I’ve really enjoyed this project I’m working on where I interview photographers I know and admire. I ask them to answer 30 questions about themselves and their photography, and I ask them to share some of their work. I’ve really been looking forward to hearing the answers from the next photographer. He’s been a guest on a couple of photography related podcasts and I always enjoyed listening to his stories of his photographic journeys. I find his photography particularly engaging. When scrolling through Instagram, his photos always seem to stop me in my tracks. I really appreciate his perspective and his ability to draw out and communicate the interesting parts of his subjects.
The next photographer I want to introduce you to is Jess Lantz.
I’ve never met Jess in person, but I hope to go on a photo walk with him someday. I first came to know Jess through his activity on the Negative Positives Facebook group and started following him on Instagram. I instantly became drawn to Jess’s photos. They were easy to spot, as I think his photos have a certain quality to them that really makes them stand out. I struck up an online conversation with Jess and instantly felt like I’d know him for years. He’s just one of those special kind of people. I hope you enjoy his interview as much as I did.
Q: What is your name and where do you live?
A: Jess Lantz. I live in the Pacific Northwest or more specifically South Puget Sound.
Q: How can people contact you?
A: Website: Sojourninglight.com (someday this winter when I can focus on it on some cold and rainy day). Instagram: @Lantzjess. Maybe on Flickr in the future.
Q: If we’ve met, how do we know each other?
A: We haven’t physically met but in this day and age I know you through our online social connections better than I know some friends of mine.
Q: What is your earliest memory of taking a photography?
A: I’d say, I was about six or seven years old. My father was a prolific amateur photographer who was always packing his Argus C3 and some kind of Ansco 120 folder. He would show me how to compose and hold my breath as I pressed the shutter button. I loved working with him in the temporary darkroom in our 1 bathroom home which was a bit of a contentious with my mother. He would put a piece of plywood over part of the tub and one of those rubber slip over the faucet hoses to the tub spout and he bought those Kodak tri chem packets that consisted of Dektol developer, stop bath and fixer. Enough for about 8 ounces of working solution each. We would use 5 X 7 trays on the counter to develop the prints. He had a Kodak cold light enlarger that could print up to 2 ¼ by 3 ¼ negatives that sat on the toilet seat. It was magic to me to watch in the glow of the red safe light the image appear on those little prints. In those days we would only print up to 5 X 7 prints, mostly 2x3 or 3½x5, sliding them into those yellow speed easels that put a nice white border around the print.
Q: Of the cameras you currently own, what is your favorite (you may choose one of each format if applicable?
A: Of the multitude of cameras I have more than my office can handle, I’d say the Minoltas of the Eighties are my favorites, especially the X-370. Yeah, it was cheap and didn’t have all the bells and whistles but I had a blast using it.
I started shooting 35mm with my 1st SLR, a Zenit E that my dad and I bought for a high school concert band trip to Europe in 1972. I think we paid 75 bucks for it and came with a 58mm F2 Helios lens. I literally beat the crap out of it hiking and rock climbing in the Cascades and Olympic mountains that surround us. From there I bought a Canon TLb QL SLR and stuck with Canon for a while. On to the 1st Canon AE-1 which was frustrating because it ate batteries. Here is where I got into the Minolta X bodies. Stuck with them till the early 90’s when my wife won a Canon Rebel G and I discovered autofocus! I switched to Canon Eos Cameras and that went into the Digital era with the 1st Digital Rebel I bought in September of 2003.
For medium Format I’d say the 1958 Yashicamat is my favorite TLR, just because I had one when I got serious about my photography in high school, it’s another camera that I literally wore out.
Q: Is there a camera you’ve always lusted after and hope to acquire someday? What makes you desire this camera?
A: Rollieflex with a F2.8 lens. I have my Dad’s Rolleiflex T with the 3.5 Tessar which I finally had CLA’d this year, but it’s got a single lever Shutter/aperture EV system that I just don’t like. But someday I want a F2.8 with the two dials to adjust Shutter/aperture. I also enjoy the Mamiyaflex C2 that I have in a complete kit with 4 lenses and all the interesting bits and accessories. (and there’s the Mamiya 645 system that I’ve got two complete kits of).
Q: Is there a camera you no longer have that you miss?
A: No, not really, because I’ve pretty much bought everything I had once owned in the past.
Q: What type of photographs do you most enjoy taking (portraits, landscapes, street, etc) and why?
