Ansel Adams noted that “photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.” One such photographer driving this notion is Zach Wolfe. Quietly going about his business and producing some of the best Hip Hop documentation since Joe Conzo, Wolfe’s work is timeless, something to be treasured and truly admired.
In June I contacted Zach, and over the course of several emails throughout July he kindly answered my questions below.
I wanted to know a little bit more about Zach before he found the camera. You’re from Iowa right?
I am from a small town in Iowa (Mount Vernon, POP 3500) my town has a funny ass nickname “One Hill of a Town” cause my hometown is literally a small hill in the middle of a gigantic cornfield. Yeah I grew up surrounded by corn, that movie by Steven King about children of the corn never scared me, I lived it, haha. As you could expect from a small Midwest town, people are conservative. I was like most kids growing up; following what everyone else did playing sports and doing my best in school. If you didn’t play football or wrestle you were definitely considered an outcast. I didn’t know it but once I turned 16 I became one of those outcasts and thank god! I got caught stealing a bunch of shit, cause I was bored and almost went to a juvenile detention center. Thankfully I only got kicked off all the sports teams. That left me with some free time to say the least. I had to fill some classes so I took a photography class cause I thought it would be an easy credit. My high-school photography teacher was Donna Swenson (RIP) and she changed my life forever. In my town she would be considered ultra liberal. She persuaded me to do some off the wall photos of my other outcast friends. She gave me a Pentax K-1000 and a roll of film. I shot my buddies that day after school and I was instantly hooked. My parents, who are also considered highly liberal in Iowa terms, bought me a darkroom to help keep me moving in the photo direction. It was def a good move Mom and Dad. I spent every single free moment I had taking and printing photos. Donna and my family went on to helping me build a portfolio that would lead to me getting the fuck out of Iowa and enrolling in the photo program at the Colorado institute of art in Denver, Colorado. Thank You!
Atlanta is an incredibly special city, I have a lot of time for the place and it’s people, what drew you to the city in the first place?
I was drawn to Atlanta for one reason: Outkast! After I graduated the institute of art I moved to Hollywood, after being persuaded by my teachers. I interned at Smashbox studios for 6 months. Besides my internship I hated LA. I like it now but it was a bit much for a small town Iowa boy at the time. I moved back to Denver and Hated it, lol. I was stuck for 2 years in Denver trying to figure out what I was gonna do with my life. One day I was really trying to figure out what I wanted in my life. Outkast motivated me so much in my life at the time that I realized I had to move to Atlanta. And like I got in my piece of shit Toyota camera and drove to the A-Town. I remember clear as yesterday the first time I drove into downtown Atlanta on 75/85 bumping ‘Southernplayalistik’, I got goosebumps. I had never been somewhere that was telling me this is where you need to be. It felt right.
Atlanta’s metropolitan area is changing rapidly, are you interested in Documentary Photography and if so, how much have you captured of the city, and how much has it changed since you’ve been there?
To say Atlanta is changing rapidly would be a huge understatement. I drive down blocks all the time now and don’t recognize a thing. They are building more tacky condos here than they know what to do with. It’s horrible. I have been documenting Atlanta from day one. I met Lil Jon in 2000 and he had an office located in a half-burned down house in the Clark Atlanta area. I was immediately drawn to roam these poor neighborhoods and snap flicks. Someday I will get them all together and make it a section on my site. I am sad I missed out on shooting more of the public housing buildings that are all but gone now. All of the hip-hop you love out of Atlanta was born out of these complexes, and if I am not mistaken there may be one or two left? Its sad, cause one day the city of Atlanta just blew them all up, in the blink of an eye. That has sky rocketed crime in Atlanta because people have no where to go, its so fucked up. We just shot a video yesterday with Pill. This video is gonna blow the heads off some people, think national geographic meets the hood. If anyone has a problem with the video I say get your ass down here and do something about it. Atlanta has completely taken a shit on the poor here… I always say there are neighborhoods here that are third world. Stop adopting babies from Africa Madonna and come scoop up some kids here in the A-Town, for real.
