CREEPY PREACHIN' ON THE SANTA MONICA PIER
© Jamie Goodsell
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
PHOTOGRAPHY INTERVIEW • VANESSA MARSH
by Jamie Goodsell
All images © Vanessa Marsh
website • www.vanessamarshfineart.com
Remember art class? It gave us a chance to use that wonderful right side of our brain and forget about how lackluster the rest of high school was. Having an artistic outlet early on (whether it be music, painting, ceramics, sketching, or photography) is really important, and I think holds a lot more value than society gives credit. It's easy to forget about our imaginations and fall into the daily grind. My wish is that this interview will inspire you to take some time out of your day to do something creative. It could be as simple as writing a letter to someone, or just getting outside and exploring a little bit. Think back on your experiences in art class and try to make a solid effort in the new year to be creative and to bring more uniqueness and individuality back into the world. I lucked out beyond my wildest dreams and found a photographer who sums up all of these ideals within her work. Vanessa Marsh describes it as, "Exploring the intersection of man made, natural and cosmological power through mixed media process based in photography." How could you not want to know more?
Give me a brief history on Vanessa Marsh.
I have always been pretty creative, my mom is a painter who had a stenciling business -what would now be called decorative painting - and as a kid I would go around to these houses and watch her do different projects. I spent a lot of time in a creative environment as a kid. When I was around eight, my mom went back to school for graphic design (and this was in the '80s), so all of her graphic design work was done by hand...it wasn't on computers yet. So I was exposed to all of these graphic design techniques that now don't even exist, and I actually think a lot of my aesthetic comes from that period of my life. I started doing photography my sophomore year of high school and really latched onto it. It's funny in a way, because it was the one form of art that my mom didn't do. I wanted to be creative but for me that was a way of being creative that was totally my own.
Do you remember the first time you started taking photographs?
I was involved with a leadership program through a summer camp that I did and in the winter they had this teen leadership program. Once a week, I took the bus from the east side of Seattle into the city by myself (I was like fifteen or something). I would have about two hours in downtown Seattle before the meeting would start, so I would walk around with my camera and take pictures. That was the first memory I have from taking photos.
How do you think your education shapes your work now?
I actually have a mixed media degree, so I did a lot of different things like sculpture, photography, film making, and a lot of textiles in undergrad. I kind of took every art class I could take and I think it was very beneficial to me because now I have this well of knowledge in many different things that I can pull from for any project I want to do.
What kind of impact did grad school have on you?
After undergrad, I didn't feel focused and felt kind of all over the place. It felt like the beginning of something good but I couldn't feel out which direction I wanted to go in yet. Grad school can really help you coalesce and make things work together. For me at least it was very useful and helpful.
What part do miniatures play in your images?
For me, they're an easy way to create a sense of other worldliness. Usually with people, there's no question of whether or not it's real. I like that there's a question of reality with the miniatures…you know sometimes you can tell, sometimes you can't and it helps to invoke that dreamlike quality for the viewer. It allows people to put their own stories on the images in a different way. The process of me being alone in a field with a piece of plexiglass with tiny figures glued to it is so different from being on location with real people, it's a whole different thing.
Tell me about Always Close But Never Touching…what does the title mean and what can you tell me about that series as a whole?
I haven't thought about the title for a long time and it actually came before the work. It was right after a really traumatic breakup for me and for quite a while afterwards I found myself walking around with this feeling that I couldn't connect with people you know? So this phrase, "always close but never touching" came into my head and I felt like I was almost making connections with people but then it wouldn't happen. It was the first idea that came into my head and for whatever reason provoked me to start working in my studio again (which I hadn't been doing), to kind of try and get this emotion or this feeling I was having out, like maybe subconsciously making the work was an attempt for me to connect again with people. I think the series spans so many years of my life that it kind of changes in meaning in many ways. A lot of the earlier stuff was really about being alone and lonely. Now when I continue to work on images they're less about that. At the end of the day - as far as my artist statement is concerned - they were about memory and dream, which are reoccurring themes throughout all of it. Also the idea of layering different landscapes together to create what looks like a real landscape. I think you could even say that about False Horizons, taking different components and bringing them together to create what looks like one world.
What kind of components are involved in that series?
False Horizons are actually Super 8 film stills that I shot with a medium format camera. For instance with Commuters, I purposely lined up little figures glued on plexiglass so they looked like they were waiting for a train or something. I would drive pretty far out into the country and I would hold up this piece of plexiglass against a landscape and film it with my camera. So when I got back to the studio I would go through the film and find the exact moment when it all lined up. The black border is literally the wall where I was projecting the film still.
What was your process for Everywhere All At Once and how did it come to fruition?
It's like a big circle. Essentially I start with reference images, so I'm always taking photographs with my iPhone of things that I see around that are interesting. A lot of times what I think is interesting are ugly things like telephone poles, cell phone towers, and things like that in the landscape. I look at all of these images and then I decide what I want to make drawings of. From there I take those images and make drawings from them on clear mylar. Sometimes I'll layer those drawings and juxtapose different landscapes with each other and then I take those drawings in the darkroom and make a photogram with the drawings. So I lay the drawings on top of photo paper and expose it to light under an enlarger. When there's the atmospheric perspective in the images it's because there's more than one layer of drawings and I take them off as I expose it so they get exposed in different intervals. So from there I get a negative and then I scan in that negative. In Photoshop I then invert it into a positive and then print the digital image from there.
What led you to this process?
