PM Subscriber Spotlight: Parallax
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Photographer: Jerry Aaron Hazard• Web Site: http://www.jerryaaronhazard.com/parallax_2006 • Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Contact: parallax at jerryaaronhazard dot com• Member Since: 01/12/06
Equipment: Canon EOS 300D - Kit Lens, Peleng 8mm Fisheye, Zenitar 16mm Fisheye, Mamiya
125mm 2.8 screw mount, Ashai 50mm 1.4 screw mount, Rexetar 135mm 2.8 screw mount, and most recently a Canon 28-105mm 2.5-3.5 mkII. Polaroid 420 Land Camera Holga
Olympus 720 UZ digital point and shoot Canon Sureshot AF point and shoot 2 1,000 watt hot lights
PM: How did you get involved in photography?
JH: I've always been image orientated. When I was very young, I did all
the art
classes, and
was very keen on drawing. Took the high school photo class and was
enamoured with it,
but couldn't afford to get my own camera after the course was over.
After
high school, I
became entrenched in graffiti art, subculture, the whole nine yards
with it.
The thing with
being a graffiti artist is that it's always important to get photos of
the
peices, because
one never knew how long a particular painting might stay "up". This led me to get my first slr, a Canon AE1, to get good documentation of the work we produced. I was also somewhat a magazine freak, and really enjoyed American Photo, Art In America, Juxtapose, fashion mags, you name it. Through them I became more familiar with photography, and many of the larger names in the art. So, in 1999 I got a job at local one hour photo lab, and since processing at the time was relatively cheap for me, I jumped right in head first. I also took a course at the University in alternative processing, and was lucky to have a fairly progressive instructor that let us run wild. Eventually, I found difficult to really express myself through graffiti art, and photography filled that void. But really, I was hooked back in high school the first time I saw an image come up in the tray. It was multi-exposure of my friend breakdancing, taken using a strobe light. Today, I can't imagine not owning a camera, and wouldn't know what to do if I didn't shoot.
PM: How would you describe your photographic style?
JH: Rough around the edges for sure. The one theme that runs through all
my
images,
regardless of subject matter, is "grit". Grit, is also the title of the print on demand book I created and released this year as well. I don't stay to one genre for too long, I like everything, aesthetics are everywhere. I do tend to stay away from long/tele shots, and prefer the distortion of the wider angle. Prefer black and white to color, at least when I'm making the photos. But, yes, gritty is what my images are, and is pretty much what I subconsciously seek out. Everything has a rough side, or a side that nobody sees or cares to look at closely enough. So yes, definitely gritty.
PM: Why do you photoblog?
JH: I have a website and photoblog as another avenue to make my images
accessable. Like
many others, I'm sure I'd still be shooting even if I couldn't do this,
but
it feels good to
know that I have images available in the pubilc domain. At the same
time,
it's one half of
the final process of my photography. The first half is a print. But
that's
not enough, and I
don't feel my creative process is purged until I know the image is
viewable
by others. They
don't have to like it. Even if only one person, or nobody looks at it,
it's
there waiting. The
web, and photoblogs are like an exclamation point on my photographic
process.graphic
process.
PM: What are your strengths and weakness as a photographer?
JH: I feel my strengths are my ability to pre visualize the finished piece
pretty accurately, and
that no process is taboo; inkjets, normal prints, multi media, etc. I
understand the "rules" so to speak, but I will just as well disregard them. I'm not keen on found view, or that the camera is some tool that magically represents an objective truth; perspective is at best a fib - it's a good fib, and probably the closest thing to reality in a two dimensional space we'll have until 3d imaging is fine tuned - but I won't rely soley on it. I won't shun it either, but I regard it as another tool in the box - not the only tool. My weaknesses as a photographer are for sure a lack of patience. I have a good eye, and know how to 'see', but often times I fail to make myself do this, then this untrained instinct takes over. Also, I'm too attached to my work - that is it's very difficult to edit my work down. To me, each image has some sort of value, or I wouldn't have bothered to take it. But to objectively separate myself from my work I have a hard time with. I understand that not everybody will appreciate all these things I see in my images, it's a difficult learning process to figure out what might be important to the masses instead of only myself.
PM: Hazard, you've been at this for five years already, when are going to "make it" ?
JH: I had delusions of grandeur regarding photography, maybe even art in
general.
I used to be worried about becoming famous, rich, and all that - and
even
believed
photography would do that for me. In the last few years, I've
learned/realized that I don't
necessarily "want" to be a famous world reknown photographer. I want to make images that I am satisfied with. If I can turn some heads, that's awesome, a bonus. If I can make some money back, and re invest that into my camera system, that's a dream. I've done headshots, some light product photography, and even a few weddings. The thing I learned from this is, I have no desire to be a "professional" photographer. When it gets to a point where I wake and have to make images, it's over. This is not to say that I'm not ambitious, I am. Indeed, I created a print on demand book, have a growing website, and belong to several photo communities. This year, I am working to show my work here in Albuquerque, and anywhere else. But there there is no goal of "rich and famous", popular, infamous - I'm just along for the ride, because photography is such a neat vehicle to travel in...
Five Recommended Photoblogs:
Much like my style, I prefer rougher images. I certainly appreciate a
beautiful landscape,
or well crafted portrait/fashion shot, but I like the real life grabs.
Like
street
photography, or narratives, either real or imagined. So my five
favorites
will be some
blogs that are rough around the edge sort of photography:
•http://mute.rigent.com/ The work on here reminds that many of the keenest photographs are
silent - a
moment
captured where the photographer has truly stopped time. Fantastic
images.
•http://www.nimla.com/ I really like the cultural aspect/feel of the images here. Narratives
too,
of a culture I'm
not familiar with, but experiences I can loosely relate to.
•http://6oh.blogphotography.com/ Gritty images, like mine! Photography by the seat of your pants, every
day
life stuffed
into your pocket so you don't forget it. I really like work like this.
•http://www.judithpolakoff.us/ I like this one because it makes me want to imitate her work. I could
never, ever make
images like this, but seeing all of them makes me want to learn. She
truly
is aware of
lifescape, and is very close to actually painting with her camera.
•http://www.zoeydoll.net/pixelpost/This is my girl's site, but that's not why I'm plugging it. We
actually met
online, thousands
of miles apart, and were brought together by our photography - we were
each
enamoured
with eachothers work. She's one of a very few self portrait artists
out
there that are very
fresh.
PM: What is your background, and what are you doing when you are not photoblogging?
JH: Born and raised in blue collar northewest Ohio. I've moved around a
little
bit; Toledo,
Detroit, Columbus, Athens (Ohio), Grand Canyon, and now Albuquerque New
Mexico. I
have a high school education, and about two years of various college
elective courses. I'm
slightly into sci fi things like the Star Wars saga, and the new
Battlestar
Galactica series,
and don't care for blockbuster movies too much. As movies go, the book
is
always better.
My major pastimes now are primarily mountain biking, photography, and
my
girlfriend. I
spend a lot of time reading about photography, and the current digital
age,
and find the
slow passing of film to be fascinating. Let's see.. I don't cook a
lot,
love my dog, and work
in a customer service position for a major Pharmacy Benefits Magerial
company. I'll watch
TV, but would rather be spending time on the computer or outdoors. New
Mexico is a
great state, by the way. Beautiful all over, despite the encroachment
of
civilization!