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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!
