MULL IT OVER

JONATHAN CHERRY: What has inspired you over the last week and...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:00:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: What has inspired you over the last week and why?

BENJAMIN LOTAN: I just moved into a new office+studio for a residency at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) in San Diego, and getting set up in a fresh space feels truly fantastic. Being here, I’m occupying a node at the intersection of art, academia, and the hi-tech industry. Through the next six months I will be working to understand the way these institutions encroach on each other.

JC: Have you made any new friends recently?

BL: Daniel Rehn has a studio just across the hall from me, we’ve found that our work has a lot of overlapping themes and we are getting along well. He’s the founder of LA GameSpace and is currently starting an art/design practice with his partner Sarah Caluag. We are beginning to collaborate on a new video project called Spchless. The main website is coming soon, but you can see our first video (starring Barack Obama) here.

JC: Would you give some background on the project ‘Recruit’ and how you came up with the idea?

BL: Recruit came out of my frustration with the wars we are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s not that I am necessarily opposed to the wars, but I feel so distant and it seems impossible for any of us to get a clear picture of what’s actually going on. I continually find that the media coverage is extremely poor, often biased, and difficult to fathom.

As a citizen as well as an artist, I began to think of ways I could engage with the military directly. I seriously considered joining the army as a kind of three year performance piece. Ultimately, the recruiting process itself was very fascinating, and I began to document the relationship I was forming with my recruiter. Though it became clear that joining was not the answer to my frustration, I was able to create and capture some new knowledge, which made the performance a success.

The climax of the project came when, in a private meeting recorded with a hidden microphone, I expressed confusion about my sexual orientation to my recruiter. As I opened up, I become an individual, and he in turn opened up to me. His response exposes the fragile and ethically complex reality recruiters are placed in, as top-down pressures urge them to sign more and more people up for military duty.

JC: Do you think that you will continue to bridge gaps between performance art and photography in the future?

BL: Yes, definitely. What’s compelling about performance is that it provides a framework to transform routine actions into the medium of an art work. For me, the simple act of reframing my experience as performance becomes a point of departure for a deep investigation of my surroundings. I believe that such an approach will become increasingly relevant as the crises of our times continue to develop.

JC: How do you plan to exhibit your new project ‘The Happy Light’?

BL: It really depends what kind of opportunities come my way. Right now I’m working with an editor to pull together a series of fragmented essays based on my experiences in Jerusalem. In Recruit, I mention a single moment that gave meaning to and framed the whole project, but with The Happy Light, there was so much more at play.

I found that one cannot travel to Jerusalem to study religion as a discrete subject. Perhaps there more than anywhere else, religious beliefs and practices are intertwined with social, political, and geographical conflict. In response to this awareness, the scope of the project became infinitely wide. In an exhibition of any kind, I imagine inundating the audience with all kinds of media and doing my best to detonate the fragile discourse that surrounds that region.

I have a lot of material to work with from the project, and what I have up on my website is only a starting point.

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

BL: Here at Calit2, I’m organizing an Internet video festival to bring together a diverse cross section of the best video content made specifically for the web. Ideally, we’ll open up a rich dialogue around the growing abundance of fantastic content.

For all the tumblr bloggers reading, I’ve got a project in the works that will allow you to put two photoblogs up against each other for a head-to-head battle. Keep an eye on my screening tumblog for more on that project and others coming real soon.

JC: What are you excited about for the year of 2010?

BL: I’ll be working with Teddy Cruz soon; he’s been one of my heros for some time, so that’s very exciting for me. The way he brings architecture, design, and social programming into an institutionally sanctioned artistic practice is inspiring, to say the least.

This decade I’m looking forward to seeing the art world and the public at large move towards more political and operational understandings of artistic practice. There is a great quote at the end of Holland Cotter’s New York Times piece on the past decade in art:

“In the real world the news of the decade was 9/11, two awful wars, staggering corporate greed and the election of an African-American president. In the art world a big event was Mr. Koons showing his sculptures at Versailles. In short, life passed art by. Maybe in the new decade they’ll meet.”

JONATHAN CHERRY: What was the last thing to really inspire you...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:10:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: What was the last thing to really inspire you and why?

TOUFIC BEYHUM: Nearly everyday something inspires me but the last big inspiration for me was the Don McCullin photo exhibition in Berlin a few months back.

JC: What equipment did you use for the Swakopmund project?

TB: I used a Hasselblad 500 that a good friend of mine gave me last summer, for me the Hasselblad was the perfect camera for a place like Swakopmund, nice and slow.

JC: What is Swakopmund all about?

TB: This town is quite a strange one, its on the coast of Namibia, Wikipedia will tell you all about it. But in a nutshell its an ex German colony and It was founded in 1892. It was the main harbour for German South West-Africa. The town is surrounded by some of the biggest sand dunes in the world and there are also lots of Uranium mines dotted all over the place. Now a days its a very popular holiday destination for South Africans and Germans during Christmas time, the rest of the year its dead. The architecture is German, the streets are pristine and the people are very strange. David Lynch would have a field day here.

JC: In your own opinion what makes a successful portrait?

TB: For me a successful portrait is being able to tell the personality & even history of that person in one image. Portraits for me have to be spur of the moment, not all dressed up with make up and studio lights.

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

TB: Im off to Petra, Jordan in mid April to photograph the Bedouins who live and work with tourists. Myself and a writer (Carl Gough) will be living with the Bedouins for about 3 months. We will document their everyday lives with still photos (Im taking 3 cameras with me, Hasselblad 500, Leica R4 and my Fuji GA645), words and we are even filming a small documentary. We are trying to get as much sponsorship as possible as this is a self funded project and as you know, film, processing and traveling dont come cheap. Have a look at the blog we started for it.

JC: Are you excited about 2010?

TB: 2009 was emotionally the hardest year of my life so I am definitely looking forward to this year.

JC: Have you got any other thoughts?

TB: I have plenty but I dont think it would fit on your web-page, besides, most of it is either weird or rubbish.

JC: Favourite meal at the moment?

TB: Im loving my lental soup.

JONATHAN CHERRY: Has there been something significant that has...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:42:01 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: Has there been something significant that has inspired you over the last 14 days?

CHRISTOPHER SIMS: I’ve been far too obsessed with some Neil Young bootleg records from the mid 1970s this week. I think it has something to do with the time of year, the winter Olympics in Canada, and Neil’s spectral appearance on the final broadcast of Conan O’Brien’s show last month.

JC: What was the last photography book you flicked through?

CS: BazanCuba, by Ernesto Bazan. Ernesto came and spoke last week to classes at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, where I work. I first saw his work over a decade ago and have seen it in various iterations over the years. To see it all collected together I felt again what an achievement it was, and how impressed I was he was able to keep his project going for so long.

JC: Why did you choose to make a body of work at Guantanamo Bay?

