Thomas Prior

We called LA-born, New York-based photographer Thomas Prior while he was on a stroll in the streets of New York in the midst of a transitional brainstorm.

We talk about preserving family memories, how his friends all look strange in his photos, and what's next.








Chief Magazine: So let’s start with a little character development.  Who is Tom Prior?  Where ya from?

Thomas Prior: I was born in Los Angeles.

Did you grow up there?

No, my dad moved us around a lot.

Do you think that has anything to do with why you take pictures?  To maybe provide a sense of permanence?

No.  I think it’s because I have a really lousy memory.  When I was 13, I realized that I couldn’t draw as well as other kids.  And I always loved to draw.  Then I got a camera and was like—I didn’t fall back on it or anything—it just seemed like a way for me to get stuff done.

So was it then that you knew you wanted to be a photographer?

I think it happened in high school.  I started to get really into it and print color.  When I was 15, my high school had this jakey little color dark room, and that’s when I started to get really excited about it.

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Did you go on to study photography further?

Yeah, I went to the School of Visual Arts.

How long have you been in New York?

Well, I moved here in ’98 and I moved out to LA for a while, then lived a couple places before I came back here about a year ago.  You know, I normally wouldn’t have any problem talking about stuff, but I’m at this transitional point right now where I’m figuring out what to do with myself in general. Know what I mean?

Been there. I’m a writer, so…

This city can really chew you up.

Word.

I don’t think it was always like that, you know?  When I was a teenager, I used to come here all the time.  There was always something cool going on and you didn’t have to pay an arm and a leg to live.

So why be here?  Because of the whole, “center of the universe” thing?

Nah.  I assist a photographer, Luis Sanchis.  When I moved away, I had to commute back and forth across the country to do jobs with him, print his photos.  It was just a lot of travel.  He’s a really good friend of mine, so—

It made sense.

Yeah.  You know those pictures on my website of the model getting ready?  A bunch of really pretty model girls in weird places? That’s a project I’m working on, documenting the behind-the-scenes aspect of fashion shoots.

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How did you meet Luis?

He came and lectured at SVA and I gave him my number. And he called me.  It worked out well.

Tell me more about the behind the scenes project.

Well I assist him, and while I’m waiting for the girls to get ready, or for somebody to find a location, I just take photos.  If you take it all out of context, it’s really cool.

I love the idea of humanizing the modeling world.

Yeah, all the girls getting their makeup done, walking around—it’s a crazy landscape.

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What do you look for in a subject?

I like anything that’s out of place.  One little element [pauses]. Sorry, there’s this guy who’s been trying to parallel park for like twenty minutes and he just can’t do it!

Wanna go help him out?  I can call ya back.

No, no, it’s okay, sorry.  I hang around with people and get drawn to them.  There are the shots that, as soon as I take them, I think, “That’s gonna be cool.”  When I take portraits of people, they never really look that good.  There’s always something small that’s wrong, something’s out of place.

I love when the landscape’s kind of awry.

You take a lot of your brother and your dad.  Is it because they’re such willing subjects?

When I was at school, I did a three-year project on my dad.  And my brother’s like a goldmine.  He’s a funny dude, so when you hang out with him, he’s guaranteed to be in a weird situation to document. I get some good snaps of him. And my dad’s just really cool.

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I want to hear more about this three-year project.

I just followed him around taking photos of him before he retired, so it’s like a memory.  He retired around 9/11.  He worked across the street [from the World Trade Towers], and I have all these pictures of him heading off to work.  It was fun, a really nice way just to be with him.

Sounds like a cool father-son bonding experience.

Yeah. And also, these pictures become much more potent as time goes on, you know?  Twenty years from now, who knows where we’ll all be, but I’ll have the pictures.

Very important, especially if your memory sucks.  So do you go everywhere with your camera?

I used to, but now I’m using bigger cameras and it’s a pain in the ass.  My new camera takes sharper pictures, but it’s just too much to lug around.  I take it out when I leave the city.  I don’t really take photos in the city, only when I leave.

Why is that?

I don’t know. I just can’t seem to get it done.  In Brooklyn, maybe, but in Manhattan, walking around it’s just… ugh. It’s all been done so many times, I feel like we’ve seen it all. Kinda cliché.

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It’s nice to talk to a New York-based photographer who doesn’t like to shoot in the city.

Well it gives me a reason to leave, which is nice.

Agreed.  So back to your current project, was it the fashion element that drew you?

Well, not really, he [Luis Sanchis] just takes really cool photos.  I just remember looking at some of his work that he did for the Nike campaign, thinking, “Oh man, that’d be so fun—to go to those places, work like that.”  I was about 20, and it was pretty nerve-wracking, you know, handling all that film. These projects had such huge budgets.  But it was fun.

So you’ve been all over. Any favorites?

Yeah, Japan was really cool.  We went to a salt mine in Argentina; that was awesome.  These little guys were helping us out, ‘cause we couldn’t breathe too well.  They just dig salt their entire lives.  It’s crazy!  It’s like Star Wars up there.  Cool, though.  The people were so nice, and the food was so good. 

Anything that you hate to shoot?  Won’t shoot?

I don’t know. Today’s the first day I ever dropped a portfolio at a magazine.  I just want to start shooting bands—really off the cuff like I shoot my other photos.  But it’s hard to convince people that you can do something when you haven’t done a lot of it. I’m deciding whether to keep shooting for myself or do something more commercial.

It’s the war cry of our generation.

Yeah!  But there are things out there; nice, casual environments.  It can just get a little cliquey.  I’m not real schmoozy.  I’m really looking for a change. This might not be the best time for an interview, ‘cause I’m brainstorming right now.

I think it’s actually a great time.  It’s cool to catch you on the verge, hear what you’re thinking.

That’s good.  I do want to keep going with the off the cuff thing.

Are any of your photos staged?

No.  The only pictures that are close to being staged are the ones with the models.  And those are just really moments before staged moments. 

So you love to capture everything as is.  I’ve always wondered this about photographers: Do you ever shoot something, see the picture, and then realize how you were feeling about it?

I never really thought about it that way.  Is that weird?

Maybe I’m just weird.

The thing that really got me concentrating on photography is that I’ve only seen 30 or 40 pictures of my parents. There are tons of photos of my brother and me growing up, but not of them. And that’s another time, you know?  Personal history is what really drew me to taking photos. I just know what’s gonna make me happy in the future. When there are only a handful of pictures from someone’s entire existence before you, it’s like, “Fuck.” Made me kind of bummed.  I have no idea what my great-grandpa looked like from just the one photo I have of him.

It seems like you’re present enough in your life to know when you’re in a memorable moment.

That’s why I like to have a camera at the ready. I swear, anytime I leave the city I’m immediately camera ready. New York kills me. I do all the work here, the printing, and all that. But I really turn my brain on when I’m out of the city. I get a little bit sharper.  Being in the city can be visually claustrophobic for me.

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Do you have a favorite photographer?

Larry Sultan did a book called Pictures from Home.  He took all these pictures of his parents during a visit in Florida and weaved them in with 8mm stills of his childhood.  That really struck me.  If I had made that, I’d be really proud of it.  But there’s a lot of really great photography going on right now.

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What’s next?

I have a show coming up with some friends, and it’s gonna be the cap on the end of this project.  I want to do something completely different.  Take photos a totally different way but with the same feeling.  I’ve been working this way for three years and I want a change.  Sometimes just changing the camera is enough to change the whole mode.  I’m going to get a big digital camera and just start shooting a very different way.  It’s the end of an era for me. 



Website
www.thomasprior.com

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