Talia Herman captures rural California life | Huck
Huck
Culture

Talia Herman captures rural California life

Answers On A Postcard — Documentary photographer Talia Herman digs through her personal archives to capture a snapshot of Sonoma County creek life.

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.

talia-01

What does home feel like?
As an internal space: peaceful, connected.

talia-2

What does faith look like?
I like the idea of it having something to do with an intrinsic compass.

talia-3

What’s your greatest fear?
The Bell Jar.

Brooklyn, NYC, Fall 2004.

What keeps you up at night?
Photomechanic…

Bloomfield, California, USA, Fall 2012.

What helps you sleep?
Making my dog put out and well-played antics.

Cazadero, California, USA, Summer 2012.

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.

Colorado, USA, Summer 2011.

Any vices?
Sure.

Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, Summer 2011.

 

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

Group of children on a city street, one wearing a werewolf mask, others pulling scary faces and raising hands toward camera. Black and white.

Halloween in Brooklyn, photographed over 50 years

Spirits and soul — Larry Racioppo’s new book documents half a century of the October festivities in New York, while tracing the city’s ever-changing character.

  • Culture
  • Anna Stafford
Black and white close-up of a shirtless man lying down, city skyline visible behind him, other figures partially visible nearby.

Cruising on the West Side Piers, New York’s wild side

West Side Highway — In the late 20th century, the area was an if-you-know-you-know hotspot for the city’s gay scene. William Howell’s new photobook immortalises it.

  • Culture
  • Miss Rosen
Members Only
Young woman on a city pavement holding a lamppost, wearing a black leather jacket, white top, and red-orange maxi skirt.

Ahilya Bamroo is Gen Z India’s authentic ambassador

Reel relatable — The influencer turned actor speaks about trolls, beauty standards and youth activism.

  • Huck 84: It Starts With Us
  • Radhika Iyengar
Two men talking indoors near large printed photos on a wall; one in a camo jacket, the other in a black hoodie and cap.

What went down at Huck’s 20th birthday party

84 issues and counting — We took over east London’s Jaguar Shoes with friends old and new to celebrate two decades and our new issue, with Tony Bontana taking the decks for a special set.

  • Huck 84: It Starts With Us
  • Ella Glossop

Photos of friends, lovers and afters in Berlin’s party scene

Dreams and How to Keep Them – Vincent Wechselberger’s new monograph documents a decade of hedonism in the German capital, and the people he met along the way.

  • Music
  • Hannah Mildner

Inside the Los Angeles scene kid revival

The Rawring ’20s — For the cover of Huck 84, photographer Alexis Gross and writer Anna Zanes meet the latest faces of scene, who are finding freedom to express themselves through its technicolour, unafraid aesthetic.

  • Huck 84: It Starts With Us
  • Anna Zanes
You've read articles this month Thanks for reading

Join Club Huck — it's free!

Valued Huck reader, thank you for engaging with our journalism and taking an interest in our dispatches from the sharp edge of culture, sport, music and rebellion.

We want to offer you the chance to join Club Huck [it's free!] where you will receive exclusive newsletters, including personal takes on the state of pop culture and media from columnist Emma Garland, culture recommendations, interviews and dispatches straight to your inbox.

You'll also get priority access to Huck events, merch discounts, and more fun surprises.

Already part of the club? Enter your email above and we'll get you logged in.