The collaborations are a series of joint photographic works by the two of us. They spring from an unusual experience we've had whenever we make photographs together. The first time it happened was when we were driving around the country back in 1984 (in fact, the first time we were ever photographing at the same time). We found that we'd be drawn to shoot the same subjects, to such an extreme that we'd be getting in each others' way.
We were driving across the plains of S. Dakota when Ctein spied a mountain range about 10 km off which he wanted to photograph. Before he could brake, Laurie said to stop, as she had spied a photograph she wanted. We got out of the car and both started focusing on the same distant mountains... from literally the same square meter of ground. We were in the middle of kilometers of flat plains, but we had to take turns occupying the spot we both wanted to photograph from.
That happened to us repeatedly, which is unusual, especially since we don't "see" in remotely the same way. We have wholly distinct artistic visions, our printing styles are altogether different, and Ctein prefers medium-format color and Laurie 35mm B/W. Yet we find ourselves spontaneously drawn to the same subjects and vantage points.
We were photographing in the Portland Rose Garden in 1990, doing this same tripping-over-each-other routine, when Laurie suggested it might be interesting to put our prints side-by-side and see if they said anything to each other. We tried it and have found that "interesting" is an extreme understatement. The resulting pieces really work! The combination of our pictures not only looks gorgeous, but makes some very powerful and rather profound comments on each of the individual prints and the subject. In particular, our photos strikingly deconstruct the semiotics of photography and each other: they make explicit all the usually-hidden, implicit choices a photographer makes in deciding how to photograph and print an image. The conjunction of our prints winds up having substantially deeper meaning than either of the works alone.
All the subjects in this series are "found," rather than selected; we are working solely with subjects we are both drawn to spontaneously. We don't consciously set out to photograph the same subjects, nor do we coordinate our photographing. Many times, pairs of artists have jointly preselected a particular scene to interpret in their individual styles. Very rarely are two artists with very different visions of the world and aesthetic sensibilities naturally drawn to the same subjects, as we are.
We go over our proof sheets together to identify promising candidates, but we print independently; we don't collaborate on the individual prints or print for the other's work. We're each making what we consider to be the best image of the subject.
The intense collaboration begins when we both have work prints. We confirm that we really do have the magic effect we're looking for and together decide how our prints will be laid out with respect to each other and precisely what their relative sizes will be. Back to the darkroom, Laurie makes her best silver gelatin print, while Ctein does the same in dye transfer. We each have such a strong artistic vision that knowing what the other is doing doesn't alter our own printing.
Using our final prints, we decide together on the precise arrangement, matte color, and frame size. And we do mean PRECISE-- varying the position or size by a quarter of an inch can make a huge difference in how well the pieces speak to each other. Not too surprisingly, these decisions take a lot of creative energy and time; we typically put in a full day working out the details of a single piece.
Each collaboration is produced in very limited numbers. Editions run from 11 to 24, at prices from $950 to $1,800. These prices rise substantially as we sell into an edition.
We have reproduced all 18 collaborations in a hand-bound monograph, hand-printed by Ctein and signed by both of us. This sumptuous volume is limited to a numbered edition of 100 copies, and we are offering it at a price of $895 including shipping (within US & Canada). For a full description of this most special work, accompanied by many detailed photographs of the actual book, jump to my "Collaboration Portfolio" page.