Names: Synchrodogs (Tania Shcheglova and Roman Noven)

Ages: 22 and 27

Hometown: Ivano-Frankivsk, St. Petersburg
Current town: Western Ukraine

Film and/or Digital: film
First camera: Zenit, Zenit
Current camera: Contax G1, Contax G2

How long have you been taking photographs?
5 years in general, 3 together.

How did you two start working together?
Started dating.

What was your personal photography like before you met and started working together?
Hmm . . . it was quite weird–Tania was taking pictures of some childish surrealistic performances, and Roman started with shooting his pretty university teachers.

Thoughts about first images ever taken together, describe them?
Sweet like all the beauty pics.

What do you see when you look at your work now?
That we are tired of seeing it.

What do you hope others will see, if anything? Their experience?
Hope they will be puzzled.

What do you look for in an image? What makes a great photograph for you?
The picture should be memorable and taken by you and nobody else before.

Favorite artists?
Viviane Sassen since today.

Favorite authors?
None, though the last good book we read was The Holy Bible.

Favorite places online?
DIS Magazine.

Young photographers who most inspire you now?
Bruno Zhu.

What do you admire about Zhu and Sassen’s work?
Bruno because he sees things closer than we are used to, and Viviane as she has shown Africa from the other angle, you feel amused seeing it, not sorry for anything, and not shocked by the level of life, just amused.

Where do you want to take your photography, or vice versa?
Peru and Iceland.

Artists’ Playlist:
JockTalk, Be the Champ
The Weekend, The Morning (Dolor Remix)
CANiCOOL, KANIKULY KOGDA HOCHU
Active Child, You Are All I See (Dose Remix)
lo seen, another day
Emika, Professional Loving (DJ Rashad & DJ BMT Remix)
Hype Williams, Ooovrrr
Holy Other, Touch (Tri Angle 2011)
SLEEP ∞ OVER, Casual Diamond
ASAP Rocky, Bass (Prod. By Clams Casino)
Clams Casino, I’m God
Hype Williams, break4love
Stoned Boys, Whirlpool
Gang Gang Dance. House Jam.
An edited version (what’s available on YouTube) here: Featured Artists: Synchrodogs

Last question. What’s been the biggest lesson about working in collaboration?
Speak up when you have a crappy idea to talk it over and make a good idea out of it.

Artists’ link: Synchrodogs.com

Name: Amber Ortolano

Age: 15

Hometown: Honolulu, Hawaii
Current town: Lowville, New York

Film and/or Digital: Digital

First camera: Small Pentax SLR
Current camera: Nikon D5000

How long have you been taking photographs?
I have been taking photographs for about three years, since I was 12 to be exact!

Thoughts about first images ever taken, describe them?
My first images weren’t super thought-out, of course. But one photography I remember taking most vividly was when I was sitting on the steps of my sidewalk (I was 12 at the time), and I had this tin cup, filled with those little leaf type things that fly when you throw them (I don’t know the name, hahah), and I kept throwing them out of the cup, and I kept doing that until I caught them flying. I actually don’t have that image anymore, but I always remember that.

What do you see when you look at your work now?
I immediately go into the photo, which is really like walking into my brain, and I have an overwhelming amount of feelings, ranging from happiness to sadness to everything in between. That may sound a bit odd, seeing as they’re my own photos, but I don’t know. It really isn’t that odd, I’m just feeling what I felt as I was creating them.

What do you hope others will see, if anything? Their experience?
I hope people see themselves. Each one of my photos is a small moment, and they will all add up to one life, and I really hope people see that; it’s not just about being beautiful or pleasing to the eye, I want people to feel a rush of feelings, as if their whole life is flashing before them.

What do you look for in an image? What makes a great photograph for you?
I look for a fleeting moment or feeling. Life is very fragile, and I feel like photography really shows that. A great photograph makes me feel something, whether it is inspiration or the feeling to cry, or any feeling, really. When an image makes me want to cry, you know it’s great.

Favorite artists?
There are so so many; Paolo Roversi, Julia Hetta, Paulina Surys, Tara Niami, Mike Baily Gates, Lauren Poor, Sarah Moon, Chadwick Tyler, David Hamilton, Eleanor Hardwick, Erica Joy, Denis Grunstein, Deborah Turbeville, Egon Schiele, Jacqueline Riman, Natalie Kucken, Elijah Majeski, Laurence Philomene, Maja Malou, Robert Moses Joyce, Allison Scarpulla, Samuel Pritzker, Sibylle Bergemann, Wendy Bevan, William Eggleston, Ellen Rogers . . . the list goes on!

Favorite places online?
I use etsy to buy clothes for my shoots/films, and I use tumblr all the time to blog and look for inspiration!

