Q&A David Piñeros (@photo_essays_dp) talks documentary photography with Michael Ray Nott (@michaelraynott)

DP: What do you mean when you say the street is your studio?

MRN: Standing on the pavement with camera in hand is being in a location where, like no other place, has endless possibilities. While the street is busy at warp-speed action, the observer is in a slower time-zone seeking to reconstruct reality in its shattered form. The street is a giant stage backdrop for the hidden language of chaotic theatrical performances. Revealed in a photograph, the urban environment gives up its deciphered myths.

Using the street as an art studio has precedence in French painting in the 1800s. In the traditional studios of neoclassical painters of the French salon, such as Jacques-Louis David and Dominique Ingres who used formal structures to depict antiquity. Later, while still adhering to classical themes, Eugène Delacroix employed a more fluid and expressive style. Towards the latter part of the century the art movement of impressionism pushed painters out of the studio and onto the streets, making it the precursor to what was to become modern street photography. Painters such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Gustave Caillebotte depict a lively urban Paris that was greatly influenced by early photography.

Photographing in Paris at the turn of the century was Eugene Atget, who is regarded as the father of street photography. Atget lugged his large-format wooden bellows camera with a rapid rectilinear lens through the streets – photographing everything. His bread and butter was selling these images to painters for reference material.

Taking a camera to the streets became a less strenuous task with the invention of the Leica camera in 1913. A new breed of photographers came into being, globe-trotting and documenting with ease. One such photographer was Henri Cartier-Bresson, a master of candid photography. The term “street photography” was not in use yet – he called his style “reportage”. Bresson grew up in Paris going to high school at The Louvre and by the time he was 21 he was hanging out with surrealists such as André Breton. In looking at Bresson’s work one can see the influences of formal classical painting and surrealism.

This is the thing I find endlessly fascinating about the genre of street photography – all forms of art movements can be found within. There is formal pictorialism, abstraction, surrealism, expressionism, cubism and pop art and so on, sometimes appearing in the very same image. This is why it is so important for the street photographer to always be looking at a wide range of art works. As Charles Baudelaire wrote of this picture-drunken reverie “I couldn’t feed my eyes with enough images.”

The cinematic nature of public spaces is brim-full of stories and modern myth making. The excitement of stepping onto the street is entering onto that blank canvas where anything can happen or nothing can happen. Some of my favorite images are of scenes where nothing and something is happening – simultaneously. Spellbound by opposing forces, light and shadow, truth and lies, power and powerless, rich and poor, the street gives up its ghosts to the hunter.

Another aspect of documentary photography is the long tradition of photojournalism, the mainstay of newspapers and magazines. Not only for its use of realistic reporting, but an agent for social change.

The work of Dorothea Lange comes to mind. Some other examples are Jacob Riis and impoverished conditions, Gordon Parks and the civil rights movement, Eddie Adams and the Vietnam War. Powerful images moving people to respond to injustice.

The call for documentation of events is at its most potent when photographing actions being played out in the streets by advocates for social change. We are living in a time when the lines become blurry when it comes to photojournalism. There are numbers of people shooting on the street who, caught up in a wave of current events, are suddenly thrust into the forefront of the news. Some examples are Ryan Vizzions and his images of the Standing Rock protests, Newsha Tavakolian shooting the student uprisings in Iran, and in the case of Devin Allen, his Black Lives Matter images landed on the cover of Time magazine – twice. Not only does this work reach a massive audience but many of these photographers are rewarded by being picked up by major photo agencies such as Magnum, Getty, along with grants and fellowships.

Here in Nashville, David, you have been shooting hard-hitting images of the 'Free Capitol Hill' protests in Legislative Plaza that went on over the summer. Others in Nashville who have been doing important photojournalistic work are John Partipilo, Ray Dipietro and Alex Kent.

DP: We have shot together in the street many times; I could say you’re a master of candid shots and I’ve learned a lot from your method. Where did you learn that skill, the ability to react to life as it happens so quickly?

MRN: I grew up reading Life and Look magazines and was enamored with photo series telling a story. Especially spreads like Bill Ray’s photos of Hells Angels or Irving Penn’s portraits of hippie families giving straight America a peek into another world.

Not having a camera or any interest photographing until over the summer after my first year of art school at the University if Texas. I wanted to take photos of my school projects, as some them were temporary installations. I got a new Canon GIII to start the semester with and spent the summer photographing with it. As the semester began, I met a girl who had quite a few cameras. She was an accomplished photographer who shot for her high school newspaper and yearbook. She loaned me her Yashica-D twin lens reflex camera for which I am eternally grateful.

