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Remembering Ben Chinn, a San Francisco photographer who sought authenticity

 

When my mom sent me links to photographer Ben Chinn’s work and a Wikipedia site recently, I stopped to give his black-and-white images of San Francisco and Paris some thought.

I’m neither an artist nor a professional photographer. But like many people, I enjoy seeing life around me.

Here we had a man, who was born on April 30, 1921 in San Francisco’s Chinatown. He studied photography, traveled the world and sought a visual slice of genuine life – often on the streets. I could relate in many ways.

Chinn, who passed away on April 25, 2009 at the age of 87, brought out his cameras largely on the streets of San Francisco and Paris to document what he witnessed.

In Paris, while he studied sculpture and painting in the early 1950s, he carried two cameras, according to his estate: a Linhof 4X5 model, which is boxy, and a Rolleiflex medium format camera

I think we all know the feeling once you’ve visited a big city, especially with a camera and your curiosity: You want to get out there, walk around, see what’s in an alley, look behind a corner and marvel at the buildings and people.

Then, you ask questions.

On one level, that’s what Ben Chinn did. 

On another level, he studied art and photography with leading names, including Imogen Cunningham and Ansel Adams. He also became their friends.

More details about his rich, pioneering life experiences can be found on his two sites. 

His relatives launched them in his honor and so the world could view many of these not-seen-before photographs from his career.

His San Francisco Chinatown images capture moments in time. They might be ordinary moments.

But those times, viewed decades later, can tell us something about history, mood and life. As the kids say these days, all good – and it’s all good for the brain.

 

 

His niece, artist Lenore Chinn, also was kind enough to send me her thoughts about how he influenced her work.

She’s my mom’s friend and has served as a curator, as well. She also has a great collection of hats.

On the family relationship:

Ben Chinn was…one of my father’s younger brothers. In a family of twelve children they were close so I grew up hearing stories of his artistic life and his adventures around the world. Imogen Cunningham was a household name so who wouldn’t pay attention to stories that she and Ben became friends after his stint at California School of Fine Arts? Ansel Adams was the other familiar name.

On who he was:

Uncle Bennie as I knew him never sought fame or fortune from his work but in my mind he embodied all that is authentic about art and culture. Though I didn’t have complete details I was captivated by stories that he had spent some time in Paris as a young art student, lived among indigenous peoples in Mexico and hopped into hot air balloons to take photos long before the annual event in Albuquerque, New Mexico became popular.

As an inspiration:

Years later as a budding artist…I would find myself exploring Mexico in off-the-beaten-path villages where even Spanish was not spoken. So I suppose in a way, though Uncle Ben and I did not have long talks about each other’s art or photography until perhaps the last ten years of his life, he led by example, showing me what was possible and enabling me to imagine an artistic life.

Another part of his life that I found intriguing: After he retired, Chinn – who became interested in photography at the age of 10 - volunteered at a one-hour photo shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown to help others.