Q&A: Brian Ulrich

© Brian Ulrich

Kathryn Kmet:When you started your Copia project, where there any struggles that made it difficult to get the images you wanted, such as unwilling store owners etc? What were your beginning processes of gaining permission, and researching locations?

Brian Ulrich: Certainly. It became clear quite quickly that the stores were not going to allow me to take candid photographs of their shoppers, so after much practice I developed some strategies to take the pictures without any sort of permission. Nothing very fancy, moreso patience and a waist level viewfinder. As far as researching locations, that came rather simply. I've been lucky all along to have my subject in so many places that one doesn't have to look real far.

Kathryn Kmet: I really enjoy the cohesive nature of each of your projects and how they all feed off of each other. What interests you about the consumerism that has kept your attention photographically for the past 7+ years?

Brian Ulrich: Many things keep me invested in this topic. In many ways I see what's been happening in the first decade of this century as effects of the many decisions made from the mid 20th century: rapid manufacturing of disposable goods; re-purposing the nation to judge quality of life with ability to buy; creating a society that values illusions in the highest regards; ingraining capitalist ideas as patriotic and so fundamental that without the capitalist structure, Armageddon must surely come (perhaps the disaster and zombie crazes as of late? )
To be honest I didn't necessarily start out to make some epic, historical, polotical art project. Most of the ideas come from a sort of curiosity in how things function and how people think. With more research on my consumption, comes floods of new ideas of which it can be daunting to attempt to think I could include it all.

© Brian Ulrich

Kathryn Kmet: I recently saw your print of "Kids R Us" at the Milwaukee Art Museum. This series of images of closed retail spaces is ghostly and erie. These images are taken with a large format camera, What esthetics of film do you feel don't compare to digital in your work?

Brian Ulrich: I would say that in most cases the aesthetics of the digital camera are as good or sometimes better than film. Each instrument functions quite differently and a point and shoot is going to render things uniquely different than a DLSR. I like to think of it more as each camera has it's own visual language. The 8x10 forces me to work more methodically. To meditate on an idea of an image for some time before even making it. Some pictures happen quickly others over months/years. Their is also a optical fidelity that that camera renders which is quite unique. It allows me use small details in a very loud way. I've attempted to use some of the very expensive digital backs to do some of this work but I just didn't like the process of using that camera. I'd prefer not to scan if I could and imagine at some point a new project will demand that process.

© Brian Ulrich

Kathryn Kmet: Which photographers are your greatest influences and how much have they effected your style and or processes?

Brian Ulrich: Very hard to say here. When I first discovered photography, I got a job at a local library in the fine arts department simply so I could spend that much more time understanding what had been done and what was being thought about in the arts. I spent countless hours looking through as many photography books as I could find. It seemed important to know. This led to a certain obsession with really looking through the medium and I learned many things from so many differents artists, known and unknown.
Early on it was:
Ralph Eugene Meatyeard's experimentation
Harry Callahan's quiet dedication, love of making the work, and lack of expectation of anyone affording him the luxury to continue
Duchamp's prankster sensibility and his comfort with not making work if there were no ideas
Warhol's gathering of an army of supporters
Winogrand as the consumate bachelor
Later some who had such a profound effect on me were:
Walker Evans
Paul Graham
Robert Adams
Saul Leiter
Diane Arbus
Dawoud Bey
Rineke Dijkstra

There are simply so many from friends to some of the mall security folk I come across. I think it's important as an artist to remain open to who you come across out in the world.

Kathryn Kmet: What has kept you in Chicago rather then New York? Was it easy to make a name for yourself in Chicago or was it more of a struggle?

Brian Ulrich: I had long been enamored with the history of photography in Chicago. From the ID school to later Heineckin and Barbara Crane, etc... Something about this city seems to force people to confront the social world within a certain language of realism. It's powerful stuff when done right. I came here for graduate school in 2001 at Columbia College and enjoy the way the community works together here. There is also less of an emphasis of flash in the pan success here and more of one on longetivity. Chicago also has a lot of venues for young artists from small apartment galleries to the 12x12 series at the MCA. These things are a lot more accesible than what one might find in NY. Of course the work has to be there but if it is the venues are happy to take notice. Chicago is a bit smaller so word can spread fast of things.
Having grown up right outside of NYC, it's a place I hold fondly but find it real tough to live there as an artist.

