writing ekphrastic poems in response to portraits of other fellows. I mean, I think that is gorgeous! You know, what would happen if there was a series of poems in conversation with the portraits – I have been fortunate in every sense. MHT: Your portraits appear to have quite a narrative to them. Many portrait photographers get to know their subjects as they photograph them. Portrait sessions, for me, unravel a narrative; the summation of that person, captured at the moment presents itself in the journey of photographing them. To me, poets live within the realm of persistent narrative. Do you attach narratives from each poet‘s work as you photograph them? REG: I don‘t apply to a narrative to all of the portraits. I often see, however slightly, a strain of aesthetics surface in the portrait that relates to how the poet may write and read poems. Then again I love to be surprised during the shoot when we begin to talk. I don‘t ever try to override the face with my own aesthetics. That‘s not interesting or good for what I‘m creating. In fact, those are profound moments – the surprise (as they often are in poems as well) and I get interested in the narrative that I am forming with the poet. I like that breathless moment when it‘s happening in my eyes and heart and I feel that the poet and myself are traveling deeply, riffing. I find most poets so utterly expressive and engaging in a visual sense. What they do with their eyes. Hands, mouths. How they pose or don‘t, the slope of their feet and necks. All of their colors and textures and moods. How their presence shifts depending on whether they are being photographed alone or with other fellows. Which object they bring to the shoot with them. Their glances of awkwardness or confidence. How they might respond to the music they‘ve selected for the shoot. I can remember nearly every song request. The most requested musician, as I have been working on Ars Poetica, has been Nina Simone. MHT: Your most recent project, and one that Tidal Basin Review is happy to debut in the Summer 2010 issue, involves photographing Frida Kahlo‘s home in Mexico. Another notable photographer, comes to mind, Graciela Iturbide, who also photographed at Kahlo's residence, in her bedroom that had been closed to the public for 50 years after her death. If
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