Interview: Tess Mayer

Name: Tess Mayer
Age: 15

Where are you from?:
I currently live in a really, really, small town. But I hope to go to college in a huge city.

Tools of the trade:
As of right now, I only use my Canon XSi. For my self portraits I use a tripod and sometimes a 3ft remote.

Artistic influences:
Countless photographers inspire me. Sally Mann, Tim Walker, Ryan Mcginley, Nirrimi, and Irving Penn, are some of my biggest inspirations. Many people on flickr inspire me, but there's too many to name. My family inspires me. Both of my parents are creative and both have masters in some sort of art degree. I love looking at their paintings. My grandfather was a really great artist too, so was my great uncle. No one in my family has ever been interested in photography though. My little sister is very creative as well, some of my pictures are based on her drawings, she also models in a lot of my photos.
Nature, music, and beautiful things in general inspire me too.

Why do you like photography/art?:
Honestly, I like it because I never get sick of it. Photography is different to me than anything else. I eventually quit or got tired of all of my other hobbies, but I can always take photos.
I also love how in photography, you're capturing an exact moment in time, you can look back at a photo and remember everything about that moment.

Where do you see yourself in the future?:
I want to be a famous photographer. But if that doesn't work out for some reason I would like to be a psychologist.

Where did you learn how to edit and do you have any tips?:
I've never had any photoshop classes, I've just been messing around with photoshop until I find something that looks good. Most of the time I use curves for color photos. Sometimes I use layers, but not usually. As for tips, I would just suggest to mess around with photoshop a ton until you find something that works, and maybe watch a tutorial or two.

Who/what/where are important parts of your photographic process?:
My shoots are pretty spontaneous. Sometimes I'm at a friends house and just quickly take 2-3 pictures. Those tend to actually come out better than the planned photo shoots because they have real emotion. Other times I have a whole idea planned out and I'll take 300 pictures.

Film or Digital?:
I take strictly digital photos. But I desperately want to start shooting film. I love the way film looks. I found a old polaroid camera in my basement, and my mom gave me her old film camera. Now all I need is film. There are one or two film shots in my stream, those were taken with a Fuji Film disposable.

Anything else you'd like to share? (favorite bands/movies ect.):
Favorite music: Bon Iver, Vashti Bunyan, Regina Spektor, Arcade Fire, Frightened Rabbit, Wolf Parade, Ingrid Michaelson, The Cinematic Orchestra, Rosie Thomas, Sigur Ros, Bright Eyes, Vampire Weekend, Azure Ray, The Moldy Peaches, Kimya Dawson, Mumford & Sons.

I deeply love all the Harry Potter books and Movies.

My favorite subject is science.

I like making collages.

I take 6 hours of ballet class a week, not including rehearsals on the weekend.




Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/photography-by-tess/
Tumblr: goldensilence.tumblr.com/