It's funny because I was teaching an alternative photography class and we were going to do photograms, so I checked out this really old book from the '60s on making photograms. There was one section on making landscapes with photograms in it and I was really interested in trying to recreate that with the students. On a total whim I grabbed some of my miniatures as I was heading out for class, so when I set it up and made the image I just had a moment. The students were all kind of wide-eyed and thought it was beautiful and I was like, "Forget what I just showed you how to do!" From there I just became obsessed with experimenting with it and made a whole body of work called Constellation utilizing the models really heavily and then I wanted to try and change the perspective of the images so I started to do these other drawings which became Everywhere All At Once that were more like looking up as opposed to looking across the landscape.
Do you go by the title of fine art photographer when people ask you?
I just recently decided to consider myself a process based artist instead of calling myself a photographer. The photography is certainly the end product and definitely apart of it but there is so much more to it.
Is there a common thread holding your entire body of work together?
The idea of other worlds being created from other worlds is the ongoing theme from the beginning. Within that, the idea of dreams and imagination and the way all of those things play together. Those are things that come back to me all of the time and lately I've noticed it's been really important to me to create a contemplative nature in the work; something that makes people kind of turn inward a little bit and think about themselves in a way.
The other day my dad called me up and he was all excited. He was saying that he was looking at a landscape in a different way and he could tell that it was from looking at my photographs. It was such a huge compliment that he would say that. The way that he was experiencing the landscape and the world around him changed from looking at my images. That's ultimately the goal I guess in a lot of ways, to have that kind of affect on people.
How did you go about getting your work accepted into galleries?
First of all, I think taking a class is super important if you have the opportunity to take a professional development class. That is really key even if it seems boring and you don't get to make work in it, it will really help you in the long run. On that note, there is a book that I really found valuable that I still use from my class in undergrad called The Practical Handbook for the Emerging Artist by Margaret Lazzari. It really details specifically how to set your resumé up, how to approach galleries, how to do a website, it's just plain language and easy to understand.
On that note, I kind of thought about my career and how it started, and how I started to work on my resumé. In the beginning, it was a group of friends and I who got together and decided to start doing shows (that we would always put ourselves in). Luckily at the time my school wasn't uptight, so we ended up taking over the student gallery and started curating shows. By the time I applied to grad school I had this list of things that I had done. I think what that shows is that you're motivated and you're really interested in what you're doing. I think that's what they're looking for...people who are not just talented, but are really going to take advantage of this experience.
What goes into the process of putting a show together?
The very first thing I do is make a timeline, so I print out a calendar (I need to hand write things) so that I can lay out the really important dates. I start when the show opens and then work backwards. So the show opens on this date and I need to deliver the work to them a week before that, then when do I need to have it to the framers, and then everything starts to get filled in from there. From that point, the decisions are like, how many images do I need to make for the space, how many images do I need to be making each week to get everything done, how many days in the studio do I need to schedule in etc. I just look at the big picture and kind of whittle it down from there until I'm back at the present moment.
Can you talk about your experience from being involved with multiple galleries?
I worked at galleries for a number of years after grad school, so I probably tend to be more careful than most people are because I had all of that experience. I think that my main piece of advice is if you have a relationship with a gallery, once you have a relationship with a them, be very respectful of that relationship. You don't want to sell something out of your studio and then have your gallery find out about it later so you lose your gallery representation over something stupid.
What are some ways to get your work shown in a gallery?
That's kind of the question of our career path right? I think it's really important to be present. Just showing up and introducing yourself, being confident, networking, and talking to people is really important. You want to show your work (especially when you're starting out) as much as you can and be telling people that you're showing your work as much as you can. Even in grad school I was not adverse at all to showing my work in cafés and just trying to have the show be about who I invited to the opening. I hate to say it but it's kind of a crap shoot. You have to have persistence and you have to be talented as well.
Could you tell us some more do-nots when dealing with galleries?
It kind of depends, some galleries get really annoyed if you send a packet, they'll just throw it straight in the trash. I've also worked at galleries where they've looked at every single packet that comes in. It's hard to know who's doing what, so I would say just try not to be annoying. Don't be too persistent and know when to leave it alone, but also follow up when people ask you to follow up. Don't lose hope because someone says no and tells you to follow up. I've totally gotten shows with people three or four years later who told me to follow up after sending a packet.
Do people still send packets?
I think packets are falling out of favor to some extent, so like an email with attachments to your website is what people are doing more of now.
"I THINK BEING CREATIVE HELPS YOU UNDERSTAND YOURSELF AND YOUR ROLE IN THE WORLD A BIT BETTER"
Give me a brief history on Vanessa Marsh.
I have always been pretty creative, my mom is a painter who had a stenciling business -what would now be called decorative painting - and as a kid I would go around to these houses and watch her do different projects. I spent a lot of time in a creative environment as a kid. When I was around eight, my mom went back to school for graphic design (and this was in the '80s), so all of her graphic design work was done by hand...it wasn't on computers yet. So I was exposed to all of these graphic design techniques that now don't even exist, and I actually think a lot of my aesthetic comes from that period of my life. I started doing photography my sophomore year of high school and really latched onto it. It's funny in a way, because it was the one form of art that my mom didn't do. I wanted to be creative but for me that was a way of being creative that was totally my own.
Do you remember the first time you started taking photographs?
I was involved with a leadership program through a summer camp that I did and in the winter they had this teen leadership program. Once a week, I took the bus from the east side of Seattle into the city by myself (I was like fifteen or something). I would have about two hours in downtown Seattle before the meeting would start, so I would walk around with my camera and take pictures. That was the first memory I have from taking photos.
How do you think your education shapes your work now?
I actually have a mixed media degree, so I did a lot of different things like sculpture, photography, film making, and a lot of textiles in undergrad. I kind of took every art class I could take and I think it was very beneficial to me because now I have this well of knowledge in many different things that I can pull from for any project I want to do.
What kind of impact did grad school have on you?
After undergrad, I didn't feel focused and felt kind of all over the place. It felt like the beginning of something good but I couldn't feel out which direction I wanted to go in yet. Grad school can really help you coalesce and make things work together. For me at least it was very useful and helpful.
