landscape

The Public Work: Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin

June 28, 2020 in interview

The Public Work: Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): Hi Kwasi, thanks for doing the interview! For those who may not be familiar with you or your work, could you introduce yourself, and give us an overview?

Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin (KBB): My name is Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin and I’m a photographer from Los Angeles. I primarily shoot documentary landscape and street photography with an emphasis on underrepresented neighborhoods. I was born in Brooklyn, New York but have lived in L.A. since I was 2 years old, I grew up moving between Hollywood, East Hollywood, and Mid City, those are also the neighborhoods I tend to photograph most.

ADM: You're launching a site called "The Public Work" and leading with an essay/body of work with Erwin Recinos called "Neighborhood Quarantine." In which you're shooting the color/digital images, while Erwin shoots the BnW images on film. What was the impetus to start the website and how did the new collaborative body of work start?

KBB: I started The Public Work at the beginning of the year as a home for my street photography essays. It was inspired by the role I think that photography can play in documenting life from street level. Once the pandemic hit the city I began to use it as a platform to share what it was like in some of the neighborhoods that didn’t make the news.

Erwin is one of my oldest friends and I’ve collaborated with him on several projects over the past decade such as our old photography collective Snapshot Galleria (with Luis Torres) and multiple zine collaborations. I reached out to him for the Neighborhood Quarantine essay because I saw the work that he was making and thought that it would work well with some of mine.

ADM: When you're working collaboratively, do you notice your workflow change, or at the very least what you're drawn to shoot, in relation to the other contributor's work?

KBB: My workflow doesn’t really change. Unless I’m on a professional assignment, I shoot the same things wherever I go. The great thing about working with Erwin (and others I have collaborated with in the past) is that our work just fits. We often just settle on a theme and interpret it on our own. It involves a lot of trust but the results speak for themselves.

ADM: Stepping back, more generally, what's your working practice like - you seem to split your chops between topographics work and traditional street photography - what gets you out to shoot, and what are you looking for when you're out on the street shooting?

KBB: The goal of my photography has always been to accurately portray life in the city as I see it. When I first started out, I focused exclusively on urban landscape but in the past few years I’ve incorporated traditional street photography into my work. I find that the combination of the two styles allows me to document neighborhoods with more clarity. I’m attracted to scenes and moments that often go unnoticed during the course of our daily lives.

ADM: Was there a particular moment or project that prompted the step into more traditional street photography - you mention that blending both styles gives you a better insight into the neighborhoods you document?

KBB: In 2018 I was accepted into and attended the New York Times portfolio review. The day after the review, I had a day to explore the city on my own and I decided to experiment a bit with street photography. That was really when the seed was planted and I saw the potential in combining it more purposefully with my landscape work. I had experimented with "traditional" street photography for years prior to this but I never made the effort to integrate that approach with my professional body of work. Something just clicked that week in New York and I've been moving forward ever since.

ADM: (If you'll allow me to pivot a bit) in the last couple of weeks I've noticed you've put up a couple more essays, and (on instagram as well) have added the new essay "Hindsight (2020)" about the turmoil 2020 has brought so far - and how Los Angeles (and Angelenos) have resiliently responded. What do you think are the key images to understanding Hindsight, and why those images?

KBB: The Hindsight essay is the result of me just realizing how insane this year had been in L.A. It has really been difficult to process it all so I tried to present it plainly for the viewer. It starts out in the beginning of the year when, like many of us, I was filled with optimism about 2020. The Kobe Bryant tragedy hit Los Angeles really hard and personally, that was tough. I wanted to show a bit of how the city came together to celebrate his life, not just through official means but also on the street. The quarantine and BLM protest movement have continued to reshape life in the city. The main goal of the essay was to show a bit of what all of these events were like here.

ADM: Typically when you're creating your own personal projects is there something that inspires you to create them or put them together - in your intro you mention underrepresented neighborhoods, but is there any other particular draw or inspiration that runs through your work? Also do you find yourself going out and creating projects from the outset, or assembling them once you start to see common threads in your pool of photos?

KBB: Exploring neighborhoods is the core motivation for my photographic work. The focus on underrepresented neighborhoods is because I grew up in several of them. The places I explored in my childhood were never properly shown or woven into the popular narrative about Los Angeles. This disconnect is what inspired me to photograph them in the first place. I'm drawn to photographing details that are both inconspicuous and indicative of the space. Ideas for projects often occur to me when I am out shooting or after I'm done. The only really planning I do at the outset is deciding location, everything else just flows as I take pictures. I also constantly go over my archives. Time is one of the most important aspects of photography and pictures often gain relevance with it's passage.

ADM: You mention a predilection for "photographing details that are both inconspicuous and indicative of the space." Could you give some examples - either as photos or like a description of what those details might be?

KBB: What I mean by that is I try not to be flashy in selecting subject matter to photograph. I find that the elements that most consider ordinary are often what makes a place unique. So whether it's a building or a bus bench, I think that a lot can be learned by documenting them in the context of the surrounding neighborhood.

ADM: Have there been any neighborhoods that really surprised you? Or like you decided to go shoot them, but when you look back at the photos you got, it was much different in feel or appearance than that neighborhood looked initially or in passing?

KBB: The neighborhoods that have surprised me the most so far are outside of California. They were completely new experiences so I was really outside of my comfort zone and I enjoyed it. The first place that comes to mind is New Orleans. I got a chance to explore a lot of the city on foot a few years ago and every area I visited was incredibly interesting. I really didn't have any knowledge of what it felt like to be in a place as old as that city is. I saw a side of life in this country that I had not seen before.

ADM: Looking forward a bit - what projects are you working on right now? Will you follow up (or continue) Hindsight (2020) to the close of the year?

KBB: I'm currently working on a few projects for clients that I can't quite discuss in detail but I'm looking forward to sharing them in the near future. My focus continues to be on building my portfolio and expanding The Public Work project. I honestly wander a lot creatively but I always find inspiration out in the streets I photograph.

ADM: What advice would you have for someone looking to go explore a new neighborhood, or photograph a new area - underrepresented or not, but doesn't know a lot about documenting an actual neighborhood?

KBB: The most important thing is to stay focused and respect the space.

ADM: From Bryan Mederos: Why is Photography so easy but yet so hard?

KBB: The act of taking a picture is deceptively simple. Learning what gives an image meaning is the difficult part.

ADM: What question do you have for the next photographer? - you can answer it yourself if you'd like.

KBB: How do you want people to remember your work?

