Artist Kip Harris
Congratulations to Kip Harris for earning his place as the 3rd Place Winner in the Boynes Emerging Artist Award 7th Edition!
Who are you?
My first name (Kip) was given to me because my parents liked the nickname of the golf pro in Sheridan, Wyoming where I was born. I grew up in a very small potato farming community in Idaho, went to high school in Salt Lake City, Utah, and did my undergraduate work at Dartmouth College which I attended primarily because of its ski racing program.
I worked as construction laborer, a warehouse clerk, a paperback manager for a bookstore in San Francisco, a high school teacher at a prep school in the Sierras, a clerk in mountaineering store, and a speech writer for a US congressional campaign before going back to graduate school in architecture.
For almost 30 years, I was the principal of an architectural firm in Salt Lake City where I designed educational facilities and Native American casinos. I became more of a full time photographer when I semi-retired from my practice and relocated to Nova Scotia in 2004.
“Leather Worker, Havana” (Winning Work)
Photography
By Kip Harris
What inspired you to utilize photography as a medium?
In 1989, I had just completed a very complex and emotionally demanding project and decided to take a year’s sabbatical. When I was getting ready to go to England and Ireland with a backpack and Brit Rail Pass, my wife suggested that I take her camera along with me. I had always avoided traveling with a camera because I had assumed that I would spend all of my time looking for things to photograph instead of seeing what was in front of me. To my surprise, I found I saw more accurately and deeply through a camera. Upon my return, I enrolled in a beginning black and white darkroom class and never looked back.
“Leather Worker Observer”
Photography
By Kip Harris
How would you describe your photography?
I don’t use photography as a notebook or a memory aid or as the raw material for further creative explorations. I believe in Wallace Steven’s comment: "In the presence of extraordinary actuality, consciousness takes the place of the imagination." When the Buddha was once asked who he was: a god, a man, a spirit, he responded: “I am awake.” I photograph to become more engaged in the world around me and as a way to force myself to see as honestly and compassionately as I can, to be awake to some of the complexities that make life worth living.
“Wedding Musician, Agra”
Photography
By Kip Harris
Can you discuss the process and situation leading to taking "Leatherworker, Havana"?
I was with a group walking down a busy side street in Havana. A door was open to a small workshop. Asking permission to come in, I was allowed inside. The space was nearly dark except for the light pouring in through the open door. The gentleman working on a leather piece attempted to pay no attention to the fact that he was about to be photographed but after one shot decided against any more photographs. The woman sitting near him was more cooperative. The original capture was in color and converted to black and white to focus on the light.
“Shoe Repairman, Buenos Aires”
Photography
By Kip Harris
What do you hope to communicate to an audience with your work?
When I started photographing seriously, I was drawn to situations where people were in their own workspaces. These were places where people felt most at home, most themselves. They did not need “to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet.” I tried to stand and watch a little before photographing to convey my appreciation for the worker’s skill and engagement. A man’s work is his life and should be respected.
There is a Taoist phrase: “wei wu wei,” which has been translated a number of ways but the one I like best is “doing, not doing.” When one has become a complete master of an action, he no longer has to think about how to perform the act but has become the act himself. I look for this mastery and hope to record it. Doing work with skill and love is one of the noblest acts of man.
“Gentleman With Hat, Taxco”
Photography
By Kip Harris
Have you experimented with other mediums?
I can’t draw. I made it through architectural school by building detailed models. My level of experimentation in photography has more to do with different subject matter or portfolios rather than changes of equipment or capture techniques. I do experiment a bit in post production with variations in contrast, color vs black and white, cropping but mainly I’m just a straight shooter.
“Accounting Wall, Hoi An”
Photography
By Kip Harris
Can you talk about your biggest learning experience during the process of creating your work?
When I first started taking candid photographs in the street, I tried to be as invisible as possible. I believed that if I could catch people unawares, I might be able to capture something true about their lives. I was influenced by the work of Henri Cartier- Bresson and his attempt to capture the essence of a situation in one image. Agnes Sire has quoted him about his practice: “ ‘one must approach the subject with the stealth of a wolf and velvet gloves; no hurrying.’ He would say that ‘a fisherman would never throw a stone where he wants to catch a fish in the river. You have to do the exact same thing with photography.’ ”
I tried finding that “Decisive Moment” but found that the more I worked anonymously on the street, the more empty it seemed. I was always on the outside acting more as a voyeur than as an engaged party. I was trying to be, again in Cartier-Bresson’s words: “a photo thief.” This began to change when I took a photo workshop in Mexico with the renowned street photographer Harvey Stein. I watched the way Harvey would approach a stranger, initiate a conversation either by words or gestures, and only then attempt a photo. This methodology seemed at first to be very intrusive. It interrupted the normal flow of life and drew attention toward the photographer. As I am not gregarious by nature, it was very difficult for me to approach somebody on the street to try out Harvey’s process.
We were in the small town of Taxco waiting for the evening’s Semana Santa processions when I gave it a try. People were lined up around the town’s zócalo resting on the only public benches to be found. I finally got my nerve up to approach a rather fierce looking older man in a straw cowboy hat and asked if I could take his picture. To my surprise, he not only agreed to be a subject but seemed to enjoy the attention. The images I captured surprised me. Not only was the camera focused intently and closely on this gentleman’s face but he was looking intently back at me. Reviewing my exposures, it occurred to me that one of the secrets of finding the dignity of this man’s life was to be open enough for him to see into mine.
“Street Sweeper, Azcuenaga”
Photography
By Kip Harris
Can you discuss your biggest success since starting your artistic journey?
Having solo exhibits is a highlight of any artist’s journey. For me, they are few and far between. I get the most satisfaction out of serious comments made by viewers when they are touched in some way by my images. Not the cocktail party or opening comments where “I really like your work,” is a standard way of saying I don’t know what to say about what I’m seeing. I have received two comments that I value: one came from my wife after she had spent time on her own looking at my first solo exhibit: “There is nothing here that doesn’t need to be.” The other came from someone I have never met that sent this comment via email about my seascapes: “Your work makes my eyes smile.”
“Bicycle Repairman, Essaouira”
Photography
By Kip Harris
What projects are you working on currently? Can you discuss them?
My wife has a puppet theater group called Company X that performed two full evening adult programs. It is just the two of us and two former professional modern dancers who live in Vermont. I act as stage manager and technical director. Because of Covid and aging, it hasn’t been possible to do live performances for a number of years. Now the focus has turned to producing something that can be downloaded as a series of videos. We are in the process of getting ready to film. I have also had the urge to photograph the street vendors and shop owners in Jaffa and the wooden boat builders at the Mandvi shipyards in western India.
“Elephant Minder, Karnataka”
Photography
By Kip Harris
Lastly, I like to ask everyone what advice they would give to their fellow artists/photographers, what is your advice?
I’m not very good at giving advice. I would only suggest that they look back over their body of work frequently to remind themselves of what it was that made them want to do what they do in the first place. I find encouragement in seeing a type of continuity in my work and it helps me organize my thoughts about what I should do next.
To view more of Kip Harris’ work