An eye for listening

Joe Kernan
Posted 10/29/14

One of the most surprising things to learn about Warwick photographer Keith Jochim is that he has been supporting his photography addiction by working as a professional actor.

“Fortunately for …

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An eye for listening

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One of the most surprising things to learn about Warwick photographer Keith Jochim is that he has been supporting his photography addiction by working as a professional actor.

“Fortunately for me and for other actors, there are quite a few theatre companies around the country that employee union actors,” he explained. “We have an excellent union and they help us make a decent living.”

But it is Keith Jochim, the photographer, who will be on display at the Warwick Public Library in November. So people who may remember him from movies, television or the stage can see a different side of his talents.

Jochim has been a professional actor for almost 40 years. He has worked on Broadway and Off Broadway and many of the nation’s major repertory companies, including the Guthrie Theatre, Providence Trinity Rep Theatre, St. Louis Rep Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, New York Public Theatre and the San Diego Old Globe Theatre.

If you are inclined to dismiss his acting resume as something less than a complete success, you probably don’t know much about the profession. Most aspiring actors would consider themselves quite successful to have appeared in movies like “The Witches of Eastwick” with Jack Nicholson, or on “Law & Order” or television series like “Spencer for Hire” or soap operas like “All My Children,” “The Guiding Light,” and “Days of Our Lives.”

He completed a world tour of Russell Lee’s “Nixon’s Nixon,” performing in London, Ireland, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and at the Edinburgh Festival, where he was co-winner of the Fringe First Prize for his role as Nixon.

So we were surprised when we saw parts of an upcoming exhibit at the Warwick Library featuring pictures that Jochim made of Native Americans taken at Pow Wows around New England recently.

“I was surprised to learn about the Pow Wow,” said Jochim. “I saw some men who were wearing their regalia and I was very curious.”

Jochim found out where the Pow Wows were being held and made a point of learning more about them.

“I met Loren Spears of the Tomaquag Museum in Exeter and she explained the idea of the Pow Wow to me and I attended three of them,” he said.

Jochim said he learned that the word derives from the Narragansett word powwaw, meaning “spiritual leader.”

She explained to him that Pow Wows are the Native American people’s way of meeting together, to join in dancing, singing, visiting, reviewing old friendships, and making new ones. It is a time to review Native American culture and preserve the rich heritage of American Indians.

“What really surprised me was that the people I met seemed so ordinary,” said Jochim. “These are people you would encounter every day and have no idea that they shared a Native American identity. They were people you would see on the street.”

Jochim also learned that the Native American culture is still evolving, that their regalia can change over time to reflect personal histories.

“I learned of the history and the situation now of American Indian life,” he said. “Like all of us, they change.”

Jochim was sophisticated enough to know that he couldn’t get good pictures with random snapshots. Pictures of these individuals had to reflect their personality and their pride. He had to ask them to pose, so some of the pictures do look posed, but they were patiently posed, you can almost sense the silence in the scene; the waiting for the exact instant, for the exact expression that tells the story.

Jochim said that acting, for him, is the art of listening.

“If you just listen to the other actors, you can’t get it wrong,” he said. “It becomes natural and real.”

That seems to apply to the pictures. You don’t sense that Jochim is asking for a certain smile or attitude. He’s engaged in a visual sort of listening that results in great portraits.

“For these pictures, I had to extract the subject from the surroundings,” said Jochim. “You can do amazing things with digital photography and I use it to get what I want.”

Jochim showed two versions of one subject. The first one has an impressive-looking man with a background of a stone wall and window frames. The second is the same man with the background blacked out. The difference is dramatic. The second picture seems completely filled with the subject, undistracted, and much more dramatic.

Jochim said he also uses other techniques to create the images he makes. Taking the picture is only the beginning. Properly managed, Jochim’s images capture the present with a sense of the past. Some portraits could be mistaken for masterful silverpoint pencil drawings. Some look like fine oil paintings.

They all look like collaborations with the subject, a level of cooperation that seems to be necessary for Jochim.

“Most of the people at the Pow Wows didn’t mind having their picture taken,” said Jochim. “There was one man who simply refused to have his picture taken.”

Fortunately, the willing subjects prevailed and got the benefit of Jochim’s first rate “eye.”

His gift for photography, his “eye,” has been widely appreciated. He received his photographic training at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Maine School of Photography and many seminars around the country. He recently judged the Wickford Art Gallery Photo Show and taught two classes in photography at Toll Gate High School. He is a member of the Professional Photographers Association of Rhode Island (PPARI) and the Professional Photographers Association of New England (PPANE).

His most recent honors include: Best of Show: Professional Photographers of Rhode Island; Kodak Gallery Award: Photographic Excellence; Best of Show: Providence Journal Photo Contest; First prize: Providence Journal Photo Contest; First prize: Color and Black and White Providence Journal Photo Contest; He was one of 50 finalists in a Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest.

His work has been displayed at the Warwick Library, Trinity Rep Theatre, the Guthrie Theatre, the Cincinnati Playhouse, the Old Globe Theatre, the Pioneer Playhouse and galleries in Providence, R.I. His most recent photographic work can be seen at www.keithjochimphoto.com.

His photo essay on Native Americans can be seen at the Warwick Public Library. The public is invited to the opening reception on Nov. 3, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Warwick Public Library.

“Pow Wow New England” displays portraits of 30 Native Americans in full regalia at three different pow wows in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. At 7 p.m., Loren Spears, the executive director of the Tomaquag Native American Museum in Exeter, will give a presentation on the “Elements of a Pow Wow.” Light refreshments will be served. The exhibition will continue through Nov. 28 at the Warwick Public Library,

600 Sandy Lane in Warwick.

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