^Bernadette Peters said this photo was beautiful and the print now says, "To Emma Love Bernadette Peters." BP has been my favorite since 2nd grade. #died
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These photos are my first semester long term project for my Seminar class. I only had to submit 12 for the project, so there are extras up here. We had to find something to photograph over the course of the semester. I was low on inspiration, being so far away from home and everything familiar, so I went straight to the top: Broadway. With a lack of access to backstage/anything in the theaters, I photographed the stage door. I would go to the dimly lit sidewalks of Broadway, to stage doors of shows that I haven't seen and stand there with nothing to sign and my old camera. The performers see me and often think nothing of me. Once and a while I will get a second glance but I always attributed it to the fact that I, standing in the front row, holding nothing to sign, no playbill, no poster, no headshot but an antique camera. They have forgotten my face, I am no one, I am the crowd. Like the crowd, I will never forget being six inches away from Bernadette Peters. Bernadette Peters, on the other hand, forgot about me by the time her limo door closed.
It is ridiculously exciting and yet undeniably humbling. I invest far too much of my self in this love of these performers. I try very hard not to be the giddy child screaming as I recognize the faces coming out of the door, but I cannot help but get excited when I see them. I innately, audibly gasped at the site of Patti LuPone. It is embarrassing, but I emulate these people to a ridiculous extent. They are the voices that constantly playing on my iPod, which is constantly being listened to. I try very hard to act like a normal person, but I cannot help but be delighted by their presence. Even the children, who haven't seen these actors in any of their previous work stand excitedly waiting for a signature. Maybe it's the barricades, the lines or their parents, but they know that there is something special, something different about these people.
In my photos I attempted to get away from the excitement: I tried to convey a sense of intimacy, a feeling of affection between the performers and the fans. At the stage door, more than just the fact of physical close proximity, there definitely is an impression of closeness, especially with the lesser known actors. We seem to assign every performer a glamorous life of luxury, when in fact some of them are very down to earth. They will strike up a conversation with the fans. In terms of Broadway fame, even the well-known performers will speak with the us as if there weren't a barricade between them. On the other end, the more well known the person, the quicker they are to leave. Some practically run through the line, scribbling an indecipherable autograph on the playbills that are shoved in their face.
The countless autographs that are signed and the innumerable photographs will forever be a remembrance for the fans whereas for the actors, it's just another day at work. In my photos I wanted to convey that message; something can be exciting and yet nothing at all.
There are so many photos from "A Little Night Music" because it got out after every other show, so I would go there with the end of every roll of film.
*As a side note, they all look much better bigger.
---I still can't decide what I want to call this project...it's has to be something broadway, yet something that broadway-illiterate people will get.
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