We recently sat down for a virtual cup of tea with two Canadian born photographers and future publishing moguls Dimitri Karakostas and Reilly Hodgson, the co-creators of the Blood Of The Young zine (A Bastard Landlord tumblr favourite).We took some time to talk photography, the cons of online publishing , the stresses of buying smokes on debit and identity theft. I’d tell you more but what with a missing H key on a failing laptop, just creating this brief intro has been fucking ridiculous.
LG : Who are Blood of the Young? (name, age, where your from, what you did before BOTY,) who does what within the BOTY project
TRH: My name is Reilly Hodgson, I'm 23, I live in the suburbs north of Toronto. Before we started BOTY I sang in a bad post-hardcore band and went to University in Vancouver for printmaking and fine arts.
DK: Dimitri Karakostas, 23, Toronto... Before BOTY I skateboarded every single day, all day- except when I would go take photos of Reilly's bad hardcore band before we really 'knew' each other.
TRH: We make limited edition zines and update a blog.
LG: Do you guys have any other Projects outside BOTY
TRH: Blood of the Young has been keeping me pretty busy. We are putting in work on a new bootleg t-shirt line, but I don't want to say too much before it drops. I'm working on a t-shirt design for a white rapper right now too, but that's a different story.
DK: Well, I guess putting out work, whether through BOTY or personally, is a full-time project... that, and bootlegs have been consuming my mind constantly.
LG: How long has BOTY been going?
TRH: Since the winter of 08/09. We put the first website up in January of 09.
LG: How did BOTY get started, what inspired you to start your own zine?
Was it a reaction to the publications which were available or the state of the photography scene?
DK: No reaction on my side... it was just a good way to get to work with lots of dudes I like. I've been doing zines for a long time, I understand it's a niche thing... it's almost too small to really be a scene, as far as i'm concerned. It just exists.
TRH: I've been making zines for quite a while as well so it seemed to make sense. I knew Dimitri from shows and didn't know he made pictures or anything but as soon as I saw his blogspot when I was living in Vancouver I knew I wanted to make something with him. I was just starting to take my photos a little more seriously and the blog was a good way to share things with each other at such a long distance.
LG: How do you decide what work to feature on the site, is it mainly submitted by friends and colleges or do you look further a field?
DK: If I stumble upon a good portfolio, i'll usually post it up... I guess my eye is solely for something interesting or new. There are some cheat codes, though... bad kids and ugly punks usually pass 100%. I'm really sick of pretty girl photos, regardless of who takes it.
TRH: I'm sick of pretty girl photos too. Summer 2011 bring on the inbred mountain babes.
LG : Do you think digital publication is the way forward?
DK: No, not at all. We've done one PDF-exclusive zine and, well, it might as well not exist. I can't hold it, neither can you. I'm sure you can't find it online anymore. I think tangibility is our focus.
TRH: I think it is the way forward if you want to make a publication that someone will look at (maybe) once and then forget about. Tangibility is definitely a big deal for us.
LG : What are your feelings on the state of photography at the moment?
DK: I don't have any feelings... I don't really even care. It's like anything: lots of really bad work, some really good work. Obviously, you can't expect to have 100% amazing work... but I see a lot of photos every day and I rarely get psyched. There are maybe 15 photographers who i'm interested in and deliver consistently.
TRH: I think we're both feeling pretty ambivalent about it. I've been trying to remind myself to stop and take a look through some of the books and zines that got me excited about making work in the first place. Its good to have a reminder sometimes.
LG: Who are some of your favourite photographers?
DK: Patrick O'Dell, Dan Zev, Josh Blank, Angela Boatwright, Andrea Sonnenberg...
TRH: Yeah, those dudes, the Potes brothers, Templeton, McGee, Scott Pommier...
LG: What are some of your favourite magazines/web sites?
DK: http://facebook.com
TRH: *laughter* Someone is trying to steal my identity using the name Rensun Moreau, that profile is my favourite right now. The only magazine subscription I have is to Color magazine, based out of Vancouver. It's the best magazine in Canada and if someone working there sees this they should get in touch with us.
LG: What does the future hold for BOTY?
DK: Hopefully we make a lot of money really soon, i'm really into the idea of not stressing every time I debit a pack of smokes.
TRH: Yeah, lots of money. Lets go with that, I think we deserve it, right? Gotta keep that PMA, haha
Check out Blood Of The Young at www.bloodoftheyoung.tumblr.com
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