Interview with Bryan Formhals

Bryan is the founder of the online gallery La Pura Vida.  It was the first website that I discovered, after deciding to take on photography, which showcased photography that had a strong impact on me.  It provided an important starting point for me in finding great work… from which everything else flowed for me.

So it’s with great pleasure that I got the opportunity to interview Bryan.  Thanks Bryan and thanks for providing a first look into some of your latest work.

What has driven you to help showcase other photographers via LPV and its ecosystem? There is an apparent entrepreneurial side of you here and just a side of wanting to help photographers.

I was an admin for HCSP for a year or so and started to get frustrated with editing only street photography. I wanted to start a group that was more centered around a sensibility rather than a particular style of photography, so I started LPV. It may sound a bit self-centered, but what drove me at first was a desire to sharpen my editing skills and figure out what type of photography I really liked. Editing and sequencing have always been a big part of the la pura vida sensibility, more so than really showcasing individual photographers. When you boil it down, LPV is basically a monthly group show. What I think we do a bit different is that we make the editing process more transparent. Contributors can view the pool and get an idea of what the editors are going after and base their submissions on that. Conversely, the editors can expand the idea based on what type of submissions are coming into the pool.

I think anytime you start to build an audience and take on more work, there’s always a tendency to wonder if you should turn it into a business. But that hasn’t really been something I’ve thought about much recently primarily because it’s a brutal time economically for photography, publishing and art. On top of that, I don’t think there’s a huge market for fine art photography. There are so many photographers, collectives, zines, blogs out there right now that are all vying for the attention of a rather small audience. The art and publishing businesses are brutally difficult to succeed in, so at this time, I’m very content with just trying to build the LPV community and put out interesting shows every month. Although, I am in the process of putting together a print issue of ‘Photographs on the Brain’ through Magcloud, but it’s not profit driven. I think there are plenty of interesting things you can do when you remove money from the equation.

And how about your own photography? What are you working on now?

I’ve had a full blown obsession with photography for about three years now. Before photography I fancied myself an aspiring writer and spent years working on screenplays, poetry and short stories, but at some point in Los Angeles I hit a wall and suffered serious writers block. That’s when I picked up photography, and it’s just kind of progressed from there. What’s interesting is that many of the photographers I met online have had similar experiences. They sort of picked up photography later in life. In terms of projects I’m currently editing my new work which chronicles my journey from Los Angeles, back to Minnesota and now to New York. I guess you could consider it a coast to coast type of travelogue. It’s the second part of a larger project that includes my LA work, “The Electric Sunshine Velocity Trip.”

And can you talk about your own influences. Photographs, photographers, music, books, etc…?

I was a writer and film nut before photography. My artistic influences include but are not limited to the following artists: Henry Miller (the greatest philosophical and artistic influence in my life), Godard, Fellini, Stephen Shore, Eggleston, Winogrand, Raoul Gatepin, Hin Chua, Lars Tunbjork, Jim Jarmusch, Wu Tang Clan, David Foster Wallace, Rimbaud, Jim Morrison, Neil Young, Walker Evans, Wong Kar Wai, Woody Allen, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, Basquiat, The Coen Brothers, Mitch Epstein, Saul Leiter, Miles Davis, Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, William S. Burroughs, Hermann Hesse and too many others.

How much or your recent move to NY was influenced by your involvement in photography?

With or without photography I’ve always had a strong desire to see what New York is all about. Before I moved to Los Angeles, most of my friends assumed I was going to NYC. LA appealed to me at the time because it felt more sinister and unknown. Plus, you know, I was working on screenplays. I haven’t been in NY long enough to really articulate why I’m here or what it has to do with photography. I’m just going with the flow at the moment and trying to pay the rent…

What do you think helps a photographer to find his voice?

This is kind of like asking a kid with a lemonade stand what makes a successful Fortune 500 company. Whatever I say is mere speculation based on what I’ve read and discussed with other photographers on the subject. I feel you need to look at photographs, tons and tons of photographs, and not just on the web, in books, on walls, everywhere. Like all art, you need to be consumed and obsessed with it enough, and have the desire to devour as much of it as possible. More importantly, you need to be able to look at work and say to yourself, ‘I like this, and here’s why. I don’t like this, and here’s why.’ You can never sharpen your critical faculties enough. On top of that, I believe you need to shoot all the time. Some people don’t subscribe to this, but I do. I think you need a camera with you all the time. I think you need to be framing photographs in your mind when you’re just walking around or daydreaming. You need to train the brain eye gut to be in harmony at all times. There’s a Nietzsche quote that always comes to mind: “Not the intensity but the duration of high feeling makes high men.” You can’t cheat. You need to be committed, and committed for a long time. Of course, I’ve only been committed for a short period of time, so again, this is merely my hunch.

What do you think about the need for or use of artists statements in a project? I keep running across debates to how they shouldn’t be needed or that they are needed due to limitations of photography or perhaps to help the viewer connect the dots.

I find this whole artist statement business really weird and annoying. They are certainly necessary if you want to play the fine art game and move towards a career. Personally, I hate most of them. I prefer essays by the photographer, like Eggleston’s afterward from the Democratic Forest, or Charles Harbutt’s essay in Travelogue. I think there’s a place for writing and photography to co-exist, but more often than not artist statements damage the way I view the photographs. I’d like it more if photographers were more creative with their use of words and not so dogmatic when it comes to artist statements.

What word of advice would you give any new photographer that has a passion to grow?

It’s preposterous for me to be giving anything that resembles advice. The best I can do is relate my experience and what I try to do. Obsession and an insatiable appetite for photographs seem to be a good combination. For me, I always try to remind myself that at the end of the day I’m doing this to satisfy my own creative urges. There’s always a temptation to look at external forces, but at the end of the day, you need to be doing it to satisfy some internal need or urge.

Any insight to how you think photography will or should evolve given changes in economy, its impact on editorial, and the abundance of photography.

We’re in the fog right now, so I’m not sure anyone knows what the landscape will look like in five years. My hunch is that it will require photographers to become more industrious in terms of publishing, marketing and collaborating. It’s always been a hustle that requires luck, determination and great networking skills. With the web, I think we’re seeing the competition become more vicious. Good work can quickly get noticed and float to the top. The wild card here is whether or not individual photographers can build a large enough audience that’s willing to buy enough of their products regularly to support themselves. There are some interesting things being done right now, so despite the shitty economy, I’m kind of optimistic about what’s to come next.

Do you think we’re in a photography rut? If so what gets us out of it?

No, I think photography is more popular than ever. But the photography business is worse off than ever. It really depends on which side of the coin you’re looking at.

Can you talk about the new project you’re involved with? It sounds like it’s a collective ?

I collaborating with a group of photographers I met on the web on a new collective. I’m excited. It’s a good group of people. We kind of fancy ourselves as underdogs in the hostile photography landscape, so we’ll see where it goes.

And last but not least are there any recent photographers you think we should be checking out?

I’ve recently come across Thobias Faldt. We should all move to Scandinavia.

Please visit Bryan’s site to see more of his work.   Thanks so much Bryan.