Interview #8.

Interviews, what ever happened to them? Well, I got lazy, that is what happened. That and my general loss of interest in the whole Flickr experience over the past 12 months or so. But, there have been a few things that keep me coming back. I have an excellent range of contacts that do some stunning work, I do still put some of my own photos up on the odd occasion, and around the middle of last year, one of the stars from the first round of interviews started a 365 project. I followed this project right from the start, and was surprised, even though every day was numbered, when photo #365 rolled around. Andrew Günsberg has kindly agreed to another interview, this time based on his 365 project and how it challenged him.

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Andrew, thanks for your time. Let me run this quote by you.

June 12, 2009.  Self portrait with a warm cuppa on a chilly Bondi morning.
Considering getting it together with 365Days, but worried about the perceived Narcissism required to do so.
Thoughts?

Can you tell me, did you expect this question to end up turning into an exhibition this month in Sydney?

Never in my wildest dreams. This is a dream come true.

Very early on in the project, you gave us a sense of what it must be like to be a TV celebrity. Days 3,4,5 and 6 were all TV related. Did the project ever interfere with production or annoy co workers?

Never, I always set out to document a year in my life, so I tried as hard as I could to not interfere with others’ work days. I tried to shoot in re-lights, lunch breaks, and later when I got quicker – ad breaks!

Day 11 was the first of many “Jump” shots. For some reason, I look at it and think of Michael Keaton saying “I’m Batman”. From my limited experience of the jump shot, where I damn near tore a hamstring, and given your dicky knee, did you ever hurt yourself during the project?

Only perhaps a sore back from lugging around a heavy backpack for a year, but one of the shots with the harbour bridge in the background I damn near landed in Sydney harbour. It was late, dark and slippery on that pontoon.

Day 22 looks like a shot from the 60’s. It could be a shot from the Impossible Cool site. Can you tell us more about it.

Wife and I were guests at a friends’ wonderful summer house in East Hampton, NY. This car belongs to one of their mates, and he just leaves it up there to hoon about in every summer. It was parked in the driveway, and I asked if I could use it for a shot, and he graciously obliged. It was a gigantic beast of a thing, no seatbelts, and probably a 444 under the hood. Lots of fun to hoon about the Hamptons in the back of that thing. Shot was tricky to focus, the 85mm f/1.2 has a notoriously fussy demeanor when it comes to AF, so it was a case of line up with the wing mirror I’d got sharps on, and hit the trigger hoping for the best. It was always going to be BW, and the Silver Efx works a treat here as well.

It was 9 weeks, as far as I can tell, before we saw the first small hint of any frustration. Day 63. It seemed like the planets had wobbled out of alignment. I think we have chatted about it privately, but for the benefit of the interview, what kept you going when times got tough?

Ah yes, not every day left the time required to imagine, set up, shoot, post and publish – but I made time because I was committed to not missing a day. There were a few things that helped, the most powerful was not dissimilar to when I’m writing and stuck for an idea. To get around it, I simply just start typing. Even if I’ve got nothing, I start typing. Eventually something appears, and then can be molded into an idea. Same with this, I’d just get the camera out of the bag, try and set up a flash, and just start firing off frames. I’d be so disgusted then at my own laziness, I’d work doubly hard to make the photo look as good as I could, because I didn’t want something sub-standard going in the project. Having said that, when the instant film started getting used, I did get a little lazy, but hey what are ya gunna do?

Day 87, and here you are in the reggies. A question I promised a female Flickr follower, and she knows who she is, “Andrew, why no nudes?” Yeah, even I managed one in my 52 weeks project. 🙂

No nudes because I’m not ready for nudes. Maybe next 365.

Day 93, All the single ladies. The video had me slapping my thigh laughing. It must be one of the best perks of the job to get to hang out with 2 good sorts, but challenging them to a dance? Good lord man, what were you thinking? How many shots did it take you to get one you were happy with?

I set up the camera and the flash, downloaded the video on iTunes, hit the freeze frame and made the best Beyonce face I could. And yes, take it from me, NEVER challenge and ex-YTT member to a dance off. You’ll have your ego handed to you tied up in a unitard.