Photographing the recent XXL cover with Shawty Lo, Gucci and OJ must have been quite an experience, all three are such characters. XXL covers often instigate discussion online about a change in Hip Hop, will that cover be as instrumental as “That XXL cover” of B.o.B, Asher Roth, Curren$y etc…?
I am glad you asked this question, cause there is a lot to say about this cover. Day of the shoot no one knew out of the 4 artists who would actually make it. My stress level was at an all time high. Soulja Boy was flying from LA and his flight was delayed. Gucci Mane and OJ were shooting a video for ‘She Got A Friend’ so they had to leave at a set time. We had to get to the location real early to be prepared for anything. About thirty minutes before we were expecting artists to show up we hear the growl of a car coming towards us. It was a yellow lambo, they rolled right up to us and the window rolled down and it was Gucci and OJ. They were laughing their asses off cause they could tell the look of surprise in my face. They showed up early and together, damn it was looking good. Gucci Mane is the shit, has a great attitude and is a funny guy. Haters back off; this dude is the real deal. Shawty Lo showed up on time. I took advantage of having all three them and shot a few frames of them together than solos. At around 12:30pm Soulja Boy showed up. He wanted to go home and shower, I stuck my assistant Sumner on him, to make sure he didn’t do that. Gucci’s manager was taking him to the video at one. I told Sumner he is going to have to do anything possible to keep him on set. Once he got on set it turned into the worlds fastest photoshoots. I did 2 covers and 2 2-page spread options in 23 minutes…. yeah it was like that. I really wished I had more time but I felt like we knocked it out regardless. There was a ton of hate on this cover, which lends itself to your question: Did it matter like other covers, I would say no question. I know that issue was nowhere to be found in Atlanta, cause I got sent one issue and tried to by more to no avail. With TI in jail and Jeezy between albums the 4 are the best at it right now in the South period! I feel really grateful to be a part of that.
How have you found the transition form still photography to videographer? Or have you always been shooting video?
I started shooting video 2 years ago. Only in the last 6 months has it really come together. When I bought the Canon 5d mark 11 I really started to attack the filming side of things. It took me 2 years to really understand movement; once it hit me it was game over. I had the same exact feeling I had with my first roll of film. I haven’t stopped shooting in 09′ we have done approx 21 mini vids in the last 5 months. And have about 3 more ready to come out. It has been an amazing diversion form only shooting stills. And now I think shooting both is helping both. I have a new style developing from the combo, and it is in its infant stages, stay tuned…
I really like the simplicity and clean edits you and the team do, you make even a studio video captivating, what is it about black and white that you like filming in?
Credit all of the editing to Sumner Demoura, my do everything guy over here at my Studio. He was trained editing in imovie by my buddy Derek from http://www.urbanmedium.com. Derek used to be my editor/collaborator. Check our old videos at http://www.heavyammunition.com the first set of movies we shot was all edited in imovie. One day I told Sumner he had two weeks to learn final cut, and he did. And now he is killing it. We def try to keep the videos very simple and not gimicky in anyway. We also like to think they are a moving version of my photos. Another very important thing when we shoot videos is to be a fly on the wall mentality, which in turn may be less exciting than other videos out, but I think it is a portal into an artist’s world in a very personal way. We love how we film and don’t plan to change the technique, just evolve it!
Seattle Street Music from zachwolfe.com/live on Vimeo.
Your footage from your recent trip to Seattle is particularly inspiring, can you tell us a little more about the two individuals featured and what plans you have for them, if any?
