10 Questions With Tyree Harris
Interview
BY JOANNE XU
As a creative who's known for his documentarian approach to photographing Los Angeles hallmarks, the social limitations of quarantine have been tough on Harris' ongoing projects.
LA culture moves quick and in nuanced beats – its best moments live quietly between the flashy, incomplete portrayals of the city that dominate Instagram feeds. And so any accurate illustration of LA’s diverse community life rests on a photographer’s ability to fully interact with his subjects and their routines. With so many of those in-between stills — a person at a bus stop, a basketball player taking a water break — paused or missing in our daily lives now, Harris has turned his lens to other avenues, exploring just how far his creativity can stretch when he’s not restricted to just one medium.
The Recreationalist sat down with Harris to discuss the many awakenings, cultural and creative alike, that can be born from crisis.
Tyree's harris life in squares
It's been an overwhelming few months. What have you made of it all?
- It’s definitely been some weird times, especially as a photographer. Right now is a revolutionary moment. All these circumstances, whether it be the pandemic, or unemployment rates in L.A. County, or all this police brutality and the George Floyd murder – it’s a perfect storm that’s created a lot of outrage, not just in the Black community but in the whole American experience. This is something that everyone needs to be fighting for. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the Appalachians or in Austin, Los Angeles, Minneapolis. This is all of our futures.
You have a degree in journalism. So how did you end up in photography?
- My whole plan was to graduate college and be a column writer at some publication. And then I had this realization of ‘oh wait, I’ve got to pay the bills man.’ Because of that, I started working as a commercial writer in advertising, but became a bit jaded with writing and lost my own voice. Randomly, my mom got me this starter Canon Rebel DSLR and I thought I may as well do something with it. So I went down to the Venice basketball community where they play every week and sort of re-channeled that journalistic storytelling instinct that I’d spent four, five years crafting in college. And it reopened my voice for me.
You have a degree in journalism. So how did you end up in photography?
- My whole plan was to graduate college and be a column writer at some publication. And then I had this realization of ‘oh wait, I’ve got to pay the bills man.’ Because of that, I started working as a commercial writer in advertising, but became a bit jaded with writing and lost my own voice. Randomly, my mom got me this starter Canon Rebel DSLR and I thought I may as well do something with it. So I went down to the Venice basketball community where they play every week and sort of re-channeled that journalistic storytelling instinct that I’d spent four, five years crafting in college. And it reopened my voice for me.
You have a degree in journalism. So how did you end up in photography?
- My whole plan was to graduate college and be a column writer at some publication. And then I had this realization of ‘oh wait, I’ve got to pay the bills man.’ Because of that, I started working as a commercial writer in advertising, but became a bit jaded with writing and lost my own voice. Randomly, my mom got me this starter Canon Rebel DSLR and I thought I may as well do something with it. So I went down to the Venice basketball community where they play every week and sort of re-channeled that journalistic storytelling instinct that I’d spent four, five years crafting in college. And it reopened my voice for me.
You have a degree in journalism. So how did you end up in photography?
- My whole plan was to graduate college and be a column writer at some publication. And then I had this realization of ‘oh wait, I’ve got to pay the bills man.’ Because of that, I started working as a commercial writer in advertising, but became a bit jaded with writing and lost my own voice. Randomly, my mom got me this starter Canon Rebel DSLR and I thought I may as well do something with it. So I went down to the Venice basketball community where they play every week and sort of re-channeled that journalistic storytelling instinct that I’d spent four, five years crafting in college. And it reopened my voice for me.
