by Michael Douglas Carlin
Just ask Anthony at Bank of America in Century City if the art on your wall is important. He will tell you about the number of complaints he has had about the display in the back of the bank. Customers complain about the bank taking TARP money while at the same time displaying art worth millions of dollars.
http://www.colinfinlay.com/
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Just ask Anthony at Bank of America in Century City if the art on your wall is important. He will tell you about the number of complaints he has had about the display in the back of the bank. Customers complain about the bank taking TARP money while at the same time displaying art worth millions of dollars.
Art that is too pricy might send the wrong message to your clients. Cheap art might also send the wrong message. The fine line that says community might be at your doorstep today. How about art that speaks to your clients and employees about the human condition? How about art that documents what is happening to animals on our planet? How about art that documents the changes that are happening to our Mother Earth?
I grew up in a lighting and grip house in Burbank. My father was a lighting director, and I spent many days working with photographers. I have worked with hundreds, and I have grown to know the good ones from the bad just by being present at the photographing event. The bad ones often get occasionally lucky with a random shot that gets acclaim. The good ones don't take pictures, they make pictures. I was never able to put this into words until I heard Colin Finlay tell me this over lunch one day. Taking pictures has the connotation of being a spectator at the event. Making pictures brings the photographer into the fabric of the event as a participant.
I knew there was something different about Colin Finlay and his work when I saw his photos. I have seen literally millions of photos in my lifetime, and I recognized that a high percentage of his photos were exceptional, if not brilliant. I came to understand him as a photographer only when I actually was present at one photographing event. I arranged for Colin to visit Star Echo Station in Culver City. I was introduced to Star by Stephen Nemeth at his birthday party a couple of years ago and grew to love the place. This is where confiscated animals that have been illegally brought into the country are sent.
Star has the ability to care for wild animals and provides a sanctuary that schoolchildren can visit to learn about the plight of endangered species as well as what we all can do to help heal our environment. I phoned ahead and talked to someone there and suggested that we visit to take some photos. I was informed about the rules and the documents that would need to be signed for us to visit. I suggested that they look up Colin on the internet. I got the feeling that it was a common request to be able to take photographs there and that procedures had been established to minimize the number of photographers that actually followed through.
When we arrived, they knew who Colin was, and all of the procedures went out the window. They were grateful that he had come to see what they were doing.
The conversation was very genuine. Two great institutions were meeting for the first time. They abandoned all protocol, opened the cages of wild animals, and allowed us to enter for a photographic experience that I will always remember. I personally witnessed Colin transform into a quiet, almost silent communicator with animals. The respect that he gave them from the moment he met them seemed to tell them that he was there to help others understand them. He seemed to ask them for their photo, and they responded by giving Colin a performance.
Each animal was different. I felt like I could almost understand what each animal was saying, but I knew that Colin understood. In that moment, I came to understand the emotion that each animal feels. I was always taught that human beings were the only life forms that can feel emotion. On that day, this myth was forever shattered in my mind. I felt the enormous intelligence of the birds. I felt the longing of the cats for the days when they roamed free. I felt the sorrow that all animals feel at being pushed off the face of the Earth.
I had heard Colin say that every time he made a photograph, he left a little of himself behind, and he took a little of his subject with him. I came to understand just what that meant that day at Star Echo Station. I came to understand just how Colin got such incredible photographs of the polar bears, grizzlies, elephants and all other animals with which he established this trance-like connection. Keep in mind that, in the wild, he often gets 15 feet or less away from some of the most dangerous animals. He told me about being less than 12 feet away from a family of grizzlies. At any moment, it could have gone wrong, and he could have been killed.
Colin is no stranger to danger. He has documented, through his photos, both sides of the conflict in the Holy Land. Colin has also traveled to Darfur, Rwanda, Northern Ireland and many other places documenting conflict. He has faced numerous situations that seemed hopeless with bullets flying, but so far has managed to return with some incredible photographs.
Colin has seen man's inhumanity to man first hand. He has witnessed outright genocide. His book, Testify, brought awareness of the conflict in the Sudan, where the Janjaweed are being hired by the Sudanese Government to drive the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit from their homes and lands, killing the men and brutally raping the women.
I met Colin at Bill Pruitt's "Men's Night." This is a group of Westside men who meet to talk about the issues of the day. That particular night, I was with my very good friend Sir Edward, and Bill introduced us to Colin, with whom Ed was sharing the floor. Colin spoke first and showed photographs of places where Ed had been. Colin captured the images in a way that evoked a memory response in Ed that allowed him actually to remember the smells that he had experienced. I watched as the two men talked about these places—literally dozens of places that they had both visited, hours apart. They talked about details that only someone who had been there would know.
The conversation broke down into weeping and an embrace for two warriors, who had approached the same issues and places from different perspectives and yet had drawn the same conclusions. To this day, the two men are still very close and will forever share the bond of the inhumanity they witnessed. A part of both of these men was left behind at each place they visited, and a part of that place will forever remain with them. Ed brought relief into those dangerous places, and Colin photographed them, but both men came to understand that we as human beings cannot allow this type of criminal activity to continue, and both men are champions of ending it forever.
What you have on your walls says a lot about you. I suggest that you allow a part of Colin Finlay and the places he has documented to speak to your employees and clients, and that you join with all of us in ending the tragedies that have been allowed to go unchecked–until now.
For more information on Mr. Finlay, I refer you to his website at:
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