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Michael Borek and I met about six years ago. We were both living in Washington, DC and I started attending a monthly critique group that he was a participant in. While getting to know him, and spending a lot of time talking about photography and art, I have grown to trust and value his opinion about photographs, in particular to the larger context of artmaking.

His work has strong tendencies toward surrealism and believes strongly that what is left out of the frame is equally as important as what is in it. He likes mystery in his images which is exemplified not only in the subjects, or compositions, but in the consistent color palette that emerges in his prints. He is a believer in craft, in conceptual foundation and the presentation of art being just as important as the creation of it.

Michael stayed with me during both Photolucida 2009 when we were both participants and during Photolucida 2011 where he alone went through the reviews. I spoke with him last in my run of interviews and wanted to talk to him about his influences, his experiences at the reviews, getting feedback, and about his latest series titled Scranton Lace.

Selections from Michael Borek’s Scranton Lace:

Scranton Lace #4801. © Michael Borek.

Scranton Lace #7553. © Michael Borek.

Scranton Lace #6305. © Michael Borek.

Scranton Lace #7594. © Michael Borek.

Scranton Lace #6467. © Michael Borek.

Scranton Lace #6302. © Michael Borek.

Scranton Lace #6313. © Michael Borek.

Scranton Lace #7668. © Michael Borek.

Scranton Lace #7460. © Michael Borek.

Scranton Lace #6368. © Michael Borek.

To learn more about Michael’s work, visit his website at www.michaelborek.com. To read another interview with the Washington City Paper, click here.

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When I first looked at the roster of photographers coming to Photolucida, I knew immediately that I wanted to meet photographer Rania Matar. Born and raised in Lebanon, Rania moved to the U.S. in 1984. She studied architecture at the American University of Beirut and Cornell University, and worked as an architect before studying photography at New England School of Photography and the Maine Photographic Workshops in Mexico. She currently works full-time as a photographer, teaches documentary photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and in Lebanon’s refugee camps in the summer with assistance from non-governmental organizations.

Her camera focuses primarily on women and women’s issues. Her first book, Ordinary Lives is a series of images taken in refugee camps in Lebanon. She used the word “beauty” many times in our interview, and I find a great deal of it in her photographs—something you wouldn’t necessarily expect to find in refugee camps. She states about that series, “Despite such a gloomy picture, I found inspiration in the warmth and hospitality of people struggling to keep their roots and culture alive, and in their incredible capacity to adapt to their circumstances, and to make the best of the little the camps offer them, generation after generation.” I was drawn to Rania’s work immediately when I first saw it because it felt like a woman’s interpretation of circumstances normally photographed by men, and the perspective is clearly unique.

When I met her, she had a book dummy for a new series called A Girl and Her Room which I’m happy to say will be published in Spring, 2012. She states about that work, “I initially started this work focusing on teenage girls in the United States and eventually expanded the project to include girls from the two worlds I am most familiar with, the two worlds I experienced myself as a teen and a young twenty year old: the United States and the Middle East. I became fascinated with the similar issues girls at that age face, regardless of culture, religion and background, as they learn to deal with all the pressures that arise as they become consciously aware of the surrounding world wherever this may be.” I found these images (especially because I grew up with two sisters and I now have three nieces) to be intimate and beautiful, and while different from her earlier work, clearly projecting the same voice of the artist—one encouraging of us viewers to find beauty, humility and comfort in her images.

I wanted to ask Rania about her work, her family life, how her training as an architect influences her photography, and where her work heading.

A sample from Ordinary Lives:

Barbie Girl, Beirut 2006. © Rania Matar.

Defiant, Beirut 2006. © Rania Matar.

Girl and Rocket Hole, Aita El Chaab Lebanon 2006. © Rania Matar.

Hanging Laundry, Aita El Chaab Lebanon 2006. © Rania Matar.

Open Window, Bourj El Shamali Camp, Tyre Lebanon 2005. © Rania Matar.

A sample from A Girl and Her Room:

Krystal 17 #1, Boston MA, 2009. © Rania Matar.

Christilla 19, Rabieh Lebanon, 2010. © Rania Matar.

Emma 18, Brookline MA, 2009. © Rania Matar.

