A William Eggleston exhibition got you into photography, right?

It was more than just that. When I moved back to LA, I got three jobs just to support myself, and after three years, I didn’t know why I was earning money to just spend it on clothes and food or random things that meant nothing to me. I’d end up selling my clothes and cds for money to pay rent. [laughs] It was like this cycle where I didn’t really have money or never really cared about the things that I did have when I had money. So after a couple of years of that, I got a reality check and kind of freaked out and realized that I couldn’t be doing that for the rest of my life. The only thing I thought I might be good at is something creative, but I didn’t know what. So I started going to see friends’ bands play, and trying out different things. It was until I was about 21 when I went to a Williams Eggleston exhibition, and it blew my mind. Within a week I had all the darkroom equipment and a camera, and I taught myself photography.

That’s quite an investment. Was it easy?

At first, I was just doing it. The question of whether it was easy or hard didn’t really go through my mind at all. All you had to do was push a button. That’s as easy as it gets. I really liked that aspect of it. I thought the pictures I was taking were the best pictures anyone had taken in the history of any art form. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to look at the pictures I had processed earlier that day and looking at them for hours thinking: “Oh my god, I can’t believe I did that.” They were literally pictures of someone’s shoe on pavement, and I thought I was incredible. [laughs] The whole thing really excited me though. I couldn’t sleep. I was basically up for a year straight. I practically slept with my camera just in case I might wake up and want to go out to take pictures of things. I was roaming the streets in the middle of the night taking pictures. It was crazy. It was a very slow process for me because I was learning things based on trying to see what’s missing from a picture—thinking it might be better if I did this or that with the camera.

You sort of started creating worlds for your subjects to live in. It seems like you treat them like dolls or toys.

I’m creating this imaginary world, and it comes from me. I can daydream all the time. Basically, I’m constantly seeing things that aren’t there. That sounds weird. [laughs] I’m basically just showing you what’s in my head through my pictures. When I look at my photos, what I’m saying in them is kind of dark, in my opinion. Having that element of plastic or fakeness or false veneer with the wigs, the make-up, and the bright colors creates this fake cheerfulness almost within this imaginary world of beautiful women. It just kind of sets you back from what’s actually taking place in the photo, and it makes it easier to look at. That’s what I’m going for in the photos. Whether or not that comes through is totally up to you. I think adding that plastic element definitely makes them easier to look at. I can basically say whatever I want, and no matter how disgusting or repulsive or dark or sad whatever communication I want to put in the picture, it’s easier to look at through cheerfulness or beauty.

Is that a commentary on beauty? Or the female identity?

There’s a lot I’m saying in my pictures. There are definitely aspects of that as a whole in my pictures. I don’t want to say exactly what’s going on in each photo. I think that’s up to the person looking. I’m definitely commenting on what I see. I grew up mainly in Los Angeles. I definitely have a lot to say about the female identity and women that come and live in LA.