Talia Herman captures rural California life
- Text by Andrea Kurland
- Photography by Talia Herman
Talia Herman is a San Francisco-based documentary photographer who trained at the International Centre of Photography in New York City. Now, having returned to her Northern California roots, she is reconnecting with the region’s residual counterculture through an ongoing project called Queer Habits about a rural non-profit founded by a group of drag queens that raises funds for the local community.
A regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek and Wired, Talia’s assignment work sees her capturing the personal stories behind the headlines – from people living on the breadline to victims of rape – with the same sensitivity that defines her personal work, which centres mostly on family and friends in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County.
In our ongoing series Answers On A Postcard – an existential visual Q&A – Talia sifts through an ambient archive of hot summer moments, butt-naked muses and rural California life and retrieves the stills that dig the deepest.
Answers On A Postcard #5
Who are you?
Talia Herman.
What does home feel like?
As an internal space: peaceful, connected.
What does faith look like?
I like the idea of it having something to do with an intrinsic compass.
What’s your greatest fear?
The Bell Jar.
What keeps you up at night?
Photomechanic…
What helps you sleep?
Making my dog put out and well-played antics.
What’s the meaning of life?
I know what it feels like, meaning that is, and I’d like to experience as much of it as I can.
Any vices?
Sure.
Keep up to date with Talia Herman’s work on her blog.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
You might like
Andrea Modica’s 40 year long Italian Story
Storia — The Italian American photographer first ventured to her ancestral country in 1987, beginning a decades long exploration and documentation of it.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Exploring Bucovina, the last wild place in Europe
Noroc! — 70% of Romania’s northern provinces are covered in ancient woodland, with its people cultivating a close relationship with the land that stretches back millennia. Jack Burke forages, eats and drinks his way around the region.
Written by: Jack Burke
War & Pieces: The race to become the world’s fastest jigsaw puzzler
The Obsessives — The UK Jigsaw Puzzle Championships see contestants turn a cosy pastime into a high stakes battleground, as they race to complete 500-piece puzzles in as little time as possible. It’s as much a feat of athleticism as cognitive quickness, reports Ginnia Cheng.
Written by: Ginnia Cheng
Why is the Met Police using EsDeeKid for ‘copaganda’?
Slop Enforcement — Among the AI slop and ragebait of late-stage social media, newsletter columnist Emma Garland has noticed a jarring trend – London’s police force appropriating criminalised subcultures for engagement purposes.
Written by: Emma Garland
A stark, confronting window into the global cocaine trade
Sangre Blanca — Mads Nissen’s new book is a close-up look at various stages of the drug’s journey, from production to consumption, and the violence that follows wherever it goes.
Written by: Isaac Muk
“Like skating an amphitheatre”: 50 years of the South Bank skatepark, in photos
Skate 50 — A new exhibition celebrates half a century of British skateboarding’s spiritual centre. Noah Petersons traces the Undercroft’s history and enduring presence as one of the world’s most iconic spots.
Written by: Noah Petersons
