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Spraygraphic Interview with Photographer Joshua Longbrake
By Spraygraphic | February 3, 2010
Spraygraphic Interview with Joshua Longbrake
SG: Please tell us about yourself. Where do you currently live and work?
JL: I live in Seattle, Washington and attend Mars Hill Graduate School where I’m working on a masters in theology. I graduate in June and am fairly terrified and hopeful. I work full time as a self-employed photographer. Doing my own taxes equally frightens me.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
JL: I am a photographer. I both hesitate to say that and say it boldly in the same breath. Yes, I am blessed in that I get to make all of the money I need to eat and sleep under a roof by taking photographs of people and places, but I think every artist has resistance to calling himself or herself an artist based on the artists who have come before us. Richard Avedon was a photographer, but so am I. Like I said, hesitation, but without a sense of boldness I’d probably never take another photograph again. Boldness with a hint of insanity.
SG: What kind of equipment do you use?
JL: I primarily shoot with a Hasselblad 500C/M using Kodak T-MAX and Kodak Portra NC for most of my work. I also shoot with a Canon AE-1 and a Canon 5D. In my darkroom at home I have a Promatic medium format enlarger and a mix of other processing/printing equipment. I use mostly Ilford Pearl print paper. But as I think about it, I take more photographs with my phone than with any other camera I have. I am obsessed with documenting the details of my every day, plus I love it that on my phone I have no options except to click the shutter. I take so many more photos when I don’t have any work to do after the initial shot.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
JL: I like to start without an end in mind. I used to work backwards, having a finished theme, idea, or thesis and then try to create towards that end, but I found that my creative process was stifled and inflexible by trying to work towards something concrete. Now I attempt to start with an idea that has no end in sight, and I’ve found that every idea evolves when it’s given life. So if I think of something but don’t know what it’s for or what it means, I try to capture it right away without looking to far into what it might be about or where it could be headed.
On a more practical level, I have a huge whiteboard in my bedroom where I’m constantly writing down ideas, quotes, events I witnessed, things I heard or smelled, or really anything at all that seems important. What is defined as important has shifted as I’ve written down more and more. Coffee in the morning has become incredibly important. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know yet, but maybe in a few years I will.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
JL: There’s this amazing video rental store here in Seattle called Scarecrow in the University District. They have every odd film imaginable. For instance, if you put down a $1,000 deposit, you can rent Martin Scorsese’s film school thesis project. It only costs $6 to actually rent it, but if you lose it or damage it you get charged the $1,000 because of how rare it is. Anyway, when I get blocked, I go to Scarecrow and pick up a few movies or documentaries. This always seems to help.
Going for a walk helps as well.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
JL: Lately I’ve been going to both the Seattle Public Library and the Seattle Art Museum to expose myself to more art and writing. I know that there is inspiration to be found in the daily, but I want to surround myself with what great artists have been doing for centuries. The library is obviously free and the art museum is admission by suggested donation. They suggest a $15, but I’m all Hey. Here’s $5. and they let me in. It’s great.
Here is a list of other creative inspiration: The Album Leaf, Annie Dillard, Mark Rothko, Søren Kierkegaard, Henri Nouwen, The National, Alaska in Winter, Sally Mann, Dwell Magazine, Kurt Vonnegut, Anne Lamott, Scott Caan, The Antlers, Richard Avedon, David Bazan, Chaim Potok, Art:21
SG: What do you look for when you are picking models/subjects to work with? Is it a physical feature? Personality? Photogenic? etc…
JL: I want trust more than anything else. Photographs are very vulnerable, for both me and the subject. If I trust the subject and he or she trusts me, then the photographs will probably be good.
SG: Do you bring your camera with you everywhere with you or do you leave it home when you go out on the town?
JL: I take one with me everywhere I go, but I’m really picky about what I shoot. I’ll take my camera with me 3 days in a row but maybe only take 1 or 2 photographs.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
JL: Hardly anywhere. I’ve done some branding work which gets printed, a few book covers and author portraits, and I’ve hung at a few places here in Seattle, but most of my exposure has definitely been on the internet. It’s amazing what a link from a blog will do for an artist.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
JL: I’m hanging large pieces at two different galleries in May & June in Seattle.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
JL: I want to go to Tibet and Nepal and document the landscapes and the people there. I’m incredibly fascinated with the Sherpa community as well as with Buddhism. Every job I get offered to travel and do some photojournalism I take without thinking. My dream would be for someone to fund me to live in either Tibet or Nepal for a month to shoot.
SG: What is your favorite color?
JL: Brown.
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
JL: I’ve really been into Mark Rothko this past year. I can’t paint, but Rothko makes me want to be a painter. I think that’s what makes a really, really good artist, when he or she inspires someone to pick up the craft themselves.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
JL: My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok and Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry.
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
JL: I’ve taken maybe 5 or 6 photographs of myself. They are all hidden in the deepest, most secret file on my computer. Also, some of them on are the internet. Of course.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
JL: Elliott Bay Book Company in Pioneer Square and Stumptown Coffee. Seattle has some really great coffee, but Stumptown out of Portland is my absolute favorite.
SG: Any final words of advice?
JL: Call your mother. She’ll appreciate that.
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Topics: Artist Interviews, Photography |
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