CS: Like many people, I first heard about the prison in Guantanamo Bay in January 2002, though I had always been curious about the U.S. Naval Station there. I didn’t really pursue it as a project for a couple more years, but I wondered about who was making photographs of that place - or even if it was possible to make photographs there. In the end it took about two and a half years of writing letters, and figuring out whom to contact in order to gain access. While waiting to hear back, I thought a lot about the project. There were some images that were coming out of Guantanamo, but they all looked pretty similar. You would see photographs of the prisoners, but you wouldn’t see their faces. You would see fences, and barbed wire, but you didn’t really see the place - I didn’t have a sense of what the place really looked like. I became interested in the idea of making war photographs that didn’t seem like war photographs - images that weren’t about seeing violence, or spectacle, or the things that make people turn away from most war photographs. I began thinking that maybe the thing to do was to try to make a type of war photograph that captured something else. I knew that there was the odd fact that it’s a U.S. military base located on a communist island, but the history of the base got even more fascinating the more I researched. It served as a way station for Haitian refugees in the 1990s. There are Jamaican and Filipino guest workers there now. There’s even a McDonald’s on the base. The question of what the place looked like became more and more intriguing. So, when I went it was not with the intent of excluding photos of the prison, or people, but to photograph beyond that too; to photograph the daily life of what it’s like to be there. I wondered what the life of a spouse of a military officer based there looked like, where a janitor would do his or her work, and where people would go after hours. And I wondered if there were details in those places that would somehow reveal something about ourselves, or about the war. Conceptually, I also came to think of the work as an archive; I was filling in the gaps of an archive that didn’t yet exist.

JC: What do you feel you learnt from your experience there?

CS: I was really struck by the landscape and the structures in Guantanamo Bay.It’s more ramshackle and improvised than you might think. It feels very isolated, and it also feels a little like you’re on a frontier. It feels like people are kind of improvising, and making do with the resources that they have. I had just assumed the whole place would be relatively state-of-the-art. A large part of Camp Delta is trailers. I think that’s not an image that comes to people’s minds when they think of the detention center there. Also, it can feel kind of lonely, even for a visitor such as myself. I think the base is about 45 square miles, but there are just a few pockets where people are.

JC: Was it hard to get access to photograph for ‘Theater of War’?

CS: I would say that it was hard in the sense that it requires a lot of patience while my requests to photograph on military bases went through the many layers of approval that are required. In an odd twist, many of the offices I was communicating with seemingly didn’t have answering machines, so I’d often have a long list of phone numbers that might have worked sometime in the past, and I’d just start down the list hoping to reach someone who knew on what desk my request might be.

But I would say the flip side to this is that, in time, you’d get a straightforward answer about whether or not you had received permission. And when the permission was granted, the public affairs offices were generally very helpful in setting up the arrangements - more than I think the average person might expect they’d be.

JC: What equipment do you use?

CS: I chiefly use a Hasselblad 503cw nowadays.

In Guantanamo Bay I used a Canon SLR digital camera - among the rules established there for photographers is that you have to use a digital camera, as they have censors who review your photographs before you leave the base. There weren’t such restrictions for Theater of War.

JC: What are your photographic plans for 2010?

CS: This spring I’m concentrating on preparing for a couple of exhibits forTheater of War: The Pretend Villages of Iraq and Afghanistan - at SF Camerawork, FotoFest in Houston, and at the SRO Gallery at Texas Tech in Lubbock. I also have a large stack of negatives to go through, which is a priority. Lastly, I’m looking forward to making new photographs over the summer, but I’m not sure exactly what direction I’ll be going in quite yet.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What were the last two memorable things to...

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:43:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: What were the last two memorable things to really inspire you?

JONATHAN BLAUSTEIN: Last Friday, some friends and I drove out to Tucson, Arizona to see the reconstructed “New Topographics” show at the Center for Creative Photography. I spent a good chunk of time looking at Robert Adams’s photographs from Colorado. He had a way of evoking beauty and wonder within the anti-aesthetic that I’ve been thinking about all week. And I listened to Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” three times through the other day. Same thing. Bleak beauty … criticality mixed with appreciation and respect.

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

JB: Well, this morning I picked up Robert Adams “California,” but I think I read your email first, so that doesn’t count. In Tucson, a friend showed me a softcover book by a Japanese photographer Eikoh Hosoe, of whom I’d not heard before. Very striking black and white images, just the littlest bit surreal. I’ve been very influenced by Haruki Murakami’s fiction, and these images seemed to share that sense of otherworldliness embedded within reality.

JC: What is The Edge of Empire all about?

JB: I’m interested in understanding how life in the 21^st Century is different from what has come before. To me, the impact of Globalization and the communication technology revolution is where the story begins. So this project, which is ongoing, is my attempt to understand the world by looking at a place that has been the fringe of two major Empires in the last four centuries. Life is not easy, and survival is a day-to-day concern. The Valley used to have the benefit of not knowing what they didn’t have, and that is no longer possible. But natural beauty is ever-present, and that’s something I’m trying to grapple with.

JC: What is the above (first) photo all about?

JB: Whenever I’m in Antonito, I go and visit these two guys Roger and Tony, who hang out in a vintage store they opened last year. They know everyone in town, so there are always folks around. Last time I was there, Eugene was chatting, sharing coffee and cake, and when I asked if I could take someone’s portrait, they all said Eugene would do it. So he was already comfortable with me b/c I knew his friends. I took him to the front of the store to grab the window light, and so that the entire place would be the backdrop. I asked him what he did so that I could have a little context for the title, and he said out-of-work mechanic. Then he said, oh yeah, I used to be Mayor too. He’s thinking of running again.

JC: In your opinion what makes a successful portrait?

JB: I think a good portrait endeavors to tell a little truth about the sitter and a little truth about the photographer. Obviously, we all know there are limits to how much any one image can convey about the subject. I’m attracted to intensity in the image, and sharpness helps as well. Often, the expression in the eyes can suggest ambiguity, which I like. Though of course someone like Amy Elkins, who has her subjects looking elsewhere, does a great job too.

JC: Do you find making portraits an easy or hard process?

JB: When I’m getting paid, (which is rarely) it’s hard. For my art practice, I find it easy. I try not to photograph someone unless I know them already, like Mel the butcher, or at least have them trust me a bit, like with Eugene. I got a good tip from the old school Santa Fe photographer Norman Mauskopf, who suggested that once the light and scene are set and the camera is up, wait two extra seconds. It creates a sense of discomfort, and it works well for me.

JC: What is next for you photographically?

JB: I’m planning to focus on this project for several more years. I’m working my way North in a huge Valley, and want to make a series of different image strands that interconnect. The first set of images glosses over the landscape, which is beyond photogenic. So I’ve got to figure out how to deal with the landscape in a way that is somewhat original. Quite a lot of work ahead of me.

JC: Whats in store for 2010?

JB: Well, I’m fortunate that I’m going to be able to exhibit some of the photographs from “The Edge of Empire,” this June at my gallery in Santa Fe, Zane Bennett. They’ll be up during Review Santa Fe, the major portfolio review event, so they’ll be seen by a pretty important audience. Beyond that, I want to make as much new work as possible, and perhaps hit an art fair or two.

JC: Any other thoughts?

JB: Well, first off, thanks for this. Writing always helps me gather my thoughts. Secondly, I think that the “Inter-verse” allows us the opportunity to interact within a Global community. Having an audience for one’s work ought to be the goal of every artist with opinions, and I relish the opportunity to share my photographs with people around the world.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What has inspired you over the last seven...

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:21:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: What has inspired you over the last seven days?

LI WEI: I was impressed by Ailing Zhang’s fiction Xiao Tuan Yuan.