Favorite photographs:
Robert Moses Joyce, Samuel Pritzker, Maja Malou, Natalie Kucken, Alison Scarpulla. Ahh . . . those are only some Flickr ones,  but there are far too many!

Young photographers who most inspire you now?
A lot of them are in my list of favorite artists. For example: Natalie Kucken, who is a lovely lovely friend of mine, and is so extremely talented, oh, goodness. Elijah Majeski, another friend, is so, so talented, I love the way he thinks and everything. There are so many—just refer to everyone in my list above, and you’ll instantly be inspired.

Artist’s playlist: 11 tracks from Perfume Genius, Glasser, Magic Kids, Gardens & Villa, Small Black, Still Corners, Twin Sister, Thieves Like Us, Washed Out, Craft Spells, Lana del Rey, all here.

Talk about Hallucinations, your first book?
I started thinking about making a book a year or two ago, and I finally started to make it in June of this year. It took ’til September, being that I had to take new photos, and I was very precise about them flowing with each other, etc, etc. But I’m very happy with the outcome: it’s exactly how I wanted it to look!

What did you learn from that first book? And do you have another in the works?
When I first published the book, I was worried no one would see it or want to buy it, but I got a lot of messages from people saying how they wish they could buy it, etc, etc. It actually kind of shocked me at first! I plan on making a new book sometime in the future, and it will be much different, but still me. I just want to show how much I have grown since making the book.

Beyond that, where do you want to take your photography, or vice versa?
I want do amazing things, and I feel like I’m on my way there. I have been focusing more on my film/cinematography recently, and I am currently planning a film for next year. I want to make brilliant photographs and films that make you feel every emotion possible. I’m bad at explaining myself, but I just really want to do incredible things with my life.

Artist’s links: Website, Flickr, Facebook, Vimeo, Etsy

Cecilia Majzoub on working with Wolf In A Spacesuit:
A month or so ago, I was approached by Algebra Huxley of the flawless Chicago band, Wolf In A Spacesuit (WIAS), whom I have been a fan of for a few years now. He asked me to create some work for their new album. Space-like and dreamy are just two of the words I can use to describe Wolf In A Spacesuit’s sound—they really take you away from whatever chaos is happening and allow you to let go. This is something that’s not particularly easy to find, yet WIAS does it beautifully. I feel the sound of WIAS is reflected in this artwork I’ve created, and vise versa.

As a fan of WIAS, it goes without saying that I was ecstatic about this offer, and these collages are what I made of it. I wanted to keep the pieces simple, yet visually interesting, as I try to do with every design or collage piece I create.

I’m honored to have worked such an awesome band not only because I love their music, but because working with musicians is something I want to do more than anything. I am extremely pleased with how it has turned out, and their remarkable album Safari is out now for digital download, so pick up a copy for yourself!

Band’s links: Bandcamp, Facebook, Tumblr, Myspace, Twitter
Artist’s links: Website, Flickr, Tumblr, Cargo Collective

Note: Cecilia Majzoub was our Featured Artist on October 23, and you can see, hear and read more about her here.

Name: Daniel Ribar

Age: 23

Hometown: Livonia, Michigan
Current town: Livonia, Michigan/Northern Michigan

Film and/or Digital: I try and bounce back and forth to keep things fresh, but I prefer film.

First camera: An old Polaroid camera I received for my seventh or eighth birthday.
Current camera: Leica R4 35mm and a 7D.

How long have you been taking photographs?
I started shooting my friends skateboarding and messing around in the fifth grade, and I have a bunch or random Polaroids even from before that. But I started to get serious around tenth grade, about eight years ago.

Thoughts about first images ever taken, describe them?
I just processed a roll from seventh grade earlier this year (below). It was really goofy, but neat; a lot of skateboarding stuff, images taken a moment before they should have been, but there’s something kind of interesting about them in that sense.

What do you see when you look at your work now?
I see a lot of color: that’s something I rely on very heavily now in my work. I started off taking black-and-white photo classes in high school and enjoyed them, but when I started working with color, I started to see images everywhere. I am extremely interested in relationship between colors.

What do you hope others will see, if anything? Their experience?
I’m not really sure what I hope others will see. I guess things that inspire them to explore and enjoy life.

And what do you look for in an image? What makes a great photograph for you?
I really like seeing images that remind you of the world outside your city, state, country or whatever boundary you happen to have. I think it’s really easy to stay in your comfort zone and I love seeing images of places foreign to me. Images that make me want to travel.

