Interview: Andrea Chu

Paige Rice: In your personal and new work the content seems fleeting in most, really playful, and memorable. Is your process more intuitive or are the photographs more contrived and planned out? If planned, what is your process and how does it usually work out?















© Andrea Chu

Andrea Chu: My process is more intuitive, I like to shoot when the moments really happen and not pushed. Often they are off moments, when the subject is not aware that I am shooting.

Paige Rice: Are you shooting digitally or with film? Both?

Andrea Chu: I am now just shooting digitally. Occasionally I will still shoot my SX-70 Polaroid.




















© Andrea Chu

Paige Rice: Can you talk a little bit about your new work and your three bodies of personal work? Also, could you address whether they are representational of things you are going or have gone through, if they're more of a means of expressing your emotions, more about narrative, metaphor, etc.?











© Andrea Chu

Andrea Chu: I feel that most of my personal work is an expression of what is going on my life. The Vicky & Annie series is about how I remember my youth and also a collaboration with the girls as to what is going on in their lives, so it somewhat becomes narrative of out lives parallel. My Doubles are about people and place and seems to be ongoing. Same with the Escape series, I started them in college and still shoot these when I am traveling and on the road.

Paige Rice: Your photographs to me are quite poetically powerful. I was wondering, how long does it take for such a great body of work to fully develop? Are your lovely photographs one in every ten, or twenty, or one hundred, or do they usually turn out right away?














© Andrea Chu

Andrea Chu: They tend to just be an ongoing process and comes down to me shooting a bunch then editing down the work I have done over a year or last three months. It all varies.

Paige Rice: Where do you get your inspiration? Who are other photographers you find inspiring or that you recommend me to look into?

Andrea Chu: I get inspiration of what goes on in life, not just mine but my family and friends. Alexander Clader for fun. For Photographers Terri Weifenbach, Allessendra Suingetti, Alex Prager, and Brigette Sire. Of course all the classics- Robert Frank, Lee Friendlander, William Eggleston, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Meatyard, and Bernice Abbott. And listening to tons of music and watching films and music videos, which I am sorry but is endless.

More work by Andrea Chu can be found on her website:
http://www.chucandy.com/

Gamer, © Paige Rice




















Stranger, © Paige Rice

The two photographs above are very different. The first one being someone very close to me, my boyfriend Adam. It is in ways a lot easier to photograph someone you know, I was able to shoot more photographs of him simply because I am with him all the time. I have more personal and intimate photographs as well as the more environmental photograph above. I went with the one above, because I wanted to show part of who he really is and one thing that is a big part of him is the "Gamer" inside. Thus, this is one of the many times where he gets so caught up in the game that he doesn't notice things going on around him and he didn't even know I was taking his picture.

The second was a bit more difficult. The photographing went really well, the difficulty was finding someone to actually photograph. At first I thought of going at it through street photography, but that is not how I tend to work. So I started by asking another MIAD student, who I saw around often, but I really didn't know. I wanted to make her more comfortable with me and I didn't want to put her into the awkward situation of posing for a stranger. So I invited her to my apartment to shoot and experimented with the lighting to change things. She became more comfortable with me taking her picture when the lights were out and things were less seen. I really liked how her posture became casual as well as the movement she created. It felt a bit more free and natural.

Project: Reflective Perceptive

the Beginning, © Paige Rice

Since presenting project pitches in class, I have been thinking about the possibility of creating illusions with the reflective quality of water. Photographing this is all about intuitively finding the right area, the right content, and of course the right moment to bring the illusion together. The reflections work to change the perception of the subject matter; creating a push and pull of the two different worlds. I feel that I am exploring things that I find are more personal. With the photographs having dreamlike qualities, they are to evoke an emotive tone, and really push the viewer to look at the work and what is being created. The illusion works to play on the notion of perspective and place. To make one question what is real and where they are, maybe even who they are in this place, and how it makes them feel.

Self-Portrait; And She Saw © Paige Rice

I have been curious about life since my first words as a child. Since those first words I have grown into a responsible hard-working young woman. At times I feel that I may take life too seriously, but I enjoy every minute of the journey.

My goal in life is that no matter what happens to make the best of it and to be happy with what I’ve got. Thus, I usually try to stay optimistic in any situations that present themselves.

I tend to be mainly inspired by books and people. My love in my life belongs to my Adam, family, friends, and my pets. In addition, I timidly admit that I have a love for not only my photography, also reading, sleeping, and my TV shows.

My work, photography or design, are completely different, yet represent my individual ties to the world and my personal curiosity within things.

Great Shot: Todd Hido

2663, © Todd Hido

I remember over a year ago when I merely glanced at Todd's work. That was before I really knew his work or who he was, thus, he was placed somewhere in the back of my head. Though recently I have found him again, only now, I have a great appreciation for the work he makes and the process he goes through. The photograph above is one of his many "landscape" photographs. Todd shoots primarily at night; he is drawn to the nightlife and the different characteristics that stand out during nighttime. The quietness, the mystery, and especially the overall mood of the night. I feel that these characteristics are most definitely brought through in not only the photograph above, but all of his work. There is such a different quality of the nightlife and the photographs he takes represent this. His work is also curious and though it is moody, it is not 'in your face' dramatic. I really appreciate this subtlety he shares with the viewer. He is able to capture the mist, the grunge, the light, and other simple aspects of the weather and time that he is shooting. All of these combined really put the viewer in the place, where one is sort of mystified by place. It is an extremely interesting experience.

Todd's website is: www.toddhido.com

Untitled, © Paige Rice

Over the summer, as well as, throughout the last year, I find myself completely drawn to time. To clarify since time is something of a broad meaning; I love to photography things that show the aging of time, the subtlety of change in time, all around us. It is something the happens everyday, every second. We are constantly going forward in time. I love the beauty of it. Clouds are one of my absolute favorite things to photograph. Like the one above from the summer, it shares subtlety in its details, beauty in its various changes over time. No one cloud shot is ever the same, for the fact alone being due to time. They can change so smoothly, or drastically, either way its lovely. This is something I can't let go of; focusing on that fact that time never stops. We never stand still, we are always revolving, changing, and moving forward from the last second.