Studio Visit with Tim Robertson
Timothy Robertson runs one of the only risograph presses in Louisville and is a master of experimenting with laborious print procceses. We talk about risographs, his work, and the importance of seeing evidence of the process.
Who are you?
My name's Tim Robertson. I'm about to turn 44, I'm a dad. I have three sons, they're gonna be taller than me. I'm not from Louisville, but I've lived here for almost 10 years. I'm originally from the Washington, DC area. I’ve spent a pretty significant portion of my life living overseas. My wife is a social worker so we lived in Cambodia and she taught counselors and other social workers. So, she's awesome.
First song you’re playing on aux?
Oh, this is an old one. I’m putting on Blonde on Blonde by Nada Surf.
What do you do?
I make photographs and I like to work with experimental print processes and other process heavy work. Important parts of my art practice are experimentation, play, and collaboration. I love working on stuff with other artists. So that's why I like risograph work, it's really democratic. I can work with kids or I can work with someone who has been making stuff for a long time and help them translate their work into something new. That's an exciting part of the practice for me.
How did you get into photography?
When I was 14, my great uncle mailed me this really big box and inside was his old Olympus SLR with a whole bunch of lenses. I just started snapping pictures with it and that was it. I was like, “Oh wait, I can make images of what I see.” And that was really amazing to me. Everyone has their own way of seeing and it's really rare to find a way that makes sense for you to share it, you know? For me, photography was how I could share what I saw and it just felt like magic.
It started when I was living overseas in Cambodia where it wasn’t easy to get photographs printed perfectly. It was difficult to even get your film processed and when you did there were all kinds of color shifts and so I had to let go of trying to get a perfect exposure. Once I let go of that I realized, “Wait, I can print this in all kinds of different ways.” You know, ink transfers and things like that. That wasn’t very straightforward either because of the materials there, I just had to make my own materials. It was an adventure and got me out into the city and countryside looking for materials and talking to people and suddenly process became a really important part of my practice. This long laborious hunt was really exciting to me, and zoning out and just doing the work by hand is really good for me mentally. I love to look at artworks and see the evidence of the process, to see the little slip up or the mistake or the accident that turns out to make the piece more unique and interesting. I think that I used to go out looking for a really perfect photograph, but then when I made that shift, I was really just using the photography as material either to create a certain piece or even just to inform that piece.
When you can let go of being precious with your shots it really frees you up.
Tim’s risograph machine.
You run Risolution Press and are one of the only people that still does risograph printing in Louisville, tell me about how that works.
The best way to describe risograph printing is almost like screen printing through a machine. It's a stencil based duplicator, so you print one color at a time. The feel of a risograph is almost like a lithograph in that some of the texture comes through but it's not as heavy as a screen print, if that makes sense. And it's unpredictable, there's a lot of quirkiness and again, you have to not be precious about your work. I got it because I saw some risograph prints of photographs, like some monotone reds and blues, and I had some work that I wanted to use in that way. I went looking around Louisville for a risograph printer and I couldn't find anything, this was like 2017. I bought a used machine from Hallagans up in Chicago so that I could make stuff for myself and I really quickly realized, “Oh, this is fun.” And it was a process I wanted to share with other artists. There's so many types of art that can be translated through it. I started working with other artists who came looking for me because they also couldn't find a risograph printer in town. It helps keep my art practice a little bit sustainable 'cause I have to feed my kids. [Laughs]
I like to run trails in the woods, I like to take my dog and go for long runs. I play soccer with my boys and board games and a lot of other unplugged stuff.
Friend that inspires you?
My bud Michael Winters. He has this ability to slow down and really look and see what's going on around him, or just be still and observe something. I have so much trouble slowing my brain down but he inspires me to try. He’s an arts director at the Sojourn Gallery and a photographer and art maker. What he really does is encourages artists to keep going. He finds young artists and old artists and everything in between. People run into him and he'll say something to them and they'll be like, “Okay, I'm gonna keep making art.” He’s very singularly gifted in that way. If you're ever feeling like you're gonna stop making stuff, go have a conversation with Michael Winters over coffee and you'll change your mind.
Who was the first artist you saw that made you think, “Wow, I want to do something like that.”
I remember seeing work from a lot of older artists, I mostly encountered artists through books and museums and stuff. Saul Leiter’s photographs were very informative to me as a young photographer and Robert Rauschenberg and that kind of stuff from the 50s and 60s. In my early art practicing years, there was this guy named Loven Ramos. He's from the Philippines, but I met him in Cambodia, which is where I lived at the time. He's the artist that encouraged me to show my work for the first time. He owned an art hotel and commissioned work from me for the first time. He’s one of those people that act as batteries for our younger artists. You know, telling you to just do it when there's no voices telling you that.
If I have a project that I'm working on, usually I assess what needs to get done to move forward that day. It’s often a physical process of some kind. If not, I like to play with stuff. I pull images from my archive and I have lists of materials that I want to experiment with. I make test prints on the risograph all the time. That's my main thing, what am I gonna experiment on today? And most of that doesn't work out well, you know, I make a lot of trash. But, every once in a while there's a piece of trash that I like and I learn something. That’s what I do mostly, play and experiment.
What do you think is the importance of still making physical stuff when everything is increasingly becoming more digital?
I think being in the presence of a piece of artwork is a different experience and I like seeing the process. Even if it’s a fine art photograph, you're looking at the frame that it's been put in and you're looking at the material it's printed on. It just talks to you differently in real life than it does through the digital world. There's meaning in making physical pieces of work because most of the artwork now lives in a digital world. I feel like the stuff that doesn’t is a treasure, it’s a thing that's in an exact place at an exact time and that makes it special.
Two of Tim’s works hanging in his studio space.
What do you do for a day job?
I work with Misc Goods Co. and it's a great day job to have. It's a very creative company and we design all kinds of things. The main part of our line is our fragrances. We have four natural fragrances that we designed. Stuff you wear, like deodorant and cologne, and then we have incense, we make some really good incense and other home fragrance stuff. My part is that I do a lot of special projects, I'll work with other brands and help them make something custom or make something completely new. I enjoy that process a lot. It's always kind of an adventure. It's not as secure as working for a really big company, so there's a little bit of adrenaline. I do a lot of research, like design research when we're making some new products. I really enjoy looking into how people make things and learning about how that happens and trying it myself. Recently I learned how to make soap, I just followed the recipe and I’ve been making it and trying to see if it works in a mold. I love experimentation.
What does success mean to you?
I think that if I'm successful, after another person's interaction with me or whatever I made then they’ll walk away having benefited somehow. Whether it's that I made something that makes them ask a question they've never asked before or I make something and there's like this one little corner that's kind of weird looking and it's just really cool to them or that they have a conversation with me and decide like, yeah, I'm gonna keep making stuff. I think that to be generative is to be successful.
What makes Louisville special?
Louisville just has this thing about it and I don't know how to describe it. Like, when I meet new artists or I go to a show or I watch bands here play, it doesn't ever feel like people are sizing each other up. It's more that they're just celebrating each other. No place is perfect, but there is a genuine spirit of Louisville artists celebrating other Louisville artists and I love that. I love the young energy of the arts community in recent years. I hope that young artists feel that there's space for them and that we want their voice.
What’s next for you? I know you have a show coming up.
Yeah, so myself and five other artists are doing a group show. It's about wilderness, mostly specifically focused on Red River Gorge. We all went on a backpacking trip for three days there. We had read some of Wendell Berry’s stuff and some other things just to kind of get us thinking about wilderness. Like, what does that mean in today's world? We've been making work for it for a year. We're gonna show it at Mellwood Art Center in August. My pieces are trying to hint at this idea of the ancient nature of the landscape and the sporadic human interaction. Like, even if someone goes and lives in the woods for their entire life, it's this tiny little blip. Everything they do there is just like a flash and it's gone and the timeframe of the landscape is just so much different than ours. I try to reflect that a little bit in some of the images that I'm making. And everyone's got different takes and different ideas about wilderness so it should be cool. The other artists involved are just really good. I'm excited and a little intimidated. But mostly excited to see everyone’s work together.
Walk me through the process you’re using for these new pieces.
I start with a photograph that I took and I separate that photograph into the CMYK print layers. Then with a really high quality inkjet I print each layer separately and then I transfer each layer one at a time. So starting with yellow, I transfer it onto a wooden surface that I've coated with silver leaf. I transfer the prints face down with acrylic and then I take all the paper away. I build up more layers and then I do the next color. Usually I start with yellow, and then I go to magenta, and then I go into cyan, then last is black. That's the shadows, it kind of defines everything when you get the black layer on. Because of the silver leaf on the bottom the luminance shines through. When they're done you can see the light shining through each of the layers and it leaves more evidence of the process that way.
Tim in the basement of his home working on the pieces for his upcoming show.
What keeps you going and wanting to make stuff?
It's like I'm more healthy when I'm making things. It's just part of me I guess. I have to be making things, even if I'm not showing stuff. Someone once told me about this idea of a giant lake that’s made up of all of the things that people make. This giant lake of creative things, like creative output, and every generation of humans needs to put their bit in there just to keep the lake full. Not everything that's made is gonna be some masterpiece that's remembered through the generations, but it's still a piece of what we're making as humanity. Some of the good things that are coming out of us. Just being part of that is great, and exhilarating.
@timothyirobertson
timothyirobertson.com
Louisville, KY
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam
House Call with Ella Woolsey
We met Ella Woolsey at her home in LA just a few days before the release of her latest EP, Super Special Outing. We talked inspiration, working with friends and family, and the backstory behind her new music.
Who are you?
My real name is Ella Carlson, but people shouldn't call me that. Woolsey is my grandma's maiden name, so I’m Ella Woolsey.
I'm from Los Angeles, I’m 20 and I make music.
First song you’re playing on aux?
Almost A Threat by Snow Strippers.
Go-to coffee spot & order?
Definitely where I work in New York, Felix Roasting Co. I always get an iced oat latte.
Most overrated thing?
Vaping.
Most underrated thing?
Vaping. [Laughs]
Last thing you bought?
A vape… [Laughs] No, no, that’s not true… Wait. I actually think the last thing I bought was a vape, is that embarrassing?
