William Govus Interview

Today's interview with William Govus has a special introduction written by Peter Halupkla:

"Downtownellijay.org, the respective website of Elijay, Georgia, says its town holds many gems such as: Carters Lake - the deepest man-made lake East of the Mississippi River, Amicalola Falls State Park- the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi, Fort Mountain State Park - with its 855 foot mystery wall, and Chattahoochee National Forest in the Appalachian Mountain Range with over 750,000 acres of enjoyment. It even had a rifle factory. But they disastrously fail to mention one driving force of their humble one horse town: William Thomas Govus.

Even though I met Will two years ago I thought about him in second grade when my teacher told me to think about life in more than one way. She elaborated, "You should think about it from your perspective, yes, but, also, change that perspective ever so often and stand on a table sometime." I couldn't help but think that would just be easier if I was Will Govus. That is why he kills it."
-Pete Halupka February 23rd, 2010


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DC: How old are you?

WG: I am 18.

DC: And you hail from?

WG: Ellijay, Georgia

DC: Where do you go to school?

WG: I go to school at Georgia State University, in Atlanta.

DC: As I recall, you kind of made a name for yourself as a photographer with your night images. Would you agree with this? How did you develop yourself as a photographer exactly?

WG: All right well…. I just started shooting with the digital camera right, the Nikon D50. I actually looked at Skate Perception for a bit…. And then kids were using D50s and taking pictures of…… I dunno what kids were taking pictures of, but yeah I got one of those things and shot those kinds of photos, and then I got a…… I got one of them Yashicas… TLR thing, you know? Right, and then I uh… shot typical 6x6 stuff.

DC: So would you say the Yashica kind of led you to where you are today as a photographer?

WG: Yeah, I mean… yeah. That’s when I started taking photos that were actually… or people actually thought were decent.

DC: So how would you describe your style… how would you describe yourself as a photographer?

WG: Currently, I dunno… I take pictures of things… I want to take pictures of.

DC: So as I perceive it, you just like taking photos? Fuck the whole critical thinking/analysis type deal, you just like taking photos?

WG: Yeah, exactly. I mean recently I haven’t been like…. Really posting much stuff I’ve been taking. I don’t really get much enjoyment out of like Flickr feedback anymore, it hasn’t really done anything for me for a while. So I’ve just been shooting and keeping a decent amount of shit to myself, just because… It doesn’t do me any good to post stuff much anymore. I still e-mail stuff to some of the kids I’m into… like Pete Halupka (<3) and all those dudes. We share stuff through e-mail, but as far as Flickr goes… and stuff like that I’m just not into it anymore.

DC: Describe the best you can…. What is photography to you?

WG: Um I dunno? That sounds like a stupid question

DC: Nothing I say is stupid, lets just get that settled right now!

WG: (laughs) Oh… alright that’s true… But no man seriously that’s a stupidass question

DC: You don’t feel any sentiment or anything? What is it to you? You’re Will Govus, photographer but what is photography to you?

WG: Well… I have these cameras and I take photos of things… I post these photos on the Internet sometimes, like yeah pretty dumb shit.

DC: As a whole, how would you describe your body of work?

WG: I dunno… well all the night stuff is… I just had a lot of fun shooting that. And I guess that’s what everyone… like I dunno everyone likes looking at that stuff… and I guess like a lot of kids on Skate Perception got inspired by that stuff…. Well I dunno actually.

DC: No, you don’t have to be modest its true. How does it feel that you led the way for a very popular trend on SP?

WG: Well, I don’t feel like anyone was copying me or anything… because I mean like for a while I didn’t know about some of the big night dudes…. Like I didn’t know of Todd Hido before I started shooting night shit… and then people were like, “Oh this is like Hido’s stuff” Then I looked at Hido’s stuff and I was like, “Well that’s awesome” and basically I just copied what he was doing too…And I don’t really care that I was copying him. Basically, I just had fun doing it.

DC: As I recall most of these images were taken in your hometown (Ellijay, Georgia), a small town. How do you think Ellijay influenced you as a photographer at this point?

WG: It’s a pretty sweet place to shoot I guess… you know when you start out you shoot like dumb, kinda rustic stuff… like old gas stations… and crap like that. And I guess when you grow up in the suburbs there isn’t much to shoot… so I guess it maybe made it easier for me.

DC: What is your major in school? Photography?

WG: I’m undeclared.

DC: Do you think you’ll end up as photography major? Or something else?

WG: I mean I guess I would like to go to school for art just ‘cause its easy… and fun. I dunno what else I’d go to school for.

DC: Word on the street is you rejected a substantial scholarship offer from SCAD. Is this true?

WG: You know, that’s a dumb thing to mention cause that school is…terrible and they give anyone that applies a scholarship. That’s when I was like a really naïve, stupid teenager… I posted… well actually I don’t really remember the situation but basically that school sucks and they give scholarships to anyone.

