{"id":18789,"date":"2013-05-20T08:39:28","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T08:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/?p=18789"},"modified":"2013-08-12T16:10:12","modified_gmt":"2013-08-12T16:10:12","slug":"mike-brodies-haunted-train-hopping-teenagers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2013\/05\/20\/mike-brodies-haunted-train-hopping-teenagers\/","title":{"rendered":"Emerging: Mike Brodie’s haunted, train-hopping teenagers"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Pensacola native takes to the rails to photograph a little-known youth subculture.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n People have been attracted to pictures of freewheeling, down-at-heel youth ever since Ryan McGinley<\/a> snapped his first picture of a teenage skateboarder. But Mike Brodie’s pictures are in another league; at 18, Brodie left his home in Pensacola, Florida and began hitchhiking rides on freight trains, crisscrossing across the country and photographing the strange, transient subculture of trainhopping and its itinerant followers.<\/p>\n He uploaded his Polaroids under the name Polaroidd Kid, and the pictures promptly went viral; you can figure the rest out from there. Now he’s one of the most exciting photographers of his generation. We spoke to him after his exhibition, A Brief Period of Juvenile Prosperity<\/em>, at the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York.<\/p>\n Tell us about the first time you hopped a train. Where\u2019d you get the idea from?<\/strong><\/p>\n I got the idea from a folk-punk song by a band called This Bike is A Pipe Bomb. The song is called Trains and Cops.<\/p>\n Where\u2019s the furthest you\u2019ve ever gone, or the most eventful ride you\u2019ve had?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was all one long train ride full of a lot of events, where to begin? Riding in the winter was nice, watching people ice fish on the Mississippi river in Minnesota!<\/p>\n What attracts you to that lifestyle of hopping trains?<\/strong><\/p>\n THE FREEDOM.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Talk us through the process of hopping a train – any tips?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think maybe you can find some tutorials online, if one can’t figure out how to get on a train and ride it, secretly, or if they lack the common sense or drive to figure it out they should probably stay off the trains.<\/p>\n You seem pretty drawn to people on the edge of society \u2013 squatters, addicts, etc \u2013 is that an accurate description? <\/strong><\/p>\n I’m not drawn to addicts and for the most part I’ve kept my distance from drug users, I would not encourage anyone to do hard drugs. The key here is nobody really was a subject, this entire experience was and still is my life, I took photos of people in my life. I probably would have done it all without the camera but taking photos gave me a real sense of purpose.<\/p>\n Your photos seem authentic and gritty in a way that a lot of photography of youth culture isn’t. Is that something you think about at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n No, it just comes naturally. My hands are always filthy and my clothes are always dirty, I can’t stay clean worth a damn.<\/p>\n What made you start taking photographs? <\/strong><\/p>\n The instant gratification of the polaroid.<\/p>\n You graduated from mechanic school \u2013 do you feel like a professional artist at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n Very far from, I think I would have to learn how to develop my own film and print my own photos to be “professional.”<\/p>\n Is there anything or anybody you\u2019d love to photograph, but haven\u2019t yet?<\/strong><\/p>\n I really like old guys standing around heavy machinery, I would like to photograph that.<\/p>\n Where do you think you\u2019ll be in five years time?<\/strong><\/p>\n Probably still in California, working for the railroad, raising a kid, working on my house, savin money, you know, livin’ the dream.<\/p>\n You can view more of Mike Brodie’s photography on his website. mikebrodie.net<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n