Let me change it, I bought an everything bagel with cream cheese from the airport.
Was it good?
It was so good. I felt really happy. I felt blissful after I ate it.
Ella in her backyard.
Who was your top artist last year on Spotify?
Andy Shauf, he's from Canada. His voice is really peculiar, his vowels are very rounded.
LA or New York?
New York for school but I would like to have a family in LA. I would not raise kids in New York.
What makes LA special?
It’s just slower and prettier, sorry New York.
Friend that inspires you?
Awe, Camille [Roth]. She does her own thing. She's really honest. She's really creative. She's really tough. We’ve been working together since my first EP. I’ve known her since I was a baby, our moms knew each other when they were pregnant.
What’s your go-to spot when you’re here in LA?
I haven’t been here in so long, I just post up in my backyard honestly. I hang out, sit in the sun, listen to the sounds.
How long have you been making music?
I’ve been taking it seriously since I was 15. I did musical theater, but acting is not my strong suit and I like to sing.
I also really like to write, so I just combined the two.
What’s the best part about making music?
When you make something that you really like and that other people connect with.
What’s the worst part?
It sucks to make music right now because it's just so oversaturated. Like everyone's trying to do it. It just becomes so non creator friendly. Especially with the apps, such as TikTok and those kinds of things. Labels won't even talk to you if you don't have a certain amount of followers or momentum on socials.
Ella at home in LA.
How would you describe the genre of music you make?
I would say alternative rock, dream rock, and indie pop. I don't love classifying things as pop, but it is what it is.
Your younger brother Kerry makes music too, did he get that from you?
I think we definitely came into it on our own, especially 'cause we make such different kinds of music. But I mean I've lent him a lot of my gear and I've given him a hand in certain ways, but he's definitely doing his own thing. We’re actually working on a song together right now.
When you’re working on a song, who's the first person you send it to?
Honestly, Kerry, a lot of the time. Kerry and Camille, just 'cause I know that they won't bullshit me. I can totally read through it when somebody's like, “Oh yeah, this is so good,” and they just don't want to give me criticism 'cause they're scared of how I'll react. Which, not to say I take criticism easily, [Laughs] but yeah, I'd say they're definitely the most honest with me.
You released three singles over the past few months, how long have you been working on those?
I made the demos for the EP last year, literally exactly a year ago in Joshua Tree. I had been in contact with this producer, Jorge Elbrecht and he worked on one demo with me and I really wanted to work with him. He randomly texted me like, “Oh my God, I'm gonna be in LA, are you here?” And I was like, “No, but I'll fly out next week if you're gonna be there.” We recorded the EP in a week. It’s coming out on Friday [5.17.24] and it’s called Super Special Outing.
I love the name of the EP, what’s the story behind that?
The concept is from when I was little and I really just wanted to hang out with my mom 'cause she works all the time. All I would talk about in therapy was how I just wanted to hang out with my mom, so we would plan these little dates every week. That's where the concept originally came from, but it turned into being about me trying to be super good at everything and people pleasing and then in the end not making people happy. A lot of the EP is me trying to not take myself so seriously. I feel like I just took myself way too seriously when I first started making music and looking back I cringe so hard because of it. Some of the lyrics on this EP are just so funny to me and that's because I just tried to not put too much pressure on myself. But a lot of the songs are just about fucking up and not doing things right all the time.
Tell me about your process when making a song, how do you get the idea in your head to the finished product?
Usually I start with a lyric idea and just write for a while and then it'll make its way to the guitar. But sometimes it's the other way around, it really depends. If I come up with a guitar part that I really like, I'll just force myself to write something even if I don't have any ideas. I’m always writing in my room, usually in my bed. I have a really hard time even writing with other people 'cause I get so nervous to share my ideas, but that's something I'm trying to do more of. And I usually record it in my bedroom or at school. Up until this EP, I was self recording, self-producing, doing everything myself. I played all the instruments on all my other stuff, but on the EP my producer did like the bass and my old drummer did all the drums.
Are you working with a label?
I have this interesting deal with Good Boy Records. It's a funding deal. Basically they're just investing in me, so they don't own the rights to my music. They just handle distribution and I still have complete creative control, which is awesome.
How long have you been releasing music on your own before that came to be?
Four years. My friend Lily, who I go to school with, just sent my music to this guy John, who founded the label. He just really fucked with it and he was like, I want to talk to her. And yeah, he was really passionate about this project.
Has it helped you out so far?
Yeah, well, I was just tired of doing it all by myself. I love to do it all by myself and I still come up with all my music video ideas and everything, but it's so hard to be your only critic and being the only person having an eye on your art.
Who inspires you musically?
I would say Andy Shauf again. I feel like I've started writing songs in a totally different way, I've developed a more storytelling writing style. Before I was writing a lot from experience but I find it way more fun to just make stuff up now.
What do you do when you’re feeling uninspired?
Force myself to be inspired. [Laughs] I'll look through old stuff that I've written. Like if I can't think of a song to write, sometimes I'll look in my journal for ideas to start with and then I'll start from a personal experience and then embellish it or totally make something up from that point.
What does success mean to you?
Honestly, just liking my own work. Being 100 percent proud of what I have out and totally not caring how it's received. Just getting to a point where I can just be happy with my own perception of my music and not other people's.
More of Ella at home.
Dream scenario in five years?
Definitely opening for somebody on a US tour. Someone like Warpaint or some female-led band in the rock world.
How are you going to get there?
Playing more shows, writing more songs, posting more of my music. I feel like I finally reached the point where I just don't give a fuck anymore. I'm just kind of testing everything out and sharing as much as I can, seeing what sticks and what doesn't.
What are you most proud of?
Staying in school. And the EP, I worked really hard on it. I feel slightly disconnected from it just because I wrote it so long ago and I'm so eager to share my new music. There's like two phases of excitement when you make something. It's right after you make it and then the interim where it's like, wait a second, I don't even know what this is. I don't know why I did this. And then after that you're like, okay wait, actually this is really cool.
How do you get through that interim phase when you don't really know what's going on? What do you do to stay on track?
I just try to distract myself by making new things. Like, recently when I've been struggling with that, I'll compare my newer songs that I really, really love to my older ones. I try to think about how the older songs have helped me get to where my new ones are, it’s rewarding.
What’s a piece of advice you would give to your younger self?
I kinda already said this, but just not to take myself too seriously and care so much about what I'm doing. Also to not be scared to switch up what I'm doing. Especially 'cause this EP is so different from what I've released in the past. I was so scared that people would be like, what the hell is she trying to do? [Laughs] But I'm totally allowed to change what I'm doing and I have to remind myself of that a lot.
What’s next for you?
I'm working on a new album that will hopefully come out next year, making some new music videos this summer and playing more shows.
I have a show in LA in July that I'm excited for.
@ellawoolseyy
ellawoolsey.com
May 2024
Los Angeles, CA
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam
House Call with Marjorie Matamoros
The artist at home.
“Con una camarita y un sueño,” (with a little camera and a dream) Marjorie Matamoros builds worlds. We paid a visit to the Chicago apartment of this artist to learn more about the person behind What They Say.
Who are you?
My name is Marjorie Matamoros. I’m from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and I’m 23 years old.
What do you do?
I'm a multimedia artist, I take pictures, I make videos and a little bit of other things in between. I just try to capture life around me.
Mixed media works by Marjorie.
First song you’re playing on aux?
Lil Peep by Bb trickz.
Who’s someone that inspires you?
Clemente Calandra. I feel like he’s just really an artist and has this sensitivity for art. I met him freshman year and I feel like it changed my life, I could cry if I went too deep into it.
Top artist on Spotify last year?
Clem’s side project, Dead in Paris. He only has like three songs on there and they were on repeat.
Clemente Calandra, a.k.a. Heartgaze.
Photos by Marjorie.
Most overrated thing?
Sambas.
What gets you excited?
Eating. Like, finding a good spot and going with my friends.
What do you do for fun outside of your photo and video work?
I like to people watch. I like looking out my window, you can see the Bank of America parking lot. It's a very odd liminal space and I see all kinds of people. The people that happen to be there are so interesting, I always have so many questions.
Shot and Edited by Marjorie Matamoros. Analog FX by Logan Reily.
Creative Direction by Megan Hammond and Vasyl Broda.
Do you remember the specific moment you first noticed being interested in making art?
I was actually thinking about this today. My best friend in middle school was the first “artist” I ever met. I think we were taking a painting class or some shit. I asked him a question about something in the class and he said to me, “You don't really have to know how to paint in order to be an artist.” That was when I realized that you don't have to know anything to just start. I was thinking about them today and that was probably when I first started being interested in art for real.
That makes sense, I've realized that too after doing a lot of these interviews. Everyone's been saying the same thing about first starting out, they just were interested in the thing and they just kept doing it. Like, if you do this shit every day, you're gonna get good at it. It's not like you're born good at it. I mean, maybe that sounds obvious, but I feel like I just noticed how true it really is.
It's like a muscle or even like a sport at times. Obviously if you practice more, you're gonna get better and discover new shit. As an artist, you're gonna find cool shit when you experiment, you know? That's where the dopest art is gonna be born and where you’ll find the most raw shit.
Instead of your name, the header on your website reads, “What They Say.” Where does that come from?
I guess it’s like my alter ego. It was my original Instagram name, like one of my first ever. I was a big Jaden Smith fan and I remember at the time he and Kylie Jenner and all the celebrities in that crowd were on this woke wave. All of them changed their names to these woke usernames and I was just pondering in my room like, what am I gonna name myself? Like, I have to be along the lines with this vibe, but I have to be on my own shit, you know? Then randomly I was like, oh shit, what they say. I don’t even really know what I was thinking, I was like 13. [Laughs] I was just like “yeah, this is deep.” I think I was thinking about how at the end of the day, it's always gonna be about what others say, or like, what they say.
What are some other artists that inspire the work that you make?
I think it comes in waves, you know what I mean? There's periods of time where I'm more inspired. It’s always changing but right now I really like this artist named Tweaks. They make all kinds of media, videos, and little experimental films. I think it was just the first time that I saw femme people doing like, very weird shit and doing dark things. I was just like, “Whoa, this exists. There's other femme people out there doing shit like that.” Also, Yves Tumor inspires me as fuck and I'm really into FKA Twigs right now. FKA Twigs is just such an artist, like, they're creating music, but they're also super on top of their whole visual world. I really respect when artists take that holistic approach.
