July 2008

Erika Larsen is an American born photographer based in New York City. She began experimenting with photography as a teenager inspired by the work of Arthur Tress. Her work has been published in numerous magazines worldwide including Time, Geo, and Field and Stream. Her most notable work to date is her immersion into the world of hunting. Her photographs have been recognized by World Press, American Society of Magazine Editors, American Photography, Communication Arts and others. She is represented by Redux Picture Agency.

What made you embark on the cattle ranch project?
‘The Cattle Ranch was a project assigned to me by Fortune Small Business Magazine last October. The ranch is owned by Rick Jarret, who opens his home several times a year to guests who want to experience the daily life of a working ranch. Nothing is made extra special for the guest. You literally walk into his life, sleep in his home, eat your meals with him, and go to work. The ranch is in Montana’.

For some reason, your series reminds me a bit of the Wizard of Oz. How would you describe the mood?
‘The ranch to me was like anything else I have held close to my heart, touched, felt, and experienced on many levels. It goes with the intuitive understanding that all life is governed by the same law: there are beginnings and ends in flow with ebbs and tides. This too will change. This life, this land, these moments are fleeting, but hold significant importance for the period of time they exist. That is what I see in my images’.

What was the process and how many days did you spend documenting life at the Cattle Ranch?
‘I only spent four or five days there, but that was really the point of the ranch. This was not a documentary where I was spending weeks or months trying to give a comprehensive view of a lifestyle. It was a small window in time made to mimic what a guest may experience when visiting the ranch’.

Do you carry a camera with you at all times or only when you know you’ll need one?
‘I don’t carry a camera at all times. Usually not in cities, but quite often in nature. I own one camera and one lens. I use 4×5 field camera and hand load my plates. So given the size and the amount of work it takes to make an image, I am not regularly carrying it around. I pick and choose when I want to engage on the level that occurs when making images. And sometimes it chooses me’.

How do you go about looking for potential stories/projects to photograph?
‘I follow my intuition and my heart, which leads me in many directions. I easily work on many projects at once. Some are for a short period of time, some have lasted six years or longer. All this being said, a major factor is what projects present themselves to me. When the timings collide in unison, then a story can be communicated. As a whole, I look at my work as one ongoing story, new chapters writing themselves as I walk along’.

Where are you currently finding inspiration?
‘I find inspiration usually stems from a search within myself to understand the instinctual draw I have towards certain people, places, emotions and themes. I am also greatly aware of nature and spirit’.

Dina Kantor is a photographer and teacher based in Brooklyn. Her work has been exhibited nationwide and is included in private and public collections such as the Jewish Museum in New York. In 2007, she was named on Heeb Magazine’s Heeb 100 list, as well as being included in PDN’s Photo Annual. She has received grants from both the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Finlandia Foundation National. Dina grew up in Minneapolis, where she began her photography career at the City Pages. She received her MFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in 2007, and her BA in journalism and studio arts from the University of Minnesota. Currently, Dina teaches at The International Center of Photography, as well as at a private high school in New York City. She is working on a series documenting the Jewish community in Finland, entitled Finnish and Jewish.

What made you embark on this series?
‘I began photographing the Jewish community in Finland a few years ago as a way to explore my heritage, but also to delve into the issues of making a portrait of a group of people. I also wanted to think more critically about how photography helps define our ideas of identity and community. My mother was born in Finland and emigrated to America as a child in 1947. Almost thirty years later, when she married my father, she converted to Judaism. I am not related to anyone in the community who I am photographing, though we share certain cultural characteristics’.

Is there something unexpected that you found all of your subjects have in common?
‘I’ve photographed about 300 people, so it would be difficult to generalize and say that they had something besides the community walls in common. I guess they have themselves in common. The community is small enough that they all seem to know each other fairly well – even those people who live in other cities and many of them are related. Everyone was amazing – they were all incredibly nice and hospitable, and they seemed to be just as interested in learning about me as I was in learning about them. Many of my photo shoots turned into dinners and drinks and even a weekend away. I am lucky to have spent so much time getting to know such a remarkable group of people’.

Do you read photography blogs?
‘I do read a handful of blogs, but try to keep it to a minimum. If I read them all I’d never get any work done! Amy Stein and Cara Phillips are good friends, so I tend to check their blogs fairly regularly. Right now, I am helping my friend Kate, who started The Girl Project, with her blog. The Girl Project is an organization that gives teenage girls disposable cameras to photograph anything they like. The photographs are then collected and will be turned into an exhibition and a book. The Girl Project Blog is a great resource for teenage girls to get introduced to photography, and it showcases some of their amazing photographs’.

Are you working on a new project that you can talk about?
‘Honestly, I still have about 100 rolls of film from my last trip to Finland that I am working on, so I’m not quite ready to move onto the next body of work yet. When Finnish & Jewish is published, I’ll let you know about the next project!’

Alex Prager was born in Los Angeles in 1979. She was raised by her grandmother in a small apartment in the suburb of Los Feliz and her curious and restless nature was evident early on. Her nomadic upbringing saw her splitting her time between Florida, California, and Switzerland without truly settling down long enough for a formal education. Prager’s interest in art began in her adolescence, but it was in her early twenties that she began to focus on photography after being inspired by the work of William Eggleston. In keeping with her independent spirit, she eschewed art school and began taking photographs on her own, teaching herself equipment and lighting through trial and error. Prager has since contributed to a number of publications including ID, Elle Japan, Flaunt, MOJO, and Complex. All the while, she continued to exhibit her work in various group shows throughout Los Angeles. After the release of her first book The Book Of Disquiet (2006) Prager was given her first solo show at Robert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica, CA entitled “Polyester”, which was covered by the Los Angeles Times. Along with her 2007 exhibition at Sara Tecchia Roma New York, Prager is slated to exhibit in both London and Miami Photo.

Are most of your shoots premeditated, shot on the fly, or a combination of both?
‘They all start out premeditated, but once I get on the set, all plans can go out the window. It really just depends on the moment. It’s pretty rare that I come back with the shot that I had in mind before I started, even though sometimes I’ll plan out a single picture for months, or sometimes I’ll think of it on the same day I shoot it’.

What is the most elaborate shoot you can recall and what did it entail?
‘I think one of my most elaborate shoots was one I did recently that involved about fifteen people. I usually only shoot around six people together at most, so when I tried fifteen on the shoot, it got a bit overwhelming in terms of how to pose them so that there was still a focus point in the crowd. I found myself focusing in on small groups within the larger set. Needles to say, the picture I ended up using from that day had only one girl in it!’

How many people are ideal to have on set?
‘My team is simple. Usually my assistant, makeup artist and whoever the models are. The hair is easy because they’re all wearing wigs and I never want them looking too glamorous anyway. The styling is something I do myself because it’s one of the most important parts of my pictures and I need it to look a specific way’.

What films, books, movies, music, and photographers have influenced your style?
‘In no particular order, photographers William Eggleston, Jeff Wall, Mitch Epstein, Helmut Newton, Brassai, artists Balthus, John Currin, Manet, Lucian Freud, musicians Charlie Wadhams, The Kinks, and The Wizard of Oz‘.

Where can your work be seen?
‘I exhibit at the Michael Hoppen gallery in London, and at the Robert Berman gallery in Santa Monica, California. I’ll shoot editorial and advertising once and a while, but I’m a little picker about that stuff because I’m not a commercial photographer, so it can get a little tricky’.

What camera do you use?
‘I use a Contax 640. It’s actually been discontinued, so I may have to find a different camera I like’.