doneClint and I have similar shooting styles. After Clint published my work "Psychic Windows" with Deadbeat Club, he helped me with editing and designing the zine to get it properly bound. We both sold our books and prints at "commune" in Tokyo and felt that the response was good, so we thought it would be fun to plan a project to present in Tokyo and work on it together. Then we asked Miyuki (commune) if she could help us organize an exhibition. That was the beginning.

doneVineland" is the name of a street in the San Fernando Valley. I've been obsessed with the San Fernando Valley for years. It's always been a place and a subject that I wanted to work on as a photographer. But on the other hand, Clint didn't know the San Fernando Valley that well. I thought it would be interesting to document a place with so many different subjects, each from our similar but different perspectives. It would be very familiar to me and completely fresh for Clint.

clintIt was a very exciting experience. I have collaborated with others before, but never in such depth as I did this time. I've never worked on a series of pieces with someone else. It was a great opportunity because sometimes my work can be narrow-minded. Normally, I would go on location scouting trips several times to see what the area was like and let myself get deeply into the place, but this time was different. This time was different. It was the first time for me to work in this style, where I arrived at the location and started filming right away. I felt like a tourist a few times during the project, but I still felt a sense of familiarity with the San Fernando Valley and couldn't stop shooting. That's how this project came to be.

doneI don't remember much to be honest: after I moved to LA in 2001, I made friends who grew up in the San Fernando Valley and I loved hearing stories about the Valley from them. They had a lot more crazy stories than people who grew up in LA, and I was drawn to them because they were different from the jokey suburban-ish image I had from TV and movies. So the suburban outsiders were more unusual than their urban neighbors. Then I started studying the history of the Valley towns and became even more fascinated.

doneWe were both thinking of a name for this project and saying this and that when we passed a sign for a "Vineland" off-ramp on the highway. I suggested, "How about Vineland?" I suggested, and Clint liked it. The Valley is a very strange place. It's so vast, it's somewhat ambiguous, it's not obvious, and it has a very strong energy that's hard to describe. We tried to capture a part of it, but at the same time, we didn't know what we were trying to show. It was just a process of revealing the moment that unfolded in front of us when we went to the Valley. The statement we wrote for this exhibit most eloquently describes the city, so I'll let that speak for itself.

clintI found the Valley to be a very interesting place to live. The Valley is a very interesting place because it is deeply connected to Los Angeles, but at the same time it is a place that I would not want to be involved with at all. Geographically, Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley are on opposite sides of the city, with Los Angeles at the head, and the Valley itself is still a very large city. And the Valley has a lot of different facets. It's economically diverse, and it's interesting to see the different classes of living on different blocks. It started out as a city of people moving to the suburbs to get away from L.A., but now it's an endless series of outdoor malls and donut stores.

doneI have always believed that all photographs tell a story about "people," even if there are very few people in them. The image in the photo is only a clue to the larger story behind it. Or, they are meant to be a supplement to the story. And I think a good photo is one that makes people laugh. At the same time, I have a sense of black humor, so I always find some humor in photos that have a sad mood. But the answer to this question is mostly in the question. I just try to create images that allow the viewer to imagine a larger story.

clintMy work is all about the lives of the people around the subjects I photograph. In other words, I want to leave room for the viewer to interpret my work. In this way, the viewer can connect themselves to the work. For example, if I take a picture of a grilled cheese sandwich, I want to tell the story of the life of the person eating the sandwich at the diner. For example, a picture of a grilled cheese sandwich can convey the life of the person eating the sandwich at the diner: there are no other people's plates there, so he must be eating alone...why isn't he with his friends...? At the same time, the pictures may remind the viewers of the time they spent with friends at a diner after a night out when they were young. It may also bring back countless other memories that each viewer has. Most of my work is autobiographical, but I think everyone can connect with their own inner life.

doneI was 18 years old and working in the cafeteria of a museum, and while skipping work at the time, I came across a photography book called "Balled of Sexual Dependency" in a bookstore. I couldn't afford to buy the book, but I couldn't get that book out of my mind, and a year later I got kicked out of my writing class at school and ended up taking a photography class that day. After that, photography was the only thing that kept me going.