Talk about your interest in relationships between colors, the outdoors and travel?
I find myself paying close attention to color when I am back home, downstate in Livonia or Detroit. I don’t have the type of freedom that exists up north and end up shooting a bit more selectively, paying more attention to line and color. Of course I am conscious of colors and their relationships while up north, but I feel that when I’m home, I tend to stick around the same locations and don’t end up exploring as much as I do in the summer. Because I’m not canoeing new rivers or hiking fresh trails, that element of surprise is eliminated. I find myself looking closer at everyday objects and working with cropping much more, as well as color. I feel like this sort of season and location change keeps me in balance.

Favorite artists?
There are so many great artists out there its hard to hone in on any few but I would say in the past year, Bruno Zhu, Josef Albers and my friend Michael Burdick.

Favorite places online?
I try not to spend too much time on the internet, but I check out the Boooooom site a lot, S M O KE B A T H, as well as the Weather Channel, there are a lot of neat videos on there.

Favorite photographs:
Mike J. Huber, he  keeps me posted on what my friends are doing in the Upper Peninsula; Ryan McGinley; Nadav Kander; Phil Elverum; Michael ten Pas; Bruno Zhu.

Young photographers who most inspire you now?
Most of the people from the list above inspire me very much, but there’s something about someone new to photography that I love. Anytime I’m invited to a birthday party, I bring a disposable camera as a gift and ask to see the images when they process them. I love looking at images shot by someone who has no background with photography, someone who has fresh eyes and no history or influence.

So where do you want to take your photography, or vice versa?
I just want to keep shooting and make more books for myself. I have a few I made last year, but I would love to make a book for each season and have a disc inside of the music I had been listening to at the time, so when I’m older I’ll have shelves full of books documenting my life with music to listen to while looking through them.

Artist’s Playlist: 12 tracks by Bob Dylan, Graham Nash, Built to Spill, Frontier Ruckus, The Microphones, Mount Eerie, The Beatles, Broken Social Scene, Bibio, My Morning Jacket, Smith Westerns, Little Wings, here: Featured Artist: Daniel Ribar

Talk about the Upper Peninsula, the role Michigan plays in your photography?
A great deal of my work is shot in the northern parts of my home state, Michigan. I have a good friend who lives in the tip of the Upper Peninsula in an old mining town with rivers, lakes and cliff jumps all around him. I also have a cabin of my own about an hour south of the Mackinac bridge in Gaylord, Michigan, where I spend summers and autumns with friends. We have around 100 acres of woods, trails, and a small private lake, so there is a sense of isolation and freedom that really sets my mind at ease.

Friends and I will make trips up that are comprised of dirt bikes, fireworks, guitars, fishing, rifles, swimming, campfires, relaxing and anything else we feel like doing. I have been making these trips my whole life, and at first I started to shoot photos just to document these trips, a lot of very straightforward Polaroid shots of fish that had been caught, or group shots when we first arrived and then before we would leave, just so I would be able to remember who was there at the time. But as the years went on, I started to really use this piece of land as kind of my own large-scale studio. Here, I have the opportunity and freedom to shoot whatever I want to, whether it is a shot as simple as my grandfather’s old axe, sticking into a poplar tree, or something as bold as a friend launching a dirt bike over a mound with another friend firing a rifle in the frame.

The fact that this freedom exists on the property really excites and inspires me and allows me to focus on this love of nature I have along with the love for my friends. I’m trying to capture as many memories as I can, and if others are interested in the images I have captured, I’m honored.

Artist’s links: Website, Flickr, Tumblr, Vimeo

Name: Pierre Wayser

Hometown: Paris, France

Film and/or Digital: Pointless.
First camera: A 1952 Kodak Retina IIa.
Current camera: Any image recorders.

How long have you been taking photographs?
Since I was 12.

Thoughts about first images ever taken, describe them?
It was a goat or a bench, maybe a triumphal arch!

What do you see when you look at your work now?
Photography is just a different quality in blindness.

What do you hope others will see, if anything? Their experience?
See above.

What do you look for in an image? What makes a great photograph for you?
Great images have smelly armpits.

Favorite artists?
No favorites, but so many are interesting: Otis Redding, Anton Chekhov, Caravaggio, etc.

Favorite places online?
None.

What’s changed, if anything, in your attitude toward photography and your own work over the years?
Since I need reading lenses, I now prefer a camera with a fast autofocus.

Talk about your book Moon Can Do?
After sleeping for more than thirty years, I was suddenly awakened by the brutal death of a certain number of my relatives. So I decided to rewrite a past that was chaotic and confused, dream-readable and well-ordered. To do this, I started from photos I had taken in the early ‘70s. Hidden in a shoe box were the never-printed negatives of my youth. Finally, after several changes or mutations, and leaving out a text (Hypnagogies), I ended up making only a book of photographs, Moon Can Do, in black-and-white with a few contemporary connections.

