Harry Griffin

What is your background in Photography? What keeps you interested?

My grandfather is a filmmaker and I became interested in photography through cinema. I wanted to train my eye but it turned into something far more than a hobby. The language of photography speaks differently than cinema. However, I feel they understand one another.


What equipment do you use?

I use a 4x5 view camera, a Canon 5D, and an iPhone 5.

What is the first photo you see when you wake up?

My partners face through the filter of yellow drapes


Do you take one shot of a subject then move on or will you take several and decide on the best in editing?

It depends on the camera, and what I'm trying to achieve. Sometimes I make multiple images of a picture and sometimes I barely catch a moment before it's gone. Sometimes I have to go back and recreate a picture because the first try failed.


What draws you to a project? Do you start with a good idea of what you want to achieve or is it a more spontaneous?

Generally I find projects through spontaneity. I make pictures until I notice a trend, and then start bringing them together.


Could you tell us a bit about your series 'Gold Coast'. How did it come about?

I've been photographing my grandparents since I took my first photography class in community college, almost 7 years ago. It was always something I did more as an archive then work to exhibit. A lot of factors seemingly unrelated brought me to create Gold Coast. Only until recently did I make the decision to create a project revolving around them. Their willingness to perform for my camera is something I treasure.


If you could spend a day shooting with another photographer, who would it be?

My partner, Eva O'Leary. She's my favorite photographer. We both worked equally on a collaboration called Devil's Den and it was some of the most fun I've ever had making pictures.


Is there a particular photographer, site, set of images or a photo book that you keep coming back to for inspiration?

Always Evidence, by Sultan and Mandel. It's definitely the kind of book that changed my life. More than looking at photography, I watch films. Two of my favorite contemporary filmmakers are Jeff Nichols and Derek Cianfrance. Visually, those films remind me of one failure in photography (Tarkovsky called it 'sculpting in time')


Are you working on a project at the moment?

I'm still working on Gold Coast, Devil's Den w/ Eva, and CONVENTION. Once those are over I'm going to work on a spin-off series from Gold Coast, about my fathers invention.

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Dale Rothenberg

Where are you from/based now?

I'm from Connecticut, USA. I just graduated from school and I'm looking for jobs, so I'm currently living in Connecticut, but probably not for too much longer.


What got you started in photography, what keeps you interested?

I can remember the exact day I became interested in photography. I was in Boston with my friend, and it was one of my first times in a big city, and I just loved it. I started photographing everything. I had always owned a camera, but that's when my interest really took off. I joined flickr, and taught myself how to be a photographer until I went to college and was able to take some photography courses.


What equipment do you use?

I have a 4x5 field camera, a Mamiya 7, a Canon 5D Mark II, and some other stuff. I mostly use the large format camera, although I'm taking a break this summer because I currently can't develop my own color film and I'm not working on any projects that require it. Hopefully by fall or winter, I will have moved to a new place and I'll start doing my own developing again.


What is the first photo you see when you wake up?

The background on my phone when my alarm goes off.


Do you take one shot of a subject then move on or will you take several and decide on the best in editing?

It depends, but usually I'll make at least two images with my large format camera in case I have any issues with developing the negatives. If it's something I care about deeply, I will spend a lot more time and film on it. Most of the time, I don't get that attached to things.


What draws you to a project? Do you start with a good idea of what you want to achieve or is it a more loose process?

I suppose that interest, in all its forms, draws me in. If I'm not interested, I don't want to photograph it. And to a lesser extent, I consider the audience's interest when putting together a project. Some of my projects are very planned out, and others don't form coherently until the end.


If you could spend a day shadowing another photographer, who would it be?

I'd rather sit down and talk to my idols than shadow them while they work, but if I had to pick one...I'd like to spend a night out with Todd Hido in suburbia.


Is there a particular photographer, site, set of images or a photo book that you keep coming back to for inspiration?

The book "Photographs Not Taken" by Will Steacy is something I have been coming back to often. Websites like CULT, It's Nice That, and BOOOOOOOM offer more than enough of a visual palette to digest; I'm trying to keep my inspirational sources on rotation these days. The short story "Unaccompanied Sonata" by Orson Scott Card has been in my head for months. It imagines a world where creativity must come from within, and where drawing inspiration from other artists is sin.


Are you working on a project at the moment?

Currently I've been biking every morning around sunrise in the Appalachian region of Connecticut, and using my flip phone's terrible camera to photograph the landscapes I come across. I've found it strangely liberating, challenging, and rewarding. It's very different from how I usually photograph. When I was photographing houses at night, I would often travel by bicycle - driving a car is too fast and too disconnected, and walking is too slow. So, I'd like to continue riding with a camera.

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