JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
FRANCISCO J. JOFRÉ CATONI: Just over a year ago. I went to a clinic to see my dad who was sick. Of course they don’t let me enter because it was very early, so I waited for dawn in the waiting room and finally I could see my dad through a window and say hello, to dance and make jokes with him into the distance. We were laughing out loud. It was one of those precious moments that you never forget
JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
FJC: No sorry, but I have not had much time to review the work of new artists… I’ve been in a stage of restudy the classic of modern art, in order to understand a little of what we’re doing today.
JC: Whats your current project all about?
FJC: Meanwhile, I’m just experimenting new techniques and then apply them to a small project. I’m trying to find some formula to make direct cianotypes from a medium format camera. So far my results sucks…
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
FJC: In Santiago de Chile. I was born here, so it is a bit difficult to be self-conscious in order to determine how the city in which you have lived for ever has shappened your personality or whatever. Obviously, cultural differences are detected when you travel, and that is the main interest of learning from other cultures, but for me to be from Stgo is the same as being redhead (which also I am) it is just indifferent from who I am.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
FJC: Keep studying. The best photographer is the one who have artistic sensibility based on cultural background.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
FJC: Nothing big, but I hope to exhibit a couple of pics in an art gallery in Yonkers NY now in April, and in August, hopefully, realize my first solo exhibition at the Library of Santiago.
JC: Favourite tree?
FJC: The fake plastic trees.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
JOAQUIN MUSTA TORRES: I think it was like a month ago. I was coming back from a party with a friend, we were on holidays and we were really close to the beach. I should’ve gone near the sea, I bet the view must have been awesome.
JC: Are there any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
JMT: Yes! Tamara Lichtenstein, Olivia Bee, Lukasz Wierzbowski, Michal Pudelka, Hana Haley and Robert Moses Joyce. They are all amazing and they all have their own style. All of their pictures have a personal mark, I mean, you see one of them and it’s easy to know who has taken it.
JC: What is your current project all about?
JMT: Well, actually I don’t have a concrete project going on right now. These last weeks I’ve been focusing on capturing different situations that have been happening around me while I was hanging out with friends or just walking on the street (I’m kind of doing a photo diary of my life). Three weeks ago I went on a trip to England and I’ve been taking pictures of different landscapes, vintage stores, people and places that were unknown to me.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
JMT: I’m living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This is where I was born and where I’ve lived since then. I like this place, maybe some people should change the way they are (I mean, everybody is free to be the way they want to be but I would like them to be more open-minded and less prejudiced). Anyway, my friends and family are really cool people and there are lots of beautiful places to go here in Argentina so I’m OK living here.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
JMT: Wow, this is a hard one. I’m not even a photography graduate so I don’t know if I’m able to give anybody any piece of advice but pretending I actually am, I would say that you have to learn by yourself, trying different things, experimenting with different methods, investigating new and unknown photographers (you can find very interesting photographic stuff on the Internet) and try to create all the time but thinking before shooting so you can increase your potential in a good and creative way.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
JMT: Yup. First of all, in a few weeks I will start my first year at the Image and Sound Design career so I’m a little bit anxious about it, I want to learn lots of new things. I also would like to start working for an art or fashion magazine. And, obviously, I want to keep on taking pictures, maybe with more pre-production and professionalism involved.
JC: Favourite tree?
JMT: I think it is the pine, I like its shape and its colour.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
ERIC FERNANDEZ: I saw it rise from inside the glass panes in the San Jose, Costa Rica airport about three weeks ago. I was in and out of sleep on the benches of the Lavazza coffee station during an overnight layover.
JC: Are there any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
EF: Yes. Thomas Prior and Jason Nocito.
JC: What is your current project all about?
EF: I’m currently working on a project called Never Wet in Paradise. It’s a summary of my personal work that spans over three years, a sort of diary. It’s a survey of my surroundings that is awkward and funny, with a touch of delicacy and occasional intimacy, although the majority of it is very unsentimental. The subjects of the portraits are often objectified and disconnected, the objects I photograph often take on a kind of humanistic vitality. There are kind of two convergent forces at work there that make the work cohesive and give it its spirit. Part of the reason for traveling is to spend time with the work and really think about it as I sift through thousands of images trying to find the right picks.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
EF: I live in NYC but I’m currently traveling through Central America for creative purposes, and it’s certainly shaping me as an artist and person. Mostly, the slow pace has made me a bit more attentive to what I’m shooting and why. New York will always be home, I’m looking forward to bringing what I’ve taken from my travels back there with me.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
EF: If you follow your creative impulses and interests rather than abiding by outside pressure to produce things a certain way or be a certain way, you will find yourself continually satisfied.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
EF: I’m anxious to go back to New York and get re-situated. I curate and produce a quarterly photo booklet called Leisure Manual. It’s third volume is due out late spring / early summer, so I will be working on that.
