An Interview With Brad Ernske
@thedeathoffilm
I've met a lot of creatives, but there is something about Brad's work that really stands out. For one - he primarily shoots film and is a genius with it. His Electric Koolaid series is one of the most unique and beautiful projects I've ever seen. Not only is Brad a genius, he is an amazing and loyal friend - one that I can always count on - an overall kind hearted person.
Love ya Brad!
Here is an interview with rad Brad and some photos he took of the beautiful @peterpiperrr in the desert wearing the Elephant Evolution scarf by A.M. Club, of course.
Available here.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB, FAM.
Tell us about how you got started as an photographer.
I have taken photos since a very young age but wasn’t until high school when I got to develop and print my photos that I knew this was something I was going to do forever. In college I got really into digital manipulation and ways to affect and layer to create an image. Now I am taking those principals and creating it on film stock through my Electric Koolaid series.
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What have been some of your favorite projects and why?
After college I did a series of wet plates in New Mexico on the Acoma Pueblo. Those few months I spent with them changed my life forever; it really helped define my whole belief structure.
What about photography first interested you?
The ability to freeze a moment in time and be able at any time relive and go back to that moment. That is a really powerful thing. Specifically with film and the process of film that’s why I continue to use it today.
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Any movies, books or people that have inspired you?
2001: A Space Odyssey by Kubrick, the way Kubrick constructed his frames and used color blew my mind. Betting on the muse by Bukowski, I discovered Bukowski at a very crtitcal part of my life in college, a real fork in the road and his work really centered my thinking. Some others are Stan Brakhage, Tarantino, Helmut Newton, Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Picasso, Albers, Rothko, Klimt and Duchamp.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received from a mentor or colleague?
The best advice I have ever received was from my High School Art teacher Mr. Kooistra and it wasn’t necessarily a phrase or statement. But he introduced me to abstract art. From Rothko to Albers, Cubism to Avant Garde. I was so caught up in capturing reality but he turned me on to this whole other way of thinking and it has stuck with me to this day.
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Any advice for those in the A.M. CLUB?
Always be authentic in anything you do whatever that is. For me that means to leave a piece of myself in every photograph I take. To develop every roll of film I shoot.
What’s the first thing you do every morning?
Put on a record usually Hendrix, then get coffee. I am not a morning person.
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Dream or next travel destination? Previous favorite?
Dream travel destination would be Scandinavia, Previous favorite would definitely be Alaska.
Guilty pleasure?
Playing the air drums to Phil Collins “In the air tonight”