A: Landscapes, woodlands, urban decay, anything, I love it all. I was enamored with the work of Ansel Adams and Elliot Porter, Minor White, Edward Weston and especially his son Brett.
Q: While most of us shoot both digital and film, I believe we all have a tendency to prefer one over the other. What do you prefer and why?
A: Depends on my mission, amount of time I have, who I’m with, and basically how lazy I feel. I love anything related to photography, From a 120 year old 4x5 box camera that I’m trying to use, to my Sony A7ii. I try though to use Legacy glass on my digital gear, not that I’m a cheap bastard (well I kinda am) but enjoy using it. Using legacy glass on my original Canon Digital rebel actually led me back into shooting film again. And the world of Ebay further drug me down the film path when all of that medium format gear started to be dumped for cheap around 2007-2009.
Q: How often/much do you shoot photographs (rolls per week, month, etc)?
A: Probably 4-5 rolls a month, a ton more of digital, and that damn iPhone gets a lot of action because, as they say, the best camera is the one you have readily available. I can get shots that I could never get with a camera, because it blends into the woodwork with everyone else’s phones. People don’t notice much. Now if I had an SLR of some sort pointed at them they would notice!
Q: Do you prefer to photograph with other people, or would you rather shoot alone? Please explain.
A: The only people I shoot with are my wife and my sister n law. They are both digital shooters, my wife is a Canon 6d jpg shooter that won’t listen to my opinion on shooting raw, and my sister in law shoots with the Olympus micro 4/3rds system who doesn’t listen to my extoling of the benefits of a full frame sensor. But hey, at least they are out shooting and enjoying photography.
I would love to shoot with other folks, but I don’t have much connection with photographers in my local area. Maybe I need to locate a group, but most of them are located in and around Seattle which is a pain to get to and from due to our insane traffic. I work in South Seattle and it’s enough of a commute that I don’t want more travel during the week. I did hook up with a Negative positives facebook member Michael Bartosek last spring and we shot around downtown Seattle and I really enjoyed that. Definitely want to do more of that. I’m planning a trip to Chicago to visit the Central Camera mecca sometime in the future and it would be great to hook up with some folks.
Q: What is your favorite black and white film right now and why?
A: TMAX 100 120. Love that stuff in my Holga Panoramic Pinhole camera. Love the grain structure when enlarged (digitally) just a beautifully toned film in my eyes.
Q: What is your favorite color film right now and why?
A: I don’t have one. That where I might turn people off but my color is best done with digital. Never had good luck with color print film back in the film era. The best color back then was Ektachrome slide film from my Rolleicord. Maybe if I shot some Ektachrome now but cost is too much.
Q: Complete the following sentence: “I am a photographer because…”. What do YOU get from photography?
A: I can be creative and make art that I enjoy. My mother was a painter and creative but she took forever to make it. I’m lazy I don’t want to take forever to make my art. I get a sense of accomplishment when I create an image that I like and other like too. I just recently got into sharing my work on Facebook and Instagram, and I love seeing what others create too.
Q: Best experience while taking photographs?
A: We went to Ireland this summer for vacation and fell in love with that country. It was one of the best places to shoot. The Dingle Peninsula has to be the best place I’ve ever photographed! Just stunning. I could shoot forever there.
Q: Most emotional experience while taking photographs?
A: Four years ago we vacationed in Scotland and we went to the Isle of Iona Just a short distance from the Isle of Mull. It involved a ferry boat ride form the Little seaport of Oban.
I’m not a religious guy, but man, did I feel something on the Isle of Iona. It was where Christianity was brought to Scotland in 563 A.D. by an Irish Monk Saint Columba. The abbey there an amazing place to shoot, and the ruins of the Benedictine Nunnery are absolutely stunning. The water along the shore was an emerald green contrasted by a blanket of white sand among the rocks of the shore.
Q: Worst experience while taking photographs.
A: Can’t get any worse than the stress of shooting a wedding and dealing with “Mother in Laws” I don’t do weddings anymore, period.
Q: Tell me about something related to photography you want to learn.
A: How to use Photoshop. Back when it was first out I learned as much as I could but years later it’s gotten overwhelming and complicated. I need to spend some time with it more.
Q: Tell me about something NOT related to photography you want to learn.
A: Book binding, or book making. I want to find a way to create my work in book form. Maybe start off creating some zines.
Q: What does your family/loved ones think/feel about your photography?
