Alice Magazine NYC - Chapter 3

SI: Kim Meinelt is actually my wife. She is also a photographer and a visual artist. We
have done several big trips together to southeast Asia, which is one of our favorite
places to travel. Vietnam was a big trip we did in 2014. We were there for a month and
traveled through the whole country. We had the idea of doing a book from the very
beginning, so it was basically just a reflection of our travels. The images in the book
are both mine and Kim’s images. It was one of the first times we actively decided to
not take credit for individual images. The book was a combination of both of us, and
we felt the images belonged to both of us.
AM: Your upcoming exhibit at Collier West Gallery is also with Kim. How did this
exhibit come to be?
SI: Yes, the Collier West gallery is also with my wife, Kim. We have exhibited together
a few times now, and hope to do more in the future. This show is also a combination
of our photography, and again, we are not taking credit for individual photos.
We have called our photo husband and wife team, waxenvine. This exhibition came
about through meeting the gallery owner through some mutual friends, and she loved
the work. We’ve broken the show in into two parts: one is a vision of New York - very
moody images of buildings, people, street scenes. The other is a series of portraits
that have been manipulated and double exposed. We’ve been calling this ongoing
portrait series “haunted”.
AM: Digital photography has become such a main component in the industry. What
compels you to continually shoot film?
SI: Yes digital photography has definitely taken over. It is a great tool that I have
embraced. For a lot of jobs, film photography is simply too expensive and too timeconsuming.
However, film is still a great medium and I still use the darkroom and film
cameras for a lot of my work. I have also been experimenting with bouncing backand-forth
between digital and analog. Manipulating images digitally, and then bringing
them into the darkroom environment and printing them traditionally. The combinations
are endless, and it’s great to be able to use both.
AM: In the future what do you hope to accomplish in your work? Are there any personal
projects you have in mind?
SI: I hope to do more future projects with Kim, under the umbrella of waxenvine. I
am also excited about using new photography equipment and blending it with traditional
ideas and techniques. I always love finding new models and people to photograph.
I also look forward to new travel opportunities and adventures. I am a big
maker of books, so I’m sure there will be many new books in the near future.