ADM: Where can we see more of, and/or potentially purchase your work - do you have any other parting words or other advice?

KBB: I have a few projects coming up in the near future that I can't talk about yet so the best place to see my work is my website or Instagram. The only advice I really have for anyone trying to be a photographer is not to forget why you started taking pictures in the first place.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading the interview! We appreciate your readership -normally this is where we’d stump for donations, but in light of the ongoing protests, we’d like to encourage you to donate your funds to a fund aiding them instead. This whole text block is a link.

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Becoming an American: Adrian Otero Vila (AOWS)

May 10, 2020 in interview

Becoming an American: Adrian Otero Vila (AOWS)

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): For those who aren't familiar with you, or your photographic work could you please introduce yourself, and give a quick overview of your work?

Adrian Otero Vila (AOV): I'm Adrian, a Spanish-American full-time photographer. I create black and white images of scenes that leave me in awe, with this work I try to pass along that same emotion to whoever is looking.

ADM: In your preliminary description you state that "Becoming an American" is, in broad strokes about your personal experience picking up and moving to America from Europe - What did you find was your experience moving to america, and how do you find that that experience was documented or captured in your photographs?

AOV: America is so present in our culture that I think most people (from other countries) have some preconceptions about it before even setting foot here. That included me when I moved to the US a few years ago. I had an idea of what I was going to find, and for a little bit, it was pretty accurate. It wasn't until I moved to Oregon that I discovered "the West". There, and away from everything and everyone I knew, I found freedom and peace. Those vast and remote landscapes gave me a sense of loneliness I never knew I needed. The rainforest of Washington, the coast of Oregon, the magnificence of the Rockies in Montana, the deserts of the SW... they were so incredible that I couldn't help it but to capture what I was seeing. At this early stage in my photography, I had no idea what to do with those images besides sharing them with family and friends, and later on Instagram. I felt I had to do it, though, and that created the spark that made me quit my job and become a full-time photographer. Those images are now part of my new book, "Becoming an American", and together, they tell my story, what I saw and the places and experiences that made me who I am today (for better or for worse).

ADM: Per your description, this book is a private photodiary, not initially meant for public consumption - what was the impetus to release the book to the public?

AOV: Over the years, I realized that the most rewarding aspect of sharing my photography is that many people find it inspiring, and it helps them in their own creative journey.

With "Becoming an American", I wanted to share what's behind my photography, a window to a period of my life that changed so much. Hopefully, it will inspire others not only to share their journey, but to embark themselves in a similar adventure.

ADM: Following that up, what was the assembly of the book like for you? Was there a specific "click" moment when the book came together for you while selecting images for it? or did you know from the outset the book would take a specific sequence or form (even if it may not initially have been aimed at the public)?

AOV: I started working on an initial draft of the book almost 4 years ago, from a selection of around 100 photographs. I laid the book out and actually printed out that first version. I kept looking at it and reorganizing the images for weeks, but I ended up putting the project aside.

I kept taking photographs, and when I felt like one might work for this project, I'd add it to the original selection. I ended up with several hundred photographs. It wasn't until last year when I decided to go through them and came up with a collection of 88 images that finally felt *complete*. Now, I had all the pieces I was missing before.

ADM: When going through the book, you periodically intersperse written narrative or recountings alongside the photos - what was your inspiration for including text, and at what point did you incorporate it? Was it always part of the plan for the book?

AOV: Definitely not. I decided to include them as I was putting the book together. There are almost a hundred images in the book, so I thought that a few breaks in between would be good for the reader / viewer, plus it'd help giving some context to the images.

ADM: Your standard (the majority of what I've seen on your IG) photo aesthetic leans very minimal. Did you find it difficult to work on this, or shoot like this alongside the more minimal work that you're known for?

AOV: Quite the opposite! The snapshots I take help me stay inspired during my photography trips, as I'm always looking for something to capture. I also make videos of my outings, which is much more demanding than these snapshots. I still find them useful for the same reason: to keep my creativity flowing.

ADM: You talk about maintaining a creative flow between your two bodies of work - following that - did you find yourself applying what you learned in this Diary project to your more public work, as you shot it. If so, how, and if not why not?

AOV: I used to be focused on a specific destination: I’d drive or hike somewhere, take a few photos, and head back. Now, I don’t dismiss any location beforehand, I find myself being more aware and paying more attention to everything.

ADM: In your trip around the country, was there a specific turning point for you - and was there a photo accompanying that? I know you note your move to Portland as being a huge step, or the ending point for the trip - but was there any other major turning point prior to the conclusion to the trip?

AOV: The trip to Portland was the beginning of my journey. There was no major turning point per se. In hindsight, I'd say it was on a weekend trip to Utah (and back to Portland) when I realized how beautiful this world is and how much I wanted to capture it. Even though I wasn't fully aware of it at the time.

ADM: What was the inspiration, from the outset, to document your trip alongside the main body of work you produced?

AOV: I take a lot of photos everyday, using whatever camera I might have with me. While my main body of work is my "artistic view of the world", those snapshots are a visual diary of sorts. If I make it to old age, those are the images I'll cherish the most.

ADM: What were your influences, photographic or otherwise on the book?

AOV: It's hard to know what or who influences your work, I didn't think of anyone or anything while working on this book. I can only assume, though, that books of a similar theme and style that I liked in the past influenced me in some way. My favorites are "The Americans", by Robert Frank, "American Prospects", by Joel Sternfeld and "Minutes to Midnight", by Trent Parke.

ADM: What advice would you give for someone making a big life change like you did? And, if they're considering taking on a big photographically driven trip, what other advice would you give alongside that.

AOV: Travel light. I was shooting film exclusively during a 2-month long road trip across the US and brought with me not only gear (2 Bronicas SQ-Ai, 5 lenses, 3 film backs and 100 rolls), but also the chemicals needed for developing and the scanner. I definitely regret doing that.

I brought only my small RX100 cameras on my last road trip, across Germany, Austria and Italy. When the gear gets out of the way, you can focus on what you’re capturing.

About life changes, it depends on someone's specific situation. I’m a big advocate of traveling, I believe that getting out of your environment for a while is a very helpful way to get to know yourself better. But going somewhere else won’t make your current problems go away, so be careful.

Over the last few years, I’ve made some decisions that weren’t necessarily the wisest or safest, but I knew if I didn't go for it, I’d regret it for the rest of my life. So I did.

ADM: By way of Charlie Thom, but directly relevant here - What're you working now, or what are you planning, what's the next project or trip?

