Miami Beach, Punks and the Street. David Godlis talks about his five decades as a photographer/street photographer.
A man sits in a fold-up chair as the waves of the Atlantic ocean lap around him. The man is wearing a cap to, no doubt, shelter him from the overhead Florida sun and is turning toward David Godlis with just a flicker of a smile. He seems oblivious to the fact that he could be carried out to sea at any moment as the tide sweeps in.
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This shot comes from David’s new book Godlis Miami a beautiful new photography book published by Reel Art Press and published in November 2021. The result of a trip to Miami, Florida, the 22-year-old Godlis took in the 70’s to visit relations and ended up with enough material for this wonderful new book.
“In 1974 when I shot these pictures, I was in Miami Beach for about ten days,” he explains in the book. “I was visiting with my grandmother, who lived near Ocean Drive. I shot about 60 rolls of film. I don’t remember anymore if I was really there to visit with my grandmother, or to take photos of Miami Beach. But I think now it was the latter.”
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David would forgive me for saying that he has been around the block, maybe even more than once and reaching back over five decades.
“Well,” he mused. “I picked up my first 35mm camera, a Pentax Spotmatic in the summer of 1970 as a ‘gadget’ impulse buy. I started using it right away and became immediately entranced with taking pictures. At the start mostly photos of my friends. It wasn’t long though before I was spending time at my school library, pulling photography books off the shelves. Histories of photography. Compilations of photographers.
“Discovering the world of ‘capital P’ photography so to speak. By that I mean the bigger world of Photography – the history of it, the people practising it, the masters of the form, the appreciation for the photographic image itself. That there was something bigger out there than the Kodak ‘shoot a picture to capture friends and family’ brand pitch. That’s what I meant by ‘capital P’. Becoming aware that Photography had its own serious and ever-expanding culture.”
How cool is that? Photography, ‘having its own serious and ever-expanding culture.’ For anyone with a love for the art that has to be a beautiful line.
He lists many street photographers as inspirational including Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, Andre Kertesz and Lisette Model.
“It’s totally instinctive,” he says of street photography. “The trick is not thinking too much about it. As Lee Friedlander [once] said, you don’t really have to go looking for pictures. They’re right there in front of you.”
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And he is right.
I look, and there is Martin Scorcese, the film director, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull,Goodfellas staring back at me from one of David’s photographs. Throwing a curious, thoughtful glance at Godlis as he shoots.
“The shot… was taken on Second Avenue in the East Village,” David recalls. “In 1979, when he was filming (Robert) De Niro in Raging Bull.”
The award-winning director and producer, 37 at the time, still had his mane of dark hair and luxuriant beard and was directing one of his most successful films, a biopic of the former boxer Jake LaMotta.
“That was around the corner from where I lived on St. Marks Place,” Godlis continued, pointing out his proximity to the location. “I just happened to walk by when they were shooting.
“I think he’s so relaxed because it’s in the neighbourhood where he went to NYU (New York University) film school, not too many years before this photo was taken. Right near the B&H Dairy restaurant, which is still there. He was shooting in an old tenement apartment right upstairs from where he’s standing. I still pass it on my way to the supermarket and imagine him standing there. Looks pretty much the same.”
The photograph is locked in to cinematic history just like his series on punk History is Made at Night is now locked into the canon of music – New Wave, No Wave, Miami Wave or whatever…
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She is turning, glancing round at the photographer, her hand self-consciously touching the side of her face.
“I was shooting outdoors,” Photographer David Godlis explained. “At night without a flash,”
His voice dropped away as he sank into the nostalgia of the moment.
He was, he told me, “Using the Bowery street lamps as a light source, and pushing the film like crazy. In between sets at CBGB’s (a major New York club hosting the punk scene at that time) everyone used to hang out on the street.”
It was the 1970’s, Watergate, Three Mile Island, Vietnam…and punk. One of the most exciting and revolutionary times in the history of music.
