Interview: Danny Zapalac

Remember back in the day when this site had weekly interviews? Then it became every other week? Then they became so sporadic you forgot TMC even did interviews? I’ve been trying to get back on the wagon with the interview section (remember, TMC readers are always welcome to contribute an interview to this site, believe it or not).

Today, I’m proud to get back in the swing of things with a long and in-depth discussion with photographer Danny Zapalac, who recently came out with a project and self-published book called Mile Seventy Eight. Like fellow photographer and past TMC interviewee, Kevin Zacher, Danny first planted his photo roots in the snowboard industry and has since branched out into many successful editorial and commercial avenues.

Danny’s project, Mile Seventy Eight, tells the story of several friends who venture out into the snowy Angeles National Forest in California (in a red 1989 Ford F350 camper called the “Dreamer”), on a mission to hike deep into the forest and snowboard down untracked powder runs. Ultimately, the project is about reconnecting with old friends, mother nature, and life itself.

The basis for our discussion came out of more than a just shared love for powder turns, it revolves around how Danny made this project a vehicle to refocus on the kind of photography he wants to pursue- and get hired for- in the long term.

Jake Stangel: How would you classify your relation to photography right now, especially if you were to look back on it from the past two years? Is it an integral part of your lifestyle, an outlet? What’s changed?

Danny Zapalac: I think it’s both. I can’t live my life solely through photography, you have to pace yourself. People want everything now, they wanted it two days ago, and they don’t even know what they want, and they’re not even willing to pay for it, that’s what’s happening more often than not!

So I came to the conclusion, middle of last year, I said, “you know what, I’m done chasing, I’m done panicking, I’m moving to a place that’s right for me and my community, for people that understand my work, and I want to inspire people to get out and freakin go see what’s out there.” That’s what this book’s about, it’s about adventure, it’s about a journey, determination, and I think we’re sort of missing that.

The timing right now is perfect for the basis of what this book is, it’s about going out and experiencing life, being with friends, taking a chance to see what’s on the other side of the tree, the other side of the road. It was all about getting outside of that industry box.

JS: I’m with you, and so this book was your answer to those issues?

DZ: Yeah, that’s it. I never published a book, I just came to the conclusion that, what was occurring in the middle of 2009 really affected me inside, and when I started this project, it was just based out of my friend calling me up to go riding, but once I had three days of shooting, and once I started to scan these images, I knew there was a story and a backbone.

With this work I was able to reconnect with my friends in the snowboard world and five magazines picked it up, and I said, ‘wait a second, I think I got something here’. Then I started researching publishing and didn’t find it too appetizing.  If you try to find a publisher, you most likely will lose money. It’s not about money; you lose direction, control your vision. So that’s when I said, I’m doing it myself, so that’s when the light turned on, and it wasn’t an easy process though. A lot of endless nights, learning the whole publishing thing, offset printing, CMYK, talking to Hong Kong at 2-3am.

JS: I’m curious, speaking of the mentality you have shooting personal work versus assigned work- making work for a specific purpose and a specific timeline- do you feel like you could have made this work on assignment, or was this something you had to find and discover on your own?

DZ: I feel as though you always bring your own interpretation into an assignment, or a commercial endeavor. For me I create an identity, I’m a very structured guy, I kind of lay things out, when I shoot I lay out, I already see it laid out, I can see negative space, I can see a collection of images making sense. That’s how I shoot, systematically. Emotionally, too, really I sit there and watch, I can already kind of see how that picture would happen and how it would come out… and then I put myself in a situation to capture that. It’s only going to happen once.

Obviously, commercially, you’ve got the AD, AB’s creative direction and you follow that, and then you provide your own spin, and they get excited and they go, “oh this is his vision, great”. And that’s what used to happen in photography, people used to hire you for your vision, for your vibe, and that basically seems to have disappeared in the past two years, not fully, but it did a lot. That’s when I had to create my on reality, my own vision, and now it’s going out there, people are getting excited, and it’s going to help get me the work I want to shoot anyways.

JS: So looking at your whole site, going off of the idea of shooting exactly what you want, when I go through your site, there’s this looseness, but with this meditative quality- a looseness with structure- are a lot of the moments you’re shooting here occurring naturally?

DZ: It depends, going off of the whole idea of visualizing; I often set up moments like that, like my friend and his feather, that’s something that was put together. But yes, the natural aspect of photography is the side that really keeps me in tune of what is occurring.  I feel it before I see it.

JS: Do you look back at your old work, on hard drives or contact sheets, and see continuity in your work or has it radically changed?

