A studio visit with Gregory Halpern
photographs by Nick Marshall
Where is your studio exactly and how long have you been working there? My studio is a room in my house. I live in a big, old house in Rochester, NY with my wife, Ahndraya Parlato (also a photographer)—one of the things we love about where we live is that it’s affordable for us to live our lives, make our work, and have lots of space. And not just physical space; there’s a kind of mental and creative freedom, at least for me, living here. I love New York City, and I go often, but it’s easier for me to make work here.
What are the pros and cons of your studio? The pro is that it’s easy to be here. Every day I can do at least a little something related to my work. The con is it’s too easy to be distracted by other things in my life and home. There is not much separation between my life and work.
How many hours do you usually spend there per week? It varies, but maybe twenty-five on average.
Do you have your own daily routine within the studio? For example, do you usually start by answering your emails then get to work etc? I don’t really have a routine. It just depends what needs to get done on any given day. Most of my work doesn’t happen in the studio. My creative time is spent mostly out taking pictures or in the darkroom printing. I print analog and I try to put in one long day of printing a week. The studio is mainly a place for me to edit, which means going through contact sheets, cutting them up, hanging workprints, thinking about them, moving them around into various clusters, groups or sequences. I tend to think in terms of making books, so there’s no rush, usually. Which is good for me. The longer I have a picture around, the easier it is to see it clearly, to know if it was successful or not. The studio is a good place for that. If I don’t want to look at a picture, or I get sick of looking at it, I put it away in a box. If a picture has been up for a while and hasn’t been put into a box, it’s more likely to be a picture I’ll keep and use for something someday.
Are there things you deliberately forbid yourself to do/have within the studio in order to be more productive? No. But I should. Sometimes I use a program called Freedom (aptly titled). It shuts down the internet on your computer for as long as you want. It’s amazing how much more I can get done.
Do you sometimes wish you had your own studio? What are the pros and cons of sharing your workspace with someone else? I really like having my own space.
What is your favorite track to edit photos to?
for more of Gregory’s work, please visit www.gregoryhalpern.com
