JONATHAN CHERRY: What gets you up in the morning?

ERICA MCKEEHEN: My bladder, or my alarm, which is the opening to the song Zoo Station by U2. The lines are I’m ready. I’m ready for the laughing gas. I’m ready. I’m ready for what’s next.

JC:  Are there any emerging photographers inspiring you at the moment?

EM: I consider most of my photographer friends and peers to be emerging, though I’m not sure when the term emerging no longer applies. In any case, they all inspire me. I am a recent graduate of Ohio University, home to so many talented photographers and artists. I look at their work and it fills me with so many conflicting feelings… I am jealous, sometimes, of their bravery and persistence to pursue some of the serious and heartfelt work that they do. I am also proud, inspired (as you asked), and excited for them and for all of us making images in the world. In college I studied more commercial work and was pretty interested in that until my senior year when I just wanted to photograph people, but I’ve always had intense respect and admiration for documentary and journalistic work. I have more guts than I used to, but I never could’ve done it as a student. I hope that my work shows some sort of middle ground between the two, but in the end, it’s all passion that comes across, and I am inspired whenever I see it in someone’s images. To really answer the question, my current favorite emerging photographers are Brad Vest who just won College Photographer of the Year for his documentary work in Ohio and West Virginia and Peter Hoffman (not sure if he’s “emerging” by anyway) who consistently makes just plain beautiful images. Both of them are fellow Ohio University graduates.

JC: What is your current project all about?

EM: I don’t really have one specific project in mind but I recently compiled some images taken during a brief stint as a night-life photographer for Studio Paris (apart of Club Paris in Chicago, IL). When you look at the images, the term night-life doesn’t really seem to fit, but I believe I was originally commissioned to photograph flash-filled images of attractive, rich Chicagoans drinking champagne in the city’s River North (somewhat elite) neighborhood. I spent 5 Friday nights walking around the club, from 9pm until 1am, photographing what I saw… slinking into the dark corners of the club rather than inviting guests to step in front of my lens. I don’t really know if I had any real intentions at the time (I was just trying to do a job in the only manner I knew how), but I can tell you that I felt isolated and strange each evening. Now I look at the photographs and I think those emotions are obvious.

JC: What draws you to making portraits?

EM: People are important. I wish I had a more elaborate reason, but I think that’s enough. My favorite photographer has been, and always will be, Anton Corbijn. He makes portraits and they’re beautiful and rich and memorable, but he does more than that. He establishes real relationships with his subjects and he lovingly sustains them. He is curious and invested at the same time. He has captured the same people over the course of years and years. I am curious too, and I cannot help but be invested, but the truth is that I love taking photographs of people in my life. It is a compulsive need and I feel that I have done a poor job satisfying it. The portraits I keep close to my heart are of family, friends, lovers, and anyone who has claimed a piece of my heart. I collect photographs of them to remind myself that these people are important… they have made my life rich. Not only do I want to take their portrait, but I owe it to them.

JC: How do you find juggling personal & commercial work?

EM: I make commercial work (or commissioned/editorial work, in my case) personal. When I shoot a wedding, I try to do so intimately. When I am shooting a gym or a salon or a spa, I try to maintain my sincerity and point-of-view. Even if it’s not my primary interest, there’s little I do that isn’t personal. That’s just how I’m made, or maybe I just like the consistency.

JC: Any advice to recent photography graduates?

EM: This is sort of like giving advice to myself: no matter what you have to do to sustain your passion, to pay your bills, and to put food on the table, as long as you want to be, you are a photographer. No one can say differently. It is difficult making money solely on your photographs. I have only been out of college for a year and a half and I moved to Chicago right after graduating with this idea that I could live off of my photography almost immediately. I decided long ago that I didn’t really want to (nor am I really built to) assist commercial shooters, and so early on I eliminated one of the only jobs completely relevant to my college degree. I just wanted to make the photographs I wanted to make and let my life happen. I am not saying it’s a total impossibility to live off of freelance, but in certain circumstances, it’s much more difficult than I ever imagined. The truth is I love photography but I am still unsure what place my photos have in the world, and, further, I am still not sure what I want to be “when I grow up.” I was always a career-driven perfectionist, so accepting that it’s not so easy has been huge for me. I have worked really hard to survive in the big city and have taken some unforeseen opportunities to make my life and my photography here possible. Do not care about being impressive. Or making a lot of money (hard for that to happen even if you are getting more jobs). Care about your work… care about shooting what is meaningful to you. Stay genuine.

