NATHANAEL JONAS TURNER, 23, NEW YORK

What got you interested in photography?

As a kid I would collect things. I had a rock collection, spider collection, fungus, shells, ect. My mom gave me a small camera when I was 11, and I guess that’s when I stopped collecting physical objects and started photographing things that I couldn’t gather or catch and store in a small box. It was just another way for me to collect things. I use photography in a slightly different way now, but in many ways I am still just collecting, I just think more about the experience and emotion than the object or person now.

Can you describe how you collaborated with your brothers, sisters and parents in your project The Family?

I started making these photographs when I first started college. Its been a slow process and I am still trying to figure out the best way represent my siblings and parents and the overall family dynamic. I guess I really just work with everyone based around the relationships I have with them, but I guess its fairly complex now that I think about it. Each of my family members photographs best in a different way. I spend a lot more time making posed portraits with Daniel and Anna. They have a great relationship, so it’s always fun to go on walks and see what kind of pictures we can make. I would say the photographs I make of Daniel and Anna are more of a collaboration than the photos I make of the rest of my family.

You recently graduated from RIT. How would you say your work has evolved during the time you spent there, as well as after your graduation?

I entered college knowing close to nothing about contemporary art, then went through a stage making the typical forced conceptual art school projects, to finally figuring out how to be comfortable with myself and my work. You know, the average college experience. I had a really great professor, Gregory Halpern, my senior year who really encouraged me and helped me through the beginning stages the Larson photos. As of recent, I have been spending more time thinking about how all of my work fits together as a whole and how to approach new work in relation to old work. I leave for Finland at the end of this month, where I hope to shoot an extremely excessive amount of film. I’ll probably make a lot of bad photos, but I know its something I need to do to continue to grow.

Can you tell me more about your series Space Adventures?

This project has a lot to do with what I talked about in the answer to the first question. Its an edit of photographs from the last ten years or so. Last Thanksgiving I revisited the boxes of old photos I had  at my parents’ house and started to see connections between the images I have made over the years. Its something I go back to every few months. Its a good way for me to always be thinking about what it is I am trying to accomplish with my photos.

You run Double Cuddle with Graham Walzer. How do you decide what/who to feature, and how does running this great blog influence your own work?

Graham and I are pretty loose with what we post on Double Cuddle. Pretty much anything that makes us stop and look is game for the blog. For me, it’s a good way to keep a record of what I have been looking at, a type of visual journal. Graham and I currently live on opposite coasts so it’s also a good way for us to share stuff we like with each other. We are currently working on a handle-full of book projects that will be put out through the blog. One will be coming out next week and 1 or 2 more soon after that.

What excites you most about photography?

Going crazy places and meeting strange people.

Have you ever refrained from taking a picture, and why?

Not really. I always have a camera close. I am not always working on a specific project all the time, but always making pictures.

If you could photograph anyone anywhere, what would it be?

Obama on acid tubing down a river.

 

www.nathanaelturner.com

www.doublecuddle.com