DZ: Yeah I’ve always shot a lot of camaraderie, multiple people, because that’s what had always been going on in my life… it’s all about that journey, and that’s in part why I had to do this project because I’ll still be shooting regardless of what’s going on, I’ll be shooting 5 years from now or ten years from now. This was the perfect opportunity to do this project because I had something I felt 100% confident it, I had this feeling I wanted to help transpire now. It’s also about progression for me, and not just progression of, ‘oh, I’ve got the newest lighting technique’, but something that really shows who you are as a person.

JS: So now that you’ve done the book, accomplished the goal, is this like an issue that you feel you’ve solved? Do you feel reinvigorated? What has this book done for you in terms of your outlook?

DZ: It’s made me realize that anything’s possible. Anyone with drive and vision can do it. The goal is to get it to the right people, so that when certain creative opportunities arise, it’ll put me in a good position.

JS: Yeah, I had an assistant once tell me that it doesn’t matter what you shoot, it’s more about shooting what you want, when you want, and it’s mostly about getting that work in front of the right people. Basically that it’s better to stay true to yourself in the long run as opposed to doing what’s current right now but becoming irrelevant over time.

DZ: Yeah, the jobs don’t make you, you make yourself. Just because you shoot a job at a hip ad agency for a Fortune 500 company, that doesn’t make you who you are. Fortunately it does give you notoriety, but unfortunately it can also make you rise real quick and fall real quick; for me it’s all about being gradual and not being in a hurry, I panicked a little in 09’, but I stopped all that. Now it’s all about being patient.

JS: I’m really excited about how this process was kind of a ‘solution’ to this whole mental photo-mind-twist you were going through, how this was a cure, it’s really inspirational to me.

I read and hear about how people are incredibly discontent with what’s going on in the photo world, but I haven’t heard many people take the approach that you are. So to hear what you’re saying- with everything going on in the photo industry right now- it feels kind of like an awakening… and hopefully this interview will help some struggling photographers clear their eyes out a bit, figure out what they want, what they don’t want, how to change course a bit, and decide where they want to head.

DZ: Exactly, I’ve said it before but I had to get out there and put out what was important to me, and by doing that, it attracts people and clients with certain values. Everyone is complaining and saying how terrible this market is, but not that many people are doing anything to drive themselves into a direction of where they want to go. I got out there and communicated about life’s values that were important to me, as well as listened to those that were important to people around the table. That’s opened opportunities that have attracted like-minded individuals.

It’s dangerous, since you do want to make a living, but at the same time do the work that matters. It wasn’t easy. For this project, I had to find the funds to make it happen. I needed to get out there be excited and communicate about what I was doing. It paid off, as BOND outerwear (a carbon neutral company) found the value in what I was publishing so they decided to feature it in their 2010/2011-outerwear program. Their belief in my vision added confidence that what I had was important and to move forward. Then magazines came on board to publish the story so that built momentum.

JS: It’s interesting, because I was talking to two friends recently about photographers that got to a certain success level, and from that point on their work really seemed to become more about what their clients want and less about their personal vision. You know it’s this fine line where, if you want to make a living as a photographer, you have to be able to sell the concept, the voice, the style you shoot. And it’s awesome if that concept is exactly what you would naturally shoot anyway, it’s just a fine needle to thread, and I think you’re doing it.

Where has the best response for this project come from?

DZ: The success of the book has come from multiple areas. In the snowboarding world, in book stores, int’l magazines, from craftsmen, from friends parents! The main reason I did this is for tangibility. The reason why I did it… last year ever photographer started shooting on their 1DS Mark… 15, they’re not even shooting photography anymore, they’re taking still grabs off their video. That’s when I said, “f—k that”. It seems like every photographer now is getting hired to shoot video now too. When I saw PDN come out with a front cover feature on how to light a video shoot, how to budget a video shoot, that’s when I knew something was wrong. I felt obliged to create something that would have a shelf life and hold a piece of reality, I wanted to stick to craft for value. Stick to the technique to get to the vision.

JS: Do you feel like people that value this focus on craft the most are few and far between nowadays?

DZ: No, not at all. The future is unknown, but life’s a circle. Now is the time to enlighten, it’s about awareness, it’s about keeping that standard as high as you possibly can. It’s really about saving the craft for us, the future. You do all this work for an ad, it pops up one time, and it’s dead and don’t have anything to show for it except a fatter back pocket, which is cool, don’t get me wrong, but where does the energy go? You’ve got to stay focused on the long term.

Mile Seventy Eight is limited to an edition of 500.  It is Hardbound and printed the old fashioned way, Offset Color.  The website www.mileseventyeight.com is the home of the book, and books can be shipped internationally.  Danny has also teamed up with his friends at ASYMBOL to offer limited edition prints of the image “Dreamer”.

Video of Danny editing the book:

Installation shots from the Mile 78 exhibit:

Danny and his wife, Lyndsey