10 Questions with Rick Bogacz

THE ORIGINAL ISSUE10 Art Magazine | Featured Artist

Based in Toronto, Canada, Rick Bogacz specializes in black and white landscapes, minimal abstracts, and street photography.  Rick worked as a print journalist in Canada earlier in his career but returned to school in the mid-1990s to study photography – which was always a personal passion - more extensively. After graduating from Humber College, he worked temporarily as a freelance photographer and writer, combining the production of images with his earlier-acquired reporting skills.
Rick then moved into digital media working for several companies such as AOL, Microsoft, and Quebecor Media as a news content strategist and people manager. He kept taking photographs throughout this period and is currently exploring other techniques such as long exposures to develop his vision of the environments around him.

www.rickbogaczphotography.com | @rickbogaczphotography

ARTIST STATEMENT

Throughout the time that Rick Bogacz has pursued art in the photographic form, his goal has always been to leverage the essentialist mindset when producing an image. In other words, the idea is to train the eye on what is truly important, to prioritize what is vital. 
The search for clarity in this regard is ongoing and leads to leveraging the editor’s experience that Rick has when composing what is in the frame. So often, it is more of a struggle to decide what to take out rather than what to leave in. 
During COVID, Rick felt one of the ways to cope with the isolation was to venture outside and study the environment around me, particularly natural landscapes where the Earth, water, and sky combine to create a certain cohesion for the viewer. 
Influenced by painters such as Edward Hopper and Canadian Christopher Pratt, at times, Rick’s images will show lone figures walking through the frame or standing alone contemplating their surroundings. Other photographs will emphasize the natural elements themselves but in a solitary way. 
Rick also relies heavily on negative space to create this remoteness that perhaps speaks to the vastness of the country where he lives and our current state of mind given the times we live in.

INTERVIEW

First of all, tell us a bit about your background and studies. What kind of education or training helped you develop your approach to art and photography?

I was largely self-taught early on, trying to emulate photographers like James Nachtwey and Mary Ellen Mark. I am not sure I was very successful, so in the early 90s I decided it was time to change direction career-wise and receive some formal training, so I enrolled in the photography program at Humber College in Toronto. Once I graduated, I was taking on contract projects as both a reporter and a photographer, mostly for publications in Ontario. I believe the photojournalism experience I acquired helped me to work quickly and be disciplined about adhering to strict deadlines. I am now based in Toronto and concentrating on landscape and abstract work.   

You started as a journalist and approached photography at a later time. Why did you decide to follow this path? How much does your journalist background help or influence your photographic work? Do you build your photo series following narration as you would do when writing a piece of news?

At the time, I felt I had to make a decision about doing something concrete about fulfilling the passion I always had for photography. I enjoyed being a reporter, but creating images was at a whole other level for me. And the news photographers I worked with at the time also seemed to be having a lot of fun capturing the day-to-day life within our community. I think one of the biggest impacts my journalism career gave me when it comes to taking pictures is prioritizing what's important to the viewer. Like any editor, you're taking out what is unnecessary to make the work more meaningful both for yourself and the viewer. I also don't really follow a narration per se when creating a series of photos. Whether it's landscapes or abstracts, I am being inspired by what is presented in front of me and whether I can create a lasting impression.

Let's talk about your creative process. You either work with black and white images or with colorful abstract compositions. What aspect of your work do you pay particular attention to?

Whether it be black and white or color abstracts, I try to approach my work from a minimalist's perspective. As I mentioned earlier, it's always harder to decide what to remove than what to leave in. But generally, I find that editing unnecessary aspects of an image is always the most rewarding aspect of the process.

You mention Edward Hopper and Christopher Pratt as your source of inspiration. Is there any other artist or photographer you reference in your work?

Michael Kenna has become a strong influence lately, particularly in my landscape work. His images have a certain atmosphere about them that is ethereal.  

Let's talk about your "Abstract" series. You seem to have recurring colors that you always incorporate in your photographs. Do they have any specific meaning for you? How did you choose them?

Shooting exterior abstracts is a whole different type of animal from landscapes or street. I am looking for bright sunny days where the shadows are long and distinct. The sky is always a deep blue, and if I get lucky, I can find walls or structures with clean surfaces that contain primary colors that make the image pop. Then it becomes a matter of how to frame the image for a unique outcome. What really fascinated me early on is that I began to see these interesting abstract shapes in what were generally thought to be mundane structures and surfaces. These observations, I believe, helped improve how I saw potential subjects across all photographic genres. 

In your statement, you quote the pandemic as a driving force that allowed you to rediscover the landscapes and environment around you. How important was your practice to overcome the hardships of isolation?

Like a lot of places around the world, we here in Canada had to endure various lockdowns during the pandemic. But a creative surge actually seemed to grow out of that. We could still venture outside, so the best thing to overcome the impact of Covid-19 was to get out and photograph the environment around me. For me, taking pictures is a solitary experience anyway, so I didn't really feel impacted by the hardships of isolation that others may have experienced. 

Do you think your photography would have reached the same results without the pandemic? In other words, do you believe what we experienced collectively over the past two years had a significant impact on your practice? 

I don't think there was too much of an impact. The process by which I create images did not really change all that much. What did change was the ability to be part of a photographic community, share best practices with others, visit galleries, take courses, etc. Hopefully, we will see a turnaround in the near future. 

Let's talk about the future. What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?

I continue to hone my skills in landscape photography, experimenting with long exposures. What I like particularly about this process is that it forces one to slow down, and really think about the information that is going into the camera and what the outcome will be. I have also been putting together a series of winter images, particularly farm fields, fences, and freshly fallen snow in rural areas north of Toronto. The contrast between the subject matter has an interesting look to me. 

Finally, any shows, galleries, or publications where our readers can find your work?

I am currently working with the Elaine Fleck Gallery in Toronto to show two pieces during this spring's upcoming Contact Photo Festival in Toronto. I am also always updating my social media accounts on Instagram, Linkedin, and Facebook.