Sean Alonzo Harris

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Sean Alonzo Harris is an editorial, commercial and fine art photographer Confidence concentrating on narrative and environmental portraiture. He has also received critical acclaim for his fine art work and was recently awarded a Kindling Fund grant from Space Gallery and the Warhol foundation for his project Visual Tensions. Thanks for coming in today.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Thank you for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, let's start with Visual Tensions.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Yeah, it's a project that's been doing around for a while and basically the, the idea just because there's, there's so much tension between people of color and law enforcement that, you know, and just like most of the focus has been on the anger and I wanted to focus in on like, you know, how that, what, what actually is the start of the anger. So basically the thought process is that I would photograph police officers and people of color in the same space and looking at each other because most of the time we make assumptions on the visuals before we know the person's heart or mind or spirit. So I wanted to break that down and pose that question of what, you know, like to look beyond what we see and pause and then and make a statement that way to like ask that question and hopefully bunches of people can answer it in different ways in their own ways.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What have you learned so far?

Sean Alonzo Harris:

It's really hard to work with people because it's people, especially in institutions and also to convince the public that what I'm trying to do is not, what I'm trying to do is not trying to like, I gotcha. You follow me. Like, so, so I'm not trying to trip anyone up or like, you know, I have to, I have to, to make sure that my intentions are honest and I have to make sure that I have to convince people that my intentions are honest and also that I'm going to show them with dignity.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, that's something that you've probably been working with through the entirety of your career, I would think, as a photographer.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Exactly, exactly. Basically, My photography is basically to show dignity and power and humanity. And those things are really important to me. I feel that I still study a lot about photography, the history of photography, and also I look at a lot of images always. I think it's really important to see what's out there. And a lot of the photographs that, that I, I, I take in, some of them aren't like, you know, especially with people of color, a lot of them aren't as, as dignified. It's like, you know, or they're like, it's usually it's either like, you know, celebrities and athletes, but what about the doctors and the teachers and the, and the everyday people and showing them in a presence where they're in a place of power or in a place of dignity, you know, and that's kind of one of the things that I like to do, you know, just to change the history a little bit, to show another side. And a lot of people are doing it, but I think that I can play my part too.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

When I was on your website, I noticed that you had a lovely portrait of Ashley Bryan. And when I think about dignity, I think about him. We did a story about him last year for Maine Magazine, and there's something about him that I think you captured really well. This sort of simultaneous seriousness and joyfulness, I think about his personality.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Right. Well, like, Ashley is an amazing, wonderful man. I mean, like, he, like I shot a story for him for another magazine and he, he is such a playful, joyful spirit, you know, and the way that he comes across, he fills the room with his love. And so when you see him, like all, most of the photographs that I see of him had this, have this sense of, they try to capture just that, the moment of like, you know, the layer, the first, the topical of him, you know, it's like these joyful. These moments of joy, laughter. And that is him completely. But what he's achieved in life and what he's done is serious work. It's like, I mean like, just think about what's in his mind is an amazing feat. I think that you need to sit back and pause and look at him as this man. Not just like just. I mean as this powerful and. And intelligent serious man. Because he's serious as much as he's. As he laughs and plays and. And he has this very robust life, you know, I just think so. I just took a different. I just stepped back and looked and took a completely different take. How I sell them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You also did a project on the last of the Shakers.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

A few years ago, right?

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Yes, yes. And that was a fun project to work on. That was a like one of my favorite things to be about photographers to create fine art projects and also editorial work. I just love. Because when you go off and you photograph especially editorial magazines, you're usually going to see. To photograph people who have done something amazing, have come across or have come over incredible odds and they have a story to tell, you know, and it's just so you sit there and watch. So the Shakers project, what happened? I went up there to. It was one of those things. I don't know if you know the story, but there was four Shakers and there was a story and a magazine or newspaper came up and did a story on them and one of the Shakers ran off with the writer. I think. I'm not exactly sure of the whole inside, but this was. This could be gossip or rumor, but they were very, very. It was very, very hard for them to. It was very, very hard for us to get in there to photograph them. They were like, no. And we had to go in there and then really talk with them and let them know our intent. They had. And it was like I went in there, they almost. They had to interview me before I even took their photographs. So I went up there to take photographs and literally thinking it would be a half a day and it was a three day process. I had to go back and back and back and it was amazing. I fell in love with the people. I fell in love with their whole thing that they've done. And we photographed it on 8x10 film, which was amazing in itself, which is a great. And by photographing with 8x10, it's a slower process and. And I think they truly respected it, but it warranted that kind of respect. I think on the Photographs. Because by taking that time and just because of their legacy, and also at the time there was only three left, I thought that it just needed to have that extra like, okay, we're gonna sit down and, you know, spend, you know, 30 minutes setting up my camera. You know, I'm gonna talk and we're gonna sit and we're gonna wait for that moment and, and we then. So that we can take the appropriate photograph.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

