December 24, 2024 • 23 mins
Internationally renowned photographer Joyce Tenneson discusses her new documentary, "UNVEILED: Joyce Tenneson and the Heroine's Journey," -- currently streaming on the PBS WORLD YouTube Channel -- click here to watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/Hwl-Kn8lRdo?si=_eBneC5wWcgNgylF
You can monetarily support The Jan Price Show by becoming a patron and making a tax-deductible donation to The Jan Price Show. For an even larger impact, sign up for a monthly recurring donation! Click on the link below for the details: https://creative-visions.networkforgood.com/projects/236266-the-jan-price-show-s-fundraiser
Unveiled is a feature documentary on the life and art of Joyce Tenneson, one of the most important photographers working today. In addition to her passionate commitment to her life’s work, this documentary explores Tenneson’s persistent advocacy for, and support of, women in the arts and in broader society.
Tune in Saturday, December 28th, from 10:30 AM–10:55 AM and 9:00–9:25 PM PST on "The Jan Price Show All About Movies," #streaming live worldwide on @iHeartRadio. Download the iHeart Radio app on your phone or computer to tune in!
Now you can listen anywhere, anytime to "The Jan Price Show All About Movies" on the iHeart Podcast Network, @ApplePodcasts, @Spotify, @GooglePodcasts, @YouTube, @TuneIn, @Vurbl, @AmazonMusic, @Anchor, @Acast, and your smart TV!
Click here to watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thejanpriceshow
Go to www.thejanpriceshow.com to listen to archived shows!
You can monetarily support The Jan Price Show by becoming a patron and making a tax-deductible donation to The Jan Price Show. For an even larger impact, sign up for a monthly recurring donation! Click on the link below for the details: https://creative-visions.networkforgood.com/projects/236266-the-jan-price-show-s-fundraiser
Unveiled is a feature documentary on the life and art of Joyce Tenneson, one of the most important photographers working today. In addition to her passionate commitment to her life’s work, this documentary explores Tenneson’s persistent advocacy for, and support of, women in the arts and in broader society.
Tune in Saturday, December 28th, from 10:30 AM–10:55 AM and 9:00–9:25 PM PST on "The Jan Price Show All About Movies," #streaming live worldwide on @iHeartRadio. Download the iHeart Radio app on your phone or computer to tune in!
Now you can listen anywhere, anytime to "The Jan Price Show All About Movies" on the iHeart Podcast Network, @ApplePodcasts, @Spotify, @GooglePodcasts, @YouTube, @TuneIn, @Vurbl, @AmazonMusic, @Anchor, @Acast, and your smart TV!
Click here to watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thejanpriceshow
Go to www.thejanpriceshow.com to listen to archived shows!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The jam Wright Show, All about Movies. You're listening to
The jam Price Show All about Movies, and today my
guest is world renowned photographer Joyce Hennison. Welcome to the show, Joyce,
jan It's a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
What can I say? What a way to spend a
rainy day on teasing you. Of course, I love being
with I love talking with other people who love the arts.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Thank you. I feel the same way. So I'm really
glad that we could do this today. You and I
met at the Illuminate Film Festival this past April, and
yours Barbara in Santa Barbara. Yes, the alt Stam Film
Festival in Santa Barbara. Beautiful Santa Barbara and documentary is unveiled,
A Heroine's Journey, and it premier premiered, but it was
(00:46):
shown at the Illuminate Film Festival and afterwards you and
I got to talk a little bit about the film
and I said to you, then I really want to
interview you once this has distributions. So we're so happy
that it's going to be on PBS.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I am so grateful to PBS for taking such an
interest in this film. They've been wonderful to work with.
Thank you PBS World and.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
It's the perfect place for your film to be on.
Actually it really is. I'm thrilled you should be. You
should be. Well, let's let's talk about your incredible career.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
First.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
You were a trailblazer when you decided to give into photography.
There were very I don't know if there were any women,
but very few at best, and you came and you
broke well everglass link feeling there might have been you brought.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I was always somebody who was going to go for
what I wanted and nothing would keep me back. So
I think what you're talking about. The first book is Insights.
Let me just show people the cover, and actually this
is a self portrait of me walking down a pathway
and it looks like it is a double self portrait.
(01:51):
I had my camera on a tripod and so but
this book, it is the first book of self portraits
by women ever done. And I didn't know this until
it came out in any art media, because I was
told by several historians that there was no Why wouldn't
there have been a book of self portraits by women
all these years? So I was thrilled that I just
(02:14):
decided to go ahead and do it, and I put
out an ad in I didn't know anybody back then.
