Copyright © Liz Kuball
I usually have a lot to say about a new photographer I discover for the first time and enjoy, but in the case of Liz Kuball, her photos say more than I ever could. I think it’s because I have always harbored a fantasy of moving to California that her photos appeal to me so much and sort of take me away. Especially now that it is so cold where I am, I sort of cling to photographs like the ones Kuball produces to remind myself that there is more for me to see. The following interview with Liz really taught me a lot and I think she gave some great advice for beginner photographers–I hope anyone who happens upon this will learn something new, as I did.
Liz Kuball was born in Washington, D.C., in 1973, and raised in the same small town in Michigan where her parents grew up. Kuball has Master’s degrees in both literature and writing. She began photographing in 2006 and since then, her work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, New York and Detroit. Liz was selected for inclusion in The Collector’s Guide to Emerging Art Photography, published by the Humble Arts Foundation in 2009. She lives and works in Los Angeles, California where she has kept busy with various projects, including her ongoing series California Vernacular.
Academy A: I can relate to not being from a photographic background and at times I feel lost about knowing when something is good or not. I’d like to know when you first knew that you were on to something with your photography. What made you decide to start putting your work out there?
Liz Kuball: Putting my work out there started with my blog, and I guess I didn’t even consider whether I was on to something. I just knew that I loved photography, loved taking pictures, and wanted to learn more and get better at it. I started entering contests before my work was ready, and that led to a lot of rejections and disappointment. I think that’s a natural part of one’s development, though, or at least it was natural for me. I was excited about creating new work, and I just wanted to get it out there. I didn’t realize that it wasn’t ready yet.
I feel like I’m just starting to get to the point where my photography is ready for reviews and competitions. Recently, I found out that my work was selected for inclusion in Landscape Interrupted, a competition juried by William Jenkins, the curator of the landmark New Topographics exhibition at the George Eastman House in 1975. That’s a big deal for me, and I think a couple things are key about that success: I entered a competition that was a good fit for my work (whereas, in the past, I took a more scattershot approach), and I entered work that I’d looked at and considered for nearly a year, so I was confident that it said something I wanted to say.
Copyright © Liz Kuball
Academy A: One of my favorite photos from the California Vernacular series is the orange tree, this is the photo that brought me to your work after seeing it on 20×200—it’s the kind of picture that makes me want to pack up and move to Santa Barbara. How do you find images like this one…is it spontaneous or do you do a lot of location scouting?
LK: I look for photographs by wandering around—usually by car, but sometimes on foot. On that day, I was driving around with my then-boyfriend, going through subdivisions of houses, street by street, looking for things to take pictures of. We drove down a cul-de-sac, and the orange tree was there. I jumped out of the car, made one exposure, and hopped back in to keep looking.
It’s not usually spontaneous, in the sense that I am out with the intent of making photographs. But I don’t scout locations at all. If I see something I like, I take a picture of it.
Academy A: I like that you capture the realness of California rather than the plastic, Hollywood side we almost always see. There seems to be a vintage quality to the photos as well with some of the cars, structures and objects you have photographed. Was this vintage feeling intentional or did it evolve as the project did?
LK: It definitely wasn’t intentional, and I’m not even aware of it as I’m photographing. I can see how you get that feeling from the images, but it’s not conscious on my part. I photograph what I’m drawn to, and I try not to think about the why of it at the time.
Academy A: On the subject of projects, should a beginner photographer feel obligated to take on a series of their own? It seems like every photographer has a signature, on-going project that defines their aesthetic—have you found that it does help with growth, creatively-speaking?
LK: I don’t think that anyone—beginner or not—should feel obligated to start a series or project. If you have a project in mind, you should pursue it. But if you’re looking around and seeing that everybody seems to have a project, and you think you should have a project, too, my advice would be to start by taking a lot of pictures—as many pictures as you can, every day, all the time. The more you photograph, the more you’ll start to see themes emerge in your work, and a project may (or may not) take shape out of that.
Ultimately, I think the reason to pursue a project is because you have something that you want to explore through a project. In other words, you have a question you want to answer or a place you want to explore or an issue you want to illuminate, and a project is the best way to do that.
For me, what has helped me to find my style or aesthetic is just taking lots of pictures. California Vernacular emerged out of that process, and in some ways, yes, it does help to have something I’m looking for when I go out to photograph.
Copyright © Liz Kuball
Academy A: What has your experience been like doing portraiture and approaching strangers to pose for pictures? Do you find it exhilarating or frustrating?
LK: I don’t do a lot of portraiture, but at the end of 2007, I set up a little project for myself to approach one stranger every day and ask to take his photograph. I loved portraits, but I couldn’t imagine having the balls to do that, and I was terrified at the thought of it. It’s one thing not to do portraits because that’s not what you’re interested in; it’s another not to do them because you’re scared. And I wanted to make sure that, for me, it was the former.
Initially, it was scary. But within a few days, I realized that the worst thing that could happen is the person would say no. Some people did say no, but most of them said yes. It was both exhilarating and frustrating, and I heartily recommend the experience.
Academy A: I think one can really get a sense of your love for the environment you photograph, you really capture why people still have that fantasy of moving out west the same way they had that fantasy in the 1950’s. Why do you think, after all these years, people still look to California as a place to begin their lives or start over again?
LK: Part of our national identity is the concept of lighting out for the territory, and the West holds a sort of mythic place in our collective consciousness. California is really the epitome of that—it’s where the land runs out. The fact that this is the land of movies and movie stars helps add to that whole idea that everything will be better in California. And for me, it has been.
Copyright © Liz Kuball