I had enrolled in the photography class that was mandatory in the course program, little did I know and came to realize, the class was taught by Garry Winogrand. It was very common at the University to bring in already famous people in their field to teach undergrads and guide master degree students who usually assisted as TAs. Exposure to several semesters of Winogrand’s classes was life-changing for me at the time, but really did not mature until years later. He mainly just talked about how a camera translates the world into a flat plane with action stuffed in there. At no time was any camera mechanical technique taught or discussed, it was assumed you already knew how to use a camera. The classes consisted of Winogrand holding forth on whatever stream-of-consciousness subject he chose with a few supporting slides. There was much talk about Walker Evens, a photographer he much admired and who’s work inspired him to photograph in the first place. For a taste as what Winogrand's classes were like, take a look at a video him talking to a group of grad students at Rice University.

Concurrently I was taking another class that influenced me greatly. This was a survey of the history of photography with Helmut Gernshiem. Helmut and his wife, Alison, started collecting the works of historic photographers, amassing a huge collection that culminated in their encyclopedic 180,000-word book The History of Photography. This class met three times a week, two were lectures with both Helmut and Alison, and the third class met in the The Harry Ransom Center archive. The University had acquired the entire Gershiem collection that includes items such as first photograph every taken, Dada experimental photography and Julia Margaret Cameron portraits. As students, we got to put on white gloves and examine these rare documents.

Although I photographed to complete class assignments, I never really shot much. Over the years I had a habit of getting some rolls of Tri-X and going to the State Fair and shooting. I would print a few of these but that was about the extent of it.

I spent a number of years as an advertising creative director and hired and directed hundreds of photoshoots. Through this I remained very close to photography and had the good fortune to see up-close many great photographers at work.

It was not until the launch of the first iPhone did I begin obsessively making images. That also dove-tailed with the advent of social media giving photography an immediacy like never before. I photographed EVERYTHING, which lead to my making a book of these images.

For over a year’s time I began to shoot people with the iPhone, mainly on Lower Broadway in Nashville. This was a great training ground for me to gain the confidence of shooting in public and interacting with people. We are living in an age where everywhere you go people are taking photos with their phone. For the street shooter, this allows for blending in to an environment were it not unusual to see someone taking pictures. For people who have privacy concerns about being photographed need to realize that surveillance cameras in the urban settings are tracking your every move, in the street, in stores and in bars. In light of this fact, the random street photographer is a gentle soul compared to this invasive tracking of citizen movements. Bring into play facial recognition technology adding another dimension of exploitation in public life.

At some point I graduated from a phone camera to a real camera and with it I began to stalk the streets obsessively with the attitude of anything can happen and embracing the randomness of that endeavor. I found the rhythm of the street to be intoxicating when it results in image making.

DP: Please share one or two of your favorite shots and tell us why?

MRN: Two images that I keep coming back to are Girl on a Leash and Polka Dot Dress. Both are shot from a low angle with a cast of people who are individually looking and moving in different directions.

Quite often, and much later, in looking at my photos I begin to see the influences of historical artworks I have been looking at. I tend to go through phases of intense fandom centering on a photographer, painter or style and almost unconsciously those imprints begin to show up in my work. In the case of these two images, at the time I was looking at neoclassical works such as Jacques-Louis David, particularly paintings with a large cast of characters. Paintings such a The Intervention of the Sabine Women or Oath of the Horatii, a stage set with multiple dramas playing out. I was also struck by the angle of the viewer being at pretty much the same height as the figures. In looking at a later neoclassical artist, Eugène Delacroix, the viewer’s level is somewhat lowered to about waist level raising the horizon line. My preference is for the lower angle which is greatly influenced by the street photography work of Vivian Maier, who shot with a twin-lens reflex camera. To use this camera the photographer holds it at waist-level looking down at the image on the ground glass.

Girl on a Leash has so much going on in the frame, a grouping of people seemingly unrelated to each, other yet making a cohesive composition of action. The background serves as a grid structure for this action breaking up the space so the individuals in the photo have their own zone. I especially like the man in the foreground is standing in his own square of light. With all that is going on in the photo, the central focus is the little girl on a leash all dressed up for her excursion into the big city.

In Polka Dot Dress, the action is a grouping of semi-lost tourists with a woman at the center attempting to provide some direction. The graphic form of the polka dot dress gives the image a central focus surrounded by its supporting characters.

