The Kurt Vonnegut of Photography

When I spoke with Luke Gilford it seemed as though I was conversing with a writer rather than a photographer. It was the way he thought about his photographic subjects—not just how they appeared, but what they meant. I imagine that if Gilford were a writer, he would write much like Kurt Vonnegut, the beloved science fiction author. Both artists bring an irreverent sense of humor, interesting characters, a strong social consciousness and a subversive message to their work.

While Gilford’s cast of characters—the Hollywood cultural creative set—includes the expected models, actresses and tattooed tough guys, it goes beyond the usual clichés as his portraits penetrate beneath the surface. His ability to build rapport with interesting people and portray them in edgy environments, filled with almost as much character as the subjects themselves, is what makes him a frequent contributor to Flaunt and other magazines focused on the creative youth culture. Gilford is uninterested in taking yet another photo of the same old celebrity in the same slick way. Even if he is photographing a celebrity—and his trajectory often seems to cross their Hollywood orbits—he is intent on bringing some personal meaning to the session.

Cerebral is a good word to describe Gilford’s approach. He says that his photographs are about the “gap between intention and effect”—a quote he borrows from Diane Arbus, whose work has influenced his. Elaborating, he says he is keenly aware that people are presenting a persona in life and particularly so in a photograph. Yet what they intend to present is not always what is received by the world or captured in a photograph.

Gilford’s thoughtful process is clearly at work in his “Hollywood Help” project in which he photographed the housekeepers (“nannies, in reality,” says Gilford) of the wealthy and powerful in Los Angeles. In the series he borrows from the conventions of old master paintings of the rich and wealthy. The way he poses his subjects, the opulent environments and even the color palette in which he places them seem very familiar. Yet there is something not quite right, something very unfamiliar. That is because Gilford is very consciously subverting the tradition of family portraiture by portraying, not a nuclear family, but a strange and unusual modern substitute.

He got the idea for the series when he was visiting friends in the Hollywood Hills and he noticed that the relations between the hired help and the children and teens of the household were often very close and intimate. He wondered if the children were as close with their high-powered parents (actors, lawyers, etc.) as they were with their nannies.

In “Hollywood Help,” Gilford is exploring many subjects at the same time: extremes of wealth, the meaning of family and the issue of immigration. The article appeared in Swindle Magazine and Gilford says the series has caught the attention of galleries, cable networks and book publishers, as well.

His social consciousness led him to explore the work of Michael Jantzen, who, according to his website at www.humanshelter.org, founded the Human Shelter Innovation Institute to “explore designs that make use of alternate materials, technologies and manufacturing techniques,” all with the goal of “creating alternative solutions to the growing global problem of inadequate human shelter.” The structures are not only very economical, and ecologically friendly; they are modular, re-locatable and great to look at too. Gilford was so interested in the work that he pitched the idea to Flaunt and produced the series that he titled “Against Architecture.” He cast real-people models—“non-models”—wearing vintage garments, decisions that reflect his counter-cultural tendency and his sense of what would be most compatible with the structures that are the
main subject.

“Sometimes my work reveals my environmentalist, anti-consumerism tendencies, which I suppose inadvertently address my desire to subversively urge other young people to develop alternative modes of living, of thinking,” says Gilford, clueing us into his motivation to do projects such as “Against Architecture.”

Gilford’s images are so imbued with a flavor of Hollywood that it is hard to believe that he recently moved here from San Francisco. “I originally migrated south two years ago to go to UCLA, where I am still studying art,” says Gilford. “For the summer of 2005 I landed an internship shooting for Gap and Banana Republic in San Francisco.

I kept building my art portfolio while I was there, and then just all of a sudden work started coming in, but it was all down in Los Angeles. So I was forced to embrace the place. And I really have. One can be anything they dream here, and I meet the most inspiring people when I am out and about. People, in general, are a major reason why I picked up a camera in the first place. I love talking to them and with them and getting inside of them. I just want to chat with every last person.”

He’s not hesitant to admit that he is not the most technical of photographers and is still learning. However, his lack of technical knowledge has not been much of a problem. Perhaps, it has actually been an asset to him. Looking at his photos one can sense that they are a result of an intimate and spontaneous give-and-take between photographer and subject and that simple equipment—just a point-and-shoot camera and a Canon 20D with a medium zoom that he often borrows from a friend—supports him in the process by not distracting him from his relationship with the subject.

“I’ve only been shooting for a couple of years now, and still don’t really know an f-stop from a strobe,” Gilford freely admits. “I love learning new tricks and that’s why I enjoy working with other artists so much. But I’ll always be a fan of natural light and modest postproduction. An image that stands on its own is the most beautiful kind to me.”

Though he relies strongly on available light, the light is, nonetheless, always interesting. He has a penchant for unusual compositions with unusual angles. At only 22 years of age his unique and personal approach is what comes across strongly.

Gilford has this to say about his age, his style and his way of working: “Sometimes having youth on your side is quite an asset. People are apparently intrigued by someone more than half the age of the other contributors to Vogue or Paper. Being a young person and having my work published or purchased or simply noticed always feels like a triumph of sorts. More significantly though, I think young people have a unique perception of the world. It’s important for us to be respected because a great deal is in our hands.
“My subjects are friends, family, lovers and others. I like taking photographs of people I know best because a photograph that actually reflects reality is so rare. Even still, I’ll approach unfamiliar people who I think are eccentric or interesting. I’ll ask to take their picture and they’ll either be flattered or confused or terrified.”

For someone originally from the San Francisco Bay Area who was reticent to come to Los Angeles, Gilford seems to have embraced his new home completely. “Every day that I am here, I find something or someone or someplace else that I’m fascinated with,” Gilford says. “This town is like an all-you-can-eat soul food buffet of inspiration.”
View more of Gilford’s work on his website, https://lukegilford.com.

Larry Brownstein is the photographer of the books Los Angeles, Where Anything is Possible and The Midnight Mission. He is represented by Getty Images, Alamy and other agencies. He has a growing wedding and portrait photography business. He also offers stock photography consulting and career coaching for emerging photographers. See his work at www.larrybrownstein.com or contact him at 310-815-1402.