Maggie Steber on memory for The Image, Deconstructed
If you haven’t seen The Image, Deconstructed blog yet, please check it out. There is a growing body of insightful interviews with excellent photographers about their approach to an image or body of work. It was a real treat helping out with the last interview with Maggie Steber, a photographer I truly admire.
See the interview here: http://www.imagedeconstructed.com/post/spotlight-on-maggie-steber
I especially appreciate Maggie’s photographs of her mother and also the lovely story behind this image:
From Maggie: “I met Elly Chovel at another assignment and found out she was a founder of the Pedro Pan Organization, and fled Cuba at an early age. She told me how she swam in the waters off Key Biscayne daily at dawn because the waters lapped the shores of both Miami and Cuba….
When I photograph someone I always zone in on them. I’m all there and I’m looking for small signs or signals – I guess you could call them moments – they are what make a good photograph. The morning we shot this photo, Elly was just swimming so easily. Her head seemed to float on the water; she seemed almost asleep, but I knew it was because she was remembering. That’s so powerful. I was steeped in the story of memory and the experience of seeing my mother’s memories disappear had a profound effect on me.
I was inspired by the power of this and how, in losing memory, one can lose one’s self – be it dementia or forgetting a birth country. To remind herself of Cuba, Elly swam in the sea, in her memory. I get lost in this idea in the best sense of the word.”
The Image, Deconstructed: www.imagedeconstructed.com
Erin Brethauer 
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