(Photo by Chris Polydoroff, courtesy of the Saint Paul Pioneer Press)

Jeff Farnam was born in Hollywood, California in 1947. He moved to Minneapolis when he was six years old, eventually graduating from Washburn High School. Farnam went on to receive a degree in economics from the University of Minnesota and currently works as an administrative analyst for the city of Minneapolis. His interest in the Block "E" area of Hennepin Avenue culminated in a series of black-and­white photographs taken over more than a decade.

Bonnie Wilson is the Curator of the Sound and Visual Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society .

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Interview with Jeff Farnam

Interviewed by Bonnie Wilson Minnesota Historical Society

Interviewed on January 9, 1990 in Minneapolis, Minnesota

BW: This is Bonnie Wilson on January 9, 1990, at the home of Jeff Farnam on Humboldt Avenue in Minneapolis. We are going to talk a little bit about Jeff's photography-­specifically, his Hennepin Avenue series. But, before we talk about that, I would like to know some general biographical information--where you were born and that kind of thing.

JF: I was born in Hollywood, California on August 27, 1947. I lived there with my parents until I was about six. About the time I was six, my parents' marriage was starting to dissolve for the lack of--well, anyway, it was falling apart, and we moved back to Minneapolis. My parents were both from this area. Since I was so young at the time, I guess culturally speaking, I am really from the Twin cities. I went to Washburn High School in Minneapolis. While I was in high school, I suffered a spinal cord injury resulting in my current condition as a C-5 spinal cord injury quadriplegic. I finished high school in 1965 and went on to the University of Minnesota, where I was granted a degree in economics.

BW: I'm interested in how you got interested in photography. When did you start? Who got you interested?

JF: While I was a student at the University, I was living off-campus, sharing a small two-bedroom apartment with a fellow in the Franklin-Riverside area. One of our friends, who is a would-be professional photographer, was thrown out of his apartment. He asked if he could stay with us for a couple of days until he found a place. That ended up being about two months, I think, of him camping out in our living room. During that period, he was trying to sell my roommate on the idea of taking up photography. We would sit up in evenings after classes, discussing photography--the

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equipment and looking at photographs and so forth.

BW: Excuse me, but what was your friend's name?

JF: steve Mandell . As it turned out, my roommate became interested in photography, but I also became interested, too. I was starting to annoy the two of them with my comments and interruptions to the point where they finally said, "Look, we're going to go dowtown despite your disability and find a camera that you can operate."

I don't have good fine finger dexterity, and I don't have a great deal of arm strength, so holding a camera to my face and operating the small controls seemed out of the question. I wasn't familar with any other type of camera, and I hadn't considered photography as an option that was open to me.

We went downtown to a camera store which was pretty big at the time, but which has since gone out of business--Century Camera. We found a twin lens reflex camera. It was a Mimaya C330, and the controls were all very gross--easy for me to get at. The camera had a square format so that turning the camera vertical or level wasn't an issue. The camera could sit on a little stand on my lap board where it didn't require holding it up or lifting it. It worked very well for me. I spent a lot of time photographing the neighborhood--back alleys, buildings, and architectural detail up and down the street.

BW: Was that over by the University?

JF: It was in the Franklin and Riverside area. This was about 1972, I think. For the first two years of taking pictures, I rarely took pictures of people. Mostly, it was awful stuff--the backside of weathered garages and dilapidated fences and over-grown shrubbery over abandoned vehicles. Sort of artsy-fartsy black and white urban decay and that stuff.

BW: Were you using anybody's work as a model at that time?

JF: Not that I recall. more just to see how it had done its job.

No, actua~ly I just took pictures would look on film after the camera

BW: So how did you move down to Hennepin Avenue?

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JF: Well, that was sort of the second step. The first step was overcoming my reluctance to take pictures of people.

BW: Oh, that's important.

JF: occasionally, in my kicking around the neighborhood, I'd photograph somebody who had some wild shirt on, sitting at a lunch counter--or whatever. My personal favorite was seeing an attractive young lady in the nearby park. The camera seemed like a perfectly logical excuse to strike up a conversation and start some interaction. It was the occasional pictures of people that really seemed to get the most interest going on the part of friends and acquaintances who were looking at my pictures. I also felt some sort of need to find out how I could more comfortably approach photographing people. I ended up taking a workshop at the Walker which three photographers taught. You could judge for yourself from their work whom you wanted to work with. The photographers were will Seubert ....

