We’re back with our exclusive interview of photographer Janine Gordon. On Friday she told us about a Latino boy, cuffed, gagged and blindfolded, squirming on her bed. Today she decided to highlight her portrait of Mike, a young wrestler.

The image above is titled Wrestlers-2. What can you tell us about these two guys?
I was friendly with one of them from the gym which I went to daily. Mike [right] was super sexy with huge lips and a perfect face and body, he could have done anything to me then. But I didn’t follow up with him in that way for some reason.

Any anecdote about the shooting?
They first started off their wrestling moves in my DUMBO [neighborhood Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass] loft, and by the third roll they were wrestling in their underwear.

What’s the most important quality a photographer needs to have?
A sense of timing. It’s funny for me to say this, I guess, since I am also a rapper. But for the very first time I just realized that the dualistic passions in my life have a silver chord threading the dynamics of rap music and photography thru the very nature of timing. Then you need a vision, of course.

Do you feel that your identity changes when you lift the camera to your eye? Do you act differently?
Actually not, shooting is very natural for me, it’s almost like my physical third eye. The prism in the camera itself echoes my third eye which is basically open. Since everything is so spontaneous to my shooting experience, almost like freestylin’, I wouldn’t say that I do something out of the ordinary for me.

In general, during a session, how many pics would you say you take to find “the right one”?
I have a high success rate. If I had one roll of film and a situation I could literally have half a roll filled with bangers. Masterpieces are slightly different and have a lower frequency. For example, I was recently commissioned by one of my art dealers to do a portrait of him, and he was totally shocked that in the 6 rolls of film we had at least 60 hot photos and he was hoping only for one. Ultimately we printed only 5 which are on my website. The right ones for us were those that looked more like art than fashion or portraiture. I printed them huge, about 40″x50″ and they look like paintings, maybe Mapplethorpe meets Rauschenberg.

How do you know that a photo is really good?
A photo can be good on many levels — the light, the aesthetic, the concept or the technical efficiency. Much of what we see today in media, or even ‘commercial photography’ is lacking soul, and devoid of spirituality. Anyone can learn a technique, and there are many technophobes riding on the aesthetic of the designed, confined and refined, and ultimately residing with the uninspired.

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
The grit of an old boxing gym, the dirt of a mosh pit, the sound of a motorcycle doing a wheelie down a few blocks of streets. The body of Barack Obama! (laughs) Only kidding.

I’m intrigued by seduction, desire and the power of the image. I get turned on very easily, but I like to hold back a little and try not to overproduce. I am more inspired by an idea which may take months to plan than a fetishistic pattern of formulaic devices.

I am ruled by my emotions and need to creatively challenge the concept of beauty using nontraditional subjects of beauty. What made a master painter like Rembrandt or Tintoretto chose their subjects? I think there is a underlying curiosity to portray a magical moment, or the notion of capturing a spiritual moment. Painters like Vermeer, labored over the end product of their paintings to locate “the perfect moment “, the immortal impregnation of an image into history. Since the introduction of the camera on Earth, we can capture these moments in many aspects of everyday life. I’m not saying that anyone can be a great photographer, or a great rapper or a great painter, nor am I saying that the medium is the message, but merely noting that it’s a combination of deliberation, delivery, integrity and clarity of vision that makes any art worth creating.

What turns you off?
I hate fake and contrived. Contrary to mainstream society, I am not attracted to the polished finish of a digitized world. But what really turns me off is seeing my work re-done by another artist who is claiming originality and gaining notoriety for my art. The worst thing is last week it was suggested that I may be following in Ryan McGinley’s shoes when in fact, his work has often echoed mine.

What is the one lasting impression you want to leave in your photos?
I want my work to transcend the depths of time, like a Greek sculpture, or a Seurat painting. Although I use hyper contemporary or localized subcultures as subjects, just as we can look at a Whistler painting and not have the familiarity of being on the high seas, or a Caravaggio painting which reverberates the desires of the Vatican, I want to express an oddity in a moment, a synchronicity that mysteriously manifests from the chaos of a situation. I want my work to resonate a sense of fearless urgency that engages the viewer.

The Wrestlers series is part of Janine Gordon’s giveaway holiday sale on some of her 11″x14″ photographs, starting at just $150 for one print, instead of the usual $1000 gallery price. Wretslers 1 and 2 are in the gallery below, along with Tesao, one of our favorites.

Janine Gordon’s Holiday Sale page