Artist’s Playlist: 13 tracks by Fairport Convention, Otis Redding, The Undisputed Truth, Durutti Column, Small Faces, Soft Machine, The Pretty Things, The Strawbs, Terry Riley, The Velvet Underground and Brian Eno, here: Featured Artist: Pierre Wayser.

Artist’s links: Website, Blog, Meta-Holott

Name: Laura-Lynn Petrick

Age: 21 (freshly)

Hometown: Thunder bay, Ontario, Canada
Current town: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Film and/or Digital: Film, only, ever.
First camera: Yashica fx 3
Current camera: Nikon fm 10/Yashica fx 3

How long have you been taking photographs?
Roughly about six years, besides the old point-and-shoot digitals I used to screw around with when I was a young teen. I started shooting around the age of 16, fiddling around with my grandma’s/dad’s film single-reflex cameras.

Thoughts about first images ever taken, describe them?
They really represented my naïve attitude towards living; they were absent of the perspective and knowledge I have now gained from studying popular culture and city living. But I’m glad they were taken because they really bring me back to my adolescence and growing up in a small town bubble of suburbs, franchises, docile consumption, and the devaluing of creativity. They are comical, full of enthusiasm, and certainly candid.

What do you see when you look at your work now?
I definitely see a sort of aging in process, or a maturation of sorts. The content of my work has changed significantly since my move to Toronto, as I mature and become immersed in a shifting subculture, my work experiences similar changes. I have certainly had to wrap my head around a lot of things I was not exposed to in the boonies of Thunder Bay, from Chinatown after hours to dinosaurs, it’s all new to me. There’s this gradual transformation in my documentation of my surroundings.

What do you hope others will see, if anything? Their experience?
I really hope that others will see how extraordinary life is, through my seemingly simple yet complex photographs. I want them to be invited into my bedroom, workplace, shopping trips, world travels, dates, and crazy nights, and piece it all together to form their own opinions of a contemporary 21-year-old’s lifestyle. Accepting theories of postmodernity with open arms, I hope those who view my work clearly see that these contemporary identities are consistently being reconstructed through different consumptive practices, and notice the immense use of signs and images within all of us. Mainly, I really hope that viewers will see the natural beauty of the mundane state of everyday life.

What do you look for in an image? What makes a great photograph for you?
I look for mystical colours, reflections, things I’ve never seen before, natural uninterrupted emotions, unique character in the face/body, and a background rich in texture and naturist elements.

Favorite artists?
I love the work of Native mixed-media artist Carl Beam, Basquiat’s skull series, Norval Morriseau’s largescale paintings, and happily thank animator/drawer Matt Groening for the beloved The Simpsons.

Favorite places online?
I must say, I am so behind in the internet right now, I kinda need to catch up on the hot links. But I often read Disturber Mag, The Sartorialist and Street FsN for beautiful clothes. And I’m always on Craigslist and etsy looking for offers and objects to sorta spark my life up temporarily.

Favorite photographs?
I am in cahoots with the photographs of William Eggleston: my favourite is his entitled Los Alamos. I recently bumped into Nan Goldin’s work in my arts class a year ago, and am blown away by her raw imagery. These two images in particular, Smoky Car (New Hampshire, 1979) and Amanda at the Sauna (Hotel Savoy, 1994).

Young photographers who most inspire you now?
I’m always inspired by the work of Samantha Casolaris, seems like she works damn hard, yet her photos are full of grace and timelessness. Also, Luke Byrne’s work is striking and somehow embodies the essence of youth perfectly.

Talk about the side of your work that deals with drug culture? When did you start taking those photos of your friends and what compelled you to pick up the camera?
I started photographing substances and drugs around the age of 17 or 18. I was interested in documenting drugs in an alternative way from the mediums (film, television, books) most Western teens are influenced by. Mainly, I was frustrated by the dualities found in popular culture’s representation of drugs. There’s the glamorous and romantic representations, which I was always fascinated by, and there’s the addiction/life-ruining ideologies which most youth passionately reject.

In an isolated town, kids sure do get up to no good, so I brought my camera along for the ‘up and down’ journey. It’s hard to know when it’s okay to photograph because sometimes doing drugs can be an intimate and ritualistic experience, and in other more urban spaces it’s normative, social, and ‘exciting’. There have been many instances where my camera was thankfully off-duty for the night. I photograph my friends with drugs because, although they do experiment with different substances, we’re all sane, relaxed, kind, and function well in society, just looking to have fun and temporarily free the mind. I think cannabis culture is fascinating, diverse, natural, and deserves proper, positive representation, so I sure do photograph that a lot. There’s a time and a place for a drug photo, you gotta know when it’s not offensive; it has to be real, unlike what society is consistently spoon-fed.

