Linda Erickson Photography
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Linda Erickson Photography
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Time Off Article on the Women of Frenchtown Exhibit Supermodels,
All Your
friend
came to visit and the local men got whiplash from looking at her --the same ones
who never notice you. The circles
under your eyes aren't bags anymore -- they're luggage.
There's a streak of gray in your hair that could rival the Bride of
Frankenstein's. You're
not feeling particularly beautiful. Take
heart -- photographer Linda Erickson thinks you are. Since
childhood, she has been fascinated with women’s faces, and not just those
belonging to Stephanie Seymour and Cindy Crawford.
The Frenchtown resident believes "ordinary" women’s faces
have extraordinary beauty, and her debut photography exhibit shows this
admiration. After
moving to Frenchtown last year, Ms. Erickson, 52, was struck by the welcoming
atmosphere and the friendly, artistically incljned residents. The
women of the small hamlet, located about 20 miles north of Lambertville on the
Delaware River, were especially interesting to her. "I
have photographed magnificent architecture and landscapes in many parts of the
world but to me, nothing is more beautiful and captivating than the human
face,” she says. Ms.
Erickson photographed 20 women -- ranging in age from 15 to 77 -- and created
more than 150 elegant images. The
exhibit, Women of Frenchtown, features about 100 of her black-and-white
and color photographs, on view at the Beaux-Arts Gallery in Frenchtown Oct. 19 -
Nov. 17. From
the ballerina-like "Erin, 20" to the aptly named "Chris, The
Goddess, 40-plus," Ms. Erickson uses the skills she learned from famed
Vogue photographer Arthur Elgort to draw out the essence of their individual
personalities. An accomplished
makeup designer and lighting technician, Ms. Erickson prepared the women's
faces, set them up in dramatically lit situations and got in real, real close. Perhaps
it is this intimacy that makes the portraits so striking. "I
had just met some of the women the day they were being shot," Ms. Erickson
says. "Putting makeup on is a very intimate process. You're touching
someone's face, putting lines around their eyes and such. The
process takes some time, and while you're talking a lot of interesting, personal
things come out -- that was part of the process, too." Ms.
Erickson acknowledges that, indeed, makeup and lighting are part of the problem
when it comes to the fantasy of images in fashion magazines. Even
the most beautiful people just don't look like that without enhancement -- not
to mention being filtered through a camera lens. She
didn't put on the war paint to debase the women, though, but to honor them. "I
did adhere to some of the fashion standards, using makeup and lighting in a
glamorous way," she says. "For
the most part, society has been conditioned to identify beautiful women
primarily from glossy magazines. The
decision to photograph women under the same conditions was made to awaken the
public to the beauty that surrounds them every day. Most
of all, I wanted my photographs to be sensitive, to honor who the women are as
individuals. "Some
of the women were nervous about the amount of makeup I had to put on them. I
explained that they needed that much for the camera and the powerful lighting. I
did the makeup for all of them - except for Chris, the goddess. Makeup
would have ruined her." Born
and raised in New York City, Ms. Erickson was always interested in the face and
loved to draw portraits as a child. At
about age 16, she started experimenting with her father's old 35mm camera,
taking pictures whenever she could and signing up for photography classes. She
got her bachelor’s from Florida State University in Tallahassee and her
master’s from University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
She studied fine art and dance at both schools with dreams of becoming a
choreographer. Her real education
came, however, when she worked as assistant manager of the New York City Ballet. She
oversaw the production of the troupe’s souvenir book shot by Mr. Elgort, who
is known for his images of Ms. Crawford, Christy Turlington, Kate Moss and many
other past and current supermodels. Being
in proximity to such an accomplished lensman rekindled her interest in
photography, and Ms. Erickson volunteered to help him in the studio. "I
got to know him fairly well, and after a while he invited me to his Vogue
sessions," Ms. Erickson says. "I'd
watch him shoot. I studied how he
lit things, then we'd go through slides together and discuss the images. I
spent every spare moment I had hanging around with Arthur. One
hundred percent of everything in this (exhibit) I learned from working with
him." Ms.
Erickson was also influenced by the late Robert Mapplethorpe's photography. "I
like the drama of his work," she says. "It can be raw but also simple
and beautiful." Although
she had come to the NYC Ballet with plans to get into choreography, and had her
own dance troupe, Ms. Erickson found herself being drawn more to visual work. For
a while she was manager of visual merchandising at Macy's. During
her days working and commuting in New York, she started to nurture the idea of
making glamorous pictures of "ordinary" women she saw. "I’d
be on the subway and I'd see these young women passengers who obviously had no
idea how beautiful they were," Ms. Erickson says. "I
wanted to go up to them and say, 'Let me do your hair, makeup and light you. Let
me celebrate your face and show you how beautiful you are.' I
was getting excited about seeing certain faces, taking them out of their normal
context, their day-to-day lives for just a minute." Interestingly,
at age 40 she left the performing and visual art worlds behind to get a degree
in psychiatric nursing. The original
idea was to only work at a hospital part time, but Ms. Erickson grew fascinated
with the field, working for six years at the New York State Psychiatric
Institute at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in Manhattan. She
never abandoned her artistic side, though. Ms.
Erickson and her husband, Jack, had just moved to Frenchtown a year ago when she
got a break with her photography -- shooting an ad for a local store. Ms.
Erickson also did the makeup and lighting for the shoot, which starred a local
young woman. One thing led to
another, and she decided to go forward with her Women of Frenchtown project.
"Although
it was very intense work, each woman was a joy to shoot," she says.
"There was so much to get from each one. I
felt privileged that they would trust me and give me their time. I
was so taken aback by their generosity. I
had to stop at 20 women, but I wish I could have shot 100." Incidentally,
the show is dedicated to a certain legendary resident and "woman
watcher" of Frenchtown -- the late Duke Carl. "He
was my first friend in Frenchtown," Ms. Erickson says. "He
opened the door emotionally for me here, which just allowed me to go forward. I
know he would have appreciated the show. If
there's one person who enjoyed looking at beautiful women, it was Duke." Women
of Frenchtown, photography by Linda Erickson, is on view at the Beaux-Arts Gallery, |