“I walk the small streets of Chicago, the less appealing areas and make friends along the way.”

PAST

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: In high school, were you involved in the yearbook ? What sparked your interest for photography? Do you recommend all the weekend photographers out there to initially stick with the subjects they know and build from there? Do you have any suggestions on how to build that progression? How did you progress to where you are today?

CHRIS BARRETT: Funny thing. No yearbook, not a ton of photography either. Began shooting young at 7-8 years old with Mom’s Kodak Brownie. After some seriously rough times I picked it up again. When I started I took a lot of self portraits, photos of my cat with a hat on, where I lived, and the hiking trip to Colorado when I was 13.Where you live/ grow up truly does shape you. The neighborhood I grew up in was surrounded by cornfields and had a creek winding around the whole thing. We played outside for 8-10 hours a day and played football, etc in the snow even. Something about really enjoying the outdoors is what shaped my “eye” early on.
In terms of progression, I would look at my photos a few years later say when I was 17 or 18 and thought, “Wow, am I this into ME?” too many shots of just me, but then again I didn’t know how or felt I did not know how to ask others to pose, or not. Maybe that’s what pushed me to make photo of landscapes and barns, etc. Very solitary, but that’s what I needed then, and still do a bit today.
Suggestions for progression from me are influenced now by people I have sought out to MAKE myself better. I sought out people like Howard Bingham and Sandro Miller and a photographer from Hedrich Blessing (same name oddly enough) Christopher Barrett. So my suggestions are this: Always , always, always do what YOU love. Never mind the family that thinks because you’re the “camera guy” or photographer of the family you should take everyone’s picture at all family functions. That’s BS and that’s not fair to your creativity. Now I am sure some people see it as opportunity, and it can be. IF you control the situation not someone else. If you allow others to dictate what you shoot, you’re screwing yourself. Do NOT sacrifice you creativity for snapshots, that MUST be posed, etc.
So progression of thoughts, self-worth and knowing what you love or is truly important to you is a good place to start. Beyond that, experiment continuously while still refining strong aspects of your image making. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result each time, right? So don’t. Try writing down in small pad, 3 variances of same shot. ISO 100,160,400. Note the differences and determine what looks best to you.

Where I am today is the result of many years of internal struggle that continues today. I wanted to make images that push me back against the wall and demand that I really look into them. I was always disappointed with what I would get back from the film processing store. 1 shot out of 100 was good. That’s bad, but also good. 1 shot was good, really good so I remembered that shot and tried to replicate its success in transcending it to other subjects. 99 bad shots is what I had to go through to get 1 good one. So be it.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: Do you still have photos taken from the early years when it all started? What were your subjects? Are the pictures online to share with everyone to compare with your work today?

CHRIS BARRETT: I do! I tried to keep at least some. I have a few from my hiking trip over 2 weeks in the mountains in Colorado. I do have a few from my self portrait craze too. Wow, what a ham! So the subjects of the mountains and waterfalls with me in the summertime out on my back patio are the “early” years. Are they online? Man, that’s an awesome question because now you have me itching to scan them all in! So I guess I will have them online soon!

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  What books did you read when you first got into photography? Title of book, author and price of book please…just messing around, the title of the books should be fine thanks to google search. Do you recall any other resources that you referred to heavily to help you grow as an amateur photographer?

CHRIS BARRETT: Public Library is my friend. I check out an average of 4 books a week or every 2 weeks. And 50-75% of the books are photography-related. Paul Strand,Walker Evans,Alfred Steiglitz,Ansel Adams,Howard Bingham,Irving Penn and others are books I would study. I take massive amount of notes and file them away. Since I have a slight attention thing and learning “differentability” I would pickup photo collection book and scan them one after the other, then I was exhausted from spending hours doing it. So I do not have particular titles I have read, just the names I have sought out or styles. I also love early photography to see where things might be going down the road.

Going to the Art Institute in Chicago influenced me greatly as well. I would go when the doors open at 10:30am and spend 5-6 hours taking notes or things I like. Most things were paintings of the grand masters and some Impressionists. Allowing you to be influenced by many great art forms, to me, makes a well-rounded photographer/artist.
One other resource that helped a great deal was feedback from others (photographers). Understanding that some photographers were genuine and others just wanted to trash you, allowed me to take that criticism well. Seek it out and they will tell.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  Have you made some money from your photography as an amateur? What was your first photo sale? How long was it after that first sale you sold your next photo? If you haven’t sold a photo, do you have any plans to do so?

CHRIS BARRETT: Some so far. I had a “solo” exhibition at Humboldt Pie Café in Chicago a few years back. The café is gone now but I managed to sell 4 framed prints at $50 a pop in 1 week. So I was thrilled. There was not twitter or craigslist being used heavily then so it was email and phone calls as well as flyers at train/ bus stops to get word out.
I have not sold another photo since then partly because I want to gather some of my best thus far and land a show first. That might not be the best way, oh well. This summer I need to sell photos. I might do it at Humboldt Park Fair in the summer. Cheap booth price and good crowd.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  What tools do you recommend that are a must have that helped you get to where you are present day?

CHRIS BARRETT: Optimism. Even when I was living by myself in a 300 square foot studio eating rice and potatoes as main sources of food, if I did not believe that I had a gift to develop I never would have sold those 4 photos. Knowing what you are capable of helps. I know my words sound simple, but for me it took a lot of failure in nearly every aspect my life to appreciate what I do have. That translates into my work I believe. Another tool is letting loved ones know a bit of what you want to do, not that you seek permission but their support is greatly appreciated. My mother still asks how’s the photography going, because she knows that’s important.

