DUST Mag Online

A Few Words on Photography and A Modern Age: UnniKrishnan Raveendranathan

2011-04-08T14:26:00.000-07:00

Interview by: Victor A. Prieto

This south India Native, Unnikrishnan Raveendranathan, which is short for Unni, began his creative career as a 2-D Animator in Mumbai. After coming to the United States, He realized that his true passion was Documentary Photography. He has worked on numerous projects that involve photographing human rights and relaying his subjects’ stories to the public. He has been a contributor to Dust from the start. After going to Haiti and with thoughts about Japan, I sat with him in a café to ask him about his next move, photography, and his thoughts on the age we live in. Enjoy.

Victor Prieto: So, I want to start by asking how, and when did you get into photography?

Unnikrishnan Raveendranathan: The first camera that I got was when I was probably ten. I was not taking a lot of photographs then, [I used it] more as a toy, a hobby, or something like that. What I did is that I went around probably when I was like fifteen or sixteen, and I got a good camera, which is a Canon Rebel with a lens that was 18-24. I used to take a lot of photographs when I was in school, landscapes, and trees.

VP: What school did you go to?

UR: It was a residential school on top of a hill, in south India. I was photographing landscapes, and trees, and more like Fine Arty. I didn’t have any access at looking at photographs; there was no Internet, or access to a lot of photography books.

VP: When did you become serious about it?

UR: I got really serious about photography when I got to San Francisco. After taking Emilio [Bañuelos]’s class, I really became serious about photography and leaving what I did before.

VP: What did you do before?

UR: I was an animator.

VP: How was the transition from animation to photography? Was it really different?

UR: I really didn’t feel the pain of moving from animation to photography because I really loved photography more than animation, I mean animation was a part of me for a long time, and photography was more of me, I really liked it, I used to pick up my camera everyday and walk out.

VP: From when you got really serious with photography until now, how would you say your work has improved or changed?

UR: It definitely has changed. Improvement wise, also after Emilio’s class I became more focused in photography, before when I was doing photography, it was more of a random thing, shoot anything and everything. Once [I was] in Emilio’s class, he showed me a path, he refined me to do stuff in a certain matter; he also made me more organized and more disciplined which is a great thing because before I used to do whatever came to me, with no story, something that Emilio showed me was storytelling. I don’t get this from a lot of people in photography terms and also in terms of doing your story. This is something I really learned which drove me to an extent where I wanted do more. The main driving force is story telling and photography is the medium.

VP: Yes, I think for a person your age, you have done a lot of stuff, I guess more stuff than anyone would expect from a person your age, you know you went to Mexico with BBI, you went to India and did your Cash For Blood series, you photographed wrestlers and circus people around the bay area, and then you went to Haiti. When you went there, did you have a story in mind? How did you approach a place and a situation like this?

UR: When I thought about going to Haiti, first thing that came to my mind was of course the people, because I really like photographing human rights, especially in this case, human rights such as people who are having issues of getting some of the help that’s coming from different countries also the new orphans I should say, like kids who just lost their mom and dad, I had a specific Idea of doing what I wanted to do before I went to Haiti, I couldn’t fulfill everything because it’s such a different place, it’s such a hard place to work with and it was my first experience doing this, one of the driving forces for me to go there was that it was not possible for me to do this with the help of anybody else, this can be done only by myself, I don’t think any company or any newspaper would give me access to this place because I was new to the field, I wanted to let people know that I am capable of doing this. It was a learning experience for me also because I believe photography is not a classroom learning, there’s no classrooms that can teach photography, it is all through experience, experience of dealing with people, mainly, to make a photograph is difficult, especially for someone who has been a victim of earthquake, it’s difficult to take a photograph, maybe you can just take a photo and run, that’s another thing, but it’s different when you are there and you talk to them, when you talk to your fixer and let them know what you want to say, and then learn the story and then take a photograph, or make a photograph, it is a difficult and hard experience, it is also a learning experience for a lot of people, and that is something I want to do, which the Academy would not teach me, which any teacher would not teach me, it’s something that I should learn by myself.

