|
Search this group's discussions
|
Week 30 Interview: Merkley??? [Note: "not safe for work"]
|
This week we interview Merkley???, one of flickr's all-star picture makers.
1) Tell us a bit about where you're from and when you first picked up a camera?
I was born in Canada and grew up in Utah as a Mormon, with steps and halfies included i have 17 siblings. after converting many on a Mormon mission to Brazil and serving in various Mormon teaching and leadership positions I quit religion and reverted to my natural atheism at the age of 26. i moved to SF at 30, had my first drink at the age of 33 and life has been steadily improving since.
My dad always had a camera loaded with film and I always took care to compose a balanced shot that hopefully told a story. I don't know why. I always considered myself an artist and I suppose i felt i had to prove it. most of my life i did painting and drawing and looked down on photographers as a bunch of lazy schlubs and for the most part they are :)
Having said that, photography is it's own art and big ups to those that do it well, but it's kinda inaccurate to call what i do photography. i call it picture making.
2) There's a great progression of style in your stream over the past 2 years from when you started out by making slightly processed portraits with no real scenery. Did you have in the back of you head an idea of what you wanted to do?
When digital photography became viable back in 2000, the annoying process of dealing with a lab and film etc... went out the window and it finally seemed like something fun and self contained. since i still wasn't looking at photography as being as legitimate as painting or drawing, I mostly used it to make quick and easy pretty pictures of friends. I think the reason i headed in the direction of pretty and sexy was because those are two things much more easily accomplished with a camera and Photoshop than with a pen and paint so it was maybe a way to balance myself with the ugly uncomfortable men i liked to draw. plus i know lots of pretty girls.
when Flickr came around and i suddenly had an appreciative audience for my photo based pictures, i realized that i could bring all the things i felt made painting and drawing superior into the pictures i was making with photographic elements. once i made that realization it gradually became harder and harder to imagine any return to drawing etc... maybe i will one day when i'm super old and bed ridden and my computer won't cooperate because it can think of its own ideas.
so yeah, in consideration of effort and execution, the content i'm doing now and hope to improve upon in the future has always been there. before it was just directed towards painting, drawing, writing, moving pictures etc.. but art is all the same thing really now isn't it.
3) How is your book doing? How did that come about?
The book came about when i completed the picture of jenny on the cover and i mentioned to her that i thought it would be a good idea to do a book of all the girls we knew on their own sofas with their own favorite shoes. I have told many people about different big ideas, the difference with this one was that jenny went straight out and told people i WAS making a book. the next time i went out 4 different girls approached me (the first 4 in the book besides jenny) and told me they wanted to be in it. once you photograph someone naked with the promise of making a book, your only choices are to either a) make the book or b) be a total douchebag. So i made the book.
The response has been fantastic, going it alone instead of making a deal with a publisher was one of the best decisions of my life. I was in the black within the first 2 weeks of pre-orders, now with 3/4 of them sold and a dwindling pile in the garage it's really fun to be starting the next one.
yay internet.
4) Do you still paint at all or is it all making pictures these days?
Like i said, i can't imagine going back to the mess and solitary experience of painting -- still, i might one day. ya never know, machines might turn on us.
5) You don't care much for cameras but have you ever shot with a DSLR or something like a Hasselblad, or as I think you've named it, the "Hasselhoff" ? Would you play around with one if someone lent you one for a day?
Haven't yet shot medium format style but i absolutely would if someone lent me one, i'm not anti-tech by any means, i'm just anti the notion that it's required and i like to champion the notion of getting to work with what you have instead of endlessly making excuses about equipment.
plus i'm lazy and i like to travel light.
when most people talk tech they are really talking about turd polishers but all i can see are their turds, polished or not. the anti-tech "filmy" people are even worse. it's mostly those with no ideas that clamor endlessly about tech up or down.
i'd love to have a camera that would capture the resolution of an eagles eye and i can't wait until they are also that small. btw i have a dslr and i use it for official shoot type stuff, i just can't wait til it no longer offers me anything i need or want. that day is fast approaching.
i want small.
a good camera will never make a good picture, people with good ideas and work ethics make them.
