Niv Shimshon is ‘the guy with the big camera.’ In ‘The Close Park’ his portraits capture a compelling and intimate visual representation of Hamilton
Niv Shimshon is relatively new to Canada (2013), newer yet to Hamilton (2017), and English not being his first language (Hebrew is), he still finds it challenging to approach strangers in city parks, but approach them he does.
It's not just the language (his English is excellent, by the way). It's also that he's asking them to spend an hour or two in his company, during which time they will reveal something of themselves, something inward and perhaps essential to their nature, a communication of character and, by extension, the character of their community.
So, it's not like he's pointing to his wrist and asking what o'clock it is. He wants something more.
No, he doesn't set up his equipment and say, OK, now bare your soul," but that is sometimes the effect. His camera, his distinctive looking accordion-like picture machine, seems somehow to wordlessly reach in and pull things out of his subjects.
The results speak for themselves and speak in that language beyond words which, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand of, but if you were measuring the value of Niv's portfolio in such currency, the word count would far exceed that. Niv's portraits, each one, can seem novelistic, brimming with character, sense of place, implied story.
He has compiled, especially in the year and a half since COVID-19, as compelling and familiarly true a representation of Hamilton, in neighbourhood mode and street habit, as I've seen. His photography, featured on his website, Instagram and on booooooom.com, has been winning much praise. Some of his images were chosen among Critical Mass 2021 Top 50 and LensCulture Critics' Choice 2020
Niv and his camera are becoming enough of a floating fixture in areas like Hamilton's Corktown that, now, sometimes, strangers approach him. They've seen his work or heard about it and want their pictures taken.
The Close Park" is perhaps the series he's best known for and it's named after the play area near Niv and his family's home. He says that, since arriving in Hamilton from Toronto in 2017, he has spent many days and nights at the park getting to know our neighbours, some newcomers, like us, while other were born and raised in this city."
He started by taking snapshots of people he knew but then started approaching strangers when he thought they'd lend themselves to the nature of his project and the particular kind of photography which, by that time, had come to involve the use of large format 4X5 camera.
By capturing the cultural diversity of the people in my community, their emotions and their connection to the space that they occupy and to each other, I aim to create a visual representation of my new home," says Niv, in his project description. His commitment to social justice is a guiding principle. As The Close Park' is an ongoing, long-term project, I hope it can also help me better understand what it means to be Canadian.
Around the area people know me as the guy with the big camera," says Niv, with a smile. He has an easy manner and he seems to know instinctively how to put people at ease with him, but he doesn't make it easy for himself, choosing to work with the particular branch of photography he favours.
It requires very careful and time-consuming setup, the right light for a certain kind of exposure and the image he's shooting being upside down as he sees it through the camera's ground glass viewer.
It takes some imagination" to visualize how it will be, right side up, but he's used to that by now. Still, he gets basically one crack at every shot.
It's not like I can take 50 shots and pick my favourite one. I have to try to make it as perfect as possible." The film he uses is a large square sheet film that fits into the rear of the camera. The camera itself, a Chamonix, which he bought new off the maker's website a few years ago, shares the same design as the first large format cameras from the early 18th-century. No batteries, no built-in light meter, no autofocus, no mirror (hence the upside-down) but newer lighter materials so it's easier to carry around.
The resulting photographs are all black-and-white, Niv develops them in his own dark room, and they are striking to look at.
I love to use this camera because it forces you to slow down and be intentional. You have to shoot on a tripod and really think about the composition before you take the shot. Also, I love that during the image-making process I'm talking and engaging with the subject."
Niv, who emigrated from Tel Aviv in Israel, studied photography formally in Jerusalem and also works as a commercial photographer. So, technically he's very adept, but there's more to his art, namely an intimacy, authenticity, psychological insight.
There are photographs here of skateboarders, seniors, parents with children, city workers, a woman on a bench in the park with the most soulful face, people in outdoor basketball courts, lovers, roller skaters, a young fellow in goalie pads in front of a street hockey net; people of many backgrounds and ethnicities.
When he shot the goalie, on the street, he says, it was funny. People would say, Car!"
He says people who see his photographs sometimes ask if they were all taken in one country. They often say, All in Canada? I would never have guessed.' But when they see the goalie, they know - Canada!"
Niv is scrupulous about issues of privacy and trust. Because the shots can take so long to set up, he gets to know and gets a feel for his subjects and they for him. Not every shot works and he is exacting in his selection and editing.
He is hoping to publish the series in a book or have it shown in an exhibition.
But enough words for now (1,000 according to my word count) - the pictures say so much more.
Jeff Mahoney is a Hamilton-based reporter and columnist covering culture and lifestyle stories, commentary and humour for The Spectator. Reach him via email: jmahoney@thespec.com