Michael Marquez

Chris Luttrell - Why don't we just start, we're getting a good rhythm here with a chat so why don't we start recording?

Mike Marquez - Yeah, sounds good

Chris - How was the show and the launch? It looked like it did well.

Mike - Yeah, it's doing really well. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback.

Chris - Yeah

Mike - I was wrapping up this photo series and I got approached (by Nepenthes), it actually worked out perfectly, and it sped up the timeline for when the book was going to be done, which was great because deadlines for me are actually a good thing, they're not something to be worried about.

Chris - Yeah, you feel more productive under a certain amount of structure.

Mike - Oh definitely. I was thinking about that the other day where I feel like a lot of people outside of fashion photography think it's this free flowing space to work in. People just show up with a camera and there's just no plan and ideas just come to you as you shoot. But that’s not the case there’s a million phone calls, tons of back and forth. There's a lot of structure and I think with structure and with repetition I find that I can become the most creative.

Chris - Yeah, right that's your personal feeling about your process. You like that structure.

Mike - Oh definitely

Chris - You and I both worked at least assisting wise in the same kind of environment and circumstances. It's interesting that there's structure in those situations of fashion photography. Do you feel you get a different freedom just walking around shooting street photography because you're literally just dealing with what happens to be in front of you, it's very impulsive and very unplanned. You might go out with an intention with your camera when you hit the street or go in public, but you kinda just get what you're dealt.

Mike - Yeah, like you said you're kind of playing the hand you're dealt going outside and maybe you get two pictures a day maybe you will get one or maybe none.

Chris - Yeah

Mike - That was the idea (with the book) to kind of take it as it comes and slowing things down was a very intentional idea for me and I think that kind of touches on not drinking anymore.

Chris - Yeah

Mike - I wanted the next group of pictures that I worked on to reflect where my head was at.

Chris - I think you told me that your dad is a photographer.

Mike - Yeah, he took a lot of pictures when he was younger backpacking around the US. He was a geologist in his previous job so he'd always have a camera with him taking pictures of landscapes.

Chris - In this situation in the editing process when you had all the photographs that you were possibly putting in the book, that's where you really built a structure into this.

Mike - I took a lot of pictures, thousands and thousands of pictures, and I started looking at them and I was like OK where is the story here and I started kind of blindly pulling some of the images aside to be like OK this would work, this wouldn't work. Then I started seeing a kind of a narrative or a through line and then all of a sudden everything clicked into place. Then it was just off to the races and I don’t think I could finish this book fast enough.

Chris - Do you feel like with a sober mind there's a difference? A sober mind you're more likely to execute rather than self-doubt? Or you tell me I don't wanna put words in your mouth.

Mike - Yes, 100 %. There will always be self-doubt. There's always gonna be the voices in your head questioning your motives and if this is any good. But, now I’m not looking at anything as a task anymore. Nothing feels like a slog. It's like wow I get to do this. I'm so lucky that I have time and energy to put things out in the world and as before it was a fight, I mean, I still did it. I still was productive, but it was a pain in the ass. And now it just feels so much more free and it's so much more of an amazing experience.

Chris - Do you feel like once you get the book and it's completed that allows you to start to move onto the next thing, how much weight do you put into it?

Mike - I think I probably put too much weight in the beginning and in the middle of the process, it’s kind of the adrenaline you’re running off of but then it's replaced with anticipation and then that kind of builds and then there's a release when the book is done or when the project is over. After that it's kind of out of your hands and it takes on a life of its own, it's kind of on its third act. You have no control over how it's gonna be received and what the response is.

Chris - That reminds me of this Andy Warhol quote I'm trying to look up. I forgot what it is but the quote is like “Just make art and while other people are deciding, it's if it's good or bad make more art” It's similar, like you were saying once you make it its outside of your hands, you don't really have any control over how people receive it. What I'm hearing you say anyways, you don't really concern yourself too much with what people do with it (the book) after you've created it.

Mike - Yeah, obviously I'd like for people to have a good interpretation of what I put out in the world, but I can't control that. But I know that everything that I did was the best of my abilities.

Chris - Andy Warhol has another quote he says “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”

Mike - I've never heard that quote before, that's really good.

Chris - I know a little bit about your background as far as the West Coast is concerned. I know that you've got a connection to Hawaii and I know that you’re a Lakers fan and I know you're a big Shaq fan.

Mike - Yeah

Chris - Yeah I mean, I guess you're a New Yorker now your book at least from what I recall most of the pictures seem to be from the East Coast.

Mike - I've been in New York for almost 20 years. There are photos in the book from Texas because that's where my family is living right now, there's Hawaii as well and there's LA but a majority of the photos are from New York. The book is kind of showing where I am geographically in my life too.

Chris - Yeah

Mike - When I was a kid all my photos were of Hawaii and the West Coast. Unfortunately I think there was a huge gap of not taking photos in my late 20’s to mid 30’s that I would attribute to my drinking. I didn't take pictures for a very long time when I was a photo assistant and flying all over the world. I think physically and mentally this book represents where I’m at, which is in a good head space.

Chris - Yeah, yeah yeah

Mike - But the Lakers, the Lakers and Shaq, my wife was kind of joking when we first met and even to this day, if I’m a fan of something I'm kind of a fan for life, a lot of stuff was kind of ingrained in me through my father, my grandfather and my relatives and I just stuck with it. I’m a very loyal person in that regard, I guess.

Chris - I know that the book you said it's got pictures from all over but when I walk away from the book like I said a minute ago like it seems very East Coast to me predominantly so.

Mike - I wish there was a book that I could have made from 2008 to 2018. I wasn't in the mindset to do something like that. I mean, there are photos here and there, but there's nothing where I could put it all together and show an accurate representation of what that time of my life looked like. This book is basically one calendar year of photos. This was me pushing myself to get back into what I love about photography, I think the first photo was taken October 2023 and the final photo was taken November of 2024.

Chris - What do you have on your mind about what's next?

Mike - Oh man, what's next? There's so many things, I've got an art book coming out with Blurring books based around found, and created artwork about Grim Reapers, which I'm really really excited about. I’m also working on the next issue for Trade Magazine which is always fun to do. And then I’m getting the first few drafts done for a few documentary projects I want to start working on as well. Always trying to collaborate with more people and more friends.