BW: ..• Earl?

JF: Earl Seubert, right, from the Star Tribune, will Agar, and Judy Olausen. I chose to work with Judy Olausen because she was by far the most personal and interactive with her subjects. It was from that point on that I talked myself into taking pictures of strangers on the street. Maybe there is something abut being in a wheelchair--or maybe that has nothing to do it. Maybe it is just anybody who's got a genuine interest in someone. If you ask to photograph someone, maybe you will find that you have a willing subject. Anyway, I found that it was something that I could do successfully. I enjoyed doing it, and I really felt good about the pictures. Sometimes the most rewarding aspect wasn't the picture that resulted at all, but the stories that these people would tell you while you were in their environment.

BW: So you would spend a little time with some of your subjects, asking if you could take their picture--as opposed to a street photographer who shoots sometimes almost anonymously.

JF: Well, right. Part of it is that between the camera and myself is this 400-pound, four-wheeled thing. It's like a refrigerator trying to sneak up on you.

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BW: [Chuckles] I can understand that.

JF: Also, part of it was for myself. I enjoy pictures where the subject intereacts with the photographer. Other than the fact that I can't work in a clandestine way, I like photographs where the subject interacts with the viewer, and I think that requires that the subject interact with the photographer. There is no general rule. On some rare occasions, some of my photographs will have that characteristic where the subjects are not interacting with me, but with themselves and the environment. It's like the photograph called "Moby's Door"--nobody is interacting with me in that. I think the subjects in the other pictures are pretty much responding to me~ I try to avoid any kind of posing or anything that I think would be uncharacteristic of the person, of the subject in human environment.

BW: That's hard. It's tempting to pose, photographer to put across his own impression. me how you got down to Hennepin Avenue.

or for the Well, tell

JF: Because I have somewhat of a mobility problem or situation, I found Hennepin Avenue to be a great place to go--I didn't have to wander long and far looking for SUbjects. That block from Sixth to Seventh on the north side of Hennepin had just an incredible array of characters. I liked to think of it as sort of a decaying stump in the woods, where you peel back the bark and it's just alive with every kind of stuff. That's what fascinated me--it was the range of characters. It was a kind of fun place to be. It was close to a couple of downtown bars that I frequented, so when things seemed kind of slow, or if I had had a productive night, I could go down and hang out and celebrate what I thought might be my success.

BW: One of the man dated 1975. Hennepin Avenue

pictures that you gave us was one of a black That must be fairly early in your going to

as a photographer.

JF: I don't think at that point I was singling out Block E.

BW: You don't think you were?

JF: No, I wasn't making a regular act of going to that locale. At that point, I was having my roommate drop me off

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downtown. I liked to go down to the Nicollet Mall and hang out. I would go up to the skyway level of the IDS and station myself there. Then I would wander down to Hennepin between the Gay Nineties and Mousy'S. In fact, it was up by Mousy's that for once, I really felt just a little threatened. Some woman actually came down from a second floor apartment to tell me that I'd better leave the area with my camera because her boyfriend was getting angry about my being there. You know, it was funny too, because it was just in the middle of the afternoon. I don't know--he must have been really on something to be that paranoid. Anyway, in '75, I wasn't really singling out Block E. I don't think the city was singling out Block E.

BW: No, actually Hennepin was still a longer stretch of Block E type buildings.

JF: Yes, Hy's Loan Shop and all that.

BW: How would you characterize the body of work you did on Hennepin Avenue? Do you think the Block E material is the heart of it? The only reason I ask you is because in the newspapers, you are singled out as being 'The Block E photographer." Is you work centered on that?

JF: No. Granted, I did spend a long time--maybe four or five years--consistently going down to that one locale and taking photographs of people on the street. But I don't consider that a sort of strong statement. Fo example, I have been consistently photographing people in the Hennepin­Lake area.

I don't think of one group or one body of work as being stronger than the other. It's just me photographing a different group. I've also got a lot of portraits of just people downtown. I had a lot of Block E photographs, and at the time I edited that group down, the controversy of what to do with the block brought a lot of attention to that little bit of geography. I had shown some of my things to the people at Rifle Sport, which is a second floor gallery on Block E. They had expressed a really strong interest in presenting a show of that. There were a number factors working--the fact that the body of work existed and that there was interest in that subject matter.