What part do miniatures play in your images?
For me, they're an easy way to create a sense of other worldliness. Usually with people, there's no question of whether or not it's real. I like that there's a question of reality with the miniatures…you know sometimes you can tell, sometimes you can't and it helps to invoke that dreamlike quality for the viewer. It allows people to put their own stories on the images in a different way. The process of me being alone in a field with a piece of plexiglass with tiny figures glued to it is so different from being on location with real people, it's a whole different thing.
Tell me about Always Close But Never Touching…what does the title mean and what can you tell me about that series as a whole?
I haven't thought about the title for a long time and it actually came before the work. It was right after a really traumatic breakup for me and for quite a while afterwards I found myself walking around with this feeling that I couldn't connect with people you know? So this phrase, "always close but never touching" came into my head and I felt like I was almost making connections with people but then it wouldn't happen. It was the first idea that came into my head and for whatever reason provoked me to start working in my studio again (which I hadn't been doing), to kind of try and get this emotion or this feeling I was having out, like maybe subconsciously making the work was an attempt for me to connect again with people. I think the series spans so many years of my life that it kind of changes in meaning in many ways. A lot of the earlier stuff was really about being alone and lonely. Now when I continue to work on images they're less about that. At the end of the day - as far as my artist statement is concerned - they were about memory and dream, which are reoccurring themes throughout all of it. Also the idea of layering different landscapes together to create what looks like a real landscape. I think you could even say that about False Horizons, taking different components and bringing them together to create what looks like one world.
What kind of components are involved in that series?
False Horizons are actually Super 8 film stills that I shot with a medium format camera. For instance with Commuters, I purposely lined up little figures glued on plexiglass so they looked like they were waiting for a train or something. I would drive pretty far out into the country and I would hold up this piece of plexiglass against a landscape and film it with my camera. So when I got back to the studio I would go through the film and find the exact moment when it all lined up. The black border is literally the wall where I was projecting the film still.
What was your process for Everywhere All At Once and how did it come to fruition?
It's like a big circle. Essentially I start with reference images, so I'm always taking photographs with my iPhone of things that I see around that are interesting. A lot of times what I think is interesting are ugly things like telephone poles, cell phone towers, and things like that in the landscape. I look at all of these images and then I decide what I want to make drawings of. From there I take those images and make drawings from them on clear mylar. Sometimes I'll layer those drawings and juxtapose different landscapes with each other and then I take those drawings in the darkroom and make a photogram with the drawings. So I lay the drawings on top of photo paper and expose it to light under an enlarger. When there's the atmospheric perspective in the images it's because there's more than one layer of drawings and I take them off as I expose it so they get exposed in different intervals. So from there I get a negative and then I scan in that negative. In Photoshop I then invert it into a positive and then print the digital image from there.
What led you to this process?
It's funny because I was teaching an alternative photography class and we were going to do photograms, so I checked out this really old book from the '60s on making photograms. There was one section on making landscapes with photograms in it and I was really interested in trying to recreate that with the students. On a total whim I grabbed some of my miniatures as I was heading out for class, so when I set it up and made the image I just had a moment. The students were all kind of wide-eyed and thought it was beautiful and I was like, "Forget what I just showed you how to do!" From there I just became obsessed with experimenting with it and made a whole body of work called Constellation utilizing the models really heavily and then I wanted to try and change the perspective of the images so I started to do these other drawings which became Everywhere All At Once that were more like looking up as opposed to looking across the landscape.
I just recently decided to consider myself a process based artist instead of calling myself a photographer. The photography is certainly the end product and definitely apart of it but there is so much more to it.
"THE WAY THAT HE WAS EXPERIENCING THE LANDSCAPE AND THE WORLD AROUND HIM CHANGED FROM LOOKING AT MY IMAGES"
The idea of other worlds being created from other worlds is the ongoing theme from the beginning. Within that, the idea of dreams and imagination and the way all of those things play together. Those are things that come back to me all of the time and lately I've noticed it's been really important to me to create a contemplative nature in the work; something that makes people kind of turn inward a little bit and think about themselves in a way.
The other day my dad called me up and he was all excited. He was saying that he was looking at a landscape in a different way and he could tell that it was from looking at my photographs. It was such a huge compliment that he would say that. The way that he was experiencing the landscape and the world around him changed from looking at my images. That's ultimately the goal I guess in a lot of ways, to have that kind of affect on people.
How did you go about getting your work accepted into galleries?
First of all, I think taking a class is super important if you have the opportunity to take a professional development class. That is really key even if it seems boring and you don't get to make work in it, it will really help you in the long run. On that note, there is a book that I really found valuable that I still use from my class in undergrad called The Practical Handbook for the Emerging Artist by Margaret Lazzari. It really details specifically how to set your resumé up, how to approach galleries, how to do a website, it's just plain language and easy to understand.
On that note, I kind of thought about my career and how it started, and how I started to work on my resumé. In the beginning, it was a group of friends and I who got together and decided to start doing shows (that we would always put ourselves in). Luckily at the time my school wasn't uptight, so we ended up taking over the student gallery and started curating shows. By the time I applied to grad school I had this list of things that I had done. I think what that shows is that you're motivated and you're really interested in what you're doing. I think that's what they're looking for...people who are not just talented, but are really going to take advantage of this experience.
What goes into the process of putting a show together?
The very first thing I do is make a timeline, so I print out a calendar (I need to hand write things) so that I can lay out the really important dates. I start when the show opens and then work backwards. So the show opens on this date and I need to deliver the work to them a week before that, then when do I need to have it to the framers, and then everything starts to get filled in from there. From that point, the decisions are like, how many images do I need to make for the space, how many images do I need to be making each week to get everything done, how many days in the studio do I need to schedule in etc. I just look at the big picture and kind of whittle it down from there until I'm back at the present moment.