JC: What was the last photography book that you had a flick through?

LW: Magnum photographer Larry Towell, The World From My Front Porch.

JC: Briefly explain the ideas surrounding your project ‘the Earth’?

LW: Inner Mongolia is my hometown. This project ‘The Earth’ is about the cultural change of Inner Mongolia in China today, is about Mongolian ethnic minority.

JC: Did your project ‘The Earth’ develop over time? If so, how?

LW: I started from 2008, now has completed more than half. I still need to cover more of the Inner Mongolia region.

JC: In your opinion what makes a successful portrait?

LW: An excellent portrait should reveal one’s inner heart.

JC: What is the above (first) image all about?

LW: This image title is Nasong in Aili teahouse. In the winter of 2008, Inner Mongolia in China, A Mongolian herdsman named Nasong, dressed in Mongolian robe, ready to participate in the traditional Nadam Fair. Then I took this picture in this small restaurant.

JC: What has 2010 got in store for you photographically?

LW: In 2010, I will continue my project “The Earth”.

JC: Any other thoughts?

LW: Nothing yet.

JONATHAN CHERRY: Has anything really inspired you over the last...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:24:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: Has anything really inspired you over the last seven days if so, why?

BEN HUFF: The dark winters in Alaska can be difficult for a photographer. By January I start to question the reality in colors and light. The light this time of year is magical, as we are gaining eight minutes of light every day now. I find impossible to put into words the feeling that swells as the light comes back.

Also, I’m in the Midwest right now, and I’m really moved by the landscape. I haven’t lived here, my birthplace, in over fifteen years. As I ‘ve gotten older, and habitually moved further and further from home, I’ve realized how deep my roots are here. I have a constant nagging to come back and make photographs.

JC: What were the initial ideas behind ‘The Last Road North’?

BH: Initially, and even now, for me, the work is about driving. It’s about being out there. It sounds simplistic, but as the project has evolved, I’ve tried to retain that simplicity. The photographs themselves hold complexities, and the eventual edit will have layers of dichotomies and truth, themes and lies, but the heart of my experience is about driving and finding the next person, the next vantage point. Each of these experiences will, hopefully, culminate in a rich body of work. For now, I drive.

JC: Has the project developed since starting?

BH: I think the project has developed as I’ve developed. It sounds corny, but, somewhere up on that road I became a photographer. Early on I had the benefit of being awarded a grant from the Rasmuson Foundation that afforded me great liberty to make mistakes. That funding, along with the early decision to restart the work in a new format that I had no experience in informed much of where I am now. I try to keep with me that initial urgency, and fear, of not knowing what the hell I am doing and having the backing to do it anyway.

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

BH: Infinite Ice, The Arctic and the Alps from 1860 to Present. Last summer I had planned to get back to a few glaciers off the Richardson Highway, but failed to devote the time. This year I will make it a priority. I’ve been going over historical photos of Alaskan glaciers for a few months for context and inspiration. Although I just got my hands on it, it looks to be a good resource as well.

JC: Whats in store for 2010 photographically?

BH: Simply, to make more photographs. I am currently in an exhibition called America Now at the Montserrat Gallery that I am insanely proud of. I couldn’t ask for a better way to start the year. When I was preparing for the show this fall I made the decision to step back and spend the rest of the year concentrating on making new work. I’m beginning to see very clearly where The Last Road North is headed. I have my next long trip planned in April, where I will start, again, to fill in the gaps.

JC: Any advice to recent photography graduates?

BH: That question is a difficult one. I’m self taught, and recently, actually, went back to get my MFA from University of Alaska Fairbanks. I don’t know that I’m qualified to answer such a question. I will say, though, that I’ve learned over the past three years that none of this would be sustainable if I wasn’t absolutely invested in the photographs that I am making, and love the place where I am making them. This must trump everything else. Photography is hard work - the future would be grim if I did not love the subjects I’ve chosen.

JC: Any other thoughts?

BH: I have to say that I’m excited about the future of the medium. I know that things are in the tank in many facets of the industry, but I’m inspired by what is growing from the rubble. With every small time publisher, cooperative, and intelligent online effort that makes a strong play, I feel confident that photography has something to offer.

JONATHAN CHERRY: Has anything really inspired you over the last...

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:54:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: Has anything really inspired you over the last 2 weeks … if so why?

JEREMY EDWARDS: Boredom inspires me to get up, go somewhere, and take pictures. With regards to content, I’m greatly inspired by the diversity of the city and the faces of complete strangers. Most recently, I’ve fallen in love with my experiment with street photography. And over the last few weeks, my project has somehow gained a little attention from the art community, so when people say, “I like it” - that inspires me, too. Other inspirations: unkept beards, people who walk with limps, animated facial expressions, bad lighting, empty public spaces, good lighting, the elderly, and suspicious characters.

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

JE: I usually don’t pick up photography books because I don’t spend much time in libraries or bookstores anymore. Although, I was in a store recently, and picked up a few photobooks to pass the time. From what I can remember, there was one book about 1930s Chicago and gangsters, one about street photography in the Pilsen neighbourhood in the early 1990s by Paul D’Amato, and the Jazz Loft Project.

JC: What is the project AZ all about?

JE: I went to Arizona to spend time with friends during the holidays and I took pictures of what was beside, in front, behind, or above me. This is probably where the FTP project really took off artistically.

JC: What is the above (first) image all about?

JE: The Hoyt family visits a cemetery in West Mesa each year during the holidays to pay tribute to their grandparents, and two uncles who died tragically in a car accident many years ago. From what I know of them, they were incredible people who still today inspire and motivate the family to love and appreciate each other. In this image, two brothers were standing at the car talking about how they used to visit the cemetery as little boys, and chase each around the grounds dodging headstones. If you look in the background you’ll notice a headstone. This moment for me demonstrated a unique form of intimacy between two brothers. Casually standing at the car, yet their hands were close enough to illustrate how close they felt as brothers. One of my favorites.

JC: You seem to be a photographer that holds personal experience and photography hand in hand … is this correct and if so, how do you go about making images in this way?

JE: I think you’re right. But, I don’t believe that makes me any different than other photographers. Just like most hipsters with cameras, I also have a deep artistic appreciation of the ordinary and mundane. Everyone can relate to this. I feel that our obsession with production, progress, and aesthetics has trained our eyes to ignore the beauty in the ordinary. And, as much as I want to believe my life is full of vigor and vibrancy, it’s mostly boring, plain, and challenging. Taking pictures of these sorts of moments help me cope and work towards a sense of contentment with my life as it is.

JC: What has 2010 got in store for you photographically?

JE: I’m releasing FROM THE POCKET: Book One this Spring. It will feature the best of the FTP project to date. I intend to release Book Two as the project continues to grow throughout the year. I hope to better the project artistically and attract some of the influential actors of the art community. I want to exhibit some of my work here in the city. Not that I’m trying to become famous or anything, but nothing is better than having someone say, “dude, I like that picture.” I can pretend and say that I make big plans for myself photographically, but to be honest, it’s mostly spontaneous and off the cuff. If I were to orchestrate my plans for photography projects, I would never be able to finalize anything because I get so overwhelmed with making just small decisions when it comes to my photography. So, I keep it simple and raw - like sashimi.

