The Story Behind the Cover of VICE Magazine’s Stupid Issue

This article appears in VICE Magazine’s Stupid Issue, which is dedicated to the entertaining, goofy, and just plain dumb. It features stories celebrating ridiculous ideas, trends, and products; pieces arguing that unabashed stupidity can be a great part of life; and articles calling out the bad side of stupidity. Click HERE to subscribe to the print edition.

VICE: Tell us the story behind your cover image.
Julian Master: While I was out shooting this series I noticed a shop on 30th Street in Manhattan that had a bunch of teddy bears in the window. I went in to say hello to the stuffed animals and to see if I could derive any inspiration from the people interacting with them. I saw a cute bear dressed up as the Empire State Building and I snapped a photo.

Were there any funny interactions with people on the street?
The first day I went out shooting in the bear costume, I came across a family of four on Fifth Avenue: a mom, dad, and their two daughters. All four of them were wearing furry leopard print coats. The father offered to pay me $5 to pose with them for a group photo. I asked him to send me the photo but he didn’t. Almost every kid I passed under the age of 10 gave me a very cute little wave, and most people smiled at me as I lumbered around the city.

Where do you get your day-to-day inspiration?
YouTube is inspiring to me; it really is the new TV. I don’t watch TV at all anymore, only YouTube. The Vacuum Wars channel stress-tests vacuums to see which is the best in a wide variety of categories. I find the utilitarian performance of the tests to be inspiring.

But a lot of my inspiration comes from photo books. A couple I’m particularly enjoying right now are Lee Friedlander’s In the Picture: Self Portraits, 1958–2011 and Chris Verene’s Family.

What projects are you working on now?
I have a website where I sell photography-themed enamel pins that I’ve designed. You can check them out at www.OfficialExclusive.com.

Julian Master is a documentary photographer living in New York City. His work, which has been published in the Editorial Magazine, aye magazine, and Aint–Bad, explores relationships between people in big cities.