responsive-lightbox domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/sundre5/ducts.sundresspublications.com/content/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114With this interview,\u00a0<\/em>Ducts\u00a0welcomes Peter Ahn, guest arts editor, to our Winter 2018 issue. For each of our 5 feature pieces, Peter has curated selections from his 35-mm film portfolio. See our feature\u00a0essay<\/a>,\u00a0fiction<\/a>,\u00a0humor<\/a>,\u00a0memoir<\/a>, and\u00a0poetry<\/a>\u00a0pieces to view\u00a0Peter’s artwork.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n With Mary Cool,\u00a0Ducts<\/em> Editor-in-Chief<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Mary Cool: <\/strong>Tell me a little bit about your process in selecting the photos for this issue.<\/p>\n Peter Ahn:<\/strong> I first read the stories and didn\u2019t think about anything else. I submersed myself into the emotions I was feeling as I read them. I tried my best to preserve those raw feelings and eventually I went through my photo library for photos that would resonate with those emotions and the thoughts I was having. I also went back to the stories and read them again, several times, because each time I was picking up different things.<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>Did you immediately have ideas of the photos that you wanted to use when you were reading, or did you go back through your collection and see what clicked?<\/p>\n PA:<\/strong> There were certain ones that really popped in my head. I didn\u2019t dive into my general library because my commercial work is digital photography but there was a period of time where I used to carry around a really compact, analog camera shooting 35-mm film. The photos created using that medium are very, very different and how you approach the subject is different, so for the stories I really wanted to dive into my film archives. Going through the photos that I\u2019ve taken through the past two years helped me remember those moments and memories a lot better, and it was an interesting experience where I had thoughts and emotions as I read the stories, which brought me back to my past self and experiences. It was a cool mixture of the two.<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>What do you think the difference between the digital and film photography process is?<\/p>\n PA: <\/strong>I think it\u2019s in what the photographer makes out if it. Because it doesn\u2019t change the essence of photography but it\u2019s the fact that there are fundamental differences between film and digital. Like being limited to 24 frames or 36 frames per roll. You have to really carefully think about the shots and every time you press the button is a lot of pressure\u2014not being able to review that shot right away, not being able to make those adjustments. If you only have 24 shots, you better make it count. So when you go through the archives that are film photos versus digital, the digital have a lot of similar shots, whereas the film just sticks to essence of things, to one shot per moment. So it\u2019s really capturing just the essence and nothing else. When you\u2019re going through the archive, it\u2019s more fun and feels like it\u2019s better work when you\u2019re looking at your film shots compared to your digital.<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>How did you come to select the photo for the essay, A Triangular Dialectic<\/em><\/a>? It\u2019s an interesting photo, because it wouldn\u2019t have been my first guess for the photo you would pick. The association is not necessarily something you would jump to automatically.<\/p>\n PA: <\/strong>When I read the story, there was just a huge shock for me because I don\u2019t have a child myself. I understood where she [the narrator] was coming from, from a mother\u2019s perspective, but I haven\u2019t experienced it myself. It was a huge shock that a mother would love her daughter so much that she\u2019s willing to do all these things for her. The photograph was a picture I took in Coney Island last winter. I had just gotten off the subway, and I could see in the dad\u2019s face that he clearly did not like what she [the child] was doing\u2014that it was dangerous and she might hurt herself. But the girl was having so much fun that he was standing by her side and letting her do it. I remembered that moment and it seemed to make the right connections to the essence of the story.<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>How did you find the photo for the fiction piece, Guitar Hero<\/em><\/a>?<\/p>\n PA: <\/strong>Overall, I thought it was a very interesting piece that was fun to read. For me, it was the section where he [the main character] was practicing a lot but lacked a bigger sense of purpose, like a friendship, but later he\u2019s able to find it with his friend\u2019s mother\u2014that kind of resonated with the picture. The day I took the photo, I grabbed my camera after work and went on a long walk for about three or four hours, and I found myself in a waterfront area by Chelsea. I saw these two strangers on a bench\u2014not together but still together, side by side\u2014and I had the impulse to take a photo. The emotions of that moment resonated with the emotions I got from the story.<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>And the photo for the humor selection, A Life of Being Bic\u2019d<\/em><\/a>?<\/p>\n PA: <\/strong>That was also a very enjoyable piece. It also wasn\u2019t a direct association. I thought that the overall perspective and idea of the story was clever. The photo I submitted was taken at the Met. And like I said, although it\u2019s not a direct association, I thought there was a level of similarity between both pieces. It\u2019s one of those things where not everyone will get it immediately, but everything is there.<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>Yes, I thought it was clever, because I think it has a sort of winking quality to it that the piece had, too. What about the photo for the memoir piece, The Way the Wind Blows<\/em><\/a>?<\/p>\n“EXPERIENCES, ENERGIES, AND EMOTIONS”:\u00a0
\n AN INTERVIEW WITH\u00a0PETER AHN<\/h1>\n