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interview
June 30, 2017

Photographer Elsa Dorfman Charms in New Documentary The B-Side

By Jenni Miller

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Photo: Elsa Dorfman

Photographer Elsa Dorfman is one of few people in the world who uses the massive 20 x 24-foot Polaroid camera, with which she’s captured everyone from Beat poetry legends like close friend Allen Ginsberg to everyday families and friends.

Dorfman, an unassuming woman with a “pahk the cah” Massachusetts accent and an infectious laugh, isn’t the likeliest subject of an Errol Morris documentary; the director usually trains the steely eye of his Interrotron camera setup on people like former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and soldiers involved in the horrors of Abu Ghraib.

But his new film The B-Side — so named for the photos Dorfman’s clients declined to take with them, sort of like the b-sides of records — is a long time coming for the friends and fellow photography fanatics. Opening today in New York City, The B-Side focuses on Dorfman as a self-trained photographer who chooses to work with a rare and enormous Polaroid camera with an ever-dwindling backstock of film. Here, the Cut asked Dorfman about being filmed for the documentary, her self-portraits, and being a woman in a male-dominated industry. She comments on a selection of her photos in the slideshow ahead.

How did it feel to be in front of the camera without being in control of it? What was it like?

For years [Errol] said, “Oh, I’m going to make a movie about you.” I said, “Fine. Fine. Errol, you have great ideas.” I never ever, ever expected until he called me like three days before. He said, “Well, I have a crew.” I [felt like saying], “Well, I have a dentist appointment. What are you even talking about?” It only took four or five days, and we didn’t do it all in one week so it was like I had no idea that it would actually be something … I’m thrilled and surprised. It’s sort of like, “What?”

One of the things you said in the documentary was that you took self-portraits to make other people feel comfortable so they would know that you knew how it felt. Did you find it empowering to take those self-portraits?

I felt that … if I took pictures of myself and I was dumpy and didn’t really know how to put on makeup, and one thing or another, and I could take good pictures of myself or pictures that I liked and other people liked, then they would trust me and they would believe that it was possible. It was sort of like a passport, rather than, “Oh, I’ll take your picture lying in front of the truck, but don’t expect me to get in front of the truck.” It helped the sort of unspoken contract that I’m putting the Band-Aid on you, but I haven’t been afraid to put the Band-Aid on me, or the adhesive or the cast.

A lot of women, especially younger women, have reclaimed the self-portrait especially with the ease of digital photography, as a way of feeling, a way of self-acceptance.

Well, that’s exactly what it is, what I’m saying. They see that I can live with being imperfect and it hasn’t stopped me. It’s all magic. After the fact, you begin to think, “Well, there must be something to this,” but while you’re doing it, you go, “Well, I have nothing else to do and I’m here with me.”