© Brian Ulrich

Kathryn Kmet: Are there any future projects that you are excited about?

Brian Ulrich: Currently plans are to edit all of the Copia work I've done next year in some book maquettes. If it's done it may be done which might see me changing directions or perhaps not at all. I like to let the work drive those decisions. Though lately I've been excited about some neon sculptures I've been making.

Kathryn Kmet: What are your favorite parts about being a photographer?

Brian Ulrich: I love that in my work I'm forced to get out into the world and confront people, circumstances and places I would normally never confront. Moreso I have to feel comfortable in them enough to work.

Kathryn Kmet: What advice would you give to a young photographer from the midwest?

Brian Ulrich: It's hard not to sound cliche without knowing someone specifically:
It may sound easy but ask yourself what you really care about.
Become more patient with yourself. If you make good work and work hard to get it out into the world something is bound to happen.
Take advantage of the time not being in NY affords. One can really take the work very far before it's seen outside a classroom, that's a good thing. (Case in point; bands who put out several great albums vs. ones who have a fantastic debut followed by a tumultuous demise).
Photograph in the worst weather.

Q&A: Tealia Ellis Ritter

Floating © Tealia Ellis Ritter

Tealia Ellis Ritter is a contemporary photographer from Illinois.

For further information visit her website.

Kathryn Kmet: I noticed you use Artist Statements quite often in your work, How important/useful is it for you to use artist statements in your separate works?

Tealia Ellis Ritter: Writing artist statements is something that most artists do as a way of introducing the work to viewers. I actually don't enjoy writing them but they are useful because they force you to organize your thoughts and clarify broadly what you're doing. At the same time that I don't enjoy writing them, I really like reading other artist's writings on their work. It's the best way, aside from talking directly to the artist, to understand the artist's motivation.

Kathryn Kmet: How do you come across your subjects, what about them individually grasps your attention?

Tealia Ellis Ritter: In general I meet my subjects by chance on the street or grocery shopping or doing some everyday activity etc. I approach them, explain what I'm doing, exchange information and ask if they would be willing to be photographed, from there we usually e-mail back and forth and talk for awhile before the actual photo shoot. As far as what attracts me to each subject, that is a difficult thing to explain. I guess it's a bit like any attraction, it's part magic. In general there is something about each person that I feel I relate to, I think I recognize the desire for something beyond the present.

Kathryn Kmet: What has most inspires you in your photography?

Tealia Ellis Ritter: I would say that I am most inspired by whatever my current surroundings are. That may sound simplistic but in general my work is a reaction to the world around me and the issues that arise from my life.



My dream it to sleep with no nightmares © Tealia Ellis Ritter

Kathryn Kmet: What really attracted you to the medium of photography?

Tealia Ellis Ritter: My father was an avid photographer and he really introduced me to the medium. My mom is also an artist and she exposed me to art at a very early age. So art and photography have always been a part of my life. What I love about photography is the way that it is able, unlike any other art form, to walk the fine line between truth and fiction. Each image is this complex representation of the artist and the subject and what they have created together. People's willingness to believe in the truth of photographs provides photographers with an interesting ability to effect/manipulate the viewer.

Kathryn Kmet: How did going through school influence the way you photograph now? How long did it take you to realize your style?

Tealia Ellis Ritter:School was great for me. Many people believe that art is a totally intuitive thing that just spontaneously emerges from the artist and although I often work intuitively, having an understanding of art history and being able to talk and have critiques with other artists is invaluable. I continue to seek critiques from other artists and I am constantly looking at other artists' work...just like in any field, knowledge is always helpful.

Margot talks with Death © Tealia Ellis Ritter

Kathryn Kmet: I was very interested to see that you have a minor in printmaking from the University of Iowa. I am also a printmaking minor, I am interested to know if your have ever used the medium in your photographic work?

