Featured Member Photographer // Amir Ebrahimi

Rat Tails and Curve Balls // An Interview with Amir Ebrahimi

Not soon after the dust had cleared from Amir’s fashion shoot for 3rd Ward, and only a few hours removed from him being surrounded by honey bees while shooting the cover to this very publication, we had a chance to sit down with Amir Ebrahimi in his 3rd Ward Office. Amir has been a member of 3rd Ward since May 2008, and although most people here consider Amir a photographer, turns out, he’s much, much more.

 3W: Hey Amir, what exactly do you do here at 3rd Ward? Seriously. No one knows.

 AE: I do everything here. It’s probably easier to say what I don’t do. I don’t use the metal shop.

 3W: Ok, so I’ll ask again: what do you do here at 3rd Ward?

 AE: I do screen-printing; I shoot in the studios; I build in the woodshop; I do pretty much everything; and what I don’t do, I resource the designers at 3rd Ward to do.

 3W: When was it you discovered you were a photographer?

AE: When I was 15, my dad owned a Persian carpet store, and he always used to shoot like crazy. My brother was the one that was a photographer and a painter as well. When I was 15 I just had a camera and I used to shoot a lot. And I just thought that’s what people did.

I actually was thinking about this the other day. Back when I was 17 years old, this girl that I was dating was babysitting this kid and he had a really long tail and a shaved head, kind of like a rat tail.

3W: I think it was dress code in my middle school to have a rat tail in 1987.

AE: (laughs) Yeah, and he had this eye patch because something had happened to his eye and it compelled me to take him to Haight Street in San Francisco and I took like two rolls of him. I think back to that now as my first real photo shoot.

3W: And is that when you discovered you had this talent? When did you realize this isn’t something that everyone else does or can do?

AE: Two weeks ago. (laughs)

3W: Riiight….

AE: I lived and breathed film. One thing I noticed was that, like a curse, I notice detail in everything. I have a really bad memory for certain things and have a really photographic memory for other things. It’s the anal side of me; but I also feel that I’m just really aware of everything in my surroundings. And I think with set design it really honed in on that and now with photography that really helps. But I always wanted to be in motion pictures and I thought everything else was just a joke, like something you just get by with. But now that I’m really serious about photography. I kind of approach everything like a mini-film shoot.

3W: What sorts of projects do you typically work on? What is your typical client like?

AE: Most of my projects are artists, musicians, and portraits. I really enjoy capturing artists in their own environment. Because it’s really about meeting people, going into their world and capturing that. I really enjoy going that; but I’m moving toward more elaborate shoots where I get to utilize my set design skills and really take an idea and try to execute it as much as possible.

3W: Very cool. When you were a kid, what did people think you were going to grow up to do?

AE: Some people thought that I’d be a baseball player, others thought I’d be a drug addict, others thought I’d be an actor because I have a really big head.

3W: Like Keith Hernandez?

AE: Exactly, like Keith Hernandez with a little Darryl Strawberry in him.

3W: How has life changed since you joined 3rd Ward?

AE: My life has changed astronomically. 3rd Ward has really given me the opportunity to have no excuses. The classes here have really helped me to broaden and execute all my skills.

3W: If you were on a desert island what two things would you bring with you?

AE: Is there an outlet?

3W: No, but I hear there may be a generator.

AE: (laughs) I would bring my fiancé and my son.

3W : What food supply would you have an unlimited supply of?

AE: Do pistachios count?