Take a RAW TRIP.

Alberto Newton, a Colombian photographer, has created a visual journal of his latest roadtrip across the US titled “Raw Trip.” By shooting on film and manipulating the digital media in unique ways, Newton’s work reflects the incredible perception of art that he carries and teaches us to look outside of the “norm.”

 

PULP: What is Raw Trip?

NEWTON: Raw Trip is an on-going project that was born in response to the urge we felt for going on a road trip and trying to capture simple moments, portraits of unusual characters on the go or landscapes without a coherent story or aesthetic presentation. From there comes the technical experimentation of giving entrance to all human errors that can occur in the process of developing, Scanning and Blowing-up to take advantage of those “errors” and obtain a final print that mixes digital and analog glitches.

I shoot 35mm and 120 film that then I developed in nonprofessional laboratories that use C41 machines with no maintenance whatsoever and old chemicals that do not preserve the quality of the negatives at all, As a result, we get dirty negatives scratched with dust and flares of light, chemical stains, over-exposed,  that then we scan in low-res and we blow-up in prints.

In summary, Raw Trip is born as a rebellion against the obsessive search for the Maximum Quality of Digital Formats like HD or 4K.

 

 

PULP: Tell us about a Fun road trip experience.

NEWTON: Well, I don’t know if it was fun, but it sure was memorable. On my first roadtrip that it was from NYC to LA through the south of the us, the first stop was Northfolk, Virginia, a city heavily hit by the crack epidemic (didn’t know that at the time) I arrive late at night and the idea of this trips was always to stay in cheap highway motels. I parked my car in front of the room, I took out my gear and my bag while a weird looking dude cleaning with a broom outside the motel, (I thought he was the concierge, later that day I found out he was not) I went inside my room to leave my stuff, then I went back outside, and ask the dude if he could help me find some weed. This dude told me that of Course he will grant me the favor in exchange for extra cash so he could buy some for him.  Long story short, I bought my weed, and he bought himself 5 dollars worth of crack.  I went back to my room, role myself a joint, and went outside to smoke it and found these two soldiers from a local naval base.I shared with them a couple of beers and the joint. 

 

NEWTON: It was late so I went back to my room, super stoned by the way, and then I heard a knock on the door, it was the weird dude that help me out with the weed with another friend twice as big. They saw me from the window so there was no other option that to open the door. They ask me if they can smoke in my room, I felt a bit intimidated so I said yes. They went inside, sat at a small wooden table, and started talking and smoking their crack pipe.  We shared a few laughs, but them things got a bit out of hand when they both were so cracked out of their mind that paranoia started hitting hard. They were so paranoid they even though I was a cop. The bathroom door was open, they even thought there was a guy standing inside. Let's remember I was super high for the joint I smoked before. Then Both of this dudes started acting  so paranoid that I got a little scared and annoyed so I found some courage and I told them to leave, that I needed to sleep and it was late. surprisingly they took it well, they left, said thank you. Obviously once they left I took the same table and chairs and put it against the door, locking myself in with the lights on. Pretty scary experience.

 

 

 

PULP: Weed or Booze?

NEWTON: Weed all the way.

 

PULP: What are your influences?

NEWTON: I've got a handful of influences in photography from different times or aesthetics, I’d say William Eggleston, Jeff Wall, Alec Soth, in terms of street photography and their use of color, in terms of fashion we can talk about Guy Bourdin, Johnny Dufort, of course, Jeurgen Teller, Ina Lekiewicz, Petra Collins, Paolo Zerbini, Laura Thompson, Xiangyu Liu, Araki, Casper Sejersen, and could on and on writing paragraphs about all of my influences and visual references. 

 

 

PULP: What's a perfect Sunday for you?

NEWTON: A perfect sunday for me starts with a ‘Wake and Bake’, Go have a french toast with my son, visit some museum or gallery with him and then probably a nap and in the afternoon a delicious lunch, maybe some wine with friends and at night, a movie at home, nothing to extravagant just rest and family time.

 

 

 

 

 

PULP: When you need a boost, what are some movies that get you motivated?

NEWTON: Ooh! This one is as hard as the previous one. I love the early Tarantino Films, Inherent Vice by Paul Thomas Anderson. Inception or the Batman Trilogy by Christopher Nolan, Paris Texas from Win Wenders, Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia. It also depends on my current mood, like movies from Tony and Ridley Scott, they can be very inspiring. Also, action movies, like Heat from Michael Mann, anyway, there are many that it's almost impossible to make a list. If I want to watch classic films I like the French New Wave a lot, Godard, Tuffaut, Clouzot. So it really depends on the mood. 

 

PULP: What do you think people will be wearing in 50 years?

NEWTON: Ok so being a little fatalist, In 50 years we will be facing an age in humanity where we all be on survival mode. I don’t think the fashion industry will be as relevant as it is today.We will be wearing utility clothes more than anything, for the lifestyle that we will have at that moment. Denim, cotton, and natural and/o recycle fabrics, or whatever we come up with to protect ourselves from the extreme climate.

 

 

 

PULP: Film or Digital?

NEWTON: Film all the way, or old digital formats, I am a sucker for film. I love every variation that can happen in the process of film. The not knowing what to expect as a result, the space for surprise and lucky mistakes; 

But of course with a lot of experience you might be able to have a little bit of control over those mistakes.

Regarding digital format, (not that I have something against it), sometimes I use it depending on the project, but I always get a little uncomfortable with absolute perfection. For me extreme quality tends to be boring. 

 

PULP: For you, what is the essence of photography?

NEWTON: Wow this is a hard one, depending on every artist's relationship with their camera, to me photography is a tool that allows me to capture things that I want to keep, some of them are things I see on the streets or projects I do besides fashion. The essence is, for instance, what each of us can see in those photos. I think the essence of photography comes from the audience rather than the creator.

PULP: Out of all 7 billion people in this world, who's your favorite?

NEWTON: My kid.

 

Any advice on which road to take?

Always the road less traveled.