READERSVOICE.COM: I like the emotions you catch in people’s faces, like those guys in Williamsburg near the ticket shop, and the woman yelling out on a march at Coney Island, and the angry looking guy in the darkness in the subway. How did you take that subway guy’s picture, and is it the emotion that lets you know it’s going to be a good photo, or what do you look for?

JESSIE DINAN: I aim to capture some emotion in my work, that’s one of the things I look for when i’m out shooting amongst other things, but with shooting film you never really know if you have caught that moment until its developed. Most of the time when I think I have a great image it’s not that good, probably because i’ve built up this idea in my head and when I see it i’m usually disappointed, its always the shots that I forget about that end up being the keepers.
I think that most street photographers usually like to tell a story in there work, capture some type of emotion so I think thats when images work the best.
As for the guy in the subway, he was standing in front of me and I just took the shot, that simple really. I don’t even think he noticed.

RV: What are some of your favorite books, fiction or non fiction, or about photography or art or anything else?

JD: I love books, and I spend too much money buying them. In terms of Photography I love Paul McDonough New York Photographs 1968-1978, Bruce Davidson’s The Brooklyn Gang and also his Subway book, Gypsies by Joseph Koudelka, The Bikeriders by Danny Lyon, just to name a few.
I also just finished reading Bruce Davidson’s new Illustrated Biography and Mary Ellen Mark’s On the Portrait and the Moment.
In terms of reading books my favourites are Just Kids by Patti Smith, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, and The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson. I also love reading biographies. The Dennis Hopper one is a great read [Dennis Hopper: Out of the Sixties], and also I’m with the band by Pamela Des Barres. I love music so I love reading about Musicians and bands.

RV: What are some of your plans?

JD: I have quite a few plans over the next 6 months, Im doing quite a bit of travelling, I’m heading off to Sicily then onto Spain in two weeks. I will also be moving back to Australia so I’m looking forward to shooting my home. I’ll also be heading to China late in the year.
I’d like to put together a zine of all my New York images and finally have a proper darkroom studio set up.
– See jessiedinan.com
-copyright Simon Sandall.