If you’re looking to learn more about what inspired me to make the Passenger Seat images and, why I think personal projects are so important, look no further!
Tell us more about how you got started with the Passenger Seat series. Where did the inspiration come from?
Passenger Seat, the project, started as a purely personal one as I traveled through the northeastern United States to view the leaves in fall. We drove all day looking for iconic New England landscapes, and between the small towns, I started taking images out the window of the car. At the end of the day, the images that I had made “in between” were the images that resonated with me. I found myself capturing a distinct yet ephemeral moment that was not entirely apparent or observable when the image was made, yet these photographs conveyed the mood, colors, and transient notion of fall better than anything that I had mindfully composed.
With photography so often about the obsession of capturing perfect moments and frames in crystal clear focus, can you explain what it was like to create images that seemed to deliberately go against the grain of all technical and aesthetic conventions?
It was fun! I was thrilled that I was able to reintroduce the aspect of play into my work. It allowed me to take risks, relax, and try something new. I believe we need to constantly explore different techniques and subjects in order to stay healthy and not atrophy. This project allowed me to stop and take a second look at the world that I thought I knew, broadening my vision to include a world that can be seen only by the camera, not the naked eye. It helped me continue to look at things with a new perspective, photograph what I could not see, learn how to make technology work for me, and “let go” and lose myself in the process of making images. These projects fuel my creativity. They allow me to explore new subjects and fall in love with photography over and over again.
A central theme to the book is prioritizing personal projects. In your opinion, why is this important for a photographer’s work?
As photographers and artists, we can’t underestimate the need for personal time and creative time; I consider this to be our most valuable time. Whether photography is your primary source of income or an essential passion through which you share how and what you see in the world, please do not underestimate the value and importance of embarking on purely personal projects. Time and time again, I have found that it’s my personal projects that continue to keep me in love with and passionate about photography. These projects are an investment in my own work and allow me the opportunity to create meaningful collections of images and ideas to share with the world. They are the primary way for me to ensure that my photography continues to evolve, and they advance my ability to tell a story. I want to make sure that I am constantly challenging myself and my work in order to improve. Because personal projects are self–assignments, I am able to take risks, experiment without any pressure, try new technologies, and pursue new ideas. Every time I commit to a body of work, I have the opportunity to practice my craft, improve my skills, and reach new levels of image making. It’s the personal projects that get me out of bed filled with excitement before the sun rises and keep me photographing after the sun goes down. Personal projects allow me to be expressive. They give me the opportunity to explore new places, see new things, and feed my soul. They make me happy and bring me joy.
You touch on the role “play” has in learning as a photographer, especially when starting on a personal project. How can someone best balance this with all the hard work needed to go into a project?
Because the aspect of “play” is critical to learning (both during the photographic process as well as after), we need to make sure to include it in every body of work that we take on as a personal project. When we introduce play into our projects, we lower the psychological risk of being wrong or -failing—after all, we’re just playing, right? Plus, I like to play, I want to play, and therefore I find that I want to make time to create the -images—they’re not obligations that I have to do.
I always have several personal projects going on at one time—most of which span several years. That makes it much easier to continue pushing a project forward. I didn’t think that I was the type of person that would work on a project for a month, much less a year or a decade. But sometimes things turn out very differently than one expects. This has been especially true with my relationship with photography. In other aspects of my life, I tend to pursue things for a shorter amount of time and then move on. Because I enjoy making images for my personal projects, it never seems to be a chore to continue to pursue them. In fact, it’s especially gratifying to see a project to completion knowing that I’m simultaneously improving my vision and enjoying the journey.
The book is full of how to make time for personal projects. What advice do you think is the easiest to implement?