What is it about the culture that you want to capture at this point in time?
I want to capture the countercultural youth of right now! I want to show how the counterculture is full of talented and artistic people doing great things, loudly breaking the status quo, alternatively using the environment, reappropriating commodities, critiquing the boob tube, skewing femininity, embracing the past, and enjoying modernity. Too often, youth in society are entrapped by the products, brands, and attitudes preached by the media industries, and I want to capture those who are creatively living apart from the mainstream. I’m mainly interested in capturing feeling and the complex relationship between the individual and the drug.

Artist’s Playlist: My playlist (15 tracks by Avant, Cassie, Dexter, Funky Chocolate, Instra:mental, Jacques Greene, Lerosa, M.E., Mosca, Noreaga, Omar S, Pariah, Rick Wilhite and SBTRKT) is meant for those messy, crawling-around-the-streets kinda nights, you can see it here: Garbage Museum.

So where do you want to take your photography, or vice versa?
I really want to be able to be my full-time job. I want to wake up in the mornings and get ready to be a photographer, not anything else. I want to make photography a living, shoot everything I can, I really mean everything from exotic wildlife, my best buds, emerging subcultures, advertisements . . . hell, even for big bad corporations! It’s something I’ll be forever passionate about and I want to make it my lifetime career. I want people to be able to see my in-fluxus perspective of the world through my photographs.

Artist’s links: Website, Blog, Twitter, YouTube

Name: Cecilia Majzoub

Age: 19

Hometown: San Francisco, California
Current town: San Francisco, California

Film and/or Digital:
It truly depends on the task at hand. The reliability and instantaneous product of digital is very comforting. On a more personal level, I have such a love for film. It comes off very honest. Creating light leaks is something I love to do as well. Even though the looks of film can be recreated in photoshop, it is just not the same, it does not feel as pure.

First camera:
When I reached senior year in high school, I bought myself a Diana Mini. That was probably one of the best decisions I made. I learned how I wanted to frame photos before I did anything on the technical side, since Diana’s are essentially point and shoot film cameras. Using film also taught me to be more choosy in what I decided to photograph.

Current camera:
I have quite a few, but I certainly favor some over others! For digital I use my Canon 500D, with my favored 50mm f/1.8 lens. Depending on what I’m shooting when using film, I use either my Yashica Electro 35 or my Canon AE-1. I only use the AE-1 when I shoot color, because the light leaks are so perfect, they’re something I strive for in a lot of my work. The Yashica I actually picked up at a Goodwill store here in San Francisco; I bought it for only $13. I use it only when I shoot black and white; I especially love Ilford HP5 film. Also, I just invested in a Canon Elan 7, which I’m excited to start using!

How long have you been taking photographs?
I only started taking photography more seriously my senior year in high school, so about 2009. I was set on heading into the fashion industry or illustration, but I decided otherwise and I could not have chosen a better path.

Thoughts about first images ever taken, describe them?
The first shots I took with the Diana Mini are some of my favorites. There is such an innocence to those photographs. I didn’t have too much of a thought process, I just shot what I saw because I liked what was in front of me, and for no other reason. I do not feel as though you need an emotional rationale for capturing an image. Just shoot what you want to shoot because you want to shoot it. Shoot for yourself and no one else.

What do you see when you look at your work now?
For one, I see how much I’ve grown. I feel as though you do not truly understand or appreciate an image until you understand what goes into creating it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s interesting to think about. Previous to becoming more knowledgeable about the field of photography, I was much more likely to see any image and think it was great. Now that I have familiarity with photography, I’ve become a lot more particular on what images I enjoy, and what I do not necessarily enjoy on the same level.

What do you hope others will see, if anything? Their experience?
I hope that others just enjoy the visual pieces I create. What they want to take from the experience is their decision.

What do you look for in an image? What makes a great photograph for you?
I feel that there is a line between enjoying a photograph and appreciating a photograph. For a image to catch my attention and have me call it “great,” I have to not only appreciate it for what it is, but enjoy it on a personal level as well. When I see an image and it feels as if there was much care and thought put into it, I instantaneously feel as though it is a “great” image.

Favorite artists?
Ryan McGinley is beyond brilliant. He was the first photographer who justified my urge to become a photographer myself. Jack Toohey was also a huge influence on me. I discovered his work along with Rory Cole and Maxwell Tomlinson’s through Flickr, all of which pushed my curiosity in creating images for myself. More recently, Leif Podhajsky’s work motivated me to start creating symmetrical imagery, which triggered my desire to start producing collages. Neil Krug has of late become one of my favorites as well. His images are flawless, there is no other way to describe his work.

