Jim Goldberg on reflection and reinvention
Two decades after his groundbreaking series Raised by Wolves, Jim Goldberg's new book Fingerprint looks back on his time in which he documented California's forgotten youth with a collection of previously unseen Polaroids. Here the photographer discusses what he has learned
Jim Goldberg forged a career shedding light on people who exist on the fringes. For the past 40 years, the American photographer has used his experimental approach – which typically combines documentary images with handwritten scribbles – to tell the stories of people who are otherwise treated as invisible by mainstream society.
Goldberg's first adventure in photography was more of a happy coincidence than a conscious career choice when he decided in the early 1970s to take a course in it alongside his theology studies. After being encouraged by his teacher, he decided to run it full time and had started one of his most famous series, Rich and Poor, as early as 1977. Filmed over seven years, the series contrasted portraits of the richest residents of the San Francisco Bay Area with the poorest. It was the first project to include the photographer's hand-drawn commentary.
All pictures: Untitled Polaroid by Raised by Wolves © Jim Goldberg