Tealia Ellis Ritter: I think that printmaking heavily influenced the body of work titled Specimens. Printmaking made me very aware of texture and manipulation/control of value which I think is important in that body of work. I also used photographs in my lithography which was an interesting way for me to see my images. It gave me a different appreciation for printing with light vs. printing with ink.

Figure, found alongside the highway © Tealia Ellis Ritter

Kathryn Kmet: As a photographer who had studied in the midwest, how did you get started in the art world? Was it a challenge for your or was it easier then you imagined?

Tealia Ellis Ritter: As far as getting started in the art world, I think that is still a work in progress. What I have found is that having a community of artists with whom you can share information and network is very important. Also, putting in the time to work and send out slides is key.

Bio: Kathryn Kmet

©Kathryn Kmet

Katie Kmet was born, and is now living in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Her father worked as a wedding photographer on weekends. She shot film with her father when she was 16, and was inspired to explore photography rather then drawing. She taught herself to study light, composition, and other framing by photographing herself and a few select friends.

When she attended her first year it Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, she was given the opportunity to show her photographs at a local restaurant during Gallery Night in Milwaukee. After further education at MIAD, she experiments with environmental portraits and has an interest in telling special traits about people and things. She spends her time working hard on her photographs and printmaking techniques, while working on weekends selling jeans to middle aged women.

Q&A: Michael Wilson

Ben Taylor © Michael Wilson

Michael Wilson is a music, portrait and fine art photographer whose clients include Warner Bros. Records, Sony Music and Elektra Records. He's a photographer's photographer, shooting with older film cameras in a variety of formats, and working long hours in his basement darkroom. To top it off, he's one of the nicest, humblest photographers around. In preparation for their assignment to shoot a cd cover, we looked at Michael's work online and at 3 of his early monographs of personal work. Then the class asked Michael these questions:

Kayla Newman: How did you start shooting cd covers?

Michael Wilson: There are probably two basic things that led to my start in making pictures for music packaging. The first being that I had enjoyed making portraits of musicians. I had always been very interested in music, and in the people who make it so when I began making portraits (as a student in college) I was quite naturally drawn to make pictures of musicians who were in my world at that time... friends and acquaintances mostly. The second was a growing awareness of the potential life for the kind of photographs that I loved and was desirous to make in the world of record packaging. As a music fan, I used to spend lots of spare time at record stores reading album covers to see who was playing on which records, who produced the record, etc... I was also very aware of the record covers... and looking at who made the photographs or who did the design. I would occasionally see records with really beautiful photography... photography that was rooted in the kind of photography that made me fall in love with pictures in the first place, and inside I'd be jumping out of my skin thinking, "I wish I could make pictures like that for music like this." At this time in my life, I was 7 years out of college, 4 years of which I'd spent in a job as a photographer's assistant/darkroom technician at a text book publisher which had an in-house photography department. The grind of doing the kind of work that we churned had gone a long way to my becoming not very interested in photography. By contrast, when I saw a Robert Frank photograph on a "New Lost City Rambler's" record, or a beautiful Simon Larbalestier photograph on a "Pixies" cover, or a Stephen Shore photograph on some record that I knew nothing about, I would remember that I really did want to make pictures. In 1989, with the encouragement of a good friend and the help of my wife, I sent off a handmade book of about 10 or 12 portraits that I liked to a woman whose name I knew only from reading the backs of record jackets... her name was Jeri Heiden and she worked at Warner Brothers Records in LA. Other than that all I knew about her was that her name was listed as Art Director on a surprisingly high percentage of the records that I saw that caught my eye as being really beautiful. It was truly one of those "nothing to lose" moments and I've come to realize that no matter how old we are or where we are in our lives... realizing that we have 'nothing to lose' is a great gift. Anyway, I received a nice note from her a few weeks later and I was very happy and I thought that was the end of that. A short time later, I got a call from a manager of a band (which was from Milwaukee area, by the way) called the BoDeans and Jeri Heiden had given him my name and suggested that I do a shoot with the band as they were going to be close to Cincinnati on tour. I did and the pictures wound up being used in their package. A few months after this, I made a trip to Los Angeles and met with Jeri Heiden in person (she was the head of the art department at Warner Bros. at that time). That meeting led to the use of a personal photograph of mine becoming the cover for the Replacements "All Shook Down" record and Jeri also hired me to shoot the band in Minneapolis. That project probably did more than any other single thing to help get me started making pictures for music.

























