“The camera is an extension of your eyes, but also of your heart”: Ed Valfre on the artistic process that led him to create TALES FROM DREAMLAND
In celebration of the publication of Tales from Dreamland, Los Angeles–based photographer Ed Valfre is taking over the Enchanted Lion blog. In his first guest blog post, he shares how he began his artistic journey, what photography means to him, and the different sources of inspiration he finds in music, painting, and film. Stay tuned for part two, where Valfre invites us to join him in Dreamland, with the stories behind the stories that made it into the book!
The opening spread from Tales from Dreamland
Beginnings
The Accidental Beginning of Visual Thinking
When I was in my late teens, I had been working as a musician. It is what I intended to do as a living and was already playing professionally six nights a week. One day, my mother gave me a pass for a movie at a local theater. She had no idea what the film was and believed it to be a gladiator film. It was no gladiator film. It was Fellini Satyricon, a film so bizarre and dreamlike that I had no reference to anything I had ever seen before. I sat through it twice. It was the very first time I realized you could make an audience feel they existed inside a dream. A year later, I left the idea of being a professional musician behind and moved to Austin,Texas to go to film school. Movies were my first influence, and I believe they still are.
The Accidental Beginning of Still Photography
The only camera I had ever used was a plastic camera given to me when I was twelve years old. There is actually a photo taken with that camera in the book Tales From Dreamland. While living in Austin, I got a job at the local PBS station as an intern. I was assigned to work with the station photographer, who was quite brilliant. He taught me a great deal in a short time. Unfortunately, he became ill and I was given his job in the interim. I had access to a darkroom, camera equipment, film, and, best of all, a children’s television show to photograph. It was a crash course in photography, where I made many mistakes but was able to learn from them the same day. More than anything technical, what I learned was photography was something that I felt most at home with. It was a way to relate to everything around me. This was my beginning of a life in photography.
Stories
The idea behind Dreamland began as an exercise in creating a one-paragraph story a day based on a photograph. Each morning, I would make up stories that came from dreams, memories, and totally made up moments of magic realism. It was a way to jump start my brain. The more I did the stories, the more personal they became. I had no idea it would turn into a book, but I am extremely happy it did. I thank Unruly and the idea behind this imprint of Enchanted Lion’s: that even as we grow older, we never lose the love of picture books and the universe of stories they tell.
A wordless spread from Tales from Dreamland
Photography
How I Use Photography
The camera is really just an extension of your eyes, but also an extension of your heart. It can be a way to preserve a fleeting moment, but so much more. It can evoke memories, both beautiful and heartfelt. For me, photography is a means of relating to the everyday world. We rush through the day often missing little moments of grace that happen in front of us. I try to take photographs every day. Some days there will only be a single photo and the next day hundreds. A photographer friend once said of me that I could go into a empty place and still find something of beauty. I would like to think that was true. With a camera or without, finding the beauty of the world is a matter of simply paying attention. If there was a philosophy of life for me, it would be pay attention.
Camera
People often ask me what is the best camera and I always say the same thing: the camera you have on you. I have several cameras and use them all, but the technology of the camera phone has become quite impressive. I like not looking like a photographer when I’m shooting. It just helps to be invisible to a certain degree, and luckily it seems everyone walks around carrying their phone.
As I passed this old door, I noticed my reflection. The self portrait was possible only because I had my cell phone.
“The Last Photo” (Tales from Dreamland)
Inspiration
Music
Even though I gave up the idea of playing music for a living, it is very much a part of me. Growing up, everyone in my family played music. I will often put on a pair of earbuds and walk around looking to photograph. The music makes it seem as if I am walking around in a movie. For some reason, I believe it helps me see things differently, as if they are some part of a film I am existing in. I listen to wide variety, everything from classical, to jazz, ambient, hip hop, and alternative rock. Perhaps it was Duke Ellington who said, “There are simply two kinds of music, good and the other kind.” I agree.
Painting
I find painting to be a great source of how I see. I have several painter friends whose work I find inspiring. I love the way a painter like Edward Hopper, conveys solitude and isolation within a room using light to create a sense of stillness and melancholy. I often look for that same light. I thought of this when taking this photo for the book in the story “Moments Of Beautiful Light.”
Edward Hopper's Morning Sun (1952)
Ed Valfre’s “Moments of Beautiful Light” (Tales from Dreamland)
The painter Ed Ruscha often uses words in his paintings. I too often try to find a word within an image. One word can often create a mood in a photograph. My photo of the hotel sign is a good example.
Ed Valfre
Ed Ruscha’s Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas (1963)
Photography
The first photographer whose work I first noticed was Walker Evans. He had a very straight ahead style of photographing people and architecture. I often use that same directness. His work seemed so simple, yet perfect in capturing America during the Great Depression.
When I saw the work of Robert Frank, it made photography emotional for me. His book The Americans, published in the 50s, was initially criticized for his unorthodox cropping, lighting, and sense of focus, but eventually that book influenced a generation of artists, myself included.
There are so many artists in all mediums that have influenced me. Years ago, I heard great advice given to a young man wanting to become an actor. The older actor told him, read books, go to plays, go to museums, hear live music, see films, just fill your life with art, and whatever you choose to do, all those influences will come through and it will be your own.
TALES FROM DREAMLAND
Photographs and stories by Ed Valfre
Los Angeles-based photographer Ed Valfre imagines stories from snapshots of ordinary life, inviting readers to discover the magical in the everyday.
“Through the lens of Ed Valfre’s mind, the everyday becomes the ethereal. His images spark the imagination and take us to a place just beyond reach. Or perhaps the dream already exists and Valfre shows us the proof.” —TV producer Michael Feldman