Susan Kuklin

When I was very young, my family introduced me to art, theater, and books. These introducted me to many worlds -- worlds I wanted to know more about. At about age eight, I decided to become either a ballerina or a stage actress -- a very, very dramatic actress. Not such good idea, my family thought, but they went along my dreams anyway. I went to ballet class three times a week and to the Saturday matinees of Broadway shows that tried out in my hometown, Philadelphia.

I majored in the theater at New York University and attended the Herbert Berghof School of Acting. Learning to interpret a role by growing into the character -- losing "me" and becoming "another" -- was exhilarating. It wasn't that I didn't want to be me, I was simply curious about others.

While in graduate school [also at NYU] I began to direct plays. Whereas acting taught me how to interpret a part, directing forced me to look at the theater's big picture which included its visual aspects. These fundamentals, including framing, lighting, movement, and shaping became intrinsic features of my approach to photography and nonfiction writing.

Then my uncle bought a Leica.

Together, we began exploring life through the lens of his magnificent camera.

I pretended that my eyes were camera lenses. I'd walk down the street composing pictures in my mind. At night I dreamed in black and white, generally 35mm.

When my future-husband, Bailey, and I married, we moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. There, Bailey taught at the university and I got serious about professional photography. For two years I combed the hills of Appalachia, photographing the families who lived there. I tried to emulate one of my favorite photographers, Walker Evans, who walked the same hills some forty years earlier.

Once we returned to New York, I took my Appalachian Family portfolio to art directors at newspapers and magazines. For a while, doors slammed - no jobs. Then, lo and behold, I started to get assignments.

During one assignment I drove around with police officers and undercover agents in the South Bronx. It was scary. It was exciting. For another assignment, I photographed George Balanchine as he rehearsed the magnificent dancers of the New York City Ballet.

I liked the idea that I could spend one day covering a double homicide and another backstage at Lincoln Center. It was exciting and glamorous and I constantly worried that I forgot to put film in my camera.

Another assignment changed my professional life. Columbia University professor Herbert Terrace invited me to photograph his study that asked the question: can a chimpanzee learn language? Nim Chimpsky was one very smart chimpanzee. Using American sign language, Nim was able to "say" about 300 words. He lived in a mansion with a group of graduate students, and he traveled in a BMW to his very own classroom at the university. What a guy!

Before working with the chimp, Professor Terrace asked me to learn about fifty signs so that Nim wouldn't think I was a dummy. The photographs were used in two books, one of which was for children: THE STORY OF NIM, THE CHIMPANZEE WHO LEARNED LANGUAGE. [With the author, Anna Michel] My first illustrated children's book!

I fell in love with children's publishing. And it has been my home ever since.

Many of my books for young people are photo essays. The text is from the point of view of the people I interview. It's their thoughts, not mine; their opinions, not mine. I transcribe their words and shape them into a book.

After a few years I began exploring tough subjects for young adults. These books are edgy, and deal with very difficult subjects. They include the first YA book about AIDS, the first book about suicide where families allow their names and photographs to be used, a first-person account of prejudice, and teen pregnancy, human rights, child slavery, and the criminal justice system. But I did manage to sneak in one delicious dance book called REACHING FOR DREAMS.

These books, for middle grades and young adults, go behind the scenes, behind the headlines and simplistic sound bites. They describe how real people respond to or are affected by a law or a societal condition.

The modus operandi is a book version of cinema verite; that is, choose a subject, find a situation that depicts that subject, watch it unfold, and let the people concerned tell the story.

The people lead the book. I have no idea how the book will play out until all the material is collected -- and sometimes not even then.

PHOTOGRAPHY
My earlier pictures were very realistic -- I never cropped a photograph and used whatever light available. But my approach to photography changed. While working on SPEAKING OUT: TEENAGERS TAKE ON RACE, SEX, AND IDENTITY, some of the students who participated in the book helped me decide how they should be photographed. "Arty," they said, "we want to be very, very arty." The teens suggested a cross between Richard Avedon and Robert Mapplethorp. [Not bad company.] Since every individual is indeed a work of art, it was appropriate to give this approach a try!

We made a studio in an empty classroom. We set powerful strobes [lights] around a white seamless background. The students made appointments for their portrait shoot. Afterwards, they helped me choose the photograph that best represented themselves.

As the technology changed, I've tried to keep up. I changed to a medium format camera for greater detail. When I used it to photograph Bill T. Jones [DANCE] and Sheryl Swoopes [HOOPS WITH SWOOPES]I included my giant strobes against huge white seamless paper so that they would look as if they were floating in air. By the way, while working with Bill and Sheryl, I felt as if I was floating in air.

For ALL ABOARD I moved my entire studio - with the help of my assistant, the photographer Marshall Norstein - to Colorado to photograph the oldest working steam engine in America. Then we moved everything again and again to fifteen separate locations for my most recent book, FAMILIES.

Just when I thought I had medium format and studio photography down pat, the technology changed again! Digital photography is a whole new way to make pictures. My beautiful darkroom is now in storage. My new darkroom is right here in this computer. Rolls and roles of film are in the freezer mixing it up with ice cream and frozen bagels.

I went back to school to learn about digital photography and PhotoShop. Currently, I am working on a digital photography dance book, Beautiful Ballerina, written by the wonderful poet, Marilyn Nelson. I look forward to your reaction to this new form of art.

WHEN I SEE MY DOCTOR
WHEN I SEE MY DENTIST
TAKING MY CAT TO THE VET
TAKING MY DOG TO THE VET
GOING TO MY BALLET CLASS
GOING TO MY NURSERY SCHOOL
GOING TO MY GYM CLASS
HOW MY FAMILY LIVES IN AMERICA
FIGHTING FIRES
DANCE (CO-AUTHOR BILL T. JONES0
HOOPS WITH SWOOPES
ALL ABOARD: A TRUE TRAIN STORY
FAMILIES

MINE FOR A YEAR: [The true story of a young boy, who may soon go blind, who raises a guide dog to help another blind person.]
THINKING BIG: [The story of a young dwarf.]
FROM HEAD TO TOE: HOW A DOLL IS MADE
KODOMO: CHILDREN OF JAPAN
FIREWORKS: THE SCIENCE, THE ART, AND THE MAGIC
THE HARLEM NUTCRACKER (BASED ON DONALD BYRD'S BALLET)
FROM WALL TO WALL

REACHING FOR DREAMS: [The Alvin Ailey Dance Theater rehearses SPEEDS, a ballet by Jennifer Muller.]
FIGHTING BACK: WHAT SOME PEOPLE ARE DOING ABOUT AIDS
WHAT DO I DO NOW? TEENAGERS TALK ABOUT SEX AND PREGNANCY
SPEAKING OUT: TEENAGERS TAKE ON RACE, SEX AND IDENTITY
AFTER A SUICIDE: YOUNG PEOPLE SPEAK UP
IRREPRESSIBLE SPIRIT: CONVERSATIONS WITH HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS
IQBAL MASIH AND THE CRUSADERS AGAINST CHILD SLAVERY
TRIAL: THE INSIDE STORY
NO CHOIRBOY: MURDER, VIOLENCE, AND TEENAGERS ON DEATH ROW

BEAUTIFUL BALLERINA by Marilyn Nelson Photography by Susan Kuklin with students from The Dance Theatre of Harlem.