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Good memorial to #PeeweeHerman / Paul #Ruben and #photography
#mommentofzen

"One of the most meaningful quotes I've ever found about celebrity and recognition was by the photographer, Robert Frank. He said, "I'm Famous, Now What."

Before Photoshop, Artificial Intelligence, and fake news, Paul Reubens came over to my little livingroom studio in West Hollywood( I was living in a building once owned by Marlene Dietrich. Mackenzie Phillips lived downstairs).

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#PeeweeHerman / Paul #Ruben and #photography

We talked about fame and how one little thing could take over a person's life. You work, you practice, you live, and learn to make many things.

The complexity of our efforts doesn't prepare us for what is next. I asked Paul if he would help me make a picture of himself with the Pee Wee character.
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#PeeweeHerman /Paul #Ruben and #photography

I explained that he would have to stand still on the exact markings on the floor and be himself as he showed up to talk and drink some coffee, and then in the second exposure, he would be shaking hands with the creature he created.

He was intrigued and patiently followed directions, but to my surprise, he added that quality of special moment and a dimension of the trickster in Pee Wee by seemingly withdrawing the handshake at the last second.
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#PeeweeHerman / Paul #Ruben and #photography

After developing and proofing the film, I saw the actor in Paul doing something that I couldn't have ever directed.

With the change of costume, he still kept the idea intact, separated the two lives, one real, the other a beautiful and poetic contrast to our human limits, and helped me make a picture that transcended what on the surface began with a small technical curiosity.
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#PeeweeHerman / Paul #Ruben and #photography

Over the years, I've been fascinated by people and places and things. I've tried to make my photographs engage the phenomenal human narrative. Even in the photographic simplifications, I have learned more in wonder and work than my real life could ever have taught me. Looking back on that day, with Paul and Pee Wee, we made a picture that was about something real and at the same time something that can only exist in another world.
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#PeeweeHerman / Paul #Ruben and #photography

It's a privilege to work in such a rich environment with people that share with you a space that you both feel is so special." - Dennis Keely
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