AOV: Right now, I should have been photographing Iceland and the UK, but I’m stuck in Spain instead due to the virus situation. Besides those islands, I was planning on doing a lot of hiking in the US this summer and fall, plus shooting some winter scenes in the Midwest. We will see if that can still happen.

For now, I’m going through the thousands of photos from past trips, making some videos for my YouTube channel, working on a couple of zines and a new book.

ADM: What question do you have for the next photographer? you can answer it if you'd like.

AOV: If you could go back in time and stand next to a photographer when they were making an image, which one would it be? For me, that’d be either Koudelka’s image of the dog in the snow, or the photographs of bats and kangaroos from Trent Parke’s “Minutes to Midnight”.

ADM: Thanks for doing the interview! where can people find your work, and purchase copies of the book, as well as your print work?

AOV: Thank you, Andrew! This was fun. My website is the best way to look at my work, and also where the book and prints can be purchased: https://aows.co. I post every day on Instagram (https://instagram.com/aows) and try to upload a couple of videos a week to my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/aowsphotos).

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Game Trails: Jay Neely

March 28, 2020 in interview

Game Trails: Jay Neely

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): Can you introduce yourself and describe your photographic work?

Jay Neely (JN): My name is Jay Neely and I'm a photographer and art director based out of Leavenworth, Washington. I’ve been shooting photos and making books for about 10 years now. My work has largely been inspired by my environment and tends to evolve with my interests and curiosity. Because of this, my work has ranged from conceptual still lives to pseudo documentary and everything in between. That said, I’m primarily project, or concept driven... if I think an idea could make for a series, or a book, I usually pursue it even if it doesn’t fit in the realm of things I’ve done in the past.

ADM: In broad strokes, what is landscape photography to you?

JN: For me, I think landscape photography is primarily about environment and context. A good landscape is the stage for something else that’s happening. Photographs by nature are still representations of a place, or a moment and I think for me, great photographs (in general) imply movement, conversation, or interaction in a way. When I think about landscape photographs that have moved me... the compositional elements of course are there, but I’m really more interested in how the image employs my imagination to see something else that is taking place in that space. Todd Hido talks about this in regard to his houses at night. He talks about how his work really isn’t about a house on a street corner, it’s about what’s taking place behind the glowing windows... the things you can’t see. I think that same idea resonates with me about good landscapes.

ADM: What was the inspiration to put together Game Trails?

JN: A couple of years ago, I started hunting big game in an attempt to be more self sufficient and to build a closer relationship with my food. It has proven to be one of the most important, difficult and meaningful journey’s I’ve embarked on. That said, the way that I interact with the natural world has changed pretty dramatically since I started hunting. Everything is important... every footprint, broken twig, flower, bush etc... anything can be a clue and whether I’m hunting, or not, I find my self paying a lot more attention.

One of the most immediate signs that game is in the area is a series of game trails. These game trails connect these animals to their primary needs - bedding areas, food sources and water. They can switchback up a hillside with impressive efficiency and most often they’re frequented by a myriad of different animals. This series is really a topographic study of these systems. Aesthetically and by design, the similarities between game trails and our own transportation pathways are pretty uncanny. They tell similar stories and they serve a similar purpose and I think this sort of Human / Nature connection is really what I’m most interested in.

ADM: While the photos in Game Trails do document and focus on the titular Trails, the photos have a very textural quality -- was that intentional?

JN: Absolutely, I think the thing that was initially striking to me about game trails was their imprint on the landscape. They cut up the mountains in a super interesting way ... particularly as the mid-day sun hits the hillside - they almost glow in the sagebrush. I feel like when I’m working with subjects that fall into the mundane, it’s important to me to try to photographically point out the thing that caught my eye.

ADM: It's interesting that you bring up natural topography vs. humanity - that's not something I see dealt with very often - did you find that the game trails were often interfered with by humans?

JN: Yes and no... Most of the places that I was hunting were far enough off the beaten path that I wasn’t running into many boot prints. In areas with established man-made trail systems, you’ll definitely find an intersection between the two, which can be quite interesting. In a lot of ways, animal motivations are very similar to that of humans, so the trail systems can lead you to similar places. Game animals find security in elevation, and they require a clear path between food and water which often times mirror the points of interest on common hiking trails. In the wilderness, a person can certainly use game trails to their advantage. If you’re far from a trailhead and you need to get to the top of a mountain, or find a water source, a well trafficked game trail can be a good place to start.

ADM: The choice to shoot the project in black and white is an interesting one, which succeeds in the book. How did you settle on black and white for your images?

JN: When it comes to my personal projects, black and white is really the only way that I’ve ever worked. I was exclusively a black and white film photographer in art school and printing really taught me the depth of a black and white image. I keep telling myself that I’m going to do a color project, but I still have so much to learn in black and white that I feel like I’ll be on this path for a while longer. Aside from that, when I was putting this book together, I was thinking a lot about Robert Adam’s, Along Some Rivers. Adam’s book is an elegant and meditative series of black and white landscapes taken in the Pacific Northwest. The images really feel less about the things in the frame and more about the feeling of being in that place. I think that idea really struck me and a sentiment that I tried to capture in my images. So much of hunting is about being in places that people are not and I think that solace and immersion into the landscape brings about an attentive calmness that I felt was communicated best in black and white.

ADM: What was the shooting and editing process like for Game Trails? did you make your images as you hunted, or did you make dedicated trips to photograph the trails separate from your hunts?

JN: It was a little bit of both, but most of these images were taken while I was hunting. Particularly during the early season, there is a tremendous amount of down time during the middle of the day when the animals are bedded down. Usually you find yourself traveling from one ridge to another ridge, or perched patiently on the side of a hill waiting for the forest to come alive again. It’s a beautiful time to be in the woods and it proved to be a perfect time for me to make these images.

ADM: I agree that it's important to work in series, as well as to make photographs where the focus is about what's not seen - do you have any advice or insight into how to impart that sense of "hidden" narrative?

JN: I believe that narrative can come before, or after a photograph is taken and I think it’s really about defining process. I think my biggest piece of advice would be to first study the work that has been done before. Look at books, read interviews with photographers, artists, filmmakers... Really get an understanding of what you’re attracted to (aesthetically and conceptually) and why. Learn about a variety of processes and take the parts that work and build a way of working that keeps you working. From there, it’s about developing and following your photographic instincts.

