TCF Ep. 458 - Meryl Meisler

The Candid Frame: Conversations on Photography

Ibarionex R. Perello

Cameras, Art, Photoshop, Visual Arts, Career, Interviews, Photographers, Arts, Photography, Photo, Digital

4.8 • 749 Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2019

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Meryl Meisler was born 1951 in the South Bronx and raised in North Massapequa, Long Island, NY. Inspired by Diane Arbus and Jacques Henri Lartigue, Meryl began photographing herself, family, and friends while enrolled in a photography class taught by Cavalliere Ketchum at The University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1975, Meryl returned to New York City and studied with Lisette Model, continuing to photograph her hometown and the city around her. After working as a freelance illustrator by day, Meryl frequented and photographed the infamous New York Discos. As a 1978 CETA Artist grant recipient, Meryl created a portfolio of photographs which explored her Jewish Identity for the American Jewish Congress. After CETA, Meryl began a 31-year career as an NYC Public School Art Teacher. Upon retiring from the NYC public school system in 2010, Meisler began releasing large bodies of previously unseen work. Meryl’s first monograph A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick (Bizarre, 2014), received international acclaim. The book juxtaposes her zenith of disco photos with images of the burned out yet beautiful neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn in the 1980s. Her second book, Purgatory & Paradise SASSY ‘70s Suburbia & The City (Bizarre, 2015), contrasts intimate images of home life on Long Island alongside NYC street and nightlife. She is currently working on two more books in her series about the 1970s & ’80s. Meryl lives and works in New York City, continuing the photographic memoir she began in 1973 – a uniquely American story, sweet and sassy with a pinch of mystery. Resources: Download the free Candid Frame app for your favorite smart device. Click here to download for . Click here to download Support the work we do at The Candid Frame with contributing to our Patreon effort. You can do this by visiting or visiting the website and clicking on the Patreon button. You can also provide a one-time donation via . You can follow Ibarionex on and .

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Ebody and X, and this is The Candid Frame.
0:12.8	There are a lot of things that you have to learn in order to become a great photographer.
0:19.9	But beyond shutter speed, aperture, depth of field, and the rule of thirds, the most important
0:27.6	thing to develop is a sense of what people, places, things, or moments are worthy of a photograph.
0:35.6	We often take our cues from what others have photographed,
0:39.3	and we frequently mimic what those photographers did to create those images, and that's okay,
0:46.3	because that's a big part of learning photography. But a remarkable thing happens
0:53.3	when a photographer is led to photograph their own life experiences
0:58.6	and circumstances.
1:00.4	That began for Merrill Meisler when she began photographing her Jewish-American family and community.
1:06.2	That eventually segued into her documentation of New York's social scene during the late 70s,
1:12.9	and eventually to her photographing the Bushwick community, where she worked as a teacher at a local public school.
1:20.4	The result is a body of work that is not only highly personal, but that provides a unique glimpse into three different cultural communities
1:30.3	over a span of years. And part of why she gave herself permission to photograph in that way
1:36.4	was inspired by several photographers, not least of which was Deanne Arbus. Seeing Deon Arbus' work had a direct influence on me.
1:48.8	When I went to the show, I was just going to MoMA, and I saw the show.
1:54.2	I was moved.
1:56.7	I saw them as very honest, beautiful portraits of human beings.
2:03.4	And they struck me.
2:05.5	And they also seemed familiar to me.
2:07.3	Like I didn't see it as being a freak of a giant and his little parents.
2:12.5	I saw them.
	...

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