DP: Could you share some of those shots showing the social, religious, and or political stage in Nashville and maybe describe how you came up with those images, is it an accident or you’re looking for it?

MRN: My initial taste of photographing mass protests was at the first Women’s March occurring in January 2017, right after the inauguration. I remember catching a ride down to the Cumberland park area in Nashville and thinking through what I was about to encounter. My train of thought went like this; there are going to be so many photographs to come out of this, from news photographers to individuals filling their social media accounts. I wanted to do something different. At the time I was obsessing over the work of Lillian Bassman, a fashion photographer who was in Alexey Brodovitch’s circle of influence in the 1950s. Lillian photographed her models in a high-contrast, grainy style – images that appeared in Harper’s Bazaar. I wanted to cover the Women’s March in that style, concentrating on close-ups of faces to relay the mood of the day. The resulting photographs of the Women’s March can be viewed here:

I began attending political rallies and protests of all stripes, a really weird “religious freedom” rally a the capitol, Trump rallies, Antifa protests, and anti-gun violence vigils. There was so much street action in Nashville – from early Black Lives Matter protests to an Antifa protest of a neo-nazi gym that opened up in East Nashville.

Here are is a link to images of the first Black Lives Matter protest in Nashville:

One image that stands out is a portrait I made of Julia Bee at a Black Lives Matter shut-down of Lower Broadway. This shot was taken seconds before she was grabbed by police and arrested.

Out of this work I began to develop a body of work that was the impetus for making a book. The diverse political spectrum presented in these images needed to stand alone without comment allowing the viewer to supply their own narrative. Although, not explicitly stated, my own political leanings hopefully shine through. After many false starts, the book that emerged was called Good Morning America – How are Ya? The book launch coincided with a show of the images at Converge Gallery in Nashville.

My book was published last year, 2019. In light of the events in 2020, there is so much more that has happened to expand on the theme. The images from Good Morning America become a quaint precursor of the ever-deepening divides in this country. The photos in my book depict a simpler time when protest was not yet met with heavily militarized police.

Out of virus fears have not been out shooting the current atmosphere of dissent as much I would like. I have, however, made a few forays out to photograph the brave coalition seeking justice by occupying Legislative Plaza day and night under constant threat from the state police.

Over the last election cycle I have photographed several anti-mask rallies and post-election Trump rallies at the state capitol.

DP: Do you have a particular philosophy about documentary photography?

MRN: Yes, I have come up with a term for my work calling it Civil Abstraction. I feel this term also applies to all documentary street photography in general.

Civil Abstraction is a way to talk about the act of photographing the public order of individuals in the urban environment.

Civil Abstraction is an outgrowth of the writings of Erving Goffman, one of the most influential sociologists of the 20th century. Goffman coined the term Civil Inattention to describe how people behave in public. Rather than either ignoring or staring at others, Civil Inattention involves the unobtrusive and peaceful scanning of others so as to allow for neutral interaction. Civil Inattention is utilized to maintain the public order and make privacy possible within a crowd, an essential feature of impersonal relationships demanded by the open society.

Photographing in public is a violation of Civil Inattention.

Civil Abstraction leaves no question that the image itself is more dramatic than what was photographed. Exposing a colossal revelation into banal social interactions in public spaces – an onstage area where actors (individuals) appear before the audience. The scene’s narrative is negated and transplanted with a new dialogue created by the viewer.

In our current world with a global pandemic, public life has been greatly altered with the wearing of masks to slow the spread of disease. Citizens and governments alike are reluctant to don masks, however I see an upside to this. Perhaps people are slowly embracing mask-wearing as it allows this anonymity that they are seeking, whether consciously or subconsciously. There is a power there. When going about our everyday lives in public in grocery stores, getting gas or banking, the preference is to go about our business with as little as notice as possible. In fact, mask-wearing has long been associated with superpowers, Batman or the Lone Ranger come to mind.

Goffman, today, would have a field day with this subject. The author often uses the imagery of theatre in order to portray the importance of human social interaction and cites masks as part of that drama. In fact, Goffman tackled this very subject in his book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. He examines social reality is a performed event where individuals are concerned, especially in public, with matters of self-presentation.

I am currently working on an immersive installation of photography that illuminates these concepts surrounding CIvil Abstraction. Also I am creating large-format LED silicone graphics lightboxes. Look for a gallery show in 2021!