JONATHAN CHERRY: What gets you up in the morning?

BRADLEY SPITZER: My son calling my name to get him out of his crib at 7am.

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

BS: I love the work that two of my friends have been spitting out for the past couple of years - Cary Norton and Eli McFadden. Solid Whiskerino bros that I’ve had the pleasure to get to know since moving down to Nashville four years ago.

JC: What is your current project all about?

BS: Besides organizing lots of new work to go live next year, I am attempting to take an instant film photo a day with the hope that in a year from now an interesting body of work will exist. I love the challenge of finding something interesting and ending the day with some physical evidence of that journey. And it’s been great to share those photos with my Instagram comrades.

JC: What draws you to portraiture?

BS: Portraiture, and photography in general, forces me to go explore and experience new things. I think that is the one of the main reasons why I have gravitated towards it in the last 5 years. It gives me the excuse to meet and interact with strangers, to get to know them and hear their story. I also enjoy that collaborative process when I have someone in front of my camera. I may have an idea that gets things started but I need to develop trust and work with them to see what looks good, interesting, etc. Otherwise, I’d probably be a hermit. Photography gets me out of my shell.

JC: What equipment are you currently using? (cameras, software, hardware)

BS: For my personal work I’m currently using a handful of cameras - Mamiya RZ67, Mamiya 645AF, Fuji GSW670iii, Yashica T4, Canon AE-1P, etc. Fuji for instant photos, Kodak for film.

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

BS: I haven’t found my groove just yet but I feel that 2012 will be a good opportunity to work towards a better balance. I have a corporate, 9-to-5 photography job that I enjoy that pays the bills, supports my family. Then I consider almost everything else I do outside of that to be personal work. Sometimes I wish that I could travel the country for a few months or jump on random projects that get presented to me, but I can’t always make that happen. On the flip side it has given me a golden opportunity to develop my personal work at my own pace, without financial pressure to do what is safe, easy, marketable, etc. In that time my own style has slowly begun to emerge.

JC: Any advice to recent photography graduates?

BS: Shoot your own work as often as you can. Experiment with different cameras and processes. Befriend other photographers. 

JC: Favourite tree?

BS: One that is climbable.

Bradley’s blog is here.