285zine:Interview with analogue photographer Brittany Markert who is 3465 miles away. 1. How old w
285zine: Interview with analogue photographer Brittany Markert who is 3465 miles away. 1. How old were you when you first discovered photography? And what is it about the medium that attracts you?
I recall frequently wandering into the family room to browse through my parents’ family
photo albums when I was very young, no older than five. While grappling with the
past, the present and seeing new pictures find there way in, I began contextualizing the
power a photograph had in documenting time, emotion, space & memory. It wasn’t until
I was 22 years old that I actively picked up a 35mm slr and started documenting my
imagination and experiences. The preparation, focus, euphoria and heightened surge of
energy that leads up to the moment when I capture an imagined frame keeps me at the
mercy of all photography has to offer. Unlike other mediums, I find photography to be a
completely organic construction of self-expression - from storyboarding ideas to taking
the negative in the darkroom to print it, I have a clear path for creative control. There
is nothing like holding a print, staring at the reflections of silver, and acknowledging a
fuzzy vision hidden in my mind is now in my hands.
2. Your photographs always appear to have a narrative behind them, a scene of an
unfolding story, where do you get your inspiration from?
In the moment of storyboarding my narratives, as most of them are pre-conceptualized
or at least partly thought out, it is a matter of closing my eyes, thinking of the space
and subjects I’ve chosen and freeing my imagination. It is a process accepting the fears,
truths, fantasies and realities I experience on a day-to-day basis. My eyes, ears and
heart are open to the world around me and when I experience something that vibrantly
excites my existence, I soak it in, reflect on it, and store it in a drawer later to use in my
narratives. It might be a song I heard, a glance from a stranger that caught me off guard, a distorted re-occurring memory, or an invasion of my perverse humor reflected on ordinary activities that streams through my subconscious while I’m photographing.
3. Your subjects always seem very comfortable in front of your lens, tell us a bit about how you direct people?
Achieving my results is a process of building trust, love, and fear. Within the context
that I perceive my photography in most cases as a ‘still’ of a larger story, my portrait/
narrative sessions are about directing my subject to become another character, or
rather an exaggerated version of their self. To make this process easier my subjects are
primarily selected and based off of intimate and open connections. If my subjects and I
aren’t connected it is difficult to achieve my results. In the moments of artistic magic, I
safely take my subjects to a state of mind that character exists in, snap the picture, and
quickly escort them back to reality. I will never forget after a shoot when a subject asked me, “what just happened, what did you photograph in that room?” This is exactly what I would like, for the experience to be quick, intense, and surreal to the same degree as the captured still. It requires, like any vibrant session of love-making, trust
and no barriers.
4. Are there any artists/photographers who you admire?
Most of the artists I hold admiration for at the highest level are filmmakers, those who
freely share the raw emotional world they see and construct an alternative reality. In my
youth I re-visited the works of Tim Burton obsessively, for his unique characters and
finely detailed worlds. Recently I find intangible inspiration from David Lynch, Stanley
Kubrick, countless film noir and silent film directors, and also the painter Francis Bacon.
Photographically speaking, I admire the bodies of work of Francesca Woodman, Diane
Arbus and Lillian Bassman, and also many emerging and current photographers who
share a love for analog photography and traditional printing: Todd Hido, Rebecca Cairns, Alison Scarpula, Lina Scheynius, Amanda Rose, and many others. Surely I’m forgetting many names.
5. What are your plans for the future? Any up-coming exhibitions/collaborations?
I can barely keep up with the present, let alone the future. However, recently my
narratives have leaked into video format. I’m greatly eager to finish directing and release my first narrative short this fall. I’m also working hard to improve my printing skills in the darkroom and self-publish my first photographic narrative, The Hotel Haunting. Some previews of The Hotel Haunting are on my website.
Four of my darkroom prints are currently in the Women on Women Exhibition at Gallery
Parallax in Phoenix Arizona. I’ll be actively seeking another space for prints of my “In-
Rooms” project this fall and plan to travel to France and Berlin Sept/Oct. I am always
seeking collaborations with brilliant and complex minds… -- source link
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