Rev. Tinnie James

LFI: What is special about Rev Tinnie James and her church; and how did your project come about?
Greg Gulbransen: I first became captivated by the Rev Tinnie James when I saw her standing outside her church one Sunday saying goodbyes to her congregants. There she was, an 85-year-old black pastor with her little purple church, which I knew had been there since the days when the South Bronx was in shambles. I immediately introduced myself and asked if one day I could take her photo, and she agreed. It was several months later when we sat down to discuss my telling her story and the story of her little church. Ultimately I did make a nice photo book for the congregation, which they cherish.

You photographed in black and white. What was your focus?
I prefer black and white photos of the bolder sections of New York, as I feel it is a more intimate and less distracting format than color. It reveals the souls of the subjects. My primary focus was the pastor and the members of her church who she prayed with. My DOF was generally fairly deep, like 5.6 and above, unless I was close to a face and wanted to focus on that one person.

People are in the foreground in your series; how did they react to the camera?
At first the members of the church were a little uncomfortable with the camera, but because I attended the church over a two year period, everyone eventually relaxed and paid the camera very little if any attention. Being such a small camera and not requiring a flash, the Q2 was perfect. This gave my images more layers and greater emotion. I found the fixed 28mm lens to be perfect for shooting inside the cramped church. I do often get as close as possible to people and love capturing faces as they show emotion. If you want a powerful image make sure it shows human emotion.

What feelings should your project itself trigger?
The most moving aspect of a project like this is not any one particular image, as there really is no one spectacular image; but instead the images work together to tell an important story. I feel this is the case with all photo books now. It is how the images work together that moves the viewer.