I was, you know, like I was just teaching you
know it in art school, and I put out this.
We didn't have digital technology then, so I wrote some
letters to the magazines and said, anyone interested in, you know,
showing their self portraits, I'm doing a book. All of
(02:34):
a sudden, I got like a thousand submissions to me,
and I realized this is really something.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
That's this is its moment.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So I was able to edit those pictures and I
brought them to the publisher, David o'dean, who lived in Boston.
He loved it, but they were a little modest about
how many youself. It sold out in two weeks. Wow,
now it's sold close to a million copies.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So how many books have you done so far? Seven books? Amazing, amazing,
and they're all, you know, best seller. Every one of
your books has been a bestseller. And I really want
to I want to get into Wise Women because that's
one of your most popular books.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I will say that Wise Women, and I'll hold it
up here.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
For you all to see. Beautiful Boss one of my.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Very favorite books, and it was another series that came
to me because I felt all my relatives of a
certain age where had passed away, and I thought, I
have no idea what it's going to be like when
i'm older. Will people say that I'm over the hill.
That's what people used to say back then, And I'm like, no,
(03:38):
I'm never going to be over the hill, thank you.
But let's show some of these women. And I just
hope that you have a chance if you google this,
you know, if of course Amazon has it, but if
you google, you see a lot of these wonderful pictures,
and some of them I'd just like to talk about
a few that, you know, really stuck out in my mind,
this one very much. So oh here it is.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Olva was ninety two years old and I went to
it and assisted facility, living facility and asked permission to
take photographs and Eddie rate she was waiting to have dinner,
and I said, would you mind just spending you know,
a minute or two with me. I'd like to photograph
you and I'd like to interview you. Oh, she said,
I'd have nothing important to say, Miss Tennyson. I said, Elva,
(04:25):
come here, please just have a seat. And then I said,
so what do you think you can still remember, you know,
but it was wonderful. And she said, I can still
remember what it feels like.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
To love with all my heart. Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
And when she finished, she said, Miss Tennyson, will that do?
I was like, oh my god, just the stories in
this book because I did ask them if I could
interview them at the same time. And when I do
an interview, it's I planned to be over and done
in fifteen minutes because I feel like it's fresher that
way for me, and I'm looking for just something that
(05:01):
resonates with me as being really different.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Look at this one. Look at her. Isn't that an
amazing amazing Yes, everybody has to watch this on YouTube.
This interview on YouTube, Zell the Captain said.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Caplain said after her husband died in Florida. She said,
I always wanted to.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Move to New York.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
So I moved to New York and started my own,
you know, studio making clothing. Look at her, and she says,
I used to dance a lot, but unfortunately all my
partners did. Now I travel to remote villages around the
world where women weave their own cloth. I design all
my clothes and try to keep the integrity of the cloth.
(05:44):
This one makes me feel like I'm a mythic priest
who brings joy and love to the people around her.
I mean, oh, wait a second, I forgot something.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
She said to me. Do you know what that is,
Miss Tennyson? The ring?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
She said, it's a fertility ring. You never know these
days with modern science.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
You love that. I love it. I love it. I
love it. I love it. It's such a great book.
Joe Joyce, what tell me a little bit about because
your style is very unique and you have a you know,
it's very mystic feeling and dream like and visionary. How
did you come to your style of photography?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
It just, you know, I have always felt that what's
most universal is most deeply the person who's creating it,
and it is close to it. And I just feel
that I was very lucky that I was able to
tap into being intimate with people easily. I think it's
(06:48):
because I was one of four girls and we used
to just talk all the time, and you know, kind
of secret and stuff like that. So it's easy for
me to talk to people. And then I want to
know more or and the secrets and I can tell
mine and I'm jeezy.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Well at this I got.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
To photograph celebrities like the incredible.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Do you recognize her? I don't from where I'm sitting
because you're too far away.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
That is Gloria Steinem who was just.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Ninety wow, ninety Oh can you believe that? And I don't. Yes,
and going strong. It looks fabulous, going strong.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And you know what, she was such a role model
for me. And when I got a chance to a photographer,
it was a Sunday morning and she was in no
hurry to leave because she had missed an appointment. She
felt badly, so at any rate, we realized that we
the reason we connected so strongly is that both of
(07:58):
us were living out our mother's dreams. Her mother wanted
to be a traveling journalist like who like Gloria Steinham became,
And her mother could never do that because back then
she had three children, and Gloria decided not to have
(08:20):
children because she did not want the life that her
mother had. And she she really felt so strongly about
charting her own her own pathway the way her mother
never could. And my mother also, I think maybe she
