Your
photography has a certain undertone of freedom in each photo. Are your shoots
mostly instinctual, or do you heavily plan your photo shoots?
I
guess every photograph begins with a feeling I have - like something I can’t
shake. Sometimes that will lead me to a place where I think I can capture it or
sometimes it will just take me on a hike into the woods. I’ll usually bring my
camera, either way, and sometimes a friend too. I do plan certain elements of a
photograph, like the location, but most of the time I only know what will
become of it once I’m there.
When
you consider content and form, do you see one playing a stronger role than the
other?
I
would say it’s a balance, like most things. But I think I focus mainly on
content and let the rest come naturally or later in post. I think my approach
to photography is very instinctual. If it feels right, it is right.
Your online portfolio includes a specific song for each photograph. How would you describe the relationship between the image you captured and the song you choose to accompany the photograph?
I’d like to think the songs guide the viewer closer to the
feeling I initially set out to capture. Though sometimes the songs create a
second degree of curation that may give the photograph a new meaning. So, I
guess at times, I do hope to cast the photos in a new light with the songs I
choose. Other times I’ll use the song I was listening to when I took the
photograph.
In
November, you released Haux’s The Bluest Sage. Could you tell us a bit about the culmination
of the album?
The
idea of The Bluest Sage came to me over the summer. After getting back
from a cross-country road trip in August, a sort of creative withdrawal
musically speaking, I started writing. I think about a month later I’d finished
most of the songs.
I
spent one morning in October recording the backing vocals with the talented
Emily Brouwer (the other half of Haux) and then started mixing. A couple weeks
later with the help and expertise of my friend Mike Wagz we added percussion
and the EP came full circle.
Looking
back, I think at its core The Bluest Sage resembles an arrival and a
departure from home… Somehow a place where everything looks and feels the same,
but every time you turn around you’re lost again.
How do you intertwine the meaning of your lyrics with your sound?
It’s
a natural process, I suppose. I wouldn’t say I think logically when I’m
writing. It’s very much a — start singing and don’t stop until there’s
something to come back to — kind of thing. It usually just begins with a melody
or a progression then a phrase, a verse, etc. It builds and I don’t think it
ever happens the same way twice.
What
do you want your audience – be it for your photography or music-- to take away
from your art?
In
some ways I hope that the images, the words, or the sounds come back to them at
some point and maybe they smile or nod because it makes sense at that moment.
Who
inspires you the most in your art and keeps your passion strong?
It’d
be hard not to mention the little Instagram community I’ve found. They remind
me constantly that I can always improve and explore more. But, funny enough, I
think a lot of my inspiration, or rather impulse, comes from myself. I think
I’ll be forever striving for the sights that take up the real estate of my
mind.
What
is one question no one has ever asked you of which you wish they did, and what
would your answer be?
What
do you do after you’ve climbed a mountain?
Scream
until I can no longer hear my own voice. Sounds crazy, but it’s strangely
calming.
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