On the flip side, you also have an interest in street photography, which doesn't have the. You don't have quite the same amount of time, I would think, to build that same level of trust.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

No, no. And street photography is like one of those. I always look at photography as like an athletic sport, and you have to. I think that you have to exercise to. To continue to continuously, you know, make. Make strides and leaps. So street photography is one of those things. It's like a. An additional exercise that I give myself to do, and it's a way to be free. And because most of the things that, that I. The way that I shoot or what I do are they're more of a controlled environment. Environmental portraiture itself is like, you know, I'm going into your environment and we're going to look through and see what pull. We're going to try to pull elements out. In street photography, it is what it is. So you go out and you just have to react to what you see, you know, and sometimes it could be like, oh, I smell something. And you just kind of follow the smell and let those things happen, you know what I mean? Or noise or. Or just like just the. The rhythm of the street, which is a beautiful thing, you know, So I enjoy doing it. And most of the time when I do street photography, it's like, a lot of times it's like travel, you know, or it's just like I, or I end up going to some place or an event or in and those kind of things. So it's like the idea. Sometimes I take no photographs. Sometimes I'm just like, you know, I just fall in love with the movement and everything happens. So it's just a lot of fun. It's an exercise to keep me sharp and keep me moving.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell me how you decided that photography was your path. I know that you have a background. I mean, you. You have an art degree.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So this was an early focus of yours, but you could have done so many different things.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Why this, why this particular art form?

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Well, I could start from the beginning. Beginning. Well, I asked for a tape recorder when I was I believe about seven and for Christmas for my grandmother and you know, my grandmother was so special, she tried to give me anything I wanted. So, so just like you know, like where you put cassette tapes and you just tape record stuff and you know you make sounds and, and you record sounds. And she got me a camera and I'm like, you know, I'm like what's this? And he's like, this isn't a tape recorder. And she's like, son, you can record with that too. So at the time I, my, my parents, um, we lived in Cambridge, Mass. And my grandmother lived in D.C. so when I had this camera I would take photographs of the family. Cousins, cousin, aunts and uncles and friends down there. And then I'd come back with all the film and we'd process them and I would look at them and they would be kind of like the same thing as baseball cards. And it just happened year after year after year after year. And it built up where by the time I was. So I outgrew my Keystone camera, which is like this little camera with 110 film and. And then I got a Pentax K1000 camera which was amazing. And. And then by the time I was 13 I was so taking photographs in such a regular basis. The next step was to, to build a dark room. So my phone. So I was talking with a guy and he's like, oh yeah, I've got a dark room. So he gave me all this equipment and I built a dark room in my bedroom at 13 and, and that lasted all of maybe four days because my mother probably saved my life on that one. You really can't sleep with that kind of chemicals in your room. But yeah, so. And then after that it was. Someone asked me what I was going to be when I grew up and it was like a no brainer. I was just like a photographer. And it didn't even, it didn't even. It was, it wasn't even like a hesitation. It just came out of my mouth like, like I never even thought about it. But you know, that was what then when I was a senior. No, I was a sophomore in high school and I won a national award from photography and it was, it was the James Vanity Black Heritage Award. I won that. And then, and then three, I won first place in honorable mention. The next year I won honorable mention. And then when I was a senior I won first place again. And so it was just, it was just like those things just kind of happened and just, you know, and here I am I just never put it down.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I also remember reading about an interest that you had in baseball and a project that you did several years ago that had to do with baseball.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That you got very, very involved in this project and some of the photos you took were very striking.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Yes, Yes, I did a project of vintage baseball. Well, I, I mean, I love baseball. That was another passion that I had, but I just wasn't quite that good to get to the next level. And. But this project that I, that I had, that I did was vintage baseball project, which was the Dirigo vintage baseball team. And, and they play with rules from the 1860s. And it was just so. And. And they play really hard. Like, a lot of these guys were played in college and, and stuff like that. And when I first thought of the, the shooting these, these guys, I thought it was more like a reenactment kind of thing. And. But when I, when I went to photograph them, they actually played really hard and it was awesome. So me understanding the game and watching the game and. And it was just like this really nice. I have a really. I had a really nice understanding of what was happening, what was going on. So I was like, I felt really comfortable to photograph it. And the whole idea of the project was to photograph it in a way where it holds the vintage integrity. So we did shoot some large format 8x10 stuff and digital. And then I did some. And then I did some. I did treatments to the digital so that they could have that same vintage feel without making it look like. Like I shot digital and trying to make it vintage. I had it. So I worked really hard to make it have that vintage feel without. Without taking away from the. The actual project, you know, like making it. Because sometimes what happens is you make it look vintage and that's what you see, you know, versus the image. You know, it's like, oh, it has. You know, that's the first thing you go to. But I tried to balance the two so that. So that it was seamless.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Why is the history of photography so important to you?

