Interview #5 - Louie Banks

This is the interview you've been waiting for. Probably not all your life, but most of it. Get ready to meet Approaching Velocity's fifth photographer... Louie Banks.

Mr Banks can do nothing wrong; he's worked with Rankin, photographed for numerous covers and clothing companies, and owns one of the hottest new magazines in the UK, Gang Up. Whatever your expectations, Louie trumps them. He's a fucking nice guy too. Bastard.

Hey Louie,

Hey!

What is your background to photography?

I basically started when I decided to do an A-level in photography just over two years ago... I was always bad academically and loved the arts; I always liked looking at photography in fashion magazines so thought I'd give it a go myself. I haven't really got an interesting story behind it, but I loved my course and spent all my time doing photoshoots, getting an 'A' in the course but failing every other A-level I had taken. Well worth it though.

If you had to describe your photography, how would you?

I guess it's fashion photography... without the fashion element of selling clothes that usually comes with fashion photography. It's quite alternative and not too commercial... whilst being sexy, I hope.

Nearly all your photographs are of people, and fashion. What attracts you to people and fashion so much?

People are so much more interesting to shoot. A shoot with a person is much more interactive than a shoot with a tree or something. I almost always shoot with very interesting, outgoing friends of mine and so you never know what's going to happen. You could go out with a strong image in your head but when you are shooting a person you are never going to get the result you were looking for.... it's spontaneous and you get much better results when that's the case. I am shooting a lot more documentary style pictures on film however... but only for my own benefit. I probably have about 20 films waiting to be developed when I get a bit of money.

Like Eleni in our last interview, you constantly experiment with your photography; using different camera formats, styles and subject content. Is there a particular reason the content and medium of your photography is so varied?

Yes: The fact that I actually know fuck all about photography. I know that sounds a bit stupid but I don't know any of the technical stuff and really want to learn how to use different formats, I have used a lot of digital recently out of complete laziness and I am going to use film a lot more and just get used to it as I think if it's done well, the results are so much better. Also I love polaroid, so tried to use that whenever I could (having no money didn't help) and I am waiting for the relaunch of polaroid in January... woop woop! I am saving up to buy a Polaroid land camera and a medium format as I would love to shoot on those two a lot more.

What influences your photography? 

Everything. Mainly people. I live in Brighton and there are a lot of interesting characters around.

The Internet has transformed the way people create, disseminate and consume art. How has this affected your photography?

In a way, I would absolutely love not to put any of my photos on the Internet and stay away from blogging and all that stuff; just be an artist in my own right, but I am incredibly ambitious and in this day and age I do not feel I will ever get my work seen by the right people unless I rape the Internet. I feel that if I hadn't used Flickr to promote my work I would not be where I am today. Without some of the people I have met and who have changed the way I think and work, I would not be one of the owners and photographers of Gang Up magazine and wouldn't have shot most of the published work I have. If I wasn't on MySpace I wouldn't have had my profile promoted on the homepage and getting my work seen all over the world. So for the Internet I am grateful.

With this in mind, in the last year, your artistic profile has been raised massively: how do you think this has affected you?

I don't really know. I still do not feel it has been raised to my satisfaction so I am just going to shoot and shoot and shoot until more people know who I am. That sounds lame, but I want to eventually work for the biggest publications and need a lot more exposure to get there.

What do you like most/least about photography?

I hate people claiming photos to be photography when they just do not count in my mind. I love people who have a unique style and are doing their own thing but keeping everything they do different. I hate seeing the same thing over and over again. For example, if I was Hedi Slimane and had some of the shoot opportunities Hedi does I think I would try and create something a little more original than the last black and white studio portrait, and if I were Rankin and had a shoot with someone like Vivienne Westwood or Kate Moss I would try and set up something elaborate and unbeatable. However I respect these photographers as business men and think that for simple portrait photographers they are pretty fucking good. They just don't take the same approach I would.

Does your photography say anything about you, or speak for you?

I hope so.

In an ideal world, if there was anything you could shoot, regardless of expenses (money, time etc.) what would you choose to photograph?

If only. I have thought of this situation endless amounts of times but I still can't answer it. It would involve all the people I idolise most, and the people I find the most beautiful - sorry to be shallow! It would definitely have a massive set up and would be so busy that it would need to be printed on a very large scale.

