Interview: Bill Franson

Bill Franson in Boston, February 2011.

“The 35mm camera is, historically, a basic tool for many photographers. Class members will be introduced to the darkroom and will learn developing and printing skills relevant to classic black and white photography. You will explore… “street photography” and other areas for which this versatile format is known. We will examine the various types of films and processing methods, creating images that are personal, relevant and exciting.” taken from Introduction to Small Format syllabus.

February 2008. It was my first day of Intro to Small Format, a course taught by Bill Franson at the New England School of Photography. As part of a group shoot, we ventured out and around the block to Bay State Rd armed with an SLR film camera and a fresh roll of 35mm llford HP5 400ISO 36 exposure film. At this point I looked around Bay State Rd and thought to myself, “What are we doing back here? There’s nothing to photograph.”

The class broke out to explore the street and find things to make pictures of. I was excited and eager to make amazing images and get right into the darkroom to develop them. My previous darkroom experience had been years earlier, watching my uncle develop his black and white images from when he accompanied Aerosmith on their Permanent Vacation tour. I started looking around for something that would make a good picture… doorways, steps, cars, sewer covers, bushes, other students. Hmmm… none of these things seemed as interesting as Steven Tyler in Honolulu.

Bill walked me over to a nearby tree. This is where he schooled me to open my eyes and take a look at my surroundings. I remember him showing me a unique shape on the tree, the lines created in the bark, and the way the light hit it.

Fast forward three years. I asked Mr. Franson if I could photograph him for a project. He agreed. We picked a day when I was going to be in the city in the afternoon for a gig. I arrived in Kenmore Sq during his lunch break from teaching duties at NESOP to catch up and make a few pictures on a cold but sunny winter day. After he finished his daily burrito, I took him for a walk… this time, not to our original Bay State Rd location but across Comm Ave and behind the Hotel Commonwealth to an area of Newbury St he’d never been. This is where I turned the lens on the man who taught me his secrets of small format photography and Alternative Processes. The photo above is my favorite from our quick session. Q&A below… enjoy.

7 questions in 7 minutes:

Favorite type of camera to shoot with?
Leica

You can only keep one lens… which one is it?
35 f/2 Summicron

Preferred format?
35mm

Who is a street photographer you admire? (dead or alive) 
Saul Leiter

You see in black and white. Have you ever experimented with color?
Sometimes I see a color image possibility and want to shoot it. Most times I’m seeing tone, contrast, line.

Alexia’s Lament is your latest project. Do you stay focused on one project for a period of time and then move on to another? Do you ever revisit a personal body of work that has ended?
I reconnected with an old friend recently. He went to my website and commented that I am working with text in the landscape again. I guess I revisit questions I have about life from different angles, at different times.

Ask yourself a question. (If you were doing this interview, what would you ask William Franson?)
Is photography enough?


If you are in the Boston area this week, stop by the Panopticon Gallery to see the “Storytellers” exhibit featuring the work of Bill Franson along with Frank Armstrong and Stella Johnson. It’s free, inside the Hotel Commonwealth, 502c Commonwealth Ave., until March 29. Hours are from 10 am to 5:30 pm.

See Bill’s photography on his website here.