was a brilliant woman, but because of the depression and
(08:42):
living in a poor family. Then she didn't she couldn't
go to college, and she couldn't become the person she
could have been in before she knew what She had
four kids in five years, you know, those Catholics back
then and teasing, But.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
I just felt that I needed to go for what
I knew I could do, and I just couldn't make
any excuses.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Amazing and and knew at the time, did you have
any I mean you you started in advertising, right, you
did a lot of No.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I started with in teaching art in art school, art school, okay,
and I was teaching a lot of uh portraiture and uh,
but not feeling the soul of people rather than to
doing anything that was uh you know, more.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Like commercial.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Although after I became successful as an artist, the magazines
wanted me and I got to travel around the world,
uh because I had a signature style and that's ultimately
what people want.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
And I got a.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Chance to see amazing whomen you all all nationalities like
cisly Tyson. She I mean, she's just was the most
amazing person that just spoke to me from such depths
and I'll never forget those moments. And look who we
have here Jane Goodall. Oh, yes, I tried to get
(10:21):
her to photograph and I was working with her, you know,
her booker, and he liked me, I liked him, but
we couldn't. She was just too overbooked.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And then finally.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
One day, during a snowstorm, he called me and he said, Joyce,
you know what you may be in luck.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
She's in town.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Jane Goodall cannot go anywhere, but if you can walk,
you know, I think only twelve or fifteen blocks in
the snowstorm, you can get her. She's in this hotel
and she said she'll do it. Wow, how I was
able to see her? Wow, all of these have these
wonderful stories, and oh gosh, this is so amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Look at Mimi widell.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Face.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Oh my gosh, isn't that just beautiful? Came to the studio.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
In the bowler hat and immediately I was finished photographing
her in five minutes because she was just so perfect,
and said, you know what, I would love to see
what you look like without that bowler hat. I bet
you're even more beautiful. And there's the kind of image
you had. Asked me about the ones that have a
(11:35):
more spiritual dimension, right, I just knew that she had
that and that the bowler cap image was really interesting,
but I thought I could do something more memorable, and.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
So this is and it is beautiful. Let's dive into
the documentary a little bit more because one of the
things we did talk about is, and you just mentioned it,
is getting in touch with the with your subject on
a spiritual level, their essence. How do you go about
doing that? And has there any ever been somebody who's
(12:10):
been very difficult that you haven't been able to connect
to that spiritual on that spiritual level and discover their essence.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Honestly, I won't let them leave the room until I've
done it, because that's what I'm here to do. And
the person that I had the most enchanted relationship was
early on helped me develop that, because this is.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Suzanne Beautiful doing a contortion. Believe it or not. I
met her and we were an immediate.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Like sisters, and later on I found out that we
think our grandfathers were born in the same small town
in Sweden.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Wow at any rate, so we had that connection somewhere,
and I guess when I met her all of that
opened up.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Beautiful. It's beautiful. One of the things I loved about
the beginning of this film when it opened up is that,
you know, it's just a shot of you alone, you know,
in the morning, and you talk about that you and
you have a choice of how you're going to live
your day. And I love that you talked about you know,
(13:27):
you have the choice of either you know, walking on
the path of fear and anxiety or the path of
creativity and love a new decide which path you're going
to be on. Where did that come from for you
to be able to start your day that way? How
did that happen for you? That's a good question.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I did take a lot of classes on in meditation
as I was going, especially after I got to I
moved to New York City. That's when I was in DC,
I wasn't really being accepted. It was they said it
was too female, and so I wasn't getting the shows
(14:07):
that I thought that I should be getting.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
And so I went to.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
New York and you know, I had no money, and
I had I got a little you know, sublet, and
I just decided that I was going to go for it,
and the doors opened and actually then this one I
didn't show you if Suzanne and the snake snake. Can
you see it? It's like a snake vertebrae.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
And so that's sort of like getting into the inner part.
It's like seeing your inner self. And uh, there's just
something about that snake skeleton being so present in her
her present lifeever right, that it is our spiritual essence.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Where did you get at that fortitude to know that
you know nothing was going to stop you? You know,
they were saying things were too female. I mean, you
know so many people give up, you know, and yet
you did not. And you, as you said, you didn't
have any money and moved from DC to New York.
Where did you get that inner fortitude to know that
(15:20):
what you were doing? Well, first of all, as you're
passionate about what you how you needed to express your
artistic self to the world. But where did you get
Where did that come from? Where did that inner energy?
