Interview with photographer Erik Christiansen

Cannabis became a photography subject for me the day I moved to San Diego, CA in 2016. Little did I know that at the time Erik lived with in a couple miles of me in San Diego! His work was, and still is, very inspirational. The sharpness was on another level --this was before I understood focus-stacking.

Fast forward years later, Erik and I became friends. We’ve road-tripped across the country, hunted hot springs, smoked copious amounts of herb, tripped under the stars, and explored many random dirt roads.

I'm please to present this interview for you all to learn more about the man behind the lens of Nugshots.

All the photos, with the exception of the portraits below, are of Erik’s work.

Could you tell us a little about your background?

I’ve been taking photos since I was 8 years old when my dad put a film camera in my hands. I had a front row seat to the evolution of digital cameras, I remember when 4 megabytes was a massive memory card. Since then I’ve done a handful of different things in photography, I did film and dark room stuff in high school, off-road racing photography for awhile, worked in photojournalism during college, and experimented with light painting, drones, equirectangular panoramas, HDR, astrophotography and more over the years.

How and when did you get into a relationship with cannabis?

I smoked cannabis for the first time when I was 19, but it wasn’t until I saw my first dark purple nug a few years later that I really got interested in the subtleties between strains. Things really took off after I moved to LA and in trying to find a new pot dealer I got offered black tar heroin in the back of a strangers car. I thought “that’s it, im getting my medical card”, and once I set foot inside my first dispensary and saw the selection, I knew I made the right choice.

When and how did your journey with (cannabis) photography start?

I took my first photo of cannabis in 2009 of the first purple strain I’d ever seen. It was too beautiful to not capture it. I just used the lens I had that could focus the closest (a 28-135mm Canon kit lens) and did my best. I could barely get anything in focus and couldn’t get close enough to the nug so I started doing research on how to get closer. Thats when I discovered extension tubes and focus stacking and really started going down the rabbit hole.

What is your primary focus with photography?

I’d say capturing the beauty of cannabis in a more scientific way. I shoot live branches and dry nugs in a consistent way so that the photos can be compared later on. Everything is color processed the exact same way to highlight the true colors of the plant.

What’s your favorite part about your career?

There are a few things, first off I get to see the worlds best cannabis ALIVE and at peak ripeness. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to set foot inside the grow rooms and greenhouses of some of the best cannabis growers on the planet. Second, I get to drive the backroads of the west and camp in the most beautiful places on the way to and from shoots.

What’s your biggest victory?

Turning my weird little hobby of shooting cannabis into my career.

What are your biggest challenges?

I’d have to say imposter syndrome. Sometimes it’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that people actually want to pay me to take photos.

If you could go back to 10 years ago from today, what advice would you give yourself?

Keep going, you’re on the right path! Also, buy Bitcoin and Gamestop stock. And definitely don’t get that business partner.

Do you have any exciting projects you want to share?

Yes! I’ve been working on a book project called HIGHER: The Lore, Legends, and Legacy of Cannabis with author, Dan Michaels. It’s a hardcover, coffee table book featuring 50 old school strains and 50 modern strains with detailed descriptions and photos of live plants. It’s been over two years in the making, it's visually stunning and i'm so proud of how it turned out! You can find it at your local bookstore, or Amazon.

What topic, any topic, makes you nerd out?

I feel like this changes monthly, but right now its probably off-grid power and solar, meteorology, or reverse engineering the location of obscure campsites based on the mountain ranges or other clues in the distance.

Can you share an obscure fact about that topic?

If you give me just a photo of a cool spot and what state it’s in, I can usually find it on a map within 2 minutes.

What inspires you to continue down this path (cannabis photography)?

It’s too incredible to do anything else! It combines my loves of cannabis, photography, and roadtrips/camping. A shoot 12 hours away is an opportunity to go camp for a few days, and I can still work while on the road there and back.