Thank you so much for asking about this clip, it is one of my favorite things I have done in a hot minute. I was in Seattle shooting for an artist named $wag. After our shoot wrapped I went to the bar under my hotel for some drinks. I was by myself so I decided to go sit outside on the patio and just take in the city. The guy who plays the drum walked past me playing the song on the video. I remember thinking I wish he would come back cause I might ask to film him. He eventually made it back and I asked if he would play me that song he was playing earlier, he went on to play for ten minutes straight and I was blown away. I asked if he would have any interest in me filming him? He said many people have claimed they were gonna video him and never do, I said “im not one of those guys, hold on ill be right back” snatched my cam and walked him to the side of the bar. I rolled the cam and he played for another ten minutes. The guys voice is really amazing. The beat poet guy ran up on us while I was filming and started spitting raps. I seriously thought I was gonna have a heart attack, haha. I couldn’t film, I just listened. I asked him as well if I could film him. He asked for money, I said “does $40 work?” he freaked out and led me to an ATM and hat is what you see in the beginning of the movie, him rapping on the way to the ATM. I wish I knew their names but I did a real bad job of getting their info. I know the people at the Ace Hotel are aware of who they are. The thought did cross my mind to go back and do some more filming, in a Buena Vista Social Club kinda way. I am def interested in telling stories, hip-hop or not…
The video project that you’re working on with Big Boi, for me is just incredible, as a young kid growing up in England, Outkast were one of the first rap acts that really drew me in, the wordplay, imagery, the psychedelia feel. To get this very intimate experience through your videos is a pleasure as a fan. How did that come about? What is it like to spend time with Big for you?
We have something in common which is we are drawn to Big Boi. While photo assisting other photographers when I first moved to Altanta I was on a good 10 shoots with Big Boi. In 2005 I shot Outkast for i.D magazine for a story about the Dirty South. He remembered me from the other shoots and everything has come together from there. My good friend Dax (http://www.snortthis.com) has been an amazing segway between Big and I. I have to credit time and Dax for helping enable me to get intimate video sessions with big. Big Boi is a very private man, and if you are in Stankonia studios you should feel lucky as no randoms roll up there, I can promise you that. We got called late night a couple months back to come and shoot him with Gucci Mane. Gucci had just got out of jail, that session was not my best video work, cause I had to be really confined to a small area but was great for me to be there at that moment. Gucci remembered me from that video shoot on the XXL shoot. Which is what seems to be happening now, I’m connecting with everyone through the sheer years of grinding. Which leads to artists co-signing me and being comfortable in front of my cam. Sometimes I have to pinch myself cause my dreams are real now and I have to remind myself that everyday.
You’ve taken up teaching, how do you like that? What’s the most rewarding element of showing kids the finer details of photography, and what inspired that move into academia?
Teaching is cool. My students claim I am the craziest they have ever had, which I take as a compliment. I came from the film era so I may always have a bit of hate towards the digital era of students. It’s not even comparable in a school atmosphere. Shooting film every mistake costs money, not digital. So these kids got their asses kicked like they should and they are all better for it. The best thing about teaching is to see where they started from to where you take them. Every one of my students improved dramatically after my class. I taught lighting on location, and none of these kids had really done that, now their coming after me, good luck, jokes… My buddy Josh Meister convinced that school I would be a good teacher, without his good word I would not be teaching, thanks man! Check out http://www.portfoliocenter.com
To bring this to a close, any desire to come to London and photograph our scene? And what do you have planned for the near future?
Book me a ticket and I’m out! I have been to London a couple of times and have a very big interest in documenting the city. I shot London’s version of the X-games like three years ago and had some fun to say the least. I did a ton of shots of all the b-boys and b-girls. Had a fucking blast doing that. I would use some of those photos but the shots have a ton of sprite logos behind them, and I don’t really roll like that. I did a job with Hattie Collins for i-D in Atlanta and we have tried to coordinate a London version ever since. Man lets make that happen, I’m bored of the states right now. My plans for the near future would involve shooting more personal/documentary photos and try and take over this music video game, I’m coming for Rik Cordero and Hype Williams, they in trouble cause I won’t quit till I am the best!
See you in London soon…
a massive thank you goes out to Zach for taking the time and interest in the interview, make sure you go and check out more of Zach’s work over at www.zachwolfe.com
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 at 9:45 pm and is filed under Interview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Great interview!