What is your inspiration?
The natural rhythms of everyday life and the world around us. I have little desire for fiction.
When doing a shoot do you already have something in mind or do you just “wing it”?
There are photographers like Cindy Sherman who control their subjects in order to communicate the vision in their mind’s eye. Through their photos, they invite the viewer into their world to see whatever it is they want to show.
By not controlling my subjects, I wish to comment on our shared occasionally stinky and backlit, mean and awful, beautiful and resplendent yet always effervescent world that is continually changing around us. I don’t set out with particular photos in mind and I do not pose my photos. For me, to do so is to break from our shared experience. My orientation toward photography is reactive, not constructive. For me, the power of photography and what separates it from other visual arts is its subtractive nature that allows us to suspend time and place for later consideration.
Do you stay locally or do you have to travel to really get what you want?
The more one learns about photographing in other countries, the more appreciative you will become of our systems that avoid prior restraint or paying subjects for access. America is the best place to photograph. We’re so brilliant, yet so fucked up, in so many fascinating ways.
I looked at your bio page and noticed that you were a photojournalist for 3 different newspapers; do you like the “freedom” that you have now with doing your own work at school, or would you rather photograph something for the news, or maybe both?
Actually, I was a photo editor for the past 10 years and didn’t do much shooting during that time so the freedom I feel comes from leaving the office to go back on the streets. I am interested in art/documentary projects more than straight news but I believe there will be such a niche in the future of photojournalism.
Have you given much thought to our final project?
I am still not sure which project I will display for class. It may be a work based on John Cage’s 4’33”.
what is so interesting about John Cage’s 4’33’’?
It’s a composition where no one plays. I approach it as a figure/ground experiment. The photos would be 4’33” exposures taken with a pinhole camera.
Filed under: Uncategorized
