INTERVIEW: A CONVERSATION WITH PHOTOGRAPHER RYAN RUSSELL

Having taken a brief vacation from the blogging world as of late, I return to all of you fine folks with an exclusive interview with Birmingham, AL rock photographer Ryan Russell.

Chances are if you've picked up an issue of SPIN, Rolling Stone, or Alternative Press in the last ten years you have seen a photograph taken by Ryan. He's toured with Death Cab for Cutie, Against Me, and Paramore. He had a volume of photographs in Tegan & Sara's book series On/In/At. And his latest endeavor Nervous Energies presents intimate performances by some of the best up and coming bands. Despite a hectic schedule of taking beautiful photographs, Ryan was recently kind enough to talk about his work, music, and burritos.

So what did the seven year old version of Ryan Russell want to be when he grew up?

7 year old Ryan wanted to be in a punk band believe it or not. I grew up in a very non-musical family but started watching MTV at a very early age and loved the Ramones. I have a picture of me from 1st grade with spiked hair, studded bracelet and chucks on while holding a big yellow paper guitar. It rules.

My interests in music now are greatly different from when I was growing up. 70's era Aerosmith was the band that opened me up to all kinds of music, from them I got into Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The New York Dolls, The Yardbirds and eventually traced back to the old blues greats of the 30's & 40's. The Clash provided a similar experience with a whole other part of music. What was your "gateway band?"

My gateway band was definitely Nirvana. The first album I ever bought (on cassette) in 1988 was Def Leppard Hysteria, I was 7. Between '88 and '92 I had barely any records that I remember, just stuff like Guns N Roses or Europe or whatever cheezy stuff that was popular on MTV at the time. But in '92, I heard Smelled Like Teen Spirit and loved it and that was the first record where I understood the concept of they have a specific release date and that's when you can go and buy it. My mom took me to Turtle's Record a local store in Birmingham that is now gone to buy it.

What aspects of the medium initially drew you to photography?

I dont really know the main aspect but my entry into photography was in 2000. I never had art classes or any sort of artistic aspirations growing up. I was always a computer/video game nerd. I started doing websites for people in 1998 and this local band who was signed to Century Media called Haste had seen a site and wanted one. I did their site from that point till they broke up but after a month or two, I was like there's tons of news and tours but no photos. So I bought a crappy camera and started shooting at their shows. Their album "When Reason Sleeps" has an uncredited photograph I shot in it and that was the first thing I ever had published. In the winter of 2001 I sent off a bunch of photos to Jones soda cuz I thought it would be cool to have a photo on a bottle. They ended up using 3 at once and another one a 4-pack box. The encouragement of these two instances definitely help motivate me to want to do more.

Were there certain photographers that inspired you at that time?

I really even to this day don't look at many photographer's work. William Eggleston, Charles Peterson, Glen E Friedman, Steven Shore and all the usual suspects like that have a great impact on me of course. I mean we all see photography everywhere so you're going to see images but I try for the most part not to look at a particular photographer's work. When you see something you like you can't help but be influenced by it and it becomes apart of what you do even if you dont mean to. I just don't want to come off as someone ripping off someone else's style. There was two photographs growing up that I always loved even today that stick out. The Nirvana photo of Kurt on the drum set in the Bleach era photos and the band practice photos of Rage Against The Machine in Evil Empire. Those two photographs are my favorite music photographs of all time. There's a million other photographs of older bands, the Johnny Cash bird photo for example that are way more famous and way more important in the scheme of music but the Nirvana/RATM photographs are the most important for me.

From your earliest work it's obvious that you have a natural eye for the medium, can you attribute your creative talents to anyone in your family?

Not at all. My aunt is a painter and an art teacher but as I said growing up I had no artistic ambitions so I didn't really know it was something I would pick up on. There may have been something embedded in a past relative that helped her and myself go the artistic route but it's not really documented in our family.

I worked in a independent record store for six years. Prior to that, I had never felt part of a particular group of people. It was there that I found many of my best friends, best described as "music kids" or those of us that seem to be driven by an appreciation of music of all genres. Some of us play it, some of us document it, and some of us listen to it. To this day when I meet other "music kids" it never ceases to amaze me how a common appreciation for a particular artist or album can turn someone from a stranger one minute to a friend the next. Has your experience with the music been similar?

It really has. You saying like how a record can turn a random person into a best friend and that's the best part about music. I have always been way more into music than art in general. People try and talk to me about photography and cameras and I am really not into it and don't know much about the technical side of all of it. I'd rather talk about music or hear what records someone recently bought.

Does a band's music factor into the whether you choose them as your subjects?

