JONATHAN CHERRY: What did you have for breakfast this morning?

RUSS DUPONT: For breakfast, I had my usual weekday  bowl of mixed fresh and dried fruits along with a handful of nuts, some granola and vanilla bean Greek yogurt - can’t eat the bacon, eggs and home fries every day.

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

RD: I have to mention a woman who is doing some great and sensitive  documentary work - Hannah Kozak and a couple of other “street photographers,” D. G. Oakhill and Peter Konecany.

JC: What is you current project all about?

RD: I have a number of projects going on but first and foremost, I’m photographing the neighborhoods in Boston where I grew up. They’ve changed quite a bit ethnically but retain the sense and feeling of old Boston blue collar neighborhoods. At the moment, I’m working on the Uphams Corner section of Dorchester, an old Boston neighborhood and am trying to persuade the owner of the old pool hall to let me hang around and take some photos.

JC: What has 2011 got in store for you?

RD: 2011 has been great so far. I began the year with a solo show at Gallery 360 in Boston. I have a show going on right now through the end of June at The Atrium Gallery at the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston. As soon as that closes, I begin another show at The Mayor’s Gallery at Boston City Hall which will run through mid-August. Tentatively, I have a show scheduled in the Allston section of Boston for September and, to close out the year, I will have a show in the Wotz Gallery in Milton, MA. I was also part of a group show, Close Encounters, at Gallery 51 in North Adams, MA. So, it’s been an excellent year.

JC: What draws you to black and white?

RD: I grew up with black and white photography and just feel that there’s a stronger emphasis on the subject, especially in street photography. I have nothing against color and print in color when I’m working on another series, “A Sense of Place: Photographs of the Land and Structures,” which, incidentally has been scheduled for a show in Boston in June, July and August of 2012.

JC: What are your thoughts towards the following quote; As a photographer, do I experience less because I document more? Is experience more valuable than documentation?

RD: Whew. I can’t see, in my own work, where there is a dividing line between experience and documentation. My photography is of the inner city and if one is going to roam the inner city sticking a camera into peoples’ lives, he sure better have had some experience dealing with people. Documentation can often result in confrontation and a photographer must be able to diffuse situations. After all, I / we are invading peoples’ comfort zones. If you don’t have experience dealing with people up close, people who might not be flattered you are taking their picture, then learn quickly. I believe a photographer who documents peoples’ comings and goings has to become part of the scene and experience the life and culture of the neighborhood. When I was in college, I had a friend, Eugene Richards, who is now the well-known Magnum photographer. Take a look at his Dorchester Days photographs. He is amazing / his work is amazing.

JC: Any advice to recent photography graduates?

Advice to grads - photograph because you love what you are photographing. Art is a tough master. Sometimes, it takes a long time to get serious recognition for your work but keep at it, have confidence in yourself, your vision, and work like hell toward a goal - galleries, museums, publications, self-satisfaction, whatever.

JC: Other thoughts?

RD: I love what I do; I love looking at my work and discovering something in it that I might not have seen through the lens. I love walking the streets of Boston and other cities. I love the feeling when I know I just captured 1/125th of a perfect second of someone’s life.