JC: Favourite tree?
EF: Man, I’ve taken pictures of so many of trees, I could never pick my favorite. I’ve daydreamed about doing a book or zine of trees someday. My favorite are in Northern California, for sure.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
BARRETT EMKE: Earlier this year I was in New Orleans and watched Canal Street sleepily come to life one morning from the window of my my hotel room on the 37th floor. Although I couldn’t actually see the sun, as the whole city was shrouded in a thick blanket of fog for pretty much the whole weekend.
JC: Are there any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
BE: Not necessarily emerging but my friend Philip Heying’s photographs are fantastic and always inspire me. I recently discovered Michael Lundgren’s work as well, and his photographs of desert landscapes are gorgeous and sublime.
JC: What is your current project all about?
BE: In broad terms, my current work examines life and landscape, specifically in the Midwest where I live. I’m interested in transforming my own experience and things that I see into something more universal and transcendent—exploring what it is to capture an image in time and hold it still, both literally and figuratively. Affirmations of life. It’s very much about the photographs themselves—creating a beautiful picture.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
BE: I divide my time between Lawrence, Kansas and Kansas City, where I grew up. The scenery and landscape and people here are really great. It’s a unique viewpoint and something both challenging and rewarding to document.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
BE: Just always keep going with your work. Try new things. Shoot and then process the images and decide how to push your work further. Study other great photographers’ work. Buck trends. I’m still trying to figure it out myself.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
BE: Release at least one book of photography.
JC: Favourite tree?
BE: Weeping Willow.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
JONO M WHITE: I’m not an early riser, so this is an unfortunate rarity; I’m trying to change that about myself. I guess the last time I saw the sun rise was whilst sitting on a haggard sofa a few friends and I found on the street. We dragged that thing over a mile to the beach after a night out and sat in the sea watching the day roll in. It was a strange kind of perfect.
JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
JW: I wouldn’t be portraying an accurate perception of myself if I acted as though I knew the names of many emerging artists. I’m fortunate enough to have an abundance of creative friends, whether it be through dance, fashion, music or photography, which is great. Creativity inspires creativity I guess.
JC: What is your current project all about?
JW: I’m in a transitional period at the moment so I have little in the way of concrete projects. I’m one for starting things and never seeing them through to fruition, which is probably my worst trait.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
JW: I currently live in Portsmouth on the south coast of England. The friendships forged over the past three years here have acted more as a means of solidifying, rather than shaping, who I am. I’m moving soon and it’ll be missed.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
JW: I’m in no position to give advice.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
JW: Independency.
JC: Favourite tree?
JW: Bonkerz 4 Conkerz.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
PETER TOMKA: Last saw the sunrise in Paris a few days before New Year’s Eve. Ran back to where I was staying because I felt stupid for letting my friend go home by himself.
JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
PT: I am not the best at name dropping.
JC: What is your current project all about?
PT: My current project is a satire and an attempt at getting into grad school.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
PT: At the moment I am living in Bordeaux, France. It is helping me understand myself more.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
PT: Advice to a recent graduate would be to remember that everyone is a photographer these days, so be more than a photographer.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
PT: In 2013 I am taking a trip down the Amazon River.
JC: Favourite tree?
PT: Oak
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
ADAM MADIGAN: I usually sleep in, so it’s hard for me to remember. Maybe a night out that went so long we all realised it was time for bed when we saw the sun.
JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
AM: Maclay Heriot – who I am lucky enough to call my friend! He is an insane photographer and has really inspired me. I could contribute much of my re-found love for photography, in particular analogue photography to him. He has worked so hard for what he loves and he deserves some serious credit. He will be shooting for Rolling Stone magazine one day soon. No doubt!!
I am also inspired everyday by other photography blogs. Two in particular: Paul Ushaus and Eric Tearle.
JC: Whats your current project all about?
AM: At the moment I don’t manipulate my photos at all. But manipulation and photographic collage really interest me.
I am in the early stages of creating a series of 35mm portraits with lots of shadow and then digitally manipulating them, in yucky kinda way. I am interested in the mixing of analogue and digital. And also fucking with things so they look so bad it’s good. Will see what happens.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
AM: Sydney, Australia. A city that is giving me so many opportunities it is confusing! Who knows what identity it will leave me with!
