ARTIST

Jonathan Lane

Interview with the Artist

Q: What inspired you to get into photography?
A: I am fascinated with how nature, people and chance arrange things and so I like to capture these interesting juxtapositions and share this fascination with other people.

Q:What would you be doing if you hadn't taken up photography? (or What do you do as well as photography?)
A: Write. Probably about the arts and politics

Q: Where were you born?
A: I was born in and grew up in New York City, which is still one of my favorite places to take photos. The architecture, the strange mixtures of people and things, of nature and the unnatural are enough to last a photographer a lifetime

Q: What was your childhood like?
A: Normal middle class in a city. I had lots of other kids around to play with and at the time, it was safe enough that I could walk to the playground or the store or the park anytime I wanted to. The boy has been taken out of the city, but (well, you know the rest).

Q: What inspires you? (in general and in photography)
A: Passion. Beauty. Originality. Courage of conviction

Q: What is your favorite aspect of photography? Your least favorite?
A: Favorites: Seeing the results of my picture-taking and recognizing when I have produced a captured a good moment. My least favorite: Like most people when they take pictures, waiting to see them. Now that I shoot mostly digital, the instant gratification is there most of the time.

Q: What photographers inspired you?
A: Before I considered myself a photographer, among my favorites were: Art Kane; Edward Steichen; Cartier-Bresson; Edward Weston; Ansel Adams. There is also a painter who either inspired me, or whose vision was much like mine: Edward Hopper, who painted scenes that convey the incredible emptiness and loneliness that can exist even in a huge city. I'm also a big fan of Annie Leibovitz.

Q: How happy are you with your photography?
A: I enjoy my work and appreciate the talent I seem to have. There is all the room for improvement I'll ever have time for.