Lyle Lovett © Michael Wilson

Kathryn Kmet: When preparing for a musician photo shoot, does the musician tell you what they want out of the book you create, or do they trust you to create it on your artistic judgment?

Michael Wilson: Only very, very rarely have I been given direction going into a shoot and on those occasions the direction has more to do with things like, "make sure it is not too serious " or, "... you know that this artist hates to be photographed." Fortunately, most all of the time that I'm hired to photograph for a project I've been given the trust and free rein to make the pictures that I want to make. In most cases, the project is discussed beforehand with either the artist or the management, or someone at the record company so that I understand the "feel" of the record and so that they know how I go about my work. But beyond that it is usually me doing my best to make the most interesting and honest pictures that I can make.

Jenny Scheinman © Michael Wilson

Andrea Payne: How do you go about making the environment you’re shooting in comfortable for your client? How do you make them relax in front of you?

Michael Wilson: I don't know that I have any formula for this, but I do approach the portrait as a conversation and as such I follow those same instincts, behaviors and courtesies that that would lead to a (hopefully) meaningful conversation with that person or group of people. My being forthright and honest and vulnerable going into the portrait 'conversation' is where I hope to start. I'm not the kind of photographer who has a lot of ideas ahead of time or one who pre-visualizes what I'd like to come away with... so I am almost totally dependent on the subject trusting me enough to open up and welcome me in to whatever it is they might have to share. I really do think of it the same way that you think of meeting any person who you may know very little about and trying to have an honest/meaningful conversation. It takes a bit of time and it is certainly not without akward and uncomfortable moments... moments when I feel totally lost. When I feel that way, I usually will come right out and say so. Quite often that helps. I also keep in mind how much I dislike being in front of a camera -- try to understand some of the discomfort and reluctance that the subject might be feeling.























Bill Frisell © Michael Wilson

Aryn Kresol: Was your utilization of the square format influential to you photographing album covers, or did your work on covers influence your choice of format. In other words, which preceded which?

Michael Wilson: My interest in the square format came before any interest in or awareness of record covers. I became very taken with using a twin lens, square format camera when I first started making portraits in college. I had always been somewhat shy and had difficulty looking at people in the eye and when I discovered the twin lens camera I loved that I could be standing there, basically staring down at my feet, but I was looking into the ground glass of the camera and having this connection with whoever it was standing in front of the lens. As crazy as that sounds, that is where my interest in the square format started. The square certainly does lend itself to the shape of the covers, however.

Georgia Lloyd: For your album photographs, are you in charge of deciding how to design the cover, or are you only in control of the actual photograph to be used on the cover? How do you manage your framing based on this?

Michael Wilson: I have no control in the design of the covers that I work on and I don't want to control the design. I love great design, but I am not a designer. I am not thinking about the eventual design of the project or how my pictures will fit into that design when I am photographing, I just make pictures and let the designer sort out the mess.






















Mose Allison © Michael Wilson

Georgia Lloyd: Many of your album covers are monochrome rather than color. What is this reason behind this decision? Is it purely personal aesthetic, or does it serve more purpose than that?

Michael Wilson: The work I've been most interested in during my life as a photographer has always been the b/w work. Certainly, I do think that there is a distillation or intensifying reduction that occurs when the world is seen without color and this distillation can lend a special weight to b/w work which I love and look for. The more practical reason for the predominance in my work is that I've always been most interested in the work with which I've had the most intersection. By that I mean, when I develop b/w film in my basement, I see the film when I hang it up to dry, I see it again when I cut it and sleeve it, I see it again when I make the contact sheets and then I study those contact sheets quite hard. By the time I get around to making prints (or scans as it is these days) I've had a lot of intersection with the work... I feel like it is mine. I feel attached to the work. I remember when I used to shoot color transparency for assignments, I would drop the film off at the lab, pick it up the next day or so, and then have to send it off to the client right away... and my work flow was such that I really did not spend very much time with those pictures. Sometimes I'd see something color in print and not even realize that it was mine.

