The Many Colors of Joshua Yospyn 

Article and Interview by Betsy Spruill Clarke.  Photography by Joshua Yospyn...NATCH!

What do flying tortoises, crushed food and fashion have in common?  Well, besides being the key elements of an insanely mad, yet couture-savvy chef's dream, they are also the lucky subjects of Joshua Yospyn's photography.  His signature recipe--vivid color and straight-forward angles, mixed with a dash of occasional conceptual cropping--pops with drama while complimenting the viewer's imagination. 

Currently exhibiting with John Ulaszek, Meahgan Gay and Steven Goldenberg in "Flaunt: Photography & Fashion Collaboration" at Anacostia's Honfleur Gallery, Josh is also a virtual resident of Heather Goss's Ten Miles Square.  And, if you regularly read the Washington Post, you can also see his photojournalist side.  

Very open to discussion on his photography experience, Josh is also laid back, yet, quick with the wit.  Through the following interview, as he shares his thoughts on exhibiting in Anacostia, color and concept, and flying tortoises, we get to see the multi-faceted side of Josh that is, much like his art, very prismatic...

DCSL:  How did the idea for FLAUNT come about?
JY:  I think a trifecta formed between Ten Miles Square, Honfleur Gallery, and Project Beltway.  Months ago they probably banged heads and came up with an idea to showcase locally made portraiture and fashion.  FLAUNT aside, I met Amy Cavanaugh with the Honfleur Gallery during FotoWeek last year and she sold me on Anacostia.  That part of town doesn't get enough attention from the D.C. arts community.  It houses fewer galleries than 14th Street, but they make up for it with temporary exhibitions and art fairs inside vacant buildings.

DCSL:  The use of color in your work is outstanding and the creative "subtraction" or cropping out of certain aspects of your images is absolutely interesting as it all seems to work together.  Can you shed some light on how you develop your concepts?
JY:  Thank you!  What's a concept?  But seriously, I'm a minimalist.  I keep it simple and do my homework.  When I shoot models in remote cities, I'll get there hours ahead of time and drive around looking at the sides of buildings.  Or locally, I'll spend hours taping origami paper to the wall.  Or I'll spend half a weekend and rearrange my house to paint pieces of plywood.  When I'm done I'll say, "ok, I need a subject."  Then the process begins again.  Can she also bring her two cats?  Would she mind vacuuming? 

Are those blue eyes?  Can we also use her wiener dog?  Do you have orange lipstick?  Would you mind smoking this cigar?  Where can I get a red snapper?  It doesn't always work.  But I keep trying new ideas and moving through the process.


DCSL:  Did you study photography your whole life?  How did you get into it?
JY:  I didn't discover it until a few years after college (I'm 32 now), when I dated a photographer/painter for four years.  I started shooting and got hooked.  Before I met Kristen I used an Advantix point-and-shoot.  Do they still make those things?  I got a Canon A40, shot some 35mm with her dad's F3, bought a Nikon 990, a Mamiya AF, a D100, so on and so forth.  Immediately after college I was building websites and pretty good at Flash, but my interest there waned as I found photography.


DCSL:  Is there anyone in specific who inspires you?
JY:  The painter Nuno de Campos.  He placed in the National Portrait Gallery competition a few years ago and I saw him speak during the exhibition.  His "Magnet #3" is brilliant and I began to think more anonymously.  He succeeds with a brush where I attempt with a camera.  Other heavy influences include Annie Leibovitz's DVD inspiring me to buy the Mamiya RZ67 Pro II and Richard Avedon's American West.  The digital cameras I want are ridiculously expensive, so I've returned to shooting and scanning medium format film.  And I've never been happier.

DCSL:  Flying tortoises...I love it, but where did this come from? 
JY:  The flying tortoises began in the summer of 2005 after I took a picture of a farm field in Mt. Airy, Virginia.  It's this empty field with hay bales and a red barn in the background.  It bored me and I thought about adding something in the foreground.  So I stitched helicopter blades on a helmeted tortoise and their invasion began.  In general I avoid shooting landscapes because there's not enough subject matter to grab my interest.  But if I add some turtles...  One day I'd like to a make a children's book with them.  My sister is an editor and a mother, so I'd like to make it a family project.

"Fascinated by what one cannot see, he captures faces and poses with something always crucial missing from the frame, whether it is something physical or an emotional connection between viewer and subject. Vibrant colors create impact, but as an empty messenger of what should really be there."
--Ten Miles Square 

DCSL:  Looking forward to it as I know a niece and nephew or two that would absolutely love a book like that.  What was your inspiration behind the crushed food - which is BAD ASS!!!
JY:  The crushed food was the first project I ever did with a ringflash.  My original intention was to take close-ups of a grapefruit.  It wasn't working.  Grapefruit is a very reflective and glossy surface, plus its rind wall is white.  The entire image was blown out and I wasn't getting any detail.  So I gave up, crushed it, took a picture, and drank the juice.  Julia Childs said, "The grand thing about cooking is you can eat your mistakes."  In this case I photographed my mistakes.

DCSL:  Okay, now I'm craving French food.  In addition to artist, you are also a photojournalist.  Are there other areas of photography that you work in?
JY:  I'm one of those nerds who has a 200mm macro lens on a tripod and will sit for 30 minutes in front of a flower, waiting for the wind to calm.  I get excited about dogwoods blooming, magnolia trees, lotus blossoms, asparagus beetles, ladybugs on queen anne's lace, etc. 

Much of my color influence comes from this type of work.  You can't beat nature's palette.

Photography by Joshua Yospyn, listed from top to bottom:  "Guardian Angels 38," (self portrait); "Sara 30;" and "Malinda 31."