6) You generally stick to topless and don't really feature many complete nudes, any reason for that?
Genitals tend to upstage. i'm not anti-genital, but i am anti-douchebag and vaginas attract them in hoardes. i had full nudity at first but i couldn't deal with the douches -- it's a lifestyle choice really. also, i think having full nudes in my stream might add extra awkwardness for any potential subjects wondering what their job might be. it seems to me that full nude photographers might have fewer volunteers than i do, but that's unverified :)
anyway, i haven't ruled it out.
7) Which of the 10 portraits chosen for this feature is your favorite, and tell us something about the subject.
Well, not surprisingly i probably wouldn't have picked any of those to be in my top ten but that's just the way that seems to go. but that's one of the best things about art, we are all always right when it comes to personal taste. Out of those i'd probably pick the one of sylvia with the flying sausages just because that's the type of photo i'd like to see if i was looking for something interesting. i like images that force you to engage your creative brain -- the kind that cause you to tell yourself a quick story. i suppose any photo could do that but i tend to favor a surreal tale to the billions of real stories that bombard my actual everyday life. if i want reality i don't need to be looking at pictures, i'll just walk outside for that.
8) Which portrait should we have chosen to feature that we missed? (or just one of your favorites in your stream).
my favorites change all the time but i think this one sums up a lot of who i am and how i feel, even if it is more direct than i generally prefer:
www.flickr.com/photos/merkley/169104751/
9) Any new projects? What's next for Merkley?
lots of new stuff but i have found that it's better to show people what you have done than talk about what you are gonna do -- especially if you like to change your mind a lot like i do.
10) Show us a photo on Flickr you wish you took.
hmmn -- i like a lot of photos -- you can see them in my favorites but i'm not really wired in a way to wish i had done something by someone else. i'm pretty adamant about art being personal and specific and that's an impossible scenario for another artist to do it my way. i like things because they are different than how i would do it.
here's one:
www.flickr.com/photos/citrusfreak12/2511531857/
Originally posted at 9:59AM, 6 October 2008 PDT
(permalink)
smoothdude edited this topic 44 months ago.
|
|
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
Thanks to Merkley for the interview! I've always been a big fan.
Also he actually couldn't narrow it down to one flickr favorite photo, so he gave me 11 of them.. here's the rest:
www.flickr.com/photos/samtsang/1415064612/
www.flickr.com/photos/franciscoreina/1361860396/
www.flickr.com/photos/dianed/534785276/
www.flickr.com/photos/dave_lee/221228294/
www.flickr.com/photos/seantubridy/389310649/
www.flickr.com/photos/williamhundley/2381976328/
www.flickr.com/photos/babykailan/125119500/
www.flickr.com/photos/patrujo/154818566/
www.flickr.com/photos/kelco/132085505/
www.flickr.com/photos/aideolmos/123429171/
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
Also I asked a few bonus questions I'll post later today :)
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
As always Jake, I appreciate the hard work you do for this group. Merkley is fantastic and I appreciate you getting him.
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
Cable you scamp you!
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
nice to see an artist sparking a heated discussion:
flickr.com/groups/deletemeuncensored/discuss/721576077905...
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Thanks for the eye candy Jaker and Smoothie. I've always liked Merkley???'s work.
Its funny, because he says in his profile that he wasn't inspired by LaChappelle. I found Merkley before I found LaChapelle, and while I love the latter, I think Merkleys work established the initial appreciation for that kind of high gloss, high fashion, avant garde photography that I like so much from both artists.
A lot of people will say "but his shots all look the same". To them I think I'd have to say, "you're not really looking at them"...