VP: So after going to Haiti, and now you are telling me you want to go to Japan, would you say that what you learned in Haiti can be applied in a similar way to Japan?

UR: Definitely, it will help me a lot especially when it comes to pre-production, what I mean by that is what should I do when I get there? Who do I talk to? How do I find my story? Those are all the things that you need to be really sensitive when it comes to a disaster zone. Because people are violent, people are very, very angry and stubborn, and also extremely devastated at that point. So dealing with them, trying to make a conversation with them and finding out what they want to give, it’s all different.

VP: Like you mentioned earlier, one possibility is to just go there and shoot and run, it seems to me that you really care about these people, it seems that you really want to find a story and tell it to other people, you know it’s like being a messenger for someone that needs help.

UR: Yes

VP: On another subject, I know this is your last semester of school, and words been going around that you are bored, that you are experimenting, after all the places you’ve been, it seems like school is just something secondary, that you are just trying to get it over with, is this true?

UR: I would say not bored but more like less challenging, school projects have been less challenging and I have very few classes you know that take me in I’m more in an experimental area right now while I’m in school, I’m not shooting a lot of documentary work, one of the classes that actually makes me challenged is a class with Colin Finlay. He really pushes me to do more, not in terms of photography, but in terms of thinking, more in an intellectual way. He makes me feel more responsible to the world, more responsible to the work that I do, and he gives me another concept of where to go with this, a different idea of moving forward, which is great because on the other hand, I have other classes that don’t really push me so I’m just doing it for the sake of doing it; for the credits.

VP: I heard you were taking the traditional film class, how is that going?

UR: Yes, one of the reasons why I took traditional film is Tim Gonzales-Mena, he’s a good friend of mine, I really respect his work, I came to know him through Emilio [Bañuelos], and he’s an amazing photographer too. I really like to be around him and learn from him, and black and white printing has been very different. I’ve never done BW printing; I’ve only done a little bit. I’m a new age photojournalist, so when I say that, it’s a little different.

VP: I’m asking you this because you’ve been with Dust since the first issue, do you think you’ll be encouraged to keep shooting film?

UR: Yes, a couple of projects [that I have been working on] for the last 8 months have been film, specially my panoramas. It’s all [shot] in film, I’ve been liking that process, and it’s also a learning curve for me. I could also say that I’m really fed up with shooting digital, I’m trying to do different now.

VP: So you are going back to the roots?

UR: Yea,

VP: You’ve been doing photography four or five years now, what would your advice for up and coming photographers be? You know, all the young kids that are just getting into photography, the future generations of photographers?
UR: What I’ve been seeing around lately is that a camera has become a toy for a lot of people, it’s really inexpensive, I don’t like that treatment, when I was ten, I thought it was a toy but not now. There are more websites that really encourage amateur photography more than actual photography. A lot of amateur photographers think that they are professionals, something I don’t agree with because they don’t know anything about photography. Photography is not just about taking photographs, in Documentary at least, it’s about handling people, and it’s about communication. It’s about communicating to a lot of people, especially to the story that you do, and your dedication, your idea. Photography is just a medium, a way to express it. When you do a story, your communication skills are really important when it comes to photography. A lot of people forget it; a lot of people think it’s just the camera. The camera is just a tool, I can shoot with an iPhone or a Hasselblad, or a 5D Mark II, does not matter; what you say is what matters. That’s all I have to say.

Folks this is all for now, check out Unni’s work at www.unniphotography.com and www.unniphoto.com also stay tuned for his work on Dust # 3.

Photographer to Watch: Sebastian Gladstone

2011-02-02T20:47:00.000-08:00

Sebastian Gladstone is a street photographer based in Los Angeles. He has worked photographing San Francisco’s Chinatown, New York’s Streets, and monumental places that Americans go for entertainment. He has collaborated with DUST in two issues, and with Black Boots Ink, on the project Wandering in the Company of Strangers. .

Interview by Victor Prieto

Victor Prieto: First of all, how did you get into photography?