What have you been working on recently?
I was just in New York a couple weeks ago and I shot a music video with my friend Carlián and I’m really proud of that. It was a super femme and queer video and there were good vibes. It was just me and her and we just sat down and drank wine one night and we were like, we're gonna do this shit. I was leaving in a couple of days so it was a quick turnaround time but we did that shit. I was sick as fuck and it was cold as fuck outside but we were committed to the cause and it just feels so good to create art with other femme people.
Other than that, a couple of months ago I did this other music video with Clem for AMOR ETERNO. That's like my favorite piece of work that is out. I directed it and did all the editing, I feel like before anything else I’m really just an editor. It happened super quick, Clem just came to me and was like, let's do this shit. I think the video is perfect and I’m also really big on trying to create environments where it's mostly femme people behind the scenes. So when I was building the crew I got to assemble all the Avengers around me and just bring a lot of cool femme people on set, I was really proud of that.
Music video for AMOR ETERNO, directed and edited by Marjorie.
I loved that video and I especially loved the installation project you worked on with Clem for the release of his album Casi Angeles. Tell me a little bit about how that came together.
I remember when I first heard Casi Angeles before it came out. I was at the MCA and I was just walking around listening to the project and then all of a sudden I had an idea. The only paper that I had was a receipt from Village Discount, so I just started writing down all my ideas on this little receipt. I was like, “Damn, I have to send this to Clem.” The project itself had its own little world that Clem built and I just knew we needed to do something crazy for the release. I knew it had to come together in a way that people could experience and celebrate this thing. The whole album is based on a post adolescent lifestyle and it’s about coming into adulthood and experiencing a lot of super highs and super lows in life and merging that with the impact of technology and how it’s so hyper present in our lives.
How did you go about curating the installation itself?
Obviously I knew that Clem had to be in the center of it all and we wanted to build a room. I reached out to Jason Yaccino 'cause I had seen that he built this nest thing for Maxwell Bressler at this runway show. So I was like, “Hey, I have this idea but we don’t really have any budget to do it.” But luckily we were all committed and we found a way to build this whole structure and finessed it. Jason, Clem, and I all worked on it and built this room that had all this technology and brought together a bunch of small pieces from the world of Casi Angeles and the Angel Network. We materialized this world that’s a reflection of our real world. The event was a 25 minute listening experience and I think it really is its own little world, you know? In my brain it's always gonna exist.
Casi Angeles IRL
Designed by Jason Yaccino. Curated by Clemente Calandra and Marjorie Matamoros.
Mixed media (Installation of one room, three projectors, three led panels, 30min, silent.)
I like how even though you do so much intense editing and lots of your work relies heavily on digital modification, you're still putting stuff into physical space, which I think is really important.
I think my goal as an artist is to just be able to do installations and videos, not necessarily just music videos though. I really enjoy doing music videos, but I don't know if that's my ideal medium, you know? I can't really paint or anything, so I edit as painting and in a way that's like my canvas.
I did this project, Olor a Estados Unidos (Smells Like the US). It's an installation piece that’s a representation of these boxes that my family used to get when we were in Honduras. My auntie that lives in LA works at a hotel and she would always collect everything that she found in the lost and found and send it to us because she knew the people in Honduras could find use for it. So we would always get all this shit back home and it always felt like Christmas and it would be this reuniting experience. This project was me trying to bring that experience back and bring Honduras back by sending this box from Honduras to here. Inside of the box I projected photos of a place in Honduras called Intibucá. It’s a box full of nostalgia and memories and with this project I was trying to expose people to my country and my people and how it looks. I feel like I rarely see anything like that here. I absorb so many things showcasing the US and so much American media so I was trying to put that in reverse for once. It was in a gallery last summer and was like my first like, for real exhibition. It was so cool.
Installation view of Olor a Estados Unidos/Smells like the US (2023)
Single channel projection and cardboard, 60 x 41 x 41 inches.
When you’re editing a video or just working on something in your apartment, what’s your process? How do you lock in?
I feel like I just gotta start. I gotta just send it and open Premiere. But sometimes there's definitely like a creative block and you just feel like you’re not all there. So I’ll play ambient music, scroll a little bit on Are.na, and just do little things to make me feel inspired. I really fuck with Are.na 'cause I just want to see things that inspire me and it’s a place that I can just consume media, but not in a way that I'm comparing myself to anyone else. So yeah, I’ll do that or rewatch my videos, and keep watching the video I'm working on multiple times until I'm like, “okay, I get it.” Like, I understand it better, and then I can start from there. But sometimes it doesn't work and you just have to shut down Premiere and go for a walk or watch a movie or something because you can’t really push the creative process. So like, especially when editing, I have to be locked in. When I find those pockets where I can lock in it's beautiful 'cause I'm just excited and it’s like I’m playing a video game, you know?
Yeah. It is like the best feeling ever. I know exactly what you're talking about and it just kind of comes and goes. But, like you said, doing something active or just getting out is really helpful. I also love Are.na because the media is detached from the person. When I see something really sick on Are.na I can just enjoy take the work for what it is. On Instagram where the work is connected to a persona I tend to start to compare myself.
Are.na feels like a library in a way. When I’ve gone to the library at school I’ll see a great photobook and be like, “Damn, this shit is sick as fuck.” But those same photos could be a body of work for someone that you follow on Instagram and for some reason if it's on Instagram, it would make you feel some type of way. It's crazy for real.
What does success mean to you?
I was just thinking about this, I'm a thinker. I ponder a lot. I was thinking the other day like, what was the initial thing that made me start doing what I wanted to do? It’s shifted because I've grown up, I guess, and life and things get harder. When I first started, I thought success was being able to make art and become “successful.” But to be able to bring art back to Honduras and share what I have learned in the world is what success looks like now. Like, to go back to Honduras and give that knowledge back because Honduras just doesn’t really have an art scene like that, it's just not really a place where art is a priority at all. I always knew I wanted to do something with the art but I think the goal is to be able to bring it back home.
Marjorie in Honduras as a kid + Marjorie in their Chicago apartment.
What are you most proud of?
I'm proud of just keeping on going. Every day I'm trying to take baby steps, and I just have faith that the baby steps will take me where I want to be.
@what.theysay
https://whatheysay.cargo.site/
Stuff Marjorie listens to. Tap in.
Chicago, IL
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam
In Conversation with @iwriteonmoney
The artist sanitizing his workspace in preparation for our tattoo.
At the age of fifteen, @iwriteonmoney gave himself his first tattoo with a sewing needle. Eight years later, he makes his living solely off of tattooing others. Inspired by the covers of some of his mother’s favorite novels and the intricate art on Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, this Chicago based artist puts an eccentric spin on traditional tattoo imagery and also cooks up some wild and spiky creations of his own. To learn more about the artist we paid a visit to his studio to get tattooed and chat with him about his inspirations, process, and dreams for the future. At the request of the artist, we omitted his name and face from the interview, but the work speaks for itself.
The following conversation took place over the course of a three hour tattoo session and has been edited for length and clarity.
When did you get your first tattoo?
I did my first tattoo on myself when I was 15 with a sewing needle. It's like all fucked up. I don't even know what made me want it, maybe just to be edgy and whatnot. [Laughs]. Now my tattooing has become a whole other thing, but at the time I was probably just trying to be cool.
Where did you get most of your tattoos?
I think I have some shop tattoos, mostly from when I was younger, but I think honestly the majority of my tattoos might be from people I know, which is cool. Learning how to tattoo is kinda a curse because it's made my standard for tattoos way higher and now I'm looking at the shit I got before I really started doing this and I'm like, “why would I ever get some dumb shit like that.” But yeah, most of them are just from friends 'cause even if they fuck up, I know I'm not gonna regret it. It’s just a funny memory I suppose.
The artist’s tattoo for us.
Are the people that you first started tattooing just people you knew growing up?
I’ve met a lot of people through tattooing, but when I started out I was just doing friends that I've had for forever. I fucked a bunch of 'em up but then I did a few good ones and started posting them. Eventually I just had a lot of people asking to get work and it kind of just became my job after a certain point, which is super, super cool. I’m so thankful for that.
What drew you to the style you work with today, why not just do traditional tattoos?
It was really seeing the more eccentric stuff that made me want to tattoo in the first place. I had been really familiar with tattoos that would come out of shops and stuff like that, but once I started getting into the whole Instagram scene, that's what made me start wanting to do it. I just got really infatuated with this other style and after a certain point I felt like, “I’m just so into this, I just feel like I have to get my hands on it and figure it out myself.”
Assorted works by the artist. Photos via Instagram.
How long did it take from when you first started getting paid to tattoo until you were surviving off tattoos alone?
This is fucked up, but to be honest, like four months. I feel really really fucking lucky.
That’s so sick, how do you think that even happened?
Probably a lot of luck, just with the people who already followed me on Instagram, 'cause I just took my main Instagram that I have and I wiped it and turned it into this. So I started with some followers and whatnot and then I was lucky enough to just have some crazy people on Instagram who were willing to get tattooed by me. [Laughs]
What kinda stuff inspires you, where do you get the ideas for all this crazy imagery?
I have a theory that a lot of the stuff I do is inspired by Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, I was really into that stuff as a kid. Also, my mom read a lot of Terry Pratchett, I haven't really read much of his stuff actually, but his books had crazy ass covers. So I think a lot of it is just me fucking with the shit on the covers of those books. It's a lot of grim reapers and other occult looking shit.
Cover of a Terry Pratchett novel and a clear parallel between a Yu-Gi-Oh! card and a piece by the artist.
What’s your process for coming up with new flash for tattoos?
Shit, I mean the abstract stuff is usually pretty simple, I'm just thinking about it like, “alright, I'm gonna make a spiky design like this, but I'm just gonna change it up in this little way or I want it to fit this placement so I'm gonna have it give it this structure.” A lot of the newer spiky abstract ones I've been doing are reimagined bone structure tattoos. I'm imagining really crazy biomechanical, organic looking structures.