Can you talk about your experience from being involved with multiple galleries?
I worked at galleries for a number of years after grad school, so I probably tend to be more careful than most people are because I had all of that experience. I think that my main piece of advice is if you have a relationship with a gallery, once you have a relationship with a them, be very respectful of that relationship. You don't want to sell something out of your studio and then have your gallery find out about it later so you lose your gallery representation over something stupid.
What are some ways to get your work shown in a gallery?
That's kind of the question of our career path right? I think it's really important to be present. Just showing up and introducing yourself, being confident, networking, and talking to people is really important. You want to show your work (especially when you're starting out) as much as you can and be telling people that you're showing your work as much as you can. Even in grad school I was not adverse at all to showing my work in cafés and just trying to have the show be about who I invited to the opening. I hate to say it but it's kind of a crap shoot. You have to have persistence and you have to be talented as well.
Could you tell us some more do-nots when dealing with galleries?
It kind of depends, some galleries get really annoyed if you send a packet, they'll just throw it straight in the trash. I've also worked at galleries where they've looked at every single packet that comes in. It's hard to know who's doing what, so I would say just try not to be annoying. Don't be too persistent and know when to leave it alone, but also follow up when people ask you to follow up. Don't lose hope because someone says no and tells you to follow up. I've totally gotten shows with people three or four years later who told me to follow up after sending a packet.
Do people still send packets?
I think packets are falling out of favor to some extent, so like an email with attachments to your website is what people are doing more of now.
Do you ever feel a lot of pressure being a fine artist?
I used to feel a lot more than I do now. Now I feel like I've gotten into a rhythm more with my practice. I can go like four months without working in the studio and then I go back in and I'm really productive. So I know that those periods happen and I've gotten less and less uptight about them as I get older. Now I let it be way more organic, if I want to be in my studio, I'm in my studio…it's not a set of rules or that I have to work a certain amount.
Do you grow special relationships with your miniatures?
I kind of do…there are a couple that remind me of people and tend to stick out but not really. They're part of the process and the way I have to glue them to the plexiglass (which means I can't be precious with them) and they're pretty delicate. In other words I can't become really attached because they break really easily. I also have thousands of them, so…I will say that the ones I built myself are more precious for me.
What does the word creative mean to you?
In a lot of ways, it's just open-mindedness and being able to look at something and see all kinds of possibilities.
Can you tell me about some of your proudest moments so far?
The first thing that comes into my head is graduate school. I'm proud of getting into grad school, not even completing, it just getting in. In 2007 I went to MacDowell for five weeks and was very proud of being accepted there. Overall, I'm just proud of the fact that I continue to make work all of the time. It's a combination of pride and stupidity maybe that I continue to push forward and try to make this my career and try to make this what my life is.
How can more people be creative and find time more for it?
Well…some people aren't creative. Not everybody needs to be creative everyday, but I think it just depends on how you're creative. Ultimately the answer to 'how do you find time for things, at least for me is to not watch as much television (as depressing as that is) it's giving yourself the space for it too. If it's really important for someone to start writing for example, you can't not change your lifestyle and start writing. You have to decide, "Monday morning, I'm going to go to the coffee shop and write." I think creativity is something that has to be fostered, - you have to actively make time for it and work on it and feed it.
What benefits do you think would come to a person from not watching so much television and being more creative?
It would certainly help them know themselves better. It would help you understand your own emotions and your own reactions. In general, I think being creative helps you understand yourself and your role in the world a bit better.
What kind of music are you into right now?
This is off the top of my head so it is sort of a strange mixture of music, but here are some favorites: Arcade Fire, Paul Simon, Broken Social Scene, Radiohead, Bon Iver, The Dodos, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, older Modest Mouse, Bob Marley, Charlie Parker, Elliott Smith, Badly Drawn Boy, to name a few. Sometimes I listen to Ravi Shankar or classical music in the studio.
I used to feel a lot more than I do now. Now I feel like I've gotten into a rhythm more with my practice. I can go like four months without working in the studio and then I go back in and I'm really productive. So I know that those periods happen and I've gotten less and less uptight about them as I get older. Now I let it be way more organic, if I want to be in my studio, I'm in my studio…it's not a set of rules or that I have to work a certain amount.
Do you grow special relationships with your miniatures?
I kind of do…there are a couple that remind me of people and tend to stick out but not really. They're part of the process and the way I have to glue them to the plexiglass (which means I can't be precious with them) and they're pretty delicate. In other words I can't become really attached because they break really easily. I also have thousands of them, so…I will say that the ones I built myself are more precious for me.
What does the word creative mean to you?
In a lot of ways, it's just open-mindedness and being able to look at something and see all kinds of possibilities.
Can you tell me about some of your proudest moments so far?
The first thing that comes into my head is graduate school. I'm proud of getting into grad school, not even completing, it just getting in. In 2007 I went to MacDowell for five weeks and was very proud of being accepted there. Overall, I'm just proud of the fact that I continue to make work all of the time. It's a combination of pride and stupidity maybe that I continue to push forward and try to make this my career and try to make this what my life is.
How can more people be creative and find time more for it?
Well…some people aren't creative. Not everybody needs to be creative everyday, but I think it just depends on how you're creative. Ultimately the answer to 'how do you find time for things, at least for me is to not watch as much television (as depressing as that is) it's giving yourself the space for it too. If it's really important for someone to start writing for example, you can't not change your lifestyle and start writing. You have to decide, "Monday morning, I'm going to go to the coffee shop and write." I think creativity is something that has to be fostered, - you have to actively make time for it and work on it and feed it.