Sebastian Gladstone: I got into photography in high school, I transferred to Beverly Hills High and they had a darkroom there; I instantly fell in love with it.

VP: After that, what did you do in order to further pursue photography?

SG: When I was in high school I realized that it was something I could do, you know, I didn’t really see myself going to a normal school. I decided to try out art school so I went to the Academy Of Art in San Francisco, that’s really where I developed my ability to shoot, and understand photography.

VP: From when you first started, in which ways has your work developed? In which ways has it improved, or changed?

SG: It’s like a total 180. At first I thought I wanted to be a commercial shooter; like I’d shoot fashion, I tried that but I couldn’t really direct models. Then. I tried some color architectural stuff, like a trend that you see a lot of nowadays. I didn’t really fit in there and then I took a documentary class with this guy named Emilio Bañuelos, he kind of showed me street photography, and I realized that’s what I wanted to do. I’ve been shooting street stuff ever since, about two years now I think.

VP: Who are your main influences? What inspires you to keep shooting?

SG: People from the past like William Klein, Garry Winogrand is a huge [influence], Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, a couple new people like Nick Turpin, a lot of people in England, people in the Hamburger Eyes crew as well, I see a lot of their stuff and I like it.

VP: What about film? Why do you shoot film in this transition from an analog era to a digital age?

SG: I’ve tried shooting digitally, I tried it in college, and I actually did it for a little while and I wasn’t satisfied with it; it just didn’t look how I wanted it to look. I just didn’t like the feel of the digital camera, I like the advancement of the film itself, the look for me and the entire photographic process that’s involved, they don’t compare, personally I can’t stare at a computer for more than an hour.

VP: What are you working on these days? I know you were on the road last year and plan on getting back on the road this year, what is this project about?

SG: I don’t know what it’s called yet; it’s kind of about these strange places we go for attraction and for happiness. I just see people going to these places and they look lost, and confused, and sad, and I want to know why.

VP: What about future goals or projects?

SG: I have another project that I want to work on, that has to do with history and natural history museums in particular, it’s hopefully my next long term project, sort of similar to the Sugimoto series. It’s really far ahead, I want to shoot medium format and the camera I want is sort of pricey, so maybe in the next couple years.

VP: Great, how did you hear about Dust?

SG: Well a couple of my friends told me they were going to start this magazine devoted to film photography and it sounded like a cool idea. I saw the first issue and then the second, and I watched it develop from there, it’s pretty impressive.

VP: What advice do you have for people that are trying to get into photography? You were telling me off interview that your friends started to get into film photography, what advice would you give to anyone that’s interested in pursuing photography?

SG: I would say shoot as much as you can, that’s what I did, just bring your camera everywhere, no matter if you’re going to the Laundromat; just always have your camera with you. Also, show your work to as many people as you can because I think constructive criticism is a big part of photography. Getting other people to look at your work and understanding how they see it. Another thing is going to the library and studying photo books, that’s always been one of the biggest learning experiences for me. Just really looking through the books, taking notes on the photographs and spending a lot of time analyzing the work.

Folks, you can check out Sebastian’s work in our next issue of Dust, also you can check his work out at sgladstonephoto.wordpress.com

Photographer to Watch: Ray Potes

2010-10-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

THE CONTINUING STORY OF LIFE ON EARTH

By: Victor Prieto

Ray Potes is the CEO of the black and white publication HAMBURGER EYES: The Continuing Story of Life on Earth. This zine features a great diversity of Photographers and it’s an ongoing collaboration that is now in their 13^th issue and they have a book out. The have exhibited at many different locations in San Francisco, New York, and LA. They are know for bringing uncensored, raw street photography. Ray has lived in Hawaii, San Diego, and here in San Francisco. What started as a fun project between friends, is now one of the most influential publications in street/ documentary photography. I went to the headquarters of the Burgerworld, which is behind the McDonalds on 24^th and Mission in the quiet alley, which is called Lilac Street. Here’s what went down.

Victor Prieto: How are you?

Ray Potes: I’m nervous

VP: Me too. First of all, Hamburger Eyes, how did you come up with this name?