Sean Alonzo Harris:

The history. I mean, the history of photography is. I mean, for me it's. I don't think because of the style and what I do and the respect that I have for my craft. I believe that it's paramount for you to understand the history of what's gone before you. And there's so many great stories when you dig down deep into the history of photography. You know, one, I mean, you know, if you did, I mean, like someone's life, someone who's. Who who triumphed. Some people who've done great photography but didn't have any success when, until they, until they passed and, and some of the techniques and, and that. That are, that have gone before. And I just think it's really important like. Right. Like I just bought two brand new books that were amazing that I had no idea that existed was one was Richard Avedon and James. James Baldwin did a book just recently. I mean not recently in the 60s with it was called Nothing Personal. And I mean just the history and the understanding and that relationship was a beautiful thing. Like I would have never under. I would have never known that Richard Avedale and James Baldwin went to the same high school. That's an amazing thing. And then, and then I just bought another one just like it just came in the mail three days ago where it was, it was Gordon Parks and Ralph Ellis and they did a beautiful book Invisible Man. And I didn't realize this was a new publication that came out from Chicago Institute of Art and not newer I should say probably like I think it came out 2,014. But yeah. And to understand those relationships of the writer, the writer's role and the visual artist role and it's just. And, and by me digging down and figuring out history those books would have never, never crossed my path. But because I'm looking and constantly trying to study and figure things out, these do come up and it just gives it another breath. In life of two like I have many books of Richard Avedon and many books of Gordon Parks and I have a few books of James Baldwin and a few books and those things put together two loves that come together. I think by studying those things become so much more and they become treasures.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

As you're talking I'm thinking about the work I do as a writer and working with the photographers that I have worked with for the magazines and how even that dynamic can really shape a story.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Because I've worked with people like Matt Cosby or Greta Ribas or Aaron Little and each of the Nicole Wolf. Each of them as photographers has their own take on things, their own visual sense. And it's really fascinating to see how they interact with people. As I'm creating a word based story, they're creating kind of a simultaneous visual story.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell me about some of your experience in working with writers.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

They've been good and bad. Well, most of the stories that I've gone out to like the writing like a lot of times is almost done. The one a couple of times that I've worked on stories that the writer was on. Was. Was there. I believe that, like, you had that. That you, you know, the photographers that you. That you were working with, I think that's. That's really important. It's really. I think it's harder to figure out your. It's harder to figure out your place sometimes with the writer if the. The story isn't written as the photographer is shooting, because you really don't. You know, you want to respect both sides of the story. So I think it takes a little bit of finesse. And then you kind of just like. Because for me, like, for instance, if, like, I worked on a story and it was about a particular subject matter that I knew a lot about, I mean, historically. And the writer really came in, like, in a very, very narrow, narrow point of view. And so without me saying, well, you know. You know, back in. You know, back in the. The. The 30s, this was going on, and this was like, this was a norm back in the 30s. And then. And so. So I really had to dance around without putting my bent on their story and just kind of go along with it and just listen and. And try to do. Try to just do what I knew how to do and take photographs, you know, and.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, I love hearing this from you because I. I have also. I remember a story that I did with Matt Cosby about the special surfers program down in Kennebunk, and he was actually. He actually helped shape the story in some ways because he was really great about getting in the water with these younger people on their surfboards, and he was able to say, you really should talk to this person. You should really talk to this person. So I think that he actually made the story better for me, and I could see how that would be. And it could go either way, right?

