The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
August 2015 back issue
by Ryan Schude
It starts with a building you drive by. You can’t quite put your finger on what
exactly, but something needs to happen here. You stop the car, even though
it’s rush hour, and you’re starving and have to use the bathroom, and you’re
still a million miles from home: you have to grab a quick snap to make sure
you remember the place and how to get back to it. It could be months or
even years until the right set of circumstances arise that provide the impetus
to stage something here.
Maybe you see a grandma belting her son over the head with a floral-printed
handbag at the train station. Something about the way her stockings sag, the
way his hands go up to halfheartedly shield himself. You remember that
building you drove by.
For whatever reason, the two images make sense together, and the
framework for a new story begins to form. When given its own life, the
narrative evolves through many transformations, and must remain flexible
as the characters and their actions take shape. Only when the cast is assembled and directed can we see how they
physically interact with each other, and allow the real moments to transpire within a constructed framework.
The marriage of fact and fiction becomes organic and fluid amidst a seemingly rigid atmosphere of a preordained
storyline.
As we create a new reality based only loosely on a collection of muddled memories and inspiring aesthetics, anything
goes.
Everything is possible.
Toaster (2010), The Forge, Los Angeles.
Rainbows and Sunshine (2014), Palm Springs, California. In collaboration with Lauren Randolph.
Oliver (2008), The Forge, Los Angeles. In collaboration with Dan Busta and
Collins Schude.
Phoot Camp (2010), Calabasas, California. In collaboration with Lauren Randolph.
Sven Barth and his 1985 GMC Suburban (2013), Elysian Valley, Los Angeles.
Elizabeth Bolinger (2012), The Forge, Los Angeles.
Bago (2008), Culver City, California.
Carol Lyn Black (2012), Highland Park, Los Angeles. In collaboration with Ross Feighery.
Crash (2008), Cypress Park, Los Angeles.
Amelia Parks and her 1963 Ford Falcon (2014), Los Angeles.
Phoot Camp (2010), Calabasas, California. In collaboration with Lauren Randolph.
Colin Carr for Daily Bread Magazine (2006), San Clemente, California.
Schude (out 27th July) contains the photographer’s most famous and theatrical images, alongside detailed
commentary from Schude himself and provides a wonderful introduction to his quirkily beautiful imagination.