What benefits do you think would come to a person from not watching so much television and being more creative?
It would certainly help them know themselves better. It would help you understand your own emotions and your own reactions. In general, I think being creative helps you understand yourself and your role in the world a bit better.
What kind of music are you into right now?
This is off the top of my head so it is sort of a strange mixture of music, but here are some favorites: Arcade Fire, Paul Simon, Broken Social Scene, Radiohead, Bon Iver, The Dodos, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, older Modest Mouse, Bob Marley, Charlie Parker, Elliott Smith, Badly Drawn Boy, to name a few. Sometimes I listen to Ravi Shankar or classical music in the studio.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
WOODY GUTHRIE • NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
If you're struggling with ideas for New Year's resolutions, here are a few Woody Guthrie jotted down when he was 31 years old. (sourced from www.businessinsider.com).
Monday, December 23, 2013
PHOTOGRAPHY INTERVIEW • JO MCCAUGHEY
by Jamie Goodsell
All images © Jo McCaughey
There's more to taking a picture than just pushing a button. The great photographers have the ability to slow down the world around them. They have the
foresight to know when to capture, the creativity to see something inspiring
and freeze it forever. Where does this ability come from you ask? Well my dear friends,
it comes from the heart. There is such an obvious distinction between a
photographer who is forcing their work and one who is truly expressing it from within. Not everyone possesses this internal magic and grace, it takes a
person who is as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. Jo McCaughey is one of those people and her photographs never fail to reflect that.
"THERE IS NOTHING MORE ENERGIZING OR BEAUTIFUL THAN PHOTOGRAPHING A PURE TALENT."
My first impression of you, was your ability to maneuver through a crowd without making anyone angry. Getting to know you, you're such a cheerful person. What keeps you so happy?
When I'm working I'm happy, I'm comfortable in that realm. I'm comfortable if I have my camera in my hands. I'm quite a shy person and I suppose it is a comfort and a weapon to me. I can view whatever is going on in my own way and take from it what I want.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in northern England in a small town called York in North Yorkshire. My family would be considered (the American term would be) very blue collar, factory workers. I grew up in a household where there wasn't much art or culture around me at all. I would get to choose what I did on my birthday and I would always choose to go to the cinema. So I would get to see one movie a year guaranteed and that was my biggest treat.
What was one of the first films that you remember being in awe of?
The original King Kong is probably one of my earliest movie memories that I watched probably way too early in my life. It's never left my psyche ever.
So you didn't grow up in very artistic surroundings, what influenced you to start taking pictures?
There are very few pictures of me as a child in existence, there's very few. Even as a child I had this obsession with documenting my childhood or whenever I could be old enough. I think it was maybe when I was around ten, I just wanted a camera. I saved up some tokens from a cereal box and got this camera from Rice Crispies and it was this plastic little thing that took 35mm film. It was terrible, but it was my first camera. Every school trip I would go on I would take this thing and shoot my friends. I think I was making up for the lack of documentation in my childhood. In my teen years I constantly documented my existence and my friends lives.
When did you realize that being a photographer was something you could do as a profession?
When I realized that it was something I could study was more important first. My upbringing didn't make me think that you could actually study any kind of form of creating or art as an education. Not even as a career, as an education and it was never given to me that it was an option. I went to what is called college in the UK. It's the equivalent of high school in the United States. It's before what you would call college in America and those two years you get to choose certain topics that you like. I really didn't know what I wanted to do, so I just did what they advised me to do. Only when I was walking around this new school, I got lost one day and went down to the basement and they had a darkroom down there! I had no idea what it was and the teacher was like, "Well you can study photography here." I wanted to change my whole agenda there but I couldn't. But even at that time, finding out that people studied this was incredible. I was so sheltered my entire childhood, it blew my mind that people thought photography was 1.Art and 2.That there could be some existence of living from it.
So did you end up studying it?
I decided to move to London when I was nineteen. I got into a great university in London called Central Saint Martins on a full grant. They have a wonderful photography center there and I applied never thinking for one minute they would accept me, but they did. When I got to London, I instantly started applying for internships and I was accepted to intern at the NME (which is a musical weekly magazine in the UK). I literally dropped out of college instantly (laughs). It got me to London and I was instantly working. Well I was trying to do both, trying to do my college classes and intern at this magazine. I did that for almost a year full-time and they would be calling me during lectures and being like, "We're on deadline, where is this stuff!?" and I was like, "I am at college!" Back then it was run by great people and in the end they realized that I just worked there and they gave me a job. Everything I learned was from my time at the magazine and around other photographers. I never learned anything from college but that's only because I never went. I instantly fell into the job of my dreams.
Was there a photographer who you looked up to when you were starting out?
Complete 101, Pennie Smith. I mean to this day her pictures to me are the total epiphany of Rock 'n' Roll photography. It can't be beaten. She's a British lady and she was photographing the whole punk scene in the '70s. She did the cover of "London Calling" and she's just taken so many great pictures. She fundamentally is known for her black and white photography. When I was at the NME, it was the first time The Strokes had ever been photographed in England (in New York, but for the NME) and they sent Pennie Smith out. I remember the package came from New York and I got to open it and look through all of her contact sheets. Her process, the way she shoots…it was life changing for me. As far as rock photography goes or whatever you want to call it, she was the best and she's a woman too, which I like.
Was there any other genre of photography that you liked or discovered before you started taking pictures of musicians?
Before I was just taking pictures of my life and people around me. Musicians just became an extension of that because it's more like a documentation. I just like people and taking pictures of people. Interesting people where I can connect with them on some level. It's easy for me because I love music and it kind of came together easily where I understood this world to a degree. When I started, the musicians were just kids my age. I was just shooting these talented people that were around me that were making great music. I was completely inspired by it and that's what I wanted to capture. As time goes on, I've grown with the people I've photographed and I've met new people and there is nothing more energizing or beautiful than photographing a pure talent. It's easy, it makes my job easy. I have to believe in my subjects, otherwise I don't give a true and honest image.
