The ever-popular Brian Ulrich had some interesting things to say recently about his ongoing series of photographs of people in big retail environments. The interview by Alison Whittington can be found at the website Lost at E Minor.

Here are a couple of choice quotes from Ulrich:

"I simply had to figure out a way to make a picture of [shoppers] that not only captured that psychological consumer moment (the Germans call it Konsumieren Rausch or Consumer Intoxication) but photographs that acted as portraits of specific people whom when looked at in a picture one might know or empathize with."

and:

"The American Girl store in Chicago has teams of employees whose sole job is to fill any gap left by a purchased good. So if someone takes something off the shelf an employee radios to the back and another employee runs out to fill the vacant shelf so it never appears that they are sold out of anything. I spent about 4 hours photographing in that store and I almost had a nervous breakdown."

You can see 24 other photos from Ulrich's mind-crunching Copia series here at Lens Culture.

Also, be sure to check out Brian's personal website/blog, Not If But When, which is always interesting.

Thanks to Sean Smith for the tip about this interview!