The University Art Gallery welcomed 79-year-old photographer Santi Visalli on Friday evening to display select photos — from a striking portrait of a young Jack Nicholson to a view from the top of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Prior to the opening of the exhibit, Visalli gave a lecture to a packed classroom of students, faculty and photography connoisseurs. However, the lecture wasn’t really a lecture at all; Visalli essentially just told stories of pictures passed. All the while, weaving in advice about what he’d learned in his time as a front-page photographer.
A native of Sicily, Italy, Visalli immigrated to the United States in 1959, and before long, got his foot in the door of newspapers and magazines such as Newsweek, The New York Times and Time Magazine.
In an interview prior to his lecture, Visalli attributed his success to something common in any line of work — a good portfolio, reliability and social connections.
“When an editor goes home at night, he wants to know that the next day he’ll have a picture,” Visalli said. “And I did that all my life and never missed a job.”
Visalli also emphasized another key to succeeding in photography — taking good pictures.
“It seems like a very simplistic thing to do or say, but the main thing is you have to have the material,” Visalli said. “You can talk your way through editors and people, but at the end, if you don’t have the material to present — if your work is not strong enough — people may listen to you once but not twice.”
Visalli’s ambition has built him a portfolio comparable to a history book of pop and political culture in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. His slideshow of iconic figures, such as Timothy Leary, Martin Luther King Jr., The Beatles, Mia Farrow, Leonard Bernstein and Muhammad Ali, proved his simple advice really can take a photographer far — with a little determination, of course.
Visalli accompanied just about every picture in his slideshow with some sort of story, from his night with Dorris Day (an admitted former celebrity crush) to teaching Robert DeNiro Italian mannerisms he should practice for a movie he acted in.
Students who attended the lecture enjoyed Visalli’s personable experiences with such famous figures. Art and design sophomore Hannah Garrett said she felt his experiences transcended the simple action of taking a picture.
“I thought it was pretty amazing hearing someone who had met all these iconic figures be able to talk about them in a really personal way,” Garrett said. ‘It brought them down to our level.”
Art and design junior Marielle Belick said she was engaged the entire hour and a half, listening to story after story.
“I was transfixed through the whole presentation,” Belick said. “Going back in time and hearing him talk about the pictures gives them so much more importance.”
Belick also said she noted a piece of his advice that can help a photographer get that perfect shot.
“He said that there were three important things for a picture — light, composition and message,” she said. “And I think the idea of looking at a picture and not having to say anything, just getting the message right of the back, really got me.”
Visalli had other important pieces of advice for aspiring photographers, such as trust. He recalled one night when he spent the evening with his childhood crush Dorris Day. And the next day, she allowed him to take a very special picture of her and her mother.
“When you photograph people, trust is very important,” Visalli said.
One funny story was the time when Visalli got his in with Newsweek, after, well, “blackmailing” the editor.
“I was covering the Truman Capote Ball in 1968,” Visalli said. “I was able to take great pictures — it was a mask ball. Capote drew people from all over the world.”
So, when the Newsweek editor needed those pictures, Visalli made him a little deal.
“I said, ‘Look, I’m going to give you the pictures, but you have to look at my portfolio.’ So he says, ‘Ok, come in next Wednesday.’ He looked at my pictures later and says, ‘How come I don’t know you?’” Visalli said.
Visalli also emphasized the importance of never relinquishing the rights to your own photos. He even refused some jobs that required him to give up his rights to the photos.
“You’ll make less money now, but you’ll see in the long run,” Visalli said.
The exhibit itself includes mainly black-and-white photos, beginning with photojournalistic pictures, then going into more celebrity photos and ending with a few architectural shots. The University Art Gallery coordinator Jeff Van Kleeck said they chose a combination of pictures they thought the students would be familiar with, such as Martin Luther King Jr., Salvador Dali and Barbra Streisand.
Van Kleeck said he was impressed both by the range of iconic figures and the history that followed the time when the photographs were taken.
“To look at these now and the history behind it, you actually look at it differently,” Van Kleeck said. “Like Jackie O’s photograph — at the time it would mean one thing, and now in 2010-2011, we look back at her differently. We look back to Martin Luther King differently. They had no idea that within months everything would change.”
The exhibit will continue until Feb. 19 and is free and open to the public. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 11 am. to 4 p.m.