June 14, 2004 - This week, we interview Justin Ouellette from Chromogenic.net:

Please tell us a little about yourself:
I am 21 years old. I was born in Portland but at the moment I live in Eugene , where I attend the University Of Oregon . I'm a full-time undergraduate majoring in Humanities and European History and minoring in Latin. I enjoy the television program "Law & Order". My favorite ninja turtle is Donatello. My car has a black interior, but the exterior is a different color. It's cloudy out right now. After I finish this interview I'm going to make a sandwich, and then I'll probably eat it. Maybe with some grapes. And a glass of water.

First time grabbing a camera?
9th grade. It was an Olympus Stylus Epic, the good one with the fixed 35mm f/2.8 lens. Best camera I ever had.

Why does photography interest you?
I'm in it purely for the money, and also to attract women.

Other hobbies other than photography? Do they mix with it?
Yeah, I'm also into music and design. They mix quite well, actually. Photography and design have a lot to do with each other, they both involve the arrangement of shapes in space and I think my sensibilities for each inform the other. When I'm taking pictures, I'm thinking in terms of design. When I'm designing, I'm thinking in terms of photography. A lot of my photography finds its way into the design work I do (web sites, packaging, whatever) and a lot of my design philosophy finds its way into my photography. In the end, it's not all that different.

Your most memorable photographic experience?
I took my first photography class in high school from this guy that had been in Vietnam. He was an incredible photographer and also an amazing teacher, with a lot of artistic and cultural insight that went way beyond the normal bounds of your average public high school art class. Other schools had their gym teachers standing in as photo teachers, but by some amazing stroke of luck we had this seriously raw dude who'd been doing it for 25+ years and really loved passing his knowledge on. I probably learned more in those 8 months than I've learned doing anything since.

Most negative photographic experience?
No singular event really stands out, but any time I do something stupid to ruin a roll of film (not rolling it tight enough, leaving the lid off the dev tank, etc.) it's like losing a child or something.I spend the rest of the day wandering the streets in the rain, feeling sorry for myself and wondering where things went so wrong.

What is your shooting style? How and what do you prefer to shoot? What is the underlying theme in your work?
Every one of my pictures tells a joke.

Why do you prefer that shooting style? Those things you shoot? Why not anything else?
We cherish most the things that resonate with our sense of humor.

Film or digital?
Film. The day I give up film is the day they stop selling it. It will be a sad day.

Why did you start a photoblog?
More than anything else it was to provide myself with some incentive to keep taking pictures. Promising a new picture every day is enough to keep me out shooting every week, and that's given me an invaluable sense of discipline. It's really hard to keep going when you know that the pictures you take are just going to wind up in a shoebox or a binder or something. Even if no one ever looked at the site, it wouldn't matter because I've felt like I've fulfilled myself just by putting it out there. The important thing is just doing it.

What have been the biggest joys in running a photoblog?
It's been really fun having a portfolio that's so readily accessible. Being able to stand back and essentially look at a year's worth of what I considered my best material at any given time all at once is a really powerful thing. I can analyze stylistic trends and gauge my own improvement over time in a way that I think wouldn't be possible otherwise. How often do you think Elliott Erwitt or Henri Cartier-Bresson had a chance to put every print they'd ever made up onto a giant wall in chronological order?

The biggest strains in running a photoblog?
Sometimes when I start to run low on new pictures it's painful to force myself to go out and shoot some more, but ultimately I see that as a good thing. It's often in those situations that I take the pictures I wind up loving the most later. A lot of successful writers (I'm thinking of William Zinsser specifically) have said that the only way they can work is by setting aside a specific time during the day when they write, even if they don't feel like it, or aren't in the mood, or think they have writer's block, etc. etc. They treat it like any other job where they have to be there at the same time every day and are expected to be productive. I approach photography the same way; I treat it like it's my job. The benefit, of course, is that as you start to get better as the inevitable result of this kind of arrangement you start feeling like doing it more and more based solely on the excitement from seeing yourself improve and diversify. It's totally worth it once you have a rhythm going.

Has photography and photoblogging changed your life?
Photography definitely has, but I'm not sure that photoblogging in and of itself have changed my life. It's just a form of output. It's like saying that printing has changed your life. If someone said that to me I'd probably stop listening to them.

Your inspirations? Both in photography and photoblogs?
Todd Hido, Carl de Keyzer, Patrick Nagatani, Peter Baker, Todd Gross, Asger Carlsen, Richard Avedon, Ricky Powell, Elliott Erwitt, Garry Winogrand, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Cindy Sherman, David Carson, Man Ray, Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Anton Corbijn, Annie Liebowitz, Robert Capa, Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Sophie Smith, others...

The best photograph you've ever seen?
I'm not even going to touch that one. It'd probably be something from the vast and venerable Magnum Photos archive, though.

What can make photoblogs better?
It'd be nice to see some more international representation. The vast majority of photoblogs out there right now are based in the Anglophonic world (US/Canada, Great Britain, Australia). Where's France at? Come on you guys, you invented photography. Let's get cracking. I'm still waiting for the Quarlo of Paris.

Are you involved in anything else photography-wise other than your photoblog?
I've got a few non-internet things going. I do memes occasionally, but only when it overlaps what I've been doing anyway. I'm busy enough with my own stuff that it's hard to keep up with those things, especially considering how fast they move. I like to stay in my own little world. It's quiet and peaceful here.

As always, we thank you for both this interview, and for your wonderful photoblog...
Thank you!