For me, I’ve learned that my best work happens when my intentions are loose to begin with. Sometimes I find a thing that is conceptually and visually interesting and I can immediately find a narrative and the book basically unfolds in my head... this is ideal and rarely happens. That said, most of the time, I’ll photograph something, or a series of things that are aesthetically compelling and then from there, I’ll research the subject and let the narrative emerge... it’s sort of a process of discovery... and it’s where a lot of my best work has come from.

ADM: Where can people see your work, and purchase Game Trails, and other books of yours?

JN: You can find my work at www.jaythomasneely.com and on instagram @jaythomasneely

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SMALL ABYSS: Chris San Nicolas

March 22, 2020 in interview

SMALL ABYSS: Chris San Nicolas

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): For those who aren't familiar with you or your work, can you introduce yourself and give an overview?

Chris San Nicolas (CSN): Hello, I'm Chris. I'm 26 years old, I live in Long Beach, CA, and I've been practicing photography for about 4 years. I started off bringing disposable cameras on trips and eventually grabbed my own 35mm camera, and it's been a steady and constant progression since then. I shoot a mix of street photography, landscape, and occasionally portraits. I don't shoot with an end goal or a specific photo in mind, I take photos as I go about living my life. I see all of the work as autobiographical in nature - with an overarching desire to represent life honestly, as I see it.

ADM: What was the impetus to put together and publish Small Abyss - also will it be a series - there is a "1" on the spine? A bit of an aside - I thought it was really cool how you used the frame marker 1 for that.

CSN: I made a small zine a year into my start with photography and wanted to make another that was more representative of the work I've been making the past 3 years. Since it spanned a longer period of time and I wanted it to be more complex - physically and conceptually - I decided on a small book. In actuality I've been wanting to make a book for a long time, but around November of 2019 I finally thought up a concept that I believed served as an appropriate and interesting vehicle for this period of work.

I don't intend Small Abyss itself to be a series, but the next book/large zine project will have a frame marker for 2 on it - so more of a numbering system for main projects. Thanks, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't partially get the idea from the cover of that Forte Collab Zine you curated a while back.

ADM: I know that the project, while definitely focused, and the photos are well chosen for it - is compiled from photos taken over the last three years - what was the selection process like? Did you find yourself taking more from a specific time period, or end up using more recent photos over older ones?

CSN: The project developed backwards in a way, with the title coming first and being the impetus for the whole project. I knew I wanted to make a large-ish cumulative project but a subject or theme didn't jump out at me just by looking through my photo archives, nor did a project based on one subject or type of photograph particularly interest me. When I was taking the first steps into the project (still unnamed) I was thinking a lot about how individuals perceive reality - how no one's personal experience can perfectly match up with another's, even if they experience the same events. That thought thread led to the title Small Abyss which (though it has many meanings) is a rebuttal to the line "No man is an island" from John Donne's Devotions Upon Emergent Occassions.

I let those competing ideas inform my selections as I looked through all the b&w work I've made since 2016. Since the theme was an exploration of an idea rather than a physical object or space or specific story, I was able to be creative in what photos I chose. I also wanted the interplay between the photos to be an integral part of the project, so I (painstakingly) cut a few of my favorite photographs I've made from the project because it didn't fit the theme or fit well with the photos in the project that did. I ended up choosing more recent photos than older but that's mostly because I took more pictures in 2019 than any other year. I printed ~200 photos in 4"x6" and taped them to my wall and let the layout create itself in a way. I knew I wanted the majority of the spreads to have one photo on the left and one on the right and function as pairs - one of the ways the photos interplay with each other. I also realized halfway through that I wanted there to be a progression that made sense with how the project exists as a book (which made me go back and change a lot of the pairings). I used this framework to guide the actual layout. It was a really iterative and organic process and though it was really fun, it was also frustrating and took a long time.

ADM: In response to how you Assembled the zine: Did you hand print all the 4x6 prints? Also how did you come up with that process of putting the photos on the wall, and constructing your pairs from there - and how do you think that shaped your process rather than doing the process via sorting on a computer, or straight into a layout program?

CSN: No I used CVS for convenience and cost. I wasn't concerned with quality for these prints because they were more an intermediate form of the project. I've always been a fan of tactile processes, so I'm not sure that I can pinpoint a moment where I thought of using a wall. I think it's always made sense and been an aspiration for as long as I wanted to make a book of photographs. The final product was majorly influenced by this process. I had this birds-eye view of the whole project where every loose connection or interesting interplay would draw my eye like the movements of small critters in a large grassy field. When I saw these connections, I could immediately move the photos next to each other, replace one of them with another that works but in a different way, compare them to other pairings and so on with a speed and physicality that I don't know how to reproduce with a digital process. Screens are only so big and there's a trade-off between scope (how many elements you can see at at once) and detail (how clearly you can see each element) which are largely eliminated if you have a wall, prints, and mobility. Maybe I don't know how to use digital tools effectively enough, but I can never experiment as quickly on a computer with the mixing and matching described above and I had the added benefit of seeing the physicality of the photographs. With the goal being a book, this was invaluable. A lot of these frames I had only seen as scans on a screen and I was surprised by how many photographs that I had enjoyed initially, did not hold up when printed.

ADM: The book contains a fairly intricate balance of landscapes (vernacular and traditional) with intimate portraits, and candid glimpses into other lives - how did you strike this balance this, and is there a particular significance to it?

CSN: As I mentioned before, an overarching goal for my photography is to represent life genuinely and I wanted this project to embody all the varied experiences in life. I used the balance of all of these kinds of photos as a way to do that. To reinforce this, I jumped around in scale a lot, for example going immediately from a close up of something tiny to a large sweeping landscape. And though the project doesn't stick to a single type of photo, there's a lot of repetition but also contrast in motifs throughout. A lot of the spreads present two similar things in different ways or two very different things in similar ways - like some kind of oxymoron. This ordered chaos is how I see life and I hope that feeling comes across.

ADM: Was there a particular moment or photo, or even pair of photos - that the overall concept "clicked" into focus for you?

CSN: It wasn't with the photos that the concept clicked. There were two breakthrough points for me. The first was when I wrote the first draft of the poem (or 3 poems depending on how you look at it) in the beginning of the book. I had even used the phrase "No man is an island" in that first draft, which was taken out later.

The second breakthrough was when I was deciding on the overall structure of the book. Initially I wanted the book to be able to be read left to right (normally) as well as outside-in, where you'd start with the inside covers and turn a page on each side in until you reached the middle spread. The idea was for these outside-in "spreads" would work as mirrors or opposites of each other. The main gripe I had was that people don't read books like that and if I'm doing something that weird, it has to reinforce or add to the concept in a meaningful way. I scrapped the idea and played around with a few more related ideas until deciding on one. The final layout has a sense of progression that works with the experience of reading a book and how the photos are presented.