JC: Any words of wisdom to recent photography graduates?

JE: Photography graduates? I feel pressured now. I taught myself how to take pictures by screwing up over and over. So, all I can offer is: find a job, keep it, use that money to buy stuff you need to live, fall in love with something, and take pictures of it.

JC: Any other thoughts?

JE: Stay tuned for the book release in early Spring. If you like my project, or the iphoneography phenomenon, tell others. Because that’s just a real nice thing to do. I also welcome insight or advice as to how I could better my project, or portfolio site, or whatever else. And for those of you who wear Ugg boots - stop it.

Jeremy Blogs here.

JONATHAN CHERRY: Do you think being born and raised in the US...

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:41:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: Do you think being born and raised in the US has had a significant impact on the way you make images?

MATT THOMAS: I know it has. I am just not sure exactly how.

Aesthetically, ideologically, I was shaped mostly by where I went to school for photography - Rochester Institute of Technology (especially on technique) (and Elaine O’Neil’s sage advice “Shoot what you know”) and Glasgow School of Art. But then you have to take into account all of those other things that make me who I am - Being born and raised in Elizabeth, NJ by a big supportive family, having a grandfather who was a serious amateur photographer, supportive parents who worked for everything they got. All of this has shaped me personally which has in turn shaped my artwork. Then there is being an American abroad. This shapes the way I work currently in that I am always acutely aware that I am culturally different from others around me at all times. Not so much an embodiment of America, just a capsule of American experiences.

JC: What has inspired you this last week and why?

MT: I’m easily inspired. Ever since I was born I would stare into space with my mouth wide open. I watch things and deconstruct it in my head. I like to think that everything I come in contact with, any event that goes on during the day could possibly be inspirational. Not in a motivational speaker sense. I’m a very visual person. And I am also easily entertained and amazed. Here is a shortlist of things that have inspired me. I tried to focus on the main ones.

Snow- it has been in Oslo since before Christmas. The coldest winter in 75 years I am told. I try to turn it into something positive, I like looking at fresh snow. I like photographing it too. Snow drift shapes, things covered in snow that probably aren’t mean’t to be, layers of snow. ETC. Robert Frank’s ‘Seven Stories’- It made me want to take polaroids again. So I have been taking mostly polaroids all week. The sleds at Vikingskiphuset - it boggles my mind that people were able to craft such beautiful things from wood that long ago, and that they survived Norway’s incredibly shitty weather. Oslo’s Opera House - It is my favorite building. I don’t appreciate architecture anywhere as much as I do in this place. The lines, the light, the way the architects played with space. It is stunning. My wife - Ina is a photographer too, and sometimes I just take pictures of things that remind me of her, she is so damn beautiful and smart. We need to collaborate more, which I think will happen when we move into our own place. My Mom- just left Norway. She was visiting me this last week and she was reminding me of everything that is different in this country from back home in New Jersey. It was refreshing. Beer - I am a huge beer geek. I started making my own homebrews recently. When I drink good beer it inspires me. I get very intense about tasting, smelling, the whole experience. The last one I had was Nøgne Ø imperial brown. Watching the Olympics in Norwegian - Watching the skiing. And my father-in-law watching skiing. I never understood winter sports (besides hockey) but he is so passionate about it like so many other Norwegians are. I’m starting to understand why. Especially Ski shooting. Works in the National Gallery in Oslo, specifically Munch.

JC: What was the last photography book you looked through?

MT: ‘Seven Stories’ by Robert Frank. It is a pleasure to hold. to feel. It is like you are looking through one of his sketchbooks. I love the intimacy of it. Especially the handwriting. Most of all I like the print quality. I like to think that in each one of these seven books there is some sort of narrative that he is totally aware of. But as the viewer going from image to image we are unaware of his intentions, just the fact that these people, these settings are significant to him. Maybe there is an elaborate story. But we have to make it up. It’s what I love about this work.

JC: What did you learn from making the body of work ‘American Landscapes’?

MT: Random photographs aren’t always random photographs.

Observations/photographs can be tied together in ways you don’t always forsee when you are releasing the shutter.

I thought I was just shooting around. I was just shooting around. This work was edited down from 4-5 years of photography. I wanted to put some of these pictures together on my website when I was building it, but I didn’t know how to fit them together. Then I realized what they had in common was they were all observations of what was around me. My environment. And I realized how stark in contrast these environments are. Then I realized this is America. The stark contrasts. The poor, the rich, the strong religious overtones. The consumption. The nature. All of those damn reality signs with freshly cut trees behind them. In some ways this series is my least favorite because it wasn’t something that I had fully thought out as a project. It was just thrown up on the web as a sort of exercise in editing. At times I wish I could go back and just photograph all these themes thoroughly. Other times I am content with the work.

JC: What is your Norway project all about and how did it start?

MT: I think I am still figuring out what it’s about. When I moved to Oslo last April I had this idea that I would document my transition of moving to Norway photographically. But how do you document a transition like that? New country, new language, new culture, it doesn’t fit so neatly in a frame. So I’ve been keeping the idea of transition in the back of my mind and just photographing the things that strike me as slightly absurdly Norwegian, or just objects that interest me, or the people that I have grown close to, or landscapes that I wouldn’t be able to find in the tri-state area. Just finding things outside my own American experience. I always wanted the end product to be a book. But I have so many rolls of film to get developed that I have no idea what direction this project will go in. I want the work to grow organically like my transition. I don’t know if such a thing can be visible in the photographs but I think it is important to me even if no one else can see it.

JC: What is the above (first) image about?

MT: It was an observation.

A bright orange shape struck me while I was walking a trail on Hovedøya, an island near Oslo’s city center. I walked closer to it and noticed that it was a Dolce&Gabbana towel. And then decided to photograph it. I think the absurdity of the scene is what I was trying to focus on. The fact that at this beach, there was this designer towel, on a tree branch where anyone could takel it. Such things are foreign to me and I find it interesting. Norway is such a rich country. you could see it on a towel, on a beach, on a sunny day. Aesthetically, I think somewhere in the back of my mind was some post-impressionist scene painting. Maybe ‘Dance of Life’ or something. There might have also been something calling me with the shadow on the trunk and that orange quadrilateral. Quadrilateral is a really good word.

JC: Are you excited about 2010 - if so why?

MT: It feels like the future. Twenty-Ten. I am excited to live in the future. I am excited to see what this year will bring technologically. More so than any other year since the year 2000. For centuries people probably wondered what the world would be like in the year 2000. Or 2010. And now we are here. It will probably be a let down. Wars will continue, there will still be widespread starvation and disease in parts of the world, greed and profiteering will still be the driving force of progress. But for me, I think it will be a good year. I’m moving, starting a new job, being featured on this website, what more can one ask in the start of a new year?

JC: What is your favourite colour?

MT: Recently, I started getting into color combinations. Saffron yellow and pale blue, or washed out red and pale blue. But if I had to choose it would probably have to be something light turquoise. Like the blue version of mint green. That’s the best.

I am pretty happy to have Peter MULL IT OVER with me. He is...

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:18:00 +0000

I am pretty happy to have Peter MULL IT OVER with me. He is still studying but his work is truly inspirational and innovative. Makes me want to buy a 5x4 for some reason.