“Yes,” he mused. “That Patti Smith photo was taken on one of my many punk rock nights out on the Bowery at the time.”
It is a great shot of Patti Smith capturing that wonderful, enigmatic and angsty look that so encapsulated the punk movement. The shot crackles and hisses with the electricity of an era that was fleeting but carried impact. David Godlis was on the streets to bottle it.
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This series from the halcyon days of the punk era is, quite frankly, captivating. His book, the wonderfully titled History is Made at Night has this great shot of the ‘No Wave’ kids on the cover.
“Oh yeah, the No Wave Punks,” he said sounding surprised and thoughtful. “They were all just sitting there like that when I walked out the door from CBGB. No Wave was kind of an anti-subset of the Punk Scene.”
No Wave actually emerged from American Punk – more properly known then as New Wave – and was once described as (and I paraphrase) : New York – in a time when the city ran out of money – giving a middle finger to the world.
“I just told them don’t move,” Godlis continued. “And they didn’t. It was like they were just waiting for their close-up. Fantasizing themselves into being photographed. I got lucky to be the one who was there at the right time…and not F**k it up.
“I did see it in front of me. I’ll give myself that much credit. There’s great stories about who each of them were in the scene and how Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth DIDN’T end up in this photograph.”
Sonic Youth huh? I have Bad Moon Rising in my album collection somewhere. Meanwhile David advised that the Thurston Moore story and stories of the others shown in the photograph can be checked out on Google.
“It’s just so much fun to do,” David was telling me about street photography. “Go out on the street with a camera and shoot what’s interesting to you. Who doesn’t like sitting outside a cafe and watching people go by? I think everyone does. Street photography is just a pro-active form of people watching.”
It’s an interesting theory…discuss?
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For me, David Godlis’ strength is in the intriguing shots he takes. The glance of Patti Smith and Martin Scorcese, a man on a folding chair in danger of being swallowed by the ocean. So, we are immediately curious of the man reading the magazine and the eye staring back at him while a young lady looks across to where he is sitting.
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Even more curious is the man holding hands with two ladies as he sweeps, nonchalantly, along the street.
“That’s a shot where I kind of intuited something was happening. I just shot quickly,” David said matter-of-fact. “I’m not really sure how much I saw in the moment. Surely, I saw him holding the two girls’ hands. And probably The Silent Partner and Deer Hunter on the Times Square marquee? But not his shirt with ducks on it. That was pure luck. Sometimes luck finds you when you least expect it.”
The guy’s secret? For all who are pondering this threesome. Maybe it was that shirt with the ducks?
I was desperate to ask, after such a long and fruitful career – and Godlis is a real find for me and the photography fraternity – what it is that keeps him reaching for his Fuji XE3 which he now uses for his street photography.
“I guess what’s kept me going is that I really need to do it,” he said simply. “I live it. Once I got hooked on photography, the camera was like a part of me. Walk. Talk. Shoot pictures.
“Yes the 60’s and 70’s were great for photographers. The 35mm camera was kind of like the new affordable technology of the day. Like having an iPhone you couldn’t talk on. Cool to look at, fun to use. Photography was only just beginning to be considered an art form. Which left plenty of room for inventing yourself. The movie Blow-Up showed off the kind of cool lifestyle that could be had. Photography seemed both adventurous and artistic. There were obviously a million career paths for photographers back then. From the sublime to the ridiculous. But plenty of opportunities to experiment and find your own way.”
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It has been a real blast talking to David Godlis and he has been, for me, one of my most interesting interviews of the last few years.
“That little kid wearing sunglasses?” David said as we looked at the photograph. “How could you not take that shot? You’ve got a wide opening. I was just doing my best Garry Winogrand imitation.”
He is being too modest
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To Purchase, Goldlis Miami , visit Reel Art Press
Godlis Miami is published by Reel Art Press
RRP £29.95 / $39.99 / €33.12
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