Interview

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Every summer since 2005, Ryan McGinley has left New York to hit the open road. He brings along a young cast of guys and girls, all willing to take off their clothes, run, jump, swim, fall, and end up entangled in one another's limbs, while McGinley shoots away with his Leica like the great chronicler of the perverse American pastoral. This past summer was no exception. Driving out west in a Ford E350 15-passenger van-with a 12-foot trailer attached-filled with six models, McGinley and his crew braved badgering cops, flash lightning, defective fireworks, nosy neighbors, frostbite, and more than a few on-the-road imbroglios. "I've always been interested in photographers that have made work across the States," the 31-year-old McGinley says. "Richard Avedon's In the American West, Robert Frank's The Americans, and movies like Easy Rider [1969]." McGinley's work has always been about getting out into the world. But the resultant photographs only tell some of the story. Exclusively for Interview, he recorded the crazy, random events in a daily travel diary of his first 45 days of the trip. We even supplied him with a Canon ELPH digital point-and-shoot to fire off a few behind-the-scenes pictures between print-film takes so that we could get a sense of his outward-bound shoots. McGinley's days are exactly as you'd think and nothing like you've ever witnessed. Yes, Ryan, life would be much easier if you didn't shoot kids naked, but it definitely wouldn't be as much fun.

June 1. New York City.
Everyone showed up at my studio around 10 A.M.: Bryce from Long Island, Hanna from Vancouver, Karis from Newfoundland, Kirsten from Chicago, Jonas from Sweden, and Conlin from Oregon. I was nervous and popped a 2mg Klonopin. Everyone did a meet and greet, and we started to pack. When we got in the van, the battery died. I thought we'd have to pay a cab for a jump, but somehow the lights came back on and, miraculously, we were off. We stopped at my parents' house in New Jersey to pick up the trailer that attaches to the hitch. My dad did 45 push-ups in front of everyone and then told his Korean War stories. He's turning 80 this summer. Then we drove out to Cold Spring, New York. Everyone did their first nude shoot. Conlin led the group getting naked and swung from the rope into the lake. The water was freezing and everyone was shivering, so we hiked up a hill and shot until dusk. I had been talking to Karis prior to the trip and found out that he was gay. I try to stay clear of shooting my kind, as the sexual vibe is usually very strong. But I was happy to feel no sexual energy; I could think with my brain and not my dick. We drove to [photographer] David Armstrong's weekend house in Bovina, New York, where we had a naked taco dinner and listened to Neil Young.

June 3. David Armstrong's House, Bovina, N.Y.
Woke up before everyone else and walked around the house for a while to think about what was on the day's roster for shooting. One barn on the property caught my eye. It was vast on the second floor and beautifully dilapidated. I used three models and three assistants. We videotape every shoot, and I need someone to tend to the music and change the song if it's not the right mood. But a loud cracking noise-the floor, which almost broke-was our call to stop. We went outside and walked over to a patch of purple flowers, and I had everyone lie on the ground. I turned on the smoke machine, but it didn't look right-so I got up on the ladder and shot from above. After the models got up, they had tiny purple flowers all over their backs. It was a beautiful shot that I couldn't have planned.