Easy Pieces: Brian W. Ferry

Before focusing on photography full-time, Brian W. Ferry was living in London and working as a corporate lawyer. “What a different life,” he says looking back today. While still in law school, he started The Blue Hour, an online journal sharing photography, ruminations on life (his is Brooklyn-bound these days), and musings about music, literature, fashion. His online work has since led to commercial gigs with Starbucks, Freunde von Freunden, Bon Appétit, and Brooklyn Magazine.

What's the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is that my main objective is exploration. Whether it’s exploring a place, or a person, or an idea – new or old, familiar or unfamiliar. It’s exciting and sometimes frustrating, but I get to experience things very deeply. I constantly learn new things about the world and myself while watching and observing.

Briefly describe your strangest travel experience?
I went to Thailand with five friends in 2008 and caught a nasty stomach parasite about two days into the trip. It was terrible. I was so sick. I ate nothing but plain white rice and bananas for ten days. I had some very bizarre, feverish hallucinations and watched dubbed re-runs of Friends from the hotel room bed. After nine days of this, we had issues leaving the country because of protests that shut down main travel routes. Ultimately, we departed on our scheduled flights, but I don’t think I can ever go back to Thailand.

What person, idea, or place will we be reading about fifteen years from now as avant-garde?
I think that David Byrne even in fifteen years will still be considered avant-garde.

What is your favorite music right now that you can’t stop listening to?
I can’t stop listening to Electrelane, “Singles, B-Sides, and Live.” Mostly for the part in “I Want To Be The President” around minute 2:35, that always gets the blood pumping.

What is one thing people don't know about you?
I have number-form synesthesia. So basically I see a map of numbers in my head. I always see numerical sequences as points in space. The same applies to months of the year, days of the week, etc.. I thought everyone did this until I was about 22 years old. My father has it, too. Apparently it’s genetic.

Learn more about Brian W. Ferry HERE.

 Photos by Brian Ferry / Portrait of Ferry by M. Muller