DC: How refined are you in terms of technique? Like printing, developing etc.

WG: I haven’t had that much darkroom experience. I’ve printed a good bit of black and white, but I wouldn’t say I’m like a good printer or anything. I haven’t C-printed yet… but I just got access to a color darkroom so I’m gonna check that out.

DC: Tell me a little about your series, “Going Out West”

WG: All that stuff is from two different road trips. One I went on with Pete Halupka and another kid, last winter. I took a week or so off of school and flew out to Seattle to meet Pete… and then we met our friend from Alabama who was just driving across the country for a couple months. We met him and then drove back east with him. The other trip was my friend Hunt and I. I was staying in Chicago at the time, and we just decided to take a road trip. The day after we decided he stole his mom’s car, which he was borrowing to drive to Chicago to like move or whatever. And so we just took his mom’s car out… for a pretty long time out west last summer. And yeah, we pretty much just went like everywhere on that trip.

DC: Of your series, do you have a favorite?

WG: Uh… well I don’t really dig the West stuff at all… it seems pretty weak to me. And I’m pretty over the night thing. I dunno, I mean I’m not really into anything at the moment.

DC: In terms of your style per se… what are you venturing towards right now?

WG: I’m kinda struggling with that. I don’t really know… well I kinda know what I want stuff to feel like right now… but I’m kinda bad at describing aesthetics. I know what I want stuff to feel like and I’m getting there… I guess. I feel like I’m going to leave the south soon… you know I like the south I grew up here and I’ve been shooting a lot of southern shit, or stuff that feels like southern shit you know?

DC: You mentioned traveling with Pete Halupka. It seems like your friends with a lot of other young, talented photographers. Do you think these friendships help at all with your photography? Like inspiration, aspirations, stuff like that?

WG: Oh yeah definitely! I mean I don’t think I’d be as involved at all… I mean yeah I think these guys really got me into it the most. Right now I’m talking to Kohlton, he’s the best (editor’s note: Kohlton is in fact the dankness). He’ll call me and just rant about photo for hours, like nonstop.

DC: Who are some of your favorite photographers at the moment?

WG: I’m into all my friends… like Pete… well as far as people I know go I’m into like: Pete Halupka, Aaron Fowler, Bobby Doherty… and Kohlton Ervin of course. And then right now I’m into like… Sam Falls is really sweet. I feel like everyone likes the same photographers really… you know I’m into Eggleston.

DC: Where do see yourself with photography in the future?

WG: I dunno I guess it’d be sweet if I could have a job eventually… having something to do with photography… you know making money with it or something. Or maybe I could eventually go to school for it. I’m not really sure at this point.

DC: What type of classes are you taking right now?

WG: Well this is my first year at college or whatever… so I’m just taking Gen Ed classes and stuff. I actually didn’t want to go to a university, I wanted to go to art school but I couldn’t.

DC: Why couldn’t you?

WG: I couldn’t justify taking out the huge loans I needed.

DC: You went from living in a small town, to a fairly large city (Atlanta). How would you say this move has affected you, photographically? Have you photographed/explored Atlanta at all?

WG: Atlanta hasn’t done shit for me; it’s been terrible actually. I just shoot a whole lot less. I only shoot when I like leave this place, which I try to do as much as possible. I don’t feel like there is anything I can really shoot here. It’s a pretty terrible place for me, as far as photography goes.

DC: You previously mentioned starting with a D50, and then moving to a Yashica. At this point, what type of gear do you use/prefer?

WG: Well, I have a Mamiya 7 thing… and I use that the most. And I have a Stylus Epic, point and shoot. So those are the two cameras I use the most, but I’m trying to sell my 7 to buy like a… something else. I’ll probably buy a 4x5 and then maybe like an RZ or an RB.

DC: The cameras your talking about buying work a little slower/require a little more set up… would you say this is where your photography is headed? You know less spontaneous and whatnot…
WG: The thing is like… well I had an RB but I wanted to get a 7 because of how long it took me to shoot with the RB… and I thought I wanted to shoot more spontaneously… I think I may still want to. The only reason I don’t like the 7 is because I don’t like the rangefinder. Not that I don’t like rangefinders, I just kinda miss using ground glass. And then like… the frame on the 7 isn’t accurate at all, so what you see through the viewfinder isn’t ever the actual picture, it’s a little off. I definitely dig the RB too, but I like how you can shoot at eye level with the 7, its nice. Like I was actually thinking of maybe getting like a… Pentax 67 just because it has eyelevel shooting.

DC: So would you say 6x7 is your preferred format?

WG: Yeah I’m not sure but…. I think it’s my favorite ratio. I’m kinda interested in 6x9 because I like the 35mm ratio… but I definitely feel like I don’t work as well with the 35mm ratio.

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