Where does your IG name come from, was that something that you’ve always had or did you change it when you started doing tattoos?
Nah, that was already my name on Instagram. I kind of wish it wasn’t though. I think I could have come up with something cooler, it's just from a song. I think I've just heard it so many times now where it just sounds stupid when I say it, but it's probably fine. Either way I’m stuck with it now. [Laughs]
Pieces of transfer paper from the walls of the artist’s studio.
Would you ever want to work in a shop or do you prefer the guerrilla setup you have going now?
There's definitely advantages to doing it this way. I've heard from a lot of people that they're actually a lot more comfortable getting tattooed in this kind of situation just 'cause it's a lot more private. It can be a little bit more comfortable than being in a busy shop. As far as the legal side of things, I probably will end up working in a shop if I want to do this long term, but for now I'm pretty happy with what I've got going on. I’m not in much of a rush to change the setup, I’m really confident in my sanitation practices and I still follow all the necessary protocol.
For sure, if it works, it works. What’s the best and worst part of tattooing?
It's a very satisfying thing to do. After I finish a piece, assuming I'm happy with it, it's a very satisfying feeling. Especially when the clients are really happy and I can see 'em just light up when they see it finished for the first time. It feels great. The worst part is probably just like the legal aspect of it for me right now. It's also kind of stressful having strangers in my house pretty much constantly. [Laughs] That's kinda a lot sometimes. But, I will say that the vast majority of people I've had are all pretty cool. It's very rare that I have a client and that I can't at least vibe with a little bit.
If I was giving someone a tattoo I feel like I’d be scared to fuck them up, how long did it take you to build confidence in your work?
I think you eventually get kind of good at separating yourself from the work 'cause sometimes you just have to. Not every tattoo's gonna be perfect, not everyone's gonna be 100% happy with the shit they get. I mean, I haven't had anyone yet who’s complained to me personally, but I've done hundreds of tattoos at this point, at least some of those people are probably not happy with what they got. But you can't beat yourself up too much all the time. And once you reach that point, and find that headspace, it's a lot easier to just relax while you're tattooing. Which ends up being better like overall too, 'cause you're gonna do better work if you're less stressed out.
A collection of torsos decorated by the artist.
Photos via Instagram.
Did you have a dream job when you were growing up?
I was trying to be a musician for a while. I still play in two bands, I play guitar in one, bass in the other. I’m not really much of a bass player but my friends needed someone to play bass, so I was like, I got you. When I was a real little kid, I wanted to be like an engineer or something, I thought that would be raw. I was kind of a nerd, both my parents teach, I think that was a big part of it.
Are they [your parents] stoked on the tattooing and everything?
[Laughing] They like it more than me getting tattooed, that's for sure. They're warming up to it, you know, they like that I'm doing something that's making money and that I’m able to support myself. Neither of them have any tattoos, so they just don’t really get it. I remember one time, I got a new tattoo and my dad was like, “what do you need that for?” like, “you already got a tattoo.”
He just genuinely didn't get it, you know?
My parents are the same way, they don’t seem super bummed on it, but they’re just like, why? But I kinda understand, before I had any tattoos definitely worried a lot about getting something and regretting it.
In my experience once you've had a tattoo for a certain amount of time, it really just becomes part of your body and you're just like not thinking about it at all. And like, the stuff you're into is always gonna change, you know? Instead of thinking about that like an issue, I think about it more like it being kinda cool to have all these little reminders of the versions of yourself in the past.
Did you ever go to college? Or have you just been tattooing since you graduated high school?
I actually have a marketing degree. [Laughs] What a fucking waste, biggest mistake. Now that I'm doing this, I wish when I was 17 you could have just told me, “just start practicing how to tattoo like right now.” That would've been much better and I could always have gone back and got the degree if I wanted to. But I mean, it’s good to have I guess. I might go back at some point if I just want to do something besides tattooing. I could do a master's program and just try and knock that shit out real quick.
If you could have any job in the world what would it be?
Maybe something that involved travel, like a five-star hotel reviewer. I mean somebody’s gotta do it. [Laughs]
If everything goes to plan, what’s your dream scenario in five years?
The way I always joke about it with my artist friends is like, my dream would be to get to a point where I just do one full back piece every week and I charge like $10,000 for it.
Photo via Instagram.
I definitely try to switch it up, but it's probably crosses and the Virgin Mary and those kinda pseudo religious tattoos. I think a lot of people just connect with that stuff. I mean, very few people that get those are actually religious, but I think a lot of people just connect with the imagery. I've had a few people who are actually religious get some work from me and I'm actually pretty hyped on that.
Yeah that makes sense, I bet people figure stuff like that is an easy tattoo to explain.
It’s some shit your mom will like.
@iwriteonmoney
Some songs the artist likes.
Chicago, IL
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam
House Call with Monica Anguiano
A couple of years ago, we met Monica Anguiano on the set of a music video and have kept an eye on her work ever since. Born and raised in Mexico, Monica brings fresh ideas, bold aesthetics and a bit of home to Chicago’s art scene, producing recognizable and unique animations, album covers, and photography for a variety of artists in the area. We caught up with her at her apartment and talked cartoons, inspirations, and the process.
Who are you?
My name is Monica Anguiano. I'm from Monterrey, Mexico and I'm 22 years old. I've been in Chicago for three years now.
What do you do?
I’m a graphic designer, but I’m also trying to expand more into photo editing and photo transformation. I've been getting into mixed media animations. I create them digitally in Photoshop, then I scan them, put them in frames, and put 'em all in Premiere. So yeah, I'm a mixed media graphic designer.
First song you’re playing on aux?
[Laughs] I never get on aux 'cause I always get so nervous.
Let’s say it's just you and you’re hopping in the car, what are you listening to?
I’ve been obsessed with Brokeup by Arca.
Comfort food?
It's one that my mom makes, it’s called carne en su jugo which is a little Mexican dish. You have beans at the bottom and this meat and this green sauce, like salsa. And it's so good, I had it when I went back home.
What do you get excited about?
Talking about comics. [Laughs] I really love Spider-Man, shit like that, whenever it gets brought up I feel like a little kid. Also when music comes up, I get really excited. And I've been really excited about this movie called, Little Miss Sunshine, I love it. I've been seeing it a lot 'cause I've been telling people like, let's watch it, let's watch it, let's watch it. Also talking about my friends and their accomplishments, that gets me so excited.
Friend that inspires you?
I think all my friends inspire me. Especially the ones that I've made here in Chicago, they’re all very creative. I guess the person that has inspired me the most has been Marjorie Matamoros. I think they're just so authentic with their art and ever since I've met them I’ve looked at art differently. We had a conversation ‘cause I was feeling lost and not knowing what to do, I was feeling like I didn’t want to commercialize myself. Like, I don't want to do this shit, I actually want to just continue doing art. They were like, well, you just gotta be it. Like, if you actually want to do it, you just gotta be it. They're just so authentic to what they do and they're so passionate and I look up to them a lot.
What have you been working on recently?
I've been working with DERYK G, he has this album coming up and we've been working on two singles. I'm really proud of the animation that I did specifically for Liar. It's this animation of him in a luchador mask. I loved it, I'm really proud of how it came out. I'm also really excited about the projects that are coming up, I'm gonna film my first music video. That's gonna be exciting.
Your work really stands out from a lot of stuff I see coming out of Chicago.
How does the art scene that you grew up in inspire the art that you make today?
Mexico is so rich in art and I know the art scene is going crazy right now. I really like this artist called Posada. He was the one that did the Mexican skulls and the wood carving prints. I take a lot of inspiration from that and I know that I also take imagery from the sugar skulls that they have. And I’m a big fan of the whole luchador concept and I want to keep working on stuff like that. I guess I always try to bring a sense of home to everything that I make so I feel like it can still connect to where I'm from.
Walk me through the process you have for making a mixed media piece.
Say you're on a shoot, how do you get from shooting the photos to the final product that you're putting out?
If it was for a cover, I usually like to talk with the artist first, see if they have any vibes that they want. Then I listen to the demo of the song over and over and over and over again, just trying to get into that head space. Then either we take the pictures or they send me pictures, or I take pictures from the internet, but with those I try to manipulate them enough so like they're a whole new thing. But yeah, I usually like to see what the vibe is. I always write stuff in my little notebook, keywords, specific lyrics from the song, and specific colors that I see in my head. Then I collect everything and I put it in Photoshop. I play with layers, with effects, shit like that. Then I print it, and usually I like to scan the first prints that I do, 'cause I'm like, okay, I'm gonna get the clean slate before I ruin it or something. Then I start cutting and pasting, seeing what works, seeing what doesn't, I scan it again, put it back in Photoshop and see if I can add more shit. Print more, scan more, cut more and then scan it again, and then that’s usually it.
I can definitely see the payoff of the process in your work, it has a very tangible and physical feel to it.
That's why I also started doing it. 'Cause being a graphic design major, there was a time where we were just only doing logos and like brand guide books. And I'm like, I don't know if this is what I actually want to do. I started doing this by painting and doing real physical drawings and it just felt like I wasn't doing anything. I feel like I can actually draw on the page and now that I have my scanner, I'm like, “I'm invincible, I can do this shit.”
How do you lock in, what gets you in the zone to start working on art?
I think I work better at night, I feel like a little vampire. I like to put headphones on, it's dark as fuck, I just have my little light in my desk, and I usually smoke. [Laughs] But yeah, I try and get in the zone and then immediately I print all the pictures and then I just start cutting and pasting and it gets to a point where I'm not even looking at the clock and then I look and it's like three hours have passed.
What do you do when you’re feeling uninspired?
I usually try to doodle, I keep my little notebook with me. Or I try to watch a good movie that I like, animated specifically, like I love the Spider-Verse movies. Either that or I go to Pinterest, but I always try to doodle, ‘cause whenever you're in Photoshop and you just see a blank page, you're just like, “oh man, fuck this.”
You’ve mentioned Spider-Man and cartoons a couple of times now, is that something that you grew up on?
Yeah, I grew up loving Spider-Man. He was like my favorite character of all time. I grew up with the old movies and the animated shows that Disney had. I was always a big fan of animated stuff and comic books. My dad was a nerd, so I'm a nerd too. [Laughs] I also grew up with Star Wars, so, yeah, I guess just a bunch of nerdy shit.