Love this quote on his website: “If you are interested in a print don’t hesitate to pay me large sums of money in exchange for one”

JONATHAN CHERRY: Over the last two weeks has anything really inspired you? If so, why?

PETER HALUPKA: Nipples and boy scout handbooks.

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

PH: The last one that struck me was Chanarin and Broomberg’s Fig.

JC: How and when did you discover photography?

PH: I discovered it in some idylic story where I faked sick to stay home but my mom knew so she made me stay in my room. The one closet I had access to had all my dad’s old photo equipment so I checked it out, decided I would learn, then go to NYU. I did none of that actually.

Then four years later I wanted to hang out with the best skateboarders in my hometown. I was certainly not as good as them so because I had started taking pictures I asked if I could come out and skate with them and hang out. It worked and I actually was super down with the skate scene we had there till I moved away.

JC: What is your current body of work all about?

PH: I think it’s about fucking and the space between memory and forgetfulness.

JC: What is the attached image all about?

PH: I was super into cheese curls at the time and I told my brother to make one.

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

PH: I just put my website up. Erin Jane Nelson and I want to make a film too. I wouldn’t mind showing some work soon! But I just sit and wait for that to happen when it will happen.

JC: Have you got any exciting plans for 2010?

PH: I have the perfect solution for this. Go visit www.peterhalupka.com and go to “Info” and view that list I have there. I think I made it so I can not only be held accountable for it all but also for people to reference in instances like this.

JC: What are your expectations upon graduating?

PH: I just need to graduate first. I have been at too many schools. Then I might just get a dog and get a farm.

JC: Any other thoughts?

PH: I’ve been thinking about how many people have died where I walk everyday. But that’s not that weird. It’s really natural actually. I don’t have anything clever to say here. At all.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What is it that you like most about your Pentax...

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:54:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: What is it that you like most about your Pentax and how does it suit the way you make images?

BRIAN FERRY: I really like the control the Pentax gives me over my photos - the fact that it is fully manual suits me well. But what I probably like best is purely aesthetic - it’s a real tank of a camera, and it’s a very tactile process to take a photo with it. Each photo feels significant. The deep click of the shutter is quite satisfying to me. The significance of each photo means that I slow down and consider the photos I’m taking quite carefully. It allows for a more meditative, satisfying process (but I also think that is true of most film cameras).
JC: Has anything really inspired you in the last 24 hours if so, what and why?

BF: This video definitely inspired me yesterday for a number of reasons. I love the fact that these guys had the guts to start a business that they felt strongly about, and that they continue to pursue their particular vision and remain true and honest to that aesthetic. They are deliberate about what they do. And I love how enthusiastic they are about the simple things - serving food to people who appreciate it, building a community around their restaurants, even their excitement about something as simple as a meatball. People who are passionate always inspire me.

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

BF: A small book of polaroids, by Steven Harrington. I love the way this guy sees the world.

JC: On your website you mention that you enjoy seeking out ‘good light’ - how do you go about this on a day to day basis?

BF: I find that I am incredibly affected by the light on any given day. I can feel my mood adjust based on the light around me - bright winter sun, grey london drizzle, gold light streaming into my office around 4pm, blue light just after the sun sets, and even artificial light - lamps, candles, or unforgiving flourescent light. Because I am hyper aware of the light, I think my photographs try to honestly capture the way that it feels to me at any given moment. Does that make any sense? I think it started when I decided to “chase the light” last winter. I wanted to take a series of photos, just for myself, that chased light in various forms. It was eye-opening and very instructional.

JC: What is your most recent project all about?

BF: Most recently, I’ve been trying to photograph my personal details - the seemingly mundane things that surround me on a day-to-day basis. I was inspired by some photos I saw in a magazine - they must’ve been advertising handbags or watches or something - but the way the photos were styled, they seemed to be an intensely personal peek into someone’s life. Their keys, bag, mobile phone, to-do lists, old receipts, notes, a discarded sweater, etc. It seemed to be such a good way of recording personal habits. I haven’t shared a lot of these yet, but it’s something I’m working on.

JC: What are your major plans for 2010?

BF: I plan to enjoy the hell out of living in London and exploring Europe and beyond. I’m still getting used to living in a new city. And I can’t wait to visit Berlin, Scandinavia, and Paris (I’ve never been). There are so many other places I’m hoping to visit, too.

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

BF: As for photography, it’s been a slow start for me in 2010 - I have a lot of ideas, but haven’t had the time to really make them happen. I’d really like to collaborate with another person, a photographer/artist/designer. I have a couple of ideas and I’m always open to suggestions from someone who might be interested. I think working with someone else will really challenge me and I am always up for a good challenge.

JC: Any advice to photography students and recent graduates?

BF: Oh man, I don’t know if I am qualified to give advice to a photography student or recent graduate. I’m self-taught, so they should probably call me with some helpful advice. But I guess the only thing I would offer is - be honest. People appreciate honesty. And look for inspiration in the everyday, mundane things.

JC: Any other thoughts?

BF: I think that’s all I’ve got. Thanks.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What was the last photography book you...

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:02:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: What was the last photography book you purchased?

DANIEL AUGSCHÖLL: The last photo book I bought was Tim Davis’ My Life in Politics. I don’t know why I didn’t get this book earlier. It is from 2006 and when I first saw his photographs online a few years ago I felt immediately attracted by them. Seeing the printed book is of course even better. His vision really impresses me; he makes smart, complex work with a unique eye. What attracts you at first sight is the surface of the images, the quality; apparently simple compositions depicting ordinary situations, but when you take a closer look you’ll notice that there is a lot more behind them.

I’m really looking forward to his forthcoming book The New Antiquities that will be published by Damiani this spring.

JC: What were the last two things to inspire you?

DA: Watching interviews with Ingmar Bergman and thinking about the work he did together with Sven Nykvist. The other thing was to hear Alec Soth talking about his work in Milan a few days ago.

JC: What is ‘Celestial Planisphere’ all about and where did the ideas stem from?

DA: The series Celestial Planisphere is essentially about us, about how we relate to our surroundings, to nature. It is about how we create things, but it shows also our fear of being alone.

I usually go out and walk. Then I wait to see if something happens. I don’t always know what I want to photograph but I have a certain atmosphere in mind that I want to transpose to film. It is a very slow process.

JC: What is the above (first) image all about - I have always been intrigued by this one?

DA: I took this image in the mountains next to my home. They were making a kind of path through the woods and so they had to cut off a large amount of trees. This one grabbed my attention because I immediately saw this colored patch that turned out to be dried resin. I don’t know where the other white stain came from, but I think it kind of looks like an abstract painting.

JC: What is your current project all about?

DA: Lately I had been working on a new body of work made in black and white. It is about the original path that connects Italy to Austria through the Brenner Pass. The pass is one the most important traffic connections between northern and southern Europe. At the moment the two countries are building an enormous railway tunnel (world’s second longest tunnel) that passes right through the mountains in order to avoid traffic on the pass. The impact on nature and its consequences will be huge. I’m not documenting the building of the tunnel directly, instead I’m more interested in showing what’s on the surface, the small towns, parking lots etc.

JC: What is next in the pipe line for you photographically and for 2010?

DA: I’m about to move to Berlin and I’m very excited about it. I can’t wait to start a new project over there. In these last months I didn’t have the chance to photograph very much so I hope to make a lot of pictures in 2010.

