LEE BULLITT
How did you get into photography?
I found an old camera in my family’s apartment. I couldn’t figure out where it came from, but it was an old one made of plastic that took film. I still don’t know the model or where it really came from, but because my grandmother had known an eclectic group of people before she died, it may have been left there by a friend. Either way, I really wanted to use it and learn how it worked,
I must have been 10 or so. I just really found it fascinating and
I still prefer film more than anything. I didn’t use the term artist for myself until after college haha
PHOTOGRAPHY WAS A MEANS TO LEARN WITHOUT BEING TOO VULNERABLE MYSELF.
MY WORK BECAME BETTER WHEN I BECAME MORE VULNERABLE WITH THE
PEOPLE
I PHOTOGRAPHED.
What do you wish to convey in your photographs?
Describing work is always difficult. It is pretty selfish, even though the people I photograph are people I care about, want to learn from or maintain a relationship with etc. I still think photography was always a means to learn without being too vulnerable myself. My work started getting better when I decided to become as vulnerable (as I could) with the people I photographed. Giving them more about myself and my past helped me learn to much, and helped me become less introverted. People and their time is the most valuable thing on earth and if I want to photograph someone, its because I value them, one way or another. I think my work is pretty vulnerable, very intimate, and that is my only concern. To compose something beautiful, that feels natural and feels real, no matter what is seen in each photo.
What are some of your other creative passions?
I've been writing since I was a child. I wrote a lot of short stories, and some plays, scripts and of course poetry! I stuck with poetry more than anything (although I’m working on a book). So I’ve always considered myself a writer first. Otherwise, I am a video editor by trade and want to start using that skill for personal projects more.
Each time I work with someone, that’s a project, in the best possible sense. It’s more the people and circumstances I work with that I favor, and I’ve had some really beautiful, exciting and surprising moments.
What is one of your favorite projects that you’ve worked on?
How do you choose people to photograph?
At one point I was very social, or at least just curious, so I would meet people at art openings or on the train, pretty much everywhere. Sometimes in the early stages of Instagram I happened to meet people that way. But I think I’ve only a handful of times actually “scouted” someone. Because the work is intimate it helps if each person really looks through my photographs and lets me know how they feel they fit into what they see. I’ve always photographed the women I had romantic relationships with, as well as friends or people recommended to me.
how do you help them feel comfortable?
I just talk to everyone and let them know that I don’t expect them to come alive in from of the camera, that they have no need to entertain me or overthink anything. I stress the importance of their being comfortable, and that we should both trust the process. I also do two things, (1) I give very specific direction and (2) let them know signing a contract is only expected after they have approved of what images they are comfortable having shared.
You’ve talked about being a QPoC (queer person of color) and being fostered into a sisterhood, could you speak more about that and how it has influenced your work?
I think at one point I just felt a new kind of acceptance in myself and in others when I embraced being a lesbian. Even though I don’t consider myself binary, the reality is I am anatomically female, so I learned more about that through LGBTQ community and recognized my own relationship to gender and art through that sense. I've been “out” since I was 17 or so but as I got older I became less rigid about what I believed our community to look like, feel like. That may have affected my gaze; how I see the people I photograph and how much I want them to feel respected or needed in what is usually seen as a one-sided art form. Even if some of the photos are “explicit" here and there, I try to make it known that I couldn’t have made any of my work without them.
I’m more inspired by films and paintings than anything else. As far as photography, Nobuyoshi Araki, Daidio Moriyama, Francesca Woodman (for the work and her story), Vivianne Sassen and others. But it’s really people, space, sound and light.
Who or what do you believe have been major inspirations of yours?
What is the best piece of advice someone has given you?
Know when to wait, know when to keep going.
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