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1 / 12 Photos
“[Leslie Dunton-Downer]’s mother was my college roommate in 1957, or ‘54. She grew up and went to Harvard and lived in our building ... Now she's in h... “[Leslie Dunton-Downer]’s mother was my college roommate in 1957, or ‘54. She grew up and went to Harvard and lived in our building ... Now she's in her 50s and she's a writer. ... This is so old. This is one of the first pictures I ever took. ... She was always interested in the theater and had done all these theater things. She was incredibly precocious. She is still precocious.” Photo: Elsa Dorfman
“I did a series of women who had breast cancer. This is one of the pictures. This woman had a lumpectomy, this is not a real breast. This [other] woma... “I did a series of women who had breast cancer. This is one of the pictures. This woman had a lumpectomy, this is not a real breast. This [other] woman had a double mastectomy. The middle woman unfortunately died. They had all become friends on the chemo line, I guess because you get there early and you wait in line. We became very good friends. They became friends. The one on the left, when she was engaged, somebody had given her and her husband-to-be a picture of them together as a wedding gift. She knew me and she called me once and said, “Oh, I'm in a depression. I have breast cancer, and I thought maybe you could do a project that would take my mind off it." She said, "I met two women and they would be perfect." I thought, "Oh, what the hell? I can throw a couple of sheets of film in [one] morning into this to be a good doobie. We actually became good friends and then it was really a lesson. The middle woman, who was sick, fought with the other two. She was furious with them that she was dying and they weren't. We needed, really, a social worker. We didn't get one, but looking back ... It must be a classic phenomenon but I had no experience. Then they were furious. So then she died, and then the other two drifted apart from each other. Now, I actually haven't heard from them. It'll be interesting to see if I hear from them with all this attention to the movie.” Photo: Elsa Dorfman
“I did a series of women wearing Marimekko dresses, which is a brand. This is my favorite Marimekko. This woman, her mother and stepfather brought Mar... “I did a series of women wearing Marimekko dresses, which is a brand. This is my favorite Marimekko. This woman, her mother and stepfather brought Marimekko to the United States. They had a store called Design Research in Harvard Square. When I did them, I got to know her. Now I have always wanted, I couldn't understand why it didn't work out this way, to have a body like that. There was never a day from when I was 5 years old that I could've had a body like that. Nobody ever said to me, "Oh, certain Marimekko dresses will never fit you," because they're made for narrow, narrow women. Even if they're full, they're still narrow. … When I saw her in that dress, I said, "I need this picture." Then that's an accident because as I got everything ready with the camera, either she moved or I moved so that it was in the wrong place … She was such a good sport. She didn't say, "What the hell? You can't have that with my face like that." She could've.” Photo: Elsa Dorfman
Oh, that's just me and the camera. With a last piece of film, I said, "Oh, let me take a picture." You can see I didn't even bother to pull ... Oh, that's just me and the camera. With a last piece of film, I said, "Oh, let me take a picture." You can see I didn't even bother to pull out the seamless. I took a picture of me and a camera, me with another camera. Photo: Elsa Dorfman
“This is one of the ones from Telluride. She came, I took her picture and [so on]. I think in one afternoon I did about 30 people. It was exhausting b... “This is one of the ones from Telluride. She came, I took her picture and [so on]. I think in one afternoon I did about 30 people. It was exhausting but it was sort of fun and giddy.” Photo: Elsa Dorfman
“This is [Allen] Ginsberg and this is ... He had just done this album, and that's a photograph by Robert Frank, this part right here. And there he is.... “This is [Allen] Ginsberg and this is ... He had just done this album, and that's a photograph by Robert Frank, this part right here. And there he is. There he is. There he is. [What's he doing with his hands?] A Buddha thing, but I don't know exactly what. I should probably find out. I knew at one time. You could be sure it was holy.” Photo: Elsa Dorfman
“This is one of the very first … My husband had bought me an amaryllis. We found around the studio this black box and the red ink and everything. I th... “This is one of the very first … My husband had bought me an amaryllis. We found around the studio this black box and the red ink and everything. I think I still have that pen, but what was interesting is if we looked at all of them from that day, this is toward the end because the amaryllis has started to bloom from the lights from the camera.” Photo: Elsa Dorfman
“This is Harvey and me and Allen. I think that was the 21st. Yeah, see it was the solstice … He stayed at our house. He was at our house and I spent l... “This is Harvey and me and Allen. I think that was the 21st. Yeah, see it was the solstice … He stayed at our house. He was at our house and I spent like a millisecond thinking about it. There is something magical about the solstice. If you know it, then you think about it.” Photo: Elsa Dorfman
[Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky:] This is his kneeling thing, and these are all books that mean something. … He had an accordion, and this is the l... [Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky:] This is his kneeling thing, and these are all books that mean something. … He had an accordion, and this is the little bells and stuff. They love the camera. You didn't have to do much to have Allen play with the camera … [“All the Hills Echoed” was] one his favorite songs. It's Blake.” Photo: Elsa Dorfman
Elsa Dorfman and director Errol Morris at the New York Film Festival. Photo: Elsa Dorfman
Director Errol Morris and his family and their dog on Thanksgiving. “My studio is only a block from my house, where the camera and the lights and ever... Director Errol Morris and his family and their dog on Thanksgiving. “My studio is only a block from my house, where the camera and the lights and everything are, and I knew in advance to have film there.” Photo: Elsa Dorfman
“I think it was my birthday. Let's see, I think I was 79 because now I'm 80 and it was a year ago. When I was 50, [Harvey] bought me balloons for my b... “I think it was my birthday. Let's see, I think I was 79 because now I'm 80 and it was a year ago. When I was 50, [Harvey] bought me balloons for my birthday and at first, they were always black balloons. Then slowly red creeped in. He got the idea of seeing a guy walking down the street in the law section of Boston and carrying black balloons. He thought it was a funny thing somebody would give anybody black balloons. He had to do it.” Photo: Elsa Dorfman
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