Do you have a dream job?
I would love to continue working as a designer for the music industry. I would love to collaborate with different artists either doing cover art or music video work. I love music. I can't make music, so I want to be surrounded by music.
What are you proud of?
A year ago, I proposed to myself that I was gonna be working on trying to get to my dream job, doing covers and stuff like that. And yeah, it's been a year and I'm proud of myself for the things that I've done and how I got here. And I hope I'm just gonna get better and better and better. Oh, and I'm proud that I'm going to graduate soon.
What does success look like for you?
I guess I would have a good job that I like, and if I keep working on what I'm passionate about, I think I will be happy. I would love to take my parents out for a trip. I feel like if I actually do that and I pay for everything, that's what success would look like to me. I'll be like, “yeah, I did this shit.” And I think just living my truest shit, being myself and just continuing doing what I do and having a job 'cause of that. But yeah, definitely paying for a trip for my parents to Europe for a month, that's what success is gonna look like.
What’s a sentence of advice you’d give your younger self after now having gone through college?
It's gonna sound so cliche. I don't wanna say it. But like, it's gonna get better. My advice would definitely be just continue, open yourself, don't close yourself just because of fear. It's good to experiment and if it looks ugly at first, that's okay, you can obviously try it again later. But yeah, it definitely gets better, you just have to find your space and your people.
@cocoangui
monicaanguianodesign.myportfolio.com
Monica’s mix, listen up.
February 2024
Chicago, IL
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam
In Conversation with Andrew Cenci
Andrew Cenci originally picked up photography as a hobby. Ten years and thousands of negatives later, his work has appeared in multiple renowned publications, including The New York Times. When he’s not working or spending time with his family, Andrew is in the basement of his home, blasting music and furiously printing in his darkroom. He met us for coffee with a box of prints from his darkroom and we spent an hour geeking out about everything photo.
Who are you?
My name is Andrew Cenci, I’m 35 years old. I'm originally from Columbus, Ohio but I live in Jeffersonville, Indiana right now. But I lived in this area [Shelby Park] for the past 10 years. So this is home.
What do you do?
I currently work full time in marketing for a large tech company. I work from home and then when I'm not doing that, I’m taking pictures. I do freelance photography for a number of outlets from The New York Times, to Bloomberg, The New Yorker, stuff like that. I also make personal work, which is mostly what I do. I'd say freelance is maybe 10% of the time, like most of it is personal work and prints. And I have a darkroom in my house, so I also make prints at home.
I feel like there's an illusion that you have to pick between the nine-to-five and working on your own creative pursuits. You’re a great example of the contrary, how do you find a balance between those things?
There's nothing to it but to do it, I guess. You're either gonna make the time for it or you're not. When I started doing photography and being a little more serious about it, I set an alarm at like 7:15 PM every night. It would go off and I would be committed to doing something creative for that time. It doesn't necessarily have to be photography, it could just be something creative for anywhere from two minutes, to an hour, to two hours, three hours. The amount of time didn’t matter, it was just a matter of getting into the rhythm of having a creative practice.
Photos by Andrew Cenci.
First song you’re playing on aux?
Pink + White by Frank Ocean is probably one of my favorite songs, I can just put it on and it’ll put me in a good mood.
Top artist this year on Spotify?
My Spotify Wrapped is ruined because I have a child. We listen to the Spider-Man soundtrack from Into the Spider-Verse all the time. He [my son] likes it. So yeah, we get downstairs and we turn the music up super loud and we’ll run back and forth and he just jumps on me. He plays Spidey and I'm Rhino usually.
Favorite photographer?
Mark Steinmetz. I think he’s the best living American photographer. His black and white work is just incredible.
My Pentax is broken right now, so it’s my Leica M6. I buy Ilford HP5 by the hundred foot, so I just roll my own 35mm [film] and it saves me money.
Outside of photography, what do you do for fun?
Hanging out with my family is probably the biggest thing. I have a 4-year-old, so every night it’s, “let's wrestle.” It usually just turns into WrestleMania at our house. I play video games, I play Magic: The Gathering, I’ve recently gotten into playing D&D [Dungeons and Dragons]. So yeah, I'm just a big nerd.
Friend that inspires you?
Scotty Perry is such a huge inspiration. Actually, we're sitting across from this “Smile” mural and he has a picture of that in the body of work he did about his grandparents. The book's called Here and if he does another printing, every person in the world should pick up a copy. It's one of the most beautiful photo books I've ever seen. He's just a great friend and a huge inspiration. I probably wouldn't be doing as much photography if it wasn't for him being as honest and forthright with me as he was when we first met.
Honestly, just continuing to work on the body of work from this neighborhood [Shelby Park]. I've probably made it through like a quarter of the negatives and I'm on my fourth portfolio box full of prints. It's probably over 1700 negatives, printing that work and getting that made into something would be a dream come true. Trying to complete it has been a labor of love. I usually take off some time in December and just spend the week in the dark room and just keep chugging along. Eventually, when it's done, it'll be a lot of pictures.
I saw some of those prints at your show at the LVA, they were great. Tell me a little more about the origins of the project.
It started in 2015 or 2016, I was just taking pictures, black and white portraits, snapshots and street photography stuff. It kind of serves two purposes, it's a portrait of the neighborhood and also a time capsule of my interests in photography. I feel like you can definitely see the shifts and the changes and the growth in the images I’ve been making over the almost 10 years that I've been taking pictures in this neighborhood. It's just really special to me, it would be a dream to work with a publisher and make something of it.
You work a lot with film and physical prints and you do it all in your own darkroom. What's the importance of having the real physical things in your hand, as opposed to all the work just being shot on digital and going straight to like Instagram or a website?
For me, the print is the picture, right? When you actually can physically hold the image, that's when it becomes something. And so, for me, digital always feels so disappointing, like a digital image. It feels like a computer, and the computers do a really good job, but it's rendering what I'm seeing and it's not capturing it. When you take a picture on film, you're actually physically burning the light into the film. Whereas with a digital camera, you're allowing the computer to interpret that light. For me it feels like a facsimile of light, it's this interpretation.
That intangible element you get when working with film is really special, it’s really affirming to hear you talk about it that way because it’s something I find myself thinking about often.
There’s something about time in there too. Photography itself is a lie a little bit, because you are freezing a moment in time. When you take a picture, you're not getting what happened before that, you're not getting what happened after it, you're just getting that 250th of a second. That’s it. It's not the truth, but it also is telling the truth about that moment. Also, in the time it takes to develop the film, you’re distancing yourself from those moments. The photos can take on different meanings and make you feel different emotions. Film lends itself really well to that process.
It seems as if almost all of your work is in black and white, what’s the reason behind that?
There's a quote from this Japanese photographer, Daidō Moriyama, and the general gist of it is: if color film is the flesh and blood, then black and white film is the soul. That has always really resonated with me. Black and white film just feels like true to me, if that makes sense. Color film always feels interpretive, the camera, the film stock, whatever it is, is always interpreting the colors. What I'm seeing in black and white is just giving me the moment, the time, the actual thing.It also lends itself to being printed really well, I think just black and white prints are just beautiful.
So give me a little rundown of what you're doing when you're printing in the darkroom. What does that look like for you?
It's changed quite a bit, I used to have a space over here in the Germantown area that I used to rent out. I used to play music real loud and I’d be singing in there. I didn’t realize how much you could hear through the door until I was moving out. [Laughs] For a while I was doing a monthly print club, actually I have some prints for you. But yeah, I would just go in every month and make these prints and then with any extra time I’d make my personal work. I was making these little 5x7’s every month and just mailing 'em out. The first two years of the print club, I was actually printing albums. So like, I’d have an album that I was committed to and every print was a different track from that album. I would usually turn that song on and just loop it. I had this massive light table and I would throw negatives out on the table and just listen to the song on loop and see what felt the most like the song and then I would start printing.
Photo by Andrew.
When you’re walking around shooting, what makes you stop and actually take a photo?
I try not to think about it, wherever my eye goes, that's where I point the camera. Especially with 35mm, when I’m shooting medium format, I'll stop someone and have a conversation with them and then ask if they’re comfortable with me taking a portrait. I knew that I could never be a wedding photographer because I suck at making people look their best. [Laughs] Like, I don't want the fake version of you, I want you to be who you are as a person. I find that really cool and beautiful. That's why I was never attracted to weddings or family photos, ‘cause everyone wants to look their best and I'm like, “but that's not what you look like.” So, for me, it's like just really engaging with people and trying to look for people who are open to having a conversation and sharing about myself and what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.
What does success mean to you?
There's this editor for a magazine called Monocle that I heard speak, and he talked about his idea of happiness or success or whatever. It's not about getting rich quick, it's about becoming happy slowly. And that's very much my philosophy with photography, I'm in no rush. I think about somebody like Alec Soth. He put out Sleeping by the Mississippi when he was well into his thirties and people consider it one of the greatest American photo books of all time. If you're reading this and you haven’t picked it up, you need to. But, if I were to put something out and it was a super smash success at 35 and I had to keep that going for another 30 or 40 years, that sounds terrible. I'm very much okay with just being out here and making work quietly and then printing it slowly. Working full time is good, it helps me fund projects. I don't have to die trying to find a freelance gig to feed my family.
My kid’s learning how to ride a bike, he's doing a really good job. And just being a dad, I feel pride all the time. Artwork is great, and I’ve done some stuff that I’m really proud of, but, I don't know, seeing your kid do cool stuff is like, just the best.
That’s amazing, I can’t even imagine how that feels. What gets you excited?
I get excited about learning new things. I love digging into interesting things and learning new stuff. Photography started out as kind of like a random hobby. I was just interested in it and then I just bought a camera and started taking pictures. Now, 10 years and almost 2000 negatives later, I have this massive project that I’ve done.
Dream scenario in five years?
I guess it's just like continuing to make the work and hopefully people continue to resonate with it. I'm just gonna continue plugging away with printing and making more work and I have other projects that I've always wanted to do. So, I think maybe in five years having completed some of those things or moving on to those other projects and finding funding for those things would be the dream. Or, honestly, full-time photography would be unbelievable.