JC: Favourite tree?

EM: Weeping willows, easily.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What gets you up in the morning?

SIDNEY LO: My job, Blue Bottle coffee, and lately, StarCraft II.

JC: Are there any emerging photographers inspiring you at the moment?

SL: I don’t follow upcoming photographers too much, but I dig some photographers on Flickr. If I had to name names, it would be Lukasz Wierzbowski, Nastya Tailakova, and Noah Kalina.

JC: What is your current project all about?

SL: I recently completed a series for a seasonal gallery/food event in New York called Something I Ate; my contribution is entitled Sometimes When We Eat, We Eat Alone.

JC: What draws you to portraits?

SL: Meeting new people, creating narratives, and knowing I can become a different person each time I work with a new subject.

JC: How do you find juggling personal & commercial work?

SL: It’s easier to execute but more difficult to wrap my head around it philosophically. I think there should not be two separate categories, but that’s because I want to generate my work, commercial and personal, under one style. 

Once I learned a bit more about business interactions, contracts, etc. it became more straight forward and rewarding to do commercial work. I always try to incorporate my own personality into the work. I’ve also gotten really good at saying “no” to certain offers and it’s freed me up to approach work that suits my photography.

JC: Any advice to recent photography graduates?

SL: Drop out? (Haha no, just kidding.) Get a job, never settle or make decisions because you feel like you have no other choice, say “no” a lot more than you say “yes,” and be patient.

JC: Favourite tree?

SL: The sequoia sempervirens.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What gets you up in the morning?

DINA LITOVSKY: Green tea and dubstep.

JC: Are there any emerging photographers inspiring you at the moment?

DL: Many! But especially my former classmates from SVA who are doing really phenomenal work; Elizabeth Clark Libert, John Cyr & Natan Dvir.

JC: Tell us a little bit about UNTAG THIS PHOTO?

DL: It combines my interest in sociology, fascination with women and obsession with Facebook. The rest is in my artist statement.

JC: What draws you to making portraits?

DL: I am not interested in photographing people for the purpose of glimpsing the ‘true‘ self. I would hesitate to classify any of my photos as portraits. What I am curious about is the situational self - people’s behavior in relation to other people, their setting and their cultural environment. My photographs are about a ‘social animal’ rather then a Renaissance ideal of individualism.

JC: How do you find juggling personal & commercial work?

DL: For now they are in rather great balance. For commercial work I shoot a lot of weddings. For personal, I am currently doing a project about Bachelorette parties. One helps the other.

JC: Any advice to recent photography graduates?

DL: As cliché as it sounds - stay inspired. For me inspiration, comes from constantly learning and being around talented and exciting photographers. And attend portfolio reviews! They can be really helpful and are a lot of fun.

JC: Favourite tree?

DL: Don’t have one. I prefer plateaus.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What gets you up in the morning?

JOHN KEATLEY: My alarm, or my daughter depending on the day. But aside from literal wakeup calls, I am often really excited in the morning to see who emailed me. You never know who is going to email with a fun new project. Anything can happen at any time, and I find that really exciting. And since I am on the West Coast, I frequently wake up with emails from the East Coast about work. 

JC: Are there any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment? 

JK: Not at the moment. From time to time, I take a look around at other people’s work, but I find I am most inspired when I am not looking at other people’s photography on a regular basis. Although, I have really enjoyed the work of William Rugen this past year. Especially his Consumed series. It’s all pretty incredible. I really like his perspective.

JC: Do you find it easy to juggle commercial and personal work?