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Questions for Merkley, if you'd be so kind:
firstly do you have any un-photogenic friends that offer to be photographed?
secondly Ilike the use of objects in your shots to create form, structure and line, are they brought in for the shots you take or are they just stuff lying around that you make use of?
And finally, you say on your site that you don't have meetings to set up your shots but they are often very complex and occasionally seem to take inspiration from paintings (one I looked at reminded me very much of a fucked up contemporary klimt) so is this intentional? Does it take a while for you to get your muse for want of a better phrase or do you just go for it and see what happens?
cheers
Os
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
Os, I'd love to see a link to that klimt inspired shot. I'd also love to be able to see Merkleys site from work, but apparently my bank thinks Merkley is a pornographer. :^(
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
 |
carwax (if you see Kay) [deleted] says:
ahhh....the flickr legend Merkley in Spotlight Seven...
Merkley, one question, please...
Do you remember more about the pics that get received well, or the ones that get a lot of negative comments?
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
Carwax - that's a good segue into one of the bonus questions I asked the Merkley???:
What does Merkley say to his critics???
“I have critics?”
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
tif, this one just as lovely:
and this one, similar composure and use of space but contemporary and fucked up:
for a start!
Originally posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
ososment edited this topic 44 months ago.
|
|
Chiapetta [deleted] says:
Be sure to check out his website. Hilarious!
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
Oh, I can definitely see what you mean Os. I'll have to check out his website when I get home.
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
thanks for the nice vibes n'shit people. flickr is fun.
Q: firstly do you have any un-photogenic friends that offer to be photographed?
A:all my friends are zitty hunchbacks, i run them all through the plastic beauty filter in cs3 -- it's freeware, just search.
Q: secondly Ilike the use of objects in your shots to create form, structure and line, are they brought in for the shots you take or are they just stuff lying around that you make use of?
A: I like to use stuff on location, occasionally i will haul a specific prop if it fits in my purse but i'm not lying when i say that i really am a lazy fuck.
Q: And finally, you say on your site that you don't have meetings to set up your shots but they are often very complex and occasionally seem to take inspiration from paintings (one I looked at reminded me very much of a fucked up contemporary klimt) so is this intentional? Does it take a while for you to get your muse for want of a better phrase or do you just go for it and see what happens?
A: I think I have heard the klimt thing before but let me google again to see who you're talking about. -- oh yeah, no -- he was never an inspiration, even in my painting days i always thought those images were kinda faggy -- which isn't really a bad thing but you know, i'm so effin MACHO :)
besides the infections i carry with me from the inspirations i list in my profile, i don't set out to emulate or base things on other works. i'm too insecure for that.
as far as the getting my muse thing -- for the most part my subjects are all excited about getting into the retarded spirit and having fun, occasionally i'll get stuck with a person that isn't as receptive to unusual ideas and that can hurt the spirit but at the same time something inside of me enjoys a challenge and even a really frustrating experience can turn into something rewarding. but yeah, sometimes it's easier than others and at no time is it ever as bad as having an actual JOB.
Q:Do you remember more about the pics that get received well, or the ones that get a lot of negative comments?
A: I'm not just saying this to be a jerk, but flickr really is a fairly polite place and i don't get a lot of negative comments. Occasionally i will block a douchebag here or there for making rude comments that dont relate to art but honestly it doesn't really happen much. Sometimes i wish it would happen more because negative comments about any art are so awesome because it's so subjective and i just LOVE pulling off the gloves in a comments fight. Nothing more fun than tearing someone a new asshole.
i generally agree with flickr people about my images, besides my very favorites, for the most part i'm on the same page with all yalls. there are a very small number that i feel like are underrated and a few that are way overrated but most of the time i agree.
