The World Through Photographer Marc Gabor's Point of View

Rip & Tan: Tell us a bit about your background. What initially drew you to photography as your primary art form?

Marc Gabor: I was always into taking pictures as a kid, but didn’t start seeing photography as an art form until I started looking at other photographers in college. What I like about photography is that it has become a tool that I use to explore the world around me. There’s an immediacy to it that is very satisfying. If I see something that captures my attention, I can turn that into a picture right then and there. I really appreciate other art forms, but photography suits my energy and attention span. Now that I’m getting older and have more patience I’m starting to explore slower processes.

Rip & Tan: What inspires you? How have your travels inspired you?

Marc Gabor: I think on a fundamental level, I feed off the energy around me. I use the word energy pretty loosely because it could be the energy I feel from being in a big city or being in nature. When I get excited by my surroundings, I just want to capture it all and I can’t stop taking pictures. That’s probably why I like traveling so much. Because when I’m taking in so many new experiences—meeting people, seeing new things, trying new foods—it sparks my curiosity and I feel very inspired.

Rip & Tan: Where did you take these particular prints (Aratika, Bolsa Chica, and Vaita Blues) in this collection?

Marc Gabor: I actually took Bolsa Chica on Christmas morning. It’s right by my cousin’s house and we went surfing before opening presents. It’s a beach picture, but to me, it looks like Christmas.

Vaita Blues was taken at the base of a headland in Tahiti that I would often go to as a kid. There was something about the way the waters moved around that cliff, the colors of the ocean and cliffs, it wasn’t your typical paradisiacal landscape so naturally I was drawn to it. There’s really no other spot on the island like it. Once you step off those rocks there’s 800ft of Pacific below you.

Aratika was taken from an airplane. It is a tiny atoll in the Tuamotus. My family has had land there since before I was born and it’s always been a special place to go to. It’s very remote and the landscape is pristine. The atolls in the Tuamotus are kind of like the desert of the South Pacific. There’s not a lot of freshwater, it’s flat and the biggest land animals are these giant coconut crabs. There’s no light pollution, no noise pollution, and you can really experience that sense of endless expanse that makes me feel very small.

Rip & Tan: What kind of types of photography are you drawn to?

Marc Gabor: I’m a big fan of art house, foreign, and cult films. I love going to revival theaters and seeing something totally unexpected. It’s kind of a similar feeling to when I’m traveling. I’m drawn to films that use shots that evoke a lot of feeling and emotion even if there’s nothing else going on.

Probably the first photographer that had a big impact on me was Robert Frank. The Americans has this incredible sequencing that reminds me of a classic album or something. I love the narrative that a guy from Switzerland ended up making the definitive photography book about America in the mid-century. It makes perfect sense to me, as a foreigner he must have been fascinated by everything he saw.

As for more contemporary photography, I really like what some photographers and filmmakers are doing with their phones. I think it’s a natural evolution of street photography. Photographers like Sam Youkilis, Chloe Pang, and Hannah La Follete Ryan are really using the medium to create something that feels fresh and of our time. I’ve also been really into this photographer, Arko Datto. He captures these wild colors that are obviously artificial but somehow feel like that’s what it was really like to be there. It’s hard to explain but definitely worth having a look at.

Rip & Tan: What about travel vs. home? Do you feel really inspired by where you live, do you feel more inspired when you travel?

Marc Gabor: I definitely feel more inspired when I travel. I feel like I have come into myself. All the worries and anxieties of daily life get put on the shelf and I can really be in the moment, which is a very desirable state of mind to be in when creating anything.

I love being home too but it can be hard to find the inspiration to create new work with all the responsibilities and routines of daily life. That said, I’ve been trying to create more opportunities for myself to make new work without packing a suitcase.