That's a good question.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
I think it really came from having been deprived as
a child, because we were I came from a western
you know, which is a suburb of Boston where a
lot of Harvard and MIT families live, and the schools
were great, and I wanted to be the best in
(15:55):
my class, and so I was. And I wanted then
to get a scholarship go to France that the school
was offering. And my mother said, oh, why would you,
why would you even try? You know, who are you?
And I just said, oh, you know, and I went
upstairs and forged hers signature. So you know, I won't
(16:17):
I won't be put down. I don't care who it is.
But there's something inside of me after watching my mother,
who was such a beautiful, brilliant person, have to have
none of her dreams pretty much except for having nice children.
But she died early on of cancer, and I think
it's because she she made too many, too many compromises.
(16:42):
I just don't think that she was alive and spiritually anymore.
And I never wanted to see that happen again.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
That's the generation unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Well, they were wonderful people and they sacrificed for their children.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yes, yeah, let's talk about how did this documentary come about?
How didn't you decide to do a documentary?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
This is one of the funniest stories you can imagine.
All right, So, Randy Gatpard, who's a wonderful producer, director
and was of this film along with two other wonderful people.
But he took a class of mine because he was
moving into filmmaking. He'd been a successful businessman. And somebody
(17:28):
said to him, you know, if you're going to be
a documentary you know, filmmaker, you've got to take good portraits,
and do you know how to do that?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
He said no.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
The guy said you should take Joyce Tennyson's class, and.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
So he joined and we started.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
We had a great time, you know, a small class,
like maybe twelve people.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
And at the end of.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
The class, when everyone left the room, he said, Joyce,
would you do let me do a documentary on you?
And I said, you're kidding. He said, no, I had
so much fun with you in this class. All we
did it was laughing. The pictures turned out great. At
the end of the class, we came from nothing to
such a higher level. And I said, well, if you're
willing to take the chance, I'll do it. And that's
(18:12):
how the documentary happened.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Wow, And when you started the documentary it was going
one way after a one direction. And then during the
filming of the documentary, forty five year old secret was uncovered.
During the filming of this do you want to talk
a little bit about because it became the pivotal point
(18:35):
in this documentary. And it wasn't an intention to begin with.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Well, this was something that happened quite by accident, and
that was that my son Alex took a DNA test.
His wife had given him a gift for Christmas, and
it alerted him to the fact that he had other
brothers and a sister who lived in Washington, d c.
And he contacted them and it was true that they
(19:04):
were really his brothers, well to where this's and his sister.
And he was furious with me because I had never
told him. But what had happened is that I couldn't
have children or I had a lot of fertility you know,
workups when I was in my twenties, and it seemed
I couldn't have any and I was depressed about it,
(19:28):
of course, and I met this psychiatrist and we started
having an affair, and you know, in a couple of weeks,
I was pregnant and I was so shocked by it.
And he thought maybe I should have an abortion, and
I said, oh, oh no, And he said, but I
can't be involved, and he had a family. I said,
(19:49):
I no, it'd be great if. Actually I never we
didn't have anything else. You know, I'm not going to
ask for anything.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
This is my this is.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
A a great, a great yearning of mine, and here
it is, and I'll take over. And when I told
my husband what had happened, he just said, well, are
you in love with this man? And I said no.
And he said, and you know, do you want to
(20:22):
go further in this? And I said no, I'm just
going to have the baby. I'm going to take the
baby myself. And he said, well, I would like to
be a partner on that, because it's what we always wanted.
And he said, the only my only stipulation is that
I don't want you ever to tell anyone. I don't
want you to tell your sister. I don't want you
(20:43):
to tell your friends.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
And I didn't.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
And then finally, when the DNA test came out, I
had to tell the truth. And Alex was, you know,
understandably upset with me for some time because I had
I had not been able to tell him that. But
I think he luckily for me, he he realizes now
(21:09):
and is very thrilled, of course, because he has four grandchildren,
and even more thrilled that he has four grandchildren.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
That is wonderful. Yeah, beautiful family. Can you help me
can be a beautiful family? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
At anyway, Yeah, so that became.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
A big and we're gonna unfortunre are times running out,
but that became a big part of this film that
was unexpected. Isn't it interesting how things happened, you know?
And how beautiful that is to get that story out
too as part of this documentary.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Honestly, it came up when Randy and I are sitting
at my kitchen table and we had already started filming
and all of that, and then when that came out,
he said, oh my god, Joyce, this is like amazing.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Why didn't you tell me?