JK: Do I find it easy? That’s a tough question. It takes a lot of work and dedication, but I think my desire and need to shoot personal work helps me get through all that. It’s something I feel compelled to do, and need to do in a sense, so I haven’t really thought about it in that way before. Sometimes it is harder than other times, but I would say I do a pretty good job at staying balanced between the two. Thankfully I have had a good amount of commercial work recently, which I have been able to connect with on a personal level, so that is always a blessing.

JC: In a nutshell what is Liberia all about and what camera did you use?

JK: Liberia was my first experience on assignment overseas, and my first trip to Africa. I went with a team from MiiR, and I was there to photograph the construction of two clean water wells, as well as direct a documentary about the clean water crisis. In my free time, I found myself photographing children. It wasn’t something I had planned on, but over the course of the week I was there, I began to see a series come together of the children I was photographing. 

I used my Hasselblad H3DII-31 and my Canon 5D MarkII for all of the images. Most of the portraits were taken with the Hasselblad and I used the Canon in situations where I needed to move a little more freely.   

JC: One piece of advice to recent photography students?

JK: Oh man, only one!? Learn to trust your instincts, because that is the only thing that can make your work unique and a true reflection of you.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What gets you up in the morning?

THE TREND REINVENTED: Its knowing that we have the sea waiting and Marley.

JC: What is inspiring you at the moment?

TR: We inspire ourselves with sightseeing, animals but mostly with our day by day. 

JC: What is your current project all about?

TR: Continuing happy with what we do and always hoping that there are more people enjoying our work.

JC: What is The Trend Reinvented all about?

TR: The Trend Reinvented is the name of our project created in 2011. First we made a blog where we posted a bit of our daily lifestyle and our most recent publications. Then we decided to form a website where we add a more organized collection of pictures. Recently we tried to interact with some magazines but we also have had some positive feedback as well, and that makes us proud enough to keep on. Our thing is daily based spontaneity… but we also don’t discard premeditated madness, that we snap immediately. We have a diversed inspiration and you can understand it easily if you smell and listen to our clicks! 

JC: Any advice to recent photography graduates?

TR: We don’t have a specific qualification on photography. Sara studies dental medicine and Pedro sports. Nevertheless photography is a taste that we share. 

JC: Favourite tree?

TR: We like specific trees like the Lanheses eucalypt or the Vilarelho chestnut tree but also a particular tree that we have near our home.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What gets you up in the morning?

JAMES WAKELING: An overwhelming sense of guilt that I am not living my life to the full.

JC: Are there any emerging photographers inspiring you at the moment?

JW: Magdalena Wosinska, each of her photos tells a story about a lifestyle, about people you want to meet and places you want to go.

JC: What is your current personal project all about?

JW: It occurred to me that my friends and I were living out a lifestyle so different to those around us, that we had become the ones people would stop and watch, they would ask us about our lives and why we did what we did. This project that is going on at the moment is an attempt to convey how we became so obsessed with the sport of Kiteboarding, how it has come, in many ways, to define our lives and what shape those lives now take.

JC: What initially drew you to photography? 

JW: The desire to preserve moments forever. Our time here is so short and its moves by too quick, photography lets me hold onto those moment I don’t want to ever forget. I first started to pick up a camera when I realised that my life seemed to be disappearing without any record of it being kept, photography started off and is still the way I keep a diary of what is important to me.

JC: Favourite tree?

JW: Silver birch. I love to peel strips of bark off the tree.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What gets you up in the morning? 

AARON GUY: Intrigue most mornings but others its The Mr. Men Show on Channel 5. I recommend it; the stereotypes are brilliant. Laugh out loud as its good to begin the day with laughs.

JC: Are there any emerging photographers inspiring you at the moment?

AG: Lots … there are some very interesting work coming from young British photographers at the moment but I get a great deal of my inspiration from either film, music or reading. I’ve had to reduce my intake of new photography as there is a lot of repetition and I just can’t absorb it all… and it’s not fair to just flick, if someone has made it I should give it the time. 

JC: What is your current project all about?

AG: My own land & my own people. In conscious thought it began with questions about home and obsession with my fathers work, which I suppose seeds were set in my sub-conscious at the age of 6 of course I never envisaged photographing it. This has lead me into exploring the North East as a region and its people I’m re-mapping and surveying its developing some interesting chapters and raising more bloody questions  

JC: What initially drew you to photography?