ADM: Going back to the zine being a focused anthology, what would you say your key influences were for it - photographic, or otherwise?

CSN: Presentation-wise, I took a lot of cues from Japanese photography from the 60's and 70's. A Hunter by Daido Moriyama and the Asahi Camera publications come to mind. Both often featured full bleeds on their two page spreads as well as their multi-photo spreads. Another influence was Rap/Hip-Hop which I have only recently started exploring. I've always enjoyed wordplay and turns of phrase. I especially like when someone pivots, talking about a whole new topic based on a double meaning of a single word from the previous line. I wanted the progression of photographs in the book to feel like a series of pivots or turns in phrase maybe even audio samples taken from diverse sources but meshed into the narrative I was trying to create.

ADM: In terms of takeaway, what did you notice about your work, and by extension, about how you and your vision changed over the three year period?

CSN: The biggest takeaway I had was realizing how much of my work had been guided by my subconscious, the same subconscious that attached to the concept of Small Abyss Vs No Man Is An Island. I feel like this idea has always been in the back of my head and after these 3ish years of it quietly guiding my intuition as I made photographs, it finally bubbled to the surface and I had enough work to express it in a satisfactory way. But now that the cat's out of the bag, it's something I feel like I'll always be conscious of and because of that I'm not sure if I'll keep making work like this going forward. This project feels like a bookend, at least for the last few months it has. I haven't been shooting nearly as much once I started making the book and I think it's because I want to tackle a different problem with a different artistic language or medium. I'd say the biggest realization is that I was always working towards something like this and now, at least until I'm no longer burned out on this work, it's time for something new.

ADM: Now that you've wrapped up Small Abyss, what can we look forward to in the future?

CSN: I honestly couldn't say. I'm still taking pictures, just not as frenzied as before. Definitely more photography, probably less exclusive b&w 35mm film work. The project has definitely made me want to do more physical projects. Now that I have the large overarching project done, I've given myself permission, I guess, to do smaller, more niche projects possibly with a more mixed media approach.

ADM: Would you say after this project your working process has changed? if so how, if not why not?

CSN: I'd say it has definitely slowed down. I've been putting a lot of energy into finishing the book and have been shooting less. I hope I'll eventually get back into a groove where I'm shooting at least a roll a week. I think I'll have to start making smaller projects with goals in mind or define more explicit long term projects instead of idly shooting.

ADM: What advice would you give for someone looking to put together a retrospective of their work, especially one covering as much material as yours does?

CSN: Have a concept or theme that you can dig into and also have enough work to fulfill it. Make sure to overview all your work, there might be stuff you forgot about that will work really well. Keep asking yourself questions and don't get married to any one idea.

ADM: Do you have any parting words? Also where can we pick up copies of Small Abyss and see more of your work - I know you do print on demand - both darkroom and inkjet.

CSN: Just stay safe and sane and healthy. Small Abyss will be available on my website www.chrisnicpics.com or through DM via ig at @chrisnicpics. You can also see my work on my website and ig. I do, I'm still figuring it out more consistent print sales but if you follow me on either platform, I'll let you all know on there. Thanks again for doing this interview with me and promoting the project, Andrew. Really appreciate all the stuff you do for the community!

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Pure Nature, Accept no Less: Brendon Holt on Landscape Photography

February 02, 2020 in interview

Pure Nature, Accept no Less: Brendon Holt on Landscape Photography

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): Welcome back to Frozenwaste.land Brendon! We’re here talking about Landscape in 2020 this week:

As of right now, how do you define "landscape" and "landscape photography?"

What do they mean to you, and what is your baseline approach and philosophy behind your photography practice?

Brendon Holt (BH): Well, lemme work my way to an answer by telling you what I think landscape photography isn't.

I don't think that cityscapes are landscape photographs, they're just that, cityscapes. Let's just get that out of the way. I have always found that angle to be a gross perversion of the term. I also do not really consider a lot of new-topographics stuff to be landscape photography. While some of it does deal either implicitly or explicitly with the land á la Robert Adams, I don't consider it to constitute landscape work in the stricter sense, as important as that work is.

I suppose this makes me something of a purist or a stubborn nineteenth century romanticist holdout or something but it leaves me with an understanding of the true subject of landscape photography to be the land itself. Not the landscape as modified or influenced by human activity, and most certainly not urban/cityscape work.

So, landscapes and landscape photography, to me, deals with "the inhuman," a term I will borrow from the American poet Robinson Jeffers which refers simply to the vast realm of non-human nature. It is non-human nature itself considered as the subject of photography.

Furthermore as a medium I understand landscape photography as a channel for me to try and express, in the photographic form, the spiritual or existential depths of these kinds of transcendent experiences of the world beyond our modern humanistic self obsession. This component really constitutes the raison d'être of my work, to be honest. Photography in general is just a means to an end for me, and that end is turning our eyes from the dark abyss of human subjectivity to the vast glory outside ourselves. I could care less about photography as some abstract end in itself. That entire approach strikes me as absolutely vapid. Photography for what? The sake of photography? Images for the sake of images. That's an absolutely vacuous approach. My philosophical and spiritual proselytizing is intimately wedded to my photographic work. Photography, and landscape photography specifically, is just the visual megaphone I use most.

ADM: I guess in that sense, you view Urban Landscape, etc, as really more about anthropology and architecture at the end of the day - rather than nature, or nature in true fashion?

Following that up, I've found, in my own landscape practice -- or at least within the confines of the modern/postmodern art/instagram landscape that landscape has slowly come to mean, colloquially, a very specific aesthetic - this sort of superficially epic, highly saturated, glossy, and frequently strangely tinted view of nature.

While I’m aware there’s definitely other takes on landscape - this is for sure the most popular take right now, outside of the “fine art” bubble. I think this is a huge impediment to landscape as a topic of discussion, and furthering and deepening the dialogue around it.

I’d be curious to get your perspective on that aesthetic, what it’s origins are, why it continues to be so prevalent, and what it means for your own practice, and other artists working in landscape right now?