RP: It’s like a funny thing we said, my friends were saying it a lot, it’s when someone is looking at you funny. I just thought it would be a funny title. We were doing lots of other zines at the time and we would just make up titles, for some reason when we made Hamburger Eyes, that one stuck, that particular issue so we just kept it going, I didn’t know it would last this long.

VP: You lived in Hawaii; did you grow up there?

RP: No, I grew up in San Diego, then I moved to Hawaii for a few years and then I moved here.

VP: Do you have family in Hawaii?

RP: Actually, I lived there on and off, you know like I lived there, my dads side of the family is from there. I would go in the summers and then eventually in the early 90’s my parents moved there and I went to high school for a little while then I moved back here [SF], then I moved there again then back to San Diego and then I moved to Hawaii again, lived there for a couple years, then I moved here.

VP: So how did you start getting into photography?

RP: My dad was into it, and my uncles, it was around the time when a lot of people were taking photos and my dad had extra cameras and I would just use them all the time. Around age 11 or age 12 he gave me a Minolta, and I just started shooting with that.

VP: So did he also teach you printing?

RP: No, I actually didn’t even take a photo class until the 12^th grade. And it was like a night class. I actually wasn’t even really in love with it, I was still shooting but it wasn’t till I took another photo class, you know at community college, when I got really into it.

VP: A lot of people nowadays have the idea that you have to study photography in order to be a photographer, like go to school for a while and get your masters. What do you think about studying?

RP: Yeah, you know those are both the ends of the spectrum I kind of wish I went to school, I kinda wish I had a degree, I took classes but I don’t have a degree or anything but I kinda wish I did. But you know a lot of my experience is work, and working, I worked at all kinds of labs from prolabs to mini labs to all kinds of shit. I worked with so many different kinds of photographers and you have to cater to their style and you just kinda learn how to do different things, you kinda figure it out for yourself.

VP: You told me by email that you do odd jobs, what do you mean by this?

RP: Today I babysitted, right before you came over, that’s why I have all this baby stuff here. I paint houses with my friend when he needs an extra man on his crew, I do custom printing, I do freelance photography. I do anything.

VP: So you got a job from Nike to shoot Manny Pacqiao?

RP: Yeah I got to shoot Manny Pacqiao. That was awesome.

VP: Did you just hang out with him?

RP: That was kinda of a dream job you know, the assignment was to just follow him around, shoot black and white you know, I kinda wish I had a little bit more access, but it was still an awesome job, it’s kinda like paparazzi, they would be like, he’s going to be at this restaurant at 7 o clock try to get a shot of him coming out of the restaurant.

VP: So it wasn’t like they let you kick it with him?

RP; No, a couple times it was, like we went to his apartment in LA and I was like, Oh my god you know, were going to his house, but we get there and there’s like fifty people there. Just chillin, then he goes upstairs and I don’t see him, so it’s kinda like that. He just had so many people surrounding him all day and all night.

VP: Yeah he’s like a superstar.

RP: They would be like hes going to go work out at the gym and I get there and there’s like another 200 photographers. They had certain press days but I wasn’t told it was a press day. They just told me to go there.

VP: So you got this job from Nike?

RP: Yeah, Nike sportswear, I happen to know someone working there and it was the type of thing like ‘Yo hook me up with a job’ I called him a few times and nothing, one day he calls me and says I think I have this thing you might want to shoot, I was like what is it? Manny Pacqiao and I was like what? It kinda worked out cause I'm Filipino and everybody that I was working with at the particular thing was Filipino.

VP: I saw some of those photos and I thought, Oh man that’s scary. I really like the one that’s really close. In a lot of your photographs you have characters, and they seem like they are comfortable with you taking their picture, how do ask people or not ask people about photographing them?

RP: Yeah you know it’s a good question cause sometimes, well it’s different every time, sometimes I just see someone interesting on the streets and I just want to like meet them and talk to them, ask them to take their picture, but other times, they look like they’re in a hurry or I’m in a hurry, or I’m about to get on the bus or something and I will just shoot one, sometimes some people get annoyed but that’s the life of a street photographer.

