Are normal things boring, or are boring things normal? Maybe the words are entirely synonymous. But creating photographs of the normal and boring places we exist in everyday can be everything but mundane. Jon Laytner’s work is a prime example of this. With images that surprise, delight, and make us double-take to try to understand what exactly is happening within their borders, Laytner turns the everyday into a world of intrigue.
Jon Laytner is a photographer working out of Toronto who has gained a sort of urban-legend status—known to many only by his surprisingly memorable Instagram handle ‘@normalandboring’. Laytner has his own colour darkroom and produces much of his work in the isolation of this windowless room with all of the lights turned off. Earlier this May myself and Ethan Yoshitomo of 198 had the chance to visit Laytner’s studio and find out more about the specialized processes behind much of his work, as well his general approach and philosophy regarding the medium of photography. A full feature on the Normal and Boring studio visit will be included in 198 Magazine Issue 02 ‘DECONSTRUCTED’ later this year.
For now, enjoy a short preview of our conversation below.
Brendan Stade.
Ethan: Outside of the commissioned work that you do, when it comes to authentic versus staged images, how do you feel about the authenticity of the images you take out on the street at events? These events are not necessarily staged but, you might have a good idea of what you might get in a photo. How do you approach that kind of thing?
Jon: I just go take a camera and be in the place. None of the work I do involves staging images actually. Typically when an assignment or commission comes in it's because an individual or company is interested in what I do, which is take pictures of real life. In my personal work I seek out certain events or gatherings that may lend themselves well to the types of photographs I'm interested in, however as far as I'm concerned the final images are only seen when they are seen as photographs. I want to be surprised by the result of photographing rather than have the result be an affirmation of some kind.
If I could see the world like a good picture does, I would just look at it and not have to use a camera. Essentially I make these things (photographs) because I want to see them and I print them because I want to see the prints and collect them. I like prints. Making my own colour prints came from a desire to collect colour prints from the photographers I'm most interested in. They all worked through a time when printing in a darkroom was the standard method, and the original prints have become extremely rare and expensive over time. They are more or less inaccessible to me. It wasn't long until I came to the conclusion that I should just build a colour darkroom in my kitchen and try to make my own.
Brendan: The thing is, I don’t think most people would jump to that option immediately [haha].
Jon: Well you know.. I’m clearly a fucking psychopath [haha].
Brendan: But that’s a part of what makes you so interesting though, like, that you have to do it that way.
Jon: Well I mean now it’s a different story. Like now making my prints is an unbelievable expense, but back then in 2017 the film, paper and chemistry were all very affordable, and lots of people were giving away their darkroom equipment for free. Setting up my darkroom only put me out a few hundred dollars. At the time I saw it as a very practical solution to a problem I was having. And prior to building it I was having these 5x7 work prints made at Best Image in Parkdale. A set of 5x7's or a few 8x10's would cost about $30 per visit. And they weren’t great prints, and I realized I could do it cheaper and better straight from the negative at home…
Brendan: Is there something about an optical print that you feel is better than other kinds of prints? An authenticity of sorts?
Jon: There is a feeling I definitely have towards the real deal, they have a certain indescribable specialness. But they’re not always better. I mean they’re certainly not as long-lasting as modern pigment prints. They’ll fade or shift, and it's kind of a crapshoot about when, or how much. And even in my time printing I have seen my own prints shift.
I had this one print up in my place which I didn’t have behind UV glass or anything. It got a lot of direct sunlight over the course of a few years. I think there were 40 copies of this specific print and quite a few of them are out there in the world. But I still have a few for myself in a box in storage. I looked at them recently and they're all still identical to one another while the one I had on the wall for years shifted warm with a magenta cast. I actually prefer that one to the others now.
Ethan: Do you have any of them here? Or are they back at your place?
Jon: Those ones are all at home stored under my bed. I sleep on top of three flat-file storage cabinets stacked on top of one another [haha]. They're stacked high enough that when I sit up first thing in the morning my hair touches the ceiling.
Brendan: [haha] So you’re like, on your photos.
Jon: Oh yeah. A lot of the prints are at home in those drawers and my bed is on top of those. The ones I've made more recently are here in the studio.
*Excerpt taken from Normal and Boring studio visit—Issue 02 DECONSTRUCTED*
Jon Laytner is a Toronto based photographer who focuses on capturing the normal and boring side of everyday life. Most of his work is produced in his own colour darkroom studio.
https://www.instagram.com/normalandboring/?hl=en
