1/60th with William Hundley

1/60th is back.

As you might remember 1/60th is our series of short interviews with famous photographers of today. In 2007 & 2008 we were able to interview such leading lights Rankin, Perou, William Coupon, Steven Sebring and many others.

Now, due to reader demand, we've remixed, remodeled and revived the series.

This week, Infinity Extra was lucky enough to get an 1/60th interview with William Hundley - one of the most imaginative, inspirational and inspirational photographers around.

IE: Was there a tipping point in your life that led you into photography? can you share it?
WH: My grandpa gave me a camera when I was younger and I was interested in drawing before that. My focus was painting when I was in college, but I have always shot photographs. I remember in college that a drawing professor asked the class to do a series based on a word. I chose the word urine so I enlisted a friend to shoot photographs of me pissing all over town. I planned on doing some drawings based on the photos, but the photo results were hilarious on their own. The drawing teacher was quite amused and told me to keep going.
I eventually did a collage of some of the images, but it did not come out as clean as just the photo series itself.
IE: Given all the recent furore, it's clear your work influences others but what or who influences you?
WH: I am influenced by so much and definitely too much to go into detail here. But I will say that I go to galleries all the time. I look through art books, magazines, and websites as much as possible. Artists that influence me are Marcel Duchamp, Erwin Wurm, Hans Hemmert, Thorsten Brinkmann, Robin Rhode, Banks Violette, Roger Ballen, Ryan Mcginley, Justine Kurland, David Lachapelle, etc. etc. etc.
IE: When and where was the last exhibition you attended and who was the artist?
WH: I went to a few art fairs in Berlin a few months ago and saw TONS of art.
IE:What's on the soundtrack to your life?
WH: Answer 1: Tool, LCD Soundsystem, Queens of the Stone Age, The Mars Volta, NIN, Massive Attack, Radiohead, Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin, etc. etc. etc.
Answer 2: The sound of waves of water, wind, birds flying overhead.....
IE: When you work with an assistant or a less-experienced colleague, what's the first piece of advice you share?
WH: I tell them that I am actually less experienced then they are and then we laugh.

For more of William's work, please checkout his web portfolio at http://www.williamhundley.com/ and his flickr photostream

All the images included in this article are copyright William Hundley and are included with the author's kind permission