Why did you accept the invitation to design the Summer 2024 edition of All-Story?
Because this is different from everything else I’m doing. When I do a zine for the photographic world—my friends I’ve known for years, if not decades—I’m preaching to the choir. But this seemed to be a completely different thing: a literary publication. I wanted to reach a different audience and broaden the scope of my work, which is what I’ve been doing with the documentary [Who Is Michael Jang?] and everything. I’m reaching more and more people, and I was looking forward to what this demographic might be.
Were there any surprises in the design process?
The surprises were how surprised I was in how perfectly everything was laid out. That’s rare. Usually it’s not perfect, and usually I’m not surprised.
Any challenges?
There were no challenges.
Might you offer any advice to future designers?
Just realize that the editors you’re dealing with are at the top of their game. You can give them some leeway and make it a true collaboration—take it further than you could ever dream.
What’s inspiring you of late?
I often am attracted to something that I don’t understand. I remember when I first didn’t get [photographer] William Eggleston: I kept studying him till I got his aesthetic. It’s like that. There is a lot of music, often jazz, that I have to listen to repeatedly, too.
The Smithsonian Institution called me up and wanted to know if they could acquire my archives, which is a big honor. I thought they wanted zines and books and photos, but they saw a stack of journals that I’ve been writing since college—I’m in my 70s, so we’re talking maybe four decades and a foot-and-a-half-tall stack of books, handwritten, sloppy—and said, “That is gold to us.” I thought, “Wow.” I’m a photographer, and I wasn’t really educated in the sense of reading books and doing well in English class; I knew I wasn’t going to be a writer. But my writings are going to be in the Smithsonian! They want to know who I am deep down.
The other day I was thinking about my age, which is 73, so I Googled celebrities who are in their 70s. I found Tom Waits, Patti Smith, and Jeff Bridges. I thought, “They’re all doing great!” That’s inspiring.