Speaker 2 (22:00):
And I said, well, I didn't tell anyone and it
just happened.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, Well it's and Alex is a beautiful.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
He's a wonderful person and he has a great family
and I'm so proud of him.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Well, it's a beautiful documentary. But it's going to be
on PBS this month of December. It's going to be
on PBS World, PBS YouTube, and PBS Passport streaming, so
you can find Unveiled the Heroine Journey on PBS. And
I really stick it out. There's beautiful. Joyce has shown
(22:35):
some and that's why everybody should be watching this on YouTube.
Some beautiful photographs, but there are so many in this
film and it's a spectacular, beautifully beautiful documentary. Joyce, So
thank you so much for being on the show. I
really appreciate it, and I look forward to seeing you
again soon next time you come out to Santa Barbara.
Absolutely well.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I look forward to seeing how you show this and
I I am so.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
So thrill that you thought of me. Thank you, Drayce.
I appreciate it. Thank you so much. To all of
my loyal listeners who would like to support the Jam
Price Show, now you can do that, and it's a
text free donation. You can go to Creative visions dot org.
That's Creative visions dot org and you can go to
the podcast section and find the Jam Price Show. By
(23:26):
supporting the Jam Price Show, you're also supporting other documentary
and independent filmmakers because a portion of the donation goes
to future documentary and independent filmmakers. So I hope you
all will support the Jam Price Show so I can
continue to give voice to independent and doct only. Thank
(23:47):
you all, Yes, thanks again, thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
The jam Rice Show All About Movies,
The jam Wright Show, All about Movies. You're listening to
The jam Price Show All about Movies, and today my
guest is world renowned photographer Joyce Hennison. Welcome to the show, Joyce,
jan It's a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
What can I say? What a way to spend a
rainy day on teasing you. Of course, I love being
with I love talking with other people who love the arts.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Thank you. I feel the same way. So I'm really
glad that we could do this today. You and I
met at the Illuminate Film Festival this past April, and
yours Barbara in Santa Barbara. Yes, the alt Stam Film
Festival in Santa Barbara. Beautiful Santa Barbara and documentary is unveiled,
A Heroine's Journey, and it premier premiered, but it was
(00:46):
shown at the Illuminate Film Festival and afterwards you and
I got to talk a little bit about the film
and I said to you, then I really want to
interview you once this has distributions. So we're so happy
that it's going to be on PBS.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I am so grateful to PBS for taking such an
interest in this film. They've been wonderful to work with.
Thank you PBS World and.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
It's the perfect place for your film to be on.
Actually it really is. I'm thrilled you should be. You
should be. Well, let's let's talk about your incredible career.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
First.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
You were a trailblazer when you decided to give into photography.
There were very I don't know if there were any women,
but very few at best, and you came and you
broke well everglass link feeling there might have been you brought.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I was always somebody who was going to go for
what I wanted and nothing would keep me back. So
I think what you're talking about. The first book is Insights.
Let me just show people the cover, and actually this
is a self portrait of me walking down a pathway
and it looks like it is a double self portrait.
(01:51):
I had my camera on a tripod and so but
this book, it is the first book of self portraits
by women ever done. And I didn't know this until
it came out in any art media, because I was
told by several historians that there was no Why wouldn't
there have been a book of self portraits by women
all these years? So I was thrilled that I just
(02:14):
decided to go ahead and do it, and I put
out an ad in I didn't know anybody back then.
I was, you know, like I was just teaching you
know it in art school, and I put out this.
We didn't have digital technology then, so I wrote some
letters to the magazines and said, anyone interested in, you know,
showing their self portraits, I'm doing a book. All of
(02:34):
a sudden, I got like a thousand submissions to me,
and I realized this is really something.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
That's this is its moment.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So I was able to edit those pictures and I
brought them to the publisher, David o'dean, who lived in Boston.
He loved it, but they were a little modest about
how many youself. It sold out in two weeks. Wow,
now it's sold close to a million copies.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So how many books have you done so far? Seven books? Amazing, amazing,
and they're all, you know, best seller. Every one of
your books has been a bestseller. And I really want
to I want to get into Wise Women because that's
one of your most popular books.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I will say that Wise Women, and I'll hold it
up here.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
For you all to see. Beautiful Boss one of my.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Very favorite books, and it was another series that came
to me because I felt all my relatives of a
certain age where had passed away, and I thought, I
have no idea what it's going to be like when
i'm older. Will people say that I'm over the hill.
That's what people used to say back then, And I'm like, no,
(03:38):
I'm never going to be over the hill, thank you.