What did you do after NME?
I worked there in my early twenties and then I became a freelance photographer. Through the NME I met a lot of people, my job there was to organize photo shoots and I was the assistant photo editor for the whole magazine. So my job was to arrange shoots, come up with concepts, edit the shoot, and it taught me all of that. I didn't realize it at the time but I was training myself to be an amazing self editor. I'm not one of those photographers who will send in a hundred images, I know my images and I know which ones are the ones. It gave me a great editing eye.
What insight can you give us about working with publications?
It's all about building relationships in terms that they know they can come to you and you're going to deliver, and it's up to you to keep pushing yourself to deliver more. That's the hardest thing I think with photography or any medium of art is to deliver more for yourself constantly and excite yourself. That's the challenge you have to give yourself, you have to give more constantly and surprise people constantly and you'll never be lost for work if you do that…maybe.
Can we touch base on black and white images vs. color? I'd like to hear your thoughts on both and also what makes you decide to shoot one or the other.
Fundamentally when I began I only shot black and white, always. Only when I got a digital camera did I start shooting color and that was mainly for the magazines when everything was leading up to digital. So I work with it, but I will always have love for black and white film. Although all the films that I've ever used are now all pretty much out of production. I always used to shoot with the Fuji 1600 black and white film but it's long gone. I can still find a few rolls every now and again on eBay, it makes me sad. I love black and white, I just do. It's just romantic to me. I love color photography but my color photography tends to be all my digital work and if I'm shooting film I tend to shoot black and white. I'm going to shoot as much black and white as I can before it all just disappears.
When did you start shooting live music?
When I was interning at the NME, the live editor at the time was a guy called Andy Capper who now is one of the main editors at Vice. He would give me free passes (almost as a treat because I was interning for free). He said, "I can give you photo passes to any show that you want," so I would look at what shows were going on and he would give me access. I would bring the images in and I would show him, (he was my number one critic and supporter) and he would never be polite. He would tell me straight up, "That's good, that's crap, that's good, that's crap" and it's when I started growing my thick skin that you need to be told that what you're doing is not so great and to go back and do it better. I would, week after week and eventually after maybe four or five months he gave me a job at this tiny show where the picture was tiny on the page but to me it was the world. He trusted me, he finally trusted me to shoot something for the magazine and that's when they started using me all of the time.
What do you enjoy about shooting live music?
It's like the show is for me. I'm watching through my camera and it's a more intense experience a lot of the time cause I can really focus on what is grabbing my attention and really hone in on it. I can only take great pictures of live musicians I am in tune with because then I'm in it and I know what's happening and I'm in the groove, I'm part of the whole moving animal that is the live show and that's when I know I can capture it before it's about to happen...I'm ready. The fact that anything can happen at any time and it's out of my control completely. It's a living beast and it's out of even the others control, the whole room, the whole thing, the whole audience, everyone is partaking in what's about to happen and will fundamentally decide what my image will be.
How did you develop your own personal style of portraiture?
Over the years, I've found things that work for me. Empathy is important to me, emotion, and people. I want to show or expose any level of realness. Something real, there has to be emotion for me. That's what I look for in other peoples images and it's what draws me in and it's what makes me click my camera when I view it.
So you stop and reevaluate what's in front of you based off of emotion?
Yes, it's number one…it's right up there. If there's no emotion then there's no image.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in northern England in a small town called York in North Yorkshire. My family would be considered (the American term would be) very blue collar, factory workers. I grew up in a household where there wasn't much art or culture around me at all. I would get to choose what I did on my birthday and I would always choose to go to the cinema. So I would get to see one movie a year guaranteed and that was my biggest treat.
What was one of the first films that you remember being in awe of?
The original King Kong is probably one of my earliest movie memories that I watched probably way too early in my life. It's never left my psyche ever.
So you didn't grow up in very artistic surroundings, what influenced you to start taking pictures?
There are very few pictures of me as a child in existence, there's very few. Even as a child I had this obsession with documenting my childhood or whenever I could be old enough. I think it was maybe when I was around ten, I just wanted a camera. I saved up some tokens from a cereal box and got this camera from Rice Crispies and it was this plastic little thing that took 35mm film. It was terrible, but it was my first camera. Every school trip I would go on I would take this thing and shoot my friends. I think I was making up for the lack of documentation in my childhood. In my teen years I constantly documented my existence and my friends lives.
When did you realize that being a photographer was something you could do as a profession?
When I realized that it was something I could study was more important first. My upbringing didn't make me think that you could actually study any kind of form of creating or art as an education. Not even as a career, as an education and it was never given to me that it was an option. I went to what is called college in the UK. It's the equivalent of high school in the United States. It's before what you would call college in America and those two years you get to choose certain topics that you like. I really didn't know what I wanted to do, so I just did what they advised me to do. Only when I was walking around this new school, I got lost one day and went down to the basement and they had a darkroom down there! I had no idea what it was and the teacher was like, "Well you can study photography here." I wanted to change my whole agenda there but I couldn't. But even at that time, finding out that people studied this was incredible. I was so sheltered my entire childhood, it blew my mind that people thought photography was 1.Art and 2.That there could be some existence of living from it.
So did you end up studying it?
