August 2007

Michael Hughes - Souvenirs

I have started to notice - The more photography I do, the more difficult it is becoming. Photographs that I once thought were amazing aren't even in my daily conscience now. Other photographs that I used to dismiss, I now think about constantly. My preferences have changed over time. Personal standards and expectation levels naturally rise the more we study or practice something. With regard to photography, being exposed to so much of it on a daily basis has meant that it has become increasingly rare to discover work that is unique and feel like it has been produced effortlessly. They were my thoughts when I first encountered Michael Hughes' Souvenirs photos. My second thought was, "Why didn't I think of that...dammit".

I was hoping you could give us a little bit of background to the Souvenirs photo project. How did the project start and what was the first photo taken of?

The project started in 1999 at the Loreley. The Loreley are cliffs on the Rhine river near Mainz, Germany. Mythology has it that the cliffs were occupied by a beautiful blond damsel who lured ships to their deaths. I was up on the cliffs doing a story for a Finnish newspaper. I remember the light was bad and the winter colours look so sad. At that time I had a rather supercilious attitude towards souvenirs, buying the worst kind as a proof of my coolness and good taste. Standing on the cliff I remembered I had brought a postcard for my daughter in my pocket. I noticed that the photographer had posed his damsel (I think Miss Loreley 1998) exactly where I was standing and I started playing with the postcard in front of the camera. That's when the idea clicked.

Is that your hand in the photographs? Are all the photos done by you?

It is always my hand and always my photograph.

How many souvenirs do you buy and how many photos do you take at each destination?

I usually buy three or four souvenirs. I shoot as many photographs as it takes to get the shot. Sometimes thirty to forty.

Do you research your destination before you leave?

I do research using Google, Google Earth, Wiki etc. Usually I just turn up.

Were you an avid collector of souvenirs before this project started?

No, I didn't collect anything apart from my photographs.

Did you ever travel to a place just to get a photo for the project? Has the need for making the photo ever been more important then actually experiencing the attraction?

I have just come back from Egypt. I went there specifically to work on this project. Being a professional photographer I am very privileged that I get to travel a lot. For me the photograph is always more important than the attraction.

What do you mean the photograph is more important than the attraction?

I mean my photography is more important to me than visiting some place. People buy souvenirs and visit famous places because it attaches them to something universal (or universally known). It gives their lives meaning by lifting them from the anonymity of their daily existence and associating them with something that everybody knows. They become visible. This is why photography has become more and more popular. The photo is the souvenir, using the adage that in order to take a photograph of something you have to be there and also, if possible, be in it. Hence the people who pretend to be holding the pyramids in their hands or pretend to be supporting or pushing over the leaning Tower of Pisa.

What are your thoughts on the travel industry?

I can't make statements about the travel industry. I suppose the question one must ask is how air travel is ruining the ozone layer and contributing to global warming. What most saddens me is the loss of particular milieus through mass travel (Costa Brava looks like Britain with sunshine). The loss of wildernesses through human encroachment in whatever form worries me.

This project reminds me of work done by photographer Martin Parr. Can you relate to Parr's view of the overindulgent modern day tourists?

I don't think Martin Parr is criticising tourists and nor am I. Parr is showing the appalling tackiness in which people are forced to live and find meaning for their lives. I think I do share some similarities with Parr. By substituting the souvenir for the real thing I am poking fun at the souvenir and the thing itself. Reducing its function to merely a sign. In that we collect pictures as souvenirs, I am conflating the two. I do believe that peoples' souvenirs play a meaningful, significant and emotional part in their lives.

Do you have any plans to produce postcards from these photos to sell at their depicted locations?

No I don't have any plans to do that. It would be a lot of work for little return. I mostly get published in magazines and would love to do a book. My next port of call might well be Australia.

>> Souvenirs Project
>> Hughes Photography