Is that --
No, no. I was just making a funny little haiku. That was just a little joke. Well, it's a half-joke. Because how would you hear it?
[Gesturing to a photo] I mean look at the light there. And the title of that is "Jackhammer."
To come up with a title, you looked at an image and then free-associated what it evoked for you?
What is it about? What's the title that could evoke the picture and not define it in a negative way? This sounds so pretentious. Talking about visuals is really ...
It can be hard --
So if I come across as pretentious it's because I was trying to answer a question.
It's like trying to talk about music -- you sound like an idiot. I can just see, "You sound like an idiot, Lou, there are other people that can articulate fine."
It's --
It's like there [gesturing toward a photo of a building brilliantly lit by the sun], I mean that building is burning, and it's called sunburn, because it's the sun hitting it, it's not ... I just kept looking at that day after day, trying to get it, and I did get it.
Do you feel triumphant when you're able to capture those things?
I feel relieved.
Does it feel like a burden until you're able to do it?
Not a burden, just ... how do you do that? How do I do that?
So it's like it's a problem to be solved?
It's ... it didn't burn enough, it's not burning the way it really burns, it looks flat, the color's not right. What's off? And if you don't figure that out, it's gone forever. And that's it. You can just say to someone, well, I saw this amazing building with light. Too bad you weren't there.
Right --
But see, this is my way. I was there. And you could kind of be there now. This is what I saw that was so beautiful about New York, this city. And it's all about light.
And movement, no?
Well, yeah. Sure. I mean, that light's moving.
And color. Those are the three elements that seem to jump out.
[Pointing to a photo of a series of red-tinted moons] That's the eclipse, the blood-moon eclipse that we had [in October 2004], remember?
Yeah.
It happens only once every few years. I was up on the roof with a tripod and the camera trying to get that thing as it's moving quickly. I mean, I tried as hard as I could. And now that really is gone. That particular eclipse. That color of the moon. This isn't a Photoshop lesson. Anyone could go take a picture of the moon and go color it in. That's not what I'm doing.
It sounds a little bit like it's about capturing time for you --
They have movement and certain feelings to them. They're just so beautiful. I love having a double moon. I love that. Because we don't, but now we do. Or at least, I made a double moon. And I keep reading about Saturn and its double moons, and I thought, wow, well wouldn't it be great if we had a double moon? So I made a double moon. Not in Photoshop. I didn't draw it in.
What about --
But it's supposed to be pretty.
Is photography more solitary than music? Music is such a collaborative form. It's not just your thing. There are other people who are --
Well, this is not just my thing either. There are the people who are showing me the lenses and how you do this and how you do that and what you do when that happens. And then there's the printer, and so much goes into the printing, it's beyond. It's like the mixing of an album; I'm used to all this. In the studio, though, it starts with the song, and only one guy wrote the song, and everybody else can join in under the directions of that person to perform the song. I always try to work with people whose work I like in the first place. I'm not trying to change anyone. They can fit into this. But somebody had to write the song; in that case, it was me. And somebody had to take the picture, and that was also me. But I couldn't print it. I'm there whispering in their ear, but I mean, my God, what they can do with what you bring to the dance. And then look at where that dance can go, and the collaboration between you and the printer, you and the developer, you and the mixer. I'm very used to that kind of collaboration. And I probably as well as anyone on earth knows if that collaboration is not equal and wonderful, doom, heartbreak lie ahead.
[Laugh]
I'm serious.
I'm sure. It's a very small room that you have to share with people.
It's not only that, it's like if you have a bad editor, it'll be a nightmare for you to look at this, for you and for me, if I read these things.
If you have a bad editor, they could take the punch line of a joke out because they don't get the joke. That's what I mean. What can you do to someone who does that except to get as far away as possible. Because obviously there's nothing you can talk about. You can't explain this, you can't explain that. It just won't happen. Better to move to a mountaintop so you can get away.
OK. One last question.
I have so many questions we haven't gotten to, it's hard to choose just one, but you're about to go perform at the winter Olympics --
Have you looked at that plane that's in there?
Well, then let's talk about that. There's a sense of beauty in these photos but in many of them there's a sense of foreboding as well --
Well, you know, before if you had a picture of a plane in the sky it's one thing. Now if you see a picture and there's a helicopter there, it means something else.
Did 9/11 change --
I don't talk about it. I'm just mentioning it in passing regarding this. I was here for 9/11 so I don't like to talk about it.
I was here too. I understand. I won't ask you about it.
Thank you. Some people don't understand, the ones who weren't here. They think, oh, tell us about it, as if you're talking about a night at the deli.
I wasn't actually going to ask you about it. I was going to ask you about something related.
OK. So anyway ...
You're about to go on a tour of Europe. First the Winter Olympics and then Europe --
Look at that red in there. Can you believe, the red?
The colors are tremendous. It is interesting to see your take on the things that we look at every day.
Well, that's the thing, because you can slow time down for a minute. That sounds funny, slow time down for a minute. But you can stop it kind of. Because it's always passing. If you could just stop it for a second and look at that. I mean, anyone walking down the West Side -- there's a park there now -- can see this. It's just there, every night, every morning. Nothing to do with us.
What do you want people to take away from this exhibit?
I don't expect anything. But I think these things are fascinating and beautiful and available to anybody. And I think beautiful things make us feel good. So that's what I want, if I had anything to say about things, which I don't. I only have something to say about the way the pictures turned out.
About the writer
Amy Reiter is the deputy editor of Salon Arts & Entertainment.
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