Q&A with Julie Grahame

Two weeks ago I had a little chat with Julie Grahame (AKA aCurator) over on the site Photography & Architecture. Julie is a veteran in the photo industry who posses a wonderful straight forward attitude (which I love), she's the Editor-in-Chief of Photography & Architecture, runs aCurator and sits on the panel for numerous awards and competition, she also does reviews and consultations with photographers. Here's our Q&A:

P&A: What do you love about photographing buildings?
MA: I really enjoy identifying the graphic elements of a building and documenting how people use the space within those boundaries. I like how different spaces can influence people’s behaviors.

P&A: What aspect of photographing a building, interior or exterior, do you personally find the most challenging?
MA: In general, I find interiors more challenging because of the size restrictions you often have in terms of how much you can pull back in the shot. That being said, I like challenges and enjoy trying to take control of the room.

P&A: You have a variety of imagery on your website: as well as exteriors, interiors, you have travel, portraits, lifestyle so what is your favorite kind of shoot?
MA: Preferably, all those elements combined. In other words, people utilizing a beautiful space in a refined environment.

P&A: Aside from an engaging blog and your website, how do you promote your work?
MA: I regularly send emails to a select group of people whose work I admire. However, nothing beats personal recommendations from clients or other people who are familiar with my work. My agent also does work on their end so it’s multiple channels working in parallel. I’m Swedish and it’s almost seen as a taboo to promote your own work there. Coming to New York seven years ago, I really needed to push myself to become comfortable with talking about my own work. I still find it quite hard and I prefer to ask people what they do instead of talking about myself.

P&A: “Suburbia Gone Wild” is a hugely impressive project and the resulting book has been wildly successful, particularly among architects. Tell us briefly, if you can, why you think they love it so much.
MA: I think it speaks to people in architecture, social anthropology and economics as a visual study about the impact of two decades of strong economic growth in emerging economies. I never set out to make beautiful pictures but rather to document the results of a cultural and economic shift that I found interesting. Joseph Grima, Editor­ in ­Chief of Domus Magazine, who wrote the foreword, said it best I think: “Martin’s project is an urgently needed research into the state of contemporary urbanisation. His work offers a beautiful and sometimes frightening visual counterpoint to the numbers, statistics and facts that are thrown at us every day, offering a mental image to accompany a fact we already know – that today the human species is an urban species.“

General Assembly at the United Nations HQ. Client Monocle

Security Council at the United Nations HQ. Client: Monocle

Hotel Okura, Tokyo, Japan Client: Scanorama

Oslo Opera House, Norway

Rice University, Houston, TX

Retina ready

After buying a new computer with a Retina screen I quickly realized how terrible all the images on my site looked, so I after two marathon session I've replaced all of the images on the website (almost). Needless to say, it's probably one of the most boring things one can possibly do but for any visitor with sensitive eyes, it's well worth it. I also uploaded a bunch of new work. Here are a few of my favorites:

In the Portrait section I added these two athletes attending the hyper compatative Japan Keirin School located high up in the mountains on the Izu Peninsula, 2h south of Tokyo. These guys take dedication to a whole new level. 

In the Architecture/Hospitality section I added images from The Amangiri Resort located in the South Eastern part of Utah. I had one of the most divine experiences here in a long time during the summer heat last year.  

There's also some new work in the Industrial section from a job I shot at the Bombardier assembly plant outside Toronto for Porter Airlines/Winkreative a while ago.

And finally some new food in the travel section. The left plate is shot at the Scandinavian restaurant Aquavit in Midtown, NYC. The right one is shot at another Scandinavian institution, The Maidstone in East Hampton, NY.  (And yes, I had to eat both dishes, and yes the food was fantastic!)

Goodbye Los Angeles - Hello Snow blizzard

Today is my final day here in Los Angeles, I've managed to escape the snowmageddon (or whatever the weather channel calls it) that's been keeping New York hostage for almost a month. I've shot architecture and environmental portraits of some inspiring people such as Architect Peter Demaria who is the architect behind the building below. And Carolina Fontoura who creates beautiful chandeliers out of recycled bicycle parts. Tomorrow I'm flying back to New York to location scout for a shoot this coming week.

Goodbye São Paulo, Hello Los Angeles

Today is my last day here in São Paulo, I've shot commissioned work and some new personal work that I'm really happy with. It's a city that doesn't give away anything for free (both in esthetic and monetary terms.) What always strikes me when I'm here is how extremely segregated the city is and the lack of public space that people from all parts of society have access to. Social interactions, especially among the wealthy seems to be dedicated to well-guarded clusters that requires membership. It will be interesting to see if these structures will remain unaffected as the lower and middle-class slowly gains more economic power.

Tomorrow I'm off to Los Angles for a week of intense work, looking forward to the cool breeze of the Pacific Ocean!

This week: São Paulo, Brazil

This week I'm in São Paulo, Brazil to shoot a story commissioned by one of my Swedish clients, Fokus Magazine. The story is on the economic and cultural shift that the country is currently experiencing, and images will cover the life in posh neighborhoods and in extremely chaotic areas in the city centre. This is my 3rd time here and now I'm starting to get more and more familiar with this massive and surprising city. I first came to SP in 2011 to shoot the images for my book Suburbia gone Wild.