Film:  The Rich Have Their Own Photographers (documentary) www.TellingImageFilms.com

Studio:    Muse Films and Television; Telling Image Films

Principal actors:  Milton Rogovin; Anne Rogovin

Director:  Ezra Bookstein

Screening Date:  September 16, 2007 Kansas International Film Festival

Film length:  60 minutes

Rating:  unrated 

4 stars 

Reviewer:  Deborah Ground Buckner 

“The rich have their own photographers.  I photograph the forgotten ones.”  This summation of his own work by Milton Rogovin inspired the title for this documentary about a fascinating man and his career.  Director Ezra Bookstein worked for four years with Rogovin, now 97, pouring through a lifetime of photographs and returning with the photographer to the streets of Buffalo, New York, where Rogovin found many of his subjects. 

Milton Rogovin was born in New York City in 1909.  When his older brother became an optometrist, Rogovin decided he would as well, and enrolled in Columbia University in 1927, a time when the country was booming.  His graduation in 1931 saw the nation in the midst of the Great Depression.  “In college, I was indifferent to what was happening in society,” Rogovin recalled.  “I could no longer be indifferent to the people.”  

Rogovin met his wife, Anne, in Buffalo, New York, and, shortly after their marriage, was inducted in the army.  Upon his return, he entered practice as an optometrist with his brother.  Rogovin became involved with the Optical Workers' Union, fighting for health insurance, equal opportunity, and a better society.  His participation led to a summons before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.  Rogovin refused to cooperate with the Committee and found himself losing many “friends.”  Other parents would not let their children play with Rogovin's children, his practice suffered, and his isolation continued with his refusal to speak to anyone who cooperated with the Committee, including his next-door neighbor. 

Rogovin concluded if he could not speak out with words, he could do so with photographs.  A friend preparing a series on African-American churches asked Rogovin to take photographs.  He became acquainted with photographer Minor White of Aperture magazine who helped with photography advice.  Rogovin began to read about the people he was photographing.  W.E.B. DuBois described the elements of religion:  The preacher, the music, and the trance.  Rogovin began to focus on these elements in his work.  He wrote to DuBois, and in 1942, his work was published in Aperture with an introduction by DuBois. 

Rogovin chose not to make a living with individual photographs, though he could have been a much-demanded portrait photographer.  Instead, he “wanted to tell a story” and presented his work in a series format.  After reading of miners in Appalachia, he decided to do a series about them.  Beginning in 1962, he continued over a period of nine summers, photographing the miners at work and at home with their families.  The result is a compelling statement of the effects of poverty and the dignity of the human spirit that prevails.  Rogovin says he “learned to improve my work so people would look at it.” 

Rogovin and his wife wrote many letters to famous people asking to collaborate on a project.  In 1967, poet Pablo Neruda accepted such an invitation, and Rogovin photographed the people of Chile.  Together, they published Windows That Open Inwards, a collection of poems by Neruda and photographs by Rogovin.  In his introduction, Neruda said Rogovin's photographs provided “the portrait of truth.” 

Rogovin and his camera roamed the Lower West Side of Buffalo, New York, capturing images of the people there.  James Wood, then of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, presented a showing of these photographs, labeling them only as from “the West Side.”  It could have been the West Side of New York or Chicago, and Rogovin wanted it presented this way “so people could think it was in their city.” 

Rogovin returned to Buffalo in intervals of years, found the same people and photographed them again, making a series that showed life unfolding. 

A series of photographs of Buffalo steel workers captured “portraits of human dignity,” as he revealed the workers at labor and at home.  Not long after, the steel plant closed its doors, leaving all these people unemployed.  “There is art in my work,” Rogovin says, “but there are also messages I think are important.  It's not just art for art's sake.”   

Returning to the story of mining, Rogovin traveled in ten different countries to photograph miners at work and at home. 

Throughout his career, Rogovin always asked permission to photograph his subjects.  There were never any “sneak attacks,” for he took time to build a relationship with each person.  Each photograph demonstrates the worth of its subject, the overpowering human spirit that triumphs over the harshest conditions and asks for help only with dignity. 

The Rich Have Their Own Photographers has screened at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and the Montreal World Film Festival.  It will continue festival screenings and, ultimately, will air on PBS.  Many of Rogovin's photographs can be see at www.miltonrogovin.com. 

This documentary fully presents the spirit of Rogovin's work and gives a glimpse as well of the devoted and loving partnership that flourished between Milton and Anne Rogovin.  The photographs presented reveal a story of humanity.  As James Woods observed, it is fitting Rogovin was trained as an optometrist, because his work “helps people see.”