Q: LaChappelle
A: I'd have to be an idiot to be offended by any comparison to him and trust me i'd fess up lickety split if he had a direct impact. The people I list in my profile are the real honest influences -- if you add them up you will see that my stuff really is a sum of those parts plus maybe a little extra sauce of my own. So yeah , the comparisons are flattering, i think we are roughly the same age and probably grew up watching the same cartoons, probably listening to the same music -- i don't know. I do know that he OWNS the color pink. I can't use the color pink without the LaChapelle comments. and good for him on being able to do that. Thats quite a feat.
he is also way more faggy :)
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
and as for my stuff "all looking the same"
i actually take that as a compliment. I have always respected artists that work within a given structure. I think it's a nice thing to do for a viewer -- to build yourself a box and live in it, see how much you can do with it. I'm glad michael jackson never did a country album. I like wes anderson to be wes anderson.
gary larson did everything he did with a pencil and a sense for blobby characters. how rad is that? -- that's how i wanna be. I have no interest in exploring everything, that's why there are billions of people -- specialization seems to yield my favorite results.
if i'm a one trick pony, so is charles schultz and so is dr. seuss -- and thats a mighty good road to be on if you ask me.
Originally posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
merkley??? edited this topic 44 months ago.
|
|
top drawer merkley??? ....
another book sold.....if you have any left?
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
good answers.
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
Haha, I couldn't agree more about lachapelle owning the color pink!
I also agree that its a great thing when an artist can establish a 'signature style' and I think you've successfully done that. If I could develop even a fraction of a signature style like that in any genre, I'd be pretty damned pleased with myself.
I'm curious about the "Post Mormon Repression Correction" influence. I suppose that goes back to Q&A #1, and is a bit tongue in cheek, but I'm imagining the "work" you produce now might come as a bit of a shock to your family. Or maybe I don't know a damn thing about mormon aesthetic principles. In fact, I'm sure I don't...
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
This Spotlight 7 interview has been wonderfully frank. Dude (since I see you're reading, I'll address directly) you're delightfully flippant when addressing folks about your equipment and "work" it's inspirational in itself.
I fell in love with Merkley??? the first time my I saw one of your pictures. Since I've devoured every delicious picture posted and look forward to seeing everything you have to offer, I read the drivel on your blog regularly. I wish I could afford your book. I'm stalking you. I want to eat you and gain your power.
Beyond favorite shoes, your portraits do a great job of representing your subjects life interests. You say above you find stuff laying about their homes.
Q - Will you speak to how you flesh out these items of subtext?
Q - How do you get the cats to cooperate?
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Fascinating interview. When I first saw Merkley's shots ages ago I thought "Great... but a LaChapelle wannabe" and dismissed the guy as someone who puts style over substance. How wrong I was!
Just reading about the Mormon background grabbed my attention, but I'm also a huge fan of people who use consumer cameras to make great images. I loved the sense of humour too.
These interviews rather prove the point that behind some of the most interesting pictures are some of the most interesting people. Thanks for posting.
*Adds as a contact*.
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
thanks again flickrs --
Q: another book sold.....if you have any left?
A: I do have a dwindling little pile in the garage and i'd be happy to go down and box one up for you.
Q: I'm curious about the "Post Mormon Repression Correction" influence.
A: Well that would be my kneejerk predisposition for irreverence. I watched a documentary about amish kids doin all kinds of meth and having wild sex parties out in the barn. I'm basically doin the same thing only not nearly as awesome or fun since i'm afraid of drugs and sex with girls in bonnets.
Q - Will you speak to how you flesh out these items of subtext?
A: Usually Items belong to the subjects or have special or disconnected meaning to them, i'll usually spend a half an hour or more snooping through cupboards, closets and boxes looking for things that feel neglected. I'm one of those weirdos that anthropomorphizes everything i see so it's more like i'm casting a little one panel play. Obviously I don't require stories to be linear.
Sometimes the objects come from other sources besides the subjects own reserves, often I don't know where the fuck they come from because i'm no expert on the subconscious mind.
but i really like it's style.
Q - How do you get the cats to cooperate?
A: now it wouldn't be fun to toss them if they cooperated now would it :)
Q: style over substance.
