centritis

Armando Alvarez, 37

(and wears a size twelve running shoe)

1. Your photographs seem to have a certain “americana” feeling, more prominent in the earlier work on your flickr to the much more subtle, though still striking, in the latest. do you agree with this observation? where are you deriving the inspiration from to photograph like this?

Yes, I’d agree. I’m obviously very drawn to vernacular photography. Though there is an apparent shift in my subjects from the oldest of my stream to the newer work, I am still very intrigued and inclined to shoot the everyday, and in spite of the “shift”, I believe I am still shooting similar subjects. I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily inspired by certain photographers because I think that can be a mistake. I tried to think I was Stephen Shore for a bit and realizing that I failed miserably is a huge understatement. I do look at the greats for motivation, though. My favorites (for now) are Elliott Erwitt, Stephen Shore, Martin Parr, and William Eggleston. There are definitely some great ones here on flickr, too, that make me want to grab my camera and shoot.

2. How do you feel about your photography, and everyone else’s for that matter, at the turn of the first decade of the 21st century? What is going on for you in the next decade?

I’m a hopeless romantic and my purely unscientific research (and hope) leads me to believe there will be a huge renaissance in film photography. You see a lot of younger people who started with digital picking up film cameras or processing their digital shots to look like film. Photography magazines like PDN also feature a lot of up and coming artists with an appreciation for film.

As for me, I’m just going to keep shooting for fun, and if something comes along that seems fun, I’ll jump on it. I shoot for enjoyment, and the feeling I get from seeing my results after development is something that will never get old.

3. The photographs of (presumably, pardon the error if this is incorrect) your children and family are absolutely striking and beautiful. How do you find these moments? Do you feel photographing one’s family is easier or harder than photographing a stranger? 

I really relate to photographers that are in the same stage of life as myself—husband and father. Although they are not always the most popular photos (almost like watching your neighbor’s vacation videos), I love to photograph my children. Some of my favorite photos are those my dad took of my siblings and I when we were kids, and I just hope my children will treasure those moments that were special to me when they were kids.

Photographing strangers is most definitely more difficult. I’d really like to do more portraits, perhaps of strangers, but I’m still at the point where I feel too intrusive for the moment and mood I’d like to capture from a stranger.

4. You have a small set of work called ‘the progressive blues experiment’ based off of simple in-camera tricks that end up as photographs with mind-blowing results. what was your inspiration to shoot those?

Those came during a time when I came to the realization that a huge majority of photographs on flickr had some form of post processing. Photography books used to focus on your technique in capturing the moment at the time of taking the picture, the fundamentals of photography, etc. Photography books now focus on computer software. I find this a bit tragic, so I thought of a project for myself where I could create some moments with my old camera that were fun and extremely simple without the use of any post-processing. Let’s face it, the shots in that set could be created with any entry-level software, but I got a kick out of doing those with just a camera and props. This set was not made to prove a point, it was mainly just for me to have fun.

5. Have you photographed the most beautiful thing you have witnessed thus far in life? What was it?

Interestingly enough, I’d have to say this is one of my favorite and most beautiful photographs I have ever taken…

Not only because it is a photograph of my daughter, but because it was not staged, and I didn’t tell her to look a certain way. It was all her. She has this ability to completely forget that the camera is there and just be. My son is a ham in front of the camera, but she just stands there and is just herself. This is the kind of portrait I want to take all the time.

6. Your night photographs are astounding and introduce the great, endless possibilities of careful/metered long exposures to many photographers. Since I’m sure many people want to ask this, we’ll ask it for them… can you tell us about the first time you went night adventuring? and how did your procedure grow over time?

The first night I went out night shooting is with my trusty Nikon FM. I went out not knowing what I was doing, just knowing that I wanted to capture some great photographs. My first few rolls were not entirely awful, and I didn’t care too much because I knew I just wanted to learn. I took a lot of notes, did a lot of bracketing, and just sharpened everything by applying what I was learning. The technique of shooting at night really isn’t difficult. The challenge comes in framing/composing subjects a certain way, and using the available light to do whatever you want it to do. My process has really not changed, but things have definitely become much easier now that I feel comfortable knowing what works and what doesn’t. I have to admit that I also enjoy the challenge of getting something right in one shot, so I very rarely bracket now that I shoot only medium format.

7. Is your flickr name, the whïte elephänt, just an jest or does it have a meaning to you or others?

Definitely in jest—I’ve used that name for a long time as a nickname for my 1965 Impala that is in some of my photos. A huge mass of white sheetmetal. The umlauts came as a nod to the hairbands of the 80’s. Now I use my real name, but I’m still diggin’ The White Elephant and may go back to that after I get my website set up.

8. Golden hour at dawn or dusk?

Definitely dusk, you have more opportunities to play with.

Mando’s flickr.