BW: It was timely. Can you tell us some of the best

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experiences that you had working on Hennepin Avenue?

JF: What do you mean by "best?"

BW: It could be the most memorabl e or what you consider a good story about what happened to you on Hennepin Avenue.

JF: There aren't a lot of great stories that come out of this kind of work. Ninety-five percent of it is just sitting around, watching. No, no, no, it's not that much. A preponderance of time is spent just sitting around watching, waiting for someone to come by who has that look you want to capture on film. God knows what that look is. sometimes the person doesn't seem to be that extraordinary. The person has to have a quality that is incongruous or all too characteristic of your sense of the place. Then you chase that person down, or you station yourself somepl ace where you are going to cross paths . You try to explain to that person what it is that you find attractive or interesting about him or her. Then you hope that your subject is of a mind to participate in making this picture. It all takes place in a rather short period of time because these people are usually heading for ....

BW: ... They didn't come down to have their picture taken.

JF: No, they are heading from one bar to another or from a parking lot to the theatre or to a game room, something like that. So things take place in a very short period of time . Actually, one of the characteristics of doing this kind of photography is that the better stories were not to be had there. The better stories were to be had when I was wandering far and wide and met some used furniture or book seller and would do his portrait in his space.

BW: Because that person was a little more stay-put ...

JF: .•. Yes, right. He would take the time out and would want you to know his stories. Hennepin Avenue is quite anonymous but the images are--that's just it. The place is just that. It is superficial and transitory--just fleeting images.

BW: Maybe we should talk about some of these images. I think one of the most striking ones is the man in the white coat from 1982. Do remember anything about your encounter with him?

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JF: That's a little bit in line with what we were just talking about. I saw him leave or go by. I don't know if he was leaving Moby's or what. He looks a little bit straight to be just coming out of Moby's. I chased him down and caught his attention. I told him that I loved that white coat and could I just get a shot of it? He sort of nodded in agreement, and that's the picture you see.

BW: And then he turned and left.

JF: He turned and left. I think I have one or two-­possibly three exposures of that.

BW: The negotiations are as simple as 'Hey, can I take your picture?'

JF: Well, usually I don't say, "Can I take your picture?" Usually, it's better to explain why you are interested in a picture. In this case, I would say something like, "That white coat is great. You are really striking out there. Can I do a picture of you and the coat?"

BW: So it gives them some idea of what caught your attention. Well, a very different picture is the couple with a copy of The Watch Tower. It's different because they were presumably staying put for a while.

JF: Right, that's a picture where I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't ask any permission. They were proselytizing on the street, oh, right there next to where--oh, between Brady's and Shinders on sixth. They had this young boy with them who looked just very bored--like he didn't want to be a part of this. Anyway, I just worked my way through a little ring of people around them. I just hoped that everyone would just stay put long enough to get a photograph. The lighting was really difficult. I don't think I took much time to meter a lot.

BW: But the child was actually standing like that with his hands ..•

JF: ... He was standing like that, extremely bored and looking kind of forlornly into the camera. He was tired enough that he really didn't manage to get that interested in me.

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BW: But his image is arresting, totally different. Do you think that they might have been his parents?

JF: That's my guess. You know, who am I to make those kind of judgments on these things?

BW: Another interesting relationship between a child and an adult involves these political pamphleteers depicted here. Do you remember the circumstances of that?

JF: It was one of those rare occasions where I felt somewhat threatened by the people I was going to be taking a picture of. But I wanted the picture, and I was using my twin lens camera which has a ' very, very quiet shutter. I started across the street, and I pre-focused it and took the exposures. As I approached these people in the crosswalk-­maybe eight or ten feet away--I made the one exposure of them.

BW: Because you sensed that if you were closer ...

JF: ... That one fellow in the middle there seemed deeply angered by something. I wasn't sure what it was. I had watched him for some time from across the street.

BW: So this look on his face is typical of how he looked for quite some time.

JF: Yes, yes.

BW: Do you remember what kind of pamphlets he was passing out?

JF: No, I don't. I didn't talk to him.

BW: At that point did you turn and go the other way, or did you just go past them?

