Daniel Marchand is one of the of the Postcard Collective’s most ardent participants. His images exude a sense of calm in a harsh climate and beauty in destruction (whether it is natural or human made). He walks through the countryside and the cities, elevating the commonplace and shedding new light on what is easily overlooked. This fall, I quizzed Daniel on his extensive number of submissions and here is some insight to his creative process.
Jacinda Russell: So much of your work indicates walking and taking note of your surroundings. Sometimes I think you are a street photographer and other times, you photograph in the manner of Lee Friedlander (specifically his relationship to the landscape). Who are your influences?
Daniel Marchand: I have always been an avid walker. As a child, I walked to school every day, regardless of the weather, even during the most severe of snowstorms. When I visit new places, I walk to discover them. When I first visited Beirut just after the civil war in 1994, I walked back to my hotel (a one hour walk) after dinner at around midnight to get a better feel of the city. This may have been crazy, but I still have memories of what I saw then. So I guess walking has made me more aware of my environment and has in some way influenced how I see and by extension how I photograph.
I could not however single out one photographer who would have had a marking influence on me. When I see a landscape, I cannot but think of Ansel Adams for the skies, but I am also very much drawn to the work of Ed Burtynsky. My landscape work is probably a mix of both styles.
Many viewers of my work have pointed out to me that there is a definite cinematic influence. This could be explained by the fact that I was attracted to cinema at a very young age. My first attempt at conceiving a scenario and starting to shoot at 18 was never completed when a close friend who was portraying the main character died in a tragic accident.
JR: Two dominant themes of your postcards are the weather and the large scale. I immediately relate the references to winter to your location in Ottawa and seldom do you send the standard 4” x 6” image. I would love to hear your thoughts behind both of these observations.
DM: Living in Ottawa, the second coldest capital in the world after Ulan Bator, we have to deal with some severe climate, particularly in the winter. I refuse to be stopped by this and "hibernate". I would rather take advantage of what nature has to offer and make the best of it. Doing so allows me get the image that nobody else has. An example of this is the postcard I sent for the Winter 2012 exchange. The actual temperature was minus 20C with a windchill factor that made it feel like minus 32F. Did that stop me? I grabbed the 4X5 and my digital camera and drove to the outskirt of town, at a local marina to see what was happening over the frozen river. The wind was blowing even more fiercely, lifting a cloud of fresh snow over the river. I spotted the bench, but thought twice about setting up the field camera in these conditions. I tool the shot anyway. It has become one of my favourite shots which I had framed 24X36 for my home office as a reminder.
[image credit: Daniel Marchand]
I must admit that I never liked the 2:3 ratio very much. I prefer a 4:5 or 6:7 ratio in my photos and, if I shoot digital or 35mm, will often frame the shot in a way that I can crop the edges to give me the ratio I want. Because my landscapes often show large spaces, I like to print them large. I have noticed that it also has an influence on the size of my postcards. I normally print the cards on 17X22 or 24X30 paper and try to maximize the use of the surface I have to play with.
JR: I am curious about your relationship to titles and the text found on back of the postcards. Your photographs are untitled on your website, yet there is always a description or a quote on the postcards. Sometimes it is personal story and in others, you provide a hint as to the location or time of year. Never do you reveal too much information.
DM: I always struggle with titles. I take the photograph for what it is and hope that it will also mean something to the viewers. It may mean something totally different to them but that does not bother me. I often find titles artificial and a forced interpretation. I would rather leave the image untitled. But, if I must provide a title, I will come up with one that describes what I see on the printed version of the photograph, and this may be totally different from the original intention when I took the image. It is intentionally that I reveal little, I would rather let the viewers make up their own scenarios.
JR: One of my favorite cards is the story of the “’involuntary sculpture’ left on a city street by a construction worker” which depicts spray painted stone piled into a plastic box placed on top of wood. It is the only image that shows manipulated subject matter but not by you. It is a portrait of an unseen person yet your goal is to provide recognition. Since you gave the creator of this sculpture a “face”, I am curious if you know what became of the object? I love the temporality in the placement of materials that will not break down easily versus a paper postcard that will fade and fall apart, yet the image lives on far longer than the sculpture.
DM: I had just seen a review of Richard Wentworth's work who manipulates industrial and/or found objects into works of art. When I saw this box containing a perfectly cut part of the restaurant patio, I immediately saw that Wentworth could have easily created it. I wanted to give some recognition to the "invisible" and unknowing artist who had done this. I have returned to the location. The original patio has since been replaced by a access ramp for the business. The artist has vanished, but the postcard remains.
JR: Your bio website states that you worked for the Canadian Foreign Service and travelled all over the world. Does this affect the work you create for the Postcard Collective and if so, how?
DM: I worked for the Canadian Foreign Service for 32 years. Aside from serving at headquarters in Ottawa, I had assignments in London, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, West Africa and Beirut. It would be difficult for me to say how this accumulated experience had a direct impact on what I create for the Postcard Collective, but I am sure that it has opened my mind to see differently and appreciate different things.
JR: On the Postcard Collective blog, I am trying to feature some of my favorite pieces of mail art (or at least those that reference objects sent in the mail). I am curious what holds other people's interest. That said, do you have a favorite mail artist?
DM: I had not exchanged art by mail until I joined the Postcard Collective. I was hooked from the start. I look forward to seeing what the next exchange will bring and appreciate the variety of cards and objects that come through the mail. Although I have not thought about who among the participants would be my preferred artist, I must say that I always look for James "Hope all's well and swell" Luckett's card as much for the written words as for the visual elements. James has a way to grab my attention that is different from the other participants in the Collective.