Louis Nidorf

The Ballad of East and West

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936)

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,

Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,

When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth!

Photographers are interesting beasts. The great majority are very doctrinaire about their avocation. My father was an Army photographer in the big war - took pictures of general Omar Bradley's kidney (top secret) and transmitted the photos of the first atomic test blast. He was a Hasseblad man and I was lucky enough to grow up developing my own pictures in our home darkroom. Like many photographers, he tended to over rely on cameras and technology. Instead of composition. And I had the humbling realization after we took an extended photo safari in Africa that I could shoot circles around him. Sorry, Dad!

I was an art/architecture major in college and grew up painting. I worked in the graphics arts field for a while and then had a sign shop for a few years. Had to quit when I got bladder cancer in the eighties (painter's cancer). So I am versed somewhat in both fields and have kept a finger in both pies.

What is apparent to me is the relative aesthetic freedom most artists feel compared to photographers. I have pro photographer friends who cringe at the use of any filters beyond a warm red. Photoshop is parlor theatrics and outre verboten to these Calvinists. They bow at the altar of Cartier-Bresson and Weston every morning and then genuflect at the shrine of Steiglitz. Note that for a period of time at the beginning of the last century, there was a movement in which photography became much more like painting. More posed and beautiful. These tendencies have been largely forgotten and poo-poohed. Rather than photographs being accepted as mere graphic images stimulating retinal rods and cones and eventually making their way to your cerebrum, there is a certain conformity to established order that is required by the most religious adherents of the sect.

Which leads me to Louis Nidorf. Louis is an ex sculptor turned digital photography magician. I believe that he is also a psychologist. I was knocked out when I first saw his work because he flouted all of the rules and traditions. I kept asking around, who is this guy? His work was light years ahead of anything I had attempted to do technically and yet also possessed perfect balance, composition and even a little humor. It took me months of waiting around to meet the elusive man. He was quiet, humble and self effacing. I immediately bought one of his pieces. He exhibits his work at the Brandon Gallery, a few shops down from my own. He brooks no conventions. Some of his pieces remind me of works by Richard Diebenkorn or Roger Kuntz. He has a great eye for space and color. When Louis looks at the photographic work that I create, he gets knocked out by the stuff all of the straight photographers hate. So I like him. He is the kind of guy who likes to use every tool in the bag.

I find some things curious about our digital revolution. In music, synthesizers and midi effects can make guitars sound like flutes, or trumpets, or what have you. And people will typically play with the new technology instruments in the prescribed  manner of the original. My question is why? Why limit ourselves? Aren't there scores of other possible sounds in this digital closet that haven't been born yet and that aren't derivative in the least? Why not emulate Harry Partch and create a sound or image that is completely new?  That is yet unnamed?

Louis Nidorf is creating new photography. Visit his website, louisjnidorf.com to see more of his work.