But let's show some of these women. And I just
hope that you have a chance if you google this,
you know, if of course Amazon has it, but if
you google, you see a lot of these wonderful pictures,
and some of them I'd just like to talk about
a few that, you know, really stuck out in my mind,
this one very much. So oh here it is.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Olva was ninety two years old and I went to
it and assisted facility, living facility and asked permission to
take photographs and Eddie rate she was waiting to have dinner,
and I said, would you mind just spending you know,
a minute or two with me. I'd like to photograph
you and I'd like to interview you. Oh, she said,
I'd have nothing important to say, Miss Tennyson. I said, Elva,
(04:25):
come here, please just have a seat. And then I said,
so what do you think you can still remember, you know,
but it was wonderful. And she said, I can still
remember what it feels like.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
To love with all my heart. Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
And when she finished, she said, Miss Tennyson, will that do?
I was like, oh my god, just the stories in
this book because I did ask them if I could
interview them at the same time. And when I do
an interview, it's I planned to be over and done
in fifteen minutes because I feel like it's fresher that
way for me, and I'm looking for just something that
(05:01):
resonates with me as being really different.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Look at this one. Look at her. Isn't that an
amazing amazing Yes, everybody has to watch this on YouTube.
This interview on YouTube, Zell the Captain said.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Caplain said after her husband died in Florida. She said,
I always wanted to.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Move to New York.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
So I moved to New York and started my own,
you know, studio making clothing. Look at her, and she says,
I used to dance a lot, but unfortunately all my
partners did. Now I travel to remote villages around the
world where women weave their own cloth. I design all
my clothes and try to keep the integrity of the cloth.
(05:44):
This one makes me feel like I'm a mythic priest
who brings joy and love to the people around her.
I mean, oh, wait a second, I forgot something.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
She said to me. Do you know what that is,
Miss Tennyson? The ring?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
She said, it's a fertility ring. You never know these
days with modern science.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
You love that. I love it. I love it. I
love it. I love it. It's such a great book.
Joe Joyce, what tell me a little bit about because
your style is very unique and you have a you know,
it's very mystic feeling and dream like and visionary. How
did you come to your style of photography?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
It just, you know, I have always felt that what's
most universal is most deeply the person who's creating it,
and it is close to it. And I just feel
that I was very lucky that I was able to
tap into being intimate with people easily. I think it's
(06:48):
because I was one of four girls and we used
to just talk all the time, and you know, kind
of secret and stuff like that. So it's easy for
me to talk to people. And then I want to
know more or and the secrets and I can tell
mine and I'm jeezy.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Well at this I got.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
To photograph celebrities like the incredible.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Do you recognize her? I don't from where I'm sitting
because you're too far away.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
That is Gloria Steinem who was just.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Ninety wow, ninety Oh can you believe that? And I don't. Yes,
and going strong. It looks fabulous, going strong.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And you know what, she was such a role model
for me. And when I got a chance to a photographer,
it was a Sunday morning and she was in no
hurry to leave because she had missed an appointment. She
felt badly, so at any rate, we realized that we
the reason we connected so strongly is that both of
(07:58):
us were living out our mother's dreams. Her mother wanted
to be a traveling journalist like who like Gloria Steinham became,
And her mother could never do that because back then
she had three children, and Gloria decided not to have
(08:20):
children because she did not want the life that her
mother had. And she she really felt so strongly about
charting her own her own pathway the way her mother
never could. And my mother also, I think maybe she
was a brilliant woman, but because of the depression and
(08:42):
living in a poor family. Then she didn't she couldn't
go to college, and she couldn't become the person she
could have been in before she knew what She had
four kids in five years, you know, those Catholics back
then and teasing, But.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
I just felt that I needed to go for what
I knew I could do, and I just couldn't make
any excuses.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Amazing and and knew at the time, did you have
any I mean you you started in advertising, right, you
did a lot of No.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I started with in teaching art in art school, art school, okay,
and I was teaching a lot of uh portraiture and uh,
but not feeling the soul of people rather than to
doing anything that was uh you know, more.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Like commercial.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Although after I became successful as an artist, the magazines
wanted me and I got to travel around the world,
uh because I had a signature style and that's ultimately
what people want.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
And I got a.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Chance to see amazing whomen you all all nationalities like
cisly Tyson. She I mean, she's just was the most
amazing person that just spoke to me from such depths
and I'll never forget those moments. And look who we
have here Jane Goodall. Oh, yes, I tried to get
(10:21):
her to photograph and I was working with her, you know,
her booker, and he liked me, I liked him, but
we couldn't. She was just too overbooked.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And then finally.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