BH: Yeah, I can get mostly on board with that characterization of cityscapes, new topographics, et al. Per the landscape aesthetic, I definitely agree with your characterizations. I think the term we could use to encapsulate the aesthetic and all the features that you've pointed out is "hyperrealism." It all feels a bit like taking the world and cranking it up to 11 so that we're left with this "strangely tinted" presentation of nature, as you said (If anyone is unfamiliar with what we're talking about just take a trip over to 500px or something and search for the most popular work in the landscape category, it abounds there).

And as you also said, its entrenchment as the standard for landscape photography is deeply problematic for anyone trying to engage with the subject/genre in ways beyond that very limited aesthetic. Work trying to deal with the subject/genre of the landscape in ways outside that aesthetic is quite commonly ghettoized for not toeing the line of that codified understanding of "good landscape photography." Maybe the saving grace of the fine art bubble is that it can still serve as a refuge for work that's been ostracized from the popular canons, even if it harbors a bunch of bullshit too.

My personal relationship with the whole aesthetic and the genre of contemporary landscape work in general is, well, contentious. I find the aesthetic formulaic to the point of sterility and ubiquitous to the point of exhausting. The same light, the same subjects, the same compositional choices, the same basic formulaic images repeated over, and over, and over. It has been repeated ad nauseam in landscape circles since it was popularized by the dissemination of photographs from the likes of Galen Rowell, which is where I personally see its origins. To be fair there was color landscape work before Rowell, such as Eliot Porter and Philip Hyde's work (which I think is all beautiful), but Rowell's work begins to take landscape photography in an entirely different direction that tends toward the kind of hyperrealism that is so prevalent today (and digital photographic technologies have only made that move toward hyperrealism easier).

I'm not sure why the whole aesthetic has become so firmly rooted in the collective consciousness of landscape photography, personally. Obviously it's just a truism that aesthetic trends happen but trying to work out the processes and mechanisms by which any aesthetic trend happens is a gigantic can of worms that could probably encompass its own essay. Regardless of how or why this aesthetic has become so entrenched, it's an issue that anyone working in the genre today has to confront. As a general rule my advice to anyone working within any genre of photography is to forego the easier path of ready-made aesthetics and focus all their efforts on their own vision. Speaking personally, when I first started making images I turned to that culturally established norm of landscape images as a guide for how I made images. I knew I loved the landscape but as a new photographer I didn't really know how to go about translating my experiences into a photograph so the popular aesthetic became my guide as I learned photography. Ultimately, however, if you have any modicum of individual vision that approach can't but begin to feel hollow and empty and you have to set off on the harder but more meaningful path of catering to your own vision. I had to take that step, and reflect on what it was I myself wanted to say and show with my images and choose to follow that path rather than the path set for me by the dominant approach to the genre. I think this is the path that anyone working in landscape photography today has to take unless color-by-number photography is all they're looking to do.

AM: That’s a really great insight into working practice or an insight into where to go when starting landscape. Your work and your philosophy, both as you’ve stated and as it reads in your images is deeply rooted spiritualism of nature and the land; but what other topics would you like to see discussed in the genre, or adjacent to the genre as you’ve defined it? I’d be curious to know if there are any aesthetics, non-mainstream (or non-mainstream within the fine-art bubble) that you think are under utilised or that could be better explored?

BH: Well, my engagement with landscape work is admittedly pretty single-minded, maybe to the point of parochialism, haha. So outside of rekindling the spiritual dimensions of our experience of nature I haven't really given the other thematic avenues of the genre too much thought.

Off the cuff issues of ecology, conservation, the philosophy of nature (ontological reflections about the "being" of nature), etc. come to mind. I'm not naively parochial, I do think there is a wealth of other themes that could be dealt with in the context of landscape photography, even in the narrower sense that I've defined it. I just haven't really spent too much time following those avenues because so much of my focus is honed in to the spiritual/religious/existential angles of our engagement with the land.

As to the question of aesthetics, I must also admit that my aforementioned parochialism means I'm not super familiar with aesthetic trends, especially not the obscure ones of the fine art world. But as to what I'd like to see explored I think I could offer a vague gesture toward those aesthetics that eschew those codified formulas of the popular landscape aesthetic in order to break open new avenues for rethinking our artistic engagement with the land.

One example of that comes to mind is landscape work that trades the "Iconic Landscape" approach of Ansel Adams and Co for a more down-to-earth, intimate approach. Less the iconized nature of Yosemite National Park and more intimate reflections on the smaller, quaint landscapes around us. We might also think of the work of someone like Eliot Porter as an example of work that sidesteps a lot of the dominant aesthetic cues. In Eliot Porter we find less of the clean and formalized nature of the dominant aesthetic and more of an honest encounter with the real chaos and complexity of nature that exists beyond the formalizing attempts that exist only within the fabricated frame of the photographer's vision.

I know this answer is kind of vague, but I hope the examples at least help to clarify what I have in mind when I say something like "aesthetics that eschew those codified formulas of the popular landscape aesthetic in order to break open new avenues for rethinking our artistic engagement with the land."

ADM: You're usually fairly prolific in one environment at a time (formerly PNW, now Montana) and have expressed a preference to shoot or look at only one area at a time - is there a particular reason or meaning behind that?

BH: Yeah, I definitely prefer to dedicate my time to revisiting a limited number of places over and over rather than constantly seeking out new environments. I find the practice of constantly photographing the next hitherto unvisited location kind of empty. It's the photographic equivalent of a never ending string of one night stands with various landscapes that never really gives you the chance to get to know and connect with any specific place. And given that so much of my work is about trying to rebuild those connections and that rootedness to place that we've lost in the wasteland of modernity, the whole idea of that kind of cosmopolitanism in landscape work has never suited me. Maybe it makes for a dazzling portfolio but if it's all empty what's the point?

And I guess that deeper spiritual urge behind my work is how I came to practice that single minded focus as well. My photographic practice has never really been separate from my own philosophico-spiritual practice and because that reflection on the spiritual importance of the landscape is such an integral part of my own spiritual practice, my photo work has always reflected that.

ADM: (A little redundant -- we’ve gotten into it a bit here) but for someone looking to refine their practice and focus it tightly as you have, what advice can you give, or how did you get there?

BH: My advice for people looking to do the same isn't so much going to be photographic advice but advice for the soul, I guess. It's about making that experience and connection to a place primary and the photographic work a kind of secondary outgrowth of those deeply meaningful connections and experiences with a place. And how you find and connect with a place is going to be different for every individual but that the connection comes first is the best I can say. Find some place that speaks to your soul, however that happens for you. Then give your heart to it and let the work come from there.

ADM: Where can we see more of your work, and do you have any projects on the horizon?

