?Photographs I shot or edited on my telephone, while I was busy not writing the great Canadian novel.?
Those are the words that open The House Always Wins, the fifth book by Montreal photographer and author Paul Labont?, a cool 96-page volume of photos that Labont? likens to ?an analog Instagram that you can hold in your hands.?
Instagram, as even the non-social media inclined must know by now, is an incredibly popular photo-sharing application that allows its users to take pictures on the go and edit them using various effects and filters directly on their smartphones. (In theory, this opens up endless creative vistas and opportunities for artistic expression; in practice, you just wind up seeing way too many of your friends? brunch photos.)
Labont?, 35, who was born and raised in Point St. Charles, is of an age that allows him to seamlessly embrace both the techniques and discipline of traditional photography and the new creative canvas provided by these digital, mobile tools.
He said he finds the rise of digital or smartphone photography akin to the changes in the world of music production over the past couple of decades, particularly in hip hop.
?In the ?90s, people who were making hip-hop music were using samplers and drum machines. And the more famous producers were layering sounds to create their own unique sound,? Labont? explained. ?And then in the early 2000s with (audio production software) Fruity Loops and other computer programs becoming more advanced, all of a sudden it didn?t matter if you sampled those sounds or not, because you could actually recreate them straight in the computer.
?And I think now, with the effects that you can use in and around (graphics editing software) Photoshop, we?ve reached that same point with photography. You can trial-and-error your way through any photo shoot now, because you have access to the image right away. All the learning that we did and all the rolls of film that we shot ? you can throw them out the window. The technology has actually caught up.?
Despite the runaway popularity of Instagram and its cohorts, one still comes across a certain disdain among the curmudgeons of the photography world who look askance at the technical and creative shortcuts that digital photography provides to the amateur shooter.
Just do not count Labont? among their ranks.
?If you can?t beat ?em, you join ?em,? Labont? said. ?The way I look at it, if you put me in a situation with a light meter and a completely manual camera, I know that I can fight through that. I don?t actually think that there will be many situations in this day and age when that will actually happen, but I always have that in the back of my mind. ?Oh yeah, I did it the old way.?
?But you have to move on. If you?re not willing to keep up with the technology, you?re shooting yourself in the foot.?
Unlike Labont??s previous books ? which have been devoted to specific subjects as varied as pit bulls, graffiti artists and photos inspired by gangsta rap ? The House Always Wins features a disparate array of pictures: from straight-up portraits of UFC fighter Georges St-Pierre and budding hip-hop starlet Azealia Banks to shots of a field trip by Labont??s soccer team and the rather regal-looking penguin that graces the book?s cover.
While he left himself with no thematic limits this time around, Labont? did still operate within a rather straightforward framework of his own design.
?I impose limits on myself for no particular reason. I decided I was making a 96-page book. That was it,? Labont? said, noting that we might be seeing more work from him in the vein of The House Always Wins. ?I have more than 600 photos on my Instagram. Now, not every one is worthy of being in an analog thing like this, but I could easily do four volumes like it.?
While this most recent project is based on still photography, moving pictures are also a passion for Labont?, who has been venturing more and more into that world, having directed recent videos by Banks and singer-songwriter Ango. (Images from both shoots are captured in the pages of The House Always Wins.) Labont? also has documentary and short film projects on the go, and cites ?70s New York City cinema as his strongest creative inspiration.
Labont? sees this transition to film as natural, and possibly even overdue.
?I started shooting photographs when I was 12. When I got to Concordia, I really wanted to do film,? Labont? explained. ?At the time, film was so expensive that it just turned into a thing that I felt was kind of impossible, and so I kind of fell into doing more photography-based stuff."
While film obviously presents a different set of technical parameters, Labont? said his creative process takes a more medium-neutral approach.
?I hunt authentic. If it?s not real, I?m not really interested,? he explained. ?I?m a storyteller, and I?ve had the luxury of getting to tell stories in a bunch of different mediums.?
Oh, and what about that ?great Canadian novel? that keeps getting pushed back by Labont??s burgeoning career?
?Anything distracts from me writing it ? it?s the biggest joke!? Labont? said with a laugh. ?But if anybody asks me what it?s about, I tell them it?s about three generations of family trapped in Canada?s first industrial slum.
?And I will write it.?
The House Always Wins (Blackdot, 96 pages, $20) will be launched Thursday, Nov. 15?from 7 to 9 p.m. at the WeSC concept store, 1387 Ste. Catherine St. W. RSVP at wescmtl@tigerdistribution.com. The book, which is being published in a limited edition of 250 copies, is available at WeSC, Savoie Fils (251 St. Viateur St. W.), Off the Hook (1021 Ste. Catherine St. W.), Campanelli (4634 Notre Dame St. W.) and at Desfois.com.
For more information on Paul Labont?, visit paullabonte.com.
bboshra@montrealgazette.com
Twitter: @basemboshra
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