We’ve all become rather familiar with photography haven’t we? Some of us even might fancy ourselves to be rather good at taking a photo. But have we ever considered what we are really doing? Phil Rogan, a professional photographer who lives and works in Mallorca, says that when we take a photograph we are freezing a moment. “A fraction of a second. Nothing more than that really. All photographs are taken in a present moment, but all photos are of the past. A recording of a tiny sliver of time encapsulated in light. When we view a photo in the present, we are looking back on an instant of the past, a past that may be long gone or a mere seconds ago.”
Phil is currently exhibiting some of his work in Palma which has been collected from more than 35 years as a photographer and it’s at the exhibition that we meet to talk about how it came about. The exhibition comprises several portraits, some of famous faces, and some not so well known, as well as landscapes, architecture and potatoes…
'Hey Baby' by Phil Rogan.
How did the exhibition come about?
The whole exhibition came about by accident really, and it has come together very quickly. But it takes a lot of time to decide which images to hang, which to include and which to leave out. I had to include the baby one, it’s won me a few awards, and I think the story that goes with it is great. One of the joys of photography is humour, especially when it is unplanned for. Try telling a baby to pose! This is my cousin and her daughter in 1998. It was a really funny moment. We were taking the classic Mother & Child baby portraits when I discovered the kitchen window had two panes of glass divided by the wooden frame.
It would make a naturally interesting picture to have them together but apart. The interior of the kitchen was darker than the outside of course and I was getting too many reflections so I asked my cousin to get closer and closer to the glass. Then “Whoomph! And Schlupp!” and her baby girl was sucking the cool glass and moving upwards like a limpet with each lick! Though we could barely contain our laughter we managed to shoot five more frames of film and it was shot 4 that was just right. Now 26 years later that baby is pregnant with her first child. I hope to photograph the two of them soon.
Where did you train to be a photographer?
I actually went to college twice in Ireland, once to do media studies, and then I returned a few years later and did film. And it was after that that I moved to live in Mallorca.
What are you trying to show with the exhibition?
It’s a collection of some of my most favourite photographs from my career so far. I had to make some difficult decisions about who and what to leave out, I didn't include some of my favourites of my family for example. I wanted to show the context of time, and make the viewer think about how the image they are seeing now is literally a sliver of that time, so where I can I have put stories with the images or I have hung two photos together which refer to each other.
What project do you want to work on next?
I have a potato project I would like to do. Do you know that Mallorca, and in particular, Sa Pobla, is a huge producer of potatoes? I would like to show the journey of the potato, from the earth to the mouth as it were. From the soil in Mallorca to a plate in the UK. I’ve started to work on it, but hopefully I will get the opportunity, and the funding, to really complete it this year. I’d like to make a book about it.
Why a book?
It's a sense of permanence, I think on the computer really is as impermanent as things can be. A book has a certain amount of legacy and a certain amount of value just in the printed format.
Your career has spanned both film and digital photography eras, are there examples of both in the show?
Yes, I’ve included work printed in different papers, treated and developed in a variety of ways as well. One of the images I poured shampoo onto it to get the effect I wanted in the dark room, another has been stitched together from several frames in Photoshop.
What’s your favourite subject?
I like taking pictures of everything. It depends on my mood. So I could go for a wander around the city and spend five or six hours just taking pictures of God knows what. But I like the challenge of photographing people, it always makes me nervous, because I don't know if it's going to be a success.
Or the expectations of the person?
Well, there's that. But there's also my own expectation of the picture being wonderful. I'm a bit of a perfectionist. But I’ve also learned that you get another shot in life.
What in your opinion makes a good portrait?
In terms of the people I think it takes two people to make a portrait. The photographer and the person. The photographer will find his or her angle on it, and the subject can comply, or resist.I don't think the idea of portraiture is to make the person comfortable. In getting a good picture, it's not necessarily an ingredient, the person can be as uncomfortable in their skin as they've ever been in their life. And you can still get a good picture, even maybe a better picture than somebody completely at ease with themselves.
You can see the Hey Baby exhibition at the Moasis Co Working Space in Plaza Espana until the end of April. The exhibition is open from 9 - 6pm Monday to Friday and entry is free. You can contact Phil https://www.instagram.com/philip_rogan on Instagram.
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