b.1968 in London to an American father and French Moroccan mother. Phillip Toledano has been an inspirational photographer for me personally and I have always been familiar with his work; but I have never really thought about it much in depth. So I was delighted when he agreed to give some thoughts about his own practice and some insight as to how and why he makes bodies of work. Phillip now lives and works from New York City.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What inspires your personal photographic practice?

PHILLIP TOLEDANO: i really don’t know.  It’s entirely reflexive-i just shoot whatever appeals to me. I will say that i usually want to say something with my art.

JC: Could you give us a few examples of contemporary photographers that influence your practice at the moment?

PT: To be honest, I don’t really look at photographers much for inspiration, although I do prefer those who lean towards socio/political/anthropological work. I like photographers who are pushing the language outwards, who are saying something new.

JC: How did the project ‘phonesex’ come about? And what were the reasons for making the body of work?

PT: Ideas are like gatecrashers at a party. They show up unannounced, and stay until I pay attention to them. that’s what happened with phonesex. I suppose I saw the ads in the back of the paper, and became fascinated in the secret life of the obvious.  I liked the idea that everyone knows that phone sex is a delusion, but willingly participates in it. Oddly, living in America during the bush years, I felt that we were all living under a similar mass delusion (the war, etc..) a stretch, I know, but it made sense at the time.

JC: How did you find the photographic process during ‘phonesex’ - particularly with subject/photographer relationship; was it awkward/easy/hard/uncomfortable?

PT: Generally, I’d correspond with the subject for a few weeks before I’d shoot them, so we sort of knew each other when I showed up on their doorstep. Plus, I have a winning personality that immediately puts people at ease.

JC: With regards to ‘Days with my Father’ your images are not only personal and sensitive but also striking and empowering. One question that I have posed to many photographers is this: What are your thoughts about ‘responding to your experience by making photographs’ VS ‘documenting an experience by making photographs’? Do you think that you lose something in documenting an event rather than experiencing it and responding by making photographs? Because as Eric William Carroll suggests in ‘The Crisis Of Experience’, 2009 that, “while the act of photography does not destroy experience, I will argue that it always changes it”

PT: I don’t really think I lost much of the experience, because I took photos of my father so infrequently, and the project happened over a long period of time. Plus, we didn’t do that much together that was different. Because of his mental condition, the world in his apartment was very small.

JC: What was it like photographing your father? Was it something that you found very easy or was he a hard subject to ‘work’ with?

PT: It felt important to remember what he said, how I felt, how he looked, my feelings for him, and his for me. Because he was an actor, he was often quite aware of the camera, and quite willing to participate with me in what I was doing, even though he didn’t really like the photos that I took.

JC: What was the selection process like while editing down ‘Days with my Father’?

PT: It was pretty easy really, because I took so few photos in the first place. And because I had the whole story in my head (I sat down and wrote everything in about a week) I knew which images went with what text.