PhotoWork: Self-Interview
understanding my own process and practice a little more
Happy 2025, everyone!
I revisited Sasha Wolf’s book PhotoWork: Forty Photographs on Process and Practice last week and began to think how I’d benefit from my own self-interview with the same questionnaire. So, here it is!
What comes first for you: the idea for a project, or individual photographs that suggest a concept?
-I’ve worked in both ways before and I continue to do so. Typically, I’ll get ideas for a project from photographs either I’ve made or others have made, books, and or online research and then I let the individual photographs that I make sort of guide me in ways of how to revise or even change the concept/theme. And sometimes a single photograph will open up a whole new door of possibilities for me. Long story short.. it all depends.
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What are key elements that must be present for you when you are creating a body of work? (Social commentary, strong form, personal connection, photographic reference…)
-Personal connection often outweighs all other elements for me and my work. Strong form as in cohesion and an array of compositions are definitely up there as well.
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Is the idea of a body of work important to you? How does it function in relation to making a great individual photograph?
-I think bodies of work are important if the subject matter calls for it (which is ultimately a subjective decision). I struggle with this idea that I must be continually working towards a layered body of cohesive work. But “great” or strong individual photographs are just as important in my opinion. I am in a constant cycle of reminding myself that it’s okay to have singular, stand-alone photographs and that it’s okay when they are not part of a body of work; maybe they’ll be part of something greater in the future..or maybe not!
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Do you have what you might call a “photographic style”?
-I believe so but I try to not let this belief hinder my ability and attempts to constantly challenge or evolve from that “style”.
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Where would you say your style falls on a continuum between completely intuitive and intellectually formulated?
-As much as I like to think at times that my work is formulated or “controlled” by me, intuition is the ultimate factor in how I make photographs. I can have as many ideas of the kinds of photographs I want to make but those preconceptions go out of the window when I am out in the real world pressing down on the shutter. That’s a big reason why I am so drawn to nature; it has the endless ability to surprise me and stop me in my tracks, even in an area that I’ve walked countless times before. It all plays into that “when you know, you know” kind of feeling I get when I’m on my photo walks.
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Assuming you now shoot in what you would consider your natural voice, have you ever wished your voice was different?
-There have been times where I wished I made similar photographs that other photographers have made but I am thankful to have my own unique voice within the world of photography. In short, it has been a “wish” that doesn’t go far which is a good thing.
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How do you know when a body of work is finished?
-I have a hard time with closing the chapter on a project since I tend to heavily fixate on a subject/location until something/somewhere else becomes more interesting to me. Once I stop returning to the project’s details (certain areas, themes, etc.) for what feels like a long time to me, that’s when the acceptance of the end comes into play.
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Have you ever had a body of work that was created in the editing process?
-Absolutely. Whether I’m laying out an array of prints on the office floor or simply looking at them on my computer or phone, I tend to come up with multiple or more possible paths for the collection of photographs I’m looking at in those moments. In fact, that’s how Waiting for the Rain came about.. I had two bodies of work I was focused on for a little over two years but then one day as I was looking at both of the collections together, it dawned on me that the photographs and book would be stronger if they were under one complete body of work with a more simpler, easily digestible theme.
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Do you associate your work with a particular genre of photography? If yes, how would you define that genre?
-Labels/genres in the art world usually feel either like a cop-out to me or a lazy attempt to describe one’s work. So no, I do not.
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Do you ever revisit a series that has already been exhibited or published to shoot more and add to it?
-To circle back to my fixation brain, I do go back to visit or “study” my past work but I do not add to them.
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Do you ever revisit a series that has already been exhibited or published and reedit it?
-No. Editing is my least favorite “task” within the creative process so that plays a big part in why I don’t. The closest to reediting that I do is re-sequencing a series.
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Do you create with presentation in mind, be that a gallery show or a book?
-Sometimes but then I get humbled quickly as I realize that my thoughts and plans at the beginning of a project are hardly the same during and at the end of it. I do think it can be inspiring and quite helpful to picture your work in a tangible, “complete” form though.
one of those aforementioned “stand-alone” photographs // Puppy Energy (Olive and her “zoomies”), 2020 
I have that book, but it never crossed my mind to interview myself! Great idea and so interesting to read your answers. Thank you for sharing.