GAIJIN: The Arevalo Brothers

Andrew D. McClees (ADM): Thanks for agreeing to do this interview! for those not familiar with you, could you both briefly introduce yourselves and describe your work together, and as individuals?

Andrew Arevalo: Hello! My name is Andrew Arevalo. I wouldn't label my work as one thing such as "street photography" because I tend to take photos of anything that catches my attention. Lately my work is all Black and White for the simplicity of it and discovery of space within myself and other people. Me and Anthony's work are very separate, even as twin brothers. I have noticed we'll come across the same subject and take completely different photos. 

Anthony Arevalo:  Hey I'm Anthony, Andrew's twin brother and vice versa. I work full time at Samy's Camera and have taken photos for the past 6 years now. Interest includes cycling, skating, music, anime, and some art which all have gotten tangled in my little journey of photography. Those things can explain themselves when it comes to explaining what kind of photos I have made around them, but I guess it's the stuff when those all are absent that gets trickier to put into words. Lately I have been finding my photos having less and less people... Lately I've been trying to capture the mundane, feelings I don't quite understand, and trying to start a narrative of a lonely landscape in such a dense world. This book in particular though ties in a lot of stuff I enjoy very dearly in a different world from my own. I definitely wouldn't mind making this a yearly habit.

ADM: We're here talking about your upcoming (or recently released) book Gaijin -- can you give me an overview of what the book is about, and what it means to you?

Andrew Arevalo: The overview of our coming book, Gaijin (slang for foreigner/outsider) is just our view on how we romanticized Japan as it has been a dream of ours to visit for a long time now. It's a lot of firsts for me, first time out of the country, first time in Japan, first time doing a book vs a zine, first time planning a solo show (with my brother of course) . It's a milestone in my photography in how work gets produced and how it is received I am so thankful for everyone's support through the whole project.

Anthony Arevalo: Gaijin is a collection of photos by two twin brothers that have shared lots of similar interests. As a close follower of skating, music, art, and track bike culture (vs cycling in general), Japan has been a very sought out place to expand your reach and exposure. Not saying that you go to gain popularity but to gain a understanding and appreciation for what you love. I now see and understand what was once something a wide eyes teenager could only dream of. And I got to do it with, and I don't admit it enough, one of my best friend I could ever ask for, Andrew, my twin brother. Model after what I feel like a travel journal slash Japanese photo book? This book highlights truly one of the best experience I have made in my life so far.

ADM: I've made a few books now, but I've never actually worked with another person directly on the same book. What was the process of working on a collaborative book like? Did you know you were going to end up publishing one book together rather than two separate books or zines?

Andrew Arevalo: The process was somewhat natural, being twins and growing up together we have very similar tastes in pretty much everything to a certain degree. But we had a lot of help getting our creative ideas out onto paper and design. Our friend, Daniel Lurvey, is a graphic designer for a living and wanted something fun to work on outside of work and absolutely nailed the cover design and helped us with a more creative approach for the layout. My partner, Amara Higuera, did some lovely writing for the intro that me and Anthony would never have came up with. Through each process we sat down, gave our thoughts, and all agreed during every step. 

Anthony Arevalo:  Honestly it was bound to happen. Why wouldn't twins do a collaborative project? I knew even before we got on the plane that I wanted to do a book with Andrew and that all the photos I made would be purely for that reason. Other than that we just took photos like normal and worried about the rest later. 

ADM: I have to imagine with two separate photographers you had a pretty massive photo pool to pull from -- you've edited the final set into a really nice, concise pool of photos -- what was the selection and sequencing process like?

Andrew Arevalo: We each narrowed down our own individual photos, each of us shooting about 20 rolls. When we picked our favorites we tried to see how it would layer together and narrowed it more from there. As an outside perspective Daniel arranged the photos and it was all of our ideas to have the table of contents in the back to keep the book simple and less clustered.

Anthony Arevalo: If I remembered right I had at least 200 photos I truly liked out of the 14 rolls of film I shot. I later thin that down to a little less than 100. From there we actually had our friend Daniel layout everything out (that's why everything looks so nice) and he essentially thin it down to what it is now with only a few photos being swapped out. Pretty much we just trusted our friend Daniel and obviously he delivered.

ADM: You both make the statement/observation ( also apparent throughout the book) that despite being twins you both have distinctly different shooting styles  -- what do you think informs that? Can you both talk about your influences, shared and otherwise -- and do you find that your hobbies and interests outside photography influence your photography -- if so how?

Andrew Arevalo: I think me and my brother have very similar influences as were always sharing stuff we like with each other. We both have the same hobbies essentially but I really think it just comes down to being individuals and no two photos from two different people can be 100% alike. We're both into skating,cycling, and music and I definitely think they influence my photos outside of those hobbies with different perspectives and learning from taking photos in those separate environments.

Anthony Arevalo: I feel like Andrew's photo definitely have more people in them and mine doesn't always have people in them. Other than that I feel like we share the same theme of trying to photograph emotions. As a young photographer I feel like my influences aren't that mature, meaning most of my influences are just probably just the norm usually. But my main influences at the moment would be Clint Woodside, Robert Adam, Araki Nobuyoshi, Dennis McGrath, William Eggleston, and Alec Soth. Of course most of my interest like music, skating, and cycling inspire me tons in photography and life in general. Photographers in all those aspects, at least in the subcategories I follow, have always been linked back to separating from the norm, rebels. I feel like I would want to follow that path.

