landscape photography

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).

Hello! If you’ve read this far, we hope you’ve enjoyed the interview, and will continue to read more. If you have enjoyed the interview, please consider making a donation to help keep the website up and running for others to read - or joining our Patreon. All donations and Patreon subscriptions go towards web hosting and registry only, not personal projects, to help keep the website up and readable to whoever wants to read it. Thanks!

Donate

Become a Patron!

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

Hi! if you’ve gotten this far and enjoyed our content, please consider donating to Frozenwaste.land or subscribing to our Patreon to help keep the website online and visible to others! Every donation counts, and is highly appreciated. All of the proceeds go towards upkeep!

Donate

Become a Patron!

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!

Hi! If you’ve read this far: Thank you! We hope you’ve enjoyed this interview! if you enjoy content like this, please consider subscribing to our Patreon!

Become a Patron!

Hiroshima Legacy Project: David Chao

March 07, 2020 in interview

Hiroshima Legacy Project: David Chao

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): For those unfamiliar with you, can you introduce yourself, and talk a little bit about your photowork and practice outside Hiroshima Road Trip and Instagram?

David Chao (DC): A little bit about me, I am David Chao and I am a half Japanese and half Chinese American born and raised between San Francisco and Kobe, Japan.

I studied Product Design in college, and photography became a big passion of mine on the side. I started off learning in the school darkroom in an intro photography class, and then spent 2 years serving as a lab assistant and teaching other students. Teaching others skills or knowledge I have is something I enjoy quite fondly, and today I still serve as an adjunct lecturer at Stanford in Design Research, essentially a class focused on how to do ethnographic design research.

I used to shoot digitally on the side quite a bit, but my love for photography emerged in 2016 when I took my first film photography class. Something about the physical tangibility of using chemicals and making prints with my hands turned me into a lover of film. I currently shoot 35mm, medium, and large format. For me each film type serves a different purpose, and I don’t particularly like one over the other. I feel I am still exploring all the different ways film and cameras can be used to capture what I love.

My projects, or more serious projects, have all revolved around shooting in Japan. For me the biggest aspect is being both an insider and outsider gives me a unique perspective. I spent years growing up culturally between Japan and the US, and so I know enough about the inner thinking and culture to recognize certain behaviors. But at the same time, I am very much American, and that gives me foresight into being able to view scenes or actions taken from an outsider’s perspective. This to me has made photography projects in Japan as one’s that feel like the most genuine.

I tend not to post my most important or favorite work on Instagram. The reason being is Instagram was always just a way for me to find like minded people who enjoyed photography, not as a medium to share it. Over time I have loved the community of people I have met.

ADM: What was the inspiration for the project?

DC: After graduating from Stanford University in 2018 with a degree in Engineering -Product Design, I set out to capture a project I titled the “Hiroshima Legacy Project”. Using a 4x5 View Camera the goal of this project was to document the people of smaller towns all around Hiroshima Prefecture. Given the urban migration and the aging population, lots of small towns and even small cities in Hiroshima prefecture are starting to slowly die out.

The inspiration for this project began in the summer of 2017, a day after my sister’s 12th birthday party, my grandmother Toshiko passed away in her home. Toshiko was born to Soichi and Kumayo Morimoto of Hiroshima on September 10, 1930 in Watsonville, California, where she grew up with her six siblings until World War II. In 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, and the government imprisoned the Morimoto family, including teenaged Toshiko and her siblings, in concentration camps – first in Poston, Arizona, then in Tule Lake, California. After the war, the US government repatriated the Morimoto family to Hiroshima. In her memory, I wanted to create a photographic essay capturing stories and faces of Hiroshima.

Along the way she picked up a hobby of photography and always had a camera with her. One of the reasons I decided to take a film photography class at Stanford was to be able to share some common experiences with her and her passion for art in general. The summer before my senior year of college my grandmother had passed away after fighting illness for many years. Before she had passed, she rounded up lots of old film and gathered all the older film cameras she had collected. While many of them do not work, one of my favorite cameras of all time was a Yashica T4 Super Zoom.

While in the midst of going over my future, finishing up my degree in Engineering - Product Design, and applying for jobs, I began to formulate a year long project following my graduation from Stanford. The first stage of that project was creating a darkroom space/studio to promote the photographic arts. Whether it’s just with family and friends, or eventually something more open to the local SF community, I wanted to create a space in her memory. The second stage is this upcoming project to travel to the rural and countryside communities of Japan and capture them before they completely fade away.

