Justin Newhall is a Minnesota-based photographer and educator. He attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (BFA, 1994) and the University of Minnesota (MFA, 1998). He currently teaches at the University of Minnesota and at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul. Newhall has exhibited both nationally and internationally, and his work is in numerous public and private collections. He is the recipient of several major fellowships, including the McKnight Photography Fellowship, the Jerome Foundation Fellowship, and the Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship. Images from his project “Historical Marker: Along the Lewis and Clark Trail” were recently published by Aperture, in conjunction with the Museum of Contemporary Photography, as an individual hard-cover volume in a three-volume set entitled “MP3: Midwest Photographers Publication Project.”
What led you to embark on your latest series on World War II Reenactors, Axis and Allies?
‘While working on my previous project “historical “marker” I attended a reenactment in Eastern MT for the Battle of Little Bighorn. The whole thing was surreal. Sitting in these bleachers on the high plains watching a bunch of people run around and play cowboy and indian and claim to be educating people about this historic event seemed like a bit of a stretch. I mean, sure it might inform a viewer in some manner, but not in any nuanced or critical manner. At any rate it got me thinking about what all this first person history stuff was all about. I started researching various types of reenactors and decided if I was going to shoot pics of people I wanted to do something that went beyond the normal Civil War stuff that most people are so aware of and go for something a little more out there. I found a group German and Russian unit that was based in my area and stated a dialog with them. I told them I wanted to make images of them while they were reenacting. They were understandably wary of me and ultimately wouldn’t let me do it unless i participated. I had to choose between being a Russian or a German. Being that I’m not at all comfortable wearing anything with a swastika on it i choose to be a part of the Russian unit. Most of the battles I shot were private events held just south of the Twin Cities’.
How much of your work is dependent on chance and how much is staged or preplanned?
‘That’s a good question. I think many people look at my Axis and Allies work and think I staged things, but that wasn’t the case. I was crawling in the grass with a bunch of people with guns and tanks and shooting i I went. Not unlike an actual embedded war photographer except of course for the little fact that their guns were loaded with blanks and no one ever got killed… a few people were injured badly though once when the jeep they were riding in flipped. The other reason that work looks so staged is that these people were essentially staging things without my direction’.
Your photographs are deeply rooted in history. Do you go into a project like this with a thorough understanding of the period and a firm sense of what you want to get out of the shots or is it more that your concepts evolve during the process of taking the photos?
‘Usually I have an idea about there being photographic possibilities and then things evolve from there. The Historical Marker work was very loose from the beginning, I just used the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s 200 year anniversary as the historic and geographic glue for making whatever pics I though would be visually interesting. Also I wanted the work to be true to the way I see history, tourism, and commerce co-mingle. With the Axis and Allies series I had to do a lot more planning and interacting with folks I normally would never talk to which was different for me. I also knew that I wanted the work to be both beautiful and confounding’.
What is the photography community like in Minneapolis? Do you shoot many commercial/editorial assignments?
‘The photo community in Minneapolis is very strong in the sense that there are a lot of amazing photographers. Like many places there is a sort of self-segregation that occurs between those working commercially and those who view themselves as “art” photographers. I think the impulse to make a distinction between the two is understandable but not all that helpful. There are people who actively straddle both worlds but most of those people tend to be doing work that lends itself to editorial type jobs — NY Time magazine, Newsweek, Time, and so on — not so much in advertising and such. Good art directors and art buyers do, I think, look to the fine art photographers from time to time which I wish they would do more.
‘I do occasionally do commercial/editorial work. Recently I have been doing editorial jobs now and again for Newsweek. Also an art director friend of mine, Brock Davis, hired me to shoot “behind the scenes” images for the first Jacks Link’s Sasquach shoot. I love jobs like those because they are a bit more out there and loose. Also, right out of college I assisted for a bunch of staff photographers at Best Buy. I got really good at arranging fake fruit and vegetables in refrigerators for product shoots. Not exactly the sexiest type of photo job’.
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