Interview with Rolfe Horn

#1 Please introduce yourself

My name is Rolfe Horn, I grew up in the San Francisco  bay area and currently reside in Oakland, CA.

#2 How did you get interested in photography?

When I was 7 years old, I bought a Beacon II 127 format camera.  I thought it was the coolest thing because the lens would have to pop out to take photos, as well as it had a self winding shutter which would allow for multiple exposures.  At that age, I couldn’t afford the hobby very long, and put it down until I was 15.  That was when I saved enough money to buy an Olympus OM-2 with a motor drive, as I wanted to capture friend performing acrobatic skateboarding moves.  Within three months of buying that camera, I had cobbled together a working darkroom in a corner of my fathers workshop and that is when I truly discover the wonders of photography and the magic of the darkroom.  I was also drawn to the landscape, as it was nice to see the scenery and try and capture what I was witnessing.

#3 Do you have an artistic/photographic background?

I have a photographic background.  While I was enrolled in many art classes early in life, I was always drawn to photography and concentrated on that.  I attended Brooks Institute of Photography, in the pursuit of a studio still life type of career as I was drawn into how light could shape objects.  The landscape won out in the end.

#4 Which artist/photographer inspired your art?

I’d say Ansel Adams and the West Coast photographers in the early days as well as many of the Japanese woodblock artists.  In the late 90’s, I was given a book of Michael Kenna’s work and it really opened my eyes, as much of the photos I made in my teenage years were in a similar vein (at night, foggy scenes etc.).  I went on to assist Michael for a couple years which was really wonderful.

#5 How much preparation do you put into taking a photograph? Are you planning every step or is it always spontaneous?

There’s a certain amount of planning, in terms of where I want to go and places to visit.  But the end result is always spontaneous.  I think the best work comes from seeing something which wasn’t planned on and results in a magnificent image.  A lot of driving around or hiking is required, but that is what makes it so fun and interesting.

#6 What fascinates you in places that you shoot?

Of course the land, the people and culture (if I’m in a foreign country).  I love it when I find this wonderful scene and later on in the evening I strike up a conversation with locals over yakitori and describe a scene to them, and they can’t understand what makes it so beautiful, just another tree on a rock as they see it.

#7 We can see your photographs only in black and white, why have you chosen to present them in this form?

My father convinced me to start out with black and white, and of course having a black and white darkroom dissuaded me from exploring color.  I like the vagueness of the medium, what may look like a foggy day illuminated by the sun is actually a nocturnal scene lit by sodium vapor lamps!  Black and white allows me to study to tonal variances of a given image an decide on how to print it for the feeling I would like to achieve.  This wouldn’t work so well with color, I don’t think.