JF: I just kept moving on down Hennepin. Now that you ask me these questions, I keep thinking of all the things I should have done. I should have had a gunny sack with me to collect all sorts of stuff.

BW: Yes, memorabilia as you went along. The other picture here which I have a copy of is "Moby's Door." This is very

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different. I remember you told me a little bit about this. You had to wait for the crowd to part.

JF: yes, this is one where--I probably had had a fun-filled evening of taking a few pictures, going in and having a scotch, and then taking a few more pictures. My recollection was I was most interested in the interaction between the black man and the white woman in the doorway. When I held the camera up and watched them, I would see this kaleidoscope of stuff going on in the periphery. I made a number of pictures of them during their conversation, which were more or less interesting. What I was interested in that as a central issue, but what I was also looking at was what was going on in the periphery of the photo--what would give them some environment. This is the one that I selected as being the most ...

BW: ... So you were actually waiting for the right things to happen on the outside of the picture.

JF: Right, yes.

BW: And the way they were positioned, you knew it would be pretty good no matter .•.

JF: ... I made a lot o.f exposures trying to get that, yes.

BW: When the exhibit was up at the Hennepin County Government Center and Block E was an issue, the Pioneer Press and Dispatch did a fairly lengthy article on your work. You were quoted as saying, "Sometimes you have to make an opportunity," right after you said you try to anticipate an opportunity.

JF: I did?

BW: Well, that's what the reporter said. I was wondering which of these cases would be closer to your making an opportunity, rather than seeing it ahead of time and taking it?

JF: I was misquoted.

BW: I know, that happens all the time. I know the feeling.

JF: Right now, I couldn't tell you what was going on in my head when I made that statement.

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BW: Well, I get the impression whatever you may have meant, making an opportunity doesn't mean any kind of manipulation on your part. You really are taking things as you see them.

JF: If for instance in a photograph like this, "Moby's Door," I was just using the shutter to edit and make a statement--given what was occurring at different points in time and then just selecting the one that says what I wanted it to say. There might be a little bit of that kind of thing going on.

BW: Do you remember the photograph of the seated black man from 1975? Do you remember anything about him?

JF: I gave him a cigarette.

BW: Oh, you gave him a cigarette--was that part of the agreement?

JF: Right, part of the deal--two.

BW: Two cigarettes, so that you would be able to take his portrait?

JF: Yes.

BW: Did that happen on other occasions, your bartering for a photograph?

JF: No, in more recent times with some of the kids, they've almost demanded money, if I wanted to photograph them.

BW: Really. Did you give it to them?

JF: No, no. At that point, I ....

BW: ••• Then you just said, take your picture."

"Well, then I'm not going to

JF: Yes, it's not that kind of deal. This isn't fashion photography; you're not a model.

BW: I know that you are in a good position to describe Block E and what it represented from your own experience. I was thinking that this tape might be listened to by someone

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several decades from now who wouldn't have the foggiest notion of what Block E was like. I was wondering if you could describe it for people in the future--the good and the bad.

JF: Well, I remember when Block E had the Great Northern Market and the 620 Club. The 620 Club was the place where the big shots downtown would go and make deals. The Great Northern Market was where you could go and get--I mean, it was like Lunds. Things then were much more personal and on a smaller volume basis.

BW:

JF:

BW:

JF: best too. for?

This would have been in the 1960s?

Probably even before that'.

Maybe into the early '60s.

The Academy and World Theatres used to be two of the first-run movie houses. There was always Shinders,

What kind of descriptive information are you looking

BW: Well, I was thinking that we talk about Block E as if it's a given--that is, we all know is that in the 1980s, it became an eyesore to the leaders of the city. Eventually, it was torn down because of what went on in the street. I'm thinking that people in the future may be confused. Why was there an interest in Block E? What impressed you about it?

JF: Well, when I was taking pictures of it, Block E was definitely in its demise. At that point, it was the decaying stump in the woods. Like any sort of living system, some of it has got to be in decay at some point in time. From that, you have something new evolve. Moby's was kind of an infamous place.

BW: Why was it was it infamous? What kind of wild and crazy place was it?

JF: Well, it is funny that you should ask that, because I didn't spend a heck of a lot of time there. I spent more time outside of it rather than in it, because to me it was a little too crowded and annoying and noisy. I don't play pool, so it didn't appeal to me from that angle. I don't like discos, so I didn't go to the back room for that. I didn't go down for the afternoon strip shows, either.