VP: So how did you get into doing Street Photography? Some people don’t like to label themselves.

RP: It’s true, I shoot all kinds of stuff; lately I’m really into shooting portraits, I don’t know if that’s street photography. What was the question?

VP: what makes you like to photograph the street?

RP: One of the first photo classes I took was a black and white class I remember our teacher brought in like twenty books, and it was all like you know Garry Winogrand, Magnum Dudes, those kind of books. Lee Friedlander, and I just kinda fell in love with that style of photography. And already my parents always had a subscription to National Geographic; we always had those kinds of magazines around. So it was the style that I fell in love with. I grew up skateboarding so I always had the skateboarding magazines and it’s kinda street photography.

VP: When I moved to SF, I had a class with Oscar, and he told me about this place, so I came out to a show you guys had here, I started noticing that people started to shift to the style because they had a lot of influence from you guys.

RP: You think so?

VP: Yeah I think that you guys influenced a lot of my friends and people I know to sort of start shooting on the street.

RP: Oh good, well the thing about San Francisco is that there’s some much to photograph out here you know,

VP: Like I said before, you guys have been influential on a lot of people. How do you feel about that?

RP: It’s weird, It kinda humbling you know but it’s cool, that’s what it’s there for, like one of my favorite things about our magazine is like meeting photographers and being inspired by their work and have it challenge my own stuff, and then everybody kinda gets pumped to do more, to do better, and that’s what gets me excited about photography, and if our magazine could do that for other photographers, then that’s awesome. And I think that’s what people, even like some of our issues are not as good as others, some of the photos we run aren’t that good, but I think it’s the effort and just the community we created that people appreciate.

VP: Even people that are not photographers, I know some fashion people that are into it you know?

RP: [Laughter] That’s a trip, that’s cool.

VP: Yeah, So what does the future have in store for Hamburger Eyes? What are your plans?

RP: Future plans? Just more of the same, it’s hard enough just putting out the magazine, it very expensive so I just want to keep putting it out, we haven’t put out one in a while so were planning for it, hopefully.

VP: You guys are on Issue 13?

RP: Yeah hopefully issue 14 will come out within the next three months, that’s my plan, well see though, it’s getting harder and harder to raise funds for it.

VP: I understand. It’s a lot of work.

RP: Yeah a lot of effort, I love it though you know I love what we do, I think for now we have a couple other zines that were gonna put out, couple of small self published books. Some stuff we’re working on right now and hopefully that stuff, well make some money off that to put out the Hamburger Eyes.

VP: It’s definitely something to look forward to, for the audience, like every time a new issue comes out, were like, let go get it!

RP: Yeah.

VP: Did you start Hamburger Eyes by yourself?

RP: Kinda yeah, well I was doing zines, actually I’ve been doing zines and drawings way before Hamburger Eyes.

VP: When you guys first started, it was pretty much Xerox copies right?

RP: Yeah I worked at Kinko’s for like four years, I also worked at copy central, I worked at Kinko’s, and I was making zines, I’m kinda into collaborating with people, I would ask people for photos, my friend Stefan would always give me tons of photos and me and Stefan made this one photo zine together and it came out awesome, so we were making photo zines.

VP: Stefan Simikich?

RP: Yeah this is like way before Hamburger Eyes, so him, my brother and other people, like every time I’d make a zine I’d just call him and ask for photos, I’d make another one and then one day, I was like, I’m going to make one called Hamburger Eyes, I’d run a bunch of photos, left some open spots and ask my friends for photos and then for some reason, out of all the other ones we did, everyone liked that one, no one cared about the other ones, maybe they did, but they really liked Hamburger Eyes so we just kept it going

VP: So how did you start getting it out there?

RP: I was working at Kinko’s, I was living in Hawaii, I made the first issue in Sand Diego working at Kinko’s, and I made like 30 copies, then I moved to Hawaii and I made the second, third, and fourth issue while living in Hawaii, I was working at Kinko’s in Hawaii and my brother was working at UCSF in the copy department, so between him and me, were making like 500 copies, and we used to give them away, we didn’t think about selling them or anything, then by the fourth issue, we would start asking our friends to put ads for their companies, and then by the fifth issue, we were selling ads so we were able to go offset and printing on glossy paper.