What do you hope to do in the future?

Live in a large apartment with a built in studio in the middle of a busy town like London or Brighton, and spend any money I earn on taking better photographs and taking them in countries all over the world. It is a very optimistic hope but it's how I would love to live.

Do you have a favourite photographer? 

David Lachapelle is my all-time favorite photographer. It's a cliché I know, but there is a reason so many people love him. And a reason why so many people dislike him and everything about his work and that is because it is different. It is controversial, original and pushes the boundaries.

I find with my photography that I am always learning from other photographers; with this is mind, do you have any advice for other young photographers as to how to approach the art?

Just do what you want. Don't change anything you do regardless if people like it or not. I have before and it sucks.

Eleni, Approaching Velocity's last interviewee asks: What does taking photos mean to you?

Oh Eleni, why such a tricky one? By the way Eleni is amazing... gotta love her. I have thought about this for ages and don't know the answer. I fucking fucking fucking love taking photographs. I couldn't begin to explain how satisfying I find it when I have done a shoot I am pleased with. And when I haven't shot for a little while... any time longer than a week I start to go a bit mad.

And lastly, what would you like to ask/know about the next photographer interviewee?

Who would you most like to photograph and why?

www.louiebanks.com

www.flickr.com/photos/louiebanks

www.gangupmagazine.com

APPROACHING VELOCITY 

Approaching Velocity has plans. We're not just looking for photographers anymore, so if you're an artist and want to showcase your work, or want to help contribute, from articles about art to interviews with artists, editing or magazine layouts, get in touch with Approaching Velocity at approachingvelocity(at)googlemail.com. 

AV #5 Never get anything stuck in your iMac CD drive. It means weeks of repairs, when you could be publishing hawt interviews instead.


Join our mailing list; send a blank email with the title 'AV join' to approachingvelocity(at)googlemail.com

Please respect our copyright.

Words (c) 2009 Louie Banks / Nicholas Blake / Approaching Velocity.

All images in 'Interview #5' (c) 2009 Louie Banks.

Approaching Velocity's editor is Nicholas Blake, who is thankful for extended warranties.


Never negotiate your milk allowance.

Interview #4 - Eleni Mettyear

It's been a long summer, and it's pretty much autumn now, but Approaching Velocity is back, with a photographer described as 'probably the best female photographer in Brighton.' Meet Eleni Mettyear.

Approaching Velocity has known Eleni Mettyear's photography for almost a year now, and over the last 12 months, Eleni has continued to amaze and surprise Approaching Velocity with every new set of photographs she takes.

What is your background to photography?
I always enjoyed using cameras and being in front of them as a kid, and through my secondary school years I became aware of photographers and using photography as an art medium. So when I was given the option to take photography A-level just under two years ago I jumped at the chance. So that’s when I really began being interested properly in photography.

What influences your photography?

My main influences are people and fashion, and how fashion can express a person's character. I also love dressing my models up as things that have nothing to do with them, just turning them into something that helps create the image I’ve got in my mind, I guess I like seeing the transformation.

Other photographers and locations influence my work massively too, other people's work always is the trigger for any idea I have and it’s hard sometimes to find the balance between copying something and just taking certain influences. I constantly am walking around and spotting locations, sometimes I see one and a whole shoot will come to mind. I always watch films and get so frustrated that I can't just pop half-way across the globe to a desert or some slum in Brazil and do shoots there then pop back home again. Locations inspire me a lot actually.

Is there a particular subject that you find yourself continually returning to and photographing?

Girls and fashion. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of it, I’m lucky enough to have beautiful friends that are amazing at modeling.

You're constantly experimenting with your photography; using different camera formats, styles and subject content. Is there a particular reason the content and medium of your photography is so varied?

I feel I haven’t yet found my ‘signature style’ and there is so much about photography that I don’t know, so I’m trying to experiment as much as I can until I find what I’m really good at because I’ve had pretty limited training so most of the stuff I experiment with is just me winging it and seeing how it comes out. Also, I’m always being influenced and inspired by new work so I’m constantly wanting to try new styles and fashions; they don’t always work out and sometimes the pictures aren’t all that, but that’s the whole point isn’t it - experimenting.

Nearly all your photographs are photographs of people. Why?