BH: You can find my work on Instagram, @bmholt_ and at my website, www.brendonholt.com. I am currently working on assembling two books, Pathways and Cascadia: A Retrospective, both of which can be read about in the "Projects" section of my website. Thank you for the chance to air some of my thoughts with you!

A Whole World Here: Sean Crutchfield (AKA @The_Grain_Silo)

January 26, 2020 in interview

A Whole World Here: Sean Crutchfield (aka @the_grain_silo)

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): Hi Sean! Thanks for agreeing to do this interview. For those in the audience who aren't familiar, can you introduce yourself, and give a quick overview of your focus in photography?

Sean Crutchfield (SC): I'm Sean Crutchfield. I'm a photographer living in the rural north Florida area. My Instagram project @the_grain_silo has been running for around four years. When I moved back down south in 2014 I decided to start photographing again after a decade hiatus. I was never comfortable with digital processes so I decided to learn to develop and scan my own film. I mostly shoot landscapes, vernacular architecture, candids and small details but I'm open to take a picture of anything I find interesting. I have a show opening in June at the Wiregrass Museum of Art. I'm very excited about my first show naturally. I also make photo books and zines which I distribute through my website crutchphoto.com.

ADM: I know a lot of people from the south identify with it very strongly, would you call yourself a southern photographer? If so what does that mean to you?

SC: Yes and no. I feel like I would be doing this kind of photography anywhere I found myself, but at the same time where I found myself was back home, so many of these images have an emotional weight to them for me that others who aren't from here might not share. Sometimes I think maybe like Eggleston I want to buck that capital S southern artist label, but my best work so far is here. I DO have some travel projects in mind that would have me leaving my area...we will see. That's such a difficult question! I really raged against that whole southern artist thing back in my previous life as a creative writing student. It irks me because of the stereotypes involved as well as the sort of way work from the south is viewed. And that's a real thing! At my first portfolio review the phrase "lost cause" came up several times. Amazingly they weren't referring to the state of my portfolio which admittedly was pretty low budget with small prints.

SC: I'm keeping those travel ideas close to the vest so to speak. Projects come to me pretty much as an entire idea. Generally I think of them as books. Basically like I want to explore X and show what I found in a form you can hold in your hand.

ADM: That's fair. Does the structure of the book or set come along with the idea? Is there a research and development period for approaching, creating, and sequencing the project -- or does it fit pretty well within the shoot schedule you've previously outlined?

SC: Research and development, definitely. Most of my projects stay in that phase. It all depends on the scope of the project whether or not it takes me outside of my usual schedule.

ADM: In the work you share on instagram you seem to rotate through a lot of equipment, but maintain a fairly similar look, is there a specific reason you rotate through so many different combinations? Does it inform your process?

SC: I really enjoy experimenting. I also have a deep love for mechanical objects. Most of my equipment is fully manual. I guess you could say that I am a gearhead. Honestly I need to sell off some equipment but I haven't brought myself to do it yet. The consistency in my work I think may be down to my eye, my way of composing, and the fact that I control all aspects of the process from shot to print. I've been getting into slide film lately. That's my new obsession. It feels like alchemy when you pull those positives out of the tank.

ADM: In your experimenting - has there ever been a moment or combo, or even a component that either just "clicked" for you, or flipped what you thought you knew about your own photos?

SC: Not with equipment, no. I've definitely come across stuff that is a delight to use just for the feel of the equipment or look of the emulsion but nothing that fundamentally changed anything. Photo books on the other hand, they knock me out. They keep me up nights wondering about their work, my work, and images in general.

AM: Interesting. I've had very much the same experience re: equipment and photo-books. What are some of your favorite Photo-books, and how have they changed your perspective or photography?

SC: Well, I won some money gambling so I bought the full ten volume Democratic Forest. That thing is a monster. I love it. Parr's Common Sense actually was the push I needed to really get into shooting color. I have a little small sized Moriyama book in Japanese that is awesome too. That one is the spiritual ancestor of my first zine.

ADM: What does a typical shoot day look like for you, what's your process of gathering and selecting images like?

SC: 7am: out of bed

8-10am: Coffee and Google maps.

Typically I will pick town(s) in the tri state area (FL/GA/AL), do some street view touring and a little research.

10-sundown: shooting and traveling

Sundown: Warm up my chemicals and begin processing.

Usually around 6 or 7 I am ready to begin scanning and sorting the day's negatives which I will do until they're all ready. I hate having undeveloped film around.

Deciding what to shoot is often just from either walking or driving around and seeing whatever catches my eye. Nothing fancy really, just intuition. Someone gave me a 110 camera when I was a kid, no film just the camera. I feel kind of like placing the world in a frame was burned into my subconscious or something. Often times I pass several scenes that would be perfect, but the light isn't right so I remember where they are and try to determine what time of day/year they would look best for future trips.

ADM: Can you, or would you, give us an overview of your show; Name, theme, specific topic etc? Also do you have any new photobooks or zines in the works?

SC: I'm still changing elements of the show at the moment, choosing images etc. But I can say that I will be using images taken in the area. I am working on the next photo zine at the same time. I would like to have it printed in time for the show but the images would not overlap.

ADM: Maybe a bit on the nose, but do you find that your background in creative writing informs your photography? If so, how so?

SC: Sure it does. I think there is something lyrical or poetic in a good image. And there is a lot of wisdom about editing to be learned from great writers. Ginsburg had this whole deal about "snapshot poetics" that I find kind of interesting too. The rest of that CW nonsense however, the school, the graduate school poetry publishing pyramid scheme...eh.

ADM: What was the specific impetus to pick up a camera again and document Northern Florida?

SC: I just saw so much everywhere that I wanted to capture. That's how it is sometimes when you move back to a place. New eyes. There is a whole world here.

ADM: What advice would you give to someone just starting out in, or on the fence about starting photography, especially someone who's not starting in an urban (or even suburban area)?

SC: Shoot a lot. Expect to go through phases. Look at photo books. Look at rural photography like Bernard Plossu.

ADM: It seems like you've got a pretty firm grasp on your project schedule; is there anything specific that's new we can expect to see from you in 2020, project wise or in general?

SC: Yeah, I'll have at least one new publication up on the website, there is the show at the Wiregrass Museum of Art, and after that I have a project involving quilts from my great-grandmother that I think will be next. My darkroom will be finished by then, so I also expect to make a lot of prints.

ADM: Where can we find more of your work, and pick up your zines, do you have any shows on the horizon?