One day, during a snowstorm, he called me and he said, Joyce,
you know what you may be in luck.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
She's in town.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Jane Goodall cannot go anywhere, but if you can walk,
you know, I think only twelve or fifteen blocks in
the snowstorm, you can get her. She's in this hotel
and she said she'll do it. Wow, how I was
able to see her? Wow, all of these have these
wonderful stories, and oh gosh, this is so amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Look at Mimi widell.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Face.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Oh my gosh, isn't that just beautiful? Came to the studio.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
In the bowler hat and immediately I was finished photographing
her in five minutes because she was just so perfect,
and said, you know what, I would love to see
what you look like without that bowler hat. I bet
you're even more beautiful. And there's the kind of image
you had. Asked me about the ones that have a
(11:35):
more spiritual dimension, right, I just knew that she had
that and that the bowler cap image was really interesting,
but I thought I could do something more memorable, and.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
So this is and it is beautiful. Let's dive into
the documentary a little bit more because one of the
things we did talk about is, and you just mentioned it,
is getting in touch with the with your subject on
a spiritual level, their essence. How do you go about
doing that? And has there any ever been somebody who's
(12:10):
been very difficult that you haven't been able to connect
to that spiritual on that spiritual level and discover their essence.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Honestly, I won't let them leave the room until I've
done it, because that's what I'm here to do. And
the person that I had the most enchanted relationship was
early on helped me develop that, because this is.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Suzanne Beautiful doing a contortion. Believe it or not. I
met her and we were an immediate.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Like sisters, and later on I found out that we
think our grandfathers were born in the same small town
in Sweden.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Wow at any rate, so we had that connection somewhere,
and I guess when I met her all of that
opened up.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Beautiful. It's beautiful. One of the things I loved about
the beginning of this film when it opened up is that,
you know, it's just a shot of you alone, you know,
in the morning, and you talk about that you and
you have a choice of how you're going to live
your day. And I love that you talked about you know,
(13:27):
you have the choice of either you know, walking on
the path of fear and anxiety or the path of
creativity and love a new decide which path you're going
to be on. Where did that come from for you
to be able to start your day that way? How
did that happen for you? That's a good question.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
I did take a lot of classes on in meditation
as I was going, especially after I got to I
moved to New York City. That's when I was in DC,
I wasn't really being accepted. It was they said it
was too female, and so I wasn't getting the shows
(14:07):
that I thought that I should be getting.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
And so I went to.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
New York and you know, I had no money, and
I had I got a little you know, sublet, and
I just decided that I was going to go for it,
and the doors opened and actually then this one I
didn't show you if Suzanne and the snake snake. Can
you see it? It's like a snake vertebrae.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
And so that's sort of like getting into the inner part.
It's like seeing your inner self. And uh, there's just
something about that snake skeleton being so present in her
her present lifeever right, that it is our spiritual essence.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Where did you get at that fortitude to know that
you know nothing was going to stop you? You know,
they were saying things were too female. I mean, you
know so many people give up, you know, and yet
you did not. And you, as you said, you didn't
have any money and moved from DC to New York.
Where did you get that inner fortitude to know that
(15:20):
what you were doing? Well, first of all, as you're
passionate about what you how you needed to express your
artistic self to the world. But where did you get
Where did that come from? Where did that inner energy?
That's a good question.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
I think it really came from having been deprived as
a child, because we were I came from a western
you know, which is a suburb of Boston where a
lot of Harvard and MIT families live, and the schools
were great, and I wanted to be the best in
(15:55):
my class, and so I was. And I wanted then
to get a scholarship go to France that the school
was offering. And my mother said, oh, why would you,
why would you even try? You know, who are you?
And I just said, oh, you know, and I went
upstairs and forged hers signature. So you know, I won't
(16:17):
I won't be put down. I don't care who it is.
But there's something inside of me after watching my mother,
who was such a beautiful, brilliant person, have to have
none of her dreams pretty much except for having nice children.
But she died early on of cancer, and I think
it's because she she made too many, too many compromises.
(16:42):
I just don't think that she was alive and spiritually anymore.
And I never wanted to see that happen again.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
That's the generation unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Well, they were wonderful people and they sacrificed for their children.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Yes, yeah, let's talk about how did this documentary come about?
How didn't you decide to do a documentary?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
This is one of the funniest stories you can imagine.
All right, So, Randy Gatpard, who's a wonderful producer, director
and was of this film along with two other wonderful people.
But he took a class of mine because he was
moving into filmmaking. He'd been a successful businessman. And somebody
(17:28):
said to him, you know, if you're going to be
a documentary you know, filmmaker, you've got to take good portraits,
and do you know how to do that?
