Mark Peckmezian

Looks like time travelling when staring at Mark's pictures, but we must say this Toronto raised photographer was born in 1985. His analogue works are superb, full of high controlled lightning, greatly exposed, lovely black and white pictures and different moods are usually seen through his photostream.

We: Where are you from and what do you do?

Mark: I'm from Toronto, Canada and I'm a photographer.

W: What does art mean to you?

M: I'm still trying to figure that out, really. I'm just sort of following my intuition in the meantime. Maybe I'll discover it's all a lie someday, but until then...

W: Where do you find inspiration?

M: The library, usually. I make a habit of just going to the local reference library and picking up an armful of photo books, almost at random. I always try to expose myself to a lot of photography that isn't what I already know I'm interested in. I sort of use the content of these books as seeds for thought, and just do a lot of thinking and writing about photography during these sessions. I'd say most of my ideas are generated this way. I think it's important to treat the "thinking phase" very seriously and give it a lot of space and time of its own.

W: Which are your favourite artists?

M: Maybe these aren't strictly-speaking my favourites, but some photographers on my mind lately: Stephen Shore (he's an actual "master," I'd say, he gets photography like few others), Viviane Sassen (impeccable colour work, rich mood), and, always, William Klein (he is probably the closest thing I have to a god).

W: Future plans?

M: I graduated from university a few weeks ago and I want to work commercially and editorially, while working on my personal stuff on the side. I signed to a new agency recently (stashartists.com) which is just about to launch formally, so I'll be working through them. I have a monograph coming out through Pogobooks in a few weeks. And some friends and I are shooting for a group show of our photo work this fall or winter, here in Toronto.

You'll find more about Mark at his website and flickr.