SC: My website is the best place to see most of my work. crutchphoto.com I also sell my publications and soon I will have photographic prints for sale there as well.

Parting words: Show us what you see.

Dominick Ducote in Conversation with Brendon Holt, on "Clarity."

August 07, 2019 in interview

Dominick Ducote in Conversation with Brendon Holt, on “Clarity.”

ED. Note: You can view all of "Clarity and Fog” here on Frozenwaste.land under the “Places” section.

Brendon Holt (BH): So, Dominick, we’re here to talk about your recent project, Clarity. The title seems like as good a place to start as any. Why, “Clarity”?

Dominick Ducote (DD): The full title is Clarity & Fog, an important distinction because the title reflects the duality in both the images, and the emotions I felt while shooting these images. For example, the images taken in the Tetons are all very clean and crisp, and this was the location where I felt mostly comfortable and content. The Yellowstone photographs however, have a radiated haze to them, much like how my mentality was at that point in the trip.

BH: Ah, I see. What drew you to Yellowstone and Grand Teton for this project? Aside from their breathtaking beauty, that is.

DD: My grandparents took me to tons of beautiful places as a child, Yellowstone and Grand Teton included. I plan on revisiting all the places we went to, because I still remember all the beauty I’ve seen traveling with them, it’s just that now I’m finally able to capture it the way it deserves.

BH: That’s great. My relationship with Montana has a similar story. I spent many summers growing up hiking in Glacier National Park and other areas around Montana with my grandparents and it instilled a love of those places that has lasted. Have you devoted any work to other areas already? And do you have any future locations planned at the moment?

DD: The only other location I’ve shot at so far is Scofield, Utah, a little ghost town where my grandparents built their house years ago. Only 20 or so people live there now, so it’s got a really quiet and forgotten atmosphere. It feels like you’re on the set of an episode of the Twilight Zone out there.

As for future locations, I’d love to revisit Sitka, Alaska, but I haven’t made any moves towards that yet. Unfortunately, I think it’ll be a few years before I can make my way north again.

BH: Alaska seems like an incredible place, from what I’ve seen. It’s one of those “bucket list” places for me personally. My grandma’s descriptions of it don’t quell my desire to visit either. You noted that the impetus behind the project was, in some sense, about being able to capture the beauty that you remember experiencing with your grandparents. Would you say that the work tends more toward the documentary side of things?

DD: It’s a wild place for sure, definitely one for the bucket list. And to answer your question, I think I was a lot more focused with solely capturing beauty on the Yellowstone/Teton trip, rather than taking a documentarian perspective.

That’ll probably change when I travel to Alaska though.

BH: Interesting. I generally see the project of capturing natural beauty that informs a lot of landscape photography as more documentary than art oriented, personally. I mean, what we’re doing is essentially just framing the beauty that we find already existing prior to the act of making a photograph. In your mind what distinguishes a documentary approach from a non-documentary one?

DD: A documentarian approach is meant to give information to the viewer, to present a narrative, and I don’t really care to do that with landscape photography. There may be a narrative driving me to shoot but I don’t usually present it with, or in my images because all that matters to me is that they look beautiful. And you’re right when you say we’re just framing the beauty we find already existing, but I think you need an incredibly artistic eye in order to see that beauty among the rest of the world and isolate the perfect composition.

BH: That’s fair. I will admit to using the art/documentation distinction perhaps too loosely. Looking through the galleries on your website I noticed that you have a decent amount of what we could loosely categorize as “landscape” imagery. So, what do you think it is about landscapes as a subject that draws your eye? Why landscapes, in other words.

DD: I view landscape photography as experiencing beauty that wasn’t made by any one living creature, but a combination of time and luck. You’re just an observer at first, but once you take the image, you’re both an observer to the Earth’s beauty and the creator of your own beauty, and that’s incredibly special. It’s a shared experience with the Earth that you can’t find anywhere else.

BH: That participatory element you talk about is an interesting take. So another thing I noticed looking through the galleries on your website (I’ve spent a bit of time in them) is that you made images for Clarity & Fog in both 6x6 and 35mm. Looking back on your experiences working in the same locations with different mediums, what are your thoughts on medium format vs 35mm?

DD: Different mediums are great for different things, which is why you can usually find me on location with 3 cameras, digital, medium format, and 35mm. To limit yourself to just one medium is to limit yourself as an artist, and that seems like a really dumb move to me. That being said, I personally like shooting medium format so much more than 35mm. I find myself slowing down and putting more effort into composing my medium format images because with only 12 shots on a roll of 120 film, you’re kinda forced to.

BH: I mean, I’m constantly trying to distill my system down to the lowest possible number of parts, but I know what you mean. I used to shoot medium format back in the day and there is definitely a paradigm shift in workflow between MF and 35mm. Looking over your website I’ve seen that the bulk of your work is done in color. Specifically, how did you see color coming into play in the context of Clarity and Fog? And perhaps you could comment on your predilection for color in your broader body of work?

DD: For Clarity & Fog, I knew that the locations I was going to were insanely colorful, so color negative and slide film were just the right move in my mind. I did consider bringing a few rolls of Ilford Pan F 50 but I bailed on that idea pretty quickly. As for my broader body of work, I used to shoot a lot of black and white because it was the only film we could develop in school. I got really sick of it and decided to try slide film, I was hooked from then on.

BH: Ah, Pan F… One of my favorite black and white film stocks. I’d probably shoot it a lot more if it didn’t require a tripod. I have yet to actually develop the rolls of color film in my fridge so the whole color film world is still unexplored to me, especially slide film.

So we’ve covered a decent amount of ground here and to bring things full circle I’d like to close things out by asking you to talk about your favorite image from the Clarity and Fog project. Why you made it, what it means to you, that sort of thing.

DD: Easily the image titled Irradiated [pictured right], an accidental double exposure of a small dead tree in front of a turquoise pool. When it comes to why I made it, or any of my images, I don’t really have a reason. It’s just a beautiful moment that I happened upon and captured.

BH: Awesome, well Dominick for myself and on behalf of Frozenwaste.land I want to thank you for coming here to discuss your work as well as Clarity & Fog with us!

DD: Thanks for having me!

You Can View All of "Clarity and Fog” here on Frozenwaste.land under the “Places” Section.

Dominick can also be found on the internet at https://dcdphotography.squarespace.com/the-artist and on Instagram as @Dominick_ducote.

Brendon Holt can be found on his website, Brendonholt.com or on Instagram as @bmholt_