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
AM: Most of them probably already have, but just in case. Rummage through your grandparents or parents old things and find their old cameras and chuck a roll through!
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
AM: Decision time.
JC: Favourite tree?
AM: Avocado tree.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
TEX CRICK: Flying into Los Angeles from seat 26E.
JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
TC: I’m not inspired by any emerging photographers, mainly just hospitals, dental waiting rooms, airport hallways and 15th century painting. I’m not in on the current photography lingo, I’m an autodidact and don’t go to school.
JC: What is your current project all about?
TC: At the moment its an ongoing project of bland spaces, weird spaces, nice coloured places and dyptichs of similar places together as if they were a parallel universe of each other. I was influenced by some of the older European fashion photographers who shot for Euro Vogue in the 90s, so I recently shot a series of trees which I (ironically) photoshopped to all look perfect as if they were models. I was forced to be a national gymnast as a child and the places I photograph show the same sense of beauty you see when you see a group of 9 year old national gold medal male gymnasts in leotards. I’m also a twin so maybe thats why I’m attracted to similar looking things in the dyptichs.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
TC: I live in Wollongong, a town south of Sydney which is home to meth addicts, lads and surfers, its a nice place to live because you can walk through the hall of our methadone clinic and see the real beauty behind plastic trees, fake plants and faded wallpaper. We live with the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other, the mountains are my favourite part to go because its nice to get out of the city and overlook the steelwork factory and the coal mines.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
TC: The best advice I’ve gotten was from a fortune cookie that said “follow your instinct decisions”, so don’t do your art to impress anyone or fit into a cool group of people you just gotta be yourself and produce art thats true to yourself and not for anyone. Of course its slow and hard to make money this way but it will be your biggest investment in the long run if you just keep at it.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
TC: I’d like to get a job at the local supermarket until I have enough money to make a feature length film.
JC: Favourite tree?
TC: I’m glad i was asked this question, I have a range of terrariums across my shelf and a fig bonsai but I would say my favourite is a japanese black pine, even better a japanese black pine bonsai.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
IGOR TREPESHCHENOK: Actually, just this morning. Although it is still winter and nights are long, the sky above me is always covered with thick clouds.
JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
IT: There are many, including many names that have already been featured on the blog. I am also greatly inspired by young photographers from my home, Latvia, both because I am happy to see Latvian photography progressing and because their work motivates me. Here are few examples of where I draw inspiration from:
Iveta Vaivode, Andrejs Strokins, Reinis Hofmanis & Roman Drits.
JC: Whats your current project all about?
IT: My current project features two adjacent towns in Cornwall, Camborne and Redruth, which share the same history. Transition over the last 100 years changed this place from being the centre of the richest mining area in the world to one of the most deprived areas in the UK. The spirit of mining is still there and in this project I explore the impact of history, memory and surroundings on the emotions and lives of young people residing in the towns.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
IT: It is my third year in Cornwall, a distant and isolated place. It has beautiful nature and fascinating landscape but this is not the focus of my photography. I am more interested in those grey and godforsaken out-of-the-way places, which have a peculiar aura. This allows me to become more attentive and forces my mind and eyes to constantly discover unapparent ordinariness that can become an image.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
IT: I will graduate this year myself, so am rather open for advice.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
IT: To finalise the project in Cornwall, graduate, and then to start a postgraduate degree.
JC: Favourite tree?
IT: Pine.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
SNORRI STURLUSON: I don’t even remember that. Must have been a while ago. I should make a point of doing that soon, it’s just so damn cold in New York now.
JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
SS: Daniel Arnold is my favourite photographer at the moment. His work is so in the moment. Also, James Greco is an amazing painter/sculpturist that I like a lot. His work is strong, powerful, bold.
JC: Whats your current project all about?
