a/v: Give us a little background: where were you born? Where have you lived?

harbicht: I was born in Pasadena, CA and grew up in Monrovia, about 5 miles east of Pasadena.  I've really only had permanent residence in 3 places, Monrovia, Santa Barbara (while I attended school) and now Los Angeles where I've lived for over 2 years now.  As far as living, many of my favorite experiences have been away from home on the road.  The road has always feels like my second home.  From the time I was a kid when I would spend the entire day riding my bike on my summer vacations or now when I travel to Cuba or Chile, those times are my second home.  The place where I find a space for my head for the evening is a second home.


Why are you a photographer?

Growing up I was always fascinated by images, movies and photographs.  I wanted to know how things were made and spent a good portion of time dismantling and dissecting old electronics and telephones that my parents were tossing out.  One day they gave me a camera to take apart.  It turns out that the camera only needed a fresh battery and some tape to hold the film back closed.  I started shooting with it.  Growing up in the LA suburbs as a shy kid who liked to take things apart, it was tough to break the ice.  I found that I could do that with my camera.  It was almost like a security blanket that made my introduction for me.  After finally accepting that I had this drive for photography, I educated myself with books, night classes, and eventually got my BA in advertising photography at Brooks Institute of Photography.

I read that Garcia Lorca would listen to Flamenco music before he wrote, that
the music evoked a certain mood in him that he found beneficial to the act of
writing.  A friend told me that Tom Robbins looks at pornography for similar
reasons.  What's your muse?  Where do you get your inspiration?

There are so many things that inspire me to shoot that I could never pick just one.  One of my favorite things to do is just get lost.  There is the idea that life is happening all around us, whether we are there or not.  Experiencing something completely new for the first time seems to add a bit of magic to the encounter.  Think about the first time you saw the Hollywood sign in person.  There is a picture in your head from what other images had told you it looks like, but seeing it for yourself adds a new reality to it.  There is also the connection with the subject.  Making a portrait is a great way to learn about people. There is this intimate moment between you and the subject through that lens.  You are using your craft to project onto others how you view or interpret someone.  Sometimes it's molding them into how you want to see them while other times you are truly capturing who they are.  That moment through the lens is a driving force in my work, I live for that moment.  Sometimes its easier than others to get that connection, especially if it's a commercial job and there are 10 – 30 people looking over your shoulder, but it's an enjoyable challenge.

On the flip side there is the other creation to the image that takes place in the darkroom or more recently the computer.  That's much more of a solo effort.  I have a small one man darkroom at the studio and usually steal my girlfriends iPod to provide the background noise for my printing efforts. Sometimes its Classical, The Who, Dave Matthews, Miles Davis, Lou Reed, or more recently books on tape.  I'm working on a Harry Potter book and will be hitting the Da Vinci Code next.


In the past, critics have talked about a binary involving work referred to as
“fine art” and work defined loosely as “popular” art.  Do you have any
thoughts on that?

Pop art to me seems to be more of a fad or style of a particular genre.  Not that that is necessarily a bad thing.  Now Pop art is moving into a historical realm of capturing the moment or feeling of the time period.  Looking back on the 80's and Andy Warhol or Jeffery Koons, there is a particular genre of style that is native to that moment in time.  Not to say that this work cannot be considered “fine art.”  Looking at the work that came out of the renaissance or the early impressionist painters, they too could be considered the “pop” artists of their time.  Fine art in one persons mind may be garbage in another's eyes.  I think the definition is in the mind of the viewer, where it belongs.

I guess what I was angling for with the ol' “fine-art” / “pop art” binary is something along the lines of quality.  So, is there such a thing as quality in art?  Is there a difference between Ed Ruscha and Thomas Kincaid?

I think you can look at quality in art, maybe it's more of a value question.  What is more valuable: a Thomas Kincaid original painting?  Or a print purchased at at Thomas Kincaid gallery, which is in essence a photograph of a painting with paint added to it so it looks real?  You can say that the later is less valuable because it is mass produced and easy to replicate.  I think it goes back to that art's value or quality is in the eyes of the beholder. If you like the final product, it shouldn't matter what process it went through it to make it. Now, it's crucial that people are realistic with what they have.  In short, if you are going to buy art, know what you are buying first.

So, you wouldn't ever say that a particular work of art sucks?

Why I wouldn't say that art sucks....  The definition of what is great or what sucks is in the mind of the viewer.  While I may dislike, despise, and think that a piece of art is pure garbage, there always is going to be someone out there who loves it with equal vigor.  I love to discuss good versus bad art and have intense conversations with someone of an opposing viewpoint, but the art is something that can never be truly defined.  The very purpose of art is to be objective and open to what you are being presented with.  The important thing isn't a positive or negative reaction.  The fact that a reaction of any kind occurs is what is important.

Your website organizes your work in two ways, “identity” and “encounter.” The
work displayed under the heading “identity” strikes me as analogous to
portrait photography; the work under the label “encounter” is more difficult
to classify, but contains urban and rural landscape imagery.  Is the
distinction between “identity” and “encounter” important to you as the creator
of the work or is it primarily for your collectors?  

