interview: james june park

Your name, and where you live?

James June Park. I currently live in Portland, Oregon.

First thing that came into your mind this morning?

Earl gray tea and the looming weather.

Why Photography? What brought you to it?

Photography to me embodies many of my interests at once - cinema, music, language, and the uniquely human capacity to express and experience the world through reflections of ourselves. I can definitely say that cinema played a large part in my initial interest in photography. Whether it was a visual quality to a scene in a film or a subjective and emotive experience in the narrative, I remember wanting to somehow capture this on my own. So I picked up a vintage camera and started from there. I see it now as taking "stills" from my own movie.

The Cinema-Look is a huge trait i see in your photos. Are there any movies in particular that inspires you? Overall, what does inspire you?

My taste for films is pretty wide ranged, but some good examples are: 'The Mirror' by Andrei Tarkovsky, 'Un Homme Qui Dort' by Bernard Queysanne, 'Stranger Than Paradise' by Jim Jarmusch, 'La Double Vie de Veronique' by Krzysztof Kieslowski, 'Zentropa' by Lars Von Trier, 'Mother and Son' by Aleksandr Sokurov. As far as my overall influences, I think it all comes down to a few seconds at any given moment. The light, something fleeting that catches your eye. This is why I carry a camera with me almost everywhere I go.

What equipment do you use?

Exakta 35mm, Ikoflex TLR, Pentacon Six TL, Hasselblad 500C.

Film dominates your stream. Why not Digital?

Well, I think that digital technology is great in general; it's convenient. But I just prefer the look of film. There's a warmth and depth to analog which lends well to the images that I want to create. I like it because it's never really perfect. I'm even a big fan of analog synth bands of the late 70's and early 80's for the same reasons. I also like the fact that the basic process of photography hasn't changed since it was invented. I will never stop being fascinated by the idea that I am catching an image via light through a mirror in a little box, and that it then gets transformed by chemicals to make the picture. It's magic!

Is there anyone your dying to shoot, famous or someone you know, dead or alive?

Isabelle Huppert.

Your house is on fire! you can only take one thing: your camera or computer?

Computer. This way I can immediately start looking for a new house and a new camera!

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flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7412344@N04/

interview: samantha casolari

Your name and where you live?

Samantha Casolari / live in Brooklyn NY


Why photography? What brought you to it?

I am not quite sure why photography. I fell in love with it one day, looking at a picture and it felt so right and what surrounded me watched through lenses felt so right, that I was captured right away.


Your stream's driven by a strong fashion base. How has fashion impacted your work?

Fashion happened in my life almost by chance. I was asked to cover Milan men's fashion week in June, mostly backstage, and I approached it as a reportage. However the work that came out was a little bit different and I realized that I can mix reportage with a more creative/surreal way of representing reality without changing it or manipulating it. I have been experimenting quite a bit in the past year with light, film and lenses and for the first time I used those little experiments while shooting a story. With the same approach I shot the look book for a friend of mine this past summer, and I realized that it could easily be applied to a fashion story. That is how I came to shoot NY and Milan fashion week just now. These shoots were all amazing experiences and even if they were not real fashion stories they opened my mind towards new ways to shoot as well as new subjects to shoot. It is as if photography showed me an entire new world.


There has to be a root for every photographer. What inspires you to create such beautiful and nostalgic work?

As for inspiration, it comes from daydreaming and music. I have always been with my head over the clouds, all the time, watching my life like a long movie with different soundtracks, and I guess I translate that into images. I am not quite sure about the nostalgic, meaning where it comes from. I am a little bit of a nostalgic too...so I am sure it had to come out in my pictures at some point.

What equipment do you use?

I use a old Nikon FM10 and I just started using my dad's old Pentax ME Super. However for assignments given the tight deadlines you usually shoot digital...


Film or Digital? Why?

I prefer film to digital just because it portrays the world as I see it and reality as I perceive it.


Is photography something you would take throughout your life? Or is it considered a small hobby for now?


Well I have been working as professional photographer for the past three years and a half, so I would not consider photography a small hobby for me. And I can't conceive doing anything else at all.

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samanthas flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samanthanyc/

interview: oliver bryce yates

Your name, age, and where you live?

Oliver Bryce Yates, 24 - Getting on I know haha, Sydney Australia.

Why photography? What brought you to it, and gave you such a passion for it?

I was drawn to photography by the ease in which images can be executed. Unlike other art mediums
photography is all but instant.

I see film is the major form of your work. Why not digital?

Quite simply I don't like the color range and the way in which the majority of digital photographs look. You can't make a digital photo look like medium format or even 35mm, it’s something about being a chemical based process that produces beautiful images even if you have very little skill. Everyone is more or less in the same boat with film. I think that just having an organic process like film means that you have to pay more attention when you are shooting; it’s not a case of checking the viewfinder and reshooting.

Film is banished, forever. Now what?

If there was a digital camera that produced the same results I would of course start using that. I’m not a purist. If however I couldn't get the same style I get now I would probably move onto another art medium (God I hope that doesn't come off as cocky as it looks haha)

How much support do you receive from your friends and family? Do most of them know about what you do?

On a whole they support what I am doing and I am thankful that the people around me are happy to be photographed. It makes life that bit easier when people are comfortable with having their picture taken.


