I first met Matthew Wolchock about twenty years ago in a howling gale while I was photographing a grated window of the very famous Ship Inn, a storied watering hole in downtown St. John's, Newfoundland. I was testing a new high definition film and he was curious about the project. He handed me a card. In yellow type on black it said: Matthew Wolchock-Gentleman Photographer. We went inside and had a pint by the fire and talked about photography, and we've been talking about it ever since.
Wolchock works with a variety of camera formats from 110 to 4"x5", but the bulk of his work is done with 35mm film. He shoots a lot it. He never goes anywhere without at least one loaded camera, and he's always looking for shots and checking out the light (something to emulate if you're serious about becoming a better photographer). He uses Canon and Nikon cameras and has an impressive array of them, but he's not an equipment snob. One of his favorite tools is the disposable "stretch" cameras that come preloaded with film.
An excellent darkroom technician, Wolchock seldom employs any tricks or manipulative techniques in his work, preferring to concentrate on strong images that present best when simply properly printed. The one exception is his work in xerography where he uses collage and hand tinting effects, as in his calendar series.
Untitled 1
Wolchock's eye for composition is sharp, and he knows light. In Untitled 1, the model stands firmly in the centre of the frame, balanced, arms by her side, looking out to sea. the horizontal stripes in her shirt are echoed in the horizontal stripes of dark sea, white foam, silver sand and the black beaches of Belle Island. To her left the monotony is broken by an angle wave in the centre of the frame and to her right this is balanced by the slowly rising shoreline of and island across the bay.
Untitled 2
In Untitled 2 we have an unusual portrait. A woman lays on the floor beside a chair with bright chrome legs. She holds some sort of child's toy over her face. The image has been printed with very high contrast to give a sharp, eye-popping and just plain strange impression.
Untitled 3
In Untitled 3 we are presented with a vastly different tonal situation. The image of a young man looking very recently awakened a tousled bed in gentle morning light. The large pale wall area, rather than leaving the frame looking empty, becomes the sky in this formscape of skintones and wrinkled cotton. The vertical lines of the bedpost lead the eye back again and again to the subject's enigmatic smile.
Pizzaman
What can I say? This, er, informal portrait of fellow photographer Manfred Buchheit is a good example of how it pays to always carry around a loaded camera. It's also probably a good example something else, but I can't for the life of me think what, unless it's not to let photographers with loaded cameras into your house on those early Sunday mornings when you just have to get naked and eat cold pizza.
That's it for this month. Join our contest. Happy photographing.