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Exactly.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I mean, you can absolutely have a situation where the writer and the photographer are at odds, but I think learning to figure out that interaction can be really valuable.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Well, it is. And I think that. I think as, you know, as professionals, I think that that's kind of our duty. You know what I mean? Like, we need to figure out. First we need to figure out boundaries, and then we need to figure out where we can. I don't want to use the word negotiate, but where we can figure out to collaborate and. And try to make the story as good as it can be. You know, sometimes when I'm doing stories, like traveling, doing stories with magazines and stuff like that, the writer will go alongside, which it's a different kind of thing, because they already have this. They Already have these bullet points of things that need to be. You know, this is kind of where we're going with it, and they have a lot more background on the person. And so that we can do. So we discuss it either on the plane or. Or we discuss in the hotel room. Before we even go out and figure out, you know, we kind of set up a schedule of writing and of photographs so we don't overlap and those kind of things. So it is a little different in some. In some ways, you know, that. That, you know. So, yeah, so I've. I've worked side by side by, I guess, some writers. And then other times, it's just, okay, this is the story. Go shoot, and I'll see what comes back. You know, I'll see the story. You know, most of the time, I'll know who the writer is. So that's good, too.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Talk to me about the Biennial. You've been honored recently by the Portland Museum of Art by being part of that process.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Oh, well, yeah. That was pretty cool. Well, I got an email from Mark Besir, and he's like, hey, I want to do a studio visit. I'm like, sure. And, you know, the next question was. I was like, are you looking for anything special or, you know, and he's. And he was like, no, I just want to see some stuff. And he came by and he pulled out some stuff, and he's like, I really like that. He took some photographs with his phone and he left. You know, I was like, hey, see you later. Bye, and get an email like, probably three. Three weeks later and says, hey, I want to come back, and would you mind if Nat May would come by? And he's the curator for the Bien. And at that point, I knew what it was. And so the whole casual kind of thing that I had with Mark was like, oh, okay, now I need to pull out some other stuff. And he picked out some photographs that I really liked, I believe would have been worthy to be in the Biennial. But I was working on this new body of work, which I hadn't shown anyone yet, which I. Which I was like, you know, and I was waiting to. You know, I just. It wasn't. I could show some of it. I knew the work was strong, but I wasn't ready to. To present it at that time. And then I was like, oh, I got to show this. This news. This new work that I was doing, which is the Kennedy Park Project, which is in. In Portland, Maine, Kennedy Park. And it's. I guess it's one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Maine. I could be wrong, but it's pretty diverse. And so I pulled this work out and they were like, whoa. And. And it was basically the. The images they pick were four photographs of basketball players. And they're black. They're black basketball players and their skin. And because of the light, it was so amazing. Almost became metallic and it was just such. They're just so beautiful. I mean they're like. I'm really proud of these images. So they're just really beautiful moments. Moments captured. And back to the street photography. This is kind of what what happened with that was. I would consider more street photography or as an artist, you do have a visual language. And I think that when you can hone in and understand your visual language, it makes it a lot easier for you to move through your craft or figure out exactly where you need to be or what images that you need to capture at this particular time. And with these images, what I believe happened is that they expanded my voice just so. So they were. I was really excited about it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This has been a fascinating conversation. I really enjoyed having the chance to talk with you. You and I have interacted many times over the years and to be able to sit down and have a little bit more of an in depth back and forth is pretty wonderful.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Awesome.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I appreciate it.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

This is a wonderful experience. Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I've been speaking with Shawn Alonzo Harris who is an editorial, commercial and fine art photographer concentrating on narrative and environmental portraiture. I'm sure we're going to continue to see great things from you and we appreciate your coming in today.

Sean Alonzo Harris:

Thank you for having me. Thank you very much.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Dr. Zach Mazzoni do created Dayspring Integrative Wellness in Bath, Maine with the belief that true health comes from building healthy relationships with your community, with your doctor and with yourself. As a board certified family and integrative medicine physician, Dr. Mazzoni and the whole, whole staff at DaySpring are committed to supporting your wellness journey by providing integrative family medical care, osteopathic manipulation, herbal and lifestyle consultations, counseling and wave therapy. DaySpring offers an innovative membership based model of healthcare that gives you time together with Dr. Pozzoni to build a personalized wellness plan based on your health goals. Daily access for acute appointments is available and you can even schedule a secure video conference call in the privacy of your own home. I know Dr. Zak and his family and I believe strongly in the personalized whole person approach to help that he provides. This is why I am encouraging you to find out more for yourself by visiting dayspringintegrativewellness.com or by calling them directly at 207-751-4775. Dayspring Wellness the Way It Should Be