Rim 19, Doha Lebanon, 2010. © Rania Matar.

Helen Mei 18, Boston MA, 2010. © Rania Matar.

To learn more about Rania’s work, visit her website at www.raniamatar.com. To learn more about Rania’s forthcoming book, “A Girl and Her Room,” please visit the publisher’s website by clicking here.

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Although it seems like much longer, I met photographer Kirk Crippens a year and a half ago at PhotoAlliance’s annual portfolio review event in San Francisco. We met only briefly there, but have since formed a friendship based on mutual respect for each other’s dedication to photography, and an ability to share information, frustrations, and lessons learned in how to progress our work, and ability to share it.

Kirk focuses on a topic of great interest to me, the culturally abandoned. With images ranging from San Quentin inmates to foreclosed houses, to bankrupted car dealerships, his photographs touch upon our failures as a culture in a way that is extremely accessible.

In sitting down at Photolucida (in the lobby of the hotel – sorry for the shoddy sound quality), I wanted him to open up about what he loves about photography, but also some of the nitty gritty of his process—gaining access to difficult sites to photograph, finding sustainability as an artist, and what his hopes were for Photolucida.

Just a side note on the last section of the interview… It remained unnamed during our talk, but eventually became The Point which Kirk went on to publish with Michael Jang as his fourth Blurb book which can be viewed by clicking here.

Thank you, as always Kirk, for the inspiration and energy that you bring to the photographic community!

A sample from Foreclosure, USA:

© Kirk Crippens. All rights reserved.

© Kirk Crippens. All rights reserved.

© Kirk Crippens. All rights reserved.

© Kirk Crippens. All rights reserved.

A sample from San Quentin: Hidden Population:

© Kirk Crippens. All rights reserved.

© Kirk Crippens. All rights reserved.

© Kirk Crippens. All rights reserved.

© Kirk Crippens. All rights reserved.

A sample from The Dealership Wreck:

© Kirk Crippens. All rights reserved.

© Kirk Crippens. All rights reserved.

© Kirk Crippens. All rights reserved.

© Kirk Crippens. All rights reserved.

To see more of Kirk’s work, please visit his website at www.kirkcrippens.com.

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I can’t remember how, but a post popped up on Facebook announcing that I would be conducting interviews at Photolucida. Photographer Cat Gwynn e-mailed me almost immediately with an interest in talking. I didn’t know Cat or her work (shame on me). She sent me an extremely thoughtful e-mail, mostly about how we were both exploring the same topic, but in different ways—remnants. In her work, the images focus on the remnants of cultural excess, in mine, the remnants of loss. I felt an immediate connection with her, especially after getting more familiar with her photographs.

I was immediately drawn to Hungry – The Insatiable State of America. Originally conceived as a book project, Cat has now expanded that series into three, with Part II, Photo Omnivore at the forefront of what she was presenting at Photolucida. In the introduction to Hungry, Cat writes:

What’s in your wallet? Take control. Have it your way. Taste it all.
Think about less and enjoy more. Live richly. The future takes Visa.

Her images are richly ironic, beautifully conceived, and at times, just plain funny. I wanted to talk to her about the difficulties in getting a book published, resistance to “funny” images as fine art, and the use of text and captions in her work.

To get us in the mood to really talk consumption, she graciously bought me this 10″ wide glazed Voodoo Doughnut, for which I am forever grateful (I included the cell phone for scale).

My VooDoo Doughnut.

Cat Gwynn’s images from Hungry – The Insatiable State of America:

Approval. © Cat Gwynn.

Perfection. © Cat Gwynn.

Mate. © Cat Gwynn.

Hoard. © Cat Gwynn.

Conform. © Cat Gwynn.

Experience. © Cat Gwynn.

Cat Gwynn’s images from Photo Omnivore:

Collapse. © Cat Gwynn.

Undermined. © Cat Gwynn.

Speculation. © Cat Gwynn.

Regulate. © Cat Gwynn.

Out. © Cat Gwynn.

Empty. © Cat Gwynn.

Hope. © Cat Gwynn.

Thank you so much for the open and honest conversation, Cat. To view more of Cat’s work, please visit www.catgwynn.com.