Screengrab from Google Books scan of an issue of Popular Photography (Vol. From the series “La Pinta: Doing Time in Santa Fe”. “Please use the white space however you want,” Saltzman told Popular Photography in 1985. He sent them back in, a few at a time, with a request. So he printed the 35 out and mounted them on white illustration board. They failed to tell a fraction of the stories or reflect even a small slice of the range of emotions he encountered. He picked the 35 strongest portraits but still wasn’t happy. Over 9 months, Saltzman made 500 images on Kodachrome64 film. Saltzman gave assurances he was there as an artist and not as a reporter. Despite a massive riot less than two years prior, Saltzman convinced the warden to allow him in with his 35mm SLR, three lenses and camera-mounted flash. Saltzman first visited the prison in 1982 to visit a friend and thereafter was fascinated by the lives behind the walls. From the series “La Pinta: Doing Time in Santa Fe” Case in point La Pinta: Doing Time in Santa Fe, a collaboration between Robert Saltzman and the prisoners of New Mexico State Penitentiary, in Santa Fe, NM. Well, more than eight years later, and I’m still stumbling upon scintillating projects that challenge my ever-evolving timeline of prison-based visual arts. Not only had I picked a subject nobody cared for, I’d neglected to do the proper amount of research and maths. Not only had a bleeding-heart liberal thug-hugger come along to explain a world no-one cared about to no-one in particular, but silly-little-leftie-me would run out of projects and photographs in no time. I’ve heard from a couple of folk that when I started Prison Photography, they laughed at its folly. ![]() ![]() ‘Chasing the Dragon’ © Robert Saltzman / Juan Archuleta.
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