clintI was in high school, right? I spent most of my high school years in the high school darkroom. I was really into beatnik culture. Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg was my first favorite photographer. I was doing a lot of traveling with the band and shooting along the way, and I started thinking that I was just emulating the stories that Kerouac had written, and that's how I ended up doing photography for many years. I got out of photography in my early twenties and started again in my mid-thirties. It's been about 10 years now.

clintI was originally working in design, but the stress was causing me to have a mental breakdown. Eventually, I couldn't do design work like I used to, and I started potentially avoiding work. I don't really know what that ended up being, but I started to get intense anxiety whenever I sat down to work, and that alone caused me to stop working altogether. Then I tried photography and painting at the same time for about a year, and it just felt natural and good to be taking pictures again. Photography seemed to make more sense than painting at that time. I think that working as a photographer has probably helped me a lot in an internal sense. I put a lot of emotion into my work, and it's very good for my mental health. I don't know where I would be right now if I hadn't gone back to photography.

doneI played hockey as a kid, and I was into goth and punk in my early teens. I grew up in Minneapolis, which was full of live punk music. Music was everything. In fact, music was more powerful to me than photography. I had a band and I took it seriously. But at some point I started to distance myself. Photography is something I've done consistently since I chose it.

clint: I'm almost exactly the same way. I grew up in the suburbs of Buffalo and got into the NYC punk and hardcore scene, and spent most of my twenties in late night diners. I spent most of my twenties in late night diners because I didn't drink (I still don't). I didn't even go to bars, just hung out with friends at the diner all night long. Punk and DIY were very important to me growing up and still are. Skateboarding is what got me to where I am today.

doneI wake up in the morning, have three cups of espresso, and then go to the studio to focus on my work. I take on commercial work as well as these projects, so sometimes I have to adjust my work around them. I feel very privileged to be able to do this kind of work every day. It's so natural to me that sometimes I forget it's my job. If someone were to ask me, "How did you make a living from photography? I can only say, "Don't stop. My studio is in a great area called Atwater Village, which still has a nice old-fashioned feel to it. As soon as I get back from Japan, I'm hosting a Pop Up in my studio with my girlfriend Monica Reyes and a gallery called Nowspace. Editing a short movie, editing another photographer's book, publishing a book with CASH MACHINE, and continuing to shoot for this "Vineland" project, I have a lot of work to do and there are always a lot of plates spinning. The only thing that's always the same is the espresso (laughs).

clintI'm constantly struggling to juggle design work for "Deadbeat Club" and the books I freelance for other publishers. It's hard to make time for my own projects, but I guess I do get a little bit of it. Most of my days consist of getting up, making coffee, watching the news, mostly answering emails about the "Deadbeat Club," going to the post office to process mail orders, and then going to the office to either do freelance work or to shoot a job I'm working on. When I get home, I have dinner with my fiancé, edit the "Deadbeat Club" book I'm designing at the time, and then go to bed. It's a repetitive process.

clintDeadbeat Club" is a small publishing company that releases photo books, which I started 5 years ago. Mostly I make my own zines and those of friends I love. Sometimes I curate art shows under the name "Deadbeat Club". It's a very fun project and I'm excited to take it on. It's a fun project and I'm very grateful to the people who accept it. The name "Deadbeat Club" came from the fact that as I grew up, people started to see me and my friends as slackers who did nothing but skate and get into trouble. Now we are all professional artists, but I want to tell people that it is really hard to make a living at art. You have to get your name out there, you have to get a lot of work, and most of all, you have to be working all the time. So, as a joke, I have a company, a group? Whatever you want to call it, I named it the "Deadbeat Club.

clintI work mostly with artists I know and trust. I work mostly with artists I know and trust. I am lucky to have such talented photographer friends. Our family is always growing and expanding. I just love my work. I just love my work, and I'm always trying to figure out what's right for it. Should it be a book? A pack of postcards? How many to make? Each project is different. Each project is different, and that's the fun part!

doneOf course it will go on! I don't think it's possible to tell the whole story of this place, but I'll keep going until I think it's time to stop. But personally, I will always explore the San Fernando Valley after that.

clintI think so. I still have a lot left to do. This is really just the first round. I'd like to work on it more in depth.