Kristin Cofer - Design That Kills

“i’m glad michael jackson never decided to sing country and dr. seuss
didn’t get into cubism.” - merkley???

i found san francisco photographer merkley??? browsing flickr and immediately i was hooked into his world of beautiful men and women within these intricate and amazing scenes-

consequently we run in similar circles and he knows people that i know, who told me he was cool and led me to contacting merkley???- i really enjoyed talking to him on this electronic medium and hope that i can come along someday and watch his magic- i think he is a brilliant man.

merkley??? is currently working on a coffee table book, 111 SF women I know, at home on the sofa in their favorite shoes.- i think all the images are fantastic and empowering- merkley??? is my new favorite, check out his work and be inspired too.

(dtk) name and describe yourself?

(merkley???) merkley??? i wear my sunglasses at night to bother you.

(dtk) how old were you when you started getting into photography?

(merkley???) i liked taking pictures with my dad’s camera when i was a kid.

(dtk) what was it’s appeal?

(merkley???) it was all magic. my dad would take care of processing, the photos would just appear. i liked composing shots. i was always about placing things in the frame just right.

(dtk) what did you shoot?

(merkley???) stuff in the yard, old shit, pictures of myself in new wave outfits trying to look handsome, all the typical crap everyone shoots.

at 19 i lived in brazil for a couple years on a mormon mission and i avoided my holy duties by doing a bunch of journalistic type photography of dirty people and stuff in black and white, but people at the lab always fucked up my shit because god was pissed that i wasn’t baptizing the universe. i kept taking pictures after that but labs and film and all that shit you have to deal with wasn’t for me.

plus i considered myself a painter/artist/illustrator and kinda
looked down my nose at photography because it was so much easier than
painting and i guess i was masochistic thinking that if it wasn’t
really difficult it wasn’t worthy of merit.

plus taking film to be developed is LAME CITY.

it wasn’t until i bought my first digital camera in 2000 that the
lights came on and i could have full control right there in my
laptop. so the way i do pictures now evolved from the appearance of
digital — and really the big push to do photography nearly full time
came after i started posting to flickr and this big receptive
audience was just waiting for me to post. having that audience
without a middleman was huge and super cool.

(dtk) did you go to school for photography?

(merkley???) nope. i’m kinda anti art school — the whole concept seems oxymoronic and a huge waste of time and money. tools have instruction manuals and are cheaper than sitting in a class with some bozo who probably failed at actually making art a career.

(dtk) when did you move to san francisco?

(merkley???) 1998 from utah.

(dtk) other artists or photographers you admire?

(merkley???) most of the artists that i admire aren’t photographers, i didn’t really follow photography but now that i do it people seem to link me to a lot of stuff that i think is good. erwin olaf’s stuff is just beautiful — i like les krims, but that’s a little self serving because i discovered him after my stuff was compared to his a number of times and really looking through his stuff felt like i found a brother from another mother in certain respects. but yeah, mostly i’m more inspired by filmakers, storytellers, musicians and the like — i have them all listed in my flickr profile.

(dtk) why?

(merkley???) most of the artists i admire have a very recognizable style, they develop a tool set and stick with it — i like that kind of dedication and the challenge it presents to communicate within certain parameters — i think that people who have high respect for continuity are more careful and deliberate with how they communicate and i admire that. most of my favorite artists have created an alternate universe in which to dwell and express themselves. — dr.seuss, devo, kiss, gary larson, wes anderson etc… all seem to adhere to a strict set of rules that they have established for
themselves. i feel like i’m like that.

i’m glad michael jackson never decided to sing country and dr. seuss
didn’t get into cubism.

(dtk) do you down all of your own post processing?

(merkley???) yes — anything different would seem weird.

(dtk) what camera do you shoot with and why?

(merkley???) different cameras — whatever had the most megapickles at the time — wide angle lenses too. i dont think equipment is important for what i do. tech is so good now most off the shelf consumer digital cameras are more than enough to suit my needs. though i do lust for more megapickles and small cameras with good wide angle lenses. even though in reality most of my pictures will never be viewed at sizes any larger that a mag page or a computer monitor it’s still fun to know that if you wanted to enlarge the fuck out of it it would reveal all the little details. so yeah, bring on the megapickles.

(dtk) do you use other lighting?

(merkley???) on board flash and available light only — lighting equipment is too heavy. i have photoshop.

(dtk) how do you come up with your concepts?

(merkley???) just arty brainstormin, many times with the subject. i never stopped playing the “what if” game we all played as kids.

(dtk) do you plan them out beforehand or do they just happen?

(merkley???) i prefer to plan stuff, i like to have concepts, it’s more rewarding, it feels good to have an idea and execute it. i really feel like i’m more of a one panel story teller than anything else. at least thats
where i want to be. i need to try harder.

(dtk) do you know all of your models?

(merkley???) most of them — nearly all are socially connected — but lately lots of fun opportunities with magazines and the like have been falling from the sky and so i have been making pictures with strangers more often, but it’s been weird a few times shooting with people who
aren’t familiar with what i do –

there isn’t any trust, i’m just some photographer the mag sent, so now i only work with people who know my shit and know what i like to do so they are prepared when i get there. its no fun dealing with an apprehensive subject and that apprehension seems to disappear when people see that i respect my subjects and wouldn’t ever make them into a fool.

(merkley???) any fun photo shoot stories?
almost all my shoots are fun. i’m basically getting paid to run
around the back yard with a towel draped around my neck acting like a
super hero — i get paid to make up stupid shit. it’s fun. i get paid
to be childish. yay.

(dtk) what do you want to do in the future?

(merkley???) well making this book has been really fun and i think i would like to just keep doing that — my next project will be to just recreate my dreams using photography — it’s gonna be hard and fun. all the images that come to me fresh each night are just so unusual and open
to interpretation i just cant fathom letting them all just go to waste. plus i want to literally get paid to dream, live my dreams etc.. it’s too corny a metaphor to not make it a physical reality. i must.

(dtk) any advice to other photographers?

(merkley???) someone just wrote me an email asking for tidbits that he could pass on to his middle school photography students, this is what i wrote:

here are 101 things i have to say about that.
kids,

1. don’t listen to anything anyone says unless they are funny or well to do.

7. most of your teachers and authority figures in your life don’t know shit for shit and will probably steer you wrong.

3. don’t take art classes, take real estate, finance, legal or science classes that way you’ll be able to afford to be an artist if you were born that way and when you get in trouble or get sick you will know who is ripping you off and how to deal with them.

10. if you do take art classes, use the equipment in the art department to make money, ie print t-shirts, make stickers, fake ids etc..

40. use whatever equipment you have, creativity is better tested with
fewer resources anyway. equipment won’t polish your turd.

11. photoshop rules! click around and figure it out yourself, listening to someone else explain it is boring and less productive than the undo command.

8. in art, your way is the best way, don’t let anyone tell you differently.

91. when you do get money, buy tools that seem like they would be fun.

101. avoid people who talk about god.

thats all. i hope this helps

links to all things merkeley???
threequestionmarks.com/blog/blog.html
threequestionmarks.com
flickr.com/photos/merkley
myspace.com/merkley

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 1:30 pm and is filed under art, inspiration, photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.