Joseph Irvin, Creator Of “The Resurrected Camera”
I connected with Joseph Irvin through the Klein House Instagram. It took a moment for him to recognize me, but it turned out he had a picture of me working at the ranch, standing next to one of our biggest draft horses, Ember. As he sent me more of his photos for this interview I realized that he had pictures of me and my ranch family, igniting memories of my first summer on the ranch. That is the beautiful thing about pictures, they can bring you right back to where (and when) it was captured. The authenticity and realness in his work makes you you have a new fondness for the ruggedness of life, and a realization that the most beautiful moments in life come from things that are never planned.
Throughout Joe’s interview you can feel that he is a big and creative thinker, and that is what you need to be so committed to your art, especially when you are working with film. You have to see opportunity in every moment and stay present enough to know that there will always be another shot.
What is your name?
Joseph Irvin, The Resurrected Camera is the name of my photo blog
Where are you based out of?
Colorado Springs, currently.
When did you start creating?
I started fingerpainting when I was probably about 2 or 3. Does that count? Started taking piano lessons at about 7, started composing music around 19, made my first short film at age 20 or 21, started photography when I was 23. I suppose I'm becoming more and more interested in interdisciplinary aspects and my recent training at UCCS focused quite heavily on that: I majored in Music Composition but also had minors in Film Studies and Photography. I'm planning on obtaining an MFA in Film sooner or later, grad school is the snooze button on life, though COVID was kind of like a bucket of cold water to the face and I desperately need some more sleep.
What is your favorite medium and why?
I focus primarily on analog processes, so film and tape: 1/4" open reel as well as cassette (and I play half a dozen instruments, none of them very well), Super 8, and 35mm stills. I value authenticity above nearly everything. Besides the superior visual and aural qualities (though not too many people dispute that these days), the process will force you to work in a particular way. It's usually much more demanding, a test and proof of how skilled an artist you are, and this adds a lot to everything you do. In the past I've written songs and recorded albums, had compositions performed by small ensembles, taken a short film to festivals overseas, and currently am working on a multi-year photography project which I just took to a portfolio review in Denver. Perhaps it's because it's what I've been doing most recently but I do really enjoy film photography the most, and in the past it seems like whatever else I was doing I always had a camera close at hand.
What is your motivation and/or inspiration behind creating?
I guess I just feel like I was Created to do what I do, and not doing would kill me: it's like a compulsion. I don't always feel inspired, and I'm not always working on something. But the Dayjob is usually constricting and stifling and all my current works are reactions against that. I worked a construction job for 5 months back in 2021 and I hated it, but I was able to surreptitiously record about 10-20hrs of really interesting sounds that probably not a lot of people have heard outside of a job site--hopefully I can fashion these recordings into an electronic music album: it's been a while since I made any music. And my Summer job driving Jeep tours for Adventures Out West, I'm so fortunate to have that, as the company and my boss have always been supportive of my photographic endeavours; it's made it easy to stick with those guys. It is still a day job though...you probably feel something similar working at the stables. (insert pic I took of you here, eh?)
How does creating make you feel? What do you do to get into your groove and stay motivated?
I don't, it comes in spurts. One of my composition teachers talked about the violinist Joshua Bell who is evidently a big gamer, so most of the time he plays video games and then maybe a week before he has a concert he'll start practicing nonstop to get ready. Or as my friend Darren Thornberry puts it, he just once in a while feels "Pregnant with Song." I suppose those are muscles that I haven't really exercised in a while and I've been trying to get back into that in the last 6 months or so. Photography is easy, maybe that's why I do it: fully half the pictures I provided for you were taken while I was on the job as a jeep cowboy, laying down the track keeps me (relatively) sane, and it's something that I can be continually practicing: I shoot 60-70 rolls of film a year now.
