JONATHAN CHERRY: Who has inspired you recently?

TERTTU UIBOPUU: I just recently saw the Robert Frank`s The Americans at the MET and was inspired again, especially by the contact sheets and outtakes.

JC: What is ‘Subtopia’ all about?

TU: I have a statement on my website, it was a project I worked on while taking a documentary photography class with Paul D`Amato. Giving myself a framework - American suburban women - gave me a chance to focus on figuring out portraiture and how to work with a view camera, and be thinking about the concept as well.

JC: Can you give us some details about the above image?

TU: Her name is Kathy, I met her at this dive bar in one of the suburbs of Chicago. She was at the bar with her boyfriend, and I was really drawn to her blond hair and tie dye t-shirt, so I asked to take her portrait. It´s shot with a Pentax 67 camera, on a Kodak 400NC film, with available natural light.

JC: What was the last photography book you picked up?

TU: Tod Papageorge`s Passing Through Eden

JC: What is next in the pipe line for you?

TU: Making new work, and attending grad school until Spring 2011 at Yale University, in a photography program.

JC: Any other thoughts?

TU: All the best in the New Year, and if you are a photographer - keep shooting, the hard work itself will lead you on.