Citing iconic films like 'Paris, Texas' and several point-and-shoot photographers as inspirations, Mark King takes a range of pictures documenting festivals, and everyday objects. Having worked as a photography assistant with Wired Magazine in San Francisco, he has also spent his life living in Washington D.C., The Bahamas, Belgium and is now based in Barbados.

Dazed Digital: What's your background as a photographer?
Mark King: I've been shooting since the age of 16 (I'm 26 now). I studied it a bit in high school and in university, but it wasn't until I moved to San Francisco to pursue an MFA, that I really got into it. I graduated last year and worked as a photo assistant at Wired magazine. Being in that atmosphere really opened my eyes to the amount of amazing work out there, so I joined Flickr, started a photo blog to market myself, and produced a photo book. I left San Francisco a few weeks ago and made the move to Barbados to start shooting full time.

DD: How do you find the locations for your outdoor shots? What do you look for?
Mark King: I look for the foreign, familiar, and surreal in my locations. I started out just working with whatever I passed in my daily travels. I later reached out to friends and tagged along whenever they were going somewhere I thought might yield interesting pictures. Lately I've been making an effort to seek out new projects with new friends.

DD: What equipment/film do you use? What do you like about the equipment/film you use?
Mark King: I shoot Kodak Ektar 100 film on a Leica mini ii for the most part. It allows me to focus more on what's going on around me and spend less time dialing in settings. It's liberating in a way, because it has forced me to learn the camera's capabilities and be aware of how it reacts to what I'm seeing. Plus, Kodak Ektar 100 is my favorite color neg film. The color it produces blows me away.
I also have a Mamiya RZ 67 pro ii and a Canon AE-1. I used to have a 5d, but it was collecting dust, so I hocked it. 

DD: Are you inspired by any particular films? Art? Literature?
Mark King: Wim Wenders' "Paris, Texas" is one of the most visually stunning films I've ever seen. The cinamatography is awe inspiring; il Conformista, Clockers, and Le Samourai do it for me as well.

In the art world, Faile, Blu, Mike Giant, David Hockney, Dalek, Kaws, Mc Bess and Ed Rusha make me want to create.

Book wise, I like to read about human behaviour and the universe, for mind explosions.

DD: What about other photographers?
Mark King: So many... Juergen Teller, Helmut Newton, Martin Parr, Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, Nan Goldin, Ryan McGinley, Terry Richardson, Chris Buck, Bronques, Stefan Ruiz, Dean Kaufman, Nadav Kander, Miles Aldridge, Chan Chao, Larry Fink, Rankin, Jonathan Frantini, Nabil.

DD: Where would you most like to shoot next?
Mark King: The Palace Hotel do Bussaco in Portugal. I visited there back when I first picked up a camera. It's such a magical place. I would love to revisit and use it as a backdrop for a larger project.