Artist Series 016 | Nate Riedel
A Conversation with Nate Riedel
MS: Tell us a bit about where you’re from, where you’ve been, and how you began working in film / photography?
NR: I was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI and went to college in Chicago. In college I started working on commercial sets and low budget indie films. That is where my love for making images began. I have been working as a cinematographer for 15 years, but my love for film photography is a relatively new discovery. I really enjoy learning new things, so entering the still photography world has been thrilling.
MS: Your installation revolves around your recent photo book release, “every image a prayer”. I spent the week with it and man, what a wonderful brain scrub. I felt like I took the trip with you. Your introduction in the book sums up the work quite beautifully, but could you maybe expand upon what sparked you to begin this project? Did you plan your pilgrimage with the work in mind or was the work something that came into fruition throughout / after the fact?
NR: Thank you so much. I had been playing with concept of "every image a prayer” in my head for awhile, but I didn’t know what form it should take. I wanted the action of taking a photograph to be a meditation or prayer for me and I hoped the result - the photograph - could become an meditation or prayer for an audience.
The pilgrimage became a way of creating a space to capture that idea. Finding space where I could breathe and slow down. For me that looks like spending time in nature, with people I love, or in a place that inspires learning or wonder. The meandering pilgrimage of an Americana road trip checked those boxes.
MS: How do you balance being present and capturing a moment? Were there moments looking back on your trip that you heavily regret not capturing?
NR: Yeah that is a difficult thing to balance. My priority was slowing down and being present, so inherently there were moments that I missed capturing, but because I was present it feels like I didn’t miss anything. It then opened up opportunities for me to paint a picture with a words and hopefully the readers can participate in the image making in a different way.
There are countless photos I missed, but one in particular still bothers me. In the book there is a photo of a Harley Davidson outside of an old brick building in rural Wisconsin. It’s an early summer morning and main street is quiet and empty. There was a man leaning on his Harley in a white tank top, smoking a cigarette. What an image! I wanted to take his portrait, but didn’t have my camera with me. I ran to my car to grab it, but when I returned he was nowhere to be seen. I took a photo of the moment that I missed.
MS: You shot all these with a Hasselblad 500CM medium format film camera. For those whom aren’t familiar with the camera, could you explain why you chose to use it for this project?
NR: I chose to shoot on that camera because it requires me to slow down. The image is reversed when using the waist level viewfinder, so it takes a bit of getting used to having a new “right” and “left.” It is also medium format where I only get 12 shots per roll which ends up being pretty expensive compared to 35mm, so I need to make each shot count.
I also chose this camera because it just feels good in my hands. It's analog, tactile, and the feeling of the shutter snapping and manually winding to the next frame has weight to it.
MS: In previous discussions we’ve chatted on cinema and some of your influences. Can you talk a bit about your love for film and how it seeps into your photography?
NR: My favorite filmmakers are the ones who explore the existential and transcendental. They ask the big questions of existence and also try to touch something beyond. The best films can make you feel those questions rather than merely talk about them. I want to spend my life attempting to capture that.
MS: Now more than ever I feel we are all trying our best to be present with one another to be conscious of the nitty gritty going on near and afar. Do you think art has a duty to “say something” in the midst of times like ours?
NR: Big question, I like it. Nina Simone felt it was an artist’s duty to reflect the times, which could include important social statements. Brian Eno believes art engagement begins where functional engagement ends, which could be as simple as a pink-handled screwdriver.
I think I fall somewhere in between. If there is a duty, I think it’s to create something that has an honest point of view. That in itself says something, whether it is simple and quiet or complex and loud.
MS: Towards the end of your work you write “cynicism is easy. hope with humility is hard”. This line hit. Could you expand on it a bit?
NR: For me cynicism comes pretty easy, it can be my natural state. But I think it’s a bit arrogant to think that I know how bad things will be.
Blind optimism that everything will be great or that I can change the world also seems just as arrogant.
I think having humility to admit that I don’t know everything and having hope that things can get better - that allows for more curiosity. And it gives me room to participate in making things a tiny bit better. That requires work and that work is hard.
MS: Do you feel any connection with how you consume coffee and how you consume / experience art?
NR: I don’t approach art as a ritual like I do my daily coffee, but I do end up participating in both every day. When I consume something so often, it can sometimes slip into a mere routine, where coffee becomes a vehicle for caffeine and music or films can become mindless entertainment. And honestly there are days when that is how I need to consume coffee and art. But I find it much more satisfying when I am mindful of what I smell, taste, see, touch, and listen to. Awareness of those senses and feelings allows me to enjoy.
MS: What do you hope people take away from the installation?
NR: I hope people can laugh at the stories and find rest with the pictures.
And maybe flip through the shop's copy of the book.
Opening reception of "every image a prayer" Sunday March 1st, 11am-2pm at 2911 El Cajon Blvd.
Order the collaborative coffee here.