SS: My book ‘Laundromat‘ is just coming out and it’s a portrait of New York City as I experience it. It’s a micro view if you will. I focused on Laundromats, and only on the fronts of them. Through those pictures I get an experience of New York and its multilayered communities. That’s my unique point of view in some way. But it’s really a portrait of the city I live in.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
SS: I live in New York City. To be exact, Park Slope, Brooklyn. New York has shaped me in so many ways since I moved here in 2001 from Iceland. 9/11 was a huge part of that, re-affirmed so many things I believe to be true about the human condition. Nothing is gained with violence, nothing is won in a war, there are only losers. New York is a place where tolerance, understanding and compassion are to be found in such abundance if one cares to look beyond the greedy front of Wall Street and the glossy image of the Fashion Industry. Around 9/11 people rallied together in a way that was incredibly moving and touching. The truth of humanity comes out under such circumstances.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
SS: Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. You can never shoot too much. But don’t forget to edit. That’s where the learning actually happens.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
SS: Oh yes, I have an exhibition in Los Angeles and in New York. They’re both on the Laundromat theme. I always have a lot of photography projects in the back of my mind that I’m constantly shooting for but besides that I’m now working on a feature film that I’m going to direct. It’s called … Laundromat.
JC: Favourite tree?
SS: Not Christmas Tree but the other one, don’t know what it’s called.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
REBEKAH CAMPBELL: It’s been a while, it had to have been in May of 2012 when I woke up before sunrise to help a friend out on a shoot early in the morning at the beach. It was so fantastic.
JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
RC: Yes! So many. Olivia Bee (I had the wonderful chance of meeting her in Holland and she is one of the most inspiring and down to earth people I’ve known), Amber Chavez, Michal Chelbin, and Hinke Schreuders.
JC: What is your current project all about?
RC: I’m trying to photograph my life as it happens, incessantly and impulsively.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
RC: Savannah, GA. It shapes me into someone different on all sorts of occasions, I can find so many different souls at once here. It’s hard for me to get away from being inspired in some form of the word here.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
RC: Don’t forget where you began and where you want to be. Even when you’re proud of something you make, think of what can make it better.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
RC: An internship in NYC this summer.
JC: Favourite tree?
RC: A weeping willow. They’re so eerily intriguing.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
DAVE CROKE: On the 27th October 2012 in Polzeath, Cornwall, while at work with my dad.
JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
DC: I don’t know about emerging, but sometimes I find artists that are new to me and inspire me a lot. I find Ceal Floyer’s work really interesting, it makes you think and is often quite funny.
After graduating I’ve actually found it quite hard to find new artists and get inspired. It’s really good being in a creative environment like an arts uni and you don’t really realise that while you’re there.
Actually I get really inspired by watching skate videos of people that do things differently, like Leo Valls of Magenta Skateboards. And Polar Skate co. is another company that inspire me a lot, on my skateboard and in other ways. Dank Magazine is a really good Norwegian skate publication that also features a lot more than just skateboarding. I get a lot of inspiration from reading that. It has great art direction and the photos are always really good too.
JC: What is Spot all about?
DC: Spot is about how skateboarders view the world differently to other people and how we interact with our surroundings in a way which I think is interesting and overlooked. Each photo is of a ‘skate spot’ but this is only really visible to skateboarders and I like the idea of other viewers seeing nothing in them, when there is in fact something there. The photos are quite empty and of ordinary and banal places and this aesthetic runs throughout the series.
And I also want to show how skateboarders make the most of what they have; whether its only a curb outside their house, or a well designed piece of architecture in the city. These places can all be used as a somewhere to skate. I also feel that the skate spot is just as important as the skateboarding being done there.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
DC: I’m living at home in Bodmin, Cornwall and it’s helping make me appreciate the landscape around me as Cornwall is actually a nice place to be. But when you’re in a small town were everyone knows everyone, you can’t help but want to leave. So in that sense it’s making me more determined to leave and move on to bigger and better places, which I can’t wait to do.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
DC: I can think of loads of advice I wish I’d have been given when I graduated, but I’d say that just knowing what you want to do after graduating would be really helpful! Even if it’s nothing special; any plan is better than no plan. I’ve also learnt that things don’t just happen for you, you need to work for what you want.
But most importantly do whatever makes you happy!
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
DC: I’m going to travel around America for three weeks at the end of March, which I’m really looking forward to. Quite nervous at the same time though. And when I get back I’m going to take some of my own advice and do what I probably should’ve already done which is move to Bristol.
JC: Favourite tree?
DC: Banana tree. Fruit that gives you energy can only be a good thing.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
PARKER BRIGHT I last saw the sunrise about a couple months ago, when I picked up a friend from the police station.
JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
PB: Some emerging artists that inspire me right now would be Amy Lombard, Tommy Nease, Nick White, and Timothy James Kelly.
JC: What is your current project all about?
