Waiting for the unexpected

(I did this for the arts page of the paper. It was a fun experience...)

“A story becomes a story when its end is known,” Martine Franck once said. Her own story has been one of adventure, excitement, discovery. Born in Antwerp, she grew up in the United States and Britain before heading to Europe – to study art history first at the University of Madrid and then at the Louvre School in Paris. She started working for Time-Life in Paris in 1963 and met her future husband, Henri Cartier-Bresson, while on a fashion shoot in 1966. When the Theatre du Soleil was established in 1964 by director Ariane Mnouchkine, Franck focused her lens on its stage and has photographed every production there.

But its not all glamour, there’s a gritty side too. She has been involved with humanitarian reportage and was part of Vu and Viva (as a founder) photo-agencies, and has worked with Magnum for many years now. As Franck says, “A photo-agency is stimulating. It keeps you on your toes, inspires you to follow your colleagues’ work.” Reportage can be soul-sapping, exhausting, even painful. “I personally have never been in such a situation, but there have been times where I have censored myself and refused to take the photograph. There are no fixed rules. Each photographer reacts in his or her own way according to their feelings or principles.”

Apart from photography and administration of this continuing interest, she does social and charity work for the Little Brothers of the Poor, a non-governmental organisation which cares for the elderly and outcasts of society. She has also authored a number of books.

Today photography is sometimes as much about creating an image as it is about capturing a moment on camera. Digital technology has made it easy to ‘cheat’, allowing manipulations, but “This depends very much on the individual photographer; I personally do not manipulate my photographs,” Franck clarifies. ‘A photograph is not necessarily a lie, but it isn't the truth either, it's more of a fleeting, subjective impression’, she has said, and explains that “A photograph is only a split second of ‘reality’. A person may look very happy in an image and yet be in a tragic situation and vice versa - that is what I mean about not it necessarily being the truth.”

Once a painfully shy person, she has used her camera as a screen. “But I no longer hide behind my camera,” Franck smiles. She prefers to speak with it, though, “I hope that I communicate with my images, but that is for the viewer to say, not me.” And what is she trying to say? “I basically photograph what I like or who I like and admire. The important thing for me is to put myself in the other person’s shoes and try and understand or feel what they are feeling.”

Though Franck will not be in India with her work this time, “I have been many times to India and hope to come back again next year.” She says, “I very much like the work of Dayanita Singh and Raghu Rai, but I know there are so many whose work I have not yet seen.”

She has spoken of ‘transgressions’ and explains that “Transgressions for me are a matter of going a little further than what reason tells you to do - either getting closer, being insistent in meeting someone, sometimes being ‘impolite’, pushing your way forward, stepping on people’s toes…” all that today is essential to being a paparazzi, the least liked species of photographer. And, as Franck says, “All these things I have done.” After all, being true to the lens and always in search of that perfect picture is what the craft is all about. “What I most like about photography is the moment that you can't anticipate; you have to be constantly watching for it, ready to welcome the unexpected."

Martine Franck – Photographs, Art Musings Gallery, Colaba, May 3 to June 21