I decided to move to London when I was nineteen. I got into a great university in London called Central Saint Martins on a full grant. They have a wonderful photography center there and I applied never thinking for one minute they would accept me, but they did. When I got to London, I instantly started applying for internships and I was accepted to intern at the NME (which is a musical weekly magazine in the UK). I literally dropped out of college instantly (laughs). It got me to London and I was instantly working. Well I was trying to do both, trying to do my college classes and intern at this magazine. I did that for almost a year full-time and they would be calling me during lectures and being like, "We're on deadline, where is this stuff!?" and I was like, "I am at college!" Back then it was run by great people and in the end they realized that I just worked there and they gave me a job. Everything I learned was from my time at the magazine and around other photographers. I never learned anything from college but that's only because I never went. I instantly fell into the job of my dreams.
Was there a photographer who you looked up to when you were starting out?
Complete 101, Pennie Smith. I mean to this day her pictures to me are the total epiphany of Rock 'n' Roll photography. It can't be beaten. She's a British lady and she was photographing the whole punk scene in the '70s. She did the cover of "London Calling" and she's just taken so many great pictures. She fundamentally is known for her black and white photography. When I was at the NME, it was the first time The Strokes had ever been photographed in England (in New York, but for the NME) and they sent Pennie Smith out. I remember the package came from New York and I got to open it and look through all of her contact sheets. Her process, the way she shoots…it was life changing for me. As far as rock photography goes or whatever you want to call it, she was the best and she's a woman too, which I like.
Was there any other genre of photography that you liked or discovered before you started taking pictures of musicians?
Before I was just taking pictures of my life and people around me. Musicians just became an extension of that because it's more like a documentation. I just like people and taking pictures of people. Interesting people where I can connect with them on some level. It's easy for me because I love music and it kind of came together easily where I understood this world to a degree. When I started, the musicians were just kids my age. I was just shooting these talented people that were around me that were making great music. I was completely inspired by it and that's what I wanted to capture. As time goes on, I've grown with the people I've photographed and I've met new people and there is nothing more energizing or beautiful than photographing a pure talent. It's easy, it makes my job easy. I have to believe in my subjects, otherwise I don't give a true and honest image.
What did you do after NME?
I worked there in my early twenties and then I became a freelance photographer. Through the NME I met a lot of people, my job there was to organize photo shoots and I was the assistant photo editor for the whole magazine. So my job was to arrange shoots, come up with concepts, edit the shoot, and it taught me all of that. I didn't realize it at the time but I was training myself to be an amazing self editor. I'm not one of those photographers who will send in a hundred images, I know my images and I know which ones are the ones. It gave me a great editing eye.
"IT'S UP TO YOU TO KEEP PUSHING YOURSELF TO DELIVER MORE."
What insight can you give us about working with publications?
It's all about building relationships in terms that they know they can come to you and you're going to deliver, and it's up to you to keep pushing yourself to deliver more. That's the hardest thing I think with photography or any medium of art is to deliver more for yourself constantly and excite yourself. That's the challenge you have to give yourself, you have to give more constantly and surprise people constantly and you'll never be lost for work if you do that…maybe.
Can we touch base on black and white images vs. color? I'd like to hear your thoughts on both and also what makes you decide to shoot one or the other.
Fundamentally when I began I only shot black and white, always. Only when I got a digital camera did I start shooting color and that was mainly for the magazines when everything was leading up to digital. So I work with it, but I will always have love for black and white film. Although all the films that I've ever used are now all pretty much out of production. I always used to shoot with the Fuji 1600 black and white film but it's long gone. I can still find a few rolls every now and again on eBay, it makes me sad. I love black and white, I just do. It's just romantic to me. I love color photography but my color photography tends to be all my digital work and if I'm shooting film I tend to shoot black and white. I'm going to shoot as much black and white as I can before it all just disappears.
When I was interning at the NME, the live editor at the time was a guy called Andy Capper who now is one of the main editors at Vice. He would give me free passes (almost as a treat because I was interning for free). He said, "I can give you photo passes to any show that you want," so I would look at what shows were going on and he would give me access. I would bring the images in and I would show him, (he was my number one critic and supporter) and he would never be polite. He would tell me straight up, "That's good, that's crap, that's good, that's crap" and it's when I started growing my thick skin that you need to be told that what you're doing is not so great and to go back and do it better. I would, week after week and eventually after maybe four or five months he gave me a job at this tiny show where the picture was tiny on the page but to me it was the world. He trusted me, he finally trusted me to shoot something for the magazine and that's when they started using me all of the time.
What do you enjoy about shooting live music?
It's like the show is for me. I'm watching through my camera and it's a more intense experience a lot of the time cause I can really focus on what is grabbing my attention and really hone in on it. I can only take great pictures of live musicians I am in tune with because then I'm in it and I know what's happening and I'm in the groove, I'm part of the whole moving animal that is the live show and that's when I know I can capture it before it's about to happen...I'm ready. The fact that anything can happen at any time and it's out of my control completely. It's a living beast and it's out of even the others control, the whole room, the whole thing, the whole audience, everyone is partaking in what's about to happen and will fundamentally decide what my image will be.
How did you develop your own personal style of portraiture?
Over the years, I've found things that work for me. Empathy is important to me, emotion, and people. I want to show or expose any level of realness. Something real, there has to be emotion for me. That's what I look for in other peoples images and it's what draws me in and it's what makes me click my camera when I view it.
So you stop and reevaluate what's in front of you based off of emotion?
Yes, it's number one…it's right up there. If there's no emotion then there's no image.
What tips could you give about planning a photo shoot?
You're an idiot if you don't plan. You'll get lost (you can get lucky) but timing is everything.
It depends on the scenario, but if you have the luxury to plan, get everyone you know around you who is talented, who can help you and bring good energy to the shoot. Make it a good time and make a creatively good team.
Can you give us any insight on your editing process? What are you looking for when you make a selection of your own images?
I'm way more brutal in picking my own images than anybody else's, always have been. I always know when it works and when it doesn't. Even when I'm taking it, normally I'm aware. I know which ones are it before I even go through the editing process. Just be honest with yourself and just know when you've got a good shot. I think all good photographers know when they've got a good shot. Just do an A and B list, forget C and D (laughs). Just trust in yourself and know your good shots because they're the right ones.
