Jody Rogac

Jody Rogac: one of my top favourite photographers. She is a graduate from Emily Carr University, and is now living in NY. Jody has been published in a few of my favorite magazines; corduroy (NY publication), hobo and pyramid power (both Vancouver publications). She has also done some great commercial shoots with lily + jae, jonathan + olivia, lifetime collective and aritzia. Very familiar, warm and stunning photos!

And here is a little interview with Jody Rogac

C- I have lived in Vancouver for just a short half a year now and have been learning about the people and projects that have come from here. This is how I found your work. Can you share with me your interpretation of Vancouver and some people/ projects that you love from here?

J- Vancouver is great — it’s very beautiful and people are so lovely. Some projects and people I love are:

Pink Mountaintops (www.myspace.com/pinkmountaintops)

Pyramid Power magazine (www.pyramidpower.ca)

Stylist Leila Bani (http://theyrep.com/artists/stylists/leila-bani)

C- Are there still ties you have to Vancouver? Or have you moved shop completely?

J- There are definitely still ties — my parents live there, along with most of my friends. Although I live in NY I definitely left a piece of my heart in Vancouver.

C- What types of cameras do you usually shoot with? Any favorite film? Do you ever develop yourself?

J- I shoot with a Hasselblad or a Yashika. My film of choice is Kodak 400NC.

C- With free creative control and unlimited access to funds, what would your next ideal photo shoot be?

J- A year-long treck around the world photographing people and places I should stumble upon.

CameraTruck

The CameraTruck is the worlds largest traveling camera! The used delivery truck was converted into a light tight box with a lens on one side. The lens is made of antique glass and the aperture and shutter out of scrap paper and cardboard box. The photo is taken by standing inside the box manually doing it all, including developing the giant negatives. The negatives being 3000 times the size as a regular 35 mm negative. The photographer, Shaun Irving, is selling the prints, average size being 7 feet by 3.5 feet! The majority of the photos were taken in Spain, while a rental truck, with the original lens on it, was on a 5 week tour. Shaun Irving is now back in Virginia, working on his third camera truck.

Interview with Shaun Irving

Camera Truck

C- What was your first successful print of? Do you remember that realization you made it work?

S- The first full-sized print I made was of my brother, sitting in a chair in the side yard of the house I was living in at the time. There was nothing artistic about it–it was a simple test print. I’d had this complicated developing system all set up with this cylinder made from sewer pipe and wire mesh… it failed miserably on the first shot, so I had to think of something else. That’s when I decided to just sponge on the chemistry in the truck instead.

In my mind, the images were still going to come out clean and evenly developed, so I was a bit shocked when I saw all this messiness around that first negative. I thought originally, “Oh, what a disaster,” but after about 5 seconds I realized it was something very beautiful. It’s gone from being just a happy accident to the signature of my pieces.

C- Your first truck, aka peanut, was sold, and the truck for the Spain tour was a rental. You are back in Virginia working on your third camera truck. How is that coming along? Any tour plans for this one?

S-Truck #3 is a bit of a disaster at the moment. It starts (most of the time) and stops, but that’s about the extent of it. I’ve had it for close to two years now and think I’ve put about 10 miles on it, driving it around the block for street cleanings.

I got it for crazy-cheap, about $600. It had been left in the woods and had squirrels living in it. It’s taken a lot of money and effort to get it up to speed, but it’s most of the way there. We’re stripping the paint off it right now as time and money allow, so it looks even worse on the outside than inside–sort of half-sanded, half-flaking paint, with a little graffiti peeking through.

C- Have you had any more ideas for other cameras? Or any other projects?

S- I love the ultra-large-format concept, and the idea that you can take giant photos with some pretty simple implements. One of the challenges/issues/creative limitations of the cameratruck is that you can only photograph what you can drive to… I’ve considered doing a giant tent camera that I could hike into remote locations and set up. Definitely much more labor-intensive, but I think would be interesting in its own way.

I’ve also been toying with doing some public digital projects–I love the old-school flair of film photography, but love the cost and accessibility of digital. Ultimately it’s not the places I go that I like so much but rather the people I meet–I think it would be great to do a series of portraits in particular neighborhoods, all free for the subjects.

C- Approximately how long is the procedure of shooting the negative, then developing those large prints? It must be a beautiful and crude process.

S- It takes about an hour to set up, do test shots, and make my exposure at a site… sometimes a bit less. Developing the image takes a few minutes and is typically done in a darkroom. I spend more and more time with the printmaking part of it, now about 45 minutes to an hour per image. A lot of it depends on the negative quality–some like my Windmills shot I can crank out in my sleep, the negative is that good.

C- Do you have any specific location, object, person or set up scene you want to shoot?

S- I had a few in mind for my Spain tour, and came across most of what I wanted during the tour. I’ve always been looking for that perfect single tree in a field shot… they’re out there, but hard to access with the truck. One of these days, though….

Margaret Durow

Interview with margaret durow

 

 

Celia- when i look at some of your photos, i think of ritual. Both religious ritual and human ritual.. Something seems very familiar about them. Would you say you strive to portray either of those two things?

Margaret- I can’t say I have really thought of it in that way. A lot things I experience end up feeling very surreal to me.. I try to capture that when I’m photographing and often feel like I’m discovering these magical dream worlds. I can see that being related to religious rituals. I also photograph because it seems so important for me to remember everything. That might be what comes across as human rituals.

Celia- How many cameras do you use? Any favorites? or ones you hope to experiment with?

Margaret- I mostly use a Canon Rebel XTI and Canon AE-1. When I have more money I would love to try all kinds of film cameras.

Celia- Do you develop yourself?

Margaret- I used to have access to a darkroom and did a lot of developing and manipulating myself. I loved it, I wish I still had a darkroom I could use.

Celia- What is a common day for you? School? Work? Any other hobbies?

Margaret- School, yes. I go to UW Madison and am studying the biological aspects of conversation. In between classes I have a ton of homework / studying all the time. I don’t have a job. I spend all the time I can photographing or just doing nothing so I can take minute to think. I love being outside anywhere, I love smoking weed, and I need a lot of time by myself and a lot time with my best friend George.

Celia- What are your professional goals? Is their anyone or any company that you want to do a photo shoot with?

Margaret- Nobody in particular. I don’t really know what my professional goals are yet. I want to work at a national or state park and I want to continue taking photos the way I do and have people buy them.