Exclusive Interview with Blake Andrews from In-Public

by Eric Kim on August 9, 2011

For this interview I am pleased to present Blake Andrews, one of the most talented street photographers out there and a member of In-Public. Not only is Blake an incredibly talented street photographer, but he is also a prolific blogger as well.

In this interview I decided to switch things up a bit. First of all, I conducted this interview via Skype, and have provided the video and audio for you above. Beware the interview is extremely long (around 40 minutes) but I thought it was necessary to have a long-form interview with Blake Andrews. If you have the time to watch it at night after work, I highly encourage you to do so. It will help give you some useful insights about Blake Andrews and his methodology behind capturing great street photographs.

For those of you who don’t want to watch all the footage, I have also typed out some notes of the entire interview where you can download here. It also includes information about what books he recommends as well as insightful tips.

Here are some of my favorite images by him:

In-Public Portfolio

Which of his thoughts on street photography really stick out to you, and which of his images are your favorite?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jkmcdonald/ Jason

Eric, I must admit, as a daily viewer of your website I have not been impressed lately with what you have been putting out. Particularly after you stated this was going to be your goal while on your trip in France at the Leica convention. However, with this interview, I must say, I’m glad I didn’t. What a fantastic photographer you were able to interview here. I’m very impressed.
- http://erickimphotography.com/blog Eric Kim
  
  Glad to hear you enjoyed it Jason! Blake is definitely one of the greatest streettogs out there…
Anonymous

Eric you made me laugh when you had him leave the room to go get his cameras! I like his style and that he uses film. 29 out of my 30 cameras use film including my Diana and Holga :) Thanks for sharing the interview.
- http://erickimphotography.com/blog Eric Kim
  
  Anytime–it was a ton of fun to interview him and glad to hear you enjoyed it Kristen!
http://twitter.com/twocutedogs twocutedogs

Nice one. Enjoyed this a lot. Blake comes across as an incredidbly humble guy. Fantastic photographer with a very sharp eye.
- http://erickimphotography.com/blog Eric Kim
  
  Definitely–hope I can do some more of these. Think I should sit down with you one of these days again ;)
  - http://twitter.com/twocutedogs twocutedogs
    
    You’ve done me (that’s what she said). I’d suggest you reach out to Waxy or Ben Roberts. They are both pretty eloquent guys.
Abe

I think I heard you try a that’s what she said joke during the interview. Pretty hilarious.
- http://erickimphotography.com/blog Eric Kim
  
  Haha hope that someone would catch it ;)
Steve Rees

I really like these photos. At first glance, some of them look quite ordinary but then you see more things going on. The interview was good. For some reason he reminds me of William Shatner. I switched from film to digital and keep trying to go back to film but I have lots of cameras with half used rolls. Film cameras are so cheap, I just can’t resist buying them but the thought of processing and scanning or printing puts me off. I like the size of the 35mm compacts and there’s no shutter lag but I hate not being able to see if I got the exposure right. Think I am going to have to forget about film, unless I get rich and can afford to pay for processing and drum scanning.
http://twitter.com/roblarosa Rob LaRosa

Nice video. I like his photos. Many of them make you study them for a few seconds and then you get that “a-ha” moment. I love that. He’s definitely one of my favorite contemporary street photographers.
- http://erickimphotography.com/blog Eric Kim
  
  Definitely Rob ;)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clear01/ clear01

Nice interview Eric. I really like Blake’s work and it was great getting his point of view on photography. I really appreciate his down to earth approach. I know he was reluctant to give advice but the thing he said at the end of the video was very good.
Keep up the good work Eric. If or when you get a chance, check out Gary Gumanow. His work is incredible.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gumanow/
- http://erickimphotography.com/blog Eric Kim
  
  Got it!
Patrick Wouters

Kudos to Eric and Blake : great interview !
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http://the-invisible-cities.com Jerome

You’re asking some interesting questions, like the rural area one and the indecisiveness. Coming back to his comment about Friedlander going out to shoot in unpopulated areas (some name dropping ahead), you might appreciate the work of Raymond Depardon, a relatively unknown photographer.
For candid family photographs, there’s Nicholas Nixon and Larry Towell
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