Glen Erler Family Tree

Through my research I came across Photographer Glen Erler who produced a project which he called ‘Family Tree’.  When I first looked at his photographs I immediately took a liking to them, he works in a documentary style which I have always been drawn to, because there is a strong sense of realism to his work without any frills to make an image more aesthetically pleasing. I have taken a particular interest in his ‘Family Tree’ project due to its relation to the project I am currently working on.  To acquire a better understanding of Erler’s images and what they represent I read up a little on the photographer himself because his past and his present relate to what the project is about.

In 1995 Erler moved to London, however the photographer was raised in Southern California. His father’s family was a big southern family moving to California in hope of finding work for Erler’s grandfather, his mother’s side on the other hand, were devout Christians who move over to California round the same time from Tennessee. For this project Erler went back to southern California, where all his family and old friends still remain. He went there to capture his family and the place, everything he grew up with which has now developed and changed, however which has made him into the person he is today. The images reflect the lives lost in time, and the impact of their death, together with new lives which have been born. He reflects memories of his childhood and memories and what I like most is that sometimes they aren’t particularly grand or romanticised memories on the whole, rather they are just memories that were evoked in Erler while he was there photographing, memories which belong to him and even if they sometimes seem somewhat banal they are part of the building blocks that built his life. In fact to elaborate on the sometimes dead pan imagery which doesn’t give much away in respect to storytelling, Erler’s images are captioned with a short text briefly relating the significance of the photograph.

Oranges. Valley Center, Ca.

Most houses round Valley Center had some sort of citrus tree. We lived next to an orange grove and would often walk from our back door

to the grove and eat oranges until out lips were red from having too many. On summer days we would ride our motorcycles through local

orange groves and stop and talk and eat oranges and joke around.

Spot where my dad’s dad was found. Del Mar, Ca.

This is a photo of where my dad’s father was found dead just across the street from where he lived until he was thirteen. My dad’s mother

died a month before his father. My dad and his four brothers and a sister moved out and basically lived on their own from this point.

Logan laying by the pool. Vista, Ca.

Logan is the son of my niece Coral, who is the daughter of my oldest brother Joe. This picture was taken in the middle of a heat wave.

The temperature went from 62 to 92 in just a few hours and remained over 100 for five days straight.

Blue towel by a hole, Valley Center, Ca.

I visited my cousin one day and found this blue towel laying by a hole in the ground in a clearing surrounded by orange trees. When I

asked her what it was doing there, she told me that her daughter Hannah had been using it to sunbathe. It brought back memories of how

simple life can be and was during this time of my life. There was a certain freedom involved. We kind of made things work. If you wanted

to find some shade, you went to a tree and sat underneath it or went inside the house. If you wanted the sun and some privacy, you would

lay down a towel by a hole in the ground in a clearing surrounded by orange trees.

Weeds. Valley Center, Ca.

My dad and I had a motorcycle crash one summer day when I was eight—we ended up in this spot. I was wearing a bathing suit and

nothing else and I jumped off just before hitting the asphalt. My dad stayed with the bike and ended up with concussion. I remember

standing in the road trying to wave someone down to help but no one would stop. I still remember the look on this man’s face as he

drove by. We had to walk to the first house we could find and ask to use their phone to call my mom.

Lounge chairs and window. Oceanside, Ca.

This is the back of my brother Joe’s house. One summer day when Joe was on vacation, me and my brother Frank broke in with two girls

who I kind of knew from school. I had sex for the first time in the room behind this window. My brother Frank ended up marrying the

girl he was with that day.

Dead Man’s Rock. Valley Center, Ca.

Every year or so, someone would get drunk and forget to turn right or stop and then smash into this rock. It was at the end of the road that

leads up to our house in Valley Center.

My Aunt Holly holding a picture of her daughter Dinah in the shadow of Dinah’s Tree. La Mesa, Ca.

Holly is my aunt on my mom’s side. The entire side of my mom’s family moved out to Southern California from Georgia and Tennessee

and were raised in a very strict Christian household. Dinah was one of the first to rebel. She became a drug addict and died of AIDS in the

late eighties. My Aunt Holly has never been the same.



Baseball backstop. La Mesa, Ca.

The same backstop we used to play at when our family gatherings were at my Aunt Holly’s house more than thirty years ago.

After looking at the Erler’s images and reading the text I would imagine a better understanding of what I was discussing prior to publishing his images. There is a certain silence to his pictures.  Without the text we would not have been able to relate as well to the images because we were not there and we do not know his past or his family. The Text allows us to go take a walk with Erler down his memory lane and builds up a sense of nostalgia within ourselves. If you looked at one of his images individually you may think that there may not have been too much preparation in taking the photograph. However when you view them as a collection you apprehend how careful he was with lighting. Even though he only used natural lighting there is such consistency within his images, which is derived not only from his framing and subject but from his homogenous use of natural light. Always taken during the day which perhaps further evokes a sense of nostalgia, the idea of running round in the afternoon after school and before bed time, the sense carefree that is now lost as an adult. The warm colours produced by sunlight also allow us to further relate to the upbringing he had, in a place that was warm and full of citrus trees.

 The images he produced which identify the lives lost of family members I found particularly powerful. In the image ‘Spot where my dad’s dad was found’, we literally are viewing the place where his grandfather was found dead. When I first seen this image, I hadn’t yet read the title, I wondered how this place related to Erler’s past, perhaps a place where he hung out as a child, the hole in the wall made me think that perhaps he used to crawl into the hole. When you read the title, the image immediately changes, you have now been given context. There is a painful connection a select number of people have to this one place, a sad memory because of a loss of life, which they will think about whenever they see this place, however also a place which carries absolutely no meaning or any form of interest to anyone else. And that is why this image is perhaps my favourite, an image which seems so banal carries so much importance and value and emotion to someone else. The image ‘My Aunt Holly holding a picture of her daughter Dinah in the shadow of Dinah’s Tree. La Mesa, Ca.’, is reflecting death in a much more apparent way. Again as with all of the images, I took a good look at them before reading the title and the text, and would then look at them again after I understand its personal meaning to see how context of the image essentially changes the image. When I first viewed this image, my mind was split between two separate thoughts, she is either holding a picture of someone who has passed away or a picture of a younger self. After reading the captioned text and some other writing relating to this image I came to discover that this was her daughter who passed away in 1985 of AIDS, which she contracted from her drug habit. Dinah her daughter the first family rebel was apparently in and out of the house, the last memory Erler has of her she was high, when she was dying of AIDS Dinah moved  back home to be cared for by her mother till her death. The truth behind the image makes it so much more powerful and that is why Erler has captioned each image with text, welcoming us into his family introducing us to the past events which have constructed the present.

I really do enjoy the Glen Erler’s ‘Family Tree’ project. I have always liked photographs of the simple things, the banal in fact. Erler’s work has made me think more about just capturing that simplicity in my work and not worrying too much about there being a blatant message and understanding within my image because sometimes something so extremely personal to the photographer may not be clear to the viewer unless informed, which is fine. He’s also made me think about not just taking pictures of my brother physically, however also capturing things which relate to him. Unfortunately I am  not in the place of our upbringing, our childhood starting in Canada and then developing in Malta it would be impossible for me to record places which have a connection to our past and to the progression into who we are today. However even though I can’t think of anything specifically right this second, I am sure there are things which relate to him as a person in England, perhaps an object or something personal like a note he has written, something he has given me or uses regularly. Furthermore something which I find personally reflects something to do with him or us however which may not be as blatant in its message to the viewer without explanation.