VP: I was looking at issue number 6 and it was a trip because it’s so different from issue number 13, you know?

RP: Yeah, Yeah, I weird out, you kinda look at stuff and think about the age, I mean that’s what’s great about photography, you look at photos, like right now you might hate them, but like five years from now it’s like I love these photos, I used to hate these photos, things like that, definitely, if you look at old issues of Hamburger Eyes till now, you can kinda see, what we we’re into,

VP: Sort of like a progression

RP: Yeah, you could tell that were young.

VP: When you first started, what sort of people did you look up to in photography?

RP: Yeah all the Magnum guys, Robert Capa, Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, huge fan, Robert Frank, normal dudes that are black and white dudes.

VP: This is only for the photo nerds, but what equipment do you use? Does it matter to you?

RP: It doesn’t really matter, but my main guns are my Nikons. Also I have a small collection of point n shoot cameras, I always have one of those on me. I have a couple of drawers of cameras, some of them work, some of them don’t.

VP: We are on a crazy transitional time nowadays with technology and art, what is your opinion of analog photography? Would you say that digital photography has a chance of ever substituting the old school way of capturing light?

RP: I always felt like analog and digital are 2 different species. Some people are cat people, some people are dog people, some are both. I personally love being in the darkroom, maybe I have a chemical dependency. But, some of my clients prefer the workflow of digital, and I provide whatever format they want.

VP: What would you say to young people that are coming up and want to be photographers? What advice would you give them?

RP: My main advice to anyone is just stay busy, it think it’s very easy to get caught up with a job, or some other stupid stuff which is to stay shooting, like I see guys shoot a specific body of work and then they don’t shoot anything for like five years you know, so it’s like come on man let’s see some new stuff. That’s my main advice, to stay productive, it’s hard, sometimes you just want to go chill and do nothing, for me I have lots of Hobbies, I play music, I like making videos, I have like a personal goal to make movies, but you know I get lazy, or busy with other stuff.

Folks, if you haven't already, make sure to check out Ray Potes and Hamburger Eyes , We are sure you will enjoy it.

Photographer to watch: Angela Lanyon

2010-08-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

This girl takes photography seriously. Shooting primarily with film, she switches from 35 mm to medium format. How did you hear about Dust? I randomly went to this party, and it happened to be the first release party for Dust.
How long have you been shooting? On and off for 5 years
What inspires you to shoot with film rather than digital? I don't have a digital camera, and tend to shoot too many pictures when I borrow/rent one. I like the way film sounds when it advances and rewinds and is overall less stressful than shooting digitally.
Is there an underlying quality that is seen throughout your images? Im not sure, themes i focus on rotate and don't really know what its about until I look at a couple months worths of images.
Who inspires you? recently....jesse Ficks and the Maya Daren film he showed me... "Meshes of the Afternoon"
Since you're so close to graduating- do you feel a sort of panic coming? Or is it a rush of excitement ? I do have moments of panic, but mostly I'm just excited to start living without the structure of college.

Dust introduces Angela Lanyon.

Check out more of Angela's work at www.AngelaLanyon.com

NEW DUST MAG!! XPECT NOTHING

2010-08-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

Our new issue is our DUST MAG xpect nothing

0, 1, 2 is FINALLY OUT! We are now on our 3^rd issue , for the past couple of months we the dust team have been pretty busy trying to put this together and we're happy to say that we are finally done. The new thing about this issue is that we have two features. Atsuko Morita’s WHO WAS I? WHO AM I? WHO WILL I BE? And photos by the talented never forgotten Luis Prieto R.I.P.

The DUST team would like to say thank you too all the contributors for this issue and the past ones. We also would like to thank Needles And Pens and Hamburger Eyes for helping us out from issue #0 you guys are the light in our enlargers…

THANK YOU ALL!

