Mclean Stephenson Embraces Moon Technology

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Mclean Stephenson Embraces Moon Technology

With his first book out this month, the photographer talked to VICE about why shooting nudes and landscapes are kind of the same thing.

All images by Mclean Stephenson

Mclean Stephenson has been a fixture in the Sydney art scene since rent was affordable and the water was drinkable. This year he's released Extracts, his first anthology of work. The book was the product of some pretty impressive editing, as the photographer approached the project with a catalog of over 15,000 images.

His efforts are now on display with a corresponding show at Sydney's Black Eye Gallery. We caught up with Mclean to talk to him about why he has 60 cameras, and how he sees nudes the same as landscapes.

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VICE: How intentional is your work? Do you take what the world presents to you or do you really plan something out?
Mclean Stephenson: I suppose both. Half of what I do is formal and half of it is by chance. When I'm working on my own stuff I generally go out with three or four cameras hanging off me—they provide strange limitations, slow me down, and make me think differently about how to take photos and capture what I'm seeing.

I've got over 60 cameras, but the Hasselblad 500cm is the one I've come back to the most over the years. It was originally designed for the moon landings, so it's well put together but it's slow and heavy.

You manipulate your negatives directly before scanning them into photoshop. How did that process come about?
Mostly out of experimentation. I'm always looking for different ways to transform and manipulate imagery. I'm also just really fond of the medium itself. I like the medium to be present in the work, which is kind of why I shy away from digital—that mega-resolution nano-technology designed to perfectly recreate reality, which is a fiction I guess.

Anthologies often feel like the artist is closing a chapter or starting with a clean slate, why did you decide now was the time to release one?
I don't really think like that, I just follow my nose. The gallery approached me about doing something and I was all for it. I started off with 16,000 images or so, which was too many. That's why the book ended up being called Extracts, as those were the results of this process of chipping away.

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I'm not sure exactly what it is, but there's a link between the way you shoot nature and the way you shoot nudes.
It's hard to describe. I suppose I shoot people naked for the same reason I don't shoot landscapes clothed with buildings.

Is there anything you see in your work when it's presented in a book that you previously didn't notice?
I was quite surprised to see how the designer had managed to pull everything together to create these small stories. I'm not one of those photographers who sets out with an idea that they want to execute for a body of work, and singularly goes about attempting to achieve it. I guess I just never felt the need to place any arbitrary limitations on myself.

That's interesting to me, because especially if you study photography, it's always being pushed that you need to almost be a brand. It's great to see someone find success in a more meandering way.
Thanks, yes, it's a very photography-centric concept. Having said that, I might completely change my mind in the future.

'Exhibits' will be showing at Black Eye Gallery in Darlinghurst from July 28 to August 16.

Interview by Ben Thomson, follow him on Instagram.