Interview • 093 PH

Jeff Masamori, Sunsetting

San Francisco, California, USA

Please introduce yourself: What is your name, where are you from, what do you do?

My name is Jeff Masamori. I'm an art director, photographer, and designer based in Oakland, California.

What is your relationship with photography, and how did you get into it?

My introduction to photography came in the form of a point-and-shoot camera that was gifted to me in high school. From then I couldn't put the thing down. Immediately after high school I took an apprenticeship in a commercial photography studio and it grew from there. My fascination with photography has always largely been driven by the idea of time and how that can be expressed; capturing places in times of transition, using different techniques to convey the passage of time, etc.

Ironically, over time, my relationship with photography has strained a bit to the point that for now, I've more or less stopped shooting outside of commercial obligations to give myself some time to reset and reevaluate how I want to use the medium in a more thoughtful and meaningful way. I've actually taken up abstract oil painting as a way to continue exploring the same concepts of movement and time to keep the creativity muscles moving while I work through some new photographic ideas.

What do you think triggers you to photograph in a certain moment? Is it planned or solely driven by intuition

Obviously when I'm doing commercial work there is a large degree of planning involved, but my personal work is generally pretty spontaneous. In the interest of preserving that specific moment in time, I tend to just show up somewhere as an observer and see what happens. 

What is the story you want your pictures to tell?

I think my images are very pragmatic and objective. My aim is to record a place exactly as it was on a specific day, at a specific time, knowing that it was different the day before, and it will be different the day after.

Which city would you like to visit the most, and why?

London. I've spent some time in other parts of England, but never in the capital. In terms of international cities, there's no better place to be. Plus, as an American that watches a lot of football, I'd really love to finally catch a live Palace match at Selhurst Park.

What is your personal relationship to cities, and how do you perceive them as places in general?

I've spent my entire adult life in cities. It's hard to resist the allure of what a cosmopolitan place can offer in terms of culture and creative opportunities. That said, I think we're in a place in time where many cities have become incredibly homogeneous. Especially here in the US, it takes a lot of effort to wade through the minimalist coffee shops and consumption-minded development projects to discover a place's history and what makes it unique. When the interests of someone's bottom line is to erase that, I think photography and art can play an important role in advocating for the preservation and growth of the communities that made our cities what they are.

Regarding your project Sunsetting: What was your intention, and how did you come up with the idea?

Sunsetting was a goodbye letter to the Sunset District in San Francisco, the neighborhood I had lived in for 10 years. I had really never spent time photographing around me, so when I knew I was leaving, I spent my final two months there walking the avenues documenting the little quirks and details I had seen everyday for nearly a decade during the eponymous sunset hours. I didn't have a plan for the images, but when the pandemic hit only 3 months after I moved, I ended up arranging them into a small book project where the photos were arranged in descending order from golden hour to sundown. It was mostly a bit of fun, but the reception was pretty positive, and it felt like a really nice closing chapter to that part of my life.

Which project did you never finish?

So many...

What is that «one thing» you have never managed to photograph and is now gone for good?

It's hard to pinpoint one thing when I think there are places and moments everyday where you miss something that will never be there again. That is the beauty of it though right?

If you could travel back/forth in time, what advice would you give your younger/older self?

I hope current me is not giving advice to my future self, or things must be going really wrong... My younger self, however, should remember not to chase or put any real value in social media statistic. It's a distraction and those numbers don't demonstrate quality, creativity, or cultural value, but they often do reward the opposite.

What do you prefer saying: «to take a photograph» or to «make a photograph», and why?

I'm sorry, but «making» a photograph sounds so pretentious to me, haha! I guess if you are directing a scene Gregory Crewdson-style, doing significant post-processing work, or printing in the darkroom, you could say you are making a photograph... but to me, on a more philosophical level, the purest form of photography is simply capturing what's been given to you by a place, a person, or a moment. A photograph contains an infinite number of stories, histories, and experiences that had nothing to do with me, I just happened to be there to press the shutter on a camera.

What is the most interesting experience you have had while photographing?

My most recently finished projected called Realignment and Closure was a photographic look the transforming landscape of a former US Navy air base. Among the crumbling ruins of old military buildings sat some low-income housing blocks below ongoing construction of modern condominium buildings.

Early on in the project, I met and photographed three young boys who lived in the older housing projects in a moment that's really stuck with me. They stood in front of a crumbling military structure while a self-described «farm-to-barrel» microbrewery immediately to the right was blasting AWOLNATION’s Sail over their loudspeakers to a packed patio. Just a very strange, but very poignant moment that set the tone for the rest of the project.

If it wasn’t for photography, what would you be interested in doing instead?

As mentioned earlier, I've taken an interest in oil painting. Outside that, I think I'd like to spend more time learning better cooking technique.

How would you describe one of your pictures to a blind person?

I'm fortunate to be able to see the world through sight, but I think society is slowly realizing that's not the reality everyone has. I'm happy to describe an image, but perhaps there are some more intangible parts to the photographic experiencenwe can all participate in.

What are you currently working on, and—if there is—what is your next project or journey?

I'm still trying to figure out where I go next with photography. For now the cameras are getting a rest, but the urge to shoot again is definitely welling up.

Thank you, Jeff!

Editorial Notes:

If you have a project that you would like to present on this platform, please feel free to share it using the submission form.

Photography: Jeff Masamori
Location: San Francisco, California, USA

Links: Website, Instagram

San Francisco, California, USA

Skip Interview