Interview with RA Friedman

+ How and when did you start taking photos?

- I am now 48. I started when I was 6 with a Brownie Bullet II that my mom got me. I think it was a free offer on a cereal box or some such.

+ I noticed that you went to college for Theater and Painting. How does it affect your photography?

- Primarily it led me to realize my love for the unreal, the made up; things that look like they could be life or taken from life, but aren't. I use a painter's process in evolving much of my own work, creating a ground from which I push and pull the figure(s).

+ Could you tell me more about the techniques you are using for your unique looking images?

- I use combinations of scans from analog images and manipulation in Photoshop. I've used a lot of the normally discarded negatives from Polaroid film, too.

+ I noticed that you've mentioned using old cameras and expired film. What do you like about it?

- Nothing handles like a film camera. The degree of enlargement you can attain from a scanned film negative out-strips most digital cameras, except the most expensive. I walk around with a camera all the time, do I want to take a $5000 Canon 5D to a not-so-great area of town?

+ What are your inspirations?

- I have many. A lot of it is childhood memory. A lot of it is other parts of my life that maybe didn't realize as I had planned but find expression through my work.

+ Do you manipulate images in the computer at all? How do you feel about it?

- Yes, all the time. It's a tool, like anything else. If the tool fits, use it!

+ As far as Film Vs. Digital photo goes, which do you prefer and why?

- Probably best to see my article in the Broad Street Review for that one.

+ Did you have formal training in photography?

- No. I worked for a professional as a teenager into my early twenties, but I've never taken a single photography class.

+ What would you advise to young photographers who are just starting out in the field?

- Work hard, do a lot, think before you strike (e.g. "What does the other person get out of this?") and don't expect to make much money or get famous! I'd also advise them to spend at least as much time looking at, thinking about, and making art as learning the ropes of photography.

+ What are you currently working on?

- I am currently at work on a series of urban landscapes and applying for a grant for my Cabinet of Photographic Curiosities pieces.

RA Friedman's latest project in progress, called Cabinet of Photographic Curiosities, can be viewed here.