ADM: How did you find it different to shoot over in Japan, rather than back here in America?

Andrew Arevalo: We definitely got a bit of a "foreigner pass". I felt like it was "easy" to take street photos in Japan because of the culture of being non confrontational, with that being said it wasn't like I was in everyone's face and invading direct privacy I took photos like I normally do but felt less of a chance for a negative response as I have gotten sometimes before.

Anthony Arevalo: Aside from being completely new Japan was a very comfortable place to photograph once I got comfortable which was probably after our 2nd day? The cultural / language barrier did help but as John Sypal would tell anyone, just wear a smile and you'll be fine photographing on the streets of Japan. I had some people giggle after taking some silly photos or giving me a polite wave. We didn't have too much issues; aside from one time when I popped a flash into a police box and they then stopped us down the street claiming they're doing a random search due to Roppangi having a drug problem at the moment.

ADM: What was the key moment for each of you where you knew "this is something different?" Did you document it in the book?

Andrew Arevalo: I felt it as we arrived at the airport, with immigration and the ads right off the plane. With the people at the train station right outside the airport it feels very clichè to say but it felt like being in another world.

Anthony Arevalo: Honestly I don't think our photos are the most unique in this book. What's different is that usually I feel like most Japan travel books/zines are made by not only people who have gone before, but also have friends (as in probably more than a few?) Before going. This is different ‘cause we're almost completely in the shadow going into this, it's also fully self funded and not being made by a publishing label (no matter how much I joke with Clint about it).

ADM: I noticed you both seem to stick with black and white for most of the book, but there's a good bit of color mixed in -- is this an intentional commentary, or is it in line with both of your regular shooting styles?

Andrew Arevalo: Most of the b&w photos are mine, as that has been my preference for the last couple of years. But with hopes of the Cherry Blossoms blooming (we had just missed the big bloom as we were leaving) I knew I needed at least a couple of rolls of color but looking back at it now the high contrast flash stuff I had gotten with Cherry Blossoms in the background I yet again do not see a NEED for color film anywhere.

Anthony Arevalo: The fact that it's mostly black and white is mostly cause of Andrew. He has been sticking to just black and white film for a little more than a year. I like to mix it up, I usually don't shoot the same film twice in a row and I like to alternate between color and b&w. So by that logic the book is probably 3/4 b&w. I shot 7 rolls of color and 7 of black and white. 

ADM: Looking forward, you're both headed back to japan again this year -- will you make another volume of the book? What do you think will be different this time around?

Andrew Arevalo: I don't believe we'll make Gaijin a series but rather produce something else. This time around we are going with a couple of friends from Middle School that will be visiting for the first time and take photos as well. We will be making something less serious and simpler as a group.

Anthony Arevalo: Everyone has been asking if we are going to expand on our book or do another volume since we haven't printed our current one. No we're not going to expand or continue our book Gaijin. Gaijin is meant, at least to me, a one off chapter in our journey of self discovery. What's different this time around is we're going to Japan this time with our childhood friends Yao and Ernesto. While we are planning to make a zine vs a book this time it will definitely be different. It'll be more of a travel log/Journal vs a photo essay of sort that we are currently working on.

ADM: For someone on the fence about taking on a big trip or a project during a big trip like that, that requires them to take a leap of faith, what advice can you give?

Andrew Arevalo: You can't ever produce something unless you take the steps into the process. But for our project it grew naturally. As photographers that are fans of anything printed matter we naturally knew we would take a ton of photos and they would need a home.

Anthony Arevalo: Don't over think it. All I knew I want to do before getting on the plane was I wanted to make a book and that I want to have a show to release it if possible. I bugged so many people about things before I even had anything to show them. The only advice I can give is just shoot. Shoot and figure it out later, everything will form eventually. Give it as much time as you think it needs. The only practical advice I can give is if you have a issue with the sheer amount of stuff you have like I did, try removing things that don't meet a common theme, go through your selection serval times and then after you do don't look at it for a while and come back to it after the honeymoon phase is over.

ADM: When can we expect gaijin to release? What plans do you have for the book -- I know you'd mentioned a gallery show? Where can we buy a copy?

Andrew Arevalo:  We have yet to settle on a release date yet. Trying to figure out the best time to drop all of the money on printing and setting a date for the show is what's keeping us back but we are very close to finalizing! It will definitely be this year I hope. The plan is to have the show as a release party and sell the books there, with a dvd of b side moments on Super 8 by Anthony and some other unique gifts to go with the book. If we happen to have any left overs after the show we will sell them through Instagram to anyone interested and a few through These Days where we will hopefully have the show but it will be a somewhat limited run.

Anthony Arevalo: Hopefully we'll have plans for a show end of February if somehow possible, if not it will be after March. I want the book to release at the time of said show. Obviously you can buy a copy at the show, if not we're hoping to leave a few at These Days in downtown for them to sale. Other than that you'll just have to ask us directly to get one. We're assuming mostly friends will be purchasing copies of our books so thank you in advance for your interest. Books are going to be bundled with a DVD of super8 footage I took on the trip and hopefully we'll be able to included a couple of postcards as well. Once again thank you to Andrew for having us!!!