Name and recent state?
Julian
Murray, Minneapolis MN // Las Vegas, NV.
Where did
you grow up?
Minneapolis,
MN.
How was it
growing up there, would you say that it influenced you?
Minneapolis
is a great place to grow up, actually the Midwest in general is. The saying
Minnesota Nice actually exists. Despite the winter cold, the rest of the year
has amazing weather and you get all four real seasons. The city itself has about
380,000 people, which doesn’t make it super crowded but, not too small either.
When did
you start taking photography seriously?
I started
taking photography seriously in about 2006. Out of high school I started going
to college for Sociology. Two years in, I started doing photography on my own
as a hobby, and six months later was doing it full time. I started out learning
under a photographer that goes by Infusionfoto. He shoots mainly glamour work,
and I took what I learned from him and put my spin on it and started shooting a
lot of music photography.
How would
you describe your photography style?
The best
way to describe my photography style is a mixture between Jonathan Mannion,
David Lachappelle & Spike Lee. Most of my work is urban, colorful and in
your face.
When did
you start getting tattoos?
I actually
do not have any tattoos at all. My fiancé Lace has a couple of small ones, but
me myself, none. When we started shooting the Tattoos & Tentacles book, a
lot of the models expected a heavily tattooed photographer to show up, or an
old dirty man, possibly both?
Do you consider
tattoos as a serious art form?
I really do
consider tattoos as an art form. After being around the tattoo culture the past
couple of years, I really learned a lot. I have a ton of respect for tattoo
artists, it’s a craft that takes a lot of creative talent, learning, and
patience.
How was it
working with all of those great tattooed models?
Every model
we got the chance to meet and work with was a great experience. I don’t have
anything but good to say about everyone that appeared in the project and we
thank them greatly. Some we only met for the quick ten minute shoot, others we
became close friends with and will know them for a life time.
How did you
meet Cheech & Chong?
I met
Cheech & Chong after making an out of the blue cross country move from
Minnesota to Los Angeles in 2010. A photographer friend Tom Medvedich out of NY
put me in touch with The Source magazine for when they needed help with shoots
in LA. We shot Cheech & Chong and Cypress Hill in the same day about a few
weeks after getting to LA. Despite getting to shoot celebrity work, I found out
very quickly that LA was not a fit for me personally to live, so we moved to
Vegas half a year later. In Vegas is where we started to pursue the Tattoos
& Tentacles series as a self published book.
What
influenced your book, “Tattoos and Tentacles”?
Tattoos
& Tentacles started as a simple portrait shoot of one of my favorite models
Jackie Roscoe. We had shot a portrait of her in a butchers outfit and it turned
out ok. We wanted to do something a little more creative so we shot her with
the octopus and it turned out great and got a good response. A year later I
needed another series for my new website and decided to shoot three more
octopus shoots. When we were putting the website together we needed a name for
the series, and on accident noticed that all of the girls had tattoos. I just
put it together and called it Tattoos & Tentacles. Lace is an amazing
graphic designer and digital retoucher. She retouched all of the photos in the
book and also laid it out. The cover of the book is all black with just the
white logo that she hand drew and mixed with type. The whole project turned out
amazing and I am glad we were able to accomplish it.
What’s your
biggest inspiration, what keeps you going?
My biggest
inspiration is my family and fans. Lace really pushes me to keep on coming up
with new photo shoot ideas. My family and fans uplift me when I get a great
response from them on a new project or image. Photography is an art, and not
everyone is going to like your work but the ones that do are the ones that you
appreciate and keep creating for.
What is one
thing that life has taught you?
Life has
taught me to enjoy it. Photography has taught me to appreciate it. Everywhere I
go I am always looking for great new spots to shoot at. Driving across the
country is one of the most soothing things to me in my opinion. Just driving
for hours getting to see how unique every party of the country is.
Anything
else you would like to add?
Everyone
can view my regular photography work at http://www.julianmurrayphoto.com
The Tattoos
& Tentacles store can be found here http://tattoosandtentacles.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/julianmurrayphotodesign
Twitter: twitter.com/jmurrphoto