There are many talented photographers whose work I admire and so I’m also planning to publish printed portfolios as a sort of B-Side to Ahorn Magazine but it’s not that easy to find enough funds.

JC: Any other thoughts?

DA: Right now I’m working on a new issue of Ahorn Magazine, to be published in March, and I’m very happy about how it will look. So stay tuned.

JONATHAN CHERRY: Where do you take inspiration from? IGOR...

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:54:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: Where do you take inspiration from?

IGOR STARKOV: I like to put myself in places where I will experience different things and receive fresh inspiration; this has become the basis of my work. I think that it’s highly important to allow people to critique your own work and to make sure that you engage with the work of others.

JC: What is your most recent project ‘boy’ all about?

IS: The project ‘Boy’ is all about my relationship with the son. This project is personal to me and I am a part of the story. For a few reasons I haven’t seen my son since his birth. We walked across the streets of town where he lives and I just took photographs of our experience together.

JC: I am interested in the above (first) image … what is it all about?

IS: When I was a child I loved to build secret places for myself; often in trees. I feel as though every ‘secret place’ or location must have its own treasures. My son does the same now and this picture was made when he was searching for some stuff for his ‘secret harbour’.

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

IS: I have now turned my lens upon people who are close to me or people who just interest me; I am finding that person-oriented stories are the ones that attract me most to making photographs. The series “Boy” has been the beginnings for many more stories about the people around me.

JC: What equipment do you use and how do you think that it fits with your way of making images?

IS: I use Rolleicord - It was kept a German mans garage for a long time until he gave it to me because he never seemed to use it. I like it very much and would never change.

JC: What was the last photography book you picked?

IS: ‘Alchimistes aux fourneaux’ by Rip Hopkins.

JC: What are you excited about for 2010?

IS: I’m going to travel more across Siberia and Central Asia. I will possibly have work at Caucasus. Today I will fly to Murmansk, on the north of Russia and I will of course work as normal.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What has inspired you in the last 24hrs and...

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:18:17 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: What has inspired you in the last 24hrs and why?

MARK WICKENS: I recently watched Werner Herzog’s “Encounters at the End of the World”. His questions and insights in the film are really intriguing and the movie frames the subject matter in a curiously unique manner.

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

MW: Right now, I have Jason Schmidt’s “Artists” sitting on my desk. Its a compilation of portraits of artists in their creative environments. Highly recommended.

JC: Do you have a current project; if so, what is it all about?

MW: My main project over the past few years has been an exploration of the California landscape. It’s pretty remarkable how many different environments exist within the state.

JC: I can see that you are attracted to shafts of light and it seems the majority of your imagery contains heavy natural lighting - what is it that draws you to this? and leading on from that do you find it sometimes limiting to only shoot when natural light is available?

MW: I really enjoy the quality of natural light, especially how it is rendered on film. Day lit photographs tend to have a timeless quality to them that I find gets a bit muddled with the introduction of artificial light sources. Only shooting during the day can certainly be a bit limiting, especially in the winter when daylight is in short supply, but so it goes…

JC: What are you excited about for 2010?

MW: I’m excited for the World Cup! Go England! or…go USA! or…go Japan! I’ll split my support into thirds for those teams, though England will probably stumble…as usual.

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

MW: I’m hoping to start a project on coastal life in New England.

JC: Have you got any words of wisdom for young and emerging practitioners?

MW: Relax, enjoy life. Its no fun if its not fun.

JONATHAN CHERRY: How did you get into photography? LUKE...

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:23:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: How did you get into photography?

LUKE STEPHENSON: Quite a boring answer but just at school in art lessons there was a really bad darkroom but I just enjoyed faughing around and taking pictures and then I went to college and I got more involved

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

LS: I picked up a book on ravens by a japanese photographer at a friends house and can’t remember the name of it.

JC: Can you give two specific examples of people who truly inspire you and why?

LS: Well this is quite hard as being truly inspiring is a difficult task but lots of people just simply inspire me.

JC: What is ‘Stanelli’s Super Circus’ all about?

LS: Well I heard about a puppet theatre near my parents house that put on shows with traditional marionette puppets so I when and watched a show over christmas and discovered that the man who put on theses show had received a grant from the lottery to buy a collection of puppets created by one man called stan parker he made over 100 marionette puppets though out his life and part of this collection was 30 - 40 circus puppets which he used to perform all around the world. I was really interested by the whole story of Stan Parker and the fact that a mans life work had been saved and kept together, plus they are such wonderful objects on there own so I simply wanted to document them.

Lots of information, pictures and video’s about Stan and his puppets can be found here.

JC: How did you decide to compose each puppet / character in these images? I notice they all seem to have a sense of ownership towards the image … almost as if they are alive and giving you there best pose - was this intentional?

LS: Well it wasn’t intended but I soon realized that I couldn’t just have them hanging limp from a pole in front of a colorama as they looked dead, even a little detail like there feet not been flat on the floor just looked a bit daft , luckily I had a friend with me helping out or I wouldn’t have been able to take the photo’s and use the puppets so over the course of the day we photographed all the circus puppets and the thing that took the time was working out how each one moved and what they did as it wasn’t always clear and then it was a matter of just letting my friend use the puppet and put it in different positions until I felt I had got a good representation of that puppet. My friend had a great day just playing with puppets really.

JC: Have you ever found making portraits difficult? If yes, what were the circumstances?

LS: I find men a little easier to photograph than women I don’t quite understand why but I just seem to take better pictures of men.

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

LS: I am just finishing off a project which I’ve been doing on and off for the past couple of years, I’d like to do a book with it, but we’ll see. other than that I have lots of ideas. I would like to do a project involving people as I’ve been doing lots of still life type stuff. Other than that just carry on as always, but try to do more.

JC: Any thoughts to give recent photography graduates?

LS: Keep plodding on its not a quick fix being a photographer so just keep taking pictures.

JONATHAN CHERRY: Can you give two or three example of things...

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:46:22 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: Can you give two or three example of things that have inspired you in the last seven days?

YANIV WAISSA: My work is inspired by the sights that I visit during my photographic journys, and what I feel about them. I also insipred from reading photo blogs (such as Mrs. Deane, Conscientious, Tales of Light, Buffet, Loz, Urbanautica and many more). I always love to see works of different people from different places and of course my home library

JC: What was the last photography book you picked up and what did you like about it?

YW: A few days ago I got the new book of Simon Menner, a young photographer from Germany. The book contains 3 projects- “Camouflage”, “Murder Weapons” and “Boobytraps”. These different projects all try to deal with the nature of terror and the mechanisms that a used to spread terror and fear in peoples minds. I love his works because they make you shiver. I Also love the way he solves the problem of presenting three very distinct bodies of work on one kind of paper.

JC: What equipment are you currently using?

YW: My main cameras are Shen Hao 4x5 and Holga but I also used few polaroid and toy cameras

JC: What is ‘Disintegration of a Revived Nation’ all about and where did the ideas stem from?

YW: This project stem from my photographic journeys across various locations in Israel. I examine the relationship between man and nature and the constant tension between the past and the future. I deal with the urban revolution, manifested in the massive construction of buildings, roads, bridges and all kinds of huge concrete structures and the changing generations.