Day 141, the lazy shot. How many cool tshirts do you own?

Hah. Way too many. I’ve misplaced more than I care to recall. The internet is a great place to buy shirts, that’s where I buy most of mine.

Day 209, and that ever faithful extra. They say in showbiz never to work with kids or animals. Dog starred in so many photos. Do you have a favourite, and how good a partner is Dog?

Favourite was running up the hill at Griffith Park 343. She loved the hike up there, and loved taking the photo even more. She’s a great dog, and always wanted to help, so who am I to say no? Dog is right into it, and is a very good model. She takes direction well. I have so many test rolls of Dog it’s silly. She’s always around, so she gets photographed a lot!

Day 260. Look at me, I’m not a terrorist, I’m a giant bunny rabbit! Where did the bunny suit come from?

www.bunnywarez.com – sometimes you wanna be cozy.

Day 341. Love the tshirt. Did you approach any of the super stars you interviewed to be part of your daily photo, only to get knocked back?

The only person I approached was James Morrison, and then only after chatting to him the whole way through rehearsal. I never wanted to trouble any people I interviewed to be in the photo though, it didn’t seem in the spirit of the project.

What is your view on the papps? You seemed to turn the tables on them a few times. As a celebrity, do you just learn to live with them?

I love my job, I love what I do, I love to be able to do what I do, and I’m blessed to have the opportunity to do it.
These are people who are also in my line of work. Without them I wouldn’t be able to do a part of what I do.
They help people become aware of events in the public eye, which drives up interest, which drives up ratings, which drives up my ability to get signed on for another show, which drives up my capability to pay my mortgage every month.
Were it not for them, I wouldn’t go to the trouble of borrowing nice suits to wear on the red carpet.
They work very hard, they love their jobs, they have much more expensive cameras than me.
They sometimes shout a lot, but they’re generally all nice people.

How important were the daily comments on your photos for motivation? You certainly had some dedicated followers.

It would be hard to put in to words how important the comments that people put on my photos were to me. The motivation came from knowing that people were watching every day and expecting something new. I tried very hard to not only fulfill my concept of the photo, but to do it in a way that got the most reaction. It really, really helped.

What did your good wife, and those close to you think of the project?
Noa was really in to it. She was very understanding with the amount of camera gear set up in our apartment sometimes.

Did Noa have a favourite photo from the project?
I think the ones with the Dog in it she really likes, also the serious face ones.

Is there a shot you regret taking? Or, regret not taking?
Sometime around January when the new radio show was really getting in to full swing, I was really tired a lot of the time, working long and late hours, so I had a run of a few photos that didn’t have as much effort as I would have liked to put in to them. I think I once shot a whole week of polaroids, but then my ego kicked in and I pulled out the flashes again.

What was the most difficult shot to get? The one that took the most takes or one where you just felt like crap and didn’t want to play with camera gear at some point?

Day 339, I was under the pump from security guards hassling me about my tripod up on top of the building – it was tricky keeping them off my back while trying to get the exposures right. Also day 194 was on a beach on a private island in the Caribbean – I set up my gear, and about three seconds after I shot this, a security guard emerged from the bushes and got awfully upset about the extent of my set-up. It was only after I scrolled through the photos to show him that no-one else was in the frame that he let me be – but he did – rather convincingly I may add – urge me to ‘please desist’. So I did. That’s why the next four photos are all sunsets, from the house we were staying in, as I was too scared to take the camera out of the house again that whole week!

Over the course of the project, things like light painting and strobist photography seemed to get better and better. How much did you learn through the 365 days about photography, light and yourself?

I learned so much about light and lighting doing this, I couldn’t recommend it more to people. It really is an amazing way to learn your gear, your light, your composition – and most of all what gets reactions. Do it. Shoot every day.

Thanks a bunch Norbs. I hope you can make it to the show!

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Thanks Andrew for taking the time to answer another bunch of questions.

For those people in Sydney, Andrew’s Exhibition is on from Sept 15-25th at Mart Gallery, 156 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills. If you see him, tell him norbs sent you. 🙂