Favorite places online?
Tumblr is a constant source of inspiration. It’s a great place to see tons of images very quickly. Flickr is also another respectable site because you can find fantastic young talent. The Berrics has recently become one of my very favorites though. The Berrics is a skateboard haven created by pro skaters Eric Koston and Steve Berra. The site provides not only video clips of skateboarding in the park itself, but it also focuses on the community and the people who work behind the scenes. Particularly, the segment Shoot All Skaters shows photographers and filmers who have worked in the skateboard community. The videos give the viewer perfect insight into how the industry works, and you also learn more about the artists on a more personal level.

Favorite photographs:
Untitled by Margaret Durow; 057_19A by Patrice Jackson; Untitled by Ben Mauze; Marcel (Hidden Reflection) by Ryan McGinley; Freddie C. by Rory Cole; Child With Toy Hand Grenade In Central Park by Diane Arbus; THE HORRORS by Neil Krug.

Young photographers who most inspire you now?
I really have been enjoying Margaret Durow’s work. Her images come across very personal and emotional, almost as if they’re her diary. The lighting is always spot-on and sets the perfect mood. Neil Krug inspires me even more so. His recent images of and for the band The Horrors are absolutely breathtaking to say the least. The rest of his work is wonderful as well, but if it weren’t for him working with The Horrors, I might not have discovered his work and become so infatuated with his style.

Artist’s Playlist: 25 tracks from The Vaccines, Wild Beasts, Foals, The Horrors, The Cure, Foster The People, The Beatles, Panda Bear, The Drums, The Vaccines, The Black Keys, Jay Jay Pistolet, The Maccabees, Arcade Fire, The Zombies, Violens, Two Steps, Foals, Two Door Cinema Club and The Strokes, here: Featured Artist: Cecilia Majzoub

Talk about the relationship between your photography and collage?
I take photographs because I want to create beautiful images that others can appreciate; I do not go out and think, “Okay, I’m going to go home after this and create a collage out of these images,” or, “What can I take a photo of to help create a collage?” Rather, when I go out and bring along my camera, I shoot what pleases me visually, simply to my eye, or what I find to be an interesting concept. Later, when I want to create a collage, I go through all of my images that I’ve collected and created, and see what I can put together. Not intentionally, but maybe instinctively at this point, I have somewhat trained my eye to not only create beautiful images, but to create beautiful images that can help me in the future with such collages.

Where do you want to take your artwork, or vice versa?
I feel as though I am made to photograph and create. That might sound cocky, but it is truly how I feel. I need to produce and constantly output imagery. Whether that be through pure photographs, collages, or something else, it’s what I need to do. Music is a huge part of my life, so documenting bands and musicians, behind the scenes as well as capturing them while they are performing, is one of my ultimate dreams. If it weren’t for music becoming such a part of my life, I wouldn’t have considered taking photography as my profession. Until the day I am able to work with some of my favorite musicians with my photography, I will have a constant burden on my shoulders. It is all I want to do. I crave the creation of images by means of a camera.

Artist’s links: Website, Tumblr, Etsy, Flickr, Facebook and Last.fm

Name: Marija Kovač

Age: 21

Hometown: Novi Sad, Serbia
Current town: Novi Sad, Serbia

Film and/or Digital: Film
First camera: Minolta XG 1
Current camera: Minolta XG 1, Praktica MTL 5 B

How long have you been taking photographs?
When I was 16; it was just hobby, but became more serious about two years ago.

Thoughts about first images ever taken, describe them?
I can’t remember the first image ever taken, but I can remember my first film. It was almost all overexposed and blurry.

What do you see when you look at your work now?
Well, it’s hard to say. I can’t even imagine all my work on the pile. I have a bunch of feelings and memories when I see my photos.

What do you hope others will see, if anything? Their experience?
I just hope that they aren’t indifferent, I think that’s most important.

What do you look for in an image? What makes a great photograph for you?
Can be anything in the photo that will draw my attention. Sometimes these are simple things, sometimes the chaos in a photo, but most important is that first feeling when I see a photo.

Favorite artists?
There are many, here are a few: Ryan McGinley, Bruce Nauman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Nan Goldin, Edward Hopper, Egon Schiele . . .

Favorite places online?
Anywhere I can find things that interest me.

Favorite photographs?
There are so many photos that I like, but I will set aside a few of them that have delighted me in the last few months: Synchrodogs, 1, Synchrodogs, 2, Lukasz Wierzbowski, 1, Lukasz Wierzbowski, 2, Marija Mandić, Sandy Kim, Marija Strajnic, Sasha Kurmaz, 1, Sasha Kurmaz, 2, Ada Hamza, Lina Scheynius, Ryan McGinley, 1, Ryan McGinley, 2, Ryan McGinley, 3, Ryan McGinley, 4, Ryan McGinley, 5

Young photographers who most inspire you now?
Ryan McGinley, Synchrodogs, Sasha Kurmaz, Lukasz Wierzbowski, Sandy Kim, Alba Yruela, Marija Mandić . . .