PB: My current project is about how I have experienced the suburbs of Illinois. Glimpses of the mundane and everyday things that happen in the suburbs. The idea of trying to escape the suburbs interests me because that is what many young people that live there try to do, find an escape. The place where you and your friends go to smoke weed while your parents are home, or just driving around town aimlessly with no destination are just two things that appear in this work. In many ways it is a survey of my surrounding area.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
PB: I currently live near the west side of Chicago. The city is shaping me in a weird way. I see myself and my surroundings different than how I saw them when I was back home in Gurnee, IL. I go back to Gurnee to see trees and fields and to just feel the difference between the city and the suburbs.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
PB: Though I have not graduated yet, I would tell them to think about what they’re shooting. I see young photographers producing a lot, but what’s the point of shooting if you don’t know what it is you’re capturing. But I guess that’s the mysticism in photography.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
PB: Hopefully a trip to Mt. Rushmore in the next couple weeks, and possibly a study trip to either Japan, or a possible transfer to a different school somewhere on the west coast. A website is definitely in the works as well.
JC: Favourite tree?
PB: The american sycamore because when it peels off it appears to have a camouflaged coat, then when the bark sheds completely, it looks completely white.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
EDUARDO IZQUIERDO: I’m a morning person - so I like to see the sunrise often. Recently I stayed at a treehouse in the woods of Louisiana. I woke up almost every morning during that week to see the sunrise from above the treetops and write in my journal with a fresh cup of espresso and some blankets.
JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
EI: Although not quite emerging, but simply contemporary: I love the work of Paolo Roversi, Cathleen Naundorf, and Sarah Moon. I enjoy the work of many emerging artists: Jan Scholz, Billy Kidd, Chadwick Tyler, Matt Fry, Hannes Caspar - I could go on for a while.
JC: Whats your current project all about?
EI: Raw, natural, feminine beauty.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
EI: Bloomington, Indiana. It’s a small college town in the Midwest of the US. After living in a big metropolis for many years (Caracas, London) I realized how much of a spectator I had become - seeing all the great artists pass by. In this smaller community I play a more active role in making the beautiful things happen - and I like that a lot.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
EI: Embrace messy hair. That’s a phrase I use to remind myself to not pay attention to what other people want to see. To remember to just focus on expressing myself honestly.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
EI: No big plans. I hope to write every day some. And photograph every day some. And reflect every day some. And walk every day some.
JC: Favourite tree?
EI: I love trees. I look at them for a particular reason. I try to figure out how to best write a recursive algorithm to imitate their characteristics on my computer through simulation. In seeing a tree, I can usually try to imagine what it would be like to grow one artificially.
JONATHAN CHERRY: When did you last see the sunrise?
FEDERICA LANDI: It happened last summer. I was born in Rimini, a town placed on the East coast of Italy where every morning the sun appears on the horizon line and slowly rises, turning the sea firstly into silver and then into gold. I moved to London almost four years ago but, despite the fact I often wake up very early in the morning, I am hardly conscious of the presence of the sun.
JC: Any emerging artists inspiring you at the moment?
FL: I find Esther Teichmann an incredible source of poetic inspiration.
JC: What is your current project all about?
FL: In my current project, Res Extensa, I investigate the relationship between the body and the space through the subtle traces left by bodies as signs of past rituals. I specifically collect them in religious places around London such as mosques, temples, churches. Specifically, I record traces left by objects upon the body’s surface.
The ‘bodily’ quality of the religious space, as place, constantly marked by bodies that perform and repeat rituals over and over again echoes the ‘spatial quality’ of our skin, a surface able to ‘record’ the signs of our daily rituals such as waking up, making love, undressing, etc. t could be said that in this project body and space work as each others canvas, as a blank page that is marked and mapped by the other contacts.
Rituality within Res Extensa is understood as a specific sign and quality of time; a circular time which manifests itself through repetitive actions and concerns itself with the perishable fragmentary natures which connect the body and space.
JC: Where are you currently living and how is it shaping you?
FL: I am currently living and working in London, such a tough and miraculous city at the same time. It gives you a real chance to explore and use your talent. London has often put me in very extreme situations, forcing me to make very clear decisions very quickly: this helped me to become more determined in my visions. However, you need to be very well prepared and honest with yourself in order not to let this Metropolis turn you into an aggressive machine.
JC: One piece of advice to recent photography graduates?
FL: Use art for being an explorer, not a competitor.
JC: Any big plans for 2013?
FL: Exploring North Africa and the Middle East: different peace, different values, different lights and colours.
JC: Favourite tree?
FL: As photographer I love cypresses. As a kid I prefer cherry trees.
