Today's 20x200 edition-maker, Rachel Hulin and her beloved globe

Jen: Hello my dear! How are you?
Rachel: Hallo! Oh, very excited! Today is the day, you know.
Jen: Seriously, how exciting is this? First off: old skool HHS! I was walking home thinking about the '05 stuff that you showed and how it reminds me of Andrew Wyeth...
Rachel: Yes, Mom as Matador! That was back when I was working at ICP and Ben Donaldson, who was faculty there, was a judge.
Jen: And about Andrew Hetherington and what an awesome blogger you are... Then how you went on to some fancy photo editor jobs. The view from here presents a very glamorous Ms. Hulin!
Rachel: O man, is this all true?!
Jen: And actually, fancy aside, I really love how you've got every angle of photography covered. Taking them first and foremost, but writing about them and editing them too. There aren't a lot of people who can do all those things well. Yes, all true.
Rachel: I don't feel all that glamorous!
Jen: And what's nice about it is that what drives you is genuine enthusiasm and interest. So I'm either embarrassing you right now or you're like "Yea, she's right! I AM all that."
I actually hope it's a combination of the two.
Rachel: Well, it's true I just adore photography. And most photographers are kind-hearted folks who just love what they do. I'm pleased to make my own work, but writing about other work is so satisfying and informs the stuff I make. And yeah, I am blushing.
Jen: Right, well the other thing that you do well is take a broad view of things. There can be a pretty wide chasm between fine art and editorial work.
Rachel: I feel lucky to have an obsession with photography. It's just awesome. Not to say if I were obsessed with like, dirt bikes, that it wouldn't be as fun.
Jen: But I think that regardless of what category a photographer places themselves in, they're doing themselves a disservice if they don't look at the other.
Rachel: Yeah—it takes all kinds. I like to look at stuff in every sector. I can stay on Ads of the World all day and only look at commercial stuff. It's all visual; it's all reflective of modern culture.
Jen: How does all the looking and writing and thinking you do impact the work you make? Related: how on earth do you find the time to do it?!

Rachel: Hmm, I actually think it can make things more difficult. It's funny, because when I first started grad school in 2001, I didn't even know who Gursky was, and I was making these shots that were clearly informed by that aesthetic, and I got chewed out in class. So, I made it a point to really educate myself... which can be tricky because then one week you shoot like Crewdson, the next like Jeff Wall. And that can be fun—it's impossible not to copy, at least to some extent. But I think I've always had my own style, a sort of running narrative.
I make work quite slowly, a few pictures a month. It's really a diary.
Jen: Right, it can go both ways on the being informed thing: if you look too much, which is easy enough to do on the interwebs, an attempt to do anything original seems like an impossible endeavor.
Rachel: True—also, looking at amazing work can be disheartening—"wow, I could never make something so amazing," etc... But the last few years, I've just been plodding along. I bring my Mamiya everywhere and just don't think too hard about it.
Jen: Well, you've given me the perfect entree into a conversation that I had with another 20x200 photographer who I am mad about, the recently-recognized-by-Foam (that uber-rad Dutch photo mag that commissioned Stefan's portrait of me): MICHAEL LUNDGREN. When he was in town for his show at ClampArt, he talked about how imitating the work of people that you admire is often an integral part of getting to the point where you can make something that's uniquely you.
Rachel: That's funny—he has a snake photo like Hannah Whitaker, I see. His work is lovely, so spare.
Jen: Yea it's amazing. And he's been working on the body of work that he showed for years, and really waited until he had something that he was SURE he wanted to show, that felt like his own.
His perspective is interesting too because he teaches, so he sees people running through the various stages of imitating their idols, etc.
Rachel: Ah, that makes sense. There are always four Stephen Shores in every photo class and then people get their own thing going as they move forward.
Jen: Right! Gursky, Shore, Crewdson, Cindy Sherman
Sternfeld. The Soth, of course.
Rachel: Funny—my post promoting 20x200 will copy one of my early favorites, Duane Michals. I loved him. My first class at RISD, he and Dorothea Lange were IT to me. HA!
Jen: The other thing I like about you: you've got a sense of humor and are not uptight. There aren't a lot of people brave enough to insert a big pink question mark onto a Stefan Ruiz photo, or um, pay homage by inserting themselves into a tableau created by one of their idols. And you TOTALLY GET AWAY WITH IT. Because it's all done with love.
Rachel: Oh man, I just try not to take things too seriously. We're not curing cancer after all, we're making pictures. It's fun!
Jen: It is fun. OK, let's talk about your work!
Rachel: People like to have fun with it—I've almost never gotten a negative email. I try to never make a negative post.
Jen: That's amazing! I was very pleased to see the enthusiastic response to your post yesterday. Your friends and fans on the Twitter, they went bananas. (Amazing that you never get negative email, I mean. It's unusual even for the most virtuous of bloggers.)
Rachel: People are awesome! One thing I have trouble with is self-promotion. I get embarrassed.
Jen: Stick with me, kid, I'll give you lessons.
Rachel: Great!!
Jen: Actually, I think it's really important for a photographer to be able to promote themselves, but everyone needs to figure out what works best for them personally. For what it's worth, I feel like your approach thus far has been pitch perfect. And I like that YOUR work is out there in the mix, because like I said, a lot of your bloggery focuses on what other people are doing. For good reason! But still, I think it's easy for your own work to be overlooked when you're being so engaging about what other people are up to.
Rachel: Aw, thanks. I do try to find a balance. I don't want the blog to be all about me.

