I first met Candace Gaudiani at the Fotofest reviews in Houston about six years ago.  She is a striking woman–elegant, self-possessed and smart.  Candace was sharing work from her series, Between Destinations, about her many train travels across the United States.  Since then, I have had the pleasure of seeing Candace at other photography events over the years, and traveled with her in China at the Lishui Photography Festival last fall, where she exhibited her wonderful train work.  I am thrilled to share that Candace now has a monograph of Between Destinations, published by Kehrer Verlag, which includes an extensive essay by Alison Nordström and an interview with Jane Reed and is available through photo-eye and Amazon.

Candace was born in Boston and grew up in Wisconsin and Maine. She holds a B.A., cum laude, in English Literature, and an MBA from Harvard University. Gaudiani studied fine art and portraiture at University of California, Berkeley, and print-making with the print maker for the late Eugene Smith. She lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area.  She has exhibited widely in the U.S. and Europe and her work is held in numerous collections




LENSCRATCH INTERVIEW


What drew you to photography? 

As a child in small town Wisconsin, I drew pictures and storyboards and spent time alone looking at the world through my bedroom windows. By the time I was in second grade, my father got me a Yashica camera to match his Rollei (he was a scientist and amateur photographer). Early on, I learned to be an observer, to look and see, living in a neighborhood without other children, and also enjoyed riding for hours on my bike through swampland and countryside. Being behind the camera was a perfect vantage point for me to see the world.

How long have you been working on this project and how many train trips have you taken?  

I have been on over 20 extensive or cross country train trips and many car and plane trips.

While you are a passenger, are you continually engaged in what’s out the window, or do you shoot selectively?   

When I began, I photographed what caught my eye, out the passenger window, up track and down track, rather passively. On my recent rips, I work very hard, covering two stories of the train, shooting out different windows from varying vantage points, packing a 25 pound backpack and working two cameras. I always work alone, as I want to focus on what I am seeing out the exit door/dining car/observation car/passenger seat/hallway windows. It is intense and exciting – what discoveries lie around the bend? Before trips in recent years, I preplan, with an eye to filling in what might be missing from my series to date and to capturing new vistas. For instance, I look at the map of the rail route and compare it to timetable and geography. At what time will I be at point X? Will the sun be to my west or east? Will that glare prevent me from shooting out an east window? What side of the train will the train’s shadow be on? What will the weather be? – if it is sunny, the mood will be one way, if rainy, another. And so on.

I think my favorite train trips are my very first one and the most recent one! Each one has covered many states and presented its own discoveries. I will say there is something special about waking up in the middle of the night in the desert and seeing more stars than I ever could have imagined and going back to sleep with the rocking of the train slipping quietly through the night.

After completing this project, would you still consider train travel? 

Always! I like the concept of being free on the train, yet yielding up to where it is going. A train is always between destinations, and so are we all in life.

Tell us how the book came about? 

About six years into this project, I met at several photography portfolio reviews the acquisition manager of Kehrer Verlag, a highly respected small art publishing house in Germany. As my work progressed and the four series developed, Kehrer expressed an interest in publishing all of my train pictures, both black and white and color. That happened in April, 2011. I thought I had one to two years to complete the book, but the acquisitions manager emailed me three weeks later and asked “How about publishing in January 2012? And, by the way, we need specifications, a title, and cover art in three weeks for our catalogue”. Of course, I said Of Course! Those three weeks were among my most intense creative efforts. The whole experience with Kehrer was positive. I went to Germanyto be pre press and on press, with guide prints for every image in the book – all of which were crucial to the outcome for the book. And it is beautiful, even better than I hoped.

What can you share with emerging photographers about getting their work out into the world? 


Always make time to do work. Be clear and present and see clearly and well when you work. Build from what you are familiar with but see it with new eyes. Always follow what you are drawn to – you will have something of yourself in whatever photo you make, and it will be stronger. Every portrait or photograph is a self-portrait. Move beyond sharing with family and friends to put your work in front of industry experts through portfolio reviews and local colleagues. Mess around. Always do something that scares you. Just when you think you cannot continue a particular photo shoot, hang in there, because that is when the best photos are made. Talk with industry consultants when you feel you are ready for a next step but don’t know how to get there.

 I think there were different events at different stages and different people. In my book, my Acknowledgments section honors many who made a difference to me over time. But what in general took my work to the next level? Seeing with new eyes, setting aside my accustomed ways of looking at things, and getting advice from wise colleagues and friends.

What’s next?  

Well, it’s too early to talk about it, but it might include circling back and supplementing my earlier series on body builders, titled “Do I Measure Up?…” I remain passionate about storytelling and photography and issues of impermanence, intimacy, place, and memory. 

And finally, what would be your perfect day?