A: I know nobody really posed this as a question but I'll answer it anyway. I'm being serious when I say that I feel like style *IS* substance. otherwise we wouldn't judge people based on what shoes they are wearing. i also believe that it's ok to buy a book for the lovely cover. I haven't read 75% of the books on my shelves. but they LOOK GOOD.
Looking good is the first step to feeling good.
having said that, the more substance i can cram into a suitcase with a naked girl the better --- i really do wish i wasn't so lazy. I'm working on it.
thanks again again.
Originally posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
merkley??? edited this topic 44 months ago.
|
|
|
thank you for answering
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
I have noticed a bunch of people trying to emulate your work. I myself feel that it is a high form of flattery. Some of these people may be your friends, or at least some that you yourself have photographed like Parker. Another is .SANCHEZ. www.flickr.com/photos/threefourmedia/ although he never mentions you as an inspiration (but clearly it looks like a lot of your original celebrated "clothed" period LOL).
You have started a revolution in what I have heard called environmental portraits. Any comments on where the style you have created or maybe maybe better stated perfected, is going and it's effect with the good and bad imitators???
Or perhaps you can just talk on aerosol cheese art instead
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
Ah, now there's an unpleasant sticky discussion with which i am happy to darken this lovely thread.
I think the standard MO here is to pretend to not notice, pretend to be flattered and then pretend to not really give a fuck.
It is one thing to be inspired by a persons style, take a dash of this, throw it with a dash of that, you know mix it up, most art is like that, we want it to be like that. that's what i do, look at my ingredients/influences list, i doubt anyone on my list would be bummed at all. some might even be surprised to be on it.
It's completely another thing to stand right behind someone, look over their shoulder and ape their every move. for the most part, because most people aren't complete douchebags, most inspiration results in new and extended versions with new insights and perspectives on certain themes. everyone wins.
but then you got guys like sanchez with zero originality of their own who just ape and mimic every move they can and then DENY they are doing it.
that is the EPITOME of douchebaggery.
but still i can hear some of you saying "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery blah blah blah"
well so is RAPE.
bit of history: sanchez started as a fan who would private message me with huge compliments asking me how i did this or that, asking if he could come along on shoots, just basically looking for a mentor, or more specifically someone to copy. if you are completely bored you can go through his stream and find the first day he found my stream, it's not like he tried to hide it. at first i thought, oh how cute, the football player is shadowing my moves. i even helped him out with a small tool list and vague tutorial posted as a comment in one of my photos.
suddenly every photo that came out was a direct shadow of something in my set. people began to email me, saying, "yo, some dood is biting your style", i forwarded one or two of these emails on to sanchez and he responded like "duuurr wha? my stuff isn't anything like your stuff durrrrr." and that's when his douchiness was fully revealed.
one day i finally busted him in his comments for aping without attribution and a few of his friends publicly came to his defense about what a "swell fella he is and how i must be nervous of his great talent etc"..only later to privately message me about how hard he studied my style and they think he should stop biting but don't know how to tell him -- like it wasn't obvious. for a minute he degradingly listed me as an influence in his profile calling me a clown but eventually he erased all evidence tracing back to the obvious singular source of "his" style. me.
so yeah, as far as i'm concerned, the dude is a serious low class douchebag.
another not fun thing to do for the completely bored is to google my name in his stream and watch how he goes from, "I see what your {sic} talking about with the Merkley??? thing....he's definately {sic} had an influence on my work .. he has such an awesome style...some of the most creative work I've ever seen..." to complete denial and the deletion of links to my stuff.
anyway, anyone can see it and i certainly don't wanna argue with anyone who can't.
the almost humorous part is how he concocted a list of supposed influences. of course if you know how to use google you'll see that not one person has ever compared his stuff to anyone on his fictional list yet dozens and dozens have correctly identified me as the source. the sad part is that i gave him plenty of good advice about going and doing things his own way, changing it up etc.. he obviously hasn't taken it, in fact his most recent stuff is the most blatant of all.
guys like him make it less fun for guys like me. football players basically can't not suck i think. might be genetic.
anyway, this is the part where i'll fake like i don't give a shit.
i just wanna know why some people are so determined to be douchebags. it's really not that hard to be cool and decent. i'd like to ignore him but i get these douchebag style biter alert emails from other flickrers often enough that it makes it difficult.
wow. that was more than i planned on writing about that.
