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INFO: William Rugen.46.Seattle, WA.
http://flickr.com/williamrugen
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The Photo Coterie: You told us you did “something else for over 20 years and decided it was time to make a stab at doing what I really wanted.” What did you do before being a photographer and how did you get into photography?
William Rugen: I was a fisheries biologist for the federal government. I wrote research papers, developed databases and searchable online database sites, but after working in the same place and seeing the same people for 20 years and I was ready to not be there. Photography was something that I had always loved, and for quite a while in the 90s actively pursued nature work in my spare time. However, eventually I became bored with the sameness of the genre. Lots of folks shooting the same locations, too many sunsets, too many golden hours, etc. So I decided to take a break and put my camera down for what became close to 10 years. I don’t think I even took a snapshot during that time.
When I realized I was done with my career, which at that point had become just a job, I knew I wanted to make a go of it in photography. Just not nature work. I felt a bit too old to spend several years at art school so I took the summer and went to the Rocky Mountain School of Photography Summer Intensive program in Missoula, MT. It is a great program with great instructors which covers so much ground, from the most basic things for true beginners to working with strobe packs, how to start a new business, and how to market yourself. It was the best summer of my life and really gave me the skills and confidence to go forward. I now work as a freelance photo assistant and photographer. Though the work is not as steady as I might like, I have not regretted leaving my old job for even one second.
TPC: The work you submitted appears to show a very western culture, are they part of a series?
WR: It is part of a project I am currently calling “Western Dioramas”. The past two years I have loaded my cameras in the car and hit the road for 3-4 weeks. I try to stay off the interstate, I don’t eat at chain restaurants or stay in chain motels. I love all the space the west still has to offer and the idea that still seems to prevail that the west is where you go for a fresh start. However when you get there, you see a lot of folks who had the same ideas and failed. It is in the struggling small towns, the boarded up businesses, the windblown garbage, all the abandoned cars and trailers. Yet all that space just seems to gobble up the failures and create a fresh palette for each person.
TPC: What has taken you to so many far away places such as Barcelona and Tokyo?
WR: Just wanting to see new places and eat new things. I have always had the travel bug but my wife was a bit hesitant. Then a couple years ago when we had a series of friends and acquaintances die rather suddenly and unexpectedly. We had a talk and decided to stop putting things off until later because you never know if there will be a later. The next day my wife booked us tickets to Tokyo. We had a great time and now my wife has been bitten by the travel bug. We are looking at Ireland this year.
TPC: Elaborate on your quote “It is both an amazing (and scary) to be a photographer these days?”
WR: Well the scary part is that it is getting harder to make a living as a commercial or editorial photographer. The combination of digital cameras and the web have made it easy for folks to pick up a camera and get good fast. It also gives very wide access to a lot of venues that it used to take a lot of time and energy to research and find. Then add in the idea that there are a lot of folks who are just happy to see their work used without being concerned about getting fair pay and very quickly this adds up to prices dropping or pay going away all together.
The funny thing is that these same things play into the exciting part. I love looking at photography and now I don’t have to go into bookstores and just be happy with their limited selection, I can find so much new work on the web, work I never ever would have seen. I think online curators are fantastic and it is interesting how quickly they have become influential. Sites like Photo Coterie give people both the outlet to see new work and show new work. I can see interviews with established and new photographers everyday. Advice from gallery owners and editors and art directors are easy to find. This stuff is amazing and energizing. Lastly is the easy access you have to galleries and juried shows. There is no way in the past I would have know about so many shows and had the opportunity to enter. Online submissions might just be my favorite thing ever.
TPC: Is there anything going on in your life right now that you want to talk about?
WR: Yes, I was lucky enough to be selected for the Foley Summer Show Project at the Foley Gallery in New York next June (http://www.thesummershowproject.com/). There was an online submission (Hooray for online submissions!) of three images, they were judged by a fairly impressive panel of curators (including one of my favorite photographers, Thomas Allen). Each entry was scored by each juror and the 13 highest cumulative scored entries were selected for the show. The part that is different than most shows is that instead of using our submitted images, the curators and gallery owner will decide on a theme and we will create new work based on the theme. Over the course of the spring we consult with the gallery owner, Michael Foley, about the work we are doing and get feedback, all culminating in having two pieces shown at Foley gallery. There is just no way I would have had this chance in the past and I am so excited and grateful to have been included.
