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With Death Cab I approached them because I really felt they should be documented
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It's a mixed bag. I was hired to shoot the White Stripes and we got along so Jack called me to shoot The Racenteurs. The first time I met Jack [White] officially I was hired to take some pictures on the set of the "My Doorbell" video. They needed a few more publicity photos. We just really liked each other and he called me up and asked me to do the first Racenteurs record. You know he didn't call me on my phone; I was called by someone.
I didn't really pursue it originally. It's just something we do in our family. We take pictures of our friends and what we're doing, like my dad had. When I started taking pictures of my friends or my friends in a band, I didn't know when I went to a show. It was just a natural thing because it was what my dad did. It wasn't in order to be famous or in order to have a career. So, as more and more people started liking the photos that I took I realized how often I felt compelled to take a photo and I slowly started taking myself seriously as a photographer. I didn't really think that the way I liked to take pictures would be a career, which is good, because if you're going in to photography to be rich and famous I really think those are the wrong reasons.
Known for her work with bands and musicians such as Beck, the White Stripes, Elliot Smith, Fiona Apple, Spoon and many more, Autumn de Wilde is a renowned photographer. Her photos have been featured in Filter, The New York Times and have been used as artwork and covers for many groups' and artists' CDs. She gave some time to Jayplay to talk about her art, her motivations and some of her inspirations.
Do you usually have a prior relationship with the people that you're photographing, such as Spoon or the White Stripes—how does that work?
Why do you do this as an art? What makes you want to do this?
'Broken Boy Soldiers,' The Raconteurs
because I'm a fan. That was the first time extending myself to a band I didn't know. Beck I met before I was a photographer. He was one of the first people to really encourage me to take it seriously. Beck and I both grew up in L.A. but we didn't meet until '95 or '96.
It's really hard work preparing for something and getting all the parts you need together and the money to do it. It's really hard
Are you planning on working with anyone new soon?
I hope so (laughs).
Long term I document Death Cab, Jenny Lewis. That doesn't mean that I'm on her doorstep every day. But it's someone whose career and art I'm very interested in. When there's something important going on I try to get out there and document it. And Spoon is ongoing. I don't like to talk about it 'till it's out. I don't like to jinx it. What I did just do is the Eels' new record. That record is coming out soon, The Decemberists as well. And I'm working on a couple of books but I don't like to talk about them until they're finished.
It's obvious that you love what you do. What are some of the stresses that go along with doing this?
Do you have anybody in mind?
Paying the rent (laughs). A career as a photographer is always unstable and anyone entering into it should understand that and that's part of what's exciting about it. You're never sure if what you're doing is going to be important. It's kind of exciting.
It's always fun to make a mess and paint; it's not fun to lay out the paints and put them away. You know? It's a lot of work being a photographer and I think over the years I've developed a system to making my job enjoyable whether there's a big budget or a small budget. I feel like once you're committed to something, no matter how hard it is, it needs to be fun for the people involved and professional enough where the chaos is only creative chaos in an exciting way.
keeping everything delivered in high quality on time. I'll tell you my biggest frustration right now is keeping track and overseeing quality. People are so interested in getting things done quickly and multitasking that they're not always double-checking that the scan is the right color of blue. And once it's out on the Internet or printed, it's out there forever. You can't fix it.
Who are some of your favorite artists, musicians, photographers authors, anything right now?
And I shoot film only. I have my film scanned and there are really specific tones and colors and depths that I want. And you know when you're doing multiple jobs it's really hard to make sure that everything that is going out a month later after the shoot, or a week later, or two days later 'cause it's a rush, is going out in the highest quality that it should.
I'm obsessed with Ang Lee because of how distinctive his style is without his style dominating over his work. I think that all of his movies are in such far reaching places that are obviously places he doesn't live. I think what's so amazing about his work, besides it's all so visually stunning, is that his focus is on the relationship and the relationship according to the rules of the time period or the scenario that they're in.And he always does that so well. He's a big inspiration to me. I think the way he steps out of his shoes and into somebody else's is really awe-inspiring.
New artists that I admire are, luckily, most people I photograph. I'm really drawn to artists that draw other great artists around them. That's an exciting artist to be around: someone that's not just the star. They crave to be inspired and they like to point out how inspiring those people are to them. I will bring up a new band that I have recently shot and love is Tiny Masters of Today. They're teenagers, brother and sister, and their record is coming out soon and I love it. They're songwriters and there's something awesome about them.
Ross Stewart
Quite a collection: Photographer Autumn de Wilde has shot photos for 'The New York Times' and many artists' and bands' CD covers.
Contributed photos
March 12,2009
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