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
I'll end my evening posting a bonus question I asked the Merkmeister...
bonus question -
When Merkley sneezes, what comes out???
"if you're lucky, sometimes a fart."
Originally posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
smoothdude edited this topic 44 months ago.
|
|
|
Truly awesome stuff merkley??? Not only are your portraits outstanding, but your unique communication style jibes perfectly with your photograph style. And substance!
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
"Looking good is the first step to feeling good."
Or, as I like to say, the better you look, the more you see. :)
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Merkley's the man!
thomashawk.com/2008/10/spotlight-seven-interviews-merkley...
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
Thanks for the blog post TH.
As far as the whole Sanchez controversy goes.. I think even to the most untrained eye, you can see a heavy, if not total influence when browsing his stream. He takes some nice photos (he's actually a contact of mine) but some of them look almost exactly identical, as if he was a painter holding a photo up next to his easel.. trying to duplicate it while he painted.
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
damn good interview. I've got and enormous amount of respect for the man, for forging his own style, sticking to his guns, and giving sincere answers when he could easily just have been flippant.
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
ditto lou.
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
Thanks Merkley???
I love your honesty. The more I read from you, the more infatuated I become.
Also, cats like being tossed.
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
"I have critics?" - haha - best answer ever.
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
Please Digg it if you have an account, digg.com/arts_culture/Nude_photos_interview_from_Flickr_p...
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Really enjoyed reading this interview. Your work is really incredible. And Sanchez is a douche.
Dugg.
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
meh El Douche' lacks detail, irony, humor. I don't see that he tells us anything about the subject. Thankfully, people eventually forget about the douchebags.
Merkley??? dude, you're genius. I'm not just blowing rainbows up your butt. The tertiary and quaternary levels of detail you place into your images seems to speak directly to an expectation that your viewers are looking at more than boobies. Digging into your images gets to be a fun game of find The Taxidermy Dog Eating A Frozen Banana Reclining Comfortably In The Library Reading Kafka While Muffin Rocks Out To ABBA With Snakypoo Making A Slithering Inspection Of The Matching Vintage Sconces. Awesome.
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
I really enjoyed this interview,
Cheers!
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
This was fascinating and the shots are great!
Posted 44 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
This was so great to read. Thank god for 'Spotlight Seven' and its choice of real artists to interview....it’s a breath of fresh air.
I still smile whenever one of Merkleys pictures pops up in my contacts box; due to the fact the only reason I found his stream was because I happened to photograph a beggar / busker in London who apparently looked like him. Suddenly people started posting his link under the picture - not very flattering for him, but great for me :) (Ps, for the record it wasn’t a great likeness) !!
I love people that just let go of the bullshit and shoot what ever pops into their imagination - the idea of no fancy equipment or preconceived shoots is refreshing, and smacks of true artistry. I had no idea about the sketching / painting side to his work so I’m going to check that out now. I'm always amazed none of this work is 'truly pro' (whatever that means) ....... there’s an exceptionally high polish to all the shots,... gloss, sex... and incredible colour. Fantastic stuff Merkley thanks for shedding a little light on the glorious chaos of it all.
Posted 43 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
man, you're amazing.
and one thing: YOU LIVED IN BRAZIL. I LIVE IN BRAZIL. I THINK I LOVE YOU
hahahahahahaha kidding. awesome interview.
Posted 42 months ago.
(permalink)
|
Would you like to comment?
Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).
|
|
Spotlight Seven /
Discuss
Feed – Subscribe to Spotlight Seven discussion threads