Jerry and Maggie: This is Not Photography (Scott Erickson, 2012): USA

Reviewed by Jacob Dekker.  Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2013.

Despite what the title says, Jerry and Maggie: This is Not Photography is about photography.  The film follows the everyday lives of two famous photographers Maggie Taylor and Jerry Uelsmann who happen to be married to each other.  The photography that this couple does is not ordinary photography.  Maggie uses programs like Adobe Photoshop in order to express her artistic vision, while Jerry mixes and matches photographs, as you would in Photoshop, the old fashioned way.  Using a dark room.

The film provides a lot of history and backstory as to how they met, how they became interested in photography, and what they have done to push the boundaries of both art and photography.  While their stories are being told, the artists talk about what inspires them to create and the technology that they use in order to express themselves.  The film even talks about how Jerry Uelsmann influenced Thomas Knoll to create Adobe Photoshop.

For those interested in photography this film is a must see.  It is packed with a lot of  history and techniques that most artists and photographers will find interesting, if not useful, information.  And just watching Jerry and Maggie work is fascinating.  However, this film is definitely not for everyone.  It is very slow.  There is no real conflict, development, or story arcs.  The cinematography, editing, and sound are all rather forgettable.  One could say that the conflict of this film is that Jerry is going against the grain in the way he does photography, but the film spends very little time fleshing that aspect out.  It is implied that Jerry’s artwork is controversial, but that is about as deep as it goes in that area.  It is basically a cameraman following two slow-paced artists around as they work.  Which is exactly what this film should be.  It is trying to showcase photographs and the artists behind them, not excite an audience.

Even though this film does not really excite an audience it definitely shows some breathtaking images.  Some of the photos are incredible, and being able to watch Jerry create them is ‘magical’ as he puts it in the film.

I found this film to be interesting at some parts, but rather boring for the majority.  Watching Jerry work in a dark room is incredible, while watching Maggie create images on photoshop didn’t quite capture or hold my attention.  For a photographer I would say this film is an absolute must-see, but otherwise this is a pass.  If passed, I would recommend looking up Jerry Uelsmann or Maggie Taylor on google images to, at the very least, take a quick look at some of their creations.