Susan Horn-Photographer

Adapted from the documentary "Picture Nebraska"
Produced by Michael Farrell, Senior Producer, Cultural Affairs

[Susan Horn directing her subjects:] "Okay. Go up, up. What happens if you go back a little bit, just a little bit? I like the light on your face just like that."
[Susan in interview:] "I have some ideas in my head, but it never works out that way. It's more of a performance of sorts, I think, and an interaction that I'm going after. I'm not worried about who's going to look at it and what they're going to think about it."
[Narrator:] Susan Horn makes portraits [to see more of her work, just click], but her work goes beyond what we normally expect from a portrait. She tries to achieve an image that expresses a psychological truth or portrays the essence of the relationship that exists between her subjects.
[Susan with Virginia and Stacey Skold:] "Sorry. I told you guys we were finished here . . . Well, I lied [laughs]. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Virginia, what you just did was great.
[Susan interview:] "Sometimes as far as gesture goes I'll see somebody make a gesture that I'll say, 'Hold that gesture.' It was a natural gesture at one point, but I want to try to get them to re-enact that gesture -- which is kind of a strange thing to do.
[Susan directing:] "I liked the way you had your toes.
"Because most of my exposures are so long, they really have to hold that gesture. And somehow out of that, when they're holding that sort of natural gesture, an intensity comes out of that. I like that when that happens. They know they have to hold still so they're sort of frozen.
[Looking at the finished print:] "Virginia's looking out the window. It's as if she's looking to the future or she's looking off somewhere and the idea that Stacey, too, is looking somewhere and Stacey sees herself. You know, we don't know who Virginia sees and it's almost metaphorical in character, because they're these little symbols that happen in this photograph which is something that I like to do sometimes.
[Shooting Pam and Emily Rieur:] "I've worked with Pam for years. She was my roommate in 1969 and so I've taken a lot of photographs of her. I thought that would be interesting to have people who are sort of new and also somebody who I've photographed many, many times. Although I know Emily very well I've never really photographed the two of them together. So that part was new for me.
[Directing:] "Good job. Why don't we try one more similar to this one. Okay, Emily, I want you -- can you kind of look toward the window a little bit? Can you look your eyes over here? Do you know how to do that? Yeah, just like that.
[Interview:] "I'm interested in photographing children because I have children. But, we look at them as cute little unthinking things and I want to make photographs of children that show that they have feelings. They embody everything that you are except they're just younger. It's fun. You know, I want to make it fun for Emily, too. I think kids grow up not always liking to have their picture taken.
[Emily doesn't like the dress she has.] "That's too 'ouchy?' What about this dress? Put your arm in here.
[Interview:] "It's hard to take meaningful pictures of kids. That's one quest that I have is to take meaningful pictures of kids, and here I'm dressing them in silly costumes. [Laughs]
"Okay, Emily? Yeah, I like it when your eyes look back here at me.
"I see it as a collaborative effort. Most of the time, you know I really want a direct confrontation with the people that I'm photographing. I want to look into those eyes and know that there's a contact, that there's some intelligence. But this is so beautiful. She's looking out the window and again it happened -- you know, like when I had Stacey's mom look out the window. They're looking to somewhere else, and it sets up a real complicated relationship between me and the photograph and them together. Throughout her career, Susan has been interested in portraits of women and children, although her style and approach has changed.
[Susan looking at early photos:] "This is a really early photograph that was part of my curiosity about light and form and skin. I did a lot of nude studies. I like to think that I can make photographs of people in thinking states and especially photographs of women in thinking states. Women have been so terribly abused and 'cheesecaked,' and I want to make pictures that make you think that there's something behind those eyes. There's some thinking going on.
"If I'm maybe trying to get at anything maybe it's the truth."