AG: Questions that I can’t answer. The questions I refer to Ironically enough raised themselves while I was on a beach in Newcastle NSW Australia 2005. I was visiting family and friends & was meant to be emigrating taking a job as an engineers assistant but these questions raised such a massive curiosity and necessity to explore these thoughts I returned home to begin shooting, reading and researching (I love the sudden left turns that happen in life).

JC: How do you find juggling personal & commercial work?

AG: Love it. One needs the other on many levels.  

JC: Any advice to recent photography graduates?

AG: Stop, look and listen and then copy, learn and develop this way in a world where we are all trying to speak in a visual language you may find your own dialect and dialect is more important than just a voice.

JC: Favourite tree?

AG: Haha brilliant question for me seeing as I’ve spent the past few years looking at fossilised trees … woodland such an amazing landscape too …

Well it has to be Pine it smells amazing and reminds everyone of Christmas but more importantly and the reason we have the forestry commission is that was the wood of choice for making roof props for coal mines. Miners trusted it more than any other type of wood and will tell you that they would here the timber speak as the earth moved above their heads. The pine prop will groan and yawn telling you what’s happening before it breaks. 

Throughout 2012 I will be recommending one photographer per month who I feel is killing it right now. MULL IT OVER is super proud to present Noah Rabinowitz for the month of January. I am fascinated by this guys work. Enjoy …

JONATHAN CHERRY: What gets you up in the morning?

NOAH RABINOWITZ: Coffee, a bagel, and my East Village Radio alarm, although recently, I’ve been pulled from the bed by the excitement of working in my new studio in Bushwick, BK.

JC: Are there any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?

NR: I enjoy my friend Cole Sayer’s paintings. I’ve also been really impressed by studio mate’s progressive media work. James George has been using technology to expand the possibilities of image making, ie. 3D reportage, light projections and live interactive visualizations. I wouldn’t necessarily call them emerging, but I am always inspired by the work of Walid Raad and Wolfgang Tillmans. 

JC: What is Twelve O’clock Boyz project all about?

NR: The Twelve O’clock Boyz - so-called because of the vertical wheelies many of the dirt bike riders pride themselves on, ride in packs 100 strong through the poor and run-down neighborhoods of Baltimore, creating a new improvisational urban sport that has become legendary in the city. They disregard traffic laws, roadblocks, and the police, who are forbidden to chase the bikes for fear of endangering the public. After “Pug,” a child growing up in the West Baltimore hood, suffers a loss in his family, he finds solace in the group.

For this set of images I collaborated with a good friend, filmmaker, Lotfy Nathan. Lotfy has been documenting the riders for over 3 years and has built a long relationship with group. Because of my experience creating social documents, we discussed working together on this project. In the summer of 2011, I traveled from NYC to Baltimore to photograph the Twelve O’ Clock Boyz as they were being mentored by the experienced riders. I hope these images capture a sense of urban Baltimore and the youth’s desire for inclusion in the pack.

JC: What equipment are you currently using?

NR: I mainly use a Mamiya 7 with Kodak Portra 160, but for most commercial work I fall back on the Canon 5d mkii.

JC: How do you find juggling personal & commercial work?

NR: That is a really tough question. Recently, I’ve worked for artists, fashion designers, filmmakers and a variety of publications, so it is a mix. Day to day, I focus on my personal work and the commercial jobs usually follow from unexpected places. 

JC: Any advice to recent photography graduates?

NR: I’m only a few years out of school, so I can’t really speak with too much authority, but I think the most important thing is to stay close with your peers, work to discover who your audience is and never get stuck in a ‘style.’

JC: Favourite tree?

NR: I actually have two. I met a wonderful Juniper vortex tree in Sedona, AZ this summer and also the single old Oak that survives in the courtyard behind my building in Brooklyn. 

JONATHAN CHERRY: What got you started with photography?

ANDREW QUERNER: An Olympus Trip 35 was a natural companion on camping excursions on British Columbia’s west coast. The hiking was to be a stepping stone to bigger mountain adventures and photography seemed like the best way to communicate those experiences.

JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the mo?

AQ: Rob Hornstra. For his very smart documentary work. On a more daily basis, I am very inspired by the work of my peers. Kari Medig for bringing a much needed hint of understatement to  adventure photography. Grant Harder for making the transition from assisting to shooting extremely quickly. And Alexi Hobbs for his Instincts and Convictions. Much to learn from these guys.

JC: Whats your current project all about?

AQ: My current project, The Bread With Honey, explores issues facing the ethnic Albanian populace of Kosovo. On an earlier visit to the country, I happened upon a neglected mine near the divided city of Mitrovica. After some reading, it became evident that the region’s power struggles were reflected quite clearly in the mine’s trajectory through time. For me, this became an opportunity to put a living face to that struggle as it exists today. I hope the pictures, all made in the mine and in the quiet community above, speak to the resilience and dignity of the miners I met and the burden of responsibility they feel for carrying their families through uncertain times. 

I also just started a mini project called Prologue. Essentially pretty pictures inspired by my parents’ stories of arriving from their respective countries of Japan and Austria, in Billings, Montana in 1969. 

JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?

AQ: I’m living in Canmore, Alberta. It’s a stone’s throw from Banff National Park. People are very motivated to get after it in the mountains and there is a recreation culture built around that. It can be insular though and in some ways quite homogenous. I miss the diversity of the city and remain torn between this fairytale lifestyle of playing in the hills, and expanding my experience by living in a bigger place. Despite some of these drawbacks, not enough can be said about being part of a community and activity (climbing) that is so vitally connected to its surrounding environment. It’s tuned me in to the humbling power of wilderness- a humility that now travels with me.

JC: Any big plans for 2012?

AQ: I’d like to learn to play the game better. I’ve spent some time figuring out what kind of picture taker I am; now to pursue editorial and commercial gigs more aggressively. Beyond that, I have my first exhibition coming up in February. A recent colour darkroom stint (an experience that should be on every film shooters list) has gotten me excited to continue in that vein. Finally, I’d like to keep exploring portraiture in the form of another ‘chapter’ in my Kosovo work.

JC: Any words of advice to recent photography graduates?

AQ: Palo Woods said it nicely. “Before adding new images to a world which is drowning in images, one has to reflect why one is doing so.” The difference between decoration and art might be in the “why.”

JC: How do you manage to juggle personal and commercial work?

AQ: I have found that most of my commissioned work as come as a result of personal projects. In that sense, the two play nicely together. Each draws from a slightly different skill set which together make me a better photographer. The idea of a commercial gig often means collaboration which can be refreshing in a typically solitary existence. I’d be dishonest if I said that the idea of working commercially didn’t at least partially drive me to continue funding my own personal projects.  

JC: Favourite tree?

AQ: Trembling aspen for the auditory benefits. Arbutus for the tactile experience.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What gets you up in the morning?

GARETT BONASORTE: Coffee, and the need to get to work.

JC: Are there any emerging photographers inspiring you at the moment?

GB: Megan Kathleen Mcisaac. I think she’s on the brink of being super big. I love the sensitivity of her portraits and how prolific she is. Her pictures leave me wanting to know more about the subject, who are they? Where did they come from? What are they doing? I think that’s really impressive.

JC: What is your current project all about?

GB: I’m extremely focused on night landscapes. Trying to capture that feeling of night and nostalgia from the places where I grew up. Technically speaking, it it pushes my abilities as a photographer

JC: What initially drew you to photography?

GB: Film. I love watching movies. I signed up for photography classes in high school and fell in love with the dark room, the process, and the sense of exploration.

JC: Top 2 photography blogs?

GB: Dave Kimery & This Public Works.

JC: Any exciting plans for the rest of 2011?

GB: Finish my series I’m New Here and hold my first exhibition show sometime next year. I’ve start work on a series using manufactured landscapes with limited light to approach night landscapes in a more surreal way but still carry on the feelings of my current work.

JC: Other thoughts?

GB: Thanks to MULL IT OVER and Jonathan Cherry for giving photographers a platform to shout.