Joseph Buchan is 15 and has spent December by the sea.

MOSSLESS: Is this kind of thing a common sight where you live?
JOSEPH BUCHANAN: Haha, I guess that’s what the world probably thinks of Australia, riding our kangaroos to work and planting our cars vertically in the ground. But actually, I took this about a year ago in New Zealand. It was in the middle of nowhere, fifty or so k’s to any other town. I can’t even begin to think of how and why the car got there, it was such an odd thing to look at. Maybe it’s some kind of a joke New Zealanders like to play on visiting Aussies. But yeah, not a common sight to see a car planted in the ground at all.

ML: What cameras have you shot with?
JB: I’ve shot with a bunch of different cameras. Although I try not to restrict myself, I mostly use a Hasselblad 500cm, a Canon 35mm SLR and an Olympus XA. I also have a bunch of other flashes, rangefinders and polaroids lying around my room, waiting to be used. In the past I’ve also shot with a Bronica SQ-A and a Canon 30D - but I’m not really into the whole digital thing anymore.

ML: You recently had your 15th birthday - did you throw a party?
JB: When I turned fifteen I was away from home, at a school residential program, living with seven other guys my age in a house. I came in around mid afternoon and they had all gone to the bakery and gotten donuts and stuff for my birthday. That was probably the closest thing I’ve had to a birthday party in about five years. It was really great fun, but also made me pretty homesick too. Next year, when I turn 16, I might rent some horror movies, invite some friends and try and get shots of people as they scream - like that trailer for Paranormal Activity.

ML: Where do you see yourself when you’re twenty?
JB: I’d like to be traveling or studying abroad. Maybe in the States, or Europe. With a Mamiya 7. I might study medicine, but I’d really like to do something where I could get involved with the film industry. Something that could lead to writing, directing or directing photography in films - that’d be great. I don’t see photography as a career though. It’d be fine if I liked shooting in a studio with a gazillion flashes, or spending my time on photoshopping HDRs, but there’s very little money taking the kind of photos which I want to take. Besides, when you’re shooting photographs for a living, you can’t get writer’s block (you get what I mean, photographer’s block or whatever), otherwise you’ll end up losing your paycheck. And getting into creative slumps is really important with anything creative, because it gives you a chance to analyze your work, and what you’re doing wrong.
I think.