Lee Friedlander, “California 1997” (MOMA)DE: It strikes me that your images show arguments going on between many different things.
LF: Well, they’re not portraits in the real sense, but they’re portrayals of something that’s there.
DE: You seem to make the things democratic and unified, and keep them in order, so they relate to one another.
LF: Well, the place itself does that too, you know. You’re putting too much emphasis on the person that takes it . . . the place is full of order.
DE: I find one of the attractions of nature is that it’s so chaotic.
LF: (laughing) Well, to each his own.
DE: Don’t you find it chaotic?
LF: No, not at all.
DE: A photographer has so many options, standing there in front of something
LF: I just do it by instinct, I don’t really have any theories. It’s a pure selfish pleasure, to take pictures, so I don’t have anybody to convince of anything, it’s just fun.
DE: It’s after the fact that people develop theories. When you”re doing something, you don’t have the time, and it’s too emotional.
LF: You don’t have any time.
Desert Exposure, “Interview with Lee Friedlander by Jay Glickman” c.1996
