A couple hugging on a skateboard, friends dazed on a sunny beach, a girl eating Froot Loops off her bare chest: Taryn Segal’s photographs are intimate without feeling precious, soft around the edges but alert to the weirdness hiding in plain sight. Segal has been documenting the world since she was a teenager in Santa Cruz, California, when she first picked up the film camera that she still uses today. Her newly released second photo book, Snow in July, gathers encounters from New York, London, Croatia, and Australia, stringing together ordinary moments that tilt unexpectedly strange. Below, Segal talks street photography, Courtney Love, and the split-second feeling that tells her to take a picture.
Digital or film?
I only shoot on film.
Do you have a favorite camera?
I have been using the same camera since I was 14: a trusty Nikon. However, the majority of the photos in this book are shot on an Olympus Stylus, the camera I have been carrying on me in recent years.
Do you prefer to plan your shoots, or let things unfold in the moment?
Unfold in the moment by unraveling from a loose plan. I like to have a base concept to start, but once the subject and I are on the ice I like to let something natural take over.
Growing up, who were some of your influences?
Every girl my age who takes photos has been influenced by Petra Collins in one way or another. I was lucky enough to meet her at her recent book signing. All my close friends and I were all profoundly affected by Courtney Love growing up. I do kind of regret not having more influences during my teenage years. I was uncurious and angry in my hometown and didn’t explore the art I love as much as I do now, but I am happy to operate differently as an adult.
“I want the pictures I take to be recognizable like handwriting or a go-to coffee order.”
Has photography changed the way you express yourself?
Yes. It’s a goal of mine for my presence to be felt in my photographs. I want the pictures I take to be recognizable like handwriting or a go-to coffee order. I love sneaking photos of strangers as much as I love getting in their face on a busy street, but more than anything I like to test what I can get away with.
Was there a particular moment that became a starting point for Snow in July?
The title came to me last year when I had a solo show and was reviewing my work in search of something that fit. “Snow in July” fell from the sky and into my head, but I felt it worked better for a physical book that you could hold in your hands rather than an event. It stuck with me and was a target I had in sight for a while.
Why the title?
“When it snows in July” is an expression tied to odds that will never happen. The empty promise is so imaginative and surreal to me. There are moments I see on the street that feel the same as seeing snow in July, and I feel like a surrealist documenting the outlandish occasion. The world framed by a viewfinder: that is my singular focus for a fraction of time.
How do you go about photographing people in public?
This is a commonly debated topic; I am always ready for confrontation but it has yet to happen to me. I avoid photographing subject matter that relies on a stranger being down on their luck in life. The surveillance state has a lot of rightful buzz in current affairs, but street photography has been present for decades. I think it’s fundamentally important to document day-to-day life as it appears now. I see how the genre of photography is inherently selfish—even some of my favorite images I’ve taken are.
What goes through your mind when you spot a potential photograph?
It’s more of a feeling that guides me, no vocabulary in my brain other than maybe a big “yes.”
Gorgeous pics !! Bravo !!