ADM: I've noticed that all of the photos you post on instagram of the Road Trip are numbered of 360. What's the significance of 360?

DC: I shot 10 rolls of provia100f on the road trip casually, so these are really more works from me just having fun with photography.

The real work from the road trip was 4x5 portrait shots, which I have only posted infrequently and rarely actually on Instagram. I can send you that in person, as I think those would be more interesting to post.

ADM: Is the road trip part of or related to a bigger or different body of work you're working on?

DC: I think for me right now the biggest thing is I want to be able to document culture and people in a meaningful way. For me what I like to capture hopefully tells a story, and my goal is to make this a foundation for a bigger project in the future.

For myself the biggest lesson I learned is: I don’t know as much as I thought I did.

One, I want to continue to improve my technique as a photographer. I felt that there were moments where I was limited on how I could capture a scene based off inexperience.

Two, I want to learn how to connect with people better and be more assertive in the field. This is something that I have been getting experience with at work currently. I work at a design research firm and as part of projects we conduct 3 hour long ethnographic style in-home interviews. This is perfect training for being able to guide with the right level of authority, but also dig for information in order to create a great photograph. It’s a little unorthodox, but it is something I am excited to try and translate to other mediums in the future.

ADM: In the past you've posted historic or archival photos that your grandmother took -- I find them really fascinating. How did you get into that, and have you had any favorite images from those archives, and any that you find really interesting, historically?

DC: When my grandmother passed, one of the biggest projects was cleaning out her stuff. She was a massive hoarder, but we found all these beautiful prints she had just buried under boxes. She was an artist, so she did lots of painting and photography, so as a family initiative, we had all her stuff framed and archived properly.

My favorite is the 8x10 contact print of the Atomic Bomb Dome (原爆ド一ム) in the late 1950s by my grandmother Toshiko. This is a super old print from the 1950s so there is natural yellowing of the paper. My grandmother most likely took this photo in her mid 20s. Hiroshima was a very important place for my family as many relatives were lost to the bomb and following WWII internment in the US my grandmother’s family moved back to the rebuilding community in Hiroshima. I’ve been to the peace memorial on multiple occasions and my pictures of the dome definitely are nowhere near as good as this. I am 95% sure that a Large Format View Camera was used as the top of the dome is extremely sharp while the bottom loses some focus, which is usually attributed to Large Format Camera movements.

With the other prints I like from her collection, it's more about what the Japan she grew up with looked like. I love old and rustic prints because when you really think about them, the people in those scenes saw the world like we do today, in color and in HD. It’s just that the tools didn’t exist for us to be able to capture it like we can actually see it. So my attachment for me is just I love to close my eyes and just try and imagine what the world was like back then.

ADM: For those of us unfamiliar with Hiroshima, can you describe the area (culturally and topographically), and talk about what the documentation process was like?

DC: Hiroshima is a unique prefecture of Japan, and it is shaped by its unique relationship with both modern history and land.

There is historical significance of the main city of Hiroshima given the devastation of the Atomic Bomb during WWII. While often the scars of war haunt an area long after, Hiroshima instead stands as a beacon of world peace. The revitalization of the city was unprecedented, and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial stands as a pillar of hope. Unlike other Japanese cities, where there might be remnants of an older world, Hiroshima is truly a modern city given that it had to rebuild itself in a post WWII era.

There is also a significance given the wide variation of its topography. Hiroshima blends both its island like feel in the south, with fishing ports and local fishing, with its extreme monotonous terrains in the North. While many Japanese prefectures share a relationship between land and sea, what makes Hiroshima unique to me is the sheer contrast between the sea and the mountains. Thus, when exploring the area and to capture an accurate view of the prefecture, one as to open itself up to the idea of the broad reaching implications of such a wide topographic spread.

The documentation process was a mixture of thoughtful planning and spontaneous decisions. I would never plan more than 5-7 days out, as weather and new learnings would shape the next steps of the journey. As I started to map out my route, I initially was planning to also explore other prefectures to more depth, but ended up spending 80% of my time focused on Hiroshima. One of the really difficult balances I had to negotiate with myself was how much time could I spend just enjoy traveling to new places versus focuses on the project itself. I began to think of this trip more like I would a job. I have a couple of set outcomes that I wanted to see through, and was responsible to myself to complete, but there were also times to relax and enjoy a breather here and there.

