V : Harland, thank you for agreeing to this interview ! I have been eager to talk to you about your work.  

H : Thank you ! I am happy to be here.  

V : So tell me, what camera do you use ?  

H : I use two. The LUMIX S5 and NIKONOS IV-A; which is a waterproof camera.    

V : What got you into photography ?  

H : My Grand-Dad. I mean he didn’t like to be called Grand-Dad. He was very keen on photography, and when he passed I got his old cameras. I also got a few philosophy and history books from him, about West Virginia, where I am from.  

V : That’s amazing. So, when you take pictures, do you play around with lenses and filters ?  

H : No. Well, I mean kind of. I recently have been playing around with hair spray on lenses. I watched this film, Days of Heaven, and I really loved how the sun looked in it. I did a lot of research, and found out that the effect is achieved with something called ‘Mist Filters’. There are black or white ones; they give off a fog-like effect. It’s not that expensive to do and the results are great !  

V : So did you buy this filter, or did you do it yourself?  

H : I made it ! You need a blank filter, which is clear glass that costs about three pounds. Then you have to buy some hair spray and spray over the filter. Ultimately, I ended up spending as much money as if I had just bought the Mist Filter; which costs twenty pounds.  

V : I guess the process made it special ?  

H : No it was quite boring, although I was excited to make something. I blame my excitement on the hair spray fumes.  

V : So, do you like experimental photography? As in, do you follow specific artistic direction or do you like to follow more classical norms of photography?  

H : I experiment with photography when I get bored, but it’s never my go-to mechanism. I did it quite a lot on my year abroad. That is when I really got into photography in general. Before that, I was really just an occasional holiday photographer.  

V : So, in general; what would be a photography oriented day in your life like? Do you walk around with your camera and wait for something to resonate with you, or do you have specific things you want to capture?  

H : I really enjoy walking. It’s something I do a lot. I really love architecture, especially Brutalism. So whenever I go out with my camera, it is often under the pretence of looking at buildings. I do quite a lot of walking tours of brutalist buildings in London. For example, I really enjoy the National Theatre. It has such an interesting back story. During its construction, it was intended to have a more egalitarian design, so many playwrights and actors were involved in the process. This delayed the construction because no one agreed on anything. They spent the whole time arguing.