The Crakerfarm Interview
When and where were you born? What was growing up like for you? Do you have any siblings? What would you and your friends do for fun growing up in the early days? What are some other interests you have outside of photography, music, art and skateboarding? Prior to shooting photos, what other projects whether that was creative, or non-creative, did you participate in helping to build and/or simply work within?
I was born in NJ, February 1979. Where I grew up is called Jug-town mountain. It’s rural, but close to NYC & Philly. There really isn’t shit to do around there. I remember hating school. I've a sister & brother, they're older. I’m Gen X, so pre internet… We would skate, go off in the woods to get wasted, steal shit, trash abandoned places & shit like that for fun. I've been pretty into building & repairing structures lately. I never did anything before photos. I was a late 90's junkie. I got sober when I was 19. After that I heard a dude say he was gonna be freelance photographer and I thought that sounded cool, so I did it.
Langhorne Slim.
The Avett Brothers.
When did you first begin to have a fascination with shooting photography specifically? Who were some of your biggest inspirations when you first started out and why?
After I got sober, I went to community college. This is where I heard this dude Nick Blatt say he was gonna be freelance photographer. I took a photo class & graphic design class at that spot. This is still before computers were the norm, all analog. Graphic design was kinda hard, with all the drawing, so I was drawn to photography. The photo teacher there had gone to SVA in NYC & I heard there were no math classes, so thats where I went. Being severely learning disabled, I knew I would never be able to do a normal job. By the time I was in SVA I had only been doing photo for like a year, tops. I didn't know shit about photographers, or anything.
But after I was there a while I started getting into Man Ray, Meatyard, Sally Mann, Cindy Sherman, Wee Gee, shit like that. I liked the work of those people because I think in images, words and numbers are hard for me. When I saw that work it’s like I learned an alphabet that I did't know before. Then I met some actual working photographers. One of them being a dude called Clay Patrick McBride. I worked for that dude as an assistant for 4 years, or so. Thats when I caught the nickname Cracker, from Clay. Clay shot a lot of music and this seemed attainable to me, its why I started shooting music. At that time, 2001, I had a shooting partner, a collaborator, Lindsey Rome, we made up Crackerfarm.
The Avett Brothers.
Shovels and Rope.
Tell me about shooting, as well as meeting folks like The Avett Brothers, Leo Romero and Langhorne Slim.
I met the brothers in 2005. They had seen our work with Regina Spektor via Nicole Atkins. They (bros) hired us to do a shoot at our studio in NYC's LES. They pulled up in a conversion van. the first dude that hopped out was Dane (their tm) I thought, "shit, they look real normal"... Then this little dude hopped out in a trench coat & weird hood hat, that was Scott, he looked cool. Then Seth came out with his beard & a little KFC tie on & I was stoked… They looked rad. Later on that night we went & saw their show at Pianos, or Arlenes' grocery, or some shit like that & we were fucking blown away. We invited ourselves on tour. Leo Romero and other various skateboarders. Shooting skaters is a relatively new thing for me. I've been a poser since 1987, so skating to me, has always been a thing. I've always been drawn to the aesthetics around skating. It was movement & language that I understood (visually) & could identify with. Leo is a big music fan, he likes the Avett’s music.
I started talking with him on IG and he came to a red rocks show. Leo is obviously a huge legend, but I didn't know that then. All the other pro skaters I’ve met, or shot photos of I met through Leo & skate trips. Langhorne Slim I've know Slim since the very early days in NYC, say 2003. I met him through Regina. I went to see them play at the same show (some dive in NYC) Slim just blew me away too. It’s crazy how at that time, in NYC, there was such a pocket of talent just starting to leak out. I see Slim pretty much everyday now & we were like the old east coast guys in Nashville, driving around listening to Stern and Regina Spektor. Regina is the first person we ever got hired by a stranger to shoot. We had been shooting a neighbors band called Unisex Salon, they were working with Gordon Raphael. Gordon had just made The Strokes first record and now he was going to make Regina's record. Gordon hit us up to see if we'd shoot her. He said she was, "a modern classic". He was absolutely correct.
Leo Romero.
What is your process and approach with working with a subject(s)? What is your preferred camera and film you like to use when doing more of the professional settings you’ve worked on? How much has changed since you first started off on this journey?
I'm definitely a minimalist. I don't like to use artificial lights, if I do its just one. I don't like to give direction. If I can i try to be a fly on the wall. It takes years to become invisible around subjects. Most of the times on job jobs I gotta shoot digital. I like medium format digital for that. My favorite film is TriX, I'm really liking this fuji 6X9 rangefinder right now. It’s gone from rotary phones to Star-link in the 20 years I been at it. The business is so different now. The budgets were always shitty, thats the same. Now though, with social media and digital music streaming, shits dead. Anyone is a photographer now, everyone does video. People call photos captures and work content… It’s fucked. I mean, it’s amazing in a way, but it’s all so fleeting. It'll be interesting to see what it’s like in another 20 years.
How has the pandemic impacted your life and path these past few years? What have been some ways in which you’ve managed to stay positive and optimistic during this time? What are you most looking forward to as 2022 continues to roll out? Are you currently working on any new projects?
Obviously when covid hit, the world I lived in stopped… Just like that, done. Which was scary. Luckily the Mrs. & I had been positioning things for the previous 10 years to where we'd have a back up (when art was over). Strangely, exactly when covid hit that thing we built started working. I’ve been really fortunate, I don't really suffer from long term fear. Looking forward to whats next. I like being home. I’ve been doing a bit of design work lately, screen printing mostly.
Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
Nah.
http://www.crackerfarm.com
www.youtube.com/crackerfarm
All photos cred: Crakerfarm©
Dakota Brown