What is your favorite piece you have created so far? Why? *Insert picture of said piece*
I have two, sorry, and links will work better:
https://resurrectedcamera.wordpress.com/2023/01/11/the-consequences-are-still-worth-it/
This happened just recently and it's my Heart and it seems like I now live here. It's the culmination of the last two years of my life and perhaps significant to my future as well--time will tell in which way. For whatever reason I knew or at least felt that the time between Christmas and Valentine's Day of 2023 would be incredibly significant; I'm still working out why. Every element in this piece happened at different times but everything combined incredibly fast: I had this put together in less than 24hrs from conception to implementation. When you latch onto something like this that just cries out to be made--I'm convinced this is Divine Inspiration and I mean that wholeheartedly.
https://overwhelmingmajorityfilm.wordpress.com/
This is the closest I've come to making a true Gesamtkunstwerk. It was pretty successful, played at a few film festivals in Colorado as well as the UK, and everyone I talked to about it had nothing but good things to say. It screened at three different Welsh film festivals in 2017 so I now consider Wales to be my adopted country. I've made a few films since but I was always afraid to take them public because they never really lived up to Overwhelming Majority. I thought this was going to be the course of my life after this and then nothing happened afterward--it's been seven years and not much to show for it, until recently: I'm shooting a new short film right now.
What are your goals as a creator?
Back in my teens/early-20s I said I wanted to emulate Charles Ives' double life as a composer who made his money selling life insurance, but that kind of existence has long since lost its appeal. I need to move into professional photography/filmmaking of some kind or find a way to make money without having to work--don't know enough about DeFi to make that happen yet, though. Long-term, I don't even know. In my younger days I thought it would be incredibly romantic to be another Henry Darger or Vivian Maier, but another part of me just wanted to compose music for films. And if you know Amadeus, having the tradeoff between two lifestyles where Salieri lives comfortably and enjoys all his accolades during his life whereas Mozart dies impoverished and far before his time, yet his is the music that is still listened to today. What I really want is to not have to make a bargain to accept one or the other, but I also don't want to compromise who I am to get both.
What is your favorite memory of you practicing your craft?
Just about a year ago! A friend/coworker of mine hired me to make actor headshots for him. I needed a place to stay for a few days so he put me up and we just hung out for four days, eventually getting around to the portrait session. I wish I could work like that all the time, haven't slept soundly since, in fact. Incidentally, the headshots got him a part as an extra which then evolved into a speaking role! I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about it until the film is released so I will say no more for now.
If you could tell yourself one piece of advice when you were just starting out, what would it be?
There's a song by Richard Thompson called "The End of the Rainbow." I can't decide whether the guy is a well-meaning purveyor of hard Truths or just an utter bastard but the song comes from a very real and fragile place, like a soul laid completely bare. How's the saying go? 10% Inspiration and 90% Perspiration. Maybe it's just my current mood but the fact is that Prince Charming isn't going to sweep you off your feet, the cavalry isn't behind the next hill, you won't win the lottery. There is no such thing as Eucatastrophe or Deus ex Machina in real life, just a long, hard, bitter, uphill climb, a process that takes much longer than you think it will. And whether the effort is ultimately Sisyphean remains to be seen. For what it's worth, I hope I'm wrong about it all because I don't want to get to the point where I'm afraid to try for fear of getting my hopes dashed one too many times...
Do you notice any common themes throughout your work? Why do you feel your art has said theme(s)?
I think my strongest works are ones that tackle hard subjects: loneliness, anxiety, depression, suicide. I hope they will speak to people who are going through something similar to my own experience and that they feel that they are Understood.
Are there any creatives that you truly look up to? Why and if there was one thing you could ask them, what would it be?
I'll try to keep it relatively contemporary: Jerry Goldsmith, Terry Gilliam, the Coen Brothers, Patrick O'Brian, Robert A. Heinlein, David Brin, Bernard Cornwell, J. Michael Straczynski, Doug Tuttle, Joseph Arthur. I'm learning to really appreciate repeatability and these are directors, writers, and musicians who make things which I enjoy over and over again. They never get old, there's always something new to appreciate, even when you've owned a book/album/movie for decades. And I would ask any and all of them: What are the questions I should be asking?
What in your personal life has influenced you to create what you do?
Unrequited love.
Do you critique your own work in ways that people outside of the creative community might not understand? Explain.
I'll take the second part first: No. (David Lynch reference)
How would you like to be remembered through your pieces?
Ultimately not as someone who led a tortured life, but died happy and fulfilled. If he died at all. Maybe he's chilling with Elvis and Tupac somewheres down South.
A word from the creator:
Paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 13, without Love none of what I've done means anything.
Social Links
https://www.facebook.com/ResurrectedCamera/
@thefamouspdog https://www.instagram.com/thefamouspdog/