Traveling with 30 boxes of 4x5 film is also not an easy task. The key to making it all work was to make sure to be organized and follow the same routine every night and morning. Before arriving to any lodging, the first thing I would so is make sure all my gear was organized. That means camera is put away, film tend is packed up, and anything I planned to leave in the car was covered up. I would carry three bags with me into the hotel, a duffle of clothes, my backpack carry my 4x5 View Camera, and a small bag carrying enough new film to change out. After check in, before even showering or washing up for dinner, I would change out any film I had shot and make sure all my gear was ready for the next day. While this routine and strictness might seem psychopathic, the reason why I maintained this so closely was because it led to minimal mistakes. And the minute the routine was finished, I could spend my evenings relaxing, reflecting, and recovering for the next day.

Loneliness is the greatest enemy when traveling alone. For those who haven’t traveled for great lengths of times by themselves, it is a feeling that you have to get used to. I had prior experience working on a research project alone for 10 weeks, which helped me cope with the extensive feelings of being isolated and without accompaniment. The cruelest person to yourself is yourself. There is moments of doubt that can creep into the sub-conscience. At the same time, traveling alone is a blessing. The freedom to be so engrossed in your own thoughts and be so disconnected from the world around you is hard to get. I tell people, the voice in your head can be both your friend and enemy, but it is all about how you frame it. I often can’t hear myself very loudly until I am alone for 2 weeks. Then the voice rings loud and clear, and allows for honest and open dialogue with oneself.

ADM: When you started the Hiroshima Legacy Project, did you find that your thesis or findings changed as you've gotten deeper into the project, did you have a thesis going in, or has the whole project been a strict document?

DC: The main premise for this process was to create a project that would help me not only connect back to my ancestral roots, but also create a meaningful project to explore and learn about cultural nuances. During this course of brainstorming I was torn by which direction I should move in, as I was fascinated by a couple different areas.

The first area I wanted to understand was the Akiya housing crisis that was taking place in the more rural regions of Japan. This was not only a point of interest based of research, I had made observations in many past trips to Japan that there seemed to be many abandoned homes not just in the country side, but also in the outer parts of cities. The second area I wanted to understand was what the daily life was like for people living the countryside of Japan. My conception of Japan had been limited to the confines of Osaka and Kobe. I heard stories of the countryside from my extended family, but I personally had never familiarized myself to it. I want to experience it on my own terms to gain empathy and understanding of what life was like in those regions. The third area was I wanted to just see Japan through new fresh eyes. Being so familiar with a place can numb you to the beauty that exists. I wanted to see Japan in a new light and framed this project as a way to do so.

Ultimately the outcomes of this project was flexible. I actually didn’t know if I wanted to capture photos of people or photos of the environment when I first started this project. It wasn’t until a fateful encounter of the very first day of the project that I had made up my mind about it. To give some context, I come from a background of human-centered design; essentially design framed through the lens of building empathy with others. One of the key concepts is this idea of doing proper need finding. Need finding focuses on design research and design planning. The premise is that by studying the world around us, we can get a better understanding of what people need, and use those insights to create meaningful ways to think about a concept differently. Need finding draws upon theory and methods from anthropology, psychology, engineering and design planning. Yet my intial concept of this project didn’t have speaking and talking with people be the central focus of the project. My failure in all of this was I was too cocky and thought that I had enough information to conduct a successful project without the bounds of getting to know others.

On the first day of the project I drove off into a ditch on a mountain road. This was totally 100% my fault for being naive about driving in Japan. One, the steering wheel was on the other side of the car. The second, mountain roads in Japan are narrow and tricky. I was distraught, in disbelief, and thought the project was going to end on the very first day. Luckily, right behind me was a mother who was on her way home from grocery shopping. She helped me call a tow truck and waited with me for over an hour until it arrived. We spoke about what life was like in Shiso and Hyogo Prefecture. It was during this conversation that I realized I was arrogant to think I could capture a place without understanding the people that lived there. Sure, I could take photos of trees and rivers that would print beautifully, but there would be no substance. Later that day, the very first photo of this project turned out to be a shot of a man working on his field in a tractor. He had on a SF giants baseball cap, and it turned out his daughter had moved to SF. He was so excited that he called her up and we spoke over the phone. I am not religious, but if there was a sign from God this was it. From then, I decided this project was going to be about people.

