Clay Patrick McBride Talks To Elizabeth Avedon

When I picked up a camera, I was a lost kid. It became a compass for me. I traveled everywhere with it. A passport. I went to the places on old pirate maps that  say “here they be monsters.” It gave me a place to slay dragons that were haunting me as an angsty teenager. It gave me confidence. Somewhere along the way the camera became a way to make a living and I lost how it was hardwired to my heart. It became a cash resister. The music business was a little hallowed and empty. It lacked any real depth. Pushy micro managing publicists making my life difficult, none of that Leibovitz John Lennon access. It was a job. I wanted to go back and understand why I use this thing called a camera – to see into the darkness. I wanted to make pictures from my depths. I had new dragons and monsters to deal with. It was time to get lost and wander around the subway. My underworld.