A: They like my work except when I do that weird pinhole stuff and some of my side trip genre’s. For thirty years, my wife would stay in the car as I went over the edge of a ditch and into the woods, fields, near the cliff or up a trail. When I went to Australia for work several years ago, the company flew my wife down for two months, she found that she had plenty of time on her hands to wander around the city of Melbourne and she said she wanted a camera. That started her journey into taking images, so we now have that in common. My daughter also caught the camera bug from me and has started a small portrait side business taking family shots. And my sister in law started the hobby too. And has gotten into it shooting birds and wildlife.
Q: What is the last photography related book you’ve acquired?
A: A collection of images by Aaron Siskind. I’m lucky to live in an area with at least 4 Half Price Bookstores, a used bookstore chain that originated in Texas. I find some amazing photographic related books there, much to my wife’s chagrin.
Q: Name one of your favorite accounts on Instagram and explain what draws you to this photographer.
A: There are so many, I hate to single one out because there are some awesome photographers out there. Three that come to mind are @nickexposed, @antonartaud, @Rosenzart. I am very partial to B&W photography, I love texture, contrast, moody blacks, and everything about a B&W image. You don’t have color to camouflage or fall back on. Other photographers are @Nedsoldman, @Barryhitterman and @Feeling.color.less. Again there are so many great photographers I haven’t mentioned.
Q: Have you ever sold or have thought about selling any of your photographs? Would you do it again? Any advice for others thinking of selling their photographs?
A: I have sold sporadically in the past. Once some large abstract stuff for a friend’s large entry way staircase. I did a series of large waterfall prints for a psychiatrist’s office because she wanted some calming imagery for her walls.
I think it’s a struggle to sell in today’s market because there is so many people trying to sell. I also have a problem sticking to one style or genre of images. I’m a dog’s breakfast playing with so many different types of photography. Sticking to one style might be the disciplined approach, but it would take to fun out of what I like to do.
Q: Are there any photography related projects you’re working on that you’d like to tell us about?
A: Nothing off hand. I am shooting more Kodak 2238 and playing with different way of developing it Trying to find that perfect combination… kind of like looking for the holy grail.
Q: Are there any non-photographic related projects you’re working on that you’d like to tell us about?
A: I want to write, sketch, paint, get back to my woodworking but…. Time is a limited resource and working for a living gets in the way of my hobbies. Hopefully I will retire in a couple of years when I get tired of working for a living but I’m still having fun, because it buys my toys.
Q: Where is your favorite location to shoot (specific place or type of place)?
A: The Oregon coast, from the mouth of the Columbia river clear down to Brookings. What an amazingly beautiful place. Put it on you bucket list!
Q: Is there a specific object you’ve found yourself photographing over and over again? If so, why?
A: Other than the Tchotchke’s I find in thrift stores while I’m in search of cameras, not really. Everything is game and just depends on my mood or what I’m currently infatuated with.
Q: Favorite thing about the photographic community?
A: The variety of people, the connection, the Negative positive Film group way. If it wasn’t for this group of people I would never had met such fascinating people. Maybe one or two here and there but nothing like this bunch! Which led me to other similar groups like the Classic lenses bunch, The large format and the lensless podcast groups
Q: What do you think the photographic community is missing?
A: Maybe better cooperation between the generations? Even though there is a connection, I think it could be better. Of course, this is coming from an old guy.
Q: Biggest photography related pet peeve?
A: Film vs digital vs iPhone bias. It’s all about the image! It’s what you see and look at, not necessarily with what you achieved it with. I use everything, they are tools in the toolbox sometimes I want a chisel, sometimes I just need a hand router.
Q: What do you hope your photographic legacy will be?
A: Maybe someone, my daughter, grandkids or generations to come, might pause a bit and see the world as I saw it. I have my dad’s boxes and boxes of slides, negatives and prints that I need to do something with to preserve his legacy too.
Q: Who is the one person (living or dead) that you’d like to photograph and why? Describe the type of portrait you’d shoot, and the message you’d want this portrait to communicate about this person.
A: I wish I had taken more shots of my dad. I don’t have many great shots of him, both of us being photographers, we stayed out of the shots most of the time. Somehow he didn’t photograph well in Black and white, or I wasn’t able to capture him in good light, hard to explain it. I just miss him too much.
Jess is definitely an interesting photographer and I really enjoy the photos he posts. Head on over to @Lantzjess on Instagram to check out Jess’s photos.