I recently had a chat with Canadian-based photographer, T. Reilly Hodgson. Aside from his spectacular photos, he also runs a zine called Blood of the Young Zine.
Tell me a little bit about yourself!
I’m 22. I like hardcore and bike rides. I’m trying to finish my degree after moving home from a few years at Emily Carr in Vancouver.
What was it like growing up in Aurora, Ontario?
I grew up in Newmarket, Ontario actually, but there’s not too much of a difference. I had a pool, a big back yard, and rode skateboards all over town. We built tree forts, explored sewer tunnels, built ramps, vandalized things, ran around in the forest and the abandoned boat locks at the edge of town. You know, all that suburban kind of stuff. Those were the days.
When did you first get into photography?
I started taking pictures of graffiti and my friends skateboarding with an old point and shoot in about 6th grade but I got really interested in high school. I took extra art classes so that I could get into the photography class a year early. Coincidentally, I went to the same high school as Ryan Foerster, so I can remember seeing his photos way back then and just being completely blown away. I had never really seen anything like that before.
It seems as though the majority of your photos are very spontaneous, and a spur of the moment type thing. Is this accurate?
That’s true. I use photos to document my life, sort of a memory building experiment, so for the most part I like to try to just let things happen. I find that whenever I over think my approach or try to affect a moment to make it look better for a photo I am less than happy with the result.
If someone were to give you a disposable camera and said to fill it + hand it back to them the next day. Where would you immediately go to take some photos?
That’s hard to say! It really depends on who gave me the camera, but I think I might grab some pals, a bag of green, and hop in a car to Camp 30, an abandoned WWII prisoner of war camp, or to the petroglyph caves North of here. I’ve wanted to get up there for a while. Feel free to send me a camera and see what happens.
If you’re were asked to put a finger on your all-time favourite photo (you took) which one would it be? Why? And what’s the story behind it?
Right now I think my favourite is the one of the floating fire [below]. I took it last February on one of my last nights living in Vancouver. My roommates, a few pals, and I all got dressed up warm and went to the beach for my last bonfire. We had some trouble finding dry wood and I ended up setting a couch cushion on fire and throwing it into the water when we realized how bad it smelt. It stayed on fire in the ocean for nearly 10 minutes. It’s probably not the best photo I have taken, but it brings back good memories.
What’s your daily routine like?
I usually wake up around 10. I have a hot chocolate, check the mail, put off replying to emails, sometimes smoke a joint. In the afternoon I try to make some pictures or work on getting things together for my portfolio and for a few exhibitions I am going to be showing in. If it’s not crappy out I like to go for a bike ride or a walk in the woods. I just landed a job at Michael’s working with grandmas. I don’t lead a very exciting life at the moment.
For those unfamiliar with your online & offline publication called Blood of the Young Zine tell me a bit about it, and why you started it in the first place.
I started Blood of the Young Zine with my pal Dimitri Karakostas. We basically just wanted a platform to share the photos and art work that we were into and had been meaning to put together a zine for a while. Now we’re a year in, we’ve got a few other contributors, and we are just looking to do more of the same. It’s not a revolutionary project by any means but I hope that we are putting a good spin on it. This year I want to try to concentrate on tangible zines and print projects. I’m tired of looking at screens all the time.
I’m pretty sure I own the majority of your zines. They are all wonderfully made and contain some stellar work. What’s the process behind creating one of your zines?
I’ve made a bunch over the years that you don’t have, but thanks! I try to make a new zine every couple of months in small editions. Zines give me a chance to use the photos that aren’t necessarily the ones I would put in my portfolio. I don’t upload my photos to Facebook so the zines also give my technology-dependent friends a chance to see all of the pictures I have been taking of them.
What are some of your other favourite zines?
It seems to me that zines have blown up again over the past year or two so this is pretty hard to answer. Islands Fold, Hamburger Eyes and Gottlund Verlag are always putting out inspiring stuff. I’ve had my eye on Kaugummi lately too but haven’t had a chance to grab any of their titles yet since I am broke.
Top 5 photographers?
Photographers are boring. I just watched Teenage Caveman by Larry Clark and you should go watch that if you want to see an over acted soft core porn about mutants. Really awkward.
I dont understand the pictures. I would have to know some of the thoughts thougt before the picture or within the picture
I definitely agree with you on that. Some photos, people just don’t understand… and it’s more of a “you had to have been there” situation. While other photos you can just look at and take in the beauty of it all (and no need for any explanations)!
What do you want to know, Villads?
great interview.
i like how the subject matter has a different feel than what i have been seeing as of late. whether i know the thoughts behind them or not.
excellent work.