Sentence of advice for your younger self?
That’s hard, I like where I'm at in life. I was really into art and ceramics and painting. I was doing that in high school a lot and I just kind of quit. I gave up on that dream of doing artwork or cooking professionally, at one point I wanted to go to culinary school, and I just gave up on all that because I was like, “it's just not realistic.” So, looking back, I would encourage myself to just continue to pursue those things. I love where I'm at, so I wouldn't trade it, but who knows if I would’ve had a restaurant or what kinda cool things I’d be doing.
@andrew_cenci
andrewcenci.com
Ten of Andrew’s favorites.
Louisville, KY.
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam
House Call with Ryan Tassi
Although he would probably never admit it, Louisville’s own Ryan Tassi plays a big part in keeping skateboarding alive in Kentucky. In a time where skateboarding is increasingly making the shift to the digital world, Tassi is sticking to the traditions from which modern skateboarding was born, hosting in-person video premieres and printing DVD’s. We stopped by his apartment to chat about skating, photography, and the importance of keeping a physical medium alive.
Who are you?
My name is Ryan Tassi, I'm 31 years old and I'm from Louisville, Kentucky.
First song you’re playing when you get in the car?
Dodging Invisible Rays by Guided by Voices.
Most overrated thing?
Instagram.
What’s your go-to camera?
My Contax G2, just 'cause of how reliable and quick it is. I have some random other medium format cameras, and I love the quality you can get out of them, but you just have to be a little bit more set up with your shots. It takes a little more time and you can't be as quick with it.
Friend that inspires you?
I would say you
Man, thank you, that goes both ways. When were you first introduced to skating?
Really young, probably around eight or nine. I think it was from seeing Tony Hawk and all of his old video game stuff.
For Christmas one year my brother got me a Transworld video called Videoradio. It's really crazy and just kind of blew my mind.
Local skater you admire?
Brooks [Shuping] is always so inspiring to me because he’s 35 and still pushing himself. He just continues to be such a solid dude on top of being a really great skateboarder. It's just always inspiring to go out with him, he's always got an idea or is down to work with some sketchy spot that I cook up for him. It's been fun to have that relationship that we've built over the years from skating together.
I’ve been seeing that clip you filmed of Brooks all over my Instagram, tell me a little bit about how that mission went down.
It was very random, we were skating Los Aztecas, which is like right down the street. It's a little Philly stair into the bank in the back parking lot. We’re warming up and Brooks just skates off to go look at the wallride and he goes, “Yo, I think I'd be down to try this.” I was like, “Yeah right.” It just didn't even seem feasible at the time and was a pipe dream kind of thing, but obviously I have the camera with me and I'm down if he's ever thinking it could work out. And then all of a sudden he just tried it. He ended up using my filmer board actually, with really soft wheels on it. I think it only took him like 20 or 25 minutes. He gradually got closer and closer and then out of nowhere he just rode it all the way through. It was surreal, like, “Oh my God, he fucking did it.”
Last summer you premiered Townies, a full length skate video, tell me how that came together.
I guess it was just a continuation of projects from the past. I made this VX video, Porch Era, and then helped my friend Connor Clark make an HD video called Crazy Feeling, so we kind of just kept the ball rolling with this. I just wanted to take that energy and keep it going. I had just gotten the HMC150 from Noah [owner of Home Skateshop] and I was really excited at the time to work with a new camera and start on a new project.
Where did the name Townies come from?
I liked the idea that we were visiting all these small towns and that there’s all these people trapped in the Midwest in these little college cities. It felt kind of fitting for the people that we are.
What made you want to film mostly in Kentucky as opposed to traveling all over the country where you might find better spots?
You have these little towns all around you and it's cool that we have the opportunity to just make day trips to these places.
You never know, you can find gold in some town in the middle of nowhere Kentucky.
Why did you choose to premiere the video in person and actually print copies of DVDs?
That's just what we grew up on, from the early 00’s and that era of skating, with local video premieres and things that keep the community excited about skateboarding. I like the thing of keeping a kind of a dead format alive and the way you get to play around with those physical mediums, DVD cases and stuff like that. It makes it something special that you can look back on instead of it just being a YouTube link.
It's funny 'cause the premieres are always fun, but working on the projects is the best part. So it's kind of bittersweet, it's like, “Well, what's next?” You want to just get the ball rolling again and be in a project, it feels better.
Assorted works by Ryan Tassi.
How did you get into photography? Is there any specific artist or photo you remember seeing that sparked your curiosity for the first time?
I guess it just came from seeing people within skateboarding that were shooting photos, just random skate photographers or people like Ed Templeton and Jerry Hsu. It just made it seem more accessible, like, “Oh, you can go get a camera and just bring it with you when you go skate with your friends.” It became a connected thing, you go skating, you go looking for spots, you go looking for a photo. I feel like you utilize that same part of your brain in both skating and photography where you're trying to make something out of nothing.
“Delusions of Grandeur is a visual farewell to an adolescence spent in alleys, woods and driveways across America. Mixing the geography of midwestern suburbia with tropical paradise, this imagery is paired to distort the reality of romanticized versions of the things memory has blurred.”
.
I can definitely see the influence of Jerry Hsu in your work. Tell me a little about the book you released, Delusions of Grandeur.
It’s just a collection of photos throughout a handful of years. There wasn’t originally a clear direction for it all. That’s been my process the whole time, I just amass a group of photos that I enjoy, hide them away for a bit and then try to figure out how I can tie in my future work. It's just a puzzle that I try to put together later on. I got the opportunity to live with my half brother in Hawaii for a bit. For six months I got to live out there, work, shoot photos, go skate, and I got the opportunity to meet a lot of really cool people.
There’s work in the book from Hawaii, with traditionally beautiful scenery and then a lot of photos from the Midwest, which is also beautiful, but in a less obvious way. Even though there’s this huge contrast, the work in the book seems like it could all be from same place, some dreamy location that’s neither Hawaii nor the Midwest.
I liked the pairing because of these romanticized ideas we have in our heads of a place or a situation. Like, in the Midwest, it can be really tough and it's not always the prettiest place. You have to find beauty in things like your home and the places around you. I was trying to find a hint of the Midwest in Hawaii and trying to find the things there that reminded me of home. They’re such stark opposites that trying to mold them together was an interesting process.
How do you come across all the wild characters and odd scenery that make up the book?
Oh, it's definitely like 90% luck. It’s just so much driving around or riding your bike or walking around and just always having a camera on you. I mean, all of it is just being out there doing it and always being ready. It’s a combination of a lot of luck, a little bit of skill, and a feeling. You might get a feeling from looking at something strange or something that you just pass by all the time. I don't know, I guess I was just trying to catch and display that.
It was really nice to see it all professionally hung up and in a really nice gallery space like Quappi. I feel really fortunate to have been able to have stuff hanging there. It was just always like a dream to be able to have stuff hanging in a space like that, and it was fun to work with the curator on what photos from the book we were going to print.
You also released a risograph zine, In the Kisser, around that same time, tell me about that.
Oh, that was really fun. I got to work with Tim Roberston from Risolution Press on that. It was really fun to collaborate with him on that just 'cause I never really worked with risograph before and had always wanted to. He showed me all these different paper stocks and all this crazy stuff we could do with it. I even still have the test prints with all the weird sketchy ideas we originally had for it. I've been amassing all these portraits of people with face injuries, it's been years and years of collecting them and I always wanted to do something with it. It was really fun to finally get to do that and release it at the same time with the book. It made it a little bit more special.
What keeps you going, like what gets you stoked to keep taking photos?
I don't know, I guess mainly my friends. Like, seeing what my friends are doing and just like all the people around me.
What do you do when you’re feeling uninspired?
After surgery and having to take a real solid step back with my physical activity, what's been helping is just going to the gym for a bit in the morning. That's been nice, just doing something physical to keep myself occupied and getting myself back to being strong enough again to where I can skate and film and go out with my friends.
I get that, if you're always only working on creative shit, that's cool, but you’re going to get super in your head, especially if you're just sitting at your desk. So, if you can go skate or go to the gym or even just move, then when you come back you'll feel fresher.
Totally, I think I've been a bit out of balance. I was so used to having my physical outlet and my creative outlet. Now that skating, which was my main physical outlet, has been taken away from me at the moment, it’s put my creative outlet also kind of in a weird spot. I’m in the process of getting those things back together to where I'm excited naturally and ready to work on something.
Photo by Daniel Frank.
What are you most proud of right now?
The continuation of filming skateboarding in the city and just going out with my friends and seeing what we can do. We've skated a lot of the same places over and over again and it forces you to either find new spots or create things in your city. You just have to push it and continue the evolution of it, 'cause it's like all the groundwork's been laid by other skaters before you. I’m proud of trying to keep that stuff going.
What’s next for you?
I’m going to be releasing a part I’ve been working on with John Clemmons that I’m excited about, more details on that soon. And I guess just continuing physical therapy, getting myself back to physically being a hundred percent, and finding what sparks me next and what I want to work on.
@ryantassi
Ten bangers from Tassi’s library. Louisville, KY.
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam
Studio Visit with Horace Gaither
On one of the coldest days of the year we paid a visit to the studio where Louisville grown rapper Horace Gaither often records. He was joined by his good friend and producer, Dohboiii, and we chatted about Horace’s process, inspirations, and the struggle of working, “like 10 different jobs.”
Who are you?
My name is Horace Gaither. I'm a rap artist from Louisville, Kentucky, 21 years old.
What do you do?
I make music. I really speak on my own experiences and the experiences around me. I look at my music as the world through my lens.
First song you’re playing on aux when you get in the car?
Heart and Soul, NBA Youngboy.
Top artist on Spotify?
Kendrick Lamar.
Album you remember listening to as a kid that inspires you today?
good kid, m.A.A.d city, Kendrick Lamar. I listened to that and I was like, “I wanna be a rapper.”
Do you work a day job?
[Laughs] I work like 10 different jobs.
I feel like there's an illusion that you gotta pick between one or the other, like working nine to five or pursuing your creative endeavors.
But obviously you're doing both, how do you manage to balance all that?