It's not so important to me that people distinguish between my work, or split it up into categories, I've just done that on the site to make for easier viewing.  I chose those titles: “identity” and “encounter” to give a bit more of my own personality to the sections.  It does have a bit more individuality than saying: “people” and “stuff”  


I notice a stylistic similarity in both categories.  For example, the portrait
of the man naked except for a cardboard box around his mid-section evokes a
similar comical mood for me as your image of the Easter Island-type figures. When you go about producing your work, do you have a fixed idea about what
you're trying to accomplish?  Or are you trying to stir up a certain mood?

Sometimes—as that mood is there; and that mood could be the actual mood of the subject matter or an idea that I am attempting to fabricate.  Often times, the idea is different from the person, but you work it to get the desired effect.  Other times, I find the mood or wait for it.  When shooting scenics or landscapes, I have an idea of the shot; but sometimes you have to wait for the elements, a cloud or streaks of light.  Other times its chance and you see what you'll get.  I love to photograph at night.  When I'm camping the desert I'll place my camera outside my tent and take 3 – 5 hour long exposures.  You can have an idea of how it will turn out, but it's still a gamble or experiment. Then you work the experiment to get what you want.

Let's talk about your craft.  What kinds of cameras do you use?  What
processes do you use to develop your photographs?

I own a variety of camera equipment and I use them all for different reasons.  A camera is just a tool to make an image.  The more tools I have in my toolbox, the more variety I have with my imagery.  For some subjects, I love to shoot with the Holga because of the way that camera's optical effects add to the overall mood of the picture.  Some subjects may look better razor-sharp; others look better grainy; others need some blur; maybe an image will seem more appropriate shot with Polaroid and then contact printed.  There are so many tools out there, that a lot of the work is just finding the right combination to produce the image that you want.  There are a number of factors that you can manipulate an image to enhance its mood.  A friend of mine once said that he liked the idea that he can take any tool and use it to make a neat picture.  I love that concept.  Overall, photographers are image-makers; we use our  tools to capture a moment that we see or create; the process used to manufacture an image isn't important.  What's important is that the image-maker is please with the finished product, no matter what tools are used to create it.  With photography, people can become so caught up in the type of process used to make an image, that they can miss the beauty of the image altogether.

My first group show in LA was called “solo con holga”; it was a collection of photographs strictly made with the Holga camera.  While it was nice to see so many people embracing a tool that I love to use, I was a bit disappointed with the imagery.  The picture was the important part of the show and it was being overshadowed by the process.
To me photography is a two step process, there is the work that happens while you shoot and the  work that goes on after the shutter has clicked.  What you do to the image in the darkroom can add and enhance your final product.  Ansel Adams used to say that photography is like composing music, the negative is the score and the print is the performance.  It's how you produce that finished product that makes your picture yours.


Do you work in other art forms?  Do you do any music, drawing,
painting, sculpture, mixed-media, etc.?

I've dabbled in writing and sketching.  To me that's a way to unwind and get the new ideas going.  I usually carry a pocket-sized notebook of drawing paper with me and sketch out an idea or theme when it comes to mind.  Sometimes that‘s the best way to get ideas, just let the mind run free.   I've never considered working in any other medium though.  I think art motivates us all and I love experiencing all types of art.  During the summers I try to hit the Hollywood Bowl as much as possible, not for just the great music, but the experience.  The outside stadium seats and the warm Hollywood night picnics all make the experience, otherwise I'd just be listening to a cd.

Do you have a favorite gallery or museum in Los Angeles?

I do love to visit the Getty just for being the Getty.  There is too much to experience there in one day so I usually hit whatever photo exhibition they have going on then head upstairs to the impressionists.  After that I just enjoy the centre as it's a work of art in itself.  One place that isn't a gallery but I love the culture is my neighborhood, Silverlake.  One of the things that I love th most about LA is how it's broken up into little neighborhoods and how each of those has their own personality.  On weekend we can walk down to Sunset Junction and just people watch or head over to Rosemary's Billygoat on Sunset and see what kind of mixed media, death metal interactive artwork is on the walls. There are so many little bits of culture in the stores and people in that area.


If you could sit down and have a drink with any artist, past or present, who
would you choose?  Oh, and what would you drink?

I've had the pleasure of meeting and even dining with a few of my idols in the past. Sometimes it's inspiring, sometimes it's a bit of a downer.  You get a picture in your head of what someone is like and sometimes they live up to your expectations and sometimes they don't.  Nevertheless I would love to sit down with Mapplethorpe.  I think his images were misunderstood by many.  There always was this homosexual undertone to his pictures, but the concept and simplicity of varying subject matter is always strikingly similar.   It's that similarity in composition that has meant so much to me in my own work.

I would have a Stoli martini, dry, with three large blue cheese stuffed olives.  Very cold vodka.

What is your idea of absolute happiness?     

Inner peace.  There is a moment when you are at complete peace with yourself.  There are experiences that occur everyday, but those that occur once and last a lifetime. You're not always aware when it's happening, but when it does, there is something truly magical.