|
uva-art.net interview: jimiG
by Hugh Stevens for uva-art.net
Our fifth featured interview in the "uva-art interview series"
is with jimiG, AKA Jimi Giannatti, a photographer/illustrator in Ojai, CA
We caught up with Jimi in a Ojai coffee shop
Background
Jimi Giannatti works as a professional photographer, illustrator, and designer
from his home near Ojai, CA (located approx. sixty miles north of Los Angeles).As a photographer/artist in related fields, Giannatti creates personal images for musicians and actors, as well as providing photography/illustrations for commercial print and multimedia companies. His professional background includes working up in Phoenix, AZ, then spending a ten-year stretch in New York City, along with brief stints in Paris and Los Angeles. He resides today in Ojai, CA with his wife Lisa, and three children, Brendan, Starla, and Jasper. His work has appeared in almost every form of print and electronic media and has been a longtime advocate of the digital format.
The Interview:
Tell us about your experience getting started as a professional photographer
I began as most photographers did in photography's pre-automatic
digital days, with a simple manual camera; a Yashica 2 ¼ twin-reflex,
“box,” camera. After I felt I had outgrown that, I graduated to a Nikon,
35mm.and eventually found the digital medium. I guess I could claim
that I was self-taught, but actually my older brother, Don, who had
been shooting for a few years before me became my reluctant teacher.
I’m still learning from him today. I’ve been very blessed in that
I’ve had a succession of exceptional mentors throughout my career.
It was looking for instruction that led me from Phoenix to N.Y.C. in
the early 80s. In New York I had the privilege, as an assistant, to
work with some of the world’s greatest photographers: Norman
Parkinson, Arthur Elgort, Uli Rose, Jacques Malignon, Bert Stern,
Patrick Demarcheleir. I can’t stress how important it is for a photographer
to have a mentor; someone whom he, or she, can take both: criticism
and praise from. Accurate criticism is far more important to me than
feigned praise. It’s important that a professional, in any field,
continues to look to surround him, or her, with people who are not
shy to speak honesty to authority.
Can you tell us about your creative process?
I think there’s a basic element in my personal style that has remained
constant from the beginning: I try to remind the viewer, no matter how
in the moment the shot appears, that they are looking at something that
is actually very deliberate; intentional if you will. Even if it appears
spontaneous, my construction of the image; lighting, framing, cropping,
point-of-view, all hopes to bring out a quality that wasn’t organically
there before the shutter was pressed. These are traits that I strive for
as much today as I did 25 years ago. I don’t know if I get them to always
fall into line, but I am always trying.
Can you tell us about your technical process?
Well I try my best to get most of the stuff I shoot in focus. I guess
you want me to be serious. Ok, I’ll try. That old Yashica was a
wonderfully obtuse camera; it had a side crank, two fixed lenses,
and an overhead viewfinder. Before I shot anything, I had to stick it
on a tripod, hold it tightly down so I crank the film advancer; while
simultaneously putting a jacket, or blanket over my head so I could
see an upside down image faintly appear in the glass of the
viewfinder. This routine had an enormous affect on my subsequent
development as a photographer. It forced me to become aware of
what I wanted the finished image to look like before and after I
clicked the shutter.In order to find the “bliss of the spontaneous”
meant I had to have as much control over the job that I could. Before
each shoot, I try to figure out every caveat of the unplanned so that
I can guarantee that I catch the spur-of-the-moment magic. The
moment that comes after the moment – if that makes sense.
Do you prefer working with digital or film cameras? Why?
Digital rules! I mean I love, absolutely adore, film. I love that its organic,
and that each roll has different properties than another, etc. I love the
magic that happens in the darkroom, but I’d be lying to you if I told you
had either the time or the money to use film today. Not only am I able
to cut the price of no film costs to my customers, digital also allows
me to turn the job around almost immediately. Something that I learned
from one of the above-mentioned mentors was that the less amount of
time that passes between you shooting the job and delivering the job
will insure a happier and less cranky client.
What's your overview of photography, and the business
of photography; how has it changed in the time that
you've been involved?
Wow! Well, its always evolving both aesthetically and technically.Its
always changing, its always moving forward, it never stops. One of the
great challenges is that I face is always keeping my receptors open; never
letting what I know cloud my vision for what I haven't seen yet. I still love
looking at photos, I love being surprised. New photographers are always
popping up, showing me things that I have never seen before, or new ways
of looking at things I've already seen before.
What do want to photograph that you have not yet shot?
What do you got? I mean everything. I believe one of the greatest qualities
of photography, is that you can shoot the same thing over and over again,
and it will never be the same, and that several people can shoot the same
thing at the same time and never shoot the same thing at all. I just want
access! Access is what I'm always trying to wrestle away from my clients.
Its what gets me out of bed in morning, its why I agree to do interviews
like this. Hopefully, it will all lead to me gaining more and more access
to more and more situations.
|