Man, that's the reason why I've worked 10 different jobs. It is definitely hard. I just make sure that I look at things as a self investment. It's all about perspective, 'cause like a lot of people are like, “I rap, I don't wanna work a job.” Which, you know, none of us wanna work a job. But shit, videos cost money, travel for shows costs money, you know what I mean? So I be on the job and I'm like, “I hate packing these boxes.” But I look at it like, “I'm doing this for this.” It kind of mentally just helps me deal with it.
What do you do for fun outside of music?
Hiking, I love to hike. My favorite place I ever went to is Red River Gorge, but usually I just find a random trail and I just start.
It’s just a good way to clear the mind.
Friend that inspires you?
Dohboiii. He just brings me up, he brings out a new sound. It works both ways, but you need new sounds to be inspired to write new raps. With the shit he sends me and the shit that he makes, he's like constantly pushing me to experiment. As an artist, you don't really find too many people like that. It's easy to find someone where it’s like, “okay, you're good at this, let's just do this.” But like Dohboiii, he’s gonna send me some different shit. He’s gonna have me on some pop shit, rock shit, all that.
Give me a breakdown of a typical recording session for you.
I used to not like recording and I used to not like writing at the studio. But now I normally just link up with Shy or Dohboiii. Dohboiii might play some beats and then I might be like, “oh, that one right there.” I usually just write and then record that day. I might get a verse done, I might write the first verse in the studio, then go home and write the second verse. It all just depends on how I'm feeling. Sometimes it might take months for me to finish one song due to the context of the song, like I need to put myself back in the emotions that I initially had.
How does having your own space to record change the way you make music?
I've recorded at different studios and it's been cool for sure, but I think that here, and especially just with the people that I work with, I get feedback that's so genuine. It’s the best when you're around people who understand what you're trying to do. You know what I mean? I think it's just 'cause we around so many different people with different music tastes. Or I might try to make some Paramore shit and my manager might not understand it, but Dohboiii, he's gonna be like, “oh, okay. I get what you're trying to do there. Instead of doing this, you should do this.”
So it's all about people understanding the attempt.
Dream team.
Tell me about the collective that you’re a part of.
Oh yeah, That's Crazy. It's a group of artists, producers, videographers, photographers, all that. I wouldn't really call us just simply a rap group, but it's really like a family, you know what I mean? We all got our own thing going on, but we work with each other so well. I be telling everybody, even if That’s Crazy didn't have a name, we'd still be together because before the collective existed, we were already all working together.
What keeps you going and inspired to make music?
Honestly, it's a long list man. One of 'em is that I like challenging myself, you know, like challenging myself with new sounds. Other than that it's just a way that I love to express myself. Sometimes I feel like I’m not good at conversations, certain things I might not be able to say in a conversation, but I can say in a song. It's good to see people pop out at shows and all that stuff and the numbers go up, but this is really just how I express myself at the end of the day. It's something I feel like I need to do.
How does performing live affect the way you perceive your own music?
A lot of things go into how I perceive my music. 'Cause you gotta think about it, you might write a song and you might be frustrated by the fact that it's taking you so long, then you might have issues recording it and you gotta re-record it four times, and on top of that you gotta listen to the beat like 300 times while you're writing it. So you might be completely tired of a song and that spark might be gone. But going to a show and seeing people scream the lyrics back at you or having people come up to you after a show like, “that one song that you did was fire.”
That's kind of like a refresher to remind me, like, this is why I'm doing this.
via @horacegaither
What makes Louisville different from other cities in the Midwest?
We got a real versatile sound. You just got very different sides to shit, you got people like Midwest Postal Service and then you got people like EST Gee. They sound completely different, but they're both from the city. They're both doing their thing and it's real distinct. There's definitely a Louisville culture when it comes to the sonics. I feel like the difference between Louisville and a lot of other places is that we have a lot of Southern culture too. It wasn't until I went outside of the city, 'cause I have family who are from New York and they'd be always talking to me like, “oh, y'all so country.” It wasn't until I went to places like New York and LA and I realized we do shit that people don't do in other places. You know what I mean, you come down here and all my aunties got gold teeth and the food that we eat, the way that we dress, all that is different. It's harder to see it when you're in the city, but when you kind of take a step back, you realize.
Sentence of advice for people who want to get into making their own music?
There really is no cookie cutter way. You just gotta start. And don't think about it too much. I think everybody should make a song, no matter what you do. You can be an old lady, you can be a construction worker, anybody. Art's always just about expressing yourself. You get used to being like, “I'm mad, I'm sad, I'm happy,” but to actually be able to put those emotions on a canvas is what it’s really about. I might listen to a beat that somebody makes and I could tell they was angry while they was making it. Even if it doesn't have any words to it, you know what I mean?
What gets you stoked?
Good hooks. If I write a really good hook, I get really excited about it. I feel like it's easy to get kind of lost in the lyrics and all that. So being able to remind myself, “okay, now we making good music,” always excites me.
What inspires you?
Sometimes I get a lot of inspiration from conversations. I might talk to a random old lady or just any older person and that might spark something. Maybe they’re like giving me advice or something. I feel like that's a perk of being young, a lot of old people got something to say and they got advice that they want to give down to you. I just put that into the music. Even things that I might not necessarily agree with, it’s still an interesting conversation, you feel?
Do you ever feel like you don’t want to make music?
I've never really felt like that, but there have been times where I've had writer's block. I think that my brain just gets on autopilot. I'm in school, so when you just go to school, go to work, go home and you just have your set schedule for the day, you get used to doing the same shit and you're not gonna get any new ideas living the same day by day. So whenever I feel writer's block I just change little shit in my day.
What does success mean to you?
Being able to give my message out to the world while staying authentic. I think that there's no point in making it if the person that makes it isn't me anymore. So I think that authenticity and being able to do what I want authentically is like the real definition. ‘Cause I might not get a billion dollars. I'm not really looking for that. It's more like, can I make an album and put anybody I want on it? Can I experiment with any type of sound I want?
That's what success is to me.
What are you most proud of right now?
This album I'm working on. I feel like Never Catch Us was a great first project but I experimented a lot more on this.
I took a lot more risks sonically, so I'm proud of myself for that.
Dream scenario in five years?
World tour. You feel me? I just wanna go to different places. I like traveling and meeting new people and stuff like that. So mixing that with music would be the dream.
How are you going to get there?
Honestly, just staying consistent. I pray a lot. The blessings just come. Obviously I try to plan for things, but I don't focus too much on a five year plan. People have been supporting a lot and even when I've been making different shit, the support's been there, so I just feel like certain shit's meant to happen.
Last message for the people?
Appreciate y'all for the support all 2023. Shit was a real blessing. I didn't really realize it until like the end of the year, but we did a lot last year. And we couldn't have done it without the people who listened to us and who allowed us to freely express ourselves. More music coming in 2024.
@horacegaither
Horace’s 10 favorites as of late. Listen below.
January 2024
Louisville, KY.
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam
Shop Talk with Billy Burke
Billy leaving his mark on us. Billy at the drawing table in the back of Neon Moon. Billy drawing up a tattoo for us, an alteration of pharaoh’s horses from his Eastern KY flash sheet. Ink transfer for our tattoo. A page from a book of flash by Billy. Water tank in Billy’s station. Seems fitting.
“Billy Burke. Fast. Indelible. Lucky,” reads the inscription on one of many flash sheets on the walls of Germantown’s finest tattoo shop, Neon Moon. We stopped in to see for ourselves and talked with Billy about tattoos, making things out of wood, and growing up in Eastern Kentucky. We left with an indelible mark from the man with the velvet touch.
Who are you?
Billy Tyler Burke. I'll be 32 years old in February, so I’m 31 now. I'm from Johnson County, Loretta Lynn's hometown.
What do you do?
Nothing worthwhile. I’m allowed to tattoo. I make furniture and stuff and I used to skateboard some.
Tattoos by Billy.
First song you’re putting on aux when you get in the car?
Rose Colored Glasses by John Conley, of course.
Best thing about tattooing?
It's like the coolest job you can have. You know, it’s easy, you make a bunch of money… I'm just kidding. [Laughs]
I don't know, it beats any other job I’ve had.
Worst thing about tattooing?
That's an easy question. [Laughs]. Just dealing with nightmare people and having to sit in their immediate vicinity for like 45 minutes.
Last thing you bought?
A giant monster truck.
[Laughing] Really?
I did! I just bought a big ass truck, it has humongous tires.
Go-to spot for lunch?
In the world? Or just here in Louisville?
It could be anywhere.
Old San Juan in Lexington. Cuban sandwich, it’s my favorite one ever.
Top artist on Spotify this year?
Warren Zevon. Every year for the past five years since I’ve had Spotify, it's been Warren Zevon.
Favorite song by him?
The Hula Hula Boys, it’s a heater dude.
Friend that inspires you?
Shit, not Mikey Roges [Laughs]. Jesse. Jesse's the man.
He's shown me all kinds of stuff and has been super cool to me. I feel like I'm getting better from being around him.
via @neonmoon_tattoo
What gets you stoked?
It's hard to describe it. I like when somebody does something cool and it bums everyone out, or like, they can’t admit that they like it. That could be misconstrued, probably. [Laughs] I like seeing people do their own thing or do stuff that isn't the right way to do it, but they make it work somehow, you know?
Favorite spot in the city?
The Artist & Craftsman store on Barret. I just come to work and go home. I don't mill around, I live in Lexington.
What are you most proud of?
I'm proud of everything. Me and Jesse made a book [of flash] and we sold a hundred copies of it.
It's like the first reputable thing I've done in my life outside of the tattoo world.
How’d you get into woodworking? I saw on Instagram that you made a banjo.
I just kind of always fooled around with it, I guess. I was just always making stuff as a kid, like, to skate on. And then I worked in some greenhouses and they were like, “We need a garden gate,” and I would do little jobs like that. With the banjo thing, I wanted one from this guy Mike Ramsey, so I called him and was like, “Hey, I can't afford one of your banjos. Would you show me how to make one?” And he's like, “Yeah, for sure.” So I went down there, built one with him, and then I was like, damn, I want to do this all the time. Then I got into cabinet making and I totally forgot about making banjos. And then just went further into that and I dabbled in trying to make chairs. I want to do that more and do spoon carving and shit like that. It's one of those things where you start doing something and then it winds up being something completely different. I did that [woodworking] for a long time and then I made a cabinet for a dude and he was like, ”If you can do that, you can probably tattoo.” And that's how I started the tattoo thing.