PRESENT

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: What is your present motivation to continue with your photography?

CHRIS BARRETT: Life History Truth, and love. Way too much lying and stealing and hate out there. I am so excited about the coming years, in part because we are expecting our second child this summer and I think about the life I want my kids to have.
History is being wiped from our national landscape. I took a series of photographs of barns in Illinois in the last few years and noticed how many are falling down next to the metal sheds famers have put up instead. The character of Chicago is being transformed by the greed of progress and not the respect of yesterday.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  What are you doing now to set yourself apart from other photographers? What is your niche?

CHRIS BARRETT: I walk the small streets of Chicago, the less appealing areas and make friends along the way. They tell me stories about how life used to be before the condos went up. Before they closed the school that their whole family went to. These things I listen to, and that is something I believe more photographer need to do. They need to listen to those most people won’t listen to.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  Do you have a studio? If so, why? What are the benefits of having a studio as a weekend photographer? What is currently in your photography bag? Please be as detailed as possible for those starting out photographers wanted to purchase more equipment. From your photography equipment arsenal, what do you bring most of the time for your photo shoots?

CHRIS BARRETT:I do not have a studio. I tend to be outside more.
In my bag is a deep red filter,Canon 30D with 28-135 zoom lens,brush,extra battery and paper for notes. I have taken in the past tinfoil for reflecting natural light. I can easily fold it up and for what I was experimenting with, it did the trick.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  What photography resources do you consistently refer to date ? Can you name at least 5 websites you refer to religiously for your photography? Who are your inspirations in the photography world?

CHRIS BARRETT: I don’t look at photography websites as much as I should, but photo.fr is france’s photo mag of choice. I like this Polish Photographer  HYPERLINK “http://andrzejdragan.com/” http://andrzejdragan.com/  really inspires me to shoot more portraits. Also, I use stumbleupon to randomly look at other photography sites that I might normally view. It is a great inspiration tool. I just set my preference for photography for the time being and voila. That’s how I found Andrzej site.
And as far as inspirations: photography right now is James Nachtwey and still Ansel Adams. James is in line with my love for Eddie Adams work in war photography and how it affects more than just a few, but since he is currently working I tend to view his stuff more. Ansel Adams did such great work, but people must know his true expertise was in the darkroom. He was one of the best in turning out a great print, and so I have sharpened my Photoshop skills with him in mind.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: Do you have any photography projects? If so, what is it and why? If not, why not?

CHRIS BARRETT: Not right now. I have attempted to gather others for grand projects, to fall flat. No worries, something always comes around when weather gets good.

FUTURE

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: What are your immediate goals as a photographer and artist?  Are you planning on releasing any how-to books? What are your recommendations to people thinking about starting a photography book as a weekend photographer/ part time photographer?

CHRIS BARRETT:I must gain absolute control over my image. I do not have the time to not have it. I can do so much more once I really master the exposure and subtleties that seem to elude me. I also wish to use something like lulu.com or the like to self publish and just test waters for my work. I hope to create a project of skin tones, with recent news that the current pigment in my skin was black 8,000 years ago is really astounding. So portraits ranging from darkest to lightest and making everyone’s beauty stand out would be an awesome goal.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: Would you ever consider doing a workshop and share your knowledge on the weekends? If not, how do you plan to contribute to the photography community?

CHRIS BARRETT: Not sure if my skill set is quite there to share my knowledge. I might be able to inspire others by telling them the stupid mistakes I have made. I also twitter a lot so I keep in contact with people that way. I have a website but it really does not make sense to keep that going to share my thoughts as there are so many other avenues to get word out.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  I am sure you’ve read many articles discussing how in the future videography and photography will be one? What are your thoughts on that and how will you evolve to the new morphed medium?

CHRIS BARRETT: Well it took over 140 years for film photography to give way to digital, even as some say it has not so video and photography are 2 different ways to express or convey and idea, emotion. In video, subtleties can be glossed over. In photography (still) you have all day and years to look at a static image to compare works and see nuances in the lighting that you don’t in video. So as forward thinking as I am, I do not see it happening as a total morphing of the 2. Just as film is still an artist’s medium, so will photography be separate and video separate. What will happen is a new medium not a morph. Time will tell how it works, but because we are on verge of an explosion of computer processing power and and the means to do it for much less than 30 years ago I tend to believe the current state of photography will change 2-3 times before the midcentury point.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM: Where do you plan to take your photography passion? Are you planning on going pro one day? If so, which area of photography are you planning on getting into professionally? If you don’t plan to go professional one day, what are you aspiring to as an amateur photographer?

CHRIS BARRETT:If it is in the stars, I want to travel and be paid to do it. Simple and sweet. I want to photograph places and people and places but bring it back to all the schools in Chicago, and help foster a gigantic generation of photographers that know all the basics of photography before they enter college. I also would love to photograph people on a consistent basis. The portraits I have done (3) have turned out so well that 2 people have gone on to be models. So I need to get back into that.

LAWRENCEATIENZA.COM:  Thank you again for your time and giving back to the photography community. What would you like to leave for us photographers to think about when moving forward with photography for the future? If you have any words of wisdom will be appreciated.

CHRIS BARRETT: Eyes open. Make your eyes see everything. Develop your eye for what you like, but if you live in a city, especially inner-city, ask yourself, who needs a voice? Be that voice.

You may also like -

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER INTERVIEW: CHRIS MONCUSWEEKEND PHOTOGRAPHER INTERVIEW: Bradley LaurentPROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER INTERVIEW: Francis Specker