JC: Why did you choose to shoot in Black and White for ‘Disintegration of a Revived Nation’?

YW: I love shooting in black and white! I love the wide range of gray tones and the grain. I love to use color films/slides when the color is a main issue and important for the project and for this project I felt that b&w is better to express the overall atmosphere of the project.

JC: What are your hopes for 2010?

YW: I’m going to exhibit in the Time To Meet festival in Antwerp (March 2010) and hope to publish books with two new publishers so I hope to reach more people with my works. I also going to marry my girlfriend, Tal, so wish us the best of luck.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What was the last photography book you picked...

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:55:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: What was the last photography book you picked up?

MATTHEW AUSTIN: Long Life Cool White by Moyra Davey. My friend David Robert Elliott lent it to me at a critique about a month ago, it’s an incredible book. It provides a pretty amazing example of what it means to be fascinated by photography. Her self-criticisms are really honest and comforting, I think most photographers would relate to her writing.

JC: Over the last week has anything particularly inspired you?

MA: When I did laundry this week, I lost a collar tab from one of my collared shirts which inspired me to photograph it. I guess it was just interesting to feel like I should be disappointed in something so unnecessary: something to keep my collar stiff. Also, I recently watched the film Synecdoche, New York which was pretty amazing; that inspired me to carry on with a Phillip Seymour Hoffman marathon of movie watching.

JC: What equipment do you use and how do you feel it is appropriate to leaning itself to your way of shooting?

MA: I primarily use color negative film and a Tachihara 4x5. I would say most of the work that I make has something to do with encouraging further consideration for an idea. So, in the case of the large format, I’m forced to carefully think about the making of the photograph and then actually see the resultant image on the ground glass. I also can’t deny the fact that the camera itself has its controlling characteristics. I think the camera is intriguing to most people being photographed, intimidating or confusing; it has a significant presence.

JC: What is wake all about and where did the ideas stem from?

MA: Wake is a photographic narrative that began with my father’s eviction while I was studying abroad in Ireland. I couldn’t help him move his things being 7,000 miles away, so we kept in touch frequently via e-mail while he was going through this difficult experience. The book Wake includes photographs and journal entries of mine, along with intermittent excerpts of e-mails from my dad while I was in Ireland. After returning to America, I began making photographs strictly of me and my dad hugging in different locations of tragic memory, as a kind of visitation or closure on what had happened. The work continued to develop when we began to experience a number of deaths within our extended family. I began to see metaphorical connections between our present economic time and physical death. I wanted to treat the project like a reflective ceremony, as if it were a wake or a funeral; so making images then became far more intuitive. I would generally treat making a photograph like a reflection on a certain event or idea that had happened, which is why most of the imagery in the book is metaphorical and not documentary. So Wake was wrapped up as I realized its function as my personal understanding of our situation and the current universality of the story among many people who can now relate to these types of experiences.

JC: How have you found making photography work and ‘being seen’ during this time of culture / financial shift?

MA: I don’t think the financial changes in our economy has changed anything about the rate in which I make work, I owe that to the sometimes irresponsible priority of making work above certain other expenses. As far as “being seen,” I don’t know if I can say that I know a difference between making work in the current time of culture or another. I’m also not sure if I can compare ‘being seen’ to anything else, have I been seen? While not knowing if I’ve been seen, I guess I try to remind myself that there’s something worthwhile in my hopes with inviting people to look at work such as this book, even if making it is mostly self-satisfying. For me, I think that idea is supported by how often artists’ work is not seen; and that maybe no one involved in the contemporary photo-world would notice if I stopped photographing. Most likely, only my family and friends would be disappointed because they understood that photography meant something to me. So in that sense, I think one’s dedication to their work has to be enough for most of the time.

JC: What are you excited about for 2010?

MA: I’m excited to learn about what life is like not being a student. I’m also excited for the after school digital photography program that I’ll be continuing to teach in February at Jones College Prep.

JC: Have you found the photography / art blogosphere to be a benefit when coming to promoting your work and sharing thoughts?

MA: Yeah, definitely. It’s great having such access to learn about current exhibitions, awards being won, and work being made. I think that often the whole experience of participating in it can get pretty weird. Just in the way that it’s so easy to create celebrity out of artists whose work you really like, and then how weird it must be for them to receive that treatment. But overall, I think it’s very helpful. I find myself enjoying the sites that strictly feature artists such as this one, and Too Much Chocolate, and also the blogs that give you unexpected posts like Little Brown Mushroom and Pete Halupka’s blog.

JC: Any other thoughts?

MA: For anyone who’s interested in reading Wake, e-mail me at mattaustinphoto [at] gmail [dot] com to receive a PDF of it. And for those in Chicago, I’m checking out copies of the book like a library, so e-mail me to get on that list if you want.

Matthew continues to work and teach in Chicago, US. He blogs here.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What have you been inspired by over the last...

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:28:44 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: What have you been inspired by over the last month?

BENYMIN REICH: The Old City of Jerusalem is a place which gives me a lot of inspiration: the various religions, the bustling spirituality within a market of tastes and odors, and the faces of believers from all over the world. I have also gained inspiration from a fascinating movie I have seen lately, “Schoene Tage”.

JC: What was the last photography book you looked through?

BR: The last photography book I looked through was Survivors, by the wonderful photographer Aliza Auerbach, documenting the personal stories of holocaust survivors.

JC: What is ‘The Dead Sea’ project all about?

BR: I have been working on the Dead Sea project for a few years. I try to capture the human and natural landscape of this unique place, now in danger of extinction, losing about three feet of its water level every year. I photograph the people coming there, soldiers with their arms and Palestinians, who cannot go to any other beach, as well as the primordial, desert landscape. The deep sense of history you feel there mixes with the strong smell of sulfur emanating from the salty water and the black mud. Sometimes I sit in a natural pool of warm sulfur water, looking at the other side of the lake. It is Jordan there, so close, and yet so far from us Israelis.

JC: I find the above (first) image really interesting - can you briefly explain it?

BR: Secluded places around the Dead Sea, such as some natural springs and pools, provide a sense of intimacy and unity to small groups of people who travel and hike there, and sometimes try to conceal it from others. When I took out my camera, it seemed to have disrupted the serenity of the place and the bathers. After a while I asked to take a picture, and they agreed.

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

BR: I would rather not spoil the readers’ surprise …

JC: What equipment do you use?

BR: My camera is a medium format, Roleiflex 2.8 gx, (limited edition 2000 347/500). I use mostly Velvia 50 ASA positive film.

JC: Any other thoughts?

BR: There are many plans to save the Dead Sea, but they are not carried out for political, economic and other reasons. I hope the neighboring countries, together with national and international organizations, will finally cooperate and save this unique spot on Earth.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What one thing today has inspired you? KELIY...

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:53:00 +0000

JONATHAN CHERRY: What one thing today has inspired you?

KELIY ANDERSON-STALEY: I am always thinking about portraits and how I would portray strangers. Just today at the laundromat, I found myself starring at people as I often do. I am fascinated by the way people move, and especially the way they look when they don’t believe they’re being looked at.

JC: What draws you to photography?