Jen: It might seem random, but your 20x200 edition reminds me of Tema's White Ice and it's not because there are round things in both of them. I bet you're all... Whaaaa? But check it out!
Rachel: Ha, that's interesting. I love Tema's white horse picture. I wish I took that image (which is my biggest compliment).
Jen: Here's what it is: to me some of the most successful photographs are ones that capture something that I would've totally overlooked if I'd been there myself...

Globe by Rachel Hulin

Rachel: I look at everything around me as a potential picture. I have been looking at the glowing globe for ten years, and one day I just finally hauled up the tripod and made it.
Jen: With Globe, it's that there's something so universally comforting and familiar about the room that I'm seeing that I can imagine myself in it.
I feel like you took it from the perspective of your bed.
Which may or may not be true, but that's the intimacy it has for me.
Rachel: Yeah, that's true actually.
Jen: And it serves to remind me to look around and notice what's familiar, like I was talking about in yesterday's newsletter. Anyway, I feel like I'm in your room, which makes MY room seem more appealing and cozy.
And it also makes me want to get a cool vintage light-up globe—that's a whole other thing.
But you know the glowy-ness gives it a cinematic/narrative quality which makes me think of that feeling I get when I walk around the streets of NYC on cold winter nights and peek in people's windows. And everything inside is impossibly warm and cozy and rich.
Rachel: I love anything glowy...I have to say. I love warm tones, I always print things too yellow, I'm so drawn to that feeling.
Jen: I could see how it's baroque-ness is perfect for you: glowy AND glittery.
So how does this particular image relate to your practice overall, at this point in time?
Rachel: It's pretty indicative of where I am right now... I'm making a lot of still-lifes. Some are a bit spooky feeling, like this one, at my grandmother's house. And, this one. I need to update my personal site!
Jen: There's an amazing narrative pull to your work. It's subtle, but strong like ox! It makes me think of the kinds of short stories I grew up reading in The New Yorker. And it also has a very kind-of mid-century feeling to it, but that might be personal.
Rachel: Yeah—I like to think of it as an extension of my writing. I'd love to write a novel with images interspersed. I was always obsessed with The New Yorker fiction imagery.
Jen: There's nothing disaffected about you, or your images, but for some reason it puts J.D. Salinger in mind.
Rachel: I just re-read Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roof Beam. That's funny.
Jen: But you know, a novel with photographs would be amazing—makes me think of the brilliant Leanne Shapton. Aside from being a totally freaking brilliant artist herself, she's the L in J&L Books AND she's the art editor of the NYT editorial page. I LOVE the idea of a Shapton-esque Rachel Hulin novel avec photographs, but one that's utterly you, of course.
Rachel: Oh yes—any publishers out there, call me!
Jen: Yeah and we can use Globe on the cover!
Rachel: Seriously—I have been thinking about finding a deserted cabin and going at it for a few months. Definitely a goal. It could be good, I think.
Jen: I think you're on to something with that, I like it.
Well, my dear we could keep talking forever, but I'd prefer to save some of our chitchat for an in-person encounter, over adult beverages.
Rachel: Oh, that is an excellent idea. Let's do that soon.
Jen: Perhaps we'll need to meet soon and clink champagne glasses over the sell-out success of your edition?
I have a feeling we will—and soon!