Is that going to carry over into the next series?

Not as much. It’s going in a different direction. I’m going towards another theme in my work. I still think it’s funny to look back on those photos, but my new series has a different quality. It’s not even intentional. It’s just where I’m at in life and what’s going on with everything in the world. I think they’re better, personally. [laughs]

Do you wake up in the middle of the night to look at the photos from this series, too?

I don’t know about waking up in the middle of the night anymore. I need my sleep; I’m getting older.

You used to act in commercials, is that true?

Oh my god, how did you find that out? [laughs] I was trying to avoid that whole thing when I said I was coming back to LA between 14 and 18. I used to act. That’s why I was coming back to LA. I’d been acting since I was 7 or 8 years old because anyone that’s born in LA ends up acting at some point. I was in commercials and in soap operas. I never talk about this, but there’s no point in hiding it.

I think it pertains to your work.

You’re probably right. I probably learned a lot about photography from being on set—watching the directing and cameras and stuff like that. I also got to watch a lot of bad acting, myself included. [laughs]