MarK: Yeah, for me it varies from people who don’t like the way they look to compromising situations. I got these really good ones recently where the girl had bright pink lipstick on and... so did the guy, but it was rubbed all over his face. You could totally tell...
Bronxxx: I sometimes get people comparing our sites. How ‘bout you?
MarK: Yeah, for a while I was getting alot of emails from people telling me that you’ve been doing it. They just see the connection. In my opinion I think it’s great ‘cause it just adds to the whole thing. The more the merrier. There’s certainly plenty of space for everybody.
Bronxxx: How do you think our websites are different?
MarK: Content mostly. You have a little bit more racy content and a cleaner look, which is nice. I’m not really good at web design, so everything is pretty crude and basic.
Bronxxx: Come on...
MarK: You have navigation bars and... it’s nice ‘cause we’re not exactly the same.
Bronxxx: When you go out and shoot what are you trying to do?
MarK: I don’t ever really know. I just like to see what reactions I can get in front of a camera. As you probably know, you bring out the camera and people show their stuff and get into it. It’s fun to see what the human mind will do for photos.
Bronxxx: Yeah. What’s the editing process like for you? How do you decide what makes it in?
MarK: I’m trying to get a good variety of photos. I noticed that you do it too, where you have the same person in a row and I was doing that for a while and it got good response... the repetitive nature of it. Just trying to get quality photos for the most part.
Bronxxx: You know, on the scene there’s alot of drug use and you’ve chosen not to photograph it...
MarK: Oh, I have... But I just choose not to show it because it’s something that alot of people wouldn’t want to have to look at the next day.
Bronxxx: Not to mention it might get a few people in trouble...
MarK: Yeah. I try to stay on everybody’s good side for the most part, photowise. The drug use is definitely interesting. I’ll save those and in 10 years from now when nobody cares, it would be a good time to show that kinda stuff.
Bronxxx: Do you always ask permission to take your pictures?
MarK: No, I’ll try to take candids too, but it’s pretty hard when people know who you are and they see you coming. They see the flash in the distance and they’re prepared. Inadvertently I’ve made alot of good friends and met alot of great people through this, though.
Bronxxx: Are you into the celebrity aspect of it? Do you want your face to be recognized? I’ve noticed that you’re often in your photos...
MarK: Just in the respect that it would make it easier to do what I wanna do. It’s always sort of refreshing, and brings me back to square one, when I get hassled after taking someone’s photo. I don’t wanna be like “Don’t you know who I am? I’ve been doing this for so long...” Not everyone really cares. It’s such a niche that mainstream doesn’t always respect it. That’s the only reason I would want people to recognize me.
Bronxxx: Where can we go with this MarK? I think what we’re doing is pretty cool, but where can we go from here?
MarK: I saw that you got that article in TimeOut. That was pretty cool. Getting some press is pretty cool. It would be nice to be able to do it in more places all around the world and travel, or getting hooked up with a magazine could be interesting too. We’re being creative and we’re pushing each other to the next level. Sometimes I’ll see something that you do and I’ll be like “That’s good...” ‘Cause we’re doing the same thing, but it’s just the way that you see it versus the way I see it. Artists do that all the time. They’ll be like, I’ll sample this, in music, or they’ll paint a similar thing to get better. The more these kids get used to their photo being taken, the better. They get used to it and it looks better.
Bronxxx: We were talking about this earlier... What can we do as a collabo?
MarK: We should think of something. Maybe a coast to coast concept since we’re on different sides of the US. We should figure something out.
Bronxxx: Yeah, we gotta.
MarK: It’ll be interesting.