“Built this banjo in 2015 with Mike Ramsey before he went the way of the Buffalo. We pretty much did the whole thing in two days dog drunk.“
Where do you tattoo?
At Neon Moon, it’ll be two years here now in March.
What’s the best part about working here as opposed to any other shop?
Working with Steve, the greatest counter guy of all time.
Here at Neon Moon y’all are the self proclaimed “walk-in champions”.
Why do you prefer walk-in tattoos as opposed to booking appointments?
I like doing walk-ins 'cause you don't have to take it home with you. It's just the day of and I like not having something looming over me for weeks. I don't think that I'm the type of person to book out a month in advance.
It was to donate to the people who were affected by the floods. I had a couple family members that were somewhat affected by it, but nobody like, had their shit washed away. But I know a couple of dudes that did, they lost everything. There were a couple bigger organizations that were just doing a blanket fundraiser so we just donated the profits to that.
As someone who grew up in Eastern Kentucky, how do you think it differs from Louisville?
It was super cool to be a kid there 'cause there's all kinds of space to do stuff and you’re just outside all the time. It's a little harder once you get older to enjoy it 'cause everybody's on drugs or living in poverty. It's hard to be there as an adult, there's not any activities to participate in, which sucks. But it's sick to be a kid there. Jenny's Creek ran in front of my house and it's disgusting, people just run gray water into it, like, they'll just drain their sinks straight into it. But there was a part of it where it had a rock shelf, and me and my cousin, Tommy, dammed it up and sat in it like a hot tub. Dude, it's a miracle I don't have some flesh eating bacteria or something. [Laughs]
What does success mean to you?
Buying a big truck dude. [Laughs] No, I'm just kidding. Probably not being bummed coming to work and having free time to do things that I want to do.
Dream scenario in five years?
I want a farm so bad dude. That's what I'm trying to do, I want some acreage. I went to school for horticulture and I always enjoyed doing that stuff. It'd be nice to have a place to have a perennial garden and a vegetable garden. I enjoy doing that, but I just don't have the space for it now, which is a bummer. But my goal this year is to set up a little chair shop in the spare room of my house. You know, get me a shave horse and everything put together so I can have a spot to do that and just to make chairs.
Wood by Billy.
What do you think the future in tattooing looks like for you?
It's probably what I'll do forever. I think I want what everyone else wants, just to do what I want and everybody be excited about it. I’ll keep doing walk-ins, which is nice. I'm okay with that, you know?
What keeps you going?
Definitely everybody that's around me, but also being in debt. That's probably the real deal, you can't be bummed when you have bills to pay.
Sentence of advice you’d give to your younger self?
Don't drink alcohol, ever. That's probably it, for real.
Anything else you want to say?
Steve rules.
@gods_carny
@neonmoon_tattoo
Ten tunes that have been on rotation for Billy. Go listen.
January 2024
Louisville, KY.
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam
House Call with Josiah Bice
Two years ago they actually did.
We made the trip across the Ohio River to talk to the man who develops a good chunk of film for the Louisville community. Josiah Bice and his wife, Amelia, made us dinner and we talked photography, music, and burnout.
Who are you?
Josiah Bice. I'm 27, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, but I've lived here [in Louisville] for six years.
What do you do?
I'm a photographer. Primarily commercial and lifestyle. I also work at State Film lab full time.
What’ve you been up to today?
Got up, had some coffee, some avocado toast, went to work and then came home. That's about it, super chill.
First song you’re playing on aux?
You can hear it downstairs, Noah’s Highlight Reel by Dijon.
Top artist on Spotify this year?
It was Mac DeMarco because he released One Wayne G, which is like a nine hour album.
I’d just throw it on at work and like, play it all day. I guess I did that a ton.
Comfort food?
Indian food. From Shalimar, we go there like maybe once a week.
Oh, that's tough. Either just drip coffee or a double shot of espresso. Sometimes I'll get a cappuccino. [From] Sunergos or Quills.
Go to camera and film stock?
Leica M6, Portra 400. [Laughs] Super basic.
What do you do for fun outside of photography?
I just started playing hockey in a men's league on Sunday. It messed me up, it was sick. I used to play hockey in Minnesota all the time as a kid. That's kind of like all I've been thinking about recently, just playing hockey and watching hockey.
What do you get stoked on?
Just hanging out with friends and creating cool shit. It feels really good to create cool stuff. You know? Even if it's not photos, like I just designed a menu, an invite and made cocktails for Amelia's New Year's Eve dinner. That was super fun to make, I reached out to a few brands that sponsored it and was able to incorporate their logos and stuff into my design and print them out. And I made stickers. She [Amelia] wants to be a chef and this was her first ticketed dinner. There were 31 people and it was a lot of work, but it was sick. So yeah, stuff like that.
That's hard… My buddy Jeremy Booth, he's an artist. He paints and he does digital art. And then Todd Balsley. He owns Clever Supply Co. It’s a [camera] strap company. They're both just super creative and humble and are dads who are killing it doing what they love. Like they basically built their own businesses and are sustaining their families. That's really sick.
How’d you first get introduced to photography?
My dad gave me his iPhone 4, in like 2012, and I just started taking photos around Louisville. My whole life, we moved around a lot. I'm from Minneapolis, moved to Louisville and then moved back to Minneapolis. So when I was in Louisville the first time I got really into photography and Instagram, basically, like when it first got popular. Just stupid photos, like brick walls and all that classic stuff. Then, very cliche, but my grandpa gave me a film camera and I shot my first roll of film. And a switch flipped a little bit. Like, “Oh, this is really fun and different and it's not just about posting on Instagram, but actually creating stuff.”
It's tough to try to work a nine to five job and do your own creative stuff, how do you navigate that?
It's a process. It's pretty tough sometimes, but having the opportunity to travel with people and shoot photos really helps. Because like here, I don't do a ton of creative stuff. It's mostly like ecommerce kind of stuff, which you know, is good for money, but it's not creative. So yeah, I’m just trying to keep going and reaching out to people, hopefully that will open up new networking opportunities. Yeah, it's tough to like, work eight hours and then try to do your own thing too.
I saw you were shooting in Italy recently, tell us a little about that.
Yeah, so I went to Italy with a guy named Joe Greer. He was in town for Derby last year and sent stuff to State and we kind of hit it off, and he invited me to shoot a wedding with him. It was like a crazy wedding on Lake Como. It was insane, like it's being submitted to Vogue. So yeah, that was super fun, just like getting to go to different places. I also went to Mexico City in October for my buddy's wedding as well, and shot that. Just being able to travel and take photos is always super fun.
Being able to develop my film the same day, scan it, and have the photos. It also kind of sucks though, because it's not as exciting. It feels like I'm just shooting digital. Never having to spend money on developing is great but it just kind of takes the joy out of sending a roll in, getting it back a week later and being like, ”Oh, dang, this is sick.”
Worst thing about working at a film lab?
The worst thing is probably just becoming oversaturated with the same stuff all the time, like seeing so much stuff and becoming numb to like, photography as a whole. Everything just gets so old, but like when you have a client that has a really cool set, it's really fun.
I don't honestly know, it's a love hate relationship. When I'm taking photos, I love it. And then when I step away from it, I'm like, “I don't know if this is what I want to do,” but at the end of the day I think it is what I want to do. I just get uninspired pretty quickly. Especially being at the lab, like I was saying earlier, just looking at photos all the time gets really old. Wait, what was the question again?
What keeps you wanting to take photos?
It's super cliche, but capturing frozen moments in time, you know, that’s really important.
Messy moments, happy moments, and everything in between. It just feels important to like, do it.
What do you do when you’re feeling uninspired?
I don't really push myself to shoot, it kind of just happens, through enjoyment of other things. If I'm enjoying my life, I'm gonna want to shoot it. And if I'm not, I'm not gonna want to shoot it. I don't know if that makes sense. A lot of the time, if I'm active and have a good routine, I feel really good and I want to capture what's around me. Or even if I have a shoot that I don't want to do that I have scheduled, if I just do it, I usually feel really good about it.
Do you find yourself holding onto photos to use them in projects like your last book?
I have thousands of photos I've never shown anyone and like, they're not necessarily good. I feel like I’ll shoot a roll and I'll really like a certain photo, and then post it. Then other photos will grow on me but I won't ever post them and I'll just forget about them. And then years later, I'll look back and be like, ”Dang, I love this photo. I've never done anything with this.” I don't think I hold on to things to create a project, it's more just on accident.
Josiah’s first photobook, One Quarter.
“A collection of photographs created during my 25 years that studies the importance and beauty of a slow life.“
Dream scenario in five years?
In five years, I'll be 32. That's not cool. Let's see, I would love to work for myself, travel for work, have financial freedom and freedom to do projects that I want to do. The future is so interesting, because I'm really only thinking like, six months ahead of time.
How are you going to get there?
I kind of have a feeling that it’s all going to work out, and I'm going to get certain opportunities that are gonna propel me. Obviously, I'm going to work hard through all of this, but it's gonna feel natural. I think the way I get there is to just keep doing what I'm doing and try harder every day, obviously… Whatever happens happens, and I think that in five years, I will be at a place where I want to be.
What are you most proud of right now?
A lot of times I can be really unhappy with my life or just wish I had something more, but I'm just proud of the fact that Amelia and I are doing what we love. Even though it feels boring sometimes it's like, we really worked hard to get where we are. I'd always wanted to work in the film lab when I was younger, so it feels cool to do that. And I’m proud of where we’re going.
What’s next for you?
Nothing specific, but I really want to do a zine this year. Most of my plans this year are more travel based. Going out West for a week to shoot for a campervan company, that should be cool.
Sentence of advice for young photographers?
I mean, I'm still figuring it out. Just keep going, and don't care about what other people think. If you have an idea, just go for it and even if you fail, it's worth it.
@josiahbice
josiahbice.com
January 2024
Louisville, KY.
Photography & Interview by Isaac Barnett
@iebcam