ll have to do your own research if you don’t know who she is. She is a famous photographer, but as I like to say, one of the good things about being a famous photographer is that you are not famous.
But she’s an important photographer who has been doing wonderful work for nearly 50 years. I’m not going to show you her most famous photo of Imogen Cunningham peeking around a tree at a nude model…but you can probably already see it in your mind. I don’t think the photo Dater is known for is really indicative of most of her work, although she did make a case during her talk that it relates to a series of other photos she has done and that those photos relate to a theme that has occurred in art over centuries.
If you don’t know who Imogen Cunningham is, shame on you. One of the best sources of information about Cunningham, a wonderful photographer and a truly unique person, is the book Dater wrote about her, Imogen Cunningham, a portrait. It’s out of print now, but worth reading if you can find a copy. Dater and Cunningham were friends and it’s because of her connection to Imogen that I became aware of Judy.
Here’s one of my favorites of Dater’s self-portraits, just to give you a taste of her work:
But she’s also known for her remarkable portraits, particularly of women:
So, now that you have some idea who Judy Dater is, let me tell you a bit about my day going to hear her talk.
I got to the building on campus a bit early because I wasn’t sure where I was going, I always get lost on that campus, and I didn’t want to be late. It was in the IU Fine Arts Building, so I wandered through their gallery for a while and then ran into Catherine from the Kinsey Institute who was on her way to set up for the talk. I walked with her to the auditorium where Dater would speak.
Judy Dater is old-school. She had a carousel tray of slides to accompany her talk. There was supposed to be a Kodak projector in the projection room at the back of the auditorium, but it wasn’t there. I stood guard over the tray of slides while Catherine went in search of a projector. She found one, but it didn’t have the right lens for the distance from the booth to the front of the room. So, with some help from the crew that was there to do video, I managed to jury rig a setup down in the auditorium that got the projector close enough to show the photos without cutting them off at top and bottom.
When I go to things like this I never really know what to expect from the photographer who is speaking. Some photographers are great speakers. Some are not. Some have a very hard time talking about their work. Some wander into metaphysics so extensively that I can’t hear them because of the loud noise my bull shit detector is making. I know the sound because I tend to hear it every time I start trying to write something about my own work.
Well, I am very pleased to report that Judy Dater can talk about her work quite entertainingly and she was able to do it without once setting off the bull shit detector. She first showed us a video that she has recently made about her life. It was amusing, revealing, and overall quite enjoyable. Then she got down to the slide show. She simply went through the slides and talked about how it was that these particular photos were made. And this was no BS. Just the facts. And they were real facts…not the sort of thing some of us (don’t look at me) like to make up about all the deep thoughts we were having when we shot something.
Yes, there is deep meaning in Judy Dater’s photographs. But you need to find it yourself. She put it there…possibly without even knowing for sure what the meaning was at the time. For example, someone in the audience asked about an object in one of Dater’s self-portraits. Dater explained that it was the head of a sheep. “I got it at the butcher’s with the idea of using it in a photo,” she said. “It was in the refrigerator and had been there several days. It was starting to smell. So I needed to go ahead and use it and this is what happened.” Yep, that’s kind of how it works around my studio too. I admire her honesty, in her work, in her life, and in how she talked about her work.
So, her talk was a photographer’s talk. “Here are these photos I made. Here’s what was going on when I was making them. This is what I saw that made me want to take this photo. This is what the subject was like. This is the story of what became of the subject.” Entertaining, informative facts that deepened my appreciation of each photograph.
For the camera snobs out there, I have to report that someone in the audience asked the inevitable question, What camera do you use? “Most of my work has been done with a 4×5 Deardorff,” she answered. “I have a Hasselblad but I have never been comfortable with the square format. But I don’t shoot film anymore and now I just use a digital point and shoot.” There’s that honesty again. As always, it’s the vision that matters, not the tool used to capture it.
There was a reception at the Kinsey Institute following the lecture and I was happy to get a few minutes to talk with Judy. She was quite gracious and charming as we had that awkward “We’re strangers, but we’re talking with each other anyway” conversation. I’m very pleased to have had the opportunity to meet this remarkable woman.
After her talk I walked to the reception back at the Kinsey Institute with Dater and several others. We took a detour to view the wonderful murals by Thomas Hart Benton in the IU Auditorium. Judy was trying to take some photos of the murals with her point and shoot Canon camera, but had some difficulty getting the flash to turn off. I was able to show her how to do it. That was the high point of the day for me. Now that will go on my resume as, “Photo Assistant to Judy Dater.”
But first I have to get this damn bull shit alarm to turn off.
2 Responses to “Judy Dater – No BS”
1Pat Huston
April 13th, 2013 @ 7:03 pm
Dave — I had not heard about Judy, but I am glad that you have educated me today. Keep up the good work!
2Dave Swanson
April 15th, 2013 @ 3:35 pm
Wonderfully put about a great lady.
I wish I had been there.
Thanks for sharing, Dave.
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