Aaron H. Bible received an MFA in photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He is currently based in Denver, Colorado, where he supports his artistic practice with journalistic and commercial photography projects. Perhaps most aptly, we can deem his artistic approach begrudgingly “postmodern-modernist,” as his commitment to the original incarnation of photography palpates through his emotional portraits and moody images of everyday contemporary life. Indeed, Bible’s fascination with the innate nostalgia of photography motivates him to utilize available resources—both old and new—so as to create images that are as “pure” as possible.

In his seminal essay, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin noted, “It is no accident that the portrait was the focal point of early photography. The cult of remembrance of loved once, absent or dead, offers a last refuge for the cult value of the picture.”[i] Referring to a time at the end of the 19^th century, before Eugène Atget photographed the empty streets of Paris, Benjamin grapples with humanity’s natural pull toward photography, and in doing so, he points to portraiture’s unique ability to convey meaning, despite the illusiveness of human connection. Though Bible’s depiction of street corners and physical locations throughout the world might immediately link him to Atget, Bible resists categorization as purely a documentary photographer. Certainly, all of his photographs are portraits because ultimately, they are sincere remembrances of both familiar places and loved ones alike.

Visit Bible online: ahbmedia.com. (Photographs top to bottom: “Untitled Entropy Color Photography 2010″ (images 1&2), “Portrait_Norman 2004″)

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LC: So tell me what you’re working on now?

AB: Currently, I’m working on a body of work that I’ve tentatively entitled Entropy. It consists of images of found objects, anomalies and juxtapositions of words and objects in the environments I happen upon them, which is mostly when I’m walking my dog or traveling.

LC: Is the series digital?

AB: No, no it’s not digital. It’s shot on film and then I scan the film high res with what we call the rebate edge, the negative edge. The inclusion of the film rail in the scan is a critical part of the work because in the final print, it’s evidence that the image was shot on film and then it was printed full frame.

LC: By documenting the film in that way, it seems like you’re trying to emphasize the presence of a modernist medium. So, my question is, couldn’t it be considered defeatist to use the scanner, which is so symbolic of the postmodern age?

AB: I consider the work “Figital.” And by that, I mean it is an amalgamation of film and digital—I utilize the best of both worlds to obtain a final product. Essentially, there is no projection-style color printing anymore, but with a digital file, I can print “photographically” onto light sensitive color paper or I can create a giclee print on watercolor or print making paper. So, really, printing digitally is just another way to make a print.

LC: So, your aim really is to produce wholly modernist work in the postmodern era?

AB: I would like to be as photographically “pure” as possible, but there are always compromises because technology is always evolving—the philosophical debate regarding this inevitably exhausts itself at some point. For example, now we use less toxic chemistry than they used in the early 1900′s or we make sure we have better ventilation, because we have a different perspective and new knowledge at this point in time. Ultimately, the modernist sensibilities take back over when looking at the final product: Are we looking at a true art object, one that is more beautiful than the subject itself? Is it lasting and unique, one that satisfies the intentions of the maker?

LC: Why have you titled the series Entropy? 

AB: I use the word because I’m interested in the fact that the more things change and decay, the more they stay the same. In a way, the series is a continuation of my portraiture because it’s about what man leaves behind instead of just the man. Portraits are similar because people are always changing. You can take a portrait of someone one year and then ten years later make another and it’s a completely different object, just like you can take a picture of a sign—I’m fascinated that we create these elaborate signs and messages and then they sit for thirty years and become art objects. So, entropy in my definition is the fact that even though something decays, the energy remains the same.

LC: Are you interested in shooting the same scenario or found objects multiple times?

AB: Yes, and I do. I’ll pair the multiple photos together as diptychs and triptychs. They’ll feature the same street corner, for example, over the course of several years.

LC: Wow, so how long have you been working on this?

AB: About five years. I started shooting it on Polaroids in 2002, but they discontinued that film and there was really no reliable substitute. So, I switched to the Holga, which has a similar kind of nostalgic, muted and romantic color palette to it—it’s still kind of an antiquated technology. I wish the whole body of work could have been shot in Polaroid, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

LC: Interesting, especially because there seems to be a lot of artists—across the various mediums—working on long-term projects. I also find it intriguing that you refer to your work as nostalgic, it’s exactly the word I would use to describe its message. I’m hoping you can speak to that a bit?

AB: I think a lot of artists relate to different generations or time periods, maybe because they were born as lost souls and they feel akin to different epochs for whatever reasons. I have always been drawn to the antique, and for me, photography is always about nostalgia. I love old photographs and I think nostalgia is a part of all photography at some point, whether you’re conscious of it or not. My work is nostalgic because it isn’t about what is in front of you, rather, it’s about the idea of what’s in front of you and what that image means to you.

LC: I know you teach—what do you hope to convey to future photographers?

AB: What I try to say is two things. One is, if you don’t have a reason for making the image, it will fail. There are many good pictures out there, but the difference between a good picture and a great picture is something worth understanding. Second, I emphasize going back to basics.  Most photography programs in the United States teach the 35mm, small camera approach, which is when the student makes hundred pictures. Then, with the teacher, they look at them, talk and decide which ones work. My theory is you should make five pictures. You should spend the day thinking, planning, sketching and learning about very few images. The idea is to do it slowly, that’s what I try to get students to do.

LC: I like that. The notion of taking the time needed is definitely in line with your current project, too. How much longer do you plan to work on Entropy?

AB: If I get a tenured teaching position, go back for my PhD or if I become funded again, then I will complete the project. But it may be an ongoing project for the rest of my life.

LC: How poetic that it could reflect your life and document chapters, as they both start and finish…

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