The Starbeck Orion Issue #7 Not Advent: An Anthology. Page 11 of 25 Featured Artworker: Jerome Berglund his artworker interview and more of his artworks

A Feast Of Words And Image

Fallf

Fenced

Gage

Box

The Continuing Artworker Interview

Q:4. What is your daily photographic routine?

Interestingly, my practice writing short verses of micropoetry has kind of served the same function and purpose as taking nature photographs, capturing that proverbial 'haiku moment', preserving a scene or instant for posterity in a snapshot of sorts, unfortunately I have not been as active with camera and lens the last few years, occasionally I chance upon something extraordinary and more often then not my rudimentary cell phone camera must suffice and does to a certain extent. I'm reminded in Inland Empire by David Lynch shot on the shoddiest of digital cameras, Unsane which Soderbergh crafted so memorably via iPhone. It's not at all crucial to employ some exorbitantly expensive equipment, medium format Hasselblad to immortalize a moment. The rougher, cruder proletarian polaroid or disposable is every bit an equal, and in its own senses can even prove superior, there is certainly a distinct beauty and unpredictable flair to be discovered in grain, motion blur, noise!

Q:5. What is your favourite photographic material to work with?

Rain, hands down. Something about the elements blending with an average scene, creating a sort of universal synergy, just fascinates me, am enamored and thrilled to explore. I also very much enjoy the way lights photographed at night generate a sort of surreal streaking, it's a difficult and unpredictable medium which requires a great deal of trial and error but out of innumerable attempts the 'keepers' one occasionally lucks out with are downright extraordinary!! :D

Q:6. What motivates you to make photos?

As with writing, I think every photographer is trying to communicate something, articulate a dialogue and transport their viewers to a place and experience they had, engender understanding and empathy. I am in some crazy wood in the midwest, you are on the incredible streets of England, comrades I regularly admire are exploring India, Canada, Romania, Germany. It's such an eye opener and privilege to be granted these unique windows into disparate locations, fascinating lives across this globe, truly we're so very fortunate to live in our interconnected time, and I think the internationalism such beautiful visions precipitate are highly positive contributions toward fostering meaningful solidarity and connection across borders both lingual and physic!

Q:7. What is your work ethic?

It's tough because I have not had an enormous amount of success earning conventionally for the last several years. In my youth I did a considerable amount of slogging in a wide variety of curious capacities, would work hundred hour weeks on film sets and things, once had a year without a day off when I was employed as a night watchmen making sure everything was in good condition, not leaking or on fire. Not a day goes by we're not each working very hard on countless valuable pursuits, whether we are compensated commensurately or granted respect and dignity for the efforts labored is another story. Traditionally spouses often carried the heavy load of maintaining households and historically were criminally underappreciated for contributions. My generation, the millennials have through no necessary fault of our own or intentionality been sort of relegated to lives of supporting our elders having much difficulty achieving a sustainable scenario on our lonesome. Being differently abled, a touch on the autistic spectrum, certainly makes life a bit more challenging, and raises the 'difficulty' level for achieving various things, despite my best efforts and intentions!

Q:8. How do the photos you saw when you were young influence your artwork today?

I wish I had more formal exposure to classic photographers, I was trained more in terms of film and television and spent my formative period immersed in iconography of the cinema, Fritz Lang, Jean-Luc Godard, Lars Von Trier, Dario Argento. At the community college I attended I had some of the most terrific encounters with fine art of my life, curiously it was much more comprehensive and varied than the commercial material I was introduced to during my degree study in the university of southern California. But the Cremaster cycle by Matthew Barney, and other video art and experimental photography were very influential on my from early years, am also a tremendous fan of the work of Alfred Stieglitz!!

Q:9. Whom of today's photographers do you admire the most and why?

I wish I were better versed in all the talented movers and shakers on our contemporary scene, Moscow-based photographer Olga Barantseva is one virtuoso I've been quite blown away by in recent years, I greatly enjoy high fashion photography and in another life would have adored pursuing those type of shoots as a career, nothing I more admire perusing than the print ads for clothing or fragrances one encounter in the pages of Vogue or Harper's Bazaar!! <3

Q:10. What would you say to someone who asked you "How do you become a professional photographer?"

Not unlike film school, that is certainly an inquiry that requires a thoughtful response, but perhaps would be better prefaced by introducing the asker to some theory about economics and differential opportunity to help contextualize explanation. It's not that every proletariat can't do anything they set their mind to, but it's important to appreciate we all exist in a horrific, perverted society where a handful of demoniacal villains monopolize everything worthwhile, so say a person wants to start a photography business. If you are unable to supply several hundred dollars to pay yelp they will delete, filter, mark as questionable every positive review you receive. Quite saddening and disturbing in practice when financial limitations cause you to be kneecapped, those other affluent dilettantes who can afford to rent study space, pay for expensive strobes get all the work, are preferenced in algorithm etc. I guess my advice for those aspiring toward careers in photography or film is, if you are not independently wealthy, don't have millions in trust fund and influential connected family members, you will be at a disadvantage and either beholden to or constantly thwarted by those more fortunate and situated.

Q:11. Tell me about the photography projects you have on at the moment

This last year has been absolute scorched earth for me and family sadly, we're just desperately trying to stay above water, so I've been a bit behind in terms of arts and creativity. I do have a few fun photo haiku (/haiga/shahai) that are slated to be arriving in favorite outlets like Setu Bilingual Journal, Black & White Haiga, Haiga in Focus etc., also I think my dear friend, mentor and admired collaborator an'ya (who we had a super fun series of team-ups blending her incredible tanka and my pictures <3) might be using some pictures of mine as covers for a book or series? She has the neatest poetry (and distinctive art!) and beautiful presentation, here was a very fun assortment of stuff we made together recently exhibited in the haiku foundation's digital library! :D https://thehaikufoundation.org/thf-galleries-photo-haiku-of-anya-and-jerome-berglund/ Oh also recently I was so lucky to share a collection of my best writing from recent years along with black and white fine art photographs (a sequel to shorter chap similarly framed via Yavanika) at Fevers of the Mind thanks to generosity of phenomenal editor David L O'Nan, if you'd like to see a great subsection of favorite pictures I've published to date that book contains a lot of the coolest work I've managed! ^^ https://feversofthemind.com/2024/11/29/a-collection-links-a-cartographyof-photography-poetic-verses-from-jerome-berglund/