Making sure that you choose at least one project that you can do on a daily basis. One that is aligned with what you like to do and how you like to spend your time. We all have access to different subjects, locations, and resources. Things that seem common to you may be completely unique and fascinating to someone else. We tend to dismiss what is familiar to us, not realizing how “foreign” our lifestyles might appear to others. Photography can open doors and give you access to people, places, and things that you might not otherwise be brave enough to investigate. Just having a camera can give you the needed boost or permission to photograph a scene. The Passenger Seat project was ideal because we don’t always have a lot of free time to make photographs. By taking advantage of “idle” time in the car, I was able to create an entire body of work while getting from point A to point B.
In your book, you discuss the “serendipity of art and science coming together as one” and the “contrast between chaos and order”. How does this play into your photography?
I grew up in a household that was both creative and technical: my mother was a painter and printmaker; my father was an engineer whose hobby was photography. It was a fantastic combination of left- and right-brain pursuits. I watched my mom draw and paint and then turn those images into beautiful, pin-registered, silkscreened works of art. At the same time, my father explored the landscape with his black-and-white photo-graphs and converted the laundry room into a darkroom so he could master developing and printing. While both of them honed in on their creative goals, they also developed the technical expertise to achieve them. I think the most valuable lesson I learned from my parents was that while their approaches and the techniques they used to express to themselves visually were different, they each had to master their respective tools from a creative as well as a technical standpoint in order to produce the images they wanted. This project was just that —the perfect combination between mastering the techniques to capture the images as well as being able to “let go” and allow “luck” or “the happy accident” to happen. If you’ve ever stared out the window of a moving car, you know the chaos that speeds by, the camera allowed me to capture images of what I could not see, bringing order to the chaos I was experiencing both physically as well as metaphorically
You mention that out of every 1,000 images you take, you hope that 5 of them end up being in your portfolio, exhibition or gallery. To many, that number might seem low. What words of wisdom do you have for photographers who get frustrated with the amount of images they take that they don’t end up loving?
It takes a lot of practice—and a lot of luck—to achieve the correct combination of shutter speed, rate of panning, distance between camera and subject, focus, and vehicle speed to get the image that you are looking for. Not to mention the fact that you can’t actually see what you’re capturing when you click the shutter. There are no hard-and-fast rules for drive-by photography as so many variable are changing at once. So yes, the number could seem abysmally low for some projects, but I never let me get me down for this project.
I can’t tell you how many times the camera’s auto-focus selected a different subject than I had hoped for, I failed to pan at the correct speed, or the depth of field was too shallow because the distance between the subject and car changed. It could have been a recipe for complete frustration, but I decided at the very beginning of the project that there was no way that I could actually take credit for these images. They are all gifts, and I am grateful for each and every one of them. And I find that when I’m really present, I get into the rhythm of the car moving through the landscape, like a dance with a variable tempo, and I follow my intuition.
You include a lot of inspirational quotes throughout the book. Do you have a favorite? How come?
Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance. —Samuel Johnson
Because it motivates me to keep going and preserver the small bumps in the road.
The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything. —Theodore Roosevelt
Because it pushes me to take risks. To be a creator of content, not just a consumer.
You will never make a photograph that everyone likes, so make sure that you like every one of your photographs. —Oliver Gagliani
Because it reminds me to stay true to myself and my vision.
Technique is different than style. Techniques are like gloves; anyone can buy and use them. Style is like a fingerprint—unique to the individual. —Gregory Heisler
Because it encourages me to remain unique, to follow my own voice.
The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. —Vince Lombardi
Because it gives me permission to take the time to make work that meets my expectations.
When it comes to the finished project, why did you choose a book as the medium to present Passenger Seat?
A book is only one of the mediums that I plan to present these images. The printed book is only half of the equation – the book is also available as an electronic publication. I will be printing and selling them as limited edition prints in traditional sizes, but would also love to experiment with printing them on a very large scale – even mural size.
If readers remember one thing from this book, what do you hope that is?
There is so much more to see in this world, and an infinite number of ways to see what is there. As a photographer, it’s your willingness to experiment—to try something new without the fear of failure—that will set you apart. “It hasn’t all been done before,” because you have yet to make your image through your eye, with your voice, telling your story.