How did you get started with video and why do you think it's important for a photographer to know how to do video?
It's the nature of the beast nowadays and I've always loved video. In fact, my dream was always to go to film school because I love documentaries and I love movies. Film is really my true, true love. Documentaries mostly and I know more about documentary film making probably than I do about photography.
What was one of your first video projects?
I did a video for a band in Britain called The Duke Spirit. They asked me to do a Super 8 video for them and it was the first time I was commissioned to do something on film.
What kind of photography would you be doing if it wasn't music related?
I think as I get older it's less and less music, in fact. I'm about to go to L.A. over the weekend to go see a show by a lady called Vivian Maier. She's no longer alive but in the '30s and '40s she did amazing street photography in New York and Chicago. She was a nanny her whole life, I'm sure you've probably heard of her. I love live photography and I love musicians but there's this whole other side of me which is all about kind of documentary street photography that really I find so fascinating and I look forward to getting into. My joy comes out of just stumbling across some mishap of beauty out there and capturing that moment.
You're an idiot if you don't plan. You'll get lost (you can get lucky) but timing is everything.
It depends on the scenario, but if you have the luxury to plan, get everyone you know around you who is talented, who can help you and bring good energy to the shoot. Make it a good time and make a creatively good team.
Can you give us any insight on your editing process? What are you looking for when you make a selection of your own images?
I'm way more brutal in picking my own images than anybody else's, always have been. I always know when it works and when it doesn't. Even when I'm taking it, normally I'm aware. I know which ones are it before I even go through the editing process. Just be honest with yourself and just know when you've got a good shot. I think all good photographers know when they've got a good shot. Just do an A and B list, forget C and D (laughs). Just trust in yourself and know your good shots because they're the right ones.
How did you get started with video and why do you think it's important for a photographer to know how to do video?
It's the nature of the beast nowadays and I've always loved video. In fact, my dream was always to go to film school because I love documentaries and I love movies. Film is really my true, true love. Documentaries mostly and I know more about documentary film making probably than I do about photography.
What was one of your first video projects?
I did a video for a band in Britain called The Duke Spirit. They asked me to do a Super 8 video for them and it was the first time I was commissioned to do something on film.
I think as I get older it's less and less music, in fact. I'm about to go to L.A. over the weekend to go see a show by a lady called Vivian Maier. She's no longer alive but in the '30s and '40s she did amazing street photography in New York and Chicago. She was a nanny her whole life, I'm sure you've probably heard of her. I love live photography and I love musicians but there's this whole other side of me which is all about kind of documentary street photography that really I find so fascinating and I look forward to getting into. My joy comes out of just stumbling across some mishap of beauty out there and capturing that moment.
Friday, December 13, 2013
THE SELVEDGE YARD
The Selvedge Yard has some really great photographs to look through…I'll throw a few down below as teasers to get you psyched on it.
Monday, December 9, 2013
CROOKS LIKE US
I was given this book last year (I believe) and I wanted to share it with you because it's got some of the most interesting and curious portraits I've ever seen within its pages. It's called Crooks Like Us and it contains a glimpse into Sydney, Australia during the early 20th century featuring documented criminals of all calibers. The dialogue contained in these pages is equally great and if you're looking for some inspiration for your own work or just an interesting read, I'd suggest picking this one up or asking Santa to style you with it on Christmas morning.
"In fact, little is known about any of the people whose photographs appear in this book - who they were, where they came from or where they went. We know even less about the police who took the photographs or, indeed, why they took them. What we do know is that sometime around 1910 Sydney police began making informal mug shots of some of the people who passed through Central and other inner-city police stations. Only a small number of the tens of thousands of housebreakers, thugs, gunmen, shoplifters, thieves, prostitutes, drug addicts, perverts, pickpockets, brawlers, derelicts, hooligans, confidence men, confidence women and confidence children arrested were ever photographed. But by 1930 there were more than 2000 of these portraits.
We don't know why these particular people were chosen. A single paragraph in a police booklet from 1935 mentions the work of the 'expert photographers' of the Photographic Section, who took portraits of people 'when in the opinion of the arresting Officer the offender is liable to lapse into a life of vice and crime'. The gallery of 'Special Photographs', as they were called, seems to have been intended to help police distinguish the professional, in-for-the-long-haul players from the hordes of simply unlucky, momentarily foolish or temporarily erring citizens. Police were expected to be able to recognize professional criminals by sight, and various methods were used to help that recognitions."
"In fact, little is known about any of the people whose photographs appear in this book - who they were, where they came from or where they went. We know even less about the police who took the photographs or, indeed, why they took them. What we do know is that sometime around 1910 Sydney police began making informal mug shots of some of the people who passed through Central and other inner-city police stations. Only a small number of the tens of thousands of housebreakers, thugs, gunmen, shoplifters, thieves, prostitutes, drug addicts, perverts, pickpockets, brawlers, derelicts, hooligans, confidence men, confidence women and confidence children arrested were ever photographed. But by 1930 there were more than 2000 of these portraits.
We don't know why these particular people were chosen. A single paragraph in a police booklet from 1935 mentions the work of the 'expert photographers' of the Photographic Section, who took portraits of people 'when in the opinion of the arresting Officer the offender is liable to lapse into a life of vice and crime'. The gallery of 'Special Photographs', as they were called, seems to have been intended to help police distinguish the professional, in-for-the-long-haul players from the hordes of simply unlucky, momentarily foolish or temporarily erring citizens. Police were expected to be able to recognize professional criminals by sight, and various methods were used to help that recognitions."
Saturday, December 7, 2013
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