Yeah, I don’t really know why. When I first started photography I was really into street photography taking pictures of like destruction and really gritty areas. I still find those places really interesting to photograph but I just got more into fashion and therefore people. I find people really interesting anyway, I can't count how many times I’ve just sat and watched peoples mannerisms without even noticing myself doing it. I just find people attractive I think.

Similarly, your photographs all have elements of fashion (such as in the clothing, makeup or pose); do you consciously go out to achieve this?

Yeah, usually I do. But I usually want the fashion to just blend in with the scene rather than being the main focus. The main focus is always the model or in some pictures the concept.

Do you have a format preference for your photography? How do you feel a film or digital approach makes a difference to your final images?

I really don’t know what I prefer, Polaroid I think is my first love and would shoot everything on that I had the money, I love and hate how film can be unpredictable but in a way that’s the beauty of it. Digital still is brilliant though because you can do so much with it and really get that perfect shot you got in your mind. Where as with film you just kind of wait and hope that they will be alright. I dunno what I like more though its all lovely.

The Internet has transformed the way people create, disseminate and consume art. How has this affected your photography?

Yeah, I'm never really sure what to make of it to be honest. Flickr has been amazing and kind of got me noticed and stuff but then I think there is so so much on the internet that you just kind of blend in with the rest. And I don’t really know how to get art noticed, or where you can go with your skill or talent if it's not through the internet, but in a way I wish I wasn’t internet based.

What do you like most/least about photography?

What I like most is the creativity, taking an image from your mind and turning it into reality, how some images can really kind of have an affect on you after you look at it. How it can teach us about other cultures about places around the world and about history, how it just freezes a moment in time. I’m a bit obsessed with early photography of Brighton, streets that I walk down everyday are totally transformed from how they used to be, and the New York gangster scenes in the 20’s and 30’s I think it's wicked that its all captured in a photograph.

What I like least is probably how expensive it all is and annoying anal critics that always have something bad to say because its not perfect, nothings perfect and that’s the whole beauty of it. It sounds silly but I don’t like it when people just discover macro on the digital camera and take photos of the hairs on leaves and call themselves photographers... there is probably a lot more that I like and dislike about photography but my mind's hurting - I’ve been typing too long and it will bore you to death.

Does your photography say anything about you, or speak for you?

I don’t really know, I think only other people that know me and have seen my work would be able to notice if it does or not.

In an ideal world, if there was anything you could shoot, regardless of expenses (money, time etc.) what would you choose to photograph?

Wow, I need to think about this properly. There is a lot of stuff that I’d want to shoot the list could go on so I’ll only give you a couple. I would love to do a proper underwater shoot with proper lighting and all that, with like 5 models with loads of random props amazing fashion and really extreme high heels and light bulbs hanging from the waters surface, obviously its not gonna happen but I’d like it to. I also dream of doing a fashion shoot where the models are suspended above New York so it looks like they're falling.

Do you have a favourite photographer?

I have too many favorite photographs, ranging from famous fashion campaigns to random pictures on flickr that I don’t even know the artists name. A few favorite photographers are Corrine Day, Ben Watts, Bruce Davidson, Weegie, Boogie, Guy Bourdin, Helmutt Newton, LaChappelle, Arbus, DarkDaze, Nan Goldin, Rankin... the list goes on, but I know I also have so many more to discover so they always change.

Alsi Kolcu, our last photographer, asks, 'why do you shoot?'

Sometime because I’m bored and get jealous of everyone else’s good photo’s that I want to see what I can come up with. But mostly because I want to get the image in my mind out and turn it into reality, it never works out how I plan but I do what I can.

And lastly, what would you like to ask/know about the next photographer interviewee?

What does taking photos mean to you?

www.flickr.com/photos/elenimett/

www.elenimett.tumblr.com/

 APPROACHING VELOCITY

If you'd like to be considered for an interview, or know someone talented, get in touch with Approaching Velocity at approachingvelocity AT googlemail.com explaining why and with links where appropriate.

AV #4 Buy a diary, and manage your time. You'll achieve so much more with your days and weeks. Just remember to take time off and improvise sometimes... 

Please respect our copyright.
Words (c) 2009 Eleni Mettyear / Nicholas Blake / Approaching Velocity.
All images in 'Interview #4' (c) 2009 Eleni Mettyear.

Approaching Velocity's editor is Nicholas Blake (www.nicholasblake.org) who has had a lot on recently.