What else inspires you?
Most people that surround me, my friends. But anything can be an inspiration—I never know what will inspire me.

Talk about your relationship with your friend and collaborator Marija Mandić?
It started when we were 16; Marija got a small digital camera and we began to take pictures of each other. It’s never hard to decide who models and who photographs because we both love to be behind and in front of the camera. She’s my favorite model, and I love it the most when she photograph me. We rarely talk about photos beforehand, it’s mostly spontaneous.

Where would you like your photography to take you, or vice versa?
I would like photography to take me somewhere, anywhere.

Artist’s Playlist: 21 tracks from Radiohead, The Smiths, Nick Drake, Morphine, Björk, David Bowie & Maynard James Keenan, Mogwai, John Frusciante, Sigur Rós and David Bowie, here: Featured Artist: Marija Kovač

Artist’s links: Website, Flickr, Tumblr

Name: Marija Mandić

Age: 21

Hometown: Novi Sad, Serbia
Current town: Novi Sad, Serbia

Film and/or Digital: Film only
First camera: Zenit TTL
Current camera: Praktica MTL B5 and Canon Eos 500

How long have you been taking photographs?
I started when I was about 16, but that was frivolous. It became serious about last year.

Thoughts about first images ever taken, describe them?
Ooh, I can’t remember my first photograph ever, but I can remember my first photograph that I took with Zenit. It was weird, I’d never done it before, so I was really excited.

What do you see when you look at your work now?
I can’t really think about it. It is really strange to me when I try to figure out what people see when they look at my work. I can only feel with my photographs and remember the time I was taking them.

What do you hope others will see, if anything? Their experience?
I don’t really know. I am glad if they like it anyhow. It’s up to them to feel and to experience the photo in their own way.

What do you look for in an image? What makes a great photograph for you?
There are no rules. I see a photograph, and I just love it. Something simply attracts me to it and emotions come on their own. However, I would say that simplicity is something I enjoy in a photograph.

Favorite artists?
There are so many, but I can say Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, El Liszki, Marina Abramovic (but her old work), Pipilotti Rist, Michel Gondry, videos of David Lynch, Martin Parr . . . but my taste changes every year.

Favorite places online?
I don’t have favorite places online; I like to explore on the internet and find out something new in the art field.

Favorite photographs: Since I explore a lot on the internet and constantly search for new photographs, my favorite images alter monthly. Right now: Tania Shcheglova, 1, Tania Shcheglova, 2; Lina Scheynius, 1, Lina Scheynius, 2, Lina Scheynius, 3; Lukasz Wierzbowski, 1, Lukasz Wierzbowski, 2, Lukasz Wierzbowski, 3; Sam Hessamian; Marija Kovac; Margaret Durow, 1,  Margaret Durow, 2; Ana Kras; David Richardson; Sandy Kim; Ryan McGinley, 1, Ryan McGinley, 2, Ryan McGinley, 3, Ryan McGinley, 4, Ryan McGinley, 5, Ryan McGinley, 6

Young photographers who most inspire you now?
Lukasz Wierzbowski, Ryan McGinley, Lina Scheynius, Synchrodogs.

What about their work inspires you? What have you learned from those artists?
I constantly search for new photographers and look at new photographs. I never directly take anything from them; I always try to stay true to myself. However, I think that, on some level, photographers draw inspiration from other artists, and this can sometimes really influence a photographer’s work.

And where do you want to take your photography, or vice versa?
I would love to take my photographs at places I’ve never been before. I love old, abandoned premises. A few weeks ago, I was in an abandoned church, and I was really excited and happy because I could take photographs in such a place.

Artist’s playlist: 19 tracks by The Smiths,  Radiohead, PJ Harvey and Thom Yorke, Joy Division, Massive Attack. Tricky, The Knife, Fever Ray, iamamiwhoami and Mogwai: Featured Artist: Marija Mandić. Music that I listen to depends on my mood, she says.

Last question. What’s going on in Serbia right now that’s producing so many incredible young female photographers?
I didn’t notice that until you mentioned it in the first email you sent me. Then I started noticing it, and I think it’s really strange—I can’t explain it, but I am sure happy about it.

Artist’s links: Website, Flickr

Name: Kristen T. Cates

Age: 16
Hometown: Standish, Maine

Film and/or Digital: I think that film is beautiful, but way too costly. So I stick to digital.

First camera: Canon Powershot SX10 IS
Current camera: I still have the SX10 IS, but I’m hoping to upgrade to a Canon EOS 50d by the end of the fall.

How long have you been taking photographs?
I’ve been taking photographs for about 3 years.