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BW: Did they have those at Moby's?

JF: Yes.

BW: What age group was at Moby's at night?

JF: Oh, I don't know, probably between twenty and sixty. There was quite a range of characters there. After closing time--especially in the middle and later '80s--seriously, it sounded like the whole place was overcome by some sort of sinus problem. Everybody would be out on the curb with silk handkerchiefs by their noses, sniffing like they had a runny nose. I think it was kind of a status thing to prove that they had been using coke heavily that night, and they had the sniffles.

BW: Well, that is an interesting detail. What about being on the street in the 1980s on Block E? Some people perceived it as being dangerous. Was it dangerous?

JF: I think people's paranoia increased as the media increased its coverage of the drug problem and as law enforcement appeared to get more serious about it. I think that just increased people's general level of apprehension about someone on the street with a camera. I was having a little less fun with it at that point.

BW: So as the tearing down of Block E approached, you felt that things were not as enjoyable on the street?

JF: Right, definitely. Also, at the point when Block E was actually being physically torn down, my personal interest in street photography was winding down. Recently, I have been doing more building facades and architectural detail interiors. I've been doing those in medium format color. Part of the reason for the change was Block E and the external things that were going, other reasons were personal and internal. I think it was time to wrap it up and present what I had done. This is it.

BW: Well, you did present a portrait at the State Fair which was quite different. Can you tell me the title again?

JF: We worked on the title a couple of times. I think it ended up to being "A Humanity Molting," or was it "Humanity Molting?"

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BW: I think it was "Humanity Molting"--that sounds right. It was a collaborative piece with .....

JF: ... Linda Maylish.

BW: Linda Maylish, right. It was a portrait of sorts, but there were four panels. There was a woman emerging from a gauze-like material, but it was a combination print. It wasn't just straight photography, and it was in color. It was very, very different. Are you doing some things like that, or was that piece totally unlike anything else?

JF: Because of its collaborative nature, it was quite different than anything I would conceive of doing myself. There are elements within it that are definitely mine--that I can lay claim to. And there are elements that are definitely Linda's, that I would not be inclined to do. I would like to to more collaborative pieces. I find it really stimulating and enjoyable, and I like the results. The process I like.

BW: Yes, of working together. I'm always interested in asking photographers if there were any other photographers that they have really admired--someone who has given them a new way of looking at their work. Do you have any whom you particularly admire?

JF: There are some photographers whose work I think is wonderful and whom I really admire. In many cases, I will try to emulate their interpretation of something. Eugene Smith is at the top of the list, as are Robert Frank and Irving Penn.

BW: I thought it was interesting that you found Judy Olausen's work something you responded to. I've watched her work for a long, long time. I've not met her, but I think she is one of the earlier professional women photographers in Minnesota. She has done some very strong portraits. She seems like a very strong person to start with.

JF: There you go, Judy Olausen was--there are other photographers who don't really do people as their main subject, but Eugene Atget is somebody who I admire. He is somebody who took to the streets and photographed details of architecture and landscape that may not have been grandiose

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monuments, but they just had some spirit or quality about them that appealed to him.

That's something that I feel in common with him. I'm not looking for something that's grandiose and picturesque, but something that is some small little evidence of people having been there--people having interacted with that little bit of environment. Well, let's see--who else? Boy, there are so many, and I'm in such a blank.

BW: Well, if you take the whole realm of the history of photography, there are a lot. Are there some photographers in Minnesota whom you particularly like?

JF: I admire the work of Tom Arndt a lot. I think he is very good. There are some things that Ricardo Block does that I like a lot. Misha Daniel is a wonderful photographer who was born in Czechoslovakia, I think.

BW: That's a good line-up.

JF: Yes, that probably is. Off the top of my head, I can't think of many more.

BW: Well, I think we have covered most of Block E aspect or your life. I know there are a lot of other things going on in your photography, so perhaps we will do another interview with you sometime when you have a whole new series that you are interested in.

JF: West Broadway, but don't breathe a word of it to anybody. I don't want to go out there some weekend and find it lined up with photographers.

BW: This tape won't be listened to by the photographic community for quite sometime, so it is probably a pretty safe secret. But we will look forward to seeing your West Broadway series. Thank you.

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