have any other interests in visual arts?
I was never married to any particular medium before attending Mason
Gross. I enrolled into the school after taking almost 6 years off from
school because I knew at the core of it all, making art was what I desired
in my life. Open to anything, I borrowed a friend’s SLR over the summer
before the first fall semester would commence and putzed around my local
park taking pictures. It all felt right. The process of moving around and
sometimes directly interacting with my environment, searching for things
and having the ability to make images almost instantly was fulfilling. I was
intrigued and wanted more.
2) What type of photography do you like or are interested in? portrait
etc..
I suppose it is common practice for photography students to work with film
35mm and large format cameras before advancing to digital. While working
with film I found myself gravitating toward perspectival and geometric
elements usually seen with architecture or industrial settings.
Upon shooting digital, my interest changed to self-portraiture. I used
the opportunity and convenience of technology to investigate the
photographer/sitter dynamic. Acting as both the photographer and sitter
simultaneously allows me to be aware of what the process is like from
both perspectives, which will be helpful when I decide to work with another
individual as my subject.
Lately I have tried to employ my interest in perspective and geometry when
shooting portraiture. I feel that it lends a sense of distortion, drama and
interesting aesthetic to my images.
3) Do you have any photography influences? who do you like? hate?
New Topographics: Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Frank Golhke, Bernd and
Hilla Becher, Steven Shore, Henry Wessel Jr. Joe Deal,
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Nan Golden, Cornelia Hediger, Sally Mann,
Samantha Everton, Elinor Carucci, Susanne Junker.
4) What type of equipment do you use? do you use film, digital, both?
what programs if any do use to edit?
I shoot with a Canon Rebel Digital SLR. My brother was nice enough to
let me borrow a nicer fixed lens of his as well as a zoom and macro Lens.
Though I typically shoot with the fixed. Little by little I add to the additional
equipment such as tripods and lighting, etc.
Lightroom and Photoshop. I am more familiar with LR though I would like
to be fairly proficient in PS by the end of this year.
5) (technical question) Do you work with available light or do you use
additional light often?
I work in both types of lighting situations. I typically use available and
artificial light simultaneously as most of my recent work has been in a
studio situation.
6) Looking a your work you use yourself as a model. is it easier/
better for your purposes than using models/ friends?
I’m at a pivotal moment in my life and have undergone some dramatic
positive changes. I feel that the self-portraiture is a gateway into
documenting and understanding what this time. My ideas behind each
shoot are based on what I might be experiencing and feeling but it is the
end result that really allows me to reflect and understand more.
you are excited about? any outside of school?
I am just dipping my feet into some print work, which is very exciting to
me since it allows me to deal with my image making in entirely new way.
Thesis is rather exciting to me because of the inherent significance it has
to all of these “big changes” that are occurring in my life. It is a special time
and I want that to reveal itself in my work this year.
8)What are your plans after school? graduate school? freelancing,
magazine, etc?
I am considering all of the above. I was not thinking about graduate school
until my third semester at Mason Gross. I’d like to see what direction my
practice goes during the fall semester before I make the decision to apply.
9)Have you done any thinking about what your thesis maybe? if so
would you like to share?
As mentioned, I would somehow like to continue working with the self-
portraiture/narrative theme. It is important for me to take the ideas of
last semester and push them further based on what is relevant/current in
my life. I’m leaving the specifics wide open, as it is, in fact, a significant
project. My intent is that despite it reflecting on myself that it still has a
universal appeal and has the ability to evoke feeling from anyone.
10) Do you have any big dreams/plans for the future regarding
photography?
No significant plans other than making beautiful and relevant art that I can
be proud of. My goal is to always push forward.
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