Interview with Jack Simon

Another interesting chat. This time with Jack Simon, one of the contemporary street photographers that I appreciate most.

Hello Jack, we do this interview during the opening of voting in the contest “Reality remade”. Through this site I have defined the images not much associable to the street photography. I bet you do not agree with me. Explain to our readers why.
The Reality Remade competition asked for  "proposals on how you’d push the boundaries of street photography and produce photos that truly reveal moments of magic amongst the mundane hustle and bustle of everyday life. Photographs that show Reality Remade."
So in fact they were looking for going beyond what might normally be thought of as street photography. On the other hand, I am  often most attracted to finding ways of framing life that does not document  reality  but rather can create stories in the mind of the viewer. My choice of using reflective surfaces in that contest just narrowed how I would 'remake reality' and create these stories.  Anyway, maybe all photography is reality remade....our choice of the moment, how we frame the scene, etc. shows our take. I think they were just asking us to take it further.

Begged the question: for you what is street photography? 
I do not care much for trying to define genres That may be a cop out since I am very poor at verbalizing this kind of thing. I see, though, that my personal definition has gotten looser over time. Candid photography seems to be the constant, but sometimes a scene in my personal life gets thought of as street photography. I have  one of my wife in the shower that I call street..... so you can see that I can't be relied on for a definition.

What are your favorite locations for shooting? And you think that a place can influence the way you photograph and your approach to the street?
My favorite places are those that I can enjoy myself doing things other than photography while I walk around and try to find photographs. Downtown San Francisco and the Mission District of San Francisco are two of my favorites..... good food and coffee, museums, galleries, etc.  make me happy. When I am feeling interested, I am possibly more likely to see more,  but at least I don't get bored.  

How do exit from the cliché?
Often there is no exit from the cliche. I just hope that the photo can rise above the cliche. Maybe I used cliche too much at the beginning to enter into street photography and it has gotten too ingrained. It's really hard to pass by a mannequin without looking, especially good looking ones. 

You are a psychiatrist: how do you think this has influenced your photographic eye?
That's a good question Alex. Maybe I am more intuitive from years of observing people in my office. Maybe liking the offbeat, quirky, surreal views of life come from my work too. What I am clear about, though, is that it is a wonderful break for me  walking, observing, responding with my camera without feeling responsible or relating the way I do in my office. 

You are a member of the Burn My Eye Photo Collective, an international emerging collective aiming to show the extraordinary within the ordinary using candid photography.
Yes.I guess, you want me to say more.  That statement by the way can sound a bit much, but we were looking for a short hand to describe what we are doing. You understand basically we are trying to elevate the moment in our work. Speaking for myself, extraordinary is just  something to aim for and not likely to be achieved. I'd vote for a different word. We got together as a private Flickr group, not to form a collective, but to have a small group we could get honest feedback about our work, discuss issues, etc.  Then in the past few months the idea of a website/collective emerged.  One of the members Jason Penner did do an extraordinary job of creating the website. It's an interesting, supportive, and talented group of people, and I hope we can grow together in our work.

Do we have to tell a story with street photography? Or they can sometimes just be sensations?
More and more lately, I have been thinking about just that question. I enjoy story telling, but I also really like the beauty we can find on the street. Your question evoked the thought in me that sometimes I could see myself as a landscape/wildlife photographer where the story is much less import than the look.  I think Alex Webb and Constantine Manos, two photographers who inspire me, can tell stories in their photos, but for me their strength is the look. Lately I am getting happier with street photos that look good to me but say nothing.


I feel very close to the way that you have of looking at street photography. In particular to the fascination for the glass and reflections.
I like the complexity that can result;  I like the look, and sometimes even an unusual story can emerge. Reflective surfaces has been my cliche for some time. 

How important is the surreal for you in your photography?
The surrealists have been among my favorite artists. Magritte, Erst, Tanguy, Dali, etc appealed to me before I had any interest in photography. Later I liked some of the surreal photographers but too often those were composed, altered images which is not something that I care to do.

Could you speak to your choice of shooting principally in color?
I started with digital photography. I see my world in color.Sometimes  I have converted the color image to black and white. Usually I do this  when I find the colors of the scene don't work,  but lately I've gone back to thoset I converted and returned them to color.

Have something you want to add to this interview? 
I think luck and my unconscious are often operating in favorite photos. Many times I snap the shutter not being fully aware of what i got. It's wonderful being pleasantly surprised when I see more than I expected. Of course, I often have the opposite when I think I   got something great and it is totally delete-able. Thanks for interviewing me, Alex.

All images courtesy by Jack Simon


Visit his website: http://jacksimonphotography.com/