Speaker 1 (17:36):
He said no.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
The guy said you should take Joyce Tennyson's class, and.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
So he joined and we started.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
We had a great time, you know, a small class,
like maybe twelve people.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
And at the end of.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
The class, when everyone left the room, he said, Joyce,
would you do let me do a documentary on you?
And I said, you're kidding. He said, no, I had
so much fun with you in this class. All we
did it was laughing. The pictures turned out great. At
the end of the class, we came from nothing to
such a higher level. And I said, well, if you're
willing to take the chance, I'll do it. And that's
(18:12):
how the documentary happened.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Wow, And when you started the documentary it was going
one way after a one direction. And then during the
filming of the documentary, forty five year old secret was uncovered.
During the filming of this do you want to talk
a little bit about because it became the pivotal point
(18:35):
in this documentary. And it wasn't an intention to begin with.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Well, this was something that happened quite by accident, and
that was that my son Alex took a DNA test.
His wife had given him a gift for Christmas, and
it alerted him to the fact that he had other
brothers and a sister who lived in Washington, d c.
And he contacted them and it was true that they
(19:04):
were really his brothers, well to where this's and his sister.
And he was furious with me because I had never
told him. But what had happened is that I couldn't
have children or I had a lot of fertility you know,
workups when I was in my twenties, and it seemed
I couldn't have any and I was depressed about it,
(19:28):
of course, and I met this psychiatrist and we started
having an affair, and you know, in a couple of weeks,
I was pregnant and I was so shocked by it.
And he thought maybe I should have an abortion, and
I said, oh, oh no, And he said, but I
can't be involved, and he had a family. I said,
(19:49):
I no, it'd be great if. Actually I never we
didn't have anything else. You know, I'm not going to
ask for anything.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
This is my this is.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
A a great, a great yearning of mine, and here
it is, and I'll take over. And when I told
my husband what had happened, he just said, well, are
you in love with this man? And I said no.
And he said, and you know, do you want to
(20:22):
go further in this? And I said no, I'm just
going to have the baby. I'm going to take the
baby myself. And he said, well, I would like to
be a partner on that, because it's what we always wanted.
And he said, the only my only stipulation is that
I don't want you ever to tell anyone. I don't
want you to tell your sister. I don't want you
(20:43):
to tell your friends.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
And I didn't.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
And then finally, when the DNA test came out, I
had to tell the truth. And Alex was, you know,
understandably upset with me for some time because I had
I had not been able to tell him that. But
I think he luckily for me, he he realizes now
(21:09):
and is very thrilled, of course, because he has four grandchildren,
and even more thrilled that he has four grandchildren.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
That is wonderful. Yeah, beautiful family. Can you help me
can be a beautiful family? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
At anyway, Yeah, so that became.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
A big and we're gonna unfortunre are times running out,
but that became a big part of this film that
was unexpected. Isn't it interesting how things happened, you know?
And how beautiful that is to get that story out
too as part of this documentary.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Honestly, it came up when Randy and I are sitting
at my kitchen table and we had already started filming
and all of that, and then when that came out,
he said, oh my god, Joyce, this is like amazing.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Why didn't you tell me?
Speaker 2 (22:00):
And I said, well, I didn't tell anyone and it
just happened.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, Well it's and Alex is a beautiful.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
He's a wonderful person and he has a great family
and I'm so proud of him.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Well, it's a beautiful documentary. But it's going to be
on PBS this month of December. It's going to be
on PBS World, PBS YouTube, and PBS Passport streaming, so
you can find Unveiled the Heroine Journey on PBS. And
I really stick it out. There's beautiful. Joyce has shown
(22:35):
some and that's why everybody should be watching this on YouTube.
Some beautiful photographs, but there are so many in this
film and it's a spectacular, beautifully beautiful documentary. Joyce, So
thank you so much for being on the show. I
really appreciate it, and I look forward to seeing you
again soon next time you come out to Santa Barbara.
Absolutely well.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I look forward to seeing how you show this and
I I am so.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
So thrill that you thought of me. Thank you, Drayce.
I appreciate it. Thank you so much. To all of
my loyal listeners who would like to support the Jam
Price Show, now you can do that, and it's a
text free donation. You can go to Creative visions dot org.
That's Creative visions dot org and you can go to
the podcast section and find the Jam Price Show. By
(23:26):
supporting the Jam Price Show, you're also supporting other documentary
and independent filmmakers because a portion of the donation goes
to future documentary and independent filmmakers. So I hope you
all will support the Jam Price Show so I can
continue to give voice to independent and doct only. Thank
(23:47):
you all, Yes, thanks again, thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
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