You can get our mags from Hamburger Eyes or Hamburger Eyeland

Also at Needles And Pins

Nicholas Albrecht

Julia Comita

Irwin Lewis

Victor Prieto

Ivan Feerman

Apologies for falling behind...

2010-05-13T23:42:00.000-07:00

Finals are kicking everyone's ass so sorry for not updating this little guy. The boys and I have decided to do our Photographers to Watch as a bi-weekly update instead of once a month. So if you would like to nominate someone or yourself send us your images and we'll reply back promptly.
Enjoy these amazing photos from Theo Slavin, a documentary photographer who is in his 3rd year at Academy of Art University.

When did you start making photographs- Uhm... I always had a disposable camera ever since I was a little kid but I guess in my Junior Year of high school I became really serious. My dad gave me his old automatic minolta SLR and I just started walking around and took photos. It kind of just stuck.
Have you seen your photography develop over the years? How much have you grown technically & creatively?- Well I dont suck as much anymore. I've figured out what I want to do- Ive shot street photography for a long time, I just have become more comfortable with how I shoot. I feel I've figured out my style and I feel since I know how to tell a story I know what works for me. I can see work from my friends and have gotten feedback from my teachers and I know how to refine my work in a way that fits my style.
How did you hear about DUST- I was standing outside of school about a year ago- and Victor came up to me and told me he wanted to start a zine that was just black and white film. And then I met Irwin through him. He asked me to submit some stuff and I became real good friends with all them.
Why do you prefer film over digital?- I just think film feels organic and I feel art should be organic. I know how to use digital and I know how it works but I think when you see a film print you can almost eat it- the way the tones are, the way the grain is and how fucking beautiful it is. I think digital has it's place, but I'm not mathematical enough.. I feel anything I've taken digitally I wouldn't want to see it on the wall or see it in a book.
Is there anyone that influences you- Well the reason why I picked up the camera was because of Robert Franks' The Americans and Avedons' The American West. I'm really interested in Hunter S. Thompson and kerowack. The rhythm they write in is very musical which influences my work - I want the rhythm of their words to correlate to my photography.

Mark Quines Photographer of the month!

2010-04-18T10:48:00.000-07:00
DUST mag. is a photography zine /photo book that focus’s only on black and white film photography. It contains photos from a wide range of fine art, documentary, street, and fashion photography. Every month on our blog (dust-mag.blogspot.com) we introduce and interview a hard working serious photographer and ask them questions about their work and inspiration. For this month I interviewed and sat down with Mark Qunies a fine art photographer from the Bay Area, studying photography at the Academy of Art University.
How did you get into Photography?
Mark - I started shooting concert photography, I remember my earliest memory that my brother took me to a show, and one of the first things I noticed was this photographer standing on this bar, and I thought to myself that looks so fucking badass. After I started to bring my camera to shows and following brother. My photography started to grow a lot more when I was doing concert photography.
Do you still do concert photography?
Mark- I used to do a lot last year, but now my work is more different. Now I shoot more stuff on tripod, taking my time and I don’t shoot that much people its sort of the opposite direction
Who inspires you in your photography?
Mark- William Eggleston, my family, music, and a lot of people at school inspires me cause your working with them and constantly seeing what they are doing and makes me want to keep on working their keeping me motivated.
Why do you prefer shooting film or digital?
Mark- I like shooting film a lot more; it’s a different process from digital. I remember in class I saw everybody with a digital SLR, and I was thinking that I should probably get a digital SLR too. And so I got one and all the pictures that I took I really didn’t like them I shoot differently than how I shot with my film camera. Digital is so instance you take a picture and you look at it, but with film its more “hands on” and you have to be more meticulous about your decision and the quality is really good. I just like the quality and process.
You're working on photographing covered cars at night, what started you to do this project and how did you get inspired?
Mark- when I think about a project it kind of comes to me. So at nighttime what I noticed was these covered cars, and how they are really ambiguous and they’re like hiding. I can see these cars like portraits of people it was like taking a picture of myself. These cars are hiding, insecure, and some of the cars are by themselves and I can kind of relate to that.
How did you hear about Dust Magazine? Mark- I heard it from Sabastian, it was at his birthday party and he introduced me to Victor and Luis Prieto. And he told me that Victor and Irwin are doing this Magazine and I should submit some of my stuff. And so that was the first time I heard of dust.
What are you thoughts about DUST MAG ?
Mark- I really like it, its like a story, I don’t know anybody at school that’s done a zine and mesh a lot of talented photographers its sort of like PUNK in a way…
If you had only one thing to say or advice to give to someone, what would you say to him or her? Mark- Do what you love to do and keep on doing it.

