Caitlin Legault

With not much to do except for nature to take its course with my body and soul, I do a lot of thinking.

Today I was thinking of all those women (including wife, daughters, and granddaughters) I have photographed since I started taking portraits around1961. I am grateful that I was never a plumber. How could I have possibly approached that fabulous blonde at the Railway Club, “Hi, I am a plumber, I would like to photograph your undraped.” The woman said yes because I noted that I was a photographer.

Andrea at the Railway Club

In Spanish we have the word retratar which is a transitive verb “to take a portrait”. It comes from the Latin and it means to take out or remove.

It is interesting to me that a lovely synonym for cara (face in Spanish) is rostro. My Spanish Language on Line dictionary RAE (Real Academia Española) tells me that the word comes from Latin for snout!

I look through my negative and photographs of all these women as they mostly stare out to me through my camera lens. I get a glimpse of something that I equate to life/soul/spirit.

One of the finest faces I ever photographed was a woman called Caitlin Legault.

I took many photographs of her numbering in the hundreds. These two are some of my favourites of her.

And, yes, I am grateful that I never decided to become a plumber.

Iris - 4 May 2025

 

In my library I have an impressive collection of photography books. Now 82 I wonder what will happen to them. But I can at the very least state in Spanish “que les saque el jugo”. That translates that I "squeezed lots of juice from them."

It is difficult, I believe to be a self-taught photographer (or artist?) without knowing what others have done in that medium. Knowledge of the photographers in my photo books inspired me to copy (rip off) ideas which sooner or later somehow adapted themselves to become, different enough from the originals to be my personal style.

In these blogs I have often pointed out that the Holy Grail of photography is an identifiable personal style. In this century I have a tough time finding photographers of a more recent generation that have that readily identifiable style. There is yet no photographer who has become the new Helmut Newton. In this age of pornography and red carpet disasters, Newton’s erotic subtlety has yet to occur.

The photographer besides having knowledge of the excellence of other photographers must also have some understanding and awareness of painters, sculptors, musicians, dancers, actors – the arts.

As a little boy I was obsessed with Da Vinci and particularly with his red pencil self-portrait. When I had the opportunity to photograph Canadian author Robertson Davies I took a portrait that I purposely made red to resemble the Da Vinci self-portrait.

When I first went to London I spent some time on Piccadilly Circus trying to take photographs that looked like the sounds of Vaughan Williams’s The London Symphony.

There is another artist that has recently inspired me to do scanographs (scans of plants) from my garden. Georgia O’Keeffe loved iris. I did a few scans and modified them to make them look almost like paintings. I was happy with the results.

No flies to swat - Georgia O'Keeffe

But today I hit pay dirt. Walking with Niño around the block on an outside the street flower bed, one of my neighbours had a most striking dark purple iris. I knew about O’Keeffe’s black iris so I cut it knowing that an hour later I would print one of my scans and apologetically give it to the neighbour.

I did six different scans. I printed one and knocked on the door. I introduced myself as the owner of the orange and white cat Niño. They (they are called Craig) smiled and I then presented my scanograph. They were delighted.

Their young son (I am too old to remember his name) is studying cybersecurity at BCIT. I think I may have made new friends.