Hampus Bovbjerg-Grip is 19 and loves Q-tips.
MOSSLESS: You scream in your sleep sometimes?
HAMPUS BOVBJERG-GRIP: You know the thing that your body does sometimes when you’re just falling asleep? You twitch because your brain is reacting to your pulse going down and it sends out like… some kind of signal to resuscitate you? Sometimes I scream when that happens. Or just when I’m having a nightmare, or when I get suddenly woken up. Or when I get scared by something when I wake up.
My girlfiend came over last week and I was asleep so she just walked in, and when I woke up she was there, staring at my face, made me scream. A lot.
ML: Do you think it has anything to do with your photos?
HBG: Nope.
ML: Do you have any habits when you shoot?
HBG: Usually I just shoot people I know unplanned, just… when I’m with them, doing whatever, I have trouble with arranging images. The landscape/nature-shots or the ‘industrial’ shots on the other hand I usually think hey that place is cool I’m going to go there, it’s usually someplace that’s fairly close, last wednesday I went to this island, Alnö, just outside my city.
I went to New York this spring and I thought that I was going to get so many great shots, shot a lot and when I came back I was like… fuck I get better shots than this by walking a mile with my camera around my house on a boring ass wednesday.
I think I shoot a lot of boring everyday places and things, and try to see something special in that, I don’t like the extraordinary very much.
Also apparently I also do this weird frog pose when I shoot, the chinese squat! I don’t know if I think it’s weird… just… people have said it’s weird.
ML: What’s this music you mentioned?
HBG: It’s my… creative relief. I think it’s good to have something on the side that you don’t feel as pressured to perform while doing, or in my case, can do without leaving your apartment.
At least for me it is.
12:00 pm • 7 November 2009
Adam Cohen is 23 and considers himself extremely lucky to have Julie Simon for a girlfriend.
MOSSLESS: Where are you from and what’s it like there?
ADAM JASON COHEN: I am from New Jersey. I enjoy the fact that a lot of people talk down about it and make fun of it. Growing up in New Jersey builds character. I loved when I was living in Boston and going to school and meeting people from the middle of nowhere who barely knew how to tie their own shoes without mommy and daddy not being there. It’s also the most diverse state in the country. We have people from everywhere. You get to learn about other peoples and their cultures and way’s of life. We also have about a hundred miles of shores, mountains, farmlands, forests, pollution, and cities that people would be afraid to even drive through.
ML: You’ve been taking classes at New York’s International Center of Photography- how’s that?
AC: It’s great. I haven’t been there for too long, but from what I’ve seen I have been impressed.
ML: What camera do you wish you’d have?
AC: I only own two cameras. I have a Mamiya 7 with a 65mm lens and a Olympus Stylus Epic that I bought for three dollars. I actually own more flashes than cameras. I have three of those. Honestly, I don’t need or wish for anymore equipment than I already own. I am not a gear geek, so collecting cameras does not interest me. I collect photographs.
ML: What’s you favourite thing to have for breakfast?
AC: I almost never eat breakfast. Coffee, glass of orange juice, and a ciggerette and I’m set until dinner.
12:00 pm • 5 November 2009
Ben Blacket is 32 and a voice is telling him that he has to consider some sort of career.
ML: As soon as I saw your photos I thought of Australia. It’s odd that what’s in the photos could be mistaken as American suburbs, yet there’s something distinctly Australian in them. Do you know why that is?
BB: Most of my photos tend to hone in on a detail, rather than provide an overall perspective, so they could appear fairly generic. If we look at our built environments close up, yours and mine are pretty similar and could be mistaken for one another, until we pick up the subtle differences, like the cars, the signage, the architecture, that give away our identity. I think it’s just these elements in a photo that make them unmistakably American, or Australian. There’s a lot of brown brick, weatherboard & wheelie bins in my suburb! It’s interesting how our surroundings can become so familiar, we don’t even notice something that could be hilarious or typically Australian to you. I try to look at my own backyard like you would - through the eyes of a foreigner or a tourist. I’ve travelled overseas a bit (including America) and regret not carrying a camera with me - I’m just trying to make up for it.
ML: What’s your favourite thing about just walking around?
BB: Knowing I’m not in a hurry, don’t have to be anywhere and the further I walk, the more photo opportunities I might come across. And the feeling of being in the zone, sort of a heightened awareness.
ML: How’s being a photographer’s assistant going?
BB: The opposite to what I just described! It’s the photographers who aren’t condescending or highly strung that make it all worthwhile.
ML: So far, where have you had the best cup of espresso?
BB: My favourite little shop in my neck of the woods, called “In the Woods”. I wish I could afford to buy more than just an espresso. Fortunately, they have small cups.
12:00 pm • 3 November 2009
Igor Starkov is 29 and from St. Petersburg.
MOSSLESS: What’s the story behind this boy? What made his reaquaintance so important to you?
IGOR STARKOV: This boy is my son. I deliberately haven’t mentioned that in my text. The situation is that I began to write captions when just’ve scanned images. And stopped with an image depicting a wall. “The wall typical for Crimea, which for a long time…” And I left this. Let it be some understatement. It’s not reportage story. Sure, I could write about arguing with his mother seven years ago and the same things… But why? He and his big world - it’s a point of this story.
ML: What’s happened since then between you and Dima?
IS: This story was made just about four weeks ago. Now we are communicating through skype. I am in St. Petersburg and he is standing in Crimea.
ML: What do you think is your best photo?
IS: My favourite work is undoubtedly this image.
ML: I’m not too familiar with Russian photographers. Do you have any favourites that you could expose me to?
IS: Alnis Stakle. I suppose I like his works more than any others’. He is from Latvia, former republic of USSR. And Rena Effendi, from Azerbaijan. We all speak with the same language and live in a common cultural space. From young photographers, Elena Chernyak from St. Petersburg. Her work is really excellent. She is just 20 years old.
12:00 pm • 1 November 2009
Thomas Prior is 30 and is finally getting his shit together.
MOSSLESS: Do you have a camera on you all the time?
TOM PRIOR: No. I used to when I had a real small camera. I carried a camera with me all the time in my early 20’s but sold it for rent money. Now I shoot everything with a medium format or a big digital.
ML: What kind of lighting do you use?
TP: Just a little flash on a pc cord for fill. Most of the time I use natural light.
ML: Where are most of these places you shoot?
TP: This picture is one of the few that I took in New York… its in my apartment hallway here in Brooklyn. I don’t like shooting here and usually self fund trips or shoot snaps when I go on assisting jobs to other parts of the world.
ML: Who do you work for?
TP: I work for Luis Sanchis as his assistant/printer/retoucher. I’ve been with him for 10 years… its more of a friend thing, and the technical photo stuff is kind of second nature by now.
12:00 pm • 30 October 2009