Check out more of Marks work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/92188050@N00/

Photographer to Watch: Anastasiia Sapon

2010-02-07T22:44:00.000-08:00
Hey! Check this girl out! Anastasiia Sapon is Dust's first Photographer to Watch Monthly. Anastasiia has been making photographs since 2008 and is an amazing talent. Anastasiia is currently living in San Francisco and is from Ukraine.

Where are you From? I was born in Ukraine, but I spent the first 6 years of my life in Kazakhstan. Our family moved a lot. I had 6 different schools; there were so many places that I called home, and so many people who I can call friends. I guess I can say that traveling is in my blood. I always try to think about where I have been and who I meet and what I have seen. The last time when I saw my family was October 22 2007.

When did you start shooting? I took my first photographs in Reno, Nevada 2008 and then it became a reality that this is what I want to do. In Ukraine I didn't have this opportunity. I worked hard at my internship and after I got my paycheck I bought my first camera. Sometimes I see the world in frames even if I don't have my camera on me. And yes it's distractive sometimes.

Anybody or anything influence you on your photography? It will explain everything when I tell you that I didn't even know who Richard Avedon was until I went to school for photography. So I'm like a brand new sheet of paper. But I'm always trying to learn something new- from well known photographers that you can find in any book, to teachers or classmates, or friends. But life in general is the biggest influence in my photography.

What would you like to be doing after you graduate? I would love to do what I love and love what I do.

Do you prefer film over digital? Maybe it's sounds silly but when I shoot film, it comes from the heart. I will put as much care into each frame that I took. But I'm not a digital hater or something I love my digital camera as well!

How did you hear about DUST? I heard about DUST from my teacher Emilio, and than I met DUST people who I can call my friends now.
Anything else? I just want to say that photography is fun and I'm trying to keep it fun. It's should be from your heart. I also want to say thank you to my parents for everyday support and love. And special Thank you to Oksana and Kirill Guliaievy, for everything what they did for me. Love Anastasiia

Anastasiia Sapon 2010

Follow Anastasiia's work at
AnastasiiaSapon.com & Flickr

Dust is now online!

2010-02-02T17:16:00.001-08:00
After much talk and what not, Dust is now finally online. But don't worry we're not going digital! Dust mag is all about shooting film and the love for photography. We are all creating images on a large range from still life, to fashion and editorial, to fine art documentary. Dust is not just about objective photography but most importantly coming together and exploring new ideas and concepts through the visions and sounds of imagery. We have done so by unifying and coming together for the common interest and admiration of film. Through a collaborative effort, our object is to encourage others to shoot more film and to view the world as we see it through our lens. This is the technique of inspiration.
Victor Prieto

Amanda Smith

Josefin Olander

Julia Comita

Annemieke Dodd

Anastasiia Sapon

Pernilla Persson

Theo Slavin

William Campos

Cass Kissam

Kyle Beserra

Julia Comita

Anastasiia Sapon

Kevin Whittaker

Aimee Guymon

Lindsey Leger

Unnikrishnan

Nicholas Albrecht

Nicholas Albrecht

Julia Comita

Amanda Boe

Kyle Beserra

Annemieke Dodd

Annemieke Dodd

Irwin Lewis

Luis Prieto

Elena Carrasco

Luis Priteo

Emilio Banuelos

Sebastian Gladstone

Emilio Banuelos

Anastasiia Sapon

Sumit Kohli

Unnikrishnan

Irwin Lewis

Marzette Henderson

Marzette Henderson