Since starting in 2009, how far has flickr gotten you? What has been the best things that happened to you?

Flickr is somewhat of a love/hate affair. I like the fact that it has exposed me to people's work that I perhaps would not have seen otherwise, but I am not a fan of the way you cannot truly organize your photographs to work together in a series. It has though allowed me to orchestrate an exhibition here in Australia that I would not have been able to do without the website. So I guess you take the good with the bad.


i asked a 4th estate member at random, and jordandavidsmall, would like to ask: after looking through your portfolio, I’m curious about how the elements of your process shape your photos. how do you balance the things you do before you click the shutter with the things you do after you get negatives back? For example, are you thinking about the fact that it's a double exposure when you are shooting? And on the other end, how much importance do you place on post-processing, like editing or cropping?

I originally had a camera which allowed for repeating frames, so all the double exposures were very much planned out. As for how much emphasis I place on post production I keep it to simply scanning and removing any dust off the negatives. I am not a massive fan of relying on fixing up mistakes later and on the off event that I have works that I want to use in a show the option to hand print the works is a huge bonus.


what would be your biggest inspirations from day-to-day?

Most probably the people around me, it would be a pretty boring existence without them. I am also really inspired by magazines and photographic books, I think it was one of the reasons I was drawn to photography.

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flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39763273@N04/

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interview: aleyn comprendio

Your name, where you live, and eye color?

I’m Aleyn Comprendio which is actually not the real spelling of my first name but it’s easier for people to remember it that way, so I let that be. I am from a small province in the Philippines called Iloilo and I'm pure Filipino so my eye color is dark brown.


Why photography? What brought you to it, and gave you such a passion for it?

All I can say is that through taking pictures, it allowed me to share to the world, the world I've always wanted to be in. Also, photography gave me a way to express who I truly am, in a rather informal way since I am not really good at describing myself in words.

It used to be just to make myself look pretty. It's not after I tried taking pictures of other people that I later discovered that I can make them as subjects of these visions I have in my head. Having to live far out of big cities, it gave me the passion to execute these visions all the time, mainly because I don't have to scout on almost ethereal places for I am blessed to be near one. Although I must say that not all photographers even knew these places exists in where we're living. I have been asked about that a millions times. I guess we're all too caught up with having to look for good spots in other places to get good pictures that we forget that the best ones are right in front of us.


From day-to-day, what are your biggest inspirations?

My dreams. But I won't limit it to that. I would say music, films, children's classic books, frequent travelling, and the internet (where I get inspirations for most of the styling and clothes).

What equipment do you use?

I use different DSLRs I can get my hands on since I don't have my own yet (God knows when I'll buy one) and a Pentax ME that a good friend is too nice to let me have for a while.

How far are you willing to take your photography?

How far? That I do not know yet. Currently, I treat this as just sort of a therapy; an outlet and I'm happy that way. In fact, I am already happy and contented to see that I inspire people
with my photos. I believe that that is just my role in this field. Being famous and all would be another story and I refuse to think about it.

Is it something you plan to carry with you as you get older or is it just another hobby?

Photography already has its place in my heart and that I don't think time and age or anything will hinder me from creating these visions I have in my head.

Any words on this photographer: Tim walker?

Tim Walker is already an icon and I cannot say bad things about him for the fear of getting stoned at. But seriously, Tim Walker is one of those people that we are thankful for existing in this world. His photos are what people thirst for since forever. He has the courage to create something mundane into something otherworldly and I admire him so much because of that. He is and still remains to be one of my favorite photographers.

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flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25214371@N05/

blog: http://paperxlove.blogspot.com/

interview: viktor gårdsäter

I sat down with Viktor Gårdsäter, who helped me make fourth estates official first interview. Not only does he have beautiful photography, but a great head on his shoulders. please enjoy!

What made you get into photography?

I didn’t get in to film school so instead I went traveling (find-myself-trip) to central and South America. With me I brought a little digital camera and I discovered photography for real (did a class earlier in college but back then I was all into film). When I got home I bought a SLR.

Are there any particular inspirations?

well. A part from just scanning the web for great artists, which I do almost daily, I get inspired from blogs like Booooooom, Svärta and such. Lately I discovered fotografi.tumblr.com/ . Great stuff there. And then off course, "Daily life". I really like Simon Roberts: we-english.co.uk/photos/We-English-30.jpg

Any certain objects or scenes you like shooting most?


my photography often deals with topics such as loneliness in the big city and the search to find meaning and happiness. How people relate to each other. The struggle to really connect. I like stuff that is somehow out of the place. Like misfits. I also like to find and capture these small stories that go around everywhere.


Digital or film?

I use a Hasselblad medium format camera from the 50s, a Nikon D3 and a old German miniature camera called PORST. No one is better or worse, just different. But I don’t care about the technique, whatever works.



Your house is on fire! And you can only take one thing: your camera or computer?

Camera I think. So I can take pictures of the fire ;)

Would you love to take photography throughout your life? and how much does photography mean to you?

Photography is more or less the only thing I’m good at. So, it means everything. Not that I sometime wouldn’t get a 9-5 job. Actually I think maybe I will. But all the spare time I always got a camera on my shoulder and in every day life I some how put in the aspect of photography in to everything. Its just work that way :)











flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35507203@N03/
site: http://www.gardsater.se/