ADM: I know the goal of the Project was to document the current citizens and places of the prefecture, but did you end up documenting some of the effects of the population decline? if so, or if you want to speak on it, what did you find?

DC: The biggest learning I had throughout this project was the joy that people in these areas continue to have. I see the city culture of Japan to be depressing in many ways. The youth drink themselves in their sorrow and misery in the harsh working culture. In contrast, the countryside may be “dying off”, but the relationships people share with each other continue to be beacons of light in the area. I am not naive to ignore the fact that the population of the countryside and the towns are slowly fading away. In terms of population decline, I also shot many sheets of BW 4x5 film. These shots captured more of the sorrow and decline of the region. Many of these photos consist of abandoned homes, abandoned hotels, or even abandoned shops. The sad truth is that these areas are slowly disappearing, and the signs were prevalent wherever I went. I think part of my desire to continue to work on this project was to capture what would be lost before it is too late.

The effects of the decline I noticed that had me the most saddened was the effects it had on communities that once thrived. While of course the abandoned buildings and deserted homes were shocking to witness in person, it was more how empty many central community centers for towns felt. At the same time, I think adversity creates new bonds for people. For example, I spent many days stopping by old elementary schools that had transformed itself into community centers for the elderly. There people from the town would get together to exercise and enjoy each other’s social company. It was a reminder of the power of people and relationships, and will be a lesson I will continue to cherish.

ADM: Will the bigger project - the one you're about to embark on take the form of a book, or an exhibition? Also will the second stage be throughout all of Japan, or continue to focus on Hiroshima Prefecture?

DC: For me right now, I still am trying to figure out what I want to do with all of this work. I feel it is incomplete, and that is probably more to do with me being a perfectionist. I shot these incredible portraits with a 4x5 camera and color film, but I can always see room for improvement. I am still in the process of putting the work together into a more lasting medium. Right now my mind goes to hopefully creating a mini book to share out with people who are interested in it.

In terms of next steps for the project itself, part of my decision to work at a research design firm was to continue to improve my ability to connect with people. I realized that being able to build bridges during a conversation ultimately shaped the outcome of a photo. Where I work now we conduct 3 - 4 hour ethnographic style in home interviews. This is almost like the perfect training ground in order to hone this skill set.

I love photography and continue to practice with the mission of improvement. I hope to gain the confidence to potentially pursue an MFA, but I don’t currently know what is in store for me. I want to continue to document Japan in a unique lens, and I am always thinking about different project ideas to do so.

ADM: What advice would you give to another photographer considering taking on a longer term project? especially one as loaded with history as yours - both personally and globally relevant?

DC: The biggest advice I would give someone is surround yourself with people that care about you and what you are doing. I think it is really easy to get caught in a situation of half a step in, when these projects truly require you to be all in. I wouldn’t be able to make those leaps without having a support system around me of people I know who would have my back.

Beyond just having a good support network, know yourself and what you want to accomplish. What does a successful project look like for me? What do I want to get out of this? What does this all mean? I think these are all questions you have to ask yourself before even getting started and continue to check as you work on a project. If you aren’t taking these steps, then you might get off track of what you truly want to accomplish. Especially if the project is something personal to you, it can feel like a lot of weight to bare. At the end of the day, you can only do what you set your mind to.

Leaving this with one last thought, photography should never feel like it's burdening you when you are working on a personal long term project. Because the minute it is framed as a nuance, then the love of the craft is gone. The entire love of the project can dissipate without it being finished. I don’t have an answer of how to always keep a positive frame, but finding something to help ground yourself is the best piece of advice I have received, so relaying it here.

ADM: Where can we find your work? Do you have any printed projects or exhibitions coming up? Do you have any parting words? Thank you again for doing this interview!

DC: Most of my work is on Instagram and I am slowly putting together my website. I haven’t had the time to put the effort I would like to revamp it, but it is coming I promise.

In terms of printed projects or exhibition right now I am working on getting all these photos together and organized. I think the first priority would be to compile it into either a Zine or a book, so those are the next steps I am currently taking.

For parting words, thanks for doing the interview and it was a great way to collect thoughts in a structure that I hadn’t had before!

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.

Becoming an American: Adrian Otero Vila (AOWS)

Game Trails: Jay Neely

SMALL ABYSS: Chris San Nicolas

Hiroshima Legacy Project: David Chao

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

Parting words: Show us what you see.