Photomat / Photos as described by Eliza Leonelli

I became friends with Ave Pildas in 1974, shortly after arriving in Los Angeles, having been born and raised in Italy. That year I decided that I wanted to express my creativity as a photographer; Ave provided me with encouragement and practical tips. The 70s were an exciting time in LA, I was welcomed into a group of talented people engaged in the arts and in photography. I rented a studio on Yucca at Vine. Hollywood Boulevard was my downtown, one of the few streets in Los Angeles where people walked and you could observe varied humanity. It was one of Ave’s favorite places to shoot.

The ten Black & White pictures in this book were taken during a few months’ period in 1974 in front of two photo booths on Hollywood Blvd. Ave asked people to pose holding their recently taken self-portraits. It was a much more naive time 40 years ago. Very few people owned professional cameras. Now everybody can take pictures with their cellphone.

Duane Michaels said “The best photographs are those you take with your eyes closed.” It is the mind behind the camera that takes the photograph. With Photomat, Ave Pildas set up a situation where the viewer would understand the self-referential nature of these photographs of photographs to reflect on the medium itself.

There is a distancing from reality effect, when looking at B&W photographs. Like with classical Hollywood movie from the 1930s and 40s, shot in luminous B&W cinematography. A good photograph only contains within its frame those elements that are necessary to express its message, and no extraneous objects. Ave has recently gone back to shooting in B&W, “I still take pictures in the street. Sometimes I find a place that it’s interesting and I wait for something to happen. I may take a number of pictures to get the one that comes closest to my fantasy.” A photograph is created in the mind’s eye.

—Elisa Leonelli, Photographer, Film Journalist.