Thoughts about first images ever taken, describe them?
Oh, goodness, those photographs are tucked away deep in a folder hidden within my computer! They’re quite embarrassing, but it’s amazing to look at them and see how much I’ve grown. They are extremely (double emphasis on extremely!) over-edited. But I feel a lot of us start out that way. Or at least what I’ve seen. But I soon moved on from that and got into more natural-looking photographs, which then progressed into what I do now.

What do you see when you look at your work now?
I feel incredibly proud. It has taken a lot of patience and strength to get to where I am now. Dealing with the stress of a 365, I believe, is what pushed me into the position I am today.

What do you hope others will see, if anything? Their experience?
When people look at my photographs, I hope they can see a story. I hope that they can relate to the photo on some personal level. I think that is what draws people to a photograph or story. It’s more interesting when they can understand it.

What do you look for in an image? What makes a great photograph for you?
Again, I like photos with a personal relation. But not just that, I also enjoy reading what the photo says about the photographer. The way they cropped it, or the way they edited it, or anything. I feel like artists choose the little details for a reason. The way the body can be a positioned, the colors and tones, the weather, the location. We all do those things for a reason. And that reason is because it helps make the story clearer and easier to grasp.

Favorite artists?
My favorite artists would have to be Tim Walker, Brooke Shaden, Gregory Crewdson and Sarah Ann Loreth.

Favorite places online?
Flickr and many different Tumblr blogs.

Favorite photographs?
Brooke Shaden, 1, Brooke Shaden, 2, Brooke Shaden, 3, Alex Stoddard, Sarah Ann Loreth, Kelly.Marie, Sarah Haege, 1, Sarah Haege, 2, LJ., Tim Walker

Young photographers who most inspire you now?
Over the years, using Flickr, I’ve encountered thousands of brilliant young artists, and I’ll probably look back at this question and think, “Oh I should of put So-and-So!”, but these are who I can think of now: Mike Bailey-Gates, Sarah Haege, Steven Sites, Nikki Chicoine, Lauren Withrow and Alex Stoddard.

Where do you want to take your photography, or vice versa?
I hope they can bring not just me, but others to another world. One where birth, what’s in the middle, and death are explored. On the other hand, I hope to take my photography to college. Maybe perhaps New York? Seattle? I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where on the globe I’ll be with my photography by the time I graduate high school. But I can tell you one thing: one day, hopefully, everyone will be able to find where I am. Lots of young photographers crave inspiration, and I hope what I produce will be able to inspire and influence what they do. It’s a dream—but I’m wishing it’ll come true.

Artist’s playlist: Cinematic Orchestra, Coldplay, Bon Iver, Damien Rice, Coldplay, Frightened Rabbit, Bon Iver, Joshua Radin, Dead Man’s Bones, Ellie Goulding & Erik Hassle, Dirty Gold, Billy Joel, Gary Jules, The Smiths, Mumford & Sons, Amy Winehouse, Bright Eyes, Beirut, here: Featured Artist: Kristen T. Cates

Speaking of stories and storytelling, who are some of your favorite authors?
Hmm, my favorite authors. One author that I’m sure everyone could recognize is J.K. Rowling, I was lucky enough to grow up in the Potter generation so she has definitely inspired some of my work. Another author I think is very inspiring is Jonathan Safran Foer, his book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has had some influence on my work. It’s hard for me to choose favorite authors, though, because I like such a variety, it all really depends on what my mood is at the moment.

Fairytales, though . . . that’s where I fall in love. People know basic fairytales due to Disney movies. For example: Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, but those movies are derived from actual fairytales that are the most enchanting things to read. The movies are the complete opposite of the legitimate fairytales, but they are so lovely. Some can be quite disturbing, but when you look at the real concept and annotate the story, you find so much inspiration. Fairytales are the backbone of my conceptual work. They help mold the pictures. Mixing the different stories can help create your own fairytale, and I think dreams are a great place to also find inspiration—many of my pictures (in the color series, above) were based on dreams I had the previous night.

But there is one book that has always stuck in the back of my mind throughout every picture I’ve ever taken. And that would be The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (a movie has been created from the book, but that serves nothing compared to the book). The imagery the book gives me will haunt me (in the most pleasant way) forever. It’s by far the best book I’ve ever read.

Artist’s links: Flickr, Facebook

Note: Inn the middle of prepping her artist’s feature, Kristen and her family went three days without power, following Hurrican Irene. Undeterred, this past week, she found a way to email me all of her photos and answer all of my last-minute questions—no electricity, and more than once, she got me everything we needed in order to post her feature today. Sixteen years old, but that’s a pro for you. Just one of many reasons I am very proud to share her work.

Thank you, Kristen,
Courtney