Minnesota born photographer Alec Soth's book, 'looking for love', is what I think Robert Frank would have photographed if he were single and lonely. The whole book circumnavigates the feeling of loneliness, that emotion we are all searching for and those who have it. In a magazine interview following the launch he describes his work as searching for the central point of quiescence and documenting the space between him and the subject -
You say you document the space in between the subject and yourself. How do you define that space, where exactly is it, how do you reduce the distance between you and your subject, lens and film, light and shadow? Do you kill or revive? Do they look at you or what do they see inside your lens?
I wouldn’t say that I’m trying to reduce the space between myself and the subject. I’m not trying to probe into their soul. We aren’t making love. I don’t really have any motivation other than to stare.
He also comments on the look he got from couples he was photographing, sort of a 'get back, this is mine' stare. Maybe its the emotion he is exhibiting that makes the images attractive, but the narrative and eye for a documentary photograph Soth has is commendable. He incorporates humour, sadness, irony and similarities between subjects like a real life theatre production, only the actors dont know theyre taking part.