KA: Photography allows me to shoot until I feel that I’ve completely exhausted a subject. It also allows several moments of creative intervention - the planning, the shooting, the printing, and the editing. The function of each image can change as the project develops, so photography has a kind of flexibility as a narrative and representational form that isn’t as readily available in other mediums.

JC: What is ‘Off The Grid’ all about?

KA: ‘Off The Grid’ is about several things at once - families who have chosen to live disconnected from the electrical grid (both those who have been living this way for decades and those who have moved off - grid more recently); about the aesthetic character of their improvised homes; about central Maine where life is still defined by wilderness, harsh winters and rugged individuals; and about my own upbringing. In my efforts to document these families and my own, I have deliberately blurred the line between portraiture and autobiography. Although I am interested in the significance of this lifestyle as a kind of response to the global environmental crisis, it of course doesn’t appeal to everyone, and it wouldn’t be a viable solution on a mass scale anyway. So, I am not seeking to romanticize this way of living, but rather to show it as it is.

JC: Can you put the above (first) image into context?

KA: “Tom Shaving” is a portrait of my father shaving in his cabin as he has for years, with a fragment of a mirror and a bowl of water heated on the wood stove. My father’s life in the winter is pretty much confined to ten feet around his wood stove where he reads, writes and makes art. I hoped with this portrait to capture his intellectual character, and his thoughtful approach to even the simplest daily activities. My father built his cabin when I was only two, so my entire life was shaped by his desire to live off the grid, a lifestyle he still maintains thirty years later.

JC: What makes a successful portrait?

KA: The best portrait is one that makes the viewer stop and really look at someone and think about who the person is and how he or she sees him or herself. My favorite portraits reveal and obscure at the same time, maybe allowing us to see a little more than the subject wants to project while still respecting his or her sense of privacy. Although ‘Off The Grid’ is about spaces and the portraits situate people in their environments, they are still formal portraits, and I often ask the individuals to look directly into the camera. Of course there is a long American portrait tradition of individuals standing proudly in front of their homes, on the frontier and elsewhere.

JC: What is next for you photographically?

KA: I am working on a sculptural installation of hundreds of tintype portraits that I have taken over the past few years.

JC: Any other thoughts?

KA: I think a lot of photography recently has tended to ignore the human subject. There has been a lot of emphasis on epic landscapes, urban settings void of people, and sparse horizons. A great deal of that work I find really profound and important, like Edward Burtynsky’s work, but I think it’s important to continue to photograph people, and to not forget the humanistic aspects of the form. Some photographers who are really doing this today include Erika Larsen, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Richard Renaldi and Elinor Carucci.

I studied at UCF with Lena. She was in the year below me. I was...

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:09:56 +0000

I studied at UCF with Lena. She was in the year below me. I was always fascinated with her approach to photography and admired her passion. I am thrilled to have her mull it over.

JONATHAN CHERRY: What two things have inspired you over the last week?

LENA DOBROWOLSKA: Definitely the snowy weather. I spent most of last month in Scotland and I found myself totally mesmerised by the northern landscape, the monochromatic colours, incredible light, just this vastness of space that makes you feel really tiny, in a good way.

The other thing would be the film I watched recently LILYA 4 - EVER by Lukas Moodysson, which actually involved lots of snow too and was shot in Russia as well as Sweden.

JC: What was the last photography book you look through?

LD: ‘Afterglow’ by Ori Gersht - status of a Bible, really. Plus very interesting essay by Joanna Lowry which I highly recommend.

JC: What is your current project all about?

LD: My current project is concerned with the relation between the reality and it’s representation.

JC: What is the project ‘Blank’ all about?

LD: ‘Blank’ is still in progress, and it is a temporary title for this body of work It explores the detached relationship of a photograph with its subject matter. I am interested in the ability of a photographic portrait to become a kind of screen for viewer’s own revelations. It resembles the process of creation and identity; we only learn about oneself through others, through differentiation and recognition of those differences. I am continuing to photograph this group of children and I am hoping to finish by the end of June 2010 (which will make it exactly a year long project).

JC: I am fascinated by the above (first) image - Did you find it an easy process-photographing children?

LD: Certainly not, I am working with a large format camera, which must look really scary to the children; so in a way the initial process was rather tough. Working with this sort of equipment paid back though, because children are so used to cameras these days, they ‘pull’ their smiley snapshot faces instantly and almost instinctively as soon as they hear that they’ll be photographed. The very slow process of photographing with a large format camera made the whole experience of posing totally new to them. I think you can see this in my photographs, particularly the one you mentioned, a kind of fear of unknown, but trust too, for which I feel really grateful. Although, I must admit I never look at my subjects when I press the shutter, so I don’t know who is really scared of who.

JC: Have you got any exciting prospects for 2010?

LD: Hopefully will get my degree and have our final show both in Falmouth and London. After which, I plan to get really busy once I leave Cornwall, maybe a little trip to somewhere far North?

JC: Any other thoughts?

LD: Stay calm and carry on, come what may.

I have always enjoyed Rachel Hulins work and I know she has been...

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 12:26:03 +0000

I have always enjoyed Rachel Hulins work and I know she has been an inspiration to many young and emerging photographers here in the UK. I am proud to have her mull it over.

JONATHAN CHERRY: Would you give us a few examples of who is influencing your practice at this time and why?

RACHEL HULIN: O man, that’s hard. I have some favorite photographers I always come back to - Bill Henson, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Richard Misrach, Sally Mann … there are really too many to list. I like folks who make narratives, who reflect life honestly and beautifully. I read a lot, and I think authors often influence my work as well. I love cheeky British literature … Nick Hornby and Martin Amis and PG Wodehouse.

JC: What equipment do you use for the majority of your personal images?

RH: General 6x7 film. So that means either my Mamiya 7 or Pentax 67. I still love the feeling and depth that film provides, and I think waiting some time between taking and seeing the pictures is generally a beneficial thing.

JC: Your approach to photography seems very personal. How highly do you value the experience of photographing and why?

RH: It is very personal- it sort of provides a bit of a diary or outlet for me. I like to photograph life as it happens, and I find it comforting to go back and see images of my family from years before. I like having a record. Even in times of strife or hardship, there’s always something beautiful. I’m hopelessly romantic about sunlight streaming through a window, or the breeze in the trees, or a beautiful bowl of fruit. I can’t get enough of those little elements.

JC: Have you got a project in the pipeline?

RH: I’ve been working a bit on my commercial book, shooting some lifestyle stuff. Times are so tricky for photographers right now that I want to be best positioned to work in the current market. You can see some of the new work here.

JC: What are your next big steps with regards to your photographic life?

RH: Good question! I think I will keep making work, and I’m working on a new blog/ online magazine. Stay tuned!

JC: For all the graduates out there - have you got any tips of how to get a foot in the door in the photographic world?

RH: Email editors who produce work you love, and email your favorite photographers as well. Everyone likes to be admired, and staying in touch with people as your work evolves is extremely important.

JC: Leading from that question, how did you make your mark on the photographic world?

RH: Have I made one? Ha! I worked for many years at The International Center of Photography, so I made a lot of contacts. And then I worked as an editor and got to hire folks. It’s really a surprisingly small world, so it’s not too difficult to go to openings and look at new photo books and generally be engaged. Being engaged and enthusiastic - those are the most important things, I think.

Rachel Hulin has a brand spanking new website up.