Dennis Leger, Angola, Louisiana 19 - 1999

Deborah Luster made this photograph of Dennis Leger in Angola, Louisiana, using the tintype process, which is photography at its most elemental. It’s like, what was it like to be Deborah, back then, lugging around the equipment, the volatile chemicals? I've got to imagine that the process itself—the light, the silver, the darkroom alchemy—helped her see her subjects differently, maybe more intensely. It’s a heavy thing to photograph someone with a process that has so much history. Look at his eyes behind the lenses. He’s really there, present. He seems to be asking a question, and the black nothingness behind him seems to throw him forward at us. Like he is suspended in dark space, but totally solid and present. I can tell you that the imperfections, scratches and blemishes are part of the image's impact. It makes you wonder, what kind of collaboration goes on between sitter and artist? It makes me think about the work of painters like Alice Neel, who seemed able to capture the soul in a sitting. What does it mean to really see someone?