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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.
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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.