I'm sure it does, most of the times though the bands I photograph are either becuase I am a huge fan of their work or they are a huge fan of mine. I won't shoot bands I don't like unless they come to me and say hey we like your photographs we'd love to work with you.

So how do you adapt a situation where a subject is particularly difficult to work with?

I've definitely had a few. The thing to keep in mind is, regardless of the situation you're supposed to produce great work. People have this idea of being "professional" as being business like and that's true to some degree, but for me a lot of times professionalism is being able to take a situation that's not ideal and make it work without sacrificing respect for the artist or producing a bad image. I try to encourage burritos to make a bad situation better.

What have you found is the best way to provide a level of comfort to your subjects so as to capture them honestly?

I hope my demeanor alone accomplishes this. Bands realize quickly that I'm not the random photographer in it for the check or fake. I try and let them know we're the same and the same cheesy photos they hate, I hate and if they just trust me I'll give them something great.

Has an artist ever requested you hold back a photograph for personal or professional reasons?

Only once I can think of, I won't say who but it wasn't a photograph I would put up anyways. The shot was terrible on my part. They were mimicking something that made them look bad as a joke.

Do you prefer available natural light or will you supplement with artificial light?

Natural, 90% of all my photographs are using natural lighting. I'm terrible at setting up studio lighting. Unless you mean artificial lighting in places, I use a lot of "found" lighting at places. Very on the fly, very use as it is.

Whether you have photographed it or not, what is the best show you have ever been to?

February 2002 in Atlanta Georgia at the Cotton Club with Death Cab for Cutie. Death Cab is and always will be my favorite and most influential band. I consider the music the most important influence to my photography. The mindset and mood Death Cab has always put me in has been in ways no one ever has. I know it might be like oh you like Death Cab real cool since they're very well known today. I didn't know anyone in my city besides one girl (who i ended up dating haha) who even knew who Death Cab was back in 2000/2001 when I got into them. One of the greatest pleasures of my life has been able to work and tour a little with them. They deserve every ounce of good fortune they have earned.

Of all the times I've been punched in the face, more often than not it has been at a show by a smaller dude trying to prove himself to his friends. As a fellow big man do you share this ridiculous experience?

You know it's always been the girls. I hope it's because they are just stoked to having a tall sexy man next to them but that is not the case. Usually they are just overhyper.

Other than music what subject would we be surprised to learn you would like to photograph?

I don't really think anything, I love nature photographs. I think photography has been so generalized for people now that doing just one area and doing a completely separate one doesn't surprise anyone. Everyone thinks if you're good at shooting one thing you should be good at shooting all things.

What photographers do you currently admire?
 

Wedding photographers. That shit is insane and I don't see how they handle the stress. I have only shot 3 weddings, all of which were for band members and good lord it is way more stressful than anything else.

I was surprised to learn that legendary rock photographer Jim Marshall did not process and print his photos. Instead he saw himself as a "moment collector" and would turnover his film to a trusted team built around him that consisted of a separate editor, developer, and printer. Do you see you photographs through the entire post process?

I do now since I switched to digital. I shot only film till Jan 2010, I just got bored with it and thought I took it as far as I could so I bought a digital. I have loved it since after hating on it for years. Before I had my places in town I would drop film off and my lab techs who would change things if I needed them to. Now I have to photoshop some of my color images to match the quality of my film shots but I prefer it since I have total control.

Did you enjoy the dark room experience?

Hated it. I was terrible at it in college. 

As a photographer what does your new project Nervous Energies provide you that your still photographs do not?

A release. It gives me something to do involving music instead of just photoshoots.

Do you feel it is a natural progression of your work?

Friends have said for years I should do music videos and films. I don't know, I can set up great shots but I am not sold on it being something I am really good at yet.

Ok hit me, top five albums of all time? Go.

1. Nirvana - Nevermind
Most influential record of my life

2. Death Cab for Cutie - The Photo Album
Favorite album from my favorite band

3. Green Day - Dookie
Even though I liked the Ramones at an early age I really didn't know about punk or indie labels (not that Dookie is on an indie) until this record. The first two Green Day records on lookout were the first indie records I bought

4. The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
My favorite Beatles record, everyone has to have one.

5. Michael Jackson - Thriller
Never, ever, ever trust someone who doesn't like at least one Michael Jackson song.



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To view more of Ryan's photographs visit his website www.ryanrussell.net and to check out more videos from his Nervous Energies series head over to www.nervousenergies.com

You can also follow Ryan on Twitter by subscribing to @xryanrussellx

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS © 2011 RYAN RUSSELL
INTERVIEW © ERIC VAN'T ZELFDEN