Sarah Moore: Do you think a degree in photography is necessary to succeed as a professional photographer?

Michael Wilson: I don't think so...(but stay in school anyway). Quite honestly, I feel very much at a loss when I'm asked questions such as this about what it takes to succeed as a professional photographer. I think that each person will have to determine the definition of success for themselves. If "succeeding as a professional photographer" means making a comfortable living, making good money, it might be wise to spend as much time around photographers and groups of photographers who have developed business models and practices that have proven successful for them... photographers who are making good money. I've been making my living as a freelance photographer since 1987 and I still feel at a loss as to how to succeed as a professional photographer. I feel incredibly fortunate (and grateful) that I have been able to make a living making pictures but the reality is that there are a lot of people looking for the same jobs and I can't imagine that this trend will change. At the end of the day, I guess my opinion is that to succeed as a professional photographer you will have to either love succeeding in your profession as a business person or you will have to just plain love making pictures... whether or not you make money.






















New Orleans © Michael Wilson

Aimee Keil: Does your personal and your professional work ever merge, or are they completely separate?

Michael Wilson: I think that my personal and professional work do merge... they are by no means completely separate. The same instinctive love of pictures, love of seeing is what drives any picture... any strong, meaningful picture, whether the initial impulse to make the picture comes from my personal interest or whether the initial impulse was that I'd been hired to make pictures for a project, it is the same love of seeing that will make either picture work. That being said, there are those times when I've been asked to make pictures of things or people or events that I have very little feeling for... when there is little more than professional obligation at work in the work it usually shows... and I usually don't want to look at it very long.

Rose Tarman: It seems many of the opportunities in your life have come about serendipitously. Do you have any particular advice for an in-progress photographer that has high hopes for the future?

Michael Wilson: As far as advice relative to a career in photography, I would go back to the ideas that I was clawing at in attempting to answer Sarah Moore' s question about what it takes to succeed as a professional photographer. The most specific and particular advice I can think to give anyone who is giving serious consideration to photography as a major part of their life is to look at as many pictures as you can... especially look at the pictures that have been made by people who have spent their lives making pictures for the love of making pictures. When you find work that moves you, be grateful and lap it up. There is probably something in that work that was motivated by the very same things that are at work in you. Make pictures whether people want you to make pictures or not... whether people pay you for your pictures or not. My experience has been that I cannot rightly determine photography's place in my life by thinking about it -- it has been by making pictures that I've come to find out photography's place in my life.

Great Shot

©Erwin Olaf

Erwin Olaf is a very versatile photographer. He always explores through more elaborate staging and concepts in his series. I find this series, The Mother, by Erwin Olaf very interesting because of his use of black on black, and very faint lighting. The lighting creates a very soft and mysterious image which goes well with the theme. Other then the technical aspects of the photograph, I really enjoy the image because it is mysterious, and also dated. the actors are very staged and numb to each other. I seem to be attracted to mundane staging. As you look at the whole story Olaf tells if is a sequential event which helps the viewer understand. Olaf just continues to produce very luscious and beautiful prints that always catch my eye.

More Photographs from Olaf are at, www.erwinolaf.com

Untitled © Kathryn S. Kmet

I took this photograph in late May, only a few weeks after summer vacation began. A simple trip to McKinley beach with friends was the opportune moment to bring my camera and snap photos. It was a perfect day outside, the sun was bright, and the wind was dramatic. I really enjoy taking candid shots of people I know, or total strangers around them. So snapping photos at the beach is fun for me.

The people I photographed were people I was around quite often at the time, so they were able to ignore me and my camera. I took many photographs of them throughout the day and some better then other I tried to play with composition, and also include the scantily clad women in the background for a humorous contrast in subject matter.

I can see that people may think of this as a snapshot, but I see this as a photograph that captures a moment of disconnection between the three people. I enjoy the composition because of the shapes and perspectives that the figures make. I am always interested to explore new ways to do portraiture work.